Fantasy Football Today - Week 3 Fantasy Football RANKINGS & Tiers: QB, RB, WR, & TE + Starts & Sits (09/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard and Heath Cummings reveal their updated consensus fantasy football rankings and must-start, sit and sleeper picks ahead of Week 3! They break down every position, starting with running backs (1:44), wide receivers (16:19), quarterbacks (31:15) and tight ends (42:07), with key start/sit advice throughout. Get the latest fantasy football insights on Jaylen Warren, Bhayshul Tuten, Mike Evans, Denzel Boston, Bryce Young, Kyler Murray, Dalton Schultz, Colston Loveland and more! Tune in for a complete Week 3 rankings breakdown to set your fantasy football lineup with confidence!Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Welcome to fantasy injury today. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Day Richard. That's Heath Cummings. This is fantasy football today. But we have a lot of injuries that we're getting ready for for week number three. And hopefully you'll have a healthy fantasy roster. Hopefully we'll have some healthy players to talk about. And hopefully have some injury updates for you to set those lineups because there is a game tonight. Should be a fun one between the Packers and the Falcons. All right, guys. So let's just start where we start all the time, which is the running back position. Because this position is really beat up as they all are. Quarterback is the worst because of who we're missing. in terms of the star power not being there. But here's the list, one through 12. And thankfully, we have a lot of the stars that we're used to seeing Bejan Robinson will play tonight against the Packers. But there is, I guess it's changed a little bit since what I was expecting to talk about with Bucky Irving.

But let's talk about Chuba, however, because he's the start of the week, and I'm excited to see what he's going to do. Do you guys share my optimism that Chuba is going to go off in this matchup against Cleveland? I worry about him going off. I do think he's going to be a very good running back.

And what have we seen from the Panthers for the first two weeks? weeks of the season, they like to throw the ball. They're putting it in there. Now, they had to do it week one. They did not have to do it much in week two. They did it anyway against Atlanta. And I don't know if that's just because the Falcons defense is better than expected. I do think this Brown's defense is actually pretty good. But one way to move the chains on them is on the ground. So I do think Chuba Hubbard, at minimum, is the top 15 type of fantasy running back. I agree 100% that he has a start. I think it's how many running back touches are going to be

available and is the difference between is he an rb one or an rb two but he's going to get probably 60 to 75 percent of those touches so it should be a good day might get 90 percent i mean it's how much do they trust a j dillon or are they going to you know bring austin heckler out of cobwebs and use him it doesn't sound like it but uh they don't have a lot of depth of the position trevor a chan is uh is on i r so we'll see what the panthers do to replace jonathan brooks could be a great situation for buck yearvin this rounds run defense has been good just not great and hopefully this is the first time that they give up a touchdown to a running back so far this season.

All right, let's show you the list 13 through 24 and talk about some guys here that are dealing with some injuries or some questionable situations. And one of those guys would be Travis A. Chan, who's banged up a little bit now dealing with an ankle injury. So we're going to see a lot of players get picked up at various positions.

Aaron Jones will talk about a little bit. He's banged up now with the knee injury. We got the Steelers situation with Jalen Warren and Rico Dattle. They're banged up. But Heath, when you look at the Saints back, has not been easy to sort of say, okay, we thought this is going to be the Travis A-Chance show, and it's not.

Are we concerned about him playing? If he does play, are we going to start him against the Raiders? As of right now, I think we're expecting him to play, and you may have to start him. It's kind of how it is. It's not somebody I want to start. The role could not have been much worse through the first two weeks.

We don't have Alvin Camara in week one, and for some reason, Kendra Miller is actively involved. Camara comes back. He gets more Russian. attempts and more targets than Travis A-chan. And maybe part of the reason was because of this being a little bit dinged up. He is the most borderline RB2 that you can find. Like, it's unlikely you're going to find somebody on the waiver wire this week that you'd

want to start over him. Hopefully you have somebody on your bench. If Camara plays, are you starting? If Camer plays and A-chan doesn't, no. Okay. So we'll see what happens there just from the Steeler, from the Saints perspective. Dave, Cam Scadaboo, not the best start so far to the season for him, mostly from a usage standpoint, you know, did have 18 for 81 and the score in week one, but no catch, has got

four catches last week against the Rams. The quarterback situation now is clearly a mess for the Giants because they lose Jackson Dart. Is Cam Scadaboo safe this week against Titans? I like the matchup, and that's enough to go with Cam Scadaboo. I don't love the fact that he's sharing as much as he's sharing, but I do believe that he will be the short yardage goal line guy when it's not the two-minute drill. And I think that he's going to lead this team in touches. So it's a little bit leaning in the same direction as Travis A-chan, but I think the offensive of lines a little bit better in New York than it is in New Orleans, and I think the opportunities will be there for him. I'm cool with Scataboo as a top 20 running back.

All right, so hopefully he delivers maybe can be the catalyst of the Giants offense while they are banged up. And the league neighbors also dealing with a shoulder injury as well. So you'll the list 25 through 36, and we'll get into some starts and sits that we like as well as some sleepers and some more injury situations that we're monitoring here. And you see a name on this list that we're not used to seeing in the top 30, which is Tank Bigsby. So we have the situation with Seekwam Barkley.

We don't have any information. We'll hopefully get some today because they play on Monday night. against the Bears. So Dave, how are you approaching the Eagles backfield, Barclay in, Barkley out? What do we do about Biggsby if he's a starter? I think Biggsby's in the flex range if there is no Saquan Barkley this week. We know he's going to split reps. Will Shipley will handle passing downs. Bigsby will do the rest. The Chicago run defense hasn't been amazing this year. You just saw what 32-year-old Aaron Jones did to them in week number two. So I think that there's a real good opportunity for Bigsby in the event that

he ends up starting slash Saquan Barclay is out. Of course, if Barkley plays, Bigsby will probably be on the waiver wire pretty quickly. Heath you saw on the list, the Broncos running back started to come into play here, and we thought, okay, maybe J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey out. It's the Jonah Coleman show. We get to Wednesday's practice. Jonah Coleman's now hurt. Harvey looks like he's trending in the right direction.

J.K. Dobbins looks like he's going to be fine. So how do you look at the Broncos backfield in the tough matchup against the ramps? Yeah, our waiver wire at is the most injured guy in the backfield, and the healthiest guy in the backfield is J.K. Dobbins. Right next to tank Biggsby of Sequin Barclays out. So I've got him two spots ahead right now, RB28. That's Dobbins. That's Dobbins.

That's without Harvey, but I don't know how much that really matters. Harvey's going to do some things that Dobbins doesn't really do anyways. I do think if Harvey is cleared, he's also a flex because unlike the Tank Bigsby situation where I think they're going up against a bad defense in the Bears, this team's going up against the Rams. I don't think they have a lot of success running the ball, so maybe that's a few more dumpoffs to RJ Harvey if he's healthy. Yep. And just don't give up on Jonah Coleman yet. Even if he's hurt, it's going to, something that we said at the beginning of the season long term

because of Dobbins and how he typically gets banged up throughout the course of the season. All right. Let's show you just one more list, 37 through 48 because we do have some flex options that could be available to you. Or in the case of some of these situations, some desperation plays. I like Emma Johnson as a potential flex just because the chiefs are 10.5 point favorites on the road. And we could see Emma Johnson, who's gotten off to a good start so far, averaging over 7 ppr points per game. Could be helpful for fantasy managers.

Jadarian Price, it will be somebody that will certainly rise up the rankings if he's cleared to play. We are expecting him at this point to be good to go. So hopefully Jadarian Price borderline number two running back. I just talk about some starts and sits. I already gave you mine, which is Chuba Hubbard, who's the start of the week. He's like Jalen Warren. So let's just break it down here. Warren with Rico Doudal or without Rico Duttle, how you're approaching the Steelers against the Bengals.

So I think either way I'm viewing Jalen Warren as an RB2, which might sound strange because this is a good Bingles run defense. And the Steelers should be playing from behind. but the Bengals have allowed the most receptions to running backs through the first two weeks. They weren't good against past catching running backs last year. The Steelers can't run the ball a lick no matter who it is. So they're probably going to use dump-offs to Warren and if Dowdell's their Dowdell as their run game. I would view Warren as a high-end RB2, probably a top 15 running back if there's no Dowdell. If Dowdell's active, Warren's going to be in that 20 to 22 range.

But I think even with Dowell, I'd start Warren over Travis A-chan and full PPR. Okay, so we'll see how this practice. reports go. Actually, both mispractice on Wednesday, but Rico Dotto was in a walking boot, so not looking good for him with the toe injury. All right, your start is a little bit questionable here because he's questionable himself. It sounded like he's not going to play this week. So Aaron Jones, with the knee injury, you're still confident in starting him. Tell me why you think he's not going to start this week because Kevin O'Connell said that he was looking pretty good or feeling pretty good on Wednesday. They're going to see where he goes.

It sounded to me as if like he's got a knee injury, we're making contingency plans. All the beat riders were suggesting we could see Jerome Ford. get activated. DJ Dallas has got a toe injury. I mean, listen, so I, just full disclosure, sure. I write two different versions of Star Sit, one just the positions, and then one, the whole full-length column. I pulled Aaron Jones from the column because I don't think he's going to play. Do you think then, all right, so I picked up DJ Dallas everywhere. Right. But he's, I don't know if he's going to be a feature back here for Minnesota. I think they'll probably mix him in with DeMont-Clauborne. Well, I mean, you have Jones as a starter, so let's

soon he starts. Well, long story short, he's going to be the lead back for them. Sure. Even if he's not at 100 percent, he proved it last. week he looked very very good in this matchup against who they have this week why am I playing on it it's Tampa Bay it's not the best matchup but you saw Cincinnati get some numbers against them in week number one Cleveland their run game isn't very good to begin with I think that we can see Aaron Jones be an okay number two running back if he plays if he doesn't play I don't know how good I feel about trusting DJ Dallas or Demand Claiborne totally these are guys I'd

probably say the side so my fingers are crossed that Aaron Jones plays against the bucks all right so we'll see what happens with Jones again hope we get a practice report the end of the show, but continue to check cbsports.com for the latest news on Jones. Let's talk about some sit running backs here. Ramandre Stevenson, did he get replaced? Is it the Trevian Henderson show or is this is a matchup thing? I would put Treveon Henderson on the sit list as well.

So I don't think we can say that Stevenson got replaced. We saw a couple of times last year where it kind of looked like things were going to Trevon Henderson and then all of a sudden here comes Romandre Stevenson playing 60% of the snaps again. And so maybe it was just a one-week punishment. I think it was interesting even within that. time where they were giving most of the snaps to Henderson. If they had an important passing down,

it was still Remandre Stevenson on the field. This looks to me like, once again, that unknown, it's not going to be 50-50 every week, but we kind of have to project it at 50-50 unless we get a Stevenson fumble or we get another Henderson housecull. And then I think it could really be moving in the direction of Tray on Henderson on early downs,

Ramandre Stevenson on passing downs. And it's a tough matchup to it. Look, Jacksonville gave up a touchdown to Jonah Coleman last week, but this is a really good run defense, as we saw based on last season. All right, you're still staying away from Jeremiah Love and just fantasy managers, what should they do at this point with a guy that was at worst?

Probably a third round pick, but we just can't start him right. I'm shocked that he still started in 77% of CBS League. He's very talented. One of the things I really liked about him was his explosion rate, he has one explosive play so far this season, and he's playing about half the snaps. So these are all problematic. You look at what the 49ers have done.

Blake Korm is the only running back to get more than 3.8 yards per carry against Sanford. Francisco this year. That run defense, while they're healthy, they're good. So it makes me nervous to trust Jeremiah Love in a game where chances are Arizona is going to be playing from behind. That means not a lot of touches for Love. Play him more. Let's just get, let's just see him out there. This Tyler Alger thing is just so frustrating at this point. So yes, I think we're all in agreement. Stay away from Jeremiah Love at least for one more week. I'm going to try and sit Bachel to and it's tough because he is the lead running back for the Jaguars. But he feels very much like a

trapback and a very tough matchup. In Milton Williams last 14 games, they've only allowed two touchdowns to running backs, and that's not what I think we're going to have from Basel, too, and you got lucky last week that he got the direct snap and he scored, but we're going to see Chris Rodriguez down there. Last time they were in the red zone, or last week, at least, it was Rodriguez down there. He's not working in the passing game, and so

this Patriot's run defense is good. The scenario is not great. I love what our colleague Pete Priscoe said, give him more work. Let's just see what he can do because he's so explosive. This is just not the game where I think he's a must start running back more of a flex. They talked about giving him more work in the passing game this week. Their offensive coordinator, so I'd

love to see it. If he has a bad game this week, he's a terrific by-low candidate. Totally. And listen, they'll throw to him on first and second down, that would be the hope. On third downs, we just know that they play LeQuint Allen, who came back last week after missing week one. All right, I alluded to this as a guy that I like as a sleeper. you like Emmett Johnson as a sleeper this week.

Yeah, yeah, I've been moving about the rankings and tend on doing it some more. I think you just look at this game where the chiefs are 11.5.5-foyant favorites. The dolphins have looked every bit the part of the worst team in football through the first two weeks. Kenneth Walker and Wright play a half. Emmett Johnson, at the very least, unless he's just too important to them, should have a quarter's worth of play where he's getting touches. He's got four passes on the year.

Broken three tackles on those four receptions has just been incredible in space. And if you give him 12 touches against this Dolphins team, which honestly the chiefs probably need to do anyways. Kenneth Walker's on pace right now for 476 inches. They've talked about this. We need to even that split up just a little bit. Emmett Johnson could be a starter. So I'm totally with you. You see where I haven't ranked.

I did the same thing with Kailin Black last week. I just want to caution. I thought the same thing. Dolphins stink. Backup looked really good. Just didn't come to fruition. But maybe that was because Black was a little bit banged up. I think Emmett Johnson, though, could be a great, sneaky option if you're stuck with a lot of the running back injuries.

For example, like Kevin Johnson versus DJ Dallas, if there's no Aaron Jones, like that's what we're talking about for somebody like that. You like Tony Pollard as a sleeper, which is interesting. This is a favorable game script that I think is coming for Tennessee against the Giants. I don't see the Giants pulling away from this one. I think the Titans can stay competitive in this game. And look, the Giants played on Monday. They got beat up on the ground. I would start Tony Pollard this week ahead of the Packers running backs on Thursday night against Atlanta.

I think there's going to be opportunities for him to get around 15 touches. Not saying that he's going to be amazing, but he could fall into the end zone, average four yards per carry along the way. Give us kind of a throwback to what we saw from Pollard at the end of last year. It would be nice to see another situation where both guys miss practice on Wednesday, although for the Titans guys, both Pollard and Tijé. Spears. They're dealing with, I wanted to say Taijay Sharp,

with Taijay Spears, they're dealing with soreness, so hopefully it's okay for both of those running backs. For me, I like Rashad White. I like what I saw from the last week. Six catches, 40 yards on six targets. We're going to see this team most likely chasing points.

It's a brutal defense. Seattle's obviously great, but I think this is not a great game for Jacori Kroski-Mert. This should be a game of Rashad White's helping Marcus Mariota, so not a bad flex play if you're looking for some help in PPR.

All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back and get into some wide receiver rankings tell you about a lot of injuries once again, and some injury replacements. That's next on Fantasy Football Today. Welcome back to Fantasy Football today. We're talking wide receiver rankings here for week three

and lots of injuries that we're dealing with once again at this position. Let's show you the rank list, one through 12. And we'll start with a guy that we don't usually see on here, but we might for the rest of the season. That's a guy playing tonight in Christian Watson. So Dave, has it just become a set it and forget it with Watson? You could also factor in Matthew Gold now

because we know Jaden Reed is not gonna play the game tonight against the Falcons. For Watson, it's definitely said it or forget it. He's earned it, not just from what we saw last season, but through the first two games of this season. This Packers team has to throw the ball because they can't run it very well. This Atlanta front is actually not bad at getting to the quarterback. It's going to mean shorter throws for Jordan Love. And Christian Watson can just get those slants and dig routes and go off to the races. And we've already seen him do that this season. Matthew Golden's also in play as a number two fantasy wide receiver, like him better in full PPR than half and not. But he does have explosive

ability. We didn't see it in the stats last week, but he drew two crucial past interference calls on downfield throws against the Jets in week number two. And that makes me feel good about his role and the chances that he might have, even against Atlanta, with their battered secondary on Thursday night. No, AJ Terrell, so that should hopefully help out both of those guys. Heath, we seize his eight flowers as a number one receiver. I dropped him just because of the concern and thinking about if I have to play Matthew Golden or Christian Watson tonight. Clearly he's a top 10 wide receiver if he does play, what's the approach now for Zay Flowers, which we may get a practice report before the end of the show. That's going to be the key for me. If he doesn't

practice today, then I think you have to start Watson over him, you have to start London over him, you have to start Golden over him. If he's a partial, you're probably still going to start Watson and Lundner over him just to be safe. But if Zayflowers is on the field on Sunday, you're going to have to go find somebody else to bench because you're going to start Zayflower. Yeah, let's just hope that there's no setback here. And, you know, last week we got him back at practice on Friday and then they ruled him doubtful for the game. So let's see what happens. And clearly if he makes a trip to Brazil, that would be a good sign as well. Let's show you the rank list 13 through 24, some more injury concerns or maybe concerns

about other situations, meaning Drake London gets his quarterback back tonight as the Falcons take on the Packers. And this is what Drake London has done in his last six games with Michael Pennex. Five games over 110 yards, excuse five games over 104 yards with one, two, three, six touchdowns. pretty good when he got Michael Penick. So Drake London, I think we're all going to say start him at least as a number two receiver. We may regret not saying start him as a number one receiver. But Dave, we got DJ Moore also on this list.

He's trying to come back from last week's shoulder. And you remember they played last Thursday, so a little bit of extra time for him. Practice on Wednesday in a non-contact jersey. Is it just DJ Moore plays? DJ Moore starts? Number two, fantasy wide receiver looks like the number one target for this Buffalo Bill's passing game. It looks like they're throwing the ball more and being more aggressive overall

on offense. I'm going to want pieces of this offense. Moore's the best one in the passing game. So let's hope that DJ Moore is 100%. Kian Coleman also got banged up, so that could be a replacement option just in case Moore doesn't play and Kiann Koleal Shakir. So keep on your waiver wire because Coleman and Shakir are available in a lot of leagues. Let's look at the rank list, 25 through 36.

And a guy we weren't expecting to see on this list is on this list, and that's Rashi Rice, who has not had the greatest start so far to the season, Heath. But I thought he looked better against the Colts. And you mentioned this. Like, we could see the Chiefs do whatever they want maybe in the run game, but maybe also in the passing game.

I'm kind of going with the hope of, let's get Rashi Rice going, but I don't think collectively we feel the same way. He's a number three wide receiver. It's so strange how much he's changed from this offseason. Like we were concerned some of us more than others about him losing those short area targets to Kenneth Walker. That's happened.

He's actually performed pretty well on the downfield targets when he's received them. I thought a couple of the in-breaking routes he looked pretty good on. So I'm optimistic. I just think he's a number three-wide receiver in a game where the chance. Chiefs might throw 25 passes. It's a very fair point.

And look, you're going to see sometimes when you go to set your lineup, depending on what site you're playing on, what the opposing rank is for the position. The Dolphins have not been tested yet. So we've seen Kirk Cousin throw three touchdowns. We saw last week that Brock Purdy threw two and ran for one. They're just not challenging from their receiver standpoint. I think if Mike Evans was healthy, he has a better game last week.

So Rice is sort of in this, you know, I think range of wide receivers where if you need to start them, you're starting him if you have other options like Parker, or Jalen Coker or. What about the Packers guys? The Packers guys are in better spots. So, you know, you can go a different route than Rashi Rice if you want to pivot off him. So let's show the next list of wide receivers 37 through 48. And this is where we start to get into a big question because of the Bears receivers.

And so we know that it's not great right now because Caleb Williams not expected to play Monday night against the Eagles. Keith, you can piggyback up what Dave is about to say because you have Luther Burden as a sit. But Dave, how are you approaching? You can throw Colston Love them there as well. How are we approaching the Bears passing game with the backup quarterback? It's a 38-year-old Case Keenham. Third-string quarterback, I think he was there to kind of help coach and not play, and now here he is playing against the Philadelphia Eagles defense

with two of the best defensive tackles in football, a great outside corner. I am nervous. I do think the one benefit to having Keenham there is that he'll play on time, and he won't scramble around like we've seen Caleb Williams do, and when Williams is running around, he's not going to the first read, he's not throwing to these premier players in the passing game. But I don't think the balls are going to be downfield very much. You're going to see a lot of short throws.

I'm not really optimistic on Colson Loveland, but I think he's the best of the three. I am especially pessimistic on Romo Dunzee because he'll see Quinyon Mitchell in coverage. That's somebody who runs downfield so much on the perimeter might not get more than two targets in the game. Yeah, I hope that Keenham sees things the way that Bajent did because Bajent just came into the game.

It was Luther Borden, Luther Burdon, Luther Baird, and so if we get that, then that will give us optimism for next week. But we're talking about a guy that hasn't, not start, hasn't appeared in a football game since December of 2020. going up against the Philadelphia Eagles defense in his first time back, I'm out. And a defense has struggled last week. I mean, you know, the Titans actually moved the ball

against his defense, so maybe they're a little bit angry and take it out on Case Keenham and the Bears. So easy to avoid the Bears for at least this week, but let's see if there is reason for optimism, especially if Caleb Williams can return soon. I was getting to the starts and sits, and Dave, you're being really risky this week.

You got Aaron Jones as a starting running back. He may not play. You got Mike Evans as a starting wide receiver. He may not play either. If he plays, though, I love the matchup against Arizona. I mean, obviously, JSN and Vlad McConkey, different types of wide receivers at this point in their careers compared to Mike Evans. But I always think that whenever Mike Evans plays, he's a candidate to score no matter who he goes up against. But if it's against Arizona, then certainly there's going to be huge opportunities.

We know that Purdy has been playing great. We know that DeMarcus Robinson not going to play. He was her last week. Hopefully he's fine. He goes out there, finds the end zone, gets around five catches on top of it. If Evans is out, do you slide Debo Samuel? I think absolutely you slide Debo Samuel. And he's probably, like, he compares just his.

role a little bit more favorably to what JSN and certainly what Ladd-McConkey do. And if there's going to be an uptick in targets because Evans isn't there, then yeah, you could see Debo Samuel as a number two receiver and maybe a candidate for 16 PPR points this week. I just have a hard time. And listen, I was the skeptical guy about Mike Evans coming into the year. But we went through training camp and every three days it was a new muscle group that was sore or tight or I'm not going to practice for a couple of days. He's played two games.

One of them he left early because something didn't feel right. I have a hard time trusting him that he's going to be a full-time player, even if he's active, and that he's going to play the full game. In a game that they should win. Easily. Yeah, right. So that'd be my concern also is like, do you get the – because he probably could have gutted through last week if he's saying that he feels okay.

Right. But they're winning so easily, does he go out there? Like, if I'm the 49ers, I'm approaching it like, you know, you never want to take a team for granted. Of course not. Especially a division rival. This is not one I want to push Mike Evans when I want him for December or January when you could probably just –

beat the Cardinals again in theory with or without him. But we hope to see him out there for me as at least a number three receiver but we'd like to see the best of Mike Evans. All right, Heath, you got Jalen Coker as a starter this week. He's just been awesome through the first two weeks. Yeah, and I think he's probably obvious as a top 24 guy, but I think he's closer

to 12 than he is to 24. The way this Panthers offense has functioned through the first two weeks can absolutely sustain Teddero Macmillan and Jalen Coker as both top 15 wide receivers. As long as Bryce Young keeps playing this way, well, And I think it's kind of debatable within a given week,

whether you want to rate Coker or Teddorough McMillan higher. I would expect Coker to possibly see more work in the red zone and has more big playability. But they're both just seeing eight plus targets a week and producing. This offense has produced the second most explosive plays in the passing game behind only Josh Allen and the bills. It's been fun to watch and hopefully continues. The Brown's defense looked much better last week.

But I think as we talked about our podcast this morning, you said, and I agree more about the Bucks offense than the Browns defense. I'm excited to see Josh Downs. Look, this is the kind of role we talked about when Alec Pierce was dealing with the injury in the offseason. He's going to be the lead receiver for the Colts, and we sought against the Chiefs, then nine targets, seven catches, 72 yards. I know this Texan defense is much better than what they've shown, but they've been beaten up by every receiver that's played against them so far for Buffalo and Cincinnati. Vastly different types of players, but I think Josh Downs is going to get peppered with targets, and we love the opportunity

for him. We'll see what Darius Slayton does, so they just sign. We'll see what Keenan Allen does, but I think this is a great chance to use Josh Downs as for me, a number two wide receiver. Let's talk about some sit receivers, Dave. You got Jameson Williams as someone you want to avoid this way. I'd rather start Downs, who honestly should have had a better game than what he had in week number two. And Jameson Williams just, he could have had a really good game in week one, kind of an afterthought in week two, which is crazy when you think about all the points that the Lions put up against Buffalo.

And now it's the Jets. And I think there is a little bit of an advantage for the Jets here because Aaron Glenn used to be on the Lions staff, has game planned against Jared Goff in practice many, many times, knows what his weaknesses are. I think this is a game where Jared Goff can just get rid of the ball quickly, keep it short to St. Brown, Sam LaPorte of Jamir Gibbs, and not really take too many downfield shots at Jameson Williams. Heath has said it 100 times when we've talked about Jamo.

He is a boomer bus number three wide receiver, and that's where he is. He's a number three wide receiver, but I can find some other wide receivers thial like better than Jameson Williams this week. So I would try and stay away from him if I could. At some point, it's going to go off. You know, just make sure that you understand And if you put them on your bench for some other wide receivers, you know, Denzel Boston will come into conversation.

Trey Tucker will come into the conversation. I'd start them over those guys. No, I'm not disagree with you, but I'm just saying, you know, fantasy managers looking at what those guys have done or at least did last week, and then what Jameson Williams has not done so far. So there's going to be a week where he goes nuts. And last time he was at home, he had nine targets. We'll see if he does take advantage of this jet secondary. But I think we're all in agreement more of a number three wide receiver for this week. Heath, I'm not forgetting about.

You already talked about Luther Byrd. I did that once already so far the season. Let's move on to Terry McLaurin, who is actually has a good history with Marks-Marretted last year. Five starts together, three of those games, he was over 14 PPR points. But you're just looking at the Seattle defense and how good they are. They just held the Cardinals to 95 passing yards. This is not the week to say I'm going all in on Terry McCorn. Even Stefan Diggs.

I think we all like Diggs better at this point. Especially this week because he'll get open a little bit quicker. Yep. Those underneath throws will be there for Diggs more than McClarn. Three receiver leagues, you can still start McCorn, but nine targets last week was encouraging. We'll just see how this all looks with Marioota for the foreseeable future. He's a by-low after this week, too. Assuming that he doesn't have a big game, McLaurne does,

I wouldn't mind trying to trade for him. Schedule gets a little bit lighter for them, but just Seattle, it'd seem we would like to avoid facing. Let's talk about some sleepers and maybe some replacement options that can help fantasy managers. Davey got Denzel Boston as somebody that we're hoping to see go, be productive for at least three weeks in a row. Three for three, right?

He's been a top 20 receiver in PPR points each of the first two weeks. And week one was fluky. We can all agree with that, the garbage time touchdown. Week 2, far less fluky. And I doubt the Browns run away with this one. I think it's going to be much more of a competitive game against Carolina. I think Boston's still going to get those opportunities. So however long, Deshaun Watson's of the quarterback, I'm going to be in on Denzel Boston as at least a flex.

Once it's Shadurr Sanders, all bets are off because Shudor Sanders not as good of a pass or downfield, at least he wasn't last year. But Denzel Boston has really carved out a nice role for him in this Cleveland offense. You're crazy, man. You're going with a dolphin. It's a sleeper. I mean, Dave's sleeper was just the number one waiver wire at a wide receiver. Everybody knows about him. I'm going with the sleeper.

It's Malik Washington. 26% target share in the first two weeks of the season. Now Caleb Douglas is gone. He might have a 33% target share this week against the Chiefs. They're going to have to throw a little bit more. He might score 10 fantasy points or 11. I get you in that neighborhood. He gets in that neighborhood pretty much every week.

Somewhere between 8 and 11, I would say. That's without a touchdown. What if he scores a touchdown? Well, now that's crazy. What if the Dolphin score touched up? That's what I'm saying. Listen, I like the call because he could benefit a lot, although he's been... Yeah, he's been...

It's good. Malik Washington Island. You are on Malik Washington. We don't go past 48, so that's why you don't see the number there for us. Sportsline, they'll struggle with the 79 ranking there. I'm going to go with Dantean Wix, and we get an opportunity with no Dallas Goddard. We'll see what their tight-end situation looks like.

This is an opportunity against a bad bear's defense. Wix has been 12.4 PPR points or more, each of the first two games, 10 targets, So he's a guy that we've seen Jalen Hertz lean on. At some point, Mackay Lemon, I hope we'll take over and become more of that second or third option, depending when Dallas Goddard's back. But Donatavian Wix could be a nice third wide receiver for you if you need to start somebody this week in this matchup against the Chicago Bears. All right now, we come back and to get into quarterbacks, and what do you do to replace Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Jackson Dart?

We'll have that answer for you next year on FFT. Welcome back to fantasy football today. We're talking about quarterbacks. Quarterbacks still are wide receivers. I have some wide receiver updates for you. We got Nico Collins not practicing on Thursday. It does not sound good for him. Does not seem like Pucanakua is going to play,

but we'll wait for an update. Hopefully he'll practice at some point today. And we're still waiting for Zay Flowers update. We'll impact Lamar Jackson, who you will see you on this screen right now as we show you the list, one through 12. We are still confident in Lamar Jackson. Right?

We're still starting Lamar, no matter of Zayfler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's one spot too high because Brock Purdy's QB2. But other than that, all men. All right, so we'll see where we slot Lamar Jackson based on how Zay Flowers and what his practice sport is, but you know who's now a top 12 quarterback once again, Patrick Mahomes.

So Dave, you were very confident in Mahomes playing at a high level coming into the season. I haven't ranked as a top 12 guy, but he was close for you. I was drafting him late in every league, yeah, and now you're reaping the benefits. He looks awesome so far through the first two weeks of the season. Does it continue against the dolphins? The answer is yes, but just how good will he be? Well, the question is how much will he have to do against the dolphins? And I kind of like where Heath's head is at this, which is Kansas City can use this game. Obviously, they want to win it, but maybe as a little bit of like a preseason type.

mindset where they try and get other elements of their offense going. If they struggle with those other elements, they just go back to what's been working, which is handoff to Kenneth Walker, throw to Kenneth Walker, throw to Travis Kelsey, occasional shots in the red zone for Patrick Mahomes to score touchdowns, and the end result is a big fantasy stat line. We're at the point again where Patrick Mahomes is a must-start fantasy quarterback, even in a game where he might not throw 30 times. I was just thinking September game in Miami, it's going to be hilarious. That's supposed to be cool this weekend. Is it supposed to be okay, good, because I was going to say it's be a Probably going to be wet.

When the dolphins beat the Chiefs on Sunday, and we're all with egg on our face. I mean, listen, that would not be fun. We got Jordan Love as a top 12 quarterback, Keith. He had a great game against Minnesota, not as great a game against the Jets, but here come the Falcons. Yeah, and I think, listen,

they don't have A.J. Terrell, the Packers can't run the ball at all. So this is one of those teams that even if they are playing from ahead, I think they're going to have to keep passing because they can't pick up first downs and move the clock in the run game. What we've wanted for the last few,

years is a concentrated target share and more pass volume in Green Bay. We're getting both of those because so many pass catchers are hurt and they can't run the ball. Are you nervous about that offensive line in front of Jordan Love? Because they lost, they're down two starters now and one of them, their right tackle is out for the year. So I'm a little bit worried about how that's going to look and whether or not that means a lot of short throws from Jordan Love. I do think that they can eventually get into the red zone and love is just going to have to put the team on his shoulder at that point and make some play. So I like him. I don't love it. I don't love it. I don't love it. I don't love a lot of quarterbacks this week. He's kind of a borderline

QB1 for me. So I don't mind him this week because of exactly what you said. The Falcons have been surprisingly very good at getting to the quarterback. But I think a lot of it has to do with playing Pittsburgh in week one. So we'll see what they do in this matchup. They were getting to Bryce Young last week too. Yeah, but. Not affecting him, obviously, but. I think that

having the time to prepare for this. We talked about the Sunday podcast. He brought up the story that they were prepping Tucker Kraft to be an offensive lineman because they were dropping bodies left and right. So I don't know if I buy that. Well, no, that was, they reported that. I know the report, but that was like in case of like a desperate situation.

They were pretty close. They were right. They lost so many alignment. But I don't want to scare people. I don't want to scare people off of Tucker Craftis. No, no, no. Again, they have their reinforcements ready to go for this week, but it was just, that's how bad things were.

I think they'll be prepared for it this week, even though it's a short week. So Jordan Love, a borderline starter. If you want to show the rankings 13 through 24, we talked about this, just briefly, that Pooka and Kua may not play, but it didn't bother Matthew Stafford last week against the Giants, this week taking on the Broncos. Heath is Matthew Stafford still someone you consider starting. He was someone I would consider starting. He's certainly not a must start.

I would much rather start Tyler Shuck. He's right in the same range for me with Trevor Lawrence and Bryce Young and then Stafford. And then right behind those guys comes the Drake May Group. All right. So we'll see where Stafford, you know, again, back in America, he looked much more like Matthew Stafford as opposed what he looked like against the 49ers. Let's talk about some starts and sits. Heath, you got Bryce Young as a starter.

You like Jalen Coker, you like Tedd Rowell and you like Bryce Young. I like 37 and a half pass attempts per game. I like throwing the ball down the field. The new offensive system in Carolina is working. And while he did get pressured against Atlanta, they've mostly done a good job of protecting him or at least avoiding sacks. He's only been sacked four times despite the fact that he's dropped back 80 times in two games. I think things are going to continue to work in the passing game for Carolina,

even against Cleveland. Should be fun. And, you know, he's now rostered in over 90. percent of leagues. So fantasy managers, again, pivoting from Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams and Jackson Dart. This is a great replacement option if you can still get him. Same thing with Tyler Shuck, who's going to be a guy I start. We're going to talk about Trevor Lawrence in second because you and I disagree on that. But Tyler Shuck, 29.2 fantasy points in week one, 24.4 points in week two. He's now scored 20 or more fantasy. 7 of his last eight games going back to last

season. I know Las Vegas has been good so far against quarterback. One was Malik Willis. One is Justin Herbert. That I think speaks more to what those two teams look like as opposed to what the Raiders defense looks like. Tyler Suck is a top 10 quarterback for week number three. All right, you like Trevor Lawrence. I do not. Tell me why you're starting. I don't love him. He's a low-end starter. He's in that same group for me as Jordan Love as Matthew Stafford. But I do like the upside that he has because I think that this is going to be a game. Push comes to shove. Jackson is going to throw the ball. And yes, the Patriots defense has been great. Look at who they've gone up against. It's been Drew Locke in week one. And they were pretty okay

against Drew Locke. And then last week it was Aaron Rogers. Lawrence is going to be a tougher challenge for them. And I think Basel Toon will be okay this week. I think Trevor Lawrence is going to have to carry the water here for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And Parker Washington shouldn't be shadowed by Christian Gonzalez. And that gives them opportunities to continue to make some plays. And I think Lawrence will find some other guys to make plays. So I think at home, it's a better opportunity for Trevor Lawrence, low-end starter. He should definitely be better than he was last week. And I do think, yes, low-end starter. He's in the top 15 still for me. So probably not somebody that you're going to replace. But you do look at the last nine games for the Patriots. Pretty good

emphasize only one quarterback multiple touchdown passes against them so Lawrence hopefully did a little bit with his legs I thought last week was disappointing the way that he started compared to the way you finished I thought he was off to a good start so hopefully get that multiple touchdown game for them which would again be the second time in the last 10 games that a quarterback against the Patriots goes for multiple scores the last quarterback to do that by the way was Josh Allen who is just the most amazing quarterback ever let's talk about some guys that we're looking to sit along with Trevor Lawrence for me for you heath it's

Justin Herbert and are we just done starting him in general you know I I This is the one that I talk about with my projections. It's mostly math. Like it's mostly just the numbers, and then occasionally I put my thumb on it. And I have this temptation to put my thumb on it and say, you know what, Buffalo's defense is awful. Justin Herbert's gonna bounce back. I hate the fact though that it's a West Coast team going to a 1 PM game in Buffalo.

I hate what this offense has looked like. And some of it is the supporting cast. Some of it is Justin Herbert. Some of it is the offensive coordinator. Nothing's working. Nothing looks good. He's averaging 200. passing yards per game and he has more

interceptions than touchdowns and the offensive line isn't playing well either so if he's not good here which should be a get right spot then I definitely think we're done starting him I'm not starting him here either yeah I mean next week is Seattle so if he doesn't play well against the team that has really struggled against

quarterback so far granted CJ shroud is who he is so that's a positive and then you know we know we know Jared Gough is a really good quarterback so we need to see Justin Hover do something if fantasy managers continue to start him the rest of the season I feel like it's garbage time for Justin Herbert. Like if he doesn't get good, you know, garbage time. The last two weeks have been garbage time. But that's

true. Here's the problem. No, he was in a close game. No, I just meant the offense. Here's the problem. He didn't do it against Arizona and he didn't do it against Las Vegas. And that's why fantasy managers can't trust them, which I totally get. Like Trevor Lawrence is somebody I would start ahead of Justin Herbert. Jordan Love, same thing. Agreed. We got Drake May as a sit for you. I don't know if I'd start Drake May ahead of Justin Herbert because I think just the way the Patriots are operating now, I think they're trying to be careful. I think they want to lean on their defense. I think they absolutely want to lean on their ground game. They're going to test that Jacksonville front. This could be a relatively low scoring game

between the Jaguars and the Patriots. I know that we drafted Drake May High. I would absolutely pivot to Tyler Shuck or Bryce Young at this point and view Drake May as someone that I just, I need to see it first. And he might be somebody that we talk about buying low on two, three weeks from now, because the second half of the season, the schedule should be a little bit better. A.J. Brown should be back. He should build his confidence up by then. And then we'll see the Superman that we saw leading the Patriots in 2025. Let's talk about some sleeper quarterbacks for week three, and Deshawn Watson cracks your list.

Wow. Yes, and I've cracked a lot of jokes about Deshaun Watson over the last couple of years. He's been awful, but he hasn't been so far this season. He's averaging 8.5 yards per pass attempt. He's completed 76% of his passes, and he's averaging 30 rushing yards per game. I think the Carolina offense is going to have success.

I think the Carolina defense is not near as good as their offense. and Watson chasing the score has another good fantasy day. I'm going to say it out loud. I would start as Sean Watson over Justin Herbert this week. Wow. I mean, he's been a better fantasy quarterback, so play the stats and play the matchup as well. Let's see what we got for Kyler Murray coming back from his concussion. I like the matchup first and foremost against Tampa.

That secondary has been a mess. Their pass rush, which was so Ballyhooed in the preseason, it really hasn't come to fruition. They've got some linebacker injuries and liabilities, and I think that the Vikings can take advantage. And if there is no Aaron Jones and if there isn't a semblance of a run game, then that's just more on the plate for the passing game. And that's really good for Kyler Murray. This is someone if Aaron Jones is out could really rise up the rankings and maybe even be

a number one low-end type of Fantasy QB in his first game going up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And look, Carson Wentz got good numbers in week one. I know they're much different quarterbacks, but just the offense produced enough, you know, three touchdown game for Wens. Hopefully Kyler Murray can take advantage of Justin Jefferson. and for once, maybe Jordan Addison having big games against this defense. I'm going to go with Gino Smith

just based on the matchup, and I think we're going to get a good stretch of games from Gino. The schedule is really good for the Jets moving forward, but this line's defense, they've given up the most fantasy points to opposing quarterback so far this season. Can Gino crack the 20-point barrier? 17 points last week against Green Bay.

I think he gets there. So if you miss out on Chuck or Bryce Young or Kyler Murray, some of the quarterbacks we talked about on the waiver wire, I think Gino Smith is a good pivot play. All right, we're going to take a break. We come back. We're going to get to the tight ends.

Don't forget, we have your questions coming up as well. Stay right here to Fantasy Football today. Welcome back to Fantasy Football today. We're talking about tight-end rankings, and we're going to show you the list one through 12 of our consensus rankings, and you will not see Colston Loveland.

But you will see Brock Bowers. We're excited to get him back, so hopefully he is the Brock Bowers that we were drafting, and knee is okay, and he starts to dominate and put up the numbers that a lot of fantasy managers have been waiting for. All right, Dave, give me 30 seconds on the two tight ends in Thursday night's game.

You got Tucker Kraft, you got Kyle Pitts. are they both going to be the players that we drafted and getting the production that we need for them? I like the chances for Kraft with the run game of question mark for Green Bay, the offensive line of question mark for Green Bay. Craft can get those short area targets and make some numbers with them. We know how good he is after the catch. Pitts does not have a great track record with Michael Pennix. 12 games together only four times has he been double digits and PPR points. I would try and stay away from Kyle Pitts this week.

There are enough other tight ends out there on the waiver wire that you could have turned to and used in place of Kyle Pitts. Pitts on Thursday night though. My gosh. He loves playing on Thursday night. All right, let's talk about, we'll skip that. We'll get to the starts and sits. We don't need to talk about the backup tight ends, although there are a very good list of them.

Check out the consensus rankings to see guys like Pat Friarmooth and Ronde Gadsden and maybe even Terrence Ferguson with the absence for Pugua if it does happen once again. All right, so Dave, you're starting Joanne Johnson this week as the Saints hopefully continue to feed him to ball.

10 PPR points or more, each of the first two games of the season. He is a big part of this Saints passing offense and this Raiders pass rush. They're good. I buy into that pass rush. And the offensive line, it's a question mark now for New Orleans missing their left tackle. But everything else in that Raiders defense is a question too.

And so I think we could see Tyler Shuck continue to lean on Joanne Johnson. I think another double-digit PPR game is in play. Mark Andrews is somebody you're excited about is that with or without Zayflowers? More without Zayflowers, but also with Zayflowers. I think Zayflowers will impact Rashad Bates

more than he will. Mark Andrews. This game has the highest over under on the slate, and I'm not sure it's high enough. Anytime the Ravens score a bunch of touchdowns, Andrew has a good chance to score one. Low-hanging fruit falls in my lap. I take Dalton Schultz as a starter. He is coming off an amazing game

with 140 yards receiving last week, and I think we'll see him continue to dominate. Nico Collins is not practice again on Thursday. So Dalton Schultz taking on a defense that he beat up last year for at least 11 p.mints At both games against the Colts, he should do so once again, second in targets among tight ends for the season. Let's talk about some sit tight ends. Dave, you're sitting. Jake Ferguson is coming off a two touchdown game?

Yeah, let's play that game. Is he going to score a touchdown or is he not going to score a touch? And I think that's somebody that Baltimore can take away in the red zone with one guy, Hamilton, their safety could line up against them. That's if they choose to do it at Baltimore. They could use a linebacker instead because it's not like Jake Ferguson is that fast. So I'm worried about what he is when he doesn't score. Usually that's less than eight PPR points. I'd rather start Terrence Ferguson than Jake Ferguson. Two catches, seven yards in week one and almost scored a touchdown. but you saw what the stat line was when he did not reach the end zone. Harold Fanon had a good game last week.

You like Deshawn Watson. You're not starting Fanon. His target throughout run has fallen by 33% from last year to this year with Deshawn Watson at quarterback. I would rather start my sleeper. We'll talk about him in just a moment. I'd rather start a Ronda Gadsden. I'd rather start Dalton Shultz.

I'd rather start Mark Andrews. Not a top 12 tie-in. I'm going to sit the aforementioned Colston Loveland because he has not been very good. And now we have a backup quarterback taking on the Eagles. So don't give up on Colston Lovell. just yet, don't drop him, but don't start him this week. There are other tight ends you can pivot to, like what he just said about his

sleeper, Terrence Ferguson. Dave, your sleeper's Darren Waller. My sleeper's Pat Friamuth. Why do we like Darren Waller? Could score a touchdown. Same exact game that we play with Jake Ferguson, but Carolina against Cleveland, I think that there's going to be an opportunity there in the red zone for Waller to at least get a target. Two touchdowns last week. Should have had one in week one, so

it's not a bad bet to make. Terence Ferguson, so let's just again, Puka in, Puka out. How are you approaching it? Oh, if Fuga's playing, no chance. If Puga's out, I'm probably too low on him at 12 because he's going to be the number two option in the passing game and the number one option in the passing game is going to be lined up opposite of Pat Sertan

which could mean even more targets than we saw last week for Terrence Ferguson. Very excited to see what he can do if Puka does not play tougher matchup this week than when he had last week but he was certainly featured by Matthew Stafford and Sean McVeigh. Pat Friday Mooth usually gets featured against the Bengals his last 10 games against them, six touchdowns he's averaging over 14 PPR points in this matchup and they just could not stop Colston last week I wish I couldn't stop Coles level

They couldn't stop Dalton Solz last week. So Pat Friarmoot in a good spot taking on his division rival. All right, when we come back, it's only your questions. Thank you for sending them to us on X using the hashtag AskFFT. Those are next here on Fantasy Football Tech. Quick Ask FFT for you here. Should I start? Matthew Golden tonight at Flex.

Have Mike Evans also, but not sure he'll play. So Dave, who you start? If you are worried about getting burned and Evans doesn't practice on Thursday, Golden is the play. There you go. Next question. Ramadre Stevenson, Rashad Bateman, or Quentin Johnston in non-PPR.

Heath, who do you like? It's going to be Stevenson for me. I'd go Bateman. I'm going to go Bateman also if Zay is out, but probably Stevenson if... I might go Bateman even if Zay is in. He looked good last week. All right, last one.

Donald's on Waverwire and have Herbert and Stroud. I'd say, hold with what you got. Yep, agree. Let's see Donald come back to practice, but he's trend in the right direction. All right, thank you for watching Fantasy Football Today. Make sure you check out our Fantasy Football Today podcast. Wherever podcasts are available,

check out our live stream on Sunday. on YouTube. We are helping you dominate your fantasy leagues for Heathcomings, Dave Richard, and our wonderful production crew. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. Thanks for watching, FFT.