Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC); Christian McCaffrey Trade Thoughts (10/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

Now that we've had time to sleep on it, how do we feel about Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers passing game and the Panthers offense? We break down every angle of the deal and then we recap Saints-Cardinals (15:45)! Chris Olave or DeAndre Hopkins rest of season? Does Eno Benjamin matter when James Conner returns? ... News and notes (23:45) and One Question for Each Game (29:15). Is Aaron Jones a must-start? How do we feel about Rhamondre Stevenson with Damien Harris back? Do we trust Terry McLaurin this week? ... Start or Sit for Chiefs-49ers (35:00), Lions-Cowboys (41:50), Packers-Commanders (52:15), Bears-Patriots (1:01:15), Giants-Jaguars (1:08:45) and Buccaneers-Panthers (1:14:00) ... 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.

Welcome to the show, everybody. Happy Friday to you. Fantasy football today here on Friday, October 22nd, 21st. 21st. There we go. Thank you, iPhone. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard and Jamie Isenberg. What a game we had last night.

Big time bonanza. Thursday night owed us. What do you guys want to talk about? I don't even know, I got nothing. I got a note. Dave, were you awake when it happened? No. So what was it like waking up to that news? Well, I woke up at like, I woke up in time.

I woke up and it was the post-game show. The first thing, of course, is I checked to see the box score and I saw that, you know, Benjamin had a monster game and I was like, ah, show. The first thing, of course, is I checked to see the box score. And I saw that Benjamin had a monster game. And I was like, ah, nuts. Because I didn't have him ranked high enough. And that's kind of eating me up this morning. And then I go to Twitter and I see the news. And it's like, wow.

Pretty crazy. Pretty crazy. And I wanted to jump out of bed and start doing research right then and there. And I didn't. I went back to sleep. Got it done this morning. I, I didn't even know how to research it.

It's so different than anything we've seen from. It really is. This is, this is going to be a very interesting, I don't want to say test, but like you think about the history of Kyle Shanahan and what he's done, this is going to be so different because it's, it's a,

it's a running back with a pedigree. he just gave up four draft picks for including a second he's never spent any type of capital like that on a running back before he hasn't had a track record of throwing to his running backs he'd be dumb to not do that he's always had the track record of using multiple running backs he'd be dumb to do that he's had a track record of breaking his running backs i hope we don't do that um but he also does have a track record of taking guys who are no names and turning them into like must starts in fantasy football and here's a guy who's already a must start in fantasy football who's got a chance to see like maybe the best efficiency of his career potentially like it's exciting to have him in san francisco but the

stakes are as high as they've ever been for christian mccaffrey man like his upside's never been higher and his injury risk it feels like it feels like has never been higher i'm at the point now where i hope he plays 17 games i hope i'm dead wrong on telling people that you know he's an injury risk and you shouldn't take him first overall. I want to see this offense at full strength all season for the rest of this season. The thing that, and Adam, obviously we spoke about this at length last night, but the thing that, just thinking about it, and Dave touched on a few of these things,

they basically lit the last two third-round picks on fire with their draft picks with Trey Sermon and Tyrion Davis-Price. And for a team and for a coach that has found running backs out of nowhere i i was texting with a few of my 49ers friends and one was like oh my god this is so awesome we got christian mcgaffrey i was like why did we just give up everything for a running back now you you would say um they they hopefully have their quarterback situation for a few years established, right? You know, we don't know, but they probably think that they do because they invested so much.

They better hope so. You know, or maybe, you know, Garoppolo. But, you know, at least they've made the swing for a quarterback already. But for this year, he can't block and they have some offensive line concerns. He can't tackle and they have a lot of holes on defense right now because of injuries. And so this just feels so weird because it was not a position of need for them.

However, that being said, this could be so much fun because of all the potential that they now have with this offense. It could just be the, I don't know, the best offensive football, but it has the potential to be there. It all hinges clearly on Jimmy Garoppolo. Rank your top five running backs rest of season. McCaffrey's at the top of the list. He just is.

I put McCaffrey one, Barkley two, Eckler three, Chubb, four. Henry, five. No Taylor. Everybody still healthy? Who? We're saying everybody healthy, right? Yeah, yeah. Including Jonathan Taylor.

Don't forget about Taylor here. I know, I know. Eckler would be one. Barkley would be two. McCaffrey would be three. Taylor will be four. Henry, five. Okay. So no Chubb for you

in the top five in PPR Dave had him I think fourth alright so pretty similar list there McCaffrey no lower than three for Dave or Jamie

now yeah we'll go to Carolina in a second and we already I mean we already kind of did this just listen to the bonus podcast

that Jamie and I recorded but you know there even just what eight hours later you, you know, there are things that I see that that changed from last night. For example, perhaps I judged Chuba Hubbard a little bit too harshly. When you look at the last five games of the season last year, the second time McCaffrey got hurt, Hubbard wasn't very good and didn't get that many carries.

But man, he faced the Bucks twice. He faced the Saints. He faced the Bills. And he faced the Falcons, who I think had a pretty good run defense in the second half. But at least those last three games were Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Buffalo before that. So perhaps I judged him a little bit too harshly. So that was one thing.

You know, things change when you have time to actually dig into it here. But, Dave, I mean, we kind of talked about the idea that everybody in the 49ers passing game, except for Garoppolo, loses with the addition of Christian McCaffrey. Do you think that's the case? Just fewer targets for Debo, for Ayuk, for Kittle? Yeah, in theory. I think their ceiling comes down just a little bit.

I think that you're still going to start Debo. You're still going to start Kittle. You're probably going to look at Iyuka as a number three or a flex. And judge the matchup a little bit when it comes to these guys. But I don't see a scenario where you're going to sit Debo or Kittle.

And there's a chance where Jimmy Garoppolo ends up being a usable starter rest of season. So if you picked him up to be your bi-week quarterback this week, you might have hit it a little bit. Yeah. And for the Panthers, Jamie reassessing the backfield there, you said you'd rather have Foreman and non or half. You'd rather have Hubbard and full PPR. Uh, they weren't running the ball. I think McCaffrey was only averaging about 14 carries per game, but he was obviously getting a ton of catches. Uh, so, this is going to be a tough week, I think, against the 49ers.

But going forward, these guys are, I think they're both available still in more than half of CBS leagues. What is your updated advice? When I went to sleep last night after we were done, and I went back through all my leagues just to see, for a few that were on waivers, just to make some bids on both guys. As I said then, I'll say it again. As I said last night, I'll say it again. Now please do not drop anybody of significance on your roster for these guys.

They're not going to be good. You know, you're hoping for one of them to stand out above the other and give you some semblance of volume. And that could be something that you hang your hat on, but you're talking about a flex option at best. McCaffrey was making just play after play that these guys can't make and so this team is going to be absolutely horrible um so the hope would be is that one gets a lion's share of the touches I can't see that happening but maybe that's the case so the thing you want to do is like like I told you last night like I dropped Russell Wilson in the leagues where I wasn't starting him

and just, you know, moved on already. I dropped Josh Reynolds and Josh Palmer and guys like that. You know, I saw a lot of drop Michael Carter. You want to drop Michael Carter, it's fine. You know, we had this conversation about Samadji Piran, you know, if you're the Joe Mixon owner, you know, dropping a handcuff of a player that you think might have more upside. You know, that's a choice you have to make.

But I just, I don't think we know until we see what they're going to do. Like, you know that's that's choice you have to make but i just i i i don't think we know until we see what they're going to do like you know we had this conversation dave and i did on on hq earlier it might have been last week but you know in terms of if you're the panthers and you're making this move why would you not see if tuba hubbard could be your number two guy moving forward and give him some more opportunities as the younger back dionte foreman is not their future hub Hubbard's not their future guy, but he might be somebody that they could have to rely on in a pinch. Now, granted, they had this last year, and they may have seen enough,

or they may want to see a little bit more. I don't know. But don't overspend for them. Don't reach for them. Don't drop anybody's significance for them. But it is worth your interest to see what happens, at least this weekend, from a usage standpoint, to see if you have somebody to potentially,

as a flex option, moving forward. I got a stat and I got a game. Which do you want first? Game, stat, stat. The stat. The Carolina Panthers have run two plays all season inside of five yards from the goal line. Yikes.

Enjoy that one if you're banking on Deontay Foreman to be a touchdown hog because he won't be hogging that much. All right. The game. I'm going to name a player. These are players who were dropped in our leagues for Deontay Foreman and Chuba Hubbard. You tell me if you would have dropped them for one of these players.

Deion Jackson. Yes. Logan Thomas. Yes. Will Disleyley yeah easy kylan granson what league is this murray no yep so the point is is that four of the five names total guys that you don't see yourself starting what's the point of having them let them go see what you get with chuba or Foreman. The last guy, Latavius Murray, you can make the case, could be the lead running back for Denver for whatever that's worth.

Do you want to let him go for the leading running back in Carolina? I say no. It really just depends on your taste and whether or not you want to trust him. But these are the types of players you should be dropping in exchange just to see what you get kicking the tires so to speak on Hubbard or Foreman I like Chuba better for the reasons that Jamie outlined I think he's the better passing downs back for whatever it's worth two months ago he looked pretty good in the preseason Foreman did not we'll see what happens there but this is a team that I

think they are clearly not prioritizing winning if they they happen to win, that's great. But I can't expect a lot of even decent games. So the question comes back to everybody. If they're not going to be a productive offense, what's the point of carrying these guys on your fantasy team for more than a week or two? And the answer is there isn't one. After a week or two, if neither of them are doing anything, you're going to see them go right back

on the waiver wire and the guys that were dropped for them aren't guys that you're going to miss that much and that's the way it should be. Would you have spent $31 out of original $100 budget on Chuba Hunter? I wouldn't have spent $300. Well, that's what I did.

Why? Because I'm one in five. It's the podcast league. It's 14 teams. I dropped Jared Goff. I have Jeff Wilson as my number two running back. So it's desperation. But yeah.

I spoke about it last night. I wasn't that excited about it. But there are circumstances where you have to get any running back. If your team stinks, what are you saving your fab money for? Yeah. I don't think my team stinks, by the way. It's Taylor and Keenan Allen are my first two picks. Yeah, I mean, I spent $11 on Hubbard in one league just to see.

And my team's 2-4. So if I lose this week again, okay, there goes my fab budget. I don't care. Exactly. Right. What am I waiting for? Right. Yeah.

All right. So, Ryan, we can't give blanket statements. I could see scenarios where if you're desperate, you have to get these guys. But I got I got a lot of questions last night, though, Adam, in response to the stuff we were doing, dropping Jeff Wilson for him, for one of those guys. And that comes down, I think, to two things. One, they lose this. Are you buying Christian McCaffrey staying healthy? but there's still Elijah Mitchell looming. So if you're looking to maybe pivot from a backup to a potential starter, I don't have a problem with that. This week's an interesting one because who knows how much McCaffrey plays.

So it depends on what you need. But I think you certainly get away with dropping one of the 49ers running backs for a Panthers running back, not named McCaffrey. Yeah, the only consideration, let's finish with this thought. The only consideration is week week seven because we don't know what mccaffrey's role is going to be he might have a small red zone package if he's active you start quote if he's active you start him as what i mean would you start him over ezekiel elliott your start of the week so that's exactly the the the

line where i put him right now in my rankings i have elli at 14. I put McCaffrey at 13. So depending on what we hear over the weekend, I might pivot off that. But as Adam Schefter said, he's a pretty smart guy. He went to Stanford. I can't imagine that there's not a few things that they say, do this, do that, do this. He can handle it.

And then as the game unfolds, they probably lean on him maybe a little bit more. So if Christian McCaffrey's dressing, it's very difficult to say, I'm not playing him in your fancy. Okay. And we'll of course have a mail, a mailbag episode to keep you updated on things. We'll have a FFT and five at 8am on Sunday morning to keep you updated on things and

tell you who to start and who to sit. But I guess my point was, if you're going to drop Jeff Wilson for Chuba Hubbard or Deontay Foreman, you know, McCaffrey might not play this week and Wilson could be a starter for you this week. So just keep that in consideration. I think Wilson deserves a bench spot. Okay. Just knowing what we know about 49ers running backs and knowing what we

know about Christian McCaffrey. Yeah. But Mitchell might be back next week or he might not be back at all. And that's why they made this deal. Fair point. Dave. I also think they made this deal to keep the Rams away from getting them like just a little part of the deal. That would be the absolute dumbest thing ever. First of all, it's pretty dumb. I agree, but I think think they made this deal to keep the Rams away from getting him like just a little part of the deal. That would be

the absolute dumbest thing ever. First of all, it's pretty I agree, but I think that they're they're so like they want to win the division. They want to make the playoffs and if they're trying to keep away like maybe they threw in the fifth round pick just as a little cherry on top. If if they did that for

purposes of keeping him away from somebody else less need is the GM of the year. If he drove up the price, make another team do that, then they're absolute geniuses. All right. Dave, last question. Can I have one more question? No.

I'm sorry. We're 14 minutes in. 15-second answer on this. DJ Moore, does his value go up or down or the same? Can he get traded? Yeah. Right. If he's traded? Yeah. Right. If he's traded, then it goes up.

And maybe if Darnold becomes the quarterback, it goes up a little bit. Okay. All right. I can't believe that's a sentence I just said. We have a lot of... By the way, I told you this line last night. Hysterical. He said on HQ,

I've been begging for the Panthers to upgrade over Sam Darnold for DJ Moore, and now I'm begging for the Panthers to put Sam Darnold back in for DJ Moore. Maybe they need to upgrade a wide receiver. So we got some weekend content for you here and a lot of great content. CBS Sports HQ. First of all, Monday through Friday, you can watch Fantasy Football Today. Not this version, but there's the HQ version hosted by Jamie. Monday through Friday at noon Eastern until 1 p.m. Eastern. Sunday, it's 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern. It's even earlier when there's a London game.

I'm not sure if we have to do that because the Broncos are playing in London next time, I think, and they don't really count. But assuming, yeah, we'll probably do it anyway. But anyway, we're always getting you ready for kickoff 10 a.m. Eastern until 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports HQ. You can watch that on the CBS Sports app, which you can download anywhere. What else we got? We got that mailbag.

We got FFTN5. We have a live stream at 11.30 a.m. on YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. We got a live stream, 11.30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday morning. All we do is answer your questions. It's a lot of fun. Well, that's not all we do, but it's mostly what we do.

All right. Obviously, different kind of show today. We're way behind, so let's go a little fast here. On Arizona 42, New Orleans 34. What an awesome game for fantasy. Kind of a weird game just to watch. Kyler Murray, 19 fantasy points. Disappointing, but just kept getting vultured i guess and uh all right dave give me your biggest fantasy takeaway from this game biggest fantasy takeaway

uh i'll go right back to you know benjamin i think the cardinals have a run game now and clearly impacted how much kyler murray threw the ball Nah, it's dumb. I'm not going to go with, you know, let's go with DeAndre. That's more fun anyway. Tons of targets. He looked pretty good. And are they going to give him the same type of treatment that the Rams give Cup and that the Vikings give Justin Jefferson? And he just ends up getting 40 plus percent of the target share each game.

It's fun to think about. I'm thrilled that he came back, played almost every snap and had a huge game. Would you guys rather have Chris Olave or DeAndre Hopkins rest of season Olave with another great game going over a hundred yards? Hopkins. Yeah. I feel like that's the safer answer. Cause I mean,

look, Michael Thomas is still going to be a problem there for, for the saints and the quarterback situation. You know, you know, I know a lot of they had two great games with Jameis Winston, but that's such a volatile situation. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Trying to fix my camera here. Very out of focus today. But what was I going to say about? Oh, yeah. I just think it's worth noting that by the middle of the first quarter, the Saints were on their third and fourth string cornerbacks. They started the game without their top two guys. They lost Bradley Roby almost immediately.

So Hopkins just absolutely feasted on a rookie cornerback and just a really bad secondary. Now, I do think, you know, Benjamin's worth talking about, though, Dave, because— Sure, sure, sure, sure. He and Keontae Ingram, maybe they're both better than uh James Conner I don't know but what do you think happens when James Conner comes back and you know Benjamin was started in 45 percent of leagues comes through with 113 total yards and a touchdown and a two-point conversion I I think Conner will inherit at least the Keontae Ingram role short yard yardage, although he didn't get every short yardage.

In fact, Bino got a lot of it. But that's what I think he'll be. I think they'll use him like short yardage situations, maybe some of the running downs. But Benjamin's faster. He's better than James Conner at this point. If you could sell, you know Benjamin doing that. I agree with that, too.

And if you could go back in time and never draft James Conner, you should do that also. Rondell Moore, 68% roster. Before you freak out, he played almost exclusively out wide this game. I wouldn't say almost exclusively, but the majority he played out wide. Can he get back into the slot? That's been a valuable role for this Cardinals offense. Is it Robbie Anderson starts being the outside guy

until Marquise Brown comes back? Does he go, does Ron Elmore go back into the slot as soon as next week? And should we hold him? You should absolutely hold him. And yes, see what happens next week. It's been such a weird stretch of games for their passing attack, you know, with guys coming in and out and how this game unfolded with the defensive scores. And, you know, I think you want to see what this offense looks like when everybody is with guys coming in and out and how this game unfolded with the defensive scores.

I think you want to see what this offense looks like when everybody is healthy. So with Robbie playing a full complement of snaps and seeing how they use Rondon Moore. If he has another game like this, it's to the curb. Yeah. All right. Start Camaro going forward. And that's going to do it for Thursday Night Football. Well, Jawan Johnson's worth a look. Not even a word about Zach Ertz.

He does bad game, you know. It's a concern, but not worried. Hopkins played, but did Hopkins do anything different than Marquise Brown? Not from a target standpoint, no. Marquise Brown, I think, had the fourth most targets entering this week, something like that.

It could have just simply been Cardinals playing with a lead, running the ball a little bit more than they have before. They didn't need Hurts. Could be that. And then Jawan Johnson, Adam, or Jamie mentioned him. I think he's worth bringing up. I'm a little surprised that he hasn't become a bigger part of the Saints offense. It was good to see him break out and have a couple of touchdowns.

He's a big dude. He can move a little bit. Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry come back. Does Jawan Johnson matter? Adam Troutman comes back eventually. He should play over. Well, he doesn't do the same thing that Troutman does, so I guess they could both potentially play at the same time

if Thomas comes back. Are we sure Thomas is coming back? I hope so. It's a weird situation right now, and Dennis Allen kind of danced around it this past week. I have to apologize for something that happened on yesterday's show. A big oversight on my part. I just want to get your thoughts on the Las Vegas tight end situation. You know, you

wait the entire show to hear about maybe Darren Waller on your team, and I totally skipped over that situation as Waller may not play this week. If he does play, do you start him against the Houston Texans, who gave up 61 yards and a touchdown to Gerald Everett, gave up 69 yards to Evan Ingram?

Do you start Darren Waller? And if not, Foster Moreau, who I added in a 14-team league, any interest there? Jamie, give me your thoughts on the Raiders' tight ends real quick. I think you're obviously going to start Waller if he practices on Friday and clears the hamstring injury to some degree, but it sounds like he's going to be out. We've already zeroed him out from our projections. I believe he told Jim Trotter that he's not going to play.

So it does not sound very good for Darren Waller's prospects for this week. You also got to keep an eye on Hunter Renfro, too, who showed up on the injury report on Thursday. So Derek Carr doesn't necessarily look like the same safe start that he might have been having his guys back healthy in a good matchup. Foster Moreau is a desperation tight end. There's so many guys, though, like this. I said this about Johnson going into the game last night. You have Daniel Bellinger and Hayden Hurst and Hunter Henry.

And, you know, there's just a slew of guys, Kate Otten, that, you know, have a chance to be fantasy relevant. So you could put Foster Moreau in that category for sure, especially given the potential injuries for the Raiders. But I don't know how many people are starting him with any semblance of confidence. I picked him up in our 20-something league, 26th league team, which is tight end premium, so I'll start him in that league. But otherwise, not much interest in a 12-team league. Okay.

Promo time here. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, give you the news and notes that you need to know and get into the games. I know it's been a long-winded start, but obviously we don't get Christian McCaffrey getting traded every day.

So we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Welcome back, everybody. Tom Brady dismissed rumors that he might retire mid-season. Said retirement is not in his future. Dak Prescott is going to start. Mac Jones could play this week. Russell Wilson and Brett Rippin are splitting reps for the Denver Broncos. This is why you've got to listen to our 8 a.m. update on Fantasy Football Today in 5,

which is also in the FFT feed on Sunday morning. Kenny Pickett's going to start if he clears the concussion protocol, and it kind of looks like Kenny Pickett's going to start this week, but we will see. All right, let's talk about the Ravens' backfield, Dave. Gus Edwards might play this week, but we will see. All right, let's talk about the Ravens' backfield, Dave. Gus Edwards might play this week. Justice Hill practiced in full. J.K. Dobbins again missed practice. They've got one of the better matchups.

The Browns have a terrible run defense. What are you thinking right now about the Ravens' backfield? I'd like it to be just Kenyon Drake because this is a great matchup. The Browns have been terrible against the run this year, but it looks like it's going to be a multi-headed attack with Lamar Jackson taking some work away. You're looking at a bunch of flexes.

Who's your highest-ranked Ravens running back? If Dobbins plays, who's your highest-ranked Ravens running back? I think it'll be Dobbins. Okay. Jonathan Taylor and Naeem Hines look like they're going to be good to go. DeAndre Swift was limited. That's, I think, the first game we're talking about, so we'll lay it out, the scenarios for Swift and Jamal Williams. Damian Harris practiced in full. We're also going to talk about this one here. Are you guys ranking Damian Harris yet? Yes. When's the last time the

Patriots listed a player practicing in full? It's almost always limited participation. So I found that to be interesting. Okay. And I'm assuming Stevenson ahead of him? Oh, yeah. Well, you say, oh, yeah, but I think they played four games together, healthy games, and Harris outscored him in three of them. Yeah, I just wonder if they

ease Harrison a little bit. They have to love what they've seen from Stevenson. They're both number two running backs this week. Elijah Moore requested a trade. Jamie, what do you make of this? It's always funny when a team is winning and a player requests a trade.

Clearly, he's unhappy. I saw some people mention this on Twitter. He sees a guy in his locker room who is the path he does not want to follow. A second-round pick for Denzel Mims that got phased out in his second season. And the same thing is kind of happening to Elijah Moore. Now, nobody would say that they're the same talent level after what you saw from both of them in their careers.

If I'm the Jets, I'm exploring this because if you can get something great in return for Elijah Moore, clearly the formula for success for them is to run the ball. They have two pretty good receivers they could lean on without him. And so if you could turn him into a high draft pick or maybe another player that helps your team, send him to Green Bay and let's make two teams better. Okay, CeeDee Lamb practiced in full. DJ Chark mispracticed and Josh Reynolds mispracticed.

So we'll keep an eye on that. They could be pretty shorthanded at receiver at Dallas. Hunter Renfro, as Jamie mentioned, has a hip injury. He mispracticed. Jamar Chase was limited, but T. Higgins was able to practice in full. Jalen Waddell was limited. Michael Daniel said he's optimistic about Waddell this week. Jahan Dotson left after re-aggravating his hamstring injury,

so that's not good. I saw that, and I dropped Jahan Dotson. It's basically exactly what happened to Keenan Allen last week. And Keenan Allen... We'll go back to Waddle for a second. We ran into the situation with T. Higgins on a Sunday night game. Just make sure everything is covered for your fantasy team

in case we get a... He's not ready to go Sunday night. I wish we had gotten that with T. Higgins. Right, I wish we had gotten that with T Higgins. Right. We didn't get that with T Higgins. That's what I'm saying. You know, learn, learn from that mistake that, or Dalton Schultz, you know, same thing, you know, that you get stuck. Just make sure you pay attention.

If there's, you know, Chase Claypool might want to roster him just in case, you know, he's available in some leagues, you know, some people dropping George Pickens, you know, that type of thing. I don't think there's any dolphins receiver that you want to pivot to, but if you have the opportunity to cover yourself, cover yourself. What about Tyquan Thornton with the Patriots on Monday night? That's a great call. Yep.

And shallow league star Namuni. Have a plan B. Okay, Keenan Allen limited. Josh Palmer still on the concussion protocol. Rashad Bateman limited. Baltimore said they want to get Devin Duvernay more involved. Tyler Lockett out again with a hamstring injury. We've got to take this one seriously here.

If Tyler Lockett doesn't play, does Geno Smith fall out of your top 12? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's already 13th for me, and I've thought about moving him back up, but I'm not sure. And I'm especially worried if Lockett isn't at 100% anyway. And Julio Jones was limited. Mark Andrews, we expect him to play

i hope so yeah i i don't like how on wednesday it's oh it's just a rest day and then on thursday it's a knee right like what's going on um hopefully he's hopefully practices friday and there's nothing to sweat dalton schultz practiced in full darren waller we already talked about him doesn't seem likely to play about him. Doesn't seem likely to play. Pat Frymuth does seem likely to play. That's about it. On the offensive line, great news for the 49ers. Trent Williams and Mike McGlinchey,

both of their starting tackles, could play this week against the Chiefs. They're making good progress. Teron Armstead was limited for the Dolphins. Wait, we got who behind us now? Let them go. Baltimore right tackle Morgan Moses was limited for the Dolphins. Wait, we got who behind us now? Let's let them go. Baltimore right tackle Morgan Moses was limited. He got in a limited practice, so hopefully he gets back out there.

And Carolina could be without its starting center against Tampa Bay. Wait, wait, we lost who behind us now? I'm not playing. Looks like the Panthers might be getting a little bit healthier in the secondary. J.C. Horn was limited, and I think C.J. Henderson. I don't know if he was limited or he missed practice. I thought he might have been limited. But bad news for the Chiefs.

Rashad Fenton remained out. He may not play this week. All right. One question for each game. Here we go. Detroit at Dallas. We love the running backs, but what about the number two wide receivers? Michael Gallup and whoever the number two wide receiver

is going to be for Detroit? Jamie, are you starting anyone other than CeeDee Lamb and Amonra St. Brown as wide receivers in this game? If Josh Reynolds gets through practice on Friday, I will start him as a high-end number three receiver, low-end number two option, because we've seen his targets be consistent, whether it's been Amonra St. Brown in or out. Better without Amar on St. Brown there,

but he's been a go-to guy for Jared Goff in the last four games prior to the bye week. If he is out, then I will not trust anybody. And I'll go back to TJ Hawkinson, who I am, you know, not necessarily in love with this week because the Cowboys have been good against tight ends. And so as we saw with Hawkinson, whenever there's at least one less mouth to feed, it's almost like Mike Gusecki. He steps up and plays much better. For the Cowboys, I will use Michael Gallup as a number three receiver.

I'm hopeful that this is the reunion that we've been waiting for from Michael Gallup. Dak Prescott coming back can unlock his potential. Kansas City at San Francisco, Dave, would you start Brandon Ayuk over any or all running backs in this game? And I don't remember.

No, no. I think I wrote that after the McCaffrey trade. So, yeah. Do you think Brandon Ayuk is a better option than any running back in this game?

I'd still start McCaffrey over Ayuk. But I'd start Ayuk over Clyde Edwards-Hilaire. If McCaffrey does not play, would you start Jeff Wilson or Ayuk? If McCaffrey doesn't play, I think I'd probably still want Ayuk in PPR.

Non-PPR, maybe you make the case for Wilson, but it's not as sexy. Ayuk's pretty sexy. You just think about the 49ers chasing points in this game in a high-scoring game, should be a high-scoring game. He's been involved in the past two games with garoppolo you have to you have to buy into what you're seeing from iuk to a degree especially this week once mcafree starts getting in the

swing of things that's when you get really nervous about iuk all right green bay at washington are aaron jones or terry mclaurin must start options jamie. Aaron Jones is a must start option. You know, I think with Aaron Rogers saying simplify the offense, that has to mean involving him to whatever degree passing game, running game, just got to get him going. He's,

you know, clearly, as we said in the preseason, I still think that applies their best skill player. They just haven't used him enough or properly through the last, you know, three weeks of the season. McLaurin is a borderline must-start guy.

Certainly a starter in a three-receiver league. I hope Taylor Heineke back is what he needs. Not necessarily that he was great with Heineke last year, but he's been struggling with Carson Wentz. And something at play that matters here is I think the third receiver may not be there for them. Dodson tweaked his hamstring in practice. Dami Brown's still not going.

And so maybe some more targets being funneled in his direction along with Curtis Samuel will help him in a game where they might be chasing points also. Giants at Jaguars. Dave, which Jacksonville running back do you prefer? Travis Etienne. Easy. He's been getting, he's been much more efficient over the past couple of weeks. He's been getting, he's been much more efficient over the past couple of weeks. He's been

getting at least 12 touches per game. He's scored at least 12 PPR points in each of the past two games. And the Giants haven't been great defending running backs through the air. They haven't been great defending running backs on the ground either, too. Yeah, they give up the second fewest receiving yards to running

backs. They have been terrible against the run, though. I mean, they've given up like 300-yard games already, six 70-yard games. They haven't faced tough competition here. I've got them with a league-worst 11.07 yards per catch to running backs, third-worst 9.6 yards after catch per reception. Okay, well, that could very well be. They just haven't been thrown on a lot.

You know, two running backs. Sure, and ETN, let's face it, he hasn't had a ton of targets either, but he's good for three catches a game. This would be the week that they could unleash him and get some good numbers out of him. And I think they see what we see with James Robinson, which is, you know, solid running back.

Potentially, you know, not potentially, is good in short yardage goal line situations. Robinson's going to have to score in order to make you happy in fantasy. I think ETN can have more big plays. By the way, here are the, if you filter all running backs with 20 or more carries, here are the three with the highest percentage of carries for zero or negative yards.

This is a bad stat. Number one is Cam Akers. Number two is James Robinson. Number three is Travis Etienne. I was surprised. I knew about Robinson. I didn't know about Etienne. Chicago at New England.

Jamie, rank the running backs. Stevenson, Harris, Montgomery, Herbert. Man, you know what Herbert and Montgomery feels like? It feels like Pollard and Zeke. Just everybody, I think, wants Herbert. The back of the gutter? Yeah. Yeah, they want more Herbert.

And all of the metrics favor Herbert. Yeah. All right, Tampa Bay at Carolina. This is going to be a bad game for Montgomery. Yeah, I'm thinking that might be the case. Tampa Bay at Carolina. Who is the best Panthers option, including in a Superflex league? PPR Superflex, who is the best Panther?

Eddie Pinheiro. Maybe. I'll still say DJ Moore, but I'm not starting any Panthers, including Pinheiro. By the way, congratulations if you have the Bucks DST this week. Oh, man. And congratulations to, I think Bryce Young is already looking at real estate in Charlotte.

Maybe he's not. Kansas City at San Francisco is our first game. Let's get to it. Your stat of the game. The Chiefs allowed the second most fantasy points to quarterbacks. Now, they have faced, look at the competition here. Kyler, Herbert, Matt Ryan only scored 18 points. Tom Brady, Derek Carr, Josh Allen.

It hasn't been easy. But I think the bigger stat is that they've seen the most pass attempts in the NFL. And maybe that kind of informs your rankings on everybody, Garoppolo, Debo, McCaffrey, whoever, Kittle, Ayuk, et cetera. So, Jamie, do you think the 49ers, coming off a 14-point loss with a banged-up defense, do you think they're chasing points? Do you think they're throwing 40 times, which is unusual,

but it happened last week? And then how does that affect the Niners' passing game? They definitely do not want to throw the ball 40 times, which is unusual, but it happened last week. And then how does that affect the Niners passing game? They definitely do not want to throw the ball 40 times. And so, you know, Dave mentioned this earlier, you know, so if you want to buy into what the narrative should be or could be, I shouldn't say should be, what the narrative could be is Chiefs playing with a lead, 49ers chasing points. Garoppolo probably has to throw 35-plus times again. If that happens, McCaffrey or not, then he's in play

because as we've seen, quarterbacks have success against the team. They give up an average of 26 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. So Garoppolo, back-to-back weeks of 20-plus point games. So does he have the ability to get you the third touchdown? That's going to be the question if he's, you know, more of a top eight quarterback as opposed to 10 to 12. I think he's probably in the neighborhood of 250 and two,

because I think that's just kind of where he lives on a good day. So I don't want to get overly excited about Garoppolo, but if McCaffrey does play and now you have all these guys to throw at this Chiefs offense, we may be looking at a very high scoring affair. I don't think with the injuries in San Francisco's defense that we're going to see them slow down the Chiefs and slow down the homes. So, you know, the hope would be is that for fantasy purposes, the homes Chiefs play it, go in, build a lead early 49ers, chasing points,

McCaffrey's on the field and passing out situations and you're getting great numbers from Debo, from Kittle, from IU, like we saw last week against the Falcons. Whoa, Dave, I got lost in my notes. What game are we on here? Chiefs-Niners? That's the game! How do you fall

for that every time? By default, all the games this week kind of suck, but this one this week kind of suck. But this one is the game of the week. All right. Yeah. I had trouble picking game of the week.

But we'll go with Kansas City, San Francisco. And I hope McCaffrey plays. Okay. Dave's like the wrestler opposite the rock every time. No, I mean, come on. Did you know that was coming? Yes. You did?

Good for you. I thought it was a good setup. Now I don't even know what you're talking about. I got distracted. All right, Clyde Edwards-Ziller or Jeff Wilson if McCaffrey doesn't play.

This game is really hard to freaking preview now with this McCaffrey thing. Talk to me about the running backs, Dave. Well, McCaffrey, you're going to start, even though you know he's going to be potentially limited. Clyde Edwards-Hilaire is a touchdown or bust running back.

Jeff Wilson, you'll be lucky to get five or six fantasy points out of. Clyde? Yeah, he's a touchdown or bust running back. The Niners run defense at least held up last week. They gave up 3.5 yards per carry to the Falcons, which is really good. So they weren't too affected there. They're just affected on the back end.

How about Juju? Juju, MVS, obviously we're starting Kelsey, we're starting Mahomes. How much do you like Juju and MVS, Dave? Juju's a flex for me. MVS, I don't feel good about after last week. He had his opportunities, had a couple of chances to score.

Couldn't hang onto the football. Juju did. He had a bunch of big plays. You got to buy into Juju five catches minimum. Juju or Iuke. I like Iuke better. Iuke. What if McCaffrey plays? Does that change anything?

Nope. Nope. Juju or Darnell Mooney? Juju. Juju. Juju or Clyde Edwards-Elair? Juju. Juju, even in non-PPR.

Jimmy Garoppolo. Top 12 quarterback. Derek Carr. Garoppolo. Garoppolo. Garoppolo or Tua? I have Garoppolo higher. You know, I only...

I called this the game of the week, so I hope it's close, but I only found three games in Garoppolo's career with the Niners that they lost by 10 or more points that he didn't leave early with an injury. He threw over 40 times in two of those three games. You know, they don't want to do that,

but hopefully they have to throw a lot in this game. I mean, look, even if they're playing with a lead, if they can't run, which is the strength of the Chiefs defense right now, they're going to have to throw still. So what do you think about Jeff Wilson, by the way? I know Dave just answered that, but where are you ranking Jeff Wilson? Is he still someone we can start?

I would not touch him if McCaffrey plays. Now, he could still find the end zone, but you have a couple things at play here. First off, he fumbled last week, so even before the McCaffrey trade, was he still going to be the feature guy? I would lean toward yes, but you just a couple of things that play here. First off, he fumbled last week. So even before the McCaffrey trade, was he still going to be the feature guy? I would lean toward yes, but you just never know. Tevin Coleman is still going to play if he's active, I would guess.

So even if they're limiting McCaffrey, it's still going to be probably a rotation between the other two. Then you have the Debo factor. Jeff Wilson's not a factor in the passing game. So we find out Sunday McCaffrey's active. No chance you're playing Wilson. Well, McCaffrey's inactive.

Then Wilson's still borderline number two right now. The Chiefs have allowed 20 receiving yards or a receiving touchdown to 11 running backs in six games. Pretty wild.

All right. I think we're pretty much covered here. How do you feel about George Kittle? Are there any streamers or players you may have picked up? No, top three tight end. Why so confident? I think, again, plain narrative of them throwing a lot and Chiefs secondary not being great.

Okay. Sit the DSTs. It's also National Tight End Day. Today or Sunday? Today. Or maybe yesterday was. Okay, happy Tight End Day, everybody. Sit the DSTs.

Thanks for noticing. Basically, every time I say tight end, I kind of chuckle like a little idiot teenager inside. Detroit at Dallas. Let's talk about the tight ends. Updated stat of the game. Detroit has now allowed 94 rushing guards or a rushing touchdown to a running back

in 18 of 22 games since the start of the 2021 season. All right, so Jamie, I just asked you earlier to rank the running backs in the Bears-Patriots game. You put the two Patriots guys first. Now rank the Patriots running backs and the Cowboys running backs. The Patriots and the Cowboys? Yes.

The two shared backfields with good matchups. Yes. Zeke one, Stevenson two, Pollard three, Harris four. All four start worthy.

Okay. Would you start Tony Pollard over Clyde Ebertsy-Lair and Jeff Wilson if McCaffrey plays? I was doing that without McCaffrey playing, so yes. Wow. Okay. Dave, do you feel as bullish on Zeke and Pollard? Zeke, yes. Pollard is like, he's like at the top of my flex list among running backs because he's getting between eight and 13 touches per game. He gets a bunch of big plays.

Well, he's got the potential to have a bunch of big plays. It's a, it's a great matchup in that he's, I believe he is the league leader among qualifying running backs in yards after contact per carry. And the lines give up the most yards after contact for carry. So I'd like to bank on that guy breaking a tackle and finding 10, 20, 50 yards in a touchdown. Can I detour us a little bit here? I feel like I'm in the minority. I think if you don't need Ezekiel Elliott,

you should trade him now, before this game. Everybody disagrees with me, I think. What do you guys think? If you can. Are you trading him without using him in what might be his best game of the season? Yes, because first of all, you could get, well, no, you can get more for him now, because

look, it's okay if you give him up for and somebody has a good game. Why would you get more for him now if he has this monster game? Because everybody knows this is such a great matchup. They want him for the Detroit game. And here's the bigger thing. If Zeke does not do well in this game, you will never get the value you want for Ezekiel Elliott.

Like James Robinson. Remember, James Robinson is the most obvious sell-high candidate in retrospect. But it was like, well, why don't we wait until after the Houston game? And he stunk. If Zeke does not come through in this game, if Pollard is better than him, then you're in trouble, and you'll never get what you want from Ezekiel Elliott. If you intend to sell high on him at some point, you can do it now and just make sure you get somebody really good that you can use.

Yeah, I guess it's not a horrible scenario, but you still might be able to get great value in return from him and use him this week and next week you qualified it as saying you don't need zeke so zeke is on our bench right so you have ken walker damian pierce recall that's exactly you got one of the rookie running backs and and a stud running back yeah i think it makes sense. But how do you feel about the Dolphins run defense, Packers run defense, Bears run defense, Giants run defense? Yeah, mostly bad.

He's got some good matchups coming up after. I would almost flip the argument and say if you are desperate for a running back and you need to make a trade, I would try and trade for Zeke to get you through the next three or four weeks. Yeah, okay, that's a flip side of that too. I could see a scenario where you could get a lot for Zeke and it could work out for you either way. You get him and he's good, or you trade him away and you get a great wide receiver. I think we should also point out

that the offensive line's playing better than we thought it would, and certainly better than it was at the beginning of the season, and Dak's coming back. Those are two factors that are going to help Ezekiel Elliott. Yeah. Well, Dak is coming back, so let's talk about him. We haven't really done that.

He only played one game this year, and he stunk. This is a much, much better matchup. He was pressured like crazy. Yeah, and you've got him, guys. You have him in your top seven. So is there any – is that Dak? Or, you know, you're starting him over Tua. You're starting him over Matt Ryan?

Yep. You're basically starting him. Dak or Tom Brady? Brady. I think I have Brady one spot ahead, but I wouldn't fault you if you went with Dak instead because of the matchup. Do you like Michael Gallup or Tony Pollard?

They're both flexes, and I think that Pollard's got the highest upside, so I'll say Pollard. Who did you say? I'm sorry, Pollard. Gallup. Oh, Pollard by a lot. All right, Detroit has allowed 17.9 or more PPR fantasy points to seven wide receivers in five games,

so it's a great matchup for wide receivers. We just haven't really seen much from, from Gallup yet. We haven't seen a ton of snaps yet. And what does he have? 76 yards in three games. Uh, we'll finish with Dallas here. What are we doing with Dalton Schultz?

Practiced in full and you know, he's, he's only 68% rostered. There is a possibility that, right, that he's one of the more under rostered players. Where do you have him ranked, Jamie?

Uh, right around 12. Right in that great old Kyle Pitts range. I think the fact that he's healthy with Dak back and a great matchup, you can hopefully buy into it. But it would not surprise me if he has another stinker just because he's not 100%. So you just have to sort of gauge it. I have him.

I picked him up just because I had an open roster spot in a league where I've darren waller and so i'm going to heavily debate when one of the streamers versus schultz depending on what we see uh from the the reports you know from the cowboys beat writers how he looks but i you know instead of burning a roster spot for a guy that might have the upside of a top five tight end like we thought going into the season when he has his quarterback i'm probably not going to you know carry a third tight end so i'll just take my chances what schultz can hopefully do this week you know the difference is it's a one o'clock game and you know you want to

you want to give a tease um we have uh the cbs crew our top cbs crew is at this game on sunday so tom spencer who's in the booth with jim nance and tony romo um will be on our show on fantasy football today on Sunday morning. And just to give you an example of inside information that we get, he indicated that Zach Moss would be a healthy scratch and that they want to get Dawson Knox going a little bit more. And what happened? Dawson Knox scored a touchdown in that game.

You know, just the Bills-Chiefs game this past weekend. So he told us, I think, a couple weeks ago, Gabe Davis was going to go off the Steelers game. He said, look for Gabe Davis to be a big part of the offense. He was. He told us about Khalil Shakir. He was. So these guys are in the meetings with the coaching staff.

So that's certainly one of the questions I'm going to ask him. Is Dalton Schultz good to go? And he may not say it directly, but I know how to read Tom, and then we analyze it afterwards. So you want to get some insight on Dalton Schultz, on the Lions running back situation. If we get a questionable tag on Josh Reynolds, there's a lot of moving parts with this game. You want to be watching CBS Sports HQ Sunday morning. And I try to tweet out the link to HQ when Tom's about to come on.

And whenever Tom says anything really interesting, I'll tweet that out as well. So it's usually pretty funny because Dave's not always in the studio with me when I'm talking to Tom. And generally what happens is I text Dave and Heath if there's something like big in regard, and I texted Adam as well, you know, the Zach Moss stuff, you know, so I try to let everybody know what Tom says. Dave doesn't bring his phone with him. So he walks into the room. I go, did you guys get my text and he goes oh yeah and Dave goes no no what happened no no no I hear what's on the show

we hear the show when the controller when he tells me stuff alright so Jared Goff I'm guessing is a sit yes Amonra St. Brown I'm guessing is a start yes please TJ Hawkinson is TJ Hawkinson or Dalton Schultz?

Right now, I would go Schultz. If Josh Reynolds is out, I might reconsider that just because one must mouth the feed. The Cowboys haven't allowed a touchdown to a tight end this year, and we've only seen Hawkinson play great when Amara St. Brown was not there. So, you know, is this a

opportunity with no Chark, with no Reynolds if he's out, and maybe no Swifts? Then I like that for Hawkinson a little bit more. But not enough to say, oh my God, you've got to start TJ Hawkinson because I think this Cowboys defense is pretty good against that. But I'm not sure if we're getting the same Dalton Schultz just because Dak Prescott's back. Right, but Hawkinson's been so bad in four or five games.

They could both be really bad. They could both be six PPR fantasy points. Remember last year when the receiving core was healthy in Dallas, Schultz was an afterthought. And that was with Dak. And the receiving core is as healthy as it's going to get right now. Oh, would you say that? He was an afterthought?

You can look at what his target share was when lamb and cooper and gallop were healthy they had amari cooper they had amari cooper that year i don't think they like gallop and they think that gallop is their big play guy yeah i'm not as i mean all right look i think it's fair to wait and see with dalton schultz but uh you gotta roster him come Come on, 68% roster. Oh, I agree with rostering him, and I could certainly say that Hawkinson doesn't have enough upside to warrant him being an obvious start over Dalton Schultz.

You're basically taking a risk either way. I'm just taking the risk with a player who I haven't seen take like a straight-up donut this year. Okay, so how about DeAndre Swift and Jamal Williams? Jamie, what do you think about the running backs

for the Lions, the Cowboys? They're giving up the six fewest points to running backs, fifth fewest receiving yards to running backs, but they're not great per carry. They just have a really good defense. Anyway, what do you think

about Swift and Jamal? Swift is out. Jamal Williams remains a must-start running back. Not necessarily a top five or top ten guy like he was in some of the previous matchups without Swift, but remains a must-start running back. Not necessarily a top five or top ten guy like he was in some of the previous matchups without Swift, but certainly a must-start running back in the top 15-ish range. And honestly, might be the best running back in this game, which says a lot because I do like Ezekiel Elliott.

I still would rank Elliott higher, but it wouldn't surprise me if Jamal is better. If Swift plays, Swift is a number two running back in that same range, just with the hope of his big play ability showing up. And Williams is a flex play because I don't think they're going to give Swift the majority of the work. They weren't doing that when he was 100% healthy. And so Williams, I think, still has the touchdown potential and still has the potential to be a factor as the game evolves. If they're chasing points, he'll be on the field a lot. If it's a competitive game, he'll have the touchdown opportunities. So I wouldn't run away from Jamal Williams, but he's not a must-start guy by any stretch if DeAndre Swift plays.

All right. Start the Cowboys DST. You like him? Yes. All right. Green Bay is at Washington. I had trouble with the stat of the game for this one, but let's just take a look at Terry McLaurin. He does not have a green zone target in 2022, and he had four of them last year, despite leading the team with 130 targets and no other player on Washington having more than 62 targets. The guy just does not get targeted inside the 10-yard line, which is very frustrating. But for Green Bay and Washington, Dave, who are the must-start guys in this game? I think Aaron Jones is a must-start.

I would couch him as a number two running back, but toward the top of that number two range, I think he gets going. Aaron Rodgers is asking for it. They'd be silly not to get him going.

He's been more efficient than A.J. Dillon. I think Alan Lazard, with the way he's scoring touchdowns, he's a must-start. Flip me over to Washington. Yeah, I think we're done here.

Those two guys. I want Terry McLaurin to be a must start. Why isn't he? I want stuffed pizza to be 200 calories. When you look at the bus at receiver, non-injury related, it feels like there's four pretty good ones to label as bus. DJ Moore, Robinson, McCorn and Cooks. Am I missing somebody there?

Bateman. Oh, injury. They won't grab that high, though. Deontay? Yeah, I guess Deontay. Deontay's going to bust. Cortland Sutton is now, after last week, a bust. He wasn't before that.

Is Judy a bust? I'm thinking like in the first three and a half rounds, four rounds. Yeah, so McLaurin... Michael Thomas, did he get that high in ADP? No, non-injury, non-injury, non-injury. Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. McLaurin, I feel like, hasn't really been as bad as it seems. He's been 12.2 to 16.2 fantasy points in four of six games.

And then last week, they just barely threw. What did they throw, 22 passes or something like that? In a rare win where they gave up seven points. So that's why I have more confidence in him. Because Dotson's out, and they've got nothing from their tight ends, so I feel like he has to be a big part of the game. Unfortunately, it's really not an easy matchup.

Packers, pretty good against the pass, but they haven't really faced a lot of good wide receivers. He averaged right just above 12 PPR points per game last year with Taylor Heineke. I think if that's the expectation, you're going to be okay. And that's a number three receiver. So would you start Michael Gallup

or Terry McLaurin? McLaurin. I think I have McLaurin higher. And I shouldn't just overlook Curtis Samuel here. How do you guys feel about Curtis Samuel? People would probably feel differently about him if he caught a 40-yard touchdown last week, but he dropped it.

Is he behind McLaurin? Is he a number four receiver this week? What's the deal with Samuel? What's the deal? Number four receiver and non-PPR and half PPR. Number three receiver and PPR. I'm not even that optimistic. You're looking at the target share.

There's nobody else there. Would you start A.J. Dillon or a Washington wide receiver? Definitely McLaurin. Full PPR. Maybe Samuel over him. Definitely McLaurin and Samuel in PPR. I would go Dillon over maybe both in non-PPR. I can't do it.

Would you start Aaron Jones or Ezekiel Elliott? I have Jones higher. Ezekiel. And Laz have Jones higher. Zeke. And Lazard is just not even worth asking. You're starting now on Lazard, right? Yes, and Tunyon. I think Tunyon's worth starting. Oh, Tunyon, yes. He's a streamable tight end for sure.

Does it bother you that Washington's been pretty good against tight ends? Let me get the numbers here. You get the numbers. I'll tell you that last week rogers was leaning on tunyon especially after randall cobb went out you're hoping that happens again when he says simplify that to me says i'm going to guys i trust okay so are you starting tunyon over the cowboys lions game tight ends yes yeah all right evan ing. Evan Ingram or Tanyan? Tanyan.

I don't have the stomach for Ingram. Washington. I got a stomach, but not for Ingram. Washington, third fewest fantasy points to tight ends. Evan Ingram had

28 yards. TJ Hawkinson in 26 yards. Dallas Goddard had 26 yards and a touchdown, but he did leave early with an injury.

Dalton Schultz did not catch a pass against Washington, so maybe it's a mirage, but so far it's been a pass against Washington. So it's maybe it's, maybe it's a mirage, but so far it's been a strength for them. How about Aaron Rogers? The Jets were good against that inspired the last week too.

They were without, no, I don't think so. They were good for like three weeks and then they started struggling. It was simply, you know, it was simply Rogers leaning on Tanya. It had nothing to do.

It's not like, you know, throw to Robert onion 10 plus times. Okay. All right. So Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers or Derek Carr? Jets against tight ends, just to let you know.

Great against Mark Andrews week one. Yeah. Struggle with fire moves. Everybody else, they dominated. Who is everyone else? Hayden Hurst? Najoku? Yeah. What was that,? Hayden Hurst? Njoku? Oh, yeah.

What was that? Week two? Yep. Right. So they were good like the first two or three weeks and then Fryermuth had a big game and Tanyan had a big game.

I mean, they haven't allowed a touchdown to Tanyan. I know, but I mean, Robert Tanyan, that was his first game with more than 37 yards. Yeah, no,

I'm not saying it's, oh my gosh, he's a layup, but in the pantheon of tight ends, 12 targets from Aaron Rodgers and knowing what this receiving core looks like, I'll take my chances with it. All right, Aaron Rodgers or Derek Carr? Carr.

Carr for now, but if there is no Renfro and Waller, then I might go back to Rodgers. Trevor Lawrence or Aaron Rodgers? I have Rodgers higher. Rodgers. Gino Smith, Matt Ryan, to Rodgers. Trevor Lawrence or Aaron Rodgers? I have Rodgers higher. Rodgers. Geno Smith, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers. For now, both those guys are Rodgers.

I also have both guys over Rodgers. I don't see a scenario where Rodgers goes over Ryan. If Geno doesn't have Lockett, I think I'd go Rodgers. Okay. But guys like Goff, Mariota, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields are all behind Aaron Rodgers. We know he's

going to throw for 250-ish yards, just as he's going to have one touchdown or two touchdowns. And Brian Robinson, Jamie

said he kind of liked Brian Robinson on yesterday's show. Heath said to avoid Brian Robinson. He does not

have a catch in two games. He had 17 carries, 60 yards, and a touchdown. Packers are awful against the

run. 5.29 yards per carry allowed to running backs. Dave, how do you feel about Brian Robinson? Close to a low-end number two running back. He needs to score in order to be helpful. I don't think he's got 100 total yards in him, especially because he doesn't catch the ball. Really nervous about the Packers almost going all in on the run

with Heineke under center. I know it sounds silly, but I'm worried about Robinson. really nervous about the Packers almost going all in on the run with Heineke under center. I know it sounds silly, but I I'm worried about Robinson. If he does, he needs, he has mentioned this a number of times. If there isn't a muff punt by the bears,

Robinson doesn't even get the opportunity to score. And who knows if he gets the opportunity to close out the game for the commanders. So I think we got lucky with Robinson last week. I do buy into his carries. out the game for the commanders. So I think we got lucky with Robinson last week. I do buy into his carries. I do think he can get somewhere between 12 and 15 carries in this game. And so that's enough to make them close to a low end number two running back, probably a number two running back in non PPR.

Brian Robinson or a Ravens running back. If there's no Dobbins, I might go Drake. Okay. Just such a good matchup. All right, let's move on. Packers DST is top nine. We're going to take one more break. When we come back, we have three more games.

Chicago at New England, Giants, Jaguars, and probably don't even need us to preview Tampa Bay, Carolina, but we'll do it anyway because we love you. We'll be right back with Monday Night Football on Fantasy Football today. Yes, Chicago at New England. I have a sneaky feeling that this is actually going to be a good, fun game. I don't know why, but I do. I'm feeling it. Good, nice competitive Monday night game, Chicago at New England. Really? Yeah. You know, Chicago's defense has actually been better than people probably realize. I don't know if it's really that good, but it's been good. And New England's offense, and these two teams actually throw down field. They're among the leaders in air yards per pass

attempt. And the Patriots give up a lot of big pass plays. That one shocked me. They give up more big pass plays than almost any other team, and that might be good for Darnell Mooney. It might be good for Justin Fields. Do you know who they've given up the big plays against? Basically, everyone. Even in the last two games, where they have given up a combined

I think 15 points to the Lions and Browns, they have given up a lot of big pass plays. Nine, nine. Okay. In the past two weeks, the Patriots have allowed nine pass plays of 20 plus yards, which is I think second or second most in the NFL in that span.

In a game where they faced the Lions without, basically without St. Brown and the Browns. And they gave up 15 points in those two games. So yeah, game where they faced the Lions, basically without St. Brown, and the Browns, and they gave up 15 points in those two games. So, yeah, that's just a problem for them. They've given up a lot of big plays. Is Jonathan Jones healthy?

I don't know. I don't know that they have that good of a secondary anymore. We're so used to it with the Patriots. I truly don't know. I don't know what to make of their defense. The best part of their defense is definitely their run defense. Anyway, here's a potentially

meaningless stat of the game. Justin Fields leads the NFL in yards per completion. He is followed by Tua, Mariota, Josh Allen, and Russell Wilson. So when you look at the top three, a lot of them have not thrown a lot of passes. Jamie, what do you think about the Bears? Are there any Bears that you are starting in this game? Not if I can avoid it. I mean,

Montgomery is the closest, but again, Dave said this, this run defense is fantastic. They've yet to allow a touchdown to running back. They just held Nick Chubb to 70 total yards, uh, shut down Kareem hunt. Um, and that's a running team that is better than the bears running team. So I think Montgomery is a flex at best. Maybe he's the first running back to score against his defense, but I doubt it. Maybe he has a lot of plays in the passing game, but I'm not banking on that because that's not the strength of his game.

So the receiving core, no. Mooney, I think, is that best number three receiver. It's nice that he scored 13 PPR points in two of his last three. Saw a spike in targets last week. Saw a spike in attempts for Justin Fields. So maybe they're building towards something. So it's worth picking up Mooney for sure, as we talked about on Tuesday. But to start, no, I'm not buying into them as starting options.

Does it matter to you at all that, yes, the Patriots have not allowed a touchdown, but they're giving up four and a half yards per carry to running backs? That's not good. Yeah, but Montgomery isn't good. At least he's not good. He's not as efficient as Herbert. And there's definitely a chance the coaches have talked about it, that there it's almost like Matt Eberfluss put the running backs on notice

that whoever's playing better from game to game is going to get more work as the game unfolds. The one caveat that I would say to that is what happens if the bears are trailing because khalil herbert isn't as good of a pass catcher or at least he hasn't been as david montgomery has and i think the patriots aren't that great defending running backs out of the backfield they've allowed a lot of yards per catch they've they've missed as many tackles on 32 targets to the running back position as they have on 124 carries to running backs, if that makes sense. Yeah, that's wild.

So that's like the one area that I think David Montgomery does have some semblance of an edge on. They haven't allowed a running back, though, to catch more than three passes since week two. How many of those teams actually threw to their running backs? Has there been a running back that's had eight targets or six targets? Let's call it six targets. They played the line, which typically involved their running backs in the passing game.

It was Jamal Williams, not DeAndre Swift. He had no targets. And the yards per carry, to me, is a little bit inflated just looking at it. You had Justice on that game average 10 yards per carry, 6 for 60, against Baltimore. You had Aaron Jones go 16 for 110 against the Patriots in an overtime game. It feels like that's a little bit of a fluke based on how his season has gone. So I don't know if the yards per carry is something I'm going to buy into,

and I'm certainly not going to buy into them being bad against pass-catching running backs based on what I'm looking at here. Well, you know what? It doesn't really matter because this is split backfield. Potentially you can't. I mean, I have such a miserable situation facing Jamie. I have David Montgomery, JK

Dobbins, Chuba Hubbard and James Robinson, and I might have to start two of them because my number one running back is Christian McCaffrey. So these are the what's that? Yeah. Yeah. So these are the decisions I have to make with David Montgomery. You won't start McCaffrey, obviously.

I'll probably start James Robinson. You get a word that he's not going to play. I think I'm going to start James Robinson over David Montgomery. But it's ugly. All right. You don't want to start Darnell Mooney. And he's 59% rostered, though.

He's flexy based on the stat. He should be a starter in a three-year-old PBR league. Okay. Not in PBR, no, but PBR, yes. Sit Komet. I'm assuming you're going to sit Patriots quarterback, and then now where are we going to rank Ramondre Stevenson with Damian Harris coming back?

Is he below or ahead of Zeke? Below. I think I already asked you that earlier. Okay, he's below Zeke. He's ahead of Pollard. The only way that changes is if Harris he's below Zeke. He's ahead of Pollard. Would you start... The only way that changes is if Harris is inactive come Sunday.

Right. That's Monday, so we don't know. Oh, that's right. That's right. So if we get a report that Damian Harris isn't going to play, like he's ruled out or whatever on Friday. Might be around Saturday.

All right, so let's say Harris is playing. Would you start Stevenson? What game are we talking about again? Stevenson. Yankees-Astros? Or the rookie. Oh, not that one. Stevenson or the rookies?

Brees Hall, Damian Pierce, Ken Walker, or Montre Stevenson? I'll take the rookies as of now. I'm sorry, the rookies are who? Brees Hall, Damian Pierce, or Ken Walker? Compared to Stevenson? Mm-hmm. I would have told you Stevenson prior to yesterday,

but all the rookies. Mm-hmm. Jacoby Myers or Darnell Mooney? Myers. Man, the Bears. Especially if Mac Jones starts. The Bears, though. Debo, 14 yards.

Lazard, 13 yards and a touchdown. Cook, Cook's 22 yards. Thielen, 27 yards. McLaurin, 41 yards. Giving up the fourth fewest fantasy points to the wide receivers. No, they're playing great. Their secondary especially is playing well over their heads.

They're schemed very well. All right. So is Myers, Jacoby Myers? I feel like his floor is 10 PPR points. How about Alec Pierce or Jacoby Myers? Pierce. I have Myers higher. How about J Jacoby Myers? Pierce. I have Myers higher.

How about Juju or Myers? Juju. I think I have Myers higher. All right. Patriots DSD is top two, and Hunter Henry is not the worst streaming option. I wonder if that's a Billy Zappy thing, though. Zappy?

Yeah, and also Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Aguilar, they've missed time. What's their statuses? Let me get a little Patriots. See, it's tougher with the Monday night games because they've only had one practice, but we can keep an eye on that. All right, Giants at Jaguars. What do you think? Who's going to win?

Giants. Jaguars. I think the Jaguars are favored, right? Yeah. I think it's going to be a pretty even crowd. Are you going to the game? I don't live in Florida anymore. No, I'm saying you can fly down. There's airplanes. Jaguars are three-point favorites at home. The Giants, stat of the game,

have allowed 100 yards rushing to McCaffrey, Tony Pollard, and Kenyon Drake. None of them had 15 carries. They also allowed 73 to 82 yards to Derek Henry,

Ezekiel Elliott, and Khalil Herbert. Dexter Lawrence in, Dexter Lawrence out. I'm sorry. Well, he's been great too. Leonard Williams in, Leonard Williams out. It doesn't really matter. They've been bad against the run.

Jamie, your thoughts on the Jacksonville running backs in this game? I think Dave summed up good before. ETN's worth trusting as a number two running back. Low end number two running back. Better in PPR than non-PPR. This is a week where everybody was full strength, no buys. He wouldn't be a starter,

but I think it's worth exploring based on how your team might look. Robinson's just tough to trust right now. He's basically falling into the touchdown or bust category, which is not something we want to be dealing with. Flex at best for him, better in non-PPR than PPR, but hopefully ETN is building towards something and the breakout

player that we were hoping to see is starting to materialize. Who's the best Robinson in this game, James or Wandale? I'll take Wandale on PPR. I might take Wandale on non-PPR too. I was impressed with how he played and he only played 14 snaps. I'd be surprised if he played that few amount this week.

How do you feel about the Jaguars offensively? They have been struggling the last three weeks. They have scored 14, 6, and 27 points offensively in their last three games at Philadelphia, Houston, and at Indianapolis. And so far, the Giants have had a pretty good defense. Dave, do they get on track? Do you trust Trevor Lawrence? Do you trust Christian Kirk? Is it A. Jones? Evan Ingram? What do you think? I trust Evan Ingram as a streaming tight end. I like him much better in full PPR than non-PPR. I'm going

to take Kirk as a number three receiver at best until we start to see that target volume tick up. He had three drops in the game against Philadelphia, and since then he's had eight targets. He's had five catches. He's had 35 yards. He had the touchdown last week. That's over two games.

It's not what we were hoping for. So I want to see that target volume really go up before we start ranking him back as like a top 20 wide receiver, at least before I rank him as a top 20 receiver. Zay Jones is, I think, a desperation play. And Lawrence, great number two quarterback in Superflex. Nothing better than a bi-week quarterback this week. And I don't know if they know what they're really good at right now. Yeah, that's a great point. I don't know their identity.

I mean, last week, Trevor Lawrence's ADOT, or his air yards for pass attempt, was like five yards or something. It was so weird. And that's not what they had been. They're just dinking and dunking and screens and so boring geez and just to the point of kirk if you watch him play he's still moving really well it's not like he you can't say he's playing hurt or anything like that they're just not scheming him up they schemed up engram on four design screens last week just to try and like pick up four or five yards off you

know what that is is basically lawrence takes a snap immediately throws it to evan engram engram tries to make a play after the catch most of the time he didn't do it but it's weird that they're scheming up engram and they're not doing anything close to that with Christian Kirk. All right. Would you start Christian Kirk or Alan Lazard? Oh, Lazard. Christian Kirk or Terry McLaurin? I believe I have McLaurin

ranked higher. I'm not 100% sure. I could check if you really care. You have him higher. Evan Ingram or Hunter Henry? Henry higher. Evan Ingram or Hunter Henry? Henry in non-PPR and half-PPR. Ingram in PPR. I'll take Ingram all the way around. Is Daniel Bellinger behind them?

Yes. But he's been interesting. His playing time has gone up over the past couple of weeks. And I have no idea how this game is going to go. This is a weird game. That's how every Giants game is. They go on doing everything in the Giants one. I just

mean, it's just the Jaguars are just so weird offensively and the Giants. They are really bad against the run. They're pretty good against the pass and they do. They're another team that does not get beat. They in Dallas have allowed the fewest completions of 20 plus air yards in the NFL.

So I hope it's not another game where Trevor Lawrence is 20 of 22 for 165 yards, an absolutely ridiculous stat line last week. With two rushing touchdowns. Yeah. Do you feel like the Giants got the best head coach and defense coordinator hires this offseason? Not defensive coordinator. Who's a better hire? I like the guy that the Broncos hired.

Hard to argue with that. The thing about the Giants is that their metrics, like the advanced metrics, are just not good. Nobody, I don't think anyone from an analytical standpoint buys the Giants. It seems like they're all smoke and mirrors but that really is a testament to their coaching staff

yeah dable's been great he has been i'm i am so curious to see how they use wandale this week and i wonder when darius slayton gets a chance to take a step forward i'm curious what they do with bellinger because i think he's played so well the past couple weeks that they have to keep him involved in the offense. They're an evolving offense. And they've got Saquon, who's awesome. So they could end up creating some interesting players for fantasy. I'm all on board with stashing some of these Giants players. Last game, Tampa Bay at Carolina.

Start them all, sit them all. Yep. And we're done. Would you start a Panthers running back over James Robinson? No. No. Okay. That's it.

I mean, any interesting K-Dot? Tyler Algier or a Panthers running back? Well, dear. Yeah. I'd go Chuba and PPR. Tyler Algier is the third down back who never gets a target. All right.

But that's how far the running backs are for me. Kate Otten, Foster Moreau, or Daniel Bellinger. If I'm desperate, a tight end. Bellinger followed closely Kate Otten, Foster Moreau, or Daniel Bellinger if I'm desperate at tight end? Bellinger. Followed closely by Otten.

DJ Moore or Wanda Robinson? Wanda. I find it funny that PJ Walker threw for 60 yards in each of his last two games. One of them was in relief on six pass attempts, and one of them was as a starter. Look. He didn't finish the game, though, to be fair.

I know he didn't, but things are going to be different without McCaffrey. They are going to have to throw to DJ. They do throw to DJ more, but I think they're going to have to throw to him even more. I think his target share last year was up when McCaffrey didn't play. It's just something to keep in mind here. Let me check his roster percentage. Do you think he's rostered in 80% of leagues anymore?

DJ Moore? Yeah. Yes. I don't know. Everybody hates him. If they have another game where their ADOT is below one. Right. That's never going to be accused of tanking.

88% rostered. Too high. Okay. What if I said 8%? Would you say too high? No. No. Okay. What if I said 8%? Would you say too high? No. No. Okay.

He's worth rostering still in 14 team leagues. That's it. That's not it. I got to do a little more Chuba Hubber, Deontay Foreman. Colts. You do? Yeah. I know I'm going to get a ton of questions about it.

Panthers running back or Curtis Samuel? Samuel. Samuel. Okay. Panthers running back or Curtis Samuel? Samuel. Samuel. Panthers running back or A.J. Dillon? Dillon. And I don't like Dillon. Panthers running back

or one more here. Or Drake London. London. And I don't like London. All right. That's it. Thanks, everybody.

We'll talk to you on HQ, podcast, the live stream, showing up at your house. Look forward to that. See ya.