Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Starts of the Week + Week 8 Breakdown, Business Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/26
Episode Date: October 26, 2023Week 8 is here! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Starts of the Week and lots of game previews! Plus, a rest-of-season outlook for Bijan Robinson, NFL News, and injury updates. And finally, the m...ost important segment of the week: Jason’s Boom Boom Kicker! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 26th, 2023. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Starts of the Week presented by Purina Pro Plan. Visit https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/dogs/sport-dog-food?utm_campaign=prp-sport2023&utm_medium=display&utm_source=youtube_spotify_callout&utm_content=cr-fantasy_football_podcast_sponsorship_pt-na&utm_term= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This episode is brought to you by McDonald's.
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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.
Hey, it's football time.
You got the right sport this time.
Very nice.
Let's go, Stefan Diggs.
Welcome in, one and all, Thursday episode of the show.
Where my mallards at?
How's Deucer's Alley doing?
We have Papa Josh in the building today with Judge Giamatti Alborlin.
Doing swell.
Papa Josh spent a good part of his morning bragging about the fact that he wears medium shirts.
Yeah, that's true.
And not largest.
Because we tried to give him a large shirt, and he's like, I wear mediums.
And then he flexed for so long.
Fun, fun fact.
You can wear any size t-shirt you want.
Incorrect, brother.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
Incorrect.
All right.
I guarantee we can get a medium on you just
like papa josh gets a medium on should we do that let that's a fun science experiment
and no we say god do that like the oobleck
it's like just because you wear a medium doesn't mean that like if you go to a tailor
and you're like i wear a medium and they're like okay but you should not i did tell him i said just because you used to wear mediums doesn't
mean you have to keep wearing mediums and then he proceeded his rebuttal was flexing
in all sorts of ways like i'm pretty sure i could get my child's t-shirt on it doesn't
mean i should wear it okay to be fair to papa josh yeah if I was, you know, he works out.
Yeah, sure.
I'd wear mediums, too.
Yeah, and he's like, what, four foot five?
All right.
Don't think you could get on this show and flex, and you're not going to get dunked on.
Welcome in, one and all.
So much.
Yeah, you old bald turd.
Yeah, we got him. Yeah yeah just to eat it so shiny yeah
oh man you suck
nfl news matchup preview starts of the week boom boom kicker we didn't have time to talk about
josh that's for sure uh Before we jump into the news,
Papa Josh does run the Fantasy Footballers Discord channel,
which you can find at ballersdiscord.com,
and hang out with a ton.
Now there's just...
I'm sorry.
There are pictures of people in medium shirts.
See?
They're wearing mediums.
That should not be that are coming through our Slack channel right now.
Shame on you.
We got work to do.
Let's talk news.
News and notes from around the league.
Presented by USAA Insurance.
Let's talk Dolphins.
Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert did not practice on wednesday tyreek hill it was
a hip injury mostert the ankle generally this team has given some veteran days off but the
these seem a little bit worth paying attention to we're getting deeper into the season where
you completely understand the veteran day of rest.
But it is news because they have not yet done this.
Like Mostert, who you would be like, oh, yeah, he should never practice on a Wednesday.
You can make that argument, but he has been.
You look back at the last couple of injury reports.
So you've got to pay attention here.
I think there's actually quite a few missed practices I'm slightly worried about
because it's like the first time.
Are you worried about Tyreek?
I don't know.
Today's a big day.
Yeah, I mean, it's all about today.
I don't have any insight on the actual injury.
So I'm only worried because losing Tyreek would be, you know,
a devastating loss for fantasy.
Yeah, and that would translate to the whole offense.
I mean, it would affect Tua in huge ways.
Yeah, we got to get him more information.
But if I had Tyreek on my team, I would at least,
I'd be making sure I have a backup plan.
Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback,
returned to a full practice on Wednesday.
Mike, you have another tidbit to share.
We found a report that he has been practicing without a brace,
which has been the plan, and the plan is to play without a brace,
which is, I mean, that's fantastic.
When you're talking about a mobile quarterback,
I mean, just putting a brace on the player,
there's a whole bunch of mental stuff of like,
well, maybe you don't fully trust your knee.
You're still concerned about it,
which is understandable to have a devastating injury
that you've been in rehab essentially for almost a year.
And when they're playing with a knee brace on,
you physically can't move the way that you can without a knee brace on.
So this is pretty exciting stuff.
The article talked about they're not going to speculate and say that Kyler's going to play this week.
It's not an impossible thing.
I do not expect him to play this week.
But next week it would then jump up to a higher probability.
And the week after that, to me, that's a lock.
Well, that is a lock with the 21-day window.
That's when I expect, like, for sure he's back by then.
It's a tough couple of matchups this week and next week.
But it's great news because it's good in just the confidence
of where he's at right now.
The fact that he's practicing without the brace now says he's confident in the surgery.
Aaron Jones, DNP.
Matt LaFleur said he's a bit sore to be expected.
Ramping him up, hopefully.
Man.
We'll talk about that game today.
Brock Purdy, this is huge news.
He has entered the league's concussion protocol.
Sam Darnold expected to start on Sunday against Cincinnati.
Yeah, I mean, if you're in a 2QB league,
you hopefully already paid attention to this news as it broke last night
and picked up Darnold today in waivers.
If he is out there, you know, could be a worthy start.
You've got a lot of arguments about how much is the system,
how much is it Brock Purdy.
But the line has moved two points in the favor of the,
towards the Cincinnati Bengals.
So the start will be Brock Purdy this,
or will be Sam Darnold this week.
Jalen Hurts not listed on the injury report.
So any speculation about his knee, you know, nothing significant.
Chargers, Eckler, Full participant on Wednesday
Alright we love that
That's a good sign
Did you guys follow all the Eckler stuff
Like there was some comments
After the game that
Made it seem like Eckler is
Pretty frustrated with the
Workload? With his coach
Oh really
And then you know he kind of had a follow-up but the follow-up
was it was that of a fiery man so interesting which eckler is that's a man who needs a he
doesn't have a contract for next year he doesn't and it's just it's not eckler eckler cares about
his stats yeah like i'll just like he he likes fantasy football. Obviously, he's going to want to win his football game,
but he is a man who cares that he's on the field
and he's producing and helping his team.
I think we should call NFL players that care about their stats businessmen
because that's really what they are.
I mean, it's a business.
You can't say that.
And when teams treat it like a business and then the players look,
what else do you have to bring to the table like the rest you slide the
stats across the table as your resume for that contract look at my intangibles coach right yeah
look at this heart you're like so the thing we can't measure yeah that's the thing please pay me
we've all seen the videos of like the the backroom you know agent and or gm talking and they're they are
throwing out the stats they're like this is a guy who had 750 yards last year at the tight end
position you need him and it's like oh you're right and then they sign him so yeah be businessmen
yeah they are they are businessmen uh gerald everett josh palmer dnps on wednesday okay Gerald Everett, Josh Palmer, DNPs on Wednesday.
Okay.
After what Josh Palmer did this past week,
was not happy to see that he did not practice on Wednesday.
Is he in that group of people you're worried about, Jason?
Yeah.
He's a Sunday night game.
That's a significant issue, and it could be a huge opportunity.
Oh, man.
There is a lot of huge opportunity that's already happened and
not come to fruition um like all Wednesday practice reports you got to pay much more
attention to Thursday it could be a day of rest but Palmer doesn't strike me as someone that would
usually get that kind of treatment uh especially since he's kind of in a newer role for him in the offense.
DK Metcalf, full practice.
And he did come out and say he's expected to play.
Lockett, Kenneth Walker, both full DMPs.
I know that Zach Charbonnet was limited.
Yeah, he's been hurt for a few weeks.
But he did practice in a limited fashion, and Walker did not.
Right.
You definitely need to make sure you check on Charbonnet's availability
on your waivers.
He is someone that has been rostered the majority of the season,
but the last few weeks while he's not been practicing,
he's hit plenty of waivers.
This is Kenneth Walker last week, did practice on Wednesday.
Lockett last week. Did practice on Wednesday. Lockett last week.
Lockett had a weird practice
week where he didn't practice
on Friday or something.
It's just a situation to monitor.
Be prepared with Charbonnet. Thursday night football.
Baker and Chris Godwin will play against
the Bills tonight.
Dawson Knox likely to be placed on
IR, which would be a prolonged absence.
Dalton Kincaid will have a shot to be heavily involved.
And David Montgomery will not practice on Thursday.
They do play on Monday night, but the bye week is next week.
Jason's already shaking his head.
He knows the game plan.
I know the game plan.
The game plan is that he does not play.
The thing I hate the most about it is, please, please just rule him out early.
Because it's the Monday night game
I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to you know before the Sunday games happen
put him on IR and pick up someone in his place it's just unfortunate that was today's news and
notes presented by USAA insurance learn more at USAA.com slash insurance fantasy forecast
well brooksie it's going to be a long show we don't have any bye weeks this week we've got a
lot of matchups to talk through this week staying on brand for the nfl this year zero games over the
46 and a half point total which is kind of wild right however
yeah 10 of 16 games are between 43 and a half and 46 and a half so no super low yeah it's not a not
a putrid week the rams three and four take on the four and two dallas cowboys draft king sportsbook
line dallas minus six the over under-under here, 45.5.
We've still...
I mean, when you look at Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford from a fantasy
perspective,
you have had
very few opportunities
to start these players and be
happy with it.
You did get a
really good week from Dak before the buy.
Stafford, we keep thinking that these prolific Cooper Cup and Puka numbers
and Tutu performances.
And his performances.
We keep thinking that they will equate to something in the fantasy realm.
I do not think that this week.
I mean, facing Dallas on the road with no history of being able to put
multi-touchdown games together, he is very much out of my streaming consideration.
Is that unanimous?
Yeah, that's fair.
Not against this defense.
Dallas is currently the sixth seed right now.
The Rams, they're still in the fight.
Daryl Henderson.
Some people were thinking we omitted the news
that he had been reverted to the practice squad.
A player is able to be activated from the practice squad three times,
and then after the fourth time, they have to be on the active roster.
So we expect activation and uh what decent performance yeah this is just normal uh business
transactions to maximize your roster construction because he came off the practice squad nfl rules
allow him to go back there a couple weeks where other teams cannot claim him off of the practice
squad so it's just a smart transaction do you guys feel like he's going to get more snaps I mean I know he got 18 carries
which was that was you know that's very solid for a game basically off the street it was 60
percent of the running back attempts for the Rams but we only saw two targets uh like what is your
confidence just playing Daryl Henderson as that running back two or a flex type of play against a Dallas Cowboys team
that is currently 10th in schedule-adjusted points to the running back.
I'm still okay playing Daryl Henderson because there's, you know,
the running backs are hard to come by right now,
and while it's not a great matchup,
I do think he will continue to get the 60-40 split.
He got only two targets, but he got all of the targets
out of the running back room.
So he is involved in all phases of the game.
Yeah, and we saw James Conner have a big week against Dallas.
It's not impossible.
Royce Freeman last week, 12 for 66.
To answer your question, I think the split you saw last week
is what I would expect this week.
On the other side, you went from a fast pace of play
offense in Dallas last year, along with efficiency, to now the dead last
in neutral situation pace of play. It has really
cut the legs out of Pollard
and Lamb and even the Cooks-Gallup situation.
Jake Ferguson has been not what we hoped, and Dak, obviously.
So in this matchup in particular, the Rams' defense has been pretty good this year.
They seem to have drives or defensive opportunities that they take advantage of
and then they disappear for a drive.
What are you doing? Lamb is going to be in your lineup. Pollard's going to be in your lineup although i have gotten a lot of messages about do i swap pollard for this guy do i
swap pollard for that guy like i feel like people want out of pollard for some reason i i actually
think it's fair um pollard has been okay but he's been a disappointment for what you thought
you had when in week one, he was a top five running back, scored more than 20 fantasy points,
looked like, wow, he's going to be great. You know, you look at the last several weeks
before the bye, and he had a couple of stinkers with an average game. He's still on a solid
offense. He's still receiving the lion's share of the work, and he's still on a solid offense he's still receiving the lion's
share of the work and he's still talented so this is a player you're gonna start every week
you're gonna want him but you know we brought up um a couple weeks ago there was like the Pollard
Bijon trade and obviously Bijon uh got the got sick this last week but but I'm still firmly more on. I think there are higher upside players.
Like if I could turn Pollard into Austin Eckler,
who's been struggling, or Bijon from a bat.
You would do that?
I would do that.
You would do it for Eckler?
Oh, yeah.
Really?
Mike, are you in that camp?
I wouldn't do that.
That's a very tough call.
You would rather have Pollard than Eckler.
Yeah, Pollard's been
good and this is an offense that I trust I mean we're talking about the Chargers at two and four
being you know you could have a head coaching change you've got an ankle injury with Eckler
you you don't have Mike Williams or they have not been able to put up big numbers and Pollard's
still been pretty darn good and you're getting a lot of snaps now Saquon Pollard the last three weeks was 14 points six points and seven points yeah yeah yeah what was
Eckler well Eckler was Eckler was coming off of a high ankle sprain where you expect a couple of
down weeks I'm just I that just blows my mind like it's so easy I'm I'm like it's not close to me if
we were doing a you know the redraft today, I can't
fathom that we would be drafting
Pollard ahead of Eckler, but
it's a decision that everyone
has to make on their own.
I would firmly
be on the Eckler side.
Yeah, I'm on the better team side
of that one. CeeDee Lamb,
you just
keep riding him, but Brandon cooks michael gallup you
know that's i don't want to start those players it doesn't mean you can't get a performance out
of them it just means i don't i don't have confidence yeah i i get it um and but dac
dac and ferguson are both very interesting to me you You have the Rams 21st against fantasy quarterbacks and 30th.
I mean, that is juicy.
There was a reason Jason wanted to have,
was hoping that the Muth would get Luth this past week,
which kind of seemed like he was going to, and then it was no.
These facts still hurt.
But the reason is that the Rams are the team that we target
with the tight end position.
Cooper Cup, Pukunukuwa, play them.
The matchup's not outstanding, but they're both going to be fine.
And then, you know, I think you end the conversation there.
Yeah, I sit 2-2.
All right, Minnesota's 3-4.
The Packers are 2-4.
Games in Lambeau, the DraftKings Sportsbook line,
Minnesota minus one on the road.
Wow.
The over-under is 42 points.
Green Bay has lost three straight games,
including a matchup with Denver last week,
Minnesota, the other end of the spectrum.
They have a two-game winning streak, beat San Francisco.
It's a lower over-under.
You know, Jordan Love, the team says they haven't lost
an ounce of confidence in Jordan Love. I haven't lost an ounce of confidence in Jordan Love.
I haven't gained an ounce of confidence in Jordan Love over the last few weeks.
Yeah, he just, you know, we talked about it all season long while he was being
really solid for fantasy, which surprisingly four of his six games, he's been a top 12
quarterback. He hasn't looked the part, know when you when you just watch the games
um he misses a lot of throws you know deep down the field where it's like it's good read it's
it's he's got a guy but he's just missing him too often for me to have confidence to start him
yeah it's been it's been a little bit rough i mean he's on pace to run for
about 400 yards on the ground that helps lift the the floor but only a 58 completion yeah and he
also has the biggest a dot of any quarterback i mean yeah we like that so i mean you're you are
gonna it's gonna cost you a little bit i think when you when you take those shots but but jason's
right and he's missing as well.
And, you know, that says a lot about Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs
and Jaden Reed and Musgrave.
Where are you sitting this week at home against Minnesota with those guys?
Christian Watson back at a full practice, but, you know,
last week shows you the extremes, right?
Three for 27, didn't score, and hurt you if you started him.
Yeah, between them, Romeo Dobbs is one of the stranger fantasy seasons
that we have going on right now because he's been a top 24 fantasy wide receiver
in four of six weeks.
If you've just been playing Romeo Dobbs as a flex option,
more often than not, you're getting good performances.
Now it's pretty heavy on the touchdown side,
but he just keeps coming through.
Are you guys in the matchup against Minnesota,
22nd against wide receivers when you adjust for schedule?
It's not a bad matchup. It's not a bad matchup.
It's not a bad matchup, but I would order them.
Like Christian Watson is the one.
So far, if you look at the last three weeks, the last two games played with their bye weekend there,
that's where Christian Watson has been back playing like 80-plus percent of snaps.
So you've got Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, and Jaden all on the field and it has been the target leader has been Christian Watson and I also
think he's the most talented certainly most talented athlete but for fantasy purposes what
he can do is better than the other two guys so the combination of him you know he's got a 20%
market share during that time Romeo Dobbs has a 15% market share. You're saying over the last two weeks?
Over the last two games where Christian Watson's been back
to pretty much a full game.
And Jaden Reed has had a 10% target market share.
It concerns me that since Watson's been back,
you have 34 receiving yards for Romeo Dobbs.
And that's two games combined.
You also have more receptions for Jaden Reed in that span.
So it is a little concerning. I'm'm binging dobbs if i if i can't okay i'd play rashi rice yeah you know i'd i'd i'd play wandale okay yeah i mean i think wandale and and dobbs are about the
the same tier i would rather play kj osborne on the other side of this same game. Sure. Obviously, Jordan Addison should be in everyone's lineup at this point.
Yeah, he has number two in touchdowns this year.
Six touchdowns for Jordan Addison.
Yeah, he's having a great year.
Really?
You'd go K.J. Osborne?
I would.
Yeah.
I mean, Osborne, his best finish was week three and in the two games with like
uh we've had two full games without jefferson am i correct in that uh maybe i mean he's on the
field all the time yeah and he's got nine receptions in two weeks i mean i i lean that
way because of how one offense is going one trajectory with another weapon and another
offense is is moving in the positive direction that's fair but what do you do with another weapon and another offense is moving in the positive direction.
That's fair.
But what do you do with Madison and Akers?
I think a lot of people are asking that question.
They added Akers off of waiver wires.
He played the most snaps he's played last week.
Jason, you said he looked good.
He did.
He looked good in the receiving game.
I know he was slightly less efficient on a total yards per carry than Madison, but I thought when I was watching he looked just as good if not better um I think both players are like I would I would put
Madison ahead of Akers I would be willing to start Madison in a plus matchup the Packers haven't
stopped the run very well but I think Akers is like a sneaky, nasty, you know, thank you, Mike,
player that is startable this week, and you could end up with a decent game.
You know, another player that did not practice was TJ Hawkinson yesterday.
He went down a couple of times in that game.
One time was a little different than the other one.
At least when I was listening to the broadcast,
they went back and said, no, we saw him kind of limping after the play.
So it wasn't just a full, we got to stop the clock, somebody go down.
It was, you're hurt, just go down, man.
What are you doing?
It was so funny to have the camera catch the head coach telling him,
just screaming at his player, Hawkinson, go down.
It's like, oh my gosh, what's the NFL going to do?
But then you realize he saw Hawkinson hurt, and he was protecting Hawkinson.
So it wasn't really that.
And that wasn't even the injury that he ended up suffering.
I mean, later in the game, you had a player kind of crunched down on the foot.
He did leave the field.
He came back.
Those are tough situations
because you don't know how bad that injury is
when you're running on adrenaline in the back of a game.
I hope the foot's okay because he's been so productive.
Yeah, this is a PPR machine right now.
This is one of those situations where you're just,
you're not even, if I am the TJ Hawkinson manager,
there's four or five guys out on waivers that are all equal tight end plays i'm just leaving my roster with tj hawkinson there
and monitoring the practice reports and should it look bad then sunday morning i will make the
transaction i need to make to pick up a logan thomas trey mcbride exactly group yeah uh kirk
cousins top 10 quarterback and five of seven starts.
You playing him on the road in this one?
I'm not opposed to it.
I'm not really, really excited to play it.
But, I mean, let's be honest.
Are you ever really excited to play Kirk Cousins?
I'm not opposed to being excited.
Really?
Okay.
I'm kind of opposed to being excited in this matchup.
Top 10 in five of seven starts.
He's been great.
Yeah, I mean, he doesn't normally have a good time in Green Bay,
so I'm more opposed to being excited than I was a minute ago.
Awesome.
I just thought about it, and I've changed my mind.
I'm not opposed to being surprised.
There we go.
I'm not opposed.
I'm pleasantly surprised.
That's such good advice by us.
All right.
Quick break.
Back with some more matchups.
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Let me give you a follow-up asking for a friend.
To the Minnesota discussion
a moment ago? To the Kirk Cousins, yes.
Kirk Cousins against Green Bay on the road
or Joseph Burrow on the
road against the San Francisco
49ers. I got mine. I know
my answer.
I will. I will go Joe. I will as well. Oh man. Which is another way of saying I will go Jamar. Oh, Brooke, Brooks. He's going
cousins. Look at this guy. Look at this guy. All right. They're saying T Higgins is looking good
at practice that he's, um, back to full strength. The T Higgins, looking good at practice, that he's back to full strength.
T. Higgins, Joe Burrow.
I mean, Kirk Cousins had a good game last week, right?
Yeah, because Kirk Cousins is playing great and Joe Burrow is not.
But who did he play last week?
The San Francisco 49ers.
So I think Joe Burrow can do it too.
What happens if Darnold dominates?
Oh, man. Yes, yes, please do it.
Please go out there and throw 303 and look perfect.
Atlanta, let's talk about this game.
Four and three taking on the two and four Tennessee Titans.
The DraftKings Sportsbook line is Atlanta minus two and a half.
The over-under is 35 and a half.
Yeah, banana ramble.
That is the lowest of the year.
We're going to be seeing Desmond Ritter against some combination of Will Levis
and Malik Willis.
This is also Arthur Smith was the coordinator for Mike Vrabel.
So you have –
Freaking turd burglar.
Yeah, I almost wrote this this morning, but I saved it for the show
because, Mike, you were kind of in some Twitter exchanges about Arthur Smith,
and then everybody wants to throw the record in the face of those
that criticize his usage of Bijon or Pitts or Drake London,
and it presumes that because he's 4-3, he couldn't be 5-2 or 6-1
or 7-0 with better decision making.
I understand his job is not to cater to fantasy football players.
And he should not.
No.
However, I do believe after watching enough of Arthur Smith
spit in the faces of fantasy players in press conferences,
and there'd be no way to prove this,
but I genuinely believe this could be the first coach in the history of this show and fantasy football that might overtly make a poor decision
to stick it to a fantasy player there is a chance that on the goal line when he knows it should be
bijon something in the back of his mustached mind says i'm gonna put cordero in there and the fantasy
players can eat my butt i was like i i held it back because we needed to move the show forward
but when when we were talking pollard bijon i was going to bring up what had happened today i mean
like are you like are you confident in arthur sm Smith that he wouldn't do something like that?
Because I'm getting to the same conclusion that he will make decisions
because he's so angry at fantasy football.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not the head coach of the Falcons.
I don't know what happens on the practice field every day.
He defended Desmond Ritter with the film study of,
look, it's group think that he stinks,
and if you watch the film, you know he doesn't.
Which we gave Ritter the full credit.
He had a great game.
He did have a great game.
Game.
Before that, he has looked pretty terrible.
But the, my, because he brought a, he said the phrase hot hand,
which if you're a coach and you truly find a player who gets hot because that does happen, good.
Fire away.
Let that player dominate.
21 for 59 is not a hot hand.
That is a hand that is so cold that it burns people.
This is where I was so angry last week at Tyler Algiers' usage
that he's actively hurting the team.
I am still of the belief that while I do not trust Arthur Smith,
talent wins out.
Bijan Robinson is not going to end the season with fewer touches, fewer carries.
Are you making the Kyle Pitts argument right now?
Yeah, I think I heard Kyle Pitts in there.
Well, Kyle Pitts, to be fair, he hasn't looked like himself physically.
He's been good the last two weeks, getting healthier.
What are you talking about last year?
And the year before.
Well, the year before.
He had 1,000 yards as a rookie.
It wasn't a good fantasy output, though. Correct, because he didn't get the year before. Well, the year before, he had 1,000 yards as a rookie. It wasn't a good fantasy output, though.
Correct, because he didn't get the touchdowns.
And maybe that's what happens around the goal line for Bijon,
but I still am a full 100% believer that Bijon is going to have an excellent,
wonderful – like I have no skepticism over his fantasy football output
the rest of the year, including – I'm not saying he's a top three running back
the rest of the year, but he's going to be great
most weeks for fantasy football.
I think I have massive skepticism.
Of course I do.
I wish you had him in our league then.
Because if the manager in my league had Bijon
and had massive skepticism, I would be offering trades.
To me, it's just unrealistic to say that you have to have question marks
about a head coach who relentlessly plays other options all the time.
It's going to hurt you.
There's no question that B. John's talent doesn't win out if he's on the bench.
B. John Robinson has had two games this season where he's not a top 24 running back.
One of them was this last week.
That's not the standard by which I'm grading him.
Top 24 is not the grade for B. John.
B. John Robinson, if you take this last week out where he was clearly not involved at all,
he had one touch and was sick, and the NFL is investigating what happened.
If you take that out, yeah, he's unfortunately not getting goal line opportunities,
but he's been very good for fantasy.
I feel like we're overreacting to him not being a top three guy.
He's been really, really good.
He's averaging 13.7 fantasy points per game.
Yeah, that's fine.
It's not what you drafted him to be.
He hasn't scored a touchdown on the ground in seven weeks.
This is the 29th ranked offense in football with a head coach that defends it.
If you don't have any doubt about that, it blows my mind.
I'm not saying he's not super talented.
Put him on the Lions and he'd be the number one fantasy running back.
It has nothing to do with his talent has everything to do with cordero patterson tyler
tyler algier and arthur smith who wants to win they are 29th in points per game my point here
andy is like the 13.7 fantasy points per game that the the the bijon is averaging where you're
saying you don't have skepticism that is more more than what Tony Pollard is averaging this year.
And that's without any of these touchdowns.
So that's where I just have confidence.
I don't think he's going to end the year with zero rushing touchdowns.
Yeah, I mean, I'd like a top five performance for a guy drafted to be top five.
That'd be cool.
He is certainly not coming through on the top five drafted running back hopes.
That part is 100% true.
But I don't want to swing it so far where we think he is not a really important asset in fantasy football.
It sounds like you could trade him to some people like Jason in your league if you don't believe he can be a top five guy because they believe that he can be.
You have to get such a haul, though.
I don't know what players I'm real confident that I would trade Bijon for.
Saquon Barkley.
Would you rather have Bijon or Saquon?
Saquon.
Okay.
So that's a flip from draft season.
Sure.
So Tennessee, Atlanta.
We're talking about Bijon a lot because there's not a lot to talk about
in this matchup.
You're not playing quarterbacks.
You're not playing wide receivers except for maybe Drake London.
You can play Drake London.
Tennessee is 26th adjusted.
They're giving up 32 points to the wide receiver position.
And then Hopkins is dependent on Levis and Willis,
so I'd try to bench him.
I would not play Hopkins.
Derrick Henry, you play him.
Bijon, he should be back out there.
And Kyle Pitts, you know, as long as you understand
that playing Johnny Smith is the exact same equation
as playing Kyle Pitts, I mean, it is exactly the same.
You have the exact same odds.
I mean, John O'Smith's been a top five tight end two times in four weeks.
Yeah, John O'Smith's running the normal tight end routes
while Kyle Pitts runs deep wide receiver routes
that aren't coming through more often than not.
Yeah, it's just been –
Do you guys realize how the snaps have been way down for
pits the last three weeks 53 55 i'm not gonna hit it because that's not nice i mean that was
those were the weeks he came through you know he had the the good game against houston and
washington but down to 52 against tampa bay for me it's bijan derrick henry drake london in this
match and then you log out i don't want to to play. Johnny Smith averaging more fancy points per game than Kyle Pitts this year.
Goodness.
There's a lot of people that don't let Pitts go off their bench
that would obviously not even roster Johnny Smith.
And that's the kind of weird contrast that I think is funny.
New Orleans is 3-4.
The Colts are 3-4.
The DraftKings Sportsbook line, New Orleans minus one.
The over-under is 43-1.
This game's funny to me because Derek Carr and Gardner Minshew
are not elite quarterbacks.
But both of them are throwing the ball a lot.
I mean, the last two games, Derek Carr has thrown the football so many times.
I think he's averaging 52-1.
Yeah, he is.
I mean, he's 50-55. half. Yeah, yeah, he is. I mean,
he's 50 and 55.
So who's like,
this is a good idea.
Like this is setting up to be one of those cars.
I mean,
this could be a game.
That's just like the Cleveland game last week.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well,
you want to target Indianapolis Colts games this year with what their team
has been doing,
their pace of play.
They are smashing the over five of seven games. I've hit the over. Five of seven games have hit the over.
You want to keep targeting Colts games.
Pittman, you know, the ride has been bumpy,
but then the end of the game you're pretty happy.
Olave.
He was super squeaky wheel too, if you want to.
Pittman?
Yeah.
It all makes sense.
He was invisible for the first three and a half quarters.
Yeah, he talked about the targets, and then he kind of flared up oh he's being a business businessman yeah he was being a businessman and
then he also doesn't have a contract for next year he did flip yes that's a great point he did flip
it into trying to be like man i've i've i've i've never been a good loser but there was
if you don't get what you expect target wise and you lose that is just obvious i would do the same
thing i'd be like i want to contribute to us winning you didn't even what you expect target-wise and you lose, that is just obvious. I would do the same thing.
I'd be like, I want to contribute to us winning.
You didn't even give me the chance to help us win, and we lost.
Derek Carr was a streamer candidate because of this matchup.
Colts defense, 23rd against quarterbacks, schedule adjusted.
And then Zach Moss, he didn't practice on Wednesday.
You can have confidence in Kamara and Taylor, right?
Yes.
I think so, yeah.
Taylor should be in your lineup.
Tough matchup against the Saints, but he's a superstar.
And he's getting targets.
What are you guys doing with Josh Downs?
Playing him.
I think so.
He's a must-start in PPR to me.
In full PPR, I would agree.
He's getting a lot of targets from Minshew, and you stay in the flames.
Last three games, he would be on pace for almost 1,400 receiving yards,
90 receptions, 11 touchdowns.
That part is not going to stay the same.
Right.
Yeah, I think Jason's right.
I think you just stay in the flames.
For the – just a quick note on Taysom Hill,
because I know Jason likes him this week.
Do pay attention to Jawan Johnson.
He's back.
Jawan Johnson has been missing time,
and that has looked like it has had direct correlation with Taysom Hill
playing more as a traditional tight end, actually catching passes.
And if Jawan Johnson is back to full health and playing that could be it could take
away from Hill's opportunity there yeah that it's worth pointing out if Jawan Johnson is back Taysom
Hill is maybe as a less good start but you Jawan's missed the last month and there was a change in
how they used to yeah all the last two weeks you want to know they used Taysom Hill the last two weeks. You want to know something crazy?
Taysom Hill scored 14.8 fantasy points last week.
He had a rushing touchdown, right?
No, he did.
He did.
He did.
So 14.8 fantasy points in the week of the tight end day.
Yes, national tight end day.
Do you want to know what 14.8 fantasy points was last year at the tight end position?
Or last week?
Oh, there were so many tight ends went off what was it 16th what that's never happened ever why don't they do national
tight end unless that's wrong unless he's categorized differently maybe he's categorized
as a quarterback i think he's maybe that's what our site is doing okay that doesn't seem possible
no that's impossible no it would have, it would have been tight end four.
Okay.
Thank goodness for that.
He's listed as a quarterback.
Okay.
Okay.
But that's still, I mean, to be quarterback 16.
Right.
Not playing quarterback.
That's pretty good.
All right.
Well, that makes way more sense.
Olave playing Michael Thomas or Josh Downs?
Josh Downs.
Okay.
I have both those guys on my league of record team, and I'm playing Josh Downs? Josh Downs. Okay. I have both those guys on my League of Record team,
and I'm playing Josh Downs over Michael Thomas.
Yeah, young, talented rookie that's shown explosiveness,
old, middling 42 yards a game.
Thomas?
Mm-hmm.
You can play Michael Thomas.
He's not someone you have to bench here.
It's a good matchup for him, but the upside is more on downside.
Gardner mentioned, number one, in turnover-worthy plays. The upside is more on downside. Gardner Minshew, number one in turnover-worthy plays.
The upside is more on downside?
Yeah, the upside is more on downside.
It's just how the sentence works.
Okay.
Shall we move on?
Yep.
New England's 2-5, taking on the Miami Dolphins.
Miami's 5-2.
The DraftKings Sportsbook line is Miami minus 9.5.
The over-under is 46.5.
Oh, man.
Andy's almost upset of the week.
Oh, you've done it again.
You've done it again.
You've picked the wildest one to pick.
I mean, how do you possibly pick these in your hit
rate is not just one this year yes you've missed one but missed one tannahill injury i'm still
like it was going well for your almost upset until the tannahill injury but it's it's a wild
combination of not only have you been hitting all your almost upsets, but they're in the craziest ones that you just go, no, no, that's not going to happen.
Nine and a half is ridiculous.
New England might win the game.
Miami, we don't know what these injuries.
They might get blown out, too.
They might get blown out, yeah.
That's true.
New England Patriots defeated Buffalo last week.
Got some things together on offense.
Miami went down again to a team that was supposed to be a battle.
Really wasn't.
They got handled pretty well.
And I don't know.
This just feels like a big trap game for Miami in this division to me.
And, you know, the fact that Tyreek Hill and Raheem Mostert
are showing up in injury reports compounds that.
Obviously, those have not – you know, is this line still 9 1⁄2?
I will check it right now.
I assume it is.
It hasn't moved due to injuries.
Yeah, I mean, if you get further Tyreek information, the line will move.
So, I just have some worries here.
And if Tyreek is banged up, Waddle's been banged up.
It is nine.
The line has moved to nine.
They heard the show just now.
Would you still be almost upset?
Nine versus nine and a half?
Yeah, yeah.
Come on, chicken.
Yeah, I'm still almost upset.
The over-under is 46 and a half.
That puts it at 28 18
miami i just don't see that i mean miami if they i guess if they hit the turbo button if they plug
the game shark in they'll do their thing and they'll dominate new england but my part of it
is also the patriots have scored did you say they're implied as 18 yep the patriots have scored, did you say they're implied as 18? Yep. The Patriots have scored 18 or more points
in
two of seven games.
Yeah. I know, one was last
week, and the offense,
they looked good. Mack Jones
had a very strong game, 25 of
30, 270 passing yards,
two touchdowns. They
looked good.
But that's
for them to be fixed after
six weeks of putrid
football. Not just bad, putrid football.
We will see.
They did play in week two.
And Miami won by a touchdown.
Mostert had a big game against
them. Tyreek scored.
Doesn't generally have huge yardage games
against them. So that's something
to keep in mind. Mac Jones had the best
week he's had last
week for this team.
You saw Demario Davis get
involved.
Douglas.
Yeah, you know what? I was about to correct
it and I was like, wait.
Neither of you said anything.
I went immediately and was like wait neither of you said it neither of you said anything so i was like because then i went i went immediately it was like who's that yeah who's that guy a saints
linebacker thank you kyle yeah that's what that's why it sounded so familiar remandre ezekiel elliott
both players uh were pretty good last week they're both in play zeke zeke was uh he's been top 24 two
weeks in a row and then remandre six six targets the last two weeks. Where are your question marks in this game?
Are you staying in the flames with Kendrick Bourne?
That's my biggest question mark is what is the health of the rest of the wide receivers?
Because if Kendrick Bourne is going to get starter snaps,
which he has for three straight weeks, then I will play Kendrick Bourne.
But I don't have full confidence that they're just going to be like,
okay, you're back to 50% of the snaps because the Patriots have done this
to them over and over and over.
It's coincided with Juju Smith-Schuster's concussion.
And I'm looking at the New England Patriots injury report.
Juju is not on it.
So I just don't see any information.
So I assume he's practicing in full.
I just don't know if the three for six that he was bringing to the table
or the one for 14 or the one for five.
It's a matter of snaps.
No, I know, but the snaps were going down for him.
They were dropping.
They're getting different players involved.
It's like what happened in New York with the Giants.
The Giants have a plethora of receivers, and all of a sudden we're like,
oh, it's more Wandale. it's more Slayton now and and and Juju was getting to 50 percent or less snaps
the last two weeks anyway so you know and and his games correlated with Douglas being hurt
over a couple of them so I'm just speculating here but I if I'm New England I'm looking at
not Juju as a primary target in this offense.
Yeah, so it's a sketchier start for Kendrick Bourne,
but I believe that if he's a starter and gets the snaps,
he'll be solid for a flex play at least for fantasy.
And even though the matchup is pretty good,
you have people needing to score against the Dolphins.
It looks like Juju is back.
He's been removed from the practice report.
I'm not going to start Douglas, Bourne, or Juju.
I'm going to just wait a week.
I'm going to wait a week, see how it plays out.
I don't think I'm going to miss out on something so incredible by not starting one of those guys.
Ramsey and Howard should be back too.
Yeah, so the matchup might not be as good as it looks on paper.
And yeah, no thank you.
If Tyreek missed the game, you probably, I mean,
according to the line and according to what this offense has done,
there should be another wideout that you can dance with,
whether it's likely Braxton Berrios or cedric wilson like
no team in the nfl throws the ball to the tight end less than miami they've had no
tight end relevance but braxton barrios you know he he's been on the field a little bit
cedric wilson's had a few big plays would you dance with either of those
i think was that dfs country i think I think that's more DFS country.
Without bye weeks this week, there are better options out there.
Jets, Giants, 36.5 point over under.
The game is in New York, of course.
But who's home?
But the Giants are home, and the Jets are favored.
So, you know, the Giants' defense has been really good
in the last couple of weeks.
I think I'd take the under on a 36-and-a-half-point game here.
Oh, groggle.
I mean, I'm going to go out.
I'm going to say 17-14.
Okay.
Who?
Jets.
Okay.
Making a note.
But let's not make this game very complicated.
Both of the – I mean, the Giants offensive line, it's been problematic.
No contact clear for Daniel Jones.
It could be Tyrod again.
You know, Saquon?
Yeah, Saquon's a great play.
Waller?
Yeah, the matchup is good.
The Jets have not been good against tight ends
was Waller
he was big last week
he's actually been very good the last couple weeks
but I thought I saw something about his
practice report questionable with a hamstring
yeah okay so if
it's the same thing then yeah I'm still
going to play Darren Waller it's a good matchup
I've been so impressed every week with
the limited amount of Jalen Hyatt we've seen but it doesn't mean you play him and then
wandale showed that the floor exists i mean he had yeah that was really bizarre we all had him in dfs
he was eight for eight the week before or i'm sorry eight targets eight receptions for 62 yards
the week before and then last week two targets one catch yeah i mean it looks like right now
tyrod taylor's gonna still be the quarterback it's a little early
in the week to know for sure but uh Daniel Jones still not cleared for contact as of today so
right now it's this matchup like you said this this is pretty straightforward you got Saquon
and Waller as good starts and I'm checking out on the rest including Wandale in a matchup against
the Jets who give up nothing to wide receivers yeah that's fair and then on the other side it's breeze hall is in obviously and the question is
you could start garrett wilson depending on who all your options are i think garrett wilson's a
lock a lineup lock every week i i would never bench garrett wilson with the target totals
i mean he's on pace for 156 targets this year and and uh
that's just i mean give me some names maybe i'm lying i want to give you my names because he's
actually a question in um one of my leagues here so asking for a friend yes sir would you start
uh garrett wilson or michael pitman garrett wilson okay garrett wilson or dj moore garrett wilson or Michael Pittman Garrett Wilson okay Garrett Wilson or DJ Moore Garrett Wilson uh Garrett
Wilson or Jordan Addison Addison uh Garrett Wilson Garrett Wilson or Puka I gotta go all the way up
there no Puka okay yeah and I don't blame anybody for the Addison one the Addison one is a you're
still got to gamble on the touchdown side like Addison is outperforming the touchdown metrics
he's breaking like rookie records for touchdowns.
I don't think he's scoring 15, 16, 17 times this year.
When he hasn't gotten into the end zone,
he doesn't have the targets that Garrett Wilson has.
But maybe he will.
He had 10 last week.
Okay.
That was his first,
probably the highest target game of the year, right?
He had nine in the game Jefferson went down.
Okay.
Yeah.
It was weird.
That's fine. That's fine. If you want to go that direction, the touchdown odds are down. Okay. Yeah. It was weird. That's fine.
That's fine.
If you want to go that direction, the touchdown odds are much more in his favor.
Last three weeks for Wilson, 14-7 and 12 on targets,
but the performances aren't near Addison.
So, yeah, maybe I stay in the flames of Cousins there.
I'll flip that one.
So, Puka and Addison I would play.
I'm guessing both those guys are in your lineup over Wilson.
They are.
Yeah.
Is Pittman in your lineup over Wilson?
Right now, I had Pittman and DJ Moore in ahead.
DJ Moore's quarterback situation isn't great,
but the matchup is wonderful against Chargers.
Pittman is the big question to me of whether I go Pittman or Garrett Wilson.
Philadelphia, or I'm sorry, Jacksonville and Pittsburgh.
Jacksonville's 5-2.
Here we are.
They're having a season.
Pittsburgh's 4-2. Here we are. They're having a season. Pittsburgh's 4-2.
What?
You said it on the show a couple weeks ago.
You're like, you did it again, Tomlin!
And they were the almost upset last week.
They took care of it.
DraftKings Sportsbook line, Jacksonville minus 2.5.
Over-under is 42.
It's in Pittsburgh.
The line is too close for me to, you know,
just say Pittsburgh is going to win it.
But I think Pittsburgh is going to win this game.
I don't understand how the Steelers can be so abysmal against the wide
receiver position and keep winning ball games.
I mean, they give up 36 and a half fantasy points to wide receivers.
It's been unbelievable.
Like they can't stop them.
So that puts Kirk Ridley should both be played this week.
But yet, this is a low over under,
and I don't know how they do that magic,
but they just win ballgames.
George Pickens is on pace for 1,400 receiving yards this year.
He looks physically impossible to stop in one-on-one situations and uh he'd do himself
a favor not to get taunting penalties after every nice play he does it was it was really really nice
to see him with eight targets this last week there was a lot of fear in me for what's going to happen
when Deontay Johnson comes back into the lineup Deontay Johnson was back, played 66% of the snaps, had six targets.
So it does look like
the number one
target is. Pickens has
retained that, at least as of now.
Najee Harris and Jalen Warren.
Both
scored, I believe, last week.
I'm pretty sure Warren scored.
I saw the Warren play.
I'll double check.
Unless I am... Both pretty sure Warren scored. I saw that Warren played. I'll double check. Unless I am hosting it.
Yeah, both scored.
It was only eight opportunities, though, for Jalen Warren.
Which is the equal.
It's equal in value to 17 opportunities for Najee Harris.
Just saying, it was a mostly positive game script there for the Steelers,
and that was the lowest opportunities that Warren has seen all year.
What's your confidence level in Harris?
Still not great.
Jaguars defense has been good against runners.
It's still not high.
Yeah, Jacksonville shuts down the run.
Jacksonville is susceptible to running backs in the passing game.
Which is the Warren.
Exactly.
So I'm very not confident in Najee Harris in this matchup. If he's more the ground-and-pound guy against a very difficult line to ground-and-pound against,
what are you talking, 3.2 a carry?
How many opportunities is he going to need?
And I think part of why you saw, oh oh it's a real positive game script last week and that was Jalen Warren's fewest touches is because the the four minute drill
type running back the the keep the lead slow the game down that's Najee so if you think that the
Jacksonville Jaguars can keep up can be in the lead then Jalen Warren projects to be just as good an option as Najee this week, which to me is both poor options.
Deontay Johnson was 5 for 79 last week.
Back into top 24.
Yeah, we're back.
Pittman or Deontay?
Oh, Pittman.
I'm going to go Pittman.
Okay.
Not by a huge vote of confidence.
I'll take Deontay.
Let's take the targets.
Yeah, I will.
But on the other side, just throwing it out there,
Jacksonville, third highest in targeting the tight end position this year.
Evan Ingram, seven plus targets in six straight games.
Good old shmevin.
Nothing like consistent Evan Ingram.
Guys, I've been saying it forever.
Yeah.
If there's anything he is, it's consistent.
Oh, man.
It reminds me of like, you know how kids, they sow their wild oats and then they have to settle down?
Yeah, eventually you grow up.
I feel like Evan Ingram had that period of his life, like his wild teenage years.
Yeah, because he got the bag.
And now he's like, I've got my steady job and I work a nine to five and I come home to the wife and kids and watch TV.
I'm going to really put myself into this now.
I mean, it's funny.
Gets his shoes shined.
Ooh.
Yeah.
Okay.
He's a businessman.
Businessman.
Yeah, well, we said they're businessmen.
I did one quick, like Kirk, absolutely.
Calvin Ridley.
The matchup is there.
Yes.
You start Calvin Ridley.
I started.
I'm not ready to give up on Ridley.
I'm there with you guys.
And just a note, because he didn't practice again,
but if your team, as you're looking towards the future,
I think that Zay Jones is probably on a waiver wire.
And if I had a spot, I would put Zay Jones on it.
The 6-1 Philadelphia Eagles take on the Washington Commanders sitting at 3-4.
The DraftKings Sportsbook line is Philadelphia minus 6-1.
The over-under is 43-1.
Philadelphia beat them in overtime.
Divisional game week four, 34-31.
It was a good one.
And it was a good game for Sam Howell on that one.
Now they're at home.
Which, I mean, look, the way Washington...
Washington's been turning everything on its head all year long.
From Brian Robinson starting the year on fire
to Dotson's disappearance
to Logan Thomas being suddenly relevant
instead of Dotson
to Sam Howell having good games
when he should have bad games
and bad games when he should have good games.
I don't want... I don't want to play Washington Commanders this week.
No, I don't blame you.
The trade with the Titans to get an all-star safety is, you know,
that's going to help this defense.
That's going to hurt Sam Howell from what we saw in week four.
So the defensive line has looked great all year for the Eagles.
I'm not, with the Dolphins and with the Eagles,
I'm not judging their points given up in the secondary
quite the same this week as what we've seen prior
because I do think that getting pieces back will change the equation.
So, I mean, Bryan Robinson's a floor play?
You're just crossing your fingers for a rushing touchdown.
Because the Eagles' defense is just –
It's the worst matchup for running backs.
Their defensive line is so good.
Yeah, it's unstoppable.
And it just doesn't match up with –
it's like what you said with Najee in the ground and pound that's brian robinson's mo so i don't expect
success there brian robinson last time in week four against this team had 12 fantasy points which
you would be happy with but he did fall into the end zone if you take those six points out it was
bad and if you look at his other games, the game before it, seven total points.
The game after it, six total points.
The game after it, 12, okay.
And then eight, 8.3.
So, I mean, he really hasn't.
And the two games in that whole stretch where he has 12 points,
both of those games, six of those came from a touchdown.
So, dude, he had eight points against the Giants, and he scored.
That's some good work.
That's incredibly inefficient.
I don't want to play Brian Robinson this week.
And yet he is the running back 10 on this season.
Yeah, well, he started the year with some monstrous games.
But I think if you're talking about Darnell Anderson, a.k.a. Daryl Henderson or Brian Robinson, I'm going with some monstrous games, but I think if you're talking about Darnell Anderson,
a.k.a. Daryl Henderson, or Brian Robinson, I'm going Henderson.
Got you.
Hurts, Swift, A.J. Brown, and Goddard are locks.
Devontae Smith has been struggling.
I feel like Jason is single-handedly trying to muster a good game from Devontae Smith.
This is the week.
It's been rough.
This is the week. It's been rough. This is the week.
The Washington Manders on the season are giving up the most fantasy points
to wide receivers.
I thought it was the week for him earlier.
Well, he got injured.
No, he got –
Remember the start of the week earlier?
He wasn't.
He was going to be, but then he –
Oh, you pivoted him?
I pivoted on him because of the injuries.
So you didn't lose that power, the start of the week power. Correct. Not that that's what you're going to do in a minute oh you pivoted him i pivoted on him because of the injury so you didn't lose that power the start of the week power correct not that that's what you're gonna
do in a minute no i'm holding he was seven for 78 in week four against washington yeah and so
this is the week jay this is the week you heard it here yeah make a note calling it so a touchdown
guarantee i mean you wouldn't yeah you wouldn't be happy with that touchdown. Whoa! Absolutely. Touchdown guaranteed.
Man, it wouldn't be the week if he didn't score.
You got fired up right there.
Yeah.
Well, I had to think about it, and it just dawned on me,
whoa, he's getting a touchdown this week for sure.
I love it.
All right, let's move on.
Welcome to Starts of the Week, presented by Purina ProPlan.
You know what? I think we should start at the wide receiver position.
And why don't you kick it off, Jay?
I'll kick it off.
Devontae Smith at Washington.
It has obviously been rough four of his last five games.
He's had fewer than seven fantasy points.
I get the desire to say should I pivot
should I bench him but this is the get right week first off we already know he gets a touchdown this
week that's a guarantee but Washington's secondary they are a print fest for opposing passing games
they're 29th in schedule adjusted fantasy points to wide receivers they're 29th in yards per attempt
and his last three games against the commanders.
Mike, you brought up the seven for 78 earlier this year. That was on nine targets. He had six target, six receptions at a touchdown last year in week 10 and in week three last year,
eight for one 66 and a touchdown. So he has, he has destroyed the commanders.
It's a great matchup for him.
He's my start of the week.
My wide receiver start of the week is rookie Zay Flowers taking on the Arizona Cardinals.
The Ravens are set up to slaughter the Cardinals.
Yeah.
It's a much more aggressive bird, the Ravens.
Oh, in a bird fight?
My money is on the Ravens.
Welcome to the bird podcast yet again.
I mean, like, Ravens, I believe they protect, like, the London Tower.
So, I mean, these are mean birds.
I mean, you could have just made that up, and I would have been like, yeah.
Ravens come rapping at the door.
That tower needs protecting.
Flowers has a 27% target share, consistent floor every week,
part of the offensive design, and the Cardinals are 27th against Whiteouts.
And I'm going to go Christian Kirk against the Pittsburgh Steelers
since the week one dud, which was so bizarre
because that matched everything that they said they were showing us,
that Kirk is only the slot guy.
I'm sure that Zay Jones' injury has factored in, but Kirk is the guy.
It has not been Calvin Ridley.
It's been Christian Kirk averaging nearly nine targets
and nearly 80 yards per game since week one.
Wide receiver 10 in that time span.
And the Steelers dead last in schedule-adjusted fantasy points
to the wide receiver.
Christian Kirk is a must-star.
And speaking of the Zay Jones injury, he didn't participate in practice Wednesday we brought that
up but they have a bye week next week so I I think it's heal up Zay Jones and go bananas
that's why I'm saying like pick pick Zay Jones up just in case yeah uh at quarterback I have
Dak Prescott against the Los Angeles Rams he is is at home. Mike, you mentioned him as your second-half sleeper
because of the schedule that is coming up for him.
And the Cowboys have a 25.8 team-implied total as six-point home favorites.
That comes by scoring touchdowns.
Over the last month, the Rams are 28th in schedule-adjusted fantasy points
to quarterbacks.
Dak should have his healthiest offensive line.
He's been struggling with that this year.
They're coming off of the bye.
The Rams rank 29th in adjusted sack rate.
This should be a get-right game for Dak coming off of a quarterback one performance.
I'm going to go with the same player I put as my quarterback streamer of the week,
C.J. Stroud against the Carolina Panthers.
Been so impressed with
stroud gets one of his weapons back let's not forget like when we say oh he slowed down a
little bit well part of it was like tank dell's not there to help him and he's back carolina's
27th and fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks uh he has been picking people apart and i think
that you're going to have a pretty fun game between Carolina and Houston. I'm going Jared Garf.
Really?
Jared Garf, Monday night action against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Hey, Nouncing!
Sir!
We have 27 implied points for the Detroit Lions,
eight and a half point home favorite, at least the last time I had looked.
Still not expecting David Montgomery.
That should be more passing,
more passing touchdowns.
And since the beginning of the 2022 season,
Goff is averaging over 27 fantasy points per game
when he is at home.
And the Raiders allowing a,
Jason, very nice, 69% completion rate.
Oh, very nice. All right. I'm going at the
running back position with Kareem Hunt. He is on the road in Seattle with Jerome Ford out. Hunt
is going to be a really solid week. He's a really, really good player. He's a bit surprising. Like
when you watch it, he's got the juice. I worried when he wasn't signing anywhere this offseason
that maybe he just has lost a step and doesn't have it, but he looks well.
He's been a top-12 running back each of the last two weeks
on just 31% of the snaps,
and he should see 15-plus touches in this game against Seattle.
Running backs this year who see 15-plus touches
average 14.7 fantasy points per game you ever you know look at your
team in the league of record and just say sometimes it just doesn't go your way
i um my opponent this week is like that injury the injury storylines all bend towards his roster
it's like cream hunts on the roster i wouldn't have been afraid of cream hunt now i'm afraid of cream hunt dalton kinkade's on roster. I wouldn't have been afraid of Kareem Hunt. Now I'm afraid of Kareem Hunt.
Dalton Kincaid's on his roster. I wouldn't
have been afraid of Dalton Kincaid. Now I'm afraid of
Dalton Kincaid. Gets Tank Dale
back. Sometimes it
just goes that way. He's siphoned my
luck. He's siphoned your health.
We're at running back, right? Yeah.
You just went Kareem Hunt. I went Gus Edwards
against Arizona. It's time
to hop on board the Gus bus.
Apparently two people had it.
Give me a clean one because that was terrible.
He's the preferred running back over Justice Hill.
When Baltimore gets inside the red zone, it's even juicier, and they will.
He's seen a touch on 40% of his snaps.
So when he's out there, they use him. The the cardinals i mean it it's kind of funny they are also 27th against running backs all three of
my starts the opponent is 27th against that position we see what you target i think it's
going to be a very big week for gus edwards yep At the tight end. Excuse me. Oh,
you've got one.
Yeah,
I have a running backs.
I mean,
we can bypass.
Yeah.
It's a,
I want to give some confidence to still starting Chuba Hubbard against the
Houston Texans.
I know that mile Sanders is back,
but Chuba over the,
over the season has been the better running back.
Frank Reich came out and he talked about,
if we're going to look
at a committee approach, the quote, Chuba's been doing pretty well. And again, it's more rotation
and more play by play. This is not a coach saying, as soon as Miles Sanders is back with his big old
contract and big bag of money, he's the starting running back. This is appropriately, we're going
to go with the hot hand. And I think that Chuba can still have it. It's the Texans, one of the worst run defenses in the NFL.
25th schedule adjusted points and 31st in PFF's rush defense
and tackling grades.
I'm still willing to play Chuba.
Okie dokie.
At tight end position, I'm going with Taysom Hill in that Colts game.
I like targeting Colts games.
As of right now, as of
this recording, Juwan Johnson is not practicing in full and you can no longer, I mean, here's the
craziest thing about Taysom Hill as a tight end start of the week. He's playing tight end. He's
actually for the first time in his 70 year career is actually playing tight end. Last week, he ran 42 routes. That was the second most at the
tight end position in the NFL. He is also still a goal line running back. So if you get a tight end
plus a goal line running back, last week, five rushes, 18 yards and a score. Over the last two
weeks, 13 targets, 11 receptions, 99 yards, and this game could go bonkers.
You know, the Colts are allowing 27.3 points per game, 30th in the NFL.
Why didn't you bid more than three fab on him?
I didn't have much fab, and I liked Ferguson quite a bit this week,
and so I thought I would take the cheaper option between two worthy starts of the week.
All right, I'm going with.
Nice.
Goo goo.
Good.
You.
I just want to highlight that this is the tight end five on the year.
This is Mike's my guy that had a rough start.
You know, it was not looking good.
Seven for ninety eight and one last week on eight targets.
If you want to answer the question of what happened to Wandale.
There's part of your answer.
Eat by a walrus. He got eaten by a walrus.
He got eaten, which, look, I don't know how many humans walruses eat
on a regular basis.
Just a few.
Just one.
This is the wide receiver one.
So, Mike, close us out.
I'm going with Jake Ferguson, the guy that Jason just talked about,
Mr. Fergalicious.
It's still the second best matchup for the tight end position.
That includes a dud against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's one of the higher over-unders of the week.
He's still averaging five targets per game.
And his home team, six-point home favorites, 25-point team implied total.
I think that Fergalicious is still in play as a tight end streamer
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jason moore's iron clad locked and loaded 100 guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week last week on the boom boom kicker i went full mark Mark McGuire, tricked by a poisoned baked potato skin.
I rose up in great fury,
pleaded my case before a grand jury.
Kickers should be exiled and done.
Foiled by his Rico Suave looks,
this judge was no Brooks.
Hoodwinked by the Lions' Riley Patterson.
Did I catch a Rico Suave reference in there?
Mm-hmm.
I, and to be clear, going full Mark McGuire was just having a red face.
That's right.
I went full Bruce Arians as well.
Okay.
Rico.
Thank you. Go ahead. Finish it Okay. Rico. Thank you.
Go ahead.
Finish it.
Suave.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I think that's the end.
The 90s were weird.
I think that's the end of our podcast.
Check out DFSpass.com if you want to play some DFS this weekend.
Enjoy the ball game tonight.
We'll be back with more matchups in the fantasy face-off,
a.k.a.
Mike's shame coming tomorrow. Did you see
we just we should have been
alerted way earlier in the season. But speaking of the
DFS pass that the
week one Millie maker winner. Yes.
They reached out right after
their win. They were a DFS pass user.
They're like, oh, I just got the DFS pass this week.
I won the Millie maker
to be clear winning the Millie maker
he won a million dollars
yeah crazy which is not
I mean look there's a lot of ties
you split it but congratulations
to us
no you crushed it
good job amazing job yeah so check
out the DFS pass at DFSpass.com
alright that'll do it for today's episode of the podcast.
We'll catch you tomorrow, all you mallards out there.
See you later.
Goodbye.
Bye.
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