Fantasy Football Today - Eagles Injuries, Lions RBs and Downgrading Le'Veon Bell (08/31 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

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Another injury for the Philadelphia Eagles. This time it's Jalen Rager, another bad report for Le'Veon Bell and much more from around the NFL landscape. Fantasy Football Today in 5 starts right now. Welcome everybody. Today is August 31st. It is Monday morning. You're listening to Fantasy Football Today in 5, a podcast that gets you caught up fast on the fantasy news and advice that you need to know. Follow and stream us on Spotify and anywhere else podcasts are found, including Apple Podcasts and Stitcher and so many other places. I'm Adam Azer. I'm joined by Jamie Eisenberg. Let's start with that big news. Jalen Rager, a tear in his shoulder. He's out three to four weeks for now. What does this mean for the Eagles offense? And let's talk about Carson Wentz's fantasy value.

I mean, clearly it's a it's a downgrade for Rager, who was being drafted in the latter half of drafts, and now basically undraftable unless you know you're going to sit on him for a few weeks while he's out. And who knows if it's only three to four weeks, you know, based on the season being so close. So it's a downgrade for him. It's an upgrade for guys like Deshaun Jackson, Greg Ward,

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, and hopefully Ashaun Jeffery. We don't know if he's going to be back anytime soon, but the tight ends get a boost. Zach Ertz and Dallas Goddard, hopefully Miles Sanders and Boston Scott. But for Carson Wentz, it's just another hit. A guy that's dealing with a back injury himself, losing his left tackle on Andre Dillard. So the offensive line is banged up. The receiving core is banged up. He's banged up. He's still a low end starter, but now he's behind the elder Statesman of Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees. And Deshaun Jackson, I look week one is against Washington. He had a huge game in week one against Washington in 2019. He figures to be the primary wide receiver in week one. Where are you drafting Deshaun Jackson? Still in the same spot. You know, I, again,

we don't know how long Rager is going to be out. So the other side of that is Rager comes back. Jeffrey comes back, you know, Jackson doesn't necessarily lead this team in targets. I don't think he's gonna lead the team in targets, even if those guys are out for a significant stretch of the season. So I think Jackson's still a guy you're looking at in around eight at the highest round 10, probably is the sweet spot for him better in non PPR than PPR.PR but again if you do like that week one matchup which you should then he could be in the number three wide receiver conversation flex conversation and hopefully he's done this before it's not just Washington he has a big week one time and time again all right Cooper Cup has an ankle injury but not expected to be serious he's expected to

be fine so we'll skip that for now Jamie Eisen, are you ready for the offer of a lifetime? Okay. Do you want to be a New York Jets running back? I asked a Jets fan on Sunday if you could have, if you were Le'Veon Bell and you're getting $15 million a year to go through hell, or would you take $10 million a year to be in the happiest place on earth, what would you do? And the Jets fan said, well, you'd probably take the money

because it's the money. It's hard to overlook that type of scenario. And you hope you make the best of the best of a bad situation. But this is awful. I mean, you know, and I don't put this on Le'Veon Bell per se, as much as I do Adam Gase in the situation. If you're going to try and win games, you're going to try and lean on Le'Veon Bell as much as you can, not 37 year old Frank Gore. So Bell, I think is going to fall to a spot where he ends up probably being a good value pick for fantasy players, but his ADP right now, round three, round four, if you're still taking him in that range, you are drafting him as a stealer, not as a jet and certainly not as a jet in 2020. But the reports were that he's not running well, he's not looking good. So

where are you willing to take Le'Veon Bell? Who has to be off the board before you pull the trigger? Round five in PPR would be the earliest round six six in non-PPR, I'm taking Ronald Jones ahead of him in non-PPR. I'm taking Mark Ingram ahead of him. I might, at this point, take Raheem Mostert ahead of Le'Veon Bell in non-PPR, but Jonathan Taylor, David Johnson, Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, all those guys should be going ahead of Le'Veon Bell regardless of format. It's just not a good situation for him because if the receptions come down, we saw the rushing as bad as it could be last year. I don't know if it's going to be that much better. And again, Adam Gates likes Frank Gore. He's probably going to use Frank Gore more so than we like to see for, again, a guy who's 37

years old. And one final quick news item here, Jamie. DeAndre Swift, the rookie running back for the Detroit Lions, he's been out for about a week now. So carry on Johnson, should he be moving up draft boards? And when would you take carry on Johnson? A hundred percent, you know, carry ons now put himself in that round seven conversation, you know, again, regardless of format where Swift was going in the round five range. And so the gap should close. You know, I think Swift, the earliest is probably around six and carry on the earliest is probably around seven. But if you're looking for a guy to get off to a good start, Swift is probably going to have to earn his stripes. I think it's going to come in the passing game because that's

what they've been talking about using him in that regard. And, you know, carry on. They probably want to limit his touches because he has a hard time staying healthy, but similar to Marlon Mack, you know, if you're concerned about John Taylor, maybe having his workload increase as the season goes on and Marlon Mack getting off to a good start. I think those guys are very similar. I've always said they're very similar, but now I would say carry on ahead and Marlon Mack getting off to a good start. I think those guys are very similar. I've always said they're very similar, but now I would say carry on ahead of Marlon Mack because of the opportunity that he has as bad as this Detroit run game has been carry on, still going to lead them in touches while he's healthy.

And this could be a good opportunity for him. Also to bang up for more extensive fantasy football coverage. Listen to the fantasy football today podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Stitcher, your smart speakers or anywhere else. Podcasts are found. And thanks for listening to Fantasy Football Today in five, our debut episode. Great to have you along. This is your audio outlet for fantasy news and advice in five minutes or fewer. If you enjoyed the pod, please leave a five-star review

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