Fantasy Football Today - Five Big Topics! Michael Thomas, QB Overview, Second-Half Breakouts (10/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

We've got a recap of Seahawks-Steelers, focusing mostly on the dud WRs. How much do we trust Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf and Chase Claypool going forward? And we'll update you on the latest news and discuss the best RBs to add off the waiver wire (8:40) ... Are Chuba Hubbard and Josh Jacobs trustworthy or do you cringe when you put them in your lineups (16:50)? What will Michael Thomas do when he returns (23:00)? Is he a Top 12 WR? Top 24? ... Let's take a look at the QB position and compare it to 2020 (27:30). You might be surprised at how the 2021 QBs have done. Also, we give you a bunch of second-half breakout candidates (33:00) and predict what the Bears backfield will look like in Week 7 and beyond (39:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] 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 touchdown! Oh, he's done it again! Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Welcome to your Monday afternoon Fantasy Football Today podcast. Adam Azer and Chris Towers here. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button if you're listening. Also, go to YouTube and hit the subscribe button. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. We've got five big topics. We'll bring on Jacob Gibbs in a little bit.

We're going to talk about Michael Thomas. He could be back this week. Yay! Woo! And we're going to talk about, are Chuba Hubbard and Josh Jacobs trustable? Obviously, you have a bit of a shelf life on Chuba Hubbard. We hope, anyway.

But can you trust him in the meantime? And what about Josh Jacobs? We'll talk about the quarterback position on the whole, some second-half breakouts, and hopefully if we have time, the Chicago Bears backfield. Well, Chris, last Monday night was so incredibly fun, that Ravens-Colts game, the overtime thriller, the wins and the losses.

It's what fantasy football is about, so I hope we get it tonight. But just in case we don't, let's pretend that Sunday night was great too, right? Overtime, Alex Collins, Deontay Johnson. Yeah, that was a game. That game happened. What did you think of it? Let me ask you this.

DK Metcalf, Chase Claypool, and Tyler Lockett, how much faith do you have in them going forward? Oh, faith isn't a word I think you should use in this context, Adam. Faith has positive connotations. Look, I

think you probably start Metcalf, you probably start Claypool moving forward, but we talked about it, I think it was on Sundayay show before or maybe thursday when we weren't sure if tyreek hill was going to play and we talked about how micole hardman wouldn't necessarily just step into a bigger role um you know claypool is in a little

different situation because he was mostly only playing in three wide receiver sets so when the steelers went to two wide receivers he was typically off the field before Juju Smith-Schuster's injury. That'll be different moving forward. That was different last night. And he had seven targets. He just only was able to catch two of them. I think if he's getting seven targets per game, he's probably going to be a top 24 wide receiver, top 30 wide receiver.

But there are going to be games like this because he has a bad quarterback and he has a not always downfield role, but more of a downfield role than Deontay Johnson, certainly. So he's going to be less predictable and less consistent as a result of that.

And Ben missed him on a big intermediate. No, I guess you call it a deep ball. It wasn't like a bomb. It was late in the game. He was open. But I think, Chris, this whole question here about these three wide receivers.

Metcalf, let's get the stats for you. Metcalf had six catches for 58 yards on seven targets. Lockett had two catches for 35 yards on seven targets. And Chase Claypool had two catches for 17 yards. They all had seven targets. We have a question later. Who's a second half breakout. And two of my favorite candidates to be breakout second half guys would be

Devante Smith and chase Claypool. But I can't, I mean, they're, they have quarterback issues and that just can't be overlooked, you know? So it's, it's tough.

I hope we, I'm hoping for the, you know, we'll get to the Seahawks in a second. and it just can't be overlooked. So it's tough. I'm hoping for the... We'll get to the Seahawks in a second. Hopefully Wilson comes back sooner than later and solves this problem. But I guess, to sum it up, I still think that Claypool and Devontae Smithy want to loop him in there. Our starts most weeks, Claypool's played five games.

He's had 70 or more yards in three of them. He played 84% of the snaps. I'm not sure if you mentioned that. I know you mentioned the snaps went up. 84% of the snaps is really good, really encouraging. Just kind of had a bad game. So I have faith in him. I think he's a start most weeks.

But yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, got to learn a little bit of a lesson here. I can't just throw all my weight behind talented wide receivers who are getting volume but have bad quarterbacks or inconsistent quarterbacks, I guess. Yeah, and it's also the problem with any discussion of one game of a wide receiver, even when they have a role shift, is it's not like Darrell Williams, where you can just look at and say, well, he got 25 touches, and so he's probably going to be a must-start guy moving

forward if he gets that kind of role. Wide receivers, so much more goes into it because it's not just the quality of the quarterback play, the quality of the player itself. It's also defense. It's also just sometimes you win on a 50-50 ball and sometimes you don't. And that can be the difference between a big week and a disappointing week.

And so the thing you want to look for if you want to be consistent with wide receivers is have a process where you look at the quality of the targets they're getting the volume of the targets and just live with the ups and downs because there are going to be ups there are going to be downs that's true for every wide receiver in the league except for i guess jamar chase and vante adams um no no davante has had a few a few pretty disappointing games, actually. Cooper Cupp.

So just Schmarchase. Schmarchase. No, Cooper Cupp had one disappointing game. No, he had like 100 yards. He had like 90 yards or something. Okay. Pretty sure, right? But the problem with the Seahawks guys, Lockett and Metcalf, is a big part of their value came from playing with

not just one of the most efficient wide quarterbacks we've ever seen in the NFL, but also an incredibly accurate and productive deep ball thrower. And so Geno Smith only attempted three passes more than 15 air yards down the field. That's going to be an issue. If he's not going to be aggressive, and he probably won't be, certainly not to the extent that Russell Wilson is, it's going to make it a lot harder for Metcalf and Lockett to have those boom games. They're still going to be good ones, but they're not going to be nearly as productive or predictable as they were. I think Metcalf is more like a number two wide receiver moving

forward. And Lockett, I think I'm going to have him around 30 to 35 most weeks. Yeah. I think that's probably the safe bet. They have the Saints and the Jaguars and then a bye week. And then hopefully they're going to get Gino back after that. Or sorry, Russell Wilson back after that. But we just don't know. Meanwhile, you were absolutely right about Cooper Cup. He did have a bad game against Arizona. He did have 13 targets in the game, but five catches for 64 yards. He's been over 90 yards every other game. OK, and then the running games, games obviously Najee Harris is a must start he's a stud he's looking great even behind the offensive line top yards for carry money

no maybe maybe yeah I don't think so maybe who's better Christian McCaffrey's not playing right now I take Henry I take Cook Zeke Henry Eckler probably Aaron Jones Zeke, Henry, Eckler, probably Aaron Jones. Zeke over him? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Why not? Aaron Jones? I mean, Najee Harris is 100 yards, what, three straight games?

He's on pace for over 100 targets. You know what, Chris? It doesn't matter. He's in the tier. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. He's in the tier. He's top three for me. He's top six. He's one of the, never mind.

Just the offensive line really stinks, and it's not like he's running the ball so great. I think that's the only thing. No. He's top six. He's one of the, never mind. Just the offensive line really stinks. It's not like he's running the ball so great. I think that's the only thing. But he's terrific for fantasy, absolutely. And he's a great player. If he had a great offensive line, he could be tearing up the league. Deontay Johnson. He could be the number one running back in fantasy

if he had a good offensive line. With this role, absolutely. Deontay Johnson's a star. We know they're a fantasy star. And Alex Collins had a great game. You know, he had four carries for 19 yards in the first half. Pete Carroll said he wanted to run the ball in the second half. They came out and they ran it right down Pittsburgh's throats.

It was really cool to see. Very physical. And he ends up with 101 yards and a touchdown. But he might not play this week. Rashad Penny is coming off IR. So we've got a lot to talk about, especially on tomorrow's waiver wire show. And let's,

let's go forward to that. First of all, the newsletter, Chris writes to the CBS sports fantasy football today. Newsletter. It's definitely not called that. She's called fantasy football today, I think,

but the FFT newsletter, Chris writes it and please get it right into your inbox. Go to CBS sports.com slash newsletters to subscribe for that and all of our other newsletters. Injury updates, starts and sits, trades, everything. Delivered right to you every morning and sometimes in the afternoon. So it's good stuff. Please check it out.

All right, now, who are the running backs that you want to add off waivers? We've got Kareem Hunt's going to miss at least three weeks, probably more, with a calf injury. He's going on IR. Nick Chubb might be able to play this week, but maybe not. They've got a Thursday game against Denver, so we've got the Ernest Johnson. We've got Antonio Gibson getting an MRI on his leg. We've got

Latavius Murray getting hurt, and Devontae Freeman and Le'Veon Bell getting a bigger role, mostly Freeman until the final drive. We've got Alex Collins now questionable, and Rashad Penny perhaps coming into play against the Saints, who have been a great run defense so far. But they do give up fantasy points to running backs,

give up some touchdowns, some catches. Which running backs do you think are interesting on waivers this week? I think, so most of the backups who were really good this week were widely rostered. Did you say Alex Collins' roster rate? I can tell you, but 81%.

I don't think you sent the notes again. I didn't send them again? I think so. It's okay. I have not received them. Okay, I'll send it. He is 81% rostered. Yeah, so like him, Khalil Herbert, those guys were all awesome

and none of them really are available. So I think Dearness Johnson has to be the top running back and potentially the top player on waiver wire for week seven. I'm not sure how good he's going to be who'd you say johnson dearness johnson we don't have a really long track record with him he has been effective when he has run the ball in his career i think he's above five yards per carrier right around it but it's only 45 attempts or something like that so you know there's not a lot with him that we can go on, but

he figures to be the lead back. I think Dmitry Felton is also worth looking at. And I think I would probably prioritize both of those guys over certainly any of the Ravens running backs. Cause I just don't have any clarity on who it's going to be. Devante Freeman played, you know, like you said, he did most of it, you it. They got Le'Veon Bell involved in the fourth quarter and all that, but Freeman was only like 30% snaps, and I think that's probably going to be the case moving forward. You do? I think Chris Evans is an interesting flyer.

I think Tyson Williams is an interesting flyer. I wonder if they go back to him. I know he was inactive two of the last three games. Maybe. He's been inactive two of the last three weeks. So, like, I just don't know. That's really the thing is that I just have no idea if they view him as that kind of guy. Why would they have him inactive?

Because they have Latavius Murray. I think Le'Veon... If Le'Veon... Yeah, if Le'Veon and Freeman... I think they need to be added to the active roster this week. I think they've been on the practice squad long enough that they no longer, you can have someone activated from the practice squad, I think three times before you have to add them or, uh,

I think you have to let them go after that. So yeah, that'll, that'll be interesting to see if they keep both of those guys. Um, well, I'll just say, let me say, I mean, I, these, let me sum it up. Maybe Tyson Williams. These are the kind of waiver wire weeks that I really don't like because, first of all,

Felton, I mean, it's not Felton, Dearness Johnson, if you told me Chubb was out, then yeah, I'd be rushing to pick him up to face the Broncos.

Very good run defense. But, you know how the Browns want to operate. But Chubb might play. So, that's really a tough call there. And then who wants, who wants to pick up Devante Freeman and Le'Veon Bell at this point,

even on the Ravens, don't forget they faced arguably the worst run defense in football in week six against the chargers and, you know, they had some success. Who wants to really invest? Who's going to really believe in these guys. So I hate these kind of weeks

where you have to take flyers on these unappealing players. But there will be some options. But the problem is, the problem is you probably have to. Yeah, sure. There are some really, really big names on by in week seven.

Obviously, we have all of the injuries that we're still dealing with, but trying to pull it up man we got Najee Harris and Zeke and Eckler yeah Buffalo so Zach Monson Devin Singletary who are fringy but then Austin Eckler Najee Harris Dalvin Cook Ezekiel Elliott and James Robinson are all on by yeah you've got you've got uh like five of the ten running backs. Yeah, that's wild. Right, so you're going to need some running backs this week for sure. All right, we'll break it down.

Hopefully we'll have more info for you tomorrow when we do the Waiver Wire show. Oh, did you mention Washington? I mean, that's the thing. Like Jarrett Patterson, I don't really think, as of now, I don't really think I'm interested. I'm interested enough to pick him up, but I'm not spending more than 10% of my original fab

on Jared Patterson. I really think it's going to be J.D. McKissick more so. Yeah, but J.D. McKissick's probably not going to get more than 10 or 11 carries. Did he have any games with more than that last season when Gibson was out? I'm looking at the game log now. You tell me.

I think he was in the 12 range. Gibson got hurt in the Pittsburgh game and he missed the next two. He got hurt very early. His biggest game was 13 against Seattle in week 15. He had 11 the week prior. That was the only double-digit carry

of games that J.D. McKissick had in 2020. Yeah, and that's where I think he'd be. And then Patterson would probably be in the same range. But if he's not, I don't think he's going to catch a lot of balls. You know what I mean? It's like, what is it? What kind of a play is it?

I don't know. Okay. We've got Russell Gage. No, this might be the worst the running back position's ever been. Week seven of this season. I mean, I'm sure there must be another time, but it is a disaster right now.

Russell Gage back at practice and Calvin Ridley back at practice. Dak Prescott hurt his calf. Reportedly, he's going to be fine after the bye week. Also, he threw for the most yards ever against the Bill Belichick Patriots team.

Two quarterbacks could be on their way back this week, Terod Taylor and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Terod Taylor was very good in a game and a half, and Fitzpatrick got beat up pretty early in that first game in week one. And Lane Johnson, that's big for the Eagles. Right tackle, missed three games, focusing on his mental health. He'll be back this week.

Well, he'll be back at practice. I haven't seen if he will play. I assume he will. Richard Sherman will miss a few weeks with a hamstring injury. And this is something that if we had, even if we had a lot of time,

we could maybe talk about it going into next week. But it's something to keep in mind. I mean, a lot of the guys who were on the injury report late in the week had bad weeks.

And I don't know if that was coincidence. I mean, can you really hold it against mike williams when justin herbert really struggled um but mclaurin wasn't good uh who else that cadarious tony got hurt drive you know had the setback and justin jefferson you know was a little below his standards as well although then the other thing you could add would be adam thielen had his best game of the season.

Tyreek Hill had 76 yards on nine catches and a touchdown. So, you know, it was, it was hit or miss, but yeah, like it's not like McLaurin's the one I'm probably least surprised with. And I,

I probably should have moved him down in my rankings a little bit because he was added to the injury report on Friday with a hamstring injury. It wasn't something that he'd been dealing with. It was a new injury, and that's always a little more concerning. I don't think his role was

much smaller than normal in that game. Yeah, you don't know. You never know if it was just a coincidence or what, but I tend to ignore injuries with those guys play, basically, if the studs play.

Unfortunately, he got burned with Mike Williams and Terry McLaurin. All right, it's time if those guys play, basically. And if the studs play, you know? And, you know, unfortunately, he got burned with Mike Williams and Terry McLaurin. All right, it's time for our five big topics. Waiting for Jacob Gibbs to hop on. Hopefully, he'll be on joining us soon. I know he wants to talk about Michael Thomas. He was very excited to talk about the Saints offense. So, we'll save that until he gets on the show. And let's go with topic number two first.

And that was from e-money 8191 are chuba hubbard and josh jacobs trustable chuba hubbard and josh jacobs were both started in 72 to 76 percent of leagues hubbard only had one catch but he had 16 carries 65 total yards and a touchdown. Jacobs only had one catch, but he had 16 carries. And how many total yards? More total yards. He had 84, 82 total yards. 82, but 29 of them came on that one catch.

Right. He had 16 for 53 and a touchdown. And yeah, do you think Chuba Hubbard, obviously with McCaffrey out, and Jacobs are trustable going forward. I don't, I don't know what the word trust means, Adam.

Like within this context, I have no idea. Like, this is what I'd say. Every time I put Josh Jacobs, no choice. Every time I put Josh Jacobs in my lineup, I don't like it.

I don't feel positively about starting Josh Jacobs. Sure, but you'd feel worse if you didn't have him in your lineup probably because there are no good running backs right now. I sat him for Khalil Herbert this week, this past week. That was the right call. I would not do that this week against Tampa Bay.

I would start Jacobs against Philadelphia against that's a tough one man. Like if Damien Williams doesn't play it's going to be really hard to go away from Khalil Herbert just because he's going to have so many opportunities and even against Tampa Bay. I think it's going to be really hard for them not to give him the ball just because they really don't have anybody

you know, if Damien Williams doesn't play I would expect Damien Williams will play in which case I think you can probably you'd like to avoid both of which case I think you can probably... You'd like to avoid both of them. I think Williams would be a probably low-end starter because he might have a passing game role. But no, you're going to have to trust a lot of running backs

that you don't want to this week, just because of the nature of the position and where we are right now. And I think Hubbard is probably going to have to be a top 12 running back. I would, I would be surprised if I haven't done my rankings yet for, for week seven, I would be surprised to shoot Hubbard wasn't the top 10. Oh,

I love him this week. The giants are just awful. They're giving up the fifth most points to running backs, 4.67 yards per carrier to running backs. And if you're going to get 16 carries and they, it's not like, it's not like there's going to be a bad game script. I mean, maybe they lose or something. I don't know.

But it's not like they're going to be trailing, you know, and Hubbard's going to be out of the game. But I think his passing game role is a little concerning because it's been so inconsistent. It was like one catch. No, it was two catches, five catches like one catch no it was yeah it was uh two catches five catches one catch so i'm gonna just guess he doesn't have that many catches but i still think he's a must start against the giants and then at atlanta there was three targets on 41 attempts yesterday which is a pretty small target share um so no i'm not expecting him to be you know certainly not christ Christian McCaffrey. I think the Panthers are really missing Christian

McCaffrey. This is not a situation. I mean, obviously, I think they always miss him when he was out. But last year, Mike Davis played well enough and had that passing game role that they trusted him in that you could argue that it was a huge downgrade, but not like a fundamental change in the way their offense operated. I think Sam Darnold is really, really pressing without that a safety valve because yesterday, I mean, Robbie Anderson and DJ Moore must have

had five drops between them, which really didn't help, but also he's just forcing a lot of balls that he doesn't need to when he's pressured and we're seeing a return of the New York Jets version of Sam Darnold, which is bad for the offense as a whole but what'd you see what said what's that that rule said they're gonna they're gonna run basically said they're gonna run the ball more yeah yeah so look you don't you don't want darnell throwing 38 times a game you know they gotta so that gets another reason

to trust hubbard all right so we trust hubbard in the short term. Jacobs, you know, he's got a great matchup, then a bye, then a great matchup. Do you trust him? Yeah. I don't. He has been awful running the football. Right, but he won't be that bad moving forward. He's not going to be a 3.5 yards per carry guy moving forward.

And the biggest takeaway from this one that would be concerning for me with him is that you know he only had the one target after having five targets in consecutive games for the first time in his career kenyan drake also only had two so it wasn't like there was a dramatic shift it was you know they didn't throw their running backs as much so hopefully that means jacobs can at least be a, you know, a three to five targets guy moving forward. In which case I think he's probably going to be pretty close to a must

start running back. All right. We're going to take a break here. When we come back, we'll talk about Michael Thomas and we will not have Jacob, unfortunately, technical issues. He's unable to join the show,

but he gave me some notes for, to read. So we can, we can not have Jacob, unfortunately, technical issues. He's unable to join the show. But he gave me some notes to read. So we can talk about some advanced stuff about Michael Thomas and the Saints passing game 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. We are back and hopefully Michael Thomas is back this week. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. for his 30% target share to really matter. Sean Payton has allowed Jameis to be a bit more aggressive as the season has progressed.

The Saints only passed 36% of the time in neutral situations in the first two games. That's very low. The past three games, it's up to 50%, which is not great, but it's better. It was 61% in their last game. So that's the amount of times they were throwing the ball in neutral situations.

It has gone up. And they're throwing the ball downfield more as well. So that's the amount of times they were throwing the ball in neutral situations. It has gone up and they're throwing the ball downfield more as well. So that's important. And I don't wonder if that fits Michael Thomas, but I'll also say this on Jacob's note, you know, the first four games of the year for the saints were really just kind of weird. At least the first three days they blew out the Packers. They got blown out by the Panthers. They went to new England. They had a defensive touchdown. They, it was just a weird game. They didn't have to throw. They got blown out by the Panthers. They went to New England. They had a defensive touchdown. It was just a weird game. They didn't have to throw. They kept throwing 20, 22 times a game. Finally, they had more

of a normal game in week five. I think Jameis threw somewhere around 30, 32 passes. It was 30. Also, this is the problem, though. Taysom Hill got hurt in that game. He didn't come off the field, Jameis. That is a huge issue for me. It's the Taysom Hill thing, in that game. So he didn't come off the field, Jameis. So that is a huge issue for me,

is the Taysom Hill thing, and it's the fewer pass attempts. But what do you think about Michael Thomas? And we've seen Jameis unload some pretty nice deep balls. Is that going to fit Michael Thomas? I don't think Michael Thomas is going to suddenly become DK Metcalf or anything. But part of the reason I was excited about him

coming into the season was, well, one, I expected more pass volume than we've seen, which that's been wrong. But two, Jameis Winston is a much more aggressive passer than Drew Brees and certainly a better deep ball thrower at this stage of his career than Brees was. So I do think there's going to be room for Michael Thomas to hit on more plays. I don't think he's going to have the 140 catches or whatever it was in 2019. But I do think we're talking about a

guy who was actually pretty productive last season in not great circumstances playing through that ankle injury for most of the time that he was active. and he averaged 62 yards per game, which isn't great, but I believe he left two of the games with that injury and he was never really healthy, I don't think. So I think the situation is going to be okay for him. I think he's going to be dominating targets. I think him and Alvin Kamara might get 50% of the targets between them and that's probably the best thing for this offense. I'm not going to rank Michael Thomas as a top 12 wide receiver when he comes back, but I think in the top 24 range makes sense. You mean the first week he gets back?

When he comes back, yeah. Rest of season? What do you think rest of season? Top 24. Top 24. Would you rather have DK Metcalf or Michael Thomas? Oh, man. I think I rather have DK Metcalf or Michael Thomas? Oh, man. I think I'd rather have Metcalf,

but that could change with every week Russell Wilson-Mitts. Would you rather have DJ Moore or Michael Thomas? DJ Moore, for sure. How about Chase Claypool? I think that's where I would be Thomas. Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase. Just to keep the Chase thing going. I think that's where I would be Thomas. Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase. Just to keep the Chase thing going.

Chase Edmonds. Probably Michael Thomas. I'm not sure. Okay. Would you trade Daryl Henderson for Michael Thomas in a PPR league? Man, it'd be really hard to be able to trade a running back right now i don't know if anybody actually has that luxury but if you do i think i'd still rather have henderson the way they're using him is really really valuable all right uh anything else to say on this topic or shall we

move on i think we got it i'm excited to have mich Thomas back. Yeah, me too. That's what I'll say. And I think you should be excited if you've stashed him because there's obviously a huge upside there. And a really nice schedule too. Straight out of the gate. Seattle, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Tennessee, Philadelphia. Good schedule. Alejandro says, talk about how QB in 2021 is much lower in scoring than 2020.

Lots of QBs are underperforming relative to last year. Rodgers, Tannehill, Russell Wilson with his injury, Prescott. And that one I'd have to disagree with Emma Holmes. And again, I'd have to disagree with that one. Those guys are actually not underperforming compared to last year. It was an interesting question. It felt a little bit like that. not underperforming compared to last year. It was an interesting question. It felt a little bit like that,

but then when I looked at the numbers, it's pretty similar. What is your, you know, comparing at least the top 12 QBs this year to the top 12 last year? What's your read on the situation? I mean, we've got 10 quarterbacks averaging 25 points per game. We've got 13 of them averaging

at least 23 points per game. One of those is Tyra Taylor. So you take him out, it's 12 who are averaging at least 23. I don't think quarterback has been a disappointment. I think actually, if anything, streaming quarterback has been a pretty dismal experience so far, but there's also like, you know, Kirk cousins is averaging 25 points per game. He's at number 10. I don't think we expect that to continue. Um, I could see it though,

because it's, I could see it. It's really almost a full season. Now it's going back to the last eight games of 2020. And he was just outstanding. I don't think he's going to have like, he's on pace for, you know,

he's got 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. I don't think that'll be quite as disparate. I think, you know him and and tannahill i think are not going to finish in the bottom five and pass the teams anyway the vikings and titans are not going to finish bottom five and pass attempts this year but then you look at like james winston's uh 13 in points per game if you take out tyra taylor that certainly doesn't feel accurate it doesn't feel like james winston has actually been good he's just had three really big games i think that don't look sustainable um yeah but like joe burrow has been really solid the fantasy production hasn't been great uh but two touchdowns in every game i think he's going to be very good moving forward i think the problem is just that it feels like there's like 10 or 11 good quarterbacks and everyone else stinks.

I know that's not actually true, but there doesn't feel like there's that many guys you can trust. And I think that's the issue with quarterback, is that if you've got Mahomes, Brady, Allen, Murray, Stafford, I guess the thing with Prescott was the pass volume was low, and so there were a couple of games that weren't great. But I think generally speaking, there's still that high end at quarterback. And it's just, there seems to be a large difference right now between those guys and everyone else.

And it's made streaming especially difficult. Yeah. And this past week, I thought Heineke was going to have a good week uh darnold's really falling off uh derrick carr had two bad games probably when everybody went in on him and then probably and then they started dropping him and he comes back with a good game but dan jones looking like he's kind of turning back into daniel potentially. Baker Mayfield hasn't been good. One thing I thought was really interesting,

first of all, this is important to note, last year was the highest scoring year in NFL history. This is the second highest. But teams are scoring one fewer point per game less than they did last year. That's a pretty big drop. 24.8 to 23.8. Last year dropped from the start of the season.

The pace was slower later on. And the other thing I noticed was that if you look at the top 12 quarterbacks right now, if you remove Tyrod Taylor and you make Aaron Rodgers 12, this is per game scoring, per game, you make Aaron Rodgers 12 instead of 13. He's like one-tenth of a point behind Tyrod Taylor. So 11 of the top 12 quarterbacks right now per game

were drafted as top 12. The one difference is cousins has replaced Tannehill. Everyone else is, is hit, you know, some more than others, but we did a good job. Not,

not us. We, as a fantasy community did a good job drafting quarterbacks this year. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, I don't know.

It's been a real issue if you're streaming. And maybe part of it is that you could potentially have both Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts on your team. And so you're just frustrated with that situation

because maybe you're not making the right choice every week or we don't have Russell Wilson now moving forward, so that makes it a little shallower. There seems to be a perception that Patrick Holmes hasn't played well, but it's really just interceptions. We're seeing negative regression from his style of play.

He's always taken risks, and for the most part, he's gotten away with it. He hasn't gotten away with it as much this season, but he's also on pace for 51 touchdowns, so I don't actually think there's anything to be that worried about. I'll just end with this. If there's one gripe I could see about the high-end quarterbacks, particularly Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson,

and Justin Herbert, it's been boomer bust kind of weeks. Not like 15-point busts, but like 20, 22-point weeks. 13 points for Jackson when he played pretty well last week, but then he had the 49 points. He had a 33-point weeks. 13 points for Jackson when he played pretty well last week, but then he had the 49 points. He had a 33-point game.

So I think it'll even out. I think he'll be more consistent going forward, and I think the same with Josh Allen and the same with Justin Herbert, but that would be, I think, the only legit criticism. All right, here we go to the fourth question, fourth big topic from Stott. Second half season

breakouts. Who you got? So Michael Thomas feels like an obvious one. I'll also throw in I'll keep banging the drum for Chase Edmonds. I think T. Higgins is a really nice second half breakout. We talked about him on the FFT video show earlier today

and there does seem to be a little bit of concern. His production hasn't been there since he returned from the injury, but I think he's going to be just fine. I think the Bengals are probably going to throw the ball more in the second half than they have so far. I think Higgins is going to be a very good fantasy player moving forward. If he is, I'm sorry to interrupt because I did want to talk about this.

If he is, I think it's going to be because they have to throw more. And if they do throw more, if they're not the slowest-paced team, then Burrow is going to have a great second half because he's playing so well and he's got the weapons. It's just the volume issue. He's basically been Aaron Rodgers since

week one. Rodgers was terrible, but he hasn't had the huge blow-up game like Rodgers did against Detroit. But yeah, I mean, I think Burrow and Higgins are very linked because they just need to throw the ball more. Yeah, I think Darren Waller, I mean, I don't know how much of a hot take that is, but I think he's going to be better moving forward

than he has been so far. I'm not worried about this slowdown right now. I'll still go with Javante Williams. I still think that's going to happen at some point, although it's going to have to happen relatively soonish, and I'm not starting him at this point. But I figure they've got to move on from Melvin Gordon and feature Javante Williams a little more.

He looks much more dynamic. So I'll go with him. I'll go with him. I'll go with... Miles Sanders. Who? Okay, let's talk about him, Miles Sanders. I know Heath is really, really high on Miles Sanders right now. One more thing on Tee Higgins,

because I think Jacob actually listed Tee Higgins as a second-half breakout. He's been targeted on 23% of his routes. That's the highest rate among all Bengals receivers this season. He also has Patrick Bateman now. Rashad Bateman. 27% target per route run in his first game. That's really high.

So that's exciting. And then let's talk about Miles Sanders. It sets up for that his his schedule vegas lions chargers chargers with i would say the worst run defense in football uh it's really good i don't trust it though i just don't trust it it's it's been sure it's it's like i get it i'm not i'm not saying yeah i'm buying low i'm you can buy low on anyone if you're not giving up anyone you like. But I'm just not – I am really confident in Keenan Allen. The way you're confident in Darren Waller and Keenan Allen apparently,

we're all very confident in Keenan Allen. I'm not – and Miles Sanders is never considered to be Keenan Allen, but I think everybody gets what I'm saying. I don't have that confidence in the Eagles to give him the ball enough for him to score the touchdowns when you still have Hurts as a threat near the goal line. So I just would be cautious. It's like it makes sense and I hope it happens,

but I can't be convinced of it. Yeah, the case for him is mostly just going from, you know, he's had the three games with two seven and nine carries, which were, you know, pretty much all high scoring losses. Um, one against Tampa, one against Dallas,

one against Kansas city. Those are, you know, not necessarily all tough matchups, but tough situations for a guy whose team is willing to go away from. So I think what the, the hope would be just, he continues to run the ball efficiently as he has throughout his entire

career. And it's more like the 11, 15 and 13 carry games. Obviously you hope for a higher floor and a higher ceiling moving forward. But if he can be more like 14 carries per game moving forward, I think he can be very good. And that feels realistic. I don't know if I expect it. I don't know if it's the most likely outcome, but I think it's entirely within the realm of possibility and it gives him upside. One more breakout. I think it would be a pretty quiet breakout. I don't think it's going to be a league winning one, but it could be a flex worthy one. Teams tend to start featuring players

that they like coming out of a buy. Maybe that's just anecdotal. I don't know, but it feels that way. Michael Carter starting to carve out more of a role and hopefully he can you know give you some good games down the stretch he doesn't have the upside that Javante Williams has but the the players that typically really break out are rookies you know they are young players at the very least so we saw it last year with basically every rookie running back Carter might have that six game stretch at some point let's's hope. And final question. I think generally speaking, rookies and especially like Elijah Moore is someone who could have a second half breakout.

I still think Rondell Moore is someone who I think will have a bigger role moving forward. And you know, Bateman's another one, Tony, if he can get healthy, I think those kind of slow starting rookie wide receivers, and you can even throw Devante Smith

and Jalen Waddell in there. I think the return of two attack below is obviously very good news for Jalen Waddell. I want to check roster percentage on one guy who I actually picked up in a 10 team league on Saturday and that would be 76%

Kenny Galladay. Last time he was healthy, he had 116 yards. So don't overlook him. For what it's worth, I think Sterling Shepard's the top waiver wire target this week. I think he should be universally rostered. He's only 64%. I would pick up Galladay, though, first, if they were both available. I don't know about you.

What would you do? I don't know about you. What would you do? I don't know. Maybe. Just the way Sterling Shepard's been used since he got moved into the slot. It's, what, nine targets or more in all three of the full games he's played. Yeah.

Yeah, I just love the way they're using him. All right, last topic here. Timeshare in the Chicago backfield? And that would be very relevant with Damian Williams, hopefully back this week. But Khalil Herbert, I watched all of his carries. Very impressed. He seems like a tough guy to bring down.

Made some really nice runs. 19 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown against Green Bay. He has the, what did I say yesterday? I think the longest running back carry against the Packers in the last 12 games, maybe 13, dating back to last year. What do you think? Timeshare coming back? Yeah, I think so. Because that's what we saw in the first week, first of all,

is that when they were running the ball late in the game to try to seal away the win, it was Herbert who was getting all that work. Seven of his carries came in the fourth quarter I think and um so yeah I think this will be a timeshare I think Williams will be the leader and I think he'll have more touches and more valuable touches but I think Herbert's going to be involved the bad news uh given that it's going to be a timeshare but just bad news in general Buccaneers 49ers Steelers Ravens in the next four weeks. And a bye week.

Do they have a bye? Yeah, it's Buccaneers, Niners, Steelers, bye week, Ravens. Okay, that's right. And here's the thing. I think when Montgomery's back, personally, I don't expect a timeshare. Now, we'll see what happens at that point,

but I would think they just go back to featuring Montgomery. I know. I think it won't be a timeshare at all as we'll see what happens at that point, but I would think they just go back to featuring Montgomery. I know. I think it won't be a timeshare at all as soon as Montgomery's fully healthy. Maybe the first week he's back, they ease him back in, and that could be that Week 10 game against the Ravens. That was the initial report, at least. But once

he's fully ready to go, and hopefully that's at least Week 11 against the Lions because, oh boy, I think he'll be the lead back again. So hopefully, you know, Williams comes back this week and we just give it, it's easy to say,

okay, sit these guys against the Bucs and we can kind of see how it plays out and get a better feel for it going into that San Francisco game. But I... Unfortunately, it might be hard to actually sit them. It might be,

but I'm going to try my damnedest. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Chris. Really appreciate your time. I'm going to try my damnedest. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Chris. Really appreciate your time. Thank you all for watching and for listening. And we will talk to you

tomorrow with The Waiver Wire on Fantasy Football Today. Make sure you listen to Fantasy Football Today in five. Tonight, Chris and Dan Schneier will recap Monday Night Football and drop it at 3 a.m.

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