Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC): WRs with Backup QBs! (11/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: November 3, 2023Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Not a bad game last night! We recap Titans-S...teelers and talk Will Levis, Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, if you should sell high on Najee Harris and more. Then we try to provide expectations for wide receivers playing with backup quarterbacks in Week 9 (12:45). What has recent history taught us and should we start Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, D.J. Moore and Jordan Addison? ... News and notes (21:10) and One Question for Each Game (25:45)! Do we like Josh Downs? Tony Pollard? Jakobi Meyers? We also help you Beat the Waiver Wire (30:00) for Week 10 which has a lot of elite players on bye ... Start or Sit for Cowboys-Eagles (33:06), Bears-Saints (40:15), Colts-Panthers (48:00), Rams-Packers (56:10), Vikings-Falcons (1:03:00) and Giants-Raiders (1:08:15) ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
What a play!
Can you believe this?
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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.
A happy, happy Friday to you, especially if you started Deontay Johnson.
He finally scored a touchdown.
See, folks, miracles can happen.
George Pickens was actually started in more leagues than Deontay Johnson,
and he did not come through for you.
He almost had a touchdown there, but they don't count.
What a strange play that was.
They would count if I were the commissioner.
Which one?
The non-toe draft?
Pickens, like not even attempting his feet down.
Yeah.
Yeah, you got to do that.
What did you think of the game?
It was interesting watching Levis.
I thought he did well when a lot of pressure on him.
And some of the throws in the first half were extremely impressive.
It would have been fun to see if Ty J Spears and fall down on that one
where he,
he laid it out in front of him.
But I thought,
you know,
I mean,
look,
I expected him to struggle.
It was a tough spot going into Pittsburgh short week.
And he looked like a rookie quarterback,
some great throws,
some great,
you know,
showing off that arm talent.
And then sometimes where he just looked like he was under duress and flustered.
I think it's going to have to be what happens within rest away.
I hope that the way the game ended and his stat line does not force Mike
Rabel and the Titans to go back to Ryan Tano,
like stick with Levis rest away.
I thought he played pretty well, honestly.
I thought I was so encouraged by his first half
i i think jamie really encapsulated it he he really had a great first half but the second
half was worse and i i got the vibe tell me if you guys saw this or not he reminded me of happy
gilmore at the driving range do you remember when happy gilmore was like just like sending golf
balls into the stratosphere. Yeah.
And everybody was like, oh yeah, you could make a killing, you know, on what was it like
driving range contests or whatever bets that you make at the driving range about who could
hit it farther.
But he, he, he sucked at the short game and sure enough, Levis was over four in the red
zone.
And he, he, Jamie mentioned the play to Tajay Spears.
He had Hopkins open for two could have been
touchdowns yeah one where hopkins was open in the end zone was a little bit of a tougher play
but both times he dropped his eyes and those are things that a quarterback really should not do
um there there was some good there was a lot of bad especially in the second half that last drive
i had nick costas's voice in my head saying he's just begging to throw an interception.
He should have thrown like four of them on one
drive. He's
got a lot to build on. I agree the Titans should
stick with him. When he's got easier matchups,
you might feel better about starting him.
Okay, does he have easier matchups
coming up? We'll see at Tampa Bay, at
Jacksonville, Carolina. It's a
mixed bag, I'd say, but
Levis is 58% rostered.
And listen, you need quarterbacks next week.
There's only really one quarterback that I see on waivers.
We're going to do a Beat the Waiver Wire segment.
But we've got four teams on by.
We've got some offensive juggernauts.
The Dolphins, the Chiefs, the Eagles.
They're all on by.
And the Rams are also.
I mean, we've got Kup and Nakua on a by.
So you need some players to beat the waiver wire.
They might be on a bye this week, too.
Yeah.
So be on the lookout for that.
And, you know, maybe you need to hang on to Will Levis.
But the guy I was going to mention, by the way, is Taylor Heineke.
I think of the available quarterbacks.
He's probably the best.
But we'll get to that in a little bit.
Yeah.
Adam, you should also mention the bye-nado in week 13.
Josh Allen's on bye then.
There's some other quarterbacks that won't be around. Levis playsianapolis at home that week maybe that's a matchup that you could
start them in i think the thing when we get to that point this season though you're going to
have half your league not even paying attention so you should be able to get some players i hope
it's not that way oh the rest of this game pittsburgh 20 tennessee 16 i thought it was a
really good game not a lot of penalties which was great only 17 um game. Not a lot of penalties, which was great. Only 17.
But not a lot of turnovers.
Only one turnover was on the last play of the game.
But I didn't do it.
Lunders got bailed out by a bunch of penalties, too.
Yeah, and Pickett was begging to throw some picks, too.
Yes.
So, anyway, your major takeaways,
I think the Steeler is probably a little bit more interesting with the Pickett, with the Pickens-Deontay split, Jamie?
And is it basically start Deontay, sit Pickens?
Is that how you're going to go into every week?
And then we'll kind of play the matchups.
But what do you think?
I wouldn't necessarily say Pickens is an automatic sit right away.
Again, if he catches that touchdown, we feel a little bit better about him.
But you've now seen two games of the three with Deontay Johnson back where it's been a lot of Deontay Johnson. And, you know, we, we, we said
this going in to the game that, um, it was, it was right back to a lot of the same route running
that Pickens was doing before Deontay Johnson got hurt or basically last season. Yeah. So my thought
going into the year all along was always going to be that Deontay Johnson was still going to be the
focal point of the passing game.
And you've seen that now, that that's kind of what this offense is going through.
Pat Fryer-Muth will hopefully come back soon, and that could change some things as well.
But for now, yes, I would say Deontay Johnson's a must-start guy in PPR.
Still going to consider him on the fence in non-PPR because I don't think he's all of a sudden going to score a boatload of
touchdowns,
but you got to be more encouraged by,
by this,
but yeah,
I wouldn't say pickings.
You're automatically sitting.
Dave,
do you think we should buy,
sell or hold on the Steelers running backs who are performing a little bit
better lately?
I'd buy into them continuing to run the ball.
And I think nausea is look good for a couple of weeks.
Now I was encouraged by what Warren did and especially encouraged that Warren went back to being
involved in the passing game because last week he wasn't as much and Najee was. The Steelers are
going to lean on this because I don't know if they can lean too heavily on Kenny Pickett.
And so Najee's look better. I would start him as a number two RB. Warren as a number three RB, bi-week RB,
maybe a low-end starter in PPR leagues.
But they were both really good.
It was encouraging.
Okay, on the other side of the ball,
what do you guys think?
Jamie, what do you think about DeAndre Hopkins?
He got his targets.
He didn't get his production.
Dave mentioned he was open in the end zone.
Four catches for 60 yards on 11 targets.
And kudos to Joey Porter, rookie cornerback,
who asked Mike Tomlin if he could shadow Hopkins.
He was on him a lot, and he did a pretty good job.
But, yeah, anyway, after the huge game, the three touchdowns last week,
he's back to 10 PPR fantasy points this week.
Your thoughts going forward on Hopkins?
You missed your sell-high window.
We said that on Wednesday, you know, when you were asking
who's the sell-high candidate, that was the guy I mentioned. Look, you're going to get some good games. You're your sell high window. We said that on Wednesday, you know, when you're asking who's the sell high candidate,
that was the guy I mentioned.
I look,
you're going to get some good games.
You're going to get some struggling games.
That's what happens with a rookie quarterback and really nothing else to
help Deandre Hopkins,
you know,
take coverage away.
You know,
hopefully Traylon Brooks is okay.
And that was a scary injury.
It seems like he's trending in the right direction after what happened.
So,
you know,
who knows how long he'll be out,
but Nick Westbrook,
Akina and,
you know,
Kyle Phillips, they don't scare opposing defenses. You know, Chico Conk was
been a disappearing act. So it's, it's Will Levis looking for Deandre Hopkins. Understandably. So
is what he should do. It was great against Atlanta, but that's going to be, I think a
problem for as good as he can be still Hopkins. He's not going to be consistent at his age in
this offense and the attention he's going to see. So he'll be, I think what he's not going to be consistent at his age in this offense and the attention he's going to see.
So he'll be, I think, what he's been probably the majority of the season,
a borderline number two, number three receiver, more on the number three side.
Is there something there with Phillips?
Would you add him in a deep, deep league?
Deep, deep PPR?
Yeah, I think when you talk about Khalil Shakir and maybe we'll see what happens with the Patriots receivers,
with the Kendrick Bourne injury, whether it's a Juju or Taequann Thornton, because I think we're all excited about, you know, Douglas.
But those type of guys, you know, there could be something there.
Yep. Eight targets over the last two games. Some clutch ones, some really good throws to fill up from Levis last night.
Any thoughts on Derrick Henry just to wrap up this fun stardom,
maybe not a top 10 running back like he used to be,
but still getting the work,
getting a few catches,
three catches.
Right.
I think that you just keep rolling with them.
Read the schedule again.
We've got at Tampa Bay at Jacksonville,
Carolina Indy at Miami in week 14.
There's really two games there based on the narrative that we've kind of been talking about
where I think they're probably chasing points significantly.
Jacksonville, which they always play Jacksonville tough, so it's hard to say that,
and then the Dolphins.
Otherwise, they're probably going to be in the rest of those games.
Yeah, yeah.
How do you feel about two matchups against Houston in the fantasy playoffs?
Should be in those games.
Again, unless their defense just craters.
And the thing that's a little troublesome
coming off of the last two games for them,
their run defense has fallen apart.
Because we know their pass defense is not great.
And if their run defense is going to fall apart,
then they're going to be in trouble.
But it's funny you mentioned Houston, right?
Because Houston has, over the past few years,
been the worst run defense in football.
And Derrick Henryry he scores over 20
fantasy points basically every time he faces them uh looking at his most recent games 126 yards and
a touchdown 219 yards and two touchdowns 250 and 2 212 and 2 211 yards and three touchdowns
derrick henry versus houston is a He is. It's basically the best production
of any running back against any team. It has to be. However, better than what he does against
Jacksonville. Oh, yeah. It's every single game. He had one hundred and twenty six yards in one
touchdown the last time he faced Houston. That was his worst performance by far since 2019.
It's incredible. But Houston is much better against the run this year.
But, man, that history, you love it.
And he faces them twice in the fantasy playoffs.
All right, we can wrap up on this game here.
I will say this, though.
I know we were saying hold TyJay Spears through the trade deadline.
I would not be dropping him.
You know, the one thing you might fear is clearly the Titans are starting to look toward the future.
And will they start to give Spears more work?
They already are.
I mean, he put more caps than Henry last night.
Okay.
So, Dave, that's the end of Thursday Night Football.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Ding!
Also, someone wants to know what Jamie thinks of the Adam Halloween story scandal.
Jamie's take on the recent Adam Halloween story scandal. Jamie's take on the recent Adam Halloween story scandal.
What's the Halloween story scandal?
The scandal is that Adam told my story yesterday.
You told me this.
Oh, you ratted on me.
It's not ratting.
You said it on a program.
He wasn't watching.
A program. I like that you choose this guy's name, by the way. Oh on a program. He wasn't watching. A program.
I like that you choose this guy's name, by the way.
Oh, God, I didn't even notice.
What was it?
Hugh Jass.
Nice.
Thank you, Hugh.
That's hilarious.
My bad.
All right, listen, we got a lot of great content for you this weekend.
Hugh Jass.
We got our mailbag.
We're actually recording our mailbag at 11 a.m. this morning, so a little bit earlier.
So we'll read your Apple podcast questions
and your emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.
YouTube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday
if you want to watch our live stream at 11.30 a.m. Eastern
on Sunday to get your questions answered.
And we'll hang out.
We'll watch the end of the Dolphins-Chiefs game together.
11.30 a.m. YouTube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday.
Also, yes.
Do you want to hear the whole story
or are you just going to tell?
No, that's all right.
I mean, there's another half to the story.
If we have time at the end of the show.
And HQ, CBS Sports HQ Fantasy Football Today,
the OG version,
is at 9 a.m. this week.
9 a.m.
Because we have the London game early in the morning.m. this week. 9 a.m. Because we have the London game
early in the morning.
It's not London.
It's not what?
It's not London?
Correct.
Come on, Dave.
That's the game.
I knew you were going with that.
No, it's not in London.
But it's the Dolphins and the Chiefs.
Yeah. In Germany, 9.30. No, it's not in London, but it's the Dolphins and the Chiefs.
Yeah.
In Germany, 930.
I love that you knew that I was going to correct you on that.
That's right.
Well, that's that.
That's that, Luke.
You're brilliant.
He sends me a text.
He sends me a text this morning.
Well, don't react.
Right.
Yeah.
Don't say, don't say, don't correct me when I say London. Don't correct me.
He did the exact same thing with the Bengals and who they who they were playing oh that's right that's right is a trick
well listen the afc i knew like it was gonna be that game so you weren't on the show i had to come
up with something clever let's get our news and notes oh actually uh impromptu segment really
let's talk about backup quarterbacks and wide receivers. It's a big question this week, right?
And let's talk about what we've seen so far from good wide receivers,
sometimes great wide receivers, who have had backup quarterbacks.
We haven't really had a ton of it this year yet.
How far are you stretching this, though?
One-week replacements?
Here are the guys I have, right?
Garrett Wilson, so far, is the number 33 wide receiver per game in non-PPR,
number 24 in PPR.
Devontae Adams played one game without Garoppolo so far.
He was with O'Connell.
He had eight catches for 75 yards on 13 targets.
Amari Cooper in his last four games without Watson.
We'll throw Myers in there too.
Myers was bad.
Myers was bad, yeah.
Amari Cooper in his last four games without Watson,
2.6 points, 14.8, 4.2, and 14.9.
If I had to do the quick math,
I'd say he's averaging about nine points per game, maybe 10.
So every other week.
We got him next week, then. Yeah.
The best has been the Colts wide receivers, but that was kind of
an obvious upgrade just because Minshew was going to
throw more than Richardson, but they've been great.
And then DJ Moore. DJ Moore
has three straight games with about 55
yards and no touchdowns with Bajent.
Well, if you're going to do
Zach Wilson, Garrett Wilson, you've got to do
Marquise Brown
for the season.
Okay, fair.
I think he's probably been in the same range.
Let me see where he is per game.
He's 27th per game.
This has been bad.
That's wild because we kind of had the impression
that Marquise Brown was doing well with Dobbs.
He had a bunch of games with over 15 PPR points.
I think he's been all right.
I mean, 13.3 points per game,
it's not bad. It's not a player that you just outright
sit or anything like that, but all of these guys
are capable of a lot more, except, you know,
Colts situation aside.
And Gardner Minshew, I think we would have to regard as
one of the better backup quarterbacks. But my
point is, you know, I think people want...
Thielen, too. Thielen had a big game with Andy Dalton.
Thielen had a big game with Andy Dalton. DeAndre Hopkins
had a big game with Will Levis, and then a stinker. Yep, yeah, I knew I was going to game with Andy Dalton. Thielen had a big game with Andy Dalton. DeAndre Hopkins had a big game with Will Levis and then a stinker.
Yeah, I knew
I was going to forget some.
Yeah, Hopkins' average is probably pretty great.
Right. That's why average can be tricky.
But there's a lot of risk.
There's a lot of risk. So anyway, we can
talk about that as the games
come, but obviously
there are going to be a ton of Cup and Nakua questions.
A ton. And Rippon made two starts last year. One of them was against the Jets.
The other one he played pretty well against the Cardinals. I think he was something like 21
of 26. It wasn't a great stat line because he didn't throw a lot, but I'd say
he acquitted himself well. But anyway, this is tough.
This is not an easy subject. You don't really know what to expect.
But I think Jaron Hall could be awful.
He could be awful.
I was surprised at how high you guys have Jordan Addison ranked.
I don't want to start Addison.
You guys seem to want to start him.
Well, I mean, think about what we're missing this week.
It's not just him.
It's the two Rams guys.
It's Marquise Brown.
It's DJ Moore.
There's a lot of guys dealing with backup quarterbacks.
Plus, you have the four teams on a bye. I got asked this question on a radio show this morning like it you
know what to expect with Jordan Addison like this week expect probably a little bit of a down game
next week you hope with Dobbs back that or with Dobbs starting that it's going to be a good game
for him but you know when you start to just look at the landscape of what the position is like
you got to hope a full week of a game plan installed for him. You're right. He might be awful,
but he also might do enough easy throw,
get enough easy throws from guys that are going to be open in Addison and
Hawkinson that I think you could buy into it.
And let's not make any mistakes here.
He's stepping into the same situation that will love us.
Just stepped into last week,
facing the Falcons as a backup quarterback.
And he may have not four touchdowns,
but maybe he is 202 with a couple mistakes on top of it,
and those go to Hawkinson and Addison.
So I'm not going to completely run away from him.
I'm not going to run away from Kup and Nakua.
You just downgrade them.
And so if you have better options,
I don't know how many people do this week.
I mean, you said it, Adam.
You went overpaying like crazy for DeMario Douglas
because you needed somebody to start,
and there are a lot of people in that situation.
I made three trades yesterday to cover some holes. A couple were good.
One was probably questionable, but I needed to, you know,
find some starters. And so, you know,
you have to do what you have to do at some point,
but I think in terms of Addison just on his own,
it's still a number two receiver for me.
And same here.
I started the week studying the quarterbacks themselves.
So I have notes on Jaron Hall and Clayton tune and Brett Rippon and,
and what I think they might be able to do.
But the thing that I come back to is what offenses are they in and what are
they going to be asked to do?
And in the case of Rippon, for example,
I'm sure that most of his throws are going to be inside of 15 yards.
And all he needs to do is just be on the same page as Cooper cup and
Puka Nakua.
And hopefully those guys will be safe enough to start in PPR with lowered expectations,
non PPR, probably a different story. There's no way you should expect either of those guys
to be what they were with Matthew Stafford for obvious reasons. Rippon isn't anywhere close to
as good as Stafford and Jaron Hall, same thing. But think about that Vikings offense.
I don't know if this is going to turn Minnesota into a run-heavy squad.
Well, they want to lose it, Will.
Well, and I just don't think that's Kevin O'Connell's nature.
And so if Jaron Hall is going to throw a lot, of course,
there's going to be some turnover-worthy throws and some mistakes along the way.
But we've seen Jordan Addison scoot past defenses,
and Jaron Hall should be
able to get them the ball in space pretty routinely.
It's also,
you know,
Adam,
we,
we,
we went through this a few times to some degrees of success,
some,
not so much twice in the 49ers tenure with,
with Kyle Shanahan,
you know,
and Nick Mullins tying into Minnesota is part of that.
But,
you know,
the one year when Garoppolo went down
and everybody was healthy there in San Francisco,
I think it was 2018.
Mullins had some pretty good production.
Remember his first game on a Thursday night?
That was 2018 or that was 2020?
I don't know if it was 2018, but it was his first NFL start.
The Raiders, right? Yep.
I think so. And he ended up playing great.
And then you're probably going to say Brock Purdy being the other one well I'm just saying like when you have these offensive play
callers that's where I was going you have these offensive play callers you saw it with Baker
Mayfield last year he was a disaster and then he gets to the Rams and he was competent and that was
with a really scaled down receiving core you know there was no cup there was no I think Van Jefferson
was just coming back from injury. It was terrible.
And he made plays.
And so, you know, you give Sean McVay time, you give Kevin O'Connell time.
You know, those two teams in particular, I think we'll find ways as Dave just laid it out.
They'll find ways to scheme these guys open, easy throws, make it where these guys are
comfortable.
So do you start the KJ Osborns of the world?
No.
Do you stick with the Jordan Addison's of the world?
Yeah,
I think so.
You know,
again,
it just depends on,
are you loaded at the position?
Do you have great flex options?
Then you start those other guys.
But I think in case of cup Nakua Addison,
you just downgrade him a little bit.
Like Marquis Brown's a little tougher to trust,
but I still think,
again,
he's in that same category.
I just don't trust the system as much.
All right.
Well,
uh,
yeah, Heath actually has
Jordan Addison 38th. I'm sorry. You guys
are high on him. Heath is not high on him.
I probably could have gotten
the Heath sigh.
Heath, how do you feel about Jordan
Addison today?
That's what I thought. Let's take a break.
When we come back, we'll go through our news and notes.
One question for each game. Beat the waiver
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All right, here we go with our news and notes.
Matthew Stafford mispracticed.
Not expecting him at this moment.
Kyler Murray's off the injury report.
Same thing happened last week. Still not expecting him at this moment. Kyler Murray's off the injury report. Same thing happened last week, still not expecting him at this moment.
Deshaun Watson also seems unlikely to play.
He didn't rule it out.
He just said, you know, he's not, can't commit to it.
He's trusting the experts as opposed to when he rushed back against the Colts.
There you go.
Gus Edwards practiced in full.
Amari DiMercato mispracticed again.
And Damian Pierce, missed practice again.
I can't imagine you'd be interested
in Keontae Ingram.
No, but Devin Singletary
would be a good
bi-week replacement running back
if he's going to be
the main guy for Houston.
I would imagine that he would be.
Boone would play third downs.
And Texans would try and roll
with that against the Bucs.
And not only that, again,
I don't want to just steal all of the beat the waiver wire fun,
but Devin Singletary is something like 44% rostered.
And if he gets this one game audition,
it could be a Chuba Hubbard situation.
I don't think he's going to completely take Pierce off the field,
but I think he's worth adding.
He might.
Yeah.
He might.
Pierce had some really good runs last week, though,
just not near the goal line.
Raheem Mostert should play.
CEH is out.
That shouldn't really matter.
Jarek McKinnon was limited.
Unfortunately, Saquon Barkley says he's going to be dealing
with a high ankle sprain for the rest of the season.
So, yeah.
And then, you know, you wonder, I mean,
do you wonder if they could shut him down at some point?
Is there obviously not headed in the right direction?
Why would they care?
For his sake.
I mean, not going to make the guy go out there and play hurt.
Well, I would imagine if he says he's playing, he's going to play.
Right.
But he's going into a contract here.
If he was truly hurt, he would stop himself from playing.
Fine.
Well, either way, if you're talking about trading for Saquon Barkley,
does the fact that he said he's going to be dealing with it all year
give you pause?
I think it just lowers what you should be expecting to give away.
Right.
But the Barkley manager is not going to give him away.
He's been producing with this ankle sprain.
Would you rather have Jonathan Taylor
or Saquon Barkley rest of the season?
Taylor.
Taylor makes sense in the wake of that news,
and you should be able to...
What you should do is,
if you're really trying to acquire Saquon Barkley,
send that news story to whoever you're trading with
and say, I'm not paying what you think I should pay for him.
Pukunukua limited with a knee injury, but we're ranking him.
Drake London missed practice again.
So we'll talk about that game and what that might mean for Kyle Pitts.
Michael Wilson missed practice.
Curtis Samuel still missing practice.
Josh Palmer missed practice, their first practice of the week.
Debo Samuel says he's ready to go.
They're on their bye, but Debo will be back next week.
And Josh Downs popped up on the injury report.
We'll have to keep an eye on that.
He practiced Wednesday, was limited on Thursday.
Darren Waller's out and could miss several weeks.
Gerald Everett practiced in full.
On the offensive line, we'll see if Tyron Smith could play this week
and Teron Armstead maybe and the Giants.
I believe Mike McCarthy said Tyron Smith is playing.
Oh, excellent.
On, let's see, Monday night,
Rasul Douglas looks like he's going to play for the Buffalo Bills.
Very excited for that one.
Sunday night, right?
No, Monday.
Sunday night.
A double game of the week, Dave.
Yes, it's Sunday night.
And it's the Bills and the Bengals.
A double game of the week, folks.
It's Sunday night, of course.
I couldn't decide which one was I more excited about.
But yeah, I don't know.
It's this one, right?
It's got to be this one.
I think the Bengals are going to win by seven.
If not more.
I was convinced that they were going to beat the Bills in the playoffs last year
because I thought the Bills could not cover them.
And I think the same problem exists.
And that is most of the key.
Oh, Willie Gay, linebacker for the Chiefs.
He was limited, so that was good.
Dolphins secondary getting healthier.
Graham Gonneau is on IR.
Don't start him.
How do you feel about that?
How did it all play out?
I think it's a shame.
I think if he was really hurt, that's the reason they lost the game.
You know, it's like it was the right decision to kick the field goal,
but if he was really injured, then it was the wrong decision.
Bad news for Devin Singletary, by the way.
Tampa Bay defensive tackle Vita Vea practiced in full.
Did you mention Gerald Everett? Yes,
I did.
One question for each game.
Dallas is at Philadelphia. Should we
sit? Oh, wait. Let me get some
scary music. Should we sit?
Tony Pollard!
No.
No. Lowered
expectations. Lowered expectations. I think realistic expectations at this point like
he's just not been great i hope he catches the ball we need that uh chicago at new orleans
starter sit dj moore after three straight games with around 50 to 55 yards and no touchdowns
starter sit dj moore he's a flex. Easier to start in PPR
than non-PPR.
I have been a fan
of the Saints secondary
pretty much all year long,
and I would expect them
to hassle more.
Still a number two receiver.
Addison or DJ Moore?
Addison.
Moore.
Indianapolis is at Carolina.
Will there be enough
pass attempts
for Gardner Minshew and Josh Downs
to be worth starting
yes
agreed
do you think starting Pittman
over are you starting Pittman over
all not all
most of the wide receivers with backup
quarterbacks Rams guys
more Addison
the only ones I've ranked ahead of them are Cooper Cup and does Garrett Wide receivers with backup quarterbacks, Rams guys, Moore, Addison.
The only ones I've ranked ahead of them are Cooper Cup,
and does Garrett Wilson count?
Does Devontae Adams count? I don't know if...
Yeah, Adams counts.
Yeah, I'll start Adams over him.
I would start Adams and Wilson if that's the category.
I would start Pittman over Cup.
All right.
Let's see.
Rams are at Green Bay.
How do you feel about the Rams wide receivers?
It's not just a question of the game. It might be the question
of the week. How do you feel about the Rams receivers, Jamie?
I think Cup is still a
must-start guy, but again, lowered expectations.
So not a top 10 guy for me,
but still top 15. And
Puka is still inside the top 20 for now, but if
he has another limited
practice, I may drop him a few spots.
I don't know how many times I can sing the lowered expectations.
I was always one of my favorite.
I don't know if everybody gets that.
A few people in the chat are feeling it.
Like that Mad TV reference.
Someone said great reference.
Dave usually sings it with me.
Minnesota at Atlanta.
Start or sit Jordan at...
No, I can't ask that.
I already did that. Start or sit Jordan at... No, I can't ask that. I already did that.
Start or sit Kyle Pitts.
He stinks again, by the way.
I've been sort of glossing over it,
but he's been horrible since a good two-game stretch.
But the London injury is interesting,
and the Heineke upgrade, hopefully, is interesting.
Start or sit Kyle Pitts?
Low-end starter.
Fair to say. I like the Joker thing better I like Logan Thomas better um
I like Taysom Hill and non-PPR better but hopefully like you said the two situations
no London if he's out and changing quarterback will be the thing that Kyle Pitts needs then you
might want to sell him after that sure so Heineke's ADOT last week was 9.7 yards. It was a full yard higher than Ritter's season high in a game.
So a more aggressive passer should lead to good things for pits
because he runs routes further downfield.
Just trusting any Falcons player other than Bijan right now
doesn't seem like the best thing in the world to do.
I would be more encouraged if there was no Drake London.
Minnesota 14th against
tight ends, so
they're solid.
If Drake London
were out, you would still start Njoku
and Logan Thomas, Jamie, over
Kyle Pitts? Yeah.
Interesting.
I'm not there yet. I still have Pitts ahead
of him. And one more game. Giants at Raiders. Yeah, I'm not there yet. I still have Pitts ahead of him.
And one more game.
Giants at Raiders.
Well, as Heath would say,
how do you feel about the Vegas wide receivers?
Adams is a must-start guy,
and Myers is a high-end number three receiver. Would it shock you if Adams was, like,
the number four receiver this week?
No.
Not really.
Basically, there's a familiar script with the Giants every week.
One receiver does really well, and pretty much nobody else.
We'll see if that holds up.
But they're going to have a rookie shadowing Devontae Adams,
I'm pretty sure.
I don't know how that's going to go.
I don't think that's going to go well. Beat the waiver wire. Remember, Chiefs, Dolphins, Rams, Eagles
on by next week. You've got to replace Matthew Stafford. So what do you do? Justin Fields is
super, super rostered, 93%. But take a look just in case someone dropped Justin Fields are you sure Justin Fields
is playing next week no I'm not
but boy they would look pretty dumb
if he doesn't right because they didn't put him on IR
but
this is the Bears we're talking about
I was going to recommend Gino Smith but he's
86% roster he's facing Washington
check see if Kyler Murray is available
Taylor Heineke is the one
that's widely available
that I think might be interesting.
He's at Arizona next week.
Russell Wilson's at Buffalo.
He's 68% rostered.
I think the number one beat the waiver wire guy
should be Khalil Herbert.
He's not available in a ton of leagues,
but he's 67% rostered.
Anyone else jump out at you that,
you know, Singletary 44%,
Acres 62%, Charbonnet 65%,
John Dotson 66%.
But I would pick up Herbert in a second if he were available.
How about anything for you guys?
I mean, that makes a lot of sense
because they're probably going to give him a big opportunity
once he's healthy.
I hope so.
Even if they don't, you've got to take the shot.
This is the roster percentage
that Deontay Johnson was at
just before he came off IR.
It was criminal that he wasn't
100% rostered.
Leonard
Fournette I have on here just in case.
We could see what happens there.
There's two bills. Fournette would be one.
Khalil Shakir would be the other. If we see another good
game for Shakir, he gets Denver
in Week 10.
Baker gets the Titans next week, right?
He does. Oh, yeah. That's a good one.
Yep. He's 61%.
Like I said, Jahan Dotson.
See where this goes. Quentin Johnston.
29% rostered. see where that goes.
He's not bad.
Do you dare chance it with Jonathan Mingo at Chicago in Week 10?
Not me.
He's been playing better, yeah.
It's not a bad call.
He got a lot of work coming out of the bye,
so I think that he may end up being like a low-end thing,
like maybe 10 PPR point thing.
Justice Hill, he got four catches last week.
You know, PPR, that's not bad if you're stuck
and who knows what happens with that moving forward.
Royce Freeman's still available.
We could see him take over more work
in Los Angeles.
Kyron back
after the bye or one more game?
One more game after the bye, week 12.
By the way, Brandonuju Smith-Schuster.
Brandon Cook just rolled 61%.
He scored in two straight games.
And he gets the Giants next week.
Well, but usually the Giants don't give up good games to receivers.
So Juju Smith-Schuster, I don't buy that.
But you never know.
I mean, that's the fear I have with DeMario Douglas,
that maybe it's someone else.
Maybe it's Juju.
I would be sick if it ended up being Juju.
It would be bad. I hope be sick if it ended up being Juju.
It would be bad.
I hope they make Taekwon active.
And those are the two guys they lean on
is the two young guys just to see what they have.
Let's go to the games.
Dallas is at Philadelphia.
Stat of the game.
This one's for Brandon Cooks.
Obviously for Lamb, but let's see for Cooks.
16 wide receivers have scored 12.3 or more PPR fantasy
points against the Eagles in eight games. That's two per game. 13 wide receivers have scored 16.2
or more against the Eagles. They are Jefferson, Kendrick Bourne, Curtis Samuel, Evans, McLaurin,
Addison, Nakua, Kupp, Garrett Wilson, Tyreek Hill, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel again, and McLaurin Addison Nakua cup Garrett Wilson Tyreek Hill Jahan Dotson Curtis Samuel again and McLaurin
again it's a lot of good receivers there we've got to say that about the Eagles they face a lot
of good receivers but they absolutely stink against receivers so you know this game I think is going
to be kind of obvious for people you're going to start the start the guys you normally start
Pollard might give people a little pause but what about Brandon Cooks what do you think about him
Dave Richard?
I was actually going to defer to Jamie on this one because Jamie was the one
mentioning him as a waiver wire ad earlier in the week. And at first I thought,
man,
that's strange because he's not getting a lot of targets and all he's done is
scored in two straight games. But if you go and you watch cooks play,
he still is a burner. Like he,
he absolutely has the kind of speed that the Cowboys should harness to try
and take down.
Triple game of the week.
Yeah.
What a week this is going to be.
It's the Eagles and the Cowboys.
Yeah.
A triple game of the week folks.
Don't pull out that long for St.
No, that's it.
Triple is my limit.
The text that you sent me said it was five games of the week this week.
Long story short,
I think that Brandon Cooks is a good sleeper.
I wouldn't expect
him to be a factor in the red zone.
Even though he was
last week. Last two games, he was.
Yeah, maybe
he will be.
I said this going into their bye when he had the game against the chargers that what i liked about it was i
thought he was a couple games removed from the knee injury that kept him out i think it was week
two or week three and the way that we've seen this offense operate for mike mccarthy is dac
prescott's having to make a lot of plays off script and in that game against the chargers we
saw some connection there,
especially on the touchdown that carried over to the first game after the
buy.
And I think it's something that we might be able to look to look at moving
forward,
not a must start guy by any stretch,
but again,
looking at the weekend,
who's potentially going to be able to help you high scoring game.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's involved a little more on the season.
Cooks has four red zone targets, touchdown uh dac prescott is i think
the easy number eight this week after the elite seven dac is eight for both of you he's nine for
heath heath has howell ahead of prescott but start dac prescott so pollardard is outside the top 10. He's around 12. I don't really know what to say at
this point. He scored single-digit PPR fantasy points in three of his last four games. Tony
Pollard does not have a touchdown since week one. The Eagles, you cannot run on them. They allow
the fewest fantasy points to running backs. And the problem is they see the fewest carries,
which is also why they're struggling against
carries per game. It's also why they're struggling
against receivers, right? Teams don't
run on them. So
yeah, I mean, the fact that you have him
ranked outside the top 10 is telling you guys
you're a little nervous about Pollard, but he's still a
start. Would you start
Mostert over Pollard?
Yes, for sure. Would you start Zach Moss
or Tony Pollard?
Pollard. Tony. You wouldn. Would you start Zach Moss or Tony Pollard? Pollard.
Tony.
You wouldn't go like Pacheco, Rashad White?
Pacheco, yes.
White, no.
I would start Pollard over both of them.
All right.
Easier to do in half and non-PPR with White.
Okay, let's see.
Only Brian Robinson and Brees Hall have scored a touchdown and only no
running back is more than 59 rushing guard against the Eagles. Talked about the Dallas receivers.
Jake Ferguson, start or sit, Dave? I like the red zone opportunities that he gets. He has 33
targets this year. 11 of them are in the red zone. He used there he's used as a check down option he is a top 12 ish fantasy tight end but he's touched on dependent how many targets do you
anticipate for jake ferguson six that's the magic number there have been three tight ends with at
least six targets against eagles and all three have been good he's got three games on the season
with seven hunter henry tj hockinson and logan thomas they've all three have been good. He's got three games on the season with seven. Hunter Henry, TJ
Hawkinson, and Logan Thomas, they've all had.
All had six targets. I think
it's better to start Ferguson if you expect it to be
a high-scoring game. I think everybody
expects it to be a high-scoring game.
I would
start Ferguson over Kyle Pitts, if that's
the question.
That is the question.
To me, Ferguson is better than the other two
guys i mentioned also better than a joker better than thomas better than uh coppets okay dave he's
kind of like what dac is a quarterback he's like the okay got past the guys that i feel somewhat
comfortable with then there's ferguson okay start hurts swift over pollard. Easy. Yeah.
Dallas is good against the run, too, but Swift over Pollard.
A.J. Brown, yes.
Devontae Smith.
Would you start Devontae Smith or Tony Pollard?
Smith.
Smith.
You feeling it with Smith this week?
High-scoring game, and I think we'll see how this Cowboys secondary handles this passing game.
I think I wrote in the notes that Dallas allows the second most fantasy points to receivers,
but I think they allow the second fewest fantasy points.
Second fewest, yes.
They're pretty good.
Let's see.
But it's also, I mean, you look at their opponents
have been kind of disastrous.
The only good receivers who have struggled against them
are good.
I mean, Debo, both 49ers guys were not good
in a game where Kittle went crazy.
And the Rams receivers last week
were not good.
All right, so we trust Devontae Smith.
Okay.
Devontae Smith or Devontae Adams?
Adams. Adams.
Devontae Smith or
Jordan Addison?
Smith.
And start Dallas Goddard.
All right, start this game.
How do you feel about the DSTs?
Eagles better than Cowboys just because Dak can be somewhat erratic
in these type of games, especially on the road.
Although the last time he played in Philadelphia, if you recall, was 2021.
Last game of the season, he threw five touchdowns.
Was Philadelphia playing in that game?
Do they have anything to play for?
I don't think they did.
And I think that was one of those games where he said, you're not going to play Dak Prescott.
It's week eight.
Right.
But I don't know if we should say that he's awesome in Philadelphia if he went.
No, no, no.
You're right.
That was backups for the Eagles.
Yeah.
I remember that.
Yep.
But I think, again, you just look at the there's more there's more potential of Dak being a little turnover prone and trusting the Eagles defense in their building.
OK.
By the way, Dak and Jalen Hurts did not face each other last year.
It was Cooper Rush versus Hurts and it was Dak versus Minshew.
So looking forward to this game.
Chicago is at New Orleans.
Not really looking forward to this game.
The Saints have struggled a bit on defense their last two weeks.
24 offensive points to the Jaguars,
27 points to the Colts in their last two games.
But is DJ Moore the only player you're even considering
starting for the Bears, Dave?
I'd consider Cole Komet as a low-end option in PPR.
That's about it.
Is this going to be a great game for Deontay Foreman or a terrible game?
There doesn't really seem to be much in between.
No, I think it's going to be terrible. I expect the Bears to play from behind, so that negates him as a high-volume running back.
Saints defense typically pretty good against the run.
I would stay away.
Yeah, fourth fewest fantasy points allowed, two running backs.
Now, they were terrible last week,
but I don't think the Bears are in the same class as the Colts
when it comes to running the ball.
I mean, here's... I don't think the Bears are in the same class as the Colts when it comes to running the ball.
I think it's so much easier to make the case against DJ more than four.
Here's where he's finished the last three weeks in PPR.
Wide receiver 37, wide receiver 21, wide receiver 51.
Heath has him 13th, and I think last week,
I don't want to speak for Heath,
he was talking about his full season averages.
I don't know if that's factoring in at this point, but I don't care about his full season averages.
I don't care about the Fields games.
I only care about the Bajan games, and it's pretty consistent, 51 to 55 yards.
He had a game where he almost scored two touchdowns, one of them rushing, one of them receiving.
So that could happen, but this is what I'm noticing from backup quarterbacks. I mean, they struggle with the touchdowns and the receivers, you know, also
struggle with the touchdowns in turn. But not only that, he's facing the Saints. And I say it every
week, they might have the best outside cornerbacks in the NFL. They struggle against the slot. DJ Moore hardly ever plays
in the slot right now.
So convince me that he's not
a must-sit player.
His last three games,
he obviously has a long track record
against them because of playing
in the NFC South with the Panthers.
His last three games against them,
three for 29, one for two,
one for 10.
Jeez, I told you to convince me
not to say...
Well, the two games prior to that, and I don't know the quarterbacks in all these
games because there's been a lot of them, but five
for 101. This is going back to January
of 2021, so probably week 18 of the
2020 season. Five for 101,
and then eight for 79 in a touchdown
in probably
week two of the
2021 campaign.
So I don't,
I can't trust that too long ago.
Yeah.
Way too long ago.
Last year,
he was on a different team last year.
Look with Beijing,
he's getting about seven targets per game and his catch rates at 76%.
So maybe he gets you close to 15 PPR points.
I hope that'll be more. I think that's open and non PPR. I think what. That would be more than he thinks.
I think that's all, but in non-PPR,
I think what Jamie just wrote off
should scare the pants off you.
Yeah, so I will say that
I've been a little underwhelmed
by the Saints versus wide receivers.
They're 14th against wide receivers.
They did well against Hopkins. They did 14th against wide receivers. They, you know, they did well against Hopkins.
They did well against Ridley. Phelan scored. Dobbs had a big game. Godwin had 114 yards without
Evans. Evans got hurt in that game. Nico Collins had four for 80 on four targets. Pittman, now
this is Pittman had eight for 40, but with a touchdown on 13 targets. So they haven't been quite as good as I think I expected.
Cole Komet, yeah, Cole Komet is low-end starter.
Derek Carr is the start of the week.
You guys have him ninth and tenth.
Heath is a little bit lower on him.
The Bears allow the third most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
So it's basically the Elite Seven, Dak Prescott,
and then it's Carr for Jamie.
And then, Dave, you have one other player ranked ahead of Carr?
Or am I wrong?
Sam Howell.
Sam Howell.
Okay.
So you can start Derek Carr, start Kamara, start or sit Chris Olave.
And then, like, let's give Michael Thomas credit.
If you need 11 points, he gets it every single week right around there.
And then Shahid can make a play, too.
But, Jamie, let's start with Olave.
Start or sit?
Start. Again, the targets have been there. It's a good matchup. You know, I think he's,
if you have better options because he hasn't been consistent with the targets, then that's fine. You
can go away from him, but there's going to be one of these games is because easily be it in their
own building against this defense. I know they've gotten a little bit better by keeping Johnson and
trading for sweat, but I still think this is a game
where Carr will have some success.
So he's proven he can have success
without Olave having a big game.
You know, three straight games
over 300 yards receiving.
It's not like Olave's done a lot to help him there,
but there's still that potential.
So I'm still ranking him
and trusting him as a number two receiver.
Is he a top 12 guy like he was being drafted?
No.
There are other options that are better,
but I do think this is
a good spot for Olave to come through.
Olave or Cup
slash Nakua?
Cup, Olave, Nakua.
I'm worried that it'll
end up being Olave, Cup, Nakua, though.
Easier to trust Cup and PPR.
It is weird
that the Bears, they've only allowed
one receiver to have more than 69 yards.
Mike Evans. Um, they give up some points, but it's pretty strange. Receivers don't get a ton
of targets against them, you know, but, um, we'll see. They gotta, are they going to give up some
big plays? Cause that's what the saints offense is. Yeah. So Michael, Mike, like, do you feel
like Michael Thomas is going to get what he normally gets? I think Michael Thomas will get what he normally gets,
maybe with a shot to get closer to 15.
He could score.
I don't think he'll see much of Jalen Johnson in the game.
I got to double check to see if Jalen Johnson travels or not.
The one thing that kind of gives me a little bit of pause is
the reason why the Bears give up so much passing-wise
is because quarterbacks have all day to throw.
If they've got Montez Sweat playing for them now,
that makes their pass rush significantly better.
And I wonder if that has some sort of an impact
on maybe keeping the game more competitive
and maybe giving Carr more than 26 pass attempts in the game.
Maybe he'll have to throw just a little bit more
because he won't have all day and not be able to run as well.
I think it's funny how much
Sweat and Chase Young were
coveted. And that pass defense
for Washington's been so awful.
I know. I know. Yeah.
It's funny. They get beat over
the top all the time. Alright.
Start or sit Taysom Hill?
And would you start Hill or Cole Komet?
Komet
and PPR. Hill in non and half.
Look, we've seen this story from Taysom Hill before.
You know, just looking at last week's game,
forget about the two games prior
because he was more of a traditional tight end.
He's not going to do that with Jawan Johnson back.
They showed us that last week.
He had one catch.
I think you got to just understand,
there could be a 9 for 60 game with no scores. There could be a nine for 60 game with no scores.
There could be a three for seven game with two scores.
You're talking rushing,
rushing.
Yes.
I'm sorry.
Um,
they're,
they're just too much.
He's just too much of a wild card.
So I think if you're stuck at tight end and he's on your team,
okay,
I'll take my chances with the wild card.
But again,
I,
I would rather have him to Joku. I'd rather. But again, I would rather have Njoku.
I'd rather have Logan Thomas.
I'd rather have Jake Ferguson.
And that's in all formats.
And so we'll see if, you know,
Tastemill can fall into the end zone.
That's really what you need at this point.
It is.
Let me just see.
I feel like the Bears probably give up
a lot of rushing touchdowns, right?
You would think.
The Bears give up...
No, they don't, actually.
They are like 10th in rushing touchdowns allowed
to running backs.
I don't know about overall.
All right, that's it for that game.
Let's go to the Colts and the Panthers.
It's that of the game.
These two teams allow the most rushing touchdowns
per game to running backs.
So I think you're probably not surprised
to hear about the Carolina,
but for the Colts,
does it give you any hope for Chuba Hubbard?
Did the Colts give up the second most rushing touchdowns?
Actually, they might even be tied with the Panthers.
Are they their most or second most rushing touchdowns per game, Dave Richard?
It makes me a little more interested in Hubbard,
but not enough to say that he's a must-start running back, even in PPR.
I think he's a bi-week guy, number three guy.
So who are the easy calls in this game?
Thielen, Pittman, Taylor?
I think Moss is an easy call.
I think Moss and Downs are easy, too.
Yeah, so that's the only question about this game.
I mean, Carolina, they give up the, the question is the pass volume.
That is the problem.
Do the Panthers have a good pass defense?
Probably not.
Are they good for fantasy in fantasy against quarterbacks and wide receivers?
Yeah,
they kind of are because they see the fewest pass attempts per game in the
NFL.
And you've got a team that we have seen them at times give 18 carries to both of their running backs.
So I do think that's a pretty big concern here.
But I asked you about it earlier, Jamie,
if you want to expand saying that Josh Downs is kind of an easy call.
I'm guessing like a high-end number three receiver.
I'm as a number two receiver.
So I think there's just, you got to buy into what he's done
for the last month and really every game
with Gardner Minshew.
There's been a strong connection.
There's been now back-to-back games with touchdowns.
He played his college football at North Carolina,
by the way.
So this could be somewhat of a homecoming for him.
I like that.
So,
yeah,
I just look at what he's been able to do and,
and I'll go back to Chuba Hubbard.
I actually think Hubbard's a decent play this week.
And that's kind of why I like Minshew a little bit more.
I think the Panthers are going to hang around.
I don't think this is going to be a game where the Colts steamroll them.
I don't think they have that type of ability.
And we've seen this run defense without Grover Stewart on the field
been absolutely atrocious.
So I think Hubbard is, if he's still going to be the lead guy,
which I don't know why they would go away from that
based on how they used Miles Sanders last week.
I have Hubbard as a low end number two running back.
So I don't necessarily,
I'm not scared to have to trust him if I need to this week.
Yes, he's more of a bye-week guy, not a slam dunk,
but I do think he'll have some success here
just based on the matchup.
So Bryce Young has looked better.
I think, you know, we've talked about Thielen.
I think Jonathan Mingo is somebody
that could have some opportunities here also.
So this is going to be a competitive game.
So I do think that we'll get some more options
than just Taylor and Moss running through this defense.
Yeah, another thing.
So you mentioned the Grover Stewart not playing for the Colts.
Zaire Franklin, starting linebacker, he's out.
He's not practicing so far as well.
So, you know, maybe a reason to take a look at Hubbard.
Would you start Hubbard or Singletary if Pierce is out?
Hubbard.
I think I'd take Devin just because I know he's going to get more work.
Would you start Hubbard over Alexander Madison and Cam Akers?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So Hubbard is in play this week.
When did Stewart's suspension start?
The Browns game when I made Jerome Ford
start of the week. Last week?
Two games ago.
They've given up four touchdowns to
running backs on the ground in those
last two games. Before that, two,
four, six, seven touchdowns
to running backs in six games.
I think it's making
a difference. It's been a problem either way.
Okay, where are we here so down would you start
downs
downs downs Josh Downs
or Demario Douglas
Downs
I would start Downs over DJ Moore
I would too
in PPR
Downs or Jacoby Myers
Downs. Downs or Jacoby Myers?
Downs.
Josh Downs.
All right, we got some... Gabe David, he got some questions from the chat.
Gabe, Davis, or Josh Downs?
I'd only start Downs over Davis in full PPR.
Half a non, I'd go Davis.
I'll take Davis on all three formats.
Cooper Cup or Zach Moss?
Cup.
Do you consider Moss in non-PPR?
I think I might.
PPR, no way.
Hubbard or Brian Robinson?
Hubbard.
I think I have Robinson higher.
And this one basically comes down to Puka or this says pick three.
Downs, Keenan Allen, Garrett Wilson, Puka Nakua. So it's basically Downs to puka or this says pick three downs keenan allen garrett wilson puka nakua so it's basically downs or puka nakua as long as puka's fine it would be down setting
but i like all four good stuff thank you for these questions uh from the chat that helps a lot all
right anything else from this we should talk more about minhew. I'm sorry. And Bryce Young is actually 16th for Jamie and 12th for Heath.
So that's interesting.
Not even close for Dave.
He has a week nine.
Yeah.
Welcome to week nine.
No kidding.
Bryce Young might be QB five next week with those buys.
But Gardner Minshew or Sam Howell.
Howell.
I like Howell better,
but there's like four guys
that are relatively the same to me.
And it's Howell, Carr, Minshew, and Stroud.
I think they're all very...
I'll put five in there.
Mayfield, yeah.
Yeah, they're all going to be somewhere
between like 18 and 20 fantasy points.
And, you know, one may get a third touchdown
if they have a big day. It wouldn't shock me. But, you know one may get a third touchdown if they have a big day it wouldn't
shock me but you know it's it's basically just like they have somewhat favorable matchups they've
been somewhat good recently and you're just hoping that one of them stands out above the rest i can't
tell you with with any certainty which one will definitely be better to me it's car just based on
what his matchup is and you know
the back back to back to back 300 yard games but powell coming off a huge game mint you you know
huge 31 point game two games ago 18 points last week you know that's just where these guys live
they're going to live in the 18 to 20 point range and that's what you hope that they get because
that's why you're started we have one more question dave this one's for you it's from Eric what color is Miss Lippy's car
Jamie you can answer this one too
you know
it's blue right
Miss Lippy's car
no I don't think so
I will bet
I feel like it's green
Miss Lippy's car
I haven't seen Jeff Lippman in a while
it's green Dave it's green
Miss Lippy's car is green.
Really? The duck is blue.
He drew a blue duck.
Miss Lippy's car is green.
I did watch that movie
Drunk a Lot in college.
All right, let's take a break.
Rams. It's green. What the hell?
Yeah, it's green. Rams and Packers.
I'll eat three bucks.
I'm sure I've told you this before.
You probably don't remember.
My music teacher when I was in elementary school was Miss Lippy.
So I always thought that was super cool.
We'll be right back.
Okay, here we go.
Rams and Packers.
State of the game.
Green Bay has allowed 15 or more PPR fantasy points to a wide receiver in every game, but they've only once
allowed multiple wide receivers to score more than 12 PPR fantasy points in the same game.
That was last week with Addison and Osborne. So I kind of brought it up with the Giants earlier,
the Vikings or the Packers rather following a similar path. One receiver usually does well,
but not two, but we'll see. Um, so you guys are
obviously higher on cup and basically treating him as a must start. Where are you, where you
have Nakua ranked? Still treating him as a must start, you know, still top 20 receiver. But
again, you're talking about two guys that were for the most part, since cup has come back
consistently ranked in the top 10. It's just, you have to downgrade them to whatever degree you feel comfortable downgrading them
and who you feel comfortable starting over them.
So I know like for me, I have a couple leagues
where Nakua is the fourth receiver on my team.
For the most part, he's been the third receiver.
Like I've been starting Nakua over Jalen Waddell
in a couple of leagues that I'm switching this week.
So you got to really have great options to sit these guys.
I just hope Nakaku is fine you
know who knows how much this knee injury is a problem yeah the one league i'm sitting him it's
for waddle and lamb and mustard yeah half makes sense but ripping i do want to give him credit
right so two starts last year he threw for 225 yards against the Jets in his first start.
You know, Jets are super tough.
Second start was 21 of 26 for 197 yards,
a touchdown and an interception against Arizona.
That's a really strong game on 26 pass attempts.
Now, they might try to keep him there and just run the ball a lot.
So who is the best running back in this game?
Rams at Packers.
Dave, who's the best fantasy running back?
Highest ranked.
I've got Henderson.
No, I don't.
I have Jones ranked the highest.
I literally have these four back to back to back to back.
Really?
Yeah.
Tough to have conviction on any of them, but Jones, then Dylan,
then Henderson, then Freeman.
That's PPR.
Jones, Dillon, Henderson, Freeman, and PPR.
How do you see it, Jamie?
Henderson, space, Jones, Dillon, space, Freeman.
Okay.
I got some questions about this game from the chat.
Puka or Pacheco?
I'll take Pacheco.
I might take Puka in full PPR.
I go Pacheco.
Two to one, Dave.
Puka or Rishi Rice?
Puka.
Puka Nakua.
Aaron Jones or Chuba Hubbard?
Half PPR.
I believe I currently have them back to back. Right now, Jones slightly ahead, but I might switch that with Hubbard, half PPR? I believe I currently have them back-to-back.
Right now, Jones slightly ahead, but I might switch that with Hubbard.
Jones.
I can't have any faith in Jones.
No, none.
It's funny.
I traded in a super flex league of analysts.
I traded Will Levis for Raheem Mostert.
And then I was offered, because I just keep picking up quarterbacks.
It's kind of your theory, Adam.
Anytime there's a quarterback available,
I just pick him up.
Same. I just did that.
So I picked up Will Levis.
I picked up Aiden O'Connell.
And then I got offered Daryl Henderson for Aiden O'Connell.
And I countered with,
since I just made that trade,
knowing what Mostert's value is,
I countered with Aiden O'Connell for Aaron Jones.
I got turned down.
Aiden O'Connell for Aaron Jones.
But I mean, you basically,
by picking up Will Levis,
you just picked up Raheem Mostert.
So do that in super flex.
I just picked up Taylor.
I was never going to play Will Levis.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Um,
okay.
Uh,
Rams running backs,
I guess like how high do you have Daryl Henderson?
Top 20.
I,
I,
I,
but this is all about Sean McVay.
This is totally all about Sean McVay.
He turned Kyron Williams, who we didn't think was a great talent,
into a must-start fantasy running back.
Henderson in two games is averaging, is scoring
both games over 11.5 PPR
points. I think he'll be right there again.
This Packers run defense is bad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They allow the sixth most fantasy
points. They also allow the eighth most receiving yards
to running backs.
And that's Henderson's role.
It's not.
That's the thing, though.
This is the weird thing.
They're running the same amount of routes,
but Freeman doesn't have a target.
They split third down evenly.
It's not necessarily Henderson's role,
but he is the only one that Stafford had been throwing to.
What makes me nervous about Henderson is that he's averaging 3.1 yards per carry
and Royce Freeman is averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
I mean, did they just say, maybe we should get Freeman more involved?
And they both have one carry inside the five-yard line.
They both have one touchdown.
The difference has been for Henderson is the passing work.
But it's not like Freeman comes off the field and passing downs
and Henderson comes on.
No, they rotate series.
It's one series for Henderson, and then when he's tired, Freeman comes in.
And then the next series goes to Freeman, and when he's tired,
Henderson comes in.
The one thing, I don't even know if this is true.
Who's the two-minute back?
I'll check my notes on it.
I think it was Freeman.
Whoever's turn it is to be in the game.
It might come down to that.
They just rotate them.
There's not a lot of easy ways to look at it and say,
okay, this is the role.
You can expect this player on the field at this point.
And then you're throwing in a new quarterback on top of it.
Gus Edwards or a running back in this game?
I'll take Henderson over Gus in PBR.
I'll take Gus all the way.
All right. For the Packers, is. I'll take Gus all the way. All right.
For the Packers, is it basically just sit them all?
If you can.
Jones is the closest to being a starter.
Yeah.
If you can avoid them, they're bad.
You can't figure out which receiver is going to be good week to week.
It's tough.
It's very tough.
Very frustrating.
I went back.
I watched Christian Watson's targets last week.
He had three for 33 on eight targets.
It reminds me a little bit of Chris Godwin
because they threw to him four times in the end zone last week.
How many drops did you count for him?
I don't know. I wasn't counting.
LeFleur said after the game that there were six drops,
and then I think he said he amended that there were more after the game.
Yikes.
Yeah, they're not clicking.
And his ADOT is
still extremely high. He's still
mostly just a downfield guy, but
I love the fact that they're throwing him in the end zone.
Gives me a little hope, but not to
the point where I want to start Christian
Watson or any of these guys.
Alright, that's it. Sit the tight ends, right?
Yes.
I think there's appeal to
Higby.
Brett Rippin has a career track record
of utilizing his tight ends, and he even did it last
week when he came in and played.
Green Bay's DST,
34% rostered. They are a low-end
starter. Minnesota's at Atlanta.
Stat of the game
that probably won't influence you at all
the Falcons allow 3.6 yards per carry
to running backs with Grady Jarrett on the field
on 100 carries
and 4.1 yards per carry with him
off the field on 74 carries
so half a yard worse
but I know that's not going to give you a lot of confidence to start
Alexander Madison
who are you confident in
Jamie who are you confident to start in this. Who are you confident in?
Jamie, who are you confident to start in this game,
Minnesota at Atlanta?
Bijan Robinson.
That's it? Not Addison?
Obviously starting Hawkinson and still starting Addison.
But confidently Bijan.
And Hawkinson, I'll say that.
Dave, what do you want to tell us about Jaron Hall?
I will tell you
that I think he's a
good fit for their
offense as far as
being like a West
Coast type of
quarterback.
I think he's got
decent accuracy on
short throws, so at
least that's something
that's good.
Wouldn't expect him
to be dominant on
throws longer than
like 15 yards
downfield.
And I think he can just handle being a game manager.
They might throw the ball.
Usually they're throwing the ball like 65, 70% of the time.
I think they'll probably aim for somewhere between 55 and 60% until they're trailing
if they're trailing.
But I think he's good enough to get the ball to Hawkinson for sure.
And Addison can make plays after the catch and he's going to get targets
too.
So why don't we like Madison more?
You know,
is it because of these things?
I mean,
I hate to say it.
They just traded away one of their best offensive linemen.
He wasn't playing the last two.
He wasn't playing,
but they liked Reisner better.
It's just a bad,
bad situation.
Paul Reisner.
No.
Okay. And the show grinds
to a dead halt.
People like it. You like it, folks.
Paul Reisner, you're going to tell all your friends.
Watercooler joke right there. You never guess what
they said on FFT.
I think we spoke enough about Addison.
Heath hates him. You guys like him
this week. Not going to start Osborne.
Oh, Heineke.
Heineke, I thought
maybe he'd be a little higher. I'll be
controversial, ready? I'm going to tell you the guys that
you have ranked ahead of Heineke
that I would start Heineke over.
Levis.
That's just me, I think.
I would start him over. No, Jamie I think. I would start him... No, Jamie did too.
I would start him over Zach Wilson,
which Dave has Wilson one spot higher.
Jamie has Wilson behind him. I would start
him over Daniel Jones, which is
Dave again. I would start him over
Jordan Love, which
is Jamie, and I would start him over
Bryce Young. He would be somewhere like QB
16 for me. Taylor Heineke.
Mustard guy.
Yikes.
Pick him up for next week.
I believe in this Vikings defense.
I think they can get pressure on the quarterback.
I think their secondary is playing great.
Taylor Heineke's proven to be a mistake prone,
maybe too aggressive for his own good type of quarterback.
And if he doesn't have Drake London,
it's going to be even harder to really believe.
Oh, that's true.
I amend. If Drake London doesn't play, then I it's going to be even harder to, Oh, that's true. I,
I amends if Drake London doesn't play,
then I would not start Taylor Heineke,
but even at,
listen,
like,
here's the thing.
Like,
even if London plays,
there's no guarantee that he's going to get double digit targets again,
because they use so many other people.
And Arthur Smith wants to be so unpredictable that,
you know,
you've got to prepare for Cadero Hodge and van Jefferson.
I'm,
I'm,
I'm nervous to start Heineke. he'd be more of like the type of
quarterback i'd lean into in a dfs tournament play where you stack him with london if he plays or
pits if london doesn't play that'll probably be a little popular i just want to be clear i i'd also
be nervous to start taylor heineke but i think i'd also be nervous to start like 25 quarterbacks. Exactly, exactly. But if Drake London does play, is he a must start?
He'd be like a low-end wide receiver to high-end flex.
If he were coming into the game healthy,
I would have no hesitation to start him, but he's not.
And Minnesota's done a pretty nice job.
Well, recently.
They've gotten a lot better.
They do give up the fifth most fantasy points overall
to wide receivers, but they've improved.
They give up a lot of deep balls.
So that could work for Heineke.
Could work for Pitts.
Yes.
No hesitation for Bijan.
Bijan, by the way, 62 or fewer total yards
in three of his last five healthy games. Not even counting the headache game. But no hesitation, Dave, with Bijan, by the way, 62 or fewer total yards in three of his last five healthy games,
not even counting the headache game.
But no hesitation, Dave, with Bijan?
No hesitation in calling him like a top 12 running back.
I probably have him ranked too high.
I've got him as a top 10 guy.
So probably like a low-end RB1.
PPR helps him out a little bit because he can catch the football.
It's a matter of Heineke finding them and actually throwing short.
We're done with,
with we're done with Johnny Smith,
right?
For now.
Yeah.
Routes are going down.
Volume is going down.
Everything's going down,
going down for real.
Dave likes Kyle pits.
He has some six.
Jamie has him 11th or actually that's non PPR seventh 11th. Or actually, that's not in PPR.
Seventh for Dave in PPR,
10th for Jamie in PPR.
And Jamie has stepped away for a moment.
So Dave and I will finish the show,
at least for now.
Giants are at the Raiders.
Stat of the game in two appearances,
one start.
Aiden O'Connell has thrown 38.5%
and 23.1% of his passes
to running backs.
There really should be, I think, no hesitation
to start Jacobs this week, right?
Yeah, especially in PPR. He's top five
for me. I expect him to get a lot of targets.
It's just an easy thing for
O'Connell to do. What I'm expecting
from the Raiders offense is to just
dial everything back and make everything easy. So what, what would that mean? That would mean leaning on Jacobs.
It would mean running it more just in general. And then O'Connell's going to get schemed up to
the throw to Adams. It just makes sense that after two games of Adams being frustrated and
aggravated the new coaching, the new play caller says, okay, let's get our best player the ball.
And so I think O'Connell can at least carry that out.
I think Adams gets a lot of targets.
Two questions for Jamie. He's back.
One, is this basically the easiest start-sit game?
I mean, start Jacobs, start Barkley, start Adams.
And two, I can't tell, what jersey are you wearing?
Not telling you.
It looks Mines-y.
Yes.
The only question mark I think would be Myers.
Right.
And if you're starting him.
I think in three receiver leagues you're starting him,
in two receiver leagues you're probably sitting him.
The couple of guys that I'm interested in is Wondell Robinson with Jones back and no Waller.
And deeper leagues, Daniel Bellinger.
Because we have seen that connection there at times prior to Waller joining the team.
So will Bellinger have an opportunity here if you're stuck at tight end?
And will Wondell Robinson or somebody else?
I mean, look, hopefully Jalen Wyatt can make some plays.
Maybe we see, you know,
some Darius Slayton as well.
But somebody here,
because I would not be surprised if we get to Sunday,
if not sooner than that,
and Darren Waller's placed on IR.
And then we got to find somebody
who's going to catch passes
for the Giants moving forward.
So, yeah, I was thinking
that maybe I'd prefer Slayton.
But if you look at the way,
what we've seen against the Raiders,
they give up the fifth most yak.
I don't know why,
but teams don't throw deep on them.
They see the fewest air yards per pass attempt in the NFL.
So that's eye-opening.
And they give up basically the fewest big plays.
Second fewest catches of 20 or more air yards.
The fewest catches of 20 or more yards. Few the fewest catches of 20 or more yards fewest big
plays in the passing game the las vegas raiders uh so but they give up a lot of yak a lot of short
area stuff and a lot of yak and that is obviously wandell robinson for the giants so i think i am
starting him i have elite my podcast league team stinks and i i have a lot of buys this week and
i'm like you know what? I'm starting Wanda.
Why not?
It'll be fun.
Let's see what happens.
Yeah, what could go wrong?
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to lose anyway.
I've got all my good players on buy,
and I don't have that many good players to begin with.
I think he's a good DFS player.
All right, and Jacoby Myers.
I'll give you some Jacoby Myers ores. Jacoby Myers ores.
Zach Moss.
Moss.
I like Moss,
but I think it's harder in PPR to say that.
Jacoby Myers or a Browns running back against Arizona.
Same answer.
Uh,
yeah,
I'd go Myers PPR over those guys.
Jacoby Myers or Nico. Unless Jerome Ford's out. Then over those guys. Jacoby Myers or Nico Collins?
Unless Jerome Ford's out.
Then I'd go Kareem Hunt.
Jacoby Myers or Nico Collins or Tank Dell?
Collins, Myers, Dell.
Agreed.
Look, I know Myers was terrible in the one game with Aiden O'Connell.
It's one game.
It was rookie making his first start.
Dave's 100% right.
He's going to focus on his best players.
So should the Raiders. But it's not like Myers has been a right. He's going to focus on his best players. So should the Raiders.
But it's not like Myers has been a stiff.
He's been a pretty good player in this offense.
And I just don't know if he just disappears.
Do you have him ranked as a number three receiver?
I do.
Like, I think he still qualifies as a number three.
Oh, for sure.
I can find a bunch of receivers that I'd rather start.
For sure.
I have one last question.
It's for Dave.
Dave, may I use your bathroom?
You may.
So what happened,
Dave?
On Halloween.
So obviously we live in a nice neighborhood with trick or treaters coming
by all the time.
I say nice neighborhood.
Like it's some sort of swanky neighborhood.
It's really not that knock on the door,
open the door.
Three boys. they look like middle
schoolers. First boy says, trick or treat. Second boy says, trick or treat. Third boy says, excuse
me, sir, can I please use your bathroom? Please, please. I really need to go. I live 20 blocks
away and I took the bus to get here so I can't go home. And so I thought he was kind of just
messing around. So I told him no. And he looked unhappy and he looked at my bowl of
candy and he looked at me and he goes you've got trash candy and i was so amused by it like i i
know that like i shouldn't be but like it's it's like the type of thing that i might have said when
i was a kid 10 minutes goes by another knock on the door there's little kids there and then the
same kid shows up and uh he's like have i been to this house? I said, yeah, I'm the one with trash candy.
He goes, oh yeah. And then I kind of like had a moment where like, I was wondering like,
is he back to use the bathroom? Does he really need to go? So I was like, do you really,
really need to go? And like, at first he didn't know what I was talking about. And then he was
like, oh yeah, yeah, sure. And I was like, before I could even answer, my wife was saying there was going, no, no way.
We're not letting strangers in to use the bathroom.
So I said, sorry, kid.
There's McDonald's a couple blocks down the street.
And as he's walking away, he goes, your wife, man.
Hater.
No way.
No way.
Oh, my God.
She kind of get that, too.
Like the kid, you know know has his pulse on things
that is so funny man did you have did you have trash candy oh it was cheap candy for sure
yeah wait what i mean you couldn't shut the lights off in my house and sit there in the
dark to avoid giving people you couldn't spring for the expensive stuff like M&Ms and Snickers?
What's trash candy?
I don't even know where my wife bought it,
but it's like Tootsie Roll Pops and Skittles. Oh, that's okay.
You got the cheap big bag, right?
I don't know what we got.
I'm at work 12 hours.
That's okay.
I'm okay with that candy.
I like a nice Tootsie Roll Pops.
I refuse to let her buy
generic candy.
You remember those brown and orange
wax, right? I don't even know what was in those things.
Hate those things.
Those weird fruit-flavored
ones where it's just a picture of the fruit on the
outside.
At least she's got something that's got branding
on it that makes sense. Shout out
to Mr. Owl for the Tootsie Roll suckers.
Three licks.
Yeah.
All right, folks.
Have a great one.
We'll talk to you on the mailbag in an hour.
You'll hear it Saturday.
I can't believe this lippy score was green and I said it was green.
It was green, Dave.
It was green.
I'm so pissed at this.
You probably think conditionally.
I'm more mad at that than I am about where I rank the low-ups.
Later.