Fantasy Football Today - Waiver Wire! Is Jerome Ford a League Winner? (09/19 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Fantasy 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 We spend the first chunk of the show talking about Jerome Ford now that Nick Chubb is out for the season. Could Ford be a Top 12 RB rest of season? How much FAB should you spend on him? How much does his brutal upcoming schedule matter? Now, if you miss on Ford there are some other options for you (14:30). We'll tell you why Zack Moss, Josh Reynolds and Hunter Henry could be good adds ... News and notes (24:00) and the Top 3 players at each position: QB (29:10), RB (32:05), WR (32:30), TE (33:15), DST (36:45), Kicker and IDP. We also talk about players available in shallow leagues (40:00) like Nico Collins and Jakobi Meyers ... Recapping (45:15) Saints-Panthers and Browns-Steelers and then taking a longer look at the waiver wire (53:25) plus players to drop at the end of the show ... Email us at [e-mail] 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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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. Who is Jerome Ford? Well, he is about to be the most added player in CBS Sports fantasy leagues and really fantasy leagues everywhere. He's 23% rostered, had a 69-yard run that was almost a touchdown last night, a fifth-round pick in 2022, and about to be a feature back. We think, we hope for the Cleveland Browns, but it's hard for me to be super excited right now.

It was really a bummer of a fantasy night last night. Not only did we have two kind of sloppy, you know, defensive games, but of course, Nick Chubb out for the season, a guy who's been a top 12 running back per game in full PPR and even better in the other formats in four straight seasons. But good morning, everybody. Let's get your waiver wire for week three here.

Let's help you win your league and move forward. Injuries happen, unfortunately, but Jamie was, I don't know, man. You want to reflect on this Chubb situation? This really was such a heartbreaker. Yeah, it really was. You know, I mean, anytime you see a guy like that, especially at this point in his career, you know, this could,

I hope it's not career ending, but, you know, you never know depending on the severity of what the damage is. But, yeah, definitely out for the season. And, you know, we have now just a really frustrating start to the year. I mean, you know, you think about the first-round running backs or borderline first-round running backs that have already had to miss time when you have, you know, Jonathan Taylor and Barkley and Eckler, Eckler. And, you know, to extend it, Aaron Jones, J.K. Dobbins, now Jamal Williams and David Montgomery, you know, and so.

But but but clearly Chubb's, you know, injury is the most devastating one. And in terms of Jerome Ford, you know, he probably if he didn't run a gas, he would have stayed in the on the drive and scored the touchdown in the third quarter. It went to Pierre Strong. But you mentioned that, you know, do they add somebody else? You know, do they have a reunion with Kareem hunt? Do they bring in a Leonard Fournette? You know, Daryl Henderson's a guy that's been making the rounds of tryouts. You know, that would be a, I think a saving grace if it's something like that, but do they make the trade? Do they make a trade to go be aggressive and get a Jonathan Taylor or a cam acres? You know, so those are things you got to just keep an eye on as well. But I think if,

if anything, you know, whenever you get injuries like this, um, and you see a guy in the same game, perform the way that Jerome Ford did 130 total yards, work in the passing game, find the end zone.

You're going to feel better about a, if you handcuff Chubb to have him already on your roster or be knowing that you're going to have to spend a significant amount of fab to go get him, and he should be able to at least start for you for as long as he remains a starter in Cleveland. A super significant amount of fab on Jerome Ford. I, you know, Jamie does a smart thing that I probably should have done in my commissioner leagues, where I'm the commissioners, run waivers on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday night. Give the dust a little bit more time to settle.

I mean, we already know the injury with Chubb, but I would like to know a little bit more about what they plan to do in terms of depth, Dave. So, you know, I'm going to ask you guys for your top three priorities. I know number one is going to be Jerome Ford. But how much fab are you willing to spend on Jerome Ford? I'm going to spend a lot. Um, I think it depends on whether or not you play with casuals and it's a small league, or if you play with sharp managers and it's a big league, I play with a lot of sharp people. You guys are included in there. I think I'll go as high as 70% to get them because I,

I don't know how many guys like this are actually out there who we'd load up to go and get. A lot of these players, a lot of these handcuffed players that Jamie talked about, they're already rostered that we would go and spend north of 70% for. Now, if you're in one of those smaller leagues and there's casuals, it's 55%. You can go a little bit lower. I actually did a straw poll around our office here at CBS Sports HQ this morning. No one went higher than 45%. What? No, there were two people that went 15% because they're scared that the Browns are going to bring back Kareem Hunt

and that Kareem Hunt is going to magically turn into 2018 Kareem Hunt and just completely dominate and render Jerome Ford useless. The Browns have already told us over the last six months what they think of Kareem Hunt. I'd be surprised if they brought him back, to be completely honest with you. And Kevin Stefanski said that they've got the confidence in Jerome Ford moving forward. You know that he's fast. We know that he's a capable pass catcher. He's playing behind one of the best offensive lines in the league. I feel good about this. It's a risk because we could be wrong. We

were wrong about Kenneth Gainwell last week. He was hurt and we were making him a priority. Wouldn't say we were wrong. But eventually Gainwell will play. I think Jerome Ford is worth taking that risk on. And so my number is going to be 70%. I think you've got to unload the clip, so to speak. Yeah, I came up with the same number on FFT and five last night. I want to throw out one more scenario to you guys. And we have to talk about other players. We will talk about Zach Moss, for example. We'll talk about how much did you spend on Kareem Hunt? Maybe take a shot on that. We'll talk about Josh Reynolds, et cetera, and quarterbacks. Here's a Twitter poll I did last

night has almost 3000,000 votes. How much of your original fab budget are you willing to spend on Jerome Ford? 90% or more, 70 to 89%, which is what Schaefer voted for, 50 to 69% or less than half. Less than half does have the most votes, but it's only 33%. So that means two thirds are willing to spend at least half of their original budget. I mean, 22% say they spend 90% or more. So that's pretty wild, Jamie. I think I was in this, I'd be in the, probably the 70 to 89% range, but, but here's, you could tell me where you'd be in that, you know, where, how much would you spend of your original budget on Ford? But my second question is I was talking to a friend this morning and he said, how much should I spend on, if I just lost Chubb, how much should I spend

on Ford? And he said, I'm thinking like 40, $42 or something out of a hundred original. And I said, no, you're going to need to go more like 70. And he said, well, I only have 61 left or something. I said, well then, you know what? I think I'd rather have no Ford and fab than Ford and no fab. I don't know that I want to have zero fab left. So we need to talk about that angle of it too. Do you set yourself up for disaster? It is week three would you spend on Ford? What's your answer? And then let's talk about that prospect of emptying your fab this early in the season for someone. Yeah, I think, you know, Dave sort of alluded to this. You have to know your league and you have to know your situation clearly, you know, so if you are in a, in a league that is going to be very aggressive with free agent bids early in the season, then you probably should spend whatever you have left or close to what you have left, because you don't know how many of these guys are going to become available throughout the course of the season. You know, so, you know,

I don't want to, you know, put anything out there jinxing players, but you know, we, we have some handcuffs that are still out there for, for certain players that you might want to go get just in case these injuries do occur again. But this is a guy that's rostered. I think his roster percentage from the time I wrote it was 23%. Now it's up to 25%. So people that were able to make moves last night have already done so. But like your friend was alluding to, we may get another scenario like this in week five or week seven or week 10. And I don't know if it'll be better, but it could be similar. And so if you don't need Jerome Ford, you're not going to spend that much to go get him. But if you do need him and you're Owen too, and this cause the type of player that could save you for a few

weeks, then what are you going to save your fab for? So it just comes down to, you know, what your situation is. And so the way that I wrote it in the story was 50%, if not more, you know, so you gotta be prepared to spend a lot of your fab. You got to be prepared that this might be the player that could help you win several weeks. And if you can get a player, that's going to help you in several weeks, forget about the season. Can he get you through the next month? And I think he can, you know, it's a tough matchup against Tennessee, but you know, with again, all the running backs that I told you that are, that are potentially missing for week three, he's top 15. I don't know where you ranked him today, but he's top 15 for me. And if this was

Nick Chubby would be top 10, but if this was any other matchup, he would probably be in terms of top 10, because again, the scenario is that good based on how they run the ball based on that, they'll use them in the passing game. And if they, if they are bringing in somebody, even if it's Kareem hunt at this point, they're not bringing in somebody to start over him for this week. So for at least one week, you're getting a potential bell cow and that's hard to overlook. It is very hard to overlook. Um, now do we, you're thinking, I think if you look at the possible handcuffs out there, I don't know that it's going to get much better than this. There is a history of Nick Chubb missing time in 2020 and 2021. And in, I think there were six games total. We were talking about no splits really in the backfield. We were talking about either

Kareem Hunt getting mostly all the work or Dearness Johnson. I think it may have been seven games. Dearness Johnson having two huge games. Remember that Thursday night game where both Hunt and Chubb were out. So they weren't really splitting it. I know people are worried about the Kareem Hunt thing, but Dave already talked about that. It's not the Kareem Hunt thing for me. It's the Taylor-Akers thing for me.

Okay. Do they look at their team and say, okay, we're one and one. We basically gave away a game last night because of turnovers. We lost our best player. And is this our window right now? Because we got to – I would say they have a championship-caliber defense. You know, I don't know if they're the best in the league, but they're going to be in the upper half.

And they paid their quarterback to be that type of guy. So does bringing in – I don't know. I mean, look, again, this could be season career ending for Nick Chubb. So do they bring in a Jonathan Taylor to sort of, that's the next guy? Do they go get a cam acres as a bridge, you know, until they figure out their answer or, or to help out Jerome Ford? You know, I think Kevin Stefanski is Dave alluded to that. They feel comfortable with him.

They probably would have made a move to bring in somebody else already at this point, if they weren't comfortable with him, knowing what the depth of this backfield looks like. So it probably does not speak to that, that they're going to add somebody of significance, but you just have to factor that in. You really just have to factor that in that they, they could go any which way at this point,

you know? So you, you would hope as a Jerome Ford fantasy manager right now, or somebody that's going to get him first on waivers, most fab in your league, you know, that you you're guaranteed to get them, that it is a Kareem hunt, that it is a Leonard Fournette, that it is one of these retread guys.

The worst case scenario again, is they go out and make a trade for somebody and look, they could, they could call Jacksonville and say, Hey, we'll take Dearness Johnson back. You know, and that's somebody that's familiar with their system. You know, they could do something like that too, which would be, I think a little bit of a downgrade to, to Jerome Ford, but he's in such a great spot right now. It's it's the investment is going to pay off as long as he stays healthy and again nothing else of significance is brought in this team is they traded so much for watson and they don't even have a first round pick in 2024 um so i you know keep that in mind they'd be giving up a lot really like to get jonathan taylor i'm not saying they'd have to give up a first round pick, but they just don't have capital necessarily like early round capital.

You know, again, taking a broad picture Cleveland view of this, you do what the Rams did and you can mortgage the future to try and compete now. You could do that. I don't think they need to rush into it though. The trade deadline isn't until after week eight. I'm sure the Colts are going to take offers on Taylor. If Taylor's still getting offers at this point, they'll take him, they'll take offers all the

way through week four before they have to take them off the pup list. They could wait a week and see what they've got with Ford and Strong and then decide what direction to move in. And even if they miss out on Cam Akers in a trade, there's still going to be another running back somewhere else in the league. Someone as minor as Dearness Johnson, someone as huge as Jonathan Taylor, although I'd be shocked if they traded for Jonathan Taylor because that means that they would have to pay Jonathan Taylor potentially. I think the Browns can wait a little bit,

and I think they can see what they've got in Ford and Strong first. All right. I have one more question about Jerome Ford. If you were going to make a short list of the worst run defenses to face for a fantasy running back, you'd put Tennessee, Baltimore, and San Francisco on that list. You'd probably put the Eagles on that list at this point now. But Tennessee, Baltimore, and San Francisco

are the first three matchups for Jerome Ford. So welcome to the big leagues. Tennessee this week, but Tennessee, Baltimore, and San Francisco are the first three matchups for Jerome Ford. So welcome, welcome to the big leagues, Tennessee this week, then Baltimore, then a buy and then San Francisco. So that sucks on paper. Should, how should that factor into your, like, I'm not even going to pretend for one second that he shouldn't be the number one waiver claim. That's an easy conversation, but how should that schedule factor into your fab decision for Jerome Ford? It shouldn't. Because again, you're taking a long-term approach with this that if he is the guy for Cleveland, that he'll still be productive in those matchups, not superstar in those matchups, because Nick Chubb would be a superstar in those matchups,

regardless, to whatever degree you want to rank him in that regard. I want to have the starting running back for the browns on my team playing devil's advocate here let's say he's the starter for those three games there's a buy mixed in there as well and uh the browns decide you know what he's not effective against these defenses let's go and get somebody else and so by the time they get to week seven, it's the Colts and then the Seahawks and then the Cardinals. Those are the next three games after that murderer's row that Adam brought up. Will it still be Jerome Ford? Could he still be that guy? Now, again, I said, I'm playing devil's advocate because I think as long as they don't make a significant move, it's going to be Jerome Ford. So that's why I'm not going higher than 70%.

And it's also why I'm looking forward to talking about what's through the other door. Fantasy managers don't, if you lost Chubb, if you lost Dobbins and you're in real need for a running back, this isn't your only option for this week and moving forward. There's another way to go here. Segway alert. All right. So other than Jerome Ford, who are your top priorities?

Let's say top three priorities on the waiver wire this week. Dave, you can start. Zach Moss is going to be number one after that, and he should be able to get you through at least two more weeks. And there is a path if the Colts trade Jonathan Taylor, or if Jonathan Taylor plays hardball and

sits out after being activated from the pup list, which is a possibility where Moss can be a starter for your fantasy team for the next, I didn't actually count the weeks. So I apologize. I can do it in a second. Let's call it six weeks. And so that's somebody who can get you by for the next several weeks. And you don't have to spend a ton of fab to get him. I would say 20%, 25% might be able to get Zach Moss. And that's a lot for a guy that might only give you two weeks, but I think that he's clearly the feature back in Indianapolis. After that, it's just more piecemeal running backs. Justice Hill is 41% available. He would be next up for me, especially if I needed a running back.

And then that's when I would get into some other positions. Traylon Burks, Hunter Henry would come after that. I'm not interested in the Giants guys very much. I'm definitely not interested in Tony Jones. And then we can talk about other potential handcuffs. What about Reynolds? Where does he factor in here? He's up there. He's definitely up there. He's

right in the top six. But the top three, if you're interested, all running backs, Ford, Moss, Justice Hill. Okay, Jamie, how about you? Top three other than Ford? It would be Moss, then Breida, then Justice Hill.

I just, you know know I brought this up last night but it was actually Gary Brightwell who had more carries than Brita there were two games last year that Barkley

either missed or got hurt or barely played barely played in the Eagles game both Eagles games actually and Brightwell

had more carries which just kind of made me feel like, I don't really want anything to do with this, especially Thursday against San Francisco. I don't think we're going to feel comfortable there. Now week four against Seattle might be a different story. Barkley could be back against the Dolphins in week five, could.

I have a lot to say about that because Barkley, this is, I mean, that looked like a bad ankle injury. And he's had two ankle injuries in his career and he has struggled coming back from both of them. I mean, he was just not very good after, after returning from both of those ankle injuries. I don't know if that is, if one has anything to do with the other, but, but anyway, I mean, what do you think about that whole Gary Brightwell thing? Cause I was originally just like, Oh yeah, Brita, not a bad ad like flexi, but that Brightwell thing from last year, I don't know if it carries over, no idea, but I want to get your thoughts on that.

I mean, it's definitely something to think about whenever you get these backup guys in there. Unless it's a one-for-one, Ford stepping in for Chubb, and like I said, whenever you see that, and you see the way that he performed, just put your mind at ease. You shouldn't be aggressive, really, with of these guys, aside from Ford and Moss, just because of what the situation is. I mean, Zach Moss paid 98% of the snaps, you know, that's crazy that how much they leaned on him in his first game back. So you have,

you have easy scenarios here. Like Craig Reynolds, is it going to be him just stepping into Montgomery's role or are they actually going to put more on Jameer Gibbs plate? You know, is it going to be, you know, Tony Jones getting all the work against the Packers? So for one week, you might have a guy that could start for you because we know green Bay's run defense has been really iffy. So that's something to keep in mind too. It could be Kendrick Miller. It could be more taste of mill, you know, but he played 51% of the snaps last night against the Panthers and he scored two touchdowns. So in terms of Tony Jones, so, you know, it's one week versus three weeks versus long-term, you know, that's how you just have to sort of catch it. And I think for, for

what you're looking at, it just depends on what your team is and how much, again, fab you want to invest, you know? So if you don't need Jerome Ford, I can't imagine anybody wouldn't want to have him, but if you don't want to spend like your friend, you know, the rest of your fab on him, you know, there are some guys that might be able to sort of get you through the next several weeks as you sort of navigate the rough, rough waters of the running back position. And you'll save a lot of fab doing it. You just won't have a guy who could potentially let you, you know, put your feet up and say, ah, I don't have to worry about this spot anymore. I've got your own Ford, which, you know, would have sounded silly a month ago, but there's a legit possibility.

Jamie, you can disagree with me. There's a legit possibility. He's an RB to the rest of the season. Who Ford? Yeah, I think, I mean, I was talking about it with definite RB to the rest of the season.

If he stays in this role. Yeah. I was talking about it with Chris last night. You think about the running back situation right now? I think there's a legit possibility. He's an RB one. Yes. I just,

I hate, I hate these first three games because it reminds me a little bit. It doesn't really because there's no competition right now. But if you remember the year, like four or five years ago, Aaron Jones was suspended for the first two games and Jamal Williams had two really brutal matchups to start the year and he stunk. And Aaron Jones came back from suspension

and I feel like he just took over. And I just hate these first three matchups, but I, there's no competition there. There's no comp. And we saw like Kyron Williams, not like he was so good against the 49ers, but he got every touch.

He scored three touchdowns. So yeah, you go for it with, with four. I think the other thing to keep in mind is, you know, you're going to get some situations where there might be some players dropped for Jerome Ford.

And one that comes to mind for me this week is Josh Kelly. Cause he was bad against Titans and you may get Eckler's returning and we just don't know. And some much better matchup for Kelly this week against Minnesota. And if he's the guy there, you know, again, you're just trying to get from week to week,

you know, so keep an eye on some of the players that are being dropped. You know, somebody, I got a few questions last night. Oh, I got my roster. My bench is tight. I'm going to drop raheem mostart for for jerome ford and you should if your bench is tight and your roster is tight can't you trade them first though in your league should go pick up raheem mostar you know i mean

these 10 18 leagues you know people have some tough calls to make you know you're going to get people i got you know a few of these last night, I think as the game was unfolding, Jalen Warren or Roshan Johnson to drop for. Yes. Drone fort. Again, you're doing that. Yes. But then the other person should go pick up in your league.

The other people in your league should go be looking to pick up Roshan Johnson and Jalen Warren, you know, so they're going to be some players that get dropped in some of these shallower leagues that will be helpful to you. Just keep an eye on it. And then, you know, again, I don't want to put this out there, but some of these shallower leagues that will be helpful to you just keep an eye on it and then you know again i don't want to put this out there but some of the other handcuffs that you should be looking at to be aggressive with tajay spears that's a one for one ty chandler i mean we could see alexander madison falling out of favor you know i hope not but that's the situation there sean tucker in tampa bay you know another one for one doesn't play the same role,

but we'll maybe do a little bit different things in the run game. Um, you know, not as attractive, but Keonta Ingram. And then again, just looking at situation Rico Dowdle, you know, just based on what I think he'll be able to do if he is the guy there in Dallas. But again, you're looking at the Dallas running back, you know, so these are guys that you should be putting on the end of your bench. You know, Adam and I were talking about this last night. We were texting about this. Like you, you got upset with me jokingly that I picked up drone Ford going into the weekend, but I did that in almost every league. And I told you, I said, in, in, in the league that I share with my 11 year old, um, we were

talking about it and I said, do you want this guy, this guy, or this guy? And we chose Tajay spirit over drone Ford. And obviously regret that move, but that's the type of moves that you should be doing. If you have a bench spot that's just as not being used for you, these are the type of, I mean, how many times have you heard me say this phrase? Lottery tickets. These are the lottery tickets that will help you win your leagues. And it happens every year. You don't always hit on them, but if you do in this case situation, you're going to maybe win your fantasy league. It sucks because you'd rather have Nick Chubb out there. But, you know, this is now the opportunity for Jerome Ford to help you and help the Browns. All right.

We got to take a break here. Well, let me tell you, though, before we do that, we have a live stream on Thursday night, 730 p.m. Eastern. We have a live stream on Sunday morning, 1130 a.m. Eastern. We have a live stream on Monday night at 730 p.m. Eastern. So join us those three nights or morning, you know, Monday night, Thursday night, Sunday morning to help you set your lineups, answer any of your questions. It's all at YouTube.com slash Fantasy Football Today. Join our Facebook group.

Just search for Fantasy Football Today on Facebook. And sit tight. We have a lot more to get to. Did you know that Jalen Waddell is in the concussion protocol? That one snuck up on us. That Brandon Ayuk might not play this week. So we've got a lot of injuries. Man, we've got a busy show today.

And there were those two stinkers last night. I'm not even sure if we'll have time to talk about that. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale with no preset spending limit, more cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days and the ability to reach further with access to over 1400 airport lounges worldwide redefined possible with business platinum.

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giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Barkley, the timetable is about three weeks with an ankle sprain. San Francisco on Thursday, then Seattle, then Miami for the Giants in the next three weeks. David Montgomery said he's going to need about two weeks to heal from his thigh bruise, but his coach, Dan Campbell, said he's in the day-to-day category or something like that. I'm going to guess that you're not expecting Montgomery this week. No. Not this week, though, but again, this is why you've got to be a little bit cautious with Reynolds. What if it's not week to week, if it's just one week? Jamal Williams left with a hamstring injury,

and Kamara will be back in week four. They're at Green Bay this week. Cam Akers seems likely to get traded. So some players, some wide receivers to watch for their availability for this week. DK Metcalf, he did come back, but he's dealing with this ribs injury. Jalen Waddell, concussion protocol. Brandon Iyuk, shoulder injury.

Devontae Adams apparently is good. I don't know. Does that mean he cleared the concussion protocol? I don't know. No. I don't know if he has or not, but the coach said that he's doing okay. So it could be one of those situations where he's in the concussion protocol and

he'll clear it in time for the game. We're ranking him this week. It's one of the stupidest things that I've seen. They're down 18. They pull Josh Jacobs. They take a shot down the field for Devonta Adams that has no bearing on the outcome. Triple coverage, by the way. Triple coverage.

And he just gets blasted. What else? Oh, and his teammate, Jacoby Myers, is trending in the right direction, trying to come back from his concussion. Zay Jones, we don't know about his status. He's got a knee injury. Darnell Mooney thinks he'll be okay with his knee. Odell Beckham's ankle injury

is apparently not serious. And Deontay Johnson is on IR, and he's got to miss the next four games i mean they didn't even put him on ir so that well three now oh really because i thought no week two counts toward his ir that's why they did it when they did it all right he'll come back after the buy in week seven okay and that's why whenever that situation happens you do what i did which apparently caused somebody to get upset in the podcast what What? I had Deontay Johnson on the podcast roster. I did it in two leagues where it was eligible.

You pick up somebody that's playing Monday night. I did it in two leagues where I could do it. Podcast League was one. I picked up Adam Thielen. He was playing. Who cares? Yeah, you had to take a shot, and you're probably going to keep him. And you did it after he was IR eligible.

Right. You did nothing wrong. No, I'm not saying I did anything wrong, but it apparently caused some questions. No, no, no. Someone just was wondering why did you pick up Adam Thielen because he had such a bad game in week one. Quarterbacks. Anthony Richardson's

got the concussion. Joe Burrow, we do not know what's going on here. We don't know. His status for week three is uncertain. And, you know, he came back too soon, it seems. Jamar Chase sort of hinted to that. Remember what Chase said initially? Yeah. Five weeks.

So, yeah, I mean, maybe a topic for Wednesday's show, but I don't think I want to, unless it's super low, I don't think I want to buy low on Jamar Chase right now. Oh, I'd be buying low on Jamar Chase. Oh, I'd be all low on Jamar Chase. To what degree? Like I said, last week I offered Stefan Diggs for Chase and it was declined. That's not really buying low though. Now it's not for sure.

But, okay, you trade Puka Nakua for him? In a heartbeat. Oh my god, yes. Would you trade Calvin Ridley for him? In a heartbeat. I don't know if I'd do that. Okay, that's kind of? In a heartbeat. I don't know if I'd do that. Okay, that's kind of where I'm at. I don't know if I'd go do that. Ridley straight up for him?

Yeah, I probably would. But, you know, think about it for a few seconds. The frustrating thing about this, and just keep this in mind when you're making your waiver moves, they don't play until Monday. We're not going to get a practice report on them until Thursday. Yeah them until Thursday. So you may not know Joe Burrow's status. So just be prepared to get a quarterback. Yeah. I just wrap on this, but we cannot rule out Joe Burrow going on IR, right? Correct. That is technically in play.

I mean, it's technically in play for everyone, but it's not completely unlikely for Burrow. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it's just vague right now. I mean, we could say the exact same thing for anybody that got hurt in week two, but didn't suffer a terrible injury like Nick Chubb. We can't rule out that Saquon is going to go on IR, and the team doesn't have to make a decision

until leading up to the game, just like the Steelers did. Okay. Logan Thomas is an injured tight end. Oh, Lamar Jackson has a hand injury, but it does not seem to be a big deal. Is there any more fab you want to talk about? So Ford, we know, is a potential break-the-bank guy. And how about Zach Moss?

What did you say? 20? Yeah, in that range. How about Josh Reynolds? How much would you spend of your original budget? 10 to 15. Yeah, 10 max. Hunter Henry?

Same, 10 to 15. Yeah, I'd go a little higher because it's a tight end. All right, top three at each position. Let's get some names floating out there. Actually, let's do that. We'll do it, yeah. Top three at each position. Let's get some names floating out there. Actually, let's... Yeah, let's do that. We'll do it. Yeah.

Top three at each position. Jamie, who are the top three quarterbacks to get this week who are rostered in 65% of leagues or fewer? So it's kind of... I'm a little all over the place with that just because of the super flex and two QB league options. But Stafford, I think you got to buy into what he's doing with the past attempts.

The touchdowns have not been there for him, but as long as he stays healthy, he looks like he may have a great receiving core. If Cooper cup does return with the way that the other two guys are playing and he's healthy right now. So, uh, he would be the first one to go look at. And I don't think a tremendously difficult matchup against the Bengals on Monday night, although it shouldn't be easy for him, but he's just got to get that second touchdown. If he can get it, uh, Gardner Minshew would be second just because you've seen enough of him in his career when he does play. And so if Anthony Richardson is out, I'd look at that in terms of a super flex or two QB option, maybe as a replacement for Joe Burrow this week. Sam

Howell, I liked him in the preseason. He looked really good against the Broncos, you know, and, and tough schedule coming up, but you know, you're seeing just a lot of options for him at play right now in terms of his receiving core. So he would be third. And then I'll put Baker Mayfield there. They're rostered in the same amount of leagues. Baker's balling, you know, no turnovers in the first two games. Mike Evans is playing great.

Uh, I know the, the matchup against Philly on paper should be bad. They just lost Avanti Maddox. So this could be a big opportunity for a guy like Chris Godwin, um, their slot corner being out there. And so, you know, Baker may have an opportunity to still be a decent option, but in terms of how and Mayfield,

you know, I'd love to know what the, the amount of leagues are super flex and two QB because they're only rostered in 35% of our leagues. So I'm going to guess that's the majority of those formats, but if you're in an eight or 10 team super flex league or two QB league, and those guys are not rostered, please go get them.

Um, I don't think there are that many super flex leagues. Uh, but we could probably find that out, but yeah. All right. I don't know. This wasn't,

wasn't the most inspiring list of quarterbacks to be honest. No, because most of them are rostered, you know? So like, for example, in terms of Stafford and Howell, and at this point, really even Baker, Derek Carr and Kenny Pickett are rostered in many more leagues than those guys. I'd rather have Stafford and those two quarterbacks in particular on my bench

if I'm just looking to stash a quarterback on my bench than those two. Running backs, Dave. I'm sorry, one more. Just Jake Browning, you know, just in case. You know, I know we're not expecting him to be Joe Burrow, but he still has those weapons. And so, you know, can he get you 18 points per game? You know, that's not a horrible place to be if you're stuck.

Okay. I mean, this is basically the waiver wire segment, but I can't make the case because of the matchups. But Mac Jones, his next two matchups are the Jets. His next three matchups are horrible. Jets, Cowboys, Saints. So you can forget it. But there's some encouraging stuff out of New England, at least just their pace, the amount of times they're throwing, but forget it. All right, Dave, who are the top three running backs? It might be obvious, but go for it. It's Jerome Ford, it's Zach Moss, and it's Justice Hill. Each of them is available in at least 40% of CBS Sports League, so they're out there. I don't know if there's really much else to say. That's fine.

Dave, I'll go back to you. Who are the top three wide receivers? My top wide receiver is Traylon Burks because I'm thinking rest of season. He's available in 45% of leagues. Josh Reynolds is behind him. He's available in 79% of leagues. That's going to change.

He's going to be rostered everywhere. Tutu Atwell would be behind him. That's my top three. Burks, Reynolds, Atwell. Burt Reynolds. Burks Reynolds. Yes. So wait, let's talk about this Traylon Burks thing here.

Why is this a rest of season player? You're just having some trouble trusting DeAndre Hopkins with the injury. There's a little bit of that. And there, we saw what Burks could do on that deep throw from Tannehill. I thought Tannehill looked a lot better in week two than he did in week one. And it's just, it's a long-term upside play. I think if you need a receiver in week three to start, I'd feel better about Reynolds than Burks,

but I'm thinking, I'm thinking the rest of the way. And I think Burks will have some big games. Jamie, the top tight ends. Hunter Henry mentioned, you know, two touchdowns in the first two games, 13 targets, and, you know, playing very well in this Bill O'Brien offense. And Mac Jones is clearly relying on him enough

that you can trust him as a potential top five tight end, but certainly as a top ten tight end for the foreseeable future. Jake Ferguson, again, we've talked about this for several weeks now, seven targets in week one. I'd love to see what this offense just as a whole will look like in a competitive game after beating their first two opponents out of New York, 70-10, excuse me.

That's not going to happen this week, Jamie. Well, that's the thing. It's Arizona. Not exactly the most appealing situation. And then, look, give Zach Gertz some credit. Six catches each of the first two games. More of a PPR play than anything else because he's not doing much with it.

But you're seeing the targets there, and it's hard to overlook 18 targets in two weeks. So as poorly as the Cardinals offense is, Zach Ertz has become a go-to guy for Josh Dobbs. Would you move Taysom Hill ahead of Ertz if it's a non-PPR league? Oh, yeah. Ferguson too? Probably so.

Yeah, I mean, Taysom Hill is a borderline, you know, again, depends on the platform you're using because a lot of leagues have moved him to quarterback only. So just keep that in mind. But for us as a tight end, yes, I think Taysom Hill, as long as they don't bring in somebody else, has top 12 upside in non-PPR. And even when Kamara comes back, you're saying just for week three?

No, no, no. Just for week three. Okay. Let's talk a little bit more about Hunter Henry, because this is, you know, it's impressive stuff. Like I said with Mac Jones, I mean, Hunter Henry has the same matchups, Jets, Cowboys, Saints. The Jets, I don't know that they're so...

I don't know that the Jets and the Cowboys are so amazing against tight ends, but these are good defenses. The Saints are amazing against tight ends. But Henry, 61% rostered and two good games so far. But do we buy into it? I mean, how much are you guys buying it with Henry? Oh, I'm buying it.

I mean, it's not like this guy doesn't have a pedigree. You know, he's been a pretty good fantasy tight end throughout his career when he's gotten opportunities and I'll say quality quarterback play. I don't know if this qualifies yet, but it's, it's, it's looking much better. You know, the concern going into the year for me at least was, okay, this is a guy in Mike Gusecki that Bill O'Brien has a history with and was, was someone that they, you know, were moderately attracted to, to bring in as a, as a quality playmaker for them. And you heard some good things in the off season mini camp, then he got hurt. Uh, but, but Henry's the better player and, you know, I, I think you're seeing it right now. So I, I don't have a problem chasing the first

two weeks of production because of what this offense has done for tight ends, what Mac Jones, I think will do for him. And look, you had one big week for Kendrick Bourne. He got a lot of targets in week two. Also, you know, you don't get fancy points for air yards and he ran a lot of them.

Um, Devante Parker, you know, stepped up in week two, but he was a disappearing, he didn't play in week one. Juju has been a disappearing act for the majority of the first two games. So this has been a constant,

you know, so you're averaging 6.5 targets. You're getting six catches. He's 10.5 PPR points without the touchdowns. So that's a good place to be right now. Yeah, and his touchdown shouldn't have counted, by the way. But we're not going to hold that against Hunter Henry. Why not? Why not?

There was an ineligible man downfield. Collinsworth was like, there should have been two penalties on this play or something like that. Nice Collinsworth impersonation. Yeah, I thank you. They say I do a good Collinsworth. I'm going to do the next.

There you go. All right, Dave, give me some DSTs. I'm Chris Collinsworth. I would defer to Jamie. I'm not prepared for Jamie. Give me, Al, give me some DSTs. Oh, my God. You sound like a farmer.

That is not a real impression. The Chiefs are my favorite one just because we've seen Justin Fields look awful. The Titans, again, just looking at how they will defend the run of Deshaun Watson looks awful. The Seahawks get the Panthers in that inept offense right now. And then the Dolphins against the Broncos because I think Denver going on the road after two straight home games, Miami coming back for their first home game. I think the weather's going to be impactful here. It's going to be hot and muggy. So Denver could struggle. Russell Wilson could struggle. And I, I, I wasn't impressed with the way the Broncos looked in the second half of that game.

Speaker 2, Speaker 3, Speaker 4, kickers, Jamie, Speaker 1, Brandon Aubrey should be rostered for Speaker 2, regardless of the matchup. At this point, you know, he's 50% on, on our site. Uh, Dustin Hopkins, I think that'll be a field goal game for the Browns, uh, Brandon McManus Brandon Aubrey should be rostered regardless of the matchup at this point. He's 50% on our site. Dustin Hopkins, I think that'll be a field goal game for the Browns. Brandon McManus against Houston, and then Jason Saunders against the Broncos. Can I ask about a couple of DSTs and where you've got them, Jamie?

Sure. The Titans and the Raiders. Titans are top 12. Raiders are just outside that, so they're in the top 15, but I like the other four better. I love those teams this week because they're taking on the Titans are taking on the Browns Raiders taking on the Steelers. They just beat the hell out of each other on Monday night. And those two teams should be fresh and ready to go in week three. I think it depends on your scoring too, because as we saw last night, the Steelers,

uh, defense could look awful and still create some turnovers and score touchdowns, and that could ruin your point total on the other side. Oh, right. If you lose points for DSTs, do it at a different... And the Browns are a 40-yard total offense, you know, so it wasn't like the Steelers' defense was great. It's been a while since the Steelers have had that.

Jason Sanders, right? You said both there. I'm sure it's Sanders. Jason Sanders. Yeah, Sanders. All right, Dave, who's our IDP? IDP pickup. Let's start at defensive line

and Harrison Phillips, who's had a lot of tackle volume over the first two weeks of the season for Minnesota. I'd buy into that on the D line at DB. Dax Hill has been playing great over the first two weeks of the season. Double digit fantasy points

of tackles count. Two DBs that are hurt right now. It looks like Amani Hooker's got a chance to play. He was really good in week one. Reed Blankenship in Philadelphia. Part of the reason why the Eagles have been so bad against tight ends is because of Blankenship, and then he got hurt. Hopefully he's available week three against Tampa Bay.

And do I have a linebacker in here? I've been impressed with Dennis Gardeck, but he's more of a rusher and not necessarily a tackle getter among the LBs. Maybe Terrell Bernard qualifies in Buffalo as a linebacker that fantasy managers could go and expect target or tackle volume from 11 tackles week one six and week two with an interception I got one Zach Cunningham for the Eagles he's replacing the Kobe Dean well he's a starter anyway I think but I think he'll be their

leading tackle tackler and he didn't have a ton last week but the you know the vikings had nine carries right so he actually had eight tackles in a game the vikings barely ran right he had five solo but but eight total tackles so zach cunningham actually i think is someone i'm going to be looking i have some pretty lousy linebackers in our idp league uh let's talk about guys that that don't get a lot of pub on this show, but shallow league guys like the Nico Collins of the world because I would maybe break my bank for Nico Collins. I'm pretty excited about it.

I wouldn't do that. It's crazy. We talked about it so much on yesterday's show. Please listen to Beyond the Box score. Nico Collins is something like 78% rostered. Would he be the second priority? Let's say Jerome Ford's number one no matter what, but all the other people we've talked about today,

would Nico Collins be ahead of them? Yes. He's awesome. Who else? Jordan Love. Jordan Love probably not this week against the Saints, but are we buying it basically rest rest of season i mean look he scored six touchdowns in two games without his best receiver right you know so it's it's a little

erratic you know with in terms of you know the the passes that he's missing on but there are some throws that he's made that his receivers haven't helped him out too you know so you know to to do what he did last week i thought was very impressive because not only did not have Watson, he didn't have Aaron Jones, you know, so you could argue maybe his two top pass catchers not being there. So yeah, uh, for sure. You want to, again, going back to whatever your, your number two quarterback situation is. And if you're the Joe Burrow fantasy manager, you might be exploring a trade for Jordan levels on somebody's bench in a one quarterback league. So, um, that's the type of move I think that can help you out long term saints. And then the lions, the Raiders, a buy the broncos and the vikings if the rams defense isn't what they've been the first

two weeks of the season he's got them after that he's he's a terrific guy to go and try and get rashaun johnson uh jaylen warren these guys are available tank bigsby still available i mean they're in like 20 to 5 to 20 to 25% of leagues. Bigsby is somebody that might get dropped because he didn't play. Yeah. Well, he didn't get any touches in week two. And this could be a situation where if they're playing with the lead, like we saw in week one, you know, they might lean on him a little bit.

And he would be one of those guys. I think if something happened to ETN, we'd be talking about him like we've talked about Jerome Ford today. If he gets dropped and you've got ETN, maybe make the room for him. You may see also, just because of moves that people have to make, Elijah Mitchell may get dropped. He's rostered.

He, to me, is the lottery ticket. Until he gets hurt, then it's Jordan Mason. Don't talk about ETN getting hurt is what I was trying to say earlier. Don't even speak that. I hurt is what I was trying to say earlier. Like, don't even speak that. Yeah. I hate the idea of it. Okay, fine.

I mean, ETN wins Publishers Clearinghouse and buys his own island in the Pacific. Last player was Jacoby Myers. He had such a good week one. Yeah, that's a great one, too. 75% rostered. And Nico Collins or Jacoby Myers? Nico, but I'd look for both. Nico.

PPR. And in the off chance that Devontae Adams is out, then Myers would be better than Nico this week. Are you seeing Nico Collins' snap shares? He's playing 50% to 60% of the snaps. It's the strangest thing. I can't. We couldn't find any explanation for it, but very weird.

But this is where snap count becomes a little bit irrelevant. Like, when they're on the field, they get like. But that's weird because he's running fewer routes than Tank Dell and then Robert Woods. He's just the number three receiver in terms of involvement. It is really weird, but he's killing it. Yeah, I don't care. No, I don't either.

Like I said, I mean, I'm super excited, but it is weird. One thing I did care about was Kendrick Bourne, who the Patriots, each of the first two weeks, have had one wide receiver play basically every snap. And in week one, it was Bourne. In week two, it was Devontae Parker. And Bourne played about half the

snaps, 50 to 60%. That still led them in targets, though. Did he? Yes. That's still, though. I mean, that's just weird. All right. Let's take a break. And when we come back, we will spend a few minutes on last night's games. There were a couple games last night, and they were

both one-score games. And then we'll get into more waiver wire players for you, including the deep league guys. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals,

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New Orleans 20 and Carolina 17. Any major fantasy takeaways from this, Dave Richard? Are you starting to get worried about Miles Sanders yet? A little bit. I want to give him a little bit of cash because of the opponent last night. But, you know, fumble in week one,

losing, passing down work to Chuba Hubbard. Right. I didn't see, or maybe I did see how much Chuba played in the fourth quarter, a lot, 12 of 21 snaps in the fourth quarter when they were trailing, but they're going to be trailing a lot.

Yeah, exactly. So he might be a, a sell and get whatever you can. Their schedule coming up at Seattle, Minnesota, Detroit. So it's not that bad of a schedule short term. So I don't know. Maybe he's not a sell high or sell whatever. Maybe you just got to be patient with them.

Can't argue with 17 touches. It's just the production's bad. The line's bad. Quarterback's bad. I like the involvement for Thielen. And if they can't run, this is where they go. They're going to go for a short area target like Adam Thielen to rack up catches and less than 10 yards per catch moving forward. So if Thielen is out there in your leagues, and I think he is in a handful, what's his roster ship right now? He's at 42%. Yeah, he's out there in about half of CBS

sports leagues. I'm not prioritizing him over Berks Reynolds, not even to to Atwell, but he's out there. He's someone that could be fairly effective if you just need a bench wide receiver and you can probably get him for next to nothing in fab too. I haven't looked into this, but I feel like Michael Thomas is a superstar in the first half and then completely right. Both games. It's like I'm sitting there going, oh, God, a lobby is not going to have a good game. Michael Thomas is going off. And then at the end of the day, a lobby is just my lobby. Would you want me to look it up? No, that's all right. I want to look at Miles Sanders, 22 touches in week one, 17 in week two.

So if you want to believe in it, the one thing he hasn't done yet is broken off a big run. And that's kind of a staple for him. He's an explosive guy. He has a 13-yard carry. That's his longest carry of the season. So that's what's missing so far. If that comes, things could change for him. What?

Guess how many targets Michael Thomas has in the second half of games this year? Two. Correct. Weird, right? It's like he sets it up for Olave. All right, Pittsburgh 26. I think the thing with Sanders

is he's going to end up being a trap back. They're not going to score very much and if he's not catching passes, it could be a problem. Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's definitely possible and you know that he's got an injury history as well. The only thing I'd say...

Would Thomas get more targets if the Saints were in more competitive games in the second half? They were competitive. And in second half? They were competitive. And in week one, they were competitive too, yeah? Yeah. They were able to run a decent amount. I bet he gets more than two targets in the second half against Green Bay.

No, I'm sorry to say this about Sanders, though, is that he does have seven catches. So he's not the third down back, but he's still getting some catches. But are these dump-off catches? Who cares? I hope they are. Yeah, but he's not doing third down back, but he's still getting some catches. Are these dump-off catches? Who cares? I hope they are. He's not doing anything with them. It doesn't matter. He's still getting PPR point. He averaged less than 1.1 yards per catch.

I guess more than that. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he would have had 13.8 points in week one without the fumble. And then last night playing the Saints, which is going to be one of the toughest defenses, I think, across the board, but certainly against the run. So this is a

telling week against Seattle, which a little more suspect against the run. Alright, Pittsburgh 26, Cleveland 22. Pittsburgh scored two defensive touchdowns in this game. They had one big play on offense, George Pickens' touchdown. There was a cornerback, number 23.

Go watch that replay and tell me what he was doing. Trying to – it reminded me of me when I used to play tackle football, and I just was afraid to tackle people and just let Pickens go for this long touchdown. It was amazing. Yeah, it was a great play. But sloppy game, and Cooper was a starter in only 20% of leagues, understandably, and he had a big game, seven catches for 90 yards on the road.

Jamie, what's your big fantasy takeaway from this one? Kenny Pickett's not good. Matt Canada's worse. Offensive line for Pittsburgh is still a problem. But the encouraging thing was the 10 targets to pickens you know so went from a guy you got to be a little concerned about to somebody that you know certainly should be started in three receiver leagues because at least they're giving those chances there's the chance for the big plays so um other than that uh i thought

nazi saved himself with uh the 21 yard, although it looked like it took him 40 minutes to get from one side of the field to the other. Jalen Warren looked good, but he's still stuck in this timeshare with that team. So we'll see what happens moving forward. And then the disappointing thing was the lack of production from the other guys. No Fryermuth, no Robinson, no Calvin Austin. So certainly Fryerm muth but the other two and if you're looking at you're hoping for options in deeper leagues i would move on you know i don't think robinson or calvin austin are gonna pickens had the 34.5 percent target

share that's gorgeous after what happened in week one after deontay johnson left i agree with jamie you write him out as a wide receiver almost a 60 60-40 split, not quite, between Najee and Warren. Warren played 11 of 14 snaps on third and fourth down. If you have eyeballs, then you know that Warren looked better than Najee. Now it's going to come down to a coaching decision on whether or not they think Warren can hold up if he's going to take over 60% of the snaps. We'll see.

I'm going to keep him on my rosters for at least one more week. Do you think we should drop Najoku or Friar Muth for Hunter Henry? Yes. Wow. Yeah, you could, you could. And the problem is,

is that now you're giving Friar Muth a shot to help somebody else out in your league. I may hesitate a little bit with Njoku, especially now that Chubb's out. So I'm going to split the difference. Njoku, Henry, Friermuth. I think you have to remember that Deshaun Watson did score 22.7 fantasy points in week one because he had 45 yards and a touchdown on the

ground. But obviously this guy is struggling at quarterback. I he's 99% rostered. I could see him getting dropped. He does have the rushing upside though, but there's not much to say. I mean, he's just, it still was also a desperate Steelers team at home. I don't know that that excuses it. I mean, he's no, I'm not excusing it at it at all. But I think what you saw in week one is probably more of the norm. An erratic passer can still save himself with his legs. You know, he just made some bad throws. That's going to be what you're dealing with at this point. You know, he's certainly not the guy we saw in Houston.

He's never going to get that back. And everything that we heard in the preseason is unfolding right before our eyes. Yeah, that's true. Struggles to make easy throws. Trying to do too much, trying to be a hero, holds the ball too long. But again, had no practice time with Amari Cooper this week because he was expected to miss the game. So that was a surprise.

And I don't think they're doing enough to get the other guys involved. Najoku Cooper, excuse me, Najoku Elijah Moore. You know, he took the shot to Donovan Peoples-Jones, should have been an interception. You know, so he's just, heoku, Elijah Moore. He took the shot to Donovan Peoples-Jones, should have been an interception. He is what he is. He's bad. He threw nine times at Elijah Moore, so he gave Elijah plenty of chances to do something in the game.

The thing that is in the back of my head on Deshaun is the Browns can't say, okay, we're just going to take a lot off his plate now and be more balanced and run the football. There's no guarantee that they'll be great at that without Nick Chubb there. And so it makes me wonder if this team continues to lean into the pass, Watson be damned. And so some matchups coming up that I don't think are terrible. Tennessee, I think is actually good for him. Baltimore is better for him than it is for Jerome Ford.

I don't know if I'm starting him in either of these matchups. I'm certainly going to drop him in 10-team leagues if I have another quarterback that I feel good about starting. Okay, let's look at the waiver wire, the rest of the players we need to talk about here. Start with the quarterbacks. Stafford, we already spoke about. How do you feel about Minshew as, let's say,

potentially a one-week replacement against the Ravens, who so far have been great against the pass, which is a little surprising given the injuries in the secondary. But they faced C.J. Stroud and Joe Burrow, and so far they're giving up the sixth fewest yards per attempt. Gardner Minshew, where do you think you'll have him ranked this week? Just inside the top 20. But, you know, again i i hope he's not playing

because i'd rather see anthony richardson out there um he's a wild card he's always going to be like that you know last last year uh huge game in one start in place of jalen hurts and then a mediocre game the mediocre game was against a really good defense in dallas so average 20 points per game in in those two matchups So that's what he's capable of. I don't think he has a ceiling higher than that. But I like the way that he can always sort of do something a little crazy, and that crazy can end up being something decent. So not a must-start guy in one quarterback league by any stretch,

but in a 2QB and super flex league, he should be picked up across the board. We don't know how long the concussion may linger for Richardson. I missed what you said at the end. We don't know how long the concussion may linger for Richardson. Like I said you said at the end. We don't know how long the concussion may linger for it. And like I said, I hope it's, we don't see Minshew at all, but who knows?

There's more long-term upside for Howell and Stafford and probably for Baker Mayfield. So I'd, I'd rather go with those guys. He's to me, he's a one week replacement in super flex leagues. Well, it's so funny.

A quarterback going into two-week stretch facing the Eagles and the Saints, I would have no interest in. And then a bye. That's Baker Mayfield. But the Eagles have been so bad. They're allowing the most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

I think Bradbury. I saw on the interwebs that Bradbury is coming back this week, but it wasn't the most reputable source. But I saw that Sirianni said he'd be back. I'm trying to confirm that, but I don't know about Blankenship as Dave was talking about earlier,

and he also said Evante Maddox, their slot corner, is probably out for the year. So that's Mayfield, but then he gets the Saints in a bye week. So if you don't plan on starting Mayfield in week three, I'm not sure it makes sense to pick him up. I don't think you're going to start him in week four

at the Saints, and you're certainly not going to start him in his bye week. Any interest in Ryan Tannehill, who had a 23-point game in week two, and now he gets the Browns? No. I'd start him over Minshew. How does that sound? Does that sound good?

All right, let's go to the running backs here. You could look to see if Roshan Johnson, Jalen Warren,ren elijah mitzel antonio gibson and tank bigsby are available although i wonder with gibson is he more of a drop at this point no i wouldn't want to drop him why not he does nothing nothing he has what he has nine touches in two games. But they've won two games. Let's see what happens now against Buffalo and Philadelphia in the next two weeks. Let's see what happens. They're not going to be able to run out the clock because I think Brian Robinson had five carries

in the first half. Is that what it was? Something like that on Sunday. All right, Jerome Ford. How do you guys feel about Jerome Ford? Now pick him up. Zach Moss is Jerome Ford. How do you guys feel about Jerome Ford? Now, pick him up. Zach Moss is number two. Matt Breida.

I brought up Gary Brightwell. If you're desperate, I don't know that anyone's going to look at him. And again, I'm not saying that the same thing is going to happen that happened last year. But in two games without Barkley, or one game where Barkley played 31% of the snaps, Breida had seven carries, and Brightwell had 16 in those two games without Barkley, or one game where Barkley played 31% of the snaps, Breida had seven carries, and Brightwell had 16 in those two games.

Breida had nine catches, and Brightwell had three. Justice Hill, Tony Jones, Craig Reynolds. I don't know that we need to really... I feel like we covered this. You guys did a good job with that. There are a lot of handcuffs to get. Ty J. Spears, Ty Chandler, Sean Tucker, Keontae Ingram. How about Jaleel McLaughlin?

That's a deeper one. Jaleel Dabble, do you? Sure. Yeah. If Javante just doesn't turn on the Jets at some point, I think the Broncos could start giving their undrafted rookie, who's got some speed, more work. And they gave him a short yardage touchdown opportunity

and got it in week two. What about Damian Harris? Do you guys have any interest in him? 50% rostered? Sure, you can pick him up. He's six points or nothing. Pretty much. All right, wide receivers. The shallow league guys are Nico Collins, Jacoby Myers. We's six points or nothing. Pretty much. All right. Wide receivers,

the shallow league guys are Nico Collins, Jacoby Myers. We have not talked about the Chiefs guys. How are you feeling right now, Jamie, about Kadarius, Tony and Sky Moore? I wouldn't mind stashing them. You know, I know I've been sort of all over the place, so I apologize for that. But I think, you know, you saw some signs of life, you know, with Sky Moore, the 70 yards and the touchdown. And then for Kadarius, you know, again, another five-catch game. He's just not doing much with it. But at some point, there's going to be somebody that emerges from this receiving core. You know, it'd be nice if it was Raji Rice or, you know, anybody, just really at this point.

But these are the two with the most upside. So if you have a roster to play with, I wouldn't mind rostering them. Like I'd roster them over almost all the receivers that we talked about aside from the first two. It'd be Reynolds, Tutu, and then either of the Chiefs guys. Over Tank Dell? I'd probably put Tank Dell ahead of them, yeah.

Okay. If you're looking at players on the waiver wire, the order would be for Jamie, Reynolds, Tutu Atwell, Tank Dell, and by the way, Tutu Atwell, Tank Dell, and by the way, if you can't find Tank Dell, his name is Nathaniel, Nathaniel Dell, Texans receiver, and then Kadarius, Tony, and Sky Moore, and then Robert Woods, Jaden Reed, sorry, I think I'm a day or two away from being done with this cough, Robert Woods, Jaden Reed,

Adam Thielen, Traylon Burks, who's actually number one for Dave. That's more of a long-term play. Marvin Mims. Okay, Zay Jones is still out there, but he's hurt. I was going to bring up Hunter Renfro, but it looks like Adams and Myers have a good chance to play this week. But let me ask you guys,

how legit do you think Reynolds, Atwell, and Nathaniel Tank Dell are, Dave? Reynolds is going to be legit until week seven. Double-checking the schedule. That's when Jamison Williams comes back. Will Williams take Reynolds off the field a lot? Will he take target share away? We aren't sure if that's going to happen, but it's a concern.

For now, you just start him. I think he's flex-worthy, especially in PPR leagues. Atwell, same thing with him, except it's Cooper Cup. When Cooper Cup comes back, we've already talked about how we figure that Cup will be the target leader for the Rams. Nakua will take the targets that Atwell's been getting, and what does that leave for Atwell? It might leave five or six targets.

You're hoping he has a couple of big splash plays. Dell might have a little bit more staying power in Houston just because what's Houston doing? They're playing more for the future than trying to win now. They'll tell you that they're trying to win now. They're not winning now. They better be trying to win now after giving away two draft picks. Right, exactly.

Maybe. But they're going to throw a lot, and that's going to be good for tank dell who's got great speed and got a lot of target volume in week two hopefully a sign of things to come okay in fact i would argue that if you're looking long long term you might rather have dell on your roster than atwell and maybe even over re. Okay. And tight ends. We've got Sam Laporta and shallower leagues facing the Falcons who has struggled terribly against tight ends in 2022 bad in week one, but solid in week two against Luke Musgrave.

So Sam Laporta is out there, but he has five catches in each of his first two games. That's pretty cool. Hunter Henry, 61% rostered. Do you think he should be 80 That's pretty cool. Hunter Henry, 61% rostered. Do you think he should be 80-plus percent rostered, Hunter Henry?

Yes. Yes, he will be. Jake Ferguson, who had a touchdown last week and should have had a second touchdown, but Dak overthrew him in the end zone. And so he's just an end zone target so far through two games. And I didn't mean just, he is an two games. And I didn't mean just. He is an end zone target.

I didn't mean just. That's the only thing he does. Zach Ertz. I mentioned this on Sunday night. But in two games so far, he's been open for a touchdown and open for a huge chunk play. And Josh Dobbs missed him twice. I'm not saying that's the last time that's going to happen.

But he's had opportunities. And Taysom Hill. Taysom Hill, who in non-PPR for week three could be someone you want because he had, I think, nine carries for 75 yards yesterday. So no Jamal Williams. Drop Tyler Higbee.

Drop Dalton Schultz. Drop Gerald Everett. What about Cole Komet? Any interest in Cole Komet at the Chiefs? Do you want eight PPR fantasy points? I would hold them for one more week. Okay. He has nine PPR points and almost eight.

If you use decimals week one and week two, finish with the drop-o-meter zero to 10, Zach Charbonnet. Zero. Two. Now listen, you drop them for Ford. Yes, but you might drop him for Ford. Yes.

You might drop him for Moss, too. It's funny. The way to interpret this, it's tough. You say zero. We don't want to drop Zach Charbonnet. There are scenarios where we drop Zach Charbonnet. All right. That's why he's a two.

And Antonio Gibson, like you asked before, too. Right. But this really should be like, how desperate am I to get this guy off my team? And the higher the number means this guy, we think he's pretty much trash. Put him on the waiver wire. So we don't feel that way about Charbonnet. How about JSN? One.

Four. You got the Metcalf injury, so keep that in mind. That's true. How about Zay Jones? Well, we're talking about picking up Zay Jones. Well, he's in limbo right now he's had a great game he's had a terrible game but he did have a couple of almost touchdowns I think

he's also injured so he's in limbo so that's a guy you can move on from to go and pick up somebody off the waiver wire because you can probably find a receiver like Zay Jones later on this year so give him a 7 would you rather have Zay Jones later on this year. So give him a seven.

Would you rather have Zay Jones or Tutu Atwell? Atwell. Atwell, but I'm thinking short-term with that roster spot. Dalton Kincaid. I would drop him for Hunter Henry. Yeah. And I would drop him for Ferguson at this point. I wouldn't drop him for Ferguson.

I'm going to put him at a five on the drop- johan dotson negative one zero samaj ap ryan zero he's in that one to two range juju smith schuster 10 it's like an eight. Kendrick Bourne. Seven. Okay. All right, folks. The Jerome Ford Show has concluded. Good luck to you. And stay tuned for updates. If they sign Kareem Hunt or something, we'll probably pop on and do an emergency podcast.

We don't think that's going to happen. And I got a lot of stuff to do today, so let's not have that happen. For Dave and Jamie and Thomas, I am Adam. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow with some trade talk here on Fantasy Football Today.