Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC), Beat the Waiver Wire, GB-SF (11/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 6, 2020

Hey, how about that game last night! We'll review and give our big Fantasy takeaways and then get into the big news (7:32) on Drew Brees, Ezekiel Elliott, the Seahawks RBs and many more ... Beat the Waiver Wire (17:40)! We've got some DSTs to pick up for Week 10. Then we'll do the Startometer (19:15) for PIT-DAL, DEN-ATL and MIA-ARI ... Start or sit for Saints-Buccaneers (26:55), Lions-Vikings (37:30), Giants-Washington (46:00), Steelers-Cowboys (53:55), Broncos-Falcons (58:30), Dolphins-Cardinals (1:05:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] You can also download and subscribe to the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. What's going on? You ready to preview the six NFC home games, including Sunday night football, which is going to be better than Thursday night football. That would be the Bucs and the Saints.

This is fantasy football today on a Friday morning. Adam Acer and Jamie Eisenberg and Dave Richard here. Team name Tuesday on a Friday. War of Craycraft. War of Craycraft. Not bad. Thank you. What's up, guys?

Good morning. That's all you got? Oh, man. What a bad game. I always think of when I see his name, I think of you because you always say Cray-Cray. Cray-Cray, yeah. War of Cray-Cray.

That would also work. River Cray-Cray. Cray-Cray, yeah. War of Cray-Cray, that would also work. River Craycraft, you know, cost Nick Mullen some fantasy points here. So we'll talk about this game for a little bit, 34-17. But also, you know, I look at the NFC home games and I feel like we've got some good defenses. Like, you know, Tampa Bay, New Orleans. New Orleans passed defensively, but you got two good run defenses there. Detroit, are they a good defense?

It's been, I don't know, a little questionable. Giants and the football team, those defenses have been pretty solid. And then Arizona and Miami. Miami especially. Miami, like I said, leading the NFL in yards per game pittsburgh obviously very good defense so i don't know a little observation there dave you were complaining last week there was no good defense being played maybe the games we're going to preview today uh we'll have some we'll find out we sure will all right

so let's uh let's rock and roll with this game the The Packers dominated. This game was ugly. 34-17 the final score. They did lose Jair Alexander, though, to a concussion in the first half. So I'm hoping that he can get back for their next game. And they were also without Kevin King. So they've got Jacksonville next week. They probably don't need either of those guys. All right, Jamie, what are your big takeaways from Green Bay and San Francisco?

I mean, San Francisco just, you know, feel bad for what they had to deal with. It's just, you know, losing all their guys, whether due to injury or the COVID situation was totally unfortunate

and they really should have moved the game back to do them a little bit of a favor. But in any event, based on what we saw, it's, I will say this, I will be a little bit concerned about their rushing offense.

Not that last night was a great example of what you should judge it by, but George Kittle is such a factor for their rushing attack, and not having him there I think is going to be a problem moving forward to where the heights can be. They'll still have, obviously, some good performances, and clearly when they get Raheem Oster back, it's a different story. But they lost a big piece of their run blocking with Kittle not being out there.

Right. They also didn't have Trent Williams or left tackle. And it would have been a horrible piece of their run blocking with Kittle not being out there. Right. They also didn't have Trent Williams or left tackle. Right. And it would have been a horrible day for their running backs if McKinnon didn't score on the last play of the game. And Dave, you know, I was talking about this with Chris Towers on FFT in five. It was like, I, you know,

I'm glad people didn't ask for too much advice of me in this game because I started Trent Taylor in a league and I got the wrong wide receiver. I started Trent Taylor in a league and I got the wrong wide receiver. I started Jordan Reed in a league. I got the wrong tight end. I started Michael Hasty in a league. I got the wrong running back. If everything was flipped for San Francisco, did I do something wrong or was this just kind of weird and unpredictable?

I wonder if the 49ers had flipped these things, they might have been able to stay in the game a little bit longer. If they had run hasty a little bit more and not leaned so heavily on the arm of Nick Mullins, then maybe they would have been a little more competitive in the game, but they did find themselves down big pretty early on.

And I think that kind of made them want to try and throw to get back in it. And the only guy that it was really working for was Richie James, who we knew going into the game that he had speed. We just didn't know how big of a role he would end up having. And he was the only guy that was catching up. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. Wasn't he questionable coming into the game? Something like that. So, yeah. Look, Jordan Reed's first game back, there was talk about him being limited and that his snaps would be not a complete thing. And so I was excited at first when he came back, and then I kept lowering him and lowering him in my rankings,

and he fell outside of the top 12. And I did like Hasty coming in, but we're not Kyle Shanahan, and Shanahan obviously felt more comfortable using McKinnon more. And we knew that if they were trailing, that Hasty wouldn't play anyway. So a game that I thought would be more competitive in the first place i thought the 49ers defense would have shown up a little bit better than they did um it just it forced shanahan's hand to use mckinnon more especially once it was like you know near halftime and they were just getting their butts whipped that's the way things go in fantasy and it's tough because

you use a lot of those guys read and in your case adam trent taylor and hasty as bi-week guys or injury replacement guys and you almost you almost could have just started the guy who was hurt and gotten the same result it sucks yeah pretty much and then for the packers jamie marquez about the scaling two touchdowns also got a drop in the first half and yeah when i I saw that drop, I thought, that's it. His night's done. Rodgers isn't going to use him anymore. Oops.

He used him a little bit more. Yeah, too tight. So, Jamie, any interest in picking him up, or is it just going to be, let's pick up Alan Lazard? I'd rather have Alan Lazard. I mean, you know, that's the problem for these Valdez-Scantling games is that you never pick the right one. He's always going to be a better DFS play than a redraft play.

But I mean, the one thing that you heard the broadcast say, and I'm sure this is the case, is that Aaron Rodgers said it's not a skill problem for him. It's a confidence problem for him. And so, you know, maybe this is a confidence booster. And, you know, look, it'd be great to see. He adds value to the Packers. He certainly has potential to be a decent fantasy receiver if he can hold on to the ball, because then Rodgers would trust him and it'd be great to see. He adds value to the Packers. He certainly has the potential to be a decent fantasy receiver

if he can hold on to the ball, because then Rodgers would trust him and there'd be some more target opportunities. But the only sample size we have is week one when everybody was there and he wasn't bad. So maybe that's something that they can use moving forward. And you mentioned this about the defensive guys. They get Jacksonville next week. So if you are stuck, not a bad guy that you could throw in

and just kind of close your eyes and hope for a big play. It's the boom bust flex. He's exactly that. And he's had a lot of deep targets. Listen, he went six straight games without even 70 yards, and he didn't have a touchdown in any of them. So you know that the floor is pretty low, but he definitely had some deep targets in almost,

I don't know about every game, but a lot of those games before this week. And then he had a deep touchdown on Thursday. So that's what he is. The floor is lava. Been waiting to say that about somebody. The floor is lava. My kids love that show.

I've never seen, is it worth watching or is it a kid? I watched one episode with them. It's fun. It is fun. I always wonder what happens when they fall into the lava, where they go. They never show them. I have no, It is fun. I always wonder what happens when they fall into the lava, though, where they go. They never show them.

I have no concept, basically. All right, last thing on this game. Aaron Jones was only started in 31% of leagues, so you're probably sitting there. You sat Aaron Jones. You watched the opening drive, and you're so mad at yourself for sitting Aaron Jones. And if I told you he was going to get 20 touches, but it happened to be a pretty bad game for him. 79 total yards. did have five catches. So at the end of the day, you might be happy, you said, Aaron Jones.

Funny how things worked out. Let's move on. Injuries, news and notes. All right, Drew Brees has a shoulder injury. Michael Thomas was limited in practice. Drew Brees says he's going to play. I'm sure he's going to play. But people seem a little bit concerned about this shoulder thing.

That's the first game we're going to preview. But Dave, are we basically going to be confident in the passing game of the Saints? When it comes to Michael Thomas, sure. But that's just more Michael Thomas' back. You start him because you know what his potential is than anything else. And you know what to do with Jared Cook

and Alvin Kamara as part of that passing game too. It's funny though. He's got all of his past catchers back theoretically we don't know for sure that that's going to be the case and we're still not sure if breeze is like a must-start quarterback maybe jamie feels differently i don't know no i don't have him i don't have him in the top 12 spot this week and he had been putting up some pretty darn good numbers given that he didn't have michael thomas for pretty much the entire. So it's funny how things work out, but I think, I think being on the road for the second week in a row on natural grass against another tough defense for the second week in a row is going to catch up with Drew Brees. He's got a shoulder

injury too. I mean, that's not, that's not something to overlook for a guy that, you know, is, is clearly, uh, at an advanced age for an NFL player. So he played this team once already in week one. He had 18 fantasy points. So there's a sample size with everybody healthy because Michael Thomas got hurt at the end of the game. So take that into consideration. Like Dave said, this was his first good game outdoors last week. Prior to that, he was at 19 points and 16 points in his previous two outdoor games. We

know it's typically a struggle for him. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's around 20 points, like in that Tannehill range, you know, a guy that's going to be a low end starting option for you. But I'm not thrilled to start Drew Brees this week. The reason I'm intrigued by Brees rest of season, just rest of season is like, I know he's not throwing the ball downfield at all, but he typically does. And I know it's even more extreme this year. He's seventh in the NFL in passer rating. He, of course, is leading the NFL in completion rate. So, you know, I think people kind of wrote... And that's without Thomas.

That's without Thomas. That's without Emmanuel Sanders for a lot of it, too. That's without Jared Cook for one game. I don't know. Well, Sanders does two games. Okay, fine. But, you know, that's still with missing missing key pieces hasn't i you know he's he's played well i i think you know a lot of times people like to write off old players and really

criticize them i thought it was a little harsh for drew breeze and he's having a nice season and really i think honestly alvin camara is really boosting his numbers yes of course but that's going to continue to happen right i mean it's hard to criticize 29, 19, 23, 27, 23. Right. Which is, yes, Tennessee points. You can't knock a guy for having great players around him. Right. Sure.

Chris Godwin was limited in practice. Are you ranking him? Not yet. No, but. It sounds like he's going to play. Wow. Yeah. Pumped about this game.

Not so good for Mike Evans, I don't think. Oh, fast forward to stat of the game. In four games with Chris Godwin. I said this on Twitch, I think. Yeah. Mike Evans has six catches, 51 yards, three touchdowns, of course. He has 12 targets.

He has 12 targets in four games with Chris Godwin. Now you've got Antonio Brown in the mix. Crazy. Wow. Okay. I'm going to fire through the rest of the notes here. You give me a quick reaction. Jamie, Ezekiel Elliott has a hamstring injury.

Yay. That'll help things. Is he going to fall out of your top 20? Not yet. I'm thinking about it. Yeah. Okay. Sam Darnold and Jamison Crowder mispractice they are playing monday they have an extra day chris carson and carlos hyde mispractice what are we thinking last night's game was bad wait till you get it monday that yeah that game at least has a

chance to be you know 15 to 14 or something like that. I don't know how that, yeah, five field goals. I love punts. What do you think about the Seahawks backfield? Because we previewed this game yesterday. Do you think Travis Homer will take on a bigger role? What's the latest there? If Homer plays, I can't imagine he won't play in passing

downs. He's the better option compared to DJ Dallas in that situation. You'll see it split. Okay, as of right now, you're going Zeke or DJ Dallas? Dallas. Oh, I could be talked into Dallas pretty easily here.

You know what else? Dallas barbecue in New York City. Just thought about that. Could be talked into that. I don't know why. Very hungry. Kansas City, a lot of COVID news. Oh, first I got this Josh Jacobs news. He has an illness and a knee issue. They promoted Theo Riddick from the practice

squad. Are we picking up Devante Booker or something like that? Or are we assuming Jacobs is going to play? I'd keep an eye on it today, but it's not a bad idea if you want to be ahead of it to pick up Devante Booker now, just in case. But they're going to use probably all three guys if there's no Josh Jacobs. With Riddick being clearly the distant third, but still.

Kansas City. So here's all the COVID news. First of all, if you were worried about Christian McCaffrey, his matchup just got easier. Chris Jones on the reserve COVID list. By the way, we don't know for a fact that McCaffrey's going to play, but it seems that way. Chris Jones is going to be out for Kansas City. Their star defensive tackle. Houston put three linebackers on the reserve

COVID list. One of them tested positive. Maybe two of them can come back. They're at Jacksonville, so that's three linebackers. Baltimore's got Marlon Humphrey out, and then you got four linebackers, five linebackers, two defensive backs. Baltimore's got a ton of players on the reserve

COVID list. They got one of them back in practice yesterday, and it was maybe one of their best ones, Matt Judon. Okay, that's good. He's been cleared, but Patrick Queen is still on there, Tyus Bowser, LJ Fort. I think their rookie linebacker is on there, and a safety is on there. But all of them could be cleared on Saturday to play on Sunday.

The only one who's definitely not playing is Marlon Humphrey, who's their best corner. Arizona linebacker Devon Kennard, cornerback Byron Murphy, they are on the reserve COVID list. Trent Brown, for the second time in less than two weeks, he's had a rough go of it. Trent Brown, right tackle for the Raiders, he's on the COVID list. Same with Chicago guard Cody Whitehair.

Tim Patrick was limited in practice. We're going to preview that game, but keep an eye on him, maybe even in DFS at Atlanta. Devontae Freeman was limited in practice, and Freeman got 19 touches in two straight games before his injury. But with the way they used the running backs last week,

with the way Wayne Gallman has actually been kind of effective, do you think there would be more of a split in the Giants' backfield, Jamie, if Freeman does play this week? No, I would anticipate him getting closer to the 19 total touches, probably 15, you know, would be a better number, but he'll still be the lead guy. I can't imagine that he's going to lose to Wayne Gallman, who hasn't run well, to Alfred Morris, who's probably going to be back on the practice squad or cut. And then Deion Lewis, he'll still probably have his limited role in the passing game. T.Y. Hilton mispracticed.

Jonathan Taylor practiced in full. Mark Ingram's probably not going to play. John Brown practiced in full. That's good news. Matt Breida mispracticed. Anyone interested in Jordan Howard? Am I desperate for a running back? Yeah, deep leagues.

He's going to probably get the most carries, but it's not a good matchup. And if they're chasing points, it's probably going to be Patrick Laird or Lynn Bowden. Phillip Lindsay was limited in practice. Sony, Michelle, Sony,

Michelle practiced probably not going to play this week or what? I don't know if he's eligible to, I think he's, he's missed three games already. So did they move him from that? This is what I didn't understand. Cause he was originally on the IR for his injury, whatever injury, knee or ankle,

I don't remember what it was. And then they put him on the COVID list. I think they removed him from the COVID list last week. Right. And they activated him from IR this week. His 21-day window has begun. Okay. So I think he's eligible to play this week.

So just when we get a chance to use Damian Harris. If Sonny Michel were to play, what would that mean for Damian Harris, who I think we're all fairly excited about? I'm way excited about it. I would be nervous. I can't say that Harris will get 55% of the touch share among running backs like he has the past two weeks if Sonny Michel is there. But I also don't think Sonnyelle's going to come in and just completely wipe harris off the field he's probably be more of like a risky number two fantasy running back okay a couple more notes

here there's a proposal to expand the nfl playoffs to 16 teams this year instead of 14 teams that would be interesting and ryan fitzpatrick wore the shortest shorts I've ever seen to practice to honor Isaiah Ford, who was traded. I guess he really liked him, and Isaiah Ford used to wear extremely short shorts, but I guess it just looked funnier on Ryan Fitzpatrick, and people were weirded out by it. It was pretty funny.

Watch CBS Sports HQ. When asked about his shorts, he said they're too short. Nice. You have been really a lot this year. I'm enjoying it. So watch HQ. All right, CBS Sports HQ, Monday through Friday, noon Eastern,

Sunday, 10 a.m. Eastern. You got starter sit. You got prop bets. You got just a lot of fun talking football with the best and the best in the industry. So download the CBS Sports HQ app and you can watch the noon show on demand on the cbs sports app on ott devices you go to the cbs sports app on your smart tv

scroll down and until you see the familiar faces of fantasy football today um you know what's really cool yeah on tuesday we have a big surprise for everybody oh What is it? Very big on CBS Sports HQ. Huge. A surprise. Yeah, okay. All right, well, I'd like to know. We're not going to tell you. I don't even know what it is.

So on Sunday, we have FFT and Five. It drops at 8.30 a.m. It's very helpful, I think. HQ from 10 to 1, Twitch noon Eastern, and home team watch party presented by Lowe's. If you want an excuse to watch the Steelers Cowboys game, how about coming and hanging out with us? We're going to watch it

together on Twitch. Twitch.com slash FF today, 4pm Eastern and we'll have Bryant McFadden on and we'll have Will Brinson and Anatole Dufino. We always have fun on the watch party, so we'll see you there. Let's beat the waiver wire.

Alan Lazard. It's too late sorry about that yeah no it's too late well some other leagues baker mayfield against houston i know you have my homes on by next week forgot the other buys but uh let me let me look those up. You've got Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, and the Jets. I can't use the Cowboys. Or the Jets, Jamie. Tough week. So you got Baker Mayfield against Houston, Nick Foles against Minnesota. If anybody drops Jared Goff, he's got Seattle.

So that would be nice. I put Rashard Higgins on here. I don't know if anybody has faith in him, but Dallas Goddard. Absolutely. Okay. Dallas Goddard is obvious, 62% rostered. DSTs, you want to stash some DSTs right now.

The Eagles at the Giants. The Lions against Washington. The Chargers at Miami. I think the Eagles will be quite popular. And they're on a bye this week, so I don't think people are holding them. J.D. McKissick. I'm kind of interested in talking about him when we talk about the Giants game, but he's at Detroit.

They're bad against pass-catching running backs. So are the Giants. That's why I talked about him on the Waiver Wire show. Tim Patrick at Las Vegas. John Brown at Arizona next week and the saints dst is another one oh yeah nice saints dst against san francisco is another one so uh there you go the three games that we're going to talk about last in case you run out of time are pittsburgh

dallas denver atlanta and miami arizona so why don't we do this um pittsburgh wide receivers in case you run out of time are Pittsburgh, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, and Miami, Arizona. So why don't we do this? Pittsburgh wide receivers. What are your thoughts? Juju's a start. Deontay Johnson is at best a flex. So is Claypool. I'd rather have Claypool than Deontay Johnson.

I would go Claypool one, Juju two, and Deontay Johnson three. Yeah. Is there like a rhyme or reason behind the way you guys rank the Steelers wide receivers? I just, I think... No, but they're probably all going to be disappointments

this week. One guy will be great because, I mean, Ben's probably not going to throw very much because they're going to just demolish them defensively and you could run

all over the Cowboys. So I don't think it's going to be a huge game for them. It could be like what you had from Rogers in the first half against the 49ers where he's under 200 yards and three touchdowns. But I don't think it's going to be a huge game for them. It could be like what you had from Rogers in the first half against the 49ers, where he's under 200 yards and three touchdowns.

But I don't think it's going to be a big yardage game for any of those guys. No, it's three straight quarterbacks who haven't thrown for 200 yards against the Cowboys. It's like six that have been 225 or less. Five, for sure. But the good news is they are giving up the fifth most yards per catch to wide receivers,

the second most touchdowns per game to wide receivers, so you don't need a ton. But it's tough to split 200 yards three ways, I suppose. They're all in play. So if you have them on your team, you can feel somewhat confident in playing them. But if you want a good representation of what their numbers are,

look at our projections. Because our projections are extremely low for them given the matchup. It's amazing. Because Dallas stinks. Dallas was not a good defense. Got not good defensively. They have played better of late because they're getting some guys back, but it's just their defense for the Steelers is going to potentially score,

keep them in, in minimal production. This isn't going to be a back and forth type of game. This is going to be a bludgeon game of the Steelers doing whatever they need to do defensively. And I just don't see Ben having a huge volume. So that limits the upside for those three guys. How about the Cowboys wide receivers? No, thank you. No. Would you start all three Steelers over all three Cowboys? Yes.

Okay. How about Ezekiel Elliott, I guess, could be around 20 or so at the end of the week. I mean, it's easy to make the argument against him. He's got 14 non-PPR points total in his past three games. His offensive line stinks. He's running into

an incredible Steelers defense. He's not getting the work that we were hoping that he would get. And now he's hurt on top of it. Why are we starting him? Why? Because you're scared of missing out on 100 yards and a touchdown from a guy you took in the first round take a long look at your other running back how

is he going to get to 100 make sure he does not make explosive plays anymore it's just i'm sorry it has to be said the elite running backs in the nfl they can break off explosive plays ezekiel elliott has not been doing that going back to all of last year. I'm not trying to sit here and say Ezekiel Elliott's bad, but he's just different. He's just a different type of running back. And like you could say, oh, Saquon Barkley could always break off a 60-yard touchdown run. Alvin Kamara, obviously. Christian McCaffrey, obviously.

Dalvin Cook. It's just not happening for Zeke. The allure of Ezekiel Elliott has always been the offensive line. He's a great player behind an amazing offensive line when they're healthy. And that line is gone. Zach Martin is a stud. He is one of the best guards in football still. I would still take him if you tell me I'm starting a team right now.

He'd be among the first selections of offensive linemen. But he can't do it by himself. And so they tried last week. You heard the broadcast. They were just running behind Zach Martin on every play. And it was working a little bit, but I mean, teams are gonna figure that out.

Certainly the Steelers have the personnel to stop that. And so the problem I think for Zeke, and I just don't understand it is why they're not throwing the ball. It's an easy play for your quarterback. And so that was why he was still putting up decent numbers before Dak got hurt. And the first game after Dak got hurt, but it's just been non-existent the last

two weeks. I don't get it. All right, let's go to the start-up meter now for Atlanta and Denver. Drew Locke. Low-end starter. Denver running back, if Lindsey plays. Flex the back. Higher than five. Higher than Zeke? No.

Okay. No. Okay. No. Jerry Judy? Four. I like him if there's no Tim Patrick. If there's Tim Patrick, I would downgrade him a little bit. All right.

How about Tim Patrick or Jerry Judy if Patrick plays? Patrick. I'll go with Judy right now because I think there's a little rapport developing with Drew Locke and Jerry Judy is always open. He is open on every play.

Matt Ryan, well, we like Noah Fant. Dave's, I think, a little lower on Noah Fant. We'll talk about that, but he's a starter. Matt Ryan. You can start him. Low-end starter, better than Locke, but much better if Calvin Ridley plays. Right, yeah.

I mean, you start him if Ridley plays. If Ridley doesn't play, that's a little bit more interesting. Ryan or Ben if Ridley misses the game? I will still take Ryan over. I'll take Ben. Russell Gage if Ridley's out. Three. Russell Gage playing.

Right. Got a shoulder injury. Okay, well... If he plays, no. I don't have much interest. I mean, he's just been blah. Hayden Hurst. They're great against that.

This is a tough matchup. It's crazy how good they are. They've turned out to be very good against them. They stunk in week one, but ever since then, they've been a little bit better. Hurst is safe for 5 for 50. Always gets end zone looks. How about

go to Arizona and Miami? I think Christian Kirk is a tough call this week. What do you guys think? I like him a lot. I just, I'll ride the hot hand. I think it's going to be a game where the Cardinals are able to expose the dolphins defense a little bit.

It's a very good defense. They've been fantastic. Number one scoring defense in the NFL, but I think it's going to be a game where Kyler Murray, because he moves extends the play. Christian Kirk's,'s going to be a game where Kyler Murray, because he moves, extends the play. Christian Kirk's certainly developing a nice rapport with him. And so I'll still start him as a low-end number two guy. Same.

I think that that's the best way to put it, is that he's a low-end number two receiver. I'm hoping that this is one of those games where he gets five catches like he has in two of his past three. Just to illustrate how good the Broncos are against tight ends. They got Gronk at the time that he was starting to pick things up. Six for 48 on seven targets.

Then after that, it was Travis Kelsey in week seven in the snow for what it's worth. Three for 31 on three targets. And then Hunter Henry four for 33 on four targets. And plus Ebron in week two, I guess, if you want to fact check. And all John who did was catch a touchdown. He didn't have a big game. Four for 36. four for 33 on four targets. And plus Ebron in week two, I guess, if you want to fact-fund him.

And all John who did was catch a touchdown. He didn't have a big game. Four for 36. Four for 36 and a touchdown is like top five for a tight end in fantasy this year. That would be good, but you need the touchdown. Okay, and then finally, Devante Parker or really any Dolphin.

I'm not particularly interested. I know the matchup might be better if Byron Murphy doesn't play, if he stays on the COVID list. But I'm nervous. I'm nervous about trusting any of them. You got to see more from Tua. I really hope, honestly, that this is a game where the Cardinals, especially Chase Edmonds, they build the lead,

and the Dolphins are chasing points, and we get to see Tua have to open things up. Sure. Like just to see, you know, you want to see what this can mean for, and that could be a good game for Parker. It could be a good game for Preston Williams. It could be a good game for Gusecki. And Gusecki may benefit the most without Isaiah Ford there,

because now he's essentially their top slot guy. So, you know, I'd like to see all three of those guys step up and play well. And then, you know what the running back situation is. There's going to be now two weeks after this, but three weeks in total where definitely there's no miles Gaskin. So whether it's Matt Breida out there playing or Jordan Howard doing something,

or maybe Patrick Laird, you know, you'd like to see something from one of these guys to say, okay, now I can pick somebody up for the next two games. All right, let's go. Here we go.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay Sunday night. So the stat of the game is the, this was kind of weird, but the Saints have allowed a touchdown to a tight end in five of six games. So are you at all concerned about Rob Gronkowski now with the full complement of wide receivers? None.

You're going to start Gronk anyway. It wouldn't be a surprise if his target share went down. Yeah, and I have to point out, yes, they are giving up touchdowns, but recently TJ Hawkinson had nine yards. Hunter Henry had 23 yards. Jimmy Graham had 13 yards. So they're getting better against tight ends, but still giving up some touchdowns.

That would be the New Orleans Saints. First meeting was week one. It was a 34-23 win for the Saints. Kind of an ugly game. Starting with Drew Brees. So we just talked about Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Locke. Kind of in the low-end starter discussion here. Where's Drew Brees compared to those guys?

Jamie? He's ahead of those guys. So especially if he gets his guys back with Thomas joining Sanders. So I don't think he's going to have a huge game, but I don't think he's going to have a huge game, but I don't think he's going to have a stink. Is he a safer start than Big Ben if he gets his guys back? Right now, I've got Ben ahead of Breeze, but I'm not ranking Thomas because it's not official yet.

I think Ben is safer. I think Breeze has a higher ceiling because he'll throw more. Okay. And you guys are both taking Breeze over Locke. Yeah, but I mean, just keep an eye on the practice board. If he doesn't practice on Sunday, excuse me, on Friday for Breeze, go pick up Jameis in two

quarterback leagues. Can you imagine Jameis going back to Tampa? That would be fun. A lot of interceptions for the Bucs defense. We're going to start Alvin Kamara. He's good. Great run defense.

Kamara might struggle there like he did in week one. 12 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown, but he also had five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Michael Thomas, if he plays, we'll start him. Now, what about the other Saints? What about Emmanuel Sanders, basically? What are you thinking about him? He'll be a low-end number three guy.

Yeah. It's the only game you have about him? He'll be a low-end number three guy. I mean, in the first game, it's the only game you have with him and Thomas on the field together. And it was three catches for 15 yards and a touchdown on five targets. Now, I think he'll be better than that. Yeah, can we... Shouldn't we just eliminate that?

Because, I mean, he really had no offseason with them, right? I fully agree. Things are different now. But it's the only game we have where Thomas and Sanders were on the field together. So, it just happens to be the same game against a good secondary you know so i think you've got to downgrade sanders from what he was clearly because now michael thomas is going to play so i i'm i'd still be a little bit concerned about sanders you know that's something you got

to factor in because where if you're drew brees your first read is obviously going to be thomas then you got to factor in cook and kamara so i I think Sanders is going to be in the five to seven target range at best. I mean, that's typically what the second receiver has been. Can he have success on those targets? Maybe. He had at least nine targets in his last two games. There's no way he's getting that high. I think unless Thomas is the decoy.

Or we just have a shootout. They're waiting all this long to bring him back, and then they bring him back, they're not going to throw him the football? That would make no sense. Yeah, if he gets nine targets, if Sanders gets nine targets, probably means we got a lot of points

and a very fun Sunday night game. By the way, the spread is four and a half points. Tampa Bay is a favorite. And the total, 50 and a half points right now. So that's you know, that's not like a super high total. Like for example, Buffalo, Seattle is 55 points because these teams can play some defense, particularly against the run. All right. So would you start Emmanuel Sanders? If Michael Thomas plays, we start Emmanuel Sanders over any of the bucks wide

receivers. No. Okay. So how would you rank the... Right. How would you rank the five relevant wide receivers in this game? Assuming Thomas is in. And Godwin's in? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I would go Godwin one, Thomas two, Evans three, Antonio Brown four, Sanders five. Thomas, Godwin, Brown, Evans, Sanders.

Interesting. Okay, so Jamie has Godwin over Thomas. Dave is the opposite. Jamie has Evans over Brown. Dave is the opposite. But we agree on Emmanuel Sanders. Would you start Antonio Brown

over the Bucs running backs? Jones for sure. But what about Fournette? I'll still start Fournette. Let me tell you though. I think I'll take the chance with Brown. It's such an interesting dynamic because if Godwin plays,

Bruce Arians gets what he wants. He can limit Brown's snaps. If Godwin doesn't play, then Bruce Arians is probably forced to play Antonio Brown. So it's such a weird scenario at play because clearly Bruce Arians is not 100% on board with this to the level of Tom Brady's excitement level about this. So when Brown's on the field, I'm sure Tom Brady's looking at him as one of his top two reads. But how often is he going to be on the field,

according to Bruce Arians? 10 snaps? Or 10 plays? 35 plays? Is that going to be Bruce's call, or is that going to be Brady's call? That's Bruce's call. Personnel is going to be Bruce's call.

Unless they're losing and Tom's like, I don't care what you say, he's playing. Right, right. Bruce likes to defer to his quarterbacks. That's been made clear through the years. I got a feeling he's going to play way more than 10 snaps. 35 snaps. I think that was a number that

came out of Bruce's mouth. It's 10 or 35 plays. Well, he said, is he going to play 10 plays? Is he going to be 35 plays? He just threw that number out. I think if Brown goes out there and he shows in the first quarter that he knows what he's doing, it's going to be easy to let him play the whole game.

If he goes out there and he's making a mistake or two, I think Bruce will say he's just not ready yet. Right. But we've also, which is why we can't rush him into lineups. Right. And I see what you're saying, you know,

about taking chance on it's a hundred percent correct. I think he, if you, if you have a three receiver league and he's in the mix of somebody to play, play him. Play him. Because it's his national TV game.

This is Brady's, you know, not reputation, clearly, but Brady's the one that put himself out there for this. And so there's an opportunity if Godwin's not there. Now, if Godwin's there, Adam, you just read off the numbers. Mike Evans has been left out when Chris Godwin's been on the field. Now you have Antonio Brown and Mike Evans on the field. Godwin is still going to be the top guy because of where he plays, how the plays are designed and what Tom Brady still likes to do, which is still throw it to the middle of the field.

So does he kick Scott Miller off the field in terms of Antonio Brown? Because they do need a downfield threat. Scott Miller has been that guy for them. He's been good, but I don't know if he's great. And so we'll find out where they put Antonio Brown. That's going to determine, I think, where Brady looks for him. So I don't think he's a must play. I still think the touchdown potential favors Mike Evans. So that's why I'll they put Antonio Brown. That's going to determine, I think, where Brady looks for him. So I don't think he's a must play. I still think the touchdown potential favors Mike Evans.

So that's why I'll play Evans over Brown, because you know he's going to be on the field. You know he's going to get red zone targets. Well, you think he's going to get red zone targets. That's what he does. But, okay, so then if Godwin plays, would you be comfortable starting Christian Kirk over Brown and Evans? I'm already starting Christian Kirk over Brown. So,

yes, that would still be the same. And I would start Christian Kirk over Evans. I think I would probably make the move of Kirk over Brown and Evans, but right now I've got Brown ahead of Kirk and Evans ahead of Kirk. What about like DJ Dallas versus Mike Evans? If there's no Chris Carson, yes, I'd play DJ Dallas. I think

I would too. Okay. And for net, it's so funny that I do a podcast with two hurricanes guys and I'm the most excited about DJ Dallas. Well, what does that tell you about DJ Dallas, JB? I mean, I watched the guy

that you had a coaching staff that misused him. No, no, no, no. He was there starting running back. He was their workhorse running back. You know, I would tell you, I would say yards on 23 touches last week. Honest to God.

Watching Travis Homer and DJ Dallas for their three years in Miami, Travis Homer, to me, was definitely a better running back. And that is why I was so nervous about Dallas last week. And why I thought Homer was ahead of Dallas on the depth chart, you know, which is also

why I was nervous about Dallas last week. So when Homer was active, I got scared off of Dallas and I, and then he was just a decoy. Homer wasn't healthy. So that's my thought going into the game, but we'll say, you know, I think Dallas was too heavy at Miami. I don't know if he's lost weight. He was like ripped. He was not looking like a running back. It was weird. So maybe he's, maybe he's a different body type. He's a former receiver, right?

He was recruited as a receiver. He never really played receiver. Maybe a little. But no, he was a running back. He returned kicks, but he was jacked, way too big and kind of slow. Leonard Fournette, we're not starting. We looked on last week, too. Is that, yeah.

He was saved by touchdowns. He caught a touchdown. It was a great play by Seattle. He had another short yardage touchdown. He almost had a third touchdown in the game. All right, sorry. Let me get back touchdown in the game. The inefficiency as a runner is pretty obvious with Dallas. Yes.

Much better matchup this week, though, obviously. Tampa Bay. Nobody's excited about Ronald Jones. Let's face it. The Saints have a very good run defense here. Third fewest fantasy points allowed to running backs. However, they also are allowing the sixth fewest receiving yards per game to running backs. That, they also are allowing the six fewest receiving yards per game to running backs. So that, you would think,

would hurt Leonard Fournette. DeAndre Swift has the most receiving yards against the Saints, and he has 30. You're talking Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, Justin Jackson, Mike Davis. They had 17 to 24 receiving yards. So what does that mean for Leonard Fournette this week?

Low on number two running back in a shared situation. Not a great start, but a good enough start. Better in PPR for obvious reasons. And it's if all three of these receivers are healthy for Tampa, Saints can't load up the box to try and slow down Fournette. Now it's a matter of Fournette doing

his job because there were flashes of greatness on Monday. And then there were a lot of plays where he just did not look very good at all. He looked like the guy that we saw in Jacksonville for a lot of the years, where he's just plummeting into his offensive lineman. For Ned, I think 13-yard

carry on his first carry. Not really that much else after. All right, last question. One good carry after that one. Well, it wasn't longer than 13 yards. I know that. I'll tell you about that when we talk about the Giants and the football team. Is Cook or Gronk?

Dalvin. Yeah. I've got Gronk higher. I'll still take Gronk. All right. Four out of five games with a touchdown catch for Jared Cook. He's top 10 in both formats. Gronkowski even higher than that.

Detroit at Minnesota. Stat of the game. This is about DeAndre Swift. No running back, just like I said about the Saints, no running back is more than 29 receiving yards against Minnesota. Now, they haven't faced the toughest competition when it comes to pass-catching running backs, but they've been pretty good here.

So, Jamal Williams and Chris Carson, for example, they both had six or seven targets, and neither of them had more than 27 yards. I think they both had exactly 27 yards. Meanwhile, DeAndre Swift, you look at his season, he had a 54-yard run. You take that run away, he's averaging 3.3 yards per carry

on only 40 carries. I only bring that up because consistently, year after year, it's like seven years now, this team can't run the ball. So what are your expectations and your excitement level? What's your excitement level for DeAndre Swift this week at Minnesota?

I think he's a good number two fantasy running back, but I think you got to give this almost an incomplete preview because it's so different if Chase Daniels starting versus Matthew Stafford, and we're not going to know that until probably Saturday night or Sunday morning. All right, so lay it out then, Jamie. Give me your thoughts on the Lions

with and without Matthew Stafford. I mean, with Stafford, there's clearly an upgrade. That goes without saying. So I would feel much more comfortable about everybody if Stafford is there. Dave has some good numbers on what Chase Daniel can do for DeAndre Swift. So I'll let him handle that side of things. But if Stafford is out there, I still would prefer it for everybody. So Swift is still number two running back with or without Stafford. And then Marvin Jones is the one that benefits the most because I would be less inclined to trust Marvin Jones and TJ Hawkinson for that matter, but I'd still start Hawkinson based on his position,

but I'd be much more inclined to start Marvin Jones as a top 20 guy. If Matthew Stafford's out there and Stafford be a must play. Hawkinson. Hawkinson must start. I'm sorry. Hawkinson's a must start no matter what, right? Hawkinson's a must start no matter what. He's a potential top five guy with Stafford there,

and he's more of a borderline top 10 guy with Stafford out. But there aren't enough tight ends to reliably put ahead of Hawkinson either way. Right. Just to compare. Sorry, before you go, Dave. I would start Hawkinson over both gronk and cook if stafford plays if stafford's out no way i'd start him over those two guys

first things first on swift i know last week was a dud but his snap rate went up again he was at 62 in week eight his touch rate also went up from 52 to 53 so he's still getting the majority of the touches and the majority of the playing time among the lions running backs. Hopefully that keeps up. Chase Daniel has five starts in his career. He's done seven touchdowns in those games to have been a running backs. The only 100 yard receiver that he's had as a starter was Tariq Cohen.

He likes checking down. He is not a downfield thrower. He will lean on the running backs a little bit more. That's his tendency. I don't know if the Lions coaching staff is going to bring out the gunslinger in Chase Daniel. I'm going to say that I doubt that that happens. So I think it would be a little bit better for Swift if Daniel plays. And it might be better for Hawkinson too. Just short area targets would favor. Those targets are favored by Daniel being there versus Stafford, who does have a tendency of looking downfield

whether Gallaudet is there or not. Swift is a number two fantasy running back either way. I'd be a little more encouraged if it's Chase Daniel. It still has to be Chase Daniel. It could be David Blau. That's true. We didn't even think about David Blau being the quarterback and what that means, and we saw Blau last year certainly attack downfield a little bit more

than we thought he would. Call David Blau. That's my downfield a little bit more than we thought he would. Call David Blau. That's his name. That name again is David Blau. Swift or DJ Dallas? Dallas. Swift.

Swift and PPR for me. Let's say Matthew Stafford plays. Swift or Marvin Jones? Jones. Swift. Jones or Stafford plays Swift or Marvin Jones? Jones. Swift. Jones or Antonio Brown? Jones.

If Stafford plays, even if Godwin is out. So you'd be quite excited about Marvin Jones and Stafford. Yeah, I was prior to this, you know, report. I was too. I was too.

I think you can count on seven targets and And you might get seven targets with Blau as well. I feel like it'll be a little bit lower if it's Chase Daniel. And when you get seven targets, he's like a 50-50 shot to have a good fantasy game. That's what the track record's been for Marvin Jones. Before you say Marvin Hall, because I'm going to ask you who's your second

favorite Detroit wide receiver, don't forget Danny Amendola did have seven targets in weeks one and two, both those games without Kenny Galladay. So who's your favorite? Who's your second favorite Detroit wide receiver? Oh, I don't think. With Stafford? Yes, with Stafford.

It would be Hall. And with Daniel? It would be no one. Okay. Right. I can't trust Amendola. I wouldn't want to trust. Let's move on here. I wouldn't want to trust either one of them, but I would just go based on what we saw last week

where Hall had a decent opportunity. Marvin Hall is their version of Marquis Valdez-Scantling. What do you think about Kirk Cousins this week? I hope Matthew Stafford plays because then it's probably a more competitive game. And so then you have to see Kirk cousins most likely throw. So last week was just an embarrassment of riches for Dalvin cook. So they didn't have to throw,

you know, 14 pass attempts for Kirk cousins, which is low for any quarterback, including him. You probably still figure he's around 25 to 28 pass attempts. Cause that's what Minnesota wants to do. And that doesn't make her cousins appealing, but if the lions defense can somehow manage to stop Dalvin cook to

whatever extent they stopped Dalvin cook. Yeah. I would agree, but still, I mean, their run defense hasn't proved. Yeah. But Jared Davis is on the COVID list.

Yes. Very true. That's a problem. Again, if it's look, Dalvin cook is not going to do what he did last week. Against the defense. So if it's a more competitive game with Stafford

and they're chasing points, then Cousins is much more attractive. Okay, so how about Justin Jefferson? Because I think everybody's going to start Adam Thielen. I want to say this about Adam Thielen, by the way. He has seven touchdown catches. He also has four games out of seven with 51 or fewer yards.

Three games with 80 or more yards and four games with 51 or fewer yards. I wonder if we'd be thinking about him differently if he didn't have the touchdowns. That is what Adam Thielen does though. He's, he's really good. So I understand he's a must start. What about Justin Jefferson?

How confident are you in him? I think you should view him the same way you view the Steelers wide receivers that there's so much upside. It is a good matchup, but if they don't throw, it's hard to say he's going to be great. So he's a borderline number two, number three wide receiver. Again, I hope Stafford plays because then we can get that huge upside

of what this game could potentially become. The truth is that his three big games came against Tennessee, where he had nine targets, Houston, only five targets, and then Atlanta, he had 11 targets. Houston only five targets, and then Atlanta he had 11 targets. Everything else has been pretty blah for him, and he only has the two games with more than five targets, and that was Tennessee and Atlanta. Right, but the three games, three of the four were prior to last week,

and it was, I don't know how many times you heard me ask the question, Adam, to Scott Fish, to anybody that we were talking to, about a kid from the South playing in the cold for the first time. It was a miserable experience. Forget last week. 14 pass attempts. Forget last week. Kirk was just running white hot. I think Jefferson's a little risky

but probably still qualifying as a top 24 receiver. DeAndre Swift or Justin Jefferson? I think I'd rather say Swift. Plays? I'll take Swift. Barely. Okay.

Sit the DSTs. We're going to take a quick break here. We'll talk about Irv Smith outside the top 20. But worth keeping an eye on if you're just going to... Still stashable. Yeah, if you're just going to throw away last week. Again, 14 pass attempts. But before that, two straight games with, I think, five catches.

So we're going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we're going to talk about the game that everybody is looking forward to. That's up next on Fantasy Football Today. I know exactly what game it is. All right, we'll find out. No spoilers. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic a quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime

financial penalties and keep you safe don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money click before you dig ensure your next project is safe visit ontarioonecall.ca it's free it's easy it's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. People are buzzing about the Giants at Washington. Shocker. Here we go. They really should put that one on Sunday night to keep consistent with all these great primetime games over the last two weeks.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what? I guarantee this game is very competitive. Last time it came down to a two-point conversion, a failed two-point conversion by Washington, which was a stupid call by Ron Rivera, by the way. You should not have gone for two there, Riverboat. Why? He was trying to win the game. Yeah, but they were playing so much better than...

Forget it. No, it was a stupid call. They should have just gone over time. No, because if you win, you win, and if you lose, you get a better draft pick. That's true. If he was tanking, then it was a great decision. I assume we're not starting the quarterbacks in this game, although Daniel Jones has two games in a row, I think with about 20 fantasy points.

He's running a lot, but yeah, okay. Forget them. How about... The Giants wide receivers and the Washington running backs, to me, are the really interesting ones, I'm sure, to everybody. And then the tight ends. So what do you want to start with? Dave, Giants wide receivers or Washington running backs?

Let's start with the wide receivers. Okay. Why do I feel like Darius Slayton is going to have a good game? I don't know that it's justified. And then Sterling Shepard, in three healthy games, he has six, six, and eight catches. So he's pretty much a PPR solid floor. The floor is not lava.

Talk to me about the Giants wide receivers. What are you doing? I like Shepard as a safe play in PPR, not as safe in non-PPR for obvious reasons. Slayton, I think the key to Washington's defense, and the reason why they've only allowed three touchdowns to wideouts all year, is because they play heavy zone defense. So they don't want to give up the big play. On the play where Slayton scored, obviously it was a deep touchdown throw. They played man coverage, and he just blew past Fabian Moreau.

So my guess is that Washington will say, let's be really careful and judicious about how often we play man, and let's make sure we've got a solution for Slayton on those plays, i.e. they will play a lot of zone. That helps Shepard. That hurts Slayton because if they're playing zone, they're okay with Shepard catching a pass five yards away from the line of scrimmage and then tackling

him. Do you like Shepard more? I do. I have a hard time saying that in non-PPR, but in PPR and half PPR, obvious Shepard over Slayton. Are they number two, number three? Shepard in full PPR makes the cut as a top 24. I think he's

top 24, but like low end. Right on that fence with the flex. Okay, and would you start a Giants running back over a Giants wide receiver, guys? No. Washington has a really good run defense, and the thing is, they also give up the third few a Giants wide receiver, guys? No. Washington has a really good run defense. And the thing is, they

also give up the third fewest points to wide receivers. But another reason why they do it, in addition to the coverage that Dave was talking about, they see the fewest wide receiver targets per game in the NFL. They don't have Landon Collins now either. It's just been one of those things like the Carolina defensive backs. How are they doing so well? Well, I

can tell you the football team, the teams just don't throw on them, yet they have a good run defense. It's just weird. I'm not quite sure how they're doing it. To finish the Giants here, Evan Ingram. How about Evan Ingram or Logan Thomas? Thomas.

Ingram. Okay. They're close, right? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I think the Giants had a chance

to get away from Evan Ingram last week. Instead, they gave him 10 targets. And the Golden Tate scenario is certainly interesting for all these guys because not that he's had a lot of targets, but playing time essentially changes a little bit. Squeaky cricket. We wouldn't be interested. Yeah, for Golden Tate.

He wanted to be. Instead, they're just going to squash him. Yeah, it's not good. We're not going to be interested in a Giants running back, I assume, right? Low interest? No. I'm not optimistic about any of them even getting to 15 touches in the game.

So going on to the Washington running backs. Yeah, look, it's six games in a row. A running back does not have a carry of more than 14 yards against the Giants. Antonio Gibson had a pretty bad game. It makes me nervous, yeah. Yeah, nine carries, 30 yards, four catches, 25 yards.

That's the saving grace with him. He's been good at catching the ball. People are off McKissick because he did nothing against the Cowboys. Well, I warned you about that. The Cowboys, actually, the football team, Washington and Dallas, are the two best in terms of receiving yards per game to running backs. Was that?

It was different. You could run on the Cowboys. You can't run on Washington. But you can throw on the Cowboys, and people aren't really throwing that much on Washington. Before that, though, McKissick had three straight games with six catches or more and 40 or more receiving yards. So, Jamie, Gibson or McKissick, PPR? I think you still got to start Gibson based on what his upside is

because if both guys get similar touches, Gibson should be better. They're not going to get similar touches. Gibson's going to get more touches. So, if they got similar catches, Gibson would be better. The problem is, and this was the game, because I remember us having this conversation, and I don't want to speak for Dave,

but this is why I think you were excited about McKissick going into the Cowboys game was because McKissick was coming off this game where he played more than Gibson against the Giants and he had a better game statistically because of what he did catch in the ball. And so it was, is he becoming the more of the primary running back in terms of playing time? But the Dallas game was more catered to what Gibson does. This game is more catered to what McKissick does.

And so, you know, if they're down, which I don't know if that's necessarily going to be the case because the Giants office doesn't always put up a lot of points, then it's probably not going to be a great game for McKissick. But when they were coming back in the game against the Giants, he was playing more and he was more efficient and more effective. So I think he's a good flex in PPR. For those people who dropped him,

I would go pick him up and potentially use him this week. So is he going to get north of 30 yards on the ground? Probably not. But can he get you six for 40? Probably so. It's a decent floor there for McKissick is 10 PPR points. Ron Rivera talked glowingly about Gibson since that Cowboys game

about how he's getting better on inside runs. And how do they go away from him as their primary running back after what he did against Dallas? Not to say that McKissick can't have a role, but the other thing that Rivera said is that they need to get Gibson going in the passing game too.

So I wonder if they start to, maybe it's going to be a little defined as McKissick is going to be that third down guy, but they could both still get three to five catches in the game and, and take advantage of, of the giants defense when, when throwing to them,

because they are good against the run, but they're not as good when throwing against receivers, running backs. They're not as good against receipt, running backs when they're receivers. I finally got it out. There you go. Okay, so Ezekiel Elliott or Antonio Gibson?

Still Zeke. I'm Zeke ahead as of now, but I could see myself changing to Gibson. Clyde Eberziler or Gibson? Eberziler. Justin Jefferson or Antonio Gibson? Gibson.

If you tell me Stafford's playing, it's closer, but I'll still take Gibson. How about JD McKissick or Darius Slayton? I would say McKissick in PPR, Slayton in non-PPR. I'm going to chase the upside with Slayton just in case he gets one of those big plays. Slayton, the last two games with Shepard on the field, has not been anywhere close to the same guy.

He's had much tougher coverage. No, but he was so close against Tampa Bay. He could have had a huge game against Tampa Bay. Could have, but his quarterback stinks. Yeah. Okay, let's move on then. Logan Thomas is Terry McLaurin's top 13 in both formats. Logan Thomas is low for Heath,

but Dave and Jamie have him 12th and 13th. He's got four targets in four straight games. He'd like to see more targets, but he did catch touchdown. Touchdown or bust. Yeah, he caught a touchdown against the Giants. And both DSTs are worth using. Washington better than the Giants,

but both are top 12. Pittsburgh at Dallas. I already gave a stat of the game. It's basically, you know, we keep talking about it. Not a lot of passing guards against Dallas, but they're so bad that they still give up the fifth most yards per catch. The third most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers

while seeing the eighth fewest wide receiver targets per game. So you don't have to get a lot of targets to be good against Dallas. Ben Roethlisberger is between 12 and 15 in the rankings. We did this earlier, but we'll do it again. Drew Locke or Ben Roethlisberger is between 12 and 15 in the rankings. We did this earlier, but we'll do it again. Drew Locke or Ben Roethlisberger? Ben. Matt Ryan or Ben Roethlisberger? Ryan.

Jamie, did you answer? Yeah, Ben, but if Ridley plays, then it's Ryan. Okay. Start James Conner. He is going to have 400 yards. If you're stuck, Benny Snell. start James Conner. He is going to have 400 yards. And we, if you're stuck with Benny snow, we talked about,

we talked about the wide receivers a little bit earlier today, uh, in the show during the, during the start O meter segment. But, um, how about, would you start Antonio Gibson over your favorite Steelers wide receiver?

Yes. In non PPR. Yes. In non-PPR, yes. In full PPR, I would definitely take Juju ahead of him. Would you start Devante? If Devante Freeman starts, would you start Devante Freeman or Amari Cooper? None. No.

I resign from my fantasy league for one week. You don't seem to want to start Cooper. I would take the chance with Cooper. Talking about a guy who, Jamie predicted about 15 touches for Devante Freeman here, my fantasy league for one week. You don't seem to want to start Cooper. I would take the chance with Cooper. Talking about a guy who... Jamie predicted about 15 touches for Devante Friedman here, so let's not completely poo-poo it. Would you start Jacoby Myers

or Amari Cooper? Dave has them back-to-back, by the way. But Jamie, Jacoby Myers or Cooper? No, still Cooper. More upside for him. All right. No, I can't trust Lamb. Can't trust Gallup.

It's too hard, yeah. Look, we get another wild card. Can't trust Gallup. It's too hard. Yeah. Look, we get another wild card. We didn't know what Danucci would do, and now we don't know what Cooper Rush will do if he's the guy. So it could be Gilbert. Yeah, we don't even know which guy it'll be. Right.

So it could be good. It could be terrible. Most likely terrible. Lamb's snaps have been going down lately, too, so that's not a good trend. What about Eric Ebron? How does he compare to Logan Thomas and Evan Ingram? Better.

Yes, better. 13 targets his last two games, touchdown to one of them. He's been more involved. Again, the only problem with the Steelers is how many times has Ben been good throw? Because in the two of the last three games when they've been just beating opponents

badly, he's been 32 pass attempts or less. So you have all these guys that need to get some semblance of targets. But I think Ebron, based on his position, you take a chance on him. Do we need to say anything else about Ezekiel Elliott? How about Zeke or

I'm going to go with some wide receivers that he may have picked up off waivers at some point this year. Zeke or Justin Jefferson? Still Zeke or... I'm going to go with some wide receivers that he may have picked up off waivers at some point this year. Zeke or Justin Jefferson? Still Zeke. Zeke as of now, I think it'll stay that way. Robbie Anderson. Anderson. Robbie, yeah.

And that's already... That's how I have it already. Cole Beasley. I'm going to go down from here for Zeke. Cole Beasley or Zeke? In PPR, I think I can make the case for Beasley over Zeke. Still Zeke. I got to tell you, to me, I just feel like Zeke

needs to catch the ball, and maybe he will. That's such a huge thing. I don't think any of us really see him having a ton of success running. So how many passes is he going to catch? He's been nonexistent the last two games, but with Dak, he's a machine. He's had one catch three of his past four games.

It's weird. It's weird how uncreative the Cowboys are. Oh, no, you can't say that. They threw in the kitchen sink last week. I guess. I guess. Dalton Schultz is a sit. He is outside the top 15. And the

Steelers DST, let's say you had a six point per passing touchdown league. No, four point per passing touchdown league. And like normal defensive scoring. Would you start the Steelers DST or Drew Locke? The Steelers DST. In a mega crazy super flex spot. Yeah.

I think I'd go with the Steelers DST. If you could start a quarterback in a super flex spot, you should be able to start any position in a super flex spot. Right? I mean, quarterbacks... I mean, you can. All right, I'll get Heath on the phone. I'll let him know this Acer take and he can add it to the thread. Well, speaking of Drew Locke, Denver is at Atlanta.

And Drew Locke is just outside the top 15. He's like 16, 17 in the rankings. And every team except for Carolina has thrown for 313 or more yards against Atlanta. Every quarterback except the last two has scored 24 or more fantasy points. The last two would be Stafford and Bridgewater. Stafford had a really good game. He just didn't get that second touchdown.

So if you are desperate, you start Drew Locke. Drew Brees over Drew Locke, right? Yes. Yeah, but it's close. It is close. Jamie has Brees, Locke, Foles, Bridgewater in his rankings. Dave has... Dave, I clicked a button on the rankings page

and lost your rankings. Dave has Locke... No. Bridgewater, Locke, Cousins. All after Breeze. Breeze, Cam, Bridgewater, Locke, Cousins. Yep. Oh, Locke or Cam.

You guys both have Cam ahead of Locke. That would have been a good one. Yeah, I'll take Cam. I think Cam has a good game this weekend. Now you know. We're assuming that Phillip Lindsay's going to play. He was limited in practice. So what are we doing with the Denver running backs?

Try to avoid them. If you have to start one in non-PPR, it's Lindsay. If you have to start one in full PPR, it's Gordon. I would still start Gordon in both because he's still playing more. Last week was the first time that they played a full game together all season. And it was still first time that they played a full game together all season, and it

was still 55%, 45% playing time in favor of Gordon. Lindsey should get more work. It goes without saying, but the fact that he's hurt again, I know he's practicing, but still, he just can't stay healthy. It's unfortunate. I mean, his yards per carry the last three games that he's played have been fantastic. He should be their leading running downs guy. But until we see it, you got to still stick with Gordon. And by the way, the Falcons run defense since Dan Quinn got fired has been really, really good.

They've only allowed one touchdown. They've held opposing running backs to less than 80 total yards in those three games. Yeah, it's pretty good. They are not good against running backs in the passing game, but even that has gotten better. Mike Davis, one catch for 11 yards.

DeAndre Swift, four catches for 21 yards. Alexander Madison, one catch for four yards. So they've done better there over the last three games. Denver wide receivers. This is the Falcons. They give up the most fantasy points, no, the third most fantasy points to wide receivers. In six out of eight games,

they've given up 80 yards or a touchdown or both to multiple wide receivers in six out of eight games. So you guys said, I think you said you like Patrick better than Judy if both play? No, I like Judy better than Patrick, but it's close. How do they compare to the Steelers guys?

Behind. You still take the upside to the Steelers guys? Behind. You still take the upside of the Steelers guys against the Cowboys. Oh, I could be talked into Patrick ahead of Deontay Johnson for sure. It's so interesting that you're off Deontay Johnson. He did have double-digit targets in three of his four healthy games. I know, I know, but he

keeps getting beat up, and I think that if there was ever a game where, and Jamie's talked about this, where the Steelers won't have to throw a ton, this would be it. I just don't know why. He's a flex. No, no, no, no. I'm sorry.

I don't mind him as a sleeper and a flex. Why is it Johnson instead of like, say, Claypool, that you're so down on? Claypool's not that much higher up than Johnson, but I just think Claypool, if he's healthy, and Johnson isn't quite at 100%, and they're all getting limited targets, we've seen Claypool do well on limited targets before. Okay. That's a good point. And he's also, they designed things for him inside the 10 yard line for Claypool.

Again, it could be Deontay Johnson's week. It could be Juju's week. It could be Claypool's week. It's just, this is going to be until there's a clear definition of this is the guy that's going to lead them in targets. And that's the thing you hang your hat on. And maybe it is Deontay Johnson, but since Johnson's been banged up, he just hasn't been the same consistent guy. So in a game where they're probably not going to throw much,

like Dave just said, the big play potential right now favors chase Claypool. So I'll take my chances with Claypool over the other two, but I think all three guys are still in play. And I think the reason they're better than the Broncos duo is first off, what Noah Phan is doing. I mean, his 16 targets the last two weeks. So he's going to be a factor here.

Tight end is an easy position to attack the Falcons against based on what they've done all season. You still have Alberto getting some targets last week. Not the same, but he's a red zone threat. And I think Judy is trending in the right direction. That's why I take him over Patrick. You know, the fact that he had the 10 targets last week is something I think they're going to continue to build on. Plus you have Hamler back to, you know, Patrick was doing this without Fant and Hamler on the field. I just, I go back to thinking of how Locke likes going downfield,

and we saw that in the fourth quarter last week, that gunslinger mentality. And Patrick has been the best outside receiver for Denver, really, since Corlin Sutton got hurt. But he didn't do a lot of that with Drew Locke, though. He didn't, but it's combining. It's the Venn diagram. I've got Drew Locke's style of play

and his willingness to take a chance with the football and Tim Patrick being the best downfield threat that the Broncos can say they have right now. And Judy's good. And you're right. He's turning in the right direction. I love that. He had 10 targets last week.

He's going to break out real soon. And maybe, maybe this is the week form and the matchups right for it. And we'll see if Patrick ends up not even playing, then I'd be way more interested in Judy. I still would favor Patrick. Judy has one touchdown catch this year. It was a total fluke against the Jets.

Total fluke. He's caught 49% of his targets. Including 40% last week. That's the thing. We keep saying he had 10 targets. He had four catches. Not the best game. I don't know how many of those targets were uncatchable. That's the other thing. It's not a good passing offense. Oh, this isn't a

must-start Jerry-Judy conversation. This is who's the best Broncos wide receiver right now. For me, it's Judy. And so if you're looking at a number three receiver that you want to take a chance on, this is the time to do so. All right, Noah Fant or Hayden Hurst? Fant. I think I have Hurst or entire. Much better matchup. Targets

are in his favor. Love what Noah Fant's starting to do. I mean, you want to talk about getting somebody now before you miss out. This is the guy to do it. Okay, and then Todd Gurley. Start or sit Todd Gurley? I would love to sit Todd Gurley. If he doesn't score, you're screwed.

Right, right, right. But what does he do pretty much every single week? Scores. Gurley or Zeke? Takes a touchdown away from Matt Ryan. Takes a touchdown away from Julio Jones. Gurley or Zeke? Gurley.

Gurley by default. Okay. And that's it. Hayden Hurst is a top 12 tight end. He's been pretty consistent. Six or more targets in four of his last five games. 51 or more yards in four of his last five games. Finally, Miami is at Arizona.

Stat of the game, Jordan Howard. Let's say he's your starting running back. Last year, he had seven games. He had seven games with double-digit carries. He scored nine or more non-PPR points in five of those seven games. He's not as bad as he was earlier this year. He was playing almost exclusively near the goal line.

That does not help your yards per carry. He's not good. We know that, but if he gets the starting job and he gets 13 or more carries, he's probably going to have an okay game. He'll be a flex. He's Jordan Howard. The Dolphins, is it just like

start all Cardinals? Start all Cardinals. I mean, look, most people can't afford to sit Devontae Parker, especially in three-receiver leagues. So he's still in the starting conversation. But again, you have a quarterback that just threw 22 times and had little success in the 22 attempts that he had,

aside from the red zone throw to Devontae Parker. So how many pass attempts is Tua going to have 35, 40, you know, the more past attempts, the more targets, the more targets, the better chance it's simple math, but he's probably going to see Patrick Peterson, the most of the dolphins guys. So you have tough cop cover. This is the type of receiver that Patrick Peterson tends to do better against the bigger physical guys. And so I think Devante Parker is the number three receiver. You know, it's just how you have to approach it until you see something from Tua to him on a more consistent basis.

It's a huge risk, though, because we just, I don't think we got many answers for Tua last week. Other than... No answers. No, he barely threw. The one thing that we can say definitively is that he's not quite at the level of Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow.

Or Ryan Fitzpatrick. 12 of 22. Yeah, okay, that's fine, too. And so I have a hard time finding the confidence and the reasons to start Devontae Parker. Right, but it's the first game. First game, it's against the best defensive lineman in football who can be a game wrecker, as we saw,

and still see on a week-to-week basis. The Cardinals don't have that type of guy, especially with Chando Jones not there. So he's going to have more time to throw. This is going to be a more up-and-down game because I don't think the Dolphins are going to slow down the Cardinals offense to the level of, you know, this is going to be a grind-it-out, slow-it-down type of game from the Miami side of things. They just lost their running back, who's been arguably their best player. And so now the game falls onto his shoulders more so. So I think Parker is okay,

but if there's a case to be made against him, it's pretty easy to do that as opposed to make a case for him. Would you start Melvin Gordon or Devontae Parker? I'd start Melvin Gordon. I would too. Would you start Le'Veon Bell or Devontae Parker? Parker.

Parker. How about Giants starting running back or Parker? Parker. Parker. Like Parker, just to compare him to the receiver. So like he's better than the Dallas guys because you just know what the Dallas guys have been and what they probably will be against Pittsburgh. He's behind the Steelers guys because of what the potential upside is for the Steelers guys

going against the Dallas defense. So like he falls in the middle of those caliber of guys. Like I, and just in this game, I would start Christian Kirk over Devontae Park. All right, I want to talk to everybody about the Cowboys' giant, what the hell am I talking about, the Dolphins' defense here, because they are giving up the fewest points per game,

but they're 20th in yards per game. So they're not the best defense. However, they're second in takeaways. They get a lot of turnovers, and they also have the fourth highest blitz percentage in the NFL. What they have right now, just reading about this, this is not my observation, this is what I was reading, and some statistics back it up, they have great coverage.

I know they have Byron Jones and Zavian Howard, but they're also getting great play from Eric Rowe at cornerback, Bobby McCain. Their coverage has been really good in the secondary. It's allowing them to blitz more and play man-to-man coverage. So that's what's so successful for them. And I guess Jamie's just riding the momentum with Christian Kirk. Got him as a number two receiver.

Dave, do you also agree? Christian Kirk, got to start him? Number two receiver, yeah. Okay. I do. And it's also they're taking on a running quarterback. And I think that that helps Arizona's offense as well. Yeah.

I mean, move out of the pocket. You look, you just, you look at Jared golf last week and his offensive line stunk and he wasn't really moving around and he looked like he was scared for his life. And I think Brian Flores knew that that's how he was going to play because he helped coordinate the defensive game plan to take down Jared golf in the super bowl. So now he's got a completely different type of matchup

against Kyler Murray. The secondary is going to have to spend a little more time sticking to their receivers. That's going to be tough to do, especially in the case of Kirk, because he's the vertical threat for Arizona. So I'm not as worried about, oh, the Dolphins are going to fly into Arizona and shut them down. I think it's a much harder task than what we had.

The closest comparison you can make is when they played Russell Wilson, because there's similar style of quarterbacks, you know, guys that move can extend plays. Obviously Russell doesn't escape the pocket to run the same way that Kyler does, but Wilson beat them up for three 60 and two. Yeah. And Cam ran well against them and we can't ran. I mean, can't just ran, forget about, you know,

I'm talking about the passing aspect of things, you know, can't Cam is not, wasn't throwing the same way, but you know, Josh Allen against Miami mean, Cam just ran. Forget about it. I'm talking about the passing aspect of things. All right. Cam wasn't throwing the same way. But Josh Allen against Miami again earlier in the season, but 4-15-4. But Russell's the most recent comparison because at that point, the Dolphins' defense was getting healthy. All right, last thing.

I just want Jacob Gibbs is going to join me on FFT in five. We're going to have a bonus episode on Saturday. It's a props episode. He's going to give you some cool stats. One of the stats he's going to give is about how good the Cardinals, they're in shotgun more than any team in the NFL. And this is a bad matchup

for the Dolphins. The Dolphins are really bad against the shotgun. No team has allowed a higher opponent rushing success rate out of the shotgun than the Miami Dolphins. This is really about Chase Edmonds. He's a top eight running back in the rankings. Please stay away, Kenyon Drake. Stay away. But Chase Edmonds, the Dolphins are, we'll get into the details with Jacob on FFT in five. This is a terrible matchup for the Dolphins run defense. Edmonds could be

absolutely enormous in this game. Start him over almost anyone. Go ahead, Jamie, let's finish up quick last. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's started the week, you know, so I love the setup for him because you go back to last year, he had four games with just seven total touches only seven and in three of those he hit 13 or more ppr points he's so explosive and then this year he's had four games um yeah four games with at least eight total touches and he said 12 or more ppr points in all of them so in just minimal work, he's been dynamic. That's it for today's show. Drake in five of seven games has hit 18 or more touches.

And so if he gets that workload, he's going to be amazing. That's it for today's show. Okay, cool. That's really it. All right, we're done for today. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you on

the Mailbag Show on Saturday. Make sure you're listening to FFT in five. Make sure you're watching CBS Sports HQ. For Dave and Jamie, I'm Adam. Have a great weekend, everybody. Good luck in Week 9.