The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - The Biggest Fantasy Football Questions For Each Team in Week 7 (Ep. 1780)

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

Starting point is 00:00:12 We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

Starting point is 00:00:30 you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan warmly joined as I am every Friday morning by Debrough and Pat Fitzmorest. Guys, I was not here last Friday. Thanks again to Seth Wilcock for filling in as host. Really appreciate him stepping up while I was, I still am on the mend, but when I was just starting off being on the shelf. So thanks to him for helping out last week. I hope you guys had fun. You guys came up with your own key questions for that episode, right? How was that experience, D-Bro? Oh, well, um, shout-out to Seth. Seth actually knocked it out of the park. Oh, he ended up coming up with him himself too. Yeah, he came up with him and, um,

Starting point is 00:01:09 Fitz and I were left to evaluate and we were like, um, looks pretty good, bud. Let's go. Oh, that's, I was good. I was, I was hoping you guys were going to do it as was initially planned, just so I could, you know, have you guys pull back the curtain and see what it's like coming up with these questions every episode. Well, since you're starting this off of the question, can I ask you a question worm? Of course. How, um, how are those? electric carts in Walmart. Are they faster than I think? Or the, how does that work out? So I get all the, how much, how much groceries can you store in the front cupboard? I haven't used them yet. My, uh, mom was very nice and flew out to help out for the first week

Starting point is 00:01:43 post-surgery. So, um, a buddy of mine, I said this on yesterday's show, lent me a knee scooter from when he had torn his Achilles. Oh, nice. So I was on the knee scooter. I, I didn't have the basket. My mom was like, you know, pushing the cart and I was on the knee scooter next to her, like in the grocery store like oh yeah I usually get this I usually get that whatever it was um I have not attempted to buy groceries by myself quite yet and I'm not looking forward to that experience like this thing sucks I can only have been three six packs in this what is this come on there is like a tiny little bag on the knee scooter that like I put a couple stuff in but it's not like a bag yeah it's not like it's not like a it's like a personal knee scooter it's not like at the

Starting point is 00:02:22 grocery store so it's not designed for that so if you like you need to go get some shampoo or something like that you know yeah I guess I'm like I want to bring in like a back pack and be like, hey, I promise I'm going to pay for everything in here. I'm not trying to steal. But do you mind if I just like throw this in the backpack while I'm going around? You check out my backpack? Yeah, exactly. Stick the gun in there. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Yeah, it's the little stuff that you don't think about. Like, it gets more difficult. So good, good key question by you there, Dibro. Fitt's how you doing on this Friday morning? Doing great, worm. Great to have you back from your foot surgery and ready to discuss what, you know, Dibro and I were just talking about this off camera. What a great slate it is this week.

Starting point is 00:02:59 We have some fun matchups, man. Like anytime you get like a half dozen or more good matchups, it's a good week in the NFL. We've got at least six or seven. Well, and it already started last night. Thursday night football was a stunningly great time. Unexpectedly enjoyable, man. 33.31.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Boys. 33.31, man. Wild game. I was down in the dumps from, you know, the Brewers going down 3-0. And that game ended shortly into the start. of Bengals Steelers. But man, that game kind of lifted my spirits. Like, that was just a lot of fun to watch. Really fun to see Jamar Chase and T. Higgins both heavily involved again. And kudos to Joe Flacco for resuscitating the Bengals passing game. I don't know what the right

Starting point is 00:03:44 phrase is, but heavily involved doesn't seem like enough for 33 combined targets, 22 combined catches, 161 yards for Chase, 96 yards for Higgins, a touchdown each. I mean, Flacco, people making jokes right and left on social media last night, but like resurrecting the fantasy hopes for this team. And it's, it's not just Jason Higgins who have looked great here. I mean, I mean, Flacko himself, 342 yards and three touchdowns. But Chase Brown also having room to run and looking, you know, he didn't get in the end zone, but looking closer to what we were expecting when he was being drafted in the, you know, third and fourth round of draft this year. He had 11 carries 108 yards. He had a long of 37. That's his longest of the season. So Debrough, yeah, yeah, like the

Starting point is 00:04:25 Bengals just like looking. Like, they're not going to be contenders, right, without Joe Burrow, but just looking like they can still be a team that bring, and the Steelers defense has problems. But the Bengals looking at the very least, like a team that can be above water in terms of the fantasy relevance of these stars that we were drafting as stars. Absolutely. And I think the other thing that, like, if Flacco is going to give relevance to this passing game, I mean, like, what do you all think about their upcoming schedule? They get the Jets, the Bears, Steelers again, which apparently their defense is just absolutely fraudulent this year. I tried to give them more credence and I was like, oh, maybe they're getting better. They're not.

Starting point is 00:05:01 The Patriots, the Ravens, the Bills, the Ravens again, Dolphins, like, you got a pretty good rest of season schedule. So, I mean, if you bought low on this offense, like you got Chase in a trade and I saw multiple people in Discord hitting me up last night like, yeah, baby, they traded for Jamar Chase or T. Higgins or, heck, some of people even went out and got Chase Brown, feeling pretty good this morning about it. Jamar Chase in the consensus rest of season, or I'm not looking at weekly rest of the rest of season here. Fitz, I want to ask you where you think he should be rest of

Starting point is 00:05:32 this season, and I want to see where he is in consensus. He's wide receiver four. Okay, I got to pull up. So he's behind JSN, Aminra, and Puka, but obviously Puka has the injury question. So Chase at wide receiver four rest of season. And Higgins, obviously this is not accounting for last night. This was going into last night is that a wide receiver 34. So that I think would probably move up just as people get more comfortable with Flacko. How far up do you think that's going to move? Yeah, I think Chase is probably going to go into the top three. And I also had him wide receiver for rest of season, not having adjusted for last night's game in this week's results yet. And I had T. Higgins, wide receiver 36, going to have to move him up too.

Starting point is 00:06:11 It's just fun. Like, we know the interceptions are coming for Joe Flacker. Yeah. He is going to throw interceptions. Who cares from a fantasy perspective? Right. We were getting interceptions from Jake Browning and without any of the passing game goodness. And now we're at least getting the goodness.

Starting point is 00:06:24 So, like, Chase and Higgins investors have to be just over the moon with what they saw last night. Flacco just keep doing your best, James Winston. That's all we need back. And the last year, before we get to the Steelers side, he threw 47 times. He doesn't need to throw that much if he is this concentrated target share for Chase and Higgins. Like, as long as they are getting this percentage of the targets, we will be fine if Flacco throws 12 fewer times in a game because it's going to be. going to be so concentrated on those two. And yet, like, we saw what, how many yards did Yosevash have, like almost 50?

Starting point is 00:07:02 And no fan had, like, a nice gain or two. Yep. Yoshavash had 49 and Fant had 44 and a touchdown. But that was, I was on four targets each. So, um, on the Steelers side, Jalen Warren looked great. Obviously 16 carries, 127 yards. Aaron Rogers was, I couldn't believe the throw on the Hail Mary attempt at the end, like that his arm is still capable of that.

Starting point is 00:07:23 That was a rocket. That was like a jaw dropping just amount of yards to throw four in the air. I could not believe he got that ball to the end zone at 42 or whatever years old he is. So that was remarkable. But Pat Friarmouth, Debrough, five catches, 11 yards, two touchdowns. Like obviously the big breakaway for one of those long touchdowns, but like was getting involved besides that. I mean, he's tied for the team leading targets, tied with Johnny Smith. Very much a Arthur Smith, you know, special there, especially also with, you know, all four.

Starting point is 00:07:53 touchdowns going to the three tight ends very much again in arthur smith special um but friar mooth kind of stood apart from the rest in terms of the overall production by the end yeah i i think it's fools goal man walking into this week they were using darnail washington and on more routes and snaps than friar mute he actually fell to third in the pecking order so i buried him in rankings actually had john new smith bumped up a little bit because his route shared bumped up and um he got as many targets is Friar Muth. I'm not buying the Friar Mute stuff. Like, I just think it's still going to be volatile week to week, whether they're going to have Washington playing like another offensive lineman spot depending on what they want to do on the weekly basis. I also think like the Steelers are,

Starting point is 00:08:33 if they're fully going to go all in the fact that they're four and two, this is a franchise that I think is, I wouldn't be surprised if, and I'm not saying it's a major move, but I wouldn't be surprised if they make a move for a wide receiver because they need somebody else, man. like it just dek i mean can we talk about it for a second de k mackab's performance last night like aaron rogers just didn't look at him in the second half like everybody like myself that was you know betting receiving aridj overs for mecalf going against the mangles was feeling pretty good in the first half and then the second half you're like bro where where's he at what are we doing here so i i don't know man i'm not buying the friarmute stuff and this offense just in general like

Starting point is 00:09:12 outside of jalen warren and streaming erin rogers i don't know if i want that much of a part of Fitz what you think? Yeah, I mean, D.K. He's got this weird usage this week. We think of D.K. as like sort of a Mike Evans type, a lot of air yards, not a lot of yards after the catch.

Starting point is 00:09:29 And it's been sort of reversed with him. Like, I think he is right now approaching his yardage after the catch that he had had for some full seasons in Seattle, which is kind of funny. But the air yards are just, like, way down from where they normally are with D.K. Metcalfe.

Starting point is 00:09:47 So it's strange usage. I think it's going to make for some erratic results for him. And as Debrose said, I just don't think you can hang your hat on any of the tight end stuff. And Arthur Smith, it's going to be whack them all with trying to pick the right Steelers tight end in any given week. And the long Friamuth touchdown was kind of a busted coverage for the Bengals. It's just this is not sort of sustainable, reliable production. Fitz to your point, I think it's kind of ironic and funny considering how that offense has operated and yet we're talking about the arm strength that Aaron Rogers has had like that last

Starting point is 00:10:23 did grow they haven't used that you like just how you talked about it he's been a point guard like he's he's like bottom five at a dot bottom five in time to throw like it is literally been snap it get the ball out of his hands and let guys work after the catch so they're not even taking downfield shots on most games you don't want to make the the old guy stand in the pocket and Face the pass rush. And I don't think Aaron Rogers wants to stand in the pocket and face the pass. Hey, old guys can be more mobile than you think. Did you see that Joe Flacco's own read?

Starting point is 00:10:55 Oh, dude. And I, I will, you will not hear me on this show give Zach Taylor too many flowers about play calling and stuff like that. The most vanilla scheme ever, they rely on Joe Burrough. That was a stroke of master. Like, that was a master brush stroke, dude. That was fantastic. Because at that point of the game, nobody was like, I was like, oh,

Starting point is 00:11:15 my good look at him go like i nobody was expecting that that's why it was so good yeah shout out to a bunch of our colleagues who did a parlay betting the over on rushing yardage for both quarterbacks oh my that's remarkable nice nice win fellas by the way talking about surg of genius just quickly because we didn't mention it t higgins could have had a second touchdown in this game but he goes down at the end to uh to clinch it and give them the field goal attempt to win it um but his his stat line which was already good, you know, six catches, 906 yards and a touchdown could have looked even better if he had tried to score there. Let's dive into the rest of the slate here.

Starting point is 00:11:52 So like we said, kind of kicking off really strong and hoping it'll continue with what looks like a pretty fun slate, hopefully to lift Fitz's spirits fits. I told a friend of mine after the division series, I was like, the Dodgers are playing eight more games this year. They're not going to lose again. So I don't know that it really mattered how the Brewers showed up. I just think the Dodgers are kind of different. So, you know, keep your chin up there.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Yeah, they are a destruction machine, no question. Yeah. I'll be rooting for the Mariners on the AL side. And if they get there, like, I think they would also get swept. I mean, I just, that's what the Dodgers are. Reminder for everybody, all of our weekly consensus rankings and tiers can be found at Fantasypros.com slash rankings. Game number one, another London game.

Starting point is 00:12:35 We are not done yet with the early mornings. Rams versus Jaguars. D. Brow, I'll start with you. Brian Thomas, Jr., had his best game of the season in week six, finishing his wide receiver seven on the week, which was his first time higher than wide receiver 30 in any week this season.

Starting point is 00:12:49 That's in half PPR scoring. Was that an outlier? Or do you expect him to look more like the wide receiver we thought we were drafting in August when he faces the Rams here in London? I think he keeps the high street going, guys. And also, I watched a good bit of that game. He had a long touchdown get wiped off because of penalty,

Starting point is 00:13:07 so it could have been an even bigger day. With Brian Thomas Jr., I think we're seeing closer to the player, we thought we were drafting. And over the last two weeks, I mean, he's gotten a 22% target share. He's averaging 35.1% of the air yards. And if you look at the coverage structure for the Rams,

Starting point is 00:13:23 I mean, this is a team that's run the eighth highest single high rate. Since week five and Brian Thomas Jr. has come back to life versus single high, 32% target share, 2.9 yards per route run. This secondary has given up a lot of receiving yardage, 13th most per game to perimeter wide receivers. So I think it's another good game for Brian Thomas Jr. Fitz, what do you think? And also, like, just kind of think about the bigger picture with Thomas.

Starting point is 00:13:46 Like, if I told you before the season started that Travis Hunter was going to be a complete non-factor in the offense, I think we maybe would have been even higher on Brian Thomas Jr. Just saying, hey, this first round really talented receiver isn't coming in to, you know, take all these targets that we're kind of worried about. That's been the case, but it hasn't just panned out the same way for Thomas maybe starting to hear. Yeah, that's a good point. And, oh, by the way, like, we have a good game in lunch. London this week after getting that Shets game. London has proven capable in the past of taking what look like good matchups and making them look ugly. So let's see how this action pans out here.

Starting point is 00:14:24 Fingers crossed. I'm cautiously optimistic about Brian Thomas Jr. Friend of the show Jacob Gibbs of CBS noted on Twitter the other day that Brian Thomas Jr. had a 37% first read share in his last game. And he's been at or above 37% on first. read share in two of his last three games. I think first read share is a bigger deal in the Jacksonville offense than maybe some other offenses because if the first read isn't there for Trevor Lawrence, the success rate on his dropbacks has not been very good this year. He is kind of a first

Starting point is 00:14:58 read quarterback and also encouraging BTJ average 5.1 yards per target over his first four games. That's a terrible number. Over his last two games, he's at 10.6 yards per target, which is more befitting a star receiver. So things do. seem to be moving in the right direction. Where do you have him in the ranks this week, Fitz? I have got Brian Thomas Jr. at wide receiver 13. D-Bro, is that too high, too low, or just right? It's just right. I've got him at wide receiver 12, and I might bump him up like a spot or two more.

Starting point is 00:15:29 Yeah, right now I've got him below one spot below Romo Dunzee, and it could be pretty windy in Chicago, so I might move him up. All right. Well, speaking of Roma Dunsay, let's go to the Saints at Bears' first game in the kind of more normal early slate after the London game. I'm not asking about a Dunez. I'm asking about DeAndre Swift. On a scale from 1 to 10, how real was Swift's excellent week six? He hit 108 rushing yards, 67 receiving yards, a receiving touchdown.

Starting point is 00:15:56 It was RB6 on the week. Fitz, what do you expect from Swift for a follow-up against the Saints? So are we saying the real end of the spectrum would be 10? Yeah, 10 is like he's going to be a top six riding back rest of season, super real. This is the new running game for the Bears. one is like total outlier. He's going to come back, crashing back to Earth. Not that he's like been awful, but like he's not going to look anything like this in week

Starting point is 00:16:19 seven. Gotcha. I'll go mid-spectrum with maybe five and a half or six. I don't think DeAndre Swift is going to suddenly turn into a super efficient runner. He was dead last among qualifying running backs in rushing yards over expected per carry last season. And he ranked bottom 10 in that category going into the game against Washington. On the other hand, Swift has had big games.

Starting point is 00:16:41 the four and the bears were coming out of their buy. So Ben Johnson had two weeks to cook up the good stuff for the commanders. And maybe Ben Johnson was just generally able to work out some of the bugs in the offense generally and the running game in particular. And that offensive line, they've got a lot of high-price talent up there with these guys. They brought in like Joe Thuny and Chris Dahlman. Those guys earned their money on Monday night. Like they did a bang-up job in the running game. And maybe we're starting to see that unit truly come together and work in unison after these guys hadn't really worked as a unit ever before this season. Debrough, Fitz kind of mentioned it like coming out of the buy.

Starting point is 00:17:22 I was going to ask if that was kind of an angle you wanted to take on this in terms of just like, did they figure out something with the running game and the offense in general coming out of the buy week? Or do you see this as still kind of more on the fluky side of things? I think it's more on the fluky side, just considering how good he looked. I think it's actually more telling about the Washington commanders run. defense. We've had moments where they've gotten ripped and I mean, that happened last week. So I think it's more telling about their run defense that it is because DeAndre Swift still doesn't look like. If you turn on

Starting point is 00:17:52 the film, like he's not in the open field making guys miss a ton. Like he's getting a lot of what's blocked. Like you look at a lot of the different metrics. He's middle of the road now and miss tackles force per attempt. He's bottom of the barreling yards of contact per attempt. I think he comes back. And now he's, we've seen DeAndre Swift playing through injuries not so well in, and pretty. previous seasons. Now popping up midweek with a groin, getting limited practices. I think he comes back to Earth. I'm giving this like a five.

Starting point is 00:18:19 And the other thing about is like the Saints run defense could hold him down this week. They give him the seventh lowest yards after contact per attempt. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not buying it. I don't think that this one game just ought of a sudden like changes who DeAndre Swift has been over the last basically two seasons, three maybe. Debrer, are you buying into any kind of revenge game narrative of Spencer Ratler versus Caleb Williams given that Caleb took Ratler's job in college?

Starting point is 00:18:46 I mean, Ratler, look, everybody's got to hype themselves up somehow, you know, to get ready for, you know, they've been slided and stuff like that. That's how professional athletes do. And I'm not going to tell them not to do it. But I think the Bears are going to roll here

Starting point is 00:19:01 versus the Saints. Good pull on that worm. I forgot that Caleb totally displace Spencer Rattler in college. I paid close attention to Caleb because he was for a long time considered a possibility to go to Maryland because he's from the D.C. area, and he obviously did not. And I don't think ultimately ended up considering him that closely. But the rumors for a while locally were that he was, you know, giving consideration to Maryland.

Starting point is 00:19:22 So that early career, Caleb, I was paying very close attention and imagining if he had been in college park instead. So I do remember that stuff going on with Rattler. Let's go to the next game here, Dolphins at Browns. Initially, I kind of struggled to come up with a good question on this. So I kind of just, you know, throughout, you know, what player in this game do you guys disagree with their consensus ranking most strongly. I do want to note, though, that, and we talked about this a little bit yesterday, Fits, the weather now looks very bad for this game.

Starting point is 00:19:50 And D. Bro, Fitz, you know, said on the Thursday show with Jake that, you know, he tends to be a fade-the-weather narrative type of manager. He's not overly worried about it. To an extreme end, though, you do have to consider it. And the reporting yesterday was maybe wins even as high as 50 and 60 miles an hour. There's also 94% chance of rain. And we're talking about two quarterbacks who are not exactly known for having particularly strong arms. So you can still answer the initial question that I post to you guys when I was putting together the sheet of which player you disagree with on their consensus ranking.

Starting point is 00:20:25 But I want to get your take on the extreme weather here too and how that's impacting your rankings this week, D bro. Yeah. So I'm with fits that I don't usually freak out because whenever we get weather issues later into the year, that's the first questions we get in discord and stuff where people are like, Oh my gosh, the weather. And it's like, dude, the wind's like 10 miles an hour. It's going to rain a little bit. Like, what do you wigging out about? Like, I'm not worried about that.

Starting point is 00:20:48 When we get to monsoon level conditions, yes, it's going to impact it. Like, you're talking like 20, 25 sustained winds, gusts up above that. So I do think it's going to impact the game environment with this game. Not so much the rain, but the sustained wins. And you talked about it, Worm, like these are two quarterbacks. We're not talking about arm strength a ton. So we're going to see some ducks here. probably a lot more rushing, like over under Quintan Judkins, 75 carries in this game.

Starting point is 00:21:17 The guy that I'll pull out of here that I disagree with consensus ranking, if he doesn't get a touchdown in this game, I'm not ranking Darren Waller inside my top 12 tight ends for the week. And I understand like, okay, he's run high with the touchdowns. He saved himself with that. The matchup, the coverage matchup for Darren Waller is quietly terrible. Like, the fact that the Cleveland Browns are running single high at the third highest rate, 61% of the defensive snaps hurts Darren Waller. Since being on the field for the dolphins, he's gotten two targets,

Starting point is 00:21:50 two versus single high. He has a 5.1% target share versus single high. So the fact that this is what the dolphins are going to see a ton. You talk about the weather and all that kind of stuff. Maybe Aaron Waller saves his day with a touchdown. But outside of that, I'm not going to be ranking him inside my top 12 tight ends for the week. fits what do you think just don't want to play anyone from the passing games in this contest on either side

Starting point is 00:22:14 through no fault of his own the guy would probably disagree with most on rankings as jalen wattle because he's ranked as a high-end wide receiver two i think is eCR's wide receiver 16 so i've got him down a wide receiver 22 and even that seems optimistic he just hope he catches a lot of short passes and maybe volume carries the day for him he has been really good in the two games the dolphins have had to play without Tyreek Hill since his knee injury. But yeah, the conditions are just going to be brutal here. And there is a wind tunnel effect in Cleveland Stadium. That is the one stadium I get a little concerned with windy conditions in.

Starting point is 00:22:53 Because, yeah, when people ask me rankings questions and try to lead me saying, oh, well, this guy is dealing with 15 mile an hour wins is nothing. It doesn't matter. Yeah, go out and throw a Nerf ball in your yard and 15. mile an hour wins. It's not like you can't hit a target. But 25 mile an hour wins with Gus's 44 miles an hour and rain. Yeah, I'm fading the passers and give me all the Quinchan Jodkins and Devon A-chan. I just want to highlight for everybody before we move out this game. We are moving out this game. But again, we already talked about Pukua has officially been ruled out

Starting point is 00:23:29 for Sunday. That is an early game, of course. So if you are the type of person who likes to wait until Sunday has said all your lineups, make sure he's out of it early because that is the London game. So Puka, we expected that, which is why I didn't bring it up in that game, but officially has been ruled out, according to the fine folks on Twitter. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. The Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook app is top rated, probably because there's so many promos and so much to bet.

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Starting point is 00:25:04 Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling. it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was this is how you guys remember it

Starting point is 00:25:41 going down yes I have a very different memory of this we were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say hey Jonas and then I wrote down on my little notepad hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title oh but thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey Jonas on the iHeart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

Starting point is 00:26:15 This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

Starting point is 00:26:36 And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy

Starting point is 00:27:04 in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing.

Starting point is 00:27:20 That man, hell get the fly. He run running the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So, listen to Point game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:27:39 Next game up here, guys, Raiders at Chiefs. Rishie Rice is back, so we of course have to ask about him. It's the key storyline in this game. Fitz, I'll start with you. What are your expectations for Rice and for how he impacts the other fantasy relevant players in this Chief's offense? I think he'll do well. I have him ranked as a low-end wide receiver one this week.

Starting point is 00:27:58 Rice has kind of a specialized role in that offense. So it should be pretty seamless when he steps back into that. role. He's a short area receiver. Doesn't really run the full route tree. His average depth of target for his career is 4.9 yards. But Andy Reid's playbook is full of good stuff for Rice that has just worked splendidly, all sorts of wide receiver screens and quick hitters. And Patrick Mahomes is slinging it around, man. The Chiefs have a pass rate over expected of plus 9.7 percent highest in the league. So Rice's return is great for Mahomes. He's QB1 in fantasy scoring and could very well stay there all season. Rice's return probably not as good for Xavier Worthy, but maybe it's not that bad

Starting point is 00:28:38 because, yeah, Worthy most likely loses some target share, but maybe Rice's presence gives worthy and efficiency boost. Like they've complementary roles and defenses are going to have to pay close attention to Rice now. Travis Kelsey's target chair, it's probably going to settle in at something like 15%. So he's maybe a lower end tight end one, not so much a mid-range tight end one. and then Hollywood Brown pretty much becomes unplayable for fantasy, and how much are the chiefs going to bother running the ball and now that they're fully staffed at wide receiver? D'Brow, what do you think?

Starting point is 00:29:15 So Rice has wide receiver 9 in the consensus rankings for this week? That actually does feel aggressive to me, just like first game back. You never know what kind of rust there will be to shake off. You know, he's not just coming back from suspension, but, you know, was pretty badly injured the last time he played. It was a long time ago at this point, but still it is his first game back from them. So I don't like the idea in a vacuum of putting him inside the top 10. Having said that, looking at the names after him, like, Rider Server 10 is Roma Dunez.

Starting point is 00:29:43 11 is George Pickens with C.D. Lamb coming back. Debo Samuel is 12th and he hasn't really practiced this week. Brian Thomas Jr., Jalen Waddle, we just talked about the weather. So like there's not a ton of obvious names to put ahead of him, even if I don't like having rice. Like wide receiver 9 feels too strong in a vacuum. Where do you have Rice ranked Debrough in his first game back? I've got him as a wide receiver one. I've got him at wide receiver 11.

Starting point is 00:30:04 I mean, I understand the hesitation. I guess to me, if you look at this, it's more of just the midseason, the fact that he's coming back midseason. If we all zoomed out about this and said, okay, if this was week one and Rishie Rice was going to be a full go, where would we be ranking him? And so that's where I think it's appropriate. Because if that was the case and he was coming back and if anything, you can make the case, he should be healthier now than he would have been in week one.

Starting point is 00:30:30 coming back from the injury. So considering all of that, like, I think the ranking's appropriate. The betting markets are saying they're aggressive on him as well. Like Hard Rock bet right now has his line at 62 and a half receiving yards. And I'm not going to shade anybody taking the over. Now I'm probably like shading away from it a little bit. But I think he's going to step back in and be their unquestioned wide receiver one. The matchup is good.

Starting point is 00:30:52 We know that he is their zone beating option. The Las Vegas Raiders run zone at the highest rate in the NFL, 86.2%. and they're also top 12 and as far as PPR points for Target giving up to slot receivers. So yeah, I'm with it. I'm not saying that it doesn't feel aggressive, but I think the reason it feels aggressive is first game back, middle of the season. If we flip this on its head and this was the start of the season and he was good to go week one, this is where we'd be ranking him.

Starting point is 00:31:21 See, I would actually be even, I would be fading him more if it was week one this year. Again, coming off the injury, I would be say like I would want to see it. first. I'm not even saying not to start him. I'm just saying to dial back expectations maybe a little bit is kind of the main point I'm trying to make here. Because again, like I do think like by and large you have to start him, because even a lot of the names that you might have drafted later than him that have filled in admirably, like an Emekaegbuka is not going to be an option, right? So like those names that could have maybe leapfrogged him in how you rank him this week are not really on the field. So so I'm not suggesting that you should be sitting Rishi Rice. I just don't want everybody to go in and say like, oh, we're going to see like top 10 production right. That's just not the way I'm looking at it. I want to see it. I want to see the rust and just coming back from everything because it's a long layoff. And the offense has been working really well. I think Fitz's point about how his role is kind of specialized compared to some of these other guys is a good one in terms of like it's not going to rock the boat on the offense too much.

Starting point is 00:32:16 Right. It's just going to be more additive than like, you know, messing up the juju. No pun intended, but just what everybody else is doing in this receiving room. Again, just why receiver 9 feels strong to me. but again, there's not a lot of names afterwards that you can make a strong case for moving up. So I do get Y is ultimately in that range. We'll see how it ends up playing out. Let's go to the next game here.

Starting point is 00:32:39 Eagles at Vikings. Philly's offensive struggles continued last Thursday against the Giants. What can they do, Dibro, against Brian Flores and the Vikings defense? I mean, man, I think the thing they should be doing is running the ball. Now, I know that that's not going to make the rest of the defense. receivers happy and there's been all this, you know, the Eagles are always in the press about AJ Brown and, and dude, if they could ever have an OC for two seasons in a row, we would see better things out of the Eagles. I think that's the one of the storylines that kind of gets buried with

Starting point is 00:33:13 all this. It's like all the drama about them not throwing the ball or Jalen Hertz. Dude, like, how easy do we think it is for, for a team to turn over four OCs and four years? Like that, that's not easy for anybody, for quarterbacks, for anybody, like for offensive continuity. So I think they're going to run the ball and have success doing it. You can run on the Vikings, ninth most rushing yards allow up per game. And the thing that is really going to help them because their offensive line has not played up to previous year expectations of the Eagles. They're giving up the fifth most yards before contact for attempt, which is really going

Starting point is 00:33:48 to help Sequin and give them some room to run. So I think we're going to see a lot of running for the Eagles and a lot of Dallas Goddard, dude. he's been getting a lot of targets and this is a really good matchup. I mean, Minnesota runs too high at the highest rate in the NFL. Dallas Godder versus too high.

Starting point is 00:34:04 Dude, he's been getting elite usage. 23% target share to Pitsy's point about first read share, 26.1% first reach here. And Minnesota's given up the 10th most schedule adjusted fantasy points per game to tight in. So big game for Dallas Goddard, resurgent game probably for Sequin Barkley, AJ Brown and DeVontos Smith,

Starting point is 00:34:20 you probably feel like you've been feeling the entire part of the season. And do I start them or do, I don't know what the freaking do with them. If I sit them, I'm probably going to get burned by it. So I'm probably playing him as a flex play. I want to push back a little bit on the constantly changing offensive coordinator stuff for the Eagles. Just because unless your head coach is the offensive play caller, that's everybody.

Starting point is 00:34:45 That's not every team. Four O's season four years. Four and four years. But they do not last. Debrough, there are only two offensive coordinators. There are two play callers in the NFL. that aren't head coaches that have even been with their team since 2023. This is like you get maybe two years and either you're not good enough and you get replaced

Starting point is 00:35:03 or you're good enough and you get hired a way to be someone's head coach. So the guys that have offensive play calling head coaches, they, of course, have that type of continuity because they're right head coaches. They're not getting poached. But any team that doesn't have a play calling head coach, like four or four years is extreme, but it is like it is a year to year. Maybe you get a second year. That's it.

Starting point is 00:35:22 Joe Brady and Todd Munkin are the only two. two non-head coaches who are offensive play callers who have been with their team since even 2023, everybody else is in year one or two. So like every quarterback who's head coach is not an offensive play caller is dealing with at least some level of turnover there. Again, four and four is a lot. I don't want to. Also to that point, isn't that shouldn't be that a factor about, you know, quarterback

Starting point is 00:35:45 play ebb and flowing over multiple seasons too. And the other thing I'll push back a little bit on a worm is the other thing about the Eagles play callers, it's been. very hit or miss. Shane Stike and good. Brian Johnson terrible. Okay, Kellynne Moore really good. Kevin Petulow horrible. So it's been not just the fact of the turnover. It's been, oh, he's really, really freaking good. Dear Lord, what are you doing? Oh, he's really, really good. Have you ever called plays or seen an NFL offense run? Ever. Ever. So it has been a real roller coaster. That's sure. By the way, I want to correct myself because I said it was just

Starting point is 00:36:23 Brady and Monk, and there is a third, because I was just looking at AFC. Drew Petzing has also since 20, he's also since 2023. So there are three names whose head coaches are not offensive play callers who have been there, who are even just in year three, you know, let alone anything beyond that. And there's nobody with the year four beyond who's not the head coach amongst the play callers. Sorry, that was a bit of a detour there. Fitz, what do you expect out of the Eagles against this aggressive defense? You know what's funny about Kevin Petullo's offense? And I'm sorry, Eagles fans. I know none of this is very funny to you.

Starting point is 00:36:55 Our buddies K-Lest and E-Rock, regulars on the Fantasy Pro's Discord, who Debrough and I have become good friends with. Those poor dudes have to be besides themselves these days. But what's sort of humorous is that Petulah's offense has been terrible for all the principles involved, except for Dallas Goddard, who suddenly morphed into Tony Gonzalez. And I stumbled into Goddard in a couple of drafts, and it has been like finding a $100 bill on the sidewalk. And I hope I've distracted everyone with this little diatribe about Dallas Gauter because ultimately I've no idea what to expect of the Eagles offense against Brian Flores defense this weekend in Minnesota. And I was just trying to fill time rather than throw my hands up in the air. Debrough, I was asking Fitz and Jake a little bit yesterday about Jalen Hertz and where you'd want to rank him in a matchup like this. And sort of the consensus from that conversation was, you know, they're more worried about the less experienced quarter.

Starting point is 00:37:50 quarterbacks going up against a hyperaggressive defense like Flores is. Where are you ranking hurts? Are you dialing back your expectations for him at all in this matchup? I'm not only because the time you do that and the fact that you can run on the Vikings and stuff like that, he's going to bury you with two rushing touchdowns. Yeah. So you can't push him outside the top five. Like I've got him at QB4.

Starting point is 00:38:17 I just settled between he's going to be QB3, QB4. just for the fact that he could score two rushing touchdowns any week. Let's go to Panthers at Jets. The initial question I had in here was about RICO Dowdell. I still want to ask about him. But I was putting this together earlier in the week, you know, kind of more unclear about what was going on with Chuba Hubbard. So I'll just kind of dial back the question from a macro level view.

Starting point is 00:38:38 What do you expect the workload and usage to look like fits in this backfield in this matchup against the Jets? I don't think it's going to be a RICO takeover. He's been terrific the last two weeks, but he had really favorable. matchups against the dolphins and cowboys. And there's just, there's no way the Panthers are kicking Chuba Hubbard to the curb after giving him that big contract extension in the offseason. And some of, Dave Canellis has been pretty coy about how he's going to use these guys. But he has said that he's going to use both guys. So I, I expect it to be a split backfield.

Starting point is 00:39:10 Right now I've got RICO tentatively ranked RB20 for this week and Chuba RB29. Collectively, that's probably a little too high for both guys, so I might have to reevaluate that a little bit. But I think RICO is more in still startable territory, and Chuba's kind of fringy. Fantasy Proz has an are they playing tool. It gives Chuba Hubbard a 68% chance to play. That's just through Thursday practice reports.

Starting point is 00:39:35 So that might look even stronger after we see whatever happens here on Friday. So keep an eye on that, but we are anticipating him playing as of the Thursday practice report, Dibrow. So what do you think this usage is going to? look like in the backfield. I mean, Dowdell, he is coming off of an insane two-game stretch, right? So, like, it feels like, if it was just one game, I'd be more like, okay, there is a

Starting point is 00:39:58 fluke. But like back-to-back, I know it was against, you know, very take advantage of a bull run defenses. I know that's not really a phrase. But he still did what you should do against those types of run defenses and looked amazing. So the fact that it was back-to-back is why I think I and others are like even more like, okay, like are they really going to put this, you know, toothpaste back in the tube here?

Starting point is 00:40:21 Yeah, I think it's going to be a mess. I was fighting with Joey on shows earlier this week about like he was all in on Rico and I was like, and I just, I think Chuba's not going to go away, dude. Like I think RICO is going to be the leader of the backfield this week. Part of that's Chuba Hubbard's health. Part of it is the fact that, and I'm not giving RICO, like he has the ability. He could take over the backfield, but he's going to have to continue to outplay Chuba Hubbard, which honestly this year,

Starting point is 00:40:46 I don't know if Chuba's been dealing with an injury of the entirety of the season or what's been going on, but like on the early downs, he's not been anywhere close to the player that he was last year. Like, if I were to ask you guys, how many tackles do you think Chuba Hubbard has broken fits on 53 carries? How many tackles do you think Chuba Hubbard is broken

Starting point is 00:41:06 and how many explosive runs do you think he has this season? 53 carries. Five tackles, two explosives. So for everybody, there if our answers are anything above zero for both of these categories we're all wrong he has zero explosive runs he has not broken a single tackle and i think that ineffectiveness to this point of the season and i i get it's only 53 carries it's a decent size sample like even like a decent workload you're talking about three four games of for a running back and a lot of different sense like

Starting point is 00:41:38 that's not great so like with that added on top of what riko has done in the last two weeks i think it gives Rico Dowdell or runway to take over the backfill. Is that going to happen this week? No, it's probably going to be 50, 50, maybe 60, 40 usage for Rico. I think he might be the passing down back to over Chuba Hubbard. So both these guys, like, I'm with Fitsy. I think Rico's like a low end RB2. Hubbard's like a RB3 flex play.

Starting point is 00:42:06 And with versus most different options, you're probably setting Hubbard, depending on what your roster looks like. I don't think I actually said this, but RICO, just so everybody knows, and the consensus rankings is RB 14 in half people. Yeah, it's too high. That's too aggressive, man. Not if Hubbard's active. I can't do that.

Starting point is 00:42:24 Yeah, Hubbard. Oh, he's down at RB 43. I think that's probably because some people don't have. Yeah, I think he's not going to play. Yeah. All right. Well, if you are wondering what to do with your team, you can let autopilot manage your fantasy football lineup automatically.

Starting point is 00:42:38 So you never have to worry about last minute changes. Autoswop inactive players and ensure your lineup is always optimized even when you can't be online. Take control with the flexibility to approve lineup changes via email or let autopilot handle everything. Stay ahead with MyPlaybook Autopilot, available now for Fantasypros.com slash my playbook or on the Fantasypros app. Try Premium for free right now by claiming your three-day trial of Fantasypros premium at fantasypros.com slash premium. All right. Last game in the early window slate here. Patriots at Titans. Debrough, I'll start with you on this one.

Starting point is 00:43:15 Rank Tony Pollard, Remandre Stevenson, and Trevion, Henderson against each other this week. Yes, I know how gross that is of what I am asking. But they're all kind of in a similar range. So I wanted to put the three of them kind of head to head to head. Rank Stevenson, Pollard, and Henderson. I'm going to put both the New England backs at the top of the mountain here. I'm going to go Remandre, Travion, and watch Ramondre fumble again, and this looks terrible. But I'm putting Ramandre because Mike Vribal does not want to give Travion Henderson.

Starting point is 00:43:43 in the work. He just doesn't. Like, Ramadra could put the ball on the turf and then you see Vrabel out there in the media talking about, well, it's not really Ramandre's fault for the fumbles. It's kind of a whole team thing. Uh, well, not really, but okay, Mike, well, we'll go with that. So I think given the matchup, Tennessee can't stop the run. I think New England could run it down their throat if they want to. So Ramandre is one, Trevions two. I'm actually going to put Tosier into this conversation at three instead of Tony Pollard, because the matchup on the ground, is horrible for the Tennessee Titans this week. I think they're going to be playing from behind.

Starting point is 00:44:18 Tadj Spears actually took over the passing down role in the offense last week, and it's actually a pretty decent matchup for receiving backs. So I think, look, I'm not telling people, if you got Pollard, you're playing Spears over him. You probably don't have both of those. But I think Spears is a decent flex option in PPR leagues this week. So Pollard, unfortunately, is fourth here. Stevenson, Pollard, and Henderson are all ranked between RB26 and RB32, which is why I kept them together.

Starting point is 00:44:42 Spears is down at RB 39, but that's interesting that you would throw him up there even ahead of Pollard. Fitz, what do you think about that? Would you still go those three names I gave as the top three or would you put Spears ahead of Pollard? I've got Spears last of all these guys as of right now. I'm not sure if that's right. Right now I've got Ramondre RB 27, Pollard, RB 30, Henderson, RB 31. I'm probably going to flip-flop Henderson and Pollard. Obviously, Roll is a question with all of these guys. And if you play Remandre, there is the fear that you're he's one fumble away from a benching. And yet he's facing a Titans defense that has allowed a league high nine touchdown runs to running backs and is giving up 4.7 yards per carry to running backs and ranks 27th in DVOA against the run. So the matchup is good. Man, Henderson, it's not so much the usage, well, it's that too. But man, when you've given the ball, I wish they weren't slamming him up the middle so much. in that like next gen chart of his usage that was making the rounds on Twitter this week,

Starting point is 00:45:42 where it's just all between the tackles. This guy is so good in space. I wish they would just try to use him wide and on some outside stuff. So yeah, remandre is probably the guy I feel most comfortable with this week. Man, I mean, even, I know it's a good matchup, but like even if we were to concede that, like, Remandre will be the lead back for the Patriots this week because that's what it's been. Like, he's only gotten over five fantasy points in half PPR scoring twice this season. It just like it feels like the floor is not very high.

Starting point is 00:46:20 And I'm also not even really sure what the ceiling is given what we've seen out of him this year. I mean, unless he has a week where he gets two touchdowns like he did in week five. But even then, he only had 14 rushing yards. So it didn't, you know, it only led to him being RB15 on the week. You know, that week two game against Miami, which was. The best run, you know, the best matchup he's had this year is the time where he had a big game. But even then it wasn't on the ground. It was, you know, because he had 88 yards through the air.

Starting point is 00:46:46 So, yeah, it just, I mean, it's gross. But of course, all these names are gross. That's why I put them together. So it's not, it's not a group of names that I want to be really particularly involved in if I can help it at all. And it, you know, it feels like you guys largely agree with that. Yeah. I mean, it's, I think Ramadro can get it done. It's just a matchup, like Fitsy talked about, Tennessee can't stop anybody.

Starting point is 00:47:09 I think the other thing about it is the Patriots are going to play with a lead in this game. Yeah. Like, I don't think they're going to play with their food. I think they're going to sit here and put the gas down and absolutely steamroll with the Titans this week, or they should. So you could see a lot of people going to want to. Yeah. Well, and to that point, I think you're going to see a lot of fourth quarter runs, like, whether it's Ramandre or whether it's Henderson, salt and away the clock and stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:47:33 So he can, you know, pile up the volume. Let's go to the late afternoon slate here. Giants at Broncos. J.K. Dobbins and Cam Scadaboo are back-to-back in our staff running back rankings for week seven. Make the case for one or the other in this matchup fits. I will start with you. And by the way, the rankings in consensus rankings, Camp Scadaboo is RB 17. J.K. Dobbins is RB 18.

Starting point is 00:47:56 So that's the range we're in. Yeah, I have no issues with Dobbins. He's averaging 15.2.2 carries in 73.7 rushing yards a game. 4.9 yards per carry. Great matchup against a Giants Rundee that ranks 31st in DVOA. I've already bet the under, excuse me, the over on 57 and a half rushing yards for Dobbins. But I have Scataboo ranked RB 13, Dobbins, RB 18. Skadaboo is just special, man. And what choice do the Giants have but to lean on him hard this week when you've got a rookie quarterback going up against the Denver run, or the Denver past defense with Jackson Darts best receiver being Wondale Robinson. You know Scataboo is getting at least 20 touches this week. And he catches

Starting point is 00:48:40 passes. Four catches a game over the last four weeks. Dobbins does five catches in five games. What do you think, D'Brow? Yeah, I mean, I'm taking Dobbins in this only because the rushing matchup is so freaking good. I've got him at RB 15. I've got Scadaboo at RB 19. But the point of this is like I'm not dropping Scataboo too far because of the past game utility. I just worry about how well and effective the Giants are going to be able to move the ball just in general in this game, considering how good the Broncos defense is. I think Scadaboo is still going to flirt with like 20 plus opportunities in this game. I just don't know if he's going to be able to get into the end zone in this one.

Starting point is 00:49:18 So Dobbins has been very, very one dimensional, but this is a good matchup for, you know, if he's making all of his fantasy production on their early downs, because he's not getting any past game utility. He's not. This is a good game for him to be able to do that, considering the Giants are given them the 11th most rushing arts and they're not able to attack anybody. They've got the fifth highest miss tackle rate. So Dobbins should be able to, you know, crack a hundred rushing yards and get into the end zone at least once in this game.

Starting point is 00:49:44 Sorry, where did you say you have them ranked specifically? Dobbins, RB 15, Cam Scadaboo, RB 19. Okay. So both in the teens, but a few spots higher on Dobbins. What's the spread in this game? I'm pulling it up here. Hard Rock bet has it as seven points. Denver is laying.

Starting point is 00:50:02 Okay. So that, I mean, would suggest that they're going to have a lead. I think Denver can cover that. And we'll see. Giants have been really feisty. Run Dobbins, yeah. What do you think about that line fits seven points for Denver? Reluctant to touch it.

Starting point is 00:50:19 I kind of think I'm in a couple pools where I'm forced to pick games against the spread. I think I have Denver. Okay. Let's go to Colts at Chargers. Do you expect Kamani Vidal to be the clear R. one in Los Angeles again this week or will the roles look different with him and Hassan Haskins against the Colts. DeRoe, how confident are you that what we saw in week six will be what we see in week seven or is this going to be a week to week matchup dependent usage situation?

Starting point is 00:50:47 This Kamani Vidal is backfilled. I'm not worried about it. All the Hassan Haskin stuff was a lot of just narrative street. Oh, it's Harbaugh's guy, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like Kamani played freaking 67% of the snaps. He got almost all the red zone work. Also had a 43-3 percent route share. The matchup is good versus Indy. Like they're giving up the six highest yards after contact per attempt, excuse me, yards before contact for attempt.

Starting point is 00:51:11 And the fifth highest rushing success rate to his own run. So I mean, Kamani, I've got him ranked, uh, where are you at Kamani ball? RB 17 this week. So yeah,

Starting point is 00:51:22 I think it's his backfield still. Do you, I mean, there was some reporting about Haskins being the start. It wasn't just like narrative. Yeah, we also got the same reporting that Zayflowers is going to be limited last week. Insiders are kind of.

Starting point is 00:51:33 It wasn't accurate reporting, but it was reporting. Yeah. I was like to say, it's reporting, not accurate, but it was reporting. Fitz, what do you think? Is Vidal, is it just his backfield? And it's as simple as that? Or do you see that there, do you see a world where there is a different usage here week to week and it gets to be frustrating for managers?

Starting point is 00:51:52 I think it's more the same. Vidal just has the more versatile, well-rounded skill set. And I think he's just the better player. If you have to start Haskins, you're basically just praying that they have one or two goal line situations and Haskins is the guy who's in there. We went really quick on that game. So let me ask you guys about this spread to Chargers minus two at home. What do you think about that?

Starting point is 00:52:13 Either of you? I think the Colts win this game. I do. Not touching it. I'm not touching it. If I had to pick one, then I would say the Colts win, but I don't want to bet it. What about the total? I'm not sure what it is.

Starting point is 00:52:28 It's loading for me here. My internet's running slow today. Sorry for that. Um, actually, I'll, I'll take the over on it. I'm guessing it's probably, 47 and a half. Yeah, that's, I was going to guess 47 and a half. Yeah, like, I'll, I'll take the over. I think both the teams can put up points here.

Starting point is 00:52:44 Do you like the over fits? Yeah. Great. Cool. All right. I think you want a chance to win. I think J.C. is going to run wild this week. Go ahead.

Starting point is 00:52:50 Sorry, Warren. No, no, you're good. You're good. Uh, if you want a chance to win a signed A.J. Brown Eagles jersey for free, courtesy of our friends at pristine auction.com. All you need to do is head to fantasy pros. com slash contest, complete the form, and either download the fantasy.

Starting point is 00:53:02 Pro's app, leave a review for the podcast, or follow us on X, Instagram, or TikTok at Fantasy Pros. The more actions you complete, the more entries you receive. We will be announcing a winner on the podcast near the beginning of next month. If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and turn on those notifications so you can be alerted when new episodes are up and to claim your prize. How about Packers at Cardinals? Fitz, I'll start with you here.

Starting point is 00:53:26 What did you think of Matthew Golden's usage last week as a rookie coming off the bye week? that's kind of a narrative thing that we like to look at, you know, year over year is these rookies coming off their buy? What does you think of his usage? Are you interested in starting him against Arizona this week? It was nice to see his snapchair tick up a little bit. It was at 69% last week. It was at 59% in Green Bay's last game before the buy. Still not full time, though. And Jordan Love is inevitably going to spread the ball around. And maybe there's an outside chance Christian Watson comes back this week. Probably not, but he has been practicing on a limited basis.

Starting point is 00:54:02 Golden still only had five targets last week, and he's averaging 3.8 targets a game. On the bright side, though, he's been really efficient with the targets. He's averaging 15.1 yards per catch, 11.2 yards per target, 1.78 yards per run. Those are good numbers. So I think he's a playable wide receiver three,

Starting point is 00:54:20 but it could be boom-bust. Debrough, how do you see it with what we saw with Golden? I mean, it was the most fantasy points he scored this season. that's, you know, not that high a bar to clear, given how his first month went. But coming out of the buy, what do you think? I mean, I think it's going to be just still the Packers with their wide receiver by committee approach and it's going to get even muddier when Watson gets on the field. But I think it's going to be a good matchup for Golden this week.

Starting point is 00:54:45 I mean, he's been their guy since becoming a full-time player. Well, I say a full-time player. Like last week, full-time in the Green Bay passing attack outside of like Romeo Dobbs and Tucker Kraft means you get a 62% route share like he got last week. but he's been their go-to against too high, and that's what I wanted to lean on for Golden this week. Arizona's seventh highest, too high rate. Golden since week four has a 27% target per route run rate,

Starting point is 00:55:09 4.1 yards per route run against too high. So I think Golden's going to have a good day. Like, I mean, right now, Hard Rock Bet has his receiving yardage line at 56.5. Kind of feeling the over, boys. Where is he ranked for you, Dever? He's 33. in consensus. Is that too high,

Starting point is 00:55:30 two lower this right? I'm pretty close to consensus. Like I have him as a wide receiver three. I've got him at wide receiver 30 right now. Like him and Romeo Dobbs right next to each other, wide receiver 29, wide receiver 30. Both are wide receiver threes this week.

Starting point is 00:55:42 Fitz some of the names that Golden is around, Jordan Addison, Cooper Cup, Sterling Shepherd, Trey Tucker, Mike Evans, any of those names? Like, does that feel like the right range?

Starting point is 00:55:53 Yeah, I've got him wide receiver 34. So it does feel like the right name. neighborhood. Okay. Last game in the late afternoon slate here, commanders at Cowboys. Now, initially when I put this together, it seemed based on reporting that Terry McLaurin would be back.

Starting point is 00:56:08 I haven't checked this morning if there's been any additional updates, but obviously he was downgraded to not participating in practice on Thursday, so that looks worse. I was originally going to ask you guys to predict the stat lines for both C.D. Lamb and Terry McLaurin, just kind of one receiver on either side returning this game. Let's focus on Lamb for now. Debrough, what do you expect at a CD Lam? Lamb in his return to the field because he's telling us that he's, you know, full go, no limitations. He's ready to rock.

Starting point is 00:56:35 You're going to see normal CD Lamb usage. Like he's probably going to get nine plus targets. He's probably going to flirt with 80 plus receiving yards and let's go. So, and I'm with you on that worm, I go with McLaren. I don't think we see McLaren this week. Like midweek downgrade, he goes from limited to DMP on Thursday. It's not good, man. I don't think you rush this guy back.

Starting point is 00:56:55 I think he's out this week. So let me ask you this Dero before I toss it to. fits predict a stat line for Debo Samuel. And now he's got his own injury question mark, but let's assume he plays for the sake of this argument. What would you predict his stat line to look like in a very, you know, enticing matchup with McLaurin,

Starting point is 00:57:10 likely not on the field? I mean, it would all, assuming Debo is a full go and he's going to have his normal effectiveness, because he's also dealing with his own things with the, it's a heel injury. And he's got back to back DMPs, but I think he definitely plays.

Starting point is 00:57:25 I think he's going to get a crap on a usage. Dallas's secondary is not good. good. They're too high heavy. So the cover structure works out well for Debo. I think you're probably going to see like probably one to two carries, probably in the teens for rushing arts. He probably hits like 80 70 to 80 receiving arts gets in the end zone flirts with wide receiver one value. If he were to not play, because again, like he didn't practice Thursday either, would you guys knock down, uh, Jaden Daniels, who's currently consensus QB1 for the week in ECR? Now, that matchups Awesome. And obviously he can run to account for some of those fantasy points. But if he's missing both McLaurin and Samuel, Fitz, would you have, would you knock down Daniels?

Starting point is 00:58:08 I'm only knocking him down from QB1, where I have him right now to QB2 behind Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, that's where I have him ranked too. I'm not with ECR with him at one. I got Mahomes at one. Okay. So, Fitz, what do you think about C.D. Lam's return, just in general, like what that stat line's going to look like. And then also assuming he plays, which is still questionable with Debo Samuel, what do you think his style line will look like? Probably like 770 for Debo, seven for 70, maybe a touchdown. And for Lama, like maybe six for 80 and a touchdown. I'm excited about this game, though. It's got a Vegas total of, I believe, 54 and a half.

Starting point is 00:58:45 Commanders Cowboys is one of the funest games and a very fun slate. To this point, we didn't talk about him. Bet the Earth's overs. This is a really good matchup for Earth. And if Debo's banged up, McLaurin's out. I know our Ertz wasn't part of this, but Ertz is going to be heavily targeted. He needs to be a tight-in-won-in-win ranks this week.

Starting point is 00:59:03 Are you guys knocking Pickens at all? He's been so good with Lamb out, but with Lamb returning? No, he's going to be the T. Higgins to C.D. Lambs-Germar Chase, man. He's still going to be freaking good. A little bit for me is more of a low-end wide receiver one, I think. Yeah. It is 54 and a half fits. Is that the highest of the year?

Starting point is 00:59:21 I can't. I don't even think Ravens bills is that. total is that high? Wow. 54 and a half on hard rock bet. Wow. I don't recall one that was higher. If there was,

Starting point is 00:59:31 I'm not forgetting. No. I think one of the Lions games got into the 52s and stuff like that. I haven't seen 54 and a half. I mean, is there a- I'm not saying it's wrong. Is there a more exciting like matchup just in terms of like what Vegas is saying than

Starting point is 00:59:43 54 and a half total and it's minus one is the spread. Like that's that combo is just so so exciting. So I'm really excited for. Don't have defense, don't care. Yeah. Yeah, we're all in on it. So let's go to Sunday night football here. Falcons at 49ers.

Starting point is 01:00:02 Besides the big obvious four, Bejohn McCaffrey, Kittle, who looks like he's returning in London, which player in this game at any position do you most want to start this week? Fitz will start with you. I guess Kendrick Bourne, just because he's had such nice chemistry with Mack Jones, but the return of George Kittle complicates the target outlook for Bourne. And maybe there's a stunt outside chance that Ricky. Piercell comes back. Probably not, but if he did, it would be hard to play Boren. Falcons pass defense is allowing 140 passing yards a game. Atlanta's been really tough against

Starting point is 01:00:36 the pass. I don't really want to play Mack Jones. I guess you could play Kyle Pitts. I've ranked as like a high-end, tight end two, and maybe could play Tyler Alger against a middling banged-up 49er defense. Even with Bejohn around, Alger has gotten double-digit carries in four of Atlanta's five games this year. I like the way you phrased it on Pitz. I guess you could play Kyle Pitts. That feels as bad as strongly as you can be on Pits at this point. DeVro, yeah, like Bijaume McAfrey, Kittle, and London, they're all top five options of their position besides them.

Starting point is 01:01:11 Who are you interested in starting in this game? So I thought about the kind of born angle. Fitsy's not wrong with that. He's definitely the one that I think is low-hanging fruit and who should lead this conversation. But I'll go to Tyler Al Jir. I mean, dude, his splits, and I think there's a real chance that the Falcons win this game. That's what you're telling yourself when you flex Tyler out here. Because his splits and wins and losses have been monstrous.

Starting point is 01:01:32 And the Falcons wins, he's getting 14.6 touches. He's got 56.3 total yards per game and three touchdowns in those three games. Two losses. Dude is averaging six touches and 14 total scoreless yards per game. And the matchup like Fitz alluded to here, you can run on the 49ers. They're giving up the six highest miss tackle rate, 10th most yards after contact for attempt. like so tower alger is the guy like look runoffack options are nasty this week like outside of like the top guys you're picking between i don't know who i'm going to play win blah blah like tower i was here is definitely worth the flex this week and some people in deeper leagues could be like crap am i having to play this dude in my rb2 spot but in their wins that's what he's producing yeah i was surprised that he's ranked rb 40 in consensus this week. I thought he'd be in the 30s.

Starting point is 01:02:25 Not that it's that far off, but I thought he'd be a little bit higher. I mean, especially just think about like San Francisco. Like, Debrough, what do you think about this defense? Like, with Fred Warner now out for the season, like what kind of resistance they're going to give. I mean, I feel like the Falcons can run in this game, and they're going to run with more than just Bijan, even as good as Bijan is.

Starting point is 01:02:44 Like, I am starting out, actually, in a league where I have a lot of injuries. I am starting Alger as a flex in a league where I am also starting Bijon. I'm going to have them both in my lineup in one of my leagues this week. Like straight up question here, guys. Who do you feel better about playing? Tyrell is your freaking Isaiah Pacheco? I mean, seriously. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:03:04 I've got Pacheco ranked higher, but it's a good point. Pacheco's up at RB28, by the way. So, actually, I don't know. I want to throw the ball. On an offense that's getting their wide receiver one back. Like, yeah. Nah, I don't know, man.

Starting point is 01:03:19 Let's go to the Monday Night Football. Another double header. I will be happy when these are done. first game in the double header bucketeers at lions what are you guys doing with the tampa bay receiving room after the latest injury to that room and this one of course coming to amecca egbuka uh dbrough what are you doing with this this group of pass catchers i i mean good lord man it's a mess because we don't know if mike evans is going to play i kind of lean that he's going to be out but i mean with chris god went out ameka buca is not going to play your shepherd's

Starting point is 01:03:54 going to be a full-time receiver. Tess Johnson's probably going to be a full, I mean, he's going to be a full-time receiver. Mike Evans is just a question of like, does Cameron Johnson like enter the fray? So if you got Mike Evans, you're probably waiting like you need to earmark Cameron Johnson on the waiver wire because if Evans is out, that's probably your only desperation play to back him up this week. But like, these guys are low in flex plays. Like Shepard's going to do what he's done. But like he's not getting, even like when they've had guys missing, he doesn't get a, high-end percentage of the target share. If I'm going with anybody out of this passing attack with the latest

Starting point is 01:04:30 injuries, it's probably KDoughton only because we've seen his usage bump. Over the last two games, he's gotten actually way more usage, 19% target share. Detroit has been a little bit more vulnerable to tight ends. So I'd say if I'm going to bump anybody up, it's probably KDotten. A lot of these guys, I don't want to play them, but you might get stuck playing them depending on if you're waiting for Mike Evans or other flex options this week. Would you rather D-Bro just start one of the guys you already have on your bench on Sunday?

Starting point is 01:05:00 Or would you rather try and get a backup option that who's playing on Monday to be a, you know, an emergency situation for you if Mike Evans doesn't play? I mean, dude, if you got to take it down. If you have Mike Evans on your team, you got to take it down to the wire. Because if he does play the matchup, the total, all that kind of stuff lines up. You got to think he's close to full-time player or at least he's on the field when they're throwing the ball. so I would hold out hope again like drop your kicker pick up Cameron Johnson like because he's the guy that probably is the only one left on waivers at this point. But yeah, like if you got Evans, you got to take it down to the wire because you're not going to sit him and then he goes off and he has like 100 receiving yards and a touchdown or two and you're hating life.

Starting point is 01:05:42 Fitz, what are you doing with this receiving room? I feel like Ibuka is like the for me, I know there's been a lot of injuries and there have been more impactful injuries, but it's the one that was the most emotionally like, come on another one. like it was crushing to see Agbuca get hurt and he's just been so fun and exciting as a rookie. And, you know, I just, it was, it hurt by heart to see him get hurt. And, uh, and now it makes it really challenging in this receiving room. Hopefully we have definitive news on Mike Evans by Sunday and lineup lock time. If Evans plays, I'm starting Evans and doing my best to avoid everyone else. I don't want to guess how targets are going to be split between Sterling Shepard, Tess Johnson. Cameron Johnson, Kate Otten.

Starting point is 01:06:25 If Evans is out, Otten is the guy I'm most interested in because whenever the Tampa Bay Receiving Corps really thinned out, Otten usually gets a usage spike. And on the bright side, if you do have to play any of these peripheral guys, the Lions secondary is an absolute mess right now.

Starting point is 01:06:42 Cornerbacks Terry and Arnold and DJ Reed are probably both going to be out. Safety Brian Branch, suspended for slugging Juju Smith-Schuster in the moments after that Lions Chiefs game last week. Safety Kirby Joseph banged up, might not play. So if you have to play any of the other Buccaneers pass catchers, maybe they can take advantage of easier coverage matchups

Starting point is 01:07:01 than they normally get with a fully healthy, unsuspended line secondary. Last game here, the late game in the doubleheader, we got another 10 o'clock Eastern kickoff here. Texans at Seahawks. The last time we saw Houston, they were destroying a beat-up Ravens defense. Coming off that strong game and the buy, what are your expectations for this offense against a much better defense, although one with its own,

Starting point is 01:07:26 you know, some injury question marks in Seattle here, Fitz. I have immense respect for this Seattle defense and for defensive mastermind Mike McDonald. Seahawks are fourth in defensive DVOA, second against the run, ninth against the pass. And they have been banged up in the secondary, but they are maybe getting some or possibly all of their injured guys back. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love got in limited practice. Thursday. Cornerback, Rieck Wollin. He had a concussion. He was out last week. He had, I believe, a full practice Thursday. And games in Seattle, tough place for visitors to play. I really only want

Starting point is 01:08:05 to play Nico Collins on the Houston side. Don't really want to play C.J. Stroud against a really dangerous Seattle pass rush that just sack Trevor Lawrence seven times. And Stroud plays on a really bad offensive line. And I don't want to play Woody Marks or Nick Chubb, two guys in a split back field going against a good run defense. So other than Nico Collins, yeah, I'm not real excited. What are your expectations, Dero? Because I know on the Thursday show, Jake had C.J. Stroud is sort of his like, plant your flag player that he was actually really convicted on starting this week.

Starting point is 01:08:36 Fitz is trying to get away from him. What do you think about Stroud? And then that's just the offensive general matching up with Seattle. So it fits, Fitz lays out a lot of really good points. Like this defense has been down. A lot of players are getting a lot of players back. I guess my only pushback about that is Houston, if they want to move the ball in this game, they're going to have to pass because they're not running the ball.

Starting point is 01:08:59 They're not going to get any ground on the ground. They're not. Like Seattle's run defense has been and continues to be elite. So if they're going to move the ball, it's going to have to be through the air. So that's one of the reasons why I'm not saying I'm immensely high on CJ Stroud. I think the volatility is definitely their snap to snap because you don't know what you're going to get from him or the Houston. an offensive line. But I think out of necessity, the Texans are going to have to throw the freaking ball. And so you look at the coverage matchups, like it's pretty good for Christian Kirk.

Starting point is 01:09:30 Seattle's giving up. And I know Witherspoon's injury has helped that, but they have given up production to slot wide receivers. Seattle has been, I mean, a pretty good matchup for opposing tight ends of receiving backs. So like, while I'm not running out to play Woody Marks, I think if he is going to be the guy preferred on passing downs, he can at least be flexworthy in PPR formats. and Dalton Schultz is like inner streamer territory, considering Seattle's giving up the six most schedule, adjust to fantasy points per game to tight ends. So like I'm not going out there and telling everybody go like just bet all the

Starting point is 01:10:03 overs for Houston and the receivers and stuff like that. But I think out of necessity, Houston is going to have to throw the ball in this game. We'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Best of luck to everybody here in week seven for Debrough and Fitz. I'm Ryan Warmerly. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see again next time.

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The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - The Biggest Fantasy Football Questions For Each Team in Week 7 (Ep. 1780)

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