Fantasy Football - Unsolved Mysteries + TNF Preview, Trade Decisions - Podcast for 9/23

[MUSIC] >> Welcome to the Fantasy Footballer's podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. [MUSIC] >> Welcome in. [MUSIC] >> That was very short. Did you think it was Thursday? >> No, no, you thought I was giving space? >> Yeah. No, it just was what it was, Mike. You don't feel welcomed? [MUSIC] >> To the people. >> I don't want to say nothing, but the people hated it. >> He didn't, he hated it. >> I didn't really think it was that bad. >> I'm not going to, I didn't think it was that bad either. >> But the people, the people. >> Oh, man. >> It's their fickle. >> September 23rd, welcome into the Fantasy Footballer's podcast. Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. We just had waivers go through in all of our leagues. Just before the show started, it's always fun this time of year. >> Oh, it did. >> Yeah, in the chop league, Mr. Derrick Henry goes to-- >> Oh, baby, you got him. >> Mike got Derrick Henry in the bid. >> 465. >> And that was, the next highest was 451. >> That is, that feels good. >> Swish, oh, baby. >> Yeah, Jeremiah Lovelin for 334. >> Twinshaw Jenkins went for 156. >> Twinshaw Bunkins. >> Mike is so-- >> I got, I'm on fire, leave me another name. >> No, it doesn't look like that. >> Give him another name. >> Mike Evans went for 121. >> That's pretty good pick up. >> You asked, you asked for an LU, but then you didn't even jump. >> What are the people thinking of that? >> I'll tell you what the people think of that. >> Oh, no. >> Yeah, they're fickle. >> The people, Mike, are fickle. >> You didn't say they were fickle. >> Oh, no. >> We have news to catch you up on today. Thursday night break down. We got unsolved mysteries on the show and some mailbag. >> I got it. >> I got to get Henry in my line. I'm holding on. >> Okay. >> All right, I'm good to go. >> Would you rather have Henry for 465 or-- >> Or play Bill Croskey in? >> But you mark Chase for 666. >> Well, considering my running back to situation was Bill Croskey. >> Okay. >> That was it. >> All right. >> Quick question of the day. James and North Carolina writes in, "What is your league format in the League of Record?" I was listening to the Tuesday show and heard you say that Annie and Mike are 4-0 through two weeks. >> That's right. Because we work harder than you. >> That's right. Thanks, Mike. >> Our League of Record format is a couple of years ago, we had a vote to add median scoring. So you play one match up per week against your head-to-head opponent, but you're also facing the median score of the league that week. So you can get up to two wins a week. This is something I had resisted for many years. But we have it. Once I experienced a year of it, we added it to our dynasty league. We enjoy the median scoring system, and now when I'm in leagues that don't have it, I'm kind of disappointed. >> When you say, "Oh, after you finally stopped resisting," we added it to the dynasty league. If you weren't with us several years ago and we did this, what happened was we got Andy to vote for it and it went through in our league and we tried it. And then two weeks in, to the season, where you don't usually make in-season changes, Andy led the charge to switch our dynasty league over to median scoring, which I completely agree with you. In the leagues that I am in, where I am 1-0 or 0-1 on a week, it's like, "This is stupid." >> Well, let me explain a little bit of, I think I probably have in my head every argument against it possible, everything I will see against median scoring. My arguments used to be about the consequence of the week, right? If you lose to the second highest scoring team and you have the second most points, so what? I mean, that's the way it goes, them's the brakes, be tough, battle through it. If it doesn't go your way, it doesn't matter. The reason that I got on board wasn't necessarily some fairness argument that like, "Well, if you lose tough luck loss, it's more fair to get an extra win." No. The reason I got on board right away was the entertainment of it. It became very fun. We have games now on Thursday night football and sometimes matchups are nearly settled on Thursday night. Last week, who I was playing against, they didn't have a shot after Thursday night football because of Gibbs and Alan and Amman-Roye was over, but week after week after week, it was entertaining to watch all the way through the end of Monday night because every point scored for every team changes the median score of the league. They're competing against that number. It's more drama, it's more excitement, it's more fun, FUN, more fun. That is the argument for median scoring. Does it mitigate a bad feeling if you get lost or if you lose to a higher scoring team and you scored a bunch? Not really. I mean, it doesn't change that much. Jason was whining all week about barely losing at the dynasty to the, you know, he's still whined the same amount in dynasty. You're darn right, I did. And so it scored the second highest. The median didn't nullify your. No, it did not. No, it did not nullify the pain. That sucked. That's still sucked. Now, but you're also three and one instead of being one and one. Yeah, no, it's definitely better, but it is far more about the fun, the entertainment. That's why we're playing fantasy football. There's more to watch, more to pay attention to, more going on Monday. I pay so much more attention to the rest of the league outside of my matchup before it's like, how am I doing? Or maybe how are you two doing? Like, oh, you're going to win, you're going to lose. Now I care about how's the sixth best team of the week scoring? Because I would like to score more than them. Yeah. And if you want to see more details on our League of Record, Keeper format, the whole league. We have that on the website. You can kind of just, if you want to Google that fantasy football, there's League of Record Keeper format. It has all of the details on there. Let's jump into the news because well, we have some news and notes from around the league. All right, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports, Jackson, Darts, and the injury worse than initially thought. He is expected to have season ending knee surgery in rap report this morning, ACL intact, damage to the PCL, MCL and meniscus. His season is done. Yeah, it seems like it went from, hey, he avoided something. How may he try to get back in the game? It's going to be, you know, not a very big problem to, oh, there's so much damage in that knee. It's a pretty big problem. So, James Winston, Mike, you picked him up on our dynasty league. You paid up for him because you needed him. I ran into a problem of quarterback bywings. So that's a good ad in a dynasty league, Mario, as well. I will say this. I agree with those that believe this Winston will not be the Winston of old. I do not think that it is compatible with the philosophy of Harbaugh to turn the ball over proportional to touchdowns. That's kind of the Winston experience that we've known to love, but there is, there's many and I'm one of them that does not believe that that will be permitted. I think the offense will be, will be protective of the football. I think they're going to say that. Yeah, I think they're going to try Harbaugh's going to try to run the ball, play defense. Manage the game a little bit. However, Winston's going to Winston. I think what we saw this first week was a lot of the Rams defense. So Winston did nothing. I mean, he really didn't, he didn't put up any yardage numbers and he points that, you know, you were writing home about, but a lot of that I think was the Rams defense coming to play and they're very good defense. They had, you know, they've got shut down corners. We've got Aaron Donald there and then Malik neighbors was a little banged up. So I do think it's going to be in between. It's not going to be 5,000 yards, 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions, like Jamest of Old that we loved, but I don't think it's going to be some nerfed backup that can't go out there and throw 300 yards and two touchdowns and two in or seven. They did extend him. So like Harbaugh was a part of this. He was already there when they gave Jamest Winston the new money. That's because he hadn't been playing like that. So it's, no one extends Winston after he's been playing. I agree that Jim Harbaugh will, he doesn't want the Winston style, but I mean, this, if this team is just going to be like, well, we're going to run and we're going to defense and we're going to stay in the game. No, you're not, no, you're not. You will have to start throwing eventually. And then we'll see how reckless Jamest can get on Sundays. I love that it's Winston and Mario the number, the number one and number two pick in whatever year that was. It's like, Hey, it's their time to go again. Yeah, that's, that's wild. We did just get word that Michael Pinnix, not only is he starting on Thursday, but to a, we'll be the backup on Thursday. He is good to go against Green Bay. They made the decision not to start to a right. They did take Cooper rush behind the shed. Oh, okay. And we won't not be seeing him again. So work on the shed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan Brooks on injured reserve out for at least six weeks, core muscle repair surgery, working out. Austin Eckler. I love yesterday's show. I was like, I'm going to do a study on whether or not people are injury prone. And then it's like the most injury prone player is like, uh, it turns out this injury. It's like, I might be okay. Now you're going to injury injured reserve six weeks surgery. Yeah, Alec Pierce officially on IR for at least four weeks. Trying to rehab. Before he may need surgery, recall, daddle day to day, uh, after undergoing tests on his injured toe, and, uh, here we go, bears, fans, Tyson, Baygent. He's in the concussion protocol. If he cannot get through the protocol, which is challenging on one week for anybody. Well, not only that, he didn't get knocked out of the game. So like this was after the game, he clearly went and reported concussion symptoms. The only good news there. They do play on Monday night. So it could be Baygent it could be Case Kingdom. Dude, and it's the Eagles. It. So that is, I mean, I, I would go so far as to say like, I'm, I'm, I'm benching all my bears receivers. I pass catch. I totally get it. This, the bears is like other than injuries. I mean, we've come into fantasy football, but there's always debacles where you had something projected one way and it goes completely sideways and you're not even close. And it's like, it feels like that that's what the bears are right now. But nothing is, we can't, we can't get a normal bears game. Yeah. The first week was an outlandish no defense. The running game took all. Yeah, like Swift and Monunga are just scoring all the time. Second week was crazy. Insane weather. The end of game losing Caleb Williams, which is usually that last, that last driver to is where about 50% of his fantasy points comes from true. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're getting bailed out right now of not starting Rome or Luther or lovelin. It's like because we're to the backup of the backup. We're like, Oh, now we're going to bench him. You should have been benching him. The hard part will be lovelin because you're going to have to go into the dumpster and put a name and like Dalton Schultz and and put and do that on a Sunday and or Monday. I mean, like, yep, uh, this is, I'm doing this. I am making this decision to play Dalton Schultz over a colston lovelin and how does it feel? It's probably the right move. But it's going to hurt your heart. Yeah, it's not great. No Brandon Cook signed to the practice squad for the 49ers. You can see him moved up soon with all their injuries. That makes me a little bit more worried about Mike Evans. Well, they they did say, I know they lost, uh, it was in the context of losing Robinson that the conversation about adding someone happened. Um, they said Kirk was too many weeks away. Christian Kirk, who is on the 49ers in case you're curious. But also injured because he's on the 49ers. Meowson Taylor week to week with a thumb injury. Well, Miss Sunday's game against the Lions most likely a paw injury. Paw. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Hey, that's Matt's joke. Oh, it's okay. I'm getting credit. That one was good. Let's jump into some unsolved mysteries. Unsolved mysteries. Well, uh, this will be fun. We've got two weeks of the NFL season in the books. Last year on this episode, after two weeks, we were worried about rookie running backs. We were panicking about Hampton and Trevo. They were drop candidates in week two. So that was some of last year. Uh, we thought the Eagles passing offense was doomed. Was it? Uh, kind of Javante Williams had a hot start last year. We wanted to know if Javante's performances would continue. And then, uh, apparently Drake London had a slow start. And we wondered if that bridge was falling down. I guess I like it. I guess that's how it was worded. Yeah. Uh, right. So London bridge jokes. Yeah. Come on here. For it. We're better than that. We're not. Uh, did Bryce Young level up? Number one, unsolved mystery for the season. Bryce Young is the quarterback two in fantasy football. It wasn't. I mean, we say, okay, he played Atlanta. That's true. It wasn't as high as scoring fantasy week as high as scoring fantasy week was week one against Chicago, where he scored 31 fantasy points. It's also where he had 361 passing yards. So the bigger thing, three touchdowns in each of the last two weeks, only one interception. So here's his Bryce Young. Did he level up? I will say that he, I was purely, like, from a passing perspective, he was the most impressive morning quarterback on Sunday. I will say he looks different. He looks like he's having fun. He's, you know, he's, he's doing what he wants out there. I think the canal system is working. We have been, you know, uh, supporters of canalus and hopeful that Bryce Young can figure it out through two weeks. We were losing faith. He has, yeah, we were through two weeks. He has looked good. He has played well. The wide receivers, he's got a good core. I mean, you had Darren Waller, who obviously it's not that Darren Waller of old, but around the, you know, in the red zone, having that as someone three touchdowns, you know, into back-to-back weeks for Bryce Young is great. Teteroa, Coker and Darren Waller. That's a really nice trifecta of receivers. However, I do think like the matchups are pretty darn easy so far. Chicago Bears, we left that game going. Their defense was terrible. They had some injuries in pre-season. It looked like they were not prepared for it at Atlanta. I want to remind you guys, it wasn't terrible. And we, I mean, Chicago's defense was better than we too. Sure. The rain was the 12th man. But last year in Atlanta, Bryce Young was 448 yards and three touchdowns. I mean, you would have said he figured it out. He was unbelievable. Then he threw 169, 206, 163, 191, 54. Like, so I am, I am more skeptical that he figured it out. I'm very hopeful. I will say he has looked good two games in a row. He is young enough where we saw this from Trevor Lawrence last year. Trevor Lawrence was a player who was a disappointment for what he was supposed to be. Couple years into his career, while he's still young, with a good offensive coordinator figured it out. And I think we all would say Trevor Lawrence figured it out. He's a very good quarterback. I'm hopeful that's Bryce Young, but I, I mean, really, what's their matchup this week? I don't know Bryce Young's current matchup for this coming week, but that's like Cleveland. Should be fine. That's a perfect test for him, because that is a decent defense. Should be fine. Here's what is different, though, is when you think of what the Carolina Panthers have been the last couple of years, it's the Chuba Hubbard year. It's last year's combo of Chuba and Rico. Like, this was a, this was a run team. The Carolina Panthers are currently playing the fastest of any team in the NFL. Their, their play is at 23 seconds per play. And they're just like, so they're getting a whole bunch of extra plays in and the Carolina Panthers are number one in neutral pass rate right now. This is a, they, they've turned it over. They said, hi, I have tat MacMillan and Jalen Koch are two premier wide receivers like they're like, let's stop doing this. Stop doing the run and then having Bryce Young have to figure it out. What if we let Bryce Young be the engine of the team? And so far through two weeks, not only is it we're passing all the time, they're playing super fast. So this like, this looks like a, looks like something that I would buy into 8.9 yards per attempt, which is blowing away all of his career. That's fantastic. 10.5 yards averaged up the target. I think the unlock, the health of Jalen Kocher has been crucial to this offense for sure. And to have a red zone threat like Waller, we're now your option one down around the goal and might be, you know, Jason brought him up to involve Waller. It is something to watch. It's two weeks, but it is something to watch. Where do you think from week three through 17? Bryce Young is the quarterback. What? 10. I think 20. I'm more on Andy side of like, if this is the new, if this is the new way that the Caroline Panthers are going to run it, then they're just, there will be yards. Either they go out there and they pass and they succeed and we're like, fantastic for Bryce Young or he goes out and he fails. And he has to keep passing more. So I'm, I think I'm in. I think I'm in. Yeah, I mean, terrifying. It is. It looks different philosophically. I think that was a good point. We'll take a break and we'll come back with another unsolved mystery. All right. Unsolved mystery number two, ironic, because last year through two weeks, we were bringing up the hot start. Now it's a slow start. Javonte Williams. Will the slow start continue for cowboys running back Javonte through two weeks. He's averaging 2.96 yards per carry. Whoa, he's all the way there. Yeah. 50% of his yards have gone for two or fewer yards. Yeah. That's, that's the ones I've seen. Did I say 50% of his yards? I did say that. 50% of his runs. 50% of his runs. (laughing) He is 42nd out of 43 running backs in terms of first downs, two of them on 24 carries. He has not been the engine, right? And one might point to an offensive line that is dead last in yards before contact in terms of how they're first of on tape. No, because Javante gets what's blocked. Correct. You know, and he does it consistently. Or held, he had a really nice, wrong run last week on a holding penalty that came back. That's true. That's true. He, a hold or a block. I mean, who's the saying? I will say this, Mike and I, over the first two weeks, over and over, and over while watching are like, woof. Yes. He looks like him, sometimes you watch a player and you go, man, he's been squeezed. Nothing is happening for this guy. He can't get any blocking. He can't get protection. But whenever we see Javante doing anything, he looks slow. You know, it's like, you say, will this slow start continue? That is very well worth it because it feels like he is carrying extra pounds or so. He's got a flat jacket on. I don't know what's going on. He does not look good. So I'm all for one, 12 for 41, 12 for 30. He got saved a little bit in week one because he got into the in zone. That is what you are hoping for. Two touchdowns, week one. Oh, that's right. He got a receiving test. Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I am very worried from what I have seen. I love the fact that there's a player playing 71% 80% of the snaps for a good offense. So I'm not like bailing on a workhorse back for a good offense, but I am worried about his actual, you know, physical ability. His, you know, opportunity is greater sign than ability for the running back position and fancy for ball. And his opportunity is great, but man, he does not look good. I might make him a by low candidate in a week or two when we start to get closer to the return of Tyler Smith on the offensive line because he's on IR. He's a pro baller. They need him, but it, you know, the thing about Dallas is if the running game's not working, we know it's going to happen. They're going to throw the ball. They're going to chuck it and they're going to have success doing that. We're going to do OK. The next two weeks are very difficult. They're playing against the Baltimore Ravens and then the Houston Texans. No, that's why he said two weeks. Yes. No, it's fair. I mean, I tend to find myself kind of in the middle on him, like not quite ready to, like I saw enough over a long period of time last year to where I'm willing to wait another week or two. But the Baltimore Houston matchup is a little bit concerning in terms of, like, I guess you just keep starting him. Yeah, the offensive line injury is a legitimate thought process because this is a player who gets what is given to him. He's not going to create on his own at this stage. But he, you know, if he has holes, if he has places to run, and right now he just doesn't. So do you know the timeline on that injury? Week five is the earliest he can return. So that's the, that's the targeted return week five. And the upside case is just the offense, because even the, even the passing game hasn't been fully clicking. Like CDLAM monster game, but we need both CD and George to get cooking because that'll turn into a bunch of touchdown opportunities. But it really does feel like Javante Williams is as good as the amount of pass interference in the end zone on George Pickens. Which feels is awesome at that. It's so good at drawing PI. Yeah, I think George Pickens is near the top of the list of reasons why you want to give like a point to receiver this that causes a PI. All right, guys, this one's even harder. The Mike McDaniel mystery is Mike McDaniel a good offensive coordinator. There are two teams, there are two teams in the history of the world. And you're going to love it that have lost back to that home games by double digits against team teams with a sub two hundred win percentage the previous year. It is the 2026 Los Angeles Chargers in the 1926 racing tornado. One hundred years ago and the tornadoes dissolve the very next game. They're like, we're out of here. I think some fans of the Chargers may hope for it dissolving soon. It has been an utter embarrassment for the charter. 26 to 14 both weeks at home against two bad teams. And then the gauntlet of the schedule coming up. I mean, I how do you evaluate Mike McDaniel at this juncture? They have another offensive line injury. You have your best wide receiver buy a lot apparently by a lot injured. Yes, wearing a flank jacket. And because everybody else that they asked to step up last week either got hurt or dropped the ball or both. I remember years ago, which is not on Mike McDaniel or Herbert. When this guy Mike McDaniel was hired kind of surprisingly to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, we kind of reached out to juice. Shout out juice. You're awesome. Kyle use check. Kyle use check and ask like, is this guy the real deal? And he he said some really good things about Mike McDaniel that he's he's very good, very creative, very smart and he had and he was. He had a lot of success. I will say that the dolphins just a reminder. The dolphins which are now going to be the worst team in the NFL. They were seven and 10 in the AFC East last year. I so that it's so I don't it's weird man. When we watched the first quarter and a half of week one, the charges offense seemed fine. Lad McConkey gets injured and they couldn't do anything. The plays where lad was in last week looked okay. I just don't know if if lad is gone. I don't know if they have the weapons to move. I was going to say is it a personnel issue? The the thing that I would push back on is that you know Kyle Shanahan has been dealt impossible hands with impossible depth problems and injuries. Quarterbacks running backs. Watchers for countless years. And then you go out there and the offense looks the same the next week. It's Joanne Jennings or it's Kendrick Bourne. Or it's or the 49ers have down years. Yeah, the 49ers not not many. No, but when they're down, they're like the. I know we talked about it, but we thought, you know, we thought it'd be worse this year and they look like a machine even with the injuries. I'm just saying like. I think that the personnel they've put together enough players in Los Angeles for the offense to be like you already blame Greg Roman once. And you supposedly came back and fixed all these issues. I hear what you're saying. It's harbors fault. Perfect. I think it's a it's a combination of factors. I think they have had very poor performances from their players that are independent of Mike McDaniel and Herbert. Drops they've been nasty. Drops that turn into interceptions like where you hit a wide receiver in the hand and he's like, oh, let me give it to the defense. But I mean 30th in EPA per play. 30th in percentage of drives resulting in a score. 31st in turnover differential. Are they pressing easy buttons? I don't know. I haven't seen it yet. There's no way we can have an unsolved mystery here and come in here and say something positive about what the offense has done yet. Correct. It's just can you go out and perform and when you look at the schedule, it's it's a really tough like I am not afraid to play defenses against the charges right now. Right. Like I'd be the matchups that are coming up like I used to be scared of them. And I feel like there's going to be a stress and a strain that just increases with every loss. Like are they going to win in Buffalo this week? No. I mean, that would be Chargers like for the game to be closed. That would be the most Chargers thing. I mean, the line's only seven. That's a pretty big one. Yeah, that's a pretty big one. I mean, when you're in Buffalo and they're and they're 2 and 0, I just think that's a low line. I'm taking Buffalo to win to cover the spread. Yeah, I mean, of course to win. Yeah, I mean, I think that that is I think that I will definitely take Buffalo to cover the spread based on what I've seen of the Chargers. I'm just saying that I'm surprised a little bit that that's not 10 and a half. Yeah, I do think Mike McDaniel is good. He couldn't have done what he did with the dolphins with Tua who was not a good quarterback. Don't things wear off though. Yeah, I mean, certainly don't you do cool stuff. I mean, that would happen in Miami. In Miami, they'd play they'd be the leading like two over lead the league and passing yards through four weeks. And then the offense would start to get into a funk and decline. That happened multiple years. Yeah, I mean, he did lead the league in yardage for an entire season to a dead. So I was the Tyreek debut year. Yeah, I mean, it was very nice to have Tyreek and Jalen Wattel out there, which is why I think they need Lad McConkey. They need their number one wide receiver. If he's gone, it's really tough. We haven't really, I mean, was Mike McDaniel? Was he the OC for the 49ers when he was, you know, before the dolphins? Because obviously, as a head coach, he was in charge of all of the offense for the dolphins. He was the OC in 2021 before he became the head coach. I think Mike McDaniel is still a good, is still a good offensive mind. Man, it feels so, so hard. To be supportive to the chargers. Do they bounce that? I mean, you have to say if you believe that I think the offense, I think the offense bounces forward certainly. Like, I just don't know if it's a enough bounces forward. - Like, is that the opposite of bouncing back? - Don't start this. - I bounce back means that you. - But what are they returning to? They were never really great. - Not under McDaniel, but I don't know if you're bouncing far away today. - I think they will get better, is what I'm saying. - That's fine. I don't know if it happens, because I don't think they have enough of the pieces in place. - He may not have the one particular guy he needs. - You lost two big tight ends. - Time to kill. - Yeah, time to kill. - Yeah, I mean, Tyree Kill wasn't a cheat code that year. - Yes, for two years. - Yeah. All right, let's talk Thursday night. (upbeat music) Thursday night break down. The only way you can upgrade a, you know, Buffalo Detroit Thursday night is to get yourself some Atlanta Green Bay. - Nice. Atlanta, oh and two, taking on the Green Bay Packers, who are one and one, Vegas Line Green Bay minus five and a half over under 43 and a half. It's at Lambo Field, and we have not seen many quarters of impressive offensive football from these two franchises, zero for the Falcons. And at least one good one for the Packers. - Quarter? - Yeah. - In two games? - Yeah, yeah. - So I did a good first half against Minnesota. - I said at least one, it could be two. - I'll give him two. - The Falcons are the fourth team since 1978 to go their first two games without a play in the red zone. So when you look at the fantasy output of Beach on Robinson, and recognize that they have run zero plays in the red zone. Like, it's pretty much as bad as it could be on offense, and he's still going to catch a lot of check downs and things of that nature. Green Bay, they've been past heavy so far. The running game has been a mixture of Marshawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks and Caleb Johnson, and that mixture has resulted in inefficiencies, I think, on the offensive side of the football. - Yeah. What do we think happens with the running backs? - I think you're going to see Caleb Johnson get more looks. - Get more run, because he had, he fumbled, right? Am I remembering that? - Yeah, sort of Marshawn Lloyd. - Yeah, but-- - Caleb got it back. They got it back, and then I think Marshawn they lost it. - And Lloyd had the nice receiving touchdown. I mean, Chris Brooks has been on the season. He has the snaps. - He's four for 11 last game. - Yeah, he has not been good. I mean, honestly-- - He takes the most snaps because they trust him, I think, in some passing blocking situations. - When watching, and I know it's difficult for me to be the one to say, but genuinely when watching the game, Caleb Johnson looks like an explosive athlete. - Yeah, the other two. - The other two's not. We were watching the three of us together in the studio, and I didn't even know who it was. As some back just got the ball and looked good for the first time in forever for the packers. I was like, oh, dude, there you go, there's some juice. And then it was like, that was Caleb Johnson's first touch. It was like, give him the ball. I hope he is more involved. I still do believe very much that what has been proven is that this team needs Josh Jacobs. - Well, they also need a healthy Tucker craft. And his snap count jumping up from-- - And then your healthy offensive line. - 50 something percent to 98% is a big deal. I think the Tucker craft breakout will be coming. They paid him the top tier tight in money. But last week, the weather was rough, right? I mean, wasn't that another one of the weather games? - Yes, it was. - Against New York, and you did not get the performance. But I do think that unlocking-- they lost Jaden Rhee. He's gonna be out. Golden and Watson. I don't feel like they have a possession receiver right now. - Yeah. - Like that's not how it feels. - No, that's not a guy that's gonna-- - Yeah, Watson's not gonna give you 11 catches. Like, you need Tucker craft to get the offense going. And they need to start drawing up plays for him. - But they-- - Did you see the report, this is from Graziano, said the packers talked about using Tucker craft at one of the offensive line positions at one point during week two. After four offensive linemen, left Sunday's game due to injury. - Yeah, that's been a massive issue. They lost what they put one of them on their offensive tackle on IR. Zach Bako-Bueli. Oh, gosh. I shouldn't have tried that. Should have stuck with offensive linemen. - They gone. - ZBB. - I'm sure that, let me throw it over the doosters 'cause the packer fan over there knows his name. What's his name again? - Zach Bako-Bueli. - Okay, you got the thing. - Wow. - I looked dumb right there. - Okay. - I don't think so. - Block my jeans. - I think Owl looked good. - Okay. - That was really impressive. - Yeah, you have no idea if it was right. - Oh, you dirty dog. - You said it was as confident. - Oh, you can't reveal that. - That was so fun. - No one would have ever known other than his mom. - Wow, no, you're probably right. Honestly, he hears that. He's like, that is how it's said. - Okay, so. - It's Bako-Bueli. - We've started Christian Wantsons. - We start Matthew Golden. You starting Tuckercraft? - Yes. - 98% of snaps. - Yes. - Are you starting any of the running backs? - No. - I don't think you can. - Jordan Love, would you start? Jordan Love are like Jared Goff this week. Jared Goff. How about Tyler Schuck? - Or Jordan Love. - Schuck. - What about Drake May? - Oh, I think you might have found it. - Yeah. - Yoinks. - Drake London first week with a non-Cuperush quarterback. Are you just starting him? - 100%. If I look at it. - If I look at it. - If I look at it. - Not quite as I would. - What are we gonna say about London? - So with London, if you look at the games where he played with Michael Pinnock's last year, we have proof of this. He was on pace for 180 targets. - That's a lot. - He was the Y-D-C-V-5. He was the Y-D-C-V-1. He was the Y-D-C-V-1 on a week. Like, he had massive performance with Michael Pinnock's. He also had B-J-On on pace for over 100 targets. So the consolidation there, the ability to get these two stars, the ball, not necessarily in great conditions. They're not gonna be just destroying the field for yards after the catch, because, you know, they're getting them from Michael Pinnock's. But he can get the ball to them. You have seen, we have enough evidence of great fantasy output from both Drake London and B-J-On with Michael Pinnock's in there. So I believe that like London should be a star to the week. Because people might be very afraid to play London and you should not be. He should be in every single lineup. - Play B-J-On, play London, log out. - Are you moving away from Pits? - I'm not necessarily moving away from him. He's, I mean, at the tight end position, or Colston Loveland with. - Oh, Pits, oh, oh, I don't know how you start Loveland right now. He's got one catch and he's got the third string quarterback. - Pits, I think, is somebody that we just haven't been able, it's like London. You just haven't been able to see what the offense can do. Now, going to Lambo on Thursday night football for the first start since an injury. I wouldn't be dialing up a big game from these guys personally. We'll see. We'll see what happens. - Yeah, and we'll also see what happens in pregame warmups. We'll see which quarterback decides that they don't want to play. - So the decides that they're hurt. We'll take a break, we'll jump into some mail bag. - All right, let's do it. - Mail bag. - Presented by Paramount Plus. - Okay, yeah, the people hate it. People hate what you do there. - No flourish. - I didn't get it. - No flourish. - You can't flourish. - I don't know, not on a day like today. - You could have a baby flourish. - Yeah, you could have seen. Proved it. If you have a question, go to the website dfantasyfootballers.com. Click that submit a question about your dial, our voicemail hotline 302.464.tffb. We'll start off with a voicemail. - Either this is Brian in Minneapolis, St. Paul. And I just have a quick one. Is Patrick Mahomes back? What are your thoughts? - It looks like it, and you wanna know the difference? Matt freaking nag. He's going like, I mean. (laughing) You know, we talked about this with Rushdie Rice, and the fact that he's not being utilized the way he was the last couple of years. Which, the way he was utilized was really good for him for fantasy football. It was not good for the chiefs. It was not like a very good, you know, EPA play. And now all of a sudden, the chiefs offense looks much better. They've got the enemy back. It's, I mean. - We all know that. - Indies defense is not that great. - We all know what happened to the chiefs, Jason. Hit the button. - Oh, yeah. - Oh, I got it. - Enter the bone zone. - Bone walker. - Yeah. - Oh, just that one, huh? - No, like Ken Walker on the chiefs. It's not inside the 20. That is the bone zone. It is the field. Well, let's see. - Once he's on, he's in the zone. - Here's what makes Patrick Mahomes dangerous. And if you want to argue for him being back, it's, he's only going to get stronger as the year goes on in terms of being able to pick his spot to in running the football and being confident on the leg. Him running was, is like, but shocking. But the thing that makes Patrick Mahomes exceptionally dangerous and this team dangerous offensively is Ken Walker. Not because of Walker's production, but because of the fact that now you have play action and you have a deep. defense. That has to account for, you know, one of the best backs in the game, a tackle breaking, you know, you have to gang tackle this guy. You have to keep people down on the line of scrimmage. And like, it's not like we're hyper impressed with any of the targets that Mahams has. Yeah. Well, Kelsey is good, but I'm saying like we don't have, there's not the big name out there, right? This is tyquon forten. This is, you know, not players that you're individually starting. Rashi Rice has not been wildly productive, but it's because the fact he can spread the ball around and they can play action pass and pick the spots and take deep shots around the goal. Around the goal line, what I've seen through two weeks is what we, like if we think about like the last decade and what we think of chiefs and, and Mahams and the fantasy outpouring, it's like it's back. It's creative. It's, there was a play where it was like, you know, they rolled out on play action, which you have to play the play action on get it's lockery rolls out to the right. And he can run it in or there's Rashi rice or Xavier worthy or Travis Kelsey and two defenders. And it's like you, they did a great job covering some of the options, but the designs were so good. It was just easy, so easy for Mahams to, he could have just picked whatever he wanted, whoever was open, throw the touchdown to him. I mean, he's got three touchdowns through two weeks. And I, I think, I think Mahams for a fantasy purposes, when he's around the goal line, it's kind of like how Jalen hurts has the push push. He gets kind of free touchdowns. The, the tap pass for Mahams and the designs around the goal line, I think he's going to have a ton of touchdowns. I, I believe he's back for fantasy. Let me ask you the same question. What six touchdowns? Yes. He said three. Well, I'm at three each week, three, three, three week one, one rushing two passing and three passing touchdowns week two. Same question as Bryce Young from week three on Patrick Mahams is the quarterback. What? Five. Oh gosh. That's hyper bullish for a guy that's been way outside of the for the rest of the years. I would put in the quarter back 11 the last year, Bryce Young, every week or Patrick Mahams, every home is easy. Mahams for me, maybe eight or nine is where I would put him. I look, it, not every game is going to be 47 pass attempts. And that's what we got in week two, because Indianapolis kept up, right? Yeah. I mean, Miami this week, you better get it early, because if they're out ahead of this thing, you're not going to need to throw the ball 47 times. Well, he only threw the ball 27 times in week one, but he's still around the goal line. Got the touchdowns. Yeah. 184 yards passing. But over 20 fantasy points was a, was a great week. I would feel far more confident with Mahams for turning. I mean, we've, we've kind of just waited years of like, what is going on? Why? What happened? Like, Mahams is, it still looks like he's a nice, he's a great player. I'm Matt naggy. And I mean, maybe we're oversimplifying things, but the Kenneth Walker edition is just so if you say yes or no, what is your answer? Jason said yes. You know, what's my question? This Patrick Mahams back. Oh, I would say yes. All right. I would say no. Lane and Idaho. Hey, guys, I've got a tough one for you. Would you rather have Javante Williams or Jeremiah love for the rest of the season? Oh, I would probably take my shot on Jeremiah love in that situation. Interesting. So I mean, this is litter. This is, this is talent versus opportunity. Javante will, like the contract of Javante, the fact that Malik Davis, who had been, was being prepped to be the RB two, got hurt right before the season started. It's Javante's backfield. So you, then how do we feel about does Jeremiah love actually take over or the Cardinals? He'll get more and more work as the season goes along. That is just for sure. I mean, that happens for all of these rookie running backs. So especially for it happens for rookie runners, not for the, what, number three overall pick. Yeah, I mean, he could be coming back from the ankle still. Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's a fair, fair point. This is an easy, Jeremiah love for me. If I could trade Javante, if I have him in any league, I would go and offer him for love right now. And I would expect you're going to get that turned down. Yep. But it, it's definitely love. I was just looking at, I was so curious about the Matt Nagy years. Here's my home's fantasy finish. I know there's a lot more. There's Tariq and my home's just like, I'm four quarter back one, four, four, one, gets Matt Nagy, eight, eleven, eleven. Matt Nagy's gone. How many Super Bowls did they win in those years? Oh, that's fine. I mean, I don't, I don't give a crap about that. Yeah, we're not the Superbowl lures. Well, I, yeah, I mean, it's, no, I get it. I, for fantasy purposes, I understand it. But winning, like, Matt Nagy should get credit for that part of the equation. Right. But now they'll, they'll probably win with a lot of points. Yeah, they were winning before Matt Nagy with a lot of points. It's, it's awesome. All right. Another voicemail question. Hi. This is Courtney from Wisconsin. I was calling to see if you think I should bench burrow for Shucks, considering he has now outperformed and scored in three weeks in a row. Thanks. Oh, man, uh, versus burrow this week. So Shucks gets the Las Vegas Raiders. Joe Burrow plays the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh's been one of the best defenses so far in the league. And I mean, those AFC North matchups, they can get dirty. I have. But, but I think the Raiders defense is, is outstanding. If they're the number one defense, by the way, fantasy wise, the Raiders. Yeah. So I mean, they're two weeks. So I don't think either one is a cupcake. I like the fact that Shucks at home. I think in Pittsburgh is a challenge. Uh, I lean the Shucks side. Man, that's so crazy. But I didn't know if you didn't give me the matchups. I'd say just stick with burrow for more time. But I lean Shucks this week. I agree. Exactly what you're saying. If obviously burrow is better than Shuck. The rest of the season I would much rather have you're playing matchups this week. I think you stay in the flames with Shuck leading the league in passing volume. The last time I think we saw Joe burrow in Pittsburgh, he was the quarterback 18 through a touchdown and Tyler Shuck is dominating every single start sick question on our website. So we have a good reason to start sit to a Tyler Shucker Bryce young Tyler Shucker Jared got Tyler Shucker Joe burrow Tyler Shucker Drake made Tyler Shucker Jordan love because you want to know whether you should stay in the flames or not. And you know, it's been it's been good for Tyler Shuck. Um, the Baltimore game wasn't some like wild. I guess he had the rushing touchdowns. Yes, which was he had the rushing touch at the very end. Yeah. I mean, I was going to say it's been 23, 22 points. Um, would you play Tyler Shucker Bryce young right now? I mean, Bryce young has scored more in both weeks. Um, it's Cleveland man. I probably would play Bryce young this week. I told you, I'm worried about Calvin Banks being out combined with Matt's crossby this week. I don't blame you. So I it's I mean, it's Tyler Shuck went out there and it wasn't quite as strong this week. I would not be shocked. Okay. So based on what you're saying, what we just said, and I, I don't know if we're going to scrub the tape after we can do that. We have that bill. Yeah, we can we can who knows where we're recording. What was just said was the order of starts should go. Oh gosh. Yeah, you did. Oh, you did. You did. Oh man. Yeah. Tyler Shuck. Joe burrow. Disgusting. Yeah. I think we do you have these four to two. Make a note right now. Of this moment. Clip it. And I want to come back next week and see if we were right or wrong with the final results. But yes, that is my final answer. Also, if we're wrong, please do not bring it. Yeah. Well, I don't know about this. We stuff. Yeah, right. Young over Joe burrow. Oh gosh. I said that. You did. And you know what? If you're right, that did all the glory goes to you and you alone. Yeah, you're doing a high dog. I'm happy to do it for you. I want to say one more thing about bright soon. There is a chance that we have the magical equation in place with Carolina's defense, not being good enough on a regular basis. Like part of what we want to see, it might have said racist, right? No, you just went southern for a little bit. They're like ISIS. Ah, I do declare. I do declare. Press young's defense is not they're good. But they're the Panthers offense. It's it's magical. Like you play fast, you throw more than you're supposed to and your defense is not that great. Cincinnati's defense is look vastly improved. Yes. Yes. Like the Saints have a good defense as well. Their defense is much better than Carolina's. I have through two weeks. Like, like, do we think that Dishon Watson can get some stuff done against Carolina this week? Probably they can probably move the football against Carolina. So I from a game script perspective, the way that Cincinnati's defense has been playing in Pittsburgh's defense. What's the over under that game? I mean, that game's got to be like 40 points. That is 40 and a half points. I bet. That's my guess. I don't know which game. Cincinnati Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. We got and that's the 42 and a half I'm seeing. Yeah. I mean, that's and what's that? What's the over under in the Carolina game? 42 and a half son of a gun. But here's what I'll say. Son of a gun. Carolina. It's it's harder to buy in because we have we have the track record is. Oh, we don't have to persuade anybody to believe in Bryce Young for this year. It was like this. Zero chance apps. Yes, the track record. I think might still be the position. The track record is not just sandman in our in our Because he puts you to sleep because he's so boring. You can that was sand man. That was a throw away from years I don't remember anything about who is right young on our site. It says he's with sand man. I don't remember that Delete it Jason. I will delete that as long as I can add me Alvin Harrison. Yes, please take that happen One moment, please Can I get the computer computer computer? What are you what God's name are you doing? I just tried to switch the page and Oh, okay, that wasn't like you thinking you were making an editorial change not at all a decision Okay, well the computer confirmed it so meowson hair of his Harrison junior is there and There's no more Mr. Sandy here. Let me get through this Because the track record is not just nonexistence where you're like like with Tyler Shock Like he could be great. We just don't he could be a boat. We don't know yet Bryce Young's track record awful Awful so this would be even more surprising but This was the storm that made the Cincinnati bangles and the Dallas Cowboys the best for fantasy football last year High-powered potent offense that has to throw all the time because their defense stinks and if they really are gonna trust Bryce Young Look we all believe in Teterola McMillan. I didn't like him in the draft because I Like we have Bryce Young's the link to throw for 200 yards of game. Yep. That was your argument then your drafting amount is sealing I did not see this as a potential outcome for the Panthers But maybe you want them like at least take some put a couple chips into this and see what happens. I mean right now That Lane is not winning this division. Correct. No way. The sample doesn't look like it sucks right now I would still take the Saints to win but those are the two team but fantasy purposes We might we might have a That's what I'm saying. We might have some George Clooney Marky Mark happening right now. This could be perfect storm Yeah, it could be yeah movies. Okay, so I like what does this mean for a hub? Is this is Hubbard someone that you should be trading for because well, especially with well I don't know that you can get a cash set football You can trade for a right promise is not untouchable. Yeah, no, but you Would you trade Javonte way people my Hubbard? Yes. Oh My gosh. Yeah, they want what I trade Javonte. I don't know if I do that. I don't know if I'd have the guts That's that I mean I that one is like I don't think I would do it But I can easily see the path for Hubbard being better. Maybe you could get who dares wins This guy back behind him right now Yeah, and uh, would you rather have Chuba rest of season or Traveon rest of season Jason Traveon He said that very definitively. I still think Traveon's gonna be very good He can whiff on a bunch of past plays. He can run for two yards of carry on 80% of his carries And I think he has a fine fantasy season because he's gonna break the podium Not there Is his I don't know if he wasn't paying attention or you didn't like the question. I don't think he Understood the question. Yeah If you don't know what we're talking about he had a he had a moment It Traveon Henderson at a moment at a press conference where he was asked about like It doesn't matter what he was asked about he had no idea what was happening He asked the guy like four times and was basically like Okay, I don't know what you're saying. It is a dumb question. Uh, it was a dumb question. No, I think Yeah, those will be some interesting guys over the back half of the season. Well, so uh AJ Dylan to answer your question Negative rushing arts last week How many carries though? Three Impressive Total two men carries to have negative yard. Yeah, if you're on one carry. Yeah, okay. Yeah Three attempts and total you went backwards. I've never doubted that AJ Dylan wants to do well. Oh, yeah I believe in his heart is in the right place. That was the mailback presented by Paramount plus Paramount plus is a streaming home to the NFL on CBS all season long. See you Sunday all right Thursday we got starts of the week matchup previous Friday the Thursday night recap matchups the wheel of shame so much going on and you can be a part of our fantasy football community Support this independent podcast head to join the foot calm. We have the ultimate dashboard premium in season tools We got the footcast which comes out tomorrow bonus episodes for supporters of the podcast and so much more We're working on some some upgraded trade analyzer tools. I saw a little bit of a preview of that yesterday But we keep improving the app improving the The products for you guys and you can learn more on how to be a part of it at join the foot calm We will say goodbye for today And then tomorrow I'll just try to do better on the welcome mic. I don't want to let you down again. Thank you by the people Goodbye Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast Join our fantasy football community on join the foot calm and follow us on Twitter at the ff ballers [BLANK_AUDIO]