Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 1 Matchups + TNF Reaction, Stack Boom! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/8

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

The NFL season is underway! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Thursday Night Football recap before diving back into the Week 1 matchup previews! Get Week 1 fantasy football start/sit advice. Plus, Andy, Jason, and Mike reveal their Week 1 DFS lineups during the “Fantasy Faceoff”! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for September 8th, 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 Fantasy Faceoff presented by DraftKings. Visit https://www.draftkings.com/ If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA(select parishes)/MI/NH/NJ/ NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. New customer offer void in NH/OR/ONT-CA. $200 in Free bets: New customers only. Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 wager. $200 issued as eight (8) $25 free bets. Ends 9/19/23 @ 8pm. Early Win: 1 Early Win Token issued per eligible game. Opt in req. Token expires at start of eligible game. Min moneyline bet $1. Wagering limits apply. Wagers placed on both sides of moneyline will void bet. Ends 1/5/24 @ 8pm ET. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms 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,

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Welcome in. Friday, September 8th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Back with you, Mike, the Fantasy Hitman, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Joining you for this Friday episode of the show, lots of matchups to get into today. We had a little game called football. Real football. Played last night. Jason's in a Navy shirt today.

Oh, it's a crazy day today. Which, what do the statistics say, Kyle? How many Navy shirts have we had in nine years? It's at least eight a year, so I'll have to do a map. Oh, you do about 8 a year 8 a year that's 150 shows that's still a better catch percentage

than Sky Moore I am shocked it's that high hey hey hey he caught a pass it was called back he did catch a pass that was just for you Mike he's just not good at football.

He's just really, really not good at football. I think the issue is he is too small. I just do. He's too little. Patrick Mahomes could have had him for about a 25, 30-yard gain. Are you talking at the beginning of the game? Towards the beginning, yeah, where he came across the middle. There was a pick play. It was out of his reach. Well, there was a pick play at the beginning set the game? Towards the beginning, yeah, where he came across the middle. There was a pick play.

Out of his reach. Well, there was a pick play at the beginning set up for Sky Moore. Oh, you watched it all, Mike. Oh, yeah, because I played Sky Moore. Which was so dumb. Well, here's the reasoning behind it. I am up against the most stacked team in the league right now, and I have to throw something in for

upside and with Travis Kelsey out, this is the one opportunity. Clearly did not work. Skymore is not a player that I've been really excited about all offseason. He was just a second year player. They were talking about him as

a starter. He ran a lot of routes. He ran the second most routes on the team which is embarrassing it's just Patrick Holmes does not like Sky Moore this was uh and just to get right into it 21-20 the Detroit Lions take a congratulations Detroit dude awesome huge win I was I was definitely rooting for them last night I wanted to see them get off to the start that they have now. But this was a lot of the Chiefs losing this ballgame. This was a game they could have won. No Travis Kelsey.

Now we know. Now we know. Now we know that receivers do matter when Travis Kelsey and Tyreek Hill are going. We learned a lot of very important things for fantasy last night, even things that might not seem like they went well. We like Travis Kelsey being gone. Oh, that sucks. But you know what we learned?

Your Travis Kelsey pick was great. Yes, it was. Your Travis Kelsey pick was awesome, and you're going to love having him soon. Don't worry. So what if he misses another week? Yeah. They need him so so bad i also thought it was just incredibly brilliant coaching from dan campbell to pay for cadareous tony and sky

more yes especially the tony one i mean just genius work to really have them out there out there on the field dive bombing the the Chiefs. Just brilliant stroke. Kadarius Toney was the equivalent of a self-placed landmine. He was literally the MVP of the Detroit Lions. It was one of the worst performances. Like, Sky Moore was not as bad as Kadarius Toney, and Sky Moore caught zero passes. And there were 11 eligible receivers in the game for the Chiefs,

the only one not to catch a pass was Sky Moore. Who ran so many routes and was always on the field. And yet, Kadarius Toney made many who were watching want a new category added for quarterbacks, which I think we're capable of doing. Like, there should be. Oh, sure. Look, in baseball, if you hit the ball

and it goes between the shortstop's legs, you don't get credit for a single. It's called an error. There's a difference between Patrick Mahomes hitting Kadarius Toney square between the hands, and then they're like, the next line out of their mouths for the announcers was, it's the first interception thrown by Patrick Mahomes in an opening game since he came into the league.

No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. It was a perfect pass to a player who just had his eyes closed the whole game. And when he was handed the ball, he looked like a player that had four or five knee braces on. He was slow. He deleted his own Twitter after the game. Oh, yeah.

Get rid of the phone, Kadarius. It's not a good place for you out here. You should not be tweeting at Tony. No. You can tweet about him. Sure. But don't tag the dude. Yeah.

Which clearly must have been happening. But, yeah, Kadarius Tony is getting the Baxter boot off the bridge from my team on Tuesday. Mm-hmm. I'm thinking about putting a petition into the commissioner, myself, to allow me to drop him ahead of time. Yeah, and you promised not to pick anyone up. I won't pick anybody up.

You just want him off the roster. I don't want him near the rest of my players. I get it. That's a brilliant stroke of genius. Do you think that I could – would you consider letting me do that? I would vote for it. I would allow it. I don't think he should be on the roster.

I wasn't silly enough to play him right that would be embarrassed he was on my bench but uh yesterday because we were playing each other yes sir you had mentioned at one point if travis kelsey doesn't go that you might play cadarious tony and i i literally was trying to get you to play cadarious were you oh big time I wanted it so bad. I was like, that's not going to work. No, I did not do it. Cadareous Tony's line was

one catch for one yard. He did have a carry for negative one yards, but because he had the catch for one yard, he outscored Sky Moore then, correct? That seems accurate. Yeah, he doesn't get minus points for his drop.

In normal scoring, Sky Moore would have had a half a point, and then in a half-point PPR, Kedarious Tony would have had, or they may have been tied. I don't know. This is a debate that is irrelevant for fantasy, and the truth is, spin the wheel of targets outside of kelsey that is the problem the real fantasy message and you guys disagree with me if you want the real fantasy message is that it is a completely agnostic target universe for patrick mahomes

outside of kelsey he is it could be mckinnon it could be noah gray it can be rashi rice it can be justin ross it can be sky more it could be cadarious tony it be Noah Gray. It could be Rashi Rice. It could be Justin Ross. It could be Sky Moore. It could be Kadarius Toney. It could be MBS. It's none of them. Richie James. If it's everyone, yeah. If it's everyone, it's nobody, right? Yeah.

I mean, I believe that the 95% odds are that nobody will emerge as a weekly starter here other than Travis Kelsey. You can play DFS lineups and take your shot because people will have big games when you play for Patrick Mahomes, but it's not going to work. The 5% to me is still Rasheed Rice. I agree with you. He is a rookie that can earn his way onto the field. He didn't play that many snaps, run that many routes, and he was involved.

He was more productive. He did find the spot in the zone for a touchdown. Granted, it was nothing special he did on that play. He made the smart play. He caught it. He sat in the zone for a touchdown. Granted, it was nothing special he did on that play. He made the smart play. He caught it. He sat in the zone. That is actually a really good needle mover. Let's not take that away from him.

He didn't catch that ball, which was very, very difficult for Chiefs wide receivers. So, yeah, if I'm going to make a bet on this team, it's going to be Rushie Rice. There might be openings for him. He may have some opportunities. And Kelsey will take away from the defense. It's one game. Like you said, best ball's the place to live with some of these guys. But it was tough. It was tough to watch that. It was tough to, you know, the leading receiver was Isaiah Pacheco. He had four receptions for 31 yards. He had eight carries, so he led the team in carries and receptions.

And it just wasn't a very productive fantasy day for Chiefs options. On the other side of the ball, David Montgomery had 21 carries for 74 and a touchdown. The most David Montgomery stat line that you can get. Yeah, three and a half a carry carry but crazy volume and a touchdown jameer gibbs had seven carries for 42 yards he also tripped on a i mean i watched the turf he tripped on the turf because his cut was too fast he and he would have scored yeah i mean you you can go look at the uh 100 what do they call that film the uh the all 22 all 22 i mean there were no other chiefs on that side of the field if he didn't slip it was a touchdown and then anyone

complaining about jameer gibbs wouldn't be super upset obviously the issue if you watch the game 18 yards a jameer gibbs uh manager and you're starting him you're disappointed because you're like oh he's not out there enough and you want him out there more I get it but if you watch that game you also recognize that David Montgomery was a lumbering worse than Jamal Williams type of player aided by the offensive line that is excellent for the Detroit Lions by comparison to Jameer Gibbs who was an absolute outstanding athlete, looked great every time he touched the ball. He will get worked more into the game. They came out and said Jameer Gibbs might be brought along slowly as a rookie when you're playing against the world champion Patrick Mahomes-led.

You can't have rookie mistakes if you want to win that game. And so I don't blame them for their utilization of Gibbs, and it's not going to stay this extreme. I do think Montgomery will be super involved every single game without injury, and Gibbs will be more of the change of pace, but he'll get enough work as the season goes on to be excellent. I would be trading for Gibbs if managers are super disappointed in what they saw yesterday. It was a nice debut for Sam Laporta. He looked the part, was out there almost every single snap, and lining up out wide a lot.

And there's going to be opportunity there. He had five receptions in his debut. That was, I think, the second most over the last five years for a rookie tight end. Were you impressed? I was super impressed. Yeah, I think he looked like a pro. The way that he caught the ball.

He's a rookie. He's not going to be phenomenal this year. That being said, you played him against me because of the Travis Kelsey injury in our league of record. And I was disappointed as the one against him. He didn't get a touchdown. He didn't put up a monster day. But I was like, man, they are really utilizing him in the offense.

It's certainly someone you've got to pay attention to going forward. 14.2% target share for him. Josh Reynolds led the team in yards. Amon Ra was the best receiver by far. There you go. Impressive win. I think it's really exciting for football when

new teams emerge as contenders. They showed their moxie on the road really exciting for football when when new teams emerge as contenders and they you know they showed their moxie on the road in arrowhead i mean we said the stats yesterday morning the chiefs don't lose openers no detroit you deserve this and i'm so happy for you know as as a cardinals fan i know what it's like yeah be the Detroit Lions type of franchise. And what an awesome – you've got expectations. You know, the fourth highest odds to come out of the NFC,

the highest odds to win the division. You've got expectations. And most of the time, those things are hard to live up to. Coming out week one, beating the Chiefs in Arrowhead, congrats, man. Which they finished last year 9-7 but started 1-6, which meant that they went 8-2 the remainder of the season and then won last night continuing it. It's nice. Just more Lions love.

For Guns Mahoney, a.k.a. Dan Campbell, going for it lined up in the fake punt at the beginning of the game, and then I believe that drive turned into a touchdown. It did. That was a big huevos move. Oh, as big as they get. But that's optimal coaching is recognizing the situation of, we got to do something here.

And then at the end of the game, they end up turning the ball over, but they went for it, which was in my opinion, it was the optimal play of you need to go for it right here. You can't give Mahomes... That's the one where they tried to pass. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I don't know that the play call was what I would have gone with

and while I'll dap him up, but then what's the Marvin Jones screen pass on like third and ten and they expect Marvin Jones to... Marvin Jones! So that play was a little bit weird, but overall I thought

it was a very exciting game. Wish we had hit the over, but... Yeah, well. But we did not, but still, great opening night. I had a good showdown night. Yeah, you good showdown night. Yeah, you did. Yeah, that was fun to be back in it.

And football being back, all the overreactions, just bring them on. I mean, it's all that can happen. If you're going to talk fantasy from February until now, just bring the overreactions. It's part and parcel with what's going on. Things will change over time. There you go. There's our reaction to Thursday night.

A couple reminders at the top. You can join us. Become a part of the Foot Clan at jointhefoot.com. Get access to all the in-season perks. Check that out now. And you can find us on Twitter at the FFBallers. It is Friday. Foot Clan Friday. Foot Clan Friday.

Every single Friday during the regular season, we have a giveaway on Friday to somebody who supports the show at jointhefoot.com. And today's winner of a $100 gift card to FantasyChamps.com is Beverly V. Beverly. Oh, congrats. Congratulations. First winner of the year. Hope you win your league because then you can get a sweet trophy at Fantasy Champs.

There you go. Let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. All right. We got some news. The PR team was doing work right before kickoff. I mean, it was perfect.

Joe Burrow signs a five-year, $275 million extension through 2028. He's now the highest paid player in the history of the National Football League. Got the bag. Whoever the latest great quarterback to sign a contract is, is the highest paid player in the history of the league. Sure, but is there another one? Like, who would be the next quarterback who could actually break the record? Yeah, it'll be a while.

I think it will probably be Mahomes. Yeah, that's true. As the next one re-upping his old deal. I agree with that. What do you think he'll do for Dak? Not that. Not set it that high. He's not going to beat Joe Burrow money. Terry McLaurin returned to a

full practice on Thursday. George Kittle remained limited, which is the highest status he can receive. Kendra Miller did not practice due to hamstring. Is not expected to play, So Jamal Williams will have a backfield to himself. Uh, both Chark and Thielen did not practice on Thursday, but Adam Thielen, he's back at practice today. The buffet. Yeah. Oh, Mike really enjoys this

Thielen voice. Doesn't he? They, they hit hit the they hit the buffet um the old people oh the old people love buffets is i i think they like the cafeteria yeah the cafeteria line the lubies yeah it was just kind of served buffet style i get it now well i it's close enough and the uh i'm sorry i don't know where i was where am am I? Mark Andrews practiced again on Thursday. He was limited. It's still TBD. Yeah, this quote. You've got to be prepared.

Yeah, go ahead and read it. The quote from Andrews after practice, asking about is he going to play, quote, it's one of those things that's been a little tricky, but I'm feeling better for me. I'm taking it day by day. God willing, I'll be out there. Oh, man. Get on your knees, football fans.

Mark Andrews. Yeah. Say a prayer. I'm going to need a little more than that. Hopefully, we know ahead of time because if you're the Mark Andrews manager. Are they a morning game? Can I just pause for a second? I'm having so much fun.

It is so great to have football back. Yes, it is. Yeah, all the strategy, all that. Isaiah likely is the pivot that you want if Mark Andrews goes down, if you're the Mark Andrews manager. They're a morning game, so thank goodness. Backholm is dealing with an ankle injury. But he's back at practice.

But, yeah, he's back at the start of practice. But it should remind people the fragility of this pass-catching core has been an issue for years. You have Bateman, injury prone. Beckham, ankle. Andrews, banged up at the end of last year, banged up right now. J.K. Dobbins, let's go. Two legs, hopefully. But it does – if Beckham was questionable, if Andrews

wasn't on the field, it would give me more confidence to make a rookie start of Zay Flowers in week one. Packers wide receivers, this is wild. Romeo Dobbs returned to a limited practice. Christian Watson did not practice. Al Borland, how

you feeling on this one? Not great. Not great. To be honest, I are you feeling on this one? Not great. Not great. To be honest, I didn't have a lot of optimism anyway. Around Christian Watson? Christian Watson. Around just our season. Oh, okay. Yeah, prepping up for that.

Keep your... If Watson does not go, keep an eye out for Jaden Reed, their rookie wide receiver, who will play a whole lot more. And Luke. Luke Musgrave. There's a rookie tight end who will be on the field all the time. He'll be an every-down player.

And if Christian Watson is not there, Romeo Dobbs has his own issues coming back from. That's a Sam Laporta-esque style play. Would you trade Christian McCaffrey in a Dynasty League for Damian Pierce, Luke Musgrave, and a first-round draft pick? No. What if it was a first-round pick you thought would be in the top five? More interesting. Yeah, maybe.

I'd turn that down. Yeah. Romandre Stevenson, not seen participating on Friday, has not been on the injury report we're gonna have to what we're gonna have to dive in now when is don't we have the first injury blitz podcast yeah Brooksie yeah later this afternoon

after all the Friday practices are done so for brand new listeners the injury blitz is a special bonus podcast brought to you by our injury expert and PT, Matthew Betts. It is exclusively on jointhefoot.com, and it is kind of a chance for the late Friday injury reports to factor into that podcast. Kenneth Walker, limited with a groin injury. This is bad.

You hope that it's maintenance or protection not re-injury i do not believe it is maintenance um we will see today's practice report will say everything if he's full great if he's limited then i don't believe that he plays this week this is the zach charbonnet debut yeah i mean we've i rebuilt i've got two lineups right now in DraftKings that I might play against you guys for our segment at the end of today's episode. One of them has Zach Charbonnet in it, if Ken Walker news looks bad. But he was added as a late addition in the week. He was practicing on full on Wednesday.

So to become limited with a groin injury that he spent almost all of the offseason dealing with. It's not good. No. Brooksy, let us know if you hear anything before the end of the show. You got it. All right, that was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance.

We'll take a quick break and we'll come back with all of the remaining matchups. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. That's a good reminder, Jason. We do have the Fantasy Face-Off returning at the end of today's show. Mm-hmm. So much fun. Ready to turn over a new leaf this year? This is going to be your reminder, Jason. We do have the fantasy face-off returning at the end of today's show. So much fun.

Ready to turn over a new leaf this year. This is going to be your year, Andy. There was a really nice – Rapsgang gets credit for this. He put a gif up of, I think – was that every punishment from last year, Justin? I think it was quite a few. Because there was a lot of me in there. Well, do better this year. Oh, yeah.

Get body. well well do better this year yeah oh yeah get body i don't take offense to the reality that i was the wheel of shame winner you know that's true yeah matter of speaking all right let's do it fantasy forecast well if i was a rookie quarterback looking to start my season, it would not be in Baltimore against the Ravens. The Texans travel this week. Baltimore 9.5-point home favorites, over-unders 44. That gives Baltimore almost 27 points.

Houston, not as many. So this is a heavy favorite situation. Teams favored by nine plus points over the last five years have averaged 29 points per game. So it's going to be delicious for Baltimore this week. However, you do need to play in the game to score fantasy points. So we'll be watching Beckham Andrews. If Beckham's out there, is he a flex option? Um, bias removed from dealing with

Beckham over the years, just looking at the fact that he's a starter in this offense. I don't think so. I, I, you know, I still worry a little bit about, uh, the passing need in this game for the Baltimore Ravens, whether or not, you know, if Mark Andrews can't go and Odell Beckham didn't go, then there's like this consolidation where, okay, maybe Zay Flowers or Bateman, you're willing to take a shot at. But just because Beckham is out there, Zay Flowers we know is going to be out there, Bateman, it looks like he should be good to go.

So I'm not really wanting to start any of the pass catchers here because it's going to be split up, and I just don't think they're going to be passing the ball a lot in the second half. I will be interested to watch Will Anderson get acclimated on the defensive line. PFF has Houston at 23 on the defensive line rankings this year. It should be a little bit better there. Even just adding Will Anderson is going to improve that defensive line. But it should be bright and sunny days for J.K. Dobbins and company.

Damian Pierce, it's a tough matchup in week one. You are, you know, if I am the Baltimore Ravens, I am doing, I'm stopping Damian Pierce. That is the only thing I have to worry about. And so the nice thing, at least historically, we've seen Houston relentless, even when they shouldn't be running the football, and that has led to touches. But it's a tough, tough, tough matchup.

And that puts Damian Pierce squarely in the post-week one trade target if it doesn't go the right direction, assuming the opportunities are there. It could, but I'm not very worried about it. It's kind of like what we talked about with James Conner yesterday. The matchups are always going to be not in his favor. When you're one of the worst two teams in the league, it's always going to be like, oh, your team is projected to lose. You're going to be down. And you look back at last season. They played against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Unbelievably good run defense. He was a top 12 running back. Played against Dallas. He was the running back 16. Cleveland had a good defense running back 21. He should be an RB2 or better this week and most weeks. So if you drafted Damian Pierce, I'm not scared off by this matchup. C.J. Stroud gets to make his debut. Historically, rookie first-round quarterbacks in week one. They averaged 216 passing yards

and 19 completions. Are we done talking about Houston as a fantasy option this week? Houston is one fantasy option. It's Damian Pierce at checkout. Dalton Schultz? No.

No, I'm not in on Dalton Schultz. Oh, the doctor. He's not. No, the doctor is on vacation. He's not in. But it will be fun to watch week one, see how the wide receiver room shakes out. You know, Robert Woods is the veteran. Does he get the treatment and become

automatically the number one? Nico Collins has flashed at times and been a really interesting player. Does he emerge as the number one? We talked about him on the footcast yesterday. Sure. I look at drafting Nico Collins identically to drafting Jonathan Mingo. Nico is 6'4", 216. He's a big guy. He's definitely better than Robert Woods. Woods is toast. He's getting the Houston final contract. I'm not saying go get him. I'm just saying he is a one on this roster.

Yeah, which I agree. And, like, that's what I'll be watching for. The Green Bay Packers travel to Chicago. The Bears are one-point home favorites. The over-under just 42 points. Bears being favorites in this matchup feels weird because they've only been a favorite against Green Bay four times since 2008 when Rodgers became the starter.

Does that mean Rodgers was injured four times against the Chicago Bears? Honestly, it could have been. That's my guess. And Justin Fields, he was the quarterback five on the week. The last time he took on the Green Bay Packers, he didn't even have a passing touchdown in that game. You don't need him. He was six for

71-1 on the ground. Are you excited about this matchup? Seeing Jordan Love make his debut. I'm very excited for this matchup NFL-wise. We have a lot of questions to answer in this. We want to know and have I'm very excited for this matchup NFL-wise. We have a lot of questions to answer in this. We want to know and have definitive proof that Khalil Herbert's the guy.

That's the belief. I think that's the belief everywhere now. So that should come to fruition, but it'll be nice to have that confirmed. We want to see the passing game. Do they open it up a little bit more, which I believe they will do? And does that mean that DJ Moore can squeak into the top 12 wide receivers? And how is the passing evolution of Justin Fields? And then on the other side, I mean, we don't know which wide receivers are going to be there, but they're questions we want to see and how it relates to Jordan Love. Is he good? This game is absolutely one of the games I'm going to be watching the closest. The Bears were not good

defensively against quarterbacks and wide receivers last year, so there's opportunity if somebody gets out there. Weren't good against running backs either. Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Mike. Are they both starts? Aaron Jones is for sure a start, and I brought up A.J. Dillon in our new Hungry for More segment, and I

think that as a kind of low end running back to low low the AJ Dillon look last year bears 28th against fantasy running backs giving up over 25 points a game AJ Dillon is I think in play as a low flex option the Raiders take on the Denver Broncos in Denver this week. DraftKings Sportsbook line Denver minus three and a half. The over-under 44. So, the Raiders took both games against the hapless

Denver offense last year. Got a brand new quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo. Still handsome. Just wearing the black and the silver this year. Russell Wilson, still an annoying... He's still Russell Wilson. Still a little bit annoying. A lot of questions. Unlimited.

But still unlimited. Does he get off to a hot start in this game? Well, the matchup says that you can, which is really nice for Sean Payton and Russell Wilson to have the opportunity week one to say, hey, we fixed

the offense. We've got some things figured out. I think they'll be better than they were last year, which isn't saying much. They were the bottom of the barrel. Right now, I am hesitant to believe that Russell Wilson is quote unquote fixed. The way that he was playing last year was so poor in his reads and his throws that I'm going to take a wait and see approach. I do think you can play a lot of these pieces. I just think you have to really temper your expectations. Cortland Sutton is a good flex. I think he should be out there. Javante Williams seems like a really good flex option as well. I think he's a running back too. What are the odds that Javante Williams

makes the fantasy community look silly after this week? I mean, if he falls into the end zone and catches four or five passes, then you're going to, at the end of this week, go, man, he's going to have an unbelievable year and be great. I still believe that Pirine will be heavily involved. This will be a... What if he runs into the end zone and doesn't

fall into it? What if it's a bit of a jump? You know, a breakaway run? I think that would be something special. I just mean relative to draft costs. Is there a chance that he comes out, he gets 22 opportunities, and he's a workhorse, and he should have gone in the second round.

I'll be shocked if he gets 22 opportunities. Mike, are you in the same boat? Yeah, but I think P. Ryan's going to play probably pretty close to the same snaps. Jerry Judy was limited on Thursday. If he starts, do you play him against this defense? I prefer not to. All right.

If Judy misses, Marvin Mims is in. If Judy's back, is Marvin Mims a sit? Marvin Mims is a. If Judy's back, is Marvin Mims a sit? Marvin Mims is a sit if Judy is active. And if Judy is gone, Marvin Mims is not a need to start, but he is a flex option that you can throw in. I'm starting him pretty much either way in our league of records. He's your Sky Moore this week, Jason. Yes, yes he is.

Cheers. Except the difference is I think Marvin Mims is actually good at football. He's taller, isn't he? Marvin Mims? Marvin Mims. He's not taller than Sky Moore? I don't think so. Then it's going to be hard for him to get the hands up there and catch the

overthrow. He's unbelievable. He's a great wide receiver. Second round pick like Sky Moore. Oh, no. He is, in fact, taller than Sky Moore. Wow. Yeah. Doesn't take much. All right. So, yeah, he is in fact taller than Sky Moore. Wow. Doesn't take much.

So yeah, I think you can't start him. Much thinner. One of the things I'm going to be watching for a lot in this game is the Greg Dulcich-Adam Troutman split and utilization. Adam Troutman is the starter. Mike is so happy you even have to think about it.

That I have to say Adam Troutman's name. Yeah, I love it. I do think that... If you were flexing Dulcich or Mims with Judy out, which would you go with? Because if they were in a flex spot, both could benefit from the lack of options. Yeah, I would rather flex the wide receiver over a tight end. But you could argue that Dulcich is more important if you're playing him in the tight end role. The preseason utilization of Greg Dulcich

was very, very scary to people. I'm still of the mindset that I think they were hiding him and not showing their cards. So I will have all eyes on Dulcich. The Joker card. Nice. Exactly right. Josh Jacobs absolutely massacred the broncos defense last year

he was the rb1 in the rb7 against them at 175 rushing yards 160 rushing yards are we getting vintage josh jacobs in week one vintage no but you play him yeah i mean play him with full confidence he'll be an rb1 he'll be an RB1 this week. Devontae Adams. He gets to start for the first time with Jimmy G, but you're playing him. You drafted him to play him. Yeah, of course. And that's the end of that story.

The Eagles take on the New England Patriots in New England. The DraftKings Sportsbook line has Philly minus four on the road. Oh, a little bit rain. Over under is 45. We do have some possible rain in this game. We also have an update on Ramondre Stevenson. Ooh, little bit rain. Over under is 45. We do have some possible rain in this game. We also have an update on Ramondre Stevenson. Ooh, important. He is still expected to play

Sunday despite today's absence from practice. Takes for nothing. Per source. Reporters. So there's something going on. That's what that says. It wasn't like a personal absence. I don't think. So that means Zeke could get more work in this game

against an Eagles defensive front. This is pretty terrible news. This is an afternoon game, so if you're waiting on Ramondre Stevenson, you better have a backup option just in case, or hopefully we get more news between now and game time.

If Ramondre plays man you have to play him yeah i think if remandre does if you get the he's active uh for week one i'm just gonna put him out there agreed yeah does mac jones get fixed by bill o'brien is this uh are we gonna find ourselves drafting pass catchingcatching options, or not drafting, picking up pass-catching options for the Patriots after week one? I doubt it. I do think that the offense will be much better than last year

because of Bill O'Brien. I think Mac Jones will be a nice quarterback, too, for super flex leagues. I am still of the belief that Juju Smith-Schuster will be the clear and obvious wide receiver one for this team, but he'll be very similar to Jacoby Myers last year. More of a dink and dunk, a lot of targets, not a lot of yards, PPR type of player, but to me I think he will end up being a solid weekly start.

Hunter Henry I think is a sneaky okay play this week. On the other side, play Hertz. Play A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith. Play Dallas Goddard. And then spin the wheel for the running back room. I mean, the Patriots were a top-ten defense against the run last year. They're at home. I don't think it's a good matchup for any of them,

and there's four of them to worry about. There's absolutely no reason to play an Eagle. You didn't draft any of those players where you have to start them. You have another option on your roster. I think Swift was like a 6th or 7th round pick. Yeah, but our listeners didn't draft him. Hopefully. Well, we'll see. Kenny Gainwell,

DeAndre Swift, Rashad Penny, and Boston Scott. I talked to somebody who's one of the people that follow the Eagles the most, and his opinion of this backfield was that it's going to be gross, that you're going to see all four players play, that you're going to see Boston Scott come in only inside the five-yard line, and that you're going to pull your hair out. And Jason made the point earlier in the offseason,

Miles Sanders finished at 11 last year, and it wasn't a fun ride. Yeah, it sucked for fantasy. He ruined your team as often as he had nice big games. And that was about as good as you could expect from an Eagles running back here. Miami. The Dolphins go to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers. This is another one of those exciting football games for fantasy. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Chargers minus three.

The over-under is 51. Does the line surprise you at all, or does that make sense to you? I think the line is exactly where I would expect it to be. How did it surprise you? By you asking the question that said? Yeah, I guess I thought it might be like a point, not three points. I think at home, Herbert, the offensive line issues for the Dolphins. Yeah, I think the line is right.

All right, so Tua was Mike's start of the week. The Chargers gave up a ton of big plays last year, and that is going to be the specialty all year for Tua with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddell, who are both in your lineup. We've had some start sets coming out of this game, including making the decision on, you know, do you play Tua Tungavailoa or do you go with somebody like Dak or an Anthony Richardson or Deshaun Watson? And Tua's kind of seemingly taking the cake on all of those

for me I go Geno and then Tua in that order personally for the two quarterbacks I play outside of the eight known commodities that no one is benching Raheem Mostert is he a good start this week? He is a very good

start this week I think he's a very good start this week Chargers very good yeah I think it's a very good start you you're you're going to have an elder statesman at the healthiest he's going to be all season um in a matchup that is winnable high overrunner there you've got Jeff Wilson definitely gone right now uh Ahmed is still banged up a little bit. Devon A-chain is a rookie. We just saw Jameer Gibbs in his first game getting eased into action, and he's coming off of an injury. I think Raheem Mostert will get a ton of volume in a game you want pieces in.

So, personally, Mostert to me is, like, locked into a start. Raheem Mostert or Damian Pierce? I would go Damian Pierce at that point. Damian Pierce is way younger, more talented. Antonio Gibson. I would go Mostert. James Conner? I would go Mostert. Khalil Herbert?

I would go Mostert. I would. Okay. James Cook. I would go Mostert. I think I love Mostert. I think I love Mostert. I think you love ketchup, too. Austin Eckler, play him.

Keenan Allen, yep. Mike Williams, uh-huh. Wait on Quentin Johnston, please. Agreed. Gerald Everett, Mike, start of the week at tight end. Oh, what a good start. Oh, thank you. The more and more I've looked at it, last year the Dolphins were literally

the 32nd out of 32 teams ranked. That's why we went there. What's funny is I went to put Gerald Everett in for my Starts of the Week early in this week when I was just researching these games, and I was looking at the home road splits, and Gerald Everett's much better at home. For some reason, I had this game in my mind in Miami, so I didn't, and I pivoted away from him. This is in L.A. where Gerald Everett has been much better in a perfect matchup,

so I do like the start of it. Just get ready for Donald Parham to have his breakout game. I mean, people didn't draft Gerald Everett. I'm playing him in the league where I lost Travis Kelsey. He was my pickup off the waiver wire. There you go. That would be the league that you're together in? No.

That would be the listener league. The Rams take on the Seahawks in Seattle. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Seattle minus five. The over-under is 46. The Rams will yet again be without Cooper Cup. It was real, real bad. Like, I'm not talking kind of, sort of bad. Real, real bad without Cooper Cup last year.

30th in yards per game without him. 31st in passing yards per game. 31st in pressure rate because you have to hold the ball because no one else gets open. Pass rate over expectation, 26. They lean on the run. I think Mike was right when he talked about Seattle's defense being better

than people give them credit for. Look, I would take Seattle and the points in this game if it was me. Yeah, I believe Seattle and the points is the right way to go. The Rams have a terrible defense, and without Cooper Cup, they've had a terrible offense. I don't know what there is to really like on the Rams' side of the ball outside of Cam Akers. Cam Akers to me is set up to

get the ball as much as they can give them the ball when they aren't able to pass. And if they haven't fixed their issues from last year, Seattle was a team you could run the ball on quite easily. I will say I'll take Van Jefferson's targets in this game. Yeah, I'm open to that. But the

just to be fair to the stat of when Cooper Cup was out last year, it was almost completely in sync with Matthew Stafford being out. So we don't know yet. What will Matthew Stafford and the Rams be without Cooper Cup? That's a question that we'll get to see answered at least a little bit. Van Jefferson, he's been a sleeper for us all off season and I think this is

interesting. I think that the volume will be there. I'm not expecting a high level output for Van Jefferson but it's certainly better than Skymore. He should be forced to be involved. The way that this game is going to go seattle's probably going to have a lead well the yeah the depth chart of you have two two at well is like

the season other season veteran on this team and then puka nakua uh he's an interesting rookie wide receiver to watch i mean it may be he might be someone I even stash if I have an IR player that I'm going to stash. And my question for Cameron Akers is I'm playing him, but – How much Kyron do we see? Yeah, how much Kyron Williams do we see? There have been some rumors of him taking on a pass-catching role for the Los Angeles Rams.

Something to watch. It's just, yeah. I'm not out on acres because of that, but just watching. Would you flex? Because we just asked this question, Jason. You chose Marvin Mims over Dulcich. Are you flexing Van Jefferson over Higby? Yeah, yeah.

If they're in the flex, I would still go with the wide receiver over theigby. Yeah, yeah. If they're in the flex, I would still go with the wide receiver over the tight end. I think there is – I have slight fear, and it's just slight because I love Higby. I think he's going to be a PPR machine. He's going to be necessary. But if the pass rush is getting after them, they might need him to block a little bit more

if wide receivers aren't getting open and he's holding onto the ball more. That's my only fear there. Geno Smith was your start of the week. That quarterback, you play him, Tyler Lockett. Mike started the week at wide receiver. You should play him. You should play Metcalf. Jackson Smith and Jigba would be a gamble.

Would you take him or Van Jefferson? I would take Van Jefferson. Jackson Smith and Jigba is the clear, more talented player here. But in his first game as a rookie, as the wide receiver three, coming off of an injury in a game where they very well could be not passing the ball as much at the end, I'll take Van Jeffers. Yeah, because of the injury, I'll let that break the tie for me if I have this specific decision.

If he weren't hurt and he was going into the season fully healthy, I'd put the rookie in. And if Kenneth Walker doesn't play, our man, Zach Charbonnet's going to be so dang good. Pour these guys the glass? Yes. Oh, I will have a... It's on

ice right now. My Charbonnet is on ice and I'm just waiting to pop the top if Kenneth Walker is going to rest up this week. Charbonnet will be great. Dallas takes on the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. Dallas, minus 3.5.

DK is over under at 45.5. What are you expecting out of this matchup? I mean, it's, this will be I think fun to watch the Giants' offense. Can they get it going against this Dallas Cowboys defense, which is a Super Bowl, a legitimate Super Bowl defense? Daniel Jones, you know, he didn't throw many interceptions,

but he also had the fewest 20-plus yard passes, so he kind of was making that decision that I'm not going to turn the ball over, but we're not going to get the explosive plays. But the addition of Darren Waller is really – I think it is huge for this team that they have someone who they can give a 25%, 26%, 27% target share to and have them get it done. So from the Giants, it's real easy.

Barkley is in. Darren Waller is in. We're watching the Giants wide receivers. Does someone emerge as the top option? Isaiah Hodgins kind of had some splash plays here and there at the end of last season. Does he turn into the number one wide receiver? Does it matter?

Because it may not matter. It might just be this team. The Giants might be very easy for fantasy the entire season. On the other side, Tony Pollard, he's the guy in the backfield, finally, for Dallas. This is a good matchup for Tony Pollard to kind of get the season off on the right foot. CeeDee Lamb, you always play him.

Now the debatable options on the Dallas side are going to be, you know, Dak went undrafted in our league. I think he got picked up since then. He got picked up. By you? No. Okay. He's won 10 straight games against the Giants.

That's crazy. They are favored. Brandon Cooks and, Michael Gallup. I think Dak is a perfectly fine lower-end QB1 play. Geno or Dak? I'd go Geno. Yeah, on draft day, because we ended up having to be very, very late-round quarterback. We were hoping to get Geno.

Didn't work out. And then the question was, do you go with Dak or Kirk Cousins and the fact that we had a Minnesota Viking pass catcher we drafted Jordan Addison that moved us over to Kirk Cousins for just the potential of of a week one stack boom other than that you want that you want that stack boom by playing Sky Moore over Jordan Add no jordan addison could still be in okay you've made him very mad this uh yeah i i understand look it didn't work jason i already received my punishment all right and it's a week one lost yeah but i say night i mean i'm not just trying to punish you i'm trying to victory lap myself as well bro well the sky more yeah victory lap yeah

after there was no victory laps to be had it was you could have just said they're all going to be terrible yeah but sky more sucks yeah so he i brought this up tony dropped passes sky more didn't get was overthrown underthrown and then didn't get targets, which is an earned stat. So he is still not good. By the way, update, DJ Chark is out for week one with the hamstring. So, you know, that game's going to be interesting. If Thielen's out there, I might be. Would you play Thielen or Isaiah Hodgins if Thielen is fully active?

I'm not saying. Yeah. I would play. If you're going that low, I'd go with Thielen. Unfortunately, gentlemen, I have to go that low. In my Dynasty League, my second flex spot. Thank you. We're getting dirty, nasty feeling.

Buffalo takes on the Jets. Monday night football extravaganza. Baby. I'm going to legitimately just glue myself to the couch for this one and tweet away because Buffalo and the Jets, this is I love football.

DK Sportsbook line, Buffalo minus two and a half on the road. The over-under is 45 and a half. I think the Jets win the ball game. That's a doubt, man. If we have week one and the Chiefs and the Bills are 0-1, that's a spicy 23.

Josh Allen, play him. James Cook, you drafted him to play him. Yeah. Stephon Diggs. I'm playing him. I would get him in there. I don't want to play another single Buffalo Bill option in week one against the Jets' defense. The Jets are at home, and they are not kind of good on the defensive side.

They're going to be a severe problem for Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox and Gabe Davis and Damian Harris. No. They are absolutely awesome. Last year, they were the number one schedule adjusted team in fantasy points given up against wide receivers 14 total per game yeah and that is I mean so yeah you're not gonna bench Stefan Diggs um but it's really hard to say that you know okay we're gonna split up 14.8 half PPR points a game through Diggs and Gabe Davis and Deontay Hardy. It's not

great. Obviously, this is a great offense. This isn't an average offense. The 14.8 is average. So they're going to score more than that. You could put them out there. You could make an argument, oh, Gabe Davis, maybe you've got Sauce Gardner really focused and locking down on Stephon Diggs, and Gabe Davis has opportunity. I think you can still flex him in a pinch because he's just one of those guys that can get a touchdown any week. Yeah, he'd be playing. Mims or Gabe?

I would go Gabe. Okay. I would, too. I would not play in a rookie for Russ. Yeah. A Russ rookie. Right. On the other side, it might not be that

complicated. You've got the big complication. Garrett Wilson's in. I'm not starting another wideout until I see how that shakes out. Conklin is not really break glass, but I played Laporta over him. I love Conklin. I play Jake Ferguson easily over him.

100%. I play every playoff. What if I did this? It's fun. I'm in. Conklin. Conklin will be a lot of fun to conk with this year. Yeah, there it is. That's the goose you're getting.

It won't be week one against the Bills. Yeah, that is the goose you're getting. The big complication is the running backs. The real question is Brees Hall. All right, Mr. Brees Hall. He's in, baby. Oh, he's in. Now the confidence is back. All right, Mr. Brees Hall. He's in, baby. Oh, he's in. Now the confidence is back.

It's not confidence. It's excitement. It's love. It's passion. I'm putting him in over everyone. If I've got him on my roster, he's in, baby. I love him. Dalvin Cook is healthy, happy, ready to rumble.

If you had to place a bet on total touches, I'm placing it on Dalvin. I would bet total touches goes to Dalvin Cook over Brees Hall. Brees or Javante, Mike? We just asked this, I think, and I think we said Javante. We need to bring this up for Jason.

Brees Hall or Raheem Mostert? I'm going Brees Hall. But you love Raheem Mostert. I love Brees Hall, baby! I'm going Brees Hall over Daleem Mostert? I'm going Brees Hall. But you love Raheem Mostert. I love Brees Hall, baby. I'm going Brees Hall over Dalvin Cook as well. Total touches, Dalvin Cook. Fantasy points, Brees Hall. Okay, all right.

Well, you're back in, baby. I am. The heart wants what the heart wants, and it wants it bad. So you are then, you would play Dalvin Cook, assuming you don't have Brees Hall. Yes, I think Dalvin Cook is a fine play. As a two or a flex? Probably more of a flex.

Fantasy Face-Off, presented by DraftKings. Before we get started, do we have an update on Kenneth Walker? No update. Pick your, you got to pick one, Jason. I've got my other lineup then. Mike, why don't you give a brief overview of what we're doing here on the Fantasy Faceoff? Because we had some fun last year. Yeah, sure.

We go, we jump on the old DraftKings.com, play some DFS. We set a... Head to head to head. We set our lineups. We, uh, yeah, we're,

we're just playing against each other. And then the loser, the following week, we have the wheel of shame where it will be spun by that week's loser. And then they wear something ridiculous. It's usually a very, what happened to this photo? That's what I was just noticing.

That is a combination of you and me. It is horrific. It is terrifying. It is really well done. It's in the kind of Travolta, Nick Cage Yes, very face off. Podcast listeners, there's a picture. Go to YouTube. YouTube.com slash

the fantasy footballers. But losing it sucks. It's embarrassing and often uncomfortable what you have to wear. But we set our lineups. Also, if you haven't played these type of lineups before, if this is the first time you're listening to us do this, it is a ton of fun. You can go and have just – you can make one lineup.

Our lineups are more like cash lineups. We're trying to find the safest lineup because we just don't want to not lose. Second place is great. You can play big tournaments for millions of dollars, but it is so much fun to look through and call your shots on guys and be watching games on Sunday. And if your fantasy team is sucking, you'd be like, let me check out my lineups doing.

And if you do need some help, we have Borg and Betts. Best of the business. We have the Fantasy Footballers DFS slash betting podcast that comes out on Tuesday and Friday every week. And we have the DFS pass on the website. Yeah, we got everything. We got you covered. I use it. Well, let's kick it off.

Quarterback. I went with Tua Tungavailoa for $6,700. Tua. Oh, okay. Well, I paid only $200 more and got the guy across the field from him who's at home, who's favored, Justin Herbert, baby. Okay. All right.

Justin Herbert is Jason's pick. My starting running backs, Austin Eckler across the field at 8,400. So you paid up. 8,400 for Austin Eckler and Brian Robinson Jr. for 5,100, taking on the Arizona Cardinals in their 32nd-ranked defensive line. Yeah. I really wanted to find a way to get Brian Robinson in. Unfortunately, I did not because I went with J.K. Two Legs Dobbins

at 6,600 against the Houston Texans. And Raheem Mostert, a guy that apparently I really do like. He's only 5,400. And I'm getting a lot of pieces in that Chargers-Dolphins game. And it's week one. I got the boys in purple, baby. I got them both. I got J.K. Two L and Alexanderlexander madison at madison 65 doubled up on

the boys in purple it's week one these are these have been my boys all off season well done well let's see what we could do all right wide receivers i went with the stack tyree kills there for 8200 of course and then i went with uh one of your boys in purple, Zay Flowers for 4,000 in that Houston matchup, along with the once great PPR machine. Not so much anymore, but we'll see how week one goes against this awful pass defense. Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas, 5,100 in my second spot.

I had Zay Flowers at 4,000 in my Zach Charbonnet lineup, but I don't have him here. I do have Tyreek Hill, which will be your guys' stack with Geno, and I have my stack with Keenan. Tua. You have a real Geno Tua problem right now. I do. Geno and Tua are the same guy to me.

But Keenan Allen stacks with my Herbert. He was 7,300. This is full PPR on DraftKings. Worth remembering that. And at 5,000, my start of the week, Jahan Dotson seems like a good value. I think he'll be the wide receiver one against

the Cardinals this week. We have a lot of overlap. Tyreek Hill, of course. I do have Jahan Dotson as well. Then for the rest of my lineup, I had to save some quiche. So we are starting Marvin Mims at the Stone Cold Min 3000. At least I think that's the minimum. I don't know if it can get lower. It is.

No, that's okay. So am I live with Zay Flowers? Yes. Okay. All right, my final three. I'm taking all targets in this game. Tyler Higby. Tyler Higby at tight end, Van Jefferson at my flex,

and the Commanders defense against the Cardinals to wrap up my lineup. I have to imagine all three of us have the Commanders defense. That is correct. Yeah. 2,800. The commanders versus Arizona is if you're, I, if you're playing cash, I don't know how you possibly play anybody else.

No, I even looked to pivot and I'm like, no, just go with the commanders. Um, I also have Marvin Mims Jr. In my flag. So I was very happy to hear you have them at the stone cold 3000. And then I have Tyler Higbee at tight end.

I have Tyler Higbee. It's hard to PPR. I mean, 4,800, so many targets. And then this morning before the show started, I went, oh, crap, I have Kenneth Walker. And instead of doing a full rebuild, I just threw in Michael Evans against the Minnesota Vikings at 6,300. He is my flex play. And we all

have the commanders. Yep. All have the commanders. All have Higby. All have Higby. All have Tyreek, right? Yep. You have Tyreek? I'm not thrilled about that. Alright. You should be because my difference maker is Marvin Mims. That's fair. They have flowers. I got him live and Brian Robinson,

but it'll be a fun first week. That was Fantasy Face-Off presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app right now. Use the promo code BALLERS and you get $200 in free bets instantly when you place a $5 bet on any football game. That is the code BALLERS

only at DraftKings Sportsbook. One final reminder as we close out today's show, Mike will be live on Sunday morning, tilting with you those decisions. BallersLive.com to check that out. We'll talk to you soon. Good luck this weekend. Goodbye. Bye-bye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.