Don't Set Your Lineup Until You Listen to This: Week 1 Fantasy Football | Fantasy Focus

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We got our Week 1 Preview Part 2 coming up for you as well, diving into all of the rest of the games to get into. First and foremost, thank you for hanging out with us. We love being here. Love that you guys are here. Shout out to Eric Moody and everyone hanging in chat. We love the chat community that we have. Go follow him, at EricNMoody, and make sure you check out the Sunday Morning Show as a second screen experience. Going to be a ton of fun there. And also, shout out to our friends over at Trophy Smack. Trophy Smack always gives us. The best stuff. This cool belt in the middle of our table. Snake skin belt. I know, Field, you're hoping to bring that home so that you can play with it over the offseason. Better a snake skin belt than a snake. I agree with you. That is my stance. Wait, can we win that belt? Yes, you can win that one. You can win that belt. You probably can't win that belt, but Field or I might be able to. Did you just say that to the defending champion of the Fantasy Focus? You know, that was a technicality, Mike. I don't think it was. It was technicality. I'd like to demand a recount on that one. You circumvented the salary cap. We start calling you Mike Bomber behind the scenes here. Wow. Yeah. Rams circumvented the offense last night when they played Thursday night football, unfortunately. Can we dive into Thursday night football a little bit, friends? Unfortunately for the Rams, they went down under. Their offense was just hot garbage. Yeah, playing in Melbourne, Field. Hey, don't get Mike going on that. I heard about it. Hey, I'm not the one that was throwing a fit about it. Can I just say one thing that bothers me about this show before we get started? About our show? Yes. Okay. Yeah, what's one thing that bothers you? Mike dresses too well. I said the same thing this morning. He's fashionable all the time. It's a good-looking shirt. He keeps up on his haircut. I woke up and chose this on my own today, too. Did you really? I did. It's a great shirt. I may not have picked it out of the store. Very impressed. But I picked it out today. He looks great. What can I say? You always look so sharp. I'm just trying to keep up with you. I'm wearing a towel. Daniel looks great, too. You're dressing like I normally do. You've got the t-shirt on. This is a handmade shirt from Japan, for what it's worth. No way. For real? It was hand-stitched. That's awesome. Go ahead and make fun of me for it. That's how I usually dress. I like it. I love that. I love that. When the Rams play in Japan next year, they're going to fly five hours before the game begins. Bro, we can talk about that whole thing. Rams had a massive clunker in this one, unfortunately. Tough week to be the number two quarterback in fantasy football last year as both Drake May and Matthew Stafford. Really, really tough week ones for these guys. You thought Drake May was bad. I mean, goodness gracious. I mean, it was real bad. I want to start with, unfortunately, the injury so that we can talk about this because we saw the old men in San Francisco do some things. But, unfortunately, DeJuan Stripling went down in this one. We were so excited about the young kid. All the snaps he was playing. Mike, he was on the field a ton to start the game. He was there in terms of snaps and routes. He was their number one receiver. When he went down with the injury, he was running ahead of Mike Evans. The targets weren't there yet, but they were coming. I mean, he was out there running routes. He was going to get some opportunities. So, yeah, that was really unfortunate. It looks like he had an injury left, came back into the game, and then it looked like a non-contact. It was a non-contact injury. It looks like it's ankle, not knee for the moment. We'll keep an eye on that. But definitely concerning. You have to imagine he'll miss time. It's just a matter of how much. But the old man wide receivers are live. We talked about this yesterday. We were like, you're going to be looking up at your roster. It's going to be week five of the season. You're like, my God, Mike Evans is wide receiver 13 for the year? May have underestimated Mike by a little bit as he did find the end zone. Turned back the clock with that goal line fade from Doc Purdy. That was beautiful. But both he and Debo Samuel found the end zone. And so, for all the hype of DeJuan Stripling, and he was playing a lot last night, we said yesterday that, like, season begins. And we'll see how things evolve once we get into November, December. It stands to reason that the old guys are going to play and play a lot for San Francisco early in the year. If you were to ask me going into week two, and I apologize for not even knowing who the Niners play next week, my confidence level in Mike Evans compared to where it was going into last night, it was my wide receiver 36 going into last night. I think he'll be much more like wide receiver 26 for next week. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. The funny thing is that, neither of them actually led the team in receiving. It was DeMarcus Robinson, who also had a touchdown, a revenge game for DeMarcus Robinson. That'll probably be their one, two, three, as long as Stripling is out. But I agree. Evans will be a little higher. There's going to be a little bit more opportunity target share wise. And Debo as well. I mean, we'll probably rank him as a flex option, maybe a wide receiver three. He did only have one carry, but that could evolve at some point, two to maybe two or three carries on top of the target volume. You know who the San Francisco 49ers play next week? The Miami Dolphins in San Francisco. Come on. Do they really? It feels like it's going to be a really good one there. So the wide receivers are notable, but the biggest story was a different thing. Yeah. The running backs there. Obviously you look at it. CMC looked like a reduced workload. We saw quite a bit of Kalen Black out there. Both of the running backs honestly look good when they touched the ball for San Francisco. But the big story was definitely the split in the workload. Mike, give us some of the numbers that we saw with the running backs there. Yeah. So carry wise, Kalen Black had an edge 14 to 10 over McCaffrey, but he was non-existent in the passing game was Kalen Black. He was small target in the game. Christian McCaffrey had eight targets, which is obviously pretty, pretty different. So yeah, McCaffrey was at 55% of the snaps, which is quite a bit lower than what we're used to, but he's been not, not really in that range, but 36% of the carries 24% of the target. So the passing game work elite. Very good. Yep. The rushing work was seemed to be incredibly efficient, very, very efficient. 10 for 68 on the ground, but it was way lower than what we're used to from him. I will say this. I think there's. There's a reason to believe that it was probably strategic for a guy that, you know, it's a long season. He's 30 years old, maybe start them off slow this year, not to mention you're traveling halfway around the world. So I'll let you guys talk. We'll get into it, obviously, but I'm not super concerned about this. I want to use the same joke. What is it? What are you doing? Was that some backpedaling there, Mike? Oh, is that I'm saying I'm not super worried about that. All right. So I'm going to give a little bit like one more number that I found very interesting and then Daniel can take it away. And if he wants to victory lap, he can. So last night, the snap percentage for Kalen Black was 43.2. Is that what you said? In that way? Yeah. 44. Yeah. Roughly 44%. 44%. Christian McCaffrey got traded to the San Francisco 49ers several years ago. Now, since he was acquired by San Francisco. Yep. The highest percentage of snaps that are running back not named Christian McCaffrey played in a game in which CMC was active is 51.1%. That was Jordan Mason week 13 of 2024. Okay. Christian McCaffrey. Got hurt in that game. Right. Elijah Mitchell prior to that had the second highest percentage of snaps. 38.2 week 17 of 2023. Christian McCaffrey got hurt in that game as well. Okay. When Christian McCaffrey has stayed healthy prior to last night, the single greatest percentage of snaps that any running back had played alongside him was 36.5%. That was Jeff Wilson week eight of 2022. I will note super low volume game. They won a game. They won a game against Cincinnati, which they were very efficient offensively, but last night was, was different than what we saw last year. For sure. Yep. Kaelin black, at least out of the gates feels more real than we have seen a running back behind Christian McCaffrey feel in quite some time. Four times a charm for these third rounders. That could be it. Yeah. Kaelin black, uh, and the Niners. That's correct. That being said, Christian McCaffrey's IA targets last night and ran way more efficiently than he did. Mike mentioned it like they're traveling halfway around. The world, it's a long season ahead. I know the Rams defense did not live up to the hype last night, but still a very talented defense. I think Christian McCaffrey will be very close to where he was going into my week one rankings in my week two ranks. Yeah. You feel differently. Can I say one more thing? Yeah, go ahead. But no, I'm not going to say anything bad. This is like a Christian McCaffrey game where we're like concerned, right? Like we're like, oh no. 18 opportunities, 15 touches, 88 yards, 13.8 fantasy points. And he didn't even score a touchdown in the game. I mean, yes, that's a bad day at the office for him. I mean, it is not uncommon for, he's had seasons where he handled about half the carries 50, 55% of the design runs. That's not unusual for, I mean, usually he's higher than that, but he's had seasons like that. And then he handles 20, 23% of the targets and scores an enormous amount of fantasy points. So going forward, I will still have him ranked very high. I think all he needs to do, I think, is add a few more carries a game and he'll be right where he's been. It'll be right in that top three running back where we expect it. So I'd say next week, I'll project. I'm going to project him to have a slight edge in carries, still a big role in the passing game and still be a top five fantasy running back. That's my take. What say you? I'm not an NFL coach, but this is exactly if I, because you guys know my concerns with the workload and all that coming in. This is exactly how I would deploy Christian McCaffrey if I was the actual 49ers. I think close to it, I would say. I think I generally agree with you. I just don't think it's going to be 36% of the cards. I think it'll be like 15. I mean, this is week one traveling halfway around the globe as a part of that. Next week in Miami, I think we'll start to see. This is more. This is more of what we can probably expect from this 49ers backfield because it's a more standard situation rather than the traveling to Australia, dealing with all that stuff. But all this to be said, if you told me that they actually limited Christian McCaffrey in week one to give him a little bit of that, we want to make sure you're here for the whole season kind of a thing. That's exactly what I think the Niners need to do. So there's no victory lap here. I don't think any of that stuff. He looked great. If he goes in the end zone, he's at what? 19.8. 19 fantasy points. Yeah, so he's still in a good spot until something happens. He's going to be ranked as a top five running back. Last thing that I'll say quickly on this game is the Rams had an absolute clunker. So when you look at a clunker, you have to look at the things that went by design and the things that not go by design for fantasy takeaways. The Rams don't plan to have Matthew Stafford, though, for 155 yards. Devontae Adams is not going to have 26 receiving yards most weeks. Puka Nakua is going to be, A, more heavily targeted and, B, more productive going forward. That's all the unplanned stuff, which I'm largely saying week one disaster. The one thing that was by design that did catch my attention is that this is a true split in the backfield. And we saw some of this down the stretch last year. Enough of a split that Kyron Williams found the end zone, had a good game last night, not to the point that Blake Corham has standalone value yet for me. But Kyron Williams, a little bit of a stock down if you were to ask me how I felt about him this morning compared to going into the game. I don't know. I think it's maybe a tiny bit because the carries were very even. But I thought we kind of projected it that way. Like, I had the carry projections almost even this year. But the big difference is Kyron Williams ran 21 routes in this game. Blake Corham ran one pass route in this game. And that was also what we expected this year. That actually will be narrow. That'll be closer. It's not going to be one pass route for Blake Corham. So. I feel pretty similar about the two guys. I agree. No standalone value for Corham. Just yet. By the way, McCaffrey, not the only, like, older player who was kind of limited in this game. You know, we talked about George Kittle. He came out and played a lot of snaps right away and then kind of faded away as the game went on. But Devontae Adams, too. His snaps were down quite a bit in this game. So I think there might have been something to that. Tyler Higby also barely played for the Rams, which was. I don't know if that'll change going forward, but it was Parkinson and it was Ferguson for the most part. Some Davis Allen mixed in. But. Those guys that, you know, the guys that are, like, later in their career, all were sort of limited in this game. So there might be something to that. Last thing I'll say here is Sean McVay tried so hard to get Matthew Stafford's one rushing yard. I know. Here in week one. Week one. Stuffed. And that was a tough one. What about a touchdown run, too? I really thought it was a touchdown, but I just don't think they could see enough to overturn it. I agree. Like, they did a good job explaining that in live time. Yes. If you look down the pylon cam or down the goal line, there was no evidence that he crossed. Couldn't see it. It certainly looked like at first blush he did get there. Yeah. And an offensive lineman had a catch. So, you know. Yeah. Jake Brendel. I don't take the Rams to win that game, by the way. Yeah. I had the Niners 27 to 7, personally. Yeah. You nailed it. Good call, sir. Thank you. 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Howdoers get more done. Only when using stone-baked pizza mode. Cook time requires preheat and reheat and may vary based on ingredients. Let's dive into the rest of our week one storylines part two here, my friends. If you were not here with us yesterday, we dove into a bunch of games yesterday. You can go back and check that out. Mike, you and I are going to talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns. Here we got some lineup blocks on the screen. Quinch on Judkins right now at RB 19 Parker, Washington, wide receiver 28 and Harold fan and junior tight end four. I would assume that that's it. Basial to not necessarily a lineup block, more of a flex consideration. Mike, let's talk about this Jaguars wide receiving core, because all offseason we've been talking about who you're going to draft first. There's like four guys here that you want to maybe consider three, really, that we're really considering my storyline, by the way, Mike. Oh, oh, oh. How are you feeling? Adopt field one. Oh, that's my bad. I didn't realize I saw this. No, it's my. He's my fault. I'll take it. I'll take them all. That's why I'm here. I'm here to lead the way. All right. Well, then field. Why don't I talk to you? I don't want to talk to Mike anyways. That's OK. First of all, did you guys see the video of Parker Washington discussing a potential extension yesterday on social media? I did. I did. The funny thing is Parker Washington is not new to this, right? Like he's been in the league for three years now. He had an amazing second half of last season, but he's obviously generated a ton of hype and buzz this preseason that yesterday was the first time a lot of people had ever heard him speak and his voice just caught people off guard. I freaking love Parker Washington so much. He's like, he's awesome. Everything about him is awesome. He is so well spoken. He just sounds like exactly the kind of guy that you want to reward, which is why by the time we see him play on Sunday, wouldn't surprise me if he's a fat new contract. But talking about these Jaguars wide receiver, they have a very deep wide receiver core on paper. They've got four guys who can really flat out play, right? They almost had five when they signed Jake Bobo to an offer sheet this offseason. The Seahawks matched that. Parker Washington, though, is my wide receiver 28. He is my highest ranked Jaguars wide receiver going into this game. Jacoby Myers is wide receiver 36. Brian Thomas Jr. Wide receiver 42. Travis Hunter with all the uncertainty surrounding his role. Not in my top 50 for wideouts. Here is the thing that we don't. There are two kind of factors working against the Jaguars wide receivers. One is there's a lot of them. A bunch of right. So like one of them might lead the one of them is going to lead the team in targets. Most likely. He also might have 105 targets. Whereas Puka Nakua could have 165 targets leading the Rams, right? Second of all, I think this Browns defense is obviously the strength of the team and still going to be pretty good. Not not as good as it was last year, but Jared versus a really, really good pass rusher. And they do have a lot of interesting pieces and they allowed the third fewest fantasy points to wide receivers in 2025. Now, game script probably influenced that some, right? They're often playing from behind. Teams are just running the football at the Browns, but a good defense, more difficult matchup. Then Parker, Washington and the rest of the receivers will see going forward. I haven't ranked as my number one Jaguars wide out. He's also my number one Jaguars wide out. And I think if it wasn't this matchup, he probably would be closer to a low end wide receiver to than the flex that I have him as because right now wide receiver 26 is where I've got him, which is more like in the flex radar. Jacoby Myers. I've also gotten that same range outside top 35 at the wide receiver position. Brian Thomas Jr. Is a straight up wait and see for me if I have him on any of my rosters, unless it's like I play for flexes. I am in the let's say. I'm going to see what Brian Thomas Jr. Looks like after the first couple of games, because it just feels like the two target monsters in this offense are probably going to be Parker, Washington Jr. And Jacoby Myers. So I'm looking at it the very same way. Field Jates. I say one last thing. Wrap up Parker, Washington. Yes. One thing. Parker, Washington was so good down the stretch last year, six of his last nine games. He had over 17 fantasy points. Good at the game. So he's really, I mean, can he continue that? Because I still think as much as we know about him, if you're just coming into fantasy football or if you're not like, haven't been here for a while. I can walk Parker, Washington doesn't carry the same name value that a lot of these other guys do, but he should still be on that radar. Only thing that I'll say here, just for those that are watching, if you hear us say a rank and it's different than what you see on the graphics, just keep in mind that, you know, we're building graphics throughout the weeks. We're also adjusting ranks throughout the weeks. And once we pull players from Wednesday, Thursday night football, guys are going to toggle up a few spots. So I know Daniel and I, I think I said, Brian Thomas Jr. Was wide receiver 42 for me. I think he popped up as wide receiver. Yeah. Everyone's a spot or two with that. You remove Mike Evans, you remove Puka Nakua, you remove Don Thavante Adams, and a guy moves up three spots. If we have a guy that goes from questionable to out, we'll remove him as well. Just sort of a housekeeping note as we look ahead. I got the Jags. I got the Jags as well. I have the Jags. My eliminator pick, by the way. Oh yeah? Yep. Okay. Who's yours? Chargers? I don't know. I have to think about it. Okay. All right. Didn't decide yet. Do you have to think about how much you love Jeremiah Love? Maybe for this week. Maybe for this week. Yeah, maybe for a couple of weeks. Are you, are you tempering expectations, but still starting? Yes, I'm still going to start him. I have him at 17 in my rankings right now, so it's kind of a mid to back end. RB2, of course, you know, look, I talked about this guy all off season long. I expect him at a tremendous rookie season. This is a pretty tough matchup out of the gate going up against a Chargers defense. We expect to be pretty good. They didn't face a lot of running back volume last year, but they did face a lot of second fewest fantasy points. We expect that defense to still be pretty formidable. I do expect to see it more. Tyler Algier, I've moved, you know, the carry share. and primarily more toured Algier for this game, which is why I love who, when I expect a normal workload, might be RB7 and set him at RB17. So yeah, scaling back his role, but not far enough where he's on your bench this week. I think you spent a second or third round pick on him. I have to imagine you don't have a running back that's going to be better than him that you could plug into your lineup if you drafted that way. So, so fire him up. Good job drawing the line between the conversation we had about quarterbacks over the past few days, right? Where quarterbacks, you might be starting Patrick Mahomes over Drake May. You might be starting Trevor Lawrence over Drake May or, you know, somebody over Josh Allen will be less likely, but still, there are quarterbacks that are good enough. They're going to be ranked 14th or 15th that you could consider moving that player inside your starting lineup and removing your normal starter. Five lineup blocks in this game, by the way. No surprise, Trey McBride, Jeremiah Love still in lineup block status, and then for the Chargers, three of them. Justin Herbert, Omari and Hampton, Ladd McConkie. Yes, sir. And so to me, the big question mark is, is this offense going to Rad McConkie? My apologies. Will this offense reach the moon this weekend? It looks like a very good matchup on paper. This Cardinals defense really struggled down the stretch last year. We'll see whether Josh Sweat is fully available for this team on Sunday. He is, I would argue, their best defensive player, maybe Buda Baker, but at least in the conversation. This is an opportunity for this Chargers team to come out white hot. They have the highest implied total of the week at 29 points. That's a big number, obviously. Justin Herbert is my quarterback two, consensus ranks quarterback four, and it's a great spot for Omari and Hampton, who is RB6 in the consensus ranks, right around where I have him ranked as well. Good opportunity for him to feast on what is a porous run defense. Game script should be positive. I know I've expressed my reservations about just how much Keaton Mitchell is going to impact the overall workload for Omari and Hampton, but it's a great spot for one of Daniel's guys. Who are you guys taking in this one? Of course. The Chargers. That was pretty good right there. I'm going Chargers, Chargers as well. It wasn't good. It wasn't good. Do it again. Do it again. The Chargers. That was just as bad. Just as bad? I don't know. What do you do it? Go Chargers, go! That's an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation. Get to the chopper! I gotta work on mine. Yes. Producer's taking the Chargers as well on that one. This is probably going to be the most picked eliminator pick of the week. Yes. Chargers over the Cardinals. That's an easy one. Big favorite. Nine and a half points. One of the biggest storylines that we have so far this week. We've been talking about this. Josh Allen taking on the Houston Texans. Michael Lester Clay Jr. The last couple times that Josh Allen has played Houston, it has been tough. Are you still projecting him as a starter this week? He is projected as a starter, but way down at QB4. Remember, he was by far QB1 this year. So moving him down behind anyone is a big move down the rankings for sure. You know, I mentioned these stats early in the week, but that was a while ago. So let's do it again. They played in 2024. Did these two teams? Josh Allen, 9 of 30, 131 yards and one touchdown, had 54 rushing yards and 14.6 fantasy points. And then last year they played 253 passing yards. Hey, that's a little bit better. But zero touchdowns, two interceptions, took eight sacks and only had 20 rushing yards. Just 8.1 fantasy points. The Texans last year were terrific against quarterbacks. No quarterback reached 21 fantasy points against them all of last season. And as we've talked about, this defense might be better this year on paper. So a lot of reasons for concern about Josh Allen. In season long, a normal league, it's going to be very hard to put him on your bench. The 11th best quarterback is probably not going to be a better, have a better outlook than him. We still know what he can do, what his ceiling is. But, you know, if you have him in, you know, DFS, you don't want to use him there. Don't use him there. Certainly in cash games and knockout leagues, he was a dangerous draft pick. So this is a tricky one for sure. But in season long, I think if you drafted him where you had to take him, he's in your lineup. I think it's tough to not start Josh Allen, but I'm definitely lowering expectations as you have discussed, as we are for a lot of the bills here. Let's take a quick question from our YouTube chat. This one comes from Big Clav. Wants to know, do I start Jared Goff over Josh Allen? I also have Amon Ross St. Brown in this one. Love that stack potential there. I'm going to go with no. That would be a hard trigger for me to pull there, personally. Agreed. I have Goff outside my top 10 for week one, but I understand the thought process here. Yep. I understand. I'm not, I don't think I would do it either. I would still play Josh Allen. There's, Josh Allen is still a guy that if things happen right with his legs, if he falls in the end zone a couple times as a rusher, like he is going to pay off where he's at. By the way, speaking of as a rusher, James Cook, we have as RB10. I mean, this is probably the lowest that we're going to have James Cook ranked for the majority of the season as well. I actually moved Cook up a little bit because it looks like Ty Johnson's not going to play, which actually will free up more targets for James Cook, which I, that was the storyline in the offseason that I wasn't buying into because of Ty Johnson, but if Johnson's not there, he will get more past game work. Worth noting last year in that clunker by Josh Allen, that James Cook was excellent. He was terrific. He was one of the best players on the field. So even if Josh struggles, it doesn't mean that the offense, specifically the running game, will. Maybe we throw this on a poll in the chat. Start or sit Josh Allen? And what I'm hoping is that we both get some instruction from the percentage of votes on either decision. And then also, those that are voting no, can you comment sitting Josh Allen for who? And I'd be curious to see what kind of answers we come up with. Maybe a Jared Goff type. Maybe a Justin Herbert type. Perhaps a Trevor Lawrence. Maybe you already did so last night with Brock Purdy, although not a lot of people were confident. Hopefully not Stafford. So the poll's up and running right now. If you want to vote, I'll be curious to see what we get. Who are you guys taking in this game? I'm going to take I don't remember who I took in this one. Did I take the Bills? Oh yeah, it's on our sheet. Okay, I like that. Some people are very, very high on the Texans this season. I'm not quite there. So I'm sticking with the Texans. I'm sticking with the Texans. I guess I did. Texans are at home. I guess that was a close call. Speaking of the Texans, really quickly. I like the Bills overall. That was an amazing right there. We didn't talk about the Texans really quickly. David Montgomery. Is he a lineup block? You started him at the running back position this week. I don't think I list him as a lineup block, but he's close. He's close. Him and Nico Collins are the two guys that you're looking at. By the way, note to all three of us, when we first start the game preview by game, we're going to mention the lineup blocks because I thought I saw Monty on there, but maybe I will look at it. I'll make sure because sometimes I ask the question and then it goes up on the screen and I get the whole thing. We're going to start with the lineup block. That's what we're going to do. Not preseason anymore. You know, Mike, speak for yourself. The Rams and Patriots. Late in the game. Jets and Titans lineup blocks in this one are Brees Hall and Garrett Wilson. Doesn't mean you have to feel good about starting them, but they are your lineup blocks. I don't see anyone from the Titans here. Did you forget to put them in the playbook, Mike? I made a mistake. Who's still there on that team? Forgetting one important player here. Working through it. Jeffrey Simmons. An IDP. I mean, you're probably locking him in. Remember he had a rushing touchdown last week? He did. That's huge. If I'm looking at the Titans, Tony Pollard outside the RB2, low end flex if I have to start him. Really don't want to. The question for me becomes one of two things. It's either Wandel Robinson who was a volume monster last year for the same coach, but a different team and a different quarterback. Or can you just fade the excitement of the young first round pick of Carnell Tate here in week one? I realize people are probably trying to choose between Carnell Tate and Wandel Robinson, but I'm curious when you're looking at these guys' field, do you have one of them over the other for week one? I do. Wandel Robinson is my wide receiver 26 in week one. The Jets for a long time were kind of a stay away because of how good they were on the corner at the cornerback position. That's not the case anymore. The Jets cornerback room has been remade, but it is not what it was just a couple of seasons ago led by Sauce Gardner and then also DJ Reed. The matchup does not scare me that much. Wandel Robinson I think is going to feast in terms of volume this season. This is the last chance most likely to use the stat, so might as well say it one more time. Of the last nine players named Wandel Robinson in the NFL, all nine of them have surpassed 90 catches in back-to-back seasons. That's incredible. That's a great stat. Mike doesn't ever want to. I don't even know what you just said. I'm still trying to translate what you just said to me. I was trying to get you to take the bait. Come on. I don't know what you said. It made no sense. The last nine players named Wandel Robinson? What? I was paying homage to the fact that you always said the last nine running backs Obviously. Come on. I forgot about that stat. I moved on. I forgot about that. This game started, guys. We're done with those stats. I haven't said that. Wandel Robinson, my wide receiver, 26. Give us your stat, Mike. My stat is about Carnell Tate on the other side. You brought him up as well. I did. I teased this one early in the week, so I did want to bring it to the table. We talked about. I've mentioned often that wide receivers pick that early in the draft. Generally, pretty good seasons. They average about a quarter of the targets do. Receivers picked in the top five, top ten are generally wide receiver twos or threes in fantasy, but then I specifically much like you do with Jeremiah Love, looked at week one, their first game. How do they do? So I looked at 14 receivers who were selected in the top 15 of the NFL draft and played in week one over the past decade. That group averaged 11.1 fantasy points per game in their debut, but high floor, low ceiling. 12 of the 14 got to nine points, which is fine. Only three got to 16 points. Actually, it was Devontae Smith, Jalen Waddell, and Jamar Chase were the three that got to 16. So you're probably going to get right around 10, 11, 12 points from Carnell Tate based on history of players of that caliber. They're the new toy also for Tennessee. They're going to want to feature him and get him the ball. So there's reason to believe that if you want to throw him in, there's your flex or wide receiver three. It'll be fine. Maybe not spectacular, but fine. Do you guys remember during Jamar Chase's rookie season when he forgot how to catch in training camp? Yes, because of the stripe on the ball. Not having the stripe on the ball. Yeah, that's right. I feel like the jury is still out. Yeah. You think so? Yeah. Maybe another season. I mean, I have a dynasty. What do you think I should do? Trade him? - I trade them. - Oh, okay. is available. Who is that? Michael Pittman Jr. I like him. Oh, you like him. You do like him. Michael Jr., which one are you taking in this matchup? The Jets or the Titans? Give me the Jets. J-E-T-S. Jets, Jets, Jets. Say it with your chest, will you? The Jets. He doesn't know how. I'm going to take the Jets in this one. You're making sure you're taking the Jets before you say it? I think the Jets have an average defense. Field, you're taking the Titans. I love being on an island for a lot of these games, including this one right here. Jets, Titans. Game is being played in Nashville which, is this the final year of that stadium? Nashville's going to host the Super Bowl very soon. They have a beautiful new stadium that's going to be a part of that as well. This is either the last or the second to last year of Nissan Stadium. Titans, despite some sloppy preseason action, get the job done before they play Mike's Eagles in Week 2. We'll evaluate that at that time. Hey, you never know what's going to happen in Week 1. Don't forget the things that happened last year. The Jets lit it up. Remember Justin Fields had a huge week. Oh yeah, I remember. He was too low on this guy as a passer. The Raiders beat the Patriots in Week 1 last year, so just remember not to overreact too much to what goes on in the season. That's a fun game to play on Monday or Tuesday. The thing that will look the least accurate in Week 17 compared to where it's at right now. And then do a guess, and then at Week 17 we're like oh yeah, remember that time that I don't know, whatever. Something happened. We thought Christian McCaffrey was going to be top 3 in the bag. Let's drive into the mailbag, my friends! This is going to be a fun one! Well done by you. Ball, knowledge, producer says sitting Josh Allen for Drake May didn't work out too great unfortunately. I guess my bigger question is why did you draft Josh Allen and Drake May? Maybe it's one of those 18 leagues, or 16 leagues that Mike plays in. Maybe, but also if you were moving both of those guys down for matchups, I don't know why Allen fell behind May. Why did it go like this when they both had brutal matches? That was a confusing decision. Well, speaking of Josh Allen 69% of the chat says they would start Josh Allen. Okay, nice. Um, that means 31% says they wouldn't. Yeah, that seems about right to me. I'm not starting Josh for CJ Stroud. I feel CJ has more on his shoulders. Okay, starting Josh and replacing him with Caleb over Allen. I'm okay with that. That one's from Dunny. I'm fine with Caleb. I don't understand this Stroud one. That guy's just not going to do anything. Brandon Boone, Dart on Neighbors could be a movie. Tempted to sit Allen for Jackson Dart. Yeah, that'd be fine with that. Yeah, I'm good with that one if you wanted to. Red Alert says the only time you sit Josh Allen is when he's on a bye week. Thank you, Red Alert! Totally fair. I agree with that. That's a totally reasonable way to approach fantasy football. Yeah. I'm with you. Alright. Let's move on, guys. Week 1 Storylines Part 2. Moving into what is next here, my friends. We got the Colts. We got the Ravens. Here are our lineup blocks for the Ravens. Lamar Jackson. We're getting there. Derek Henry. Zay Flowers. All three of those guys you're starting. All three of them are pretty good at football. For the Colts, you got Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren. One notable name missing. A guy that's making $28 million this year. How many wide receivers in the NFL are making almost $30 million and aren't being started in fantasy football in Week 1? I think I'm out on this conversation, so why don't I think about it? Yes, you are out on this conversation. Is there anyone else? So let's talk about Alec Pierce. If you drafted him, you drafted him when he had probably a red O next to his name because he missed a lot of the preseason. You knocked him down a few rounds. I like that. Exactly. You might have put him on your IR. You might not have to use Alec Pierce this week, but let's just say that maybe you're weak at the wide receiver spot. What are you projecting for him? Understanding we didn't really see a lot in the preseason. Yeah, rolled back his target share a little bit. I'm at wide receiver 40 is where he ended up in the projection slash ranking. So in a 12 team league, could you slide him into your flex spot? Yeah, maybe, but there's risk here. This guy missed basically the entire offseason after that ankle slash heel surgery back in March, but the good thing is the Colts all along said he's trending to play Week 1. That's the plan and nothing ever changed. He was right on track and ended up ready to go for a Week 1 exactly as they planned. The one thing that could draw you away in addition to that is the fact that we didn't really see it with Daniel Jones early last year. A lot of his damage came down the stretch last year. There's a lot of, you know, we also need his role to evolve a little bit. This is a guy that's never put up big numbers in terms of target volume, target share, catches. He really relied on elite efficiency. He actually led all receivers in yards per catch, yards per target, and averaged up to target now two consecutive seasons. So we need a more well-rounded uh, target tree for him this year. I think that'll come in time, but I think he might be limited in this game. So it's enough for me to say I'm going to hold off for a week and see where he is. I came up with just one answer that might be even close to Alec Pierce, who makes $30 million a year or close to it. Okay. Chris Gobbin. Okay, sure. I don't know exactly where he ranks in consensus ranks, but I would say that there are going to be a lot of people that do not play Chris Gobbin this week. Yeah, that's a good call and for different reasons, interestingly to that one's just like is he still the same player? Exactly right. Yeah. Um, for what it's worth, Brandon Ayuk still making $30 million. All right, let's move ahead to not play. Oof. Yeah. He's not making it now, right? Colts and Ravens. Uh, no, he's making it right now. No, he's not. He's not getting paid, right? He's on their left squad list. I think he's on the left squad, so he might be surrendering it, but we digress. Oh, did he surrender the money as a part of it? He's on the reserve left squad list. No. How do you think he feels today? Not good. Anything else in this Colts-Ravens game that you want to cover? No. Okay. All right. No. Do you want to. I'm just excited to see the offense of Baltimore. Me too. Baltimore. Yeah. Indy. Ravens. I'm picking the, uh, the new Colts. The Ravens. Did you see, uh, Madden, you know, you know, our, uh, friends at Madden did their simulation of the season that they always do, and they won the Super Bowl. Who won? The Colts. Seriously? The nomination. Yeah. Who did they beat? Um, uh, Bucks, I think. Wow. It was the Colts beat the Bucks, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Every game day starts before the lights go up. Before the snap, before the roar, something's already at work. Cleaner, quieter energy production. Running where the game lives. Strong enough for fourth and goal, smart enough for what comes next. Powering game day. Powering the fans, and powering the communities that show up every Saturday. The same energy that runs your stadium, runs the schools, and the hospital in your neighborhood. That is performance. Powered by Bloom Energy. Powering game days. Powering communities. Get summer going with a Firework Freeze 5-Hour Energy Shot. You get that iconic freeze-pop flavor, but with zero sugar and a 5-Hour Energy boost. Bursting with cherry, lime, and blue raspberry flavors, Firework Freeze 5-Hour Energy Shots brings a caffeine kick without the sugar. Ignite your taste buds with Firework Freeze 5-Hour Energy Shots. Available online at 5hourenergy.com and on Amazon. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. Alright, let's move ahead and talk about some Panthers running backs. This is exciting. Chicago and the Panthers. Lineup locks are heavy for the Chicago Bears and probably will be for the entirety of the season. I sure hope so. DeAndre Swift, Roma Dunzey, assuming that everything's good to go. Seems like it is right now. Roma's been practicing this week, which is a good sign. Yeah, looks good. That bumps the burden down a little bit, but still a lineup lock. And then Colston Loveland obviously for the other side, the Carolina Panthers. It is Tedaroa McMillan, the only person that we're not really talking about. I guess Caleb Williams is a lineup lock, depending on where you're at in the quarterback conversation. For the Panthers, the question really is running backs. I'm curious where you guys are at on both of these guys. Mike, you and I are diving into Jonathan Brooks and Chuba Hubbard. I think this is the least exciting running back room in all of fantasy football. Less so than the Commanders, is what you're saying. I think it's less exciting than the Commanders. I kind of disagree, just because Jonathan Brooks was a he was the first, I know it was a weak class, but he was the first running back picked three years ago, and he was a second round pick, and the hopes were he would be a feature back in the NFL. You know, effective rusher, can play in passing situations as well. So I would imagine the Panthers are hoping that he takes some control here at some point and becomes their feature back. However, I don't think that's going to happen right off the bat. I think it's going to lean towards Chuba Hubbard. I think it'll be close, but I have Hubbard 28, Brooks 29. I think both of these guys play a lot, and obviously where I rank them tells you what I'm doing here, which is I'm playing neither of them. Not playing either one. I'm just going to wait and see. That's where I'm at. Jonathan Brooks has not been able to stay healthy. Chuba Hubbard has not been able to, after signing a big deal, hold off the competition. Rico Dowdle became the guy last year over Chuba Hubbard for a while. That's the thing. I think that Chuba's got nine lives. He's a cat, right? I think he's going to, over the course of the season, consistently by the end of the year, his average role per game, even if he has a couple of games where Jonathan Brooks dominates opportunities, by the end of the year, you're going to be like, yeah, another season with Chuba Hubbard averaging 16 opportunities a game, right? I hope. I really hope not. You know what? This is. If you put a mushroom to my head, just for sake of the conversation, you put a mushroom to my head and said, pick one of these two, I would do Jonathan Brooks over Chuba Hubbard. For the full season? No, for week one. Oh, for week one? Yeah. I'm going to the veteran for week one, but I feel like you've really been pushing it back on Jonathan Brooks, and I'm wondering why that is. I have been. I have two. But before I. If you put a mushroom to my head? Yeah, don't put vegetables that close to my face, Field. Okay, so that's like a comment. I'm changing it. He's changing the expression to something more appropriate. Is it usually put a vegetable to my face? Is that what. No, no, no. It's a different thing that you put to your head. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. I was going to say, whoa, all right, sorry. Our producer, Christina, thankfully. clarified that we got there we got there friends don't worry about it so i'm not convinced that you really hate mushrooms yeah yeah he does i do yeah don't put a mushroom to my head i think the panthers are going to be judicious with jonathan brooks back-to-back years with a major major knee injury or back-to-back nfl seasons that were impacted by that his college injury kept him out of his rookie season in the nfl normally i would not bring this up but it caught my attention yesterday and it reminded me that even if he's less explosive and jonathan brooks has some games in which he rips off a few big runs tuba hubber was named a team captain for the panthers once again yesterday and it was like some of the reporting i saw was tuba remains amongst if not the most respected player in the locker room a little bit of james connor vibe from the past few years in in arizona and yeah i know i know i know it's not like he's going to i'm not saying this isn't this is not a you pro tuba hubbard case it's more of an anti is jonathan brooks gonna eventually emerge as the guy i i hear you i think a lot like last year though if brooks comes out and he's what they hoped he would be when they drafted him and he's playing well and tuba hubbard who by the way was like maybe the least efficient running back in the league last season certainly in the bottom five i think it's gonna change now again i'm leaning the veteran week one but i think brooks starts making some plays i think that could change i'm leaning dead zone for the for the season that's where i'm leaning right the more important takeaway is i'm leaning dead zone um there's a few of those right i'm leaning dead zone there i'm leaning dead zone washington yes haven't decided yet on tennessee i actually kind of think tony power would be okay this like more than okay this year denver feels like a dead zone to me am i missing any other obvious dead zones amongst running backs uh not off the top of my head yeah nothing's nothing i don't think so not mike worth anything to this podcast you can't even name dead zones did you say washington who are you taking in uh in this game by the way guys i got the bears me too i have the bears it's gonna be hot uh in carolina did you guys see it was 57 degrees yesterday here in australia oh oh there yeah i was gonna say here it was hot yeah it was very warm yesterday we got the bears across the board we have one more game you guys are going to talk about giants taking on the dallas cowboys we're talking this is an exciting one it's the first time these two teams football since the last time they played on tundra night football which i think was like five minutes ago that's a juicy hefty build up lineup block sheet daniel yeah give it to me can you tell i'm high on these two teams this year they were so high uh jackson darts and dac prescott both lineup blocks two running backs giovante williams and kim scataboo plus three wide receivers cd lamb malik neighbors george pickens this game is going to be 13 10 that's exactly what's going to happen guys i uh cowboys are my sleeper nfl team this year giants are my super sleep sleeper nfl team this year wait a minute i think it would be your sleeper nfl team and your super sleeper nfl team come on i had to i mean the giants that's a call that's a bold call cowboys i don't think it's a bold call saying they're going to be agreed honestly like if you think about it like if mike is correct and the cowboys do become a great team they'll finally get coverage here on espn about time yeah you know what that's good they've needed it they've needed it it's funny i've heard so many people make this point now that it feels like it's just like we've talked so little we've had so few opportunities to be like welcome into nfl live jerry jones says yesterday the cowboys are about to beat the crap out of the giants in week one should he have said this no right it's like he's been like yeah i'm excited about our improvements on both sides of the ball it's either that or there is an off-season contract in which he is non-committal and like drags it out super long i feel like and that hasn't happened right now right they like right away we're like we're not paying george pickens yeah they got the other team and they're like we're not paying george pickens and they're like we're not paying that was like they made it very clear what their intentions were williams done no big deal right yeah they have some some online injury concerns right now tyler smith's out but uh they you know the team's on paper looks pretty good that doesn't always translate coaching is very important we'll see but uh on paper they look uh look pretty good in the giants i just think you if that offense makes a big leap obviously the the defensive line is maybe the best in the nfl i mean it's unbelievable you can include arval reese in there too obviously it's going to play off they're so loaded at edge that he's playing a full-time off-ball linebacker i mean i think seattle no doubt but i mean that i'm just very good defensive that group is unbelievable and then you talk about the better offensive line and all the skill guys of jackson dart makes a leap and these guys are healthy i mean it could be it could be lights out so i'm this is the game i'm most looking forward to this week for sure and we have to wait till sunday night the cowboys profile is one of those teams that we don't necessarily need to do a lot of analysis week in and week out on right like you're probably going to start the quarterback the two running backs and the wider sorry the quarterback the running back and the two receivers yeah but for the giants mike i do think we have to address what for now is a question mark which is will malik neighbors play malik neighbors has said to the media the call to play on sunday night is his he's been practicing in full so you would think a guy who gets a full week of practice and has looked so good on the highlights that we have seen in training camp has a real shot to play i don't know if this is did you guys see the john harbaugh clip yes did you see it or not which one harbaugh basically came out to the media and on wednesday of this week or tuesday of this week and was like here's the deal don't ask me about who's playing don't ask me what personnel group we're going to lean on don't ask me about the playbook because if i tell you i'm telling the cowboys and i'm not doing it so just don't bother asking all season them's the rules now john harbaugh's got nearly 20 years of nfl head coaching experience on his side so i think he probably will get a little more deference even in a very difficult media market like new york than a new first time head coach would get but he's not going to say a thing about malik neighbor status the team has to submit an official injury report later on today mike how are you ranking and sort of playing him with this level of uncertainty currently i rolled him back a little bit but he's still wide receiver 18 right now so i'm starting malik neighbors uh this week if i have him again you needed to spend like a third round picking him what are the odds that the guy you took in the seventh or eighth or ninth round is going to be better than the outlook for malik neighbor so he's going to be in your lineup and look it's not just the coming off the injury there are a lot of people that are going to be in your lineup and look it's not just the coming off the injury there are a lot of changes here it's basically a new quarterback remember three targets to him last season from jackson dart to malik neighbors new head coach new play caller but i think that the giants and we talked about this earlier in the week they kind of tipped their hand a little bit when they cut darius slayton i mean on something yes if malik neighbors is going to be limited to 10 snaps or inactive you're going to roll out darnell mooney odell beckham and malachi fields and maybe braxton barrios is your four if they bring them up but they'll bring them up off the practice squad i say it likely is their four right you're going to roll out yeah he'll be there too you know i do think there'll be a lot of heavy personnel uh for this offense this year but i think they tipped their hand that neighbors is ready to go for a pretty sizable role i don't think it's gonna be like george kittle was last night where he played like what 40 of the snaps probably more than that when they're throwing the ball i think neighbors place also a huge game here against the cowboys so i feel pretty confident that we're looking at a 20 25 target share not 35 sure where he's been in his career so far which is an enormous number but enough where he should be in your lineup are you taking it? i'm taking in this one i'm taking the cowboys how about him me too really i'm taking the giants in this one split picks all right and our producers going with the giants love that as well 50 split so one of us will be right yes or two of us two of us technically yeah it's not a big deal by the way uh kim scadaboo uh was on lineup locks it was a borderline call but again where you drafted him i feel like you're gonna start him uh there's some uncertainty about how much naji harris is gonna play but he'll be he'll be in there my bad for not addressing that because that was my talking about was it yes like for this week we will see how much naji harris plays he's gonna play sorry mike but this week i'm treating it as cam scadaboo is the guy and the role is not as great as it was last year but it's still plenty good enough to be inside my lineups he is my rb 16 let's bring back one of our favorite segments we're going to close out this show with a couple things one of them is the raheem sanders monopoly fund we're picking a player rostered under one percent of leagues to get in the end zone eli rardin rardin yes was he under one percent absolutely yes he was all right under one percent and last night player to score i think i saw he was plus 6500 it's no way wow the first touchdown score of that touchdown score yes this is like we really had a lot of fun with this last year and we started i think at five percent and then basically every time we made a pick that was correct we would have it right so we had five to two and a half to basically one percent and by the end of the season we were picking players that were unrostered yes under 0.1 percent where we stopped insane so not to brag but a little bit like we had an insane run last year let's see if we can do it again i don't have the exact math on it but if somebody had tailed these picks last year they would have been way up so these are long long long shots some people did two of the first three touchdowns this season were scored by players that were rostered in under 0.1 percent of fantasy leagues rardin and demarcus and demarcus robinson marcus robinson is that 0.1 percent because yeah yeah kyron williams got in the end zone between there so yeah two of the first three let's make sure that we get these then guys why don't we start with you okay so my pick is chicago bears play on sunday afternoon in carolina we discussed that already we've got lineup blocks and roma dunes day and also colston loveland and also luther bird in the third so why not go with khalif raymond the veteran the former lion former holy cross standout knows his ben johnson system perfectly at the beginning of last year i'll remind people that alameda is the keyest was playing like an actual role for the bears he was seeing a decent amount of targets yep i think khalif raymond will have a alameda is the keyest type role like not just early in the season like all throughout the season he's a more reliable player Zaccheaus is. He'll also be their punt returner. Gimme Khalif Raymond. And I should say that if you hear somewhat flimsy logic for these picks, a reminder, we're picking players that are not rostered in more than 1% of leagues. Exactly. Alright, then I'm going to go next, if you don't mind, because why not stick with the Chicago Bears? Someone's got to be right here. This is a good pick, though. Cole Comet at the tight end spot. Looking at a situation, maybe you get a goal line situation where you just get a nice little easy dump off. I'm not looking for fantasy points. I'm looking for touchdowns, my friends. Cole Comet under 1%. And especially here in Week 1, it's really tough, honestly, to pick. We're just throwing darts right now. So we got two darts at the Bears' offense. Not a bad offense to throw a dart at, though. Not at all. That's a great offense to throw a dart at. By the way, if you guys both hit in Week 1, fantasy managers are going to be furious about this. Screwed. Maybe Caleb Williams would be okay. Cole Comet and Kalief Raymond and Xavier Thomas all get in the end zone on Week 1, and everyone's thrilled. If I'm not mistaken, Cole Comet was a hit last year on the Raheem Sanders fund. I think our producer has hit Cole Comet. I think my guy might have been a hit as well. Yes, it was, actually. As a matter of fact, Mike, your guy was the first player to score two touchdowns. Two touchdowns, yes. One made as a Raheem Sanders. You picked him, right? Yes. My guy is Xavier Hutchinson. Look at that. Against the Bills. No Tank Dell. No Jaden Higgins. All eyes, of course, are on the other wide receivers there. Jalen Noel, Kayshaun Booty they bring in, Nico Collins, but how about a guy who averaged 39 snaps and 24 pass routes per game for Houston last season? He had three touchdowns last year, two in one game, as you said. Had a handful of end zone targets as well. And by the way, no more Sean McDermott with the Bills anymore. I have this defense in my unit grades ranked 27th. Do I have the Bills defense? Is that right? That low? I don't think it's a very good-looking defense. I think this sets up for Houston at home. A couple of touchdowns maybe for them, and certainly a touchdown. Hutchinson could sneak one in there. 0.9% rostered. I meant to be better about this, and I will be better about this every week going forward and reminding everybody, but do you guys know the DraftKings odds for an anytime touchdown for your pick? I did not pull that up. Mine for Kalief Raymond is plus 650. So if you were to bet $1 and Kalief Raymond were to score a touchdown, you would in turn collect 750. So a $6.50 profit back. That's actually better than I would have thought. Or worse odds than I thought. I thought it would have been more of a longer shot, but fair enough. If my research on the sportsbook seemed to suggest that most of the, like it wasn't going to be a whole lot higher than that. Yeah, I was looking at touchdowns as well. I do an article every week. It's the top like 30 projected touchdown scores from my projections each week, and it shows those exact numbers, you know, essentially the juice on them. Who is the number one most likely? Jermarie Gibbs. By far. Even money? No, he's like minus 265 or something. Yeah, it's pretty gross, but still worthwhile I think. I'm looking at Xavier Hutchinson right now. Xavier Hutchinson is plus 400 for an anytime touchdown at our friends over at DraftChain. And then I'll look up Cole Komet later. But let's dive into starts of the week, because starts of the week are going to be fun my friends. We did this last year. We're picking our starts at one start at every single one of the positions. What we did is we have a do not draft list at each one of the positions. I'm going to show it up on the screen here. Josh Allen, Drake May, Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow. You're starting those guys. Every single week, basically. We're not allowed to pick them. 30 total players are ineligible. For the running backs, the do not draft list includes Jameer Gibbs, Bajon Robinson, Christian McCaffrey. I'm glad that we did B-I dot Robinson so we didn't confuse him with Brian Robinson. Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, and Devon A. Chan. All of those are do not draft eligible as well as Saquon Barkley, Derek Henry, Ashton Gentry, Ken Walker III, Chase Brown, and Omarian Hampton. That's a hefty list of running backs we're not allowed to pick for starts of the week, but they all felt too top to top heavy, excuse me, for the wide receivers. Jamar Chase, Puka Nakua, JSN, Amon Ra, Justin Jefferson as well. Those are the top five we cannot go with. And then CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Nico Collins, A.J. Brown, and George Pickens as well. Those guys are ineligible at the tight end spot. It's just the top two. And McBride and Bowers. When we make a pick, we are not allowed to pick that player again for the rest of the season, so it's a little bit like a eliminator kind of thing. Yeah, when you pick a guy, that's your one week that you're going to use him. So we're going to start with you, Field. Last thing is, none of us can make the same pick each week. Correct. So we did a draft. We did this offline over the past few days. Mike thought there was collusion until he saw he got the first pick, and then he thought there was no more collusion, so he was okay with it. Why don't we start with Mike because you had the first pick. So the 30 ineligible players are off the board. You can go any direction you want, Mike, and you ended up. My first pick was your guy because I knew you would want him, so I snagged him early. I sniped you. Justin Herbert up against Arizona. I think that's a great opportunity to utilize him at home. Lots of like here with Herbert. So he's my. Are we going around our draft? Why don't you just. Yeah, you just do your. I'll do it for my team. So Herbert's my quarterback at home against Arizona. My running back is Javante Williams going into New York to play the Giants. We just talked about that game, obviously coming off a big year. Last year is Javante. I expect him to be featured once again. Chris Olave is my wide receiver against the Detroit Lions. No Jordan Tyson early in the year, so there's some strategy. to this, right? He's probably the target you might dip in the second half of the season a little bit. So I'm going to take advantage now against the Lions secondary, by the way, that as we talked about very shorthanded right now with all the injuries. And then Michael got lucky he was on the clock when some news came out with this last one, Mike. I was wondering if you guys are going to give me a hard time about this, and I almost texted you first, but I was like, it'll be better if I just do it. So you know, just for fun of the game. Michael Mayer took Michael Mayer. We started this draft before the Brock Bowers news came out. Brock Bowers is healthy. He was he was good to go. Yes, head coach and everyone's playing. And then Mike had yet to take his tight end. And it's like, oh, just by happenstance. Look, this is how slow drafts go to in fantasy. That is exactly right. You probably will never use Michael Mayer again this season. So why not if you can in week one where he's going to have potentially a big one of you will probably use him in week two. Like if Bowers out again, now's our only chance, but he was available and I had to I had to roll with him, of course, with Brock Bowers out. By the way, also, we talked about this. His target share last year when Bowers was out was 25% percent. It's pretty good. And they're playing Miami at home. I mean, it's a good good matchup as well. I promise you at some point I'm going to double pick a player. So please hold me accountable. But in week one, that's not possible. The anchor of my team. My first pick was Tedrow McMillan. Love that looking for a player that's elite, right? Because you want to score a lot of points, obviously and a good matchup too. And I think it's a great matchup against the Bears. The Bears have some question marks in the secondary. There's been a lot of talk and some film of Tedrow McMillan operating out of the slot. The Bears Kyler Gordon, who is their number one slot corner normally, is not healthy. He's out. Tedrow McMillan. My quarterback is Jackson Dart. There are actually a lot of quarterbacks that are bad matchups this week that was part of the appeal of Justin Herbert as not just the first quarterback taken, but the first player taken in the entire draft. You go outside the top 10 guys like Patrick Bahomes in a tough spot. Bo Nix in the tough spot potentially against the Chiefs in that same game. Jackson Dart against the Cowboys on Sunday night. My running back, keep it in New York, is Brees Hall. The Jets against the Titans. I do think that Titans front seven is going to give a lot of teams some fits, but Brees Hall one of the better picks amongst the running backs that were still eligible. And then I did kind of pay up, if you will, at tight end. I've used potentially tight end three for the season. Colston Loveland in week one. I figured there was a chance that if I don't do it, you guys are going to grab him. So Loveland is my tight end pick. Love that. And then I picked third, which means I was at the turn. So I got two picks in a row. My first two picks, very first one was Travis Achan. Took him at the running back spot. Taken on my Detroit Lions. Lions are usually pretty good against running backs. However, I do expect the Saints to be trailing in this one. I expect there to be a lot of passing game usage for Achan as well. So of the running backs that were left, I went with him. Then I went with Ladd McConkie slash Radd McGronkie. Also, I just want a piece. We all do. If we can get a piece of this offense in fantasy this week. Yeah. Mike wanted Justin Herbert. We can't use Omarion Hampton because he's ineligible. So I decided to grab Ladd McConkie with what he could be as the wide receiver one here. And then for my third and fourth pick, I went with Dak Prescott at the quarterback spot, taking on the Giants. Also expecting a lot of points to be scored in that one. An easy one to be able to grab. And I went deeper at tight end than you guys did. I'm doubling up on Saints, going with my guy, Juwan Johnson, taking on the Detroit Lions as the number two option here in this Saints offense, in my mind, behind your pick, Chris Olave. So we'll see how that one works out. I got two Saints. We picked three Saints this week as well. This is fun. Yeah, we're in on the Saints. This is a fun way to be cool. It's going to be cool to see how this all takes shape this year. There's a lot more strategy involved. Punishments are a little bit more real, too, guys. They're real ridiculous if you're asking me. So next week, when are we spinning the wheel? Well, you'll spin the wheel early next week once we find out how many points you scored. Well, if I'm spinning the wheel, that means your guy, Justin Herber, got off to a bad start, probably. Oh, no! So you win other ways, is what you're saying. Yeah, sorry. That's what it is. Either I could brag or I have to spin a wheel. It's going to be fun. I love being able to do starts of the week. We also love these chat questions from you guys. Let's dive into a few more questions from our mailbag. Dunny wants to know, hey, guys, Bowers went down. Should I start Mayer or Darren Waller this week? Waller, I don't even know. Did we mention him the whole summer? I mean, he signed with the Panthers, and I mean, when he has been on a team and has played, he's had decent target shares. Like, he might kind of sneak up on us here in week number one, but I, you know, I still have him kind of buried. It's not like it's a great offense or anything. He's like maybe my tight end 24 or something like that, but the answer here is, of course, Michael Mayer, who was featured big time when Bowers was out last year and was productive. I lean time. words michael mayer strongly as well yes big time every time you say big time i just need you to know i think of um i love you man great movie because he if you remember they're trying to be able to figure out with paul rudd like how he's you know playing the bass big time man yeah he does it poorly anyways you do it just like paul rudd watch that movie and wait for white and straight all right let's do the next one pickle sg wants to know start daniel jones and malik willis for your qb2 guys first time making a live show thank you hey shout out hanging out for the live show we love that let's go i'm going daniel jones here i think i would too it's funny i have them back to back these are always the hardest ones 19 and 20 i do have jones just ahead we're still kind of learning uh what we're going to get out of malik willis so yeah jones has better options jose has better talent around him and i still think he utilizes his legs a little bit though not as much as we've seen coming back from that injury all right a couple more questions here from our chat this one comes from brandon boone rashi rice taking on a tough broncos matchup or t higgins this week this is a really good problem to have huh yeah i lean towards i'm going rashi rice yeah i'm definitely going rice i don't expect him to see a lot of pats or tan in this game as i've talked about uh higgins actually was looking at his uh under on receiving yards as well so i'm kind of interesting he's a little probably hair overvalued here against him okay i'll go with rashi rice as well the number one wide receiver in that offense is where i would land a couple more here tyler harris wants to know should i start rico dowdle or carnell tate in my flex this is someone that has a real these are my favorite questions it's the running back versus wide receiver in the flex conversation because it's like which one do i which one has the upside do i need the floor do i need the upside i don't yeah don't i'm gonna tip you off we never do this but i think both of these guys are in our flex segment on sunday that's supposed to be flying to you i know one of them is the other one might not be i'm not i wasn't supposed to do that but it's just amazing to your point yeah that he asked this question and those are i had to pick five to tee you up on it and those were definitely two that i considered so the right question for me uh what rico for me you're going rico interesting i have them both projected right around 12 points it's a close call but i've asked this question already this week you like fun yes oh give me carnell tate carnell let's go i want him in my lineup dang it so you like rico and you like carnell tate that was from tyler you said in the chat yes i believe so i like i kind of think i would go with rico as well unless i if i'm projected and i'm looking and our friend michael does the projected to lose by like 15 or 18 points then i'm going with the upside of carnell tate maybe maybe you get a deep pass maybe you get something i just i think rico week one it's just gonna touch the ball more maybe i don't know i don't know what they're gonna do there we'll find out we'll find out all right at hd productions wants to know travis a chan over jeremiah love uh interesting one here we should point this out uh when i initially did projections for the saints backfield i don't think alvin camara probably wasn't going to play now it looks like he is going to play in so that did shift uh a chan down a little bit but he's still one spot ahead of jeremiah love so i'm going to go a chan this week and we'll see uh how good love is can i ask you something yeah do you like fun i do give me jeremiah face too he's like i do yeah i do like fun yeah jeremiah love you have a favorite song by fun by fun yeah um don't they have that tonight we are young yes field i'm so proud of you baby that was so good oh nailed it they have a when we were young i think the killers have that as well i know that one i can't sing it because i think it's a fine yes but you know as long as like tonight we are yeah oh i know no i know that song yeah yeah that's a great one they got a bunch of really good ones for what it's worth we should start playing bandol every day on here yes don't tease me i'm in i'm in all right one more question here this one comes from tgzq6rv mike is that your uh ai's burner handle bigger mayfield c88 michael bigger mayfield or trevor lawrence this week i mean lawrence i have lawrence i want to say i think i have trevor lawrence as well and 13 lawrence has a solid enough age i i have trevor lawrence ranked ahead yeah yep mayfield as well but i do like baker he was uh he was i think he scored back 13 for me yeah i should have yesterday a nice spot i think that's going to be a high scoring game right taking on cincy expect a lot of points to be scored maybe they got to do a lot need some offense fingers crossed yeah especially after these first two games let's get some offense going hey shout out to our buddy eric moody while you're watching us on fantasy folk countdown on espn 2 on sunday check out fantasy focus sunday kickoff presented by lows for your second screen experience live on the nfl espn nfl on espn youtube page every sunday starting at 11 30 until 1 p.m eastern get all of your lineup questions answered by our guy eric moody making sure you're all set that's going to do it for us today come hang out with us on sunday fantasy focus countdown 10 a.m eastern on espn 2 for fields and mike my name is daniel don't forget to love each other be kind to yourself and we'll see you guys on sunday morning hey before you go if your saturday setup involves a packed living room big reactions and maybe a celebration that goes too far your walls need to be ready bare ultra interior paint adds an extra durable stain blocking finish that holds up for the whole season and beyond it covers in fewer coats goes on smooth and helps walls stay looking 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