Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Expectations for Stefon Diggs' revenge game and which QB reclamations will sustain

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Matthew Coller and Mike Schopp of WGR550 in Buffalo and The Deep End Fantasy Football podcast get into Stefon Diggs' return to Minnesota and much more with the redemption QBs like Sam Darnold, Geno Smith etc. Join Underdog Fantasy with a special Purple Insider deal here: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-purple-insider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. It is the Purple Insider Fantasy Football Showp with Mike Shope from WGR 550 and the Deep Dive Fantasy Football Podcast and our show presented by our wonderful friends at Underdog Fantasy. We got the shirt on today. Yep, yep, yep. The easiest place to play fantasy sports.

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ncpgambling.org. Mike, I want to jump right into the league's best revenge game from this week. Stephon Diggs against the Minnesota Vikings. And we could talk about this from a fantasy perspective, but also the crossover here of him being in Minnesota and in Buffalo as well. Stephon Diggs as a Houston Texan, your thoughts. Wait till two weeks from now when the next best revenge game of the season

occurs when it's Buffalo at Houston. But yes, we'll take this one. Gabe Davis revenge game, by the way, this week in Western New York. I think, you know, I think I've probably said this to you that Diggs did as well for a landing spot as possible. He doesn't have to dominate the targets. He doesn't have to, this is when you start to anticipate that decline. And maybe the Bills had chosen to do that. I think they just decided the combination of personality conflicts and the Bills' new offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, wanting a more run-oriented team meant, yeah, sure, we'll eat $31 million of dead cap to get him out of here, which was highly controversial. So he's not putting up big numbers. In the first week, Houston at Indianapolis, Houston won the

game. Diggs had two touchdowns. Nico Collins and Tank Dell each had over 100 air yards on their targets or even their catches, ands had nine so he was definitely playing almost like a tight end or a you know pass catching running back kind of role where you know it's near the goal line and he still got those great feet and the great technique and he gets open you know against anybody you saw in, he just wasn't beating people down the field like he was when he got here in 2020. So I think, you know, he's fine. We're still talking, but the bills are two and oh, and I got a call yesterday from somebody who wanted to talk about digs psyche

and you know, he's, he's probably not going to be happy if he doesn't get the ball. We don't, nobody knows that he's, he definitely has a reputation in that area. But if they win and he can be wide receiver three on that team, does there have to be a problem? So I think, you know, in terms of fantasy, if he's wide receiver three on your team, that's promising. They're one of the few, this is really the story in the league, offenses that can and wants to throw the ball.

I mean, Allen in Buffalo threw for 139 in week two. What kind of number is that? He can run for that. I mean, the Packers ran, this is not the point. The Packers ran, I just have it in my head. They ran 53 times against Indianapolis and the Bills ran 45 plays. It's a weird situation in the league now. I mean, Diggs, you'll tell me what it looks like from Minnesota's side of things, but I think he's probably fine. I think it's probably a great pickup for Houston that can be seriously talked about as a Super Bowl contender. It is fascinating around the league that defenses are putting two safeties in the parking

lot and saying, we dare you to run. We dare you to throw underneath all day. And there's a lot of quarterbacks in the league who either aren't willing to do it or aren't very good at it. I also think that they, it's a little bit overblown when it comes to the, no one's passing any more thing, because there's so many young quarterbacks who are just awful. And how would you know that they were going to be this bad? Like, how would you have known that Bryce Young was going to be this bad, that he was going to be twice as bad as he was last year

and teams forcing young quarterbacks to play. There's a very high percentage of the league who are putting people in that you don't even know can actually play football in the NFL, which I think has impacted it to some extent. Um, other quarterbacks like quarterbacks, like CJ Stroud with lots to work with, or even Sam Darnold with lots to work with are pretty much playing the same way. Uh, but to your point on Stefan digs, I always wanted to push back against the digs diva digs, just wants receptions because I knew from covering digs what the problem really was which was that stefan digs wanted to win with the vikings and felt like their offense was being

held back by an old school coach who didn't want to force the issue throwing the ball and then kevin o'connell came in here and proved him exactly right and so we had a thing here for a while digs is right that he went to Buffalo. They threw the ball to him all the time. They won a bleep ton of games, four division titles over and over. Allen takes this huge step as a passer with Stefan Diggs. And there, I mean, I feel like he could be in two ring of honors in Minnesota and Buffalo. And yet the fans want to talk about what a jerky is.

You're like, was that even the case? I mean, even here in the community, there was never any problems with him. I think that sometimes guys like him are so overly competitive and some contain it and some do not. And I think that he is a do not contain it when he gets to that point. And when he's frustrated by they're not winning or they're not getting over the edge, it manifests itself in ways that can be toxic to the environment. I would put it that way with digs. I think when we use labels like diva, you really eliminate, you just put them all in one, all players who are divas in one category and we eliminate the nuance to it i think it is very nuanced if he's winning in houston in that role he's going to be happy people who are claiming oh well he's if he doesn't get his targets i don't i don't think that's true i think it's always been about winning for stefan diggs but i i don't know

how you felt about it there well i generally agree in fact when he was traded here you were my first call like what there's a reputation is it fair what's behind it and i learned from you on about him um at the same time for what what you said again which i generally agree with i don't think he deserves a pass on everything and there were demonstrations on the field the last two years that did nothing good. I mean, if anything, it undermined Allen and the team overall. And I think we're kind of embarrassing. The Bills' last drive of the season against Kansas City. They are down three.

This is the game they have lost in the playoffs three years in a row. Field goal. Here we go. Josh Allen went six for nine on that drive. The first play was a bomb to Diggs. It hit him in the hands. He went six for six, throwing the ball to everybody else,

and 0 for 3, throwing the ball to Diggs until that last sequence there after the two-minute warning where, you know, who knows? But Diggs is running free across the middle. They probably want to bleed clock, but Allen kind of forces it into the end zone, and then they lose. So I think he has been a great player. His, by the way, to put it one way, candidacy for like that sort of post-retirement honor in Buffalo is really interesting. I think it kind of depends on whether they win from here. If they win without him, people are going to be like, oh, yeah, I remember him. But that's still a long ways off.

So I like him in Houston. I think, you know, the stuff you were saying about quarterback play in the league, by the way, the young quarterbacks, we were doing this on WGR the last couple of days. It's a quarter of the league. I mean, it's Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson, and now it's Malik Willis and, you know, just teams that are just experimenting almost. And they've put the draft capital in and everybody tells them because of the rookie contract, they need to play right away. And really that is, I think, about eight teams in the NFL. I think you have the two high safeties. I think you have the running quarterbacks. Most of those guys can run, which got them drafted where they did.

It's not that running back production is up. It's running production that's up. And the quarterbacks are so much a part of that. And it's also maybe interestingly officiating we've seen the league come out with spiked numbers illegal formation illegal shift i've really enjoyed reading some research on that and it probably is one of these things that you get in sports where the league wants to curtail certain you know know, behaviors. And then suddenly you get to week three and all the talk shows are talking about how scoring is down and, you know, where did, where did, where did the superstar quarterbacks go? I looked a few minutes ago, there are seven games this week with totals

under 42. It's not even cold yet. Like that just doesn't really make any sense. So the legal want to change that. And I think you'll stop, you start to no longer see uh so many flags on offensive you know how they line up you might see a few more pass interferences a few more uh quarterbacks who are getting hit that's another thing that i think too is that there has been a disproportionate amount of great pass rushers who have come into the league but the older pass rushers have not retired yet so we just have every single week the viking schedule goes brian burns nick bosa daniel hunter and will anderson and that's why having two very good offensive tackles is one of the reasons sam darnold has played so well so far but a lot of teams if you don't have

two good offensive tackles you're just getting throttled all day and now teams rush good players over the guards over the centers they have dexter lawrence and there's a handful of those guys running around so defenses have gotten very good i i think roster wise and then mixed on top of that is lunatics like brian flores who have all these different blitzes they're throwing at quarterbacks if you can't diagnose them as a young quarterback you're just getting crushed and I saw a stat the other day that Jacoby Brissett has one of the best pressure to sack ratios where he's not getting sacked despite pressure because Jacoby Brissett is a hundred years old and he's played football forever and he knows how to protect himself caleb williams doesn't know how to protect himself he was just getting mashed the other

day to the point where cj stroud comes over and says to him after the game hey stop getting killed back there and this will work out for you i don't think young quarterbacks understand how much quicker they have to get rid of the football than when you were talking about veteran quarterbacks who have played at this speed for a very long time. Well, that's, that's a great point. And if you look at the flip side of the conversation, you mentioned Darnold, of course, with Minnesota, just that much more experience and help can make so much of the difference. I think the Bears really, again, the pure, the Bears, we should have known coming into the season where their offense just doesn't work. It's that, and it's more than that. They've got the talent, and it's off to a very bad start, which is bad for me because this is

one of my weaknesses in fantasy, by the way, is I just can't wait for the rookies. I can't wait. Look at the talent. This is finally the Chicago Bears. Are we ready? They're not. But it's not just Darnold. It's Geno Smith, who is super accurate. And they've dolled up, if you will, their offense a little bit. Not so much in week one, but against New England, they threw the ball a lot and were successful. And it's quintessentially so far this season, Derek Carr, who was a tier or two below guys like Geno in drafts. Like nobody wanted Derek Carr. I heard today the Saints have scored on every drive when he's been on the field in two games. They have 91 points. And what are they doing? I mean, they're also doing the cheat code stuff like play action and, you know, motion that amazingly there are still teams that don't do like the Saints have been for a decade.

But, you know, Carr knows what he's looking at on the field. He's not loaded with surrounding talent either. But, you know, it's sort of like now in fantasy football, Matt, we're trying to decide. I mean, I have teams where projections wise, it's close between Josh Allen and Gino Smith. I mean, Josh Allen was 10 points in fantasy last week. That is not supposed to happen. The quarterback, or at least going into Monday night, but I doubt it changed with the literal lowest average depth of target in the

league through two weeks is Patrick Mahomes. Just, you know, fantasy is always a ride because things are changing. And right now it's just been crazy through two weeks. Plus you have injuries all over the place too, to sort out. I'm already starting to feel the pressure taking its toll on me and it's still September. Oh, it's a long, it's a marathon and not a sprint in the national football league. But to your point about these quarterbacks, I'm curious, which one of the quarterback redemption stories that you think keeps going? Because now with Baker Mayfield, even we're getting this bigger sample size of him playing well there. And even when you looked at last year, I think they finished maybe 20th in scoring. They go nine and

eight. They make the playoffs. So you win a playoff game that everyone thinks in the regular season, you were way better than you actually were, but he was okay. And this year it's almost like what happened last season has added to his confidence and their confidence in him. They also may have even upgraded by moving on from Dave Canales. I don't know that for sure, but it looked worse in Carolina and it looks better in Tampa base. I'm not, it's hard to figure out. That's one of the hardest things is do you blame the coach?

Do you blame the quarterback? You know, in a lot of these instances, like you said about Chicago, I don't know. Caleb Williams just wasn't getting rid of the football. So am I supposed to blame his coach? But when you have a quarterback who can execute what you ask them to do, then you can spruce up your offense and Clint Kubiak. I don't think he was allowed to do that stuff here with Mike Zimmer. And now we're seeing everything that he had cooked up in his brain and that he took from Kyle Shanahan, I'm sure. But which one of these and include Darnold in this conversation, do you think is just going to keep happening week in and week out? And which ones are you more skeptical about? So let's look, this is a great question. I want to make sure I

know the whole list. Mayfield, Darnold, Geno, Smith, Derek Carr. Is there anybody else you want on that list? Is Kyler Murray even somebody for this? Because of the older guys. Mayfield, as we think about this out loud, Mayfield absolutely belongs on it. I mean, I didn't think I mentioned him last time, but he would be last on my list because, I mean, I think they've been pretty lucky so far. And I think last year you sort of laid it out, but that was not a good team. You know, he was kind of nowhere. Tampa needed somebody. They tried it and that was not a loss, but then they paid him.

And I don't know, I'm not expecting that to look good in the end. I think they were lucky to win in Detroit. They played Washington the first week, but you know, full marks and they have Denver now. So it's probably likely to continue in the right direction for the bucks. Donald. I would like to include fields for this.

I think Justin Fields belongs in this conversation. I don't know if there's any other ones, but he belongs there, I think. Okay. For redemption QBs. So, Darnold for me, and you know, like we've talked every week about him since we've started this project, and I was always in on like what his numbers would probably look like, what Jefferson's numbers, sort of the Vikings offense from a fantasy standpoint

because of how the coach operates. And that's obviously been proven true, even maybe better efficiency-wise, definitely better than we probably expected going into the season. But Darnold is more of a prove-that-you-can-keep-going guy for me because other times in his career, he has started really well and then not kept it up. I mean, he's put down a great pace so far, and I would love to see it continue for the Vikings.

I think that's a fun story and a fun team. Always have loved the way they play. Any fantasy player, they're the anti-Arthur Smiths. Let's just go. Especially right now in this moment, in week three of 2024, we want to hold tight to years since he showed back up on the scene and showed that he could really play. I mean, almost nobody, nobody's highlights for accuracy, like tough throws, impress me more than Geno Smith. And probably that's because I, like most of us, had decided he wasn't good eight years ago, right? So the pass he throws to lock it to clinch the Denver game, you know, some great throws against New England. He sees the busted coverage with Metcalf.

JSN is all over the place having a huge week. That's cool. Like to me, that's the one where I feel like I can trust it the most. Carr, I don't know. Like that's more kind of in the Darnold category for me. Like, can they really keep that up? Maybe though. And it's not even Olave yet.

Like that's one thing about the Saints and fantasy so far is, well, they're going to score 91 points. Of course, Chris Olave is showing everybody that he was the receiver drafted out of Ohio state and he's probably killing it. He's definitely a buy low in fantasy, by the way, if you have a team that feels differently about him. I think it'll get there. So Carr's kind of in the middle.

And Fields, you know, like everybody in fantasy football, we love the idea. We love the upside. But he's somebody else. Allen isn't the right comp. Fields is somebody where, like this week, I would want to – they're playing the Chargers, which have had a good defense so far. I would want to start guys like Geno Smith and Derek Carr over him.

But it doesn't feel good because you know that he can break a 70-yarder at any time. And there were – he made a couple of great throws in Denver that didn't count because of penalties to Pickens. So he could have had a better day. So I'll go Smith, Carfields, Darnold, one tier, two tiers, and then Mayfield last. Folks, U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like. Ironic. Which is why U.S. Cellular created UsMode to help us

reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically. A phone company wanting people to use their phones less? Ironic. Let's find us again with us mode from us cellular visit us cellular.com slash built for us to get started oh really okay so you think mayfield is not going to keep this up at all that's interesting yeah i think that mayfield has a ceiling to him that might be different than the other guys because Because if Sam Darnold keeps throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson, you will keep racking up a lot of numbers and everything in this offense. And we'll find out today about his health, but I think Justin Jefferson's going to be okay for this week. And then as you go along in the season,

as we try to project it forward, there's also a key factor here too, that Jordan Addison will get healthy and that TJ Hawkinson will get healthy. I wouldn't be shocked if TJ Hawkinson came right off the IR and was ready to go. I'm sure that guy's chomping at the bit to get back. And at the end of training camp, it looked like from just the way he was moving on the other field that he was getting closer and closer. So you get Hawkinson back another weapon, by the way, how about, uh, I tried to tell everybody Jalen Naylor, you might want to do it. You might want to do it, uh, because he's going to get his targets. But the fact that Naylor has emerged as a guy too, now you're talking about a Sam Darnold that has two running backs out of the

backfield that are catching balls. A top Pro Bowl tight end who's coming back the best wide receiver in the league, another first round wide receiver and a wide receiver three who catches the ball as well. That's a lot working for him. The Gino Smith story. I really do enjoy just in general because he took on this role as a backup

and he was just anonymous for a long time, but you don't, they don't just hand those jobs out. Like they, the coaches see behind the scenes, how a guy is working, how he's interacting with the team and Seattle keeping him out there for several seasons. It was evidence similarly to Darnold. It was evidence that somebody thought something was still there, which makes you think that it might be able to continue.

Fields is the hardest one for me because seeing him so many times in Chicago, he just got sacked all the time. It was either the greatest play I've ever seen in my life or sacked. And those were the only two options. And it was sacked a lot more than greatest play I've ever seen. Does Pittsburgh factor into that for you? I mean, it is a very stable franchise, not necessarily known for lighting it up offensively recently, but it's a good coaching situation. It's got players around him. I think if he's going to, if it's going to work, then it's going to work there. I might agree with that, but I'm not, they're not going to change anything. I mean, why would they, right? I mean, they, they relative term,

they win every year and it's two and O and they have, you know, a playable schedule. Like, I think it's kind of cool that fields got this opportunity. I wanted him to have it because I thought the Wilson idea would have gone nowhere. I think they got lucky with, this doesn't sound good, but like Wilson being injured the way that happened. But my money is not on Justin Fields like getting paid next year. I think they could have the kind of season where they, again,

9-10 wins and it's not bad, but maybe they'd feel pressure at that point to pay him. I don't know, getting way ahead of myself. In fantasy, he's always interesting, but I doubt, I would bet against also like you, that he'd be, I think you said this, right? Becomes sort of a long-term answer for anybody. Canales is Geno Smith too, by the way, right? Like that goes back a couple of years with him. And do I dare add Andy Dalton to this conversation, getting the turn in Carolina now? I think that has a chance to turn up dramatically, like immediately. Dalton might be the best backup quarterback in the league. We've got this coach that everybody loves for quarterbacks. What happens with Bryce Young,

who knows? It's obviously pretty bleak. But part of, I think, had to be why that happened was you were closing in on an insurrection on the field with Deontay Johnson and Thielen. They were not hiding their frustration. And it's, you know, here's a new coach, first-time head coach. He's got to keep the room. And Dalton, you could do a lot worse. So I'm not going to start him this week at the Raiders anywhere, but I want to, you know, be open-minded to the possibility

that they put numbers up. They get Jonathan Brooks in a couple of weeks, hopefully for them. And maybe that becomes a viable offense and a viable team. So I was just looking at some things last night with Carolina and trying, you're always trying to figure out, is it the team's fault? Is it Darnold or not Darnold? I spent so much time with Darnold and this discussion. He was there.

He was there. He was there. Is it Bryce Young? When I did, when I did the big Darnold breakdown, I came away saying this guy was given about the worst set of circumstances ever. He never had a team that pass blocked above the 25th ranking and by PFF. I mean, that's almost hard to do to not accidentally land on a competent line. They're, they're blocking. Okay. In Carolina, they're not just getting killed and those receivers, they can play Deontay Johnson could play. I agree with you that if, especially if somebody doesn't have feeling, which I think his numbers are about to jump up, that he would be somebody to pick up here. And also Andy Dalton, like Jacoby Brissett is not going to excite you or wow you or titillate the senses watching him

play. But the year that he played for the saints, he got people, the football. I don't think he's going to win a ton of games, but he got people, the football he's going to drop back. And in two and a half seconds or less release the ball and guys have been open. They would not bench a quarterback of this caliber after two weeks unless dudes were flying wide open and he just was not seeing anything. I think what happens sometimes to sort of circle back to that young quarterback thing is guys get broken with their confidence.

We saw this from EJ manual a bit, and their eyes drop. They won't look downfield anymore. They take the ball, and it's almost like somebody who, after getting in a car accident, doesn't want to drive anymore, and they just freeze up. And that's what I've seen from him. But to your point about Andy Dalton, I think he's going to come in there and play pretty well.

Yeah, the Carolina Panthers do not have Justin Jefferson, but past that, I think they could immediately be a version of the Vikings because Johnson is good. Thielen is good. Xavier Leguette was a first round pick this year, had an amazing, you know, he was in college for a decade, but had an amazing final year. And like, that is something that should help them if Dalton knows enough and they can figure out ways to scheme guys open. And I think they probably can. The pass protection is adequate, at least, like you said, that's right.

Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders versus Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler. I don't know. Like, just I'm here to talk fantasy football. And for me, you know, if you're in a lot of home league players, right? I mean, I talk about the high stakes stuff a lot, the deep end, everything like that. You know, most people watching are playing fantasy football pretty casually. And somebody's 0-2.

They drafted McCaffrey, you know, and they have to do something. So what we should be doing in those situations is trying to find ways to work with those players, you know. And Carolina might be a way to sort of, you can slip that under the rug. One of these running backs or Leggett, who's done nothing, even Jonathan Mingo, I doubt he's rostered in most of those leagues. He's definitely not. But Deontay Johnson, Thielen, people are getting zeros. done nothing even Jonathan Mingo I doubt he's he's rostered in most of those leagues he's definitely not but Deontay Johnson Thielen people are getting zeros right now Matthew and you know that sort of spooks you so um keep don't don't uh forget don't sleep on as you would say don't don't sleep on the Panthers that's right that was my bit uh for a while there wasn't it uh I have

running back questions for you. And then I want to get into the Thursday night pickums. Your thoughts on Josh Jacobs, who I was a little skeptical of, but I didn't know they were going to start running every single play because their quarterback got hurt. And also Joe Mixon, Joe Mixon, a little banged up here. Not really sure of his status. It sounds like he's going to play against the Vikings. We'll see about the, the practice, but Mixon has gotten off to a pretty incredible start. So is Josh Jacobs. Were you skeptical of those guys going into this year and their potential production? Cause I, I feel like I really liked Mixon. I didn't really

understand the Packers getting Josh Jacobs, but now I'm just not going to question Matt LaFleur when it comes to running. You, sir, have earned it and you deserve the running badge. You're good. I'll believe in you forever after this. The red badge on underdog. It's been elusive to me, by the way. Mixon, again, we'll see about his status. There should be some news on that today. If I'm Houston, I'm definitely slow playing that. I'm 2-0 at Minnesota. Damian Pierce, not so much last

year, but as a rookie was kind of impressive. Cam Akers in the preseason, Cam Akers' revenge game. Cam Akers was impressive in the preseason. They have a couple of guys they could turn to and they throw the ball a lot. So I don't know. I don't know what the injury is, but I drafted a lot of Mixon. You know, the way I like to draft is receivers early or maybe one quote hero running back. And then Mixon went like in the fifth, sixth round. That seemed, on an offense, you had to, you know, like, that seemed like a good buy. So I'm definitely in on him, but for this week, not knowing, again, the injury details,

I think the other guys are potential waiver pickups. You just don't really know yet which guy they would go to because it was Akers. Akers was healthy scratch in week one, then Pierce got hurt. So that's all still very murky. I didn't draft as much Jacobs because, and say what you want, LeFleur has a complete history of splitting running back usage. So Jacobs for me, like, all right, they paid him the money. Chicago paid DeAndre Swift. Philadelphia paid Barkley. Houston and Mixon. Houston decided to trade for Mixon when they didn't need to. And then they

extended him. So you had teams doing that. And that led me to probably Green Bay. It's Jacobs, but it's also Marshawn Lloyd it's maybe even AJ Dillon Dillon goes on IR before the season Lloyd can't stay healthy he got hurt again and then went on IR on Tuesday so Jacobs is set up in a good offense they get Jordan Love back pretty soon uh to really you know the volume is what you're drafting when you're deciding like which running backs go at the top. You want the guys that are going to get 20 to 25 touches. And right now that is Josh Jacobs.

So I don't have very much of him based on how I was building teams, but he looked bad in the first half, in the first game, and then he's looked fine physically. So promising for the situation, you know, and he's looked fine physically so um promising for the situation you know and he's an okay player a little yeah i i mean i never thought that he was quite on the level that he looked at times with the raiders um but at the same time if lafleur is running so much stuff that looks like they would do at St. John Fisher college, which Minnesotans don't know what that is, but that's where, that's where you and my wife both went to college. Sometimes, sometimes I wear the, uh, the, the, uh, St. John Fisher t-shirt and I'm sure no one knows what the

logo is. Uh, but I have a Mankato state, uh, t-shirt. You do really? that no i don't really know that's my that's my made-up name great yeah i'll just move on but i i did have the pleasure of going to uh mancato for one training camp though and it was very old school feel and uh vikings fans would know that adam theelin went there because it was brought up a hundred thousand times i didn't know that Adam Thielen went there because it was brought up a hundred thousand times. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. He went there. Yep. Detroit lakes, Minnesota is where he's from.

And he went there. So that's, you're the first person I've ever broken that news to, uh, but old, old running back season. Cause it gets brought up on every single podcast. That's funny. The local guy, um, old running back season is so far working out pretty well aaron jones didn't have a great game the other day but he's looked pretty good he's catching the ball out of the backfield even when he isn't running as effectively elvin camara four

touchdowns i don't know what the revenge is that he gets against mike zimmer but he had a five touchdown and four touchdown games against him. Six. Saquon. Oh, six. Yeah, six on Christmas Day. Saquon, bring it in. Bring it in and you'll be fine. We'd be talking about how great he was the other night if he had just brought it in.

I don't know if that's a trend or if that's just kind of what's happened so far. Yeah, boy, it's tough. I mean, the situations, of course, are all a little bit different. Kamara, that is a tough one right now. I mean, I think most of my colleagues in fantasy who are drafting a lot just tended to avoid him because you're always avoiding the older running backs, right? Like that's what we do. In Dynasty, we're trying to dump them off i traded camara in a dynasty league that i was where i was pretty deep for a second round pick and i had pacheco on that team and i had i mean

cooper cop on that team like i'm not gonna need camara he's probably he wasn't efficient at all last year or last two years like what is this going to actually be? And he went for 44 fantasy points in week two. I mean, just, I don't know. That's, that is, you're right. Like, that's an interesting thing right now in the league. I continue to sort of, my fingers are crossed because that's how I draft and I don't want to lose to this, but I want to avoid old running backs. I never drafted Barkley, Just like almost never drafted Barkley. Because, oh, I could get Puka. I could get Garrett Wilson.

I could get A.J. Brown. And then I'll draft Mixon later, or I'll draft five versions of Tajay Spears. Like, then I'll be fine. Even Jordan Mason, you know, in my defense, that was somebody, he was somebody I drafted a lot. And good thing so far. I mean, he's a running back one in fantasy football so far. And McCaffrey, by the way, who would classify as one of these older running backs, will not play until at least week six, you know, to be fair. And he was the 101.

So Kamara scares me. The offense has been just humming so far. But for the most part, even Barkley, like what, how many points was that? You know, he catches the pass, maybe even scores, then you get away with it, but it's not a huge game. And I don't like the vibes there very much. That was a really bad loss. I definitely don't like the vibes of Philadelphia. That was what I was concerned about going into the season. Just with them as a team was they don't seem to have much trust for their

coach. And let me tell you what's not going to help with your trust for your coach kicking that field goal on fourth and three for the six points of death. And boy, did they die a horrible death in a football game to the Atlanta Falcons Philadelphia at new orleans sunday oh okay well that should be a pretty interesting but i i think that's a good sign for derrick carr in new orleans i don't really like what i've seen from philadelphia's defense

uh yeah they they should have been better especially on the at the end of the game there so let's uh get into some of these pickups this game is mildly interesting i think every time aaron rogers plays i'm just going to want to see what it looks like and the jets and the uh new england patriots here on thursday night football do you already have you already made your pickups for this or do you want me to get okay well let's let's hear them then what do you got yes i you know we can change this but i think i want to place my bets before we talk so i can present to you what my play was love that um you know these are four or five team five player pick them entries which you know how many times

do you expect to win or you know do you need to win to come out on top? It's really like one in four, right? I mean, I did four players today for 10 to one, like you mentioned at the beginning. So, you know, if you win that a couple of times, once a month, then you're doing pretty well. So the Jets are favored by six and a half points. Last week, they were favored by four, maybe three and a half, four at Tennessee. And it was the first time they were favored on the road like that in like a decade. But they did win and cover.

Six and a half, 38 and a half are the lines here against New England. So New England's implied total is 16 points. That's pretty rough. With that, I went Jacoby Brissett lower than one. You like how I said lower first try? Yes, I do. Yes, I do because higher or lower is what you do there on the Pickhams at Underdog Fantasy

where you can use the promo code purple. Okay. Yes. on the pickums at underdog fantasy where you can use the promo code purple okay yes 181.5 yards combined passing and rushing i don't know and jermaine johnson tore his achilles and that's a pretty brutal loss for the jets defense but i love their defense so i'm trying to not overreact here we go again with that over Overthink, overreact. You know, I'm taking the Patriots start just kind of like, okay, well, it's still very early. And I kind of want to lean against them. So reset lower for me, 181.5.

I mean, that's a decent night if he gets there. I'll go lower there. I'm also going, I don't know. I'd like your thoughts on this. Aaron Rodgers, lower than two and a half rushing yards. He's no Carson Steele, man. Yeah, lower than two and a half rushing yards. This is why I love this game.

Because both him and Kirk, Achilles is breaking news. Not easy to come back from. Neither one of them have looked even slightly mobile, but all that would take is he just scrambles and falls down for three yards. Did you research this? Has he run for any yards so far? No, I did not research this, but I will never forget the first Chiefs 49ers Super Bowl where I had an under bet on Mahomes rushing and it wasn't two and a half. It was probably more like

11 and a half or something. And he crushed crushed it and then they got the ball with san francisco out of timeouts and a minute and a half left and he kneeled three times and with the way mahomes did it he ran backwards to be safe he lost 10 yards rushing on those three plays and i won it's the it's the cheapest, worst win. We talk about bad beats. This was like the opposite. This was the best to win on that. Didn't deserve it.

And so Rodgers could have that play and then they kneel the ball out and maybe it's a close game. He's on the field and that's minus three. He's got zero so far. Not a single rushing yard. I will agree with you. Yeah, I'm into it.

I mean, where is he running to? They're not going to QB sneak with him. Right. They're not going to QB sneak with him. He's not rolling out. I think as well as he's played these first two games, it just speaks to his outrageous and preposterous arm talent. But he's not moving at all.

So I'm going to agree with with you i would go with the lower on that one yeah where is he going in new england's defense is at least respectable so they're not going to just sort of give up we'll see what happens uh so brissette lower rogers lower rush this is the one i think is maybe the most of a fish play. I'm going, I'm going higher on Hunter Henry's 3.5 catches because he was like absolutely the focal point in their passing game in week two. And with tight end, you saw what happened with Isaiah likely, right? Like Mark Andrews is on the field, healthy. Every game is different.

He's getting double, triple teamed and likely goes off in week one. What happened last week? Nothing like that. That's sort of tight end. So I'm a little bit, this is the one where I would want to hedge the most, but I think he is their number one passing option and he's pretty good. So in a tough, tough game against a tough defense, maybe they get four catches or more out of Hunter Henry, who had a huge game against Seattle. So I'm going I'm taking that sort of the fish ago, what is the number on Garrett Wilson? Because whatever I did last week to qualify for this, I don't know, but there's like a discount on him. And the original 66 and a half became 47 and a half. So I'll take the discount. We'll see what happens. I'll take higher on Garrett Wilson. Um, yeah, for, for that, I certainly would. Uh, when it comes to just going back to Henry, you could see new England getting down a little bit in this game and then

Brissette throwing underneath passes over and over and over and over again. And that's, that's the only reason with Brissette that I would worry about going lower is that you can rack up 200 yards pretty easily if you're losing by two touchdowns, but maybe their defense will hold up and they're just going to play every game. Kind of like Pittsburgh does really low scoring and run the football and try to take the air out of the ball and so forth. I just feel like they're in a bit of a mismatch here. If Rogers is playing fairly well, but, um, as far as Wilson goes, I don't think that their chemistry has totally come together yet. And when it does, he's going to have a huge game because Garrett Wilson, I only had one chance to see him play. I have mentioned this to you

before, probably that there's a strong bias for me if i see them what they actually look like in front of me and garrett wilson destroyed the vikings when he was playing with mike white so i feel like i know how good this guy is and that he hasn't fully done everything he could do with aaron rogers so i would also go higher on that. Now, the question is, what ridiculous one do I want to add to this? I moved in on your ridiculousness turf here with the Rodgers lower. I mean, now, you know, Braylon Allen is interesting. He was, I mean, pretty cool against Tennessee, scoring twice, and he really cut into Brees Hall's workload,

which makes me want to be careful on both of those guys like was that a you know a matchup thing or just what happened there I doubt they want to give Braylon Allen a you know 30 percent of the work maybe they do but that sort of I'm a little bit cautious about the Jets uh running backs you know what I was thinking about is Ramondre Stevenson and his longest run. What are the odds of someone getting a 15 yard run at any point in this game? Who's a really good running back. But I also think that they're not going to win. So if they don't win, then he's not going to be running as much and have as many opportunities. I might go lower on Ramondre

Stevenson's longest run of 15 and a half yards how about that okay ridiculous enough it's fine i mean it's not ridiculous it's a little bit normal but i'm not going to disapprove it oh uh gibson last week did cut into stevenson a little bit too stevenson's fine and i like your logic there yeah but i don't want to be i don't want to be normal with this this pick is supposed to be really silly i thought that maybe a run would be kind of silly can you find mike williams let me see here so mike williams was listed as a starter week one in san francisco there was talk between like they want to be a little bit cautious but he's ready and they definitely slow played him in the opener in week two he played a lot more and this

is a player i've always liked i mean he got hurt in minnesota right that injury last year with the chargers crushing them too yep so you kind of want if you wanted to go sort of you know pro williams you might need new england to be a little bit productive or else this could be a game where he zeroes. Like if New England can't get first downs, I mean, the Jet receivers are bad bets. But I like Williams. He was trending up last week. Maybe New England gets the thing done and you get there.

How about, okay, you talk about Minnesota, the connections, Ty Conklin, Tyler Conklin.ler conklin ty conklin maybe the goalie uh how what if we went with his longest reception being more than 12 and a half yards hate it you don't think he's going to catch a 13 yard pass i do not i mean what a doubter you know what i'm going to tell him i'm going to tell him you doubted him. I have – I mean, I've put my money down on Tyler Conflit enough times where I think, you know, if this ends up in court, I can defend myself pretty well. But, I mean, tight end has been a disaster this year.

And so, okay, well, you lost in joku you lost ferguson i mean whatever's happened in sort of the top 10 tight end range so all right well tyler conklin colby parkinson no offense and like they each caught one pass last week like almost a zero so I like the idea of Conklin and maybe this works out. I have no idea. All I need him to do is catch a nine yard pass and not immediately be tackled and roll forward for 13. So I'm doing it. I'm going to go for it.

And what, watch me try to overly justify this by saying the Patriots philosophy forever on defense is to take away the best players and put all the effort there. Well, Tyler Conklin's not one of the best players. Okay. There you go. That's good luck. Uh, and, uh, good luck to everyone with all of your ridiculous fantasy pickups over at underdog fantasy, where you can use the promo code purple uh the deep end fantasy football podcast is your show um so people should go check that out and this was fun as always and who the hell

knows what we'll have to talk about next week mike but we will be doing it every single wednesday in the nfl season so thanks so much for your time as always and thanks everybody for listening thank you football