Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 5 Studs & Duds + Grizzly Facts - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/9

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

Week 5 reactions! On today’s fantasy football podcast, find out which bust performances are the most concerning going forward! Plus, surprising studs, big injury news, and a Week 5 edition of Monday Punday! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 9th, 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the podcast. For those who are nasty, that's the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. I'm nasty, mate. I know. I'm real nasty. Jason Moore. Always, always nasty. Also joined by Jay Grizz, the cardboard bear extraordinaire, a.k.a. Jay Riz.

Handling his win with dignity. Yeah, that's right. Big week for the Bears out there. All the animals. The Bears. All the animals, all the Bears out there. It's a big week for them. What else did I miss?

Are you just saying that when the team, the Chicago Bears, wins, it's a huge day for the species? That's a huge day for all bear kind. Which bear takes the most pride in a victory from the Chicago Bears? I would imagine brown bears. Is that not what the Bears mascot is? It's not a grizzly, right? I don't know.

Someone find that out. Is there a specific bear that the chicago bears lean into anyways welcome to the show it's monday october 9th uh we got one more game tonight but we had another sensational weekend of football uh quick oh wait we got staley da bear no no his name isn't staley you're telling me his name is staley da bear that's what i'm seeing what's your source oh it is i see it too staley da bear da d a as in like the bit of da bears staley da bear well which one came first the mascot or the or the sml sketch i think the mascot da bears all right well check it out. Staley DeBear resembles

a grizzly bear. There we go. There's our fact of the evening. Follow us on social, instagram.com fantasyfootballers or follow us on x slash twitter at theffballers. I am at ffhitman. The nasty one to my right is at jasonffl and you can find

Andy at Andy Holloway. A lot of things to get into, but it is Monday. So get the pinkies up. I'll start it here. Jason with good gutters. Yes, he was. Oh, how about Travis? Muy bien.

Good delivery. Brees Hall of Fame. Oh, and you had Jamore Chase. We got a lot of foreign language here. We got DJ Mi Amor. Oh, how lovely. Yes, but then there was the bad. Yeah, there's the bad, like JT's.

Oh, hopefully you heard that one right. We got Najah Harris. Or Seedy on the Lamb. Yes, thank you for indulging me, Jason. Blah Mondray Stevenson. Or the best one of the week. Matt Burrito

Farts. Matt Burrito Farts. So good. I mean, you know, he doesn't really have big boy pants. Right. But. So a burrito fart would devastate his tiny little baby boy pants. Tiny pants are ruined with burrito farts.

So real quick, I'll pull. We already know from YouTube. Jeremy, are you familiar with the phrase on the lamb? I am. Okay. Okay. Okay. the phrase on the lamb? I am. Okay. Okay. Okay. So we got at least half of it because that was my joke because I had CD and I'm like,

where is he? He must be on the run on the lamb, like an old timey mobster when you're on the run from the man. But I had never heard of this on the lamb. And half the office had never heard this. Yeah. And I imagine half our audience hadn't. But we do nothing if not educate here.

Now you know that Staley Da Bear is a grizzly. And you know that on the lam is an old-timey reference for on the run. Where were you on that one, Kyle? Kyle had to have heard that one. No. Never heard of it. Oh, gosh dang it. Yeah. Oh, gosh, dang it. Yeah.

Oh, man. It's all the old dummies that know that phrase. Get some culture in your life. Let's move on to the news. News and notes from around the league presented by USAA Insurance. All right. If you happen to miss it, JT's. He seems like he won because he got healthy, he got ready to play,

and the Colts gave him a three-year $42 million contract extension. He is now the third highest paid running back in average salary behind Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. And he ruined people this week. I mean, ruined them. And not just, like, this news of him getting the contract is part and partial to why he ruined people. Because, like, I know I love, there is a bit on this show that has gone back from the NFL draft

where I love to dunk on Zach Moss and talk about how untalented he is. And hopefully we've equivocated enough that that is mostly a bit we've told you to start him no one was starting him this week right like I can't imagine I know I'm sure that look I get it we're gonna get screenshots of no I definitely started Zach Moss I get it some people did but we're talking about that is a you did you want to? That's the question. What happened more? Zach Moss was started by the teams that had Zach Moss, or Zach Moss was cut this weekend by the teams that had Zach Moss. I don't think people would be cutting Zach Moss.

You still want valuable backups, but because he came out and got that bag of money, and the team came out and said, he's fully healthy, ready to go. They did say we're great shape. We're going to work him in, but the work in was, well,

here's, here's, here's the truth. Very slow. Zach Moss looks on freaking believable. I mean, like we're watching this together and I'm just, I'm just eating my words over and over and over.

He's the best running back of all time. I've never seen a player look better than Zach Moss does right now. And the whole game, I'm just thinking, oh my gosh, is Jim Irsay just super upset he gave this bag of money to Jonathan Taylor? You don't need him. You've got Zach freaking freaking moss who is great so um apparently uh years of being bad it's it's really funny because i feel like on on the timeline of life my zach moss hatred it's been a huge win yes huge win like people wanted to draft him so high in rookie drafts and they were all in, I was all out. And unequivocally,

he was a bust. Yes, 100%. He got traded. Yeah, exactly. He was a bust for Buffalo, running back 45, 52, 63. He's just not been good. And then, I mean, I expect the PED pop any minute.

I don't know what happened, but he's legitimately good. He looks unbelievable. Look, he's healthy. He's in a scheme that works for his running style. In case you missed it, I mean, he'll be in the studs, but we're talking about it. Zach Moss versus Tennessee.

A team you cannot run the ball on. They hadn't given up a 100-yard rusher in forever. Like a Fortnite. But who is the one to get it done? 23. run the ball on they hadn't given up a hundred yard rusher in forever in a like a fortnight but who is the one so yeah get it done 23 for 165 and two including a 50 plus yard scamper for a giant touchdown at which point i shouted there he goes and and jason's like oh jonathan taylor is back and then we catch the number and the name on the back and it was Zach Moss and Jason's laughter was so pure and genuine of like this is such a ridiculous thing made me so happy as some you know look sometimes yeah you just want the world to burn and seeing that

Zach Moss dominated was so frustrating and I I really I I do empathize with everyone who had to make that decision you had both players or even you just had Zach Moss who's been good Jonathan Taylor's back it's a bad matchup against Tennessee like I would I would personally have benched him without a shred of doubt if I could yes I had another pivot option and I know Andy posted a tweet with tons of screenshots of people that did get start Zach congratulations um usually everyone was backed into that forced to start him he also added 30 receiving yards so he had almost 200 yards from scrim and two touchdowns I mean it's unbelievable the RB6 on the season right now Bears running back Khalil Herbert Jay Grizz cover your ears

ankle injury from Thursday night was confirmed. It was a high ankle sprain. He should miss multiple weeks. The Bears will be interesting to talk through tomorrow on waivers because Roshon Johnson left that game early with a concussion. He's in protocol. We don't know. But so far this year, pretty much anyone that's gone into protocol

has missed one week at least. So that's my expectation right now. They also went and signed, I forget who it was, gone into protocol has missed one week at least yes that's my expectation right now they they also went and signed um forget who it was but they signed a practice squad guy already after the game so i think they're anticipating they'll be without him which means deont foreman he's gonna get his shot uh saints wide receiver he was seen going through an extensive pre-game routine with a trainer i mentioned this on sunday live of this looks like a guy who was not healthy and his quarterback

is not healthy. Pretty sure you didn't say his name. Chris Olave. There you go. Sorry about that. Just one of the Saints wide receivers. Christian Olave and it was I don't know what to make of this because the team is not making anything of it

but he ended up with a stat line of two for 12 with a touchdown so not the worst possible thing that can happen but it was it's it's something worth monitoring then from sunday anthony richardson the colts quarterback hurt unfortunately yet again initially diagnosed a grade three AC joint sprain. We're looking at he could miss a month or more. Probably ends up on the IR. He's going to get a second opinion, and then we'll go from there. Daniel Jones, Giants quarterback. He left in the fourth quarter with a neck injury.

He did not return. He will be marked as iffy and questionable. He will be getting an MRI. Travis Kelsey, if you saw the play, he went down in a heap on a non-contact injury, and it was you could feel fantasy souls leaving their body as Zeus went down in a heap, and it was, oh, crap. Then the replay showed what was his ankle. He was mad.

At first, I thought it was like an Achilles. The way he went down, it seemed like one of those classic non-contact injuries where he didn't do enough. You're looking to see if the calf rippled. Yeah, exactly. But then on the slow-mo replay, you saw he twisted it. He rolled his ankle. So he goes to the locker room.

I will say this with him. So he got called in the locker room by Taylor Swift. She said, shake it off he did god no yeah no uh i don't guys i don't how do i know you don't need any buttons unless you here i got the button for you yeah there it is thank you thank you anyways he came back finished the game that's the only one I can find. That's garbage. It was garbage, but that's kind of what we do here sometimes. He did come back, finished the game, played great,

caught a touchdown, was awesome. I don't personally believe that this is a guarantee that he plays this next week. We have seen this many, many times. He's on Thursday night. That's what I was going to bring up. He's got a very short week, and we have seen this many, many times. He's on Thursday night. That's what I was going to bring up. He's got a very short week, and we've seen this a lot of times. Like when you first roll your ankle, you could tape it up and play through it.

But then once you rest, it swells. So it's just something to monitor. Tomorrow we'll be talking about potential tight end pickups just to be prepared. It's actually kind of nice that he's Thursday because you will know ahead of the entire slate you can make a pivot. Justin Jefferson exited in the second half with a hamstring injury. We had the towel over the head on the sideline. So if you follow that narrative of a player's body language saying, I am hurt for reals.

They were down seven in an important must-win game against the Chiefs, and he was – He couldn't go. Yeah, so that's – I mean, that isn't science or medicine, but I – you know, history says he's probably going to miss some time. Cardinals running back James Conner. He exited with a knee injury off of – it was a man run, and then he got hurt and he did not come back. But what was so weird about this, so he's injured.

He hurt his knee. He gets ruled out. He's sitting on the sideline, and then to go to halftime, he runs into the locker room. He doesn't walk or take a cart. He's jogging into the locker room. Maybe he was testing it. Sure. Yeah.

Maybe. But I would. I mean, is that a good sign? I don't know. I am. Who knows? Tank Dell. He Texans wide receiver.

He left very early with concussion. Juju Smith Schuster. He also had a concussion left a situation to monitor. Devon H in the greatest running back in the history of the NFL through two games played or whatever we're at. No one, no one could stop this guy. It's unbelievable. He touches the ball and he gets 10 or 10 to 70. Yes. And every play seems like he's just, he's just so much faster than the defenders. And this scheme is a perfect fit for him. Um, so far the last three weeks, and this scheme is a perfect fit for him.

So far the last three weeks he was the running back one, the running back four, the running back four. But he did roll his ankle. Yes. He did not play again. That was his final snap of the game. And it kind of reminds me of what we saw with Austin Eckler. Yeah. Where it was like this one was a blowout.

It was 31-13. So he did not come in after the the injury incident so we have not heard anything else we're just we we try to catch all the information that we possibly can so that you're the listener you're in on it as early as possible but it's just that is something to monitor and Monday Night Football Devontae Adams is expected to play he's been listed as questionable all week missing practice all week it like answering Devante Adams questions on Sunday live was it was impossible of like I have no clue I have no clue if he's going to play but I do think he says he will he's saying he will he got this injury last game went to the locker room

got a shot came back out and played so I think he's going to get a shot pre-game and play we've seen him do those type of things before it is an injury where you usually miss a week but uh he's a tough guy and I I think he'll be out there if he's not out there hopefully you have a pivot option uh like Jaden Reed sure uh someone like that Renfro. I mean, yeah. Your options are very limited, but hopefully you don't need it, or hopefully he plays and he gets you what you need. That was today's News and Notes

presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. This week's Fantasy Stud Muffins. Well, Justin Fields was was great we got it he destroyed me josh allen continues to have a tremendous fantasy football season they lost they didn't really look particularly good i think they scored 20 points they did nothing in the first half. Right. And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh yeah, he was awesome. They figured it out. Fantasy three 59

and two also had a rushing touchdown. Jared Garf, the year girth in one of the, like most, uh, the, his, his was so interesting to me because Amon Ross St. Brown is out. Jameer Gibbs is out. It's on paper, it's, man, David Montgomery is going to have a huge game, which he did. And Jared Goff is, how do you play him in this scenario? And honestly, he 20 for 236, but he threw three touchdowns. I mean, what?

Did he have a rushing touchdown? Yeah. I'm misremembering that. So, I mean, they blew the socks off of the Carolina Panthers, who looked terrible. And did you see the play? Josh Norris tweeted this out. When we're watching the games, a lot of times we don't have sound on certain games.

So I missed it live. But there was a play where they direct snapped to the running back. But the quarterback, Goff, was lined up under center. He was standing behind, and they snapped the ball between through his legs straight to the running I missed that one it was wild I've never seen something on purpose yeah that was the play it was it was pretty neat design yeah I did not you get to play with crazy things when you're you know beating someone down 40 to whatever it was so Jared Goff at home it continues to be someone that you can play.

He's not necessarily been fantastic on the road, but at home he just throws more touchdowns. He is a perfect, perfect streamer because he's so predictable. Here's what's going to happen. He's going to go on the road to Tampa Bay. Don't play him. He's going to go on the road to Baltimore. Don't play him.

Three weeks from now he's at home in a plus matchup against the Raiders. Absolutely play him. He's going to go on the road to Baltimore. Don't play him. Three weeks from now, he's at home in a plus matchup against the Raiders. Absolutely start him. I mean, it's so nice when a guy can do what the expectation is, and Goff has been great at that. Jalen Hurts, over 300 passing yards, passing touchdown, a huge day on the ground, 72 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Desmond Ritter. So wild. 329 passing yards, a rushing touchdown. Desmond Ritter. So wild.

329 passing yards, one tutty. He had a rushing touchdown as well. The reason he was 28 for 37 and he looked good. He looked good. It wasn't some crazy stat padding like, oh, screen where a wide receiver housed it and bailed him out. Kyle Pitts had 11 targets. We noticed it right off the bat. You pointed it out like we were five, six plays into their side of the ball,

and Mike's like, dude, Desmond Ritter's looking good, and then we just keep paying attention. He looked great. Now, I think it was just his day I you know when you've got a a sample size I mean obviously he's a he's a young player it's early in his career maybe he can level up also this was against the Houston Texans not a not a yeah but it's a devastating defense but it's a team that generally our fantasy quarterbacks do not have a ton of success yeah because you can run on them so much which they weren't their run game was not what we expected yeah it was it was uh it was a pretty cool game though they uh the atlanta falcons

pulled out the last second victory brock purdy he had four touchdowns this time uh so he i mean 250 and two is what we normally expect from him but he had four touchdowns this time. So, I mean, 250-2 is what we normally expect from him, but he had four passing touchdowns. In four-point leagues, he's currently the QB5. He does play Cleveland on the road next week. Not necessarily the best situation. Yeah, and that was against the Cowboys defense. So, it was a – I mean, that was a big game for the 49ers

who look like an unstoppable juggernaut at the moment. They really, really do. I mean, they look absolutely unbeatable. I mean, their defense is, I don't know how they hit harder than every other defense in the league, but every tackle looks like just so punishing. And their defense, I don't even know that it's the strength of their team their offense might be better than their defense yeah the first drive with the scripted plays was I mean it was perfection against the Cowboys Sam Howell it was the Thursday night

game Andy started the week but he came through with a big performance and then here we go oh man joseph burrow 36 of 46 317 and three i believe jamar chase had about 90 of that production there but the point is he played the cardinals on the road 300 passing yards three passing touchdowns a good completion percentage gets to play se Seattle next week. Where are we? Our approach with Joe Burrow this weekend was more of a, you absolutely cannot drop Joe Burrow because he's an elite, talented quarterback, but we get it if you want to bench him this week.

I mean, I think that, honestly, our advice was more you should bench him. So I would imagine most people did not play him. He did have a pretty good game. Are you right back in versus Seattle? Yeah, I think because it's a good matchup against Seattle, I'm okay playing him. We said don't drop him because we know he's going to get back. We just don't know is that going to be one week or four weeks from now. The Cardinals defense is not great. So maybe some of it was just bad play they they don't have anyone on the roster that can stop a Jamar Chase right right so that's the issue Seattle does Seattle has some some guys in their secondary that that can give him a little bit of a harder time so maybe it's more of the Arizona matchup but what what we wanted to see what we were waiting

for with Burrow was does he look like he's throwing the ball well? Can he move in the pocket? There was a great play where Scramble do his right to buy some extra time, threw it back across his body to the end zone for Jamar Chase. It looked like classic vintage Joe Burrow. And then, even late in the game, he scrambled for a first down. He ran the ball when you're doing that it's like okay he's not hampered he had a 10-yard run that was like I don't think you do that if your calf is really really bothering you he said after last game his calf was good so I'm I'm okay with Burrow now I'm back in so he gets Seattle this week um then he's on the bye week but then it's San Francisco and it's Buffalo Brooks is bringing up do you are you looking at moving Joe Burrow,

like taking this moment of saying the elite quarterback is back in action? I mean, I don't know. If I could trade high. I don't know what quarterback you're going to get back or whoever you have as your backup. Yeah, I mean, if I could trade high, I would, but that would require getting another you know, another top-flight type of quarterback. I mean, I don't know if—every league is so different.

And, you know, someone might value Joe Burrow's name so much more than Justin Fields despite the two massive performances. They might be thinking, oh my gosh, I'm parlaying Justin Fields two big performances into getting Joe Burrow because he was injured and they you know for me personally I would much rather have Justin Fields than Joe Burrow so if I could make a trade like that I would do it. I'm gonna take a quick break back with the running back studs. 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. How'd the weekend go for the Deucer Alley? Aside from Owl who dismantled

me on Thursday night. How was your guys' fantasy weekends? Brooksy? Not bad. Depends how Devonta Adams. You're on Adams night. How was your guys' fantasy weekends? Brooksy? Not bad. Depends how Devonta Adams. Ah, okay. You're on Adams Watch. How many points do you need? I have an advantage, but my opponent has Christian Watson as well.

Oh. Yeah, that's what I got going on. And then the Rapscallion, you doing all right? Well, my Burrow chase stack actually worked out really well. All right. But I'm still facing DJ Moore and Montgomery, so it comes down to tonight and Josh Jacobs. So we'll see.

All right. Jacobs should have a pretty good game. At the running back position, Travis Etienne. A very strange game. Him and Ken Walker are very, like, the parallels between these two guys is, like, they're the same person. I've never seen them in the same place. I've never seen them in the same place at the same time.

Like, just terrible runs, getting stuffed, nothing, nothing. The run game is absolutely shut down. Oh, huge 50-yard play with a touchdown. Shut down, shut down. Oh, huge 50-yard play with a touchdown. Shut down, shut down. Another huge play. Both of these – both Ken Walker and Travis Etienne were viewed as riskier draft picks, which guilty I felt like Travis Etienne was going to see a lot more competition from Tank Bigsby.

And we felt the same thing with Walker. With Walker, with Charbonnet and Ken Walker and Travis Etienne are dominating Etienne is running back four on the season it was 26-136-2 and involved in the passing game as well Zach Moss we kind of covered him

he's just I mean he's elite what do you do with Zach Moss that is the question what do you do with Zach Moss? So that is the question. That is the question. What do you do next week? Like, you know, I think you play him. Jonathan Taylor played, do you know his snap percentage? It had to have been, like, low teens. Yeah, it was 15.

Okay. 15% of the snaps. So this was all Zach Moss. It was Zach Moss's, I mean, he had 23 carries and a couple targets. He looked phenomenal. But what do you do? I think you have to play him at least one more week. You're playing him

this next week. I think it'll be... Because it'll be just a split time shoot. So you play them both? Yes. I think... Oh, man. I have more confidence playing Moss. The question is, does it bump up to 50-50, or does it bump up to 60-40 in favor of Zach Moss? You know at some point Jonathan Taylor will take over

and Zach Moss will go kaput because he's not going to be fantasy relevant if he's getting 35% of the snaps. But we don't know when that's going to be, and maybe it's a longer process than we expect i i'm very happy i don't it's weird to not to be happy you don't have the rb6 on the season but like going forward it seems like just a mistake factory it seems like a mistake factory yeah just seems like a a place that is building mistake like choosing wrong yeah like this last week everybody benched him the majority of people It seems like a mistake factory. Yeah, it just seems like a place that is building mistakes.

Choosing wrong. Yeah, like this last week, everybody benched him. The majority of people benched him. As opposed to a steak factory. Oh, that sounds great. Which would be... My favorite place. Brees Hall, we're back, baby.

Yeah. I mean, it was the Denver Broncos. 22 for 177, rushing touchdown. Huge vintage Brees Hall breakaway run great to see that 52% of the snaps season high 73% of the running back opportunities we absolutely love it Ian Harditz has a tweet if you take away Brees Hall's 72 yard touchdown he would only be averaging 5.7 yards carried so he was great the front to back in that one. Devon Achan, again, only on 11 carries, 11 for 151 and 1.

He was over 100 carries on carry number three. Or 100 yards. Yes, over 100 yards on his third carry. He's just, don't give him daylight. Raheem Mostert also had another good game. And just a reminder of Devon Achan, his ankle, monitor that situation. David Montgomery. He has an ankle monitor?

Monitor that situation. Well, I mean, his ankle monitor, that situation is a problem. That would be a much bigger problem. I feel like that would slow him down quite a bit. I don't think he would be allowed to play. Well, they would know where he is. So I think he'd be all right. Okay, maybe only home games.

David Montgomery, 19-4-9 with a rushing touchdown. He did have six targets as well. He is the running back seven on the season. Just going to keep going. Yes, Jameer Gibbs was inactive. It does not matter for David Montgomery. I think that his role is super duper safe alvin camara hey three catches for 17 yards which what was last week it was like 13 or 17 it was it was

13 for 33 i believe so that this was much better but he was also great on the ground including a rushing touchdown hey if you have if you held the faith and you spent the VAP and you played Jaleel McLaughlin, you got 9 for 68 on the ground. That's not the worst. You also got 3 for 21 with a touchdown through the air. Had more opportunities than Samajit Piran. He's got the juice. He looks really good.

His touchdown reception, it was a difficult catch that most backs probably don't make. Kind of tips to himself, catches the ball, makes a juke, turns on the Jets, and he's in there. We were talking about how in the studio, Javante Williams hasn't looked good this year. Samajai Pirine has looked worse. They are two good backs, presumably, coming into the year, that you expected to be quality fantasy assets because of their history. But they just haven't looked good. Whether Javante is still working his way back from injury, he's not to 100% yet. And whether Samaje is just starting to age out.

But it is possible here that Jaleel McLaughlin is able to play his way in to be the starter even after Javante is back. At the very least, he is going to ruin Javante's second half. You know what I mean? You had the hope with Brees Hall, with Javante Williams, where they're going to get healthy. The second half of the year will be much better. This seems like Sean Payton's not going to be putting Jale second half of the year will be much better. This seems like you're not going to be – Sean Payton's not going to be putting Jaleel McLaughlin on the bench. Yeah, I don't know that he can play his way to be the starter,

but I think he probably has played his way that he will get opportunities when everyone's healthy. DJ Moore, the Thursday night game was spectacular. Jamar Chase. Look, the Bengals, they took our advice yeah it works what happens when you just throw at your best player the whole time and 19 targets turned into 15 catches 192 receiving yards three touchdowns he jumped up to the wide receiver six on the season because this was a 50 plus point explosion Tyreek Hill

had the nine targets eight from 181 and one oh we're worth noting as well Tyreek Hill was you wouldn't know it's like if you're always all you saw was the box score Tyreek Hill for another great game he was kind of in and out of the lineup over the second half so he was dealing with something it didn't completely keep him sidelined, and when he's on the field, he was still able to go full throttle, but something to monitor. Jalen Waddell also had 10 targets, 5 for 50 with a score. George Pickens came through with another big game, including that huge touchdown to kind of take the victory away

from the Baltimore Ravens at the end of the game. Oh, man. I can't wait to talk about the Ravens. But this isn't the section for them. Yeah, unfortunately. It should be. It really should be. It should be, but it is not.

It can't because of the production. Adam Thielen, 11 for 107 and 1. No, no, no. Oh, the garbage man. No. Yes. No. Yes.

No way. This was. the touchdown was garbage time there was so much stinky fantasy delicious garbage at the end of this game there was absolutely the the touchdown this is the second time now he's had a garbage time touchdown that was pretty worthless for the outcome of the game but very nice for fantasy. Yes. But we can't call this a garbage time performance. He had 13 targets. He was getting it done from the beginning of the game onward.

He is the clear number one wide receiver there. I mean, it's me. You know, it's Adam Thielen, the young man. What? What is that voice? That's the opposite of your old man voice, Mike, because he's just getting it done. Yeah.

I mean, wouldn't you want to start him almost every week right now? It's just frustrating. If you had played against Thielen and you were watching the game, it would have been just daggers over and over right into your chest. This game is done. So they lost 42-24, and that includes the garbage time touchdown from Thielen. Here's the thing. That feels bad. Here's the thing.

But it's fantasy. I know it's different. They play Miami next week. How much garbage time do you think they're going to have in that game? About three quarters. Probably four. And so Adam Thielen, he's just going to keep doing what he's doing. They don't have enough other good targets.

Adam Thielen, week two was the wide receiver 18. Week three was the wide receiver four. Week four was the wide receiver 22. This last week, the wide receiver five so far. It's over. No, we got it we got it so it's like um he's just he he has been really really good and it's on the back of just volume and targets do you want to know the last month these four games you want to hear his pace let me hear it I think it'll blow your mind he would be on pace the last four games for 187 targets, 153 receptions,

1,623 receiving yards, and 12 touchdowns. I mean, he's been awesome. He has. Where was this last year? I don't know, man. Goodness. Like, if you haven't tracked, I was a big supporter of Adam Thielen last year when he looked washed.

Yeah, well, I was the one coming into this draft season. I don't think that he's too old. I think that he could still get it done, and he could not. To the point of the Minnesota Vikings said, no, no more money for you. You go get paid elsewhere. And he got a huge contract, which felt like a tax of a rebuild team. To the point of the Minnesota Vikings said, no, no more money for you. You go get paid elsewhere. And he got a huge contract, which felt like a tax of a rebuild team. Yeah.

He's been great. He's 33. Oh, man. I mean, he's old. Yeah. He can't keep this up all season. He can't keep getting away with this. I feel like. I don't know.

I don't know. Do you try to trade high? No. Okay. No, you keep playing this. You keep playing. Stephon Diggs, 8 for 1, 21 and 1. Gabe Davis, post my guy sleeper.

Wide receiver 12, 6 for 100 with another touchdown. Wide receiver 12 on the season. He is a wide receiver 1. He's gotten, yeah, four straight touchdowns. Unbelievable. And speaking of old man strength, DeAndre Hopkins. Oh, he looks so good. He heard us clowning on him.

8 for 140. See, this is what I was talking about. Last episode, Andy was saying he felt like the film with Hopkins was bad. It blew my mind. I feel like Hopkins has looked like himself every week. You just, you know, the targets have been bad. Ryan Tannehill targets. But he was awesome. Watching this game,

every play, he was just making something special happen. Calvin Ridley, he's back, baby. We got 7 for 122 in this game included, I believe, a concussion scare. He missed just a little bit of time, but he was back. The Rams. Oh, baby.

The King is back. Cooper Cup. he did not get jt's Cooper Cup was the offense yet again 12 targets 8 for 1 18 32 percent targets per route run he is that's outrageous he is that dude he was a wide receiver won his first week back he's going to be a wide receiver one almost every week from here on out but that did not stop anyone else the rookie sensation puka nakua 11 targets 7 for 71 and a touchdown so look do not fear now puka and cooper cup can exist in the same exact game yeah uh tutu got a touchdown so it wasn't the end of the world there either. But, yeah, Puka is going to be the Robert Woods.

I think that's established after what we saw. Do we have the snap? Yeah, okay. I don't know if something happened or not, but the way that I saw this offense looking when Cooper Cup came back, I thought, no, Van Jefferson will be out on the field. 4% of the snaps. So I don't know if something happened.

I think they watched film. I mean, genuinely, Van Jefferson's been straight up terrible the whole season. Someone's got to do the cardio routes. Puka, and I think that was Tutu. Tutu played 90% of the snaps. Tutu was out there 89%. Cooper Cup, 95%. Puka, 100% of snaps this last game. Van Jefferson

was the true odd man out. So you're going to have probably some deep shots to Tutu, have some value there. Hopefully, in a pinch, you could throw them in. But Puka and Cooper Cup, they're good to go. Yep, absolutely. A.J. Brown also had another big game. George Kittle. Oh, last week's start of the week. We did tell people, like, you don't. George Kittle. Last week's start of the week. We did tell people, like, you don't bench George Kittle because even though his floor is next to nothing, he is one of the rare people that can go out there and, I don't know, put up like 67 yards and three touchdowns.

Have a 100% touchdown rate on your receptions? Yeah, three receptions, three touchdown touchdowns and not for like 13 yards though i was so angry at george kittle you were playing against kittle no i have christian mccaffrey jason that's what it was george ever i saw you so angry over and over and over george kittle i did not realize it was selfish christian mccaffrey Yes. I thought your anger was so real that I thought it had to be just straight up against you. No, it just wasn't for you. Yes. Okay.

It was George Kittle is stealing. You are the most selfish Christian McCaffrey manager ever. You really are. You demand 50 from him every week. I demand greatness. It is funny. We were going through the Monday-Punday submissions, and Christian McCaffrey is the only player this week, or pretty much ever, who gets both good and bad. Like, the puns, half of the puns were bad were angry at Christian McCaffrey who was the

running back 13 on the week and was really good he just wasn't great he he scored I mean for fantasy he wasn't he wasn't a he wasn't a bust he's the running back no no but I'm saying for for McCaffrey if he doesn't get that touchdown, then this game is a bust. Sure. Which is – that's not common for McCaffrey to have to have the touchdown for it to really be solid. Yeah, I mean, put it this way. He's averaging 27 fantasy points per game coming into this one,

and he scored 12.8. That's what I'm saying. He could do better. Dallas Goddard. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, the squeaky wheel got the grease.

He was. 8 for 1, 17 and 1. Everything for this offense. The first drive was like all Dallas Goddard. I'm happy with our discussion last week on the matchup previews about George Kittle and Dallas Goddard, about whether you should play them or whether you should bench them and we basically said you need to you need to keep these guys in your lineup because there's there's just not a whole lot of tight ends out there that can do something like this and you don't want these performances on your bench Sam Laporta is the

tight end one on the season because he cannot stop catching touchdowns. Only three for 47, but two more touchdowns. The guy is an absolute machine right now. He's tied in one. I mean, he's unbelievable. And he's so good. This is Dalton Kincaid? Yeah. Who?

You don't love four targets. But, again, this was a game that this is the I can't believe he's had all season I can't believe they I can't believe Jared Goff had that many fantasy points but touchdowns Travis Kelsey 10 for 67 and a touchdown Logan Thomas if Andy had been kind of the the headmaster banging the drum there for Logan Thomas and and it was a huge week, 9 for 77 and 1. That was back on Thursday. The doctor. The doctor. The doctor, Dalton Schultz.

Finally got back in the office. Well, well, well. Welcome back from vacation, Dalton Schultz. He was on paid leave. Ten targets, 7 for 65, and a touchdown against Atlanta. That was, I think, just shocking. Yep. Cole Komet caught another touchdown.

What do you make of Darren Waller's performance? Oh, Darren Waller was awesome. 11 targets, 8 for 86. Here's what I make of the performance. Absolutely awesome. When you get 11 targets and you can get 86 yards. He was a wide receiver. If you were watching the game, he wasn't playing tight end.

He just was playing wide receiver. He lined up a ton on the outside. Yeah, and so the fact that the targets were there, his total line on the week was great. I'm happy you made him a start of the week to give people confidence to play him. And one of his three missed targets was a difficult, deep, kind of bomb touchdown that just kind of went through his hands I you know it was it was upsetting I wouldn't call it like an egregious drop it wasn't

an easy catch but if he pulls that in it was probably a 30-yard touchdown he was falling into the end zone so you take that out and he still had a good game so um the question now becomes what happens without Daniel Jones sure um know, we're not the largest Daniel Jones believer, but his backup is going to be worse. Also had a great game with 11 targets. Kyle Pitts, 7 for 87, is the first game with double-digit targets since week five of his rookie year. So it's at least a situation to monitor.

You do you. It's a situation to monitor. I will be monitoring this with my eyes closed. So, some kind of behind-the-scenes information that I saw was, you know, there was the caught-up film going around on social media of Kyle Pitts looking hurt. Maybe not hurt, but just not a fully healthy Kyle Pitts. I've never seen someone fall down on more routes ever. It was like three or four times last game where he just went to make a route

and his hand had to touch the ground. So someone had shared his next-gen route tree from this weekend. And, again, I didn't dive super deep into it, but you can have a look for it. But everything was him turning left. Oh, really? So as in like something. As in where he can't go right. Yeah.

Where his body is right now, he can't make a good hard cut to the right. So maybe they adjusted. So they were forcing everything just to go to the left. And I don't know. That's why I'm saying it's something to monitor. All right. My only hesitation to monitor it is that Desmond Ritter looked so dang good this game. We talked about it, how good he looked I if we knew that

that was sticky then it's something to monitor I just don't believe that I mean Desmond Ritter has looked as bad as he looked good every other game this season and this was um a home game against the Texans all right not everyone had a good game pooped in his big boy pants. I feel so bad about this. It's not fair. Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson, you were awesome.

You had a great game. I mean, Lamar Jackson managers, I am so sorry. It it's not your fault it's not Lamar's fault I've never seen a player play much better than he played he was running the ball so well he was throwing the ball so well hitting guys open middle of the field deep shots, hitting guys right in the hands in the end zone. Seven drops. So there was a – we got Ravens were credited with seven drops. That's the third most since 2017, including two in the end zone, which I think it was back-to-back plays of Mark Andrews making a very non-characteristic drop.

Not like a layup catch, but it's one he almost always brings in. Mark Andrews is paid to make that catch, and he makes that catch. But then Bateman. And then Rashad Bateman. That was as bad a drop as exists. He just jumps up and has like a little lobbed ball into his hands. He like went narcoleptic for a moment and did not catch the ball. Zay Flowers had also included two end zone drops,

two more on throws of 20-plus yards that were perfect. Easy catches. Perfect. Aguilar, I mean, this is no surprise for Aguilar. He's got a long history. But he had just down the field probably a huge bomb touchdown that just goes. I mean, you watch this, it just right perfectly through the air.

That's exactly what it was, Mike. Lamar Jackson threw a swish. You know when you would play a game, like when you're on the playground as a kid, you don't have a hoop, so someone has to interlock their hands and make a hoop? Aguilar did a great job, a perfect hoop. Yeah. Three points. I mean, it was – I'm not worried about Lamar Jackson's performance.

It sucked. I mean, in the end, he had 236 passing yards, no touchdowns, an interception, added 45 rushing yards. I think he also had a fumble too. So it wasn't a good fantasy game at all. I know my son had him in our league kind of a crushing performance.

But don't be scared of it. No. No this is not Lamar Jackson lost it or played bad. This was his receivers completely pooped the bed. I don't know how it happened to everyone. Was it contagious? There was something bad in the Gatorade.

Trevor Lawrence, who is the quarterback 17 on the season, this was a bizarre game for Trevor Lawrence. Because statistically, 25 of 37, 315 passing yards, a touchdown, 31 yards on the ground. Like, not fantasy-wise, those are good numbers. Yeah. And his team won. But he had fumbles. He had some fumbles. Did he? But it's not fantasy-wise that those are good numbers. Yeah. And his team won.

But he had some fumbles. Did he? Yeah, in this game that were very costly. I mean, they did win the game, but it seemed like he was trying his best to lose this a couple of times. Three fumbles. It is, yeah. So far not working out for Trevor Lawrence.

Also, who was my expensive Dak? And here they are yet again, back-to-back. Dak Prescott. Whew, brother, that game was a stinky. Yeah, he threw the ball 24 times. 24 times. A PU. He threw the ball.

To give you context, what was it, 19 times was Jamar Chase targeted. So almost an entire game's worth of Dak. It was terrible. I mean, the Niners. The whole Cowboys offense was putrid. They should go to jail for what they just did. Right to jail. To these Cowboys. We are going to be talking about Tony.

That was a crime. We'll be talking about Tony Pollard in just a second. C.J. Stroud, it was a down game for fantasy. 20 for 35, almost 250 yards. He did have a touchdown, but. Great real-life performance. Yeah. Looked good.

Came, he won the game. Like, he came down, had the game-winning drive. Did everything you could ask for him to do, but then Desmond Ritter was too much on the other side, and he came back and got him in position for that game-winning field goal. They always say that about Desmond Ritter. He's just too much. You can't leave him that much time.

Not Ritter. Tony Pollard, 8 for 29, 4 for 35. He fumbled. The Cowboys did not get to play football. Yeah, just throw that one in the garbage. But this is two, you know, bad ones in a row. It is. That's two down games for Tony Pollard.

This one, you're putting the blame on the Cowboys offense. Last week, you're putting the blame on the defense because they beat New England 38-3. So that was a – that one's a blowout situation. I'm not worried about Tony Pollard. JT's, 6 for 18. He did have a target, 15% of the snaps. That sucked.

Do we play him next week? We'll find out. Derek Henry, snip, snap, snip, snap. We're back on the bad game side of things. 13 for 43. He did have three receptions. It's just, did they win? Did they win?

Did they lose? I mean, we brought this up. They dominated the Bengals the week prior, and so he had a monster game. They lost a pretty ugly game to the Colts, and now they're going to go play Baltimore. 13 carries. It's so wild. Imagine that. And Tajay.

Tajay Spears, yeah, he was in the studs. I had bypassed it, but he had a nice long touchdown run. James Cook, hold on to your hats and your glasses because I need to make sure that this stat line is correct. Five attempts. That, in and of itself, is very bad. Yeah, you're like, oh, man, what happened? Negative four yards.

That's worse. He had negative four yards on the ground? Yeah. Oh, brother. But he got it done in the passing game. Three for 25. Oh, no, he didn't. Oh, my goodness yeah it was a

it was a really really bad game for the bills in general like i know fantasy wise we talked about digs was great alan was great gabe davis was great but but it wasn't that way for the bills the bills got off in this london game to the slowest start imaginable, looked bad. And so they were quickly down, and they didn't really run the ball much in the first half. They didn't really get a lot of offensive opportunities. Like time of possession in the first half, feel like it just was deleted for the Bills,

and then they come out in the second half down by quite a bit. And they've got to throw a bunch of deep shots. And so it was like it really, I mean, deep, they were just airing it out to Gabe Davis and Diggs down the field. And so it wasn't really a situation that allowed James Cook to do anything he does. He's been getting a ton of volume in the running game, but they weren't up. They didn't have the ball until they had to throw it deep. But if you look at it, he still played 62% of the snaps. The next highest in the backfield was tied. Damian Harris and Latavius Murray each with 18% of the snaps. I'm not worried about this game. Like this is to me an opportunity

where that stinks. It's terrible. But if you want to try to trade for James Cook, this is your opportunity off of the back of something like this. Speaking of trading four, we are now in the zone. Ramondre Stevenson, another absolute stinker. 2.4 fantasy points, two targets, no catches, played 50% of the snaps. His snap share has gone down essentially every single week. Now it was another blowout for the New England Patriots. This one – I think this one's – what's worse, losing 38-3 or losing 34-0? 34-0.

But, yeah, getting shut out? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I agree. So the Saints defense just – I mean, you don't feel good about the three points, but don't hear what we're not saying. They're both bad. These are like the two worst losses for Bill Belichick ever, and they're back to back. Both weeks, Mac Jones getting benched.

Now, they came out and said he's still the starter. They bench him because the game was out of hand. It's bad, bad news right now um they play the Raiders next right is that right we go Raiders Buffalo Miami Washington Colts my my only worry with Romandre because I've been talking about how he's going to have a bad week last week he had a bad week a bad week this week he had a bad week and then I'm going to trade for him three of the next four weeks. He's got really plus matchups. My only worry with doing that is simply the fact that he was injured this last week. And I worry a little bit about that. Like, I don't know how much of the snap percentages this week, it was pretty much 50 50 with Zeke snap count wise,

where it's been like even the the previous week he was 64 percent of the snaps to 40 percent for Zeke so I just don't know how much the injury plays into that versus you know he performance my biggest concern is that they aren't throwing the ball to him right like his receiving yardage here's week one was, 64 yards on six catches, but since then, 10 yards, three yards, 10 yards, none. He's sitting at a, what have we got, a 10% target share? And it is so bizarre because it's like the wide receivers are not overwhelming. You're not like, well, they have two superstars now who they got to feed the targets to.

We got Hunter Henry's at the tight end position. I think, did he get shut out? He had another bad game. Yeah, well, Hunter Henry had a couple of – I mean, the Patriots got shut out, period. Remember that really good route he put the defender on and then had a bomb where it would have been like a decent fantasy, probably 40, 50 yards, but got overthrown. Yes.

So that is the concern, but I do think that there is a world where Ramondre Stevenson, because his value is low, low, low. I think that he could be someone who they figure out the offense, it bounces back. It's risky. I'm going to kick the tire still. But the whole point of this was not just because he's going to be awesome. It's because he's going to be cheap.

Ramondre Stevenson managers right now probably want to cut him. They don't want to start him. They want to bench him. Everything I saw was I'm benching Ramondre Stevenson from here on out. When you're talking to a manager who doesn't want to start the player and wants to bench him and is looking for permission, they'll take just about anything. They'll, you know, if there's a startable wide receiver on your roster, like a, you know, a, a guy who scored a couple of weeks in a row and he's like, oh yeah, it's start. You just offer that straight up. Miles Miles Sanders another down game

it was the Detroit Lions but this timeshare has been in Chuba's favor while Miles Sanders has been dealing with his groin injury but I mean he seems unplayable at this point there's just too high risk Brian Robinson he had the dud on Thursday

night I'm throwing that game away Kyron Williams he is human after all. 13 for 53 on the ground, only two targets, which turned into two receptions for four yards. He did play 84% of the snaps. He was limited on Wednesday's practice report with the, I think, with the hip. So we weren't exactly sure. Will he have the full allotment of snaps?

Will Ronnie Rivers eat into his workload a little bit more? But it was all Kyron. He just, who knows? Maybe he has a problem now that Cooper Cup. Maybe Cooper Cup took away just from him but not from Puka. Well, I think the issue here is we talked about with Stafford. Stafford's been awesome. He's been great.

It's just the touchdowns have come in on the ground. And so you look at like, okay, last week against Indy, two touchdowns for Kyron. He was running at 4.1 yards a carry, but he got two touchdowns, had a great fantasy game. This last week, 4.1 yards a carry, still the majority of the snaps. All the usage metrics were the same. He he didn't get in the end zone it wasn't the right matchup for that so i'm not i'm not worried about him at all and he gets arizona this coming week matt burrito

farts 9 for 21 i think it's it we'll see if barkley's back, but based off of some timelines, it seems like it. So thank you for your service, Matt Burrito. Najee Harris, 14 for 37. I mean, he just is a lumbering pile of logs. I mean, the lumber and the logs. Oh, okay. I see. I see how you got there. is there is good news with naji um if you please please share it with me if you're wanting the bright side uh they are on by nice so you he can't he can't he cannot hurt your roster this week like i i have

been benching naji harris in a dynasty league rightee Harris in a dynasty league. Right? Yeah. I mean. A dynasty league, which, ladies and gentlemen, if you have two startable running backs in a dynasty league, you're like, heck yeah, I do. I've been benching Najee.

I've been benching him. Whenever possible. In like two and three flex leagues because, I mean, he is. Oh, man. He has one game right now over – He burned too bright. Over six and a half fantasy points on the season. He burned too bright.

And he's been getting the usage enough, you know, 20 opportunities, 16 opportunities, 20 opportunities. He's just – he's not good. And Jalen Warren, three of the last four weeks, has been a top 24 running back at the position. He gets just a few fewer opportunities per week, but he does so much more with it. I think we're there.

I think we've talked about are you starting Warren over Najee, but I think it's done. You have to start Warren if you're choosing between the two. Devonta Smith. Oh, man. I traded for him this week. Thankfully, the rest of my lineup came through. I was all right, but that felt bad.

One for six. Unfortunate because it felt like this would be a great matchup for him, but A.J. Brown and Dallas Goddard. The whole first drive is Dallas Goddard. I think by the end of the first drive, which entered into touchdown, Dallas Goddard had more DraftKings points than Mark Andrews in the first drive. He had two or three more on that first drive. And Mark Andrews had a fine day.

CeeDee Lamb, four for 49. The Cowboys passing offense, like Mike McCarthy was riding high off of his defensive performances. It was, I think, masking the fact that he's the offensive play caller. They, I mean, he shipped his OC out of town and he said, I'm going to be the one handling everything. And that handling of everything is an average depth of target for Dak that before this past week, at least, I don't know what the updated numbers are, before this past weekend, his ADOT was third worst, third lowest in the NFL.

That is destructive to fantasy output. And CeeDee Lamb has managed to give us a couple good games here and there, but right now Lamb is having to overcome the offensive play calling and the position that he has been put in it is pretty disheartening right now garrett wilson the titanium underpants for the jets passing attack it was not enough uh breeze hall stole it all he did well and and zach wilson just did i thought he'd be able to do more against the broncos and he he could not. It was funny. It was an evenly matched passing attack. Our DraftKings lineups from our Friday show,

we talked about how similar they were. We had so much overlap. Yep. And yet, where we differed was, I mean, I thought it was like, well, either one of us, like, we're just playing against Andy. Because you had Garrett Wilson. I had Bryce Hall. It was how do they score.

It went – It went Bryce Hall's way. Absolutely. Brandon Ayuk ended up with a not great game because of George Kittle. So, look, Christian McCaffrey managers and Brandon Ayuk managers, we are – our Venn diagram is overlapping right now. Michael Pittman, 5 for 52. It's an okay game.

He should see better days if Gardner Minshew is forced into the lineup. And it seems like Gardner will be playing for probably the next month. So, Pittman is... Far more targets. Yeah. Nico Collins, Boyd, Cortland Sutton,

not great games. Hunter Henry, Boyd, Cortland Sutton, not great games. Hunter Henry, after the huge first few weeks. Whoops-a-doozles. Tyler Higbee, got all that cash. Did not turn into fantasy production, 2-for-20. TJ Hawkinson, 5-for-50. That's fine. He's all right. 5-for-51.

But my guy Schmevin Schmangrum, he finally had a down game. Eight targets. That's good. I'll take that. But four for 28 is that's not going to get it. Yeah. Oh, we made it through. We got it. We got one more game tonight. I hope you get what you need

on tomorrow's show. It's going to be waivers, a lot of injuries, a lot of bye weeks. So there will be players that we've got to talk through. A lot of interesting names this week. Are we putting Kyle Pitts back on the bench? We'll find out tomorrow. You'll have to find out again.

Drop us a review wherever you're listening to the show and follow us on those socials. That is going to do it. Ladies and gentlemen, for Jay Grids, Jason Moore, the nastiest of the nasty, the deucers. I am Mike, the fantasy hitman, right? Enjoy the game tonight. We will see you tomorrow.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on twitter at the ff ballers