Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 5 Waivers + Seismic Shifts & Superstitions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/3

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

Week 5 waiver wire adds! On today’s fantasy football podcast, top waiver pickups at each position! Is it time to drop big-name players like Dallas Goedert, Darren Waller, and Joe Burrow? Plus, a recap of Monday Night Football and latest NFL News. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 3rd, 2023. Connect with the Fantasy Footballers Podcast: 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.

Welcome in. Tuesday episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Welcome in one and all. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway back with you. Deucers alley filled up. Oh, to the brim. Deucers. Yeah. with to the brim. Deucers. Yeah. Oh, man.

So much deuce overflowing. It's there. Keep on deucing. I will, Brooks. Thanks, Brooks. I will. We have some NFL news to talk about. The headline of today's show is the maybe underwhelming waiver wire waiver wire yeah or maybe it's more for the astute

yes right always a little bit more precision to be had in this week's waiver episode we'll talk about quarterback streamers and uh we'll i guess talk about the monday night football game oh daniel jones just sacked again. Just now. I am curious, and we'll jump right into it. Quick reminder, though, this is the last chance for the Foot Clan out there to help us win the Best Sports Podcast Award from the Signal Awards, which, according to our power rankings, have the coolest trophies.

So we would like a cool trophy in the office. Who doesn't like a cool trophy? It's a trophy you could kill a man with, and that's really the staple of a good trophy. Like, what is the weight of this trophy? Some trophies, if you wield them and you would swing it, it would break apart before impact. This is a trophy that would not break apart before impact.

No, full impale, and that's what i go for in my trophies so if you want to keep us safe and uh equip us uh footplan vote.com it's really our best defense at the office this is for safety everyone grabs a trophy we need enough what do you got like nine people working here yeah we gotta get yeah we don't have we've only got a couple signal awards so look every time that doorbell rings, I grab that signal award. Never be too safe, JIC. It makes me want to share this story with the Foot Clan briefly before we get into Daniel Jones.

But we do have a tradition here at the office that if a solicitor approaches, because we have no soliciting signs but those are all over yeah i mean they're all over the place but solicitors they they have a blindness to them yeah i was gonna say it's really weird that these people are out here like their job is to sell stuff and they they don't know how to read well you see mike if they were to read that sign they would not have the potential to make a sale anyways oh i didn't see it there we do have a fun tradition where papa j Josh has to answer the door and everybody else flips the lights off

in the actual suite. And that has been very entertaining. No one's here. But the lights always go off mid-conversation. Yes. So that the solicitor sees everyone shutting down the office

at 11 in the morning. We'll close it up. Out for the day. But surprisingly, we don't need to buy a bunch of paper products. All right. Monday Night Football.

I'd be curious if, like, was this a defining moment in the decline of Daniel Jones in your mind? Or was this just, we don't have an offensive line, and this is what a quarterback looks like without one? It is both. It's both to me i mean could have signed him on a franchise tag there could have done a one year yeah i'm not we did a long-term deal here it wasn't long it was like three years i mean i almost re-shared my tweet from march when they when they signed it but it was 82 million fully guaranteed up to an additional 35 and incentives four-year 160 million contract, top 10 paid quarterback in the league.

There was no reason to do this. None whatsoever when they did it. I mean, obviously all the Giants fans were very upset with me. But, yeah, they should have absolutely franchise-tagged Daniel Jones. 24-3, Seattle's defense causing absolute horror in the fantasy, or joy, jubilation. Sure. I mean, if you went into Monday Night Football, on either side of having the Seattle defense, that was the storyline.

I saw people up 32 points facing the Seattle defense and losing. Sheesh. You know, wasn't really a big day for the wideouts on Seattle's side. Lockett four for 54. Had it been four for 53, I'd have won my matchup. Yeah. DK Metcalf three for 34 and a touchdown. Kenneth Walker had a big day.

He did, but at one point was, I believe, three or four carries with a touchdown, but negative yards. You were watching with paranoia. The nice thing about Kenneth Walker is he's a big play breaker. Yeah, there wasn't concern at that point. It was just the, like, if you have a touchdown, but you have negative yards, does your touchdown still really count?

Daniel Jones. This is fun. Cause I saw this last night. Daniel Jones was the leading rusher. Matt Brita was the leading receiver. And so they just all switched roles. The Paris Campbell leading passer. Yeah.

Yeah. He did take a sack to, to add to the 10 that Daniel Jones took. And look, the Giants were very fortunate last year. They had a very good record with some maybe less desirable underpinnings statistically. And so far this year, the Giants and Vikings, who were both very fortunate in terms of how the seasons ended up, not looking great, both 1-3. Yeah, I do believe that this would have been vastly different

with Saquon Barkley. I think that the way they utilize him, the ability to quickly get the ball out to someone that can make plays, a threat of a running game, it could only help Daniel Jones. So watching that game, I just kept feeling the absence of Saquon, you know, but that was the situation. So if Saquon misses another game, which I don't think any of us expect. He seemed like he was close to going this week, and we'll talk about that on waivers. I'm not into picking up Burrita anymore because I expect Saquon to be back,

but that'll change the equation for Daniel Jones. The Giants also, just something to pay attention to. I get the offense was putrid. Really nothing happened for them, but there was a pretty seismic shift at the wide receiver position Darius Slayton ran the most routes of the wide receivers but then it was Wandale and Jalen Hyatt so Isaiah Hodgins and Paris Campbell were uh out there fewer and so fewer routes fewer opportunities for them Paris I mean when he played he was in the, so he was still getting targets, just like when Wandale was

out there, it felt like he was getting targeted heavily. Darren Waller ran a ton of routes. He was out there, you know, just four fewer snaps than Daniel Jones, but There's your storyline. Yeah, whatever connection happened in the preseason

with Daniel Jones and Darren Waller that has seemed to evaporate at this moment and it is really frustrating for fantasy football I I thought man like while he's out there so it's it's not a it's not injury it's not someone's playing ahead of him it's just that Daniel Jones and this offense is so not functional at the moment, and he's not looking for Waller. Very disappointing. Yes, extremely.

All right, into the news we go. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Jameson Williams officially reinstated on Monday, wide receiver with a lot of pedigree, a lot of hype, a lot of anticipation. And this offense is already cruising. So they're not expecting him to play a full allotment of snaps right out of the gate.

I mean, they have had big contributions thus far from Josh Reynolds, from Kalief Raymond. Obviously, Al Monro is their guy, but it opens the offense up. I mean, if you have Jamison Williams streaking down the sideline, it only helps benefit every other piece. Yeah, I mean, at the very least, it's great news for Jared Goff. If it means nothing for Jamison Williams himself or for fantasy, I believe last year in all the games that Jamison Williams himself for fantasy, there is, you know, I believe

last year and all the games that Jamison Williams played, he caught one catch, but that catch was a 41-yard touchdown. And so Goff will have a new super explosive athlete on the field. Today's waiver day, and we're going to be talking about Jamison Williams, whether we would pick him up, how much we would pick him up for. I am pessimistic on his outlook. I do not think he's going to be a reliable weekly fantasy starter. I know, Andy, you have shared earlier this offseason

you think he's going to be an absolute superstar. Regardless of your belief, the pathway and his special ability is worth taking the chance because he has a special talent. Yeah, and I don't remember what comments I made exactly. I think we both loved him coming into the NFL. I would certainly temper those words at this point in the season just from the precedent that Dan Campbell has set with Jameer Gibbs, who's a high draft capital explosive player

that is fulfilling a role as opposed to being a primary option. We'll talk about him in waivers, but I don't think that... I certainly wouldn't be starting him anytime soon. Jonathan Taylor, Shane Steichen says there's a chance he could play in week five against the Titans.

It's been reported the situation still remains unsettled all the language right now is coming not out of Jonathan Taylor's camp but out of the Colts side this is so crazy fascinating this is like a true Michael Jackson popcorn gif of just like I want to see what happens because

I feel like he could just show up and play and we never hear another bit of drama. That is absolutely. That is what one one option is. He is the starting running back this week for the Colts next week. Yes. Next week. Or wait.

No. In week five. You're right. Yeah. It could be this week. Yeah. And the story is over. And, you know, the credits roll and we just see what kind of value we have.

Where was the climax? Right. The alternative is that Jonathan Taylor sticks to his guns that have been reported that he doesn't want to play for the Colts. And they've activated his 21-day window. He has to play in order to accrue a year. So he has to get on the field. So now it becomes a game of chicken if he doesn't. If he's like, I'm not going to play for the Colts somehow,

where it's like, oh, man, you're going to get to that 21-day window. Bush is going to come to shop. He's going to be like, hey, you're going to get out on the field or you're going to miss a season. That could be the strategy. Take the 21 days maximum to try to pursue a trade. Yeah. You did get me thinking there, though.

Where in the world does the phrase stick to my guns come from what do you think that was i'm on it someone trying to get you to swap your guns and you're like no i'm gonna stick with these yeah i mean you're like you should use these guns i'm going wild west you think so that's that is based on jason this is absolutely nothing yeah don't don't ask me any questions for the rest of the show until i have an answer on sticking now see al borland claims to already know the answer. Go ahead, Al. It says, initially, it was the command to sailors who handled or crewed the guns on military boats

not to leave their posts even if the boats were captured by the enemy. That makes so much sense. Don't leave your posts. It's hold the line. Stick to your guns. Yeah. Okay. But on a boat.

Right, with guns. Even if they were captured by the enemy. Yeah, that's a tough job. Keep shooting. I mean. I'm sorry to tell you this. I cannot come with you. I've been told, stick to my guns.

I'm following the orders of my captain. Can he picket? Dealing with a bone bruise in the knee, could miss week five. Are we really going to miss him? No, but it seems to be a pretty big change because at first it was feared ACL. Then it looks like it's going to be an MCL a couple weeks. Now it's a bone bruise. Could miss week five.

Desmond Ritter will start week five against the Texans. Arthur, I've got a plan. I don't know. I hate to admit this. I didn't listen to you guys yesterday. I tuned in to, I think, the Monday Punday and a couple little bits. But did you talk about Ritter? No, not very much.

And Mack Hollins going angry man on the sidelines. Desmond Ritter coming over trying to give him a five. I feel like every target that Hollins got. Hollins was open all the time. He just, he, yeah, no, he had, so he had three targets, no catches. He played 79% of the snaps. Oh, he should have had a 70-yard touchdown. And he just, he had had it.

Yes. He wasn't doing the old, let's dap it up, we'll get him on the next race. He said, no, no, you won't. You're going to miss me again. I tweeted that video. It's funny. James Robinson hosted by the Packers for a visit. Oh, what?

He's trying to. They're just doing him a solid. James Robinson's going on the tour. He wants to see every stadium. Oh, man. Jahan Dodson, limited participant at practice on Monday. They're just doing him a solid. James Robinson's going on the tour. He wants to see every stadium. Jahan Dotson, limited participant at practice on Monday. Turns out he did come out of the game. Jason and I were like, when we saw Byron Pringle and Diami Brown on the field so much for Washington, in a game that was very competitive,

we were like, what is happening? Jahan Dotson came back in, caught a touchdown pass, but he did leave briefly. Curtis Samuel, DNP with a quad. Always worth watching that. Samuel misses time. We'll talk about the Thursday night breakdown because that's a Thursday night game, so that's why those are relevant.

Any other news? Brooksy, anything you've got? We're watching, but nothing now. Any scoring corrections in our League of Record that might toss 0.25 points my way? Not yet. You realize that here's a PSA. Don't change your lineup

five minutes before the game. Is this like the when you're taking a test, stick with your first answer? It is basically exactly that. I am not a superstitious person. However, let me explain two things that happened this week one i pivoted five minutes before the game damian pierce to garrett wilson there's a three-point gap i lost because of it last night i was in a world of superstition

because i needed tyler lockett not to score seven and a half points. I'm like, I'm just going to, I'm not really going to watch the game. Hey, first half went well. Well, I didn't watch it, Mike. You want to know the first snaps I watched? First three of the second half. You know who caught all three passes on all three plays? Oh, yeah, baby. Tyler Lockett, the end of my week.

I turned the game off. He never caught another pass. Never caught one before. You're a magical man. It's like the science you know the photon science experiment where it's unobserved photons do something different than when you observe them something's going on there that neil degrasse tyson would be able to figure out when you observe quantum stuff same thing with george pickens a couple weeks ago unobserved players on your

opponent's team don't perform don't watch watch them. Alright, there you go. Sorry, guys. This all would have came out on yesterday's show had I been here. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Brooksy, we're jumping into the

waiver wire. Put me in coach. What was my quote this morning about fantasy football to you, Jason? I believe the quote was something about fantasy football is for it. Morons who want to be sad, want to be sad. Okay.

Might be over, overplaying that a little bit. Yeah. I believe it was because you lost in three different leagues by less than a point yeah yeah that did happen this week um all right waiver wire time a reminder the website has our waiver wire rankings the fantasy footballers.com what's nice about the show though is we get to know, the rankings do a poor job of contextualizing your situation. You, you may need somebody to stash. You may need somebody to play this week.

The bi-weeks are beginning the Browns, Chargers, Seahawks, and Buccaneers all going on by, and you do have some players eligible to return soon. We talked about Jonathan Taylor, Cooper cup expected to be back at practice. They,

the team said they don't want to be reckless with cup and we'll determine when he will be back out on the field. They don't even need them. I mean, they got, they got Puka. Yeah. Right now they kind of don't.

And I brought it up last time. McVay talked about the return of Cooper Cup, it was like one to two weeks from the time he was talking about him getting back. Jeff Wilson could come back soon. You know, Devon A. Chan has really established himself. It reminds me of what DeAndre Swift has done in Philadelphia where you don't really take a guy out that is performing at that level. Greg Dulcich, Evan Hull could come back week six, Jamal Williams in week seven.

All right, we've got four teams on by. And when you talk about Saquon coming back from injury, you're like, I really hope he's back because you've got some players going into the bye. Kenneth Walker's on bye. The Browns running backs. Austin Eckler's going to get another week off here with the bye. Rashad White. So when you look at the running back landscape, it's not great this week.

It's not great at all. We're talking about players with roster percentages that allow you to go and pick them up. So keep that in mind. But you've got no one on our list that you'd spend a maximum of 10% fab probably, 10% to 15%. Yeah. The hot story would be Javante Williams. He injured his hip flexor. The estimates of what that – we don't have enough information

on the injury, but the estimates you're seeing from, you know, injury experts out there, I pinged our guy, Matthew Betts. He said, I don't have enough information, but I would consider him highly questionable for at least this week. Some people think it'll be a multi-week absence. So it's Samaj P. Ryan and Jaleel McLaughlin, which he is, I mean, McLaughlin has, he's got juice. He has some speed, you know, and he had 100 yards from scrimmage this past week, 7 for 72, 3 for 32 in the air, and a receiving touchdown. It's, when Javante left, and it was very early in the air and a receiving touchdown it's when giovante left and it was very early in the game like it didn't just go all to p ryan which you kind of i i would have imagined it

would have that would have been the natural move for sean payton but he had six carries for 12 yards and mclaughlin had the the hot hand so he was the one who got in. So where do you prioritize those two? Well, so Pirine's available in about half leagues, so I would guess that most competitive leagues he's on a roster. But if both guys are there, which one would you prefer to go after? Let's say they rule Javante out, and you know it's going to be those two guys. Who do you think has more fantasy production? Because Pir P Ryan while he didn't have as good a game he was on the field more played more snaps still than McLaughlin he man he hasn't it's not been a

great year here for P Ryan I think I might take this the upside the unknown of the mystery box and see what I would I'd be placing a low bid on both. I don't like – But who's – I mean, even if it's the same bid, you've got to put one of the guys at the top of the priority. Who are you going with? I'm talking like five bucks on Pirine and five bucks on McLaughlin and not looking forward to the Jets matchup,

not looking forward to the Kansas City matchup. I mean, I understand taking the shot. you need to throw somebody out there i'd probably still prefer to have justice hill by a little bit uh last week was his return from injury and he did it won't show up in the box score but he had an exceptional run like a 50 plus yard run it was brought back on a hold but that you know on the field it happened so he didn't look like he uh you know you look at the box score and go oh there you know he was not involved or whatever he looked bad that that wasn't the case it's messy in both those situations i mean justice hill has to compete now with melvin gordon um and gus edwards and kenyan dra Drake and possibly, uh,

keep Mitchell who should be coming. He was, I mean, he's an undrafted free agent for the Ravens, but he's small and he's fast. I mean, they play like just Pittsburgh this week and Chuba Hubbard plays Detroit. Chuba had,

uh, 16 opportunities. Brooks, what did you just type in our Slack channel? Will you read that to me? It says, this week sucks for waivers, all positions. It's a struggle. I'm really feeling that.

It's a struggle. I'm really feeling that. Jalen Warren plays Baltimore. You know, Roshon Johnson was supposed to be getting more work. He didn't. Khalil Herbert was very good. And then you're in the kind of stash and pray category of Tank and Matt

Breida. I mean, Jalen Warren, Chuba Hubbard. Are you putting those two guys above the previous three? McLaughlin and... It depends on what I need, but... I think Chuba's my number one, just because I think I know he'll get opportunities. But he plays against Detroit. Detroit's been

great against Detroit. My number one's going to be Jalen Warren because I still believe he is the, now I believe he is the best running back on the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has the opportunity in the future to rise in production and in value and over the course of weeks can just get more and more involved in the passing game. Let me get creative with you. If you're looking for a running back fix for a week, would you rather invest the fab here and take the shot at players that seem like they could give you nothing,

or would you go take the shot on a one-week rental of Zach Moss before a potential expiration date? Because there are probably managers that look at him, or even trading for a Gainwell, or trading for an underwhelming other option. I mean, if you can get Moss

cheap, I don't mind that. Because I think those managers might try to cash in on getting anything for him. And we don't know. But Taylor could play this week. You might be getting nothing from Moss. Look, you're playing a game of probability with

a bit blindly because we don't have all the information. But if Taylor doesn't play, then Moss is a great start. It's tough because the gamble with Moss is that he'd get all the work if Taylor doesn't play. The gamble with these players is you have no chance of getting all the work for any of them. You're playing

committee versus, and here, let's just throw the wrinkle in, Moss plays Tennessee. That's not good. No, it's not. If you want to take a shot at just some gross waiver wire worthy running back, you might wait for

drops to go through and then scoop up Tyler Algier, who will probably be kicked to the curb, or offer something piddly poop from your roster to trade for Tyler Algier, because he's, at least in that situation, he's playing against the Houston Texans. You could see a pathway to relevance falling to the end zone. I mean, Algiers stunk, but there aren't great options. There are some teams that may accept piddly poop for Algiers. Yeah, I mean, I think most teams right now

would be considering just straight dropping Algiers. Yeah, that's probably going to happen this week, and that's a reminder. When we have this show, we don't get to choose who's available on waivers. It's unfortunate. But we can remind you to drop it like it's hot. Pay attention to who's being released. And also, because I have been riding this way, Latavius Murray is –

I mean, the floor is pretty low. But at least for the last three weeks, I mean, that floor is pretty low, but at least for the last three weeks, I mean, that includes two touchdowns. But this week there was no touchdown, but he at least got 6.6 points. And when you are just struggling on your team for an RB2 of any kind, he at least has touchdown upside every week. All right, quick break. Back with some hopefully better discussions about wide receivers.

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All right, we're back into the waiver wire, and we're looking at the wide receiver position. A couple of most certainly rostered, but if they're not, please pay attention. Romeo Dobbs, Joshua Palmer, Quentin Johnston, all rostered in 60% or more of leagues, but if they're not in yours, they're worthy of being added. There's also a chance, especially with Johnston, that he might hit the waiver wire with this upcoming week because he's going into the bye, didn't perform last week, and there's a chance people just can't afford to hold him over on the break.

So pay attention to those. Johnston will get worked into this offense a little bit more. Yeah. I mean, obviously he had plenty of opportunity, did not come through in his first real shot. It's tough when you see a player, and he had a drop, you know, he was struggling with those in camp. It's hard to believe in him, but obviously the talent was there for him to be drafted in the first round. If you keep going on week after week after week, once he gets opportunity where he's not getting it done, I do think it might just be wise to stop caring about the name and move on. But if you need to start this week and you need someone who is actually available across most waivers,

I think the name to look for is another rookie, Michael Wilson of the Arizona Cardinals. Michael Wilson was all the camp rage and then comes out week one as kind of a starter, plays 90% of snaps. I don't know what happened there, but there was some issue where he basically got benched. The week two went down to 43% of snaps. It was kind of a big deal of like, you know, he's got to work his way back to the rotation, which he did the following week with 86 yards. This last week, back up to 70% of snaps, seven targets, seven receptions, 76 yards, two touchdowns,

and they're going to be playing at home. So, you know, he is widely available. He's available in 90-plus percent of leagues. He's been very good, and the offense has been much better than people expected with Joshua Dobbs. And so they played very well at home. They beat the Cowboys in their last matchup where Wilson had a huge catch. So, yeah, I think he's on the radar for sure.

It's tough because you have production there with Michael Wilson. You don't have it with Johnston yet. You're going into the bye. And the player that I wrote it in there this morning, like drop candidate Jackson Smith and Jigba. Like, JSN had like three catches for five yards last night. It's all short. They love running 12 personnel. So he's not on the field.

There's something happening there where I'm going like, is the patience worth it with JSN? You're going into bye weeks. You've got injuries at the wide receiver position. It's just interesting to look at Michael Wilson and say, is he a better roster hold right now due to the amount of snaps and targets he has the potential to receive, not to mention the return of Kyler Murray at some point, versus Quentin Johnston and JSN, who have higher NFL draft capital,

but who cares? Yeah, I would rather roster Michael Wilson than QJ than JSN or Jamison Williams. Three, essentially they're all rookies, it feels like. Jamison Williams is not a rookie, but hasn't yet started his career, it feels like, despite playing in six games last year. So let's talk Jamison Williams now. Andy, you brought up the fact that Jameer Gibbs is being pigeonholed into a role, like this is all we want to use you for, for this offense,

and the offense is humming, and the Lions are winning. And I don't think Dan Campbell is going to sit there and say, well, because Jamon Williams is super fast and because we spent high draft capital, we have to make sure he's playing 80% of snaps. They want him to do a certain role. Some of the words that he's said about Jameson Williams, they don't make you feel good about the situation. They're like, we just want him to be reliable. We just want him to be a good wide receiver. Do the little things. Yeah, it's like, was he not? Here's my perspective on Jamison Williams. It is similar to that of Devon Achan, in my opinion.

There are players that can go out and do something athletically that once they do it one time, they're established. And that can happen with Jamison Williams. Like, Kalief Raymond has had fantasy-relevant performances on 40% of snaps, 36% of snaps, and go out and get targets and make plays. Jameson Williams is capable of, and I would almost bet on it, that he's going to have a two-touchdown game this year

where both of them are a la Robbie Anderson style of the Jets where he catches two big bombs or one's a screen he takes to the house and one's an over the top, and all of a sudden he's just on the field. So I think that possibility totally exists the way that A-Chan is not coming off the field now. Yeah, I totally know what you're saying. I agree with you that he's going to have the big game.

Where I worry that – I don't think that that will necessarily say, well, now we can't take him off the field I mean we saw last year last year in his uh it was his second game he catches a 41 yard touchdown bomb like that's why they have him there the following week 19 percent of snaps wasn't on the field after showing that 41 yard touchdown the following week 17 percent of snaps it's just like I don't care that That was a cool play. It's still coming back from the ACL. It's a tough one. It really is.

If you don't have the luxury of Jamison Williams and watching him on your bench, then don't go out and invest a bunch of fab and then regret it and then wish you had spent it on a player that could help you today. I think Jamison Williams is a hold.

Yeah, I would agree. I would spend maybe, and I don't think it will get him, but I'd spend maybe 10 to 15 fab on it. Yeah, 10 is the number for me because I, you know, whenever you have a player who's played in six games, wasn't utilized, didn't do much, caught one pass over the course of six games, the opportunity was there, you know, and he never really, I know he was coming back from the ACL.

Where was Gibbs drafted? What pick number? 12. You know where Williams was? 12? 12. Oh, goodness. You know, so I'm a little bit pessimistic there.

Now let's talk about, because you're not going to start Jamison Williams this week. No one would. Let's talk about if you need a start this week. Would you rather start Michael Wilson, grab Michael Wilson, or in the same game? I'm just curious. Yeah, he should be brought up. T Higgins went down in the games. T Higgins or Jamar Chase has missed. Tyler Boyd has been a very valuable asset. They're against Arizona. They follow that up with Seattle. But Joe Burrow looks like he can't run an offense right now. So would you take the shot on a week one?

I mean, if you grab Tyler Boyd, you're only grabbing him to start. You could play both those players this week. If you want a preference, I'm taking Michael Wilson. Me too. Because I want a play that's more than four yards down the field. I feel like Tyler Boyd. I mean, look at last week. What did he do?

Four for 26. I mean, I think he could get to five for 31, Jay. Maybe even six for 36. But I would like a touchdown. I'd like a pass that, you know. It's so weird. Everything is a check down right now. Yes.

Like, who do you think wins that ball game? I don't even know what the line is, but right now I'd take Arizona to win the game. The line is the Bengals minus three, favored on the road. I'm going to put money on that game. Arizona's playing great. Yeah, and the Bengals are playing the exact opposite of great, but

you know, you can play both this way. The rosters, the Bengals have a much more talented roster top to bottom than the Cardinals do so that's interesting let me bring up another name who is it Jaden Reed it isn't Jaden Reed I like Jaden Reed I want to talk about him absolutely need to talk about him I know you're bringing up no for me it's Michael Gallup Michael Gallup has looked really good the last two weeks two weeks ago 92 yards seven targets this last week was involved five uh receptions for 60 they play the San Francisco

49ers and you go well that's a great defense yeah but that's also a great offense and some of the problem with the Cowboys offensive players is that they've just been kind of dominating people right like this last week against New England it was 38 to 3 and so Gallup was. Gallup was 5 for 60, but he wasn't necessary in the second half of the game. This is a game where I would imagine the 49ers are favored, and so you might have to keep throwing. I think he's a good start this week. The 49ers right now, they're 14th on the season, so they're just middle of the pack as far as guarding wide receivers.

So that's where you make a decision, Jason, about you might get Gallup for nothing, for a buck, whereas Michael Wilson, Tyler Boyd, you're probably competing for them. I would still rather grab Michael Wilson for the hope of what a special rookie can be in long term, but I would certainly go Michael Gallup over Tyler Boyd, like without hesitation. Do you have any interest in Wandale yet? I have a little bit. I'd rather have

him than any Kansas City wideout right now. The routes went way up. From 22% of the snaps up to 64% of the snaps. Six targets. It was 5 for 40. If you're in a PPR, you're like, okay.

At least I'm getting some points here. But he... no one has separated from the wide receiver crew still. And at this point, it looks like if anybody's going to do it, it will be Wandale. I want to talk about Jaden Reed real briefly, and maybe it's better for a dynasty context. Mike and I are both on this week's Dynasty podcast, and we're talking about trade targets.

Jaden Reed is one for me in a dynasty league. I made the investment in Michael Wilson. I traded very little to get Michael Wilson before the season because I saw the path for him to become something valuable. Jaden Reed is an eyeball decision, a trade target. He passes every test to me. He's very fluid in the field. I think everybody's looking at Romeo Dobbs and Christian Watson saying,

well, he's just not going to be able to have the ability to contribute. I do not think that's the case. I think Jaden Reed has the potential to be regularly used and maybe even carve out a role above those guys. I think Jaden Reed is very, very good. And I know that that's just film to me. I think he's passing the test. I completely agree that he looks outstanding. He looks fast. And the way they're utilizing him is very smart. The problem is what you said. I think Dobbs is the number one read in this offense for Love, and I think he'll stay there.

And then you have probably the most talented player is Christian Watson. So Jaden Reed is good and he's talented, but I do think oftentimes he'll be more like the slot guy. So if you're in a full PPR league, it might be a little bit better for you as they they settle into roles we still haven't seen more than half a game right now with all three active so he's someone I want to I want to have on my roster I want to keep my eye on because he looks good to the eyes but I want to see how the targets are distributed because even though Jordan Love has been great for fantasy and his touchdowns per pass are through the roof,

he hasn't been putting up a lot of yardage. So he split that three ways or four ways with Musgrave. You know, it gets a little scary. Thankfully, they play against the Raiders this week. Tied into options, Cole Komet had the huge week, 7 for 85 and two touchdowns. Jake Ferguson was 7 for 77. Fergalicious, man. You had Higby get a contract and then get 11 targets in the offense.

Are you chasing those numbers? I'm open to chasing Higby's targets, but that's assuming that Cooper Cup is not playing. When it's Puka, Cooper, and Higby, I can't imagine that he sees another 11-target game the rest of the season. I still think people need to pay attention to both Logan Thomas and Zach Ertz. Logan Thomas had been injured. In the game, he was hurt. He scored and ended up, it's incredible that two for 22 in a touchdown

was the tight end six on the week. But he's getting a ton of snaps. He's going to play 80-plus percent of snaps. He's the primary pass-catching weapon in that offense. Sam Hill seems to look to him. I don't think you're getting goosed with Logan Thomas in your lineup. Zach Ertz went right back to 10 targets in Arizona. You can certainly do worse than either of those players.

I think they're fine. And you don't have to pay for them. Zach Ertz, five of those targets were on the final garbage time drive, which was incredible. Four of his receptions were on that drive. And he should have had a touchdown with 12 seconds left to go that he dropped. It was kind of egregious right at the end of the garbagiest of times. But, you know, he is still involved in the offense.

I want to go back real quick and just say the number one pickup for me is Jake Ferguson. Jake Ferguson right now, we're four weeks in. And in three of the four weeks, he's had seven targets. You know, targets are where you're looking. You're looking for volume. Obviously, it hasn't necessarily been there. Week one, seven targets. He had two fantasy are where you're looking. You're looking for volume. Obviously, it hasn't necessarily been there. Week one, seven targets. He had two fantasy points. Didn't work out. But if someone is getting at the tight end position, seven targets and 75% of their game so far, and it's on an offense that projects to be good, and it's on an offense that has used the

tight end for a long time, he would be the guy that i feel most confident about just kind of plugging in weekly and not playing matchups the other guys i think are more matchup plays interesting tidbit just to throw into the mix there schoonman 56 of snaps last week a season high hender shot was hurt so was i'm not sure what the injury status is for him, or does the schoonman make a move here anyways? I'm standing by my drop Pitts for Ertz. Pitts was two for 21 last week. Pitts is absolutely a must drop. Must drop. You should not roster Pitts anymore.

Johnny Smith outperforming him. Darren Waller and Dallas Goddard, those names are coming up. There's something to be said about not sitting in your own poop. Just because... Sometimes you've got to change your pants. Not always, but sometimes. It's almost impossible

for me, seeing those names, saying, I'm going to put Dallas Goddard on the waiver wire. You had a head coach come out today, and the quote is just great and awful. It was still part of the plan. Like whenever you have to reassure the community that Dallas Goddard is still part of the plan, what was the discussion like yesterday regarding Goddard? It's been really disappointing, and the fact that it's been every week

and it's been that way with a new offensive coordinator, a new system, it is very frustrating. We do have years of him being valuable. We do know he is a talented tight end in his own right should the opportunities come his way down the field. We know he can do it. So he's not someone I'm looking to drop. He has seen seven targets

in two of his four games. He is on pace for 55 receptions. I'm not hitting it. 374 yards. And no touchdowns. Yeah, I mean, it's been bad. I think he's the kind of tight end that you could move on from. Like, I'd rather have Ferguson on the roster.

Yeah, I mean, Fergie's interesting. I think I would give it another week. I know it's so hard when you've got a guy going four bad weeks. Same with Waller. Waller's matchup this week against the Miami Dolphins, that is a tight end matchup to target. You're going to get a lot of anger leaving last night's game, probably from Waller, definitely from the fans, from what is

going on. You know, you look at the last, the end of that game when Daniel Jones threw a pick six at the goal line and Waller was like, you throw it to Waller, you got a touchdown there. Instead, you threw a pick six, like go back to the film, figure things out. Waller was on the field 97 92 percent of snaps so um I'm not moving on from Waller at least not this week against Miami um but I but I do think both Waller and Dallas Goddard they they you need to look at their matchup every single week and you need to say do I like the matchup do I want to target this matchup? Or is there someone on the waivers I would rather have? And I'd be willing to roster two tight ends if my second tight end was Waller or Goddard for the potential upside in good matchups.

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, Waller and Goddard represent potential ceilings that a lot of these free agent tight ends don't possess. Exactly. And so that's kind of the situation you're in. It probably makes sense to just bench them if you don't want to go through it. But, you know, Kyle Pitts, on the other hand, I think you can just cut and let somebody else pick them up and start them for a few weeks for no points.

Defensively, let's look at some options here. You know, the lowest rostered, highest potential, in my opinion, is the Detroit Lions taking on Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers. Fully agreed. At home. The Lions are the... Aiden Hutchinson, go hunt. Go hunt Bryce Young and you shall

eat, young man. Yeah, the Manders are playing they're the Thursday night matchup but they get to play Justin Fields. I know Fields had the big passing day. I don't think that that'll happen against Washington. Even in the big passing day, you look at the Denver Broncos' defense last week. They got a touchdown on defense from a fumble from Justin Fields.

I think you can have both. I think Justin Fields can have a good fantasy day and a terrible real-life day where the commanders score a lot. Mistakes are made. Exactly. He's still mistake-prone, so I think the commanders are a great play. Another team, look, things change in the NFL. Scripts don't always stay the same.

But as of now, through one full month, the Arizona Cardinals have played good defense against good teams, and the Cincinnati Bengals have just given up nonstop points to DSTs. Joe Burrow's taken sacks all over the place. He can't move. They've lost T. Higgins. He can't move. They can't protect him.

He's on the road. If you want to talk about a defense that's pretty much 100% available, or maybe we're just talking like DFS cheap, nasty, awful defenses that you wouldn't usually start, you could see a touchdown on defense.

Isn't Miami the defense taking on the Giants this week, too? That would be one to target. That would be one to target. Yes, yes. That would be one to target as well. All right, let's talk quarterbacks. Full stream ahead. Well, Mike, I'm going to hand the baton to you

because we were talking about that matchup a moment ago. Who's your streaming quarterback? It's Joshua Dobbs, who has been a top 10 quarterback in two of the four games. Week one was an absolute disaster, but other than that, it's actually been pretty good. Even week three, when he was the quarterback 16 against the Dallas Cowboys,

he still put up 17 points. He's doing it because 12 attempts on the ground last game. Exactly. He's running 41 yards, 55 yards, 48 yards. I mean, this is a delicious, delicious floor that he is giving us, and him making the choice to run so much. It feels like the team has had, like after week one was so rough,

the team just said, go do what you do, man. We traded for you. Go try and win some football games. It's pretty excusable week one. He was added so late into the offseason to this team and had, you know, all of a sudden you're the starter. Remember they weren't going to reveal Clayton Toone or Joshua Dobbs? Right.

But from that time, I mean, it has been, like you said, it's been good. He's on pace for 816 rushing yards in the three games since that first week. And their design runs. You watch the games. I tweeted this past weekend. It is actually a delight. It is actually fun to watch the Cardinals' offense play, which did not seem like a possibility.

And then they bring in Joshua Dobbs, 41 pass attempts. I mean, he is completing 71% of his passes since week one, which he also completed 70% in week one. He's playing great. He's playing good. And they play Cincinnati and they play at home. So I think that that one is at the tippy top of my favorites to add. I threw Sam Howell in there.

Yeah, makes sense. Yes. Threw for 290 yards against Philly, ran for 40, had a good performance. They take on the Bears. You know, you should have a good floor there. Chicago's defense is not good. I mean, Russell Wilson was worthy of a start last week. And so I think Sam Howell, it has been rough. We've talked about it basically being his rookie year. Hopefully he can kind of grow on last week's performance. Yeah, Sam Howell was very good last week against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Their secondary is really, really hurt. They were out two more safeties this last week, and Sam Howell took advantage. So I'm going to play that same matchup with a quarterback who's looked good this year. He just hasn't been throwing passing touchdowns. It's so crazy, man. It's so crazy. It's insane because Matthew Stafford, here's his yardage on a weekly basis,

334, 307, 269, and 319. And probably how many touchdowns? Three total on the season. He is on pace, and one of them took overtime to get to Puka for that touchdown. He is on pace for 5,200 yards, which is just incredibly outstanding, and 12 passing touchdowns. Those numbers, they don't add up. The yardage is the predictable stat.

The touchdowns are not the sticky stat. That's where Kyron Williams has scored so many touchdowns on the ground. A little bit like golf last year in Detroit where Jamal Williams has scored so many touchdowns on the ground that probably like golf last year in Detroit where Jamal Williams was scoring a million touchdowns yep you just need the right matchups where it's like oh it's going to be much harder around the goal line when you get in the red zone to run on the Eagles than to throw on their injured secondary right now um there's a chance that Cooper Cup is there so I think Matthew Stafford's in a really good week, a really good matchup. Sam Howell had a great game against the Eagles.

Mack Jones, week one, had a great game against the Eagles. Kirk Cousins, I think, was like the quarterback one on the week against the Eagles. Yeah, he was. I think you could start Stafford this week. Herbert is on by. Gino's on by. Watson's on by.

The streamers are lower rostered, guys. I think C.J. Stroud is still lower rostered as well. C.J. Stroud looks like he might be not a streaming quarterback. Like, he might be – Every week. Someone you just put in your lineup and you're like, I'm cool. I'll ride with this. He's been top 12 the last two weeks.

The last three weeks he's had over 20 fantasy points at the position. I want you guys to guess how many interceptions he has this year. I know. Mike? I already know. Oh, zero. Yeah. Rookie quarterback, zero interceptions, super impressive.

Did you see the press conference with him? I did not. Talking about leadership stuff. I mean, getting up there and saying, like, he was talking. You got to go watch it because I could not summarize it very well. But, you know, to the extent of, like, we want every single Texan fan to be proud to put on the jersey on Sunday. Oh, I did see that.

And it was just impressive. He's an impressive young man. The current passing yardage record is held by Andrew Luck, 4,374 yards. And C.J. Stroud is currently on pace to shatter it with 5,100 passing yards. I don't expect he will throw for 5,000 yards, but he's just been – he's fully legit. He is real you got to make that transition as quick as possible before other people catch on because everyone will catch on

at some point that cj stroud is a very good quarterback the schedule like atlanta it it's fine he does get the saints after that and then the bye week but then it's carolina tampa bangles arizona jacksonville denver i mean he's got a good run coming up let's have a brief discussion on joe after that, and then the bye week. But then it's Carolina, Tampa, Bengals, Arizona, Jacksonville, Denver. I mean, he's got a good run coming up. Let's have a brief discussion on Joe Burrow. I don't know how much you guys talked about it yesterday. I'm sure there was a good amount of discussion. But he's coming up in drop questions.

You know, we put it out on social media. We say, who are you, you know, thinking about dropping? And Joe Burrow's coming up. And what I want to highlight here is that Joe Burrow clearly dealing with injury. T. Higgins might miss this game. They have one of the most difficult schedules the rest of the season. The Bengals, I think this is going to be a lost one for them. I think this is just going to be one of those weird years where the injury and the bounce of the football

and getting into rhythm and like it's not coming together for them you know you had the offseason tumult with mixin and he's been okay and jamar chase is frustrated and then like i said they have a terrible schedule so you're gonna have to make joe burrow start decisions based on what he's done so far and bad matchups going forward so So are you just putting him on the bench? Are you taking the week off like you did with Justin Fields? Yes, that's how I'm going to handle Joe Burrow. Or are you just playing him against Arizona? I'm okay playing him against Arizona.

I mean, I'd probably play all these other guys we just talked about over him, which is insane. But Burrow, the history is too large of you don't just take four games a bit well joe burrow sucks now at football no it there are things that are going wrong and i put him on the bench i stream another quarterback and i don't drop him because that's dropping joe burrow feels like something that really can come back and bite you in the butt. Yeah, it's so funny in the draft season,

we kept talking about Joe Burrow being this year's Justin Herbert, the pocket-passing quarterback that is being drafted too high, and because he's being drafted so high, if he doesn't throw for 40 touchdowns like Herbert didn't last year, that he would be this year's kind of bust pick. Well, last year, what happened to Herbert was he broke his ribs and he lost wide receivers. And then he really stunk through the middle of the year. If you kept playing him, you were making a mistake. Well, that's what's happened to Joe Burrows. Joe Burrow, he's injured. Now he's lost T. Higgins. And if you keep playing him, you're going to be making a mistake. However,

the end of the year, lo and behold, Justin Herbert is actually a really good quarterback. He got over the ribs. He got his weapons back, and then he was the quarterback 11, 3, 9, 10, 12, 9 towards the end of the season. So I think that's the prescription here for Burrow. You don't drop him. You definitely bench him. I think you try to trade him if you get a good game too coming out of the bike listen to the schedule coming out of the bike san francisco

on the road buffalo houston who quarterbacks don't put up numbers against baltimore pittsburgh those are the first five out of the bye week his playoff matchups include pittsburgh and kansas city on the road so i'm just saying there may not be the path for Burrow to – like his numbers aren't like middle of the pack. His numbers are 31st, 26th, and 28th in the three games he didn't throw a touchdown. In the games he threw a touchdown, which is one, he was 21st. So, look, everyone, like you said with C.J. Stroud, you've got to be ahead of it. I still think you can trade Joe Burrow because of the conversation we're having.

So don't drop him. Trade him. Trade him on the promise of him being old-school Joe Burrow if you don't believe. Certainly if you need a roster spot where we're saying don't drop him, bench him, sometimes you don't have the luxury to do that with bye weeks coming up. And whenever we say that advice of, like, must bench, like a Waller or a Dallas Goddard, if you need to drop them, then trade them. They still have trade value because of what their draft capital was, what their names are.

All right, that is going to do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you for joining us. We have Hungry for More tomorrow. Thursday night preview, some mailbag. We've got starts of the week coming up. On Thursday, we've got the fantasy face-off in the Wheel of Shame. We've got a lot going on, and I'm sure a lot of NFL news is going to break over that time. Last reminder, head to footclanvote.com.

Help us equip the office with some kind of sustainable weaponry. We've got to protect ourselves. Yeah. Footclanvote.com. Thank you for tuning in. Talk to you later. Goodbye. Goodbye.

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