Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Can Justin Fields Be a Fantasy Star? (10/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 bonus pod all right it took five weeks but the bears have decided justin fields is their guy going forward don't pay attention to the fantasy points from last week he played really well 11 of 17 209 yards only six fantasy points but he averaged something like 12 passing yards per attempt so he will start as of, rest of season beginning with Las Vegas here in Fantasy Week 5. Adam Azer and Heath Cummings to break it down for you on this bonus episode of Fantasy Football today. So Heath, what's your immediate reaction?

Starting point is 00:00:34 He's 59% rostered. Does he need to be closer to 80% to 100% rostered? Yeah, I mean, I think he should be rostered in any league where you're carrying backup quarterbacks because if things change with this offense enough, then there might be a point where he has some appeal. I am less excited about the potential of Justin Fields as a starting quarterback than I was before I saw two weeks of Justin Fields as a starting quarterback. Well, obviously the first week was just a disaster. Six of 20 for 68 yards. All those sacks at Cleveland. And the second week was with Detroit.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And Detroit's not good. And they lost Romeo Acquara in that game, who I guess was their best pass rusher. So maybe it was just a matter of being able to stand in the pocket. But I was encouraged by last week. He really threw the ball extremely well. Yes. And I think he is going to be a good quarterback at some point. The problem doesn't really have much to do with how Justin Fields has played.

Starting point is 00:01:33 It's that he's played two games. He threw 20 passes in the first game, 17 passes in the second game. You think, well, that's okay. He's a running quarterback. He has 21 yards rushing in the two games combined. They are, and maybe I'm hopeful that because they knew they'd lost David Montgomery for four or five weeks, they thought, you know, we can't just hand the ball off to our running backs 25 times. These guys aren't as good as David Montgomery. We're going to have to run a better offense and not just completely try to hide Justin Fields from everyone. If they unleash him a little bit, if they let him run the ball six or seven times a game and maybe throws even 25 passes a game, I'd be much more interested. I just, the way they've structured the offense the first two weeks, there's not hardly any quarterbacks who would be useful for fantasy with that usage.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Well, the one encouraging thing that, that not the one, but one of the encouraging things that I saw was Kyler Murray. His first two starts, he had 19 rushing yards in his first two. Yeah, 17. 17 rushing yards in his first two starts compared to 21 for Justin Fields. And in start number three for Kyler Murray, he had 69 rushing yards. So I think it could happen. Don't be surprised if Fields has a big rushing game. but also look, everybody's in your league is most likely pretty good at quarterback. So that's going to kind of dampen the enthusiasm a little bit.

Starting point is 00:02:53 So why don't we then talk about the other options? Let's talk about Alan Robinson and Darnell Mooney. Is this good or bad for them? I think it's definitively good for Darnell Mooney, just because he is so good getting behind the defense and getting downfield. And Andy Dalton just simply would not make those throws. Fields didn't the first week of the season, but he went downfield a lot more. And like you said last week, he was a lot better at it. So for Mooney, this is a good thing. It's weird because Mooney's actually been more productive played more snaps seen more targets than alan robinson so far they've functioned as if mooney's their number one wide receiver i can't imagine that will continue i don't know if this is good for alan robinson or not because i i don't know how if they're going to throw the ball even 25 times a game robinson's the guy that needs volume and i don't know if there's enough volume in that case. What about for Damian Williams? Now the outlook for the next four ish games,

Starting point is 00:03:47 I would assume that this will make him more efficient as a more efficient as a runner. I think it probably means less targets for the running backs in the passing game, just because low pass volume and hopefully running quarterback. So, and I, and I think there's a better chance

Starting point is 00:04:05 that Fields steals touchdowns for him. I'd call it a net neutral for Damian Williams or whoever the running back is. Who are some quarterbacks that you might have as a backup that you'd consider dropping for Justin Fields? Darnold, Daniel Jones, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins?

Starting point is 00:04:28 No. You'd keep all those guys ahead of him? I think I'd probably. The problem is, especially this week, I might start several of those guys this week. So it would depend. If it's a backup quarterback behind Kyler Murray or behind Patrick Mahomes or behind Tom Brady, then sure, I'd rather have Fields. I think they have more upside. If it's a backup quarterback behind Kyler Murray or behind Patrick Mahomes or behind Tom Brady, then sure, I'd rather have Fields.

Starting point is 00:04:47 I think they have more upside. If it's a backup quarterback situation where I'm kind of going back and forth between my starter and my backup, I'd rather have the other guys you said because I think it's more likely that I'm going to start them. I was thinking more along like I would definitely drop all of the bottom 10 quarterbacks, the Drew Locks, the Jameis Winstons, the Ben Roethlisbergers, the Carson Winces, the Mack Jones, those guys. It's tough.

Starting point is 00:05:10 I struggle with Trevor Lawrence, which one I would rather have on my bench right now, but it's probably Fields. Does this make it easy to prioritize Justin Fields over Trey Lance? I had that question in my DMs almost immediately after this was announced. And the way I said it was, I would rather have Fields on my bench.

Starting point is 00:05:28 But if Trey Lance and Justin Fields are both starting this week, I think I'd rather start Lance. Who's DMing you? Wouldn't it just be in your mentions? No, it was DM. I have lots of people DM me with questions. Friends of yours or just random listeners? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:44 Okay. Friends? Associates? Why don't they just text you? Twitter people? All right. Okay. people dm me with questions friends of yours or just random listeners okay friends associates why don't they just text you people all right okay there do they have your phone are these people who have your phone number or these just twitter friends um the person who dm'd me today does not have my phone number okay all right there are people i i dm people sometimes when i have their phone number yeah i'm, I'm not into that. I mean, you probably do it on your phone. You might as well just get their phone number.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Okay, last thing here. We've talked about Fields a lot. What are the chances that he is just so much better than he has been in his first two starts and that he really becomes the league-winning type of quarterback or maybe that's a little strong, but the big-winning type of quarterback, or maybe that's a little strong, but the big difference-maker type of quarterback that we were hoping for when we drafted and stashed him on draft day?

Starting point is 00:06:35 In the next month, I don't think those odds are very good because after the Raiders, they get the Packers and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think things might be rough in the Raiders, they get the Packers and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And I just, I think things might be rough in the short term, but long term, I think he has like a 20, 25% chance of being a top 12 quarterback in the second half of the season. I still think he's an accurate passer and he's extremely athletic. It's just been so discouraging, even like last week was better,

Starting point is 00:07:03 but even last week, so discouraging his offensive usage. You know, when you look at his next three opponents, Las Vegas, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, all three of them at this moment are missing their top, two of their top or their top two cornerbacks. Las Vegas had two defensive back injuries. I think they were already beat up and they had two in last week's game, in Monday night's game. Green Bay, Alexander's going to be

Starting point is 00:07:30 out a while. King's been out. I think he might be on his way back, but he's not that good anyway. Tampa Bay's got so many injuries in the secondary. I actually hadn't really thought about that aspect of it. And San Francisco, they have Mosley and now they have Richard Sherman. I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Tampa Bay? No, I'm sorry. No. Tampa Bay? No, I'm sorry. Yeah, he went to Tampa Bay. Right. No, but San Francisco, they have Mosley back, but their secondary is beat up too. So he's got this string of games against banged-up teams.

Starting point is 00:07:59 I don't think the path to Justin Fields being a good starting quarterback is based on the health of the opposing team's secondary though. No, but it's not necessarily bad matchups unless you're just going to say, you know, the pass rushes could, could really impact him like it did in Cleveland. I think the pass rushes could really impact him and they are mostly good run defenses and he's going to have to be good at running to be good for fantasy this year is my expectation. Okay. All right. Well, that's it for our bonus podcast. Justin Fields, 59% rostered as of right now.

Starting point is 00:08:28 We will see what that number is tomorrow. And we will talk to you tomorrow when we preview the AFC home games. For Heath Cummings, I'm Adam Azer. Have a great day, everybody. Talk to you soon.

Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Can Justin Fields Be a Fantasy Star? (10/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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