Fantasy Football Today - Big-time injury updates, including Nick Chubb's season-ender (09/19 Fantasy Football podcast)

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Nick Chubb's season is over after a significant knee injury on Monday Night Football. Chris Towers and Adam Aizer break down the fallout from that, including whether Jerome Ford might be the biggest waiver-wire add of the season. Plus updates on Joe Burrow, Jamaal Williams, and more for Week 3.  You can also follow the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs. You can listen to Fantasy Football Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast." 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 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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It's having the spend to power your scale with no preset spending limit. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash businessplatinum. We got a bunch of injuries to talk about for week three. Next on Fantasy Football Today in five. Welcome to FFT in five. I'm Chris Towers. I'm here with Adam Azer.

And boy, there's not a lot positive to take away from Monday Night Football. And we're not really going to talk about the Monday Night Football games, except for, of course, Nick Chubb's seemingly very serious injury. He had suffered a serious injury in college, suffered a serious injury to the same knee today, had to be carted off. I'm assuming his season's done. This is just it's a real bummer. It's been kind of a messy couple of weeks to open the NFL season. A lot of injuries, a lot of guys missing time. And this is the most serious one so far.

Jerome Ford looked really good today. Rushed for 106 yards and 16 carries. Obviously, this is a Browns team that has run the ball really, really well for the most part over the past couple of seasons. Adam, do you think the Browns are going to roll with Jerome Ford as their lead RB moving forward? And is he the clear top target on waivers heading into week three? Yes, to both of those. And when I've looked at the last few years the chubb played 17 games last year but uh before that when he missed time i think in 2019 and 2020 or 2020 and 2021 i think remember how remember how good dearness johnson looked in this offense horrific you know and and not only that i mean

kareem hunt dearness johnson they were just the lead backs they did not share i mean it was very very very little role for a number two running back there. So they've shown in the past, they're willing to go now look, Kareem Hunt's different than Jerome Ford, but Jerome Ford had a 69 yard run today. He caught a touchdown. He went over a hundred yards. He had a really good day. I mean, this was his audition. Yeah. He's going to be the guy. I think the only one that really looms out there is, is Kareem Hunt. It makes a lot of sense for them to bring him back. at this point what does kareem hunt have left in the tank i think jerome ford might be the best waiver wire pickup of the season yeah i think he's the kind of guy that you have to be really aggressive if you have 90 of your fab budget yet he had a hundred dollar budget you have 90 left

he's a 70 i think you know and if you80 to $85, I wouldn't even fault you because there's that possibility. I just want I want to hear what they say after. And I do think there's a chance they bring back Hunt, which could be a problem. But this is that relationship seemed kind of done last year, though. Kareem Hunt asked for a trade down the stretch last season. He was really not very involved in the offense whatsoever. Remember, he was a guy that for a long time we always viewed as solid RB2 slash RB3 with huge upside if something happened to Chubb. That really wasn't who he was last season.

It's fair to wonder whether he would want to go back to Cleveland. I guess beggars can't be choosers at this point. And you don't expect like Pierre Strong to have any kind of role or at least not enough of a role to hold drum for back. The only question I guess beyond that is just, is this Brown's offense any good? I mean, it doesn't really matter.

I think if you're talking about a waiver wire running back, they'd have to go bad. I mean, we're talking about potentially a, a, a, I don't know about every down, but close to it.

My guy is going to average 17 ish touches per game, but is there, are they any good? They were not today. I mean, Watson doesn't look good. Their line got destroyed, destroyed up front by the Steelers. Jack Conklin already out for the season. Right. Tackle. Yeah, exactly. But that's a topic I think for a different show, because I just think you have to take the chance. And even with this bad line, he still had a really good game in as a replacement for Nick Chubb.

Yeah, I texted Jamie. I do the FFT newsletter and Tuesday mornings we do the waiver wire. And I texted Jamie, hey, can you send over your top five waiver wire guys for your column for week three? And he just sent Ford, Ford, Ford, Ford, Ford, Ford. The real one actually had Zach Moss as number two. I think Jerome Ford's clearly the priority over Zach Moss.

However, I might rank Zach Moss ahead of Jerome Ford for week three. Zach Moss played, I think, all but three snaps for the Colts this week. Seems like a pretty good situation for him as well. So that's one to keep in mind. But yeah, if you're talking long-term potential, Jonathan Taylor is probably going to be back around week five. So drum forward the clear priority there. A couple other injuries. There's a lot of injury news on Monday coming out of the NFL. Jamal Williams left Monday's game with a hamstring injury and just man, Kendrick Miller getting hurt right before week one ended up being really bad timing

because Jamal Williams wasn't good in week one, gets hurt in week two. This could have been Kendrick Miller being the lead back in week three right before Alvin Kamara's return. Instead, I guess Tony Jones, who scored two touchdowns today, rushed 12 times but only 34 yards. I don't have much interest in him. He'd be clearly behind zach

moss with alvin camara but could alvin camara be a top 12 running back when he gets back do you think the jamal williams injury matters at all there i think the fact that jamal williams wasn't really doing anything for a game and a half matters and i think i just from a waiver wire standpoint i think this does make tasem hill kind of kind of interesting as a streaming tight end for week three at Green Bay. He had nine carries, and he's definitely a goal line option. But yeah, no, this helps Kamara. And I was thinking about that top 12. Could Jerome Ford be top 12?

Can you name 12? In non-PPR, he might be. Yeah, the low-end RB1 range right now is pretty bad. Miles Sanders has been a huge disappointment so far. Travis ETN. I think the workload has been great, so I'm not worried about that. Deandre Swift is a low end RB one for me right now for week three,

but obviously longer term. We don't know Joe Mixon. That offense looks like a mess. Yeah, it was. I mean, right. So it's so when you ask,

can Camara be a top 12 running back? I mean, I definitely think just looking at the landscape, especially with Barkley and Chubb, Barkley for three weeks or so, Chubb for the season most likely out. Yes, I absolutely think he can be. And Jawan Williams has done nothing to take Camara off the field significantly when Camara comes back.

All right. You did mention Saquon Barkley's injury. We found out the MRI came back. Not a significant injury, but almost certainly out for week three. They play in two days on Thursday night, so not expecting him there. Probably two to three weeks is what it sounds like for Saquon Barkley. So not a long-term issue. If you blew 30% of your budget on Puka Nakua in week one

and you can't go get Jerome Ford, would you rather have Tony Jones or Matt Brita for week three? Oh, for week three, I'd rather have Tony Jones. But, but really, I don't remember.

There was a Thursday night game. I think it may have been a Thanksgiving game where Tony Jones, we thought he was going to get some run and he was absolutely horrible. So that could happen again. But I would say I was actually on the brita wagon for for a multiply week absence for barkley if there was one but he actually got out carried by gary brightwell last year in the two games that barkley either missed or barely played in so that gave me a little bit of hesitation uh i think it's pretty low-end stuff because you're

not starting them against the niners but i think think I would go with Tony Jones ahead of Breida because it really might be Brightwell getting more of the work. All right. We are seven days until this question is going to really matter. But I got a hot question for you, Adam. You ready? Yeah. Joe Burrow, uncertain for week three.

Rams and Bengals on Monday night next week. You've got to decide. This is a decision I have to make in one of my leagues. Puka Nakua, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins. Rank those three for week three if Joe Burrow doesn't play. I hate you. I'll say Chase, Nakua, Higgins. That's how I have it ranked. Chase is a Chase Nakua Higgins. That's how I have it ranked.

Chase is a low-end wide receiver one. I wouldn't want to bench him. Nakua's wide receiver 14 for me in week three. And I think we talked about it yesterday, probably a top 24 wide receiver moving forward. A lot to be excited about there. And one more, two more news items. Not going to spend much time on them. But Jalen Waterhouse in the concussion protocol coming out of week two that's a concern

heading into week three and it sounds like Devante Adams is not in the concussion protocol Josh McDaniels was asked about him he said he's good so hopefully he's okay he said Jacoby Myers is also progressing well so hopefully both of those guys will be available for week three but like I said at the top of the show, it's been a tough couple of weeks for injuries. It's been a tough couple of weeks for fantasy players and doesn't seem like our decisions are going to get any easier for week three. Sounds like Austin Eckler might actually miss more time as well. So we'll be keeping a close eye on that. Make sure you listen to the full episode of Fantasy Football today in your podcast feeds.

We'll see you tomorrow on FFT in 5.