Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 7 Studs & Duds + Brown Tent, Ready to Roll - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/21

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

Week 7 fantasy football recap on today’s podcast! Andy, Mike, and Jason discuss the best and worst Week 7 performances. Which disappointing players should be benched in fantasy football lineups? Plus, lots of injury updates and Monday Punday! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 21st, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (05:10) - Monday Punday (10:10) - Ready to Roll (18:50) - NFL News  (29:10) - Fantasy Football Studs (29:15) - QB Studs  (33:00) - RB Studs (42:35) - WR Studs (40:10) - TE Studs (53:00) - Fantasy Football Duds (53:05) - QB Duds (57:40) - RB Duds (01:02:03) - WR Duds (01:08:10) - TE Duds Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Ready to Roll presented by Nissan. Visit https://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/crossovers-suvs/pathfinder/rock-creek-edition.html 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. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Welcome in. Monday edition of the Fantasy Footballers.

Mike, the Fantasy Hitman, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway back with you. Another week of football nearly in the books. We got a doubleheader tonight for Monday Night Football. I hope there's a lot of points scored in tonight's games. We've got at least one of our leagues where it's like nobody scored fantasy points. It was a weird weekend of a handful of players doing all the work. Yeah, that's fair. If you had one of the studs, congratulations. Most people didn't do work.

Yeah, and we had the storyline of 2024 continuing to rear its ugly, painful head, which is the injury bug. I mean, every single week you're having to make adjustments. I mean, this is part of not resting on your laurels at the draft. This is why we say you don't win your league at the draft because it's impossible to run the table with the team that you drafted. You need to make constant adjustments and pivots and then pivot again. It's also why we

tell people, and hopefully if you're still listening you're one of these people that maybe you got off to a bad start this year, but you didn't give up. We say that because the league changes every single week. If you look at year after year after year and you look at who was good in the first

half of the year and then who was good in the second half of the year, it's oftentimes like the complete reverse. All these bad teams, all these players were busts. It's like, oh, now they're great. You look at Mike's team in League of Record that when we started the first couple weeks, we were talking about just the annihilation of your roster, how putrid, whether by injury or performance, and now all of a sudden you're rattling off a bunch of wins in a row. I think the Foot Clan wants to hear this as

well. I want to set up the stage here between this epic, unbelievable matchup between you two gentlemen. Andy and Mike are playing each other this week in the League of Record. Mono, Emano. And you would not believe that their current score in the League of Record, Andy, is sitting there with 107.4 fantasy points.

That's a really good score for two games left. For two games left. Mike is sitting with 107.4 fantasy points to the decimal they are tied. It's also a good score. Kyler Murray and James Conner are on Andy's team. Will they or will they not outscore the trifecta of J.K. Dobbins, Mark Andrews, and Marvin Harrison? That, to me, seems like a pretty fair fight.

I do not know. I don't know either. I really like the Harrison-Kyler connection is a wrinkle. The fact Andrews is being depended upon to do anything in a fantasy matchup is a wrinkle. And J.K. Dobbins should destroy the Cardinals tonight. And the fact it's our home team that's going to decide a lot of what's going on, it's going to be great.

You guys should go to the game. Just get tickets right now. Go tonight. Make new plans but sit on opposite sidelines oh for sure you're in it all with laser pointers um no it should be fun and if you don't have any drama going on tonight you can follow along with the mike versus andy saga this evening but you know that there were some major injuries we're going to get into studs and duds to talk about I believe what did Brooks just tell me

he said there have only been four quarterbacks so far with 20 plus fantasy points this week and there's only one wide receiver with more than 20 fantasy points this week so that's what I was feeling there's one guy who almost

made it to 20 points who was started, I'm going to guess, in 0.0% of leagues. Marcus Mariota. Yeah. Well, that's a perfect summary of the week, too, because we had our fantasy face-off. You two went with Geno Smith and DK Metcalf's decks.

Amazing. They connected on touchdowns. I spent up on Jaden Daniels. $ daniel 7600 he's out for the game i'm in first yeah with no quarterback you won how i you know we'll never never never know all right you guys out there thank you for listening to the show supporting show, and reacting with us each and every weekend. So let's get into your reactions, your submissions this week's Monday Punday. Starting

with the sophisticated good performances of the week like Kareem of the Crop or Gorgeous Pickens or Kittles and Pits and the debut of Amari Super. Oh, and his departure allowed for David Winjoku.

What? Or Hustle Wilson. Yeah. That's a good name for him. And this is one of the reasons I'm in contention. Jamiroquil Gibbs. Another reason you're in contention. Whoa Mixon.

That's true. That tandem was very nice. We had bad performances, Mike. Yeah, but how about that jerk Cousins? Oh, and Tyreek Nill. You got Blank Dell. Septic Tank Dell. And Tank Smells. Let's just give him

the trifecta. Yeah, he deserves it. Lamison Williams. Wait, Brock Turdy? Yeah, Brock Turdy. You didn't play against him in his rushing touchdowns. Three interceptions? I don't think he threw any. Devontae Whiff.

One of my personal favorites, Jaden Peete. Oh. Josh Sidham Downs. And another story of the weekend. Why are we doing this to this guy? Goose Goose Smith Schuster. The guy was hurt. Yeah, but Goose Goose instead of Juju is pretty good.

Yeah, it's pretty good. And that's high class comedy. We had, yeah, that's the show in a nutshell. Juju went out with zero points. Yeah. Debo was dealing with an illness, zero points. Jordan Whittington. Illness?

No, his was an injury, but I think he played like nine snaps, and they're like, eh. Demario Douglas, illness. Illness. You had a lot of players that were started across the leagues that were kind of a little bit questionable. You weren't sure about the health, and then, you know, if you decided to play it safe, congratulations.

And if you didn't, then shame on you. But it works in both directions. Because, like, I played it safe on my personal lineup Congratulations. And if you didn't, then shame on you. But it works in both directions. Because I played it safe on my personal lineup by not starting Ladd McConkie, who had his own little questionable injuries. He's Monday Night Football. So I played it safe. I went Josh Downs.

Nice. Just so you know, all of my wide receivers on my League of Record team, they combined for 0.8 fantasy points that is impressive yeah and i think i'm gonna win well i mean that would be kind of the way that the colts won this weekend with the same strategy right yes josh downs does play for the colts josh downs did nothing for the colts oh anthony richardson he all he does is win yeah the matchups uh for richardson very conducive to not scoring points and still winning. Man, he looked bad.

He's looked bad the entire year. Week one, he looked great. I thought he looked great. I know his completion percentage was 47%, but remember the three of us after we sat down and watched the film. He looked pretty good. He connected on deep bombs. He had a rushing touchdown. He looked like what we were hoping he was going to develop into,

and then it's been the rest of the way. And that was just for clarity. That was a wet one. That was not like, oh, that wasn't solid. It's in my ears. I felt it. The last two games, or actually, let's just go three games for Anthony Richardson. Not that we won't get to the duds today.

But the last three games where he's played 100% of snaps, he has thrown one total passing touchdown. He hasn't thrown a passing touchdown in three games in a row. If you only take the last three 100% of snap games, he still has not scored 10 fantasy points in any one of those matchups. He was 42% passing passing yesterday 10 for 24 he didn't get to 10 points and he ran the ball 14 times yeah yeah it's a it's an impressive feat um also and he was what a fourth round pick fifth round pick for people he goes on the road to houston who is a pretty difficult matchup. At least they've got a good pass rush and a good secondary.

Oh, my gosh. Then he goes on the road to Minnesota, which is an outstanding defense. Oh, but don't worry. Then he plays Buffalo, New York Jets, and then Detroit, and then New England, and then Denver. So those are all great defenses. He's been on my trade block. And then Tennessee.

I've had him on the trade because he was the guy I had to go after in League of Record. And I'm going to tell you right now, he's hitting waivers this week. People aren't giving up access for him. I've been watching the bobber on the lake, and it's not moving. You put the cast out there. Yeah, it's been there a long time. Ain't no bait on the line, my brother. I think the bait fell off.

I really do. Eight consecutive matchups coming up against top tier defenses. So, you know, yes, congratulations. You beat Miami. And there you go. Miami's not good.

Well, they weren't good. I think the Cardinals are going to find a completely different Miami team next week when it's led by Tua. That's very true. All right, let's get into Ready to Roll. Welcome to Ready to Roll, presented by Nissan. That's a mad jam. I don't think I've given you credit on that one, but that's good.

That's good stuff. Yeah, it's an homage. Pretty on the nose. All right, so this week's ready to roll. I want to talk about target shifts. Look, fantasy football, you're trying to stay on top of the trends, and we're at a point in the season now where we can look and be like, hey, this is the way that this season is currently trending. Is it going to stay that way?

Are things shifting? And, I mean, they're all, you know, we know this, but it's really pointed out here of, like, the personnel and especially, you know, the coaching staff. That changes how the target share is going to go out. You know, just looking at the Fal staff, that changes how the target share is going to go out. I was looking at the Falcons. The percentage of targets to the tight end position is way down compared to the Arthur Smith teams.

The Miami Dolphins, of course, I'm not going to get into them because they're just kind of broken right now. But the discussions I want to have was the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Burrell at the beginning was peppering the tight ends, T. Higgins comes back, and everything is still kind of on the side of Jamar Chase is, you know, I took him first in our redraft of the – a redo of the draft because he's been fantastic. But at the same time, what I think people aren't totally realizing is a redo of the draft because he's been fantastic.

But at the same time, what I think people aren't totally realizing is since T. Higgins has returned, the targets are normalized to the wide receiver position, and he has out-targeted Jamar Chase in four straight games. He's also ahead in first read targets coming from fantasy points. So it's a – but while everything is Jamar, Jamar, Jamar, where are we at with Tee Higgins for the rest of the season? Tee Higgins over the last three games is on pace for 164 targets, 113 receptions, 1,371 yards, and a touchdown every single game.

Those are three good games. Everybody has good stretches. That's not prescriptive like, oh, that's what he's going going to end up as but that's just to illustrate how good he has been and it's coincided with Joe Burrow playing some good ball I don't know what it is about the Bengals and Joe Burrow but we have enough years to know like they just get off to slow starts yeah I mean that way it's unbelievable the frequency I believe we brought this up after week two, but I think over the last, whatever it is, like five years, Joe Burrow is one in nine in his first two weeks in the NFL. It's wild. And so they've gotten it together over the last month, started to win some games

and playing well. I think T Higgins is, you know, obviously a must start every single week, but he projects to me as like, like to me as like the wide receiver 15. Is this a buy high situation? I'm not counting the first game back from injury. He was re-acclimating, but since then, he's seeing an average of 34% of the targets for the Cincinnati Bengals, and Burrow is playing. Andy, where are you?

Do you feel like this is now what's happening for Tee Higgins? Are you trying to trade for him on the high? No. No, I'm not trading for him on the high. I mean, you've had a two-touchdown game. He scored this week. He's an integral part of the offense. I feel like the discussion is always, you know, Devontae Smith, Jalen Waddell, and Tee Higgins are going to be linked forever

as a trifecta of, you know, wide receiver twos. Chase is going to give you the weak winning explosive games, and Higgins is going to be the, you know, very solid but needs the touchdown to give you a top ten game. I mean, it's a nice run for him for sure. I think we're also at the point in the season, like we don't do this at the draft, but we're seven weeks in, we're going into week eight,

we've got a couple weeks left before normal league's trade deadlines, and we are looking now towards that playoff schedule. We do know who our good defense is to throw against or not. It's brutal. It's brutal for them. Their playoff weeks, 15, 16, and 17, at Tennessee, their team might not be good, but their defense is great, and especially their passing

work with LeJarius Sneed there. Cleveland, who's only got a shot based on their defense. And then the Denver defense, which has been outstanding. At least they're at home for two of them. Yeah, with Sertan there. And so, like, it's not I don't, I think because of the schedule,

I wouldn't trade high on him I would still be willing to acquire him but right now the manager of T they've been experiencing this they're not they're not selling them well yeah that's why are you you know like sometimes you have to buy high if you if you believe that a player is going to continue the other team I wanted to talk about because there was a an injury I don't think we're confirmed yet on Brandon Ayuk. But we all saw it. It's serious. Yeah. They're whispering ACL right now.

And if they're whispering that, it's probably the ACL. But the thing about this team is, with Christian McCaffrey out, the target percentage going to running backs is down 10% right now. Even though we had the Jordan Mason got the jugs machine and that narrative has not translated into a Christian McCaffrey level of target share for him or anyone else who steps in, which is the wide receivers are getting everything. We're still a few weeks away from Christian McCaffrey's return.

So there is – why I'm bringing it up is we're going to talk waivers of course tomorrow but this is ripe here. If the target share is going to continue to be really high for the wide receiver up from 56% last year to 63% right now. There is a real opportunity for the San Francisco

49ers. At the wide receiver position. At the wide receiver position. Does anyone have their schedule right in front of you? Yeah I do. 49ers. At the wide receiver position. At the wide receiver position, yeah. Does anyone have their schedule right in front of you? Yeah, I do. You've got the Los Angeles Rams. Is that next?

No, I'm talking about playoffs. Okay. Playoffs 15, 16, 17, similar to T. Higgins. The Los Angeles Rams, the Miami Dolphins, and the Detroit Lions. I would say that's fairly middle of the pack. I think Mike was looking towards the weeks before CMC came back. Yeah, I want the short-term boost here. Which, you know, Pearsall got on the field yesterday. Iuke's likely going to be out for the season.

Debo is still being brought up as a trade name to monitor for the trade deadline. The team probably won't do that now with the Iuke injury. Those were rumors before the game. But, you know, the next week eight, Dallas, then the bye, then Tampa Bay and Seattle. It's a nice schedule. I would expect to see CMC maybe week 10. But, you know, next week, whether Juwan Jennings is healthy,

Ricky Pearsall, and the fact that this team, you know, you can use a jugs machine all you want, Mike, but that doesn't make you capable of running passing routes at the running back position. And that's what we're seeing. Like, this offense isn't the same without CMC. Obviously, if it was, that would be an indictment on CMC. He's too special. You know, so San Francisco, kind of a weird team right now.

And, you know, Pearsall was a high draft pick. He was a second rounder, right? He was a first rounder. First rounder. That's a round earlier than the second. It is. So Pearsall, I think they have expectations. And now, you know, it was funny.

Somebody picked him up on Sunday morning and spent fab on him in our league of record. And no one else had picked him up or spent fab that morning. And so it was an outrageous overspend. And now it seems like just a preemptive overspend because he will be going like on the waiver show tomorrow, Ricky Pearsall will be deserving of what was spent this past weekend for sure. Yeah. He'll be a major pickup.

Don't forget about Jacob cowing though, as well. He got involved. He is a fellow rookie. This is that'll be a major pickup. Don't forget about Jacob Cowling, though, as well. He got involved. He is a fellow rookie. Is that a moo? That was Cowling. He was verbing. That's fine.

And so Jacob Cowling, he had 50 yards. He had a big 41-yard reception in the game. We don't know where it's going, but to your point, they are throwing to the wide receiver. Yeah, it's just pointing out that over the next few weeks, while McCaffrey is out, it's like an even, it could be a bigger boost than just

the injury to Brandon Ayuk. Alright, that was ready to roll. Thanks again to our sponsor, Nissan, and the all-new Reimagined Nissan Kicks. Redesigned with a bold new look, the Nissan Kicks sports the latest tech, like a Bose Personal Plus Sound System. Head over to NissanUSA.com to learn more, and remember, Bose Personal Plus sound system is an available feature.

Bose is a registered trademark of the Bose Corporation. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Brandon Ayuk is believed to have suffered a torn ACL in the loss to the Chiefs. This has been and continues to be an unmitigated disaster on every front for the 49ers, Brandon Ayuk, and now fantasy managers. Ayuk wasn't in camp. Admittedly, kind of didn't know what he was doing with the holdout.

Says he could have handled it way better. Didn't get the opportunity to play. Not that I'm associating a lack of reps with the ACL, but you never know. And then didn't perform on the field when he got the opportunity through six weeks. He had one good game. Through seven weeks now he's hurt, goes out, and the team loses him after paying him and has a long road to recover. Score one for the sitting out player, though.

I mean, I don't – Is that your view on it? Oh, 100% because he just tore his ACL this season. If he doesn't go and get the bag, which with him, obviously if he didn't hold out, he would not have gotten paid. He got paid because he was holding out, and they needed a wide receiver. They were looking at trading him and whatnot. So my point is it sucks for the 49ers for sure but for Brandon Iuke he you know I don't think holding out is what caused an ACL injury this far into the season so

the irony is he didn't get paid more by holding out because he ended up having to accept their offer and they were negotiating with him before the holdout. So I think it would be a little debatable on the order of operations there, but I guess it's good for him that he got the money. But it's hard for me to say that in these situations where the 49ers just shelled out all that guaranteed money, and then they don't have the player that they wanted. No, I know. You're refs and owners, and so I get it.

You know, we know who's feeling real're refs and owners. And so I get it. Um, you know, we, we, we know who's feeling real bad for those, the salary cap. Uh, so in that, in that case, you're thrilled for Deshaun Watson's what you're saying? No, no, that's what I heard. Wait, how did we get there? Is it because he's got guaranteed money? Yeah, he's out. And then now the, the ownership and the team doesn't get any of the playing on the field. And that's what you said you're into. I'm not sure. That's what I field, and that's what you said you're into. I'm not sure that's what I said. That is exactly what you said. How is that a different situation?

That's a different human story. Full-blown different situation. But we can hop to that news. Literally identical. Season-ending injury for a player you guaranteed money to. Identical situation. Well, he didn't hold out in order to try money to identical situation well he didn't hold out in order to try to get a contract that he didn't have he came in and has had this contract for years but the league held him out Deshaun Watson uh we saw it right away like if you were watching the game they had the the camera on the back of the calf and you could see the the Aaron

Rogers pop and you knew immediately like you can diagnose that in one second. He tore his Achilles. If it wasn't for this crazy contract, I think we would all think maybe that was the last snap this poor performing quarterback would play in his career. However, he's still got years left on this contract. You know, players, Jameis is coming out, and people from the Browns organization supporting Watson.

And so he's done. So there is a lot of fantasy implication here from who's the backup. Dorian Thompson Robinson was the backup this week. He got injured, but it's not considered serious. So they're going to see if he can grip a ball this week. Jameis Winston had been the backup up until this week. He got some play in this game after, uh,

Dorian Thompson Robinson got injured. So we'll, we'll have to, and then what happens to the receiving targets, Jerry Judy and, and Cedric Tillman, who had kind of a breakout game. And of course,

David Najoku, a lot to discuss. We'll, we'll get into, I think most of the details on the waiver show tomorrow about specifics. No, Jaden Daniels left in the first quarter. And it was a rib injury.

X-rays negative. The game was out of hand, and he didn't have to come back in. His mommy said he's fine. That's not a joke? That is not a joke. No, that was actual news. She was actually one of the first people to report. That was early.

People are wondering how it's going. We haven't heard an update. Is he going to return to the game? And then Mama tweeted out, he's fine. So I don't know if she got a text, but this is good news from, I would imagine if she's tweeting that out, that he doesn't have broken ribs. At that point, by the time he would have came back in the game, it was already like that game was out of hand.

DK Metcalf left with a knee injury mike mcdonald said we're optimistic it doesn't look too bad he got carted off we all watched it on the tv screen which you don't like to see your player carted off it wasn't to use the restroom not to not this time not well i mean you could have been both that's true he could have needed to tinkle yeah i probably did probably did. I mean, he's hydrating. Yeah. X-rays and a tinkle? X-rays and a tinkle.

I wonder if they got a toilet in the x-ray room just for those. You know, get them out quicker. Get them back to the field quicker. There's just toilets everywhere back there, man. Yeah. There's just drains on the ground. Corners of all rooms have drains. We have a blue tent for medical.

We really need like a yellow tent. Oh, a little toilet potty pop-up room? No, there should be two. A yellow tent and a brown tent for medical. We really need like a yellow tent. Oh, a little toilet potty pop-up room? No, there should be two, a yellow tent and a brown tent. Oh. And you see which one they go into. Yeah, Lamar needed the brown tent back in the day. I remember that was the waddle to the locker room. That was an all-timer.

Anyways, getting back to the injury. Three tents. For DK Metcalf. He's going in the brown tent. We're not sure what he's doing in there. How long is he going to be? He's been in the brown tent. We're not sure what he's doing in there. How long is he going to be? He's been in the brown tent a long time, Bob. He's been there five minutes and 45 seconds.

This is a bad one. But DK Metcalf, at this point, they're optimistic. It doesn't look too bad. That does not mean he's not going to miss time. I think that means that this doesn't look like a season ender, which is great. TBD on more information, but we will need it. He's been really good.

I hope he is okay. I've got some shares of Metcalf. Aiden O'Connell broke his right thumb in the loss to the Rams. The Gardner Minshew experience begins again for the Raiders and their one receiver. Yeah, it's a four- to six-week injury for O'Connell, so he will go to IR, and we've got a month of Gardner. Tyler Huntley left early with a right shoulder injury in the Miami game.

Tua is expected to return to practice and has a chance to return in Week 8 against the Cardinals. If you can picture the meme of the Undertaker sitting up in the casket and apply it to every single player on the entire miami offensive tour returns that would be probably appropriate hopefully he comes back wearing that guardian helmet i i assume he will since his teammate who just had a concussion devon achan was wearing it i'm sorry he looked like darthmet he's already a smaller svelte guy that's the problem if he was an offensive lineman like I think all the offensive linemen probably should be in guardian

caps but it won't look weird but when you're a tiny like the issue with A-Chan as an NFL player is only his size he's a tiny guy he's too small to play that position, historically speaking, when you look at the metrics of all running backs. It's the height. He's short. He's tiny. He's 5'9". He's a full NBA Jam character with the Guardian helmet on. Big head mode? You put in the code and you got the big head mode. It's so funny to watch him run. Do they make different sizes of the guardian like can you go double can you go triple guardian i you know if you can two i should do it should do it yeah uh it i will say this you can't lift his head off the ground i've got i've got a chan on a handful of leagues one of my my guys and i loved seeing him in the guardian helmet i mean i was like yes sir yeah

protect that brain man that's right yeah i mean i would put spikes on him if i could like his shoulder pads just like wait put spikes on the helmet no put spikes on all of his pads just maybe that's gonna be illegal i know that i would do it i know that's a big ref thing to say right you are big ref spikes and all you guys want entertainment are you not entertained? Yeah, I take back my apology. I'm big refs again. Okay.

All right, Debo, we talked about it. Pop Douglas and other players leaving due to injury. And then we had the full gamut of Jason panic attacks happening here in the studio because David Montgomery went down with a knee injury. He was limping off the field. Jason had basically already written a eulogy for him. I've lost. He sent out funeral invitations. I've lost everyone on my main league,

and all I had left was David Montgomery. But he came back. He did, and it was awesome. Obviously, if you're disappointed with the performance on the day, you just got to wash it away because he got injured, missed a chunk of that game, and wasn't as utilized. But awesome to see him back because when he limped off, I was just ready for Isaiah Pacheco part two.

Tony Pollard had a concussion check, came back into the game. Will Levis was an early scratch due to injury. The fact the head coach had to come out after the game and said the injury is real tells you everything you need to know about that. It really does. And then Cooper Cup was a scratch as well because they wanted, I like the quote from McVay, he said they were concerned about a return to performance,

not just a return to the field. So they have the Thursday night game. That's the Rams game. So this was only like delaying his debut by four days and making sure he's back out there. And so they won anyways, and it was a smart move by the team. I think it was. Additionally, not only was it only delaying it four games,

but you would be asking a player coming back off of injury to be ready to go. Four games later. Four days later after playing. So that would be very difficult on Cup. And I haven't heard anything on Puka, but please come back soon. Nobody's talking about Puka, Jason. What? Nobody's talking about it.

No, I just mean like no. The people are talking. People need him back. All right. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll jump into the studs.

This week's fantasy stud muffins. Top three scores of the week at the quarterback position before the Monday games. Number one, Hustle Wilson, 24.9 points. That's unbelievable. That's unbelievable that the number one quarterback on the

week right now is Russell Wilson for two reasons. Unlimited. One reason is because it's Russell Wilson behind a beat up offensive line. Unlimited. And the second reason is because he wasn't that good. 264-2 is a fine game i mean when we're

streaming i'll take that when we're streaming quarterbacks that's exactly what we're looking for we're like yes we got 250 and two awesome but that's not usually the number one quarterback on the week we do still have lamar baker kyler uh tonight i didn't mention herbert he had the rushing touchdown as well josh allen 24 points just behind him and jalen hurts at Herbert. He had the rushing touchdown as well. Josh Allen, 24 points just behind him, and Jalen Hurts at 22.8 were the top three of the week. Russ, you just talked about it. Hurts, two rushing touchdowns. He was only 10 for 14 for 114 yards passing in this game,

but did what was needed to be done against a Giants team where Daniel Jones at home cannot throw a touchdown pass. I don't know if you've seen this, but he can't. He can't throw a touchdown pass at home. Six games in a row at home that he has not thrown a passing touchdown. That is incredible. If you did that two full games in a row, that's bad. Three is surprising.

Six is astounding. I mean, at some point, he will end up getting the bench this year. Josh Allen had a great week. He has back-to-back top five weeks again. Ask me how many interceptions he's thrown through seven weeks. How many interceptions has he thrown through seven weeks?

Zero. I feel like he knew that answer already. He did. Zero interceptions, only four total turnovers on the year. I know someone has thrown a lot more than that. His name is Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes, what the Chiefs did yesterday defies logic

and explanation in every form. Patrick Mahomes played bad football. The Chiefs have no wide receivers. Travis Kelsey, so he threw for 154 yards and zero touchdowns. That's what Patrick Mahomes did. 12 fantasy points. Okay. Two interceptions.

Two interceptions. They beat the 49ers by a bunch of points. They got nothing from Kelsey, lost Juju, have no wide receivers left. Are undefeated. Andy Reid is so incredible because McCole Hardman doesn't belong in the National Football League, and he's a good player for the Chiefs. I wouldn't say he doesn't belong. He can be a role player.

Did you watch him in New York? No. If you judged him off of New York's performance, he would be in the NFL equivalent of the G League. I mean, this is just incredible. 28-18, 10-point win in San Francisco when your quarterback throws for 154 yards and your running back is off the street and scores two more.

I'm just giving them their flowers because Mahomes cares about Ws. Yeah. Then he should not throw so many interceptions. That seems like a bad way to get Ws. Well, I mean, yes, he threw a couple of interceptions, but they won the game by 10 points. Because Brock Purdy threw more.

He was at three? It was just wild. Drake May was a good streamer, 276 and two. Jacksonville. They keep giving it to us. Target Jacksonville. Running backs. The top five running back scores of the week in fantasy points. Gibbs

was incredible. We got five names here. See if you can spot the two names that are surprising. Okay. Jameer Gibbs, 30 points. Saquon Barkley, 25. Joe Mixon, 25. Javante Williams,

25. What? Tank Bigsby. Tank Bigsby and Javante Williams, 25. What? Tank Bigsby. Tank Bigsby and Javante. 23.8. There you go. Yeah. I got tanked in a couple leagues.

That's good, man. I mean, I know. Got tanked hard. There was a question we had on the show last week that we said was like a really tough, good question between James Conner and Tank Bigsby highlighting the matchup that he had and that if Travis Etienne was gone, it really was a game scripting the week prior and that if Jacksonville has the lead, Tank should get a lot of work. I got really scared about that advice when I wake up and it's 10-0

and I'm like, oh, shoot. Oh, and he had done nothing at that point. Right, because they're down. I'm like, oh, no, this is going to be a Dearness Johnson game. And then. Who did run well as nine carries. But, yeah, now they came out and asked him, are you going to make a change at running back starter?

He said that he didn't believe. Doug Peterson said he didn't believe that you lose your job due to injury. I like hearing that as a draft CTN manager. I mean, you got to you gotta be you gotta be nervous super nervous i i've watched enough to say that tank bigsby has a special tackle breaking ability that does not exist in the more explosive better pass catcher travis etienne. Etienne needs, you know, it's a little most dirty 8-chan type of thing. I'm not saying they're a perfect match, but Bigsby runs with a ferocity that has proven itself out now over seven weeks, and Etienne doesn't run that way. So I think committee is what we're in store

for, and I don't really care who gets the first snap. It's about who you start in fantasy. That's going to be a problem. It's going to be a problem like the Tampa Bay situation. We love Bucky Irvin and his ferocity of the way he runs. He runs between the tackles better

than Rashad White. No question. White's a better pass catcher. Richard White. Thank you. DW. No! DW. What is this? When you're in trouble? white no question white's a better pass catcher richard white thank you dw yeah no dw what is this when you're in trouble if you know you know what when you're in trouble it's called dw is that how it goes dark winged yeah yeah that's like four layers too far dangerous hey we got dangerous with that nickname all right um but yeah committee backs are not fun to try to pick the right week. And we're going to do our best to help you and give you the information you need about Etienne's injury and whether you can thanks Bigsby yet again. Joe Mixon is incredible. Joe

Mixon is the RB2 in fantasy points per game. You take away the games he missed due to injury. I believe he's put up three 27-point games in four starts. It is a delight. He is spectacular. They lost the game. It was very close. They lost at the end. And this was a game where C.J. Stroud barely threw the football and was awful while doing it.

And they almost won because of the running game. Yeah, Stroud, you know, we brought this up in the offseason looking at the truth of the quarterback series about his splits, both home road and good and bad defenses. Last year as a rookie, he was unbelievable for a rookie, but whenever he had a tough matchup, especially a tough matchup on the road, he imploded. And so far this year, I don't think he's done enough to really you know you

had a tough matchup on the road in week three against Minnesota that's really tough but he didn't get to 10 fantasy points and then the next tough road matchup he had was this week against Green Bay 5.3 fantasy points so I think this is one of those things two weeks from now it's going to be on the road against the Jets I mean mean, their defense doesn't look like it has been over the last two years. Yeah, but they're a great passing defense. Exactly. So that worries me a little bit. Also, the Green Bay defense, you're going to need to pay attention

to whether they're just one to avoid, especially in Lambeau for quarterbacks because we just got off of them shutting Kyler down minus 5.2 against expectation and then Stroud minus 11 against expectation that could be a trend that continues and I can hear the smiles of Al Borland as I say those words yeah Brees Hall was oh we're back baby not good on the ground yeah I don care. I don't know if you listened to Aaron Rodgers come out and talk about how they need... His solution to the

offense is running the ball better. Oh. So that they can play action pass. But Brees was 6-4-1-0-3 through the air and Braylon Allen barely saw the field. So the Brees experience is good right now. It's since, I mean, since the coaching change, the, I mean,

Braylon Allen was barely on the field two weeks ago. Am I remembering? No, you're a hundred percent correct. They've gone back to the. 11 touches in two weeks for Braylon Allen. Yeah. They've gone back to the Brees Hall is. Everything.

He's going to do it all. And you know, what's funny is I think he could have used the player two off more because when he got to the end of that 50-something yard pass reception, I've never seen a player more gassed as he went to the sideline. He didn't even make an effort to get into the end zone at the end of the play. He was like. And then he waved himself off. He's like.

Oh, and he stayed out for a while. Kenneth Walker, RB3 in fantasy points per game. He is like, oh, and he stayed out for a while. Yeah. Kenneth Walker, RB3 in fantasy points per game. He is really good at football. Even had a touchdown call back in this one. And his touchdown reception was, you know, one of the knocks of Kenneth Walker coming out of college was that he wasn't utilizing college

as a pass catching back, which we talked about that was a system he was used a lot in high school. He's got good hands, and he showed it. That was like a wide receiver catch. Yeah, utilization in college and capability are not always connected. We know offensive systems define a lot because Walker was equally capable in the past couple years when they didn't give him the opportunity.

It was just offensive system. Bijon, 21 for 103, consistently looking really good on the ground awesome in this game um kareem hunt two more touchdowns the recipe is there for the chiefs they did lose uh i believe a broken arm they lost a broken arm? In the stadium? I didn't get to finish my second. They left it behind. But, I mean, do you really want it anymore? It's not working. If it broke off?

Well, it's broken. Yeah. It's not going to heal. Do we cut the mics after a while? Or how does this work? I would leave it. I would leave the arm at that stadium. Anyways, so whose arm was it?

You said a cornerback. Okay. I would cut that guy. Anyways, so whose arm was it? You said a cornerback. Okay. I would cut that guy. Yeah. I don't want him on a cornerback. No, no. He's still got – See, it's broken.

It's not removed. All right. I thought you said they left – That would have been the headline story if a player's arm was removed in the game. They left the arm behind. Sorry, I just was – Jason is in his mid forties

now. That's all I have to say about that. And if you, if you're not going to, if you don't want to follow along with the cognitive decline, you're gonna have to find another show. I'm a jail quarterback, Jalen Watson, who fractured his ankle. Oh, his ankle. See, that's why I did have a question mark at the end of it. This was a sentence that was going to keep going before you jumped in about the departed arm. That has nothing to do with a severed arm. Yeah. This poor guy.

So he has both arms now. I would not cut him. Yeah, but a broken ankle. JK, two arms? Yeah. Okay. Apologies. Kyron was great, as always.

Aaron Jones looked great, ran great. Josh Jacobs, his first career receiving touchdown ever. And, you know, Josh Jacobs was a submission for the Monday-Punday very often. Yeah, I mean, he was – And he looked good. Yeah, he's looked good all year. We talked about the touchdown, positive touchdown regression coming. I didn't think it would come through the air, but that was good.

Also, on touchdowns, to go back to Kyron, two more touchdowns. He is the only running back over the last decade with more – or the only running backs with more touchdowns over an 18-game span are Todd Gurley, Jonathan Taylor, and Alvin Kamara in CMC. So he's like elite. Now this next week, Minnesota's rushing defense. Which one? Does he get a touchdown against Minnesota?

Probably. Probably. He gets a touchdown every week. It's kind of like in his contract. Najee Harris, 21 for 102 and 1. He actually has looked really good this year. Yeah. It's a contract year, right?

It is. Yeah. Yeah. He's lost some contract weight, I think. He's also... Slightly more explosive. Him and James Conner, they've historically been second half of the year players. So if you want to talk about a guy that you might...

Who would you rather have between those two rest of season? James Conner. Boy, I hope he can do something tonight. Yeah, me too. No, I really hope. Yeah, Mike does not hope. Yeah, that's... What does it feel like to root against your teams running?

I'm used to it. Yeah, he doesn't care. I'm used to it. Wide receiver, top five scorers this week. Amon Ross, St. Brown, 21.2 fantasy points. George Pickens, Justin Jefferson, who is outrageous. DK Metcalf and Brian Thomas Jr., who looked outstanding for Jacksonville after the first quarter.

Do you know how easy it is to be a referee in a Minnesota Vikings game if you're like the boundary ref? Because if it's Justin Jefferson, you just go, yeah, I was in. You don't have to look. You don't have to look at the feet. You just assume, and you're like, no, there's no way he caught that you just go yeah it was a catch go ahead look it's always a catch these impossible boundary receptions that he makes every single week where when you're watching in real time you go no there's no way that's a catch but you probably half the time

not even call the catch on the field and then you look and you're like how did he do that he's unbelievable man he is I think he is easily the best wide receiver in the NFL right now paid like it um what else do we got we got George Pickens nine targets five for 111 and one the opportunities that he's going to have to make plays are going to increase. And that's, I think, the best way to put the Russell Wilson at quarterback situation. You just want the maximum amount of opportunities. You don't want to be looking at George Pickens with four targets and he has to make a giant play. For the sake of consistency, you want to see these kind of numbers.

Nine targets, give him a couple deep shots, look to them around the end zone. They don't have pass catchers beyond him right now. No, I mean Van Jefferson was involved in this game. So if you're going to Van Jefferson, you know George Pickens is going to be the primary target lead. I expect passing volume to go up with Russ there. And also, what is George Pickens' calling card? What has it been in his career? The big play? Yeah, the big contested catch, the highlight reel catch

when a guy is on him. And the moon balls that Russ is famous for throwing, we talked about that before the show, he throws these high-arching footballs where it's really going to give a player like Pickens the opportunity to just go and win a jump ball I think he's going to win those more often than not so big plays could be more common funny because we just talked about the Hail Mary with Aaron Rodgers last week and why he makes certain you know why he gets quote-unquote lucky and yeah keeps getting Hail Marys to work there's got to be some with the trajectory of the arch on the ball. Yeah.

Or just pure dumb luck forever. Could be. Jefferson was great. He is averaging more fantasy points at home than any wide receiver in the history of the National Football League. That's okay. Matt Caff will monitor the injury. Buffalo, Los Angeles coming up, 4 for 99.

Brian Thomas, he is the first player. This comes from Doug Clausen, the first player with 500 receiving yards on 30 or fewer receptions through seven games since Randy Moss. So he is doing big-time stuff with the opportunities he's getting, and he is definitely a go-to receiver. You can see it. I saw two screens that were designed for him in important parts of the game

where it was like clearly this is a player they're saying, we have to get the ball in Brian Thomas jr's hands. You love to see that. Plus they're taking the deep shots. It's, it's wonderful all the way around. What do you think about the wider wide receiver three on the year, Drake London? He's had a nose for the end zone every single week. Um, thank you guys. You're welcome. Thank you. He leads all wide receivers and percentage of routes targeted inside the red zone, and you can feel that because there have been multiple games this year where Drake London is on their trajectory for nothing. And then all of a sudden it clicks.

And, you know, look at the catches over the last six weeks. Six, six, six, 12. More than the best. Six and six. Yeah, I mean, you want more volume than that. There's been a lot of touchdown dependency. I wanted less volume there. You know, you look at the last six games, he has a touchdown in five of them.

So you can make an argument that this should be a trade-high candidate, like trade away. I would not. I would not either. I would actually see it as the opposite. I think Drake London is a buy high candidate that I am willing to spend up for him part of that is that end of season schedule you you you look at you know the Washington Commanders championship week which first week of the playoffs the the Las Vegas Raiders the Washington Commanders I think are real quick are worth a discussion because the defense, is it good?

So for the last, I want to give you some stats there, Mike, because I was looking them up too, and I mentioned this in our company Slack yesterday, how it seems like they're getting 5% better per week because Dan Quinn's a defensive mind. I want you to listen to this at the quarterback position in particular, okay? If you're a quarterback playing the Commanders, remember we criticized Kyler? Yeah.

Okay. Since that game, negative seven. So that was minus 7.2 against expectation. The next game, minus 4.8. I want to know who the quarterbacks are. Well, the next one was Watson. Okay, Watson. But then it was Lamar.

Minus 2.3 against expectation Lamar on the road in Baltimore. And then it was Carolina yesterday. But I'm just saying the last four weeks, so the first three weeks it was Baker, Daniel Jones, and Burrow. But the last four weeks they've been the singular best team against quarterback in football by far. But I'm saying this is – I'm asking the question, are they good?

Because Baker and the Bucs put up 37 points. The Giants stink, and they got to 18. The Bengals, a strong offense, they got to, what, 33 points. Arizona, they kind of stink. They were only at 14. The Browns offense stinks, 13. Baltimore then got to 30. So I'm just saying of like the good offenses are still putting up huge points on them,

but the mediocre ones, including the Carolina Panthers, of course, is they're not. So I'm just – I don't know. They're in a lot of high-scoring affairs, or they have been. They play very fast. They play no huddle. They give the opponents more opportunities with the ball. But I don't know. I think their defense is much more middle of the pack overall.

And so I think predictability from a fantasy perspective can be more difficult. Speaking of Drake London, Jason, would you rather have London or Tyreek Hill rest of the season? I assume it's still Tyreek. No, that would definitely still be Tyreek. Tyreek has been atrocious, as has Jalen Waddell, as have the Dolphins, but Tyreek with Tua

is much better than what we've seen from Drake London getting six receptions a game. London or T. Higgins? I would take London. Garrett Wilson or London? London. Devontae Adams or London? T. Higgins? I would take London. Garrett Wilson or London? London. Devontae Adams or London? London.

What kind? Yeah. Amari Cooper or London? London. I'm sure it's London. Although Amari Cooper looked great. I don't know that he cracked into the studs this week, but what's incredible is he only had 12 routes.

You might watch it go, I thought he wasn't going to be that involved. He wasn't. It's like 12 routes in the game, and he still was very good, so bright days ahead. Let me get through the studs that tied in real quick before we get into the duds.

Two tight ends with 14 targets. David Njoku, Brock Bowers. Jason started the week. You and I were on the very, very into Najoku rest of season camp. Hopefully it's Watson. It doesn't matter. Not going to be Watson. Winston, sorry.

Hopefully it's Winston. But it doesn't matter to me. Correct. David Najoku is too important to the offense. We saw it early in the game. He got the touchdown with Winston. But his target share is going to be outrageous. That was a man catch. Njoku is in the Brock Bauer

situation. That is how I view that team. They don't have wide receivers. Cedric Tillman, Jerry Judy, ran so many routes and was invisible. Elijah Moore, he's not a professional wide receiver. This team threw the ball to Jordan Akins a bunch because they don't have anybody

to throw it to. The identity of this team is David Njoku is the wide receiver one. Brock Bowers is the wide receiver one. And both of those guys were outrageous. Yeah, moving past those guys, Hunter Henry is definitely a name that you need to pay attention to. You've had two games with Drake May, two double-digit fantasy points. The targets go his way. So I think

he is a... He's still a streamer. Like, you want to play the right matchups, and Jacksonville was a good matchup to play against, but he is someone that should be picked up. I agree. Kittle and Pitts. Kittle is the tight end one. You talk about the situation with the wide receiver room.

Ayuk's departure and no CMC. Kittle is just unstoppable. And then Kyle Pitts. 7 for 65, 9 targets. The last three weeks, man. Yeah, he's been fine. He's been fine. Fine to good. I mean, 8 targets, 5 targets, 9 targets. Those are great numbers for a wide receiver, but more

importantly, the yardage. 88, 70, and 65 in back-to-back-to-back games. That would be a 1,200 yard pace. That's outstanding. a 1,200-yard pace. That's outstanding. I mean, still no touchdowns. I don't know why Kyle Pitts just can't be used around the red zone, but he is – what was that laugh?

Jeremy just commented – because it was in the name at the beginning of Kittle and Pitts. And he's just – Jeremy is just now getting the joke. Okay. All right. Yeah. It's a dog food. Kittle and Pits is the dog food, right?

I mean, it's two players. And then Kittle and Pits is the players. Yeah. And so. It sounds similar. Yeah. It's a big hat. Otherwise, the pun wouldn't have been funny right um he's gonna turn off the recording devices all right we're gonna take a break

come back with the duds all right unfortunately we have to have this, but maybe we can keep it brief. Pooped in his big boy pants. He's now claiming he never heard it earlier during the Monday pundit. All right. He was probably too busy figuring out ways to trash Mike's fantasy team. Probably. CJ Stroud was horrendous.

I mean, 10 for 21, 86 yards, no touchdowns, although one play changes the entire day. Thank you, Tank Smells. Yeah, Tank Dell in the very beginning of the game had a perfect pass from Stroud right in the end zone. He was falling over, but it hit him in the hands. You got to catch that. Kurt Cousins, 232 and one.

He's been really inconsistent. I feel like that one game was fool's gold in terms of, I think people started Kurt Cousins for the last two or three weeks based off of a five touchdown performance. Yeah. I mean, at least, you know, it's in him. I will say that, you know, it's a streaming option. I don't, I mean, this was a good, this was a good matchup for him. It didn't come to fruition. But I would still like next week at Tampa Bay, if the weather's okay, I think he's still in consideration. Can we talk about one thing I got right this year for a second?

Sure. Because I've been reminded of things I've gotten wrong, which there's plenty. But Anthony Richardson not being a player you should draft, at least thus far, seems to be. Well, you had more than that. You had the double up because you always, the whole offseason, had the comparison of Anthony Richardson to Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels, you're my guy.

And you were talking about how he's five rounds later, he's more proven as a passer has far more experience playing football than anthony richardson even though he's a rookie versus a second year nfl player in anthony richardson the draft cost didn't make sense and that you believed that jayden daniels was actually a better player so i mean yeah it's a couple of wins not sure the week that richardson outscored jane daniels is his time to do that oh yeah because jayden didn't jayden didn't say what oh yeah jayden daniels got injured. What an idiot. I bet they were super close. Jaden barely played because Jaden ripped off like a 50 yard run.

You had to look it up. You couldn't just like, you couldn't just know you had to verify. I really, yeah. Um, yeah, he is on, I think the quote was unproven inaccurate overdrafted richardson has all the potential in the world and i don't want to dog on him and not dog on stroud or somebody like that the problem with richardson was the the mathematical equation for fantasy success in fantasy is extremely proven by history you don't have top 10 finishers at the quarterback position that don't complete 60% of their passes. That's like a nice bar for you. Like if you go back historically, unless you're the special Jalen Hurts here where he was 59% and ran it a bunch.

Like it's just very, very hard. You have to thread the needle. And so Richardson was going to have to prove accuracy before anything else. The accuracy needed to be at a level where you were going to sustain week-to-week success. Richardson will not have games this bad every single week of the year if he continues to start. He will have good games.

He will connect with Alec Pierce on two bombs in a game. He will hit Adonai Mitchell down the field. But we watched every snap of this football game. Oh, man. And our eyes were rolling into the back of our head on simple screens, out routes, plays across the middle. He had good throws in this game. He completed 10 passes, and some of those were downfield throws

where you're like, maybe he's even better throwing it downfield. I think the math is saying his completion percentage downfield is actually a little bit better than the basic screen game. Richardson's just in a position now where you're like, if you're the Colts, you have eight difficult matchups with teams that can score points coming up. Can Richardson get you there? And does it matter?

Like, are you willing to not go to the playoffs to take the steps necessary with this guy and develop, I mean, they've got to develop him. They've got to figure stuff out. His potential and his physical attributes are, in the NFL right now, they're literally second to none. He is more athletic than Josh Allen. He is a freak of nature. He does need to learn to run out of bounds.

What's crazy, oh, I know, he's like running down the field, has a nice pickup, and then he decides to shoulder check the corner. What's crazy? Oh, I know. He's like running down the field, has a nice pickup, and then he decides to shoulder check the corner. It's going to hurt you, man. It's going to hurt you. He's never been hurt yet. Oh, wait. No, the data says he's injured a lot.

Three times. Three times in the same game. Okay, so I do think he gets better. I think they will work some of that stuff out, figure out how to play towards his strengths more and more as the season goes along. I'm not going to have that happen on my fantasy roster while it happens on the Colts roster for the next little while. All right.

At running back, I'm going to bring up some names that struggled this week, and I want you to tell me worried, not worried, or panic alarm. Okay? Alvin Kamara. Not worried. Really? Yeah, I mean, you're going tovin Kamara. Not worried. Really? Yeah, I mean, you're going to get Derek Carr. No quarterback.

Well, do we have an update on Derek Carr's injury timeline? Chris Olave, they said, I mean, we'll have to see if he practices this week and is progressing in protocol. But what they said last week was it didn't appear to be a long thing. I expect Chris Olave back. Derek Carr is a big question mark because while it's Spencer Rattler... I thought it was a four-week span was the estimate originally. Am I wrong about that? Yeah, can we bet that? They obviously

didn't put him on an IR. Week 9 is the likely availability according to Dennis Allen. He said it on Friday. Likely by week 9. We're heading into week 8 right now. I'm not too worried about him. Would you go acquire him? I mean, if I needed running back help,

yeah. Yeah, I mean, I might do it. This is the time to do it. He could get traded. He's the only player that the Saints can... He's not getting traded. He's the only player they can trade and save cap space trading. And they are 2-5 now. I don't think they did. They'll probably be 2-6. Yeah, and so

if you want to trade for... They got Kendrick Miller back. Alvin Kamara, youara, they're on the road against the Chargers. The Chargers play an ugly brand of football. They're not winning that game. They're not winning that game, and I don't think Kamara's going to be great, so maybe wait one more week and then go try to trade for Kamara right before Carr comes back. Jordan Mason did not get into the end zone.

Worried, not worried? No, not worried. He got stopped on the one, and then Brock did it. He's an expiring asset at some point um yeah yeah of course but for like against dallas next week raheem mostart worried not worried uh a little excited to be honest yeah um i think he's looked good on a per touch basis i should have given that as an option worried not worried excited yeah i mean the duds were excited for the Duds. Oh, it's the Dolphins.

Against these stacked boxes, the last two games for Mostert, 4.2, 4.5 a carry. He's looked okay, and now Tua comes back. Ramondre Stevenson? So Gibson got hurt in the game. Ramondre, it was not a surprise once Sunday morning happened, but it was a surprise the way that the week had trended that all of a sudden at the end it was, oh no, Ramondre's actually going to play.

But clearly he was still dealing with his own injury recovery. So... Did you see the... Overall, I said no. Did you see the comments by head coach? Don't give them to me. We're a soft team. We're a soft football team. Oh!

That's not good. We can't run the ball. Challenging the manliness of the team. We're a soft team. We're a soft football team. Oh. That's not good. We can't run the ball. Challenging the manliness of the team. Can't run the ball. Can't stop the run. Then I saw the gif of the weird. We're all trying to figure out who did this. I mean, you're the head coach.

Nothing like calling out your players. It's gone really well in New England. No one's even going to the football games. Trey Sermon, disastrous. Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy. Terrible performances. Yeah. I mean,

I don't know. I don't know if you can... I don't know where the worry level should be because we still don't know how well this... or how the running back's timeshare is going to go. Two backs on a bad offense, though. If it's a full split like this where Singletary's getting five carries and Tracy's getting six, that's

that won't work. Austin Eckler barely got used. Yeah, under 50% of snaps there apparently Brian Robinson, he fine and he was very good. Well, you know, I mean Sticky McNichols was getting in there. Yeah, they talked. I like that. I never heard Sticky McNichols, but I there. Yeah, they talked. I like that.

I never heard Sticky McNichols, but I like it. Oh, I do too. Is it a reference? No, it just sounds good. Yeah. No, I'm in. But he got seven carries. McNichols, they've been talking about him.

That's not a dog food brand, by the way. That's just a funny nickname. Got it. Thank you. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, this is actually kind of bad news for Austin Eckler because it looks like the only running back you're going to be able to trust there is Brian Robinson.

It's so good. Eckler had been playing so well. I don't know. That situation's weird. They also – the game was out of hand. Maybe McNichols got more snaps because Eckler's the second guy up, and that's happened before. Stephon Diggs and Tank Dell.

Just to keep there real quick, Brian Robinson has not one single game under 10 fantasy points in half PPR so far this season. Including when he's played like 34% of snaps. I've always thought he's a good player. I mean, you want to talk about running hot with touchdowns.

Oh yeah. He's at six rushing touchdowns already. It's good offense. Loves the end zone, Mike. Can you blame him? Do you remember Cliff Kingsbury's goal line calls? Oh, no, I know. Yeah, once you're inside the five, we know what's happening.

Worried, not worried. Panic alarm. Or excited. Tank Dell. Worried, not panic alarm. Mike? Pretty worried. Pretty worried. Dell worried not panic alarm Mike pretty worried pretty worried I think next week it's not working right now next week against Indianapolis at home it should start tank it has to be better um he is averaging 6.4 fantasy points per game yeah Yeah, it's been tough sledding.

I mean, I have dealt in a lot of places. I feel the anger. He is the same as Ridley. He's having the exact same season as Ridley. I feel the anger and the disappointment. You had, I believe it was week one, the drop touchdown. This last week, the drop touchdown. Something is not really clicking.

I do think that this is a Str know, a Stroud and offense. You look at, you know, what we talked about earlier with Stroud. If he's on the road against a tough defensive matchup, we have yet to see Stroud really go out there and lay a big stat line, pass down the field. That's how they normally – Yeah, yeah. They normally refer to it as lay that stat line out there.

Yeah, big stat line. I think Diggs and Tank Dell at home against Indianapolis in this divisional game. The ends of these shows. Past 60 minutes. Oh, we let everything go? It gets a little frightening. It's ballers after dart. I'd be pretty worried about Tank Dell.

Yeah, and I wonder how Nico is like, makes this whole offense go right now. Diggs has been really bad outside of touchdown opportunities. Devontae Smith won for negative two. This was one of the biggest, most painful performances of the week in terms of dependency. Oh yeah, he crushed me

in a lot of places, but I will say this. He's been very consistent this whole season until that game. Yes. Just throw this one out. Throw it out. Go watch the Saquon Barkley highlights, and you'll go, oh, yeah. Maybe that's why they never threw the ball to Smith.

Malik Nabors, 4 for 41, first dud of his career. Trade for him. Go get him. Devontae Adams, nine targets, three for 30. So in the last seven days, according, uh, this was pointed out by someone on Twitter, FieldsBeta, lost to the Steelers, was traded

to a new team, lost to the Steelers all in one week. Did anyone else and look, I want Devontae Adams. I love him. I love the player. I want him to succeed. But given everything that's going on, the fact that the first target went right to Adams and it was not a great target, but he could

have caught it and hit him in the hands and he dropped it. I took great pleasure in that one. I really laughed. The Jets feel like the unhinged fantasy manager right now. Yes. I thought the same thing. I thought the same thing where it's like you're just

going crazy. You're trading for everything. Just throw stuff at the wall. Fire the coach. You're two and five. Fire the play caller. Yeah, fire them all because it's somebody else's fault. Trade for his best friend. Rogers did take responsibility for playing better, but he also said, you know, we got to run better so we can play action pass. We just got to play

better. You said Rogers took responsibility for playing better and I was like, no, he did not. For the need to play better. Sorry. The other way sounds true too. He's like, I played well but we got to run the ball better. How many interceptions does he have?

I'm going to give myself some credit. He's got a handful. I mean, one of them in this game was not his fault. In the last three games, he's thrown six interceptions. So how many more wide receivers do you need from free agency and trades to be? I mean, think about it. Lazard, Adams, Wilson, Mike Williams. Conk, conk.

Conk, conk. Brees Hall in the passing game. Just needs Jefferson. Getting blown out by Russell Wilson in his debut. It's funny because their offense looked pretty good early in the game. They got out to a lead. They looked like they were going to control the game. Going down before the half, they had that pass to Garrett Wilson.

They hit him in the chest and popped up. And then next thing you know, the game was out of hand. You know who they need? They need a defensive-minded head coach they got to bring in there. Someone with a former history of success like Robert Sala, who's out there. Jaden Reed, big-time dud. Yeah, I'm not worried about him. Two for 10.

Christian Watson, send him back to the waiver wire. One for nine. This is what I get for having a slight belief in him on waiver day. Tyree Kale, one for eight for eight nope jalen waddle one for 11 not worried painful johnny smith by the way 20 fantasy points deontay johnson one for 17 xavier laguette um i don't think i'm worried about deontay but i am a little worried about the the pumpkinning of oh andy. Oh, you mean the hair color? No.

Oh. I mean about the metaphor referring to the story of Cinderella where at midnight, the magic goes away. It's not an orange joke. The clock has struck. But he would pumpkin better than others. Well, they're playing against Denver on the road in Denver this next week. That is not good for Dalton.

No, he is. That's a bad football team. That's a really bad football team. Josh Downs, one for three. You will be able to trust how many receivers Anthony Richardson? Zero. Trust? You can play them.

Jamison Williams, one for negative four. Dude, what? What? But don't worry. The Lions looked amazing on offense again. So weird. Yeah, I mean, they've got a lot of weapons, and it's not always going to be everyone's day.

It's like the Gibbs and Monty thing. You know, Monty's had his games, and Gibbs has his games, and Gibbs was 160 yards and two touchdowns. Yeah, but Jamison Williams and Sam Laporta combined for three targets and two receptions. Yeah, it was not great, but the Minnesota defense is very, very good. Kelsey, Laporta, freaking stupid son of a gun Evan Ingram and Dalton Kincaid.

Evan Ingram, by the way, our parlay partay. Listen to me. I'm not doing it over the rest of the year. You can just count on that. Evan Ingram, I had 40 yards. He had four for 34 in the early second quarter. He had two and a half quarters to gain six yards. He ends five for 35.

I had Geno over 250. He had 180 yards at the half. He's on pace for 360 passing yards. Hadn't he done 250 or more every game? He had done it for like 5 straight games and then in the second half he had around 20 passing yards. We taking the unders

this week boys? You're darn right. Pick who you hate and bet them. I'd say pick who you love and bet against them. Where are you guys with Laporta? Laporta is certainly, I mean, he's a guy that you can start every week because he's part of a good offense, but he's not. He is not. He's averaging just over two catches a week.

This is why I wanted David Njoku. This is why I look at David Njoku as a top three tight end the rest of the season, is you need to manufacture volume from your tight end position. The Laportas and the Kinkades and even Kelsey to some extent are not getting enough volume where Ingram and Njoku and Bowers are getting the ball every week. We are heading into month three of the season. We've got a lot of data.

Andy, without looking, Sam Laporta is the tight end to what? Without looking, I would say 17. 18. Okay. Good guess. That was just a guess. You were way off. Yeah.

But, yeah, I mean, it's – I mean, would you rather have him or Kincaid rest of you? That's what I'm saying. Like, I think a realPorta conversation needs to happen. We're six games in for them, and we're very far removed now from last year's number one overall finish. We haven't seen anything close to that. He's averaging nearly half the points per game of last year.

He's still on the field. I mean, this was his highest snap count of the year, 95%. But the offensive system, they can run the football so well. For the archetype of the way that he's being used right now, it could change. But it's like Sam Laporta or Tucker Kraft moving forward. Yeah, I mean, Kraft was 3 for 33. He got in the end zone.

But I'm saying that because that's who Kraft is for that offense. He's a low-volume guy, and he's going to live off of receiving touchdowns. So is Laporta, apparently. Okay. How about this for a stat? Who has more targets? Because targets, we talk about this all the time. Andy, you especially.

Targets are what we want for all the receiving positions. You could go behind the scenes with targets per outrun, first downs per outrun, all this stuff. But who is getting targets? That's going to pay off. Just raw targets? Just raw targets. That's going to pay off.

Who has more targets this season? Sam Laporta or Mark Andrews, who we have all hated, who's getting one for nothing. No way. Mark Andrews has more targets than Sam Laporta. Who has more targets? Eric All Jr., rookie for the Bengals, or Sam Laporta? He has got to be a trick.

It's Eric All. Eric All had a good run there. How about Johnny Munt? Oh, dude, Munt was doing work this week. Yeah, he's got more as well. I mean, they've all got one more, but who has more targets? Evan Ingram, who's played in two games. No.

Or Sam Laporta. Your best tight end strategy this year isn't to find a good one. It's to hope you play against a fellow bad one. That's about how it's evening out. Could you take a Sam Laporta plus something and go trade for Brock Bowers? No. The name. No one's doing it.

Unless that something is Jamar Chase, you're not getting it done. Brock Bowers is probably untouchable. All right, here's your top five tight ends and targets. Brock Bowers leading the league. Yeah. He's got 60. Second place is George Kittle with 42. That's the guy.

Outrageous. Third place, Hunter Henry. Yeah. Fourth, Trey McBride and fifth Kyle Pitts. Wait, he's fourth and he hasn't even played this week. That is correct. Nice. Yeah. I mean, if he gets, if he gets four targets, he will be second. All right. Well, there you go. Kittle and Pitts. Kittle and Pitts is the answer. Two games left tonight.

If you're bored and you want to follow along, Mike's got Mark Andrews, J.K. Dobbins, and Marvin Harrison. And I've got Harrison's quarterback, Kyler Murray. And I need the Ravens to score. Let me finish. Oh, I thought you were finished. Kyler Murray and James Conner. Oh, I thought you said both.

Sorry. And I need the Ravens defense to score fewer than nine fantasy points. No pick six, Lazer. What league is that? The League of Records. To win? To win, yeah. I'm up by nine. So, Lazer, don't let me down. No pick sixes. That's all you need? I need the Ravens. Yeah, thank you.

Lazer. I need Lazer to not turn the ball over. Don't take sacks. Throw it away. Score a lot of points. Waiver show tomorrow. Streaming quarterback options as well. We'll talk to you then. Thanks for listening.

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.