Fantasy Football Today - Beyond the Box Score: Terry McLaurin, Kyler Murray, QB Playoff Schedules & More! Week 9 Recap (10/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

We kick things off with a recap of the Colts-Vikings (2:12) game, followed by crucial injury updates and news, including insights (12:40) on Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Chris Olave, and more. Jacob shares advanced stats on players like (18:58) Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love, Jameis Winston, Cedric Tillman, and others, with Adam and Dan providing their reactions. We also dive into whether Terry McLaurin (34:28) can be considered a WR1 and take a rest-of-season look at Kyler Murray's (41:40) struggles. Finally, we wrap up with a look at quarterbacks with the best (44:50) playoff schedules—tune in to get all the insights you need for your fantasy roster! ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is fantasy football today from CBS sports It's time to dominate your fantasy league Here's some combination of Adam Dave Jamie and he What's up everybody welcome to be on Box score. This is fantasy football today presented by Bet MGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas. And today in Vegas, they've got to do some hiring. So they fired three coaches on the offensive side of the ball. And we'll talk a little bit about that. We will recap Sunday night football with some metrics that you need to know of Minneapolis or how about just Minnesota? They play for the whole state of Minnesota,

21 and Indianapolis, 13. I think I combined Minnesota and Indianapolis there. I think that's what happened there. Anyway, I'm Adam with Jacob and Dan. Today our big topics. All right, the best and worst playoff schedules for quarterbacks. Did you guys see my promotional tweet for this show?

I did see your promotional tweet. That was a great promotional tweet. I am so excited to tell you about the quarterback who has the best schedule coming up. His opponents ranked 29th, 31st, 28th, 7th, 30th, 25th and 22nd against quarterbacks. Do you guys know who that is? Kirk Cousins.

He also has a very good schedule, I guess, but it's not him. It is, of course, league winner, Daryl Jones. No, no. Stop. Yeah, man. Yeah, three touchdowns yesterday, One one one called back to. It's like said, start up next year against Washington when he's the starting quarterback again. We'll also talk about Terry McLaurin and if he can be a top 10 wide receiver going forward,

Kyler Murray and what he'll be like rest of season and looking at players on bad teams. What can we you know, what can we use to guess? Because, you know, are you worried, let's, about Alvin Kamara, who's 29 and under contract next year and playing on one of the worst teams in football. What happens to players like these? Are they just gonna start sitting? Is there any way we could know? We'll talk about that.

But let's start with the Colts and the Vikings. Minnesota with the eight point win. They dominated possession 36 minutes and 54 seconds of possession. And it was an ugly day for Virgil Flacco for sure. Jacob, first word on this game? Excuse me. Yeah, this was something I was wondering like what we might see from Flacco. And I think that you have to remember that this type of performance is possible. Like up to this point is like Josh Jones is wide receiver five overall when Flacco plays and stuff like that.

Um, this is a tough test, a real test, this Minnesota defense. And I thought he looked flustered a lot, uh, especially early in the game. I saw a crazy stat right before I went to bed. I didn't watch a second half. I want to say through the first like six or seven drives, they didn't have a single drive that lasted more than six plays or something like that. Oh, wow. Correct. Um, so like, yeah, it just wasn't very functional out here. It was still Josh

Downs clearly leading the way in terms of targets. And then Jonathan Taylor's uses, which was really good against 71% snap rate for him. Five targets for Jonathan Taylor. So you like to see that. But yeah, this is the the low end on the range of outcomes for the Colts. They did not run a play in the red zone. And can you can you basically compare flacco and Jamis Winston that these guys are going to have ugly games where they turn the ball over and don't look so great. But still, I'd rather have them at

quarterback. If I have downs, if I have Pittman who's coming off a horrible game, I'd rather have them than quarterback. If I have downs, if I have Pittman who's coming off a horrible game, I'd rather have them than the other guy. Fair? And Richardson, well, look, I think the only way it's gonna work in Indianapolis is if they change what they're doing. I did not like how they operated this game plan at all. I was thinking they would go towards something

that maybe we'd see from, or that we had seen from Flacco with Cleveland last year, which is kind of an under center, go through the run game, let him go off, play action drops and let him hit his back foot and rip intermediate and vertical shots. But they was very pass heavy approach. Some of the third, they had like a second and two that turned into a fourth and two with two straight incompletions turnover on downs. They were really just not operating the game plan.

I thought they would, uhack going. And I was questioning Shane Stikken, because I don't feel like he's done a great job this year after getting kind of crowned last year. And then you know, people referencing the work he did with Jalen Hurts. So I've lost a little bit of faith here. I think Michael Pittman is somebody at the bench, you can't play him. I would assume most people have already but they drafted him highly. This is not an offense I'm trusting the rest of the way.

Are you trusting Josh Downs though? Downs you can still trust. Yeah. All right, yeah, Downs ends up with a solid game. Six catches, 60 yards on nine targets. By far his worst game with Joe Flacco, which is saying something here. On the other side of the ball,

let's talk about Sam Dardell, the season high in pass attempts with 34. Of course they did, like I said, they had the ball for 36 minutes and 54 seconds. They ran 71 plays to only 49 for the Colts. Sam Darnold is a top 12 quarterback per game in both formats. He is on pace for a little more than 4,000 yards, 36 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and 255 rushing yards, which is really not fluke. He's actually had seasons where he's averaged a little 255 rushing yards, which is really not fluke. He's actually had seasons where he's averaged a little bit more rushing yards per game.

And he's just having a good year. I don't really know that there's much else to say about it. I feel like if he plays a team that's gonna get after him, that could be trouble, but if not, he's probably gonna throw some touchdowns here. So. I wanna talk about that. So this was one of the easiest pass rushes

that they're going to face. And I'm pretty worried with, we talked about Darasaw being out. I went and watched about two thirds of the game on the Minnesota side of things to watch specifically the left tackle, Kim Robinson. And man, he, he does not move very well. He, I think he's going to really struggle with teams that blitz more. The Colts only blitz 20% of the time, but they still generated a 33% pressure rate. And Robinson specifically gave up two pressures

and four hurries. I'm pretty worried. I don't know. Like I think Darnett is playing exceptionally, like compared to the rest of his career. And then obviously Justin Jefferson's so good that it doesn't really matter. But I am a little bit worried

about the pressure going forward. But they were, the thing is when they had only played two games with a healthy DeForest Buckner and in those two games, they actually had a great pass rush but they were both against Houston. So I didn't really think too much of it. And they didn't have a great pass rush last night, the Colts that is.

I don't know. Yes, I mean, I get the concerns, but at the end of the day, he's still halfway through the season and he's still getting it done. Now one thing I noticed though is Aaron Jones. He only has two rushing touchdowns this year. Aaron Jones has eight carries from the five yard line or closer and he's only scored on one of them. And four times it's been followed up.

An unsuccessful run inside the five yard line has been followed up with a Sam Darnold touchdown. So there is a little bit of that going on where Jones is doing really horribly. I mean, I went back, I watched all these carries. I mean, it's not necessarily his fault, but just no chance on these carries from the one, from the two yard line. And then Sam Darnold comes and he follows him up.

It kind of reminds me of DeAndre Swift last year getting stopped at the one yard line eight times, and Jalen Hurts getting a tush push on almost all of them. But it is what it is. I mean, Darnold's still getting it done. I just think he's part of this big cluster of quarterbacks that are more or less the same. And you're gonna start them based on matchup

one over the other, you know. That's kind of how I see the quarterback position. You've got some must start guys and then you've probably got 10 every week. Be it Aaron Rodgers, Sam Darnold, Brock Purdy, hoping he can elevate himself, Kyler Murray, and many more, maybe Jared Goff, because he barely throws the ball,

that you're just gonna play the matchups with, and I think Darnold's in that group. Yeah. I think that's fair. I think it's a fair assessment. I was thinking the only thing that stood out to me was just how much better the Vikings are pass blocking versus run blocking. This is something I've noticed all season.

It's something that dates back to pretty much all of Kevin O'Connell's time. It's not a big focus of his, the run game, even though he called it out that it would be this past off season, doesn't appear to be. So I'm not so sure that Aaron Jones is going to really be some kind of regression candidate from a touchdown standpoint, even though it appears to be that he would. But he's got 40 carries in his last two games and this is the most run heavy that O'Connell's ever been. He's just not scoring.

I don't mean from a just like a play calling standpoint, I mean from a design standpoint. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's not specifically like converting more efficiently on goal line carries, right, Dan? Yes. Yeah. But like the overall role for Jones is great for sure. The role is great.

Yeah. I just don't have faith in their run scheme. It was again this week. 76% snap rate for him. Kim Akers actually played ahead of Todd Chandler. I assume he was benched. I didn't see anything about an injury. But yeah, it was almost all Aaron Jones. 70% route participation for Jones. That was, I think, top three running back this week. Right. Now you love the touches.

Twenty one or more touches in each of the last two games. They've just been disappointing results, but you you gotta figure he'll do better than that. And he looks pretty good, he looks pretty fast out there. But the one thing that's kinda weird is like, they are not a very pass heavy team. Their 20th in pass rate, which is bizarre. In the red zone though, their eighth in pass rate. Inside the 10 yard line, their 10th in pass rate.

Inside the five yard line, their seventh in pass rate. These are things that are helping Darnold and not helping Aaron Jones. Are we hanging on to TJ Hockinson who played about half the snaps? We hanging on to him or do you think he's expendable? Yeah, definitely. I think he's pretty good out there actually moving,

just movement wise. And I think their pass rates overall are influenced by GameScript so much. They're six and two team, completely agree with that. All right, tell us what's coming up on Beyond the Boxcore this week, guys. Dan? Yeah, this week's Beyond the Boxcore.

Same time, same place, Thursday. I'm actually not, Jacob, who do we got going for this? Heath Cummings. Heath Cummings this week. We got Heath Cummings for this week. Oh, where's Heath from? Where's Heath Cummings from? Yeah, so with Heath coming up,

I think we're gonna take a little bit more of a dynasty approach. I think that'll be fun to talk some long-term stuff with Heath and get a check-in of where we're at with a lot of that And Heath does great work on dynasty all season long You can check out his dynasty trade charts for kind of the update of where he's at with a lot of players So we'll discuss some of that and we'll get into it with Heath. I'm excited for that We had Dave last week and it was a lot of fun last thing you say same time I forgot actually though Adam are you still planning to boycott the show with us?

Are you going to grace us with your presence on an episode? Yeah. Yeah. So I you say same time, same place, but where, where and when that you can find us on YouTube. We're not going live yet, but you, you can find us on the Fandies football today express feed on YouTube, usually around the mid-afternoon on Thursdays. Yeah, and just to address something

that people are buzzing about, no, I'm not wearing the same shirt I was wearing yesterday. I was wearing the Star Trek shirt yesterday. It just happens to be that 70% of my wardrobe is blue. We're gonna take a break on Fantasy Football Today. News and notes, snap counts, advanced metrics, four big topics, coaches getting fired. We'll be right back on FFT.

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Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. I'm going to deliver a quick take. I see Adam laughing at the commercial we played there. I'm going to deliver a quick take. Wait, wait, wait. Before you do that, I'm going type it, cause I think I know what you're gonna say. And then as soon as you're done saying it, I'm gonna send it in our private chat. Cause I think I'm gonna have the same take as you. Go ahead.

Okay. Well, my take is that we've seen two of our FFT members on these commercials for CBS Sports, Dave and Jamie. And no offense to our friend Jamie, but Dave is the much better actor than Jamie. Dave is, I thought that than Jamie. David's good. I thought that I'm gonna type, I'm gonna send what I typed. I thought you were gonna say Chris Hassel

is an amazing actor. Oh, he's on another level. Chris Hassel's on a whole different level. We're not including Chris Hassel. He doesn't work for FFT. He's on his own. He does CBS sports stuff, but like HQ, but you can't put in Chris Hassel.

Like Chris Hassel has some of those clips that go viral that are funnier. Yeah, he's so good. He's like a different level, but I gotta say Dave's Dave. Dave is a considerably good actor. He could have done it maybe in a different life. No offense to Jamie. Jamie did well too, but not at that. I don't think I would do a promo because I don't want to be judged against Dave. I'm the opposite. I would have that opportunity.

I don't know. Okay. Well, we'll never get chance. So don't worry about it. News and notes. Okay. We got we'll never get chance. So don't worry about it. News and notes. Okay, we got the Raiders firing their offensive coordinator, Luke Getze, and their QB coach and their offensive line coach going into their bye week. The Saints fired Dennis Allen. They are not going into their bye week. They have the Falcons this week. So Jacob, any thoughts on how this might change things? Kendra Miller is out. Unfortunately, he was the one who we know Dennis Allen does not like. I don't really have any thoughts on the same side. I'm kind of glad to see them hopefully move in a different direction.

Yeah, I was the only thought I had maybe for the Raiders was that they might try to be a little more run heavy. They stink. So it's not gonna be easy. But it's not like Jacobi Myers is crushing it on a per target basis. He, you know, he needs them to keep throwing and get, you know, eight, nine targets would be nice, but, uh, I don't, I don't, I don't want to make something out of nothing, so I don't really know that there's anything here. So we'll just move on unless you guys have anything else to say. Okay.

You don't quarterback. Yeah, we'll talk about it a little bit later because it's, there's a question that kind of involves what's going to happen with these types of teams. Okay. Dak Prescott's got the hamstring injury. We'll talk about it a little bit later because there's a question that kind of involves what's going to happen with these types of teams. Okay. Dak Prescott's got the hamstring injury. We don't know anything. The Cowboys didn't seem like these were season-enders or anything for Lam and Dak, but we'll see.

I think they're getting examined today. Caleb Williams says he's okay with the ankle injury and we'll see who the quarterback is for the Raiders coming out of the by. I presume it's going to be Minshew, but Desmond Ritter did get in in the fourth quarter. Running back news, we're expecting Jonathan Brooks this week against the Giants. Isaiah Pacheco hoping for a late November return. And then, Jacob, you had the stats on the Dolphins running back stats when after Raheem Mostert fumbled. I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but-

No, you're good. I'm good. If you don't have any specific- Okay. Yeah. Third play in the second half, Raheem Mostert fumbled. I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but. No, you're good. I'm good. If you don't have anything specific. Okay, yeah, crazy stuff. Third play in the second half for Hemos, they're fumbled. From that point on, the snap rates were 79% for HN, 24% for Jalen Wright, and only 10% for Most. Most had only touched the ball one more time

the rest of the game. I think Wright had like five touches. So he basically got replaced by the rookie, and then HN was just like out there almost all the time. Yeah, so I was wrong about that on the Sunday night show. I apologize. I didn't think it was that stark. Drake London's got what looks like a hip pointer,

not expected to be a long-term injury. Chris Olave says he's doing well. Pukka Nkukuo should be back after getting ejected. AJ Brown, again, looks like he avoided serious injury. He might be able to play this week against the Cowboys. So kind of got lucky there with some of these injuries. Right. Except we don't know about CD Lam,

but he was able to come back in the game. Lam though, is maybe gonna be playing hurt. Dak could be playing hurt. I don't know what you could get for CD Lam. I don't know if you wanna try to trade CD Lam, but I don't, he wasn't, he wasn't doing, he looked like the same old crap before the injury to Dak. I wanna try to trade CD Lam, but I don't like, he wasn't, he wasn't doing, it looked like the same old crap before the injury to Dak,

like another pretty underwhelming game. And then it just goes back to, he had one great quarter against the 49ers where they decided to stop covering him. Wide open, it's just not clicking right now for them. It's not clicking because of what we talked about as earlier, Adam, and I stand by it. Like teams are taking away CD lamb.

That's their number one thing in their game plan. And that Prescott is not a quarterback who's going to force the ball and he's going to go in different directions. And right now he just kind of looks broken in general. That offense looks broken. The McCarthy offense. It's a, I always felt I predicted this a year early. I said it last year.

I was very worried about Dallas players. I was totally wrong. It was a bad take last year. It was just a year early, and now I think they're catching up to the system. It's how it goes with these McCarthy, McAdoo, the Hackett, all these systems that don't use motion that just lean on winning one-on-one matchups

in 11 personnel. Eventually it gets got. Yep. Interesting. Never wrong, only early. Yeah, no, I'm wrong all the time. But this one, I was wrong. Now, Brian. Oh, speaking of actually, I'm wrong all the time, but this one I was wrong. Brian speaking of actually, I want to take a quick victory lap.

Yes. See, I think this is I've, I've learned this is why I have so many haters. Cause I take these victory laps, but they're mostly in jest. Okay. I don't actually think I'm right all the time. I don't actually think I'm any good, but I will say this. It's a mere white. Yeah. Weeks ago. Yes.

A few weeks ago I said, you can cut some, you're like it's probably like a month, month and a half ago. Me and Jacob didn't even have him ranked in our top 150 pre-season. We knew it was a busted pick. Adam's laughing at me. You can't cut a guy like this. He's just starting running back.

He played seven snaps yesterday, Adam. Seven snaps. He lost his job. Can we cut him now? Yeah, of course you can cut him now. He lost his job. He got hurt. Didn't help. But yeah, no, you were right. Good job. Good job. Good job. You were right. You were right. Brian saying just because teams got good news on injuries doesn't mean they don't miss time. Absolutely true. I just don't think we have any long term injuries. Maybe CD lamb will see. But in terms of AJ Brown, in terms of Drake London, and hopefully in terms of

Chris Olavi, I don't know that we have any long term injuries there. All right. More news. That's pretty much it. Darius Slayton was checking check for a concussion. He said on trust the show right here. Adam is Vince, Dan is Ari, Jamie is Johnny, Jacob is Eric, Dan is Turtle as well. So I like that, actually. I would love to be Ari and Turtle at the same time. I like it, yeah, I like it quite a bit. Yeah, you get Vince, so I mean, you're the lucky guy here. Yeah, that's good stuff.

And that's it for the news and notes for now. Now, if you haven't signed up for Bet MGM, let's go. Use the bonus code fantasy, and you will get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. Download the BetMGM app and sign up using the bonus code fantasy.

Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game, and you'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up on BetMGM. And I can't do my favorite bet this week. I can't bet against these slight underdog, these slight favorites against the giants who are obviously going to cover. Well, the giants are actually for the first time in 24 games. They're a favorite.

I don't believe. Yeah. Well, that they've been underdog for 24 games. The life of a Giants fan has become the life of a Jets fan, which I never thought it would be. That's not good. A lot of teams are two in six right now. They are six or seven teams that are two in six.

The Giants can't win a game and they only have the seventh pick right now in the draft. It's unbelievable. All right. Let's talk about some advanced metrics, some snap rates. Jacob, take it away. Yeah, on the Giants note, the Giants blitzed Jayden Daniels on 60% of his drawbacks

and did not have a single sack. 60% is pretty crazy. I'm curious to hear your guys take away. I obviously don't watch the Giants. Why would you? Yeah, go ahead, Adam. No, I say why would anybody? But you could go ahead, Jayden, go ahead.

I was just gonna say, it's a total change from What we've seen from Shane Bowen the Giants fans quarter It's his highest blitz rate and not only did they not get a sack it was almost no pressures in this game 24% pressure rate which is right, which is low when you're blitzing like 60% of the time. It's unbelievably low I think they tried something different against Daniels because their first week in week two They essentially just played off coverage the entire game and left soft zone the entire time with no blitzing and that didn't work. This didn't work either because Jaden Daniels, you can't really blitz because he makes good decisions with the ball. He's good under pressure. He can navigate

the pocket and throw the ball downfield. He looked, I thought he looked awesome. People are like, Oh, Jaden Daniels didn't really do much and look like good. I'm like, cause he didn't have to. They had a two touchdown lead the entire time. And he made huge throws when he had to. So I just think it's tough for these defensive coordinators to scheme against Jaden Daniels. And it's going to be like that for a long time, they're going to try to find solutions. So far, teams have tried to blitz him, they try to play off coverage, there haven't been that many solutions yet to

stopping this quarterback. Yeah, and he has one receiver, basically, I mean, he's getting something out of no ground, but it's amazing what he's doing. He doesn't have, we look at, I looked at every quarterback schedule. He doesn't really have a great schedule. I just don't care.

I don't care. It doesn't matter. Yeah, he's schedule proof. Even Sackerts, he's making the most out of, so. All right, Jacob. So, after this game, Jane Daniels on the year is QB9 out of 25 qualifiers in sack to pressure ratio. Um, that was a huge red flag for him coming out of college. He had the worst of

any quarterback drafted in around one. And it's been really, really good so far this year. So I just, I'm going to keep bringing that up and keep hammering that as long as it, um, is consistent and maintains going forward on that note. I'm curious if you guys know who has the best sack to pressure ratio on the year. It's not Josh Allen like normal. It's not Patrick Mahomes. It's not the Mark Jackson who's really improved his rate this year.

It's not Brock Pardee who's really improved his rate this year. 9% sack to pressure ratio. Any idea? How about Jared? How about Jared's off? Bo Nix. Bo Nix is fourth.

Yeah, but it is Jordan Love. Okay, wow. Has really, really improved his rate. 16% last year to 9% this year, and I just thought that was really interesting. Cool. Yeah. I like that a lot. So, you know, real quick on Love,

I wanna get your take on this. Do you put him in that group of quarterbacks, or do you put him ahead? So is he closer to the Mustard group, or closer to the Purdy, Goff, you know, whatever, darn old group? I would love to see the schedule rest of season, how that plays out for him.

And if you have an idea of that, where it is just give me kind of like a good, bad or middling type schedule. I believe this was one of the average ones. This is, I would call it, if anything bad, I'd say below average. So then I'd put him in that group based on the schedule rest of season. But he got then I'd put him in that group based on the schedule

rest of season. But he got. I think he's got some paper tigers on the schedule. We'll put it that way. Teams that aren't. Because he got really hot in the second half of last season. I don't really think he's had everything go right for him at all at any point this season.

And that could happen at any point from a health standpoint, not just for him, but for his receivers. And like yesterday, for example, they're throwing in like a windy, coldly rain game. Like, and he still almost puts up 300 yards. So I'd say he's on the border line there. I would take him over any of those guys though. Yeah, I would put them up in that group. That's how he projects for me. Most weeks they've got a bi-week this week and hopefully it's been real discombobulated like you alluded to and I hope that coming out of this things will be, you know, we're healthier. We're

on the stretch right now and they have a lot of potential shootouts. I don't know if Chicago will be one in week 11, but after that they have the Niners and they have the dolphins. Then they have the lions. Then they have the Seahawks. Any of those games can be issued out week 17, fantasy championship against the Vikings, not necessarily a good matchup, but definitely could be issued out. All right.

Sorry to interrupt you. Go ahead. Uh, keep it rolling. You're saying you're talking to me. Okay. Um, some snap rates at running back to some interesting ones this week. Travis, he teens was only 31% tank. Bigsby still led the way.

Um, actually ran the most routes, which really surprised me. And they got the earnest Johnson involved a little bit as well. So really not a relevant role for ETN at all. 36% for Jamiro Gibbs. That was his lowest snap rate since his first game as a pro. Um, not a, an ideal game script for him, uh, which is probably why it was so low, but still just not what you want to see that. I think the first eight carries went to David Montgomery, 99% Kyron Williams, Blake Coram barely

played at all. Um, I think he had one snap. And so that is interesting for a couple of reasons. If Kyron is able to sustain this, then yeah, obviously he's like top three running back. But at the same time, I keep bringing this up. He's got to go like 10 straight weeks without getting hurt. He's a guy who's had a lot of injuries and he's had a massive, massive workload this year. So this almost to me reads like a Coram note, which maybe seems counterintuitive since Coram got phased out a little bit.

But yeah, if he goes down, if Kyron goes down, then like there's a massive, massive workload available. 70% Tyrone Tracy, our guy just continues to be the guy. And that's exciting. 79% chase Brown. That was the third highest among running backs this week. 79% snap rate, 63% route participation. Uh, previously his highest route rate was 52%. He's only been above 40% once. Um, so that's, that's really, really good.

He didn't get used much as a pass blocker and one of his past protection reps, he nearly gave up a sack. So that's something to keep an eye on. If, if he can actually be trusted with that role, but it didn't sound like Zach, Mark Zach Moss was particularly close to playing this week. Um, they're playing Thursday too. Yeah. So five targets for chase Brown too, which is dope. Um, another good running back.

They get no shortage of those in fantasy this year. Yeah. No other running back touched the ball for Cincinnati 27 rush time. So it was, it was all chase Brown. HN we talked about a little bit, but have to give some context on this. Cause it's really, it's really nuts. In seven healthy games, he's averaged seven and a half PPR points per game as a rusher and 12 PPR points per game as a receiver.

So he's really contributing more as a receiver than a rusher. In the games with Tuva, he has 23, 30, 27, and 31 PPR points. In those games, he has averaged 17.8 PPR points just as a receiver. In four games played with two, his lowest game is 14.6 PPR points just as a receiver. On the year, the only players are averaging more than 17.8 PPR points as a receiver. Niko Collins, Chris Gatto, and Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, C.D. Lamb, Malik neighbors, George Kittle. That's what HN has done in the games with Tua.

And then he also has rushing. I hate it for everyone except for HN. I hate it for Tua. I hate it for Waddle. I hate it for Hill. I hate it. And you got Johnny Smith getting like five targets. It's not working out for the Dolphins in there.

Highly concentrated pass offense that they used to have. It's I hate it, but it's great for Devon HN. So I want to, I didn't have the time to this morning, but I do want to, and we can maybe discuss this on Thursday's episode. Jacob, I want to dive into the offense, the dolphins offense with two, and two games back. Cause I just want to figure out what's going on here. Cause there's so much tape from last year with them getting wattle involved constantly Tyreek Hill who had a few big plays and it just seems like that game plan has been totally altered this year

As you mentioned so much more featuring the running back in the passing game even John O Smith So I it's not it's not necessarily not working for them. They almost want a football game I just want to see if there's opportunity for wattle because I'm starting to get very worried on that front I think something coming into play is that two of these games are against the bills who are like an umbrella zone defense They keep everybody in front of them And then one of the games is against the Cardinals who do that more than anyone they're dropping three safeties and stuff like they're Really really forcing you to throw short and hardly ever allowing throws to the Cardinals have the lowest first read Opponent first read target rate in the NFL. They just really

take away outside receivers. So it's been, it's been pretty tough for us for a while. I would expect it to even out, but that might just be Hopium because I'm very invested in a while of success and it's been extremely frustrating. That's good context. We had a conversation yesterday. Um, Jamar chase versus Tyree Hill. And I was the only one who even considered Tyree kill. I think eventually I said, I'll just take Jamar chase, but it's really worth noting. Jamar Chase has 22 targets in his last two games

for 54 yards and 43 yards. And he doesn't, and this is two games without T Higgins. T Higgins is playing, he usually doesn't get these targets. And I still, like going into the season, this was not even close. This was easy Tyree Kill to me. So I'm not saying that you have to take Tyreek Hill here, but the way he was being discussed last night made me want to buy low

on Tyreek Hill. I don't really believe in Jaylen Waddle right now, but I still believe in Tyreek Hill. Certainly could be wrong. I think I would probably take Hill too. I'd have to look at the schedule rest of the season, but I might take Hill as well. I also feel like I mean, the stats probably don't show this for especially not from a target standpoint, but I might take Hill as well. I also feel like I mean, the stats probably don't show this for, especially not from a target standpoint, but from an efficiency standpoint, I feel like Jamar chase a better player when Higgins is on the field. Yeah.

I think Higgins helps them for sure this year it has. All right. Jackson Smith and Jigba 227 air yards by far the highest of his career. He only has three career games over a hundred. So this is a huge deviation from what we've seen. I've been insistent that he can do this, that this is in his skill set. And so it was really good to see it come to fruition. He could have honestly had like 250 receiving yards in this game easily.

Yeah. This is why he was drafted so early. This is why he was a big dynasty play because in Ohio state he was used through the air and intermediate deep vertical areas of the field. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I'm a little skeptical that we could see this being more of an outlier game for JSN. Did you see his slot rate yesterday? No. What was it? 91%.

Geez. So unbelievable. He's still is just, he's just in that role, but at least he had a 9.2 yard average route depth. And only, oh, 17.5, there we go, 17.5 yard A dot. So they used him downfield. He had 70 something yards called back on penalties. Unbelievable game for him.

But yeah, I think I'm still worried if they're just gonna use him in the slot. I'm sorry, I just don't know that it's gonna propel him. I hope it does, but I don't know. Speaking of area yards, there have been 11 instances of a quarterback hitting 400 or more air yards in a game while also completing over half of his passes in a game. 11 times this season it's happened.

Only one quarterback has done it twice. It's Jameis Winston. He's played two games. Do I have some stats for you on the Browns offense? Okay. That's crazy. Listen to this. So they are among the teams with the highest percentage

of three receiver sets or three or more receiver sets. And that's very good. Over the last three weeks, the Cleveland Browns have four players that are in the top 14 in targets. Cedric Tillman is tied for first, David Adjoka was fifth, Elijah Moore is tied for seventhedric Tillman is tied for first, David Njoku is fifth, Elijah Moore is tied for seventh,

and Jerry Judy is tied for 14th. They all have 25 or more targets. They have thrown 52, 41, and 46 passes. In the last three weeks, here are the top five players in Routes Run. Jerry Judy, Cedric Tillman, David Njoku, Kaishan Budi, and Elijah Moore. Four of the top five players in Routes Run

are on the Cleveland Browns, and one of them is a tight end. And I don't know, that's actually very significant. Can they keep this up? Can they keep throwing the ball this much? They did last year with Joe Flacco, right, at the end of the year, and it was awesome for Cooper, but this is crazy because every week, three receivers are getting eight or more targets. And it's not like they're so great

on a per target basis or anything like that. So what do you think about that, Jacob? Jacob Leach Yeah, that's good context. And I people aren't going to like this. And it could be the wrong take is, you know, we're on the precipice of like a huge breakout here, potentially. But I think you could use those stats to potentially explain like, it might be a good idea to sell Cedric Tillman. I think people are really, really high on him. And I don't know. If we see this going forward, then sure, it could sustain, but like it is still getting spread around a lot. It's not like it's necessarily funneling through Tillman and it's pretty hard to expect this to sustain over large sample size.

Like you just laid out, it's like by far and away, the, the most pass heavy offense in the NFL. I don't know that it needs to sustain though, because at that level, at least like the stat you brought up, Jacob to me stands out to it's happened 11 times. 400 plus air yards. And it's happened twice in Jamis Winston starts. Like that doesn't have to sustain as enough to be every start. It's still going to be a lot more than any other team.

And it's going to give a lot more opportunities to receivers to make plays. I am on the opposite way with Cedric Tillman. I think so high, not, you know, not so high, not like so like, oh, I've got a flash in the pan and I'm just dumping it. Would you sell him for D.J. Moore or Jalen Wattle? No, I don't think so. That's kind of where I'm at with it. Like I look at him as somebody who I remember scouting in Tennessee and remember being like

the tape was so good, especially the year he was healthy, the second to last year that he was there. And it was ex receiver type tape. So it's kind of like we're getting back to these like Brian Thomas type prospects and these guys who have all the tools, the size, the route running, the explosiveness, the ability to win downfield, the ability to win contest, catch situations. It's not like, and I have been high on the other types of guys like Eli Moore and I was wrong about him, but this is a different level from a fantasy standpoint.

It's somebody who I think can be a wide receiver one, cause he's a complete, potentially a complete player. And obviously has the best rapport going with James Winston in the most important areas, which is down the field. Cause like Jacob said, I mean, that's, that's unbelievable. 400 plus air yards, two of 11 times of James Winston. He's only started two games. So I, I liked him in the rest of the way.

I think he's like, if we're narrowing it down to who are the league winners here, like we had easy ones last year, Puka, but we don't, haven't had as many easy ones this year, he may be one of the guys that's in that, like Mount Rushmore for me, a potential Morgan asks Tillman or Mooney rest of season. I Think it depends a lot on the Drake London injury. It's a really good question I think I might lean towards Mooney. The schedule is so great. Whereas the Brown schedule is pretty rough Yeah, and the Falcons offensive environment is like Nearly as good as Cleveland's and we've seen that over a much larger sample size than just two games

Yeah, I would leave Mooney for that reason as well a lot of dome games coming seen that over a much larger sample size than just two games. Yeah, I would leave Mooney for that reason as well. A lot of dome games coming to I'm a big I'm a big weather guy when it comes to fantasy analysis we get to the end of the season. I really do believe in it. I believe playing in Cleveland places like that. It makes it really hard to throw the football. All right.

I'm sorry to do this to you, Jacob. I just in full transparency have a parent teacher conference in 12 minutes that I have to leave for. Wow. So we got to get to the get through the rest of the show here. So can I cut you off there? Yeah, let's go. All right, I'll just tell you this one thing that really stood out to me.

Zay Flowers played only two snaps with Deontay Johnson on the field. Rashad Bateman played 10. And I have no idea what that's about. But when Deontay Johnson was on the field, they didn't increase their three receiver sets. This team plays three receiver sets less than any team in football.

They didn't have a higher percentage. They just didn't use Zay Flowers. It was Deontay Johnson and Rashad Bateman. We, I think, would agree they'd have to be morons to take Zay Flowers off the field. He's unbelievable. But it's something I'm gonna be keeping an eye on a little bit later.

All right, we're gonna take a break here and come back with our four big topics after this on fantasy football today. Okay, topic number one comes from Al Johnson. I can't say, AJ Johnson, I think. Sorry for butchering your name. Is Terry McLaurin a wide receiver one? And if we just kind of remove the first two games

of the year where Jayden Daniels was just dumping the ball off to running backs the whole time, since week three, he is wide receiver nine per game in full PPR. That's with Chris Goblin being wide receiver eight. So if you just use the healthy guys, he's the eighth best receiver. Azer stat. Well, just trying to compare him to everyone else.

He's eighth best and that's in full PPR. And McLaurin is only on pace for 83 catches. And he's still top 10 in full PPR per game. These are all numbers since week three. So guys, is Terry McLaurin a wide receiver one moving forward? I've been ranking him that way lately. I think he's still wide receiver too for me.

The volume just isn't there. He does put up touchdowns in that offense and big plays down the field. But having watched the way that offense has operated in at least two games on tape this year, it doesn't necessarily operate in the way that I would like for a wide receiver one a lot of passes to the tight ends, a lot of throwbacks, a lot of, you know, bootleg get it out to the back. So it's just not my version. I would say it's borderline though, especially given how bad wide receiver position is this year.

Maybe it is wide receiver one. He's really doing a great job. He's scoring like half their touchdowns. Yeah, that's what it's been a lot of touchdowns, but he can tend to regress. But week three, since week three, Terry McLaurin leads the NFL in end zone targets. Yeah. And he's ninth and red zone targets. So they've I think they've thrown 13 touchdowns in that stretch.

They've thrown 11 in those seven games and he's caught six of them. So he's got that great end zone role. And then where do they rank in terms of pass attempts? They rank the 28.7 pass attempts per game in those seven games. That would be 25th in the NFL. But here are teams that are throwing less than that. Baltimore, the Chargers, the Vikings, Cardinals, Lions, Steelers, Eagles. You've got Zay Flowers on a team that throws less

than the commanders. You've got Justin Jefferson. You've got Amon Ra St. Brown. You've got AJ Brown on a team that throws less than anyone in the NFL. So this is usually a terrible stat. You don't get a lot of wide receivers who finished top 12 on bottom five pass attempts teams.

You're gonna get that this year, at least two. Well, we'll see if things change, but at least two of them. All right, this is from Addy, who's Dan Schneier's boss and kind of all of our bosses. Well, it would be nice if you knew how to pronounce it. Addy, I don't know why I said Addy. That's a friend of my son.

Okay, yeah, sure. I swear. What type of- It reminds me of the time when I called you Izer and you couldn't believe it. Bro, half the people that I'm friends with call me Izer. They don't- See, I told you it wasn't something

that was like unimpresident and how could anybody get it wrong? Like you asked me. Yeah, I saw this guy who's friends with, becoming good friends with now and he saw me out at dinner. He's like, oh, the Isers are here. And I didn't apply.

So just really an ego check. Like this guy obviously is not that good of a friend. That's my name. Adi says, what types of players do best as a team gives up on the season? Rookies like Brian Thomas Jr, running backs in contract years like Tuba Hubbard. Underneath guys like Wondell Robinson

as they get backup quarterbacks. Any thoughts on this? Yeah, I had a few that stood out to me. I was taking a look at it. I was kind of narrowing it down to, we have nine to win teams in the NFL this year, which is crazy. So I was looking at those teams specifically.

A few guys that stood out to me, the first one I wanna mention is Kayshaun Booty, the wide receiver for the Patriots. Obviously built a rapport with Drake May during training camp and during those summer months. It's carried over to some extent, though there hasn't been that breakout game just yet. But he led the Patriots in snaps this week. He's led them in snaps every week. I think you brought up the stat earlier, Adam, about how he I think he's the fourth most snaps. He's with all the routes. Routes. Routes. Routes run. So the snaps are there. He's got all the routes, routes, routes, routes run. So the snaps are there, the routes runner there, the reports there with Drake May, he's

somebody I would buy on. A deep guy I was thinking about is Marcus Tipton, the undrafted rookie free agent on the Saints who ran the most who had the most snaps and I believe ran the most routes for the Saints this week with Chris Olave out for potentially an extended period, maybe even on the trade block once out of New Orleans. Another team that's toiling away. Maybe that's something they try to feature. That's a player, Jalen Coker for the Panthers, though he didn't play the routes I was hoping he would. So maybe it's Xavier LeGate there. Mason Tipton. Mason Tipton. Sorry, not Marcus Tipton, Mason Tipton. Got that one wrong. Haven't watched him much. I know he had three targets with no reception.

So it's not like this is like a deep, deep, deep type of look, but these are just the types of players. And I would think players like Tyrone Tracy, for example, on a two win giant scene will continue to get most of the share as he has. It won't be a situation where they go back. Vegas is an interesting one. I couldn't find any backs. I liked their look.

They drafted, I believe loud was that who they got, but he hasn't really played much in a mirror of dual. I had 30 snaps this past game. So I think they there with Antonio Pierce, I wouldn't look too deeply into that one. Maybe we finally get some Henry Miller, but I think he's back on the IR as well. So I don't know if that's the play there either, but yeah,

I would look into maybe some of these younger backs and some of these receivers. I went back and I looked at the six or seven, the seven teams I think that had six or fewer wins last year, so the worst teams in football. If we could come up with anything and it really was a mixed bag. I think you look at the Chargers,

they lost Justin Herbert to a broken finger. So he legitimately was gonna miss that time. Keenan Allen on the other hand, I don't know if he was healthy enough to come back. He had a heel injury. He would be on the injury report and he never played after Justin Herbert's injury. There was no reason to. I think that happened with DeAndre Hopkins with the Cardinals a few years ago as well. So a veteran wide receiver or veteran

player getting injured on a bad team, there is definitely a concern of them sitting. And again, I don't know the medicals and I'm not saying that they sat out because of the record, but just common sense tells you they're going to be more cautious. They're certainly not going to play a guy if he's not. It's that one of those situations where, oh, it's a must win. He's playing. Obviously that doesn't exist anymore. On the other hand, Saquon Barkley for the Giants, he had a full workload late in the year. Arizona gave James Connor 26 and 27 carries in week 17 and 18. I think Breeze Hall had like 36 carries in week 18 or 18. I think Priest Hall had like 36 carries in week 18 or something like that.

So it is a mixed bag. I, yeah, I do worry about Alvin Kamara on this train wreck of a team because he's not a free agent. They did just give him a contract extension. How much do they wanna push him on a team that's going nowhere? And his value could be sky high right now.

So. Career high 35 touches for Alvin Kamara last week. on a team that's going nowhere and his value could be sky high right now so career 30 career high 35 touches for alvin kamara last week that was insane yeah and he's gonna lose touchdowns to tasom hill it is one of those you have to you have to get anything you want for alvin kamara but if people are valuing him as basically a top five overall player or something like that, because when he's had Derek Carr, he has been that. He has been that good. Then I think you might want to consider getting rid of him. I don't know, any final thoughts on this? Okay, nope. Man, I'm not telling you to just give up Alvin Kamara.

Just, you know, name your price. All right, Don says, "'How trash was Kyler Murray yesterday?' "'And how will he be rest of season? This is one of the film, the guys I got to watch on film. So I charted some of what he did and I know we're low on time, Adam. So I'll try to be quick with this. He had an early third and six hole shot on a deep out against a pre snap single high

look the bears rotated rotated too high. It was a great read by Kyler. Ball placing was inside off lacking velocity thought that was a miss by him later next drive third and six thought he missed Is a flowers pocket broke down. He stepped up into a sack then he had Harrison fumble kill a next drive Six straight one runs at one point for the Cardinals. I think they're a very run heavy team They're gonna remain that way a red zone missed to Michael Wilson where the ball placement was bad Quarter three 1209 pressure forced him off his landmark. He took away a chance for an explosive play downfield. I have route combos were getting wide receivers open.

I noted that in my notes multiple times. I feel like they're doing a good job getting receivers open. Sometimes Murray's just hesitant to pull the trigger. Second and six, 620 in quarter three for those who have NFL plus and want to look it up. He has McBride underneath in the red zone with Harrison running kind of a Clear-out natural pick there's space for McBride to roll to the end zone. Maybe one he hesitates doesn't throw it takes the sack later He has a third and seven 14 11 quarter four Harrison gets a one-on-one in the right hash So the first time he saw Harrison with a one-on-one With no safety over the help over the top and the ball just dies on Harrison. The footwork was really bad.

He falls away from the throw, needs to take a quick two, three step drop, doesn't takes it but just misses the throw. Just feel like he's missing stuff reads wise in the middle of the field. He doesn't read it well and the ball placement just hasn't been what I've been accustomed to or what I've hoped it for for Kyla Murray. He's still going to be a good fantasy quarterback. He's going to be able to run, but it's just, there's gonna be times where he makes it so frustrating for the passing game for McBride and Harrison.

And they do, they just run the ball. They throw 28 times a game. That's a career low for Kyla Murray. Jacob, let me give you two 17 game paces. Jalen Hurts, 3,770 yards, 21 touchdowns. Kyla Murray, 3,770 yards, 21 touchdowns. Kyler Murray, 3,385 yards, 21 touchdowns. It's about a 400 passing yard difference, same amount of touchdowns.

Rushing yards, Jalen Hurts, 684, Kyler Murray, 661, almost even. Jalen Hurts is on pace for 17 rushing touchdowns. Kyler Murray is on pace for four. Kyler Murray has zero carries inside the five yard line. Jalen Hurts has 10. Saquon Barkley has nine. Philadelphia has 21.

Arizona has six. So they're encouraging things for Kyler, but he doesn't score enough. And he's averaging like eight something yards per carry, which is crazy. And some of the reason he doesn't score enough is because of the red zone issues we were talking about. He missed the touchdown to Wilson. He missed the touchdown to McBride and he missed the touchdown again to McBride.

I'm not even talking about the wide open McBride when I'm talking about the one that I referenced where Harrison ran the clear out. So that's three potential missed touchdowns on Kyler. All right. Sorry, Jacob. Let's talk about the last topic here. And I do apologize for cutting this show short. Monday is kind of a day where I try to get some things done.

Katie asked about the quarterbacks with the best playoff schedules. Jacob, what do you have for us? That's all you, sorry. Oh, okay. Is that you guys want me to run this shit? This is an Azer stat. Let's let it rip.

Aaron Rodgers has a really good schedule coming up. Playoffs, rest of season, I mean it's really good. His opponents are 20th, 22nd, 19th, 3rd, and that's the Dolphins who are not that good. Jacksonville and the Rams. Dolphins, Jaguars, Rams in the fantasy playoffs, really good for Aaron Rodgers. Really good for Mason Rudolph,

but the big takeaway there is that Calvin Ridley has a very good schedule coming up. Bo Nix has a pretty good schedule coming up. He does have the Chargers in the fantasy playoffs, but he also has the Colts and the Bengals. Daniel Jones has the best schedule. Like the NFC East has really good schedules coming up for the most part.

The NFC West does not. Daniel Jones, incredible schedule. Dak Prescott, incredible schedule coming up. Jalen Hurts, great coming up, not necessarily in the playoffs. Kirk Cousins, his next three opponents rank no worse than seventh against quarterbacks. After that, I mean, the fantasy playoffs

for Cousins are the Raiders, Giants, and Commanders. Honestly, Commanders are 17th against quarterbacks. My personal opinion, Dan, back me up on this if you want. Watching them yesterday, I don't believe it. I don't think they're nearly as good as against the past as they have been lately. They do have a good pass rush though,

so you gotta keep that in mind. Mike Evans could be, has a good schedule. Bryce Young for what it's worth, has a really good schedule. Bad schedules coming up or in the playoffs, Josh Allen, Detroit, New England and the Jets. Those are his playoff matchups, two of them at home. Drake May does not have a good schedule after week 13.

Jamis Winston schedule is brutal. I don't know about the Saints. I don't believe in the Saints, but after that it's Pittsburgh, Denver, Pittsburgh, Kansas City for Jamis. Jared Goff, if that even matters, he's playing so well. Week 13, like Jared Goff's next three matchups are great. After week 13 though, or week 13 on, Bears, Packers, Bills, Bears, Niners,

all four of those teams are 12th or better against quarterbacks. Matthew Stafford doesn't have a great quarter, doesn't have a great schedule. And neither does Brock Purdy, but Purdy's to me feels like, kind of like I said, paper tigers, where like those teams aren't as good as what they are.

But NFC West quarterbacks, not great. NFC East quarterbacks, great schedule. Jared Goff, great now, not looking great in the playoffs, but I don't know that that really matters with how well he's playing. Kirk Cousins is a guy to get. Maybe Malik neighbors, maybe Dak Prescott if he's healthy. Aaron Rodgers, the Jets passing game has a real chance.

Calvin Ridley is a guy I'd highlight. So sorry to be so brief with everybody, but I do have to go today for Dan, for Jacob, I'm Adam. Have a great day everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today with The Way We Live.