Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC)! DeVonta Smith, 49ers WRs, Rico Dowdle and More (10/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

We start out with a Vikings-Rams review and some genuine excitement about the Rams offense! Is Matthew Stafford about to become a must-start quarterback? Any concerns about the Vikings passing game going forward? Then we've got news and notes (9:30) with key injury updates ... One Question for Each Game (15:40): Do we like Kirk Cousins this week? Which Seahawks wide receiver do we prefer? Will Cowboys-49ers be a bonanza? Start or Sit DeVonta Smith? Najee Harris? Sam LaPorta? ... Dave tells you two QB/WR stacks he loves (25:30) and then we do Start or Sit for Falcons-Bucs (27:30), Bills-Seahawks (39:30), Bears-Commanders (47:40), Cowboys-49ers (54:30), Eagles-Bengals (1:04:30), Titans-Lions (1:09:30) and Giants-Steelers (1:13:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday 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." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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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He's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Fantasy Football Today, and a very happy Friday to all of you, especially those of you who were able to get Pukunukuwa into your lineup or Matthew Stafford. Get ready for maybe a big finish from Matthew Stafford. It's Adam, Dave, and Jamie here on Fantasy Football Today,

presented by BetMGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas. Just before the show started, I mean, as we were playing the intro, I thought to myself, I need to see what Matthew Stafford was in the last six games of the season. I got it. 25 points per game, just about, would have made him QB3 per game over a full season. He was on pace for 4,831 yards, 42 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. And the Rams

were one of the best offenses in football in that stretch. And we saw a beautiful performance last night. So before I get to you guys and what you thought about last night's game, let me just tell everybody the seven games that we are going to be taking a look at on today's show in the NFC home games. Green Bay. Sorry, sorry. Uh, shoot. I got the wrong notes here. Okay, here we go. That was yesterday's show.

Uh, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Buffalo at Seattle, Chicago at Washington, Dallas at San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cincinnati,

Tennessee at Detroit and the giant Steelers. Okay. Dave. Hello. Hi. All right. What do you want to say about this? Very impressive.

30 points showing for the Rams. Well, there's a lot of different directions we can go in, but this is now six of the last seven games where Stafford's had both cup and Nakua for the full game where he's had at least 22 fantasy points. When I saw that stat before the game, I moved Stafford into my top 10. And then I thought to myself, I'm crazy. He shouldn't be in the top 10. And I put him at 12 and now I feel like adult because I moved him down and he had four touchdowns. Um, I, I, this Rams offense is awesome when these receivers are healthy and they both look really good. So I, I don't think this is a one week mirage by any stretch. And now that the Rams won this game,

I don't think they're trading Cooper cup. I think they're going to be competitive in the division. And this is going to be an offense to buy into Stafford still available in more than half of CBS sports leagues. And Nakua and cup played right about right around 58% of the snaps. So they weren't even working on full snap shares. That'll change Jamie. This was a, I'm just gonna throw this out.

You can talk about anything you want, but just, I know I'm going to forget a career high snap share for aaron jones played 92 of the snaps so what do you want to talk about from yesterday's game uh there were two comments in the chat i thought were cool um one was uh will puka get a thousand yards for the rest of the season um which would be fantastic and he's got the chance to um and the other one this one, this was, that was from Ron real TV. And then right below it was, uh,

bangle answer said, this is definitely the best male hosted podcast. Um, yeah, the guy's reading. Yes. Yeah, it was,

it was, it was fun. You know, it's, it was fun to see a Puka and Jefferson who, you know, by, by all accounts were first round picks in,

in a majority of leagues going head to head last night and Cooper cup, you know, doing his thing, the touchdown saved his numbers, but, um, it was just fun to see this offense as a whole. And to Dave's point, you know, Sean McVay came out and said, they have no interest in trading a Cooper cup at this point. And I said, there's a couple of times over the course of the week, like they could still win the division. You know, it's, it's such a, it's such a wide open division at this point that, um, they, they have, you know, arguably the best offense when everybody's healthy. With the 49ers missing Ayuk, and we don't know what McCaffrey's going to be like when he comes back.

And the Seahawks are banged up right now, certainly defensively. And the Cardinals just don't seem to get any consistent play on both sides of the ball. So there's certainly a chance. Like, why would you trade Kup? You know, unless somebody just blows you away with an offer. but they're right in the thick of it in in that division so it would it would not make any sense at all unless they just feel like he's not the same player and they can get you know maximum value return but clearly the most likely going to keep him so stafford now yeah in in you know must start territory and uh and and puka looked he looked he was the he was the question mark you know i mean cup has been practicing you know, must start territory. And, uh, and, and Puka looked, he looked,

he was the, he was the question mark, you know, I mean, cup has been practicing, you know, uh, Puka started practicing Monday. Like that's, that's what it was. And, you know, a couple of little slow to me, but, uh, you know, not, not surprising for a 32 year old receiver. I just think that there's the best yet to come for, for these guys. It's going to be fun to watch. Okay. So my, my first reaction is reaction is the Seahawks are currently, as we sit here on Friday, four and three. If they lose to Buffalo, they're four and four. If the Rams beat them next week, the Rams are in first place,

provided that Arizona loses one of their next two games. I watched the cup film this morning. If you're watching his routes where he's like really close to the line of scrimmage, he's not running at full speed and it's by design. He's trying to draw the linebacker or two defenders into him to open things up over the top. So when you watch him at full speed, you wouldn't say that he looked a little slow.

I think he looked really good. I think Nakua looked really good. And this is, this is definitely an offense that I would buy into and they, and they could get, they can get healthy. They might become buyers now at the trade deadline, James, now that they don't care about their draft picks. If there's a team that's going to give them some help on the offensive line

and especially help on defense, you can see the Rams turn into a real good team real quick. And first might be the defensive rookie of the year. Oh, he looked good on that one sack in the first half, I think it was. And now on the other side, I just want to mention that the game, I don't think that necessarily, you know, the correlation causation thing, I don't know that this is necessarily why. But as soon as Christian Darasol went out with the injury,

you know, things just were not as good in the second half, not even close for the Vikings offense, specifically for Sam Darnold. He scored two touchdowns on his first two possessions. And that was the only time they were able to get in the end zone. I think the big difference was they kept getting, or they got down near the end zone a couple of times and had to settle for field goals. They got hosed on the safety should have been a face mask,

but I talk about it every single time I talk about Sam Darnold. And I think you saw it last night, clean pocket's a hall of famer any pressure and he's just not that good and if you're missing your left tackle that could be a problem we don't know the extent there but we'll obviously keep an eye on Darasaw and his knee and uh that was right at the end of the first half and the first half was so much better for for um Darnold looked like looked like Darnold was on his way to a special game and he ended up with 22.2 fantasy points and do you know how many fourth quarter touchdowns darnold has thrown this year oh probably very few right he has 14 touchdowns on the year only one came in the fourth quarter his completion rate on the year is 67 in the fourth quarter this year

it's 54 his off target rate in the fourth quarter is 24.2%. Something is happening. And his numbers aren't as good in the second quarter either. There's something that's happening where as the half rolls on, he loses steam. And I almost wonder if teams are just going to try and really up the blitz and the pressure in those second parts of the half. So late second quarter, mid to late fourth quarter, get after Darnold, have him chasing ghosts, and he starts to play worse and worse.

Yeah, and final thing on that is two things. One, they talked to Sean McVay at halftime and said, what was the difference in the second quarter? And he said, well, we started to get pressure on him. And two, here come the Colts and the Jaguars the next two weeks for Minnesota. So that's pretty good. All right, we got to wrap things up and move on. I assume Jordan Addison will probably get dropped in some leagues, 94% rostered.

But Sunday is going to be a fun day for all of us. Sunday fun day, I think I'm going to coin that. Sunday should be very fun as we get you started with a YouTube stream at 11.30 a.m. Eastern. Actually, 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll get started on CBS Sports HQ with some fantasy coverage. But 11.30 a.m. Eastern, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. So those are two different ways to get your lineup set on Sunday morning. We'll see you there either 10 a.m. Eastern on HQ or 11.30 a.m.

when we do our Q&A, youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday. Let's do some news and notes. We are expecting Tua. It's not official, right? No, not yet. It would be amazing if he did not play at this point. Yeah. Amazing in the worst possible way.

Right. Yeah. You'd be shocked. Something has gone horribly wrong. Okay. Never mind. I won't make my joke. Jaden Daniels is going to try to practice today.

He has not practiced yet. And that's our quarterback news running back news are you expecting or do we have any idea about Travis Etienne no idea he's been limited in practice I believe he was limited in practice last week and ended up not playing

he was our mailbag is at 11am today so I don't know that we're going to get a lot of news updates on the mailbag. Jonathan Brooks was limited. We're still not expecting him, though. And then Bucky Irving is kind of interesting because he's mispracticed two days in a row with a toe injury. There was one report that he's training in the right direction, but right now we don't know with Bucky Irving.

And it would make a pretty big difference, wouldn't it, Dave, in terms of your Bucks rankings? If Bucky Irving. It would make a pretty big difference, wouldn't it, Dave, in terms of your Bucks rankings? If Bucky Irving... You're going to hit the game. I'd be surprised if you did it for this game. Of course, it would make a huge difference. But Rashad White is still going to be the top running back on the list either way.

It would make Rashad White a little bit better. It would make Sean Tucker a lot better. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And what is Sean Tucker's roster percentage right now? Do we need to be adding him? Yes. He might be the best. Running back, it's not so great on the way. 31% rostered Sean Tucker.

Yeah, there you go. There are two guys that you should be picking up right now. Rashad Bateman and Sean Tucker. Yeah, 100%. What's Bateman at? He was at 46% yesterday when I tweeted out Flowers had mispracticed. Oh, so the Eisenberg bump put him all the way to 49% roster. There you go. Jonathan Taylor practiced in full, so he looks good to go.

Maybe Tajay Spears comes back this week. And Ramondre Stevenson practiced in full. There's one more. Keaton Mitchell, you can still stat on an IR spot for now. He's been designated to return. I don't know what you're going to get out of him. You might be just wasting your time because the Ravens might have a running back

that they like ahead of Keaton Mitchell, but it looks like he's coming back, and we know that he's speedy. Yeah, I mentioned him yesterday, Dave. I wasn't here, jerkface. Jamison Williams is going to serve as two-game suspension. He'll miss the next two games. Debo was limited, but J. Jamison Williams is going to serve as two-game suspension. He'll miss the next two games.

Debo is limited, but Jawan Jennings still missed practice. DeAndre Hopkins is going to play. Mike Evans is going to miss at least three games. Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill were both limited. We're expecting them to play as of now. We're hoping DK Metcalf, actually from a fantasy standpoint, not hoping, but for you Metcalf managers, you're hoping that he practices today. You know, the yards per route run for JSN in his career, in the slot versus out wide, it's like a two-yard difference,

which is insane. He's been so much better out wide, and the one game that he played the most out wide in his career was last year when DK Metcalf was out. It was arguably the best game of that season. Adam Thielen's been limited in practice.

Zay Flowers missed practice again. If he misses the game, we talked about this yesterday, where would you rank Andrews and Bateman? Andrews would still be at best tight end 10. For Bateman, he goes from

right now I have him like right inside the top 40 to inside the top 30. He'd jump about 10 spots. He'd be an absolutely good flex play. Let's see. Calvin Ridley has mispracticed with a foot issue we'll see about this one fire up nick westbrook akine we do we have some sleeper wide receivers uh for the deeper

leagues out there because i honestly think nick westbrook akine could be one if calvin i stashed him in my you know 14 team triple flex leagues that I talk about. We'll have a more comprehensive list on FFT Express later today. Okay, fair enough. And Jacoby Myers mispractice. But he was limited Wednesday, so this could be a maintenance thing, but we're not sure that Jacoby Myers is playing against the Chiefs. And let's go to the tight end news. Dallas Goddard mispractice again, so as of now, we're not expecting him.

Taysom Hill and Juwan Johnson were both limited. George Kittle got into practice. He was limited, and TJ Hawkinson is going to play next week. And the defensive notes, Dexter Lawrence for the Giants, he missed practice again. He had the same issue last week, and he ended up playing, so I think he'll play. But LeJarius Sneed for the Titans, he missed last week's game.

Their defense was not very good against Buffalo, and he's not practicing yet. They're at Detroit. Houston's defense does look like it's getting a little bit healthier, and I'll stop there. Now, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, let's go. Sign up. Let's do it.

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Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. Atlanta is at Tampa Bay. Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield?

Cousins. Cousins. Okay, fine. Buffalo is at Seattle. Do you like the Seattle wide receivers in this game, assuming Metcalf is out? Yes. Yes.

Both top 30. Jake Bobo being one. But both the two other guys top 30. JSN slightly ahead of Lockett. Yeah, I feel that way. I have JSN 24th in full PPR. Yeah, I think I'm 23rd. They both have the potential to be good.

It's a tough defense, though, so give Bill some credit. Do you like them better than Jalen McMillan from the previous game? Oh, yeah. Chicago at Washington. Like or love DJ Moore? Love. Does

top 20 mean love? I don't know. That's kind of like been him this year. Right. So maybe I'm couching it by putting him top 20. I don't think he's top 12. He's top 15 for me. You know, so he's starting.

Kind of the same range. He's a number two receiver. Start him. Feel good about it. Should lead the team in targets, et cetera. All right. Dallas at San Francisco. Is this a good fantasy? This is interesting, right? Because you've got the Cowboys targets, etc. All right, Dallas at San Francisco. Is this a good fantasy game?

This is interesting, right? Because you've got the Cowboys offense, which is struggling, not really living up to its expectations, and the 49ers offense, which is a little depleted, although good practice report yesterday with Debo and Kittle getting back out there.

Is this a good fantasy game, a bad fantasy game, or somewhere in between? I think somewhere in between. These defenses have certainly shown the ability to play well at times. And, you know, in the case of these offenses, they've let us down at times too, you know? So I think you're, you're hoping that we see the best of both offenses. We know Dak's history coming off of a buy. So if that holds true, they'll score. And then the 49ers, you know, with that Dallas defense, you know, still beat up. I think they can score. It doesn't matter how they

do it. I think anytime you take on the Cowboys without Michael Parsons, you've got a chance to get right. And the Niners need to get right game. Purdy needs to get right game provided that Kittle and Debo play. I think we'll see it. Right. And so the other thing is the Brock Purdy needs to get right game. Provided that Kittle and Debo play, I think we'll see it. Right. And so the other thing is the Brock Purdy rankings dispute, because I think it's something like Dave has Purdy fourth and Jamie has him 12th or something like that. Or am I crazy? Purdy's like 22 for me.

Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So it was 12th and 22. I knew it was a big discrepancy, but Dave, you have him as a low-end starter, and Jamie, you are like absolutely not. Once those guys are officially good to go,

he will move back up. Oh, so we don't really have a rankings dispute? He will not be in my top 12, but he will be probably around 15. Dave, would you start Purdy or Caleb Williams? Caleb Williams. Purdy or Jared Goff? I'll go Purdy or Caleb Williams? Caleb Williams. Purdy or Jared Goff?

I'll go Purdy. Okay. Ask me Tua or Purdy. No. Fine, Tua or Purdy. I'm not telling you. You're going to have to look at my rankings. Well, but what is he at?

Two good games all year, Purdy? It sounds about right. Maybe three. Purdy's had two good games all year. And it's the game of the week. This is the worst execution. The it's the game of the week. Yeah, this is the worst execution. The worst execution of game of the week. I thought you were going to talk more. But the game.

Oh, it's the game of the week. I don't know. There's not a good one. What's the what should be the game of the week? I mean, Cincinnati, Philly kind of stands out. Oh, no. Phooey. Those teams stink.

I don't. I don't believe stink. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. No way there's going to be. All right, you know what? Forget it. I will think of another one. Just give me another chance. I wasn't feeling it all morning.

I didn't have conviction. I'm sorry. That was the worst I've ever done. All right. Philadelphia at Cincinnati. Green Day said it best. You can't go forcing something if it's just not right. That's exactly what a great song, by the way.

Philadelphia at Cincinnati. Start every relevant player. This is the game of the week. Yes. I don't think so. I don't know. Oh, I know that Bengals defense is so good. Can I read you a quote?

Let me see. No. Okay. This is from Greg Cassell, who's been breaking down football film for forever on the Ross Tucker podcast. He said about the Eagles, they're a difficult offense to watch right now. Jalen Hurts is not playing very good.

And then he went on to say the quarterback has to be a bigger factor. Jalen Hurts is not playing very good. And then he went on to say, the quarterback has to be a bigger factor. Jalen Hurts, for whatever reason, he's just not seeing things clearly right now. Basic concepts. He's not seeing, and that really handicaps and hamstrings your offense. I thought that was pretty good.

He hasn't been the same since Shane Steichen left. The offensive line has been beat up several times throughout the course of the season. They have a running game now that they could turn to and rely on. So, you know, who knows how much that's impacted from a negative standpoint. You would think from a positive standpoint,

but maybe it's just, you know, take away from some of the things that he's, or at least was able of doing. So it's not surprising. 24.8, 25.9. Those are his last two games when his wide receivers were healthy. His first two games of the year, 20.4, 25.8. Yeah, the two games in weeks three and four, he probably looked lost.

He didn't have his best receivers available. I mean, it's a fantasy versus reality conversation. You know what I mean? He's still getting his numbers, but he's just not looking good as a quarterback. And he will still score some rushing touchdowns. All right. All right.

All right. And listen, last week was definitely weird. They didn't throw that much. I think he only had 14 attempts and like 19 or 20 dropbacks. Yeah. All right. I think it's an easier pass rush that he's going up against this week,

an easier secondary that he's facing. I'm not asking about Hertz. I know you're going to start Hertz. I want to, are you, are you going to start Devante Smith? Are you going to start chase Brown? Or is this a bonanza for you?

Yeah. Brown is the only one, the only possible starter. Let me think about that and make sure that I mean it, that, that I'd be a little concerned about. Okay. Brown's the only one I'm starting T Higgins.

I'm starting Jamar chase, starting Joe Burrow, starting the Eagles receivers. I think I'll start Saquon, and I'll start Jalen Hurts. All right. Tennessee's at Detroit. Why should I even roster Sam Laporta? Well, the age-old question, if you saw him on your waiver wire, would you pick him up? He's on our waiver wire in our 10-team Superflex League that Heath and I share. And we have Kyle Pitts, and we have decided not to pick up Sam Laporta. So that's a great scenario to be in because Kyle Pitts has clearly been consistent too. And you feel comfortable with Pitts moving forward or Laporta moving forward. And clearly, you've made a decision to go with Pitts, which is fine. And I think a lot of people probably would

go that way also, or try and find a way to get Laporta on your roster or switch and take Laporta over pits. And now you have K Dotton, who's, you know, potentially going to be a weekend week out starter. If you know, last week is any indication in the injuries you have David Njoku back in the good graces of fantasy managers. You have, you know, a Hunter Henry emerging. No, there are guys that have been outperforming or have the chance to outperform Laporta. This is an interesting two-game stretch. No Jamison Williams. And does he go back to being a little bit more of a focal point? The question is, the two or three targets that Jamison Williams has been getting,

is that necessarily the difference in Sam Laporta being good? I don't know. I hope so. I hope he finds the end zone. He gets a few more opportunities. He starts to look like the guy we saw last year. You can argue he's one of the biggest busts this season because of where he was ranked and how he's performed. It's tough to say

start him. I would still like to roster him, though. I think we would have moved on from him if Jameson was not suspended. Yeah. I was just, I was just like. Remember Panama city, Florida. What's their zip code? Three, two, four, one, two. And that's the targets for Sam Laporta on each of his past five games. All right. Last one, Dave giants are at the Steelers Malik neighbors or Najee

Harris. And then the follow-up after you say neighbors is, are you sure? I'm sure. I still think that neighbors upside is just way better than Najee's. The only thing I can take away, Najee had a great run last week. The entire Steelers offense looked so much more, I don't know, like in sync with Russ. I guess that's confident with Russ. That's it's, it's just the takeaway that I have from that game against the

jets and it, it encourages me for everybody involved. So I like Najee and I think he can have another decent game, maybe even a really good game because game script should be in his favor, but I'm still going to trust that upside with Malik neighbors. Najee over a guy like Chase Brown though. Right. I'm ready going to trust that upside with Malik neighbors. Uh, nausea over a guy like chase Brown though. Right. I'm ready for that.

Yes. Uh, nausea or Tony Pollard, Jamie. I know you don't love Tony Pollard this week. Uh, I moved Pollard up a little bit. They might be close.

Uh, Pollard probably in PPR nausea and half and not. Okay. All right. Where do you have nauseee compared to Chuba Hubbard? Najee head. I've got him back to back. I haven't decided all the way yet. Why are you so thirsty, bro?

I walked two miles this morning with Doug. Okay. Two miles. Chugging water over there. And now it's time for the Hellman Stack segment, where we discuss the quarterback and receiver duos to keep an eye on this upcoming weekend. Brought to you by Hellman's Real Mayonnaise.

Mayo, delicious dip. Be served hot while your quarterback plays it cool. Dave, give me a couple of stacks you like this week. Let's have a big welcome back moment. Strike up the band with Tua Tungavailoa and Tyreek Hill. I think that that's a stack that's absolutely worth banking on. I think the Dolphins take out all their frustrations from the last few weeks on the Arizona Cardinals.

Their best pass rusher, Dennis Gardeck, out for the year with a torn ACL. That stinks for Arizona. Makes it easier for Tua to hold on to the ball for more than 1.5 seconds, and he will. Tyreek should have a big game. I probably have Tyreek ranked way too low. And then the second stack, and this is if there's no Zay Flowers, is Lamar Jackson and Rashad Bateman.

I'm serious. I think that Bateman does see an uptick in targets. I think that he can win downfield against the Cleveland Browns. And I think, Adam, your point about how good of a route runner he is comes into play in this matchup because he'll probably be in a lot of man-to-man coverage situations, a lot of one-on-one matchups. And I think Lamar will trust him. So as long as there's no Zay Flowers, I think Bateman can see,

I don't know what his season high in targets is. I can look it up real quick, but I could see that he could have close to, yeah, not eight, but maybe six, seven second highest number. And not as good as he was last week. He had 121 yards last week, but 75 yards would be a second best game of the year. So five for 75 is a floor for Bateman. And you're starting Lamar anyway against Cleveland, even though it's Cleveland. So Tyreek is going to be extremely popular in DFS this week,

understandably. So it's the cheapest he's been priced all season. Wow. Which is just, you know, they're begging you to play. Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK, great. This has been the Hellman stack segment brought to you by Hellman's Real Mayonnaise. And just like these QB and wide receiver duos, tailgate snacking and Hellmanman's mayonnaise make the perfect combo, bringing out the rich and creamy taste to all your game day dishes. So give it a try and may your game day be delicious with Hellman's real mayonnaise. Shop at your local Walmart, Kroger, or grocery store and add some extra deliciousness to your game day dishes this football season. And to the games we go. Atlanta at Tampa Bay. Rankings dispute of the game.

It's Kyle Pitts. Let me just double check here. Make sure I didn't screw this one up. Dave, you have Kyle Pitts fifth. Heath, you have him eighth. Just kidding. He's not here. Jamie, you have Pitts 12th.

Jamie, tell me why. What the hell is happening here? I feel like we've changed places. Yeah, Jamie, why lower on Kyle Pitts? It's a good week for tight ends, first off. There are some guys, I think, that have similar, if not better, upside

than Pitts. For example, I'd pay Hunter Henry over him. I would play Kate Otten over him. I think both those guys are in better spots. Tucker Kraft has a much better matchup than he does. Last week was the first time that the Bucs allowed a tight end to score a touchdown and they've been better against tight ends with Winfield on the field, as opposed to not Winfield didn't play in the first game when pits was, uh, was there in week five. So I just think it's not the easiest layup for him given how he's performed the majority of the season. I think that's fair.

Uh, if you're, If you're worried about target volume for him, though, he's had at least eight targets and at least seven catches in two of his last three games. I think the bigger concern is how much will the Falcons have to throw? Remember, one of those games where he had eight targets, seven catches was against Tampa. It was the game where Kirk Cousins went berserk, threw the ball 58 times. He might not throw it even half as many times because he doesn't have to I'm a little concerned about this Tampa Bay offense being able to keep up even against Atlanta's defense which I don't think I think they're a little overrated so I I do worry a

little bit about that but he's been playing pretty well and kind of due for a touchdown it's been a while since that week one score so maybe he can find the end zone on top of getting, let's call it six or seven targets. Otten and Henry are definitely new flavors of the week. We're excited about them. I think they've got low floors and it makes me just a little bit nervous to trust them versus someone like pits who's double digit PPR points, three straight games. Someone that I think we can just look at and say, all right, he's finally reliable. He's not doing amazing things.

He's not breaking fantasy at tight end, but he's putting up good enough numbers. And I'm looking for that consistency and stability at tight end. Okay. So the tight ends are really interesting in this game. And I see one here, Kate Otten or Jake Ferguson. You can answer that one. Otten or Ferguson? Ferguson.

That's close. Ferguson for me, too. And Ot henry are top 10 don't don't get it wrong i still think that they're useful but i'd rather have one of these tight ends that's been doing it all season all right so last time these two teams met it was 36 30 in overtime but that's not fair to say though because things have changed dramatically for henry not in the last two weeks it doesn't mean that they're just gonna get like everything's gonna go no but I mean you say to say you'd rather have them doing it for the season obviously Pitts is going to be better than them for the season one guy had Jacoby Brissett for the majority of the season and the other guy was competing with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans for targets like it's not it's not a fair comp we're fine but and then maybe

that's not fair to say this either but I don't know I don't know if any of these offenses want their tight ends to have the offense funneled through them this either, but I don't know if any of these offenses want their tight ends to have the offense funneled through them. I don't know if any of these offenses... The Bucs and Patriots might need to. Listen, I don't know if the Bucs have a choice. I think they might have to go through Otten, but they also might get something out of their receivers in this game

because of them chasing points, and maybe they have to throw downfield. They might have a lot of second and third and long and Otten isn't going to be the best guy for that. Do the Bucs have a single must-start player? Well, I guess Otten. Otten's a must-start.

Just because people might have other options with Otten, but fair enough. Otten is a top 10 guy? Yeah. Do they have anyone else? Are are we are we going back to rashad white i have white as a starter in ppr but must start no do you have naji harris or rashad white rashad white david says naji jamie says rashad white in full ppr right that's the thing you know if irving's out then just, that's the thing. If Irving's out, then it's become more interesting.

Right, that is ranked with Irving playing. That's fair. Oh, okay. And then Cousins, going back to him this week? Yes, he is a borderline starter. That's the best way to put it. I'd still start Tua,dy Caleb Dak if you're thinking about Stroud versus cousins I'd go Stroud like those guys still go ahead of them again I don't I don't

think I don't think Tampa is going to put up a ton of points I think the Falcons will be able to run the ball and I'm not sure how much throwing cousins willins will do. It's hard to run on the Bucs with Vita Veazer. Well, you know, B. John Robinson's coming off two great games in a row. Oh, you're not sinning him. I mean, there's no way around that. No, because, you know, before the Carolina game, he was really struggling. Then he had the Carolina game, which was a layup.

And then last week, he was really good in a worse matchup against Seattle. Worse than this week, you mean? Worse than Carolina. Oh, you mean a tougher matchup. Tougher matchup than Carolina. Right, right, right. And so this is another tough matchup.

But I don't think they're going to try and push Vida Vey off the ball. That's not even their style of how they run most of the time. I think they'll win on the edges quite easily. They do allow the third most receiving yards to running backs, so you hope that even if Vijan doesn't have a great game as a rusher that he can make up for it there. Drake London's an obvious start. Darnell Mooney,

start or sit, guys? Start. Top 24. Flex. Mooney or Seahawks guys? Mooney. I'm going to put the Seahawks guys ahead of Mooney or Seahawks guys. Mooney. I'm going to put the Seahawks guys ahead of Mooney. Okay.

You guys are about seven to 10 spots, depending on the format apart in the, in the Darnell Mooney rankings. So Jamie's higher on Darnell Mooney. Dave's got him as a flex. And then, yeah, where Baker Mayfield is the number two quarterback in fantasy.

I will say he scored 33 points last week against the Ravens 21 of them came in the fourth quarter in the first six games, he combined for 31.5 fantasy points in the fourth quarter of his six games and then last week in a comeback effort 21 fantasy points in the fourth quarter but I have him in

four leagues I think, I'm sitting him in every league I'm pretty sure in every league. I'm pretty sure. So it's tough to trust him. I mean, look, he's, uh, he's in a bad spot right now without his receivers. You'd like to see at least one game, how it looks and you know, who steps up and look a week from now, we could be saying Jalen McMillan is legit and Sterling Shepard filled the role. And Kate Otten is going to be a, a guy that, you know, a go-to option that can carry him with these other parts filling the role. But it feels icky to say that until you see it. When he's been with the Bucs over the last two years, he's had 43 dropbacks without Evans and Godwin on the field.

So this is obviously sprinkled across many games. He's completed 57.5% of his passes, 23 or 40, 4.8 yards per attempt, no touchdowns, one interception, eight out of 8.9 yards, 15% off target rate,

quarterback rating of 59.6. He needs those guys. Yeah, but again, that's how much of that is Liam Coleman's offense. How much of that is with McMillan on the field? And it's very little of both, Jamie, because it's really not that big of a sample size.

But I do remember how he played in Carolina and in Cleveland when his receivers, his top receivers weren't healthy there either, and it wasn't very good. So I agree with you, Adam. I'm very nervous about Baker Mayfield without these guys. At the same time,

he's playing the best football of his life. He's running very effectively, scrambling, Adam. I'm very nervous about Baker Mayfield without these guys. At the same time, he's playing the best football of his life. He's running very effectively, scrambling, escaping. So I wouldn't be... I'm certainly not dropping him. Nobody's going to tell you to drop him. But let's see. Let's see what happens. Well, you might be dropping him. I mean... I'm not yet. No, you're not dropping him now.

But the thing about it is, like, we get to week 12 and if Evans comes back, there's three or four managers at minimum that aren't paying attention and should have their quarterback situation settled by that point that they may not be looking to pick up Baker Mayfield if he's had three straight bad games plus coming off a bye week. All right, we've got to move forward, Dave.

I'm just going to say he plays Las Vegas in that dreaded week 14 where there's six teams on bye and everybody's fighting for playoff lives. So that would be a quarterback. If Evans is back, I'd run right back to Baker Mayfield for that week. I just want to know what to do with the fringe box. So if Bucky Irving's out, Sean Tucker, if Jalen McMillan, Trey Palmer. So it's desperation situations, maybe less so for Tucker than those other receivers.

There's nobody on by this week, Adam. So you'd really have to be in a major pickle to even consider those guys. I'm all for it. McMillan is up right now that McMillan could definitely be in your starting lineup for three or four leagues. Okay. And then I think, wow,

no, I'd be nervous with that. Well, yeah, I'm sure Jamie would be nervous too. He's just saying that you may not have a choice. Right? Like the term desperation.

Yeah. Would you start Ricky Pearsall if Jawan Jennings is out or start McMillan over Pearsall? All right. So, but I go with one of the, I'd start McMillan over Pearsall. All right. So, but I go with one of the, I'd go with three of the Packers receivers. Like Don Tavian Wicks is still going to be out there in a few leagues.

Yeah. I would start McMillan over, over Watson and Wicks. Yeah. I'd start them over Watson, but not Wicks. Wicks gets more targets. Tomorrow.

Douglas. Douglas is over McMillan. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. McMillan by the way is 66 percent rostered trey palmer is four percent rostered and obviously we prefer mcmillan but we don't know how this is going to play out so if if you're in a deep league you know or just desperate maybe you have uh pickens or neighbors on by next no not pick who's on by next week pittsburgh and san francisco so yes pickens is on by next giants are not on by next? No, not pick. Who's on by next week? Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

So yes, Pickens is on by next week. Giants are not on by next week. Giants are, we wish. Okay, so Pickens or Debo on by next week. Maybe you pick up Trey Palmer or something if everyone else is taken. And Rashad White is down. I would try and get McMillan first. Yeah, I know.

I just said, I just said, we prefer McMillan, but he's 66% rostered. We're on the same page, Dave Richard. We're on the same page, my man. And you know what? I'm flustered today because I have an announcement. There will not be a game of the week. I butchered it.

I'm embarrassed. And I can't think of one. I was going to play it for this game, but I can't think of one. And I just, I blew it. And I'm sorry. I know that's pretty much the only reason half of you are here. There will not be a game of the week this week. All right. We're going to take a break. When we come back, Buffalo is at Seattle. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. All right. Buffalo's at Seattle. Is it the game of the week? Nope, because there won't be one this week. Stat of the game

number one. Josh Allen is having a very unusual season. He has not thrown an interception. His passing yards per game are down about 40 yards from 2023. And 2023 wasn't that high of a passing yards per game year for him anyway. Fewest passing yards per game by far in five seasons. Fewest rushing yards per game of his career. Career low 5.4 rush attempts per game. Buffalo is averaging the second fewest pass attempts per game, and they have run the fewest plays per game. All of those things are bad, yet Josh Allen is QB 4 per game and 4-point QB 5 per game and 6-point.

One other weird stat, not about Josh Allen necessarily. Khalil Shakir, give this guy a round of applause. He has caught 27 of 28 targets. Anyway, you guys are very high on Josh Allen this week. His second game with Amari Cooper, he scored 25 points last week.

But Jamie, I want to talk about James Cook. And for the season, James Cook is RB 12 per game and non PPR, RB 15 per game and full PPR. This week, he is closer to 20th. I think he's 18th for you. 19th for Dave 24th for Heath.

Why do we, why are we not ranking James Cook closer to 12th? For me, it's, it's a very good week for running backs. You know, you're looking at no, no teams on a buy.

I am a little bit concerned about this toe injury that he's seemingly playing through, which is good. But I also think that they're going to continue to give Ray Davis some work, you know, to whatever capacity, whether it's they're up big and Davis is getting the ball at the end of the game, or they're going to give him some opportunities throughout the course of the game. You always have the potential of Josh Allen and the rushing touchdowns near the goal line. So it's a very solid player to have on your team. And it's nitpicking to say, I'm starting this guy over cook, or, you know, he's going to sit. And if, if, if you have a better flex option, for the most part, you have James cook on your team,

you're starting him. So, you know, you see top 24 running back. I don't know. I, I know what you're getting at, but it just feels like we're nitpicking a little bit, you know, whether he's 15, 18, 22, 24, you know, again, it comes down to what you have on your roster. Most people don't have better players than James cook to start fair enough. And not only do we see a lot of running backs that we like better, we're seeing a lot of running backs that are getting more work than cook cook has two or fewer catches in each of his last three games, including zero catches last week, 12 carries last week, not a good efficiency number to go along with it. And it could be the toe. And this is a Seattle defense. I know that Bijan

blew them up last week. I still think that upfront they're good. And so I'm, I'm a little bit nervous about James cook getting a lot of work or getting a lot of catches, at least with a decent amount of carries and then being effective with it. So I almost feel like at first I felt like I had him too low because he's outside of my top 20. But I kind of think it's warranted because he's not getting – this is in full PPR – because he's not getting a ton of catches lately. Well, this is all part of the Bills running the fewest plays per game in football. And I think maybe one of the reasons is they've played in four games so far

where they've had a margin of victory or defeat of 21 or more points. They've been in really weird game scripts, and that's bad for a running back. That's why he only has two games with more than 12 carries. But all right, anyway, you're going to start James Cook, most likely, if you have him. But he is not the slam dunk that we thought he might be. Okay, Buffalo wide receivers, Amari Cooper.

If you were just flexing Cooper or Cook, who do you like better? Cooper. In PPR, it's Cooper. I think even in non-PPR, it would be Cooper. All right, start Cooper. When you look at the other wide receivers, Shakir or Keon Coleman coming off his big game, would you start them or Jalen McMillan?

Shakir's easier to start over McMillan just because he's a little bit more consistent. I think the volatility of Keon Coleman scares me a little bit. It was great to see him do that, but can you count on him and Shakir and Kincaid and Cooper all having big games? It's almost like pick your poison. And for me, I would take the unknown of McMillan over Coleman at this point, just with the chance of him getting eight-plus targets. He had an eight-target game against the Ravens when Godwin played the majority of the game last week. So I'd take McMillan over.

Actually, I have McMillan ranked over both, but I could certainly be talked into Shakira over McMillan if that's the route you want to go. Okay. Yeah, and remember, Cooper barely played last week, and Keon Coleman did not have a target when Cooper was on the field. So we'll see if Shakir can keep up that consistency. Coach Keon, by the way. What's that? Coach Keon. Coach Keon? I don't know that reference.

He was telling Cooper what to do. Oh, that's right. On the touchdown, yeah. Start or sit Dalton Kincaid? So for me, he's similar to Pitts. You know, I think the targets will be somewhat consistent for him. You know, it's going to be interesting to see who benefits long-term the most with Amari Cooper on the field because, you know, the field opens up now. Coverage is planted differently. And Kincaid has seen a lot of, you know, heavy attention,

especially in the middle of the field without Cooper. So we'll see what happens of the field, without Cooper. So we'll see what happens moving forward. But I have him outside the top 12. I like Pitts better than him. That's the easy one at this point. But I would start Otten and Henry over him as well. I do have him over Laporta, but like Jamie, he's outside of my top 12.

Okay, Dave, let's talk about the Seahawks here. Lay it out how you see the starts and the sits in this game with and without DK Metcalf. So with DK Metcalf, he would obviously be a must start. So would Ken Walker. That's easy to go with. And then I think Gino Smith is back to being in the conversation of a borderline fantasy starter, even with the tough matchup. There's just too many. He'd be outside of the top 12, but he'd be close to it.

I do give credit to the Buffalo secondary and their pass rush without him. Gino, no go. I would not start him. I'd start Russell Wilson easily ahead of Gino Smith. Ken Walker, I'm still going to start. I like JSN as like a borderline number two, number three type of wide receiver. Tyler Lockett, not too far behind him. And Noah Fant, more of a desperation play at tight end. All the tight ends that we've talked about so far in the show, I would start ahead of Fant. I'm so hopeful for JSN to be used a little bit differently.

I hate the 75% slot, low ADOT guy. It's just so useless unless you're getting so many targets like Wandale robinson and i just don't think a first round wide receiver who is as good as jsn should be used that way so please let let jsn cook this week and you guys have him right around 24th um lock it a little bit behind that but these guys are number two wide receivers or flexes and uh all right and we're optimistic that obviously everything changes if everything changes if DK Metcalf plays. I would say, I know Dave's not wrong about Fant,

but this is a big opportunity for him, too. Yeah, I was wondering why nobody had Fant higher, because he's coming off a couple good games in a row, and he's just not. He's just low. Even Heath. I always expect Heath to have Noah Fant high. I just always seem to like him, but not this week.

I don't know. He's not a bad pivot play, but there's just always seemed to like him, but not this week. I don't know. All right. He's not a bad pivot play, but there's just other guys. Like, if you're staring at Otten and Fant on your waiver wire, you're going Otten. Yeah, are you going Komet over Fant? I'm not there yet, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Metcalf's out and Fant's better. Let me... Wait, so you would take Komet over Fant?

I would, yeah. Okay. Let me read some questions in the chat. Dak Prescott or Geno Smith? Dak. Dalton Kincaid or Mark Andrews? Andrews. I have Andrews higher, and that'll be easier to do if there's no Zay Flowers.

Much easier. Adam is the kind of guy who eats the marshmallows only in a bowl of Lucky Charms. Wow. Not true at all. They go from really good when you eat them with the Lucky Charms or with the other cereal in Lucky Charms

to horrible when you only eat them. It's one of the best post-cereal milks you'll have. Yeah, if you're into that thing, yeah. Kincaid or Kraft PPR? Kraft. Right amount of water, sorry. Yes, Kraft. Okay, let's see if we have any more for this game here.

I'm drinking water, and I did not go on a two-mile walk today. All right, I think that's it. Hunter, Henry, or Kincaid? I think you answered that. Henry, right? Double H, yep. Okay. All right, thank you for your questions on this, Henry, or Kincaid? I think you answered that. Henry, right? Double H. Yep. Okay. All right, thank you for your questions on this game.

Let's go to our next game. What do we got here? We got Chicago at Washington. All right, Washington, only two wide receivers in their last four games have had 75 yards or a touchdown. Are we buying this defense? That's the question. Is it really improved?

And does that spell any trouble for the Bears' offense? Jamie, what do you think about Caleb Williams and the gang? I think Williams is a good start. He's coming off an excellent two-game stretch where he started to take advantage of his schedule, started to look like a first overall pick, started to look like the guy we saw in college, and hopefully things continue to stay at that level for him coming off of their bi-week. The nice thing that we saw from him over the last two games is the entire field being used and everybody getting involved. Now it's hard to say they're all going to be involved

on a game to game basis, but you know, last game it was commit and Keenan Allen, the game before that it was DJ more, you know, at some, things are going to click for Romo Dunza. You can't start him with any confidence. But I think for the other three guys, Kemet is in the conversation as a starting tight end. Keenan Allen is in the conversation as a top 30 wide receiver. And DJ Moore, as we said earlier, is a top 20 wide receiver, depending on where you have him ranked.

This would have been the game of the week, by the way, without question. I really hope he plays. It's so, so frustrating that Jaden Daniels has his revenge. You wanted to see these two guys go head-to-head. Hopefully it still happens, but it doesn't feel like that's going to be the case. And Dave, how does the absence of Jaden Daniels affect this game? How would you rank players differently if he were to play?

I'd move McLaurin higher for sure. Where is he now? He's still a number two receiver for me. So now the other stat of the game is that, actually, stat of the game number three, I guess it would be, was only two, only, oh God, I don't have it,

only two wide receivers have been good against this team, basically. It's been Gabe Davis and Nico Collins against the Bears. They are so good against wide receivers. So yeah, McLaurin's a sit for me. If Dan was,

doesn't play. And what are you having? Yeah. Like he's not, I'm not starting Jalen McMillan over him, but I would start Jason over him. I would start tank Dell over him. I would start Romeo Dobbs over him.

Um, I just think that those guys in better matchups with better quarterbacks, like McCormick scares me, you know, he's been very good. He's been, you know, better than I expected,

you know, with, with, with Daniels. And I, if Daniel starts, I'll go right back to starting McCormick, even if Daniel's not a hundred percent of tough matchup,

but with the matchup and Marcus Mariota, I'm, I'm very nervous. I feel that. I feel that. I was impressed and listen, everything I'm about nervous. I feel that. I feel that. I was impressed. And listen, everything I'm about to say, huge asterisk, because Washington played against Carolina.

But I was impressed with how Mario looked. Oh, 100%. Absolutely. Yeah. He seemed very comfortable. And I think that he's going to have to throw. And we've seen McLaurin make big plays with bad quarterbacks before. And so he's the type of receiver two plays could swing it from a bad fantasy week to a good fantasy week. I might have them a little too high. I've got them 20th among wide receivers,

but I still believe that he will be target leader and a guy who could come through not for a huge game, but yeah, let's call it 13 PBR points. I think he can get you that. Okay, and yeah, Mariota started off a little slow. His first three dropbacks, he was sacked. He overthrew Deami Brown on a deep ball. A couple plays later, he made another bad throw to Brown downfield, but then he settled in and he played very well.

But this is a Bears defense that is basically the polar opposite of the Carolina Panthers. However, they are still perhaps without half, two starters in their secondary. This is a guy's Brisker and sorry, who else was it? Tyler Gordon. They both have not been practicing. Right.

I don't know if Gordon would be a factor for McLaurin unless McLaurin played in the slot a lot, but to me, that doesn't matter too much. It's still going to be a lot of Jalen Johnson and McLaurin. So to Jamie's point, that part makes it hard to really believe in a big game for Terry. Okay. Caleb Williams. I think Dave,

you have him sixth. Yeah. All right, Jamie, you have him ninth. Let's go. Caleb Williams. Well,

not you, but everyone else that held on. I still have him in many leagues. I don't want to hear it. I made one mistake, but everyone else that held on to Caleb. No, I still have him in many leagues. I don't want to hear it. I made one mistake. But go read Adam Sleeper's column. He was one of the headliners. Whose Sleeper column?

Mine. Him and Alva Kamara. You really nailed those two. And Dee Higgins was a Sleeper. I had Rico Dattle, I think, in the breakouts column. I'm just impressed that you referred to yourself in third person. Yep, yep. All right.

And then you dropped him for Andy Dalton. DeAndre, no. I dropped him for Tank Bigsby. You dropped Tank Bigsby to keep Andy Dalton. Keep Andy Dalton, of course. DeAndre Swift or James Cook? Swift. Swift.

If Jaden Daniels plays, would you go McLaurin or DJ Moore? I'd go DJ Moore. I think I would too. Okay. DJ Moore or Amari Cooper? Cooper. Cooper. Cooper.

Okay. I think that's it here. Keenan Allen or Jalen McMillan? Allen. Oh, Brian Robinson. We got to Allen. Oh, Brian Robinson. We've got to talk about him. Brian Robinson Jr. or Josh Jacobs?

So Robinson makes me a little nervous with Mariota, just the entire offense in general. Jacobs is easy in this one, even if Jaden Daniels plays. But I think you've got to be a little bit nervous about the entire washington offense what happens if robinson does not score it's going to be ugly low end number two running back okay the bears run defense though is their weakness so it is that's true but i don't think it means that washington is going to be able to go in there and just hammer them with the run

for four quarters oh who were we just talking about? Oh, Bucky Irving? No, sorry, Rashad White or Brian Robinson Jr.? Still Robinson. That might change if Irving's up. I got to move Robinson down. I have him 21st. It's too high.

Bears DST is top eight. If Jaden Daniels plays, would you try to get away from the Bears DST? Yes, but not completely because clearly he's dealing with something that's pretty significant. So will he be able to make it through the game? Will he be as effective bears defense?

As you said, they've been very good, you know, so can they keep it up even against one of the better quarterbacks? Okay. Dallas is at San Francisco. It was the game of the week. Then it wasn't.

And it sent me into a game of the week. Tailspin a repeat stat of the game, James Conner is the only lead running back to average more than 3.7 yards per carry against San Francisco. So remember, during the bye, the Cowboys said they wanted to get Rico Dowdle more involved, but this is a tough matchup for Rico Dowdle. I think it's a tough matchup. Some of these games were before Kin kinlaw that was out for the season but dave starter sit rico dowdle sit i don't want to trust him i don't think that he's going to be

the catalyst of this dallas offense and i still think the niners run defense despite what we've seen in recent weeks i still think they're pretty good yeah i mean i know kareem hunt scored a couple times but not didn't exactly run that well ken Ken Walker averaged 2.3 yards per carry a couple weeks ago. You know, if we're going to give Rico Dowdle 20 carries, then I'm sure he'll find the end zone at some point and give you 60 yards with it. But I don't think that that's what Dallas is going to do. All right, so Dowdle behind Brian Robinson Jr. then?

Yes. All right. Even after he'll be robbed down. Why do you guys seem to like Dak Prescott this week his numbers off a buy I mean you know it's it's it's pretty amazing I think it's uh seven times I think he's been in the league eight years he missed the one where he had the broken thumb so or the broken ankle excuse me um so seven times in his career coming off a buy one game under 22 fantasy points he's averaging 28 points per times in his career coming off a buy one game under 22 fantasy points.

He's averaging 28 points per game in his career off a buy. It's just ridiculous. Now, will it be the same? It's hard to say. I mean, he's playing a very good defense. He's on the road. He's offensive lines. Not the same as receiving core is not the same, but the numbers are there.

And so I don't know if he's going to get to the 30 points per game, like he had last year or three or four times over the course of this stretch. But I think, you know, low twenties is realistic and, uh, still top 10 caliber quarterback.

It could be one of those situations where, especially if the 49ers are healthy, that what we saw from him, not the Detroit game, what was it where they were not the Steelers? The game before the Steelers. Oh, Giants 20.7 fantasy points.

No, there was the one game where he was, he was, uh, awesome, but it was garbage time. 34 points against the Ravens. That's what it was.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's definitely a possibility. Dak or Caleb Williams. I have Caleb over Dak. I'm back to back on them. I think I moved Dak one spot ahead of Caleb,

but again, I don't have a problem if you want to go Caleb. Dak or Kirk Cousins? I'll take Dak. Dak. Okay. Somebody asked in the chat, Dowdle or Tank Bigsby? That's a good question. Bigsby if ETN is out dowdle if etn isn't

all right that's yeah let's go cd lamb let's get going how do you guys feel about dave how do you feel about jaylen tolbert who i believe is about 53 percent rostered i wouldn't want to start him i think he's more of a number four receiver or a flex um a low-end option. He's in that same range for me as Dell, McMillan, Christian Watson. You're hoping for one or two big plays. Okay. And then Jake Ferguson is top seven for everybody, so we're optimistic for him. 49ers haven't really been so great against tight ends.

I mean, they were great against Kelsey, but not Noah Gray in recent weeks. But you know what? I bet we have a lot of Ferguson questions. So if you do, fire away. We might have a lot of questions in this game. Starter said Brock Purdy. Borderline starter. Oh, right.

We did this earlier. Yeah, I would not start him if there is no Debo or Kittle. Or excuse me, if there is no Debo. Kittle seems like he's definitely playing. If both those guys are healthy, then he's a top 15 quarterback. Look at this. Look at this comment, Dave, from Austin. Dave will eat his words on his Dowdle hate.

I hate a lot. So it wouldn't surprise me if that somehow finds its way onto my plate. There you go. All right. So then we talk, let's talk about Jordan Mason here. And you guys are much lower on Mason than Heath is. I know full PPR is not his best format.

So let's take a look. PPR, Jamie 20th on Mason, Dave 24th, Heath 9th. And I think Heath has him fifth in non-PPR. Yeah, you guys are a little bit low on him. Swan song here for Mason. I just saw a report that the, the Niners are very optimistic or he has a very good chance of playing in week 10,

Christian McCaffrey. So Dave, we're not expecting Jordan Mason to go out with a bang. No, I think he might. And I think I have him ranked too low. Dallas has run. Defense has allowed at least 12 non PPR fantasy points to four of the

past six running backs and the teams. They didn't do it. It was the Steel past six running backs and the teams they didn't do it. It was the Steelers. And we know that Najee didn't have a great game then. And it was the giants. They've been slapped. They've been beat up by teams that are good at running the football. I still think the Niners are one of those teams. Mason should be higher, but I do think it points again to a lot of running backs are healthy. A lot of running backs are going to play a lot. And I don't know if he can get like much more than like 90 total yards. And then you're hoping he scores on top of it. So he's going to be a number two fantasy running back.

Okay. Jamie, any thoughts on Mason? I agree. I think, you know, it's, I don't know how healthy is. That's part of the problem. You know, it's like he's fighting through the shoulder injury. You're right. This is his last opportunity to be the solo act.

So he may still have a significant role, you know, if they want to keep McCaffrey limited. But this is his last chance to be the feature guy, so he should go out. I felt like there was a difference between Mason in the first half and the second half where in the first half, he still seemed a little tentative. And then in the second half last week against Kansas city, he started to like feel himself again.

And he started to run with a little bit more power. The blocking was also better for him. So that would encourage me to be more in on Mason. See, I don't know how you could start a guy like Najee Harris over Mason. Do you guys have Najee over Mason? No, it shouldn't be that way. Yeah, because they're kind of the same.

They're probably not going to catch more than two passes. They might catch zero passes. Mason's just a more efficient running back. I don't think the matchup is all that different for either of them. I think that obviously the Steelers have a better chance of just killing the clock at the end. That could be Warren. Could be. Could be. But remember with Najee.

Najee scored with nine seconds left last week. Last week. Boost his numbers. And for whatever it's worth, Cordero Patterson is going to be back. It is a loaded week at running back, though. You're right. I mean, it's just tough to get him, especially in PPR. It's tough to get Mason too high because, you know, like Javante Williams or Jordan Mason.

Javante. To me, Javante. Yeah, I get that. That's one of the only names that's ahead of him that you're like, whoa, that's interesting. But it makes sense. He's facing Carolina. All right. So people wanted more Rico Dowd.

I got a lot of questions in the chat we i will get to them this is an interesting game but what's most interesting maybe is the 49ers wide receivers so jamie lay it out how do you see the niners wide receivers playing out this week i would i would hope that debo starts you start him and he's got top 12 upside because no brandon iuk so he's the easy one you know whether you consider him a number one or number two receiver he's he's got top 12 upside because no Brandon Ayuk. So he's the easy one. Whether you consider him a number one or number two receiver, he's a starter. Kittle's easy.

I don't know if you want to factor him in. Yeah, it's easy to start him. If Jennings plays, Jennings is a top 36 receiver. If Jennings does not play, Ricky Pearsall is a desperation number four type receiver. If Debo and Jennings are out, then Pearsall is a lesser version for me of Jalen McMillan. You know, so a top 36 caliber type of guy that you're taking based on desperation and hope.

And the hope would be is that the targets are there for him. So I would not expect Jennings to play right now just because he's missed so much practice and coming off a week where he did not play Debo at this point, we are expecting him to play. You just wonder, cause we've seen this throughout the course of their history, especially knowing their bi-week is like, if they have a lead and their defense is playing well,

like, is he going to get touches? Yeah. Okay. So let's read some questions here. I think this might help us put these players in perspective, uh, about basically everyone in this game ferguson or kate otten ferguson it's close debo or romeo dobbs debo debo mason or bigsby that's going to be mason even even without etn

right yep mason or kareem hunt so this is a fair comp and there's a very solid track record of running backs against the Raiders 15 and a half PPR points or more in every game so I like Kareem Hunt better me too um Ferguson or Kraft Ferguson but if you're counting on touchdown only, I would go Kraft. It's fair. Dak or Kyler? Dak. Dak. Jalen Tolbert, Rico Dowdle, or Travis Etienne,

PPR? Oh. Tolbert. It's PPR. Derek Mason or James Cook? How about Jordan Mason or James Cook?

Jordan Mason. So right now, I have Cook ranked higher, but I could see myself changing that and go Mason. Pearsall or Tillman? If Debo plays Tillman, if Debo is out, Pearsall. I think I might take Tillman either way. If it's PPR, if it's half or non-PPR, I'll go Pearsall if Debo is out.

And this is Adam. Can you please do more starts or sits for Rico Dowdle? So I'll do some wide receivers here. How about JSN or Rico Dowdle? JSN. Tyler Lockett or Rico Dowdle? Same. Lockett. Lockett. Tank Dell?

Dell. Demario Douglas or Dowdle? Douglas and PPR, Dowdle and the others. Yes. Okay. All right, I think we're good. Let's move on to a new game. Oh, Niners DST?

Borderline starter. Agreed. Philadelphia is at Cincinnati. Let's check on a prediction from last week. I predicted Saquon Barkley would have 18 carries, 145 yards, and two touchdowns. He had 17 carries, 176 yards, and one touchdown. I also predicted six catches, 35 yards, and two touchdowns. He had 17 carries, 176 yards, and one touchdown. I also predicted six catches, 35 yards, and a touchdown.

He had two catches for 11. I was not really close at all, but I did get within one carry of what he actually performed. Are you surprised that he did not want to get his career best against the Giants? No, because if you didn't see it, they were like, you're very close to a career high in rushing yards, right?

Yep. Do you want to go back in? He's like, no, let the other guys eat. And I love Barkley. I just love Saquon Barkley. Shame on any Giants fan for booing him. Good for him. Classy move.

And he's a legend. Stat of the game, the Eagles have 13 sacks in their last two games after recording 11 sacks in their first four games. It's a pretty big development. They played the Brown, the Eagles have 13 sacks in their last two games after recording 11 sacks in their first four games. It's a pretty big development. They played the Browns and the Giants, but the Bengals... Out of the lines.

Bengals have struggled a little bit against pressure the last couple weeks, and Burrow has been good but not great. He's home. Yeah, he's been great at home this year. Is this a great game? Do you think we're getting a big splash game from Burrow? Yes. Yeah.

I don't know about like 30 fantasy points, but let's call it 24. Burrow or Hurts? Burrow or Hurts? Yeah. They're back-to-back for me. I'll take Hurts. I have Hurts one spot ahead as well. Look, you want to be in this canoe, one it's it's look you want to be in in

this canoe one of these quarterbacks you want to be in this you know what with these guys honestly i think we could move on from this game i i don't really know it's davante smith i feel like it's the one that's tough they said earlier you know it's it's just one of those situations where he's playing more than zach moss the last two weeks he certainly should be in the flex conversation but as we've talked about, there are a lot of great running backs this week, you know, so I don't know if you have to force him into your lineup,

you know? So, right. It's like Mason's better. James Cook's better. Um, and he's outperformed, you know,

these guys over the last couple of weeks in certain matchups, uh, nausea is in a little bit better spot than him for me. So, you know, it's, uh, it's just one of those, one of those things where if you have him and you don't have anybody else you should be

happy to start him but an example of how good Philly's been against the run all year they've allowed just one touchdown to a running back but 4.86 yards per carry to running backs they are getting a little bit better there and last and he's also been a little bit of a matchup buster too it's yards per carry I mean Baltimore scored touchdown against them you know did had a good little bit better there. And he's also been a little bit of a matchup buster, too. It's yards per carry. I mean, Baltimore scored touchdown against them. You know, it had a good. That's true.

So it's not like he's he's been shut down by, you know, great defense, shuts him down. Bad defense. He does well against like he's been a little bit of a enigma. He's got a receiving touchdown against Ravens. Yeah, he did. Do you think he gets a lot of carries in the game? He's been getting 15 total touches,

which is, I think, the number that I was looking at. Okay. I mean, look, he basically has taken the job from Zach Moss. If it continues, then yeah. He's the rushing downs guy. He'll probably get 15 carries like he did last week. I would start him over Chuba Hubbard, for example. And Rico Dowdle? I would start him over Rico Dowdle, yeah.

I would start him over Dowdle. I'm not there over Rico Dowdle, yeah. I would start him over Dowdle. I'm not there with Chuba. I think Chuba, it's a tough matchup for Chuba, but I think as long as Brooks is out, I still think he can come up with better. Chuba with Bryce Young was bad. Yeah.

Chase Brown or Jalen Tolbert from the chat? Chase Brown still. And, oh, sorry. I might go Tolbert in full PPRpr the chat also says lebron is better than jordan is that even really a debate anymore it's i'm sorry to say it but that is an easy one i have a heart i'm it's my heart debating jordan over you said it's easy lebron of course the guy's 50 years old and he's still great i I mean, he's 40, but... Jordan wasn't great.

No, Jordan wasn't great this long. When LeBron single-handedly beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals. Yeah, that was pretty... I was like, that's it. He's the greatest. And that was like 10 years ago or something. He's still incredible. I mean, Jordan never lost in the final, though.

Yeah, I know, but it's... What I have been saying for years is that Jordan's been a better basketball player, and LeBron is just maybe the most amazing athlete ever. So what happens is LeBron's become a very good basketball player. Why do we have to choose? We have to choose, Jamie. We have to choose. By the way, Dodgers in six. All right.

Last thing is Devontae Smith here. Is he in your top 20? Yes. All right. Yeah, I think, again, last week was tough. The track record typically when one guy has been out has been pretty solid for him. This game should be the biggest over of the week. Tennessee's at Detroit. Tennessee's at Detroit.

Tennessee's at Detroit here. Okay. I know Jamie said sit Tony Pollard, but you said you moved him up a little bit? Yeah. I swapped out the bust alert in the column for Tony Pollard and Chuba Hubbard.

I moved Pollard. He's not a top 20 running back. He's in that Najee, Chase Brown. I'm trying to. So he's in that Najee, Chase Brown. I'm trying to think who else is in that area. Low end number two running back range. So he should be better than what he was last week. He should hopefully still do well even if Tajay Spears plays because Spears is going to be limited.

But this offense is bad right now. I mean, you know, the quarterback play is awful, whether it's Levis or Rudolph. The receiving core is now worse. You're going to see Detroit do what Detroit does, which is take away the run. They've been so good at that all season. And so Pollard's going to have to make some plays in the passing game,

which he's capable of. But I don't think you're getting the 15-point-per-game that he's gotten when he's been good. I think you're getting closer to 10, and that makes me nervous. I think the only thing that you can hope for in the case of Pollard is that he gets close to 20 touches. And if Spears plays, it's going to be a little bit harder for him to do.

And the matchups, I know Aaron Jones had a big game against Detroit last week. I don't think Tennessee can replicate that. All right. We are going very long today and we have a mailbag in an hour and FFT Express to record. So I'm going to ask... I got a bill in like five minutes.

All right. I'm going to ask that we kind of speed this up. Is there anyone else on the Titans that you're interested in even if it's just from a sleeper standpoint?

I mean, I would start Jalen McMillan, Cedric Tillman. Yes, go. Romo Dunze. All these guys over Calvin Ridley right now. Okay. And then starters at Jared Goff, guys. Over his last four games, he's completing 83.5% of his passes and

has a 144.8 passer rating. I mean, the guy has got to be number two in MVP conversation right now. And it's just been fantastic. Like he's, he's so efficient. He's dialed in, you know, it's not like losing Jameson Williams is,

Oh my God, he's lost, you know, such a significant piece he has, but I think you get between hopefully Laporta and Tim Patrick and the running backs. Like he still gets his numbers, you know, just the concern would be as if, you know, this is a multiple touchdown game for both

Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery. And I mean, multiple touchdowns for each of them, you know, so, or one of them, you know, so three combined touchdowns for those two guys, which is certainly possible and golf only gets you, you know, like two 80 and one, then you're disappointed. But yeah, I would start golf over to it for that question. Oh yeah. The question was two or a golf. You go golf, Dave, how about you? Two or a golf? only gets you like 280 and one, then you're disappointed. But yeah, I would start Goff over Tua for that question. Yeah, the question was Tua or Goff. You go Goff. Dave, how about you?

Tua or Goff? I've got Tua higher. I just think there's more upside. If Snead plays, I think it does make it a little bit harder because he will take away part of that field for Goff. He's played great, and he's a borderline starter. But I'd chase that upside with Tua.

Start both running backs. Would you start David Montgomery or Jordan Mason? That's a, that's not, you know, when we were talking about Mason, that's the one I was debating just because I wonder if Montgomery is not a hundred percent.

I know he's not on the injury report. At least I don't think he is. They're both touchdown dependent. I could see Mason having a higher ceiling this week. All right. Dave said Montgomery and start St. Brown. I don't think we're going to start Kalief Raymond or anybody else,

but Raymond has 10 targets in his last two games. So if you're in a super deep league and Sam Laporte is a sit, I mean, he's no higher than 14th in the rankings right now. Detroit DST is definitely one to start this week. They are fifth for Jamie,

10th for Dave, I think, and fourth for Heath and the Titans. They allow the most fantasy points to DSTs. Moving on to the Giants and the Steelers here. Daniel Jones has scored 22.3 or more fantasy points in all three road games.

All six of his touchdowns have come on the road this year. That is really weird. But yeah, without Andrew Thomas, I have no faith. I heard an interesting stat that made me think twice about this game for just a brief second.

This is the largest spread, largest game, largest point spread that the Steelers have been favored in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era. Most of the Steelers have been favored in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era. Six points? Yep. Wow. Oh, man. I don't know if that's true, but I heard it on the radio. I feel like that's public perception pushing that number higher

because the Giants looked so terrible last week, and Russ looked amazing last week. So what do you think about neighbors? Are you hesitant at all? Not to say them. You know, Pickens or neighbors? I have Pickens ranked higher. I have neighbors higher.

Waddle or neighbors? Neighbors. Tyrone Tracy, any interest? I'll take neighbors over Tracy as well. Any interest in Tyrone Tracy or Jalen Warren? I think I have them back-to-back with Tracy one spot ahead. I don't want to start a Giants running back. If I had to start a Giants running back, it would be Tracy.

Yeah, he played so many snaps last week compared to... I think he had all the high-value touches, too. Starters at Wando Robinson. Robinson is lower than he's been in a few weeks for me. He's top 30 still. Better in PPR

than none. I think we're getting six catches again. It's just a matter of is it 23 yards or is it 53? Right. 23. And Russell Wilson, any interest there? Russell Wilson or Baker Mayfield? Russ.

I'll take Russ. Gino Smith or Russell Wilson? Gino, but it's close. I'll take Russ if there's no DK Metcalf. Heath is very high on Najee Harris. He has him in the top 15. You guys have him around 24th. And we've talked a lot about him,

but he needs a touchdown. It's the same thing with Najee Harris. He pretty much always needs a touchdown. The Giants, they give up 5.3 yards per carry to running backs. So I think they were showing some improvement before Saquon Barkley pantsed them last week. We love George Pickens this week. Any interest in Pat Fryer Muth? Not so much, but it's, he's in the conversation of, if you want to carry two tight ends just to

see what happens, because again, they had the, that we, that we figure out if it was two or three design plays for Darnell Washington. No, no, I don't know. I think it was at least two. So, you know, they, they're, they're trying to, and I saw a quote from Arthur Smith, you want to reward guys who are playing hard, and I think that was part of it. So two for 51, three targets, that's not exactly something that you want to say is sustainable for starting fantasy caliber tight end numbers,

but I hope a start. There's still a work in progress of who's going to be the second or third receiving option for the Steelers. And right now, no one has emerged. Van Jefferson got a touchdown last week. We saw Calvin Austin a few weeks ago have a decent game. That was with Justin Fields. And at some point, Roman Wilson will get on the field and do some things.

But I think Friar Muth in deeper leagues, if you are still stuck and Dalton Schultz and Tyler Conklin and those type of guys are your tight end, you might want to pivot to Fryermuth and just ride it out the rest of the season. Well, the problem is that he's on bye next week. So if you're not using Fryermuth now, you might be clogging up a bench spot that you could need. Or you could go and stash somebody else, one of the other stash guys that we've talked about. And then when he comes back from the bye, he's got Washington. That's a good matchup.

And then it's Baltimore, Cleveland. Since they get into their thick of the AFC North schedule, I think he's going to be a guessing game every week, almost no matter what. So I'm not, I would probably, if I'm not using Firemuth this weekend, I think I can find another tight end off waivers. I'm cutting them.

Okay. So I'm going to end this show as if I were the greatest basketball player in NBA history. How many designs design plays for, uh, Washington for, yeah, Washington last week. Sorry. Darnell Washington. There's that's his name. Um, not one, not two, not three, four design pass plays for Darnell Washington last week.

Even more than I had suspected. So that was my LeBron impression. The worst introduction to a player ever? That's what you're going to go with? What do you mean? You're talking about the Heat's introductory press conference, right? Yeah, yeah. How many championships are we going to win? It was so bad.

I was going to end my part of the show by being the best basketball player of all time by doing this. Crying Jordan Beam. All right, we're out of here, everybody. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you later on Fantasy Football. Paramount Podcasts