Fantasy Football Today - Waiver Wire! How to Prioritize These RBs (10/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

Teddy Bridgewater? Damien Harris? Dalton Schultz? Who are our top priorities this week? We debate Harris vs. D'Ernest Johnson vs. Justin Jackson and then give some of our favorite WRs (13:40) ... News and notes (20:15)! Do the Texans gain or lose value without Bill O'Brien? What other injuries are we monitoring? We'll then give you our top 3 waiver wire priorities at each position (25:10) including DST and Kicker. Pick up Rodrigo Blankenship! And check out the schedule for Eric Ebron ... Recapping NE-KC (36:05) and ATL-GB (39:30). Drop or hold Sammy Watkins? Can we start Matt Ryan if Julio Jones is out? Then we've got the Dropometer (42:55) and more waiver wire options (45:15) at each position to finish the show ... Email us at [e-mail] Listen to the brand new Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-in-5/id1528634304 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play! Off to the races! Touchdown! Oh, he's done it again! Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Week 5, waiver wire. We've got a couple of teams on by, the Packers and the Lions.

So you might need a quarterback replacement. You might want to pick up the guy who is facing the team that has allowed a top four quarterback every single week. Kind of cheating with that stat. You have to combine the Bears quarterbacks. I am, of course, talking about that horrible Falcons defense and Teddy Bridgewater. Will he be your number one waiver wire priority?

Probably not, because we got some running backs to talk about. All right, long-winded intro. I'm Adam with Dave and Jamie. Pretty cool, pretty fun to have the two games last night. That was enjoyable. I could get used to this. Right? I could get used to Monday Night Doubleheaders every week.

And not the week ones that start super late. This was a better way of doing it. the kinds that start that like not the week ones that start like super late you know like this was a better way of doing it of course we don't want the circumstances that led to it but no they should we got the game in man that's the best thing we did we didn't have any of those replacement things we'll get talk about that a little bit later uh all right let's get right into it jamie first of all how is the waiver wire this week on the waiver wireometer? And who are your top priorities? I think it's good.

It's not great. There's not a headliner that's jumping off the marquee, but there is certainly some running backs that you could find. You mentioned Teddy Bridgewater as a streaming quarterback. There's two tight ends who could be must-start guys the rest of the way. And there's a lot of fun wide receivers that can help you now and certainly in the future. So it's a pretty good week.

You know, I think it's going to be some fun movement and seeing who gets dropped. Now, that's the part we get to because of the bye weeks happening and injuries and some decisions you have to make on some of these. More so the case on some of these speculative running backs. You know, are you still able to stash guys like J.K. Dobbins, for example, who's not doing very much, players of that ilk? Is that going to be something that a lot of fantasy managers

have to make some tough decisions on? Well, last night gave us two exciting waiver wire options. Tanyan with three touchdowns, even going into a bye. And Damian Harris with 100 yards. So, Jamie, let's get your top three or four or whatever, and then we'll get from Dave. Yeah, it's the running backs. And so I would put Damian Harris first,

just the fact that he had the most carries for a Patriots running back this year. I think we're going to see him take over this backfield. We've talked a lot about what his upside could be if he got the job, and the fact that Sonny Michel is on injured reserve gives you a lot to like about what Damian Harris could be. I would have liked to see him catch at least one pass or be somewhat involved

in the passing game. So that sort of limits his upside. But, you know, you also see the breakaway ability with the 41 yard run. I'm going to put the Ernest Johnson second and Justin Jackson third. But Chase Edmonds is right there. And if we find out at some point throughout the day that Kenyon Drake is injured and dealing with a chest injury, then I would actually put Edmonds first.

Yeah, I would too. Exact same thing. Harris, I don't think Harris had a great game. I think at best you could classify it as solid. He had a lot of runs that just went nowhere. And so a lot of people after the game were saying, you can't like Damian Harris. He's part of this Patriots backfield

and they always have different guys. And I thought about it. And it's not true. It's not true. I disppelled this myth every year there are 13 teams that have suffered a injury to a running back that lasted multiple weeks half of them half of the afc has had this happen to them literally eight running backs in the afc that were like drafted big time fantasy guys. They are not available for anywhere from a couple of weeks to the rest of the

season. So anytime a running back pops out of nowhere and has potential to get you 15 plus touches a week, you add them, you get them off the waiver wire, please. And so Harris would be that guy. It wouldn't surprise me if chase Edmonds ended up overtaking Kenyan Drake at some point he's faster and they need speed on that offense, would be that guy it wouldn't surprise me if chase edmonds ended up overtaking kenyan drake at some point he's faster and they need speed on that offense but really they need to like start throwing

vertically i'm doing the chief's chop here but you know what i mean yeah you know they got to throw downfield so he would be he would be up there for me too if drake ended up being hurt he did leave the game hurt but it doesn't seem serious and Dearness Johnson what can you say Browns just want to use multiple running backs yeah he so my order is going to be Harris Johnson Edmonds just like Jamie but well just like Jamie if Drake's out Edmonds climbs to the top we talked about this on Monday's show who would you rather have Dearness Johnson or Justin Jackson And I am still the only person who said Jackson. And my theory is there is, barring injury, right? Let's say everybody stays healthy. There's no chance Dearness Johnson is going to be the number one running back for the Cleveland Browns. It's going to be Kareem Hunt. Justin Jackson, on the other

hand, you got Josh Kelly, who is struggling a little bit and now has fumbled in two games in a row. And I mentioned the fumble wasn't necessarily his fault. It was a quarterback running back exchange issue there. But like Kareem Hunt is the guy. Isn't it possible that Justin Jackson quickly overtakes Josh Kelly? Yes. And you're right, Adam. Like I said, for me, Edmonds is fourth, but he could be first.

So I would have Jackson third behind Johnson. The reason I like Johnson better than Jackson, which is going to be very confusing throughout the week as we continue to say this, is because of two things. One, I would not be surprised if the touches are somewhat similar for both of those guys, just based on the fact. I don't think Kelly is going to be on the bench despite the fumbles. Like you said, the one in week four wasn't necessarily his fault.

And even the one in week three, he was caught from behind going down. And if they could have challenged it, it may have been overturned. So I think he's still in the good graces of his coaching staff. At least that would be the hope. And so I think just looking at it, you've seen now a four game sample size of the Browns using multiple running backs in each game. Now, obviously the talent gap between Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt is much different than the talent gap between Kareem Hunt and Dearness Johnson. There's a reason he's the third string guy, but he also in the first game without Nick Chubb, had more carries than Kareem Hunt. And Hunt, on top of the fact that he is going to have this big role,

you have to factor in he came into that game with a groin injury. If something were to happen to Kareem Hunt, the upside for each guy is dramatically different over the next six weeks while Nick Chubb is out. So the best rushing team in football right now is the Cleveland Browns. They're averaging over 200 rushing yards per game. And so you want a piece of that if you can find it. And so that's why I give a slight edge to Johnson.

I think Jackson will be more involved in the passing game for his team, given the fact that Eckler's not there. And we saw, I think it was 2018, when he had a couple of good receiving games. So it's close. I certainly can understand going for Jackson over Johnson. I was on the fantasy pros podcast. We had some fun conversations about this same exact thing, looking at Jackson versus Johnson and then factoring in chase Edmonds as well. Um, I think there are four good running backs. You can get the differences that Edmonds right now is at 60% roster percentage

on CBS sports. The other three guys are much more widely available with Harris at 35%. So, you know, the two guys that you're going to be fighting for in most leagues are Justin Jackson and Dearness Johnson. And you're going to get these guys in some capacity if you're near the top of your waiver priority or your fab, if you want to go and try and get them for what could be a four to six week window for at least both of them. That's what I was going to bring up is who's expected back first, Eckler or Chubb? Eckler's absence right now is being listed four to six weeks, but I'm sure we're going to find out he's going on IR. Oh, yeah.

Well, both. Yeah, yeah. So at least three weeks for both, but the report was Chubb six weeks, Eckler four to six. So maybe Eckler will be back sooner. Yeah, hopefully. Maybe that makes it a little bit more of a bargain for Johnson because you could theoretically have him available to

I would anticipate six weeks or both. Just based on the nature of the injuries and what you're hearing, it sounds like they're going to be out for an extended period. Would you guys drop Zach Moss for these running backs? Yes. Would you drop Devontae Freeman? A hundred percent.

I think I would, even for Jackson. How about Cam Akers, DeAndre Swift, J.K. Dobbins for one of these three running backs? Well, it depends on the running back. It depends on what you need. I mean, you know, there's... Remember, if you went running back, running back with your first two picks,

these are two guys that were in that range of the back end of the first round, beginning of the second round, especially non-PPR for Eckler. So you may be stuck and just completely stuck. And as Dave said, there's so many running back injuries. Now we're losing Aaron Jones and whatever Detroit running back you may have been using on a bye week.

So it's going to be very frustrating for a lot of fantasy managers. So if you've been waiting on Dobbins, waiting on Akers, waiting on Moss, waiting on Swift to have consistent production, Devontae Freeman, I know he just had a good workload last week, but he's still a Giants running back and he's terrible. You're going to have to make some tough choices on who you're going to get rid of to have a guy that's going to get touches and get work and hopefully be productive. All right. So make the decision for everybody.

You've got Devontae Freeman and all three of these running backs are out there. How many of those running backs are you adding and dropping? You dropped Devontae Freeman for how many of those running backs are you adding and dropping well how you dropped Devante Freeman for how many of those three or four running backs Edmonds Harris I would do it for all four but Freeman and Edmonds are sort of a give and take depending again what you need because Edmonds unless we know he's going to take on a bigger workload you would think I mean you know we're saying it logically like they've said Kenya Drake has been struggling been struggling and obviously uh you know cliff kingsbury's have to make a decision at some point because edmunds is doing much more in the passing game than drake so does

edmunds if his role stays the same is that better for your fantasy team right now than what freeman is going to give you potentially against the cowboys in a good matchup so i would gamble on edmunds personally but i can certainly see the first the fantasy manager saying i just need the guaranteed points of what freeman's going to give me as opposed to maybe what Edmonds will give me. So I'd rather have Edmonds long-term, but I can understand if you need the production or at least what the hope the production could be for Freeman in week five. All right. Let me just sum it up with this. How good will, how useful will Damian Harris be Dearness Johnson and Justin Jackson? Are you viewing any of them? Okay. There's no way you can view Dearness Johnson and Justin Jackson? Are you viewing any of them?

Okay, there's no way you can view Dearness Johnson and Justin Jackson as a must-start right now as we speak on Tuesday. Are you feeling that way about Damian Harris, who has Denver? They've been good against the run. We'll see how they are without Jarrell Casey when they face a good team, not the Jets. Then a bye, then San Francisco. You've got Harris, Dearness Johnson, Justin Jackson. Are you viewing any of them as must-starts?

And really, that's mostly just about Damian Harris. I think Harris will be close to a must-start just by the nature of the position and the fact that he's going to theoretically get a lot of work against Denver. That's a game the Patriots should stay competitive in for four quarters instead of two. And Johnson's going to be one of those.

He's going to be better as a flex, probably closer to a low-end non-PPR flex. Harris is a starter, non-PPR for me for sure. And he is a borderline starter in half and PPR, just given the nature of how this game should go. I mean, just keep in mind, they were on the road. They got, the score says they got blown out. I know some, you know, the defensive score

sort of changed some things a little bit. And obviously the end of the first half was a disaster for the Patriots, but I still think you look at it 17 carries and I know it wasn't cam and they switched quarterbacks in the game. So they were being very conservative, but what did we see from the Patriots in two of four games so far when they've had a chance to play with a lead, run, run, and run some more. And they just gave the kid 17 carries.

He's going to have a big opportunity against Denver. Okay. And you know, last year, Sonny Michel had 247 carries. The year before that, he had 209 in 13 games. He had 17 or more carries in four of his last six games. In 2016, LeGarrette Blount had 299 carries. So people always say the Patriots running back this and that. They actually have, go back to Stephen Ridley before that, they have committed to lead running backs. They

don't get those guys involved in the passing game, but they do give those guys carries. And it's like that. He could be involved in the passing game. We just didn't see it. It's like Clyde Edwards Zolaire after week one. He didn't do much in the passing game. We knew that it was coming.

They've got James White and Rex Burkhead. How many catches can you really expect? I don't think you're getting six catches like you got from James White out of Damian Harris with James White healthy. And certainly Rex Burkhead, as he showed you, 11 catches in the two games without James White. They're going to use those guys in the passing game. That's just the nature of the Patriots.

But can he get you three to four catches on a good day? Can he get you two to three on a bad day? That's the thing you hope for. You know, just to give him – remember, Sonny Michel the week before against the Raiders. Now that was without James White had two catches. So if that's the type of touches you're getting from Damien Harris, you know, anything above 15 would be fantastic. And so, you know, the fact that he had 17 carries in his first game on the road at Arrowhead on a game plan that they just probably threw together

because they lost cam in the middle of the week, you know, so this is just everything on the fly and you got to be excited about just what the start could be for damien harris you forget that the game plan also meant having to face the chiefs defense that knew that dared them to throw they knew that they didn't have their best quarterback playing so they stacked against the run yeah well the chiefs also didn't have their best defensive player right on their defensive line doesn't mean they didn't know to focus on stopping the run and saying, all right, Brian Hoyer, we'll take our chances with you.

Okay. So give me, like, who's other than those three guys? Bridgewater, Dalton Schultz. I mean, he's 60-something percent rostered. Right, right, right. Schultz would be it if he's still out there. Yeah.

Schultz would be the number one player to add if he's still out there. And that includes the running backs because you're getting a top 10 tight end at this point for what he's shown you in the three weeks. The receivers are certainly interesting. You got to be excited about T Higgins and what he's shown you over the last three games with the amount of times that Joe Burrow is throwing the ball.

If you need a short-term fix, Scott Miller, it doesn't look like Chris Godwin is going to play in week five, short week. They're playing the bears. He's been productive on a minimal scale for two of the three games uh last week was his best game so hopefully that's something that carries over and then you look at two guys that hopefully can continue to play well at the receiver spot um lavisca chanel you know again second in targets last week hopefully that continues and then the other guy is alshon jeffrey that eagles receiving core is an absolute disaster and if he does come back you're getting a number one wide receiver who's been productive

in the past with his quarterback. And so targets should be there for him. Hopefully production as well. There are so many bad matchups, though, for some of our favorite players like Dearness Johnson is facing the Colts. They've been great against running backs. Justin Jackson is facing the Saints. They've been great.

Scott Miller is facing the Bears. I do not think they've allowed a touchdown to a wide receiver yet. No, they've been pretty good. Their secondary is playing well. Alshon Jeffrey's got, what, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, I think, in his next two games? Right. These aren't dark guys by any stretch, but I think you look at it as, you know,

targets are available. Opportunity like for Scottie Miller is available. The Bucs just lost two of their pass catchers. One, most likely the rest of the season and the other guy chris godwin has a hard time staying on the field right now and so tom brady likes him uh jeffrey's going to step into a big role you know we we just saw carson wentz uh play very very well given the way that he's looked for the majority of the season uh against a good san francisco defense at least on paper on the road and so you know getting jeffrey, that I think is going to be something that they

lean on. Do you have to start these guys? Hopefully not. But they're certainly guys worth putting on your bench. Jimmy, did you mention Robert Tanyan? Robert Tanyan will be the second tight end to add. We're going to run to pick him up because of the bye week, but you should. You know, I mean, just looking at what he's done, you know, things are going to change

when they get Devontae Adams back. But, you know know he's now got five touchdowns in the last three games and he just beat up on the the punching bag so you know take that into account he's still a tight end getting involved with a great quarterback that's down receivers in their offense so yeah he's in that category for sure atlanta not only is their defense horrible they lost two safeties last night davante casey a, being one of them. And that was on top of two starting corners. Crazy. So Ian Thomas might actually be in play if you need a tight end.

He's barely rostered. I mean, he's had almost no role this year. But the best matchup is anyone facing Atlanta. And he didn't have a season high in targets last week, too. what like four five five okay but he didn't even have 10 yards receiving yeah but again you know you're just maybe starting to see a build towards something and the matchup says uh take a chance okay so every quarterback to face the falcons has finished top four for the week that is if you include the combined points of the Chicago quarterbacks. They've allowed four touchdowns to opposing quarterbacks in every game. Wow.

Wow. Zach had three rushing touchdowns, so take that into account. And the Bears, both guys combined for four touchdowns. But every quarterback group has had four touchdowns against this defense. Maybe DJ Moore will finally catch a touchdown this week. I'm just going to give a few more stats. Maybe it'll happen. You don't have to make fantasy decisions based on these stats, but they're fun. If you're thinking about dropping T.Y. Hilton this week. I'm just going to give a few more stats. Maybe it'll happen. You don't have to make fantasy decisions based on these stats, but they're fun.

If you're thinking about dropping T.Y. Hilton this week, he faces the Browns. They allow the third most points to wide receivers. In every game the Browns have played, you've had two wide receivers who have either had a touchdown or at least 83 yards. I mean, they've been horrible against Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington, and Dallas.

Not even talking about great wide receivers, except for Dallas. Eric Ebron's next three matchups are against teams that rank 26th or worse against tight ends. And Eric Ebron, nine of his next 10 matchups are against teams that currently rank 22nd or worse against tight ends.

He must have, Eric Ebron must have the best tight end schedule, but it's only been four games. The tight end rankings, like who, you know, fantasy points allowed are going to change a lot, but that really stood out.

I don't know, like I'm not really that excited about Ebron, but, you know, he's got a chance. He's at the top of the streaming list. He's the third tight end

to pick up, and he's the second one if you don't have the ability to, you know, stash Robert Tanya. Yeah, and then Evan... Or if Dalton Schultz is already gone.

Evan Ingram... Second or third. Ohz is already gone. Evan Ingram. Sorry, Evan Ingram. Five of his next six games are against teams that suck against tight ends, and those are all his division foes. Five of his next six games are against the Cowboys football team and the Eagles. They're all 26 or worse against tight ends. So, again, if you're thinking about dropping Evan Ingram, you might want to think twice.

And if you're thinking about dropping Evan Ingram, you might want to think twice. And if you're thinking about writing something very important or a resume or something, trying to get a job, whatever it is, trying to communicate effectively, I use Grammarly and you should use Grammarly. Grammarly.com slash FFT. What you really want to be using is Grammarly Premium and you can get 20% off on Grammarly Premium at grammarly.com. But if you want to write more confidently and effectively, I actually take my podcast notes sometimes or an email that I need to write to some of the higher-ups at the company. Grammarly would know what that is. Yeah, Grammarly will tell you. I just open Grammarly, go to the website, put a document in there, or just copy and paste some text in there. It goes through it.

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Good stuff. All right, news and notes. Oh, Houston fired Bill O'Brien 20 minutes into the show. What do you think about that? I mean, it's not a surprise. Bill O'Brien, the general manager, has been awful. Bill O'Brien, the coach, has been okay, given what he's had to manage with,

mostly prior to Deshaun Watson. But the fact that he can't get that team over the hump or didn't get that team over the hump. Think about how wacky 2020 is, that in the year 2020, Bill O'Brien had a lead on the Chiefs in the NFL playoffs. Yeah, they just can't compete against good teams. This calendar year.

So he's kind of turned that franchise in the wrong direction with the draft picks that he's given up for, you know, good players, at least in the case of Laramie Tunsell. But they needed a change. I hope Eric Bien-Ami gets that job because I think he'd be great with Deshaun Watson moving forward. But this year, guys, what we really need to see is a faster offense.

Bill Bryant is kind of a slow-paced offense guy. He runs the ball a lot. He didn't let—I'm going to make up a new phrase let deshaun cook okay do you like maybe we should call deshaun mr unlimited uh we could do that too but i you know but just let him cook do you think anything changes in this offense is anyone's fantasy value changing? No, the best is yet to come for these guys. The schedule was going to let that happen anyway. So I wouldn't necessarily change my views on them. You know, maybe the running backs

do get more involved in the passing game. Maybe Brandon Cooks gets unleashed a little bit more. But you're still starting Watson. You're still starting Fuller. And, you know, Johnson by default is going to be a number two running back. Does this make you hesitant to drop brandon cooks no no okay but i'm i'm more hopeful that just there's a change so you know justify why you brought these guys in i know it's different

person making the calls now but you know you you signed brandon cooks for a reason use him okay um more news that you may not know well julio j Cooks for a reason. Use him. Okay. More news that you may not know. Well, Julio Jones left with a hamstring injury. Big deal. And Russell Gage is 65-ish percent rostered, something like that. 68.

So I know he had a bad game. Baffling game last night. Calvin Ridley, no catches. About five almost catches, but no catches. It's the Zacchaeus show. It was. And actually, I think if you look at since the last half of week

four or week three, Calvin Ridley, without Julio Jones, has actually really struggled. Well, he also was banged up in week four. Week three. And week four, I guess you could consider. Cam Akers expected to play.

Great. Super excited about that at Washington. Sony Michelle's on IR. Question for you. It's three weeks, not three games, right? Three games. You think it's games? Okay.

Because they do have a bye within the next three weeks. So that would be a four-week absence, three-game absence for Michelle. Brian Flores presumes that Ryan Fitzpatrick will start this week, but Tua is on deck, let's say that. LeSean McCoy sprained his ankle. Kevin King left with a quad injury. Shouldn't be a huge deal.

I don't think that's Green Bay starting cornerback. They have a bye. A.J. Green, wrist injury. Shouldn't be a huge deal. I don't think. That's Green Bay starting cornerback. They have a bye. A.J. Green, wrist injury. The San Francisco 49ers lost another pass rusher. Ziggy Ansah likely out for the season. Actually, I'm not sure if there's an update there. Probably is out for the season. I think he is, yeah. Lamar Jackson apparently missed

Marquise Brown on a couple of deep balls in that game. So there's some missed opportunities there. They had a touchdown taken off the board. That I did see. Detroit, this is amazing. Detroit has set a record. They have lost six straight games in which they've held a double-digit lead. Double-digit lead. In the last six times

the Lions have had a double-digit lead, they've lost. Do you know what their slogan was this year? Finish? It's dagger time. That is Mike Patricia's slogan, I'm afraid. How about Matt, Patricia? What'd I say? Mike.

I said that? I thought so. Oh, wow. You were talking about the other Patricia. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you said, how about that, Patricia? Noah Phan is out this week. There are a bunch of other defensive injuries that I won't get to

because we'll update you throughout the week. Make sure you are giving us a nice Apple podcast review. We'll read your questions if you leave us a five-star review and ask us a question on Apple podcast. And join us tonight at eight o'clock on Twitch for a waiver wire update. If you have some waiver wire questions, Jamie and I and Shraggy B will be answering them twitch.com slash FF today. So I know I really do want to get to the waiver wire. So why don't we push it? I was going to do the, you know,

what to do about postponements thing, but we'll save that for a little bit later. Let's get back to the waiver wire here and let's talk about our top three at each position. Jamie, who are the top three quarterbacks? It is Teddy Bridgewater. Then I still would take a chance on Ryan Fitzpatrick just because they're going to throw so much against the 49ers.

And like I said, the 49ers defense on paper should be good, but they're so decimated by injuries. You saw Carson Wentz just have a good game against them. And Fitzpatrick has better weapons than Carson Wentz right now. And then I would take a chance on Kirk cousins just because Seattle's defense is as bad as it is. It's primetime Kirk cousins.

So take that into account, but you're now seeing two guys emerge with Justin Jefferson two weeks in a row. because Seattle's defense is as bad as it is. It's primetime Kirk Cousins, so take that into account. But you're now seeing two guys emerge with Justin Jefferson two weeks in a row. Joining Adam Thielen, Thielen playing well last week, and I think they're going to be chasing points at Seattle. Yeah, will they throw more than 27 times at Seattle? Because obviously all the quarterbacks that have faced them have thrown 44 or more passes, and Cousins has not thrown more than 27. Right.

I thought that that was going to be the case against Houston, but game script obviously changed that when they were playing with a lead. So my guess is if Russ is cooking, as he has been on most games, they did not do it against the Dolphins, but if he's playing at the level that he's playing at in primetime at home against that Vikings defense, I think you're going to see a scenario where a season high in attempts for Cousins is coming.

Okay. So Jamie's top three, Bridgewater, Fitzpatrick, and Cousins. Justin Herbert, we like long-term. We'll get into that. Actually, I don't know long-term because what happens when Tyrod comes back? Remember, Herbert's played well, but they've lost three games in a row. It's true. Yeah. Okay. You know what? That's a good point. Remember, Herbert's played well, but they've lost three games in a row. It's true. Yeah, okay.

You know what? That's a good point. Okay, fine. If he kept the job, we would probably like Herbert long-term. But Herbert actually, he's got New Orleans, the Jets, the Dolphins, and the Jaguars in his next four games.

That's pretty sexy. If I'm Anthony Lynn, I understand the circumstances surrounding Tyrod's absence and what happened to him. And so you have to take that into account because it's not fair that he's losing his job based on a team error and how they injured him. But you see what this kid is and you hear the praise. Like the things Todd Bowles was saying about Justin Herbert in their media conference on Monday, the things that, you know,

nationally you're, you're hearing about Herbert, you know, the throws that he made in that game against Tampa Bay without Austin Eckman for half the game without Mike Williams from the majority of the game. I mean, he was getting guys, you know, that, that, you know, you would expect to be reserves and having them make plays for him. So he was just throwing the ball great against a really good defense, but it's going to be hard to justify keeping him there with his win loss record being what it is. And the fact that Tyrod was hurt by the team. I took a step back on his comments too. Like this week, he said, look,

I'm tied to this kid. I know that I'm going to be judged based on how he does not just this year, but rest of the way. And I kind of think he started to set up the, well, Tyrod's healthy, but we're going to stick with Herbert. I hope so. If I'm the Chargers, I'd tell Tyrod, we bleeped you. It's the team's fault. You can be the backup for the rest

of your life if you want to. Here's a blank check. You're the backup quarterback forever. If that's something you want but we have to continue to play herbert that'd be a very nice gesture by you uh also just last thing on that anthony lynn said he was asked about going back to tyrod and he just sort of brushed the question off i'm not ready to talk about right now i'm still thinking about this game so you know that's not a definitive tyrod's our guy okay Okay, back to the running backs. I think we already covered it.

Damian Harris, Dearness Johnson, Justin Jackson, and then Chase Edmonds is either number four on your list or number one on your list, depending on the status of Kenyon Drake. Wide receivers, we have mentioned some names, but Dave, give me the top guys. Maybe we'll get some names that we haven't mentioned. For me, it's Scott Miller,

if you need a receiver for this week, followed by T Higgins. What about the matchup for Miller though? Against the Bears? It's not great, but I just, I think he's going to get volume by default. There's no one else there for Brady to throw to besides Evans. And that's going to be where the Bears are going to send their coverage

more. Okay. At some point, they'll give up a touchdown to a wide receiver. I'm going to guess that happens this week. Higgins is second. Chenault is third. I've got Tim Patrick fourth on the hunch that he's going to have a role

in Denver's offense for the rest of the season. Someone to stash, but not a priority by any means. Well, certainly with Noah Fant out, there's an opportunity. Oh, you're coming around, Adam. You're coming around now, huh? On Tim Patrick? Well, look, New England played so well yesterday.

If they had competent quarterback play, they'd probably win. Or at least they make it really tough on the Chiefs. Or Julianne Mancicat. Yeah, Julianne Mancicat had three drops. He was terrible. He threw a touchdown to Tyron Matthew, basically. Yeah, they did really well. And by the way, I am petitioning the NFL.

Those touchdown passes that Patrick Mahomes threw, which he does a lot, those little shovel passes, drives me crazy. We should count those in fantasy as three points. I'm sorry. There should be half. It's going forward, Adam. It's playing against Patrick Mahomes or having Patrick Mahomes

on your fantasy roster. Those are how you feel about those guys. It has nothing to do with that. I have Mahomes in a couple leagues. Those should be half touchdowns. They're ridiculous. So how do you feel about plays like the Robert Woods touchdown in week two, where Jared Goff's under pressure and he's basically

trying to just get rid of the ball before he gets destroyed, and Robert Woods catches it and then makes a bunch of moves, and he's 25 yards to the end zone for a touchdown. What's wrong with that? It's a great play. By Woods. Yeah, so I'm not taking the points away from Tyreek Hill and Nicole Hartman.

I know, so should we take the points away from Goff on that? No. Then why should we take the points away from him? Dave, I have not thought this through, okay? You know, the thing that defensive players should do, and it's obviously tricky because there could be a run to that side, but as soon as you see that receiver

coming across the formation, maybe just take a step outside. Just, you know, slide your pass rush a little bit over. Maybe the linebacker fills that spot. Maybe a cornerback steps in a little bit. You know it's coming. That's what they want you to do so that when they run the ball. It's like, just take a little hedge to your left, hedge to your right.

They're obviously so difficult to cover down there. The weapons, then the play calling is crazy. All right, top three tight ends, Dalton Schultz, Robert Tanyan, and? Ebron. Ebron, okay. And then what? Moe Alleycox is a close fourth, but he just doesn't play a lot. The game last week was troubling because it was Trey Burton's first game,

and he played more, had more targets. You still have Jack Doyle there. The matchup is fantastic because Cleveland has been bad against tight ends. He's going to have to score. But I think you're still looking at a scenario of Eric Ebron, especially if Deontay Johnson's out. You said the schedule coming up is great.

This matchup this week is very good. Eagles have had trouble defending tight ends. So Ebron's going to be the second guy added in a lot of cases because of Tanyan being on a bye.

If you need a tight end, you obviously can't play Tanyan. So don't be surprised if Ebron's ahead of him. You have to make the choice between whether or not you want to get the real Eric Ebron or Indianapolis's new version of Eric Ebron.

Moelle Cox. Evan Ingram, though, would you drop Ingram for any of these guys? No. Ingram just had 10 targets, and he's facing the Cowboys, which stink. So you'd be making a huge mistake dropping Evan Ebron, Evan Ingram. What about Eric Ingram? What about Eric Ingram? What about Evan Ingram for Schultz and Doltz? I would do that.

I'd rather have Schultz, but I think you're looking at Ebron's, God, Ingram situation right now. I think Daniel Jones is a sneaky play this week. Oh, good. I'm glad you think so. I feel you, Jamie. That's me every day of my life,

messing up everybody's names. Okay, DSTs. We haven't talked about DSTs. It doesn't seem like the best week for DSTs. What are we looking at here? And as I say, Daniel Jones is interesting this week. Go look at the Cowboys defense. No.

Against Daniel Jones, yes. They're so bad. They're so bad. Against Jameis, facing Jameis Jones. They are bad, but some fantasy managers need to find a DST in some cases. If you are stuck, they're one of the three to

pick up this week because Daniel Jones in his last three games has a whopping zero touchdowns and a whopping three interceptions. Who else? The rostership of the Cardinals DST. They're above 80%. Okay, okay. Chiefs are 72%.

They got Las Vegas and they're good. Cardinals are 87%. I will say this, though. Look to see, because there are probably a few leagues

where people drop the Steelers. Oh, I took a loss instead of dropping the Steelers against you, Jamie. I know, I appreciate that.

It was against me. It wouldn't have mattered. I was like, nobody healthy. So I was like, you know, I'm just going to keep the

Steelers. They get the Eagles this week. All right. So I was like, you know, I'm just going to keep the Steelers. They get the Eagles this week. All right. So I don't think you mentioned the other two. You said the Cowboys are one of your three. Who else? The Cowboys are one. I still would look at, you know,

it's always interesting when you get a coaching change and the fact that the Texans are playing the Jaguars where you know Gardner Minshew can get turnover prone at times. So they're one. And then I look at the Browns. You know, I think you're seeing a team that's played really well defensively. I know they give up a ton of points to the Cowboys,

but the Cowboys are on a different offensive scale than a lot of teams. But if the game gets out of whack where the Colts are chasing points, you know what Phillip Rivers looks terrible. And so, you know, if he has to throw, that's going to be good for the Browns defense. So they're not good options.

And I'm making that very, very clear. Most of the good DSTs are rostered. You mentioned the Cardinals. There are a lot of great matchups for the most rostered DSTs, the Patriots. Some teams may have dropped them against the Chiefs. They get most likely a backup quarterback for the Broncos or an injured Drew Locke. You have the Rams with a great matchup against Washington, just all the way down the line. You mentioned the Cardinals. But for me, it's the Browns, the Cowboys and the Texans. It's just very hard to find a DST below 70% rostered

that is going to be helpful on waivers. Yeah. The Chiefs, as you mentioned, probably be the closest. Right, the Chiefs, 73%. They're close. Oh, dude, Rodrigo Blankenship, everybody. He's like the most under-rostered player

in the world. He's a kicker. Double digits pretty much every year. Yeah, I know. He's so good. If you want a blanking party, go on a blanking ship. I think the Colts tweeted something. He was running off the field in Chicago, like getting cheered. I don't know if he had a cheering section there for whatever fans were there.

Oh, cool. He was getting some good attention. All right, well, he's one of the three kickers that Jamie has. Jason Myers against Minnesota. Rodrigo Blankenship at Cleveland. And yes, believe it or not, Stephen Gostkowski at Buffalo, home against Buffalo. Gostkowski with that horrible week one.

He's been pretty good, pretty, pretty good since week one. Well, he played the Vikings. Every kicker against the Vikings has been really good. Really? Okay. All right. Kansas City, 26. New England, 10.

What do you think? Takeaways from this game? You said it, Adam. The Patriots defense played really well. We've seen very little defense in the NFL this season, and it really started with the four o'clock games on Sunday in week four, because prior to that, every team was going over the expected point total. But the Patriots, for what they were able to do, again, short game plan, short scenario. They

didn't know if they were playing the game, having to travel the day of the game to limit the Chiefs offense the way that they did, I thought was really impressive. But, you know, unfortunately, the combination of Brian Hoyer and Jared Stidham was pretty ugly. The running backs and the receivers for the Patriots, I think, is what you look at coming out of this game because you know Damian Harris now could be the guy. Obviously, James White coming back, stepped right into his old role. So PPR, he's great. And if he's still available, his roster percentage is down to in the 70s.

Take a look at him because in PPR, he might be the best running back available. I think you look at Nikhil Harry and Demir Bird. The fact that the targets that they got are very encouraging. This is now three of four games for Harry with at least six targets. And so when you know they're going to throw, he could be very good.

And when you know they're going to run, you probably want to stay away. But the fact that he scored the touchdown with Stidham, that could be their quarterback wide receiver combo for many years to come. And then Demir Bird now two of the last three games at least nine targets so those two guys are getting very very involved and it's worth you know looking at them more so hairy than bird Dave final question for this game which of the waiver wire receivers would you rather have over Sammy Watkins? You drop Watkins for how many waiver wire receivers?

If I wanted to speculate, like if Watkins is on my bench, I'd much rather have Higgins or Chenault at this point, just to see these, these young players have been playing well. There's a chance they could step into bigger roles. And I feel like Watkins role, you know what it is. You know, he's like the third option and maybe even the fourth option with the way McCall Hardman's been rolling.

All right, Green Bay. Hardman, I know the touchdown was terrible for you, Adam, but... No, it wasn't. Ten targets the last two games for him. And in a game where they really struggled offensively, you know, the fact that he had four catches on four targets. Just keep giving him the ball. That's all you got to do. If you're the chiefs, just keep trying to get him opportunities because he's so explosive. And meanwhile, Sammy, I mean, to his credit,

he had seven targets in this game. He's had at least seven targets in three or four games. So he's involved. That's good. You want to have receivers who are involved in big offenses like this, but he's not an exciting, he's a bi-week receiver at best. Yeah, I think he's a little better than that, though. I mean, you look at right now, he's played four games. One, he missed the majority of it because he was concussed in week two. And so week one and week three, he was good. Is he going to win you your fantasy league? Probably not.

But can he be a starter for you in the three-receiver league most weeks because of Mahomes? Yes. Look at the targets for the Chiefs, and we'll just move on after this. 33 for Kelsey, 29 for Hill, 27 for Sammy Watkins. He had seven targets yesterday. Quite frankly, Tyreek Hill's not really getting the targets or the yards that you really want.

He's still been productive because he scored four touchdowns. All right, let's move on. Green Bay 30, Atlanta 26. Do you trust Matt Ryan without Julio Jones? Because he has 25 fantasy points combined in his last two games. Six points per passing touchdown gets Carolina this week. Do you trust Ryan

if Jones is out? No. Carolina's defense has played really well. This is a two-game sample size of Ryan struggling. Who knows how healthy Calvin Ridley is. Yeah. Take that into account. But I think just given the nature of how many good quarterbacks are out there right now,

whether you pick them up over the course of the last several weeks or can pick up somebody, I'm going to play Teddy Bridgewater over Matt Ryan. If Ryan does not have Julio Jones, that might be a mistake, but I'm just going to play the matchup. Dave Todd Gurley, two touchdowns. He's slow.

He is what he is. Yeah, but he scored two touchdowns. I mean, that's a thing. He just keeps finding the end zone. Listen, Carolina's defense, Jamie talked about it. They're playing better. Their defensive line with Derek Brown is going to be a problem for a long long

time and either gross model he's great on the edge like he was part of the reason why Drake couldn't get going on the edge last week and Brady Quinn I was on HQ with Brady Quinn yesterday and he talked about how he thought Gurley can win the edge against Green Bay and I was just thinking there's no way because Gurley doesn't have that speed anymore. So I could see him getting bottled up, but he finds touchdowns every week. So you can use him as a number two running back for as long as he's healthy, crossing your fingers that he gets you 50 yards and a touchdown, 60 yards and a touchdown, maybe two touchdowns. That's what he is, but he does it. So he's got some redeeming value. I think he should get credit for that. In a PPR league,

would you rather have Todd Gurley, who basically never catches anything, or James White? James White. I think I'd rather have Gurley. Okay. Would you drop Marquez Valdez-Scantling, or do you want to hold on to him

and see what happens when Devontae Adams is back? He's going to hit the waiver wire because the Packers are going to go on by, and we think Devontae Adams is back. He's going to hit the waiver wire because the Packers are going to go on by and we think Devontae Adams will be back soon. And there was this unbelievable opportunity for Valdez Scantling to break out against the Falcons and he didn't even have 50 yards. So you're going to see him get cut.

All right, so we'll get to the drop-o-meter, other players that you can drop. But let me ask you this. Are you an Amazon Prime member, football fans? Because we got something exciting to tell you about. Did you know you can watch Thursday Night Football live on Prime Video? That's right. It's the future of football.

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Subject to Change Thursday Night Football is presented by Bud Light Platinum. Let's see who we're dropping this week. The drop-o-meter. Rob Gronkowski, 0-10. Five. Seven.

Yes for Schultz. What about for Ebron? Gronk or Ebron? Ebron. Ebron. Drop-O-meter for Joe Burrow whose next two games are against the Ravens and the Colts. Zero.

I wouldn't want to do it. So let's call it like a two. But if you've got Ebron, Ebron, if you've got Burrow and Aaron Rogers and you can get Bridgewater, make the switch. How about we keep getting tripped up over Ebron's? I won't,

I won't bring it up anymore. How about Tennessee? How about Corey Davis was my question. Drop a meter on Corey Davis facing Buffalo. For you, but it's contingent on A.J. Brown coming back. If Brown plays, it's probably higher. If Brown doesn't play, you've seen Davis do a nice job. How about Marvin Jones going into his bye?

Don't forget Adam Humphries is most likely out. Marvin Jones going into his bye. Ten. Six. Michael Gallup. Zero. 6. Michael Gallup. 0. Yeah. J.K. Dobbins.

Negative 0. It just depends what you need, but I would like to say 0. But I don't know if he's the guy if we lose Mark Ingram. Gus Edwards has done a better job running the ball, and they trust him more as the second guy up. How about Debo Samuel? 81% rostered against Miami this week? Add. Okay.

I don't want to drop Debo unless I've just got a stacked bench. And if I have a stacked bench, I don't think I need to do anything. Maybe I lost a running back, and he's my worst player on my bench, and I need to pick up Johnson or Debo. I think people might have questions about it, but yeah. All right. This is a tough one here. Only because of the matchup. Darius Slayton,

88% rostered. Zero. Five. Okay. Yeah, he's good for this week. He's definitely a bi-week replacement and maybe a number three receiver, but long term, come on. Okay.

Time for the... By the way, it doesn't seem like Golden Tate is going to get suspended, apparently, or Jalen Ramsey. Waver Wire, we've covered it, but we didn't talk about Gardner Minshew or Ryan Tannehill. They're both rostered in 73% to 78% of leagues. Minshew has Ryan Tannehill. They're both rostered in 73 to 78 percent of leagues. Minshew

has Houston this week, and they do not have a good pass defense, it seems, but teams run on them a lot. And Tannehill gets Buffalo, which used to be a horrible matchup, but the last three quarterbacks to face the Bills have all thrown for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Fitzpatrick,

Goff, and Derek Carr. So, Bridgewater's out there, and somehow Minshew and Fitzpatrick, or Tannehill, rather, are out there. How do you rank those three? I would rather have Bridgewater for this week, but I would rather have Minshew for the rest of the season.

Sure. Okay, what about Tannehill? Same. Okay. Now now do you feel like bridgewater might let you down yes sure i mean you know you you're seeing a guy that had one really good game but in two of four games he said 20 fantasy points and so is he going to have a four-touchdown game like every quarterback group has against the Falcons? No. But can he have two or three? Yes.

Yeah. And you know what I like about Bridgewater? 20 fantasy points absolutely sucks this year. I'm just looking. But that doesn't hurt you. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. That 16 quarterbacks scored more than 20 points. So I think that does hurt you.

I mean, it's not Matt Ryan getting you 12 points. When you look at a quarterback and you're thinking about starting him, think to yourself, can this guy have three touchdowns? Because you're almost certainly going to have more than 22 fantasy points. And it's six points per passing touchdown leagues if he can find the end zone three times. because you're almost certainly going to have more than 22 fantasy points in a six-point-per-passing touchdown league if he can find the end zone three times.

Now look, Bridgewater's taking on the Falcons. They're terrible. There's absolutely a chance he could have three touchdowns. But there's a lot of quarterbacks every week that you can look at and say, yeah, I can see it, three scores. And he throws. I mean, they're not conservative. He throws over 30 times.

But he doesn't throw deep a lot. Well, that's true. But he does throw the ball. The Falcons don't tackle. That's the counter to that. The Falcons suck. 34. I said the Falcons suck.

I know it sounded like I said something much worse, but I didn't. 34, 42, 28, 37 pass attempts for Teddy Bridgewater. All right. Ryan Fitzpatrick. Jamie kind of likes, I don't know, the top 15 guy this week at San Francisco.

Top 20, but there's a lot of good quarterbacks every week. That's the problem. Yeah. Kirk Cousins. This feels like Ryan Fitzpatrick going out and having a monster game

after letting us down. Like he's done this before. And again, letting us down. He still got you 20 points. It's not like he was miserable. He just, they were bad in the red zone. They moved the ball all over the Seahawks.

He was terrible. He played terribly. He did. Justin Herbert, Daniel Jones. Jimmy Garoppolo is interesting against Miami if he's back. If he's back, yeah. I kind of like Herbert this week. I'm impressed with him because I didn't think he would be quite this good this soon.

Absolutely. And the Saints have been very bad. Saints give up the fourth most points to quarterbacks. If the Saints secondary is still suffering injuries going into this game, I will like Herbert better than Bridgewater. Yeah. And I just want to reiterate, after the Saints, it's the Jets, the Dolphins, the Jaguars

for Justin Herbert if he is the quarterback. Yeah, Daniel Jones is tough to trust, but he's got an opportunity here. What do you think about Garoppolo? San Francisco, going into last night, they were 10th in yards per attempt.

They're always good there. Garoppolo actually had a nice game against Arizona, was playing well in week two before he got hurt against the Jets. Does he have long-term appeal in any way? I think so. I mean, you're talking about a defense that's not great. Is he going to be a top 10 quarterback? No.

But with the bye weeks coming up and how he's played so far, the fact that this is most likely his best set of receivers when you factor in Kittle that he's ever going to play with with the 49ers so far. I think he's going to help you some weeks. I don't think he's going to be a league winner by any stretch, but you can certainly get by with him, especially with some of

these other quarterbacks who have been struggling. He's in the streaming conversation pretty much every week. If Julio Jones does not play, would you play Kirk Cousins at Seattle or Matt Ryan? I'd be tempted to play Cousins. As gross as that sounds.

Don't you feel a little gross? You kind of get it, right? I was impressed with how Seattle played last week but i will i just said it fitzpatrick played terribly and so i'm not ready to buy them as a bounce back defense but that means cousins has an opportunity to put up some numbers matt ryan just without julio could be really bad and with the less than 100 ridley really bad net carolina defense getting better okay i just want to look up real quick the total yards for the dolphins against the seahawks And with the less than 100% Ridley, really bad. And that Carolina defense, getting better.

Okay, I just want to look up real quick the total yards for the Dolphins against the Seahawks. I think it was somewhere like around 450. It was 415. 415 total yards against the Seahawks. So, no, that was not a bounce-back defensive performance, if you ask me. Running backs to look at. Okay, so we've covered a lot of these guys.

Malcolm Brown, though. Let's say Malcolm Brown is out there. How would you prioritize Malcolm Brown, Jamie? After Edmonds. So like fifth, right? Yep. Yeah. He's not going away.

Even with Cam Akers back, he's not going away. They clearly like him. You know, so whatever capacity they like him with all three guys there, with just two guys there, if it was ever him, clearly Sean McVay's plan

of using three running backs or multiple running backs is going to be a problem for this backfield moving forward and for all of us and there was there was speculation that henderson got hurt in the first half okay and that's why his touches were limited i think he had eight touches in the second half before the three kneel downs end the game. Is Adrian Peterson a drop, a hold, an add? He's 79% rostered. He's going into a buy. He gets the Jaguars

in week six and scored a touchdown against the Saints. Anyway, Adrian Peterson, drop, hold. What do you do? I would call him the Jimmy Garoppolo of running backs, but that might be offensive to Jimmy Garoppolo. He's a streaming replacement by week type of running back

in non-PPR. Adam, you were making the case for Adrian Peterson going into week four. How would you rate his performance? Sort of. Well, you were defending him. I was defending him because,

yeah, because nobody on this show, well, Heath, I think, had him ranked in the top 24. I would say that if he continues to lead the Lions in carries, then you just have to look at game script

because the only time he hasn't had a lot of carries, Adrian Peterson, is when they've been trailing big, which has been in two of their four games. So if you have the stones to hold them through the bye,

I actually think Peterson could be pretty good against Jacksonville or at least get you 15 or more carries, which usually means 70 yards and maybe he scores. I don't know.

He's only a non-PBL. He never catches the ball. So, look, here are his total yards in four games. 114, 41,

85, 36. That is not a must-roster player, but not a must-drop either. I think people know what to do with Adrian Peterson. You have to wonder if the Lions are going to come out of the bye week with a refreshed plan for their run game that could include more Swift.

Hopefully. Absolutely. Yes, please. Okay. Other than that, there's just the handcuffs and any interest in Frank Gore this week against the Cardinals. I hope Le'Veon Bell returns.

That's right. He's eligible. Okay, so that's it. Let's move to wide receivers. Always a lot of wide receivers. Did you mention Keyshawn Vaughn? Oh, I'm sorry. He is in Jamie's list, and I did not mention him. He had five touches. He caught a touchdown. I think he's absolutely worth stashing if you've got the space.

Deeper leagues for sure. Yeah, the only problem with that is Fournette's not out for the season so he's at best going to be third and McCoy is going to come back at some point too with the ankle injury so I think he's more of a short-term scenario than a long-term scenario because if you don't have Fournette and you don't have McCoy then he probably becomes more of a factor with them

throwing him the ball. So we'll see but I don't know long-term as long as those guys are healthy. Sure. It's strictly to speculate. Wide receivers, the check to see if they're available list, which is 65% or more rostered, is a pretty nice list. Crowder, Debo, Emmanuel Sanders, Hunter Renfro, Corey Davis, and Russell Gage. Who are the best ones?

Crowder, Debo, Emmanuel Sanders, Renfro, Corey Davis, Russell Gage. Well, Sanders and Davis are more like handcuffs because if you get Michael Thomas back, nobody's going to trust Emmanuel Sanders. And if you get A.J. Brown back, I don't think a lot of people are going to trust Corey Davis. So that's kind of where those two guys factor in. Russell Gage, you can make sort of the same argument for with Julio Jones, but we did see him play well in the first two games of the season. And if Jones is out,

that's somebody you might want to hold onto as opposed to dropping or pick up if he's available, but it's just so hard to trust the Falcons passing game right now. If in fact you do have a banked up Julio Jones for Debo Samuel, look, he finally played. You know, we'll see. There should be a target spike for him. If he plays in the slot, that's where most of the receivers against Miami have had success.

So, you know, if he gets matched up on Igbenogany, then that could be a win for Debo Samuel. If the 49ers trust throwing in that spot, you know, they could just run all over Miami if they try to because of the quarterback situation from San Francisco. And obviously Renfro is still going to benefit as long as the other two guys are out. So keep an eye on Henry Ruggs and Brian Edwards. But Renfro, I know he disappointed us last week,

but still there's a lot to like about what his scenario is. To summarize, it's Crowder still at the top of the list, of that list. Yep. Okay. And then the guys we've talked about, unfortunately, on paper are not good matchups for t higgins scott miller i'd say just those two um chanel has a fine matchup not a good

matchup for jeffrey although the steelers have not been great against wide receivers but we know they have a great defense if he plays you would want to see but i want jeffrey on my rock oh you would not play him? No. Right. And you'll speculate on Jeffrey before Vaughn, just as an example of two guys that we've talked about. You don't want to put him in your lineup yet, but you just want to put him on your bench and see what happens.

Hardman, Tim Patrick, most of these guys are just pick them up and let's see what happens, right? Hardman you want on your team. You know, we can go back to a lot of the Ben Gretsch conversations in the offseason. If he ever gets a bigger role,

he's going to be a starting fantasy wide receiver because you've seen it the last two games with 10 targets. And so he's been productive in those 10 targets. So just keep giving him more work and who knows what happens. So that's the reason you want Hardman on your team. And Dave said it, and I agree. Tim Patrick looks through two weeks as the number one receiver for the Broncos because Jerry Judy I don't think is ready for that role,

and the Broncos aren't treating him that way. And now you have Noah Fant and K.J. Hamler banged up. It would be nice to see what Patrick will do with Drew Locke because this production has come with backup quarterbacks, and that's always a risk when you have third, fourth-string wide receiver. Backup comes in. Those two guys have been working together on the scout team but i'm imagining i'm going to imagine that because drew lock doesn't have a lot of options right now that patrick is going to be a guy he leans on and i'm just i'm thinking back to how he was constantly going after sutton even when sutton was covered and lock iske is not a careful quarterback. He's a gunslinger.

That makes me kind of like Patrick a little bit more. And if you look, if you're out there and you know that CeeDee Lamb and Michael... If you know that three Dallas wide receivers need to be rostered, and you think that three Falcons wide receivers need to be rostered, well, you might want to consider Cole

Beasley. He is 63% rostered already, but he keeps producing, and that's three Bills wide receivers that need to be rostered. They throw the ball a lot for a ton of yards so far. So Beasley's been good, and Tennessee has not been good against wide receivers. Other names, Christian Kirk, Traquan Smith. If Thomas is out, hard to get away from Traquan Smith. Nikhil Harry.

Brandon Ayuk has had two good games in a row thanks to rushing touchdowns. Zach Paschal. I mentioned that Cleveland's been horrible against wide receivers. Olamide Zaccheaus. Darnell Mooney. Maybe taking over for Anthony Miller.

Maybe he's the number two guy there. Nine targets. Might be. Isaiah Ford had 10 targets for the Dolphins. Jeff Smith looked awesome. Yeah. Jeff Smith was interesting. That's a good deeply guy.

He's on. Oh, no. Well, hold on. There's talk that Denzel Mims could be back soon. Okay. And yet I don't know what would happen to Smith. He's a deeply guy at best. Mooney Ford and Smith are deeply guys only.

Zacchaeus is interesting just if you don't have Julio out there, then that's another guy just based on what the targets have been the last two weeks. 15 targets in the last two games. Matt Ryan's not going to stop throwing. And Zaccheaus could be a guy in deep PPR leagues he can look for.

And what do you think about Golden Tate this week? He's 53% rostered and Cowboys give up the second most fantasy points. But every wide receiver that's done well against the Cowboys has had eight or more targets. So keep that in mind. The only exception was Jarvis Landry, but he threw a touchdown.

So every wide receiver who's done well against the Cowboys as a receiver has had eight or more targets. Keep that in mind for Slayton and for Tate. We haven't seen that yet from Tate, but 53% rostered, you know, where would he rank on this list? Is he a dropper or is he still in consideration? He's still in consideration.

I didn't put him on here and I probably should add it for the column with, I thought there might be a suspension coming. So he would probably be, if you need somebody, I would put him behind Jeffrey. If you don't need somebody, I would probably not pick him up. He's like a bi-week PPR-only type of receiver. Right. Yep.

Okay, and you would drop Darius Slayton for how many of these wide receivers? If I'm not playing Slayton, I would drop him for Higgins or maybe Chenault, but I'm not dropping Slayton. I think he's going to have a big game this week against the Cowboys. You would drop... Definitely for Higgins, definitely for Chenault. But I'm not dropping Slayton. I think he's going to have a big game this week against the Cowboys. Definitely for Higgins. Definitely for Chenault.

Possibly for Patrick. You would drop Henry Ruggs for how many of these guys? All of them. Not like Jeff Smith, but all of the... No. Well, if I need somebody for this week, then yes, all of them. Because I don't think Ruggs is playing. Okay.

All right. The tight ends. You guys are going to have to say Eric Ebron's name. Sorry. Dalton Schultz won. Does it bother you that the Giants are fifth against tight ends somehow? No. No, because Dak loves his tight ends.

I don't care if Schultz has a bad game this week. I've seen enough, and it's what I thought of Blake Jar Darwin. You know how high I was on him coming into the season that it's just a shame Darwin got hurt because this would be Blake Darwin. And look at the tight end position. There aren't a lot of really good ones. As usual.

You get them on your team. That's Schultz. We were trying to rank the tight ends on yesterday's show, and it's Kelsey Kittle, 1-2, whatever way you have them. It's Andrews, 3. It's probably Waller, 4. And then, do people have Zach Ertz, 5th?

Do people have Dalton Schultz, 6th? Is he ahead of Hunter Henry and Johnnie Smith? I think you could make a case for him as high as 5th. Rest of season. Yeah. Okay, get him. Robert Tanyan's got to buy, but get him. Eric Ebron, just beautiful matchups.

The Eagles, touchdown to Logan Thomas. Three to Tyler Higbee. 183 yards and a touchdown to George Kittle. He caught all 15 of his targets. And Ebron's schedule is just incredible going forward. It looks that way. Ian Thomas. Yeah, right.

Ian Thomas. At Atlanta, they allow the most fantasy points to Ian Thomas. Yeah, right. Ian Thomas at Atlanta. They allow the most fantasy points to tight ends. Olsen scored. Schultz had a big game. Graham had a huge game. Tanyan. Yeah. Mo'Ally Cox at Cleveland. They stink against tight ends, but it's a little dicey with Mo'Ally Cox because he just hasn't gotten a lot of targets.

Doesn't run a ton of routes. Austin Hooper against the Colts. Cameron Brait at Chicago. Brait, you know, there's 19 targets gone from Mo'Jay Howard, but what do routes. Austin Hooper against the Colts. Cameron Brait at Chicago. Brait, you know, there's 19 targets gone from Mojay Howard. But what do you think about Hooper coming off a good game at Dallas? He's a deep league guy

to take a look at if you're stuck. The positive is that he just had seven targets. The negative is that he did a very good matchup. So is that something that can carry over? And Najoku may be back

at some point soon for the Browns. So there's another mouth to feed in that offense that just doesn't throw the ball a lot. So the matchup isn't great, but you just want to see if, okay, seven targets could be the norm, then he's going to be worth rostering. Four targets, which has been the case

in three of the four games, probably not so much. Okay, finally, guys, do you have any interest in Jordan Akins, who has a concussion, but hopefully he can play against Jacksonville? Drew Sample at Baltimore, they've struggled. Greg Olson against Minnesota. Jimmy Graham against Tampa Bay. I like Olson because I like the receptions that he's been getting

the past few weeks. He had four receptions. He had five receptions each of the last two weeks. He had four receptions. He had five receptions each of the last two games. He had four catches in week one. So he's involved. He's not to the point where he's going to break out and be a superstar, but he shouldn't hurt you too bad in PPR.

Okay. All right, guys. Thank you. Good stuff. DST is from the Browns, the Cowboys, and the Texans. Rodrigo Blankenship should definitely be your number one. Better than Schultz. Better than Damien. No. Nope. Just kidding. But Blankenship, Jason Myers, Steven Gostkowski, these are kickers you can pick up. That has been our Waiver Wire show. Tomorrow, we will invite the, hold on, we

will invite the fantasy cops on to talk about how to deal with postponed games and what to do and a really interesting dilemma that came up from one of our listeners that I wanted to read. Thanks a lot to Dave and Jamie and Shraggy B. By the way, Ryan Fitzpatrick has been named the starter for week five

and we'll be back tomorrow with another edition. Watch us on Twitch tonight, twitch.com slash FFToday.