The Ringer NFL Show - All Bite and No Barkley l The Dantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: September 24, 2019

Danny Kelly, Danny Heifetz, and Craig Horlbeck discuss the impeccably named Danny Dimes, the injuries from the week including Saquon Barkley, what to do with Kansas City’s running backs and Minnesota’s wide receivers, and how all of the bird teams lost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Players have been celebrating touchdowns more than ever, but you know what I want to see? I want kickers and punters to celebrate. Imagine a kicker nailing an extra point, and the kicker celebrates by taking his cleats off, putting them on his hands. He does a handstand. He begins to tap dance, run on his hands,

toward the long snapper, and hands the long snapper, a pack of skittles. The long snapper then snaps a single skittled to the kicker, and the kicker flicks the skittles through the uprights. That's what I want to see. Skittles. Podcast the Ramble.

Taste the Rainbow. Welcome to the Dynasty Football Podcast on the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network. My name is Danny Hyfitz and I am joined as always by my co-host

and my co-danny the hero we need and the analyst we deserve. The Dark Knight himself, Danny Kelly, I already know what is on your mind, Danny, which is the third co-host of the

Danny C Football podcast. Danny Jones, our Lord and Savior. Have you bowed down yet, Danny Kelly? Danny Dimes. I'm all. All in on Danny Dimes from here on out.

I told you, I think last week, I'm rooting for him. I think that was really fun to see. I was really low on him coming into the draft, as were almost everyone. I think it's a fascinating story, how he's kind of outplayed expectations by infinity. So, yeah, I'm all in on Dany Dimes. It's a lot of fun. I also really like the Danny Dimes nickname, even though I think a lot of people are kind of down on that nickname. I felt like I was experiencing God.

and a higher power. I saw that video, I think the ringer posted a video on their Twitter of you just freaking out and hitting the wall. I went to hit the wall, and then I realized that I was going to punch a hole in the office wall, and that there was not a stud there, and I was like,

oh, I'm actually going to break this wall. You're pulling Andy Bernard. Yeah, so I ended up boxing it, like at James Hardin and Russell Westbrook in that video where I'm just like lightly tapping, and I'm like, oh, shit,

I didn't know they were recording. So that was probably really fun for you, even though Seekwon got hurt? I, you know what, look, in light that there is dark, but if Sequin was still happy enough that he was out there jogging on his crutches. Like, if Sequin's happy, I'm going to be happy. So that was amazing.

Like, it's really paradoxical, but the game that Sequin Barclay got hurt was the most optimistic and hope-bringing Giants game. There's been maybe in three years is unbelievable. It's crazy. Tells you the power of a good quarterback, right? Like, they can change everything for a franchise. I mean, I'm just, thank God we don't have to watch Eli. Manning anymore. That's the main thing.

Look, this was the one of the week, obviously. I hope for everyone in America. This was the thing that made them go right this week. But, I mean, this was the one of the week. I mean, the numbers honestly are startling. He went 2336 for 336 passing yards, two touchdowns on the air, ran another two touchdowns in, four rushes for 28 yards. I joked last week that he would have more rushing yards than Seekwon, which did happen,

obviously in horrible circumstances. So I'm not going to take a victory lap on my crutches for that But I do want to know he has 34.2 fantasy points Which is more than Baker has on the season Yeah Amazing That's like the best dunk you can imagine Especially because of like the thing that came out before the year

Where Baker was all like flabbergasted They took him right? How bad do you feel if you're a Cardinals fan And they drafted Kyler Murray ahead of Daniel Jones That must be the worst feeling in the world That's just tough I'm not going that far I'm not going that far I love Kyler Murray.

I think that's still a good choice there. I feel so bad for them. I have a, I got a fun Daniel Jones stat for you guys. They're all fun day of stats, but keep going. Okay. Career 35 point fantasy football games. Daniel Jones won.

Eli Manning. One. Games played. Eli Manning, 234. Daniel Jones. One. This kid is my favorite goober of a guy. Oh my God.

I am so in. Let's talk about this though for real Because he looked incredible Not only because he changes the dynamic of You know the team's passing game His ability to run his ability to keep defense is honest With his legs which Eli absolutely did not have But he was like really good

Just sitting back in the pocket and picking like the bucks apart He was under pressure on 47% of his dropbacks For established runs Pat Thorman And he completed 80% of his pressured attempts 23 yards two touchdowns and a perfect 158 pass rating on those plays, which is absolutely unheard of for any quarterback. So, I mean, that was pretty awesome.

Like, his touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard was into double coverage off, like, his back foot in the face of pressure and, like, put in the exact perfect spot. So there's a lot to work with there. I mean, there's, I think it changes the fantasy outlooks for basically all the skill position players in the offense, especially compared with the fact that, or especially combined with the that Sequin went down, so I think they're going to lean on the passing game a lot more now. So, yeah, I mean, it makes Sterling Shepard a bigger factor.

Evan Ingram. I think Golden Tate is a guy that you want to go buy right now, you know, because he's coming back in two weeks. And so I just think it's a lot of fun. I mean, it makes it's like adding a whole new team to the fantasy landscape that we really just didn't care about before. Have you ever been so drunk, it seemed like things were moving? That's how it felt, because for 15 years,

I'd seen Eli Manning stand in the pocket like a statue. but at least statues move with the rotation of the earth and Eli's just still bolted to the core and then when Daniel Jones started running I just thought I was seeing things and no it's just that's it's beautiful Who would you compare Daniel Jones to stylistically as a quarterback?

I saw some I've been yeah I made the Josh Allen comparison I think it's a little different obviously but his ability to run I think is what makes that very similar Anyone else kind of stand out to you? Carson Wentz? I was going to say Brett Farve I mean, really, he's Patrick Mahomes.

That's who he reminds me of. Daniel Hyfitz, I have a question for you. Daniel McJones, that's who I think. He's Daniel McJones. Hey, right now, Mr. Hyfitz, would you trade Daniel Jones for Kyler Murray? No. He's my guy.

This is my, I wouldn't, no. I wouldn't trade him for Patrick Mahomes. He's mine. That's stupid. He's mine. That's the dumbest thing you know. He's my guy. Well, that was this week's hot take of the week.

You wouldn't understand. Fandom is a hell of a drug man. You know what? I wouldn't deal him for it? Mason Rudolph. So settle down over there, Chris. Okay, that's fine. You know what, we have to move on, but I do want to quickly note that on Friday's, Friday, we did mention that we were fading birds in general because a third of the bird population North America has declined. Craig did try to tell you, yes.

Craig said fade the bird teams. And then maybe the best prediction will ever have, all the bird teams lost. The falcons, eagles, cardinals, seahawks, and ravens all lost. Just say it, people need to listen to me more. I gotta be honest I don't know if we'll ever have a better prediction on this podcast That was like a yeah that was an epic call That was incredible

I'm upset I didn't parley that It's unbelievable yeah Fade the birds All right And then last of D Keenan I guess we're going to normal stuff now Keenan Allen big day You have to we have to acknowledge

The fact that Keenan Allen Is just having an absolutely absurd season So far he's leading the NFL in reception It's 29 Receiving Yards 404 And he has three TDs He's on pace for 154 catches, 2,154 yards, and 16 touchdowns.

So just keep that. Obviously, he's probably not going to keep that up all year, but he is just playing out of his mind right now. I also just have to note that if you saw any of his highlights in this game or Austin Echler, that looked like a high school game because they still had the LA Galaxy markings on the field. But then combined with the blue line for the first down, it looked like there was like the field hockey lines and the lacrosse lines and everything on the field. What's more embarrassing?

That or that the Raiders play on a baseball field? I think it's more embarrassing that the Raiders went for a preseason game in Canada because they hate playing on the field

during baseball season and then they showed up to Canada and the field was so bad they had to play a 90-yard football game. I think that was more embarrassing. They literally did that.

The under-part of that the under-told part of that story was they did that to not play at their own stadium. So anyway, let's go. Next segment,

next man up. Injuries happen every week. We're going to run through the most fantasy-relevant ones. and who's going to replace those guys. Usual caveats apply here. We're doing this on Monday afternoon,

so we're not covering Monday into football with Washington or Chicago. No offense to those fans, but I'm really happy. We don't have to think about those teams for right now. Those are two. And then hit us up on Twitter or in the ringer NFL show Facebook group,

if anything happens, on Monday and football. But for now, I think the biggest, only news that truly matters this week, Seyquan Barkley, my dear beloved, running back for the Giants, high ankle sprain, had an MRI on Monday, confirmed it.

Four to six weeks, he'll be out. He told the Hispanic had a similar injury freshman year at Penn State that cost them two games, but he'll be out more than two games. He finished with eight carries for 10 rushing yards. He was replaced by Wayne Galman,

who had five carries for 13 yards. Giants don't have good running backs behind him. Galman, no, Goldman's cool, but like not say it once. So, D.K., would you, I mean, people can pick up Wayne Galman, but, D.K., would you advise the people picking him up to temper their expectations?

Yeah, certainly. I think, Obviously, Gallman is not Sequin Barclay. He's not going to create what Sequin was able to create behind that offensive line. I mean, Sequin is a home run hitter. He's a tackle breaker. He's a creator in the open field. He's a receiver.

Galman is not all those things. I think if you're picking up Galman, you could think of him as like a flex option on biweek type thing. I think that the offense, the Giants offense is probably going to just transfer its strategy around. Daniel Jones's arm, and it's just like, if you look, like, I bet you, when Golden Tate comes in, he's going to be, he's going to be doing plays that are in effect run plays, like screen passes, sweeps, end rounds, things like that where they get him in space, they use his ability to break tackles and do things in space. I just wouldn't expect a whole lot from this run game with Galman. And so he's definitely worth an ad. And it will be interesting to see if the Giants actually pick up another running back off the free agent market or so. something or off of practice squad because they just don't have really anyone. I think Elijah Penny is the only other guy behind him right now. So my favorite conspiracy theory is they should go out and trade for Mike Boone. My guy, Mike Boone.

Imagine what he would look like as a starter. He's the Viking who's falling to third. He's the preseason superstar Mike Boone. You know who else was a preseason superstar? Daniel Jones, the real Elijah of the New York Giants. Moving on, Carolina. another team with their backup quarterback that has become the starter. Cam Newton has already been ruled out for Houston in week four.

Head coach Ron Rivera says there is no timetable for Cam's return. There's also been reports that the Kyle Allen playing so well against the Cardinals this week kind of made it easier for Cam to accept that he should be out at length. He's got a foot injury. It's been bothering him since the preseason. Kyle Allen played really well. 261 passing yards four touchdowns on 26 attempts. Craig, you got a fun Kyle Allen fact.

Another fun fact coming at y'all. Okay, Panther starting quarterbacks in the last six games. Cam Newton, zero TDs. Next game. Cam Newton, zero TDs. Next game, Kyle Allen, which is the last game of the year last year. Two TDs. This year, Cam Newton, game one, zero TDs.

Cam Newton, game two, zero TDs. Kyle Allen, game three, four TDs. So this is worth discussing. I don't think, this is worth discussing. Two quarterback leagues, Kyle Allen, you have to add them. One quarterback leagues, you can, but I don't, you know, if you want to stream them and you have one of these people's hurt, it's a good pick. But I think the more important aspect, there is something Cam Newton mentioned or told in a lengthy interview with Peter King of NBC that basically he was playing through injuries because he thought that was his job.

He was not healthy with his shoulder. This was like the worst kept secret in football was that he was not able to throw deep. It just really affected him. He wasn't healthy. Rehabed. It was like this whole crazy thing this off season when someone got like cell phone footage of him throwing. And then finally gets what we think is healthy, has this foot injury, which is not helpful to your shoulder, especially when your power is coming from your legs. So, Cam taking a step back and not saying he has to play through injury.

Like, Kevin and Mays talked about the Panthers at length. We don't do too much, but I think it's important to know. We've not seen Healthy Cam in a long time. And so my point here, it's not that the Panthers' quarterbacks are super relevant for fantasy, but that Curtis Samuel and DJ Moore and guys who played well this week, if their owners kind of not know what to do with them, I'm down for, like, actually trading for those dudes. Because I think that offense with now a healthy quarterback until, like,

The Cardinals are the best defense, but I really liked D.G. Moore, Curtis Samuel, and McCaffrey, obviously. Yeah, I agree with you. I think that at worst, it just makes them not, it makes you so you don't have to take them off your starting lineup or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, I still am confident starting Curtis Samuel,

who in fact might actually be better off with Allen, just because he is their sort of speedy, deep threat. He's been really good at getting open deep. And Alan, who's not, you know, worried about his shoulder injury, can push the ball down and feel a little bit. We'll do a little bit more on North Turner's, like, vertical offense. So we didn't see a ton of that last week, but in theory, that's kind of like, you know, a potential advantage going forward.

Next up we got the Chiefs running back situation. This is muddled. This is beyond muddled. But just so we keep track. We're going to do a glossary first. There are four running backs to keep track of in this backfield. There's Damien Williams who looked like the best of the bunch at the end of last season and then missed this game with a knee injury and was reportedly limping at the end of last week.

There's Daryl Williams, who is the third string guy who looked good last year, but pretty good on Sunday with nine rushes for 62 rushing yards against Baltimore, also had five catches for 47 receiving yards, so more than 100 total yards there. Then there's Lashon McCoy, who looked great. He had, but he entered was questionable an ankle injury, left with an ankle injury,

but he had 54 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, added 26 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. And then there's rookie Darwin Thompson, who is the sixth rounder that kind of was beloved in the preseason. But definitely does not have the trust of the coaching staff yet. I think that they don't trust in the past block and do a bunch of – I keep saying the little things about like Devon's Singletary and Buffalo. I think it's very similar to him. He's just not a veteran like these other three guys.

And Patrick Mahomes got to be protected. So, D.K., what do you do with the Chief's backfield? There's four dudes now. I feel like four of them are their owned or going to be owned. People might not have Darrell Williams. What the hell do you do? Well, I mean, it's funny this week because, There were reports before the game that Daryl Williams was the number one.

They had Darwin Thompson running behind him and then Lashon McCoy, like a distant third, which I'm sure affected a lot of starting lineups this week. And I took a leap of faith and started Darwin Thompson in one of my leagues. And I'm immediately regretted it because he didn't even get in, I think, till like the fourth quarter. He's securely fourth string right now. And I think it would take Damien Williams and one of Daryl Williams and Lishon McCoy being out. for him to have a major impact unless they're just like trolling everyone in fantasy football, which is certainly possible.

But I say Damien, Daryl and Lashon are all worth picking up and owning in fantasy football. Darwin at this point is more of like a dynasty stash to me because he just, like you said, in a situation where he could have certainly, like it would have made total sense for them to go to the rookie, they didn't at all. Like McCoy was hobbling into the stadium. There was some video of him coming into the stadium before the game where he was just limping badly. So, I mean, the fact that he played through that and looked pretty solid, you know, I just think there's no real reason to believe that right now Thompson's going to have a big factor or be a big factor in that offense. So that's, to me, the biggest takeaway.

Otherwise, those three guys are worth, you know, having on your roster based on how injuries play out. Yeah, and obviously you have to monitor practice reports. Friday practice reports are a huge deal. So if LaShawn McCoy is playing on Friday, probably a good best. to play. But if let's say McCoy and William, let's say Williams is not playing but McCoy is. Would you still play Darrell Williams this week? Yeah.

In fact, Darrell Williams ended up being like the leadback, quote unquote lead back. He paced everyone with 55% snap share. McCoy played 37% of snaps. He actually got more, obviously, he got more production with the two touchdowns, but Darrell Williams was sort of the starter.

So, or at least he was the guy who past that back. So yeah, I think he's definitely worth having. Yeah, he had the majority of the snaps, which is ultimately what we care about. I think, full disclosure, Craig and I actually swapped McCoy out of our lineup at like 1258,

1259. Yeah. Love it. We got MVS in there, so we're fine. Should we trade LaShoa McCoy to Bill, who has Damien Williams? Yeah. Bill loves Chiefs running backs. All right. We'll discuss that all fair.

Speaking of the Pats, Julian Edelman, slot receiver for the page, Patriots, he left with a ribs injury. He's expected to be okay. Ian Rappaport of NFM Network reported that Edelman, he'll be good. It seemed like he could have came back if this was the Super Bowl, but it was the Jets and they were up a lot. And it seems like he's all right.

Jacoby Myers would handle the slot if Edelman missed time. But I would be a little surprised that this was significant. Josh Gordon also had a finger injury. He left, got a tape, through end of the game. Also seems fine. Philip Dorset's the real notable person here. I mean, he played 77 or sorry, 70 of 76. snaps. Got another touchdown. He has this

remarkable stretch. He's caught all but one of his targets from Brady this season. So he's been great, but Dicay, do you like Dorset as an ad? Yeah, I mean, I think Dorset was a guy that we were fading when they picked up Antonio Brown. Now that Brown is gone. He has a much bigger, like, spot role in that offense. He's been really, really efficient with his, you know, snaps and targets and all that. I think he is definitely a guy that's worth having on your roster. The Patriots are sort of hard to predict and how the targets are going to be to

distributed every week, but it's him, it's him, Gordon, obviously, Edelman, and then, you know, they're going to work Jacobi Myers in a little bit, but, yeah, with Brown gone, I think that puts Dorset back on the map for sure. Only 32% owned in Yahoo! I was to say, he's only 26 years old. He's one of those dudes who seems like a lot older. Former first rounder, too. I mean, he had, like, that talent. He was a deep, you know, deep threat. I actually remember really liking him in the pre-draft process. He didn't work out with the Colts clearly, but it's not like he's some random undrafted dude. Well, speaking of dudes who worked out with the Colts,

T.Y. Hilton aggravated an existing quad injury. He actually kept playing. He caught a touchdown two plays later, but left the game. He said, quote, he went in with him at quad injury and then said, quote, I kind of re-injured it. I kind of felt that I wanted to keep playing because I knew I wouldn't be able to come out in the second half. Stephen Holder for the athletic report. that senior staff...

Damn it. Can't speak English. Senior staff writer for the athletic, Stephen Holder, reported that the Colts didn't let him play because they were worried

that he would tear his quad. Yikes. That's tough. Yeah. So, D.K., what do you want to do about if you have someone to Ty Hilton

or just you need a receiver? Who do you like if Ty Hilton misses time or just is hobbled? I mean, it's really tough to know. I think it's exciting to think about

what Paris Campbell could do in that role. Obviously, he is not, you know, experienced. He, in college, was mostly just a short, like, around the line of skirmage threat. I think he has the potential to be a deep threat. You know, he has the speed, certainly.

And his snaps have gone up. So he's a guy to potentially just add and stash and see how things go. Dionne Cain, Zach Pascal, or other, you know, potential guys that could step into a bigger role with this injury. Ultimately, though, I think, if anything, it just boosts Doyle and Ebron. I think they'll probably work their tight ends into the passing game a lot more. I think it probably boosts Naheem Hines who might get more looks out of the backfield as a pass catcher and Marlon Mack

who's been a pass catcher for them as well out of the backfield. So ultimately I think if anything, it probably boosts Doyle and Ebron the most. And now it's interesting though because the Colts are now missing Hilton and funches who they added in the offseason. So yeah, I mean they're down to kind of like, you know, third string guy is like their lead guy

at the receiver position. So it definitely hurts them. Not a single one of those guys gets my blood going. I got to be honest with you. I think that that's an example of if you have Tyoy Hilton, then maybe you'd go elsewhere. And then elsewhere with injuries, I think, tight-end Vance McDonough, sorry, not Vance McDonnellar.

Vance McDonnell. Vance-McDoheld had a shoulder injury. I mean, he's had a pretty quiet year. That was a pretty quiet game for the Steelers, honestly. One catch, 10 yards. He's, he, it's not. 100% clear the extent of the shoulder injury. My bigger concern for the Steelers, including Juju,

is that Mason Rudolph had like 170 or so yards in this game, but like 115 of them were on two throws, one of which was a lot of yards after the catch for Juju. So my bigger issue is just this does not seem like a great passing offense right now. So not in love of the Steelers.

All but two of Rudolph's completions, those two completions were the only ones that were like past five yards. So it was definitely an ease him into the into the passing game kind of game and we'll see how quickly that ramps up going forward if at all.

All right. Now we're going to talk about guys who are going to be eased back. This is on the mend, guys who are returning, maybe. Potentially. Alshan Jeffrey on the Eagles, the Eagles are banged up. The receiving course banged up. Deshawn Jackson has an abdom...

I cannot speak English today. Abdominal injury. He's definitely not playing this week. He's probably not coming back for two or three weeks. But Alshon Jeffrey is possibly coming back. Head coach Doug Peterson said he was optimistic. obviously Sean and Jeffrey have different skill sets Jeffrey's like a big physical guy in the outside

Deshawn's really fast Ertz is their real number one receiver but Dika how do you feel about Nelson Agalore if Jeffrey does come back because Aguilar's been playing excellent from a fantasy perspective even though Eagles fans can we get the drop of the guy saying that he caught the baby

and his assistant people down my man just started throwing babies out the window we was catching him unlike Aguilar and his mishaps I like to put that out there That was so good, man. That was incredible. The lookie gives you at the camera, too.

Unbelievable. But anyway, Aguilor's been good from fantasy. So how do you feel about Aguilor if Jeffrey comes back, DK? I mean, it downgrades him a little bit. And Aguilor is every week, it's like a roller coaster. Like I was watching Eagles Twitter during the, I think, first half, and he had a drop and a lost fumble. And everyone's just, like, pissed off at him. and then of course he comes back and has two touchdowns in the game

and it's just like a microcosm for like every game that he plays like we remember the last week two when he dropped the sure touchdown then caught a caught like a Hail Mary pass later that almost set them up to to win that game so I don't know he's getting the volume and I think even if Jeffrey comes back he'll continue to be a big part of that passing offense but just not quite as big as he has been obviously with those guys out I mean, you know, our Sega White Side was not a factor on Sunday.

He was still kind of like the go-to guy in that offense outside of Ertz. And I think they're really looking forward to getting Jeffrey back and get some consistency in that passing game. But he's still probably going to, you know, he's still worth like a flex option, I would bet. And I'm talking about Aguilar. Keep note that they are playing Thursday against the Packers. So you're going to have to decide if you want to start him sooner than later. The other thing is like the Packers' defense has been really good.

One of the three best in the league, really. More importantly, if you had to have a member of the Philadelphia Eagles catch your baby, which would it be a D.K. Ertz, for sure. It has to be Zach Erd. He's so big. Is it Zach Ertz or is it Darren Sprouls? No.

Sprouls, he's the size of a baby. I didn't ask you. You're not a father. You don't understand what the responsibility is. Yeah, I don't like playing this game, first of all. But I would probably say... It's not a game. It's your child's life.

This is a hypothetical. This is an extremely difficult question to ask. I've never been asked this question before. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back, you're going to give us an answer. Just paralyzed in fear. Well, you've got to make a decision, D.K. Anyway, we're going to take a quick break and I want an answer when we're back.

Have you ever had to miss a football game because you could not get somewhere to watch it? I have. I know actually a fun fact that one of our, the chief, Craig Gaines, missed one of the biggest Michigan State football games while he was a student. because he was passed out. Oh, I thought you were going to say studying. No, no, not studying. Craig's a big studier.

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All right, D-K, you've had a few minutes. What Philadelphia Eagles catching your betrayal? I've decided it's going to be Zach Ertz. I did some research during the break. Yeah, he had, let's see here. His drop rate according to PFF is 4.9% in 2018. He dropped six passes on 122 catchable balls. Oh, that's pretty good.

I don't really love the idea of those six misses, but his drop rate is good. 95%, that's a good confidence interval. I mean, yeah, I'd love it if it was 100%. But Zackert's last year, or sorry, this year, one drop on 18 catchable passes, 5.6% drop. right. So again, 95%-ish catch rate, which is very good. So,

yeah, I'm going to go with Earth's final answer. When my grandmother gave birth to my mother, she didn't know how to hold the baby, and then they said, like a football, and she was like, oh, so I feel like it's actually really similar to catch babies in footballs. Don't want to find out, though. They're oblong-shaped, yes. Oblong, wow.

Geez. All right, let's just dive into our categories for the week. Our first one, my favorite one, deceiving yards. Guys who are fools go. I can't speak English today. Fool's gold. Are they? Are we buying them?

Who knows? This is the John Ross category. But first, D.K., who's your deceiving yards of the week? So Tony Pollard of the Cowboys, he totaled 128 yards and a touchdown on 16 touches this week against the dolphins. I have no idea if this is like a garbage time thing just against a bad team or if Dallas is going to get him more involved. I lean towards the four. I lean towards the ladder. I think, or sorry, I lean towards a former, I think it was probably just garbage time situation,

and he's not going to be like a major guy week to week. But at the same time, I mean, he looks so good. He's like so smooth that it wouldn't surprise me if down the line they get him more involved. They get him, you know, maybe he's like running routes out of the slot while he's on the field with Zeeke at the same time. Actually, he said after the game that I think it's going to happen being him and Zeeke on the field at the same time. He goes, it's a little too early in the season. We've got a little something now that we haven't really used much, but I'm sure there's going to be a lot more coming.

A lot of times, players say that all the time, and we always hear that, but I don't know. The Cowboys said they want to use them like Alvin Kumar before the season, and the Chiefs also said that about Darwin Thompson, haven't used them. The Rams said that about Darrell Henderson, haven't used them. Is there a chance the Cowboys do roll them out long with Zeke? Yes, I am dubious. Yeah, this was the Dolphins.

This was more about them being a bad team. Deceiving Yards, people I felt to see. by. Your boy, Will Dissly, a tight end for the Seahawks. Six catches, 62 yards, and a touchdown. I've never seen a box score lie more. That touchdown came on an untimed down on the last play of the game

when they weren't even possible to win. It was literally the most pointless play. Kind of pathetic. Garbage-iest garbage-time play. Get out of here. Per Jared Smola, he's run a route on just 54% of his snaps,

and then 46% of Russell Wilson's dropbacks in the last two games. Yeah, so he's only running a route on about half his snaps. That's not good necessarily for the passing game. It's not good for consistency, especially in the Seahawks offense, which is really low-volume passing anyway. You know what else isn't good for consistency? Untimed downs for your touchdowns at the end is football games.

The other tight end I didn't love for a repeatable performance this week. Jordan Aiken's on the Texans, three catches, 73 yards, and two touchdowns. Houston had four touchdowns to tight ends last year. and then there were two on Sunday. In fact, he had never... Darren Fells had one too, right? Sorry? I think Darren Fells had one as well.

Yeah, so you're right. So two for Jordan and then one for Fells. So Houston's not a team that targets tight ends in general. In fact, this was the first game of Jordan Aiken's career where he had more than two catches. And he'd never caught a touchdown before. So this was the first... Yeah.

These were his first two career touchdowns. So the best fantasy performance he had before that was two catches for 42 yards. He is a young player, so it's not like this would be the first time a tight end was broke out, like, after we'd given up on him. But tight end is so thin at the end. I'm not going to be like completely ignore him, but I am far more willing to roll with like these other previous like 18 or 20 games than just this. So I'm very hesitant to chase that like sorting by last week points in the waiver wire and you might just get three points. So be careful.

I'm with you on that. It is interesting to me though that. So tight ends in that game got eight catches. for over 100 yards and three touchdowns between Fells and Aiken. So something to monitor. I don't necessarily, I agree with you, though. More just the Chargers line. I wouldn't count on it.

Chargers linebackers are a little banged up. I'd like to see that against a different team. Real quick. Craig, speaking to tight ends. Yeah, I think we were all deceived by just whatever was going on with the Ravens' tight end situation. Nick Boyle and Hayden Hurst got way more involved than we thought. After Mark Andrews is a huge start,

he only had three catches for 15 yards, and Nick Boyle had four catches for 58. and Hayden Hurst had two catches for 14. But what was bizarre was that Nick Boyle played 12 passing down snaps, yet led the team in tight-in stats, while Mark Andrews played 37 passing down snaps and Haydenhurst 15.

Lamar Jackson only completed 22 passes, and 10 of them, 10 of them? Nine of them, I can do math. We're to tight ends. So it almost seems like whichever tight end is on the field Lamar Jackson throws to it almost doesn't matter which one. But right now, Mark Andrews is the one playing the most, so don't panic just because you see it.

Nick Boyle's name this week. He also had an injured foot. He did. And apparently that was limiting him a little bit in the game. Obviously, that's a factor. Yeah, I would stick with Andrews. I think his breakout, the first two weeks, was legit. Obviously, guys are not going to have massive games every single week.

And I think, like you said, Jackson's passing share to tight ends is massive relative to, like, most quarterbacks in the league. So those guys are going to get targets in the game. And I think Andrews is still the top guy there. Yeah, Andrew. Yeah, breaking news. Don't give up on Mark Andrews. Not worried about Mark Andrews. And our next category, guys you're not supposed to worry about.

Although it's like a joke because it's like you're supposed to worry about the guys. Sorry if that hasn't been clear. I feel like that's an internet joke. You are supposed to worry about the guys. Our audience is young and hip. Young and hip. Well, the people worrying about them are the starters because these guys are. You know what, let's just, they get it.

All right, D.K. Who's the guy you're not supposed to worry about? And by you, I mean, D.D. Westbrook. Right, yeah. DJed Chark of the Jaguars, who came into the year sort of looking like the number two or three or maybe four option in that offense. He's kind of emerged as the number one for them. D.D. Westbrook was the guy that everyone was pretty excited about, including me before the season. And with Nick Foles gone, and it kind of changed the complexion of their offense a little bit.

But regardless, Chark has been the team's basic, like, you know, hit their de facto and Number one, he leads the team in receptions with 15. Air yards, 256, receiving yards, 277, touchdowns three. He is second in targets to Westbrook and target share to Westbrook. But Westbrook's A-D average depth of target on passes is only 4.7 yards, whereas Charks 14.2 yards. So he's getting the more valuable downfield looks. He's made the most of them.

He's made some really incredible plays, in fact. Former second rounder, 6'4, with 4-4-4-4-3-6. speed. There's a lot to like there, and he's really kind of seemed to be breaking out. So he's a guy kind of like Terry McLaurin that, you know, might have a little variability week to week, but is a big play threat and could find the touchdown on any given play, really. And so to me, he's a definite guy you want to add. He's only owned in 41% of league so far.

Yeah, I think it's simple. I mean, since Gardner Minsh came in, Charkas had the best rapport with him, and they have good chemistry. And as we know, Craig, in the wise words of men, chemistry must be respected. Another chemistry guy. Preston Williams, your boy, Devante Parker, Craig, got to be worried about the main

unspets to worry about Preston Williams. He's not worried. He should be worried. Press Williams only owned in 3% of leagues on Yahoo, but he's been... Which makes sense, considering the Dolphins. Yeah, his dolphin suck. But he's had 11 targets for seven catches and 87 yards to the first

two weeks. But last week with Josh Rosen, he had 12 targets, so more than the first two combined. And 12 targets, for four catches and 68 yards. It's not amazing, but he's definitely Josh Roeson's favorite target. The dolphins are going to be passing a ton because they're going to be playing in so much garbage time. Garbage time still counts. It's not

sexy, but I think he could be a good flex player when the biweeks get heavier. I know that's like the most boring shit you could ever say on a fantasy football anything. Oh, a sexy bi-week flex pickup, but I think that's what he is. And yeah, Devante Parkes and that's it. He had one of his

misses. So he had 12 targets. One of those missed targets was should have been a touchdown. I think he didn't quite, like he didn't hold on to it long enough for it to be a touchdown, but I think the production's gonna come with Williams. Devante Parker, get worried.

Craig, who else should not be worried? By the not be worried, worried. Matt Breda and Rahim Mostert should be worried about Jeff Wilson, aka the new Matt Asiata, aka the new vulture. Jeff Wilson's talented. How dare you?

Per Rich Rebar, Jeff Wilson is now tied for league lead in Red Zone Opportunities with 13 with Philip Lindsay. He's tied with both Lindsay and Mark Ingramman opportunities from inside the 10-yard line and inside the five-yard line. He had two touchdowns on Sunday. He's got four TDs on the year. He ruins people's fantasy days. No, no, no.

I don't like this characterization because you know who ruined Matt Breda and Rahim's fantasy days? Matt Breda and Rahim Mustard ruined it because they turned the bowl over like three times combined in the first like 20 minutes of this game. So they ruined their own days by losing the football. Sorry that Jeff Wilson's talented enough to hold onto the ball. He ran two-yard touchdowns. When did you become this passionate about Jeff Wilson? Look, I'm passionate about being accountable for your fumbles. That's what I'm accountable.

If that's true, then you should be a huge Rashad Penny fan. Wow, that would actually hurt. Wow. Wow. Chris Corriss of slander. That would actually hurt my feelings. All right, let's move on before I have to cry. Now we're going to go into usage tracker, some interesting usage statistics.

D.K., this is. your jam. So what's some usage you've been tracking, D.K.? The Vikings do not pass the football. And it's not going to be something that I think happens all season long necessarily. I mean, they've jumped out to big early leads and two out of the three games they've played so far. But so far, they have 63 pass attempts in three games, which is dead last. And obviously that affects fantasy football, especially the passing game, past catching targets in that offense. I mean, Diggs and Thielen, we're both highly drafted guys.

Thielen has ended up being the more valuable player in that offense. Diggs is basically an afterthought at this point. I mean, he's on pace for 32 catches this year, 538 yards and five touchdowns. Adam Thielen, meanwhile, Per Scott Barrett ranks eighth in target share, 28.8% of Kirk Cousins' targeted throws, and 74th in targets with just 15. So this offense right now is so focused. and centered on Dalvin Cook, who's looked amazing,

that it just makes the receivers in this group, and they only have four receivers on their active roster at the moment. That was incredible. Yeah, it just makes them extremely risky plays just because there's no volume right now in that offense in terms of the passing game. I mean, Cousins barely throwing the football. So will that change going forward?

Yeah, probably, because they're not, it's just game script dependent, but it's still, I think that's, Like they really just want to focus on that run game. And yeah, if you're a Stefan Diggs fantasy manager, it's a tough position to be in right now. So you don't think these guys are bylaws at all because, you know, the Vikings have been a part of two blowouts kind of in the two first weeks. Right. Yeah.

I mean, there's no. Diggs is, I mean, if you can get Diggs for Emmanuel Sanders, wouldn't you do that? I think Diggs is a bylaw. I think that the issue is, and this was one of the reasons I didn't love either Diggs or a feeling is that it's going to be, they're not going to be passing enough. Like one or the other. It's going to be one or the other. And just Diggs is eventually, if you have an owner in your league

who has Diggs who's just fed up with him, I would reckon, I mean, I'm down to trade for him, but I'm not giving, I don't think he's going to be awesome the rest of the way. He's better than he's been. But he's not someone I'm like, he's going to get back to last year or the last couple of years. I think it's somewhere in between.

Similarly on that note, while we're just talking about trade value, real quick, like, do you also think, do you guys think the Browns are by lows? Because the Browns, I feel like their public perception right now is, might be across the whole season at Rock Bottom. And I wonder about Odell Beck

who's like, you know, the 16th wide receiver. I wonder about Baker, who some people might be thinking about cutting. Like, I'm wondering if you would swoop in on any of those guys other than Nick Chub who I don't think anyone who has Nick Chub wants to trade him. Yeah. I think so. I mean, I think so. He's still a by low.

I don't, yeah, I don't feel as strongly about him as like, and I'm talking about Odell Beckham as like I did about Mike Evans last week who completely went off. But I do think this Brown's offense is going to get things figured out. I think that right now they're just, they're not doing. anything that they were doing last year in terms of the creativity, the motion pre-snap, just the different things to make defenses, like it just make a pain in the ass to defend them. They're just not doing any of that stuff.

It's really strange. And I'm still sort of in the camp that believes kitchen is going to, kitchens is going to make that offense. Yeah, like he's, God, yeah, exactly. But so yes, I would say I would buy low on Beckham. I'm not as confident as I was about Evans, like I said, but I think it is something that they're going to come around. The offense is going to figure things out.

Hard to be confident in anything that called the draw on fourth and nine and the best excuse for that's probably you thought it was third. And that's probably the best excuse you can make. There was a question of whether Todd Monk and it was Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator to last year would takeover play calling. Freddie Kitchen said that that was not a consideration at this point in time, although things can change quickly when they get bad. I think you probably need another week before O'Dell's owner wants to completely cut bait

but I think plenty of Baker people are probably sick if they drafted him super high sticking our going back to the usage tracker real quick D.K. Carry on Johnson was someone a lot of people thought could be like a three-down feature back, huge for fantasy. And then they went, they got C.J. Anderson because they cut Theorritic who's a pass catching back. That was good. But they kept C.J. Anderson and the way they were using him, suggested that maybe they're not going to make.

Carrion Johnson the feature back, then they've cut C.G. Anderson. So what's the deal with Carion Johnson right now in Detroit? So Carillon played like a Bell Cowback on Sunday. I mean, he, after averaging 56% of snaps in the first two weeks and 14 carries in the first two weeks a game, he got 75% of the snaps in week three and carried the ball 20 times. Now, granted, he only picked up 36 yards on those 20 carries, which is not great. But he got six out of six red zone snaps and punched the ball in for a score in the second quarter.

Per NFL.com's with Graham Barfield, he handled 80% of the Lions carries, 75% of snaps, and ran 18 routes compared to Ty Johnson's 6. So those are like dominant numbers in terms of volume that you want to see from a bell cow back. The question is, is that going to continue? Are they going to try and get Ty Johnson more involved going forward? We'll see. But right now he's training in the right direction.

I think that makes him a target. When you say a trade target, like who are some running backs that you'd rather have. We do a little name game right now and you say trade target. Oh, actually, you know what? This is going to be mean. Chris Carson or Caron Johnson. Let's just cut right to it. Carry on right now. I mean, just the way that Carson's play. I do think I'm still willing to say that Carson is a by-low candidate just because Pete Carroll seems completely dedicated to him. The things that Carol has said on the radio and in press conferences last couple days is like

they're going to stick with them. They're going to get him through this. He doesn't have a history of fumbling. But the fumbling issue is a really. real problem. So you're basically betting. There is an industry of him fumbling, though. No, not really. Last year he had three fumbles on like a whole bunch of carries in college. You only had two.

So the three fumbles in four games is sort of an aberration compared to like his overall career. And Carol even said something like, oh, each of these three fumbles were extraordinary punchouts by the defense. And so like he, Carol to me seems to be like sticking with Carson. That's, you know, that could be coach talk. but I still think Carson has a chance to kind of figure it out. I'm not super confident in that, but yeah.

Craig, you have a Rashad Penny hot take? It's not even, it's not a hot take. It's just a cold take. Rashad Penny's great. Oh, I thought you actually had a point to make. That's okay. Penny, who is injured currently? He is currently injured, yes, but one day Pete Care will figure it out.

Daniel Jones or Rashad Penny more rushing yards rest of 2019? Oh my God. Shad Penny. You want to make that bet? I kind of do, yeah. Okay, let's do that. Let's do that, yeah. Okay, wait, I want to go back to that name game with Carri-on Johnson.

James Connor. This is another a by-low because James Connor is like, I mean, knee injury and might not even be in a good situation if he's healthy. That is such a grim offer. Craig, you tell me what you think of that because you're a Steelers fan. One key thing of by-lose in general, though, it's not just a buy-low because the player is doing well. you need to find an owner who's like out on this guy. If they still believe in him, it doesn't mean anything. It's about the art of finding someone who's going to get better,

but also the owner is like, screw this. James Connor hasn't gained 100 yards yet in three games. He's averaging 2.9 yards of carry. And he doesn't really look too dynamic when you watch him. I'm not really impressed at all. I mean, he's getting swarmed at the line. We're going to have training wheels on Mason Rudolph. It's going to be a slow build.

But what sucks is if you're an owner of him, you can't get rid of them for anything. So you just have to hope. You just got to sit your own hope. Yeah. That's all I have for James Conner. You know there's been a great first round pick? Daniel Jones.

Unbelievable first round pick. Probably more rushing hours than James Conner. Rest of the way, we'll have to see. Oh, I'll take that one. Thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for coming to me on this blessed day. Hope you guys bask in the light of the Daniel Jones. Congratulations, Danny.

I'm happy for you. This is really big for you. Good job. I'm happy for you. I feel peace in my heart. The Giants have had some rough goes of it in the last year plus and not a lot of super exciting things. Did you hear he swore in the huddle to galvanize his team? Look, I like a bad boy.

I like someone who's got like a mean streak. You know, I know he used that expletive. I hope he doesn't cuss often. But he's a leader who does what he needs to be done. I wish you did that to us before every podcast. That'd be great. Should we have like a swear jar? And it's like every time we swear it's $100 off

DFS budget on Fridays. We'll see. Daniel Joe's knocked it a hundred off already. All right. Thank you guys again. Thank you everyone for listening. We will be back on Friday.