The Ringer NFL Show - Joe Flacco Traded to Cincy, Players You Want to Bench, Fantasy Court, and Heifetz Explains Childbirth

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

The guys power-rank potential bench/cut candidates for this week’s Power Hour, as they identify which of the more disappointing fantasy players are primed for a comeback, and which are worth dropping from your team. They then answer some fantasy court questions and emails before closing the show. 0:00 Start of Show 2:06 Browns Trade Joe Flacco to the Bengals 9:52 Power Hour: Players You Want to Bench 11:00 A.J. Brown 14:19 Derrick Henry 16:27 The Bengals 19:23 DJ Moore 22:07 Jameson Williams 25:37 RJ Harvey 31:05 TreVeyon Henderson 33:36 Ladd McConkey 36:23 Brian Thomas Jr. 38:44 Ringer Fantasy Football League Update 43:42 Fantasy Court 1:01:26 Emails Check out the 2025 Ringer Fantasy Football Rankings: https://fantasyfootball.theringer.com/ Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producers: Kai Grady, Carlos Chiriboga, and Ronak Nair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Hype and today I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck. And today it is power hour where every Wednesday we power rank something. And today we are going to power rank the players we are thinking about benching or maybe even cutting because we hate them so much. Well, it's true. I'm sorry, it's true. They say there are five stages of grief. And I don't know if that's actually true in real life, but it is absolutely true in fantasy football because the five stages of grief completely aligned with a player who is disappointing you in the first five,

weeks of a fantasy football season, right, Craig? They really do. Like, week five is when you start to get set up and ready to make, do I get rid of them, do I bench them, do I cut them, or do I stick with them? Well, it's like, week one, guy sucks, and you're like, it's denial. It's week one, who cares? Week two, guys sucks your anger. You're like, hey, Jillyn Hurts, throw AJ Brown the ball. Week three, you're like, whatever, maybe I could trade Ashton Gentie or whatever. Week four, you're just depressed. You're like, oh, my season is like, Nobody wants Shing Gentiles.

No. Week five. These actually works so well. Yeah, so week four, you're like, damn, no one wants AJ Brown. Week five is acceptance. You're like, oh, okay, I'm just not going to play him anymore. Not my year. Don't need to play live.

I'm just a guy who has AJ Brown on his bench. That's just my season. That is who I am. So we're going to go through the five stages of grief. I know we're going to move in and out because on one hand, nobody's cutting A. We understand that. So, like, really talking about benching AJ Brown. And the flip side is, it's not controversial to say you're going to

going to bench like RJ Harvey, but people might be thinking about cutting RJ Harvey. And we're going to go through whether we're going to acknowledge your feelings to give people a space to feel these emotions while also perhaps advising whether you actually should act on your feelings, which, you know, sometimes it's going with your gut and sometimes that's a huge mistake. So with that said, we're going to go through all that. But first, we do have to hit news because there was a pretty, I don't know, fun's the word, but the most shocking late pick swap trade I can remember, which was the Browns traded Joe Flacco to the end, uh, sixth round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for a fifth round pick.

The pick swapped to send a quarterback inside their own division, DK. What was your first reaction to this trade that the Brown sent Joe Flacco to the Bengals? I laughed. I think I laughed first. And then I was like, that's kind of interesting. Number one, it's an intra-division trade. You don't hardly ever see two teams in the same division trade with each other, especially quarterbacks.

And my first thought was like, oh, the Browns are fucking with the Bengals, because Joe Flacco has been absolutely trocious the last couple of seasons. But I do think he's better than Jake Browning. So I don't know. I think it's like one of those things where both of these teams kind of know what they are. And the Bengals are just trying to kind of salvage things in the short term. If they thought they could really make the playoffs, I think they probably would have tried to trade for someone better, don't you think?

I don't, this just feels kind of like a fan service thing. Like we know this is going horribly and therefore we'll do something. but it's kind of a token move to just placate people. I don't know how I feel about this. I don't think it helps them significantly. Yeah, it feels like fantasy service. Right, that's what I was looking at. You know what I mean?

It feels like they're like, man, we can't just have people benching Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and Chase Brown and fantasy. We've got to give them something. It is funny, though. It's like how bad the Bengals offensive line is. I would say the last quarterback I would pick to be able to withstand the beating behind the Bengals line is probably like 38-year-old stilt Joe Flacko. Oh, he's 40.

Don't worry. Oh, 40 years old. Yeah. So it's like, you know, with you over under on weeks, we're going to give Joe Flacco. But in general, I'm supportive of this move. I think Joe Flacco should be the all-time quarterback of the NFL. I believe the NFL in order to boost ratings should have a few quarterbacks that like decide to retire.

Like nobody wants to sign them like kind of Joe Flacco, 37, 38. And they do, he just works for the NFL. He's like, it's like the third. Hired gun. Yeah. Yeah. And anytime a quarterback gets hurt and the backup sucks, you can rent. you can rent Joe Flacco.

And so I'm happy that the Bengals. That's a really good call. Like when we were in Dublin, my hotel had an umbrella rental. And it was like two euros. And as long as you brought the umbrella back, you could just put the umbrella back into the thing. And like, you should have that for Joe Flacco.

And that's kind of what's going on here. I'm just amazed that one, these two teams did it in the division. And if you're wondering, wow, the Browns and Bengals, they made a trade. That's weird. Yeah.

This is the first team. This is the first time the Browns and Bengals have ever made a trade. Ever. Yeah. They have never made a trade. Really? Well, which I'll spare, I had a whole nerdy NFL history thing.

I'll spare you. But the Browns are called the Browns because of Paul Brown. And then they fired Paul Brown. So he started his own team. That team is called the Cincinnati Bengals. His son still owns the team. So they had never made a trade because his son is like, you fired my dad.

And your team is named after my father. It's a very weird dynamic. And this trade broke the seal of these teams hating each other for 60 years. That's how desperate the Bengals are. They broke a 60-year merit of dealing with this team. And I don't know who's getting out better from this, because on one hand, it's weird that the Browns were willing to basically move the 210th pick

to the 183rd pick or whatever this is going to end up being to give the Bengals a better quarterback. Like, that's kind of weird in your own division. And the flip side is, to Craig's point, Joe Flacko's 40. What is this offense going to look like? How much undercentered play action moving the pocket can you do? Is he really going to be?

I don't know. It's weird. But on the end, it's funny because Jake Browning was dead last in EPA per dropback. They did have to make a change. Joe Flacco was second to last in EPA per dropback. It's the only reason why I think an interdivision trade took place is because it just goes to show you what the Browns think of Joe Flacco. And like how it doesn't matter. You can have them.

It's actually better for us. Two teams that are probably not going to make the playoffs. And, you know, maybe Flacco will help the Bengals win a couple more games and the Browns get a better pick. I don't know. I asked someone who works for. an NFL team, I just text them because I was like so shocked by this. And I was like, are you surprised that the Browns didn't just cut Flacco and let the Bengals sign him instead of just giving him to a division rival? It like, I feel like if it goes wrong, the fans are going to be really mad.

You know what I mean? Like what if the Bengals do well with Joe Flacco? And the guy's response was basically since one of the Cleveland Browns ever cared what anybody thought about them. And I was less, you know, it's pretty good answer. I mean, the guy named his damn team after himself. Yeah, Browns. Like, he didn't care what anybody thinks. Did he also try to, I'm surprised he went from naming,

so he's like, all right, Cleveland Browns, because I'm Paul Brown. And then for the Bengals, he was like, let's just do Bengals. They were taken. His son liked Tigers. Exactly. Just big into Tigers. Diana Rossini at The Athletic reported that Bengals never even called the Giants about James Winston or Russell Wilson, which is too bad.

Because for our purposes, that would have been very fun. James is definitely the most fantasy player ever. Like the player that the fantasy people like and want him to play and then everyone else in the league is like, are you fucking kidding? Yeah, they're like, I'm not going to do that. I'd rather do anything than have James Winston start and have four turnovers a game. Like, we can't win that way. But fantasy people like him for obvious reasons. I mean, he just absolutely throws bombs down the field and turns people.

He's like, he's like Matt Stafford Light in fantasy. Just every player, every receiver that he has. it turns great, but I actually understand this from the Bengals point of view that you wouldn't want to do that. I think Flacco, this is how far my opinion is Russell Wilson has fallen. I think Flacco actually probably is a better option than Russell Wilson. What do you think happens? Do you think they should have called Wilson instead? No, I think ironically, I kind of think Joe Flacco will make the Bengals more fantasy relevant.

They did. We talked to this on Sunday. The Bengals did need a new quarterback because Jake Browning, nice guy, played beer pong with him. We did it in the Super Bowl. But however, he's been the backup quarterback, I think, for three seasons. and has eight interceptions in three and a half games. And it's, this is, if he couldn't beat the Lions, they fell down how, they were done 20 points, 25 points to the Lions.

I mean, they were, they were non-competitive. What's the strongest word you can talk, say for like not being able to compete? I mean, they were down like 30 points in the Vikings too. Jamar Chase had like more tackles than. Three tackles and four catches at one point, Jamar Chase did, which is probably going to remain one of the craziest that's the year. And it's like, look, if you've been the backup for three seasons and that's your performance, it's not getting better. So I get that they had to do it. I ironically, I don't know if Joe Flacco will make the Bengals better as a team, but I do think he'll make him better for fantasy.

I think his play style, which is funny. Interesting. I think it's ironic and funny that the Browns had enough quarterbacks to actually trade away a quarterback. Well, well, it's, well, now like, Shadur Sanders, Dylan Gabriel, Bailey Zaddy. Now he's, now Shudor's the backup. Yeah. Yeah. So I will see.

I mean, I don't know. I still kind of don't think it comes down to this. Will the Bengals have good enough record in December that Joe Burrow comes back on the shorter end of the injury timeline? Probably not. That's really what this is about. Ironically, the one year the Bengals start two and O instead of O and two, they're probably not going to actually be competitive in December. And I don't know if Burrough even comes back this season, which is, you know, important for real life and fantasy. It's just brutal. The amount of waiting Bengals fans have to do. And Bengals players have to do. Like the amount of times that Jamar chasing T. Higgins have to just be like, all right, I guess it'll have to be next year. 11 more weeks with a backup.

Okay, I'll see you next August. It's pretty, it's, it's, I feel for them. Yeah, it's too bad. So we can get a, I have a couple more thoughts in the specific Bengals guys for fantasy, but unless you guys have any else on Flacco and the Bengals and a guy just can't, a quarterback being sent in the division, crazy.

We can get into power ranking guys that were really, we're just accepting. We're accepting these guys as circumstances. And just guys, we're thinking about cutting and benching. And again, it'll be 100% clear. We're not saying you should do it. If we talk about Derek Henry, we're not saying bench Derek Henry, definitely.

I don't want to get blamed if you end up doing it. And we're also, we're not saying cut like James and Williams. I'm not saying that. And if don't just do that because this guy's name is in this episode. It's more, we know you've thought about it at some point. And we're going to just acknowledge that. But don't just automatically do it, Pultz-trink. But we're going to-

We're accepting that it's okay if you do that. Yeah. Oh, well, for some of the guys. We'll go through it. We'll try to be as clear. as we can. But again, we're going to do this power hour style. You guys sent me players that basically we have gone through the fight. We're grieving. These are players we're grieving. And you guys sent me a few players that you're grieving. And then I had mine and I ranked them in the

order of how much grief I think there is. And if you disagree with it, well, sorry, I made the ranking so you can yell at me. Email Surinantasy Football atcom. You hate my rankings. And yeah, without further ado, you want to just go through power hour here? Let's do it. So again, Do it. Power ranking players were grieving this season, starting with A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles, Craig. You sent this in. I think he's easily the number one grief player.

No secret. We've been talking about him often this season. He's the wide receiver 52. He is averaging 6.98 fantasy points per game. That is less than Kavante Turpin. Ah. Just let that settle. Jump scare.

Jesus, Craig. Here's what I'll say. I, AJ Brown is not a cut, right, guys? You shouldn't be cutting him. Should you be starting him as the question? He's been horrific. They are playing the Giants this week on Thursday night football. And there has been, I mean, basically every week there's like narratives about it.

But there was two bad weeks to start the season. He bitched week three, he went off. There has now been two more bad weeks from AJ Brown. He's commenting to the media. Him and Seekwan and Jalen Hurts had a private meeting. All these players love having private meetings. For a couple hours. I think.

Wasn't the report that? they met for like a few hours. It was just AJ Brown going through tapes and you could have thrown it to me there. That's a really one of me. And then you slowed down and then you slowed down. It didn't catch a touchdown.

Well, yeah, well, yeah, it's true. I think you're still starting AJ Brown is I think where I've landed. Do you guys agree? I think so. Yes. I think so.

Absolutely. He's a huge by low. The giant secondary is not prepared. I think if you can try to get AJ Brown for Thursday in football, it's probably the last window you have because I think it's going to turn around. He's going to get the ball.

I think the Eagles, hot, it's like a hipster take. The Eagles passing offense, I don't think will be an issue going forward as much as it has. I think the running offense is an issue because Landon Dickerson, the Guard, is going to be out. This stat in a nutshell is why I think we've talked about the Eagles so much, and also I'm not so word going forward. And I know some people are like, why are we all freaking up at the Eagles? It's four and one. Why are we talking about this? Zach Berman, Ethel had a kind of stat that I think summed it up.

The Eagles have gone three and out on almost half their drives this season. The Tush push team, three and out half their, not only is it the most in the NFL. That's wild. Oh, the Titans are second with Cam Ward. The Eagles have gone three and out 47% of the time. Not only is that the most this season, that is the most any team has done through five weeks in 20 years, three and out and half your drives.

That's a lot of plays that aren't happening. So, yeah, coming into the season with Brown real quick, I think the thesis for why we would be excited about him was that their defense is not going to be quite as good. They're going to have to play more snaps. They're going to have to pass more. There's going to be more plays. There's just going to be more fantasy.

points available in their offense. And that hasn't really happened at all. What's funny, one final stat before we go. The disastrous week one, he had one target. After that, he's seventh in targets per game in the NFL. It's going to rebound. I'm telling you, this is your last chance. The giant's secondary is unprepared for AJ Brown.

Obviously, Sekewon, he's releasing a documentary around this game. Obviously, Seekwon's going to get his stuff too in this game. The Giants Rundee's bad. Seekwon. You should honestly just same game parley. AJ Brown and say, one bowl score. It's not shown Thursday. I really don't want to watch that game.

Okay. Number two, players were grieving here. I guess that whole thing was me not really accepting that A.G. Brown's bad. Yeah, the stage of non-accepted. Yeah, non-exec. Six is by low. Yeah. Comes back around.

Number two player, you're grieving this season. Yeah. Craig, you sent me this one, too. Derek Henry for the Ravens. Derek Henry had 28 points in week one. He's had 28 points since. I will Derek Henry

that's kind of two-pronged I think you could legitimately bench Derek Henry this week however I think Derek Henry is a screaming by-low they play the Rams

without Lamar most likely then they go on by and then they come back and they play the bears the dolphins the jets they play the Bengals twice the labels are going to be trying their absolute

hardest to sneak into the playoffs and so I don't think Derek Henry is washed I think Derek Henry is a product of his surroundings and it's like sometimes like we said he looks like Saddam Hussein Statute falling down. I think when Lamar's back and they're playing shitty teams,

like they're going to look like they did in the first half a week one. I honestly feel that way. So I genuinely think like this week, you could bench him for Tony Pollard, D'Andre Swift, Cam Scadaboo. Like there are, I think he is like a fringe top 24 guy this week. Outside of that, I think he should trade for him. I agree with every word you just said, Craig.

What do you think, D.K.? I think, yes, I think I believe that as well. It's funny because this is why you don't do victory laps after one week, or at least you probably, shouldn't because I loved Derek Henry coming into the season and obviously it's been extremely disappointing but you know we saw kind of what he could do week one he had 18 carries 169 yards and two touchdowns plus a catch for 13 yards. I mean I think he's he's not washed obviously I think it's just like Craig said it's the offense is really really struggling you know they don't have

a mar the offensive line is not as good as it was last year everything is falling apart for the Ravens but at the end of the day they are going to get back to scoring more points I mean they scored 40 points in week one. I think the offense will rebound. I totally. I can't stress enough how much the run quality of run defenses, the Ravens face after the buy changes. And if you have Derek Henry, people don't have time. Also, people like trading away guys before a buy week.

Also, the teams who have Derek Henry, they're probably desperate and they don't want to have to deal with Derek Henry giving you nothing this week and then a buy. It's like, by then you're going to be fucked anyway. So maybe people will want to get rid of Derek Henry. Next guy here, people you're grieving. I just put the Bengals. I put three and four here. I just put Chase Brown and T. Higgins.

The flak go bump. The flap. I was going to put Jamar Chase here even three and eight quarters into that Bengals Lions game, but then Jamar Chase had two touchdowns and 100 whatever yards. But yeah, when he had three tackles and four catches, it was like him too, you're going to play Jamar Chase now, but you're certainly thinking about benching T. Higgins. You're certainly, I mean, you probably already are benching Chase Brown. Chase Brown has wanted to mention Chase Brown, the running back for the Bengals, who was a hugely

popular sleeper. Obviously, wasn't easy to see coming. Joe Burrow getting hurt was everything. Chase Brown's averaging eight fantasy points a game, 160 yards and 65 carries. Players who have not gotten 60 carries through five games, but not reached 160 yards are like guys at the end of their careers. It's like Zeke Elliott in 2022, Beanie Wells in 2012, Thomas Jones 2010, Mike Allstot, 2002. Like, that's the list. That is how inefficient Chase Brown has been. Yeah. The problem, I think the reason I never got fully on board with the Chase Brown hype train coming into the season is like I just wasn't really sure if he's actually that good. And the situation he had last year where he was in a high scoring offense, high acting offense with a ton of other weapons. And he was getting just an insane amount of touches.

He was like one of the, I think since he once he took over, he led the NFL in touches per game. He was just getting all the volume. This year he's getting 16 touches a game, which is like 20th among running backs. and he's not doing very much with it. He's one of the least efficient running backs in the NFL. So this is, this just reminds me. It's a reminder that, you know, sometimes these guys catch lightning in a bottle. And if they're not an elite player, it's hard to like recreate that.

And obviously like the Joe Burrow thing is a massive, a massive variable here. But even when Burrow was playing, it wasn't doing a whole lot. I mean, he's a, I would say that Chase Brown is a bench, but hold. I don't think you're cutting him. I think you should buy low. I think you should go get Chase Brown because the Flacco thing, again, it could stay bad, but he still is starting running back. Flacco averaged eight and a half targets to running backs this season before it got benched.

And the Browns, oh, Tom Tom. You know, didn't even introduce Tom Tom to the beginning of power hour. I'm rusty. But I'm like, yeah, Tom Tom, every two minutes. But yeah, the Browns threw a third of their passes to running backs this season, which is about as high as it gets in the NFL. So I think Chase Brown will come back around. Maybe even in a cheat code fantasy football is kind of dumb.

scoring-wise way, but I still think Chase Brown could, like, be top three in catches for running backs going forward. Teagans, too, but that's scarier. There's a lot of receipts. I think Chase Brown, it's okay to say that this week, like against the Packers, you could sit Chase Brown. If you have, like, Tony Pollard or Camis Cattago or something like that. I think Teagans, you still need to be playing. Chase Brown and Derek Conry both have matchups that you ask about someone this week. They're like, I don't know. And then they play poorly. And then you're like, next week, they're like, hey, is still down for that offer? Yeah, yeah. Next up here, guys, you're grieving. DJ Moore receiver.

This is a good one. We haven't talked about DJ more once. He has been, yeah, we haven't really talked about him at all. And he's been an absolute disaster. I mean, he was basically a top 50-ish pick right in that range in half PPR. And he's been an absolute disaster. I mean, like, I was actually very excited about him coming into this season because I thought it was a chance to go against the grain, go against the narrative. Everyone was talking about him possibly getting traded.

He was in the doghouse. Like Ben Johnson was saying all this stuff about. trying harder and like what you're doing away from the football. I thought there was a chance here that an elite player was going to bounce back and we were going to look at what we were talking about in the preseason and sounds stupid. But now I'm like, oh, all that stuff actually did matter. Sometimes that actually really does translate to the regular season. He has a worse target rate this year than Alamedes Zakias.

I'm sorry. Can you say that one again? DJ Moore's target rate is less than Alameda Zakias right now on the Bears. Going back three seasons, so the three prior season, to last year, or sorry to this year. DJ Moore had a 28% target rate essentially. He was tied for third among all receivers. Only Neighbore Adams had a higher target rate in those three seasons.

Obviously, neighbors only played one year. So it's really only Devante Adams had a higher target rate than DJ Moore coming into this season. DJ Moore's target rate this year is 16%, which is 47th or something like that. It's like really low. And the guy, target rate has the same target rate as, Rashad Bateman. It's less than Calvin Austin, Trey Tucker, and Josh Downs. This is horrific. He's actually, he has two red zone targets this year. So where are you? Are you cut, hold, bench? I think you have to,

I don't think you cut him because there's a chance he gets traded. And I still think he's a good player. I don't think his talent is missing. I think it's really just kind of checked out and the team is moving on from him more and more like, you know, and like Roma Dunseye has turned into the clear cut number one in this offense. They're getting, they like Alameda Zakias. They're probably going to get Luther Burden more involved as the season goes along. Colstead Levin hasn't done jack shit yet. And he's probably going to get more involved as the season goes along.

I don't really know if there's much upside here for DJ Moore on the bears going forward. But I do think there's a chance the team just tries to move on from him because maybe these, all the, all the signs that they were fed up with his effort and everything like that are real. I wouldn't, I wouldn't cut DJ Moore. Definitely wouldn't do that. No, I'm not cutting. I'm not cutting him. Heath Cummings had a joke that was, if I told you before the season that DJ Moore

was going to outscore Ladd-McConkey, Brian Thomas, and DJ Brown, you'd be like, damn, I got to draft DJ Moore. Yeah, that's brutal. Whoops-a-Dazzy. He has, it's, his, this is the worst target already he's had since his rookie year. Another guy we haven't talked about. Number six here, I have Jameson Williams receiver for the Detroit Lions. If I told, who do you, if I had to tell you the names you think Jameson Williams is,

like, ranked around in points per game, what names would you kind of throw out there? Calvin Austin? No, Calvin Austin's probably outscoring him. Sterling Shepherd is like same points per game as Jameson Williams. Jameson Williams winnings 57th among receivers of points per game. Amon Ross St. Brown is number two. Jameson's 57th. I mean, considering Jameson Williams the week of the season got a $26 million a year contract

from the Lions, you'd think he would have more than seven catches in the last four games. And this motherfucker is so unselfish and happy that the Lions are. winning these games and not demanding the football at all. He isn't tweeting any Bible verses. It's unbelievable. Doesn't even want the ball. Just happy to win games. So that's been horrible. This is the other side of the coin here when you talk about preseason hype and listening to it or not. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. Jameson Williams had so much hype to saw season. You couldn't, you couldn't like, his coaches were absolutely raving about him. There's people that were thinking maybe there's a chance he actually surpasses Amman-Ross, St. Pround as the team's

number one receiver. He was absolutely just, you know, Dan Campbell was glowing every time he talked to to him. They gave him an extension in the off season, you know, wheels that for James and Williams. And then he has, he has absolutely done nothing. I mean, he looks exciting when he touches the football. Every time. He just doesn't touch the football. It's not that much. I do think that he will be better going for you. I also, he's the guy that to me is the hardest to bench because the upside's so high. He's, he's kind of, to me, like almost the new Deshaun Jackson, not necessarily stylistically, beyond being fast, but just that it feels like it's two points of 24. Well, yeah. I think that like, what's happening to Jameson Williams this year is kind of why I'm high on Luther Burden

because it feels like Ben Johnson's ability to create those like big downfield spike plays to the kind of downfield threat guy, which was James and Detroit. That kind of is Luther Burden in Chicago. And I honestly feel like there's just a little bit less of that now in Detroit with the offense and what Jameson's willing to do. Do you think he is a, like, is he a bench? Don't cut obviously, but is he a bench until further notice? I actually would kind of play James and Williams. You think? I would, he's, of all these guys that would play him, and here's why.

The Lions' defense is falling apart again. Like last season, and if you look at the last season for the Lions, the first half of the year, the Lions were, I think, bottom 30th in pass attempts. So bottom three in pass attempts. And then their defense fell apart. And the second half of the season, the Lions were like top seven in passive attempts. It's kind of happening again. The Lions cornerbacks, DJ Reid, who's a really good quarterback, they signed,

is injured reserve of the hamstring injury. Khalil Dorsey did not play last week in his hurt. To Ryan Arnold, who is a first-round pick for the Lions, is injured his shoulder, maybe out for the entire season, maybe. And as Rick Straar, who is another highly drafted quarterback is already out for the season. They're starting Rockiesin and Avanti Maddox at cornerback. Like, they have real depth issues in Detroit at cornerback. It is week five going to week six, and they're already literally down their top four guys.

I think the Lions are going to go back to shootouts all the time, not having the luxury of just running 40 times a game with Montgomery and Gibbs. And I think that just means the difference for Jameson Williams more than anybody of going from two catches a game to five is a big deal. So I'm not promising you he'll get better, but I would not be shocked at all. Wild Tom Tom disrespect there. Sorry, that was really fucked up with me. How dare I? Number seven, guys that you're grieving, RJ Harvey for the Broncos.

This is the big hell of preseason hype. And I wish I had gone harder. We have back to back coming up, but yes. Yeah, this is a look, I still believe you should invest in rookie running. backs, especially highly drafted rookie running backs. I still think that's a thing. And obviously, we've seen so far, there's been some huge performances from those guys, but it's not 100% RJ Harvey. And this gives me no pleasure, but look, I was right about Sean Payton. Again, the guy just a fucking maniac. He just loves to rotate his guys. I think the other thing that I was

underestimated about this whole situation is JK Dobbins is a lot better than I think we gave him credit for. Certainly I that I gave him credit for. I think a lot of people thought when they signed him late in the off season, that he was just like an insurance piece for them. He's going to be around just in case Harvey gets hurt or whatever. And he is a clear cut number one running back on that team. I mean, through five weeks, he's the RV 11 on the year. He's been very reliable. We should point out that this is exactly what happened with JK Dobbins in last year.

Well, can I? Yeah, early on. Early on. Well, here's my question is like a top 12 guy in the first month of the season. How many times did we joke that instead of taking Amerian Hampton in the top 40, you should take Najee Harris like 100th and then trade. Najee Harris for Hampton like week six. Obviously, Najee Hampt,

Najee Harris had the eye injury. And then so it didn't really go that way. And then now Hampton and Harris are both hurt. But isn't the same principle here with R.G. Harvey and Dobbins, where you had to take Harvey in the sixth round and Dobbins, you could have got in the 11th. But it's going into week six. And J.K. Dobbins has such a long history of lower leg issues that couldn't you

know flip Dobbins for Harvey and like a really good receiver? And then would Harvey take over later in the season? Like, isn't this exactly what we've been saying the whole time about rookie runningbacks that aren't first-run picks. Yeah. But I don't feel comfortable doing that, really. I mean, I think you're basically banking on a JK Dobbins injury, which in the past has worked,

but I don't know if you can necessarily guarantee that. I mean, you could if you want to do Tanya Harding. But you're benching, you're like, you can't start. You can't play RJ Harvey Harvey right now. He has one good week out of five. I mean, and JK Dobbins has been really consistent. Dobbins has been, you know, double-digit points in every week. RB 13, RV 15, RV 12, RB 29.

You can't start Harvey until he pops and then you start him. Yeah, right now, the other thing is it's a three-headed monster in Denver. And I think there's been some talk like Sean Payton even said. He wants to go down to a two-man rotation. But it's like, okay, then do it. You're the coach. Like, I don't know what we're waiting for here. But Tyler Bade is still playing 42% of third down.

So he's like sniping away 42% of the most opportunity situations that Harvey could have. So yeah, I mean, it's right now, it's just a mess for fantasy. And you just can't start Harvey until either the rotation changes or they start, you know, someone gets hurt. But I don't mean to disrespect Tom, Tom, Tom further. But my favorite thing in fantasy, or my, to me, the funniest part of fantasy football is fantasy players complaining about the third running back getting playing time over a rookie running back for a team for a team for one for Sean Payton who's going to be a hall of him coach. And people like, stop playing this guy. And like, if you just look up like R.J. Harvey in any platform, everyone's like, Stop playing him.

And I'm like, no, they're winning. Kenneth Gainwell playing over Caleb Johnson, annoying. I generally agree with that. But I think in some cases, it's like coaches are just, they're going to go with the more experienced guy because they're old school. Harvey's looked awesome. He looks awesome, but I just get out there. Like, he, I think he leads the NFL in yards after contact for care. He does.

And that's kind of why I'm like, okay. Like, to me, it's just fucking play the guy that's electric that you draft in the second round. Like, we don't fucking care about Tyler Bade. Like, what are we doing here? It's just like obviously, yes, I'm a friend. We don't use the days here in America. We don't care. I'm totally fantasy brain.

Yes, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. He's like Sanjaya. People would vote him off if they could, but, you know, it just kind of keeps sticking around. Sanjaya, wow. Yeah, I don't know what recess of my brain. I just pulled out. I don't even know what that is.

If we get San Jaya in the show, would you guys let, could we have him on? No. Who is that? Remember American Idol? He was kind of, he was fine, but like, then it got too deep into the season and he should have gone. And Howard Stern had this campaign to keep San Jank. on American Idol and everyone voted on.

Oh, I didn't know the Howard Stern thing. Oh, Howard Stern kept because everyone, this was before they realized the internet was, he was the original Bodie McBoatface, really, was Sanjaya, who was good enough to make the top 25, but he didn't deserve to be like there with like, freaking Carrie Underwood or whoever it was that this season. So Howard Stern was like,

it'll be funny to mess with American Idol if we rig this vote. And so Sanjaya made like top five and almost one American Idol because of Howard St. DK, he's from Seattle. You should know him. Dude, we are definitely two degrees of separation from Sinjia. If you know Sanjaya. You might see him at your local coffee shop next week. Sure.

I actually would be interested in talking to Sinai. Maybe I'll just solo pot it. I don't know. You guys don't want to do it. We'll see. Contact us if you know San Jaya. Please. Wow.

Last from the past. Anyway, you guys are recommending either by low on Harvey or certainly hold. I agree hold. Bench, though. I mean, we have to be, we can't hear about this. You can't play Arj Harvey. What I'm saying with, I know a lot. I'm like, oh, trade for him.

And I'm like, it's hard to make fantasy trades. Of all these people, R.J. Harvey's probably definitely the easiest person to acquire because you click on him and he had one good game and just doesn't play. Like that's the easiest of all the people, people are going to look and be like, wait, Hassan Askins for the Chargers is going to play more than this guy. He gets Adam off waivers and trade Archie Harvey. He will be the easiest person to require. I think, yeah.

And what differentiates him from the next guy I want to talk about is he's looked really good so far. Sorry. I apologize to Tom Tom, Tom directly. Trevian Henderson for the Patriots. We just got, maybe we turned Tom Tom off today. I know. Send him home.

Sorry, Tom, Tom. That was my fault. Send him home. Trayon Henderson from the Patriots again Look at the difference between preseason and regular season Guys, it's a real thing Travion got so much hype in the preseason that he got bumped up to like a third or fourth round pick

I think I picked him in the third round in one draft Obviously that's not going well for me He has first of all I think that the most surprising thing is he hasn't looked very good To my eye I don't know if you guys have a different opinion He only has four mistackles force this year which is 47th out of 50 running backs that have 20 carries this year. He has three runs of 10 plus yards, which is 36th.

Well, he's not getting the ball. He's 45th and PFF run grade. I don't know. To me, it just hasn't popped at all. And there's probably, that's part of the reason he's not getting any play. Despite the fact Romandre Stevenson has fumbled, he's leading the NFL in fumbling. And again, and that's like already been his problem. Antonio Gibson also just tore his ACL.

Yes. So it's now just these, because Antonio Gibson was. stealing a lot of the third down stuff from Trayvion and Henderson and now it's just the two of them. I think he's tricky. Do you try to get cute with it and be like, well, there's no Antonio Gibson this week. Do I start

Trevon Henderson or is he for you just an absolute bench until he goes off? I think it just depends, but I would say bench probably for most teams. He's getting like, Craig, you said it last week. He's getting like eight touches a game. Obviously, it goes from a three-man backfield to a two-man backfield. but they still

I feel like Ramadre Stephen has like compromising information on Mike Vrabel or something like that I don't understand why they keep giving him the ball they can't trust him at this point I think you can play Henderson going forward I if you have to like I'm not saying you should but if you have just because the Gibson injury he's going to play and they page I really hope you're right I really hope

this is like his the turning point of the season for him I think it is I also said he wants to get him back there returning kicks so I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign. The law of transitive, like if, if Chiron Williams can return kicks and then he'd be like the number four running back in. Maybe Brable doesn't,

maybe he's like, get Henderson in the game and no one can find him because the text on his jersey is so small. I think he's more, I feel more optimistic in the short term about Trayvon Henderson than I do R.J. Harvey because of Antonio Gibson. I agree.

He's, yeah. Next up here, Ladd-McConkey receiver for the charges. Yes. So Ladd has been really disappointing. Live receiver 47. And what's funny is if you kind of look under the hood, a lot of the numbers are similar from last year in terms of like target share and things like that.

I honestly think it's just like Keenan Allen's here now and Quentin Johnson's a little bit better and the Chargers are struggling offensively. Like that's just kind of it. I think Lad's good. I think when the offense is right, the team's good. But I honestly think he's just splitting the targets between three guys now and it was really just one last year. And it barely was that because Quentin Johnson has clearly taken a leap. this year. I don't particularly feel like Ladd-McConkie, like, I kind of think what we're seeing

is what we're going to get. Maybe it'll tick up a little bit, but I feel like he is kind of like the fourth best receiver on your fantasy team now, and he might have a couple good weeks. But like, I don't know. I just think it's more of like an even split amongst these three guys. Do you guys disagree? Keenan Allen, Quentin, and McCawkey. Yeah, this is a really hard one. I think I would have said a couple weeks ago that I feel strongly that he's going to end up leading the team. in receiving. I don't feel quite as strongly after that, like a couple of weeks later. The biggest difference is that he's become an underneath guy.

His explosive play rate has gone from 25% to 9. And it's like, Quinn Johnson's the big play guy. And Keenan Allen's the third down guy. And then there's kind of McConkey filling in the holes. And that's kind of just what the offense is right now. Yeah, he, last year he had seven receiving touchdowns this year. He only has one. He's five receiving, there's five receptions per game last year.

That's four. So it's definitely just like tick down a bit. It's not like that dramatic. No. Well, it's just a big place. He's not scoring and there's no big place. He's become like a borderline flex. I don't even like Hyvitz, would you call him a buy low?

I don't think I would. I mean, he is low. I think the question is whether you should buy low. I'm less confident than him and the others because there's stacking issues because it's not just the competition from Keenan Allen and Quentin. It's the offensive line. He's concerned. Yeah.

It kind of feels like he's kind of like DJ Moore to me, I believe in the talent, I think he's still a good player. But something has to change for him to go on. I'm more optimistic about McConkey than more. I agree. I think Ladd is playable. I think Ladd is like your flex play every week. And because, yeah, I believe, I think DJ Moore is like getting phased out of the offense.

And I feel like Ladd McConkey is still a part of it. It's just more confident. Yeah. Yeah, the difference is I'm way more confident Justin Herbert than Caleb. And to Craig's point, yeah, just Ladd's part of the team going forward. And DG Moore probably isn't beyond this season. I agree. similar thing though in just a quarter receivers from last year that that were great

that are struggling the last guy here I have Brian Thomas Jr. for the Jaguars who you know obviously was incredible last year just one of the better rookie seasons we've seen overshadowed in some ways because there's so many other guys that were awesome but Brian Thomas has been absolutely infuriating you drafted him probably in the second round at his point he's got like nine points eight points seven points nine points nine points 11 points like he's basically tied with Tori Horton in Seattle is the 40th best receiving fantasy this year which is crazy right Dickay I mean, it's brutal. Yeah, it just feels like he hasn't been on the same page with Charlie Lawrence at all.

Maybe that changes a little bit after last night because it felt like they did get some positive momentum going and like confidence or whatever. But yeah, I think, you know, he's been one of the most disappointing players in fantasy like full stop. So I do think he's going to continue to improve. But he was always a high variance type guy kind of like in the DK Metcalf mold where he's like big play reliant, touchdown reliant. and there's going to be some down games for sure and they just haven't gotten on the same page together with him and Trevor Lawrence. Is he a,

what stage of grief are we at here? Are you holding on to him? Six, bylo. I'm going to test if Bill Simmons listens to this far on the show because I'm going to try to pry him off Bill's team in the ringer fantasy league later. But I just,

Brian, to me it's really simple. He's not catching the balls that are thrown at him. To your point, like the same page. She's not receiving the footballs. No, they're sending him, not receiving. Brian Thomas ranks 19th in targets, but he's 73rd in catches.

19th targets, 73rd catches. Brian Thomas has the same amount of catches as Travis Hunter, even though Brian Thomas has 60% more targets than Travis Hunter. If you rank every, like qualifying receivers, like if you just look at guys that meet the bare minimum, there's 177 qualifying receivers this season. Brian Thomas's catch rate, catches divided by targets, is third to last, 175th out of 177.

That is not a form of regression we always discuss. But that is absolutely going to just go back to freaking even closer to that. Even just below average, like regular below average catch rate for Ryan Thomas will, like, get him 60% more catches and yards. His target rate is higher than Emekaibuka. Like Brian Thomas is like maybe he won't be. He's like the number two or three received. Maybe he won't be his second round. He drafted him.

He could be. Maybe he will be absolutely get better at the rate the Jaguar's offense is going. This is a good transition. out of Power Hour to give a, ringer fantasy football league update. So, High Fitz. So I tried to trade Ashton Tenty to Bill for Jamar Chase.

He said no. Now you're going to try to trade for Brian Thomas. Who are you going to trade? I don't know. I don't know what he wants. See, my radical, I think I make a lot of trades, right? We're at least together.

I think I made a good amount of trades, right? Well, look at your team. Tell me what you think you're going to do. I think it's funny if you try to predict it right now and see what we do. I don't know because it depends what he wants. My problem with the ringer league is I like my, it's the classic.

Well, he doesn't want ride receivers. He wants running backs. Well, I know. The problem is I like my running backs, which is the thing you get like really stingy when you have a good record. I have John Taylor, McCaffrey and Javante. You'd have to give up Javonte. Yeah, we'll see.

I have to think about it. Javante is like third in fantasy points, but it's third and expected points. It's not like crazy. It's like he's the lead back on the best offense like the Cowboys from Grotto. That would be a pretty, I think that would be like a good trade from a process point of view. Yes. Probably. Kind of don't want to do it, though.

But it might not work. But it might not work out for you or it might not even be a big enough draw for Simmons Yeah, that's an interesting one though We'll see I don't know, we'll see I got you know, I got Charbonnet Chase Brown

I don't know if he's going to do Charbonnet Probably The yes, the three teams are tied to first Sal, Sean Fennesse in me Sal's team's crushing South's team is a wagon Yeah I would say the three of us are doing well

We all have winning records We're all in the top five High Fitz second, DKs and fourth I'm in fifth Bill got his first win he's no longer in last. He actually has a huge... He's tied for last.

He just doesn't know... He has a win now. Well, he's like 40 points above the guy in last. But Bill had a huge week. He put up like 180. He's kind of backed. Two of his five quarterbacks, he started the correct two.

He started Trevor Lawrence and Tua. But yeah, it's all going to be like who can take down Sal. And I have to survive... I manage to squeak out a win without Lamar. So that's the goal. Stay alive. Should I trade for Joe Flacco, just like the Ravens?

Yeah. Or just like the Bengals? Yeah. You'll get them. All right. We're going to keep rolling here. But the ringer fantasy football shows brought to you by Fandall.

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against the Giants. The Giants are going to be a punching back. So it won't be fun. It won't be pretty. I might turn it off halfway through. I think this is going to be ugly. And maybe people think I'm reverse jinxing or whatever. I wish I'd pulled this up before.

But do you guys know the Giants record versus the Eagles? Last 20 games? Two and 18. I believe that is right. And the funniest part about it is that one of the games, the Giants won, the Eagles were like trying to lose. The Eagles are tanking.

Like they, it's unbelievable. Like games the Eagles were trying to win. It's like an undefeated season. It's the giant. They own the Giants. And I can't tell you how much the Eagles should be favored by. And how much Seekwan is,

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or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Okay. I want to get to fantasy court here. Wait, I want to ask, can we agree right now that if two of us are in the finals of the ringer fantasy football league, you guys have to fly out to L.A. And we do it live in the theater.

I feel like we have to do that. Sure, yeah. Yeah. We can do that. Hi, Fitz is like, oh, that sounds like, oh, that's literally Christmas day. I was coming, it was waiting for you to be. Well, we got to make it work. We'll figure it out.

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. How important is Christmas? Just fly out. What better Christmas gift than watching you beating D.K. in person at Spotify Matt Taylor. Oh, man. That's a good point.

If it's, if it's me and you, you can come out to Bellingham. Hang out with the fan. The, I was going to say, Craig, yeah, you come to Bellingham or D.C. How about that? Come our way for once. How are we going to live stream that? I feel like it's easier. We'll figure it.

I think, I think, yeah. Maybe, maybe not. All right. We're resourceful. Definitely don't tell anyone about this thing that you're doing. I don't really want to be handcuffed. The definition of an object is a material thing that can be seen and touched. Fantasy court, we have a couple fun emails, but first, I want to mention a pretty funny thing.

So in the Ring of Fantasy League on Yahoo, the only platform for fantasy of the world, the scoring was updated. And I don't think Yahoo did this. Oh, I saw this. So they have like a big red. It looks like a hurricane warning system on the front page of the show and it's of the page. And it says basically it was about that crazy play where the Titans came word through the pick that the Cardinals fumbled into the end zone and Tyler Lockett recovered it. And I think the fantasy, but really the NFL changed the scoring. And they changed it to the Tennessee defense is credited for a touchdown.

Oh, right. This is we've talked about this before. Like the offense turns into the defense. So yeah, it's for the scoring purpose of the NFL. it's a weird loophole. We're like, when the defense has the ball, they're kind of the offense now.

Lockett doesn't get a TD. That doesn't get a TD. That doesn't really matter because like no one was playing him. But what matters is a lot of people probably had the car. Yeah. Did you really?

I played him in our dynasty league where I'm tanking. Where I'm tanking. Yeah. So it's good for you. No, he lost a touchdown. Oh yeah. There you go.

You're like the Giants. Welcome. Congrats. But the Cardinals defense gives up, they're credited with allowing 16 points instead of 22. Which is pretty funny because that gave them one point extra in fantasy. And I started Arizona's defense this week and I had that close game against House where I won by 0.9 points.

So that really mattered. It ended up booting me up to 1.9, but still, like, that could have, if Mahomes completes a 30-yard pass at the end of that game, that Arizona point adjustment would have given me the win. And the Tennessee defense, I'm sure people also play the Tennessee defense. They get a touchdown. even though Tyler Lockett would cover the ball. So I know it doesn't affect everyone. But some people absolutely like just want to match up on a scoring question

because they have Titans defense get a touchdown on a Tuesday and a play where a wide receiver for the Titans offense got a touchdown. Yeah. Which is just funny. So, well, I guess the fantasy core question is we probably have to go with official NFL scoring. But if someone's kind of like, that's dumb, hard to argue with that. That is dumb. A receiver got a touchdown.

Why does the defense get the points? It sucks, but that's, the way it is. Yeah, that's actually probably the answer. Okay. I want to get to some other fantasy court case. We have a couple good ones here. Okay.

So it's from Justice. Justice. A literal famous fantasy course piece of justice. Okay. Breakfast. He says, I love breakfast. I really eat it. But if I could, I'd eat candy, bacon and pancakes every day.

Which is candy, comma, bacon or candy bacon? No, candied bacon, like brown sugar on a bake. Yeah. I mean, yeah, if you could do that, that would be great. Anyway, he says, for now, he buttered bagels will do the trick, which will come in handy later. I feel like that's pretty close to just having buttered bacon or candy bacon. Please. At least you're getting some protein with the bacon.

Justice says buttered bagel. What did he got there? Are you comparing candied bacon and pancakes to a buttered bagel? No, just the bacon part, not the not the pancakes. But like we acted like the buttered bagel was like, oh, thank God, it's so much healthier. It's just pure carbs. It's probably right, but a lot of people listening are probably. pretty insulted that candied bacon's being compared to buttered bagel.

They're not neither is good. Neither are healthy breakfast is my point. It's probably factually correct. For sure. Justice writes, my fantasy league is ruthless. I need to know if I'm in the right or wrong here. I had to go to the emergency room last week on Wednesday night for a bizarre stomach issue. And as a result, I was there from 11 p.m.

Which is that? Oh, from all bagels. Bagels. Just like gut bomb. your stomach. Dude, x-rayed just all bagis.

It's just candy bacon and bagels everywhere. Austin Powers. What did you eat? That's funny. I was in the emergency room from

11 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, Thursday morning, 8 a.m. Obviously, wasn't super locked into the fantasy

roster. Well, was the emergency room. Sure. Come home from the emergency room Thursday morning. Hadn't slept.

Kind of down a butter to bagel. Easy on the stomach, you know, pass out. wake up Thursday at footballs at halftime. He slept like 12 hours after the emergency room. And he realizes he has,

this story was a couple weeks ago, but he realizes Josh Palmer was in his lineup. And he's like, no offense to Greg obviously wasn't trying to play Josh Palmer on purpose. And so he asked the guys in the group chat, he's like, hey, you mind, I may or may not have spent nine hours in a hospital, like today, basically.

do you mind if I kind of like get to bench Josh Palmer because obviously it was going to play him. And they responded, quote, you have to live with your decisions. You know, I'm going to be a little bit. This is probably rude. And I know HIPAA's involved. I would like to know what exactly was the reason for going to the hospital. Was it self-afflicted? Was it because he's living in unhealthy lifestyle?

Do you think it matters why he went to the hospital? Yes. What is what would it? example be you saying you don't care. Wait, what do you mean? Like you went to the hospital for this and you're like, nope, no, no, you got to live that's your fault. This is somewhat similar to a dispute that took place in one of my leagues, the Jalen

Warren situation, where Jalen Warren was ruled out in the Dublin game. You know, it's super early. 5.36 a.m. on the West Coast where all my friends live. And one of the guys in my league, Sam was like, hey, I was asleep. can I like I would have swapped him out for this guy is that okay can we retroactively do that can we retroactively make that swap because I obviously would have done it and it sparked a huge discussion of like

should we be forcing everybody to wake up at 6 a.m. just to make sure that the guy playing in the game doesn't get hurt or should we allow you to retroactively swap what did you guys decide we didn't let him swap what if he had like I don't know But I think it's a decent point Been in the emergency room for nine hours.

Well, yeah, it's a decent point. I'm like... Because you're comparing West Coast time. Like, that's the West Coast bias of the show that I reel against, the West Coast. Well, it only makes sense. Is you just compared living on the West Coast to being in the emergency room for nine hours?

No, obviously not. Because it's the opposite of being in the emergency room living on the West Coast. Great lives out here. It's great vibes out. No, but the point is, like, if you're not around, it's like, it is kind of ridiculous that you would have to wake up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday

just to make sure... Well, I think that more platforms are... More platforms are offering like auto subs, which I think is a thing now. And I think that is the right answer, which is just like if a guy's injured or whatever. But like I think the short answer is if you want to make that a policy, but you need an offer for like everybody. You can't be like time for one person. It's like everyone gets to do this. And it's whether the commissioner is going to fucking manage that or not.

I think this guy in the ER deserves a mulligan. He does. But I think I think part of me is like he didn't push. I think the friends were just kind of doing a bit and he didn't push hard enough through the bit. Maybe. He kind of just let he relented to the bit. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, maybe this will set a precedent going forward. But I mean, if you're in the hospital, I feel like that's kind of like, takes precedent. I also want to be like, here's the thing. Here's the thing that I get hung up on, which is exactly what I just said. He had like a solid 10 hours to like, I think when he got home. We don't have the context. We don't know what's going on. He was in the, he did not sleep in the emergency room.

He was just there. He went to the emergency room and he was there from 11 o'clock till 8 in the morning. Came home and they slept for 12 hours. So you guys And also why was Josh Palmer in the lineup? I don't know That's fair That's weird

Well also the friends here You have to live with your decisions To me that like indicates There was some decision Bad decision making Well he argues it was not He really writes I would argue it was not my decision

I was at the goddamn hospital It's a quote Sure sure sure Um DK See there's different things here Craig's trying to start a larger conversation About starting and players

And Dike's like This guy probably didn't even need to go He's little bitch No that's not what I'm saying I was just curious I need more information here on why he was in the hospital let's just assume it was not his fault

he ended up in the hospital I think what does that matter victim blaming of the hot I know who gives what are you talking about whose fault is it when they go to the hospital like you're telling me like if he wrote a bike without a helmet then it's like well then fuck him he has to start Josh Palmer

I'm saying it's a stomach issue you think he did a ghost pepper challenge like fucking doing drugs or drinking too much or something like right if he went to the hospital at 11 o'clock I'm not fucking changing your lineup if you go to the hospital

because you need your stomach pumped if he got a stomach pumped at 11 p.m. on a Thursday sure. That's all I'm saying. Look. I don't know this guy. Maybe he went there

because he was being a perfect angel. He needed an appendectomy or something and it was in terrible stomach pain. Let's assume that's what happened. He just got blacked out on a Thursday night. I'm just trying to get the information here. That's all.

You know, so we can make an impartial let's see, decision here, I think. This was two weeks ago. We can get it. We can wait another couple days. We can get it. Okay, well, what do you guys think? I like what you're saying.

I want to know, your HIPAA. I want to know all the HIPAA. We're a court. We can subpoena that or whatever. Yeah, if we can't acquire any more information, I think he should get a mulligan, but I guess we'll wait and see why he went to the... So there you go.

That's justice. Just send us your healthcare records, logins, social security numbers, everything. We'll review and we'll give you a ruling. You're right, though, D.K., them saying live with your decisions is like weirdly cutting and personal for it's like it's like placing a lot of blame for somebody is this having a terrible watch him just made like a yeah i almost just made a horrible joke

about mark sanchez but like let's be honest we don't know why he was in the hospital um most people get stabbed don't get arrested yeah um yeah let's give him a ball again that's fine all right uh this next one here i'm it's from redacted oh they didn't redact their name i did i did Wow. Okay. Okay. Our bone. Our bone. Redacted writes this week, this is the shadow docket. We can't even get names on it. This week, my sister had her second baby, which is very exciting. Congrats. And he says, I'm in a couple fantasy leagues with my sister's husband. Obviously, it's my brother-in-law, but it's my sister's husband.

And my brother-in-law is like most of us, really into fantasy football. My sister hates fantasy football. My sister hates all sports with a fiery passion. Okay. And the only thing my sister hates, my sister hates more than fantasy football is how much time her husband spends constantly on his phone. This is where it gets interesting. My wife and I, this is now the redacted writing, my wife and I are watching my sister's child while my sister is in the hospital delivering the baby. Watching the other child. Yeah, they have an older child. The younger kids getting delivered. So redacted here is watch a babysitting the niece or son, I don't know. And the second kid's being delivered by his sister.

And as we're patiently waiting for news of whether we're going to, you know, how the baby's doing, I see an alert in the fantasy app that my brother-in-law has made multiple ad-drop roster moves. Nothing shady. Oh, no. Nothing nefarious just added a new defense, got a replacement at receiver. But this was like four, 20.

23 p.m. in the afternoon. So I say to my wife, oh, man, must be going slow at the hospital. He just made a fantasy move. Fast forward to 537 p.m. or whatever time. And we get a picture of a brand new baby. And I say to my wife, whoa, he must have been tinkering with his lineup during the delivery. My wife immediately furious that a husband could do that. She's not even the one who gave birth.

Did a little more research. And we find out the baby was born officially at 4.30. which is like seven to 12 minutes after he made these moves so yeah he was on his phone during the delivery of the baby and if my sister finds out she'd be furious and I'm talking like

maybe divorce him for furious so I've got a few I've got two options here I should be the I could be the bigger person could ignore it could pretend like nothing happened maybe tease him about it Are we talking blackmail here Yeah he says or do I blackmail my brother-in-law to trade me a first-run pick or a star player or something really valuable so I don't ruin his life, get him divorced by being a narc and rat him out to my sister.

What do you think is blackmail legal in the eyes of fantasy court? Very funny story, but no. Probably can't blackmail him. However, let's be real, what do you think of this guy doing the roster lineups during delivery? I have a bigger issue with redacted for squealing like a little rat. Yeah. Protect the safety of the league. Protect the shield.

That's why I redacted his name. He didn't redact his name. I was like, I don't know. Because also it's honestly, it's not up to redact it to whether he's going to squeal. It's up to his wife. His wife is going to squeal. Oh, yeah. He wasn't thinking when he said that out loud.

He told his wife. He wasn't thinking. Yeah. The second, the words left his mouth that went into his wife's here is done. She will know, unless he is going to have to convince his wife not to say anything. But he doesn't have the power in this situation. I don't think. So, D.K., what is the, like, I understand that like when a woman goes into like labor that can

technically be out. Labor. Labor. Yes, it sounds easy. No, like the water breaks and it's not like a TV show. More like fun. Yeah, exactly. You call it off work.

It seems super easy. No, but I know that it's like when so, like the basically, I should tell I don't have any kids. But like when the process starts, it's not necessarily like the panic to run to the hospital, whatever. And it can take like a long time. However. It can take a long time, but it still hurts like hell. Well, I know. But I'm saying, but this, the idea that he was on his phone, 50.

minutes before like the actually baby was delivered 17 the optics 17 minutes it doesn't look good it's not great why how are you on your phone and like what is going on 17 worried about this couple um yeah that's not a good look you're not a good look um i don't know what to say you should probably not be looking on your phone while your wife is either having contractions or inactive labor yeah what were the moves that he made were they smart out of the Texan's defense incredible job Ravens did probably won his week off that I guess here's my thing did he like sneak in

and add Dowdell like what happened? Dude if he got Dowdell though she should be happy dude kind of life changing I mean he's honestly like trying to like make money for his for his two children he's trying to make money for his new family here's my question DK though what is he doing on his

like does he in a position where the wife doesn't see him on his phone or is he pretending because even if it's fan how is DK going to know this I don't know. This is so case by case. I feel like some people would say like, go sit over there. I don't want you near me.

Some people are like, hold my hand. I feel like you. Right. Do you think he's an eye shot? Like, do you think she sees him on the phone and he's pretending to do something helpful? Or is he just on his phone? Would the funniest thing be like if you, because like you kind of have an option of being up near your significant other's face or being down ready to catch the baby, being down in that area? It would be very funny if he was like hidden behind like the gown or something.

Down ready to catch the babies like on his fucking phone. Like underneath the vet. He's just like streaming the Steelers defense on buy. He's like, he's like, honey, you're doing great. He's like, he's dedicated to the crap. This is like Adam Gase, that my all time favorite NFL story,

my number one favorite story of all time when Adam Gase. Yeah, seriously. You good? You could. Walked it. Yeah, his wife got a C-section and they were like, you want to cut the umbilical cord? He's like, I'm good.

To his wife. What if it was a C-section and he wasn't like allowed to be in the room. I don't know why that would happen, but... And he's just nervously scrolling. You're trying to have empathy. Yeah. What if he had like the nervous poops

and was in the bathroom? Hmm. That's got to be an ick if your husband has to shit while you're giving birth. I feel like that's got to be an ick. Yeah. It's email stories about... Email of slavery stories.

Ring your fantasy football at gmail.com. Email us labor stories. Maybe it's a sympathy shit. Especially if any women are listening and they have... hate your husband's or whatever. Please emails. But anything your friends did, I would take stories of what men were doing

while their wives were giving birth. That is good. I would be curious to know. I would love that. Which shenanigans these dudes get up to while their wives are literally delivering a child. Okay. Man.

So, wait, our advice to him is like, don't say anything. Well, he's a Narc who wants to blackmail. I know. We don't condone any of this behavior. He shouldn't have told his wife in the first place. But also, Narc.

Also, wait, do we know if he likes this guy? we don't know. He didn't say anything positive, but also we don't know. I mean, he's not telling his sister immediately, so that is a sign that he likes him. Yeah. Yeah. He's got to find a way to make money off this. Probably got Joe Burr out of it.

Joe Burr got hurt. It's karma. Okay. That's Fantasy Court. You guys want to do a couple emails? We get out of here. Emails. Can I preface the emails with something?

Please. I know we're going to talk about the Sopranos. I slept on it. High Fitz, I changed my mind and I decided that I don't care what 12-year-old you is doing with your free time. I also kind of felt you would send to that. So I was initially, I think I initially was triggered because you intimated that like there's no way to watch the show.

I think that's what triggered me. And then after that, I was like, generational anger. Yeah, it was like, these kids need to figure out that we, there's ways to watch this show outside of like live TV. Meanwhile, right now, do you? He's like, I have no idea how to download a movie on Netflix. It was absolutely just you thought I was saying there was nothing, no way to do anything. And then I kind of like pated myself into this corner.

And then after I got off to the pot, I was like, why do I, I don't, why do I fucking care what 12 year old hyphids is doing? For those who have no idea what we're talking about. Watch it out of order. Be my guess. On Monday's show, we got into an argument because I, now I admitted that I actually watched the Sopranos that I basically got into, I was like 12 years old and I just watched the final season in the Sopranos.

first. And I was like, yeah, that's not a great way to do it. But then I watched that season first because it was like a big deal at the time. And we got in a whole argument about that. And the emails were sympathetic. Yeah, now that I mean, that's insane. And I have an email on that. Well, anyway, I apologize because, uh, yeah.

Well, there's one, we heard from a lot of people who did this with Thrones. And I wanted to email. I wanted to read one email from Greg. Gbone. Gbone. Who basically says it's, uh, he, He says, his opening line was funny. I'm really disappointed in this latest episode in D.K. and Craig for spurring me to do the

unthinkable and defend Danny Hyphitz on a day. But here we are. Sorry, Greg. Perfectly normal to come into a show to the last season, the artistic integrity or not watching a show, whatever, being damaged, who cares? However, when a landmark shows on its final season and you hadn't gotten on the train early, you don't want to be entirely left out of the collective conversation that occurs, especially in 2007. And Greg's point is, I did this more specifically as a hater-fueled version when I easily could have caught up with Game of Thrones.

Greg says, I watched the first season of Game of Thrones, hated it. So early that people mistook shock killings for actual intrigue. And when the time had come for the final season, the hype for the show is at a fever pitch and all my favorite podcasts, even favorite sports podcasts for doing Sunday night recaps of the episodes, everyone was fucking. and talking about it. So I hopped back in for the last season, didn't catch up. Not only been left out of all the recap conversations because it was too complicated, but more importantly, I wanted to shit all over my friends for investing years of their lives in a shitty show that all along had no idea where it was going. And I was finally vindicated. And to this day, out of the blue, I text my group chat and say, hey, guys, remember when the dragon burnt down the throne

instead of John Snow because power corruption is the real enemy? That was crazy. So this guy's just a hipster. Yeah, I think so too. That was kind of my take. He says, people mistook shock killings for actual intrigue. This guy's not impressed. He didn't watch the show. He's pretty good, actually.

I love this. Pretty sick. I take back my apology. I don't apologize to Gray. Yeah, no, great. Yeah, no. Also, he said that also, it was cool that Craig guessed that guy's name was Ed.

Yeah, yeah. Also, Craig, good job. I know. I was in a cranky mood, I think. Yeah, you immediately pooped that. I was like, damn. I know. He's like, shut, shut up. There's tons of people. Got it right. You're like Craig, every other guy was named Ed in the 1940s.

I was like, well, I guess. That was so funny. Craig, you're a fucking sage. You're a genius. What can I say? It was because I was excited about it and he was mad. You're good-lucky. You were right, attractive.

Related to what we were just talking about here. I want to read an email from Mike about his crazy friend Abby. Michael. Embone. So, again, related to, I watched the final season. of the Sopranos first because it was live, which I think there's reasons. Mike says,

just listen to you, go down the rabbit hole of Danny watching the final seasons of TV series without seeing any of the prior seasons. Maybe think of my friend Abby. She's a big book reader, but reads all books,

beginning with the final chapter, and then goes back to the start and reads the rest of the book. Craig is discussed. Well, to be honest, I think that's more common. That's more common than, I think a lot of people read

the last page of books, before they start it. What? I don't think, I mean, it's a thing that I've heard of. Yes. Really? Yes.

Yeah. Sure. Okay, I'm glad I read this because I read this and thought this person was crazy. You're saying this is a thing. Oh no. Really? You've never heard.

Oh yeah, people do this. And I earnestly, without judgment, want to know why. Here's why I think. I think it's because it's so easy. Like the first page and the last page are literally like, they're right there in your hand. It's not like scrolling to the end of the sopranos clicking the finale and then watching it's like you can just as easily as you can read the first

page like you can read the last page and I do feel like sometimes people are just like hey I want to know this is worth it or I want to know if it's like an interesting ending and then then I'll then I'll know if it's good or not you skip to the last page and it's like he was streaming the Steelers defense while she was in labor making moves uh yeah this is to me this is because I don't really mind spoilers so much it doesn't bother me if you give me a spoiler like the synopsis but like going and reading the last scene is like a that's a bridge too far for me i don't understand that i despise spoilers i like try to avoid them at all costs i don't i try to avoid movie trailers i will like uh have like

twitter mute the title of a movie if i haven't seen it yet just so i don't see the tweets about it i've become more vigilant against spoilers for things i know i'll see and i care less about things that i'm thinking about and i'm more willing to just be spoiled and be intrigued by something i'm debating because there's so much content but it's saying i know i don't want to see the trailer anymore if it's thing i know like sinners i'm like i'm not going to watch this trailer. Yeah. There are movies that are like coming out that I haven't seen yet.

Like one battle after another I haven't seen. And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, exactly. I don't want to watch that at all costs until I can actually sit down and watch. This is somehow reminds me too of how Austin watches movies at like 2x. Well, that's just another one. That's just a different discussion. I'm like, what? I actually like can't think about that too.

I agree. What happened to the enjoying like a movie for being a movie? I don't want to think about that either. It's. boggles the mind. I have one more email here. I want to read. This is from Sam.

San A. S-bone. I didn't know how to ask for what email prompt I wanted, but it was this. Sam writes, Heifitz talking about watching the Sopranos out of order, aka his parents not really allowing him to watch

and then eventually allowing him. Reminded me of one of my favorite stories of me as a kid, which is for reference, I'm 23 years old. And this lined up a little bit with the early 2010's golden age of S&L. and I would frequently watch the skits and half get the more adult oriented. Like didn't really get all the adult. Yeah, you're laughing through you. You really get it.

And probably like a lot of people my age around 23 years old, I loved Lonely Island and all the skits they did growing up. Watch them on YouTube all the time with my friend G-bone. Specifically, I remember watching the video jizzed in my pants, the skit, and thinking it was hilarious. Great song. Despite, and I jizzed in my pants. The old fucking videos. That's it. And Sam writes, it's like all whispered.

It's like walked in the room and I said hello. And then I felt a slight breeze come in the window. And I jizzed in my pants. And Sam writes, no, please don't never apologize for singing this song. Sam writes naively, because that was 12, I kind of just assumed that Andy Sermberg was peeing. in his pants. Sure. And so this kind of cemented

the idea for me that jizzing and peeing were interchangeable terms. And, oh no. Jizzing was just a funnier way to say peeing. Oh, no. Q to a week later, I'm in the car with both my parents and my three little siblings.

Three little siblings. I need to go to the bathroom and I said, I'm about to jizzing my pants. Can we go to the gas station? It's a shock they didn't fucking crash the car. It's lucky to be alive. It's a miracle that they all survived that drive.

I'm about to jizz in my friends. I would like more stories like this, please. Email us at ringer fantasy football at gmail.com. Like encountering adult things in the wild you have got. Wow, that's so funny. So I've told you this in person, but I've ever said on the show my Austin Powers gold member story. That was the least appropriate thing.

My parents allowed me to watch. Shout out to Michael. One of my babysitters came over. It was just like, they were like I was and they were like you want to watch Austin Powers and I was like seven and I was like sure and gold member and do you remember guys you remember that I can't forget it because I'd never seen anything like that yeah I was it was I was used to SpongeBob and cat dog and I'm watching Austin Powers is totally like crazy and do you remember the scene where a doctor evil the they have

all the like it's like a diagram or whatever they have all the planets and then one gets cut and it hits him in the nuts. And he's like, who in the nuts? Dr. Edo gets hit in the nuts. And he's like, oh, wait, I gotta find him. One, two. Oh, yeah.

Yes. And three, we're good. I thought. Oh, and you don't tell me you thought you should say three. I didn't get those a joke because I was like seven when I saw this. Oh my God. Or eight maybe. Because it was 2003, I think it came out.

So it was like eight years old. So I thought you were supposed to have three balls. So then. You've definitely told this story. I don't know. Okay. I don't know this is so good. So I thought it was supposed to three.

So then I, you know, I start investigating and I'm like, oh my God, there's a huge problem here. I can only find two. And I went to my huge problem. And I went to my mom like a week. I racked with guilt. I'm worried about this for a week. And I go to my mom and I'm like, hey, mom, I think that's normal. And I remember walking away to be like, she's a woman. She doesn't get it. She doesn't know. But yeah, email stories like that. How did you find out? Did you go to your brother or your dad? I that's a great question I don't remember anything other than thinking my mom had no idea what she was talking about oh wow that's really good you guys have anything like that nothing

email so ringer fancy football at gmail dot com dude that's sure i do but i'd rather not say on the show should i've kept that to my no i think no that's it's mike myers's fault he did that to me well not really it was one two and three okay oh yeah one two and three okay um we're good this is kind of this is kind of stupid but when i I was a kid, my brother used to floss before going to sleep or whatever, but then he would throw, and I don't think I, because we're like four and a half years apart. So I don't know, maybe he was, maybe he was 14 and I was 10 or nine and a half, or he was 15 and I was 11. I don't know. But there would always be the floss. He would throw it in the toilet. And we shared a bathroom growing up.

So then I, like he would just floss throw in the toilet. And then I would come in after like get ready for bed. And I would always look in the toilet. And I thought that that's what semen was. I thought that like that's I was like oh he's 15 there are ropes yeah I was like that's what that is you know it's this thing that comes out of you you know

that's really good I think it was like one time and I was like that's a weird like what is that what is like floss it's like ah okay

right right right right I thought like it was like one big sperm that comes out like like the giant eel and Super Mario You know, I was like one big thing. Did your brother know that story? Or is he hearing this right now?

I don't know. I don't know if he remembers it. I'll have to, he'll probably text me. One big. That's really funny. I was like, what is that? Why is it a toilet? Email us at RiggerFantasy football at gmail.com.

If you have other, just anything like that. All right. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Karras. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Ronick. Thank you, Kuy. Thank you, everyone, for helping with the show.

Thank you, everyone for emailing us. Thank you, everyone. who defended me at the Sopranos thing. But mostly thank you to the people who were like mad that they were defending me. You guys, I really appreciated the honesty there where they were like, I hate agreeing with Haifitz. So thank you for the people who kept it real. Thank you, Lord.

Lord. Thank you. You too. I got to say, worst day of my life was when I was a kid and I had Apple music and they auto downloaded the U2 album to my phone. Did it really bother you? I always feel like people are so dramatic with this. No, I hated it.

because every time I would, back in the day, like when you had like the cassette thing where you had to like plug the cord into your phone, it would auto play you too every time. That's true. It does. It does. Well,

I don't have that issue. No, it doesn't auto play. For some reason, it would auto play for me. Like it was just, the song would begin. No,

I still, I still, foisting it upon you. I guess I'm so used to it that I forget that that still happens. We're like, if I'm listening to Spotify and then something on my iPhone happens or there's I don't even, I can't explain the glitch,

but sometimes it just, it ends up playing on my phone. And I guess actually it still happens to be. Oh, yeah. It was, it was, I like, it single-handedly, like, made me not like you two as a band. What year was-

like I'm out? It's probably in high school. I don't know. Did you care? I remember that. I don't think it was the worst day of my life. But I do remember you, like, couldn't delete it out of your iTunes.

Like, you couldn't get rid of it. You could have, like, auto, it was like, embedded in your album music. Like, I don't want this fucking YouTube it. It was so annoying. It was like at the top. Every time you open the app, it was like right there.

I hated it. Yeah. I do remember that part. It was the album Songs of Innocence. 2014. So I guess I was in college. Worst day of your life. Yeah.

I get it. I get it. You know? I became a Spotify fan from that day on. I actually did. Because in college, you could get the Spotify discount. Oh, God. Yeah.

That was incredible. Best idea ever. 399 a month or something if you're a student yeah anyway love Spotify company man boy do they have a good app check it out if you're listening right now on a different platform you're doing it wrong all right go to Spotify I actually agree yeah look look at this great app wow is that how it looks that's amazing look at all my favorite shows and things Look, the song Wood by Taylor Swift. Oh, your favorite songs.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I gave the album a re-listen. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah, one word review.

You're right. It's fine. Review is it's fine. If someone came out of a coma and I was like, this is the biggest artist in our lifetime. They'd be like, oh, that's kind of weird. Yeah. Yeah.

It sounds like a pop album. Yeah. All right. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus in present in select states for Kansas, an affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus in present in D. Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem.

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