Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Midseason Review + Trade Targets, Hungry for More - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/30

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Rest of season outlooks! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Andy, Mike, and Jason review the top players at each position so far. Plus, Hungry For More players, injury and trade news, and a preview of Thursday Night Football. Get ready for Week 9 fantasy football! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 30th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (03:40) - Hungry For More (11:30) - Jalen McMillan (13:35) - NFL News (41:25) - Running Backs (53:10) - Wide Receivers (01:01:05) - Tight Ends (01:05:05) - Thursday Night Breakdown: Texans at Jets Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Hungry For More presented by Uber Eats News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh welcome in the fantasy footballers podcast back with you Wednesday edition. It's the end of October. Mike Wright is here. Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, full deuces alley, Al Borland, Papa Josh, the Falcons, the building back in that alley. Good work, everybody. Yeah.

Everybody came to work everybody. Yeah, look at everybody came to work today And we pay by the hour so that's good news for you and You know It's why we we lobby against The raising of minimum wage for a reason. Oh for sure I mean because I keep them profits in our pockets boys you. If you out there, if you're listening, if your employees, the people that you support, were the deucers. Right, yeah.

Like if you had to work with those. Chase. If we could call them people. Okay. Back there, you wouldn't wanna pay them anything. It's laying it on pretty thick. Love you guys. But they're here, and we got a show for you today.

We've got a mid-season review. It should be a lot of fun. I love taking a look at where we're at during the season and I'm sure a lot of our conversations today will be based around the question will it continue with some of these players that are in the top 10 of points per game per position. So that, I mean, to me, that's a lot of fun because it's a little bit's a lot of fun because

it's a little bit of a rest of season ranking show in a way. Yeah, and I also think that there are a lot of surprises when you go through it. Like we're playing every week, we're paying attention, we're getting our wins, we're getting our losses but sometimes when you take a gander and you're like, you know who's second in points per game right now? You're like, really? Well, and it helps the name effect. I made a trade for Kate Otten. That doesn't feel as good as making a trade for Sam Laporta.

Right. But I think Kate Otten will be better than Sam Laporta the rest of the year. So I mean, we've been there, but I think Kate Otten will be better than Sam Laporte the rest of the year. So I mean we've been there, we've seen those names come through and you just have to, you know we'll have the conversation

about some of those guys. What else is going on? You can follow the show. News brother. I know, we do have news. You can follow the show on X at the FF Ballers. We shared a quick reaction to some of that news yesterday. Follow Jason at Jason FFL, Mike at FF Hitman.

I'm at Andy Holloway, and be sure to join us for our Halloween episode tomorrow. Should be a lot of fun. YouTube.com slash The Fantasy Footballers. You know, as long as the costumes get here on time. That's true. You know what I mean? That's get here on time. That's true. You know what I mean? That's true.

We should order them pretty soon. Don't overnight your stuff. Oh dude, Amazon's got this same day by five p.m. There might be some other people in the market for those products. Nah. ["Hungry for More Theme Song"] Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats.

It is another Wednesday, which means we have our Hungry for more candidates and Jason, you should be pleased that I am, you know, bringing up the name of Lad McConkey. Oh, it's my little lad. Week eight against New Orleans, six targets, six for 111 and two finally looked healthy. And there were some boxes that I needed checked for Lad McConkey to be relevant for fantasy this season. And through the first six weeks those boxes were not being checked. He was touchdown

dependent. They were 30th in the NFL in pass rate and he had a lot of competition. That doesn't seem to be the case the last couple of weeks. They are passing at a 60% clip which is is ninth in the NFL over that stretch. So they're using the all-pro superstar quarterback that they were gifted, that Jim Harbaugh was gifted when he came to Los Angeles. I know, crazy idea. What's a little bit weirder about it is the fact that they've turned to Justin Herbert

right when they've lost some talent at wide receiver. So you know we've been joking about Will Dissley getting it done and you know they've had to start some other players Quinton Johnston's been hurt but Lad McConkie in an offense that's passing the football you know this is a player that we love the tape of and it was more about do you find a way to get love the tape of and it was more about do you Find a way to get him the football enough to be consistent even if he doesn't score now last week He scored twice, but look take the touchdowns away 6 4 1 11

You're happy with that performance Jim Harbaugh came out said he reminds him of Steve Smith. I don't know about that I've talked them up all offseason. Come on, man. That's too that's too far Well, I mean, maybe maybe it's more technical than it is I think it's just he's short like he's a small guy It's a Chris Brow runner, but he doesn't have the same like he doesn't have the same athleticism He certainly then I mean I I like lad a lot. I've been a little bit sad that he's not a squeakier wheel. He don't have that dog. I mean, Steve Smith was like,

Sad McConklin? He could have the puppy. Oh, maybe he's got a puppy. Just we got to feed and nurture this thing. And then he turns into the dog. I doubt it. He was already this way at Georgia. He's fine being like, just use me how you should.

I don't want a wide receiver like that. I want a wide receiver. It's like, I want the ball like, just use me how you should. I don't want a wide receiver like that. I don't want a wide receiver. It's like, I want the ball every play. This is my game. The I'm always open. I don't know. You know, Cooper Cup. There's a happy medium.

Cooper Cup is not that guy. That's true. But what if he was? Larry Fitzgerald was not that guy. Cooper Cup does it, but it's just, it's a real menacing whisper. You can barely see Cooper Cup's face anymore. So I don't know. He menacing whisper. You can barely see Cooper Cupps face anymore. I know, his beard.

He might be angry, you can't tell. The 17 game pace for Lyle McConkie, 73 for 913. You wouldn't get it done only with those numbers, but the 10 touchdowns, the fact that he's, this is the progression of a rookie wide receiver. Earn the trust of your quarterback and your head coach, get on the field more, become a go-to guy on third down and in the red zone.

He's on that trajectory, I'm hungry for more, and the schedule coming up, three of the next four games against bottom five wide receiver defenses in terms of fantasy points. So it seems like the right time to jump in on that. Since the bye week, Justin Herbert is averaging almost 290 passing yards per game. That's like, that is everything for Lad McConkey.

The beginning is 144, 130, 125 passing yards. They hit the bye week and they went, ah, guys, maybe we should change some things up. And they started having less success in the running game yeah and on defense that's fair JK Dobbins stopped hitting the he those big plays that he was hitting the first four weeks so it's just it's great to see they're actually like the utilization of Herbert is the most exciting thing for me of we the lack of good quarterbacks out there is nauseating.

And then you get a Ferrari and you're like, eh, let's take the golf cart, everybody. I think they have to. I still don't believe that they want to make Herbert the centerpiece. They want the offensive line to be the centerpiece of this offense. The truth is they can't run the ball. They lost Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins has just not been that good. I know the first couple weeks he was good. He got in the end zone fine for fantasy this last week. Good start. But he has been very inefficient for like five, six weeks in a row. And so they're not moving the ball well on the ground. I think they have to throw. And then yeah it's like well yeah guess what you can because Justin Herbert's really good so I love it I hope Ladd continues with the arrow

pointing up for my League of Record team. Before you get into your name it will be tied in but I just thought you might be entertained by the fact that you last week bamboozled the two deuces into giving you two dollars for Anthony Richardson who just was released this morning. Yes! Nice! I did not know that Anthony Richardson hitting waivers. You could probably have him for free now. Considering when we get in the news we'll talk about he doesn't have a starting job. I thought you might get into it like right now.

Because you're about to talk about Josh Downs. I thought that might be a good chance. That's a great segue. My other league of record wide receiver, Josh Downs. I thought that might be a good chance. That's a great segue. See what I was tying in to. My other League of Record wide receiver, Josh Downs, I am super hungry for more Josh Downs. He has been very, very good. He was even good this last week with Anthony Richardson. It was a broken play, was a large chunk of his yards

in fantasy production, but he's still very, very good. He had another play that was more him where, oh my goodness, it was so close to a second touchdown. He's been great. How great has he been? He's among the league leaders in targets per route run ahead of A.J. Brown, Justin Jefferson, and Amon Ra St. Brown. How good has he been? How good has he been? Joe Flacco, three games basically with Joe Flacco and Josh Downs together. The first game was like 80% Joe Flacco, that's when he came in. But in those games, he is averaging in half PPR 15.2 fantasy points per game. Now we're going through today's episode and we're talking about the top wide receivers,

top running backs on a points per game basis. So this is like, if Josh Downs was injured, let's say Josh Downs didn't play any of the Anthony Richardson games. And it was like, okay, this player's only played three games, but in those three games, he would be currently between CD Lam and Malik neighbors. Malik neighbors right now, 15.1 fantasy points per game.

And in the three games with Joe Flacco, 15.2 in half PPR for Josh Downs. So I'm very, very hungry. And then this week, they get the Minnesota Vikings, who, it's so funny, the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens, these defenses, they're so weird, they crack me up. They are legitimately very good defenses.

But in the passing game, you pretty much end up always having good fantasy games against them, because their offense is chugging and you can't run against them easily. So you end up being forced to throw the ball. Sometimes it's garbage time, sometimes it's not. But at the end of the game, the passing volume against those two defenses are always good.

So I think Downs is a great play this week. I agree with that. I wanna say I'm hungry for more of Jalen McMillan, the rookie wide receiver from Tampa Bay, trying to figure out what's going on here with the absence of Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and diving into what is like the actual film, what was

happening. McMillan did not take over that slot role of you know that we at least I personally was kind of hoping for it of I think that if you put him in there he can be you know a decent replacement here for Chris Godwin but he played on the outside it's on the actual production wasn't it was not incredible at all for Jalen McMillan in the first game as him kind of being the guy. But the opportunities were there. There was seven targets. He had 30% of the team's air yards. He ran a bunch of routes. And when you go back and watch what actually happened, there were three potential touchdown opportunities for Jalen McMillan. His first target was a great design play. I don't know if McMillan,

I don't know if it was an option route and McMillan turned the wrong way or if he just messed up the play. But the connection with him and Baker had, McMillan turned left and turned out instead of turning in. It's a wide open touchdown. His next target, McMillan beats the double coverage he has the safety and the quarterback beat he's wide open in the end zone Baker just

barely misses him then there was another one where they wheeled him out from the halfback position and the safety tricked Baker Mayfield but it was a shot towards Jalen McMillan that that would have turned into a touchdown so I I like the opportunities I see I like that Baker Mayfield still looks like a very competent quarterback despite the lack of elite weapons around him. So I think that Jalen McMillan is, he'll be fascinating to watch moving forward. Unfortunately he plays Kansas City this week. That kind of sucks for if he's going to be a spot start, but you got to keep your eye

on him despite only four for 35. All right. That was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats where you can get all the best deals on game day food all season long. Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. News and notes from around the league.

Presented by USAA Insurance. Stephon Diggs, we had not not heard they were confirming via testing and apparently nothing leaked but out for the year torn ACL. It's 31 years old next month free agent after the year. So strange that it took this long they feel like they almost always know if it's an ACL tear, but this is a big-time bomber for Stefan Diggs at his age He will be going into the market without a contract at that age coming off of a torn ACL The good news for the Texans at least is that it sounds like Nico Collins He is eligible to return next week and it sounds like that's what the plan is to have him right back in at week 10. But in the meantime, huge opportunity here for

Tank Del. I don't know if he'll come through. Tough matchup. Oh yeah, against the Jets, right? I think this is probably just very bad news for CJ Stroud. I'd be benching him. But for Stefan Diggs, like dynasty perspective, it is. This is probably the end of relevant Diggs because I doubt he's gonna get a bunch of money to go to an important role and we'll see at age 32 coming off of an ACL how how he'll heal how he will play last year tank Dell 700 receiving yards on just 47 catches. This year, so far, on pace for about 500 receiving yards. Oh, oh that one.

On 58 catches in four and a half hours. That one hurts. That one, so the knife went right between these two ribs, right here. It's close to the heart. On the left side. It's far enough, I'm still alive. They're doing whatever they can to get him more and more

target share. And by they, I mean like, Niko's hamstring and Stephane's knee and, you know, it was now or never for Tank Del, he'll have the chance. Yes, it's a bad matchup, but also, you know. They need him. It'd be really hard to not play him, in my opinion opinion just in the fact that you've got four quarters of football to play where you get the ball on offense and you know you don't expect tank Dell to

have fewer than seven targets in this game I mean he's got to have close to seven targets that should result in a decent fantasy output you don't know if sauce Gardner is gonna be on him since there really isn't another player to focus on. Would you would you start Tankdell or Lad McConkey? The Chargers play... I'd play Lad McConkey this week. Who do they play? Cleveland Browns. Well I mean yeah I don't know. Cleveland looked so good last week. You've got a Denzel Ward issue there too. It's it is uh I probably play Lad. Okay. I know this is you asking and this week you and I play one another so

we'll talk about Lad tomorrow too. Deontay Johnson got traded. The Ravens pick him up. This was not the destination that I wanted as a dynasty manager of Deontay Johnson. I wanted him to stay in Carolina with Andy Dalton. That would have been the ideal situation for me. I agree. Just down by a million points every game, just throwing him the football a ton. This was a trade where the Panthers

barely improved their draft stock. He goes to a team where he's going to help Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, but we already had problems relying on any pass catcher in Baltimore. This is the Derek Henry Lamar Jackson offense with you know Zay Flowers being sometimes good, Mark Anders being sometimes good, Rashad Bateman being sometimes good. Let's just add another name in there where he's not acclimated to the offense. We've already seen Amari Cooper experience that through two weeks. Hopkins had 23% of snaps in weeks in week one. That'll be

a time that we have to wait for with Kansas City. And it's gonna be the same with Deontay. Like I think we're gonna get to the point in three weeks from now, and come back to me on this, where we ask the question of if you would flex Andrews, Dave Flowers, or Deontay Johnson, and you will not know the answer every single week. Yeah, it could get very, very murky. I agree it's good for Lamar bad for Deontay but the thing that

blows my mind from an NFL standpoint what a great move from the Ravens. The Ravens offense is already very good you add a super capable NFL wide receiver who can get open to a team that has Super Bowl aspirations it's brilliant. If Deontay Johnson leaves in the offseason and signs a good contract after a good year in a Super Bowl run, they get a compensatory pick. I mean, Carolina, the franchise is being run very poorly. I mean, I don't know if it's the general manager, obviously the owner has his meddling fingers involved,

but it's like you just traded for Deontay. You are paying him more than anyone else. You're paying him more than Pittsburgh, more than Baltimore. You're paying the contract for the player you don't have that you rented for a couple of weeks, and you won't get the compensatory pick now. It's just like...

Yeah, I mean, I think they took their shot, and I think we would have been mad at them if they didn't in the sense that Bryce Young needed targets. It didn't work. Like Bryce lost the job. Why trade him away for that when you can just write out the rest of the year and then let him go, let the free market,

like if he signs a really big deal, then you'd get a better pick than four or five. I think so, cause it's compensatory, so it's just a straight up pick. It depends on the contract and everything that Carolina does, too. That's compelling. If he didn't want to be there, though?

He wasn't going to play football? Yeah. Deontay Johnson is, we're at the point now where it's fascinating to me. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a great organization, as opposed to the Carolina Panthers. Seems like the Steelers are always doing things right. The Steelers get rid of wide receivers

seemingly at the correct time. And they traded him away. Mabel Tron. I mean, just a lot of guys. And they had refused to give Deontay a huge extension. They eventually met in the middle and gave him, I think it was like a year or two and a decent amount of money. But it was not a superstar wide receiver contract.

Then they trade him to Carolina. It was Dante Jackson, who I think played fine for the Steelers, and a 6'7 swap. He was not traded for a ton back then. Now he gets traded for very little again. The actions of the NFL are that Deontay Johnson is not valued nearly as much as the fantasy community likes Deontay Johnson.

I believe that that will be proven incorrect this offseason. He'll be an unrestricted free agent and because the wide receiver market is so important you see teams trading for him signing big contracts and there's not usually a lot of good wide receivers who hit the market I think he'll get a bag. He could. He could. But it's just and then what does it do to, to Flowers and Bateman? You know, we had a- It doesn't help them. No, no, I agree.

I agree that it, that it should, should just take Targets away. Was it, was Josina Anderson- Yeah, I believe that's who- Reporting, like, the following the trade, Flowers and Bateman will remain the top wide receivers- For the first week! Yes, for a while. It to me, I don't know if it's an indictment of either of those two

players or more of a, they're disappointed with Nelson Aguilar. They're disappointed in their depth of Aguilar is Nelson Aguilar. And then their rookie DeVontes, uh, Walker, Walker has, he can't even get on the fields. Well, I mean, look, it's Rashaad Bateman has not been on the field for three and a half years He is having insurance when you're going for a Super Bowl title or having for you know an assortment of options They disappear quick Unless Deontay is a locker room problem in in a way that I am unaware like a massive You know cancer to the locker room

I think any team that could have got them for this price that is going to the playoffs, even if you've got wide receivers, even if you're great, like why not add a depth piece before the trade deadline? I think it's brilliant. The Colts are benching Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco. It's not even temporary. They said this morning that Joe Flacco

is the quarterback moving forward, gives them the best chance to win. That is exceptionally true. I would inversely say Richardson gives you the worst chance to win. And you've got to make this move. It is a wild one when you consider the age and the expectation. We've been here before, Trey Lance. We've been here before. The 49ers are...

We've been here this year. I mean, we've been here for a while with a lot of players, from Darnold to Zach Wilson to Bryce Young to Richardson to Fields to... I mean, the list of young quarterbacks that get thrust into these starting roles instantaneously and then quickly get the rug pulled out from under them. You know, everyone shooting for the stars, I get it. You want to catch lightning in a bottle and get a superstar first season, but this is not like, it's not close. Like this is not, like Joe Flacco is so much of a better quarterback than Anthony Richardson is at this stage of his career

and they have so many other players, they have a chance to win the division, they just saw Houston lose another wide receiver that's fundamental to them. Like Houston's won a bunch of close games this year, they're not blowing people away, CJ Stroud is not taking the next step into MVP caliber play, but the Colts are a good enough football team

to win the division and Joe Flacco gives you that opportunity week in and week out. And it's not to me about what's going to cause more W's this season for the Colts. Even long term, for the good of Anthony Richardson, who they've come out and said they're not quitting on Anthony Richardson. He is their future. But right now he's not ready. And the truth is he's not ready. People act like the only way that this player can get better is getting out for those 60 minutes every Sunday on an NFL game. And there is a little sliver of truth to there's some stuff you can't learn outside of being there. But there is plenty you can learn. It's not like he's not practicing, he's not running teams, he's running offenses throughout the week, throughout the off season.

They're going to train him and try to get him better. When they made the move to Brock Purdy from Trey Lance years ago, there was still an off season where it was like, Trey Lance came in and it was like, who's the starter? We don't know for sure yet. But the Niners knew. The Niners knew Trey Lance doesn't have it because they see him every day in practice. We don't, and we're like, we don't know, maybe he's got it. But this was not some big shock to the Niners.

The Niners were practicing every day and they're like, he doesn't have it, and then they trade him to the Cowboys and they didn't know, and now they're like, eh, we know. You know, it's like, Anthony Richardson can still develop into something great, but this is the best move for him because if you put him out there and Zach- He breaks a record for the worst completion percentage of a starting quarterback for the year. You don't want to Zach Wilson him.

You don't want to go out there and break the man's confidence in the NFL in front of everybody over and over and over and just have him start his career failing and then that's where it goes. So I think this is a great move for the Colts. I think it's a hopefully good move for Anthony Richardson, which feels like inevitably not going to be one, but it is a great for fantasy. And at the end of the day, that's all I really care about. Josh Downs. This is a fantasy show. This is a huge...

The fact that we got clarity on how long this change is gonna happen, huge for Josh Downs. Josh Downs is a top 15 receiver rest of the season, in my opinion. I think it is humongous for every single player on the Colts. Maybe not Alec Pearce, but like, yes.

And Alec Pearce had good games with Flacco. Josh Downs, huge upgrade. In weeks four through six, Michael Pittman averaged 12 and a half points per game. Yeah he was on pace for a thousand forty eight yards through three games of Joe Flacco. Michael Pittman is absolutely a startable fantasy asset. Johnny Taylor who's been much better that like I was concerned how would he do with Richardson and the answer has so far you know small sample but the answer is oh Jonathan Taylor's back he's great

he can't hit that elite top three status because he's not getting enough targets I should say consistently getting enough targets but with Flacco in there the target share is definitely gonna go up like Jonathan Taylor to me this is he's the one that I think skyrockets I agree with Josh Downs and everything but it's like Taylor can go from a good RB one to, he might finish at the end as the number one running back. If you have a floor of three receptions a game at running back, which I think is now about

what I expect John and the Taylor to average, that is such a boon. And you know who's not gonna vulture goal line touchdowns ever? Right. Joe Flacco. Looking at the numbers just so you have them, 9.8 completions per game was the average

under Anthony Richardson. In the three games we saw Flacco, 23.7 completions per game. Yeah. Which, just to be clear, if you told me that you could start Josh Downs, but he gets eight quarters of the Richardson every week. That would be a good start.

Yeah. Because it's double the completions. It's more than double the completions. So that's the math behind it. Flacco brings a lot of good things to this Colts offense. Jordan Love says he's determined to play in week nine against the Lions. I expect him to play.

That's such a huge divisional game. Do you worry though? Like I worry because of what we saw before he exited the game, but after he was injured. There was a stretch of a quarter and a half, two quarters of football where he looked bad. Like the throws. Why don't you ask Mike who's got to make the decision on playing him this week. All right, Mike, are you willing to start Jordan Love with his hurt groin but active. I want to.

I need to see, like I need. What's your other option? I just picked up Matthew Stafford. Oh, to me I feel like I would rather play Stafford who just threw four touchdowns with his team attack. I lean that way right now, but if you get the full go from Jordan Love, it will be very difficult to bench him.

He's been, in full games, he's been fantastic. And it does project, I mean I don't know what the over-under is yet, we're not doing that preview, but I'm guessing 50 points? I mean 48 and a half says Kyle. 48 and a half and maybe that's factoring in a little question mark next to Jordan Love's availability. Doug Peterson says he feels good about Travis Etienne playing in week 9. I think Etienne is going to bounce back for fantasy players rest of season. The injuries at wide receiver,

his capability in the passing game, and the team's vocal commitment to him tell me that Etienne's going to have, you know, he's kind of been worthless. That's not the reality of Etienne. So if you wanted to buy a buy a super low I think I think you're on to something and I believe you nailed it when you said that it's in the receiving game they need more outlets for

Trevor Lawrence to throw the ball and dumping it down to ETN has been something that works, you know, it's You talk about oh, maybe tank Bigsby is going to take over more. And De'Ernest Johnson was involved when Travis ETN got injured, but he was more involved in the pass game. They still weren't relying on Tank Bigsby in the receiving game. But this is a player who last year had 73 targets in Travis ETN. He's on the same pace this year. Without those wide receivers. Even with limited snaps. Yeah. on the same pace this year. Without those wide receivers. Even with limited snaps, yeah. I don't think he's irrelevant, and right now,

I believe that a lot of fantasy managers who have him feel like they would be willing to just get a serviceable piece. If you've got like a startable wide receiver and a good defensive matchup, like just go make a crappy offer and see if someone wants to get out of the Travis ETN game He had seven targets and 38% of snaps the last time we saw him on the field

That's not so something to pay attention to you All right, that was today's news and notes presented by us a insurance learn more at us a comm slash insurance We'll take a break. We'll jump into the midseason review Oh into the mid-season review. Oh, apparently we have a drop for this, so I don't want to forget that. By the way, let me take a moment. Okay. Subtitles validated the fact that it was a legal shift. Illegal shift. Subtitles did great work with, you know, putting their context together.

I see. You think it was more of a... I turned the volume up. I don't know, man. It was, you know, it was a little suspect. Let's jump in. Review Osorius Rex. Really?

Really? Really? Oh, man. When I said we had a drop, we were going to the archives. I was like, we have a drop? Oh, just now? This one comes in from mid-season review. That's going into the archives. Classic listeners there.

Yes. Yeah, the old mid-season review-a-season review of Source Rex, as we've always called it. Why not use it? That's genius. Good work, Al. And by the way, the review of Source Rex was probably in its heyday about 2015 to 2018. Yeah. Did it last that long? I think so. I think it did. Every now and then. We'd do a review of Source Rex every now and then. It's now the most recent drop we've used. I think Brooks did. Every now and then we'd bring it, we'd do a review of SourceRex every now and then. It's now the most recent drop we've used. I think Brooks was one of the first ones. He was, yeah.

Yeah, you can't retire that thing. All right, quarterbacks right now, we're looking at points per game, minimum four games played. That makes me a little bit sad. Somebody get me the points per game on Joe Flacco, because he played three games. I'm on it.

And I would like to know where he slots in with these names, because I think he might be relevant even in redraft. I've got it. I mean in redraft, let's just. Now keep in mind, the first game he only played 80% of snaps, but his points per game was 18.4. Where would that slide him in?

18.4 in the, that's his average in the three games? Correct. That would put him in. Just behind Joe Burrell. At eight. That's pretty good. Which would be just ahead of Kyler, Brock Purdy, and Jordan Love. The top 10 right now, Lamar Jackson at 25.3.

Whew, doggy. Baker at 23.1. I think the interesting thing about Baker is that he is, every other bit of separation at points per game is very tight. He's two points better than J points per game is very tight. He's two points better than Jalen Hertz is right now. Hertz is at 21, Jaden Daniels at 20, and then Josh Allen at 19.9. Justin Fields is gone, so he is he was at 18.9.

Then Joe Burrow at 18.5, Kyler at 18.2, Brock Purdy at 18.1, and Jordan Love at 18.1. So reactions to that to me, I mean the Baker conversation moving forward, you know, I think people probably, some people wanted to get out of that business with the... I did not blame them if they did. Yeah, I'm still not completely 100% like Baker has looked perfect. He has played his version of perfect football. He scrambles when he needs to and picks up a lot of yards on the ground. He's reading the defense great. His pocket mobility is awesome. He's out there you know with lasers. Laser Mayfield. I bet that freaked the crap out of me.

But I was looking at some stats and then that got me. Without the two star wide receivers, I view him, at least until Mike Evans comes back, as a streaming option, a good streaming option. I like Matthew Stafford quite a bit. But Matthew Stafford is not a player. I would start week in, week out. It's like, does he have a good matchup? So for instance, this week, Baker Mayfield.

I'd play Matthew Stafford. Yes. Baker Mayfield against Kansas City It's gonna be a real test now if Baker comes out and is firing lasers against Kansas City Maybe you just got to play him in all he will he will throw the ball. Let me let me put it this way I think he will attempt 40 to 45 passes against the Kansas City Chief So if that's the case What's the result, right?

I mean, last week was 50 attempts, the week before 45. Season average is 35.5 passing attempts for Baker. The Kansas City Chiefs have slowed games down, been pretty ugly. I'd be surprised if he gets up to 40-45 in this matchup. Yeah, I'm very nervous. But you expect Kansas City to be ahead. I do.

Yeah, I mean it's, Baker's tough because he's just, he's volumizing his way there, he's a touchdown leader, but I get that. I just could see a world where you're kind of wishing you had stayed in the flames with Baker over the last five weeks instead of going to, you know, Matthew Stafford played a ton of football games with his best players last year, and there were a ton of terrible fantasy weeks. Sure. So I'm not saying he's going to do that this week,

I like the pick, but let's just remember that he's had these players for a long, long time and not delivered because sometimes the game, Kyron, the red zone zone the way the game goes I just I kind of hate to miss out on what Baker's been doing I guess yeah I get it and I I mean really I can visualize how Baker has a very good game this week I just don't think I've got the Cajones to start him. I'm afraid, I'm afraid of a good defense without weapons for Baker because.

They do struggle, they're the second worst team against tight ends and he's been using Kate Otton like crazy. Yeah, the matchup is there for Kate Otton for sure. And they're middle of the pack against, for what it's worth, they're 16th in fantasy points given up to the quarterback position. Yeah, if you look at the- That's not an area where they're like top five.

Well, it is funny in the sense that, I feel like usually at this point in a season, we've got a real clear indication on defenses, but this last week they gave up three points more than the average to the Raiders in that divisional matchup. So they were kind of soft this last week. The week prior it was average against Brock Purdy. That's because Purdy had what multiple rushing touchdowns? Yeah, but he had them. The Saints and the Chargers which are like not good defenses.

So I just don't know over the last month, maybe Kansas City's passing defenses middle of the pack similar to the Vikings and the Ravens I was talking about earlier where it's like, this is a great defense, but you still have to throw on them. Well, let's look at these top 10 names and who do you expect to be the most likely to fall out of the top 10 in the second half

and know you can't choose Justin Fields? Well, he probably won't. His points per game will stay the same. Do you think, do you think Purdy, a real solid point, Mike, definitely not falling out. Do you think Purdy is a name? Yeah, Purdy would be because of losing I you can, well, Purdy is the one I would look at because I mean over like his touchdown rate is, is lower than average right now. So maybe that regresses positively. But three rushing touchdowns here for Brock Purdy in the last two weeks, last year in 16 games he had two of them

for the entirety of the season. Three in eight games, that's what's keeping him afloat right now. Do you believe that Dak is the most likely candidate to enter the top ten over the rest of the season? You've got players, 11 is Sam Darnold right now, Bo Nicks right behind him, Jared Goff, obviously always a threat week to week, and then Dak is sitting there at 18th right now. I think Dak will enter that. I talked about him as my second half sleeper.

The schedule after the San Francisco 49ers game that's now over is pretty bright and rosy rest of the way it's top five for quarterbacks. I think he hops up in. The player I would pick to drop that I'm a little bit confused about, and Andy we literally sat down yesterday and watched every single offensive snap on a brilliant game. It's Kyler Murray. I don't know what to make of him. I don't either man. The first month of the season he was averaging 16.9 fantasy points was very inconsistent and that's including a game where he was the number one where he just dominated the Rams but now the

last month he's up to 19.6 fantasy points per game, has been consistent and looks better. Is this just, like, which one is the real deal? Because I've never seen a player, I've never seen one that I can think of where not based upon matchup, but just based upon how the player woke up, goes out there and looks like he can't see the defense, can't find the open players, or sees everything crystal clear and is like a savant. I mean, it's like who do you get on a week to week basis? I think if you want to look to the encouraging side for Kyla Murray, it would be the fact that he's played eight

games. He's only had six of the eight games, he's had one touchdown. Okay. And he's still in the top 10. So his touchdown percentages, it's like four points something. He's also played what? One game without Tramey Bride, one game without Marvin Harrison. So there have been some bumps in the road

Where it hasn't really gone his way very often and he's still hanging around 18 something fantasy points again That would be the more rose-colored perspective. He's got two home games coming up Yeah, but one is against the number two ranked Chicago Bears this week and I find it so fast I'm playing against Andy in the League of Record. So I will recuse myself and I will recuse Andy here. Okay? I recuse myself. No, Mike, you can't. I recuse you, Andy.

The most fascinating match up here. He has Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams. Okay. Caleb Williams coming off a dud, Kyler coming off a good game. But the Arizona Cardinals defense, not great against quarterbacks, right? And and the Bears great against quarterbacks and he has to make that decision and I'm sitting there going Like I hope he plays Kyler or I'm sorry. I hope he plays Caleb. I

Thought you recused I'm just I'm not giving my okay. All right. I Can we strike that from the record? I'm telling you, recused. I'm not giving my, okay, all right. Can we strike that from the record? Inadmissible. Also, I feel like I will have to be not recused at some point to make the call. Yes, but Mike, who do you think is the better play, matchup or player?

I know the answer of what Mike's going to say. I would play Kyler. Oh, okay, nevermind. I didn't know it. No, I would play Kyler at home. That's who's in my lineup, and I also tried to give it to Cale this morning so I don't have to make the decision.

And literally, that's why. I tried to just, I wanted to just sell him off for fab so I don't have to make the call. I lost last week making that call incorrectly. Well, I'll probably lose doing that again. At running back, looking at the top 15 and fantasy points per game half PPR Henry and And get this here's what's more amazing to me Henry's at 21.4

0.4 points behind him is Joe mix it so Henry's made he's been the headline Joe mix in is sitting point four points behind him Joe Mixon is sitting.4 points behind him. 21.4 and 21 fantasy points per game. That is number one and number two on a points per game basis. Only, only if you think that the Dolphins are not different with and without Tua. Because in games with Tua, Devon A. Chan, 23 points per game should be the running back one. How many games is that?

Three. Three. Three games? Yeah. I mean, you gotta bring that up. That's like bringing up Josh Downs with or without Joe Flacco. I think it's worth bringing up. He's not in this list.

He's not in the top 15 in points per game right now, but if you look, I mean, we throw out- He didn't have Mostert though for two of the three games. Because Mostert was not- He was there this last game. I think Mostert- I think Mostert though for two of the three games. Because Mostert was not, I mean Mostert- He was there this last game, I think Mostert- I think Mostert was out both those other games. I'll check.

He played, no, he played week one. He got knocked out. He got hurt on the first play of the game. It was the first play, it was the first snap. No, Mostert played 44% of snaps. In week one? Yeah. He played 46% of snaps this last week.

So two of the three games was with Mostert. I swore he got hurt on the first play. He may have gotten hurt on the first play, but he powered through what he could. Interesting. He was inefficient that week. Yeah, it is worth bringing up. So you wanted to just hijack the order

real quick with A-chan. Well, because the order starts with A-chan. If you're talking about, like we don't view two of them. I don't think A-chan deserves to be included because of the fact he's got a huge injury history and misses games. So him playing and averaging that over time is the only thing I care about with him.

That's fine. I mean, my point is Tyree Kill, you know, we throw out the games. Joe Mixon's already missed three games. Yeah, thank you Mike. I mean, these are all good points from all angles here, but you know, you don't look at Tyree Kill and factor in his full season PPR.

Like that's just, it's just irrelevant. It's nonsense, no one would do that. Even casuals wouldn't do that. So you shouldn't really do that with Devon H. And he has utterly dominated in games with Tua because of the receiving work. So now let's go to Derek Henry Joe Mixon and Beyond Well say quans at 19.4 Kyron at 18.5 Gibbs at 18

Gibbs is hilarious because you don't get to see him on the field as much as everybody else and yet. Because he's too good. He's always a. He burns too bright. He's always a 70 yard touchdown in the making. I mean he's had two huge touchdowns in the last two games. Kamara, Kenneth Walker, Jonathan Taylor who you talked about earlier, James Cook at nine, he has slipped a little bit, Bijon Robinson at 10, and Jason I got to keep reading here. Kareem Hunt at 15.4 mm-hmm that's wild

David Montgomery Deandre Swift Aaron Jones and then at 15 mm-hmm Breeze Hall I was talking about this yesterday in the studio just Breeze Hall so frustrating because from a from a fantasy standpoint he goes out I mean I'll say kind of the same with Bijon. I've got these two guys as like my one, two punch in dynasty. And they are frustrating, man, because you watch the talent on the field. You watch the breakaway speed for Breeze. You watch just the electric cuts and athleticism of Bijon.

And you say, why aren't these guys consistent? Why aren't they every single week a floor of 13, 14 fantasy points and they just are able to disappear? It shouldn't happen. And what's most concerning for Breeze is the fact that once the changeover was made with the Office of Coordinator, we saw him out there with 87, 82% of the snaps the first two weeks. We saw him with the vast majority of the running back shares, 100% of the running back targets.

And now this last week, it was a real down week from a utilization standpoint comparatively to those first two seats. I don't know, it's frustrating. Do you expect Breeze to rest of season be better than 15 or just stick where he is and keep doing what he's been doing? Well, I mean, you can ask the question based on who's ahead of him and whether you'd take Breece rest of season over them.

And I don't see a lot of names that I would. I mean, I'd probably take, I'd take Breece over Swift who's two spots higher. I'd take him over Aaron Jones who's a spot higher. I'd take him over Aaron Jones. But I mean, beyond that, I'm not gonna take him over, I mean, you could have the debate about Montgomery. Yeah, I'd take Breeze over Montgomery.

But Hunt is the hard one, I mean you're like. Dude, I will say this, I genuinely. I have, in League of Record, my running backs are Breeze Hall and David Montgomery. And I know who my one is. My one is David Montgomery. He's just more consistent and better on a week in, week out basis.

I'm more confident in his start every single week than Breeze. So I'm not sure that I would take it. Look at the offensive difference there. Like I'm not even sure, like David Montgomery doesn't have more red zone chances in a committee on a regular basis than Breeze does. I'm sure that he does have more. I mean, he has to, right? Has to.

Even like, like the Lions are going up putting up 40, 50 points a game. The Jets can't get out of their own way. Yeah, so at the bottom here of the top 15, Breeze is very interesting. Kareem Hunt is also very interesting. He's been riding hot on touchdowns, which could still happen because you're on the Chiefs and you've got Patrick Mahomes.

But usually around the goal line they they do fancy little shovel passes that they haven't been doing lately and he's not. I'm shocked how little Kareem Hunt has been involved in the receiving game because he's you know when he was when he was formerly a Chief very involved in the receiving game and so far two receptions one reception two receptions one reception in his four games. Also, you do have Isaiah Pacheco. I was gonna bring the name up.

That's what I've been over here, trying to find actual information. Oh, I got the info, man. Do you? Well, I'm just, dude, I'm waiting for him to come back, praying he can come back and. The latest thing that I've seen where it's like optimism is he shared, there's a video from him on the 21st running on a treadmill.

Now he doesn't have shoes on and. I'm gonna be honest man, he was walking on a treadmill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the text says he's running on a treadmill. It does. I wanna see him running. But point being, like this isn't a next week thing. It's a does, and I don't even know if this is a,

I'm gonna pick up a stash Pacheco and just cross my fingers but it's a what happens in the fantasy playoffs if all of a sudden Isaiah Pacheco is back and splitting time with Kareem Hunt. It's just a situation that might get blown up but I don't again we don't have a ton of information, but I've I've seen whispers of Hope that by the end of the year that Pacheco could be on the I have as well And I I know that We've said on this show a couple times that look like I have

Counted Pacheco has gone for the season and that is how I've managed my roster. I don't think he's coming back I that's like like the blinders I put on to make sure that I'm doing what I need to do for my team. I do believe he comes back during this NFL season before the playoffs. Whether that's in time for the fantasy playoffs or before the fantasy playoffs is a question, but that does hurt the long-term outlook to me

of Kareem Hunt. You could end up having Kareem Hunt get you to the playoffs and then disappear. So just be prepared for that. Most likely to drop out of this list, let's just say most likely to drop out of that top 10 of Henry Mixon, Barclay, Kyron, Gibbs, Camaro, Walker, Taylor, Cook, and Bijon. It's tough. I think I would have answered Camara before this last week and the contract and the car return. Yeah, I think Camara goes north. I think Camara overtakes Gibbs. That's tough to pick a name from that group. I think maybe it's James Cook. I mean, James Cook because he's been so touchdown dependent. Now, the on speaking of Camara, I'm not factoring

in Derek Carr games in or out, but it's, because like his, he's been great. I'm not trying to, I'm not taking away from Kamara, but it's like his average is, for this list, is he's number six. He had a 43 point game. Again, I'm not taking that away from him, but it's like since the 43 point game,

which was week two, when everyone got bamboozled into thinking that the New Orleans Saints are actually good yeah we put a thing on the wall yeah it turns out they're not as good as they were in the first two weeks but so from week three through eight so after the 43 point game he's at 13 and a half points still very good it's just a that's that's, that's not, that's not almost 18 points a game. Yeah, if I had to pick one in the top to drop, and not necessarily to drop out of the top 10, but to drop who I think is overperforming what he'll do for the whole season, and he's

been excellent. This is not an anti-player case, but I think Joe Mixon has been running a little hot. Running a little hot. I mean, he's averaging 4.9 yards of carry, which he hasn't done since his second year in the league, which was a long time ago. Also losing Stephon Diggs, it's not gonna help in the short term

from a stacked box perspective. And you've also got a lot of touchdowns. He's got five touchdowns already on short term from a stacked box perspective. And you've also got a lot of touchdowns. He's got five touchdowns already on the ground, one through the air. So I can see Joe Mixon not being the sensational superstar. He hasn't even had a week where he's not a top five running back. That's not going to happen for the full season. That might be true, but I'd expect Targets to go up for him and he's already on pace

for over 70, or around 70. So it's uh it's a strong bunch at the top this kind of it's a good follow-up to what we talked about yesterday with the late running back strategy the zero rb most likely to slip into that top list you already said davon a chan i think yeah. Yeah. I think that's a top. That's the easy one. But of the guys who are next in the highest of average, you have Dobbins, Jacobs, Brian Robinson, Achan, and James Connor.

If anyone's going to jump into that, I would go James Connor. That's the name I would say too. I'm actually a little surprised that his points of game are that low. That he's that low? Yeah. So this is a a player and it's worth noting there are players that do this consistently over their career and they are a certain build of player. Where the second half of the season,

when human beings are banged up and the weather gets colder and these big bruising backsising backs Derek Henry has done it time and time again just been a second half sensation Najee Harris the last couple years has done it and James Connor has done it the second half of seasons these big bruising backs it's harder to tackle them I don't I mean that's anecdotal but there is data on their career that just support that. So that's why I would have his name up there. Making it not anecdotal. Well I'm saying it's anecdotal for the reason of it's hard to tackle. I don't know the reason, but we've

got historical evidence of the second half of the season for some of these big body backs breaking more tackles. All right, we'll take a break. Come back with White Outs. uh... breaking more tackles all right we'll take a break come back with white outs all right we're gonna turn the page here midseason review fly through the wide receivers number one nico collins at eighteen point one points per game oh i feel so bad for you mike and number two sweet nico well i'll be back uh... next week a.j. brown 17.3, both those guys have been hurt. Jamar Chase, 16.8.

Justin Jefferson at 16.5 and then, oh, Chris Godwin. Chris Godwin was on pace for 121, 1412 and is now gone. Beyond that, CD Lamb is sitting at six in points per game. So one big week for CD erased a lot of fears last week. Malik Nabors at 15.1, Brian Thomas Jr. sitting there at 13.4, T. Higgins at 13.3, day to day of course, and then Drake London at 13.3. So you know, glaring omissions from that top 10 right now, Aman Ra at 13.

He scored in five straight games and is still sitting at 13, which the volume has not quite been there because they've been so effective on the ground and in some of the misdirection. And they haven't been in competitive games. I mean, if you don't need to do anything but waste the clock. They scored. I mean, look, it was a full team effort, of course,

because they had the special teams of this past week. But just hilarious to see. Versus the Tennessee Titans, the Detroit Lions won 52 to 14. And Amon Ra had two targets, two for seven yards and a score. Thank goodness he scored. If you look at the last two targets, two for seven yards and a score. Thank goodness he scored. If you look at the last two years, he has averaged 155 55

targets in both the last two years where he's been dominant. And this season he's on pace for 128 right now, just because that running game is unstoppable Yeah, and then you know the defense is very good. I Still but I mean you're disappointed in the port and you're disappointed in Amon Ra relative to where you drafted them Yeah, you are but I am and golf I am still I certainly expect Amon Ra to finish in the top ten when you watch the games Some of these have gotten out of hand and Amon Ra has been unnecessary, but whenever the game is not out of hand, Amon Ra is usually

the clear chain mover, the primary target. Nothing has changed there. So he's at 12, Garrett Wilson at 13, Jayden Reed at 14, and DK Metcalf at 15, you know, most likely to jump into the top 10 out of some of the contenders that are outside of that group now. I think Marvin Harrison is the name that I'm going to say because he's at 10 and a half points per game. But we just talked about Lad McConkie, you could have done a Hungry for More for Marvin Harrison. They finally played, you know, they had a good game together.

Six of seven targets scored again. The targets didn't change. It was the types of targets changed and he actually caught them. If there were, brief aside, I know we're getting through this name, but Jason and I, like we said, we watched the all 22 of every Kyler pass. I think that part of the fundamental issue in Arizona is play calling, right? Right now the play design Yeah, play design. It's the better way to put it there

There are so many plays and the Cardinals offensive line is doing their best I mean they haven't given up a sack in three games when you look at Kyler There are plays where he's had lots of time in the pocket and he sees the back of four guys Yeah, you drop back. He hits his three or five step drop He's looking and there's, and we're still a second before a wide receiver turns around. Because all four routes are just downfield, like even McBride.

And so there are some play design issues in Arizona, and I think those are something you can link back to Marvin Harrison, but they got it going this past week. Tyreek Hill, though, I mean, is the real obvious one. Yeah, he's the... That's cheating. He's the cheat. He's at 40, by the way. He's a wide receiver. Wide receiver, 40 in points per game. Yeah, you're not worried about him. He'll pop in. Rest of season, he'll be a top 10 wide receiver.

The name that I would throw in, he was a trade for target. It was scary because it looked like they might add a wide receiver. I think the wide receivers that are available are gone, but George Pickens. He's my pick, too. George Pickens has been really good, and he's been good on a film standpoint. I think he's been good the whole season, I really do. He has not gotten it done.

When he had Justin Fields, it was frustrating. I have to believe, I don't have the data in front of me, but I will be blown away if he does not lead the NFL in touchdowns called back. Because even before this last week where he had two, there were- Put both feet down. Sure.

That won't happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like there were- Big refs? Several, yeah. And in his big ref, there are several plays like his. There's been a lot left on the field due to offensive line holdings that have come back, but even every penalty existing,

the last two weeks with Russell Wilson, very small sample size, but they have moved the offense and his yardage, he's on pace for over 1,500 receiving yards. Are you saying though, by saying he's your pick, Mike, that you would take him over Marvin Harrison or Tyree Kill? No, Tyree Kill is the cheat. You're just saying he's another name to bring up? Tyree Kill I'm ruling him out but it's like Pickens or Marv moving forward I think I'd go George Pickens. Scott Barrett put out the

tweet that heading into the week coming coming up, Pickens has led all players in fantasy points over return and negated due to penalty. There you go. So I guess that was going into the last game, which he also had. Exactly. I mean, I guess in that game, it was negated due to just close misses, but.

Well, yeah, one was a penalty though. Yeah. Stop committing penalties. Yeah, I mean, if. Well, yeah, close miss. One was a penalty, though. Yeah. Stop committing penalties. Yeah, I mean, if you look at the, it's funny because there are a lot of players that are in the top list right now. Chris Godwin is gone.

Brian Thomas might miss some time. We don't know when T. Higgins is coming back. Rushie Rice is done. So there's opportunity for a lot of these secondary wide receivers to jump up. So I think it's important to name these guys the Josh Downs, Marvin Harrison's, Pickens, even Olavi who's gonna get Carr back and has looked good on a per game basis. Like those those are the players that you need to target for the second half of the season.

And I know this is gonna hurt man. This is gonna hurt. I don't think it's good this week. I really don't. But I do think Tankdale has an awesome second half of the season. Without, no, I know, I know, I know, I know. I know, but Andy, just like you said, you know, Calvin Ridley, you doubled down. This is a player we saw when it was Nico and him

last year, ball out. The- He doesn't look like the same player, I will say that. He does not look like the same player as last year. The schedule opens up, and I would agree with that. One of my fears was the Tony Pollard fear, because remember he broke, was it his fibula or? His ankle, I don't know.

Yeah, it broke, it was whatever happened to Tony Pollard, very similar injury, and we saw last season when he was a cowboy, that the first half of the season was very bad for Pollard, and he did like the first is like two-thirds on sure but he did end up strong and he looks pretty fantastic looks good now so without Stefan digs wait for a bad week this week from Tinkdale and then trade for him that I do think you he's necessary to what should be a good offense and when Nico comes back and it's just him. I do think he's necessary to what should be a good offense.

And when Nico comes back and it's just him and Nico, I believe we'll see a lot of success. It pains me to say that, because I know if we don't, my Twitter timeline will hear it and I will take that on the chin. But I genuinely believe that it's a long season and the second half of the season

will be very good for Tank. All right, tight ends right now. George Kittle... George... George Kittle's at 15.2 points per game. He's five points better than the next highest. Is that true? Is that really true?

Brock... Brock Bauer's is only at 10.8? That makes sense because Brock Bauer's, while he's been an awesome manimal out there dominating everyone, He doesn't have any touchdowns. He's got one touchdown on the season. Yeah, and Kittle's got a lot of them. He's the only tight end since 2019 to finish in the top 10 every single week.

So he's on fire right now. Yes he is. Ayuka's gone. Yeah, there's no path to him not being on fire, really. I mean, McCaffrey's gonna soak up targets, but Kittle's gonna be fundamental rest of season Bowers at 10.8 McBride at 10.2 Tucker Kraft at 9.6 Um, I believe he's only got let me see here

Yeah, I mean the last four out of five weeks has been very good. His catch to touchdown rate is Outrageous. Yes, David Najoku 9.44, Kyle Pitts 9.3, Komet 9.1, K.Dotten at 8.5, Goddard at 8.4. Farewell. And then Travis Kelsey slipping into the Tom 10 at 8.4 points per game. At 11 and 12, by the way, Ingram and Andrews at 8 and 7.7. How do you see the, like Tuckercraft, I think with the touchdown dependency is coming down. I would say Nijoku, like Titans that I think have an upward trajectory, I'm gonna go that way. The names that I'll say, Nijoku.

Yes. Otten. Yes. Ingram. Yes. And I think, I think Laporta, relative to where he is at 16. Sure, relative to 16, I think he'll have a better second half of the season than the first half. But I do not believe, and I think most people would agree that they don't think

he's going to be what you hoped he was when you drafted him in the third round as the first Titan off the board, thinking he was going to take a second year leap forward and become an even more important part of this offense. This week should be good without Jameson Williams, but Jameson Williams, you know, is going to be back from his two game suspension. And like we're talking about with Amon Ross, St. Brown, Amon Ross been a little disappointing and he is quite very necessary for this offense. I would throw Travis

Kelsey out there. You know, obviously Hopkins coming in might change things a little bit, but you've got a guy who's averaging eight and a half fantasy points per game. However, since the Rushy Rice injury in week four, he's averaging 12 fantasy points a game. And that's more what we have come to expect

and enjoy from Kelsey. Well, 12 would be second. Yeah, so that's what 12 would put him right behind Kittle. With the same report of hope, I will throw out a cautionary optimism for Mark Andrews. Whoa, what is this? For what? For Mark Andrews.

OK. Cautionary. That was some word jumble. Cautionary optimism. Yes. However you want to say it. Cautionism. Sure.

Oh, I like it. Have a little cautionism in your life. Of the route participation last week was, it's like we're moving up. It was like Mark Andrews' usual route participation. It's still lower than last year's elite Mark Andrews, but it's at least, it's moving up. And if you have another week like that that this week of route participation moving up I know

Deontay's there and will be working in the offense but it's just we need we need snaps here we need routes for Mark Andrews because if he runs routes he will be very usable. In the last five weeks which you can see on our stat page for 2024 you can sort it by last three, last five. In the last five weeks, he's the tight end five, Kittle, Pitts, Bowers, Otten, Andrews over the last five weeks. I forgot, because this has been such a, just an electric show,

we've got a preview of Thursday Night Game. ["Thursday Night Breakdown"] Thursday Night Breakdown. Wait, the Jets are in prime time? Well, they're at home and they're favored as well. Houston 6-2, the Jets 2-6, Draft King Sportsbook line, Jets minus one and a half, Jason's blinking like a man who doesn't buy it. Over-under's 42. They're favored? The 2- six Jets who just lost? I do think they win the ballgame.

I said this yesterday when we were going through the picks. I had no clue whether they were favored or not. Houston is... I can tell you I will be taking the Texans. They're beat up and they're on the road. And if you don't like Tink Dell in this game, then who do you like scoring points? Joe Mixon.

You remember CJ Stroud playing the Jets last year? It wasn't pretty. It wasn't pretty. I mean, OK, let's talk about that. It's a low over under, too, by the way. We've brought this up for over a year now. CJ Stroud, while an awesome, wonderful future franchise quarterback, when he's on the road against any kind of top half passing defense, he has, I mean, he's sucked.

He has straight up, he's not been good. And now he loses Nico, he loses Stefan Diggs. So yeah, okay, I get that. I see why they could be favored at home. He's a good defense. On the flip side, the Jets have not been great on the ground. You can run on the Jets, and Joe Mixon, who has been really the current key cog for the Texans offense, should have an outstanding game and be able to keep them in this. I worry more about what does the Jets offense look like

against a pretty darn good Texans defense? You know, it's not been a fun one to watch this year in general. I mean, Rodgers and Adams, like, this past week was not the week to look at the traded wide receivers producing for your team. Because Adams had a fairly down week. Cooper was invisible. Hopkins not being utilized. So this was not a good way for that. I mean, Adams has 15 targets. Rogers, clearly dealing with lower body injuries. He's, you know, the defense of the Patriots

came out after the game and even commented about his lack of mobility. I think he's, I actually, I think he's completely fine. He found Cayenne Pepper and- Oh yeah, yeah, we're back. What was that, and lemon, or was it just water? I think it's, I actually, I think he's completely fine. He found cayenne pepper and. Oh yeah, yeah we're back. What was that, and lemon or was it just water? I think it's just water. Yeah, he says he's cool now.

He's younger than ever. I didn't know if you'd bring this up. I just feel like it's like. It's very Aaron Rodgers. Well when you're two and six, you know, he's already dead, you know, like I'm not even. He brought it up. This isn't me, He did this to himself.

Well, the punter introduced it to him. You know punters. He found the Fountain of Youth in cayenne pepper water drink. Can we get some of that? I could, I'm 40. I need some of this cayenne pepper. What's the ratio you gotta go with? I don't know, I hope it's-

80% pepper, 20% water. Ah! I would like to know that. I mean, I would like to find the fountain. He's been trying to get on hot ones for a while and they're like, prove it. So he is. So jokes aside, are you in on Wilson and Adams in this game? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the Texans run defense has been more stout than the past defense. If you look at the season adjusted for schedule,

they're top five against running backs, but they give up quite a few points to wide receivers. So I think both Adams and Garrett Wilson at home in the game, their favorite, are in play. They did, Braylon Allen had his highest snap share since week four, had 12 opportunities on the ground, did score. It's a little bit of a red flag

just the fact that he got into the end zone in terms of, you just talked about Montgomery and Breezehall, right? Montgomery's gonna get tons of red zone opportunities if Breezehall suddenly loses a couple. We thought the Allen experiment might be behind them. I don't know if it was just, hey, we're not succeeding,

so let's try something different in this game, but it's worth noting it. Yeah, he's got three touchdowns on the season, you know. You and I get to have, I didn't realize this, Jay, in our matchup, you have Breece Hall, right? Yes, I do. And I've got Joe Mixon. So we get to have a Thursday night football faceoff.

I don't think it's gonna be fun for me. Are you, okay, Andy, are you playing Tankdale? I'd try not to. Okay. I'd play Cedric Tailman over him. I am at the place this week, I would try not to play Tankdale. Tankdale is like what I said about ETN last week.

I will, if he performs well while he's on my bench, I'll just be happy that I have a future with him. Okay, I've got some names for you, because I completely agree. All my Tankdale stuff, if he stinks this week, don't hit my timeline, because I said after this week. And then you can destroy my timeline. But for this week, would you play Tankdale or Amari Cooper,

who has not yet been fully integrated, and Amari Cooper's playing against Miami? That one's pretty close. I think I might try Tankdell just for the Thursday information. And what about DJ Moore? Against Arizona, good matchup, but he's been disappearing.

DJ Moore over him? Mike, are you there? I'd go DJ Moore, yeah. Michael Pittman? I'd play Pittman. I'd give Pittman the shot. I think Pittman is an absolutely fine start this week. Tankdell, Tankdell could get a touchdown,

he's gonna be involved, and so you could, you could sneak out an okay game, but my expectation for Tankdell is four for 46. You starting any quarterback in Thursday Night Football? No. It's a low over-under. Damian Pierce is hurt again, by the way. He's not gonna probably play this week.

Oh, I did check groinindex.com, and I saw him. Is he there? Yeah, his quote was, ah! Oh my god. McGroin. Yeah, his quote was, ah, a groin. Yeah, that's a very common refrain. If I have Stroud, I'm streaming this week. Let me ask you, as we close this show out, a very important question.

If you were sitting in a dynasty league, and would you rather have a second and a third round pick in Josh Downs? Second and a third and Josh Downs, okay. Or would you rather have like Ramondre and Tillman in a dynasty? Cedric Tillman and Ramondre. Or Josh Downs in a 2-3? Yeah.

I would take Josh Downs in a 2-3. Got it. But I'm out on Ramondre. See, it's close to me in the sense that Ramon just got a contract. I saw that trade just get completed. Oh did it go through? I don't know what you're talking about. Oh okay so you just traded Ramon

what are you talking about? So you just traded for Josh Downs in our dynasty league is that what happened? That is correct. He probably did. He got Josh Downs 2-3 for Tillman and Stanton. That's nice. I am my goal now is the greatest goal of all time. Oh, that's pretty cool. It's the Joe Flacco Josh Downs championship. Oh. I like it.

All right, so we'll wrap it up. We've got a Halloween show tomorrow, youtube.com slash The Fantasy Footballers. We've got starts of the week. We've got matchups. We've got Wheel of Shame delayed. Is that what's going on? I think so. I think that's what we gotta do. Here's the way it's gonna work

I'm winning this week either in which case either Jason Yeah, if you win this week me and one of you will dress up Yeah, I was gonna say it'll be a double trouble double spin next week if I lose well I can do Thursday too. If you lose, we will do the Wheel of Shame at the beginning of the show. Oh no. And then you will get it for the entire episode. Oh, that sucks.

Oh my gosh. I will be grinding my line up this week. That's what we're gonna do. All right. I agree. It's a plastic bag. Oh my gosh. That'll be it for today today we'll catch you tomorrow. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our

fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at The FF Ballers.