Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC); Beat the Waiver Wire; Austin Ekeler Concerns? (09/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

The Chargers may have outplayed the Chiefs, but the Chiefs came away with the win! Let's recap the game to start the show and debate if Austin Ekeler is still a Top 3 overall player, if CEH is a sell or a hold, how to approach the Chiefs WRs and more ... News and notes (14:00) with key injury updates on the Bucs WRs, Alvin Kamara, D'Andre Swift and J.K. Dobbins. Then we'll play Beat the Waiver Wire (23:30) to help you prepare for Week 3 and One Question for Each Game (28:15). Do we like David Montgomery this week? Start Allen Robinson or Cordarrelle Patterson? ... Start or Sit for Bucs-Saints (34:10), Bears-Packers (44:40), Vikings-Eagles (52:30), Commanders-Lions (57:15), Falcons-Rams (1:03:40), Seahawks-49ers (1:09:50) and Panthers-Giants (1:15:35) ... Email us at [e-mail] 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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Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Happy Friday, everybody. I'm in a great mood. Birds are chirping. Good morning. Welcome to the weekend. And we had a really exciting game to kick off week two. We had an onside kick and all that stuff. What a no-brainer start, Josh Palmer.

That was just, he was a stud. That was great. Gets that little late touchdown and saves my bacon a little bit. But welcome to Fantasy Football today. Looking at seven NFC home games, including Kirk Cousins in primetime. That was a terrible thing last year. Aaron Rodgers in primetime. That's usually a really good thing. So that's Sunday night, Monday night for Cousins and Sunday night for Rodgers. Those are two of the games we'll be talking about. What about the Bucs? Tom Brady, have anyone to throw to? All right. Let's get to Dave and Jamie here, guys.

I will say the better team did not win yesterday. Agree or disagree? Disagree. The better team won. But they're both really fun teams. I was thinking about this. How huge would Herbert get if he were in the NFC? He'd be the talk of the NFC if he was there,

because in the AFC, he's overshadowed by Mahomes in his own division and Josh Allen. Yeah, he's the man. Who would overshadow him? The throw he made to DeAndre Carter was, it's going to be one of the best throws of the year. It was sick. But okay, maybe the Chiefs are better,

but I think the Chargers were better last night. Jamie, do you agree with that? Chargers were better last night, yes. Asante Samuel gets that interception, and Herbert doesn't throw the bad one. They win that game. Big edge in total yards, big edge in time of possession, but the Chiefs win it 27-24. We have some injuries to talk about. Obviously, Justin Herbert, the thought is that he's going to be okay. He took a big shot to the ribs in the fourth quarter. He's going to have more testing today. I'm not going to play the hypothetical game. We'll react to it when the news comes in.

But they lost two offensive linemen. Center Corey Lindsley and right tackle Trey Pipkins. No idea the severity right now. Nicole Hardman also left with an injury. I guess we don't really have injuries to talk about. We just have injuries to review. Dave, with that being said, what are the big fantasy takeaways

from this game? Chiefs 27, Chargers 24. The biggest one might be Austin Eckler was a total dud until the final drive. And then the final drive kind of saved his day and made him close to 20 PPR points. I think he had 17

in full point scoring. And he really needed that last drive to come through. I think there are some fantasy managers that are worried about Austin Eckler and him not hitting his upside as a top three overall pick. But he'll get there. He'll be fine. And then the other one just on the Chargers is Mike Williams. Huge game, 10 targets, almost all of them in the first two and a half quarters of the game.

He didn't have another catch after his touchdown. What a touchdown catch. I watch games with the sound off for the most part. And on that play, I was like, oh, another incomplete pass in the end zone to Mike Williams. That stinks. And then he starts to celebrate. I'm like, what the hell?

What? Why do you watch games with the sound off? I don't know. I feel like i can concentrate better okay so i uh i i see them celebrating and then i turn the sound on and then i watch the replay and i was like that's got to be the best catch of mike williams like best touchdown catch of mike williams career it was awesome it was and he really stepped up i want to see. I want to see him keep this up though. Like he's got the potential to do this and to play like a big man receiver. Why,

why can't it be done every week? Why was it not done in week one? Um, and on the final drive, I noticed, man, he didn't even get a target on that drive. He was double covered on six of the plays of that drive,

including all four inside the five. So that's why, uh, he actually, i feel like he did get a target it was the one that should have been intercepted it was a terrible pass by yes it was injured herbert herbert had all night right after his injury jamie is there anything we can take away from the chargers passing game without keenan allen because like gerald i just felt like a lot of the things that geraldett was doing would usually go to Keenan Allen.

It's like a lot of short stuff. Should we just kind of live in two different worlds, one with Keenan Allen, one without Keenan Allen? Also, let's talk five minutes about what you both thought about the broadcast and Herb Street and now Michaels. Just kidding. Dave didn't listen to it. But, Jamie, what do you think? Is there just we can't really take anything away from it because Allen didn't play? I wouldn't put too't listen to it. But Jamie, what do you think? Is there just, we can't really take anything away from it because Allen didn't play?

I wouldn't put too much stock in it, but I mean, you know, look, this is two productive games, one with Allen for a portion of it, and then one without him for Gerald Everett. So, you know, when looking at this position and knowing that they had 130-plus targets to the tight ends last year as a group and Parham is hurt right now,

I think Gerald Everett's certainly going to be a weekly starter moving forward until he proves otherwise. 130 plus targets to tight ends last year as a group and par is hurt right now you know i think gerald everett's certainly going to be a weekly starter moving forward until he proves otherwise uh i think in terms of you know the the the distribution of targets you know we're probably somewhere in between week one and week two and so you know to dave's point about why did mike williams do this in week one that's the evolution of justin herbert doesn't have necessarily rely on one guy what's going to happen in week two he was down his arguably his top receiver so he went early and often to the second guy and get him going uh who was another de facto number one so um I don't think you're gonna bench Mike Williams moving forward you shouldn't because this is what he's capable of

doing and we saw we saw it in stretches last year he was just an absolute dominant force and so he's he's absolutely in your lineups week in week out in terms of what Keenan Allen will do. You know, he may not reach the heights of what Keenan Allen has been because there are other weapons, but I still think you're starting Keenan Allen. So it's not going to be four targets across the board for everybody.

It's also not going to be 10 targets in a hurry up situation because they're probably going to win more games. And that's awesome. That clear. It's not going to be, you know, feeding Mike Williams like we saw in the first half. So I think you just, you know what you're getting not going to be feeding Mike Williams like we saw in the first half.

So I think you know what you're getting with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. That'll be fine. Do you try to sell high on Mike Williams for the next five days? You can, sure. And I would say on a different topic of conversation, if Justin Herbert, we find out he has broken ribs or something, you have a chance to pick up a quarterback now. Right, yeah.

This is like a special situation. Yeah, that's a good point. I think if you're buying a Chargers pass catcher, you should probably wait until you get some Herbert news. Yes. So real quick on the Chargers. That's a good opportunity if Herbert's fine to buy low on Keenan Allen. Yeah. All right, good.

And, okay, before we move on to the Chiefs, are you both cool with Eckler? If you were redrafting today, would he still be a top three pick? I don't think so. I mean, I'm not going to overreact after two games. So, yes. But we did see Sony Michelle working at the goal line last week. It was Eckler at the goal line this week.

It was Michelle and a little bit Eckler, too. He was in there inside the five yard line in the two minute drill. But that was disappointing, you know, that he didn't get those opportunities near the goal line. So, all right. Okay. So still,

still an elite player to the chiefs. Not a great day for my homes. 21 fantasy points for him. Not that he was bad, but 21 fantasy points after 45 last week, Clyde, this team is really interesting right now. I mean, Clyde is doing a ton, but not on a lot of touches.

Maybe not in a sustainable way. He had a 52-yard run late in the game. That really made his game. He did have four catches. Juju was invisible. All the wide receivers were invisible. Kelsey didn't have a great game. Maybe it was just the Chargers' defense.

Their secondary is loaded. Dave, do you think there will be a reliable starter on the Chiefs other than Mahomes and Kelsey? So running backs and wide receivers. Fantasy managers that have Clyde Edwards-Hilaire are going to keep using him. He's Clyde explosives-Hilaire. Just some really great runs by him through the first two weeks of the season. You wish he had more than 12 touches in a game, but you could use him as a number two

running back and try and ride this hot hand. Just understand that he's not going to be the main guy in this offense. They're using multiple dudes. So he's a start. And I'm telling you when, when there's a matchup that comes along where it looks like they're going to face a team that plays a lot of zone. That's when you're going to want to go toward Juju. My theory was there would be more work for Valdez-Scantling in games where they played a lot of man coverage. The Chargers played 44% man against them on Thursday. Valdez-Scantling had seven targets. He just

couldn't do anything with them. I think you're going to see some impatient fantasy managers jump off of Valdez-Scantling, and I don't blame them for it. I think that that's probably a move that you can make if there's somebody on waivers that you'd rather have. Juju would be the next guy up after Edwards Allaire, and I think he's a reliable flex, but I'm not going to call him a reliable number two receiver. It just depends on the matchup from week to week. Okay. I did just want to, you know, I think it's worth noting with JC Jackson, Asante Samuel, and Derwin James,

this could be a very tough matchup for passing games. And pass rush, that's going to be a problem for everybody. Yeah. And they really...

Yeah, I rated them as one of the toughest defenses in the league coming into the year. Yeah, so I don't know what to make of it, but I think for Clyde, Jamie,

I think a lot of people are going to ring the sell-high bell just because he's had 12 and 10 touches in two games. Should you or should you just ride it out and accept there might be some bad games, but also he's clearly the lead running back for the team. But again, he's not going to guarantee to get every

high-value touch. McKinnon got the one-yard touchdown catch or whatever it was. I would say both scenarios are correct. I would say if you have him and you don't get a deal that you like, you write it out. But I also think that if you can find somebody that you can flip him for, you know, there are going to be a lot of frustrated people that are 0-2 and looking at Clyde Edwards-Alaire in a running back situation that they may not be happy with and say, OK, that's a package that I could put together to get Edwards-Alaire in a receiver and you're getting an upgraded

receiver or you're getting a tight end that you might like. And Mark Andrews is another bad game. If you could turn Clyde Edwards-Alaire into Mark Andrews or something like that, that's the type of move that's going to make you a much better fantasy manager. I got a question on a radio show today about, I think, that exact scenario, turning Clyde Edwards-Alaire into, oh, no, it was Cordero Patterson, turning Cordero Patterson into Mark Andrews. There are people that panic in fantasy.

He's the perfect sell-high candidate because you probably drafted him to be a third running back. I just want to go back to the Chiefs receivers for a second. You can absolutely drop MBS. You might want to pick him up in a few weeks, but he's not a hold guy. Most teams play a combination of man and zone, so you're going to get some mix-up situations of Juju having good opportunities, Juju having bad opportunities. This was just a great defense. They are going to get some mix-up situations of Juju having good opportunities, Juju having bad opportunities. This was just a great defense. They are going to frustrate a lot of teams.

The fact that he probably didn't think Mahomes was going there, the Watson touchdown on JC Jackson, that's not going to happen very often to that guy. So I think it's just a matter of – and Mahomes threw a laser. So this is what Mahomes told us, though. You know, he said there's not going to be a guy. And so it was it was Watson and McKinnon catching the touchdowns, but it was him just using who was open. And so it's two weeks of that. It's it's two weeks of the third string tight end catching a touchdown as part of the five in week one.

You know, so they're going to be guys that just step up So they're going to be guys that just step up, and they're going to be guys that get frustrated for us, or we're frustrated about them, excuse me. So you just have to understand what you're dealing with. Is the 13 PPR points Juju had in week one close to his ceiling? Without a touchdown, yeah. Yeah, six for 79 is a good game. I think so too.

It's almost 14. So that's the lens that you have to look through look at him through um last thing on herbert if you've got herbert and you want to pick up a quarterback to potentially stash now i've got four names for you tannahill's against the raiders at home mariotta is against the seahawks in seattle um geno smith is against the Seahawks in Seattle. Geno Smith is against the Falcons. And Davis Mills, Houston, plays at Chicago in week three. I think I... Mariota might be the first one I go after there, just for the rushing numbers. And then Tannehill. But those are some quarterbacks that you can go and look at

if you want to stash somebody. See if Wentz is available first. Wentz plays Philly. Yeah. I mean, if he has another good game, he's more comfortable. It's supposed to be a tough matchup, but I was talking to an Eagles fan about their defensive coordinator. I think they're a little bit down

on him because he's just not turning the talent into production. Jonathan Gannon. We're going to talk about that when we discuss the Vikings and the Eagles. Listen, people, if you're a small business owner or anybody looking to make a hire, these days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business, and you want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available,

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Post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Again, it's linkedin.com slash FFT. Unfortunately, we got a ton of injury news to update you on here. So let's get to it. And then we'll talk about, we'll do beat the waiver wire real quick.

Like Khalil Herbert's 58% rostered. You got to get Khalil Herbert. Please. Right? Come on. It's a must. And we'll do Tampa Bay, New Orleans. Mark Ingram's a must right now.

Yep. Mark Ingram is 41% rostered. Yep. We'll do Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta and the Rams, Seattle, San Francisco. And we'll save the best for last, Carolina at the Giants. Mike Evans, Julio Jones did not practice. Sorry, Dave.

Mike Evans, Julio Jones did not practice. So this is Tampa Bay at the Saints. There's so many injuries, Jamie. So Russell Gage had two good games against the Saints last year, by the way. One great game against the Saints when he was really the number one guy, playing well. He had a better quarterback then. We're not talking about him right now, but should we be?

What's the situation here for the Bucs? Do Tom Brady owners need to scramble and find another quarterback? What do you think? Well, I mean, obviously, if there's no Mike Evans, for sure. But if there's no Julio or no Evans, no Gage, I know Gage practiced, but still he's still battling the hamstring injury. Yeah, it's going to be tough for him. I mean, this is a great defense that's frustrated him more times than not.

He's had two really awful games against him in the four games that they face in the regular season. So I don't think Brady's in line for a great game if everybody's healthy, and then you take those guys away, plus Adonis Smith is not there. It's really bad. Gage is somebody you should keep on your radar once we find out the Friday practice report. I'm going to guess Evans plays.

That takes away a little bit of the upside for him. If Julio plays, that takes away a lot of the upside for him, but he could have a good game, if you want to play the deep league route, take Russell Gage, and hopefully this is one of his better games with Tampa Bay. Is there another Tampa Bay wide receiver? We'll just wrap up on this.

No. Okay. Brady, we saw last year. Evans got hurt. Godwin got hurt. Fournette got hurt. He's questionable, but he should play. And Antonio Brown wasn't playing.

They lost 9-0. They got shut out by the Saints. J.K. Dobbins practiced in full, Dave. Woo, woo! That is some type of train carrying J.K. Dobbins. Where is it carrying? The J.K. train. To your bench or to your lineup?

How desperate are you at running back? If you are really thin and you need somebody who's going to play, start J.K. Dobbins, but expect five non PPR fantasy points. Oh, why, why so low? Because I, I am not convinced he's going to get in and see a huge workload. It could be, you might get James Robinson and he plays half the game and he does really well. You might get cam acres and he struggles and he barely plays.

So there's risk, but if you're desperate for a running back that's got some upside, he's the one. But assume five non-PPR fantasy points. Okay, so J.K. Dobbins, since we previewed this game yesterday, the game of the week, Dolphins and Ravens. I would amend the statement if we hear that Dobbins, and from somebody other, maybe even if we hear from Harbaugh that Dobbins looks amazing he's back to his old self you know the beat reporters show

optimism then you can raise it six non-PPR points no it'll be higher than that but you get the idea you want you want to kind of see it first with Dobbins if you can help it yeah so you'd start obviously you'd start AJ Dillon over himillon over him. How about in that game? Would you go Chase Edmonds or Dobbins? If it's PPR, I think it's Edmonds. And even in non-PPR, I bet I have Edmonds ranked ahead of Dobbins. Devin Singletary against Tennessee or J.K. Dobbins against the Dolphins? Singletary for me, still.

I think it's Singletary. So you guys are going to be pretty cautious. Leonard Fournette was limited in practice. Although, I don't know. What's the upside for Singletary? I would hope that after what happened last week, he gets more work. But they are 10-point favorites at home,

so hopefully he gets some fourth-quarter action. Alvin Kamara missed practice. Markingham against Tampa Bay or J.K. Dobbins against the Dolphins, if Kamara's out? Ingram. It's Ingram. All right. I mean, that's obviously a tough matchup.

But Ingram was very good last year when Kamara didn't play. Najee Harris practiced in full. That's wonderful. DeAndre Swift has not been practicing, but he says he's going to play, Jamie. You know, in five games that DeAndre Swift did not been practicing, but he says he's going to play, Jamie. You know, in five games that DeAndre Swift did not play or left early with an injury, the lead running back for the Lions had 15, 17, 11, 26 and 19 carries.

So a very nice role. The 11 carries was a blowout loss at Denver. But but first of all, I mean, do you trust DeAndre Swift if he does play? And if he doesn't, where would you rank Jamal Williams? I would trust Deandre Swift if he plays, you know, probably a low end number one option as opposed to a middle tier number one option, because he's probably dealing with something and there's always the risk of re-aggravation. So you just have to take that into account with who you're comparing him to. Uh, if Jamal Williams is the guy without Deandre Swift, he'll be a top 20 running back.

Okay. Michael Pittman mispractice. So he's got a quad injury, Dave. There goes all my fantasy teams. Look, hopefully he practices by Friday. It's a great matchup for him against Jacksonville, and I think he's going to continue to see targets funneled his way. So fingers crossed that he practices on Friday. And there's no way you could consider Matt Ryan if he doesn't play, right?

No. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yeah, not in your mind. I think Hines is a sneaky start even if Pittman plays. I think Hines is a safe start every week. Oh, I have to disagree with that. That's a little stretch. All right. Maybe in like a three-flex league, he's to disagree with that. That's a little stretch.

All right. Maybe in like a three flex league, he's a very safe. Did we have this conversation earlier this week? I don't remember. Did we? Was I part of it? About Naeem Hines being safe? 11 PPR points is as safe as you're going to find because you're going to get that every week.

I just, I mean, they ran 90 plays and he scored 11 PPR points. Yeah. And they were trailing. What happened in the third quarter? They were trailing. What happened in the third quarter? They were trailing. What happened in the third quarter? Mr. Third quarter guy? I don't know. Oh, they ran 10 plays in the third quarter.

So what? By the way, I pretty much crushed that, right? Like that was a great Acer stat right there. I was like, whoosh. That wasn't an Acer stat. That was the truth. I guess so. Yeah, yeah.

There shouldn't be that much of a distinction between an Acer stat and That was the truth. I guess so. Yeah, yeah. There shouldn't be that much of a distinction between an Acer stat and the truth, by the way, but I suppose there is. Well, I mean, when you remove things, you're obviously slanting it in your favor. This was actually factual across the board. If you take away week one, Mike Williams is a top five fan.

Hashtag Acer stats. Seattle safety Jamal Adams out for the season. Giants might, first place Giants, might get their best pass rushers back this week, especially Kayvon Thibodeau. And, you know, that's not going to change anything, but the Panthers offensive line did not hold up well last week. It's a much better pass rush.

They have a rookie left tackle, though, so keep that in mind. That'll be the last game we talk about today. Your first start, you've got to play Miles Garrett. Good luck to you. Yeah, exactly. Good luck. It'll be fun to watch Aquanu Good luck to you. Yeah, exactly. Good luck. It'll be fun to watch Aquanu against Thibodeau if Thibodeau plays. Yeah.

Did they go back to back? No. I think Aquanu was an eight in the draft or seven. That's eight, I think. Yeah, somewhere in there. Maybe six. Maybe. I can't remember if he went ahead of Evan Neal or.

Shoot, now I've got to go. He did go ahead of Evan Neal. Okay, so Thibodeau was five, Aquanu was six, and Neal was seven, and they're all going to face each other this weekend. Hooray. Mac Jones mispracticed with an illness,

but he's expected to play. George Kittle was not seen at practice, so be prepared to not have George Kittle. Be prepared to not play Kadarius Toney, who apparently has some hamstring thing, but also was practicing with the third team. Are we cutting him? I think you can cut him.

Buffalo cornerback Marlon Humphrey was limited with a groin injury. They already lost one defensive back for the season, so hopefully they can get Humphrey back for this game of the week against the Dolphins. Miami defensive tackle Christian Wilkins mispracticed. That could help J.K. Dobbins. Alan Lazard was limited in practice.

Are you guys ranking Lazard? Not yet, but hopefully he's fine. Yeah, hopefully he's not on the injury report on Friday and we can get him into our rankings. And T. Higgins, we don't know about his status with a concussion, but his father passed away? Yes. So sad.

Our thoughts with Tee Higgins. He mispracticed yesterday and death in the family, and that's just terrible. So I would love to see him out there this week, but hope everything's okay for Tee Higgins and his family. We have a busy Sunday for you. Check out CBS sports HQ beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern,

right off until kickoff. You're going to get a ton of fantasy advice, obviously some insights from reporters that you won't get anywhere else. And you'll get some gambling advice as well. If you're interested in that, we have a Saturday mailbag episode. Yeah. People win so much money in week one.

It was crazy. Oh, nice. We have a Saturday mailbag episode that we're going to record on Friday with Dan Schneier and maybe Jamie. Okay, good. We'll update you on some key injuries. And let's do, real quick,

let's do Beat the Waiver Wire. A couple DSTs you might want for week three. And one of them you can certainly use in week two, the Bengals. 51% roster. They get the Jets next week. They get the Cooper Rush-led Cowboys this week. So I went ahead and added them. I dropped the Ravens.

Probably liked the Ravens better this week, but didn't want to roster two DSTs, so I just said, I'll start the Bengals this week and keep them for the Jets. You made the right move. You like the Ravens better? I mean, the Bengals scored one fantasy point against the Steelers last week,

and the Steelers aren't that much better than the Cowboys, or that much worse than the Cowboys, you know, offensively. But, I mean, it's a toss-up. Fine. I'm not going to... Bengals over Ravens. Cowboys next week are at the Giants on Monday night. So those are two DSTs you can look at. Justin Fields against Houston, if you want to stash a quarterback. And then all these running backs,

Herbert, Rashad White, Algier, Zamir White, Burkhead, Drake, Ingram, Jalen Warren, 49ers guys not named Wilson. They're all rostered in less than 60% of leagues. And Brian... You think you know Benjamin? I didn't say you know Benjamin. i don't like would you even care about

you know benjamin he basically lasts on this list for me well i mean if you're talking about handcuffs he's in that conversation for a guy that's been so banged up in his career for james connor it's pretty clear that he's the second guy so yeah you don't think he'd split with daryl williams if i don't think that's him you're white wouldn't necessarily get every touch i don't know if rashad white would get every touch. So if you're putting those guys on this list of picking up stash candidates, he should clearly be in that conversation. He could be last. I don't have a problem

with that, but he should definitely be in the conversation. Well, yeah, I was going to ask a follow-up question. How many of them would you be excited about if there were an injury to the starter? Well, I mean, think about what we just went through with Elijah Mitchell going down and the varying degrees of people picking up

Jeff Wilson. And so we're having this conversation daily for the last five days of you should pick up Jeff Wilson, but you should also add Tyrion Davis-Price and Jordan Mason if you have a roster spot. So it's going to be the same thing. It would be the same conversation if Josh Jacobs

gets hurt, pick up Zemir White, but maybe find a spot for Amir Abdullah. If it's the Cardinals, it's pick up, you know, Benjamin and maybe find a spot for Darrell Williams. You know, these are not Alexander Madison type of guys. You know, so they're going to be in committees, especially the rookies. You know, I can't imagine Tampa Bay is going to say, all right, Rashad, you go protect Tom Brady for 40 snaps. You know, that's not going to be the case.

They're going to throw out Giovanni Bernard if he's healthy, or even Keyshawn Vaughn if they want to make him on the active roster because he's done it before. So there's no full-time guy, I think, of these backfields. They could develop into that, which is why I think you should add them. So Herbert, Ingram. Those two, right? Those two are full-time. Those three were available. Absolutely should be rostered

as close to 80-plus percent as you can make room for them because 10-team league is a little bit harder. But some of these other situations, you're just hoping for good offenses and those backups to be the potential lead guys. And I got two IDPs for you. Quay Walker, first- round pick for the Packers,

linebacker out of Georgia. He had a really good game, then he left with an injury, but he had eight tackles in limited time. Quay Walker, he's expected to play this week, so go ahead and get him. And Pete Werner for the Saints. He's more rostered than Walker is, but he had 12 tackles in week one.

Quay Walker for the Packers, Pete Werner, W-E-R-N-E-R, W-A-N-B-C. And the other guy you mentioned too on Tuesday, Marcus Williams too. Marcus Williams is a good one. Talanoa Hufanga is another one. Okay, there you go, ID people. Devin Lloyd is still out there in like 75 or so percent of leagues. It's so hard with the percentages for IDP leagues because they're so up and down like i don't know i i think is it a reflection of every league on cbs or just

leagues that are idp eligible just i mean i can only tell you the roster percentages on our leagues but for our leagues like a lot of those idp formats are you only play one defense player or one player per position. So we go to a little bit of an extreme in our IDP leagues. We do. It's just IDP leagues, Dave. So Aaron Donald, for example, is 85% rostered. Right, and Joey Bosa is 82%. So I think it's a decent reflection of how unowned these guys are.

Yeah. I don't have a problem with it how unowned these guys are. Yeah. I don't have a problem with it. Are you ready for start or sit? Here we go. One question for each game. Tampa Bay, New Orleans. Who are the must-start guys in this game? Shouldn't this be the question for every game that we're about to do?

No, because we spent a lot of time talking about the non-must-start guys, right? The flex guys. The must-start guys, right? The flex guys. The must-start guys for Tampa Bay would be Leonard Fournette and Mike Evans. And I'm still going to put Brady in that category because I don't want to drop Brady or pick up another quarterback unless I have just a deep enough roster. So I'll say Brady's still a must-start guy, but I would put him in the sit category if I had to put him in a starter sit situation.

For the Saints, it's Kamara and Michael Thomas, and then Jarvis Landry if you need a third receiver. Okay. Yeah, because you've got good offensive players, but you've got good defenses too, and one of them really has a huge number and all that. I wouldn't love starting the Saints DST, especially if everybody's healthy,

but they still rank top 10 for me. The Bucs do too. They're just toward the bottom of that list. Chicago and Green Bay. Who would you start as a flex? David Montgomery or Alan Lazard if he plays? Lazard by a mile. In PPR,

there's no question. I'm thinking about it in non-PPR and I think I might go Lazard there too. Minnesota against Philadelphia. Question here is Bonanza? Yes. Oh, Bonanza? Yes. Oh, don't do this. People were accusing you of calling last night's game

a banana. Last night's game was, nah, I guess it really wasn't fine. No, it was fine. It was fun. It was good. It was fine for fantasy. It was fine.

The Bonanza doesn't guarantee you that Marquez Valdez-Scantling is going to have a good game. No, but Kelsey was a bust. Kelsey wasn't great. Mahomes wasn't great. Mahomes wasn't great. Juju wasn't great. They weren't terrible.

Juju was. You killed Harrison Butker. I did. No, but I think... Kelsey almost got a touchdown and then got body slammed. It was fantastic. That was sick. So listen, I think obviously we like this game.

We like a lot of points, but that doesn't mean Miles Sanders is a slam dunk. Obviously, Thielen and Devontae Smith. So as much as we like this game. We like a lot of points, but that doesn't mean Miles Sanders is a slam dunk. Obviously Thielen and Devante Smith, you know, so as much as we like it, I'm wondering if it's just going to be too concentrated between too few players in this game. So what about those three guys?

Thielen, Devante Smith, Miles Sanders? I think what you got from Sanders last week is probably something you can expect with or without the touchdown. You know, so two catches without the touchdown, you know, so two catches, maybe at most, you know,

probably in the neighborhood of 80 rushing yards. He looked great running the ball, but for the most part, he always looks great running the ball when he's healthy and the offensive line is good. So that's where they are right now. Hopefully he continues to find the end zone. And if that happens,

he's going to shatter his ADP and you're going to regret not drafting him. I think the thing about feeling is feeling's going to be kind of a victim of circumstance. You know, there'll be weeks where he scores a touchdown, but that's kind of, I think what you knew you were buying, at least. I hope you did. So is he going to have, you know, 80 plus yards consistently? No.

Is he going to have maybe in the 50 to 60 range and the chance to score? I think that's probably realistic. I think Devante Smith has a bounce back game. You know, you hear, you, you heard Nick Sirianni talk about that. It feels like there's a squeaky wheel game coming. So to what extent we'll find out it's a good defense that he's facing, but I would buy back into him as a number three receiver. If you start three receivers, I don't know how good of a defense it is. I think they played well last week, but the Packers were real beat up. Their offensive line was in bad shape and it was the first game

for two of the receivers. I think this could be a game where Philly's offense is a safer bet than Minnesota's. Washington at Detroit, would you start Carson Wentz over any big-name quarterbacks this week? I'd start him over Brady. Brady would not have Mike Evans in his. Right. That's an obvious call if there's no Mike Evans,

but I would do it even if Evans plays because Evans won't be at 100%, and Evans' track record against the Saints isn't that good. And I really liked what the Washington offense did last week. I think they stick with it this week, and I don't think the Lions can cover it. So Wentz is not in my top 12, but neither is Brady. He's a step ahead of him. I would also start Wentz ahead of Trey Lance this week.

I don't think that's that bold. Ahead of Justin Fields. There really isn't another big name guy that I would, you know, Joe Flacco. Okay. I'm just messing around. But I like Wentz. I think Curtis Samuel keeps getting targets. Dotson's fun.

McLaurin is fine. Logan Thomas is still one of my favorite guys. It's just one question, baby. We'll break it all down. All right. I'm excited still one of my favorite guys. It's just one question, baby. We got a whole, we'll break it all down. All right. I'm excited about the commander. All right. All right, good. I'm not going to like that.

Falcons at Rams. Who's a better flex, Cordaro Patterson or Allen Robinson? Patterson. Patterson is safer, but Robinson will have a better game. Okay. Seattle, San Francisco. Are there any good starts in this game other than Debo Samuel?

Trey Lance bounces back with the game. I could see it. I could definitely see it. I think there's rain in the forecast for this game. Oh, great. Well, that worked out well last week. There's a difference if it's a

little bit of rain or if it's a freaking downpour. Yeah, there's rain in the forecast on Sunday. 80% chance with 15 mile an hour winds. Awesome. 30 years from now, every NFL team's going to have a dome. I can't wait

for that day. I hope I'm still alive for that day. Jeez. Morbid. What if I get a cockroach stuck in my mouth and choke and die? Terrible. That little son of a... He ran out the same door he came in during the stream yesterday, so

hopefully... Which room in your house is he in now? Hopefully none. He came in through a door that's from the outside. So he went back outside during the stream. So now he's probably in your car. It's on the other side. He's in the backyard.

Waiting in the car seat for that opportunity. I would freak out. I am such a wimp with cockroaches. I hate those damn things. I'm a wimp with everything, but especially cockroaches. All right. Like or love DJ Moore. Carolina, the Giants. We know we're starting to running right. Like or love DJ Moore, Carolina, the Giants. We know we're starting

to running backs like or love DJ Moore. Love. Kind of got to love him. Top 30 overall player this week. All right. Tampa Bay is at New Orleans. Stat of the game number one since Marshawn Lattimore's rookie season in 2017.

Mike Evans has scored more than 13 PPR fantasy points once. He is usually a number three wide receiver against the New Orleans Saints. If he plays, where are you going to rank Mike Evans? Currently got him top 15, and it's way too high. Especially after that stat. Top 15. I think, I asked this yesterday, and I haven't looked up yet,

his numbers without Godwin on the field. Yeah, so there were two games last year in the playoffs where not only did he not have Godwin, but he also didn't have Antonio Brown, and he faced elite cornerbacks, Darius Slay, and who was the other one? Oh, Jalen Ramsey, right? And he had like 120 yards or something in each game.

He had over 11 targets or more in each game. This is all from memory. I'm sorry. But you're right, Jamie. You brought this up. When Tom Brady doesn't have anyone else to throw to, then he won't shy away from the best cornerback, and he will just pepper Mike Evans.

But Lattimore really has owned him. So go ahead. Make your point. No, that's what I would hang my hat on. I would bank on, first off, but Lattimore really has owned him. So go ahead, make your point. But yeah. No, that's what I would hang my hat on. You know, I would bank on, first off, you got to have a pretty loaded receiving quarter bench Mike Evans

in your fantasy roster. Second of all, I do think that this is where Brady will go. And so I'll trust Mike Evans to have a productive game, maybe not a huge game, but a productive enough game that I'm still starting.

I think I just want to invite everyone to listen to the mailbag because we'll definitely have more information. And watch HQ at noon Eastern if you're watching live or hearing this before noon Eastern. CBS Sports HQ noon Eastern on Friday. We'll get the practice reports then and we'll be able to react to it. I guess, what's

the best scenario for a wide receiver? Let's say Evans and Julio engage all play. Would you rank Julio higher than Evans? Would that be too bold? No. It's too bold. I'd stick with Evans. Let's say Evans doesn't play

and Gage and Julio do play. Who's your favorite? Julio. But I kind of dig Gage. I wonder if he ends up playing a lot more in the slot. And everybody knows Brady's track record of slot receivers. Yeah. And who's the slot corner now for New Orleans?

I don't even know. So that could be a winning matchup for Brady and for the Bucs. Okay. Stat of the game number two. The Saints allowed a 100-yard rusher last week. It was the second time in their last 79 games, including the playoffs, that a running back rushed for 100 yards.

79 games. That's according to Mike Triplett. And that was, of course, Cordaro Patterson. Nice. But any hesitation with Fournette, or is he a must-start? He's a must-start guy. Yeah, I'm top 15 at running back.

So maybe Daryl Henderson, maybe Antonio Gibson in PPR ahead of Fournette, but you're starting him. Should get a lot of catches from Fournette. Yes. And Brady. So of catches from Fournette. Yes. And Brady. So let's finish up on Brady. Dave, you said you would start Wentz over him.

Stafford, Cousins, Carr, Burrow, Aaron Rodgers. I'd start Lantz over him too. I'm getting there. If it was going to be a picturesque day in Santa Clara, I think I'd have Lance ahead of him. But this rain is going to tick me off. Might tick off Kyle Shanahan, too. Might even bend the brim of his hat.

Ooh. Nah, probably not that. Okay. How about we go to the Saints? Jameis Winston, start or sit? 26 fantasy points last week at Atlanta. Almost all of them in the second half. Almost all in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter. The Bucs were terrific defensively. 202 touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Jeez, man. So start or sit Winston this week? You should sit him. You should. I mean, not in super flex leagues,

but another quarterback that Wentz is definitely better than Lance is better than for now Matt Ryan better than Justin Fields too I like how you when you say T-H-A-N you give it a little bit of a than instead of a then I like that Dave it's very professional

thank you thank y'all so Camara if Camara plays I like that, Dave. It's very professional. Thank you. Thank you. So, Kamara, if Kamara plays against this Bucs defense where he's had a lot of trouble running the ball, and last year he really wasn't. Other people have. Yeah, obviously. Last year he really wasn't very good in the passing game.

You know, he finally played them without Drew Brees, and he had five catches in two games against the Bucs. He wasn't a great start, especially in one game. He was terrible in one game, but he was fine in the other. In fact, he was 16.6 PPR fantasy points in the other. He scored. Is Kamara slam dunked this week if he plays? He's

a guy you're probably going to start, but he's outside my top 10. I think you saw a few things. First off, how healthy is he? So one shot to the ribs, and that's a nightmare. They're going to use Mark Ingram. Winston's not going to throw to him as much as we're used to from Breeze.

And then the Taysom Hill factor is not going away. So that's frustrating. Who would rank higher, Alvin Kamara if he plays or Mark Ingram if Kamara doesn't play? Still Kamara. Yes. I think it'd be close, though. Like Miles Sanders or Mark Ingram sans Kamara.

Do I go Sanders there? I think I do. I would. But Josh Jacobs versus Mark Ingram? I still go Jacobs against the Saints. Against the Cardinals, excuse me. Against the Cardinals? Yeah, I probably would too.

AJ Dillon versus Ingram? Like that might be the line where I'll take Ingram. Yeah, I like Dillon a lot, so Dillon's easy for me. If you do not have Kamara on your team, you are rooting for him to have a terrible game so that the trade window opens and you can buy low on A to the K. Panthers, Vikings, Seahawks.

We'll see about the Bengals, Cardinals, Raiders. Those are his next six games. And I would say the same thing about Tom Brady. Sure. Although he's got Packers, Chiefs, Steelers are in his future. Love it. Yeah, he's got some games. Got some shootouts. He won't be able to just run the clock out like, well, I don't know. The Chiefs will be. I don't know about the Packers.

I hope so. Won't be able to run the clock out like they did against Dallas. New Orleans wide receivers, you guys have Michael Thomas in your top 10. Heath is lower on Thomas. He has him 18th in PPR, 28th in non-PPR. This is not an easy matchup, but we're going to Michael Thomas here. Dave, starter said Jarvis Landry or Chris Olave. Landry, 114 yards on nine targets last week. Love the role that Landry played. He actually had a bunch of deep routes and a bunch of deep catches in the game.

Jameis loves him. I do too. He's a top 30 receiver for me. Consider him a great PPR flex. Olave could have a splash play in the game. He's more of like a DFS tournament dark throw than a guy I would start in my redraft league. Would you guys start Jarvis Landry or C.D. Lamb?

I got Lamb higher. Lamb slightly. Would you start Jarvis Landry or... Russell Gage? Landry. Well, I'm not going to ask you... I shouldn't ask Bucks ride receivers questions because we don't know who's in and who's out.

So one more Jarvis Landry question. You can set those parameters if you really wanted to. I think it's too complicated. Let's just wait until we get the news. Lazy. Jarvis Landry or a Washington Commanders receiver not named Terry McLaurin? Landry.

So Dotson. Landry. I'd go Dotson and non-PPR. Taysom Hill or Dawson Knox, Cole Komet? Knox and Komet. I've got Knox over Hill in full PPR. I will take Taysom Hill over Dawson Knox in non-PPR. This, I think, is a reference to yesterday's show.

Jarvis Landry or Kareem Hunt? Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt? Okay. We had a little Kareem Hunt fight yesterday. Where was Jarvis ranked in the preseason? No, stop. What are these DSTs? We'll finish up here. DSTs are kind of low-end, these two?

Low-end starters, yes. Unless the Bucs receivers are gone. So, Bengals kind of low-end these two? Low-end starters, yes. I would avoid them again, unless the Bucs receivers are gone. So Bengals over these two DSTs? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Panthers?

No. No. Oh, respect. Respect for those first-place Giants. All right, we'll take a break here. When we come back, the last-place Packers against the first-place Bears. You're going to make me root

against the Giants all year. Come on, this is going to be fun. Winning. Give me two more days of this, please. All right, we'll take a break. When we come back, Bears at Packers. What about this primetime history for Aaron Rodgers? How good is it exactly?

And we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. The Packers are 0-1, coming off an embarrassing loss. And now they get the Bears, who are are 1-0 coming off a great win and your stat of the game is Aaron Rodgers in primetime which actually was not as good as I thought last year in 2020 he had 6 primetime games

and he scored 30 or more fantasy points in 5 of them that was amazing, last year very good but not amazing, 20, 26, 23, 24, and 35 fantasy points for Aaron Rodgers. And you know what? His worst game in that stretch was a Thursday night game at Arizona. And who did not play in that game? Devontae Adams.

So can he get the primetime magic going without Devontae? How do you feel about Aaron Rodgers in this game? Start or sit? Compare him to Tom Brady. Better than Brady. Low-end starter. Top 12 guy. Not a top 10 guy, but certainly has an opportunity to have a very strong bounce-back performance, especially if Alan Lazard plays.

That'll just be fantastic. If Lazard plays, do you move him ahead of Stafford? And I know you're crazy about Stafford. No, Stafford's top five quarterback for me. No way. Okay. I agree. But I think he's better than Cousins. I think he's better than Brady, better than Trey Lance.

Don't get cute. I know last week was bad. We kind of told you that it was going to be bad last week. And this week it should be good because that Bears defense, I don't think they're ready for Green Bay. And Green Bay's offensive line might be healthier this week than last week. I don't think this is an easy game. I think people are going to have A.J. Dillon questions

just about every week. I don't expect him to lead the team in receiving. No, but he's still a low end. He may not be far off, though. We're going to start Aaron Jones even after a bad game, although if he gets fewer than five carries, then I think we'll maybe start Jones even after a bad game. Although if he gets, you know, fewer than five carries, then I think we'll maybe start sounding the alarm a little bit. He had five for 49 and three for 27 receiving, but fine start Jones. But no,

I think this is a tough game. I mean, Montgomery's like flexi. The wide receivers are obviously not a very fair out of start. Not even Dante Pettis. Is it, is that because the Packers should have a good defense? Or is that because...

Okay. Yeah, they got to bounce back. They're supposed to have a really good defense this year. They played what's going to be one of the better offenses in the league. So that was everything on display from Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins against a good defense. And they played like crap. And there were breakdowns too. Right. It wasn't just like a good defense. And they played like crap. And there were breakdowns, too.

Right. It wasn't just like they got beat. They really did play like crap. Their breakdowns were embarrassing. So they got to show up here. Yeah. It's a get-right game for them. It's a layup for them.

Yeah. It should be. They're already very familiar with each other because they play each other twice a year. But the new Bears play caller used to be the quarterback's coach of Green Bay. He's probably running a scheme that's very similar to what the Packers are doing now. He'll have some familiarity with the defense. He's practiced against the Packers defense for a while,

but the Packers defense should be really good. I'm kind of expecting, remember how last week I said that the Vikings were going to squash the Packers? I think the Packers give that squash now to the Bears. Can I tell you... And I don't mean spaghetti squash, which can sometimes be good. Something that just happened that probably makes me as angry

as even a cockroach sneaking into my house. We do these mock drafts with listeners, and then some of them inevitably start playing out the league and making ad drops. And I get an email every time it happens. It was a mock draft. The league is called Podcast Mock Draft. Why are you adding Jarvis

Landry? We're not playing. Why do you have your alert set for it? Why don't you let people have fun? Yeah, play. Let them do it. You don't have to purchase paid if you don't want it. You can be a quitter on a league. Let the other people do what they want to. That seems risky.

Adam's quitting on a league already. It's a mock draft. Who would you start, A.J. Dillon? What you should have done was let the people play it out and you just give your team away to another podcast listener. You know what? That's actually a pretty good idea. Now, it's not a good idea.

I'll consider that. It's a great idea. We should do it now. We shouldn't wait till next year a.j dylan who are you starting a.j dylan over david montgomery ezekiel elliott yep um jeff wilson josh jacobs miles sanders oh is cordero patterson too far no i'd start him over patterson. I would too. Dave, you would not start guy for me. I'm not getting away from him until he

proves otherwise. I think they're both number two fantasy running backs this week. Here's the only problem with calling Dylan a must-start guy is based on where some

people drafted him, they might just have a lot of really good options. So, you know, for example, Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs,

you have, Jamie has them behind Dylan. Dave, you have, Jamie has them behind Dylan. Dave, you have Dylan a little bit behind them. So it's just, that's why he's going to be in the mix. I think,

you know, a lot of weeks with a lot of these. Yeah. I mean, there's, you probably have a lot of decisions with a lot of players, but for me, I drafted Dylan ahead of those guys with the idea that he is going to have a

breakout season. And that played itself out so far in week one. And I think it will continue in a much better matchup this week. But I think I'd start Daryl Henderson ahead of him. In PPR, I'd start Gibson ahead of him. I'd start Miles Sanders ahead of him. Gibson's the only one you know. Those are the three guys that we're going after.

Which one? These are all very solid players. But the only one I would do is Gibson. All right. And then if Lazard plays, I mean, I could speak to myself because I love Lazard. I have a decent amount of Lazard. I would be excited to start him. If they said, oh, he's if Lazard plays, I mean, I could speak to myself because I've loved Lazard, have a decent amount of Lazard. I would be excited to start him.

If they said, oh, he's going to be limited, he might not. Okay, maybe that would dampen it a little bit, but if he plays, I think he's going to have a good game, and I'm pumped for Lazard. A hundred percent. Top 24 receiver?

Easy. I mean, I don't, you know. So Lazard or DK Metcalf? I mean, I think I would go with Lazard too. Metcalf? Oh, I mean, I would go with Lazard for sure. I think I would go with Lazard too. I'm starting Lazard over CeeDee Lamb too. That's what I was going to say, yeah. Wow.

Oh, boy. I hope I'm not going crazier. Obviously, we'd start him over Montgomery. I asked you that earlier. Would you start A.J. Dillon? I mean, sorry. Would you start... What was I going to ask?

Darnell Mooney or David Montgomery? Who's a better flex? Mooney. Mooney. Would you start David Montgomery or Jarvis Landry? Landry. Landry. Wow.

Wow, really? John Dotson, too, in PPR. You're that down on Montgomery this week? Montgomery had 20 touches last week. I know he stunk, but he had 20 touches. You're that down on him? He won't get 20 this week. I know he stunk, but he had 20 touches. You're that down on him? He won't get 20 this week. I think there's a change.

There's a lot to be frustrated about with Montgomery because Herbert's going to play and may have earned more playing time. And score is not going to be in his favor, most likely. So will that help him maybe his role in the passing game? Potentially. But that offensive line is bad, and I think he's going to be in a lot of trouble this week. Can you give me a second to look up something, Adam?

Of course. I want to see how the Packers did against inside and outside zone. We're actually going to go fast the rest of the way. I promise. Darnell Mooney, you're going to sit Darnell Mooney for a lot of guys. How about Darnell Mooney or you're going to sit Darnell Mooney for a lot of guys. How about Darnell Mooney or Devante Smith? I like Devante Smith better. All right, so try to get away from Mooney.

Kemet, Jave is the highest. He has Kemet. That was the word Dave, not Jave. Dave has Kemet 13th. Jamie and Heath have him outside the top 15, so you can get away from him if you can. Oh, Robert Tunyon or Cole Komet? I would go Tunyon and non-PPR.

I'll go back to Komet and PPR. But this is another guy I think that we'll... This is another beat-the-waver wire guy. Yeah, 40% rostered. And, you know, five targets last week, which is actually pretty good for that team. And he had a decent game. Three catches for 36 yards. Robert Tunyon.

Packers DST is a start. All right. Minnesota at Philadelphia. This game we might spend a little bit of time on. The rest of them should be fairly easy. Philadelphia up front, they weren't very good. Derek Barnett's out for the season now. They didn't play defensive tackle Jordan Davis all that much in week one.

That could change this week. It seems like he had a pretty good debut. But Jalen Hurts is easy. Justin Jefferson and one. That could change this week. It seems like he had a pretty good debut. But Jalen Hurts is easy. Justin Jefferson and A.J. Brown are easy. Who do you like better, Thielen or Devontae Smith? I think you said Smith, right? Or no?

I would probably lean towards Thielen, but it's close. Yeah, okay. You love the potential for points here. You have a lot of faith in Kirk Cousins because he, in prime time, was so bad last year. 18 points against Pittsburgh on Thursday, 15 points against Dallas on a Sunday, and then that Monday night game against the Bears

where they were missing, I think, every starter in their secondary. Scored 14.5 PPR points, or 14.5 points and 6 points for passing touchdown links. He was terrible. And people are talking about it Jamie so you know give them some relief you trust Kirk Cousins this week I know the

history and it's hard to overlook but it's also a different situation for him because I do think that this offense is going to really allow him to make some easy throws and give him some chance for some big plays so I will still start him yes I'm not pivoting away from Kirk Cousins.

Okay. Dalvin Cook, of course. Miles Sanders. Miles Sanders. Between Miles Sanders, Devontae Smith, and Adam Thielen, who would be your favorite start? Dave. It's Sanders.

Okay. Are we ready to just go back to him this week? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Vikings weren't great against the run as far as efficiency goes last week. And I really love the offensive line. The state of the Eagles offensive line right now is a huge plus. Yeah.

Working with Jalen Hurts, who's a running threat, is a huge plus. I know he's not playing every snap. I know that's going to annoy people. But the efficiency should make up for it. I think he has another good game and I've got the numbers on the bears running backs. If you want to hear it, go for it. Okay.

Inside zone, outside zone runs. These are specific runs that teams use. It's basically what Kyle Shanahan has made his bread and butter on the bears ran a lot of it. The rush EPA for David Montgomery on these type of runs last week was negative 0.55. That's terrible for Khalil Herbert. It was positive 0.46. That's incredible. The Packers last week against these specific runs, they were okay. They allowed 3.8 yards per carry, um, on 16 carries, but they missed three tackles, which was close to the worst in the league last week.

And they had a defensive rush success percentage of 62 and a half. That was toward the bottom half. I think Herbert is a better fit to run against the Packers this week than Montgomery. Whether it plays out this way remains to be seen, but it just goes back to what we were telling you earlier in the show. Khalil Herbert, if he's out there in your league, get them stash them could be huge. And not to stray too far from the topic, but I think I'm concerned.

I'm sure a lot of people are concerned that David Montgomery is just going to be one of the biggest busts in fantasy this year. There there's a path to that for sure, but not there yet. You could, you could try trading them to the Elijah Mitchell manager. Now it's not a bad idea. And, Not there yet. You could try trading him to the Elijah Mitchell manager now. It's not a bad idea.

And hopefully you can get something close to like a fourth or a fifth round player in exchange. All right, let me ask you some more questions about this game and then we'll move on. Miles Sanders or Cordaro Patterson? Sanders. Definitely Sanders over Dobbins, over Jeff Wilson, those types of guys, over Chase Edmonds, over the Jaguars guys.

All right, so Sanders is going to be starting a lot of leagues. Miles Sanders or Gabriel Davis? Let's say half PPR. I'll take him. No, Davis. Okay. All right, I think that's basically it. Devontae Smith and Adam Thielen are number three receivers? Flex guys.

Yeah. You're not going to start guys like Sterling Shepard or Julio Jones over them, right? No. No. All right. The case could be made for Jones if Evans is out. Okay. We'll re-explore that then. Shepard might not for Jones if Evans is out. Okay.

We'll re-explore that then. Shepard might not be bad if Tony's out too. Well, to be fair, Tony didn't really play last week. I wish he had more targets last week, man. I wish Shepard played more targets. The fact that he's making plays down the field is pretty impressive. Yeah, that was pretty cool. But that's something that we can't count on him for.

I don't want to talk bad about Shepard because I love him. But I wish he had more work in this offense. Maybe he gets it. He might get it. but that's something that we can't count on him for. I don't want to talk bad about Shepard because I love him, but I just, I wish he had more work in this offense. Maybe he gets it. He might get it. All right. What else do they have? Washington at Detroit here repeats that of the game.

I'll say it every week until it stops. Detroit allowed 94 rushing yards or a rushing touchdown to a running back in 13 of 17 games last season. And I don't know that, that I think Sanders had 91 last week, but obviously three running back. I think he had 96. 96. Okay.

So he got over that 94. They're the worst. The Lions run defense was the worst last year and it looks bad again this year. So we've talked about a lot of running backs. We like Jamie, you like AJ Dillon a lot. For example, Antonio Gibson or AJ Dillon. Gibson. No, I think Gibson's in a good spot.

This is another guy that if he has a big blow-up game again, you might want to sell high because Robinson's expected to return in week five and the schedule gets a little bit tougher for them moving forward. If you can turn him into a superstar

with the hope that somebody isn't paying attention to when Robinson's timeline is. Absolutely a movie should make it. It's Gibson and like a middling number two receiver for a top 15 receiver or a top 15 running back. Nice. So give Gibson a start this week. He's in a very good spot. And we kind of called that, you know, with starting the year with Jacksonville and Detroit.

He had a great chance to get off to a good start. Any how about real quick on JD McKissick, any interest in him? I don't think you want to trust him when Gibson's in this role right now. And then with Samuel, Samuel. Yes. And how about, uh, how about the wide receivers? I'll get back to Wentz in a minute here. Sometimes what happens with Detroit, talked about it last week, and it played out. Number one receivers last year and in week one destroyed them, destroyed them. And then the number two guys

might have some pretty disappointing games. Happened with A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith last week. Any concerns about that, or do you think the targets will be more evenly distributed as they were last week with Washington? I think this is going to be a competitive game. I think this is the first time the Lions have been a favorite in like two years. So the odds makers are expecting this to be a competitive game. And I think they're trying to go into taking the commanders. So they must think

the Lions are going to win this game. And that means that Washington's going to have to keep throwing. They're already going to have to throw a lot just because they may not be confident in just running it up between the tackles. Wes Schweitzer might not play. That's going to hurt their offensive line. So I think you're going to see a lot more passing from the commanders again. It's why I like Wentz this week. I have no problem starting McLaurin.

I have no problem starting Dotson. In PPR, I have no problem starting Curtis Samuelin. I have no problem starting Dotson. In PPR, I have no problem starting Curtis Samuel. And we just talked about Gibson. I think those are going to be the four big targets. And Logan Thomas, too. Five. Five commanders I'm a fan of. You better start Carson Wentz, buddy.

I am starting Carson Wentz over Brady. Okay. You have him 13th. Jamie has him 15th. Heath has him 14th. So you can go to Carson Wentz if you want. He's not ahead of Carr or Cousins or Rodgers or Wentz? I've got Rodgers ahead.

I think he's a little safer. Okay. So I probably like a lot of points in this game. Would you guys start? Who is your second favorite receiver on Washington behind McLaurin? Dotson or Samuel? Dotson. Dotson.

Okay. And... Dotson or Samuel? Dotson. Dotson. Dotson. You changed from Tuesday, Dave. You were Samuel on Tuesday. I think it might be format specific. Let me go back and look and see what I've got. I'm excited about Dotson. Samuel will get more targets, I think.

I do have Samuel out of Dotson in full PPR. I don't know. I was pretty excited saying Dotson's name just then. That might have to be a switcheroo. Feel it, baby. Okay, so Logan Thomas or Robert Tunyon? There is a

clear path for Tunyon to be more successful. Thomas might have a better game, but again, if you're looking at who could be second on the team and targets from a pass catching standpoint, clearly the running back is going to matter, but you make a case in Washington,

the same thing. I think Tanya could end up being a big target, part-time target for Aaron Rogers. So I'll take Tom Tanya. Can I have 30 seconds on Logan Thomas? Council. Can you make 30 seconds on Logan Thomas council? Can you make it 15? Yeah.

He had a 23% target per route run rate. Uh, the dude wasn't even practicing until late August. And now here he was playing 60% of the snaps for the commanders. You know, about Wentz's track record, not just with tight ends, but with big bodied receivers anyway.

Uh, and the lions almost gave up a touchdown to Dallas Goddard last week. 3-for-60 for Goddard. I think that's the floor for Logan Thomas. Oh, the floor! 60 yards. That's quite a floor. That's like a top-five tight end if that's his floor. Well, I mean, in this game. 9 PPR

points. Okay, okay, okay. Let's go to the Lions here. Start Swift. Any interest if he plays plays any interest in jamal williams if he doesn't have swift no if swift plays no he's too he just touched on dependent yeah i want to see how i rank him versus dobbins i have a theory i i feel like the carries are not going to be as even as they were last week i I think it was 14 to 11 for Swift, but they started using Swift more down the stretch and kind of went away from Williams until Swift had a long run

and needed a breather. So I'm hoping that they do the smart thing, and maybe not this week with Swift a little banged up, but I'm hoping that they stop with this charade here and just give the ball to the better player. But maybe they understand that Swift can't stay healthy. I also thought about that, but I don't think it needs to be 50-50. I'd start Dobbins ahead of Jamal Williams if Swift is out there and not on a snap count and not injured.

Okay. If Swift is out, Jamal Williams would rank where? In that Miles Sanders, Josh Jacobs range. Yeah. Okay, so that's. Yeah. Okay. So that's top 20. Who's your favorite wide receiver in this game? St.

Brown or McLaurin? St. Brown. I think we might be onto something here with the, with Washington and slot receivers. They gave up the fourth most yards to slot receivers last week and they stunk against them in 2020. Kirk had a huge game last week,

so it could be, should be a good spot for St. Brown. And TJ Hawkinson is TJ Hawkinson. He's about eighth in the rankings. Sit the DSTs. Atlanta's at the Rams. Okay. It's another tough matchup for Cordaro Patterson. So, what do you think?

What does he do for an encore? Dave. I think he continues to get a lot of work in this offense. I would not be surprised if he picked up more catches and had maybe in the neighborhood of four or five catches this week. Runs to the edges. Is a good fantasy starter. Number two running back.

How many Falcons are you confidently starting? Oh, confidently starting one. Pitts? Yep. London had a really nice debut. I don't even know. What do you think about going back to London? 74 yards on seven targets last week. Stay in the States.

I think he's at best to flex. And I'm a little worried about Pitts as well, but you got to start him, and I think you got to start Patterson. I think those two are the most confident you can get in a Falcons player this week. Dave, what did you think of that song London by Third Eye Blind real quick?

I didn't love it. I didn't love it. Sorry to hear that. Didn't rock out enough for me. Well, that's as much as they rock out, so that's not going to be a band for you. We are hoping for a big bounce back from Matthew Stafford. He is the start of the week.

Yes, stick with Kyle Pitts. Tyler Higbee, though. Let's talk about the other tight end here. So we've talked about Logan Thomas and Robert Tunyon. I mentioned Dawson Knox, Taysom Hill. Is Tyler Higbee ahead of all those guys? 100%. I think he is.

Dave doesn't seem as jazzed. Because he had so much production late in the game, right? Right, and he botched it. And they might need him to block a little more this week. I'm trying to get the practice report up to date here on the Rams offensive line. Okay, yeah, he had 11 targets, but eight of them came in the fourth quarter.

He led the team in targets, Tyler Higbee, in the fourth quarter. But he is a start. But this is kind of a hedge on Allen Robinson. If Allen Robinson's struggling again, this is the number two guy in the passing game right now. Yeah, except if you go back to last year, there was only one reliable guy. He just

got everything. Cooper Cup. It did. I wonder if Skronek... Skoronek. Skoronek. He's not Moronic. He's Ben Skoronek. I keep saying his name. Skoronek. Skoronek. He's not Moronic. He's Ben Skoronek. I wonder if he gets some chances. You never mispronounce names. I know. This is

Skronek. Skoronek. Yeah. We have a recommendation. Mr. S. Try the song Graduate by Third Eye Blind after the show, Dave. All right. Back to this game. I've heard that song. That song definitely can slap a little bit. Yeah, that's a good one.

Offensive line, we know that Brian Allen is going to be out. That's their starting center. Joe Noteboom practiced on a limited basis on Thursday. He's their left tackle. It's kind of an ugly line right now. I'm hoping that they can bounce back, but they got two dudes on this offensive line I don't know anything about. Coleman Shelton, Tremaine Antrim,

if I'm pronouncing that name right. Not that the Falcons' pass rush is dominant, but this is a problem that the Rams have to solve. Well, so why are you so high on Daryl Henderson? Would you start Henderson over Patterson? I would start Henderson over Patterson. Henderson is definitely more of an edge runner anyway, so he can negate whatever problems they have along the offensive line.

And he can catch passes out of the backfield. I might have Henderson a little too high. I got a little excited about it. I've got him top. I've got him 10th. It might be a little too much. Jamie, where do you have a top 15 guy? Jamie, where do you have Daryl Henderson?

In the Sanders Jacobs range, you know, slightly ahead of those guys. But, you know, part of this is I expect the Rams to win this game easily and I don't know how much K-Makers is going to factor in. He should get the typical, when the Rams have a guy, they lean on a guy workload, and that seems to be the case after week four. He could be looking at 20 touches in a game where they're winning by double digits.

All right, Allen Robinson is, you guys definitely differ on him. Jamie's got him about 20 to 23rd, depending on the format. Dave has him closer to 30, 36, depending on the format here. So, Dave, I'll give you the first word. Give me 30 seconds on Allen Robinson, and Jamie, give me your rebuttal. It's hard to be worse than what he was last week, so he's going to be better.

I think he needs a touchdown to be a number two receiver for your fantasy team. I think he gets in the neighborhood of seven targets. Could catch five or six of them, especially if they shorten his routes. The offensive line problem goes back to Robinson's problems, too. I'm ready to start him as a flex. I'm not ready to start him as a number two receiver. I would start Jarvis Landry ahead of him. I would start Tyler Boyd if there's no T. Higgins. I would also start, Landry ahead of him. I would start Tyler Boyd if there's no T. Higgins. And I would also start, I'm just looking, I don't think saying Brandon Cooks is that special,

DK Metcalf. I would start Metcalf ahead of him as well. Adam, give me the sound. What's the sound? The squeaky wheel cricket. The squeaky cricket wheel? There it is. He said, he doesn't. He is a reliable quote. He is the squeaky

wheel whisperer. Allen Robinson is having a huge bounce back game. There's no doubt in my mind he's going to get probably in the neighborhood of eight to ten targets, and I think he's going to deliver a strong performance this week against a very bad secondary for Atlanta. So, very excited about Allen Robinson bounce back. I don't think it's a very bad secondary.

I just don't think it's a very good secondary. I just don't think it's a very good secondary. If he gets 10 targets, what's the stat line? Eight for 2000 and two touchdowns. I was going to say 12 for 2000 and two touchdowns on 10 targets. He drops two. But then he catches them again, which counts as a double catch. I'll try to figure the math out here. He's got to prove it this week.

This is the first Jobu player of the year. Absolutely. I think if he does not have, if he goes three for 30 and no touchdown, I don't care how many targets he gets. I think we can be done with Alan Robinson. Sure. Okay. So then Jeff Wilson or Alan Robinson?

Robinson, easily. It's definitely format specific. Okay. I think in non-PPR, it's Wilson. In PPR, it's got to be Robinson. And we can poo-poo Drake London. He's not a great start, but he did crack the top 36, at least in non-PPR.

So you don't have to run from Drake London, but we just don't love him this week. And that would do it for this game. The Rams DST is a start. San Francisco hosting Seattle. This is crazy. I talk about it all the time. Seattle is so bad against pass-catching running backs.

They have been for four years in a row. Last week, they gave up 11 catches to Javante Williams. So I thought, are there any running backs that just basically never catch passes that had big games against Seattle last year? How about this? Jonathan Taylor, Derek Henry, Alexander Madison, Kyle Juszczyk, Carlos Hyde, A.J. Dillon with Aaron Jones playing, and Royce Freeman

all had 40 or more receiving guards against the Seahawks last year. So I don't feel like I can do anything with that. I don't feel like I can trust Jeff Wilson for catches. I wish I could. You can. I think you can. The weird part of it is because Debo will probably crack that number. Right, right, right.

And he won't be in the backfield as much as anybody. That's a great point. That's a great point. I bet it's like three for 20 for Jeff Wilson. It pads his floor. He can catch the ball. It helps a little. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, use check if you're absolutely desperate. Could be the ball. It helps a little. Okay. Yeah. I mean, use check if you're absolutely desperate. Could be the third down back because he can pass protect. Who's your favorite running chip and then run around. Who's your favorite running back in this game? Levi Wilson ranked the highest. Uh,

Penny. So not in the top 24, right? No, no. I've got Wilson ahead of Penny because of Walker coming back, and it's the Niners. I think Penny got a little bit of a break yesterday with Walker going from full to limited,

so either they're being cautious or maybe there was a slight setback. I doubt we're going to see a lot of Ken Walker in his first game. You have a cold, Jamie? I'm a little stuffy. Yeah. I hear it every now and then. All right, Jamie. So you like DK Metcalf or Brandon Ayuk in this game?

What do you think? I don't like DK Metcalf in this game, and I would only use Ayuk as a number three receiver. Who do you like better? Metcalf. Me too. But Metcalf is right at 24 for me, and it's a shaky 24 among wide receivers and PPR.

And Iuke's 29th. If the weather's bad again, then I think I've got to pivot off of Iuke. Of course, the weather's fine. Listen, this is Seattle's secondary. They had their burnable moments. For what it's worth, Jamal Adams, he's more of a run defender anyway, but he's not going to play. And I think the 49ers are catching the Seahawks at a perfect time.

So when are we going to start DK Metcalf? Why don't you like him in this game? I think Mosley did a pretty good job on him last year, as I recall. He wasn't good against them last year. I just wonder, I understand not starting him against the Broncos and Sertan. Why not this game, and if not now, when with Metcalf, Jamie? I mean, I wasn't drafting Metcalf as a starter, so he's going to have to prove it to me

that he is back as a must-start receiver. So it was great that he had seven targets. It was great that he caught all seven. There are seven targets from Dino Smith, and that's the problem. And so seven for 36, not challenging down the field with a quarterback that may have

had his best game you deal spend was awesome against the broncos for what dino smith typically does so i'm i'm very very nervous to say start dk mecca after that performance that did not sway my opinion at all okay we're not going to start a tight end right even with parkinson and and uh disley scoring uh we're not going to start a tight end. No, they're using three guys. Yeah, and Metcalf or Rashad Penny and Metcalf or Jeff Wilson. How would you rank the three of them?

I would still start Metcalf over them right now, but I would not be surprised if both are better. Okay. I guess just because he is the hottest name on the waiver wire, I'll do a little bit more Jeff Wilson. I like Wilson better than those guys in non-PPR. Jeff Wilson.

I think that's kind of obvious. Jeff Wilson or Elijah Moore? Wilson. Jeff Wilson or... CeeDee Lamb? Lamb in PPR and about half ppr i'm getting there i'm getting there i go lamb a little bit higher all right one more listen here's the situation for wilson the seahawks defense played on monday emotional win 66 snaps it's a little bit more than normal for the defense.

No Jamal Adams. That'll matter for Jeff Wilson. It's just a matter of workload for Wilson. How many touches does he get? If he's right and he's doing okay in the game, there's no chance he's going to lose a ton of work to the other rookies that they've got. I think there's some pretty good upside for him against the Seahawks team on a short week playing on the road. How about the negatives would be how much work does Debo continue to get?

How much does Lance take in on his own? And then I still think that part of the allure of the 49ers is their offensive line, which right now is a little bit of a question mark, and no George Kittle, who's the best blocking tight end in football. So you have a little bit of still a negative working against them. Plus, how much are they going to use the other guys? How much are they going to work in TDP and Jordan Mason? I think that comes down to... I would use this

as kind of like a wait-and-see game for Jeff Wilson. So if you don't have to play him, don't play him. Alright, finally... How many games did Wilson have with 15 touches last year? Two. He had 20 touches, 13 touches, 23 touches, and 17 touches. So he had three.

And Debo was playing in that Debo role, the new Debo role in all those games. Yes, he was. Yeah, I'm pretty good with Jeff Wilson this week as a low-end number two running back. You don't have to start him. But he's not bad. Not bad.

All right, start the 49ers, DST, and that's it for that game. We've gone over time here, so I think we can honestly do one minute on Giants and Carolina. McCaffrey and Barkley for sure. Who do you have ranked higher, Jamie? The worst for last.

Barkley over McCaffrey? Just remember, the Giants were so bad against pass-catching running backs last week. That could be a trend all season. They. And just remember the giants were so bad against pass catching running backs last week. That could be a trend all season. They have dreadful linebackers. So take advantage of that Carolina for DFS, of course.

And then DJ more. We like a lot. Dave said he's a top 30 overall player. So start him. And then top 12 receiver and PPR. Who's your favorite giants wide receiver? Is it shepherd? Yes.

Yes. Where do you have him ranked? In that Jarvis Landry. I got him behind Landry. He's outside of my top 36. I'd rather have Dotson in PPR, Julio in PPR, Curtis Samuel in PPR. I want him on my team, though.

I want him on my bench, and if I'm in a pinch, I use him as a starter. Any... Who would you start the Panthers DST over? Which DSTs? The Falcons. Eagles, Vikings. Okay.

How about Bengals or Panthers? Bengals. Bengals. Bengals, Browns, Dolphins, Ravens. Dolphins. Okay, so Dolphins. I think the Dolphins. Okay, so Dolphins. I think the Dolphins get after Lamar again. All right.

I don't think the Ravens can solve that problem that they had last year. All right, everybody. Have a wonderful Friday. That's true. That's a huge factor. We will talk to you on Saturday with the mailbag, which we're recording on Friday. Watch HQ at youtube.com slash fantasyfootball

today and it's time to go. See ya!