EVERYTHING you Need to Know Before Setting your Week 4 Lineup | Fantasy Focus
63m 21s
The episode dives into fantasy football strategy for Week 4, featuring a mix of player evaluations, matchup analysis, and cultural commentary. A standout moment is the viral reaction to Mike Tomlin’s decade-long Minecraft fantasy football journey, which resonates as a tribute to dedication and fan connection. The discussion focuses on key matchups, including the Steelers vs. Browns, where Jalen Warren and Harold Fanon are expected to see increased roles due to roster changes and defensive weaknesses. The Browns’ offensive line struggles make Quinche on Judkins a risky flex pick, while the Bills-Patriots game presents uncertainty around wide receivers like Drake May and Dalton Conklin due to inconsistent production. Josh Downs emerges as a compelling lineup lock against the Commanders due to a favorable matchup and target volume, though concerns about consistency remain. The hosts also address broader fantasy dynamics, such as the importance of matchups, player health, and the role of "nerd culture" in fan engagement. They emphasize that even in low-scoring games, strategic decisions—like starting value players with high usage or watching for breakout performances—are essential. The episode concludes with a mix of optimism and caution, highlighting that fantasy success often hinges on balancing data, context, and emotional investment in the game.
♪ Fantasy, you and the whole six, oh one oh ♪ ♪ Focus, fantasy, fantasy, focus ♪ - What's up friends, welcome into fantasy-focused football. My name is Daniel Dopp, alongside you, was it you this time? - Who's making this? - All right, I turned it down early this time. - Good for you, Mike. - I'm learning. - I made eye contact. - I can be friends. - Alongside my clay field, Jates, my name is Daniel Dopp, very excited to be here today, talking about week four, my friends, we got a Thursday night football game, we're gonna dive into, first and foremost though, I think everyone off the top wants to get into this. How do you feel about Mike Tomlin's Minecraft world? - Guys, that blew my mind last time. - Unbelievable. - My mind, I guess. - Have you guys ever played Minecraft? You have small children, I don't think years are long time. - Okay, yeah, they play a little bit on the switch, I think we have, it's something like that. I can't remember, but-- - I could not believe that he has been doing this for 12 years. - A decade of working towards this beautiful skyline. - Yes, a man was dedicated. - That's like, finally crafting a dynasty team in fantasy football is what he has done over the last decade with his kids in Minecraft. Very cool, if you haven't seen it honestly, just go check it out. - The story of mine everyone is a nerd. - That's right, exactly. - Maybe there's a few people who aren't, I don't know, maybe, oh yeah, not me, the Miz, he's probably not, that's it, that's like, I don't know. - That's it. - Everyone else said it. - No, I feel like Justin Jefferson's pretty cool. - Justin Jefferson, he's pretty cool, even the commercial he does with-- - He's super nerdy. - Yes, he does, yeah. Huge nerdy, he's got the big pasta hat on upside down for the commercial that he does, I don't know, I think he's funny anyways. - I feel like the reactions to Mike Tomlin's Minecraft were like, there were one of two reactions that were very-- - I know, I know. - One was like, I knew this was coming by the way. - I knew this was amazing, it's so relatable. Mike Tomlin's the man, like, he's one of us. - Yes. - He got a yada. - The other reaction was largely still there as fans that were like, if you're wondering why we haven't won a play and came in over a decade because our coach is too busy for finding his skyscraper. - I don't think that's what it is. I really-- - It is amazing though. - It's incredible. - All right, we're gonna dive into a bunch of fun stuff. A big shout out to our friends here at TrophySmack, use the promo code TrophyWeak4 for 10% off your order over at trophysmack.com. Guys, we got a big Thursday night football preview as well as the rest of week four we're gonna dive into, so let's get into Thursday night football. And we maybe can be quick about this one. - I think so. - I don't know. We don't have like news at the top today. Nothing really happened yesterday. - No. - Like we had a-- - We had a massive news that couldn't echo a return to practice. - That was it, and I'll talk about that more tomorrow. - But I was gonna say the biggest piece of news was actually, what the teams were looking at right here, the Steelers trading Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas overnight. I woke up to, and I saw all of these push notifications from Adam Schefter, and I'm like, oh, what happened? That was the Joey Porter. So yeah, we'll talk about that more when they match up calls for it. - We have exactly one line up block on the screen that is Jalen Warren. Obviously Rico Dottle, not obviously. Rico Dottle ruled out for this one, which means Jalen Warren becomes a mid-tier RB2 in the 12 to 17 range. - How high are you? - I think I have a nine or 10. - Nine or 10. - Yeah, but he was a lead ad here. I had no line up blocks for this game initially, which isn't fun for Thursday night football, but with a battle out. - Okay, and certainly gets into that conversation. - Definitely a start of this week. - He should be extremely busy. He was very busy last week. He had nearly 140 rushing yards. I guess the only way in which he isn't busy is if the team says, we played four days ago, we've rode you really hard. You're not exactly like this jumbo size, running back as it is. Do we give a little bit of work to Travis Homer? - I don't think so. - I don't think so. - I'm just trying to make the case in which he doesn't see a ton of work, but no, this feels like he's going to be very, very busy. - Look at the numbers last week. - He should be in line-ups. - Look at that. - Give me 20 touches. Give me that, about 176 yards. - He's a good player. - That game, unreal. - He's at the game. So, Jill and Warren cracks our line-ups tonight for sure. - I don't want any of the past catches. Honestly, like I haven't seen DK Metcalf. I'm out on-- - The word last week, that was better, but yeah. - Hammer Street doesn't look good. He doesn't look like it just doesn't look great. I'm out right now. Unfortunately, on our guy, Michael Pittman, Junior, too, until I see something materialized. - I'm hoping that was just a, he got hurt, and then now he's coming back. - Taking some time. - Rampley on rampack up. Roman Wilson had that long catch last week, but wasn't super. He hasn't been super. I've heard it on that long. - They are kind of sprinting, touch down as well. - Yeah, exactly. That one was frustrating, that one got me. But hopefully they'll ramp up, Pittman. The thing is, he's not going to score a lot of touchdowns. So, he's not going to use the near the goal line. We need the volume, so we got to get him to seven or eight targets. If that happens, he'll be back in the line-up discussion. - All right, so we have one line-up lock. Let's talk about, I think, as Mike wants to talk about Harold Fanon, right? - Yeah. - And then I have a follow-up question for both of you. - Deal. - Two follow-up questions. One involving a player, one involving just like the general game, but talk to us about Harold Fanon. - Yeah, Harold Fanon, and I did talk about him yesterday, so I can, I'll kind of recap that as we go into this game tonight. But, you know, he's been, started slow, week one, we were panicking a little bit, but he was a little better in week two, and obviously came through in a big way last week, seven for 51, two touchdowns on nine targets in that game. His snaps, his routes are a big from where he was last season, when he was a clear tight-end one for a majority of the season. The question here is, if you have Fanon, you're either trading him, because you think this offense is gonna fall apart, or you're trusting that to Sean Watson is gonna hold down the fort. And just be, you just have to be great, just not a disaster. As long as he's somewhat competent, Fanon should be fine in fantasy. Pittsburgh, very good defense, and might push you away from Fanon tonight, but they did a lot of touchdown, and Mike is sicky last week, so maybe there's something there. I have him at nine. So for me, a fringe tight-end one, I think he's back in the starting conversation after what we saw last week. - Of the top 10 tight-ends, like seven of them are in the fringe tight-end one. - All right. - Conversation this week. - It's only seven. - Yeah, it's tough. - It really does feel like it's rock-bowers and traumatic bride with George Kittle, and then everybody else, right? - Yeah. - No one else has come on. - Super strong. - We'll talk about him in a little bit for sure. - Yes, we will. - So let's talk about the other player that is the most rostered amongst the Browns, which is, Grinch and Judgett. - Yeah, that's a tough one. - You were an optimistic coming into the year, Mike. Is he a fade tonight? Is he a flex only? - Yeah, I mean, how would you categorize Quinch on Judgett's valuables game? - I'm at 23. The Steelers haven't been by any means lights out against running backs so far, so that can give you a little bit of optimism, but I'm nervous. I said to go in in the last week, that was the week we had to see it, and the volume was good, but the efficiency still was not there. One of the biggest red flags coming into the season was gonna be the Browns offensive line, and it just hasn't been there. You know, they tried to address it. They overhauled it from last year, but they were just kind of like who's left? Who can we bring in to play the interior of that line? And so far it's been bad. It's been a lot of pressure on Deshan Watson. It's been terrible for Quinch on Judgett, 'cause I still believe in him as a football player. The problem is he has to do it on the ground. He's never gonna be a huge pass catching guy. Like he'll see a couple of targets, maybe two to four, but that's not really where he's gonna make his hay. So the snaps are there, the carries are there, the efficiency is not there, and the passing work is under, there's a little low, so right now I'm nervous. I'd say a flex at best. Okay, so I just thought of something. The Browns and the Packers were about the most beleaguered offensive lines coming into the season. The Packers don't play until Sunday of this week. I feel like in the Browns obviously play tonight. In the rare occasion which the Browns and Packers play on different days of the week this year, they should be allowed to share each other's offensive line. I like where your heads at feel. I don't like this. Because I'm not sure that it's even a league average offensive line if you took the two of them and put them together. That's fair. But it's better than what they have when they are by themselves. It makes football better in general. Yeah, we all want that. Right, I agree. Okay, so Browns Packers, Packers' offensive lineman on loan tonight for the Browns, the Browns to turn the favor on Sunday. All right, so that was my question on Quinche on Judkins. My question generally, because you think about some of the games that we have had in Thursday night football so far this season. We had the Lions and the Bills. That was a huge Juggernaut game. Even last Thursday night, we had the Falcons and the Packers. Yeah, we had Bijan and Bijan went absolutely nuts. Sort of Drake London. Packers, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, but that was a fantasy-friendly or game than this one is on paper. We got friendly at the end for the Packers. That's fair. Yes, as you guys are watching this game tonight, are you going in with the expectations that the fantasy output is going to be so low that whatever I get is a bonus? Or are you going in with the, all right, listen, I know that it's like not a great opportunity here for Quinche on Judkins or DK Metcalfe, but can I please find a way to like 15 points for each of them? I mean, if I start a guy, I'm expecting production. That's how this works. If not, he's going to get reamed out in the locker room. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, Mike. I should have asked you that question. Because whenever it's like a question about like, you know, yeah, that was me. Ginstinct and gut and maybe emotion, I should just ask. I'm just confused because if I put like if his projection is 14 and a half, that's what he's going to get. Right, that's what I was thinking about it. It took me, I already know I have the script guys. So Daniel, yeah, talked about. Here's the thing. I'm going to ice you out for this guy. He's just, this is who, like, you, I cannot crack the code. Yeah, so he's down the middle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's actually like, it's, no, it's, it's, it's, it's actually disturbing sometimes how great you are at your job and how level headed you are. Disturbing? Yeah, like, because Daniel and I, like, I'm going to be sitting there and if like DK Metcalfe doesn't score 12 points, I'm like, damn, why do I play this game? It's really just going to a new industry, which honestly, a lot of America might be happy if I went into a different industry. No. No, maybe you never know, it's possible. But like, I will be pulling my hair out if things don't go as I desire them. I do the same thing when I'm watching the games, when it's actually happening. Like, I talked about this with the chiefs game week one, where I knew I needed Richie Rice to have like five points to bear whatever it was, an extra point or something. [BLANK_AUDIO]
scored the touchdown. Yeah, I was pulling my hair out because I was frustrated. Like, why are they not giving them the football? So here's, I get what you're saying. Here's my real answer to this question. Yeah. And it's not the, the, I don't know if it's the right answer, especially as an analyst in football. This game is the perfect second game, second screen experience for somebody else doing something because honestly, it's not going to be a super fun. Other than what the Steelers did yesterday last week offensively, they're not a fun thing to watch. The Browns, I also think like any given week, they're also not a fun team to watch. Depends on which offense you're going to get. You already talked about the offensive line. Yep. So like, am I watching, I mean, I will be watching the game because it's what we do. But like, if I was an average fan with people in this game, would I be like, this is what I'm watching for. Like, honestly, I'd probably be playing Minecraft while I watch this game. We also have baseball tonight, WMBA playoffs for all long. This one doesn't have to judge as our other Thursday. All right. Don't try to, you know, like, listen, WMBA is awesome. I've got three daughters. I pump for them to continue to see that sport grow in Caitlin Clark and the Indiana fever have a win or go home game. I guess the Las Vegas aces with Aja Wilson, Aja Wilson, who is the best player in WMBA history and lost her cool little bit during the end of the last game. But this is going to be a massive. Yeah, my daughter's getting into basketball now too. So I've been playing with her. So that's fun. They're finally playing a sport I played, not at a high level, but I like it. I know, like, I was, you didn't need to sneak that in there. I was a fundamental guy. I was all right. So I played point guard and I was tiny, but I could teach her the fundamentals because that's what I, about all I can do. So I'm excited for that too. And also Megan always wants to watch traitors because it's on. Yes. Obviously, I think what you're, you're giving her a pass to watch a little bit. I'm with you on that while you are out like this. I'll be like this with the gate. Like, I don't know how much I get, like, I really find out about this team if I'm watching it because I am. It's like, does the team just get better with the Sean Watson? Does he become the guy for the rest of the season? Is that what you know what I mean? Yes. So, so maybe I guess that's what I'm watching if I'm looking for who you taking in this one? I got the Steelers. Yeah, I think the Steelers get it done. The Browns went three in a row. I don't know. Can they Daniel? I'm going to take the Cleveland Browns. Yeah. Oh, someone's got to save the panel here. All right, producer, Christina. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, producer Christina going with the Steelers. Oh, she is a Steelers fan. That's why. Let's dive into our week for storylines. We got a handful of games to bring to the table. We're going to start with the bills and the Patriots. Line of blocks in this one. It looks like it's a lot of bills. Josh Allen, James Cook, DJ Moore, and Dalton can Cade. Is there a second page with all of the Patriots? It must be right. They have Drake May and they have EJ Brown and Hunter Henry and all the running backs paid a lot. There must be another page here. So there's not another page there. Okay. Thank you, Michael. Got it. All right. So we're starting a lot of bills here. Let's start with, uh, let's start with you then. Like obviously there's no bills on this. Was it you? I have the Patriots. Was my question mark. So I think you have nothing. I can Cade. I can Cade. I want to start with the Patriots. Okay. I want to talk to it then. Let's do this. All right. So we have the Patriots. The question I have is like, is this Patriots going to get anybody Patriots office going to get anyone on track until AJ Brown returns? Correct. And the timeline for AJ Brown that I saw most recently was six to eight weeks. It's hurt in week one. It's only week four. So we are potentially only halfway through AJ Brown's return. And then when he does return, he's got to be better than he was in the first, not AJ Brown's fall, but you know, targeted more than he was in that game. He had in basically two plus quarters, three catches for 24 yards or 26 yards, not enough based off of our pieces and expectations. Let me talk about these players that are actually playing on Drake May under 10 fantasy points in three straight games. We all agree the Drake May outside the top 10 this week. Correct. Yeah, I can't do it. Huge, a huge opportunity for him against the division rival bills, but I can't trust him right now. Mike, you made the point that it was kind of his breakout game last year against the bills. Maybe, maybe there's the nothing to lose mentality. I would tell you what there is to lose. If you start him though, you're fantasy madness. Be careful. I would like to see Drake May put together a good game before I start playing him in my lineup. Running backs. Reminders Stevenson versus Trivia on Henderson. Last week, post fumble. What do we see? Very first play of the game. Reminders Stevenson on the field. Yep. Like a two yard catch by Reminders Stevenson. Yep. Trivia Henderson comes in the next play. He ends up having more carries, but Remindre plays 53.5% of the snaps to 35% of the snaps for Traveon. Both got bench in the fourth quarter when the game got out of hand. Remindre had fewer. Traveon had more carries, but Remindre played every single third down before the game was totally out of hand. So on those hot potentially high leverage passing situations, it's probably going to be more Remindre than Traveon. I said all of those words to say that now the one of those sounds like a guy that you are starting in fantasy right now. At least not in a 10 team league. White receivers who's playing the most over the past two games. Matt Collins. He's going to be on the field when they want to run block. He's going to be on the field. I want to throw the football as well. But when I tell you the options to start at wide receiver are Matt Collins and Romeo dobs, who are you guys feeling confident in? Pass. Pass. Thank you. That's the answer. The good news if there is good news is the bills are bottom five against running backs and wide receivers in terms of fantasy points allowed so far this season. That's good news. That's something that I have nothing. A lot of a lot of potential second half passing volume. Okay. Doing one. They just have to be. They can't go three and out every drive. Right. They cannot. That's a problem. Is there so inefficient offensive? The biggest, I think the way in which this offense gets salvaged, save a J. Brown's return is that I think we can all acknowledge that Patriots took advantage of a very light schedule. But there are some numbers and you go back and I saw someone post this on social media yesterday. When you go back and look at Drake May's performances against defenses that were in the top half of Mike's favorite EPA last year, right? Drake May had six games against the top 16 and defensive EPA last season. And he was more than good. He was very good, right? Drake May did not only succeed last year because of the schedule through three games so far this year. He is playing like a guy that only succeeded because of the schedule. Drake May is too talented for this rut to last too much longer. But until Drake May digs himself out of this rut, this entire Patriot's offense is basically fantasy useless. And this Patriot's team season could get turned upside down. They are staring down a one in three start in which the bills will be four and oh huge game with Josh Allen as their quarterback. So big opportunity for the Patriots, but big, big risk in starting any of that. Great. I'm totally with you on that. I want to ask you guys about Dalton concade then because I feel like there's still this risk for Dalton concade when we're looking at him week one surprise breakout. Honestly, surprise huge game against the Houston Texans, right? Like we weren't expecting that we weren't expecting any of the bills to do what they did against Houston, but they crushed for the entire team big game. Then against the Detroit Lions, DJ Morgan's hurt. We know that the Lions we've now found out they've been very bad against tight ends this year. He does exactly what he's supposed to do. Yeah. Week three against the Chargers classic Dalton concade let down game after two yeah big games to start the season one, which was a surprise one, which we now know should have happened because they played the Lions now here in week four. They're taking on the Patriots. They haven't played any good tight ends yet. Steelers, Seahawks and Jaguars, but he's playing more than 70% of the snaps. Yeah. That's playing more than any wide receiver at this point because he's on the field so much. I'm still okay to buy into him as a low end tight end one, but I don't think that like I felt like I kind of my brain started to think, okay, we finally seen the Dalton concade we were waiting for after the first two games of the season. I think I need to see it more than just the first two games after I've seen out one of them was a big surprise in Houston. The other one was like, yeah, you should have smashed against Detroit. So this will be a big one here, but I am willing to lean into him as a low end tight end one again this week. There's like, I don't know, four or five tight ends where when you're talking about their value for an upcoming week, you can get through all the mitigating factors, like, you know, didn't perform that well last week. It has traditionally been an up and down player in his career, a lot of Dalton concade. Yes. And then it's like, yeah, but I can really have a hard time putting him outside my top 10 because three good tights. That's it. Yeah, there's a he fits into that. And he plays on an offense with Josh Freakin Allen and they could score 35 points in a game. So no doubt we seven for me. I'll be starting to love that where you guys start, who are you guys taking in this game? I think the bills get it done. How do you pick against? How do you pick the Patriots? Yeah, you can't. You can't build playing three straight games at home. I feel like that's very rare in the NFL. Three straight games at home, just like at the beginning of the year. We're in that new stadium and yeah, they are. Yeah, they are. All right. Let's talk about a team not wearing in their new stadium. Colts and commanders playing in London. I did that poorly. Can we do this in entirely a British accent? I don't think so. Officers are cool with that one. Yeah. I'm just going to pass Marcus Mario. That might be more Australian. Yeah. Yeah. It's stream streaming option this week. Um, nope, you're still in Australia. Who's like your favorite British guy? That's more Australian from me too. That's too Australian. Yeah. I'm I think I'm stuck in Australia. I don't think. All right. Well, here's the deal. I've been to Australia. I would love line up blocks here with this one. John and the Taylor Josh Downs and Tyler Warren for the commanders. Right now it is just Terry McClure on this list for you, Michael. This week it's Josh Downs to Nabi. Look at Downs. Wow. Downs to Nabi. That was really good. That was a good. That was a good one. All right. Cool. Whenever I make a good reference, feels always so impressed. Yeah. Oh, I like it. I don't know. I like it. I just feel like we, um, all of us have been guilty of like when you don't nail it, giving you like too much black.
Yeah, I got a compensate. Okay. I mean, that's fair. Look, I received constructive criticism. Well, so bring it either way. I'll take I'll take the praise and then he's just going to haircare for next week. I would. I did. Hey, it's on the books. I got it scheduled. Why is Marcus Mario to not align up lock after what he did in that first week? I just want to throw a couple things out there, but I'm curious about this. I think he's at least in the streaming conversation, 20.4 fantasy points last week against who? Oh, the Seattle Seahawks. He was awesome. Yeah. He was honestly three touchdowns is what did it form. He just managed the game really well. Didn't do too much. He honestly didn't even utilize his legs, all that much, even though we know he's got that in his bag. Um, I think this week, my thoughts. Well, I mean, just you were higher. I'm higher than you in the rank. Okay. So yeah, you tell me why he's on a line of block, Daniel Colton, given up 25 fantasy points and two of their three came so far this season. I just feel like he to me, I realized I have him at 12. Part of that is he's still a backup quarterback on an offense that is, you know, has a limited ceiling, but he is in that streaming conversation. I would rather play Marcus Mario to than Drake May this week if I had to choose between the two. So you just did the old ask an answer. Right. It's why I didn't align a block. Well, that's it. You're right. Why is he not align yourself? Why? I think you made the case. Why? That Marcus Mario, uh, he was a number to pick in the draft over a decade ago. He does have talent, but he's also one of the best backups in the game for a very good backup. But there's a, you know, the reason why he hasn't stuck as a starter is because they're there are moments there are glimpses of a very solid play. And then there are times in which he turns into a pumpkin. But for our purposes, he has probably been a better fantasy starter than he has a real life starter throughout his career. He's still mobile enough that if the play breaks down or if the pocket collapses, he has the opportunity to turn nothing into something. He does have two good receivers. It's a very good matchup as Mike mentioned. So yes, I do have some Marcus Mario to in streaming lineups this week myself. Yeah. I like him a lot. Uh, that's why I'm at QB 10 this week. The only reason he's not hired to answer your question. Daniel is Josh Allen, the more Jackson bright showing against Detroit, Tyler Schuck against Atlanta, the homes Kyler against Miami. Yep. Herdy Lawrence, both been terrific. Joe borough, even though he gets Jackson, and that's it. That's all I mean, that's it. I mean, that's it. I mean, that's a very good group out of him. You didn't mention Jalen Hertz in there. I did not. You did not mention Drake May after. Yes. I even heard it scoff. Doc May, Stroud, Stafford. I haven't had all those go insane. Love that. I mean, matchup definitely is a big part of that. So, by the way, just for those that maybe saw that Jalen Daniels has traveled to London and is practicing, doesn't sound like a guy is going to be playing this week. Maybe a week away there. Yeah. He's definitely getting closer, but not ready to start yet is Jalen Daniels. I just wanted to, I think there we've probably have gotten close enough to a point in the season where we can put topics to bed. Quinche on Judkins might have been in this category a couple of games ago. I wanted to for once and all, once and for all, excuse me, put this commander's backfield to bed is like, there's just a stay away, right? So Bill Kroski merit has exactly one target in every game. Yeah. He has caught all three of those targets. 100% catch percentage. Yeah. If he's getting basically minimal passing game utilization week in and week out, he has one run so far this year over 10 yards and he's averaging 3.0 yards per carry. You are relying on an inefficient runner falling in the end zone once or twice a game to be a fantasy starter. Rashad White is, he was better last week. He caught a touchdown pass, but not a big enough rule, not enough passing game volume to be a lineup block either. And remember, Rossineckler is now on that 50 man roster. And he's probably going to be involved, I would imagine. I think so too. Some capacity on sign him just to show out. I agree. I'll be interested to see how he how he factors into this backfield. The other thing on this game for me is the two wide receivers that were in that lineup lock conversation. I know that Mike tells you you should be playing them, but just to give sort of more credence to the idea of Terry McClauren, this cold sea fence day. You noted is just awful. They actually are like right near the top of most passing yards allowed this season, despite keeping the Houston Texans offense kind of in check last week, speaks to how bad they were against Patrick Behorms in week two and then Lamar Jackson in week one. Josh Downs, the other side of this, and Terry McClauren last week was ridiculous. Like look like one of the best players on a field that included Jackson Smith and Jigba Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, all those great sea ox players as well. Josh Downs has faced us off against a commander's secondary. That has allowed the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers this season. They've also allowed a wide receiver to go over 35 fantasy points and back to back weeks. I will acknowledge that those two wide receivers were CD Lamb and Jackson Smith and Jigba slightly different. You don't expect 35 plus out of Josh Downs, but the bottom line is that guys have absolutely crushed against this commander secondary. We obviously are not really watching the London games or the overseas games because we're doing fantasy focus countdown. We are hoping though for lots and lots and lots of fantasy points throughout that 60 minutes. I appreciate that because I think Josh Downs will be the most surprising lineup lock. If anyone was just to look at the list of like really Josh Downs is a lineup lock, but it's because of the matchup, all the things that you talked about. It was a match up in the huge target share. There's no album. They're running the offense through Taylor Downs and Warren with, I mean, Kenan Allen at a good game last week. I know last or the other day, I think you asked like, are we interested in Kenan Allen? And again, I'm just, there's so much bust potential with him, but he saw last season I wrote about this in the playbook. You know, I still, he's on the flex radar. I think someone asked the question. Like, are they, is he worth bothering with? Sure. You know, in a 12 team PPR league, I think he's on the flex radar. At the time, I was just like, nah, I don't really want to mess with that, but like the other guys, I can see what the situation at receiver. They're, you know, that him being viable flex. I'll give them that, but it just doesn't feel good. You're taking the next iteration culture commanders in this one, guys. I'm going to pick a close one. Yeah, I picked a golds. Yeah. Oh, oh, see. Commanders. Okay. I like it. I like that. He'll be surprised by that one. All right. Let's dive into the next one. Jets and Chicago Bears. Oh, God. Oh, good. You guys are going to let me talk this time. It's about time. I have a topic for once. Gary Wilson. He's been awesome. Luther burdened the third. He was great last week. Deandre Swift continues to be the guy. Mike, where do you want to start with this? You want to go with some running backs here? We don't have breeze hall in this one. We don't have breeze hall. That's the big topic from this one. Yeah. Not official. I would very very careful for a week. So we're going to pivot to the back of running backs and they've been talking up Braille and Allen for quite a long time now. He's been around a couple of years about the role he's going to have in this back. He does have 19 carries in five targets so far this season, but it just has not come to fruition. He hasn't been able to really eat away at breeze hall's workload to any substantial degree. And his efficiency has not been good. 3.7 yards per carry. So far in his career is under five yard per target as well. His only two career double digit fantasy games were two years ago back in 2024. It just does not made a big impact. And here's the thing. I expect them. I know I say Davis hasn't played an offense or had an offensive touch show for this season. I expect some kind of split here. Allen should be the starter, the lead rusher. But first of all, Davis has been pretty effective so far in a small sample. He's average in 5.6 yards per carry. It's been better in the passing game as well. But the bottom line is this is a backfield that hasn't even allowed breeze hall at top 10 fantasy week this season. So now we're going to go to a two headed committee of backups. And we're going to expect a lot. I don't think so. You're really if you're going to take a shot on Braille and Allen who have an RB 22. He's just really hoping that he finds his way into the end zone against the bears and look. The bears didn't look good Monday night against take one. They're average. They're allowing 4.8 yards per carry this season. Maybe he has a shot to get into that, you know, top 20 running back this week. But for me, I don't feel super great about this one. Jets fans like Isaiah Davis more than seemingly the Jets as an organization. He's not playing him so far. Yeah. So we'll see. I think there's a chance in the Jets having Aaron Glenn acknowledged as a Davis will have more of a role. Yeah. Be very, very interested to see how much of a role this will be before we ask you by King and to dig Daniel. I do want to know that Ben Johnson's non-committal on who the bear starting quarterback will be this weekend. You laugh, no? Because it should be Case Keenum. I think it'll be Tyson Beijing. I know. I know you think it will be. I'm not I'm not disagreeing with that. I just think it should be. Case Keenum played fantastic. Why would like Tyson Beijing is not going to be the guy for your organization moving forward. So when you have a veteran quarterback that looked as good as he did, just managing a team. Why take him off the field? He did everything you asked him to do. I don't. I'm not going to doubt Ben Johnson though. Well, that's okay. That's one way of thinking about it. And I think that's a fair way to think because he is a proven excellent offensive find the only theory that I come up with because I was thinking about this yesterday is that like I'd probably just go back to Case Keenum. He played so steady. Yeah. The only theory that I have is I wonder if Ben Johnson feels like, hey, the bag of tricks that we have available for Case Keenum is limited to about 60 minutes worth of football. Yeah. Like all of the stuff that we should put on tape on Monday is about as far as we can go with this offense. I'm not I would go with Case Keenum. I know. I was trying to figure out why if they do go with Tyson Beijing, it is Beijing. And maybe there's also something to be said for you know, you spend all this time developing this guy getting all of these reps during the summer. And then you yank him. It's it's interesting one. Yeah. I mean, I'm not out of the way. But then Ben Johnson already answered this question which is that like it's not just that game. We've been these guys have been competing all offseason and Beijing won the job. And also they signed Beijing to an extension. Like that's a guy that's going to be around for a while. He only has their number two. So I understand them wanting to take a look at him. I don't know. It's I hear exactly where Daniel's coming from. I get it. I've tried to put my logic hat on. And that's where I've kind of I feel like he's trying to play chess when it's just
just like dude, but he can though. That's what I'm saying. Like I, so there's a lot of a until the time show up 24 hours to Australia. I get I get it. They're put, you know, they're not going to be perfect. And maybe this is a situation where it's not perfect. But here yeah, I think I think that he, if he starts Beijing is because he thinks Beijing is better than case kingdom. I mean, that's, I think that's I will say this about the bears. If he starts Beijing over case kingdom, it's not going to severely impact any of the fantasy rankings that I have of the past. No, like they're all going to stay where they're at. That quarterback change won't shift a lot for me. Let's talk about singing to dig though Daniel because he was off break out. He's awesome enough to crack your top 10. He does not crack my top 10. I've got him at 13 field. You got at 16. Mike, you've got him at 12. Here's the thing though, no 80 Mitchell last week, no Mason Taylor. And he did smash again in a spot against the Lions as a tight end played 55% of the snaps. That was the most of his young career, but still only 55% of the snaps. Very popular streaming add this week, seven for 105 in a touchdown against my Detroit Lions. I feel confident in the upside that we saw from this kid last week. What I don't feel confident in is that he's at the point where he's going to deliver that as a consistent weekly starter and fantasy football. I need to see it again before I believe it now. One thing that is positive in this 80 Mitchell did not practice again this week with the finger injury doubtful again to play in this game. So there could be another tight and target tree here for Geno Smith. So that does help with Mason Taylor, by the way. Okay. So then we're in a situation where it's like this could be a very similar thing. But I think I want to see it one more time before I trust him as a starting tight end in my fantasy league. I saw the upside on tap. I just want to see consistency. I liked King and Sadik as a waiver ad this week. I liked him as a waiver ad to put him on to my bench to see if he can do it for more than just one game. I'm with you. Yeah. I've been stashing him quite a few leagues and I'm happy to continue doing that because ideally you still have a better tight end option. Like maybe you had got hurt and Sadik then maybe you're starting to see. But if you picked up concade or you had bowers or McBrire and you know, Kittle Kelsey. I mean, there's so many guys in that tier that you are probably starting ahead of city. But he should be rostered for you. Who do you have ahead? Who do you have ranked higher, Colston, Loveland in this game? Or can you see? I believe I have Colston, Loveland. I think I have what I've got Sadik. No, I've said to you ahead. Okay. Close call. And I actually moved when Taylor and 80 Mitchell are essentially rolled out yesterday. De facto rolled out. I moved up Sadik up a little bit. Okay. So this game, I think, is being played in Chicago. Mm-hmm. Who are you guys taking? I believe I'm taking the bears. It's exactly what I was going to say. The bears. Yes. The producers are on the Jets. Zach, one of our producers is a Jets fan that might be influencing the pick. The three of us are on the bears. All right. I mean, I want the Jets to do well. I like Sadik a lot. I love Garrett Wilson. I love Aaron Glenn. I want to change my pick to the Jets. You can change it if you want. It doesn't bother me. And I can't. I'm going to change my pick to the Jets. We'll put it in. I'll change it in the rundown. Okay. Daniel's changing to the minute Aaron Glenn. Okay. Yeah. He was your coordinator for a long time. I'm out on the former. I can tear out. Yeah. That's a bold take right there. Well, I'm a line of former Lions fan guys. I am a Lions fan. Former Ben Johnson fan. Former Ben Johnson. Let's talk about chiefs and the Raiders next game up. Chiefs and Raiders have a handful of line up blocks to Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker, the third Ashton Gentie, Rashi Rice, Brock Bowers, even Old Man Travis Kelsey back to being a line of block guys. And Travis Kelsey. How about that? Who wants to start with Rashi Rice here? That would be me. All right. So this might be a fantasy focus first. I'm calling for a graphic, which is not a fantasy focus first, but I'm calling for a graphic that's strictly visual. This is courtesy of our friends over at next Jen stats. All right. Believe we have weeks one and two. And this is Rashi Rice's route tree on his targets. And if you're watching, you can see what we are all talking about right now. If you're just listening, I'll do my best to describe it. In the first two games of the season, Rashi Rice had eight total targets of those eight total targets. Six of them came at least seven yards beyond the line of scrimmage, which is not a bunch of vertical shots, but the further you throw the football down the field, the less efficient the target and the less opportunity to eat a lot of cases for run after catch, especially in PPR formats. He had, and then if you scoop zoom ahead to week three when Rashi Rice and the chiefs play the Miami Dolphins and Rashi Rice had nine targets, you can go back and look of those nine, one, two, three, four, five, six, came at seven yards or fewer, including four targets at five yards or fewer, right? So you have completed. Yes. And these are all completed. So basically in Rashi Rice's third game of the season, as Mike has illuminated throughout the week, the chief said, let's get back to the Rashi Rice that we have known and has been a very valuable fantasy asset for us. Is it a guarantee that the chiefs are going to have this seismic shift and start using Rashi Rice only like he was used in prior years? It is not, but it was notable to all of us that he was deployed the way that he was last week. And that gives us confidence that he can, I don't think he's, he's not back to that like top eight wide receiver territory. And I don't, I'm not positive he'll get anywhere close to there. But I do think that up, there's a chance he's more like wide receiver 13. I advise opposed to wider. Yeah. I'm with you. Let me go back to that. Can we go, can we flash back to that tweet from Michael F. Florio talking about that yesterday on fantasy live as well. Good, which is good call. Go ahead and say, Rashi Rice on nine targets in week three, eight of them came against zone coverage. Chief saw the second highest rate of man coverage in the first two weeks. Yeah. And likely to see quite a bit of zone this week as well. So a good spot here for Rashi Rice. That was a nice call out there by Michael Floreo. So yeah, I mean, honestly, if I'm playing against the chiefs, though, I'm playing man, they can't beat, they can't beat me in coverage. They, uh, yeah, I hear you. And just keep in mind that they barely had to throw the ball last week too. Yeah, twenty four, like a 40% target here in that game. So that's a really good sign moving for when they actually have better game scripts could be even better for Rashi Rice. Yep. Would you have dropped or do you feel comfortable dropping Xavier, whether if you need to go for someone else? Oh, yeah, definitely a 10 teamers. I just want to make sure. Yeah, all right. Well, honestly, this feels like this game. It just feels so chalky like the fantasy decisions. You're only starting two guys from the Raiders. And it's going to be that way basically the whole season. Brock, I was in Ashton Gentie. You right now, you continue to start all of the chiefs until further notice that I persuade you guys at all on the Ashton Gentie thing yesterday. I'm not sure I was listening. A story of this podcast. Uh, no, not right now. I'm still, I'm still, uh, basically there's room to get to RB one sort of like lock it in elite status. Yeah. And I think he might be more RB two. I think he's more RB two as well. I think he's more back end RB one. So I'm right in the middle. Okay. Okay. A bunch of fence sitters around here. Wait, what does back end RB one mean? It means like, and they will rank him in the six to 10 range every week. Is that what you think he's going to finish end of season? Yeah. What do you think he's going to finish end of season? Maybe we can do a board bet here. The only thing that I would say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no qualifiers here. The only thing I'll say is that like end of season total fantasy points can be a little bit, I think misleading towards what the players value is. As it was in Ashton Gentie's rookie season. Correct. Right. Like he ended up as what RB nine or something. RB 12 11 11. He did not feel that way weekend and we did not. Right. He got absolutely, he's spiked in like two games against the Bears and against the Texans late in the season. Yeah. Look, that rest season projections for what it's worth. He comes in at seven seven. Yeah, assuming everyone's healthy going forward. If he's healthy, he'll be a little higher. We don't have to do this. A couple of games to be a little. I don't really care. I like board bets and I like winning. So yeah, I say, well, how would you have to qualify this? You just want to say, we could do it on essentially a points bringing basis. I think we have the ability to use common sense on these as well. Okay. I don't have much. Basically, I don't know what am I saying. I'll finish. I'll say he finishes top 10. Top 10. He's top 10 and fantasy points per game. The rest of the season. So week four on. Yeah. Okay. Deal. Sweet. You go first. I say action. Genty will be top 10 at running back and fantasy points per game. I say action. Genty will not be a top 10 running back and points per game basis for the rest of the season. Put it up or love that. Damn. All right. Let's do it. I love when I can make more guys do a board bet. And then I just get to watch you to benefit. I don't even know. Yeah. That's amazing. I'm going to say for the record, you're more likely than me to win that because of injuries, but we're just going to point for game. My gosh. I shouldn't say that because we are doing points per game. So I've never made it spread back. Yeah. All right. Back. Well, yeah. Let's have into the mailback. Did you pick this game? I think we all took the chiefs, right? Anyone taking the Raiders? Everywhere. We're taking this. Yeah. We're all taking the chiefs here. But if the Raiders win, then that's going to be amazing. I hope they do. Honestly, that's good for the sport. A couple of questions from the mailbag definitively Zach wants to know Laporta. Isaiah likely or Joanne Johnson, I have all three. I would say you're likely to start Sam Laporta. I think so too. That was good, though. I got it. I have, I do have likely ahead of Laporta this week. Remember, they're playing Arizona. That's a good matchup for that team. He's been so heavily targeted. I'm going to give a slight edge to likely, but it's a toss up between those two, I would say. I'm going to give a slight edge to Sam Laporta because his team has scored 30 points and likely has James Winston. Oh, baby. Jack Hayer wants to know, got a gross one. Chris Godwin, RJ Harvey or Darren Waller in my flex. Can I start by acknowledging that Zach is acknowledging it's a gross one. So shout out to you, Jack. Like I like the self-awareness. Yes. I'm going Chris Godwin. Really? I'm crossing him off without Baker. I don't touch that. It's hard enough to justify a booka this week. I'm going to go Waller. Me too, baby. Wow. The anti wall guy. Harvey just, I don't know if you're just going to get enough there, but Waller, I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm anti waller. I also moved him up. Yes.
because it'll get out for that game too and cocker. No, no, no, no, you moved him out because I had such a great argument. I think you all have such a good argument. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. So he's definitely justifiable. I think so too. As a flex, based on the other options that you have, I think Waller's at least in that mix. I'm with Mike on that one. Next one here. Ricardo Martinez wants to know, got St. Brown for Garrett Wilson and Amarion Hampton is at a good or bad trade whenever we get these after the fact it's too late. He got Amarion or Garrett Wilson and Amarion Hampton. So you had Garrett Wilson and Amarion Hampton. Man, it's probably tougher in a 12 team or in a 10 team or maybe you have enough running back depth. I think it depends on your running back situation. That said, I mean, not feeling great about Hampton now and obviously the wide receiver is an upgrade. I wouldn't say I mean, I don't think it's a bad times on that tier where like it is a big upgrade. Even though Garrett Wilson is probably going to be a top 10 the rest of the season. This is a close call. Well, I like the close call. He got Amarion. He got Amarion. Love it. Yeah. I like, I am okay with that. Yeah. Even with the charges. It depends what you think of Hampton, really. I love Hampton, but I think if I could move up from Garrett Wilson to Amarion and that that Lions offense and what they're going to do with how bad that defense is, I just think there's more to unlock that. As long as you're not putting Amarion Wilson in your RB two slot or something, like that's it's totally fun. Sure. Sure. I guess, do you do that? Do you have teams where he's your RB two? No, no. You should draft by him. If you're doing it two for one like that. He's. The guitar maniac wants to know are any rumours to any are there any rumors on Tyree kill returning this year? Definitely. Are the rumors enough that would have ever caused you guys to go out and preemptively Adam off the waivers? I mean, I absent having like a deep, deep, yes, if you have like a unique bench spot where you're like, I'm currently rostering a second defense, like go for it. Sure. But no. At this point, we're not doing anything until there's more materialized news, bench options and waiver, uh, uh, by week start next week. Yeah. So it's been spots even more. I'm not touching Tyree right now. Yeah. Who's on a buy next week? Do you know? I said like Carolina. I think there's two teams on a buy. I have it right here. If you give me a half a second, it is the chiefs and the panthers who are losing a couple of good players. Big week for Bryce here because if he's disappoints, he's going to be droppable during buy weeks. He lights it up again. You have to keep him here. She's on. Panthers on a buy next week. Thanks. We're losing our power right there. All right. Let's get to it. Thanks. Guys, we saw quite a bit out of Jeremiah love last week. Yeah, baby. Is he a lineup lock? He sure is. Jeremiah love. Michael Wilson. Trey McBride. Cam Scataboo. Malik neighbors. Isaiah likely. Look at all these lineup blocks. Yeah. You know what? This would have been, uh, my favorite game of the season, I think coming into the year with you think about that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's a start. And obviously Scataboo. Did you have Marvin Harrison? Do you remember? I think so. I did. Yeah. We were three in his own team. Okay. Uh, that's, he, I mean, he literally is why he is on TV right now. It's true. What? A mess. I wonder if he's the next trade we're going to be watching for in the coming weeks. Maybe Brian Thomas is on, on watch. Uh, did you already propose Brian Thomas for Marvin Harrison? I think I've seen that speculated. I don't know if that really makes sense for those teams necessarily. Maybe it makes more sense for Arizona than it does for Jacksonville. They don't. Jacksonville's. Jacksonville's like, we don't need Brian Thomas because we actually love Josh Cameron now. He, he's leaping ahead of him at this point. So anyway, uh, should we talk about Jeremiah love? Please. We're going to start there. I mean, he's, uh, he's a lineup lock, but he is now. I want to know more about it. Mike. Is it going to. Yeah. Is it going to continue? Yeah. This is why he's a lineup lock. Uh, last week, he had twenty six touches. He's one and two combined. He had twenty five touches. So a big leap in usage. The snaps were way up in that game. He had more yardage in that game than he did the first two games combined, uh, touchdown. He had one touchdown the first two weeks he scored again last week and he's already been heavily involved as a pass catch or I mean, his three targets or or more in every game this season. Uh, I think that they started slow as we, I mean, how many times do we talk about that coming into the season? It was going to be a couple of weeks before they really ramped him up. That's what they did. So I'm curious to see if this sustain is going forward. You have to imagine it will because it makes sense. Like you took, you spent the third overall pick on the guy. Why would you not be given him twenty plus touches a game? So I'm buying on this one and also this is one of his best matchups of the season. That's why I'm, I'm really excited for this one because they're playing the giants. They're allowing 5.1 yards per carrier to running back. So this is a chance for him to take these twenty twenty five touches and just light it up and prove that he is a cemented at worst back end, RB one going forward this season. Yeah. Feels a lot better right now in week three than it did to start the season without high ankle sprain draft. I mean, he fell in drafts. I mean, if you grabbed him and you decided to roll the dice, but this is why he's been paying off right now. This is why you take that discount at the two three turn on a player that's drafted third overall. I mean, he, again, my thought was you want to draft a guy at not at his ceiling, right? And if you think about where he'll be drafted in twenty twenty seven drafts, even before the season started in the first round. I mean, if you're using him the right way, right? He should be, he should be a superstar. He should be one of the best players in football and fantasy offensive playmaker. I mean, so it makes perfect sense that he's being utilized this way. So I'm, I'm pumped about what happened last week and even more so for here in week four. Love that. I also am surprisingly pumped about what happened last week, but for Isaiah likely, which sounds odd because only had three point three fantasy points, guys, but I want to ask you about a thing. Isaiah likely was on this list. He was, he's a lineup lot given what the state of the tight end position looks like. I feel like we got Isaiah likely to start this year again. Massive week one. We've seen it before. We've literally lived to this, this book before one half of a foot away from two touchdowns at the beginning of last season, remember that 27.8 fantasy points this year this year and week one. And then week two, eight point three fantasy points and then week three, three point three fantasy points. Obviously, Jackson Dart getting hurt, hurts that James Winston did not look fantastic when he came in. And then last week we had all the weather stuff. Here's the part that gives me excitement. Week one played 49% of the snaps. Week two played 69% of the snaps. Week three played 85% of the snaps. He is clearly moving in the direction of I am going to be on the field in a part of this offense more. Even though I see the fantasy points going the wrong direction from what I want, I think it's easy to be able to understand the quarterback situation, the influx of the offense being able to go through all these changes. Given what his role is and how much he's going to be out there still, I am not worried. Yeah. I'm a little bit wish casting because I do need this quarterback to get him the football, but I'm still starting him as a low end tight end one because of how much he has been on the field. Well, James can't put up 250 plus maybe 300 passing yards against Arizona and keep them competitive. They're going to have to make a Jay Jay McCarthy here like this is a good match up here for likely. And that's why he belonged to the combination of the volume and the match up against Arizona. I mean, absolutely. He should be in line up this week. But if James struggles here, and by the way, remember, we talked about this when James got the job. I mean, due to injury, his last eight games, he's put up 20 fantasy points, he's average around 20 fantasy points per game. He can put up passing numbers. And last week was a disaster, weather wise, it absolutely was and obviously came in in relief in a tough circumstance in week two. So there's still hope here that they can at least, we don't need, we don't necessarily need the giant. So win games for, for our perspective, we just need big passing numbers. I think you can do that. I was talking earlier about how there are mitigating factors for tight ends and yet you still sort of like, yeah, but they're one of the guys that I trust more than the rest of the pack. Yeah. As they likely also part of this. There's a question that's not fantasy related, but before move on from the giant and the cardinals, maybe you can figure out what the O del Beckham Jr. signing was all about. What was the point was, I think keep them on the roster and then they don't play him and they cut him after three weeks. Yeah. I mean, you just doesn't work in the NFL, especially at that age, like you're not playing special teams and you're just like, they need that spot. I keep on the roster in the first place. It's my question. I guess, I don't know. Yeah. Overdaria Slain. I'm not really sure why they did that. Remember, after week three, you start to see a lot more transactions because teams will use that trick where you can just promote a guy off the practice squad at the Saturdays for three, three weeks, then they that expires and you need to put them on the active roster in place. So Braxton Barrios fits that bill. He's their returner. Now he's their number four or say, actually, they signed Charlie Jones as well. So yeah, they just went, you got to play special teams and you can't just chill on the sideline. Was it something? Was it just like a vibes for the fans, like, they helped the business, like where they actually helped the business neighbors insurance. Sure. And now that neighbors is out there, it doesn't feel like we're, I mean, yeah, probably a few reasons, but yeah. We taking the giants. I'm the only one that believe you. He mad. I'm going with the cardinals. Yeah, I love love tools. Yeah. All right. I'm in on that. All right. Let's look at this next one. Denver at San Francisco. This one's going to be a fun one. Brock Perty, Christian McCaffrey, Mike Evans. We'll talk about him. George Kittle and Jalen Waddle, basically every 49er that you could potentially start is startable. They've become very easy for us. Mike Evans, if he to play in this game, but if he does play, he will be in our lineups. That's the thing that's stuff with Mike Evans. So he didn't practice first practice of the week had a got a big shot. Who was the safety? Took a shot from last week in the ribs. Anyways, um, I figured they played hard already on day of the week. Booty Baker. Maybe that's what wise might have put a bigger anyways. He's the problem with Mike Evans, not practicing the first day of the week. It's like he would do that anyways as like an old veteran guy anyway. So this is just like a thing you're going to have to monitor and watch throughout the week to see. Is he going to play or not? Yeah. Also, keep in mind, this is not a JSN or someone who, I'm on Ross St. Brown and moves around the formation. He's on the perimeter a lot. And that means a lot of Pat Cirtan. The second and this one's not ideal very high bust risk for Mike Evans this week. I think this is the biggest test.
that we have had so far, clearly for Brock Purti. Yeah, it says out too. Brock Purti has had two like cake matchups back to back. He crushed that first game, that weird Australia thing, but then two cake matchups back to back and he has looked unbelievable. We talked about him as maybe that's the maybe the QB three that we would want so far this season. And remember him in the playoffs last year yet, back to back weeks is finishing is quarterback one. Unbelievable. With this yawks, it was a much different story. Yeah. He has had a history of absolutely destroying the team. She's supposed to destroy and then against much tougher matchups because of some, but not elite rushing volume coming way back down to it. It was a big test for Brock Purti. Still an obvious start though for us. That's played too well. Is anybody an obvious start amongst the Broncos pass catchers? He's ill and waddle made Mike's lineup locks. Yeah. But even you would probably can see that's a flimsy. He was he was borderline. But when you look at the state of wide receiver, I think he still fits the bill where you drafted him. And after what we saw in week two, I he I'd be hard pressed to mention. Well, the real jail and waddle, please stand up. Now let's talk through what jail and season has looked like to date week one, he had three targets. That's not going to cut it. And frankly, it's not going to cut it if you're the Broncos, the pay to legitimate freight to acquire him. Yeah. What's the point of giving away a first round pick, a third round pick and a fourth round swap to throw the ball three times to this very talented player week two. Awesome. Ten targets monster game over 130 receiving yards. Look like the jail and waddle that we had grown accustomed to at times in Miami. And that you would pay that big price for week three, seven targets. That part's good. The results. Not so good. He had a dud game last week. I think jail and waddle will be one of those guys that you still feel compelled to continue to go back to the well with because of the abundance talent. And because this is not the same, the Broncos have some tough matchups early on this season. I believe at least not sure it's quite as tough of a matchup on Sunday. Again, San Francisco with all of their defensive injuries. This offense though might be the most agonizing one to have a talented player in because the Broncos have probably the deepest group of pretty good players. But I'm not sure anybody besides jail and waddle is a elite player in their wide receiver running back or tight in room. I and I would push back and say not on what you have said. Okay. Well, push back on the idea that he's a lineup block. Well, you're saying I'd be hard pressed to find someone else. There's so many because he plays wide receiver. There are so many wide receivers that I drafted after jail and waddle that have absolutely popped. And I would consider starting this like who Matthew golden. I would start over him this week. Okay. I've been able to. Yeah, I mean, Michael Wilson. I would start this week. I also have downs. Jalen Coker. Christian Watson. Parker Washington. I like all of these guys are guys that you drafted after jail and waddle that I would say you know what with him being wide receiver 29. If you're 29 as a wide receiver, you're at the very end of that flex radar. I just think there's enough guys that if you have the question, I'm okay benching him because of what I've seen from the Broncos. But I also get it if he's the best option that you have and he's the the best flex one you gotta roll with. That's a tricky part about line up locks. Right. You could be totally stacked at receiver and like, okay, yeah, like that, that could happen. Yeah. I mean, hit on a couple of those guys. You can bet. I mean, you might be benching Josh down because you're really good at wide receiver too. Sure. Even though we even top 20. So fair. But also, I think in general, if I would say for a most teams, if you have jail and waddle, you're starting to start looking down the ranking. Because guys after him are like carnal tape and Stefan digs and even lad Maconkey and like, maybe Mike Evans is in that conversation. Like, I think in general, you're you're keeping him going. I think 17 was at 17 targets the last two games. 17 to the last two games. He's the only one bonix. Not, uh, not in the streaming conversation this week. He's a, oh, I think low end tight end or low end QB one. I think for bow, like the more important, at least the more important dynamic and play for me is like, let's see him stack a few good games in a row before we say to him. Say to ourselves like, all right, bow back inside that low edge QB one territory. Yeah, I want to see him run the ball too. That injury last year and hasn't been running this year. And sometimes you see that from quarterbacks. Like we, that was our worry with Patrick Mahomes. We saw it a couple years ago with Justin Herbert Jones right now. Joe burrow, Daniel Jones right now, although he didn't run a ton last year. But Nick's a big part of why he's been good in fantasy is his likes. And he has not been running so far. You guys taking this one. I'm taking the, taking the Broncos 49ers. You're the lone Broncos alone wolf. You're the only cowboy in this town. That's right. Don't call me cowboy. Next one up titans and arrangers. I'm like a cowboy guy. I'm a cowboy guy. He's the only John Wayne in this. That's the thank you. Looks like we have a second page for the Ravens line of blocks. Lamar Jackson, Derek, Henry Z. Flowers. Super chalk for the other side. We don't want to start anybody. No one on the Titans. Both running backs. No, we don't. Yeah, they can do number three, maybe number two receiver. Your guy, like Iron Maner was running, was he second and snaps last week for this offense. They're freezing out. Calvin Ridley. He's another one. Jerry Judy, Calvin Ridley, Brian Thomas, Marvin Harrison, all these guys that you think are way trade. Yeah, just rotate them all for a week. Every week we'll rotate them. We'll see who sticks. Both Tajay Spears and Tony Pollard didn't practice to start the week. We'll continue to watch that. Yeah, same as last week. I don't, I know that we had a breakout game break out for Carl Nell Tate and Wondale Robinson in this Titans offense last week. I'm just not doing it this week against the Ravens. I think we can until further notice ice any conversation about the Titans. Okay. I mean, Tate had a good game last week and his targets have been good. So I'm keeping them on that flex rate. I don't think he can work his way on early 30s around wider super 30. Okay. All right. I like it. Who you taking in this game? Anything on Mark Andrews? We're just skipping ahead. Yeah. What do you want to talk about with Mark Andrews? I think we should talk about Mark Andrews. What do you want to start Mark Andrews? Not well, that's the conversation. That's very fascinating. He's he's had a target share in the 24 to 25% range in all three games so far. That's good, right? Which is a big number and consistent from a tight end. His target share this season is his highest since 2022 when he was the number four scoring fantasy tight end. But he's turned 18 targets and new 122 yards and 13 catches no touchdowns and we know we need touchdowns from Mark Andrews. Guys, he's gone 10 straight games under 11 fantasy points. That is unheard of for Mark Andrews. It's been so disappointing. The game scripts will be better. They've been ahead on 65% of their offensive snaps. And as a result, Lamar is 26 and past attempts this year. But again, they love to run the football. They're a good team. They're not going to have great game scripts all the time for the passing game. So this is a tough one for me. Tennessee, by the way, has allowed 48 yards on 18 targets to tight end so far this season. So they've been really good in that department. So this is a tough one because again, I'm such, I'm so usage based and his usage has been excellent. So it's hard to like see a 24 or 25% target share and rank a guy outside the top 10, especially with the state of tight end like we talked about. The interest might fit that bill because the usage has not translated so far. I know you're so usage based. I'm so like, is the guy go to football based and I'm just like not in on. I'm not a thing is. I mean, they paid him and moved on from Isaiah likely. Not many times NFL teams have paid players a ridiculous amount of money. No, that cannot judge. But it's a Ravens is a really good organization and they're winning football games like he's still a big part of the team. I don't care if they're winning football games. I want him to do fantasy stuff for me. Mike don't look. I agree. Yeah. That was that was a mistake extension. It was I think a little bit of a panic move by the Baltimore Ravens, but they have generally been amongst the most fundamentally sound teams in the field of tunnel. I cannot like we can't point to her on the field. That's the he scores a touchdown on this target. He starts finding the end zone pretty often ends up at eight this year. He's going to finish tight end seven or something. So we'll see who you're taking Ravens or Titans Ravens across the board. All right. That would be quite the upset pick if you're taking Tennessee in Baltimore. Raim Sanders pick of the week here for week four. My friends. I already kind of tipped my hand. I told you where I was going to go with this one yesterday. I'm taking Tommy Trembl 0.2% roster taken on the Detroit Lions. Oh damn that one. I did. I did not realize you picked him. I said I'm going to plead the fifth. I am taking Alec Ayoman. I saw you legit uptick in snaps last week. And we think this team is going to be trailing. So give me Alec Ayoman. Yeah. I didn't pick him because Titans. That was how I can't do it. So I went with a guy in a better offense. But this guy's very tiny receiver. That makes me a little nervous. Maybe gets a return touch. But Dante Myers who guys had a 58% route participation last week with no Andre Ocevaz. He's on IR. Myers has taken that number three job. I was third on the team last week at five targets in that game. And again, he could mix in as a return. They rolled back as returning a little bit last week. Kishan Williams took some of that on because Myers was playing so much offense. But they he is a couple of ways he can get in the end. Mike. I need you to give me one former team that Dante Myers played on college or any other professional team. Colorado avalanche. Did he come from the UFL? He came from the CFO. CFO CFO. Okay. That he was with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders before playing that he was like college football at Presbyterian and Delta state. Did you see, uh, speaking of the Colorado avalanche, did you see Nathan McKinnon dropped the gloves last night? I did not see that. Oh boy. He was getting after it last night. I saw the flyers getting absolutely demolished. I was like, I'm not even looking at hockey the rest of the night because that was that was hurtful. How crazy is it that we still have a wait. We got another pick. Who did the producers pick? Tori Horton. We had Tori Horton for that one guy. Seahawks wide receiver. Tori Horton played a little bit last week. Yeah, like that. How can we still fight in hockey? Five for fighting is a great song. It's grandfathered in. That's what it is. There are a lot of things about hockey that are make the culture incredibly unique. It's great. It is. Yeah. It's like break hands and they miss like a shift. Yeah. I could not do that. No, it's not the face of the puck. That's who comes out. Is it Ramsey? Broke his, broke his wrist or whatever. Yeah, he's playing with that. He's likely to play through that. That's wild. Yeah, he's guys are built different. Uh-huh. Have fun.
I had two surgeries over the past two years. I've only missed one chance. No, no big deal. We're saying we're going to be back tomorrow. We're going to recap everything that happened tonight. And we're going to be ready for the rest of week four. We love you guys. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. We'll see you guys tomorrow morning. Hi, friends. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Mike Tomlin’s 12-year Minecraft fantasy football dynasty effort went viral, resonating with fans as a symbol of dedication and relatability.
The discussion highlights the growing influence of "nerdy" culture in sports, with Justin Jefferson and Tomlin's Minecraft story exemplifying fan engagement.
The Steelers are expected to start Jalen Warren as a mid-tier RB2, with Rico Dottle ruled out and Travis Homer likely to see increased workload.
Harold Fanon is back in the starting conversation after a strong performance last week, though his role remains tied to offensive stability and Pittsburgh’s defensive pressure.
Cleveland Browns’ offensive line struggles, particularly for Quinche on Judkins, make him a risky flex-only option despite high usage.
The matchup between Browns and Steelers is seen as low-output, with both teams struggling offensively, making fantasy production uncertain.
The Bills vs. Patriots game presents risk in starting Drake May or Dalton Conklin, despite past performances, due to inconsistent fantasy output and injury concerns.
Josh Downs is highlighted as a strong lineup lock against the Commanders due to a favorable matchup and high target volume, though consistency remains a concern.
Summary:
The episode dives into fantasy football strategy for Week 4, featuring a mix of player evaluations, matchup analysis, and cultural commentary. A standout moment is the viral reaction to Mike Tomlin’s decade-long Minecraft fantasy football journey, which resonates as a tribute to dedication and fan connection. The discussion focuses on key matchups, including the Steelers vs.
Browns, where Jalen Warren and Harold Fanon are expected to see increased roles due to roster changes and defensive weaknesses. The Browns’ offensive line struggles make Quinche on Judkins a risky flex pick, while the Bills-Patriots game presents uncertainty around wide receivers like Drake May and Dalton Conklin due to inconsistent production. Josh Downs emerges as a compelling lineup lock against the Commanders due to a favorable matchup and target volume, though concerns about consistency remain.
The hosts also address broader fantasy dynamics, such as the importance of matchups, player health, and the role of "nerd culture" in fan engagement. They emphasize that even in low-scoring games, strategic decisions—like starting value players with high usage or watching for breakout performances—are essential. The episode concludes with a mix of optimism and caution, highlighting that fantasy success often hinges on balancing data, context, and emotional investment in the game.
FAQs
Mike Tomlin's Minecraft world is a creative project where he built a massive skyline over 12 years, showcasing his dedication and passion. It's notable because it demonstrates a deep personal commitment to fantasy football and has gone viral, resonating with fans as a relatable and inspiring story.
Yes, the trade of Joey Porter Jr. from the Steelers to Dallas is significant as it impacts the Steelers' defensive depth and could affect running back usage, making it a key storyline for fantasy lineups and player projections.
Harold Fanon had a strong performance last week with seven catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns. He's now considered a fringe tight-end one, with a potential to be a solid option despite being on a team with a strong defense.
Quinche on Judkins is currently seen as a risky flex option due to poor offensive line performance and lack of pass-catching efficiency. While he has carries, his overall production is inconsistent, making him a low-impact pick unless he shows improvement.
The Browns vs. Steelers game features a matchup where the Browns' offensive line has struggled, potentially limiting production for running backs like Quinche on Judkins. However, the game offers potential fantasy value if the Browns can overcome their offensive line issues.
Drake May is considered a risky pick due to inconsistent performance and a lack of recent fantasy points. While he had a breakout game last year, he’s currently seen as a fringe option that requires caution and only a strong matchup to justify a start.
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