Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 1 Start/Sit + TNF Preview, Super Bowl Picks - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/3

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Fantasy Football show for Sep 3, 2025. Tough decisions for Week 1 lineups! Which rookies can you trust? Andy, Mike, and Jason answer a number of start/sit questions and give their Super Bowl predictions! Plus, NFL News, and IR spot strategy for the 2025 fantasy football season. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.(00:00) Intro(03:24) Backup Options (19:37) NFL News(31:02) Thursday Night Preview(39:25) Mailbag (40:50) Jerome Ford or Tyrone Tracy?(43:00) Super Bowl Picks(44:35) Trust Omarion Hampton?(46:00) Football Sunday Rituals(46:45) Colston Loveland Vibe Check(47:55) Start Emeka Egbuka or Tetairoa McMillan?(49:50) Ollie Gordon or Braelon Allen?(51:40) D’Andre Swift, Bears backfield(54:10) Jordan Mason, Tank BigsbyConnect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord

The Fantasy Footballer's Studio is sponsored by Walmart. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. It's close. It's almost football time. Wednesday, September 3rd, the fantasy footballers podcast. Jason Moore is here. Mike, the fantasy hitman. I'm Mandy Holloway, and we are back.

I was pretty upset last night that there was no football game going on. That's weird because it wasn't scheduled to be. No, but it's so close. It was a Tuesday. Right. You think just if something's close, it might as well be that day. like Christmas is the 21st or something. All my drafts had completed, and so it was time now.

It was like, okay. The league waits on you. Right. Like, okay, I've got teams. Let's watch them play. That does make sense. I guess you're not in the megalible draft going on right this moment. I am not.

I did my megalible draft last night. Okay. Well, they're all done. I'll ping the league. We'll see if they can get things going for you. Just move up the schedule. Just, you know, maybe play tonight. Just bump that up one night.

Well, you're not going to have to. to wait much longer. I'm pretty excited about it. And we've got Super Bowl picks we're going to talk about today. I just had to do a little glance here. The first waiver wire of our League of Record ran and you went out and you got Xavier Legat because that's what you wanted to do. I sure did. I guess it was all additions and it's perfect timing because nobody dropped anybody. So how did they add people? Well, that's what our first segment of the show is going to be about today. Some players that you can stash on IR and open up a waiver wire spot for. So we'll get into that momentarily. I want to invite everybody to check out the website.

All the week one content is available. All the free content, the weekly rankings, the start sit tool. Tons of amazing articles from our incredible staff of writers that go up every single week. And they go to bat for you finding insights and analysis and data and stats and things that will help you win each and every week. You can also take advantage of the Foot Clan tools and resources, including the Ultimate Dashboard, which is a weekly lineup optimization tool. It also gives you spot starts and waiver pickups and things like that. We've got the expanded StartSit tool available to you, a bonus weekly episode of the show.

Bonus. And, you know, we do a bonus mailbag episode for the Foot Clan. Bonus. You can learn all about that. It's not, the show's less creepy than Mike is right now, I promise. Still a little creepy, but just less. You're the one who keeps saying bonus. Yeah, well, bonus.

Jointhefoot.com is where you go for that. And if you've purchased the UDK and you want to ultimate membership, we'll give you a dollar for dollar credit for the ultimate draft kit. Just make sure you're logged in. Go to the website, join the foot.com. You'll see the credit right there above the ultimate package. And then you check out and you're good to go with the ultimate dashboard. All right, let's jump in.

Backup Options, presented by Progressive Insurance. Oh, that's a really nice drop, Mike. Sometimes it's spicy. A little bonus drop. Yeah, bonus. All right, today on the backup options segment, I wanted to focus on a handful of players that I, want people to, you know, put them on the IR, open up a spot, maybe they're already on waivers,

and you can just go add them off of waivers, put them on the IR, and pick up another player. But basically everybody that's eligible for IR right now, I'm going to bring up the name. But then I want you guys to tell me also whether you think their return will impact the incumbent, the player that is kind of standing in for them right now or at least playing alongside them. We'll start with Tajay Spears running back for the Titans, a high ankle sprain on the pup. Tony Pollard jettisoned up draft boards. Tajay Spears, you can tuck him away. Obviously, Tony Pollard, he's not a young running back.

You could get to the point where his efficiency is worse than Spears. Do you think the return of Tajay Spears will affect Tony Pollard? It'll definitely have an effect on Tony Pollard. The first month of the season, Pollard gets to be a complete workhorse, split very little work. and have an opportunity to be great for fantasy football. When Tajay comes back, you know, they talked all offseason. They wanted it to be a 50-50 split, but they said that last year as well. And then it was like, well, you can't really 50-50 split when one guy is clearly better than the other.

And you're trying to win games. And I expect that to happen, but they will split the work. So Tony Pollard gets like a month-long bump. And then Tajay Spears, when he comes back, I think he's a worthy guy to have hidden away. You never know a month from now what running back is going to be injured anyways. All right. I'll go back and forth here, Mike. So I'm going to ask you, there are two wide receivers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that are going to be on IR. Jalen McMillan, the rookie from last year, who had a great end of the season for fantasy. He's on IR for quite some time. He could be a stash if you found him valuable. But also Chris Godwin. Anybody that drafted Chris Godwin, he's not on the IR. No. But he's going to be marked out every week that might be different. difficult to manage with your roster if they move from out to doubtful or probable for a period of time. But once he's ruled out in week one, you can put him on the

IR, add somebody. When Godwin returns, when McMillan returns, what is your view of Egbuka? Because he's going to have such a huge opportunity to start the year. I would just throw Kate Otten on that list as well. Another guy who probably, who can get some work done. Well, he might be missing this first week. Oh, that's, that is correct. I thought he was bad. He, well, they didn't put him on the IR, but it's, it's not known whether he's going to play in week one or not. So it's possible this week, week one, you've got three pass catchers missing for the box. Gotcha, gotcha.

All right, Mike. Like, the way I want, it zoomed out is Jalen McMillan, I mean, what was the last thing we heard? Like eight or nine weeks, eight or nine weeks. It's a neck injury. Those are, you can't mess around with a neck injury. The nice thing, though, is like, if he. is healthy he's actually back you know you don't lower body injuries where it takes a while to come back you would think if he's back he's back and he's ready to go but that's just such a

long time and he's i expect him to be buried chris godwin is far more difficult because i do see see the situation shaking out that he won't be marked out i mean this will be the you'll you'll have him in your i are the the the week will flip over and you're going to have to get those, you know, your waiver moves in, what is it, real quick before he gets switched back to doubtful or questionable, because they're not going to rule them out until, I don't know what, probably Thursday or Friday every single week. So you're going to have this, you're going to have a very tricky roster management situation of not being able to set a lineup of especially, it's really going to mess you up with, like, Thursday night players.

So I guess that's just, you know, thinking through it, the tip is like, if you're going to have Godwin, when you're putting your waiver wires in, you better set your lineup. Like, you better make sure that your Thursday night players are out of your flex because he's, once waivers run, he's going to be flipped to not out. And you're not going to be able to make a move. But then by the end of the week, you can move him into, oh, and add a spot for the week in one of those weekend players. Yeah, you definitely will be able to do that. But it's like. But the question on on Igbuka, that's what I wanted the answer on. What do you think of Egbuka, if he starts strong, are you willing to, are you willing to,

move him because you know it's going to become more clogged in the passing game? I wouldn't. If Abuka were a day two, like a wide receiver three, who's just really taking advantage of a lack of targets, or you know, with the superstar players out. But Abuka was drafted with the plan to be great, as a wise man said, drafted to be great. So I'm not moving, Abuka.

I'm just the I'm more concerned actually for just Godwin overall of like what if Mike Evans and Abuk are cooking and it takes Godwin multiple weeks to get back in then I think you have and you're going to be holding on for Godwin forever and it just seems like a really troubling situation. All right. Well, they did just pay him. That's the further complicating it is that they want him in the plans. But you're right. He was a slow starter back from injury last time. Jalen Coker, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers the feel and trade opened up a spot for him

then a major quad injury four to six weeks is the expectation Coker is on a lot of yeah his major quad is hurting not the minor quad Coker will be on IR he's on waiver wire in our league of record you could add him you could throw him onto the

IR spot and you could wait is it worth it and then how do you look at you know Xavier Legat Jason just picked him up in the hopes that Maybe he gets more work, Detavian Sanders, Hunter Renfro, and then obviously Ted McMillan should start strong. Coker's a name you can throw on IR, but will it affect Leggett? I think so.

I don't think it will affect Legat that much because I think they're going to operate in different areas of the field. Like Hunter Renfro to me is the guy that when Jalen Coker comes back, I think Adam Thielen leaving really opened things up for Coker. It was like, oh, wow. Okay, maybe you want Coget more than Liget. and then Coker had a really serious quad injury, apparently. Major, major, major quad injury.

This is major quad. I mean, obviously, any time that someone comes in and can take targets, it could come at the expense of other players. But I think that just the where they're operating on the field, Legat's going to get his kind of contested catch, deep field stuff, red zone targets, and Coker is going to be more of the possession guy that will fight with Renfro for that job. See, there was very few players I was less impressed with than Xavier Leggett last year. He was, I think, a terrible, it was a terrible rookie season production-wise.

It was terrible catch percentage-wise. He dropped a ton of passes. I do wonder whether he'll be as much of a focal point in this offense as I think it's going to be a lot of gadgetry. Well, he'll have to now. I mean, without Coker and without Adam Thielen, now he could still fail. He could, I mean, he is necessary to this offense. and then he could go out there and still stink and, you know, catch 58% of his passes and not move the needle for you. I don't, I didn't pick up Leggett because I'm like, man, he was so good.

It's just he's a year two wide receiver who was a first round draft pick who now has opportunity ahead of him. It's just a pathway. And it's the, you know, remember where Leggett came from of when we were talking about him as a prospect, if you weren't around for us talking about that, we had great caution for him. because his production profile, like he was just pure nothingness for what, like four years? For four, for a whole college career. You know, the old year five breakout in college, which he was dominant.

That one year it was how did, how was this guy not doing anything? He was just so athletic, but it was a major red flag that it took that long for him to break out. You know, he's the older guy beating up on kids. And Carolina took the risk with the first round pick. So I still question whether or not he's going to work.

He played 70% of snaps last year at 84 targets, 49 catches for 497. And he'll get an opportunity to start the year to make a big impact. All right, some other names. Joe Mixon. Obviously Joe Mixon is an IR stash. You playing for 2026? I mean, if, I know, I know, it's like mixing. has been such a storyline it's like we just don't know we don't know if he'll be like they say they're

going to try him out after four weeks but he could be out the whole year that's what the vibes feel like right now nick chub damien pierce those are the next minute up they didn't add somebody they haven't added somebody else if you want to find a possible positive angle for mixon it's that they haven't gone and signed another back and obviously he's not on year-ending i are or anything like that so mixin's an easy player to draft and stash late but nick chub damian pierce you just got to take a shot no one has the inside track as to whether or not pierce is going to be good or whether chub's going to be good i i think we all presume that the likeliest outcome is that neither one of these players are going to actually be a huge difference maker um i believe myself and andy are probably on the chubb side first

yeah well i yeah i'd start with chub part of the reason is that that if Chubb is back in any real capacity, it's very, very obviously good for fantasy. It's like he's going to be the goal lineback. He's got a history and a pedigree of being successful. Damien Pierce, I feel, will always be in a committee with Chubb. I feel like if Chubb was really good, it wouldn't be the other direction. No, I agree. That's how I see it.

So, again, I don't expect Chubb to be great at this stage of his career off the injuries he's had. but if one of them were to have a breakout I would be surprised if it's Damian Pierce Brandon Ayuk who has been drafted in every draft I'm in I think begrudgingly in some ways but a superstar and a player that got a huge contract

coming off the ACL not really competition in the wide receiver room I mean Ricky Pearsall is an unproven sophomore who should have a successful start to the year Juan Jennings yes he's going to be a role player. He's dealing with a cap of injury, and he wants a contract. So how long

will he be there and happy? But what do you think of the 49ers? Brandon Ayuk, he's an easy stash on IR, but Pearsall, if he has a strong start, are you just sticking with him? Yeah, I think if Pearsall shows out early on, then he's just leveled up. And I could see Brandon Iyuk coming back and Pearsall still being the one over Ayuk. When Iyuk came back last year, he wasn't doing great things on the field. He got the big contract and got paid to do great things but didn't and then got injured. So I expect a slower start, but obviously everything we love with the 49ers schedule, the offense, the reason we like George Kittle and Juan Jennings and all this is because

there is huge opportunity here. So IEU could certainly come back and make a difference, but I'm not bullish on him. One of the most, if not the most ignored IR stashes, Christian Watson, wide receiver for the Packers. We have talked at length about Jaden Reed's foot injury. He could get shut down at some point or just be ineffective, already limited snap counts. I think we can simultaneously respect Romeo Dubs,

but also acknowledge that he's probably a role player. Sure. Who will have maybe a big role in the beginning of the year. Matthew Golden, Unproven, a rookie, I think will be the one. But Christian Watson can be tucked away. will be back from the ACL injury. Do you have any interest in him at all? That one's honestly just win. When is he back? Because he, when he tore his ACL? I think I hear like four weeks.

I would be surprised. That is real question. Because he had the additional damage. It was the final week. Yeah, he he had the ACL plus additional damage. So, and those usually take a little bit of time. I'm seeing early November or mid-October. Okay, that makes more sense. So maybe that's more like six weeks. He, it's interesting to bring him up because it's, you know, like, both him and Brandon Ayuk are, you know, a destroyed knee and people were, we were spending the whole office season. Like, do not draft Brandon Ayuk in round seven or whatever his ADP is. It's just, it's not a good investment of when he's actually going to come back. And meanwhile, Watson is, you know, not drafted.

He, I feel like he's just going to clog your I are. like if you have if you have two spots okay maybe but if you have one i r spot i wouldn't be holding him also if you have iR spots this is the whole point of this segment and it's really about strategy you should have someone on it you should you're getting a free player like if if one of these players is on waivers you take your bottom guy on your team and drop them and pick them up and put them on iR and take another shot and then marshawn lloy don't forget about him even though it's easy to do so because he lives on the IR. He won't be able to play until

week six because the Packers have a week five by, so four weeks on the pub, week five. The reality of the situation there in Green Bay is that if something happens to Josh Jacobs, it would be Lloyd that I would want. He was making waves. He was making waves and the camp

reports once he actually got because he started injured again and then got back out to camp and then was wowing people and then wowed his body too much. So how do you rank stashing these players? Of everyone we talked about? Yeah.

I would say Tajay Spears is the number one. Yeah. Maybe Jalen Koker sticks out to me high up there. Iuke. Where are you with Mixon? Mixon to me doesn't really count because Mixon was drafted in every draft at a place where it's like he's not on waivers. I'm not going to pick him up. You know, you could say Mixon is probably the most valuable place.

player of all of these. I just don't consider him in the group with you know, Tajay and Coker and Marshaun Lloyd and these guys are probably on waivers in a third of leagues right now. If and I look, I know there's people out there, that's impossible. There's

going to be leagues out there where mixing will be dropped. Like, just because home leagues crazy stuff happens. Especially if you don't have an IR. Yeah, so. Do you pick them up if you don't have an IR? No. I would. I would not. It feels dumb, but I still would. don't think I would do it.

You know, Rashi Rice is that guy, like, we didn't bring him up because you can't put him on an IR. He's going to have six weeks of clogging a bench spot. That's going to hurt. Like, even this morning, like, I really wanted to pick up a couple waiver guys, and I just didn't want to drop the players that are on my roster right now. If you have a player not being productive every week, it's going to feel worse and worse with the waiver wire.

So, yeah, I probably wouldn't on mixing. Jason would, but you can make the call. All right. backup option sponsored by progressive insurance quote today at progressive.com. We'll take a break. We'll hit the news. All right. Let's talk about some news. News and notes from Around the League. Presented by Progressive Insurance. It wouldn't be week one without unofficial depth chart overreaction. So let's get into it.

Let's bring you those depth charts. And let's just watch you react. I want facial expressions for the YouTube audience. Okay. Bill Crosky. Oh, no. Bill Crosky was listed as Washington's running back for. There's not even a guarantee they dress four,

but certainly they could dress Bill and not dress McNichols. It was ordered. That's the funniest part of this. It was ordered in H. I'm just saying. It was Echler, McNichols. Better and respect. Chris Rodriguez, Bill.

So overreaction, underreaction, what do you think? Bill, R.B4, do you care? I don't care that much. We see this every year where a lot of times rookies will start on their unofficial depth charts behind other people, and then week one comes, and it's like, well, that was just literally like paper honor. And now with Bill specifically,

with Bill specifically, we kind of have been saying, he is likely behind some other people on the depth chart. So this one was like not even surprising. Everything about Bill is do you believe that the player is special? That's what it seems to come down to. It's like the people that love Bill, love and are impressed with him and think he's on a different level than the other running backs.

If you don't believe that and you just look at draft capital or depth chart or any of the other, you know, the collegiate stuff, I think you're out. But if you believe in the talent, I get it. understand why you'd be in that place. It's not like Chris Rodriguez hasn't had years to establish. McNichols years. And Echler is he's a good running

back, but he's not what he was a long time ago. So committee is at best what he is. The scariest part I think for Bill, if you're talking just week one, is the wise guys out there were saying his line is about 24 rushing

yards. And that is now gone. As in they are... They got bet the under so much. They've books pulled it. So the, and look, they don't know everything, but they just try to limit losses too. Well, yeah, they try and limit losses, but I'm saying like,

they have, you know, back doors they can go knock on and ask how things are going to go. Well, that'll be a fun month to watch. Trayvion Henderson listed as New England's RB3 behind Ramondre. Of course I don't care. Antonio. What is this is so dumb. Well, of course you don't care because you love Antonio Gibson. Yeah, that's right. Well, of course, he's great. That's right.

Yeah, man, a backfield. with Gibson and Henderson. I know. There's so much to love. We need to get Ramandre traded for who. Like who would be another name that... Oh, to add a third Mike. To add a third Mike superstar. Like Ken Bone?

Ken Bone? No, no. This is Rico. Oh, it is Rico. Yeah, let's get Hendo at RB1, Gibson RB2. Mike can answer the joke himself. Yeah. Yeah. All right, so you don't care about Travian at RB3. No. What about the Bronco situation?

J.K. Dobbins is listed as the starter. R.G. Harvey 2. I think at one point in the off-season, correct me if I'm wrong, I think RJ Harvey was listed at like five. And so to me, him moving up in an official capacity to RB2 is significant that that's where the team obviously sees him. But he's not the one. His utilization in preseason was great, but obviously Dobbins was, I mean, it could be Dobbins being arrested, exactly,

because he is the clear starter. Right now, I think week one, J.K. Dobbins is still going to be the lead ball toucher. Lead, whoa. well yeah what is what i think he's going to receive new catches targets and handoffs at a higher i think you'll touch the question was uh if you have both dobbins and harvey who are you playing that is the question if you had them both which i know you do in one league mike and you'll have to start both in that yeah yeah but if you had to choose one in week one you go out there man i because

the reporting was matchup against tennessee and week one. Because the reporting was expect J.K. Dobbins to be the starter, at least for the beginning of the year. That's why I probably go. It's such a brutal call because if you spent draft capital on both these guys,

you drafted Harvey where the fourth or the fifth round and then Dobbins and it's funny too because let's say we knew the opportunities, right? And we say J.K. Dobbins gets 15 opportunities and RJ Harvey gets 11. Who has more fantasy points?

because the explosive rookie. Yeah, if it was like that, then maybe I'd, you know, it's really close in week one. Really close. Both are fine starters and it's a good match. I think Dobbins is less risky in week one. But maybe Harvey does have more explosive upside. Yeah. ETN and Bigsby listed as co-starters. Are they running out two running backs? Zero is the answer. No, Tank Biggsby, Travis ETN, co-starters. Who would you rather have to start in week one. I'm still on Team Tank. I'm still on ETN. I think he's going to get the past catching work over Tank, but probably. I think they both get past catching work. I mean, if Tank Bigsby got past catching work, he would be the better option because he is a more

efficient runner between the tackles. He's a better pure running back. But I, you know, the passing work that Travis E.T.N. has always had from Trevor Lawrence. I can't imagine that vanishing. Over under half a reception for Tank Bigsby. See, that's a good. line and that's the problem I will take the over but if you said one and a half I was going to move it again yeah the hard part with ETN is that

if he doesn't score which he shouldn't right it should be Biggsby around the goal line should if not Tootin but probably Bigsby right it's like ETN had 202 opportunities last year and did so little over it so it's like I just feels like even if you give

him more total work it's going to come down to touchdown so I lean Bigsby Caleb Johnson listed as the running back three behind Jaylen. Right where we want them, boys. Right behind Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gain. No one loves the third running back more than Arthur Smith. With also, now we can

get on the goal line. Where's our Mike Tomlin quote? Oh yeah, that's, that was pretty brutal. I don't have it verbatim in front of me, but they Oh, we can find that. There's no question. It is a worthy quote. It needs to be known and said. And what is shocking, so we did our listener league draft yesterday.

I ended up with Caleb Johnson a player. You did? Yeah, I know it's shocking. I have no idea. You want to know what will shock you? I do. My cue was not Caleb Johnson. My cue was Jalen Warren, who I was going to take, but he went ahead, so Caleb

fell to me. But, I mean, right now, Jalen Warren is the starter. I like Caleb Johnson. I still think he can make an impact as the season goes on, but Jalen Warren is the guy right now. Mike Tomlin on Jalen Warren. His progress has been very evident, and he used to be congratulated. certainly he will be our featured runner. Certainly you'll see Caleb Johnson, Kenneth Gainwell,

but at what time and to what degree will depend week to week? Yeah. It's Jalen Warren's team to start. Yep. But that doesn't mean that Caleb can't be relevant. No, throughout the season, but I'm just, I think goodness he's not the backup. You do buy into that.

I buy in that Jalen Warren will be the featured running back for the first, at least month. Excited? Maybe more. Excited about this one. Titans have listed Epic Iow Manor as wide receiver two ahead of Van Jefferson to start the year. That would be Alec Iio Manor. And he is the rookie wide receiver for the Titans that I'm paying the most attention to.

I have him in every single draft in our Dynasty League. Not that he will have some incredible season, but there is the opportunity for him to establish. It's a rookie quarterback. It's Cam Ward. It's a team that's going to be playing from behind a lot. It's Calvin Ridley and Jack's squad. They need another receiver. And so if...

And they drafted Jack Squad in the 6th, was it? Right. And, yeah, and then Restrepo, they signed undrafted. So it was just Epic. And DK. As the... I think Epic is the primary wide receiver two from week one.

And if he's good, that's the question. Like, if he's actually good... And he looked good in pre-suit. But it just Jason... And in college. Do you care? I care a little bit. because Cam Ward can actually be something special.

So if Cam Ward is... Yes, he can. Hmm. Okay. Bank. Oh, we got booed. You didn't call Swiss. That's true.

So there you go. I'm the... I have no problem with the player. I just have a... I'm the cold bucket of water for the situation. It's fair. Rookie quarterbacks can barely support one top wide receiver. And that's...

Back in the 90s. No, no. And also the odds. Yeah. Yeah. And also the tens. But like if you're in, if you're in a deep league, sure. Like he's at least he'll be on the field.

Also, I believe, and I don't see it on here, but I believe Dante Thornton is also listed as a starter. Yeah. For the. And he's been a starter from the first second of training camp through preseason. Throw some cold water on my Dante Thornton because I have him everywhere. I believe he can be the one right out of the gate in Las Vegas. I believe he could be not the one, because that's Brock, not the two, because Jacoby is good. And I don't, I think he's interesting because he's a size speed freak.

I have, I have questions if it will actually work in the NFL. Once true NFL defenses are playing against him, like, can he handle the, can he handle the press and get, you know, actually get open? We are so close to our first. Like the New York Times. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. What is happening today?

Swish! We are so close to our Thursday night preview, guys. Najee Harris practiced in full. Mike Rable said Stefan Diggs will play in week one. Isaiah likely not expected to play in week one. Where are, like, we have. Gabe Davis to the practice squad of the bills. We have, Mark Andrews has really not been discussed much at all.

Where are you guys with Andrews? I think he should get off to a fine start. I mean, week one, at least Buffalo, a high over under, no likely on the field. You're going to score points. So him and Kelsey are. It's so frustrating, but we all know Mark Andrews will be like the number one tied in in week one. Yeah, I mean, I think both of those old guys are going to have a real strong start to the season because their competition is going to be absent for the first couple weeks.

All right. We have a Thursday night preview to get to. That was news and note, sponsored by progressive insurance quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers, not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Football! It's finally time. Thursday night breakdown.

Well, Jerry's been spending that Micah Parsons money on some other players. Dallas at Philadelphia I just I cannot with that guy Philly is now 8.5 point favorites at home the over under is 47 and a half that gives uh oh by the way we got some new we got some new graphics up on the YouTube. Oh!

We got some new matchup graphics up on the YouTube. Very nice. And they look real nice. But Philly 28 implied points. Dallas 19 and a half before the Parsons trade Philly was seven-point favorite, so it's moved a point and a half. And here we go. You know, no Michael Parsons. Philly coming off of the Super Bowl victory.

Like I said yesterday, this would be the greatest statement game ever for Jerry Jones and company and for the Cowboys fans. If they came out and won in Philly in week one, you know that generally the defenses are a little but ahead of the offenses sometimes when the season starts. Sure. So they probably could have used Michael Parsons. The fact that it is a, this is a divisional game. And the Cowboys are eight and a half point dogs.

Like, divisional games are usually, like, if you're, we're favored by three. Like, oh, okay. Are you sure? But eight and a half points is just, it would be. It would be a miracle. This is the beginning of, you know, DAC plus CD plus George. Yes.

When Dallas has had DAC as they're starting quarterback offensively, they've been fifth in plays per game, seventh and red zone plays per game, fifth and points per game. You know, it's been a minute since we've got to see that level of DAC CD. And because it wasn't quite cooking to start the year last year. And then DAC went down. Or the year prior when they did finish as the number one duo. Yeah, it was off to a slow start.

Yeah, the first four weeks. But that was, was that when Kellan Moore was still there? Believe so. Two years ago. I guess I bring that up because he, like, it didn't go well without him to start last year. Then we didn't see the rest of it. And we have Brian Schottenheimer. It is something to watch what they do with those two guys.

I saw them talking about each other and saying it's, you know, it's not a one in a two situation. it's one and one on both sides that's the way the wide receivers talked about it but um let's start with what cd is saying that cd yeah cd that's real nice of him yeah it was super nice he did wink we like george but come on william it's something you say you know what i mean speaking of which it's on this show it's like one and one and one yeah you're all ones here yeah all right givante williams and company that's what i'm going to say about the cowboys the season starts. Philadelphia was the

second best defense against fantasy running backs last year. How were they against wide receivers? Were they number one? No, they were top five. But what about quarterbacks? Top five. Really good. So maybe I'll start for Dallas. Yeah, I mean, this was the, so I am very, very

in on Dak, Prescott, on George, on Citi. The passing game here for the Cowboys, I'm fully in on this season. But the opening schedule is really tough. If you went and drafted DAC, if you, if you went and got George, I, you're going to need to do one of two things, have resolve and stay the course, or look at other options to start the year. Like, Dak, if you drafted DAC, I don't mind if you're out there and you say, you know what, Trevor Lawrence is sitting on waivers. I would rather play Trevor Lawrence week one.

I have DAC several places. I am not personally doing that, but I could tell you if this was a Sunday morning game. I mean, you're going to have. Trevor Lawrence would be in my lineup. I can't, I can't possibly watch opening night football and, and not have the DAC points. Dak, deck will, so they play Philly. Then they play the Giants. Then they play the Bears.

And then they play Michael Parsons and the Packers. The Giants of Bears. Then they play the Jets in New York. Giants of Bears might not sound like difficult matchups, but literally the bears were like 30-second last year against court like they were the they were the toughest matchup for quarterbacks and the giant's offense is bad but their defense is very good maybe the best defensive line in football so I I am you're going to have to show me how strong you are my resolve yeah a month from now I am not I don't believe in the offense and I believe it'll be a bad start

and I don't think I'll be buying him but maybe maybe you have to you know maybe that defense will be so bad that you have the NFC Bengals to deal with. That is the real hope. DAC is a good player. We know CD Lamb is an elite top five wide receiver in the NFL. You're not going to just be able to stop them all the time

and their defense stinks and they can't run the ball. So they will be throwing. It's just really tough to do here week one against the Eagles. You would play DAC or Justin Fields, Mike. Justin Fields plays Pittsburgh in week one. Oh, my gosh. I think I'll still go with Dak. So, DAC, I'm looking at the game log last year.

So he was the quarterback 22, 15, 1, 11, 12, 28, 18, and 22 before the injury. Dak or Trevor Lawrence, we answered it. Dak or Drake May in week one, Mike? I'd stick with Dak. And then Giovante, are you just not playing Giovante? Oh, goodness, me, no. The only, I mean, the path, thankfully, Javonte, was not in an area where you have to play him unless you were like, I'm going zero RB and

Javante is my hero. What if you had no second through six round picks? Then maybe you drafted Javentay. No, I don't. No, I don't. But I would, I would love to have out of him. That's where I was. The path is, the path forward for Javante is he's a good pass protector. He was a keeper. He was in our own record. Oh, no. Oh, Papa Josh. Look at him. I hope you're starting. Look at him. Javante's biggest fan. The path forward is he will. He should be on the field because I expect them to be trailing. And then you, if you get four receptions, then you'll be like four for five yards. Yeah.

Jake Ferguson, you're okay in week one? This, I like Jake Ferguson for the season, but I would prefer not to play him this week. AJ Brown? Yeah. Just start your Eagles. Devonte Smith, Sequin, Barclay, Jalen Hurts, played them all. What about Goddard? Goddard's interesting.

That's the first time his name's been mentioned in eight months. Yeah, I mean, he's had a 19% target share each of the last four years. That's a great number. That's impossible. If you look at this, I think this is the matchup, right? Like, if you've got Ferguson and Goddard is out on waivers, who would you rather have in this specific game? I feel like I'd rather have the team that's going to win. Last year, Dallas lost 34 to 6, 41 to 7 in the two games against Philadelphia.

They were, I think they're both DAC. Neither one was DAC, yeah. Is that the, yeah, okay. When he does a play, that's what they call it. Yes, yes, they do. All right, we'll take a break. We'll jump into the mailbag. All right, it's time to answer some of your questions.

Into the mailbag we go. Mailbag. Presented by NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. All righty. We are into the mailbag. We got a voicemail to start it off. If you have a question, you can go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Click to submit a question button or dial the voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB.

Here we go. Hey, ballers. This is Anthony from New Jersey, huge fan of the show. My question to you guys is, who would you rather start this week in the flesh? Full Point PPR, Tyrone Tracy Jr. or Jerome Ford? Thanks, guys. I would play Tyrone Tracy. Man, by a lot.

Really? Yes. I think it's difficult I would love to play a running back against the Cincinnati Bengals that sounds like a real good time in week one I think the only issue is

they'll be down by 40 by the time he gets a second carry well it's the the reporting you know of like there I think the last thing we heard was Mary Kay was like no Jerome Ford is expected to be the starter but then there's like

weird back channels are like don't be shocked if Dylan Samson is the starter so that that's the only thing that scares me off of Jerome Ford is that you put him in there you love the matchup the game comes up and they're introducing the starters and it's Dylan

Samson and then you're going to have a full panic attack. Yeah I mean both of these players have a day three running back to compete with whether it's Dylan Samson or whether it's Cam Scataboo I look at the matchup and I I love the matchup against the bangles.

I like the fact that Jerome Ford, you know, has had a season of 63 targets. This is a full PPR league. You're going to be down against the bangles. I think Jerome Ford ends up, you know, with three or four or five receptions in this game. Little checkdowns from Flacco. So I actually lean the Ford side. It's a good debate, but the past catching work, we're not sure if that's going to be Cam Scada who was great at that in college or Tyrone Tracy.

I would honestly Tracy had 53 targets last year So he can catch the football Oh yeah yeah it's not that he can't It's that the the Scadaboo factor is real Where Tracy didn't really have anybody to worry about I would take this to Sunday

And if you get If I got the full clearance that Jerome Ford is definitely starting I would play Ford Otherwise I would probably just put Tracy in there All right we got our First Mailbag question here Reveal your Super Bowl picks for the 2020

season, no better time than now right before the season kicks off to give a final word on who you think is going to win? It was, I didn't, you guys already had your Zen and I didn't want to be boring. Jason just reacted very... So I went with one where it's like, no, I can see it happen.

All right, so then I'll be more boring. I gave this some thought. I think the NFC is maybe easier than... I checked the odds, the top two teams. Oh, are they? Yes. I did not check the odds, but it makes sense. I like Green Bay in the NFC.

I like Detroit, but I don't like them as much as Philadelphia. So I have Philadelphia repeating and beating Baltimore in the Super Bowl. I have Baltimore in the Super Bowl as well, but not Philly. I have the Micah Parsons-led Packers, unfortunately, Jeremy, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. Yeah, it's really hard for me to not see it being Baltimore as the pick. to throw a contrarian idea out there. I went with the Denver Broncos over the Detroit

Lions. I think that the Bo Nix, with the 10 and 7 record as a rookie year two, the Broncos defense is ferocious and the Lions defense will be back to being healthy. It'll be so good for my Bo Nix rookie cards, Mike. You know what I mean?

Yeah, no, I do. We really, I appreciate that. Sports fan 101 writing in, can I trust to Marian Hampton enough to start him in week one? Chargers are three-point underdogs against Kansas City. It's the Brazil game, so they're not really in Kansas City or at home. They're just in Brazil. Kansas City was the best team against fantasy running backs last year.

I don't know how you, you know, who you drafted on your roster, where he was going by draft time. You know, he's a third-round pick, so. Need to take advantage of any lack of Naji as well. Well, I think Nogie's going to play. But now, it can't be much. No, no. If he hasn't taken a practice nap until today.

The line on Hampton, I think it opened at 48.5 rushing yards, and it's already down. So the matchup stinks, but I think I'm with Jason of. You took him to be a starter, and I don't think I would get cute. You also believe in the system that Harbaugh is running to, if any team is going to execute it, execute it against the Chiefs, it's going to be them. And it's Brazil. If they didn't fix the turf, then there's going to be a lot of points. I would say the only players that you might have where I'd go, okay, I would play James

Connor. Oh, I'd play James Connor for sure. Yeah, James Connor and Alvin Camara in the same game against each other. Okay, that's fair. If you had those guys where you've got to decide between them and Hampton, okay, otherwise, I'm plugging in the rookie. Euro writes in on X, hey, ballerinos. Do you guys have any first Sunday of football rituals or traditions to break in for the new year?

Do we have any first Sunday football rituals? Other than the... Set my lineups. The chanting, the candles. Right. I mean, other than that. But that's who doesn't have... The lucky pants.

Regular old stuff. Yeah, Mike doesn't wear pants week one. That's, you know... Well, we'll see. The first Trayvion Henderson. and housecalling. So you're wearing tearaways. Of course. Okay. All right. I probably need like multiples.

Oh, that's a good idea. Just layer it up. See if you can put the pants store out of business. I would prefer him to layer it up. Yes. Yeah. All right. What is the vibe check right now? Zach wants to know. Instagram question. What's a vibe check on Colston Loveland? Oh. You know, Loveland, you want to talk about another depth chart reaction type of situation. I mean, Cole Komet is very clearly the starter there right now.

Colson Loveland did get some time in the last preseason game where he caught, I think, the first pass and has obviously been drafted to be an explosive weapon. I think it's really hard when it's DJ Moore, Roma Dunzei, Luther Burden, DeAndre Swift, Colson Loveland, and this whole myriad of options with a quarterback he may or may not trust. Yeah, I mean, that's why he was a late round draft pick. However, in the NFL, he was a super high draft pick that every team wanted and people were trying to trade up for. So there's been plenty of leagues where I take Colson Loveland, like with my last pick as a second tight end, not to start week one, but just to see what if, just to see, you know, if there's another breakout. I agree with you, Andy, the pathway for him is very difficult. That's why I was right after the NFL draft, I was much lower on Loveland than Tyler Warren

because the path is so much more clear, I believe, for Warren. The most popular start sit question right now on the website so far are two. two rookie wide receivers that are both my guys. My guy versus my guy. That are facing defenses ranked 29th and 31st last year against the past, against wide receivers. Amec,

Bucca at Atlanta, Teteroa McMillan at Jacksonton. Man. This is an easy Tet to me. Is it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, this I feel like it's more like, you know, Teteroa is in the Mike Evans role here. Yeah. He's the one for his team right off

the bat. Whereas Emeka Ibuka is going to be on the field I'm not saying he couldn't have the better game but I feel like he is still the two for this team behind Mike Evans. I am very excited for seeing what Tetaroa can do. Both of these matchups are close enough to equal where it's not

like you know it's not like one of these is great and the other is terrible for Tet. Plus where you drafted them? I mean this is an easy for me, Tetaroa week one. They're both great starts but I would go Tet as well. I would. I just don't call it an easy one. But at the end of day I'm

But there are additional Igbuka questions coming in, including Jamieson Williams against Green Bay or a mecha, Egbuka. My guy versus my guy. Oh, yeah, so I can't answer. I'd start them both. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, just start them both. That's a great answer. I like it. Bench whoever else you have.

Right, yeah. No, I mean, if I had to choose between those two, I mean, we just talked about the matchup. Igbuka, not a lot of options. If Otten doesn't play, if McMillan's not there, if Godwin's not there, you know, does Does Bucky Irving get it done on the ground against Atlanta? Probably. Jameson's going to be on the road in Green Bay. Yeah, I'll take a book a week one.

I think I would as well. All right. I think the over under is tied right now. And let's see, Tampa is implied for 25 and the lions are at 22 and a half. Foof. I think I'd just, yeah, I'd start Jameson Williams. Eddie and Rhode Island writes in, who is the better stash at the end of a 10-team PPR bench?

Ollie Gordon or Brayland Allen. I do not have A. Chan or Hall on my team. So you're looking at just blindly adding one of these for upside. For me, it's Ollie Gordon. Oh, for me, it's Braylon Allen. I think I'm going with Ollie Gordon. I don't think I'm going to be surprised in week one that Ollie Gordon is like, I can be surprised and Braylin can be the starter for New York.

Braylin could get more work. He could. And be establishing. So that's where I lean. Like, if I'm going to stash one and I learn something new, I'm not going to learn something new in Miami in terms of the hierarchy of running backs, but I will potentially learn something new in New York, so that's why I would pick Allen. I think you very well could end up learning something new on Ollie Gordon,

not that he would be the lion share over A-chan, but if he gets into that Moastert role, if he gets the goal line work, if he is really the more involved than you think he is, and he's not just some backup to A-chan, but he's actually splitting with A-chan. I think he's a better I think he's a better player than Brayland Allen. Oh, I don't. And I expect all the things you just said. Like if that doesn't happen in week one for Ali Gordon,

then I would be... Then you would learn something. I would be surprised. Like, we, he should be, right? I mean, they don't just use a chance. Ollie's the only guy they got. He should do all that stuff. To me, a lot of it's just goal line for me.

Offense versus offense. Sure. Whether you want, you know, who's going to have more touchdown opportunities, the Jets or the Dolphins? Yeah, and the dolphins are historically the worst goal line team with Jalen Wright and with Devon H. And so if Ali Gordon somehow had success, that would be relevant like Moster did a couple of years ago. Who do I target in the Bears' backfield?

Xavier wants to know on X behind DeAndre Swift. Who do I target in the Bears' backfield behind DeAndre Swift? I think it is. I think it's Kyle Monongai, which it, This year, this year is wild talking about all these day three running backs is hurting my brain of just like play of odds and history of what has happened. Day three running backs are irrelevant, but the way that they've talked about, Monongai, I think he is the RB2.

It could honestly be nobody. It could be swift, gets a whole bunch of action between the 20s and Monongai is the backup, And then as soon as they're inside the five, it's Roshan Johnson. I think Swift is underrated. I think Swift is underrated for drafts. I think nobody ever wants to draft them, and I think that's dumb. I think there's a, I don't know that it's dumb, but I think there's a chance that he is. I mean, Ben Johnson should, if Ben Johnson succeeds, you have to carry that out to its implications for every position group.

Sure. And we haven't done that with Swift. We've done it for all the wide receivers and the tight ends. I don't feel like we've said, hey, you know, we literally can't decide if it's Roshon who's been bad or Manungai who's never played. But we're sitting here with DeAndre Swift and it's like you could be a really, really valuable piece. You look great in the preseason. And Ben Johnson, if you carried out to its end, I feel like DeAndre Swift is a steal. Well, it comes down to of like we've seen Ben Johnson with D'Andre Swift before. And I'm trying to pull up. Swift was good per touch. Yes, for touch.

Just didn't get as much. Per touch he was. The thing is. When he was with the lions. Yes. When he was of the Lions. The thing about that year, though, is Jamal Williams had 262 carries and 17 rushing touchdowns. That's the issue with Swift. To DeAndre Swift's 99 carries. But he did miss a few games.

So, DeAndre Swift, he played 14. The funny thing about him is, no matter what the path is, he's played on three teams. His points per game, 12-8, 13-7, 11-9, 11-2, 11-4. He can't keep getting away with it, Andy. He's 11 plus a game. We haven't. Everybody has him

consensus ranked outside. the top 24 but he's finished inside the top 24 for five straight years it's just let's just put it i'm saying maybe it's better off putting that emotion to the side and just leaning in never okay that's another option never is another option uh let's go to this question adam stewart in ontario my bench has too many spot or has too many need to drop one jordan mason or tank bigsby oh that stinks i would drop bigsby yeah i would too but because I think Mason's a better player I mean that's who you have to drop

there's not a well that's what Adam said Tank is a pretty late pick yeah but there's like a I don't know it's a late veteran wide receiver who does doesn't really have upside you have Adam Thielen then I'm dropping Adam Thielen yeah okay but that to drop a

regardless of how you feel about Tank Bigsby or his or his talent he is currently listed as a co-star for Liam Cohen. So dropping that guy under the waiver wire is going to feel bad. Well, if you had to pick one, which one would you do? Jordan Mason or Tank? No, I would drop tank of the two.

All right, that'll do it for the mailbag. Watch every game every Sunday with NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. Visit YouTube.com slash fantasy footballers. We will have YouTube TV up, by the way. Yes, we will. On all nine screens this weekend as we take in week one of the NFL season. Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games, space plan required excludes digital only games commercial use excluded no refunds tomorrow is starts of the week

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