Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Starts of the Week + Week 6 Breakdown, Prayer Yards - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/10

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

It’s football time! Starts of the Week on today’s fantasy football podcast! Plus, Week 6 game previews, injury news, and fantasy football start/sit advice for a number of players! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 10th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (03:15) - NFL News (10:50) - Starts of the Week (10:55) - Running Back Starts of the Week (12:47) - Quarterbacks Starts of the Week (14:55) - Wide Receiver Starts of the Week (17:25) - Tight End Starts of the Week (20:25) - Fantasy Forecast (29:30) - Jaguars at Bears (25:35) - Cardinals at Packers (29:20) - Colts at Titans (33:15) - Texans at Patriots (38:20) - Buccaneers at Saints (44:30) - Browns at Eagles (48:40) - Commanders at Ravens 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: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://www.USAA.com/Insurance  Fantasy Forecast presented by DraftKings Sportsbook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. It's football time. Oh, I almost forgot I wasn't sure You hit me with the double pointer No, no, no, that was A 15 yard penalty on me No, no, that's right, it was a double pointer

15 yard penalty? Not a 15 yard penalty 15 yard penalty? Not a 15 yard penalty If you see what I did there, one's a gun, one's a pointer According to the NFL First down I find that to be Not a 15-yard penalty. If you see what I did there, one's a gun, one's a pointer, according to the NFL. First down. I find that to be rather ridiculous, what's going on in the NFL.

Yeah. I mean, I understand the point. I get the intentions, but execution right now is real poor. If I'm signaling first down, for those listening at home, I was giving Mike the signal to make sure he got the it's football time. Yes. Because this week is flying by. I don't blame you. I barely comprehended that it was already football again. But I'm probably

demonetizing our YouTube video right now. Welcome in. One and all. Mike Wright, Andy Holloway, the fantasy footballers back with you. Deucer's Alley full of deuce. We've got Al Borland Andy Holloway, the fantasy footballers back with you. Deucer's Alley full full of deuce. We've got Al Borland, Papa Josh, the Falcon in the building. I look listen

you guys are the producers and if you're watching the YouTube you're on the camera. There is a major lighting issue right now in Deucer's Alley. There is like Al Borland in the in the pitch black darkness. Yeah, then there's the glistening helm of papa josh but then like the falcon is like fully lit that's his white shirt really accenting that is that what that is i don't know about that

i i feel like i'm seeing a lot of good a lot of our life i mean he is the youngest feeling himself over there yeah he's got the stash. All right. That's enough. A little greasy. Um, that's the light. That's the light. All right. We have a NFL news to talk about today. Starts the week, Mike and I with you today, and we'll get into the matchups. So I'm excited. It should be fun. We've got big decisions to be made. We want to help you win your week. You can watch the show if we're still allowed to be on YouTube after my illicit obscene start to the show. YouTube.com slash TheFantasyFootballers. Subscribe, click the bell.

You'll check out Sunday Live. I'm going to be joining you remotely this Sunday for Sunday Live. Making it happen. What's the cackles going on? Well, the cackles, they turned the light off and left him in the dark. All right. See you later. This is the perfect start to the show.

Fixed it. Yeah, no, you did. You did. You should take care of the guy next to you as well. Then there'll just be one deucer left. Yeah, there you go. I apologize. This is quite the start to the episode.

I know we're going to talk about some football. We're going to do it right now. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Oh, now all the lights just continue to go off. Deuce's Alley is closed for business. Oh, no, Jeremy's still good. Yeah, double the light on the one producer left.

The true slowdown for almost missing his football time is I saw what time it was, and I remembered, oh, crap, I have the wrong defense. Like, I have not put a claim in for the defense. So I was trying to get one in. Oh, man. Indiana Jones style right under that door. Grabbed my hat and got it in, brother. So you were in the middle of putting a quick waiver claim in, picking up the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense?

That was just, like, the best one I could find with no time left. Yeah, Spencer Rattler. Yep. Yeah. Not a bad idea. I got a snake, man. That was close. Well mike also if you didn't see the graphic we got it updated good work yeah i got a snake man spencer rattler bringing the drop back all right okay somebody wrote in and said yesterday they go

that drop was i hated that drop what they're like hated that drop, and I was so happy it was gone, and somehow they brought it back. And you got to blame Spinsler Rattler for that. So Todd Downing is taking over play calling duties for the Jets from Nathaniel Hackett. Oh, boy. This is the most. Oh, boy.

This is the most encouraging news of everything that happened with the J jets this week to me because you felt it was bad with hackett i did not feel like the fix was going to be made just by transitioning from robert sella i felt like the you needed the offensive side of the football to be remedied whether todd downing will be that i don't know but here's the truth and by saying it out loud is going to take it away from me as an opportunity in any of my leagues to do it. But Brees Hall is the player you need to go get.

Okay. You go get him now. Players that have him are disappointed. They're not going to give him away. We're not crazy. But if you can get him, go get him now. That's what I'm going to tell you. Because I think that this offense is going to change him away. We're not crazy. But if you can get him, go get him now. That's what I'm going to tell you. Because I think that this offense is going to change for the better

because Nathaniel Hackett is not the answer. And so he was a middle of the pack offensive coordinator with the Titans, but they also went 12-4, I believe, that year, or 12-5,

and they ran the ball successfully. It was Derrick Henry. You've got to get Brees Hall going in this offense. I know the offensive line is a problem, but this is a schematic choice as well. It was also matchups. I mean, Brees Hall is supposed to be one of those running backs where matchups be darned, it doesn't matter. He's still going to have himself a good game.

I mean, that was Denver and Minnesota. I mean, who at this point, like who's a scarier defense for Jets? Not counting them, but like for the Jets to play, that's about as bad as it gets. But yeah, we could have a buy low opportunity for Brees Hall here. Well, and the big story yesterday was that Nathaniel Hackett was about to get demoted for Todd Downing, and then five minutes later, they changed the head coach. And they stole that from us.

They did steal that from us. I like that story. It was fun. I think that Aaron Rodgers, he's done what he's done to affix himself as a villain when possible, but I don't think he had a lot of say in what happened. I really don't. Michael Pittman. Hey, guess who's on my League of Record team, everybody?

Michael Sittman because multiple weeks, back injury. IR is a possibility, everybody. What? Thank you. Um, I are, I are as a possibility, everybody. I, what? Thank you. What is happening? Why is everyone going on the IR? Well, I mean, it gives them an extra roster spot.

I'm just like these back in in my day, these were men. And they were hurt and they played. You know, there's a lot of injuries when Mike Wright is tempted to go to the back in my day, which is not an often occurrence. Listen, Josh Downs is the elite talent at wide receiver on this team. And I do mean that. I think Josh Downs is a better wide receiver than Michael Pittman. I really believe that.

Very different areas. Very different. Different types of wide of wide receivers. But this to me gives you clarity. This gives you the confidence. This gives you the week in, week out ability to start Josh Downs regardless of quarterback. Michael Pittman being sat down, you know, Alec Pierce, that dart throw becomes a higher probability of hitting the board. And Josh Downs, you know, we're going to talk about the game today. I like Josh Downs a lot. I like what the team is saying about him. They've come out and just talked about his work ethic and the fact that he's advanced his game so much.

Aiden O'Connell and Spencer Rattler are getting starts this week. So Aiden O'Connell for the Raiders. They figured out the midweek, midyear. Yeah, the competition's over. Spencer Rattler will get the start against the Bucs. I did love his comment about the fact that Chris Olave is different, and my plan is to get him the ball as often as possible. That's what we're talking about, Spence.

This has happened. Good for you. With backup quarterbacks, they have come in. And the backup wide receiver. Well, they come in and they target. They hyper-target sometimes. And this could be really good. It wasn't good with Derek Carr.

It was okay. It was okay. Not for Olave. For three games, it was okay. Gus Edwards did not practice. It's Wednesday, but again, keep your eye on it. Malik Nabors doing better. Yeah, he didn't practice. Still a

DNP right now. Don't love... It was a Thursday night game. Am I remembering that right? It was. And so it was... Ten days so far. You can have a little bit of optimism that he's going to make it back for the following game, but he did not.

And now we're at Wednesday of the next week and he's still not practicing. Do you have any, like if you had to place a bet on whether he's out there? I can't even do that. The nice thing is if he plays, you just put him right back in. But you better be at least preparing

to have an ultimate. Devin Singletary's trending in the right direction was the report that i read still limited in practice zach moss didn't practice so chase brown mike you brought him up he was high on our waiver list and then audrick estimate of the broncos was designated to return from injured reserve yeah this one is not as exciting because giovante williams quietly if you have not been paying attention which i think the only people really paying attention to giovante are those that have him on a roster no you're not seeing him probably you're not like oh i'm worried about giovante things have been better things have been a little bit better for him. So the estimate takeover is probably on hold right now. But it's still a long season, and I think that is still a possibility.

All right, that was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We will talk about some more practice reports in the matchups today. But first... Starts of the week. So I just talked about him. So let's start at running back. Brees Hall is my start of the week.

Okay. This was not a player that you thought could ever make this segment of the show. But right now, the level of despair associated with Brees Hall and his yards per carry and all of that, Buffalo's the matchup you want. Despite how horrendous it seemed compared to expectation, he's still the RB16 on the year.

You've got that little bump, the new head coach, and the new identity on offense. And I think getting Brees Hall going is going to be a priority. I think it's one of the reasons why Nathaniel Hackett's not causing plays anymore. Not causing problems anymore? Yeah, so I'm going Brees Hall.

I'm going to go with Tony Pollard against the Colts. And it's kind of, you could just say it's a blanket statement almost for the Titans against the Colts because it's a great matchup. But highlighting Tony Pollard here playing the Colts, it's been fantastic forup. But highlighting Tony Pollard here, playing the Colts, it's been fantastic for all running backs not named DeAndre Swift.

Pollard, look, three top 24 weeks, nearly 70% of the running back attempts, and a 15% target share. All this 1A, 1B, hoot nanny, throw that in the garbage because Tony Pollard has been the guy, and he's been excellent, and he's in a plus matchup. All right, let's go to quarterback then. I'm going to stay in the flames. Start of the week, Kirk Cousins. All right.

We just saw Caleb Williams have a monstrous game against Carolina. It is a great matchup. And I'm not sure you knew this. I mean, we had our fantasy draft redo. But Drake London and Darnell Mooney are both in the top 15 at wide receiver through five weeks. Mike, you made a point of talking about Darnell Mooney, watching every clip of him. Yeah, he was an off-season

sleeper. In Chicago, and you believed that he could come into Atlanta and make a difference. 16 targets last week. The offense is currently, it's Kirk Cousins. It's the passing game. And Carolina has the weaponry now with Andy Dalton to actually keep up in the game.

So I think Kirk Cousins, you can stay in the flames and start him without any hesitation. And then I'm going Caleb Williams against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags right now through this short season are giving up 7.9 points above expectation. If you don't know what that means, that means think of what a quarterback is scoring on average and give them an extra eight fantasy points. And that's the worst right now in schedule-adjusted points

by over two points a game, which is wild to see at this point. They've been so bad. It's been very hot, very cold for Caleb Williams, but when it's hot, multiple 300-yard games already for the rookie, and I think we're going to go back-to-back here with Caleb. Good games. It's not the fairest thing to do, but with a rookie, you can do it. His last three games, if you just paste that out over the year,

Caleb Williams is sitting at 4,600 passing yards. That's great. 28 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. His QB rating's been 104 over that stretch. He's still rushing for 300 yards, and he's got two top 10 finishes in fantasy. It was. So it went from despair to like oh

okay that's honestly the i've uh struggled a bit with caleb williams the first two weeks were so bad he completed 48 of his passes in week one he only had 93 yards then 174 yards against houston you got it you should be able to do better. He had 44 on the ground. But that's the imprint, especially when you have Caleb Williams doing that and Jaden Daniels doing what he's doing. You're like, oh, well, Jaden is awesome and Caleb is not. But Caleb has been – two of the last three games have been excellent, and I'm going to stick with him one more week. All right.

And then he gets a bye week in Washington and Arizona. Things could look a lot better here. Can I borrow a pair? Oh, you need some pants? Oh, brother. I do. Steel underpants. Who's this for? Well, look, if you pick anybody

on the Cleveland Browns. You better have a diaper inside of that titanium underpants. Yeah, I mean, so my wide receiver start of the week. You got to soak some stuff up. It's Amari Cooper. Thank you. It's Amari Cooper who is still number four in the National Football League in targets.

We said 45% of his targets have been uncatchable. You're facing Philadelphia who have struggled on the back end. They're actually starting a new nickel corner. Another white guy in the house on the secondary. All right. The Browns are going to be passing all game long

and to me Amari Cooper, it's a priority for this team to, look, you need to use him if you want to win ball games and you need to use him if you want to win ballgames, and you need to use him if you want to showcase him for a trade. Like, if you think you're going to get Amari Cooper out the door, that's why he's number four in targets. They have just missed on, I mean,

two weeks ago, they had an 82-yard touchdown call back on a Phantom holding call. He had a monster game in week two. Amari Cooper's targets, when you stack those up, I know that the source of the targets is not good. But look, Malik Nabors does not have a top 15 source of targets,

but it comes to fruition that he has a big game more often than not. Amari Cooper is going to have a big game this week. I'm going with Andy's hungry for more player of this week, Jalen Tolbert against Detroit. It's a plus matchup. We've seen Tolbert two straight weeks with a 20-plus percent target share. He is their full-time number two wide receiver, not target, for the Dallas Cowboys while Brandon Cooks is out.

The Bengals, I'm sorry, look, Tolbert here is just in such a good situation of the steady rise that we have seen over this season and finally coming through with the promise of the third-round pick. And I think that he can go right from the waiver wire right into your starting lineup. This is the second week in a row where my hungry for more was then picked as a start of the week by one of you guys. It worked out really well for Brian Thomas.

So I'm hoping Mike, this is a pattern and we can get a big game from Tolbert. Cause I am starting him in, in a couple of places. All right. What do we got tight in? Yeah. Yeah,

we do. Unfortunately, I'm going to go with the invisible to the fantasy world. Cole commit. Um, you are blowing my mind right now. I am because of the fact that he's the fantasy world, Cole Komet. You are blowing my mind right now. I am because of the fact that he's the tight end six on the year. Well, yeah, because he had that 20-point game. He is.

You can't take that away from him. Who has 20-point games at tight end? I mean, Cole Komet. Cole Komet, that's who. That's right. He's on the field 85% to 90% of the time. So that's a checkmark for a tight end in this economy. Big plays. They are in the repertoire for Cole Komet.

And get this, Jacksonville, who they're facing this week, they're coming off of three straight games giving up a ton more points to the tight end position. That whole points over expectation number for the tight end. So I think Cole Komet is a really solid start probably every week, but this week especially. And I'm going with Trey McBride thinking that the game, we're getting there. We are getting there with Trey McBride.

It has just been steady, but we haven't had the game that you drafted him for. That is definitely what's being felt by the fantasy community right now because we had monday punday tramic divorce uh being submitted so people are and this and so when i got that i looked at the box score he was fine and he was fine but that's the thing you didn't draft him to be fine yeah yeah six for 53 is i know that's perfectly fine but look yeah this is a big endorsement here taking on the Green Bay Packers uh the Packers are slightly worse against tight ends than wide receivers and the the tight ends have done again they've they've done okay Titans Vikings the Rams were all multiple points over expectation versus Green Bay and it was right off the concussion and he had

the injury designation going into the week right into nine targets and I mean you off the concussion, and he had the injury designation going into the week, right into nine targets. And, I mean, you had the weirdness of an entire drive deleted by a 50-yard rushing touchdown by Kyler Murray. Those are some yards that that team, McBee, certainly could have got in on a 26% target share on the year. Again, we haven't gotten the big game, but the numbers for McBride are are they're still very good in terms of peripherals we just need it to hit all right those are our starts of the week

for this week and um we'll take a break and get into this week's matchups All right, it's time to jump in. This is what, week six, Mike? We're cruising. We are. Before I jump in, I do want to remind everybody they can use the Ultimate Dashboard to optimize their lineup. Go to jointhefoot.com, sign up to support the show, get an extra episode every week, get access to our Discord channel,

get access to the Stream Finder tool and all of the resources that we have available in our premium tools and resources. And then, of course, the ultimate dashboard with a custom waiver wire sheet, spot starts. It's all built out for your league. And that's jointhefoot.com. It's time for Fantasy Forecast, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Okay, you ready? Let's go back to London, Mike. You sound like you're from London.

Jacksonville, 1-4, taking on the Chicago Bears, who are 3-2, the DraftKings Sportsbook line here. Bears minus 2. The over-under is 44.5. We just talked about several pieces of this game. You know, Caleb Williams, your start of the week. DJ Moore, it's been great. It was interesting watching DJ Moore and the press conference.

Did you see his comments on Caleb Williams? I did not. It was very funny. I mean, DJ Moore had a big week. He his comments on Caleb Williams? I did not. It was very funny. I mean, D.J. Moore had a big week. He basically said Caleb Williams right now is being a little bossy. If they don't do exactly what they need to do in the running routes and practice or on the field, he's letting them know about it. He's letting them know about it.

And D.J. Moore even made the comment of like, he's like, whoa, whoa, you can't talk to me like that. I'm older. I'm the older brother. But then at the same time, he was just commending the leadership and saying like he has been telling them what they need to do. It was good to hear. DeAndre Swift has been awesome for two straight weeks, Mike.

Does it continue against Jacksonville, who is 27th this year against the run? It freaking better. Like, it just comes down to, you know, for the big game, if they get down by the goal line, they've kind of been splitting opportunities for Swift and Roshon Johnson, and DeAndre Swift continues to show the world that that is not his strength.

So we have, just pulling it up here, four attempts inside the five this past week against Carolina. Four of them. One touchdown. Like, Dad, come on, brother. We got to get that number up. But Roshan could vulture a touchdown or two away. But overall, DeAndre Swift is a strong play.

So, DJ Moore, you're confident. Swift, Williams, Cole Komet is the start of the week as well. On the other side of the football, we saw some signs of life from the offense, Brian Thomas Jr. This might be a tougher week, though. It's going to be really tough. The Bears are just – they stifle the passing game. They make every possession very difficult on you and

if there's one area where i feel like jacksonville struggles tremendously it's stringing you know they can make a big play i mean brian thomas jr had a monstrous play down the field but putting a bunch of first downs together getting all the way down the field it can be it can be difficult and um so i would temper your Brian Thomas expectations. You're still going to play him. Yeah, Brian Thomas is in for me. If Kirk – I wouldn't try Kirk out. I'm not going to force Kirk into my lineup. And then what do we do here?

Evan Ingram, limited practice. We got a limited practice on a Wednesday. They think he's going to play. So that would especially – maybe he's on a snap count. I don't know. But that would – when him's on a snap count i don't know but that would when him and christian kirk are both playing it tends to take away opportunities from kirk so it's just would you put evan engram right back into a starting line most lineups yeah okay yeah you're gonna take that chance he's got that connection with lawrence etn's been limited

uh in practice with the shoulder. Tank Bigsby coming off a season high in snaps. It seems like a really tough situation right now. Yes. Especially in this game. If you have ETN and you drafted him, you're probably playing him no matter what. But Tank Bigsby's deflects decision

that I think is really hard. And I don't know if I would do it in this one. No, I don't think I would do it either. I don't know if you have some names that you would want to throw out there. I'm trying to look at realistic options. Okay, or Tank. So Bucky Irving against the Saints or Tank Bigsby. I'd probably play Bucky.

Yeah, that's where I lean as well. Travis ET or Tank Bigsby is the number two most popular start-set decision. I have been the loudest about the concerns about Tank Bigsby actually. Could he be good? And he's looking fantastic of taking work from Etienne. I'm still playing Etienne over Tank Bigsby, though. Yeah, I feel like credit is due to you on two situations that I didn't believe. It was the players I'm embarrassed to love.

I'm not embarrassed anymore. I'm not afraid anymore. You still believe Tank Bigsby could impact ETN, and you still believe that Bucky Irving could impact Rashad White. Yep. So you were right, and I was wrong on that. I'm attractive. You're not.

You're good looking. I'm not attractive. That's what it is. Is that Norm MacDonald? No, that's Happy Gilmore. Oh, that's right. That's right. I had some dirty work scenes showing up in my head.

All right. Arizona is 2-3. They get a take on the Green Bay Packers. The DraftKings Sportsbook line here, Packers minus 5 at home in Lambeau. Over-under is 47. This should be a good one. I think so. I think it'll be exciting.

The Green Bay defense, we saw them kind of falter against Minnesota two weeks ago. They snuck by the Rams last week. Jordan Love has been pretty good. On a play-to-play basis, sometimes there's been some things, but he's providing the kind of uh offense numbers that you need josh jacobs jayden reed are your locks tucker craft at this point has to be a lock yes 100 but the wide receiver crew beyond that don tavian wicks was the popular pickup last week uh his target share is great but his catch percentage is not. Correct. He has either been in the wrong place or dropped the ball

or Jordan Love has missed him. He has, you know, he caught five of 13 targets two weeks ago, two of seven targets this past week. You know, it is a risk. I really think it's a risk. With Dobbs coming back, Wicks is somebody that, like, I would play you'd play Mooney over Wicks, right? Correct. I still think Wicks is.

Tolbert over Wicks? Your start of the week, I'd imagine. Yeah, that one's really close. I still think Wicks is I'm playing him. If I picked him up against the Cardinals who, look, they're giving up their 14th right now against wide receivers.

So right in the middle of the pack. The Dobbs coming back, it creates a little bit of risk, but it's still, you know, it will be the three of them. Christian Watson was limited, by the way. So pay attention to that because if somehow Watson is back for this game, that makes things really sketchy. If they're back to the four wide receivers. If it's the three of them though, then

I think they're all even Dobbs. That one is more of a desperation because coming off the suspension of does he go right back into the role? How do you evaluate this situation, Andy?

Andy gets suspended because he's upset with the team and he takes action of, I'm just not going to go to practice. Is this a could he see some on-field punishment from the team or is

this the squeaky wheel of, they're like, okay, hey, Romeo, we need to get you the ball more. You're right. Yeah, I just view him the way I viewed Romeo Dobbs before this happened. I don't view it squeaky wheel or punishment. I think he just goes out there and is on the field a ton, and it makes it hard to start Wicks and Dobbs and Watson

and other players. I mean, we have a good matchup. The Cardinals are not a great defense, but at the same time, it is risky. I mean, Calvin Ridley or Dontavian Wicks? You know, there's been some comments right now. I mean, the head coach came out. As long as it's Will Levis, who was back at practice,

I would go Calvin Ridley. Yeah, there's some comments from them. We'll talk about that game. Kyler Murray, yes. Yep. James Conner. Yep. Yep.

Marvin Harrison. Yep. Jair Alexander has missed the last two games. He was limited on Wednesday. Harrison, you play. Trey McBride is your start of the week. So not a lot of tough decisions beyond the wide receiver room in Green Bay. And Michael Wilson, if you're desperate, his usage has been really strong.

The last three weeks, a 26%, 32%, and a 20% target share. Like he is – he's seeing basically just as much work as Marvin. takes a 26%, 32%, and a 20% target share. He's seeing basically just as much work as Marvin. The Colts are 2-3, and they take on those Tennessee Titans that we were just talking about who are sitting at 1-3. Games in Tennessee, and the Titans are 2.5-point home favorites, according to the DK Sportsbook. The over-under is 43 in this game, not a lot. Pollard just started the week matching up against the 24th-ranked Colts,

fantasy points allowed, defense against running backs. Their defense across the board has been a sieve. And Brian Callahan, like I was just talking about, came out in the presser, said, I got to do a better job of finding ways to get Calvin the ball. We need his speed. We need his explosiveness more. I'm going to find a way to get him going. We've only got to see three games, really, with Calvin Ridley and Will Levis.

So I know there's a lot of judgment out there. One of those games, he was the wide receiver eight, and in two of them, he was invisible. It's three games. We have a lot more games to play right so i would not i'd be willing to play him in this game in a great matchup i agree and i would expect good things the targets need to go up to be consistent but i think calvin really will get them in this game as long as will lovis is starting and they don't try to churn the entire game out on the ground,

they've had a great defense. They have to be the most frustrated 1-3 football team. Because Will Levis, by himself, lost multiple games? Yeah, he's given games away where their defense has played well. They've gone down to the wire in a couple of them. They're not a good team, but they're not 1-3 either. I're they're a they're not a good team but they're not one in three either i think they're about a 500 football team and will levis just needs to figure things out on the other side i have a smattering of did not practices i mean we have michael pitman's going to be out jonathan taylor's not practicing anthony richardson we don't know

if he's going to be back they've said he's the starter when he's healthy. I'm presuming he'll play this week. How discouraged does that make you? Well, I don't have to worry about Michael Pittman anymore, so I don't care. You're on your own. The notes here of, like, Jonathan Taylor didn't practice. That one we expected.

But Trey Sermon was a full DNP as well uh for the Colts he you know kind of split time with Tyler Goodson in the past week but Tyler Goodson will be the next man up and this is the like I I just stashed him in our league of record just in case Goodson yeah did you I did oh yeah you, you did. Look, the matchup stinks. You picked up multiple stashes. I saw you got Ty Johnson for Buffalo too, which is a just in case of James Cook. Yeah, with the toe.

Tyler Goodson, should he be by himself, which he won't, of course, be by himself. They'll probably bring Evan Hole up. The matchup is not great, but look, the volume should be there. That's what you can say for this matchup. Yeah, the Colts offense with Anthony Richardson going up against the Titans

defense on the road, it's not a good matchup. If Richardson had slid out there last week, you could have played him against Jacksonville. This week feels like you've got an injury that could pull him back out of a game. I will not be surprised if they sit him down another week at all.

I think there's a chance Joe Flacco starts and that makes him a, even in this matchup Joe Flacco feels like a streaming candidate because he's a 303 type of guy. Tennessee is facing the largest target share to the slot receiver this year because LeJarius Sneed is a shutdown guy on the outside.

So I wouldn't be dart throwing Alec Pierce no matter who's the starter. Josh Downs is playable. Assuming he's good to go because he was and did not practice. I know. The Colts are hurt. The Colts' offense right now is beat up. I definitely think Tennessee's going to win the ballgame. All right.

So we'll see. Houston, 4-1, taking on the 1-4 New England Patriots. The DraftKings Sportsbook line here, the Texans minus 6.5. The over-under is 38. This game is going to be my almost upset. Andy's Almost Ups upset of the week. My reaction is not to the almost upset. My reaction is to the line is seriously

like basically a touchdown. What is your reaction to the almost upset? It's a six and a half point line for Houston. They're going to be without? I think that's perfectly fine. Without Nico Collins, Drake May will get his start for the first time. And the over-under is 38. That's where the spread is coming from because it's Drake May's first game.

But the Pats' defense is fine. Yes. And they're at home. That's wild. And without Nico Collins, I do worry about C.J. Stroud and company moving the football consistently. We don't have Joe Mixon, so the running game has been non-existent without him. I don't know what's wrong with Joe Mixon.

I mean, I do. I do know. His ankle's hurt. It's his ankle. But I don't know how long this is going. How can day-to-day be four weeks? Right? What would be four weeks?

Yeah. This would be four weeks. Yep. This would be a fourth. He played the first game, played the second game, got hurt, and missed three weeks, and this will be four. And if you've been rolling with Akers or Agumbo Wale, Damian Pierce was back to a limited practice on Wednesday. Yeah, I don't want any of them. So this thing is, this is some mucky muck of sorting through who,

does Damian Pierce, after missing that much time, go right back to being the actual number two? I don't know. I'm going to avoid that backfield if I can. I am with you there. Now, everyone wants to see Tank Dell get it done. Is it going to happen? Because no Nico Collins means that it's Tank Dell, Stefan Diggs,

and then Xavier Hutchinson, maybe some Dalton Schultz, who I think, by my eyeballs, is the slowest player in the NFL. I have been utterly mesmerized at the lack of speed and acceleration from Dalton Schultz. I don't know. He plays football like a man who already pooped his pants and is trying to shuffle to a bathroom. And he can't find it? Is that too strong? Hey, look, we're here to give strong opinions. Dalton Schultz is not a startable player.

Dalton Schultz's yardage high this year is 34 yards, and they've needed him in several games. Tank Dell missed a game. We got Nico missing time. The doctor is out for the weekend. The doctor needs new knees. I mean, that's been embarrassing. Watch him blow up this week.

But, no, I'm not starting him. The question for Tank Dell is Nico leaving almost immediately in that game against the Bills, then Tank Dell being 4 for 38 is very disappointing. He still only played 68% of snaps in that game with Nico leaving at the beginning. Yeah, so that's weird. We kind of mused about what is wrong with Tank Dell from the injury to all these other things. With the full week of the game plan being able to say,

Tank Dell, we need you to step up, there's optimism. And I'm playing him as a flex, but is this the week it happens? I don't know. Don Tavian wakes your Tank Dell. Oh, my gosh. Just to make you feel bad. Oh, gosh. Just to make you feel bad. Oh man. If

Watson is out, I would play Wicks. What about Tankdale or JSN? Oh man. That's tonight, right? Yep. You got to make that call now. San Francisco tonight.

I think I'd shoot for the upside of Tankdale there. Ridley or Tankdale? Ridley. Okay. There is a chance. I mean, this is what makes this game exciting. You get to watch Drake May play football. It could open up a door for Jalen Polk. It could open up a door for Demario Douglas, who is kind of a quarterback's best friend near the line of scrimmage. henry hunter henry has done things in the past can he do them with drake may we'll find out were you hope were you trying to recall if hunters had more than one good game yes it's only one it's one it always it was great and when it happened guess what we said that he does this every year. He shines every once in a while. Oh, we thought that it was, hey, maybe Hunter Henry's okay to start in this tight end landscape.

And then they were like. Yeah, we're like, probably not. No, no. What if we throw the ball to Austin Hooper? So, Al, Al Borland here, you have the JSN tank Dell decision? Yes, sir. And you are going with? We currently have tanking.

I think that's what we'll go with. Yeah, if you have it that way through about 5 o'clock tonight, you're locked. That's right. Okay. Tampa Bay is 3-2. They take on the New Orleans Saints, who are 2-3. The Saints cannot get another W to force Jason to shave his head.

Ever since we put that on the wall, they can't get a W. Yeah, it's a shame and look they're at home in this game in the DraftKings Sportsbook line Buccaneers minus 3 the over-unders 41 and I just have a hard time that's

how is this game just the Bucs are favored by 3 against Spencer Rattler who what round was he drafted in I'm going to try and find that real quick he was a 5th round draft pick three against Spencer Rattler, who, what round was he drafted in? I'm going to try and find that real quick. He was a fifth-round draft pick. I'm not saying that Spencer Rattler can't be a good player. I'm just saying, calling the game from the pedigree of where this person was

drafted, Rattler, fifth-rounder, meet Drake May, what, the third overall pick? And they're saying Houston's a full touchdown? Tampa Bay's playing great. I don't know. I'm getting off track. I get it. I mean, look, Spencer Rattler is his first game in the NFL. He gets to play at home.

Tampa's a great defense. I'm with you. I think Tampa, I don't know how New Orleans scores enough points in this game. The Saints do have a defense that, you know, they kind of stick around. They make a big play here or there. They stuck around in the Kansas City game for a while, and then they didn't. But Spencer Rattler... I got a snake, man!

You know, you can't feel confident at all with Rashid Shaheed. He's not been practicing. He doesn't have his best friend. Shaheed is like a bench to me. Olave, you can take the shot. Kamara, of course. But they're a beat-up team as well.

They've got a lot of DNPs this week. I just feel like the Saints are like, try to stay away from players not named Alvin Kamara. Even Olave is scary. Very scary. He is. I would still play him. I'd still play Olave. I wouldn't play him over Ridley, I don't think. Oh, that's a tough call.

Tampa Bay's defense right now, it's not been good this year. If you want to make the argument that they'll handle things at home and Olave will have some big plays and Spencer Rattler will throw it to the right guy, you can make that argument. So Olave and Kamara though, those would be

the only two you consider? Yeah. Kamara, again, he didn't practice Wednesday. I don't think he practiced last Wednesday either. They give him Wednesday off. That's probably just going to be how it will be for the season. But Ken Ray Miller was a full practice. I don't care. I don't care.

Okay. He's third in the depth chart. People are like, who's KD Miller? He's number one in Dennis Allen's heart of hatred. Yeah, he's the only coach with a heart of hatred. Dennis Allen went from making Jason look dumb to two and three real quick. Yeah, he is who we thought he was. So, Baker Mayfield's a top five fantasy quarterback. Is he this week against the Saints' fifth-ranked defense against quarterbacks? They're giving up just 12.3 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.

Oh, Laser Mayfield. So he's only had one bad game, right? So he had a really bad game against the Denver Broncos. I... This is like the Sam Darnold decision of last week, and I backed Darnold. I thought Darnold would be okay against the Jets. He was not.

Got that one wrong, so that's the... I think we're in the same exact scenario of a pocket passer who has been running very hot with touchdowns. Baker Mayfield has 11 passing touchdowns already. That's fantastic. So I would probably shy away from him.

There might be better options on the waiver wire. He is at 14 in our consensus rankings this week. Yeah. So ahead of him, Stroud, Fields, Cousins, Allen, Murray Caleb Williams yeah I think Caleb Williams is like that's the question Caleb Williams and I'll throw Justin Fields in there as well they might be on your waiver wire if you

had Baker are you just going to stay the course or would you put Baker on the I just don't think the upside is going to be tremendous on the road on the road and the Saints are probably going to try to control the football a little bit with the running game. They already run the ball so much.

And the matchup of even if the Saints are able to run the ball, I can't see them scoring a bunch of points. No. No. Maybe that's why this line is where it's at now, the more we break this game down. Rashad White or Bucky Irving, if you had to start one? That's still Rashad White.

You're Rashad White. Yeah. And then Evans and Godwin you get to see a lot more Evans battle right Mike Evans did talk about it saying he's got to be more more mature

oh yeah if you haven't seen them like if you're newer to football Mike Evans is like they have gotten into it yeah they have had a lot of very special matchups and uh i don't think evans really gets the best of latimore very often am i wrong about that no i think that is correct so godwin might be the uh he also gets mike evans kicked out of games yeah he just gets under his skin yeah is there anybody else in this game you want to talk about?

Let me see. Is Cade Otten or Jawan Johnson in play? Cade Otten is. Cade Otten, 44-plus yards in three straight games. He is out there all the time. And while it's not – Cade Otten is never a – it's not a ceiling play ever. If you're just like, dude, I got to get like five points from the tight end position, K. Dotton can do that.

Yeah, Kelsey's on by this week, right? Yeah. So sometimes you need to do something like get Zach Ertz, you know, to start for Kelsey in your dynasty league. I like Juwan Johnson. I like the player. I like what's happening with his usage, his route percentage, his snaps. Everything is going up.

But with it being Spencer Rattler, I would go K-Dot and over Juwan. Let's take a break, and we'll come back and cover some more matchups. The Cleveland Browns are 1-4, and they get to travel to Philly to take on the 2-2, coming off the bye, Philadelphia Eagles. And dear goodness, the DraftKings Sportsbook line here, Mike. Oh, my goodness. Eagles minus 9.5.

The over-under is 42. That gives Cleveland 16 points. Philly has 26 implied point total. The Browns have not scored. I went over some of this stuff in our footcast, our bonus episode for the Foot Clan yesterday. They haven't scored 20 points in a game this year.

Deshaun Watson is taking piles and piles of sacks. He's not completing downfield passes. He's not completing downfield passes. He is a mess. Like, there's not many ways out of Deshaun Watson right now for the Cleveland Browns. They will owe him $172 million in dead cap next year. If they tried to move on?

If they tried to move on or cut him. So there's all these rumors about could they just – could they try to trade him to a team that has cap space so that that team and you'd have to send your first round pick which right now that's pacing to be what four overall i don't think uh to get rid of 172 million dollars he hasn't completed one pass longer than 30 yards this year the last two weeks he haven't hasn't completed one over 19 yards and you watch the game and you see open players and he misses them. Yeah, but you feel the confidence in Amari Cooper,

number one in air yards, a.k.a. prayer yards. And then the running back here. I feel confident in Cooper because you're facing an Eagles defense that gives up 37.5 fantasy points to wideouts. 31st right now. And he is number four in targets. And I think that you saw that work out in week two and you're going to see

it work out this week. And they're going to be down. Yes, they will be playing catch up. The running back position has been kind of all over the place. But Deontay Foreman didn't practice on Wednesday. This is Nick Chubb will not be back yet.

They is, are we backed into another Jerome Ford is the workhorse running back. You're backed into flex Jerome Ford. Yeah. Okay. That that's what I'm not saying. Yeah. I think that's fine.

But I, you know, David Najoku, I spoke yesterday about the fact that they were really encouraged. He's going to practice and he's not going to be on the injury report. That's a lie. That was all a lie. He didn't practice.

The team said they were optimistic. He didn't practice at all. He was completely off the field. So now you've got to monitor that, and I don't think I'd have the guts to throw him out here this week anyway. The Eagles shut down the tight end position in general, and we just don't need to mess around with an injured David Njoku who got back from injury, left early from injury. Let's just press pause on that.

He should be rostered but not played. What do we do then with Dallas Goddard? Because the Eagles should be back to full strength. Devontae, A.J. Brown, they were both full practices on Wednesday, so they're going to play. Dallas Goddard is getting the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter. He's sized for him. Because weeks one and two, Goddard was five points, five points,

and then had the huge games because of necessity. Dalton Kincaid or Dallas Goddard? I feel like that would be a real decision for people. I'm going Dalton Kincaid or Dallas Goddard? I feel like that would be a real decision for people. I'm going Dalton Kincaid there. Yeah, I think Goddard, if you look at his last 17 games played, 35% of the time he scores eight or more points. That's

including the last two illustrious weeks. He was a beneficiary of opportunity. Cade Otten or Dallas Goddard? Yeah, I'd probably just try to get Goddard in there at that point in time. Get some upside. A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith. The story is those two guys returning for Jalen Hurts,

which makes him a much more confident start. They're at home. It's against Cleveland. Saquon, Hurts, Brown, Smith. Put them in? Absolutely. Yeah, that becomes a lot easier. They're also getting their right tackle superstar, Lane Johnson, back.

Kind of a big deal. Good luck, Cleveland. All right, Washington is 4-1. The Ravens are 3-2. The game's in Baltimore, and they're heavy favorites. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Ravens minus 6.5. The over-under is a beautiful, majestic 51 points. No respect for the 4-1 commanders.

Is there snow in Vermont? That's what Google AI is telling me. Google AI is telling you. Not that there is. You didn't just search for is there ever snow in Vermont, right? Like active snowing? Active snowing. Okay.

Someone wrote it in too. That is a problem. That's big news. If you're new to the Fantasy Footballers, the boys from the DFS betting podcast, Borg and Betts, they had, they discovered the secret of Derrick Henry somehow. I don't know what

the snow model, I don't know what the correlation is, but somehow if it's snowing in Vermont, that always led to great games for Derrick Henry in Tennessee. Now, does that transfer to Baltimore? Yeah. Do the powers just move along or do they stay in Tennessee? Like it's Tony Pollard? Is he

the new snow model guy? Well, it's snowing in Vermont, so Tony Pollard just started the week. I don't think that was a coincidence. That's how I do all my analysis. Yeah, we're really top notch here. No, Derrick Henry's a start no matter what. He's got a rushing touchdown in every game. He's averaging 21 carries a game. That's. He's got a rushing touchdown in every game.

He's averaging 21 carries a game. That's carries, not touches. Carries in their wins. They're heavily favored. And they're playing great football. He looks just like – He looks like Derrick Henry. He just looks like Derrick Henry.

Just with a different jersey. The man is almost 31 years old. He keeps himself in decent shape. Yeah, I was like 150, what he spends per year? Yeah. Like a couple million dollars a year or something. Oh, I don't know if it was that high. Maybe it wasn't that much.

No, I was going to say like 45,000, but maybe that's way too low. That's way too low. But there was a story about how Derrick Henry spends. It's a quarter million dollars. Okay. It's a quarter million dollars per year on body maintenance. That's wild. But if you're Derek Henry, that's money well spent.

That's an investment. Can you play any other player on this entire team than Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson? On a team that has an implied point total of 28.5. I think that Zay Flowers is okay. It's not exciting. He's had double-digit targets in three of five games, a 27% target share, and Washington, like... They can score.

They can, but I'm saying they also can give up a lot of points to the wide receiver position, 27th right now. And Zay Flowers, his play style should mix, uh, very poorly for Washington because flowers should be okay. The Washington defense is not good. And that is the team that Deshaun Watson could do nothing against. Yeah.

That was what made last week. So demoralizing. So this week, do you believe that Jaden Daniels will do enough for your fantasy roster yeah so you're good with Daniels I am the Ravens are they're weird their defense

is very very weird I mean you go an entire half of the Bengals could do nothing really on offense they're just shutting them down and then they give up tons and tons of points in the second half. It's the second half. What's going on

with the cardio here? The training. We've got to up it for the Ravens. I think the controversial take for me in this game would be sitting Bryan Robinson down. That's what I would do. I would not play him. I don't think that's a wrong decision.

He's still banged up. Yeah, he scored twice. If you played him last week, you got super bailed out by two touchdowns. And then they sat him down. But his injury, it's a real deal in the matchup of, while the Ravens are giving up tons of points, it's not to the running back position. No, they give up points to the running back in the receiving game.

That's an area you could target with Austin Eckler, who has looked awesome. He has. I don't think you were here Monday, but, like, you know, number one. I was not. Number one in yards per carry in the NFL right now. Eckler? Do you know who that is? No.

Oh, Bigsby's up there. Tank Bigsby. Yeah. Number two is Eckler? Do you know who that is? No. Oh, Bigsby's up there. Tank Bigsby. Yeah. Number two is Eckler. So if Bryan Robinson's limited, only played 34% of snaps, and Eckler catches the football, which is what they need to protect against the pass rush, I think that's interesting. Yeah.

I don't disagree. So I think Eckler could be a flex type of play. Terry McLaurin, I mean, he's in your lineup. And then Zach Ertz is always a desperate. Eight targets for Zach Ertz. How did he turn eight targets into 10 yards? Can someone explain this to me? I don't think it was all his fault.

I watched the game because I needed him to have 25 yards. He got eight targets. Yeah, I mean, he got missed on a couple plays but eight targets a tight end in this economy like here's the real question mark andrews or zackerts mike this week for sure zackerts okay isaiah likely or zackerts That is much harder. I mean, I likely had the huge game again. Two touchdowns on three catches and 13 yards. So, I mean, Zach Hertz is not giving you a ceiling. I think I feel confident saying that,

but I'll probably just take the points I could get from Hertz. That's so gross. Yeah. I understand. It's going to be an interesting game because obviously if Washington competes in this game, that will be a statement. Yes, it will. This is big boy time.

All right. Do we have any injury updates, guys? Do we have the lights back on in Deucer's Alley? We do have the lights on. We do we have any injury updates guys do we have the lights back on in deuces alley oh we do have the lights on we do not have any updates all right okay okay and i still i still think there's one forehead that's lit up over there like the sun like that's not just a white t-shirt yeah that's healthy skin that's like the lighting is just are you on are you hot right now? It's bright. It's bright. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Well, now he's in the dark again. Looking good. All right. Listen, we normally celebrate slash dish out a parlay partay at this point in the show, which this past week, Mike was very crowned up. Oh, yeah.

And then Jason over here, which is Jay Grizz, Jay Rizzler wearing the clown outfit the whole day. We don't have a parlay partay for you today because we wanted to. But right at this moment in time and before the show, unfortunately, DraftKings is dealing with some, I guess, technical difficulties. So we don't have game lines. Yep.

We'll be back tomorrow, though. But we're going to try to get you that tomorrow. So just hang in there, and we will do that. That was Fantasy Forecast presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. New DraftKings customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the Sportsbook app and use the code BALLERS. Only at DraftKings Sportsbook. The crown is yours. Tomorrow, more matchups, Mike.

More matchups. The fantasy faceoff. But somehow I lost. I thought my team was doing so good. Were you surprised? Because you got out of town that day, right? Yeah, I was not able to track after the morning games. Yeah, you got beat.

You got beat. The big difference for me and you was I had upgraded the defense. Yeah. And our defensive gap was 19 points. So not to be underestimated. But you get to spin the wheel tomorrow. Congrats. Yeah, I deserve it.

And I'm trying to dodge this thing all year long. I'm fine. I'm doing okay so far. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. We'll hit the fantasy face off the rest of the matchups. We'll catch you up on any of these important injury-related pieces of news. And, of course, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, for a ton of free resources, awesome articles from our writing staff,

start-sit tool. Slight update here. Brian Dable said Malik Neighbors is in the same stage of the concussion protocol yesterday. That's not great. No, it's not. Man, that sucks. He did get knocked straight out. Yeah.

And they didn't do the Josh Allen treatment and just give him like a smelling salt and get him back into the game. Goodness gracious. Because he doesn't play quarterback. All right, that'll do it. Goodbye. Goodbye. Gambling problem?

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