Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Mixon, Deebo, Nico and More (10/12 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Get ready for a big week from Matthew Stafford! We tell you who we love this week (1:40) and who we're avoiding (4:18) as we explore the problems with Geno Smith and the Seahawks passing game. We have a lot of news and notes (11:30) as well ... One Question for Each Game (21:05)! Can the Browns slow down the 49ers offense? Can we trust Nico Collins this week? Are we starting Zay Flowers? Joe Burrow? ... Start or Sit for Saints-Texans (28:35), Colts-Jaguars (36:50), Seahawks-Bengals (42:15), Ravens-Titans (50:25), Panthers-Dolphins (57:40), 49ers-Browns (1:02:40) and Patriots-Raiders (1:08:50) ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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 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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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And week six begins tonight in Arrowhead, Denver, Kansas City. We previewed that game yesterday. We've got seven more games to talk about today. Seven AFC home games. You know, I try to separate it as much as I can, as equally as I can. AFC home games, NFC home games, they're not always even. Trivia question, how many NFC home games do we have?

Yeah, I'm going to thank you, Morgan, for the comment. I'm feeling better. I want to thank everybody for all the well wishes. Really appreciate it. Do we? Yeah. Thank you, Morgan, for the comment. I'm feeling better. I want to thank everybody for all the well wishes. Really appreciate it. Super nice of you. How many NFC home games do we have this week? Five. Four.

Tough to do an even show in that regard. Only four NFC home games. Minnesota at Chicago. Washington at Atlanta, Arizona at the Rams, and Detroit at Tampa Bay. The AFC... That would leave you with minimal choices

to get Dave tomorrow. I know. I had to move some of the AFC home games over to the Friday show, but the AFC has the extra home game this year, so I guess this week is kind of a big part of that. But this week, we've got New Orleans at Houston.

Pretty fascinating matchup, I think, there. Indianapolis at Jacksonville. Seattle at Cincinnati. Baltimore at Tennessee. Carolina at Miami. San Francisco at Cleveland. And New England at Las Vegas. Let's get right into it, Jamie. Who's it going to be this week? It's going to be Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford is the start of the week for week number six. And yes, I'm wearing a hat today. Thursday hat. I'm excited about Stafford. He's number nine quarterback for me this week.

Several things at play. Coming off his best performance of the season, obviously coincides with Cooper Cup coming back, 20.9 fantasy points. Taking on the Cardinals, they've obviously been very good for quarterbacks this season, three in particular. Best game of the year for Joe Burrow against Cardinals last week. Best game of the year for Daniel Jones in week two.

And Brock Purdy also had over 23 fantasy points. And he's got a very good history against the Cardinals, as you would probably expect, averaging over 23 fantasy points in his last five against them. Only three of those have come with the Rams, though. But still, I like the setup for him. I think this is going to be a breakout game. I hope it's a 303 type of performance for Matthew Stafford. Okay. Heath, how about you? Who do you love this week?

I love Jordan Addison. I think he is a top 20, maybe top 15 wide receiver for as long as Justin Jefferson is out. I expect him to be a near full-time player. Hasn't been that so far this season. He's basically just been playing on three wide receiver sets. I would not be surprised over the next four to six weeks that Jefferson's out if Addison averages 10 targets per game. And he gets the soft landing spot for his first game as a full-time player.

He gets to face the Bears. Yeah, and K.J. Osborne, Heath, let's make that decision. landing spot for his first game as a full-time player he gets to face the bears yeah and i you know kj osborne heath let's let's make that decision i'm gonna let the audience make it for us here i put up a poll this morning kj osborne or remandre stevenson half ppr it's not even close right now it's kj osborne 62 of the vote kj i wanted to to look and see how far I actually have them apart in the projections. Because I'm kind of excited about Ramondre Stevenson, even though I don't have him ranked as a top 20 running back this week. I think this will be his best.

It's six-tenths of a point. I've got one of them projected at 9.89, one of them at 9.25. So I don't actually care that much. All right, good. But I do think that there's a lot of upside for Stevenson. If the Patriots can get anything going at all, this is a fantastic matchup. And I don't really know that Osborne's target share spikes that much. I still think he's going to be third on the team in targets.

Okay. But are they going to be as pass-heavy as usual? Probably not. Okay. All right. Well, get out there and vote, people. Osborne versus Stevenson. Well, there's probably 20% of people who just chose the top option

because they wanted to see the results and didn't have any way to see the results without clicking on a name. Okay, 20%. That's a lot. That's a lot of people. Who are we avoiding this week? Heath, you want to go first? Yeah, and I think I'm on an island on this one,

but I'm kind of scared of Geno Smith. Hasn't been very good this year, and the Bengals have given up 20 fantasy points to two quarterbacks, one of them to Sean Watson because he ran for a touchdown, one of them to Lamar Jackson because he runs a lot. You look at a couple of guys who have scored almost exactly the same number of fantasy points as Geno on a per-game basis this year,

Matthew Stafford and Joshua Dobbs, they both scored 12 points against this defense I'm just I'm not feeling it with Gino I I generally agree that it's it's tough to trust him but I do find myself falling into the narrative of this is going to be a shootout because I think what we're going to see based on what the Bengals showed us last week is as good as Seattle's defense has looked at times I think the Bengals offense if they're right and he looked right he's going to score on anybody and so I think we're going to see a shootout in this game and I know it's not a high point total but it is one of the higher point totals of the week you know it's uh 45 I think there's like three three or four games that are 45 or higher. Yeah, Burrow, we broke it down on

Monday where Dan and Jacob Morso were really kind of skeptical of like Joe Burrow is back. And I don't know if you guys had a chance to watch, but it was still I know he threw the ball deep a few times and successfully. It was still

a lot of super, super quick throws. He had the fourth lowest time to throw or the fourth quickest release, basically, in the NFL in week five. Burrow has the quickest time to throw all season. Right, and that is, I think, the formula against Seattle, right? Like, they're going to give you those underneath throws,

and if he can be precise, that could work really well. But I do think it would lead, it would almost be like an Atlanta situation where it could lead to a lot of 14, 15, 16 play drives, where if Joe Burrow's completing 70% of his passes, like he should on those types of passes, they might dominate time of possession. It would be really weird to see Seattle only run like 50 plays in a game. Yeah. But at the same time, at the same time, he did throw. He scrambled. He had a really nice scramble, which was not

something we saw earlier in the year. He escaped two sacks. So he definitely got better. I don't think he was back last week, but I do think there's a chance he's back this week, Burrow, because he keeps saying he's getting better, you know, and it turned out to be true last week. So hopefully he's better. I did want to bring up Geno Smith, though, because not only are you low on Smith, like you're a lot lower on Metcalf and Lockett and Heath.

And one thing I noticed with Smith, I was kind of trying to figure it out statistically, the deep ball. Last year, he was just arguably the best, maybe behind Tua, second best deep ball thrower in the NFL. He's not doing it. He has the lowest air yards per pass attempt in football. So that's missing. The Seahawks, they had 11 rushing touchdowns from their running backs last year in 17 games. They have five this year in five games. They are one of the most run-heavy teams near the goal line this year.

They were very low in that. They didn't have a lot of goal line plays last year, I think like the second fewest. So they're scoring more rushing touchdowns. He's not throwing deep, and he's running for like 15 fewer yards per game. So I really didn't know what's going on with Geno Smith, but if you want the statistical breakdown, it's that.

No more deep balls. I don't know what the hell is going on there. No more running, and Ken Walker's just cleaning up at the goal line. Well, I think at least one or two of those are related to it. And we talked about this on FFT Dynasty. Like they came into the year planning on playing a lot more three wide receiver sets and then lost both their offensive tackles right off the bat. And so they've had to play a lot more two tight end sets to cover that up.

I think they've had to get the ball out quicker and not been able to throw as much deep. And they've done a great job of masking it. Like the offensive line hasn't really hurt them that bad. But I don't think that's because the backup offensive tackles were so good. I think it's because they schemed around it. And like, another thing is, I don't think,

the impression is that JSN hasn't mattered because he hasn't done anything. But it's just that all of his targets are an 8 out of 3. He's still seeing 5 or 6 targets a week. And I do think that matters a little bit to Metcalf and Lockett. Okay, Jamie, who is your player to avoid this week? I'm a little bit nervous about Amari Cooper. As we saw prior to their bye week, week four,

no Deshaun Watson, even though it was a home game, and I know it was against Baltimore, and we're kind of, how are they getting it done? Well, that's part of the reason why they played a backup quarterback in one of those matchups against receivers. You keep bringing up how the Ravens have done against receivers this year.

It's not an easy matchup by any stretch, and I think we're going to see Cooper have another tough game if PJ Walker starts I think he'll be better than DTR from a passing standpoint just because he's more experienced but I don't think that necessarily means

that Amari Cooper is a must-start fantasy receiver this week so three receiver leagues hard to get away from him but two receiver leagues I think you can mention it's interesting if Deshaun Watson does play in this game against San

Francisco, and I really hope he does, because we know 49ers are legit contenders. Are the Browns legit contenders? These two teams are top three in all the key defensive metrics. If Deshaun Watson plays, you've got to figure probably not 100%. Is Amari Cooper a must-start in that scenario?

No, that's part of it, too, is that he's dealing with a shoulder injury. So, I mean, if he plays, I'm sure he'll get the shot and he'll be out there as best he can. But in terms of how he'll perform from a throwing standpoint, I would be nervous because as we've seen this year when he's been under duress and pressured, he hasn't exactly been the best Deshaun Watson.

So, Cooper just, like I said, makes me nervous. And one more thing about Geno Smith. I forgot Charles Cross left tackle did practice this week, so they could get him back. Just one more thing on Geno too. Look who they played. They haven't had to do very much from a throwing standpoint. You know, the one game they were tested, really,

I know they lost the first game against the Rams, but the Rams, as you noted, he dominated time possession in that game, was the Lions game, week two. Otherwise, it's Carolina and the Giants. Actually, he scored like nine points in overtime of that game, Geno Smith. He had this massive overtime.

It was like a little Russell Wilson there. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. We'll see you tonight, 7. All right. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. We'll see you tonight, 7.30 p.m. Eastern. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. Live stream to get you ready for the game and get your lineup set before Thursday night football. So join us there.

You can watch all of our streams. You can watch the Dynasty show. You can watch the DFS show. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. Also FFT and Five. And please send us your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. If you want to send us Apple podcast questions to be read on the mailbag, your best bet is to do it early in the week, like a Monday or a Tuesday. So they populate in Apple.

Otherwise, I have a hard time seeing them, unfortunately. But thank you for all of your Apple Podcast comments and questions. Five-star reviews are great for us. It helps us grow our audience. News and notes. All right. Daniel Jones missed practice. They're at Buffalo on Sunday night.

Joe Burrow says his calf's getting better and better. Anthony Richardson could be out four to eight weeks. And actually, Shane Steichen. Steichen, right? Steichen. Steichen. damn it. It's like I thought, but then I thought you guys corrected me earlier,

but I guess I had said Steichen earlier. Okay, anyway, he didn't rule out missing the rest of the season. I don't think, you know, he didn't rule it out, but let's just say 48 weeks for Richardson. Deshaun Watson missed practice and Derek Carr practiced in full. I'm not sure if you guys got a chance to see Derek Carr,

but a noticeable improvement from week four to week five. Certainly not going to say he's all the way back, but all the numbers in terms of his deep passes, his ADOT, a different quarterback than he was in week four. Definitely encouraging. Just throw it to Olave. You know, I didn't know this until I watched it this morning. quarterback than he was in week four. Definitely encouraging. Just throw it to a lobby. You know,

I didn't know this until I went and I watched it this, this morning. Uh, very, two very close, you know, almost big plays for a lobby. The last throw of the game that car made was so close to being a 30 yard touchdown at Chris Olave.

Uh, they just missed on it. So yeah, I do wonder, like, what's the ideal, in their mind, split between Olave, Camara, and Michael Thomas in targets?

75% to Camara. I mean, look, it's probably and then factoring in the other guys, Shahid and the tight ends. Probably, I still think slanted in the favor of Olave, I hope. That's kind of like, I think it's difficult in a,

certainly not a high-volume pass offense, maybe an average- average volume pass offense. If you are not dominating targets and your quarterback is Derek Carr, I'm not sure Olave can live up to his ADP in that scenario. Well, I think with him... But he was before the shoulder injury and Kamara coming back.

That's the thing. Right, but Kamara only had three targets last week. Carr threw 26 passes. They won 34 to nothing. He threw 33 in week one. He threw 36 36 in week two he threw 37 in week four i don't remember the game script against green bay in week three uh but he threw only 18 passes there i don't know that they're so run heavy but well no i said i said maybe average it's not gonna be high uh-huh like it's between low and average and there are at least there's definitely four guys getting at least four targets every week i would think yeah

uh well i think you know the good thing with olavi is a lot of his targets are are big plays right he right he makes up for in that regard uh running back devon achan is on ir jeff wilson has been he's eligible on IR. Jeff Wilson has been, he's eligible to come off. He's back at practice. He's got three weeks to be activated. Is there any other Dolphins running back that we should be adding right now? Wilson is 72% roster.

I guess if you're desperate, I would probably look at Ahmed first because at least he's been used a little bit in tandem in the first couple of games, or at least definitely week one. I think he got hurt in week one, but no,

like we have two teams on a buy and we're getting a little bit healthier. The position. Okay. Yeah. I, I think in a, in a, and this is just really for dynasty,

but a deep dynasty league, Chris Brooks has some interest. Mostert, Wilson have significant injury problems, and Brooks has a lot more potential upside than Achmed. Achmed would still get more carries, but Brooks could be the eight-carry, 60-yard guy. I don't know the timeline for Devon Achan, and I'm not sure how you guys are feeling about that. Again, it's another one where they didn't rule out a very lengthy absence here. Do we have any idea how long Achan might miss?

I think it's been very vague. So you have to just go with the four games and then hope that he's back. But if the Dolphins' season continues to go the way it goes, they're going to, I'm sure, try and be cautious with him and make sure if he is coming back, that he's coming back for a playoff run. I think

if you're under 500, you've got to sell. Javante Williams is off the injury report, so he will probably play tonight, and that means avoid them all? I would try to. I still like McLaughlin the best, but they're all flex

at best options. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead. No, I agree. I just thought you had disappeared. You don't want to know why I'm disappearing. So Saquon Barkley was limited at practice. Well, now we have to know.

Well, you know, I still have a bit of a runny nose. Okay. So I tend to that. Jonathan Taylor is going to get more work this week. We'll talk about that game. Jameer Gibbs, mispractice, Arizona running back.

Keontae Ingram was limited with a neck injury. He was also limited in two practices last week, but he didn't practice last Wednesday. So Keontae Ingram may be making some progress trying to return to the fold. You could maybe pick him up. He might, he might, I can't rule out if he plays.

You saw the report yesterday, right? No. Uh, they listed him first on their depth chart. Oh, okay. So we know how depth charts go. But that sent a lot of people into a panic who all spent all this fab on Demarcato.

But yes, I think it is worth adding Keanu to Ingram just in case. If Ingram plays, I think it's almost like a Broncos situation this week where you don't really want to startgram just in case. Rashawn Johnson still in the concussion protocol. Khalil Herbert mispracticed, but he has not been put on IR yet. That's good. Miles Sanders mispracticed with a new injury, a shoulder injury. No indication that he's going to miss time, but obviously Miles Sanders is beat up. They have a bye next week, right? I'm not sure. I'll check. I think so. DK Metcalf mispracticed with injured ribs.

He'll play through that. T. Higgins was limited. That's great news. Get on the field, T. Higgins. Amonra St. Brown has a good chance to play. Mike Evans coming off the bye. Mispracticed with a hamstring injury. So that's not good.

Zay Jones mispracticed. Tank Dell mispracticed. He's almost certainly not going to play Tank Dell. Devontae Adams mispracticed. Jacoby Myers was limited with a wrist injury. I'm sure we're expecting both of them to play. Two Patriots wide receivers, Juju and Demario Douglas, are in the concussion protocol.

Chris Olave, don't forget he had that toe injury. He was limited with a toe injury. And Marquise Brown mispracticed with an illness. Greg Dolcich is questionable. Travis Kelsey is expected to play. Cole Komet was limited with a hamstring injury. Darren Waller mispracticed, but he said it was a rest day. He should play.

On the offensive line, Laramie Tunsell left tackle for the Texans. He mispracticed, but he should be fine. He played every snap in Week 5. Baltimore could be getting their right tackle. Morgan Moses back. He was limited in Wednesday's practice. Jacksonville guard Walker Little mispracticed. I mentioned Seattle left tackle Charles Cross practiced.

Two Rams starting linemen, Joe Noteboom and Kevin Dotson. Although Kevin Dotson, I don't think he was originally a starter. I think he's a backup who has become a starter. He actually had some pretty interesting comments about the difference between Mike Tomlin and Sean McVay. He got traded from Pittsburgh to the Rams. Anyway, they both missed practice. Okay, other news. Carolina could traded from Pittsburgh to the Rams. Anyway, they both missed practice. Okay, other news. Carolina could be getting

cornerback Dante Jackson back. Their best corner. Jeffrey Simmons, Tennessee defensive tackle. He missed practice with a shoulder injury. He played through the injury last week. Their run defense wasn't great. Chicago safety, Eddie Jackson was limited. Seattle safety, Jamal Adams is going to play.

Some key interesting injury notes for the Eagles. Darius Slay mispractice starting corner, but N'Kobe Dean, linebacker, and Fletcher Cox, defensive lineman, they were limited. Detroit defensive back, Brian Branch, mispractice. That's pretty much all. Arizona safety, Jalen Thompson.

He mispracticed, and that's just only better news for Matthew Stafford. When we come back, I'll get my voice back. And we'll do one question for each game on Fantasy Football today. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate.

It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. All right, we're back here on Fantasy Football today. One question for each game, seven games. New Orleans and Houston, do you trust any Texans in this game against the Saints defense, which is healthy now?

Unlike me. It's hard to say they're must-start guys this week, and that includes Nico Collins. But it's also hard to get away from him based on what he's been in, and he might get some more target opportunities without Tank Dell playing. So, no, I don't think he's a must-start guy. Pierce is not a must-start guy. Schultz is not a must-start guy, and Stroud is not a must-start guy.

The only one that I'm struggling with that I have ranked right now as a must-start guy is Nico. And it's just, it's, it's really hard for me to sit a guy who has done the things that he's done in a couple of games this season. And he has played more in the slot this season than he ever has. Almost 20% of his snaps have come in the slot so that they can find ways

to get him away from Lattimore. It's a terrible matchup. I'm probably still just starting Nico everywhere that I have him, but I probably have him ranked a little bit higher. I think I've got him close to 12 right now. He'll probably be closer to 15 to 18, but still I can't imagine I'm going to sit him. Colts at Jaguars.

Can you trust this silly question based on what we saw last week, right? But can you trust the Colts running back in this game? I'm going to start Zach Moss and then just hope that I'm wrong. It's like I want to see Jonathan Taylor be Jonathan Taylor, but who knows how long that's going to take. It might be the one game and he's back to normal with two weeks' worth of practice and he's good to go. But if I'm the Colts, and this is kind of weird because it kind of ties into what you were saying, Shane Steichen, indicated with Anthony Richardson. They're clearly competing and they're clearly going to be in the mix to win the division.

And if that's the case, run Zach Moss to the ground and get Jonathan Taylor up to speed by the end of the year. So I wouldn't be surprised if Moss still is the best running back for the Colts. And he's been awesome. He really has like, give this guy credit. His worst game was, you know, he had a trap back game with a 14 carry 70 yard performance two games ago, but still 14 for 70 for Zach Moss. You know, we would have said, wow, that's a career day for him. You know, so he's just been on fire right now. And I think he's still worth using as a number two running back this week. And Taylor, I would try and avoid if you can. And it's like the advanced metrics confirm it as well.

Everything looks like Zach Moss has just been a very good running back so far this season. He's a low-end number two, and I've got Taylor as kind of one of those boom-bust flex options right around RB30. Seattle and Cincinnati, go right back to Joe Burrow? Yes. Yeah.

Yes, but I don't think, I don't have him ranked where I would have him ranked if we'd never had this calf concern. Like, he's not a top five quarterback for me. He's still a low-end starter. There's still guys that I would start over him that I wouldn't have thought that I would have started over him. Okay.

Jamie and Dave have him fifth. Heath has Joe Burrow. No, he's down to eight for me, but still. Oh, okay. Okay. Let's see. Yes, so he is. We had a behind Herbert Jackson to a Hertz Fields.

Okay. Fields is an interesting. You guys both would start Fields over Burrow? Yeah. Yeah, he's on fire. Baltimore at Tennessee. Do we have two must-start wide receivers in this game, Flowers and Hopkins?

And if so, or either way, which one do you like better? Hopkins, but it's close. Yeah, I don't know. They're definitely not must-starts in a two-wide receiver league. Three-wide receiver league, they're both starts, and I slightly prefer Flowers. Carolina at Miami. Starter sit Jalen Waddle.

Start. I'm, I'm going to start him. He's one of, I think three guys, young wide receivers who I really like, who I just had to push up the four. Cause CD lambs there as well.

I just had to push up the rankings because the projections weren't very kind, but lamb waddle, a lave Devante Smith. I think you're still starting all those guys even if there's some reasons why it looks like you shouldn't. I would say of the receivers that we've discussed

briefly already, I have Waddle over Nico Collins and Waddle over Flowers. I have one league. I'm starting. I'm sitting Waddle. It's a two-receiver league. I'm sitting him for Puka and for Mostert at Flex. Makes sense.

But overall, I would start Waddle. San Francisco at Cleveland. Can the Cleveland defense limit the 49ers' offense in a way that, you know, where maybe McCaffrey is the only layup? I don't know. Or do the 49ers just go nuts here again? You know, can the Cleveland defense, which has been arguably the best in the NFL,

limit the 49ers offense? It's an interesting test because they really haven't been challenged too much from their opponents. You know, you got an injured Joe Burrow in week one we won we got Pittsburgh we know how that offense has looked they got Tennessee um I forget the fourth opponent um Baltimore who they lost 28 to 3 to Baltimore but Baltimore that's the thing like I feel like the quarterback is part of this right it's it's harder for your defense when your offense stinks, you know? True, true.

But, you know, in terms of like the strength of the Browns is, you know, while they have great players, it's their pass rush. You know, when you have Miles Garrett and Z'Darrius Smith. And I don't know if we've seen Brock Purdy pressured to a point yet where he's struggled

in the regular season, at least. You know, I mean, the Giants try to blitz him on every play and he beat that fairly easily but that's a different personnel by leaps and bounds so i i think for you know what you're looking at like the one that scares me the most is debo just because i don't understand what's happening the last couple of weeks he's got more carries than targets right yeah i i i'm worried about debo i'm i'm still pretty worried about kittle um like if if he had three catches for 30 yards it would not surprise me at all um but and purdy is just another one of those guys i just decided i'm never going to rank below 12th because how can i yeah uh yeah pur but he barely throws. He's the number eight quarterback in fantasy.

He's actually number five and four point per passing touchdown leagues. He's 27th in pass attempts. And he doesn't run. He's just the most incredibly efficient player. Second in yards per attempt, all that stuff. All right, so would you start Waddle, Olave, Devontae Smith over Debo Samuel?

Yep. Yes. Would you start Nico Collins over Debo Samuel? I would. No. Would you start Brandon Ayuk or Waddle, Olave? Waddle, Olave, Ayuk. I've got Ayuk over all those guys.

Okay. New England at Las Vegas. The Patriots have been great against wide receivers, and they have faced some really, really good ones. Are you comfortable starting both Raiders receivers this week? Yes. I think we have not figured out what this Patriots defense is going to look like yet. Because I think we need to see a competitive game and teams throwing against them without Judon, without Gonzalez.

You know, it's mostly Judon, to be honest with you. I know Gonzalez had a great performance in the second half against the Dolphins, but still a young cornerback. But obviously losing a pass rusher like that is huge. Okay, let's go to the games then. Let's start with the Saints and the Texans. And in week five, in the second half, Tank Dell missed all of the second half. Who led the Texans in targets? Why, it was Dalton Schultz with four, followed by Robert Woods with three, and Nico Collins with one, and Pierce with one, and John Mechie with one.

But Dalton Schultz and Robert Woods, guys, I know it's a weird place to start in this game, but do we have any sleeper appeal with those guys? I mean, look, Schultz plays a position where he's been productive the last two games, and it's hard to overlook the fact that without Tank Dell there that he was more involved. But the Saints' defense has been amazing against tight ends,

and now they're... So I would not be opposed to stashing Dalton Schultz with the hope that maybe the guy that they signed and the player that we saw last year is starting to emerge, but this is just a brutal matchup. So I think you can get away from it if you can. I don't mind Woods as a desperation flex. I think if P.J. Walker is starting,

then I would start Woods over Amari Cooper. One thing I want to point out, if you look at... Oh, wow, that was a pretty hot take. I totally skipped over. Sorry. If you look at the Saints, we know that Marcus May didn't play each of the last three games, but Paulson Adebo, a starting cornerback, was also hurt for two of those games.

So it's not just getting May back this week. Now they're fully healthy in the secondary, and they're dangerous in that regard. I think Damian Pierce is worth spending some time on here. So I think, what, 20 or more carries in two straight games. One was a win, one was a two-point loss. But the Saints have been terrific. So would you start Zach Moss or Damian Pierce?

Moss. Moss. Okay. Would you start Broncos running back tonight or Damian Pierce? Pierce. Pierce. Pierce. Unless we hear something that one guy is going to not be involved. Joshua has a question in our chat.

And let me say this to our chat. I know you guys want to get more involved in the show that's actually going on instead of just talking to each other. If you have questions specific to the game we're previewing, ask them. And instead of me just start or say sitting, I'll just read yours. And then you'll get your question answered, and hopefully it'll help everybody listening as well. But Josh, let's take a long-term approach. Joshua wants to know, as a Damian Pierce manager, what do I do with him?

I would make a trade offer for him if you can, especially since his value is as low as it might possibly be. Because he's probably going gonna have another bad game. They have a buy in week seven. They come off their buy. They get Carolina. That is most likely going to be his best game of the season. And if he comes out of this game healthy, he might be the start of the week. That's how, that's how, uh, bad the Carolina run defenses.

So after that, the matchups aren't exactly the easiest, but they certainly lighten up by comparison to what the start of the season has been. So the best hopefully is yet to come. But for this week, I would sit him and just hope that he's healthy coming out of their bye week. Hold until week eight and then try to sell off of week eight. Okay. Texans apparently think they're close

to getting their running game going. So I think we spent enough time on Nico Collins and Robert Woods. Heath's going to move Collins down to about the 15 to 18 range. Jamie has him more as a number, like a high-end number three wide receiver. Okay, so let's look at the same side of the ball. I know you're not going to start Derek Carr.

Kamara is an easy start. How about, I'll come back to Olave in a second. We'll do some Olave's oars. But how about Michael Thomas? Does anybody want to start Michael Thomas? Do you think he'll give us his 11 PPR fantasy points this week? He's a solid number three wide receiver, I think. Jamie, you don't think he'll get that 11 points?

That's the ceiling. Yeah. Robert Woods or Michael Thomas? Thomas. Thomas. I mean, look, the thing about the Saints it's you know yes okay Derek Carr's practicing in full that's a wonderful situation but since Kamara's been back you know Thomas has been slightly worse and then you get the situation of the Texans have allowed one

touchdown to a wide receiver he's yet to score their secondary is certainly much better than some of the opponents that they played of late. So I don't really want to trust Michael Thomas right now. I get that. I do think just philosophically, the way that I look at it, when a guy scored 11, 12, 9, 11, 11, whatever, that's pretty close, and scored zero touchdowns, it feels to me like 11 is closer to his floor than his ceiling. All right.

Nico Collins or Javante Williams, we have a question. Nico. Yeah. Oh, yeah. By a lot. Chris Olave. By the way, the Texans, Jamie just talked about their pass defense. They've given up the fourth fewest points to wide receivers here.

So it's not an easy matchup. And last year was because everybody was running all over them. This year, I think it's just because they're getting good secondary play, even without Stingley. Well, their secondary was good last year, too. Yeah. Yeah, but they saw very few attempts. Yeah.

This year, their run defense has gotten a lot better. But anyway, Chris Olave or let's do some running backs here. Chris Olave or Rashad White? Olave. This is probably a format one, but Olave and PPR. I'm not starting Rashad White against the Lions. Yeah. Olave or another guy in a tough matchup, Joe Mixon?

Mixon. Heath? Yeah, I said Mixon. Mixon. Heath? Yeah, I said Mixon. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. And then Stroud. I kind of skipped over CJ Stroud. Start or sit?

I'll tell you what's tough for me when it comes to CJ Stroud because I have a lot of shares of the Saints DST. He doesn't get sacked and he doesn't throw interceptions. Is this going to be one of those games? Because again, some of it's been the opponents opponents but he's done such a fantastic job of

avoiding mistakes and and avoiding getting you know at least negative plays he's certainly been hit a few times but um this defense is is amazing so i'm still going to start the saints dst and i would recommend do the same but is he going to you know start to get maybe some of those numbers go the wrong direction? So will he throw his first NFL interception? Who knows? But I think he'll probably get sacked a couple of times this week. Yeah, I got to tell you, he had only 16 points last week at Atlanta.

But Atlanta has faced Bryce Young, Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Stroud. And C.J. Stroud has the most passing yards against Atlanta. So Atlanta is a tough matchup, too. And he threw for 249 yards. That. Stroud. And C.J. Stroud has the most passing yards against Atlanta. So Atlanta's a tough matchup, too. And he threw for 249 yards. That's pretty good. But, all right, he's not a start this week. I'll read one more question,

then we'll move on to our next game. Gabe Davis, Chris Godwin, or Nico Collins? Nico in PPR and half PPR. Gabe in none. Definitely Gabe in none. I might have Gabe higher in full. No, Nico. If Mike Evans is out, I'm definitely going Godwin.

Oh, that's a great call. Okay. Yes. All right, let's go to our next game. Colts at Jaguars. The targets, Heath alluded to this yesterday, with Gardner Minshew, 83 pass attempts. Michael Pittman has a 30% target share. That's insane. Josh Downs has a 25.3% target share.

And I got to say, Josh Downs is, I think, 35% rostered. And it's possible the rest of your fantasy season, the regular season at least, he'll have Gardner Minshew. It's possible. If you're in a three-receiver league, am I wrong here? Josh Downs has to be added. Am I overreacting? No. Okay. Has to be added?

In a three-receiver league? He could be started in a three-receiver league. Okay, yeah. He's, I think, very under-rostered right now at 35%. Yeah. Okay, good. I'm glad I'm not on an island there. Okay, let's talk about this game here.

Heath, give me the breakdown of Indianapolis to Jacksonville. Who are the easy calls in this game? Well, I mean, it's Gardner Minshew going back to Jacksonville. Everyone should be cheering for Jacksonville because I will likely be unbearable on Sunday night if Gardner Minshew somehow leads the Colts to victory over Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville. But I'm starting pretty much my Jags.

I'm starting Inger. I'm starting Lawrence. I'm starting ETN. I'm starting Ridley. I'm starting Christian Kirk. And on the Colts side, Moss is a low-end starter, so not easy. Pittman's probably the closest thing to an easy start for the Colts. Minshew's a fine stream.

I'd start him over CJ Stroud. Okay, and how about ranking the wide receivers? It's tough. For me, it's Ridley, Kirk, Pittman, Downs. Yeah, that's probably. I go back and forth with Ridley and Kirk. They're literally back-to-back in the rankings. It will be interesting because you remember week one,

Kirk was miserable. It's his only bad game so far this season. And that was Zay Jones had a big game in that matchup and that was okay are we going to have a playing time issue here because they when they were in their two receiver sets Kirk was not on the field Zay Jones is still day-to-day he missed practice on Wednesday I don't think it matters this point really because how do you get away from Christian Kirk of the Jaguars he's been the most reliable and consistent receiver from weeks two through five. But I don't know. So I think you got to start Christian Kirk

no matter what. Might matter for Lawrence. You know, Jones has been that end zone target for him. And his best game... His two best games have come with Zay Jones doing something. Exactly, yeah. And his best game of the year was against the Colts.

These teams have already played. They played in week one. So, yeah. Okay, how much... Lawrence has been frustrating, obviously. We've spoken at length. He's playing well. He's not getting the fantasy production.

How much do we like Trevor Lawrence this week? Low-end starter. So he's 10th for me. Like, I would start Stafford over him, for example. But you got to hope that what we saw last week, on top of all the missed opportunities that he's had, you know, so he's looked better. He's running more.

Um, I don't know. I think he just, if you have Trevor Lawrence, you're not making a move. Like what, what, what do you, what are you trying to do to your fantasy roster at this point? If there's not somebody significantly better, you know, so if there's, you know, you want to buy into Stafford, I get it. I, like I said, I would start him over Lawrence. You have Tua, that's easy.

You're starting him over Lawrence. I'm trying to think of guys. Kirk Cousins, you should start him over Lawrence. Who? Fields is easy for you? Yeah. Fields is easy for me, yes. And Cousins?

If you somehow manage to have Lawrence and Burrow, go back to Burrow this week. But it's – at some point, we're going to get that big game from him. And this is as good a matchup as you'll find. What about Cousins? I know you said you'd start him over Lawrence. I would, yeah, just because he's still playing the Bears. Yep. Okay.

Would you guys start Zach Moss over Michael Pittman? In non-and-half PPR, I would, yes. Maybe in non, I wouldn't do an and-half. Would you start Zach Moss over Josh Downs? Yes. Yes. Okay. What else from this game?

I'll tell you the one that I'm struggling with, and it's just because he's been bad and tough matchup, is Zach Moss versus Derrick Henry. I got a stat on Derrick Henry. He's got 20 or more carries in their two wins and like 11 to 15 carries in their three losses. He's been outperformed in two of his last three games by TyJay Spears. Yeah.

And they're playing Baltimore this week. So I don't know. It probably should be a close game, I would think. Hopefully they don't get game scripted. I think we're pretty much done with this game. I don't know. Any Michael Pittman questions out there? The Colts, by the way, haven't won in Jacksonville

since 2014. Thanks to Schaefer for that awesome stuff. It's going to make the Minshew story even better. Here we go. I got a couple here. Christian Kirk or Tyler Lockett? Kirk. Jonathan Taylor or Amari DiMarcato? If Keontae Ingram's out, it's easy DiMarcato.

It's a fight for areas. The idea of that question. This game is so fun. Yeah, DiMarcato if no Ingram. Taylor if Ingram is back. Would you start Gabe Davis over Christian Kirk? No. Only a non.

Would you start Deontay Foreman or Romandre Stevenson over Josh Downs in half PPR? If there is no Roshan Johnson, then I would start Deontay Foreman over Downs for sure. I probably would go Downs over Stevenson. Iontay Foreman over Downs for sure. I probably would go Downs over Stevenson.

I'd go Stevenson over Downs, and I agree on Foreman over Downs if Roshan's out. Don't you wish in the preseason we could jump ahead to the future and read these starter sit questions and guess what it should mean for our preseason rankings?

Why are people asking Jonathan Taylor versus Amari DiMarcato? Okay, that's it for this game. Let's go to our next game. Is that like a food that he's eating? Right? What is going on here? Is there an injury? He went to the restaurant DiMarcato.

Seattle and Cincinnati. I was going to have you guys dispute the Seattle passing game, but we already did that. Go to the Players to Avoid section if you want to hear our discussion about Geno Smith, where, Jamie, you have him as a low-end starter, right? Yes. Top 15.

Top 15, okay. And, Heath, you do not. You do not like Smith this week. You have him 21st. Jamie has him 15th. Okay, so Ken Walker's an easy start. Okay, so how do we feel about Metcalf and Lockett? Jamie, you're going to be the higher guy on it.

Lockett now, it's more than 68 yards in one of his last 16 games. So you can start on that, and then Heath, you can tell us how much you hate Metcalf and Lockett. Go ahead, Jamie. I think Metcalf just is a must-start guy, because even in Geno's

poor games, he's still been productive. And so I'm starting him. And as we saw, we've seen some struggles from the number one receivers against the Bengals. Marquise Brown had a touchdown last week. I think DK Metcalf can easily do the same. So I'm starting him. I'm not even going to think about it. And then with Lockett, I think you just have to treat him as a number three receiver. A, there's a lot of good receivers. So it's not like he's been performing well enough that you should start him over a lot of guys. And if you want to run down the list, you can I think you just have to treat him as a number three receiver. You know, A, there's a lot of good receivers, so it's not like he's been performing well enough that you should start him over a lot of guys. And if you want to run down the list, you can, or you just check our rankings and see where he's ranked.

But he's, you know, between 30 and 36, depending on the time of day when I change my rankings. But really, that's, I think what it is, is, you know, and you guys sort of alluded to this when we were talking about Geno Smith, that he's relied on a lot of different guys. that's been i think a problem for tyler lockett and who knows coming off their bye week does jsn get more opportunities and more targets and hopefully some more playing time as well and we start to you know see the best of him you know

now they've had some time to game plan a little bit differently so um like i said gino smith is not a slam dunk must start guy if he was i'd I'd have Tyler Lockett ranked higher, but it is a tough matchup. I'm just banking on a hopeful back and forth type of game where both these offenses show up. Adam, I need you to read the stat of the game for this because I'm looking at the notes and I'm trying to make some decisions here. Yes. Well, I, um, I did change the team. I don't know why in the notes I put.

Stat of the game for Seattle and Cincinnati. No wide receiver has more than 72 yards against Arizona. I don't know why I put that. No wide receiver has more than 72 yards against Cincinnati, though. So Amari Cooper was terrible in week one. Zay Flowers had four for 62. Remember Puka Nakua had five for 72, but he had that late catch, and that was a terrible game for him.

Yeah. DeAndre Hopkins had four for 63. Marquise Brown had four for 61 and a touchdown on 10 targets. Michael Wilson had two targets. This has been a really bad matchup for wide receivers. I guess they're giving up some touchdowns, four and five games, but it's good defense, Cincinnati.

Well, I think the sequencing of Metcalf some touchdowns four and five games but it's good defense uh cincinnati well i think the sequencing of metcalf's touchdowns has really impacted like how reliable he seems because he he does have a couple of george cadle games three for 34 three for 47 those were also just the two games that he scored and he didn't score in the games where he had good yardage totals i'm i'm not sure you can count on that to happen every time. I think there was going to be some games where he has a hundred yards and a touchdown, and there's going to be some of these 30 yard games where he doesn't score.

So he's more of a, a this week in a bad matchup where I don't like Gino. I, I view Metcalf closer to how Jamie views Lockett and I'm viewing Lockett as a sit. All right. I think I wish I had more time to talk about Ken Walker because obviously you start him

but i actually think there's some concerning science here he has disappeared in the passing game uh you know he doesn't have a huge role there anyway they're not throwing that much and these are two of the guys sorry but to that point charbonnet and jsn and also quentin johnston the rookies coming off a bye. We've got that. It will be very interesting to see if Charbonnet's gets two or three more touches and they are taken away from Walker. It's not concerning. I have so much Ken Walker and I'm thrilled about it.

But, you know, I think you could make the case that he's played like a first rounder or a second rounder. He's just been a kind of touchdown dependent in a sense. You know, he's scoring almost every week. So it's just something to keep in mind with Walker. But obviously, he's a must-start guy. Burrow and, you know, Burrow is eighth for Jamie, tenth for Heath. We've spoken a lot about the quarterbacks already. Jamar Chase is an easy call. What about Joe Mixon? He's got no more than 14 fantasy points in any game. He has one touchdown this season. He's got a pretty high floor typically.

But man, the Seahawks have actually had one of the best run defenses in football. 2.6 yards per carry allowed to running backs. Starter said Joe Mixon. I mean, given the landscape of what fantasy managers are dealing with, if you aren't starting Joe Mixon, kudos to you to have a loaded roster like that. So while I don't think this is

the type of matchup we would typically say, oh my god, you can't play these guys. We say when the Titans are at their peak with their run defense or maybe the Saints and the Lions right now, you're sitting borderline guys. It's very difficult to get away from Joe Mixon. I can give a list of guys who weren't drafted that high.

I'd start Mostert over him, obviously. I'd start David Montgomery over him. I'd start Kyron Williams over him. I'd start James Cook over him. But he's still a top 15 guy, and I'm starting him. Yeah, the only one I disagree with would be Cook, but I get your point. Andy Andre Swift and Alvin Kamara. Actually, I kind of disagree with this idea that the running back landscape is so bad.

I feel like it's been an amazing year to go zero RB. We've got so many contributors. Yeah, go ahead, Heath. It has been, but partially because so many of the great running backs have been bad. I mean, Eckler missed three of their four games. Barclays missed two of their four games and left at the end of one. Or no, two of their five games, excuse me. I'm sorry, three of their four games. Barkley's missed two of their four games and left at the end of one. Or no, two of their five games, excuse me. I'm sorry, three of their five games.

Yeah, they're coming back this week. J.K. Dobbins is lost for the season. Jonathan Taylor's been replaced by Zach Moss. Hopefully, Eckler and Barkley are back this week. But how many of your teams are you struggling at running back? That is not a problem for me. Maybe I'm just lucky. A few, and they're my worst teams.

But again, I drafted a lot of J.K. Dobbins. That's part of it. Yeah, that's true. All right, any interest in Tyler Boyd or any other Bengal in the passing game? Well, we should probably talk about T. Higgins. I mean, if he comes back, it's hard to bench him. I think just based on upside,

and if Joe Burrow is Joe Burrow again, you're starting T. Higgins without hesitation. If there is no T. Higgins, then I think you just go back to Boyd. To me, he's Michael Thomas, the same type of player. He'll have a high volume of catches, probably not do very much with it. So you're looking at whether you want to say it's the floor or the ceiling, it's probably 8 to 11 PPR points. Okay. All right.

And Trenton Irwin was interesting last week too. PPR points. Okay. All right. Sit the D. And Trenton Irwin was interesting last week, too. You know, again, with no Higgins there, he had, what, eight catches on ten targets? I don't remember what the stats were, but yeah, obviously. I think it was eight for 60. All right, we'll take a break.

When we come back, Baltimore's at Tennessee. Talk about Derrick Henry and maybe compare him to Joe Mixon. And we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. And we're back to talk about four more games, starting with the Ravens and the Titans. The Ravens are four-point favorites, and that's a big deal because, as I mentioned earlier, stat of the game,

Derrick Henry, 25 and 22 carries in their wins, 11 to 15 carries in their three losses. Not having a great season so far. How would you compare Derrick Henry to Joe Mixon? Mixon with a tough matchup, Henry with a tough matchup. These guys haven't exactly been dynamic. Who do you like better this week? Mixon.

Mixon, they're close, though. They're both RB2s that I'm starting, unless you have one of that list of guys that I listed off. But Henry's pretty much right behind Mixon for me. You start Pacheco over them? I don't know if you said his. Yes. Going back to Lamar Jackson this week?

Yes. Oh, yeah. It's very interesting with all the drops. He's got to be so frustrated because he should have had a huge game. They should have won that game by two touchdowns against Pittsburgh. Flowers falling down, Andrews and Bateman dropping touchdowns.

You know, granted, he had the mistake at the end of the game with the fumble, but yeah, he did not play poorly to what his numbers indicate in that game. Right, it was like 58 minutes of them letting him down and then two minutes of him. Now he can't be mad at anybody because he kind of lost the game.

Yeah, let me tell you the top five rated passers from PFF. Their best passing grades so far this year. One, Jared Goff. Two, Lamar Jackson. Three, Josh Allen. Four, Tua. Five, Trevor Lawrence. Those are the five highest passing grades so far this season.

So Jackson's really having a good season. That's for total season or individual week performances? Full season. And actually, number two is not Lamar Jackson. It's Mike White, who is two for two this year for 67 yards with a touchdown. He is the second highest graded passer. Okay, so start Lamar Jackson. Mahomes is eighth or actually seventh because Dalton is ahead of him.

I don't know that he's ever really graded as well with PFF as his numbers have indicated. He sucks this year anyway, but he's been really terrible. Lamar Jackson or Justin Fields. Who would you start? Fields. Jackson.

Any interest in a Ravens running back? If there's no Jeffrey Simmons, then I think Justice Hill becomes an interesting flex. Yep. I'd go Hill over Gus, but as of right now, I'd start both of them over a Broncos running back. I would agree with that. And if there is no Jeffrey Simmons, I would consider starting Justice Hill over Damian Pierce, Jerome Ford, and Rashad White. Okay. So how about Zay Flowers or Derek Henry?

The only format for me would be Henry and non-PPR. I'd start Flowers in the other two. I'll start Henry. Okay, Zay Flowers or Deebo Samuel? They're close for me. Right now, I have Deebo ranked higher. I'll go with Deebo. I mean, look, this is a great matchup. tennessee gives up the seventh most fantasy points to wide receivers

six wide receivers have had 80 or more yards already against the titans start mark andrews sit ryan tannahill we talked about henry any like what's your tajay spears interest this week he is the most stashable player in my opinion, for what we're looking at right now. Because who knows, at some point, do they start to just not take Henry off the field. But in two of five games, he's played more. Granted, I'm sure there's been a lot of game script and how the things have unfolded. But I don't know. Are we seeing another Pollard-Zeke situation?

You know, where one guy just looks not washed up, but slower and older. And the younger younger players looking more explosive i don't think we're there yet but we might be getting there soon yeah i've got spears as a low flex but i would start him over the broncos got a question from don garrett wilson or zay flowers half ppr flowers yeah i think I've got flowers higher. And as I recall from earlier, Jamie likes Hopkins a little bit better than flowers. Heath likes flowers a little bit better than Hopkins, right?

Yep. So these are startable guys, more like flexes? I mean, I... Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. No, I think, look, I don't know at what point Hopkins got healthier from his ankle injury, but he's had some, he's certainly coming off a huge game last week. And as we've started to note the last couple of weeks, you know, he's made some plays that have been better for what the NFL perspective is than the fantasy perspective.

But I think you just buy into their chasing points. I don't necessarily believe that this Raven secondary is as locked down as it has been. perspective is than the fantasy perspective. But I think you just buy into their chasing points. I don't necessarily believe that this Ravens secondary is as locked down as it has been. And so I think Hopkins is a low-end number two receiver. Heath, I usually ask Dave for this, so I apologize. But could you look something up for me? Oh, I'd love to look things up for you, Adam. Yeah, I've got a little theory on Hopkins that I'd like to put to the test.

Because last week, I think he was really great against zone coverage and I have not, he, he still, to me kind of looks slow, but he's never been a burner. He's a big guy, contested catch guy. I wonder about his zone versus man splits. And then I would also wonder about what the Ravens play. And if this is something that could help us figure out the Hopkins matchup situation here. But I mean, the fact is like he's just drawing so many targets when he's on the field and he finally played 83% of the snaps last week.

So that's really encouraging here. The Ravens 15th against wide receivers, but 80 or more yards to like, think about the wide receivers who have had 80, 80 or more yards against the Ravens. Nico Collins, T Higgins, George Pickens, and then 77 yards to Michael Pittman. These are all outside receivers, kind of bigger guys,

but they are faster than DeAndre Hopkins probably at this stage of his career. I don't know if I gave you enough time, if I filibustered enough to give you enough time. Not even close. All right, you come back to that. Sit Chigokonkwo, although he did have nine targets last week. And the Ravens DST is a start. Jamie, did I miss anything from Tennessee at Baltimore?

I don't think so. All right, great. Let's go to our next game. Oh, Mark Andrews. Should we start him? I think I said start Mark Andrews. But yes, I'm starting Mark Andrews, just personally. Carolina's at Miami.

Sit Bryce Young. Any interest in Miles Sanders or Chuba Hubbard, Jamie? Not really. I think if there is no Miles Sanders and he sits, then Chuba Hubbard's in that flex conversation. But if Sanders plays, I just think you want to avoid it because it's probably going to be as messy as it has been the last few weeks.

And the Dolphins' run defense, I think, has proven to be good enough against some weaker opponents. So I wouldn't necessarily want to trust either of those two guys. I don't think you should base anything off of the man versus zone splits, Adam. He's earned more targets against man. He's been much better yards per route run against man, but he's been above average yards per route run against both man and zone.

Okay. Carolina theory debunked. Carolina wide receivers, Adam Thielen. just like just stardom right stardom 100 would you start feeling over mixin and henry uh yes yeah for sure i want to go back if mile sanders doesn't play i think chuba hubbard is a low end number two running back okay he's 58% rostered as of yesterday so check on Chuba Hubbard definitely someone you want to keep an eye on Dolphins are kind of hit or miss against running backs you always have to worry about the score the spread is 13 and a half but Chuba might be better off catching passes than running anyway right uh but

with that said with this big spread like if we're talking deep leagues here would you rather start maybe dj charke or robert woods who we talked about earlier woods for me what okay uh to the dolphins so we know two is great but we know they might blow this team out. So how does that affect Tua? I'll tell you, I've looked over the last two years, I think there have been five games where they've won, like, blowouts. And he has scored, okay, this year,

36 points against Denver, 21 points against the Giants last week, and could have been more. He threw a pick six basically in the end zone. 2022, 17 points in week one against New England, 29 points against the Browns, and then only 18 points against Houston. But remember, he played about two and a half quarters in that game.

So we've seen different outcomes for Tua in blowout wins. Some big games, some not so big games. How do you feel about him this week? Must start quarterback. Play that on the loop every week. I know he's a must start quarterback, but I do feel like people have a lot of Tua and Fields. Tua

and Cousins. Start Tua. Okay. Start Tua. Okay, start Tua. Three. Dolphins running backs, it's just Mostert right now. If Wilson plays, would you drop Mostert?

Because he's currently top eight for you guys. I think he's number two for Heath. Any scenario, Heath, where you're dropping Mostert in your rankings? I might drop him down to eighth. He'll still be top

12 for sure, but Wilson becomes a very interesting flex. Fresh legs against that defense. Let me ask you this. Jeff Wilson plays and Miles Sanders plays. Who's the second best running back in this game? Wilson.

Jeff Wilson plays and Miles Sanders is out. Who's the second best running back in this game? Wilson. Jeff Wilson plays and Miles Sanders is out. Who's the second best running back in this game? Wilson. Wilson and Achuba. All right. Any questions in the chat about this game? Now's the time to ask and I will try to read them. I have not seen anything.

This was a trade though. I traded Jalen Waddle for Isaiah Pacheco. What are your thoughts? I think if you had receiver depth and you needed a running back, I like it. In a vacuum, I'd rather have Waddle. What did you say? In a blanket? In a blanket, I'd rather have Waddle.

Yeah, I think you might need one of those weighted blankets that you use when you're having emotional distress. I'm going to give it a D+. I was thinking about buying one of those. Not because I have emotional distress, but apparently they're just very comforting. They're like going to bed and getting a hug. Do you guys have any experience with the weighted blanket? We've got one downstairs.

Give me a review. It's really nice. I think you would probably enjoy it even more than I do. Why? I'm more emotional? That's just my perception. i'm more emotional and just that's just my perception okay uh would you start i thought i saw chris olave or or uh jaylen waddle uh waddle but it's close waddle actually it was a lave or mostert. Mostert. Mostert.

Oh, we got pancakes. Oh, boy. He has a weighted blanket, and he loves it. Thielen or Lamb? Half PPR. Everything statistically would say start Thielen, but I think this is the breakout game coming for Lamb, so I'll go back to Lamb. I'm going to stick with Thielen. Jerry would like to see some more targets for the tight ends.

Okay, last one. Start Waddle, Zay Flowers, or Brees Hall? I'm going to go with Waddle. I don't love the matchup for Brees Hall without Elijah Veritaker there this week. Okay. David brings up a good point. He said his blanket weighs 15 pounds. Adam, you might want to do some training first.

Can you imagine? Honey, can you put the blanket on me, please? He brings up a good point. He said his blanket weighs 15 pounds. Adam, you might want to do some training. Probably. Could you imagine, honey, can you put the blanket on me, please? And then he can't get up. Or she said, wait, who am I asking her to put the blanket on me? Yeah, you know, because she can lift it and you can't. Right. Yeah, she's asking me, can I put the blanket on her? I'm like, I don't think so.

Sorry. Here's a sheet. San Francisco's at Cleveland. Stat of the game. Both teams, top three in points per game allowed. Yards per game allowed. Yards per play allowed. Brock Purdy is right around 12th.

Would you start Brock Purdy or Kirk Cousins? Cousins. Cousins. Would you start Brock Purdy or... Who else? cousins would you start brock purdy or uh who else uh lawrence lawrence but it's close yeah i think i have those two back to back rock purdy or purdy and stafford are interesting there it is purdy and stafford stafford i'm to go Purdy. I think Purdy is like in the, for me, he's just ahead of like Geno Smith, Jared Goff. I'm trying to think of what else.

Minchu. All right. Here's a tough one. Super flex. Purdy or Christian McCaffrey? McCaffrey. McCaffrey. McCaffrey. Okay.

I would guess McCaffrey in full PPR is averaging more points than Purdy in a six-point-per-pass in touchdown league. Start McCaffrey. We talked about Debo and Ayuk. I guess you guys are sort of starting Debo, but don't love it. How do you feel about Ayuk? I mean, I think, again, just based on what we've seen,

Iuke is actually playing more like a wide receiver, which is sort of weird that Debo's not been used like that. I don't know if it's the knee injury, if it's a game script type of thing. They're just trying to be more creative and do some different things. So Debo just makes me nervous. Christian McCaffrey is outscoring Brock Purdy by 3.4 fantasy points per game. I guess, so Jamie, you think this is the, hold on, let me get the sound effect up. The squeaky wheel, squeaky crickets game for CeeDee Lamb, maybe.

Do you feel that way about Debo at all? I mean, maybe, but, you know, it's just, when you start to see a wide receiver getting more reliant on his carries than his receptions, like, that's a game script thing. That's a game plan thing. I don't think he's healthy. I think they're trying to protect his ribs. Maybe. Look, I think two weeks ago, you know know you could explain it deep decoy samuel

as you call them he had no targets only three targets in week four or week five and purdy through like 24 25 passes they barely throwing but there is no question that when they're both out there when they're both on the field iuk is drawing targets at a much higher rate than debo samuel it's just and it's a good good defense too. Again, I don't want to say that they're going to completely shut down the 49ers. But their secondary has been great. You take out the George Pickens play. Yes. And they basically shut down everyone.

Yeah. Okay. So would you start Iuke? Any Iuke questions out there, people? Any Iuke questions? I'd be interested to know your decisions. Iuke or Waddle? Waddle for me.

Yeah, I think Waddle. That's close. That's tough. IUK or Jordan Addison? Addison. I have Addison. IUK.

Brandon IUK or C. Iuke. Addison. Brandon Iuke or C.D. Lamb? Lamb. Lamb. Iuke or Watson? Christian Watson. Well, one's on a buy, so Iuke. Sorry, I shouldn't even have read that.

Iuke or DeAndre Hopkins? Hopkins isn't on a buy, right? No. No. Iuke. I will take Hopkins. Here are some Debo questions from the chat. Debo, right? No. I will take Hopkins. Here are some Debo questions from the chat.

Debo or Swift? Swift. Debo or Garrett Wilson? Debo. Wilson. And last one. Debo. Ayuk or Higgins

if Higgins plays? Ayuk. Ayuk. Okay. Kittle. Any streamers that you'd start over kittle logan thomas if commit is still considered a streamer commit okay and logan thomas yeah you have logan thomas one spot ahead of kittle how about that how about jake ferguson or kittle kittle

man you are just like peppering my the back-to-back in my right now i'm sorry i mean again you know i i know we always say okay missed games but in two of the last three games with no i you can have banged up debo samuel george kittle has been at his best yeah i've got kittle just ahead of him is there any scenario in which you're starting Jerome Ford? Unfortunately, I am, but I don't like it. No, he's a flex at best. I think it's just – I would start Foreman if there's no Roshon Johnson. I would start Chuba Hubbard over him.

I would start Justice Hill over him if there's no Jeffrey Simmons, and Hubbard meaning obviously if there's no Sanders. Yeah, it's just not going to be pretty. Ford versus Taylor is really hard for me. I've got Ford one spot higher right now. Okay, would you start Deshaun Watson if he plays? No. No.

And where would you rank Amari Cooper if Watson plays? Not much higher than where he is, which is outside the top 30 30 31 32 yeah i was thinking 30 if if watson plays any interest in nojoku or more nope although nojoku's best game was with dtr i know but he's not gonna play uh no i mean it's back of quarterback yeah No, I mean as a backup quarterback. Yeah. Sorry, I had a cough attack there. New England at Las Vegas, one more game. The Patriots have held. Devontae Smith to 47 yards. Tyree Kill to 40 yards.

Garrett Wilson to 48 yards. Lamb to 36 yards. Olave to 12 yards. A.J. Brown had 79 yards, which isn't even great for him. Jalen Waddell had 86 yards. It's impressive what they've done. So everyone's starting Adams, but Jacoby Myers, is he in your top 20 this week?

Yes. He is. He's played three games with Garoppolo. He's averaging a touchdown per game. He's averaging, I believe, 10 targets per game in those three, if I'm not mistaken. It's been a great pairing of those two guys. I'm going to make this game quick. Sid, every Patriot except

well, how about Hunter Henry? Interested in him? He is behind the Thomas, Ferguson, Komet group for sure, but I think if you are stuck this week, he will have a good game. I hope it's a great game.

Let's go into Stevenson a little bit more. Zach Moss or Stevenson? Jerome Ford or Stevenson? How do you feel? Moss, Stevenson, Stevenson, Ford. Yep. Okay. I think you're probably going to just say Moss, Stevenson, Ford.

That was an interesting double up there. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Stevenson. Let's see if we double up there. Yeah. Yeah. Stevenson. Let's see if we have any remand race. Okay. Stevenson,

Rashad white against Detroit or Garrett, Garrett Wilson, Jeff Wilson. I was Jeff Wilson. Yeah. Could be Garrett Wilson. I'll go Stevenson. I'm going to go white.

I think one thing to keep in mind, Mac Jones has combined for less than one fantasy point in his last two games. They faced Dallas and New Orleans. Obviously, the Patriots cannot compete with defenses like that, even though I don't know how good Dallas' defense is right now. And the Jets, too. Yeah.

They could be competent. They're not as bad as they've been., they could be competent. They're not as bad as they've been. They're obviously bad, but they're not as bad as they've been. So just be competent, be in it.

I think one thing that's a little concerning here though with Stevenson is if you look at the routes run week by week between him and Zeke, in the first two weeks of the season,

he was doubling Zeke. Now it's pretty even. So that's even. Is that somewhat related to the competitiveness of the last two games, though? Absolutely could be. If you're trying to get your offense right, he's still their best player.

Give him the ball. Start Jacobs, start the receivers, sit Garoppolo. He's an okay streamer, but not, I mean, he's like 20th for you guys. And sit Michael Mayer. Do you like a DST in this game? I think the Raiders are sneaky

just because of how bad the Patriots have been. So, you know, you got to be, I think, a little trustworthy to, you know, buy into them. But, you know, they've just been blown out the last two weeks by much better opponents. So if you're stuck. I do have the Patriots ahead of the Raiders, even though I think the Raiders are going to win.

I mean, Raiders can score 24 points and Jimmy can throw a couple of picks. Here are a couple of questions from the chat about this game. Jacoby Myers or Chris Godwin if Mike Evans is out? Oh, that's a great question. I probably would still go Myers, but it's close. Stevenson or Foreman?

Half PPR. Foreman if Rochon's out. Foreman if Rochon's out. Okay. And is that it? Is that all we got? Stevenson or Cam Ak stevenson stevenson um stevenson and then this one if if roshan johnson's out jacoby myers or dionte foreman myers um my your myers okay you're right jamie you're getting my illness here Myers. Myers. Okay.

You all right, Jamie? You getting my illness here? All right, guys. Thank you. Great show. We'll talk to you tomorrow with the four NFC home games plus three other AFC home games. We'll talk to you tonight at 7.30 p.m. Eastern, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. See ya.