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Speaker 2Learn more at staples.com. Welcome to the
Speaker 3Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.
Speaker 2Welcome in. Okay. We're trying something new. Listen. Welcome into the show, the Fantasy Footballers. We're back again. Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. I don't know if the people know this, but we are two shows away from 2,000. So this is episode 1,998. We should also celebrate if we reach the amount of shows that it took me to hit a hole-in-one. 2,399 should be a good show.
Speaker 4We'll dedicate that one.
Speaker 2to andy's hole thank you thank you which is shorthand for uh my hole-in-one
Speaker 4yeah you can't i mean you can't have a hashtag just to be super clear hashtag andy's hole-in-one challenge this is gonna take way too
Speaker 2many characters but i just noticed once again we are in matching tops we have all got black on today and these are things that nobody probably notices but like i'm sure people we've had we've had a weird run like we don't we don't check with or care what each other wears but we've had some weird runs lately where it's like i'm gonna wear a purple shirt for the first time in like six months and somebody else wears a purple shirt i
Speaker 4show up looking like grimace i do have purple pants on oh look at that which
Speaker 2grimace on the bottom yeah party on top or i don't know how that works uh we got a great show today uh news and thursday night break oh and next friday
Speaker 4is the halloween episode uh oh my gosh we might need to get on
Speaker 2that yeah are we finalized then i don't know i think mike is grimace i think is what we learned oh yeah i'll just wear these pants and the purple and the purple top yeah that's it um but yeah we got episode 2000 on friday i do not know what is happening but i'm supposed to have a phone call today about something to do with episode 2000 so i'm i'm expecting how this will there'll be some festivities we're gonna
Speaker 3sprinkle in some fun things yeah oh
Speaker 2that's good well then we got the halloween episode the following week we had waivers just go through we have the megaloball happening right now where show me your touchdowns is still in first place wow and uh we're not doing good with the names here so i'm not reading the rest of them um but somebody's winning and other people are in second third
Speaker 4let me have a look at this ah yes yeah reference to a dinosaur yeah you're gonna
Speaker 2take that one on mike i don't remember that dinosaur uh i want my baby back gibbs is number five right now jason even though you're 12 and 0 you were in 696th place so top percentile do better yeah do better uh the ultimate dashboard and all the premium tools available to the community at join the foot.com the website's the fantasy footballers.com unless the internet broke today uh our quick question matt in colorado where do you rank josh jacobs oh boy among running backs for the rest of the season we do have our rest of season rankings as part of the foot clan i'm curious where you guys currently have him he's been moving around i mean the honest truth is this we don't know what we don't know if josh jacobs is back and playing it is quite evident that the packers currently have zero running backs that can produce for this team so they can say what they want about easing him back in or he's keeping himself in shape but he doesn't have practice these are some of the comments that are coming out we feel he's in a pretty good spot said matt lafleur on uh monday he's been training he's missed the exposure to football blah blah blah yada yada look if something doesn't happen with the nfl intervening they still have a bad offensive line yep he's still he has a season where he missed if you remember this he's almost 29 years old he missed a lot of time going into one of the seasons with the raiders oh the fat thor year fat thor year and that whole season was a lack of production it's not like we haven't seen it'd be one thing to be like derrick henry's derrick henry and he always ends up derrick henry jacobs has had a complete down year before and it was going into free agency where the packers paid him a bunch of money so i don't think there's a range of outcomes is my point i think he will get all the work for this team unless the there is going to be the overhanging possibility that the league intervenes at some point in time extends these time served expansion decides they they get a hold of the video they decide they're going to make another determination something happens blah blah blah that risk factor is there if i were to just take all that into account and i don't i'll mess with my rest of season rankings and i was just to pick a spot for him rest of season there's a number that jumps out to me and i'm curious where you guys have him for me i have him at like rb 16 yeah i think
Speaker 1that's the right spot i think right around running back 15 you i think that that is running back 15 is the right spot for him is about what his floor should be not necessarily this week oh my rest of
Speaker 2season i'm at 17 right
Speaker 1coming in but i i do think on a week-to-week basis he should be at least about running back 15 the rest of the way and carries that risk now that's not his upside case that is i think the case of like um this offensive line is not good he's been out of football and he's a little older therefore about running back 15 the upside case you know we he played last year and he was he was the running back like five until he got injured he was dominating and it really comes down to for him he is a touchdown machine yeah he is still on a great offense the packers are scoring say what you want about the offensive line being bad they're going to have plenty of goal line opportunities with this offense especially with jacobs added in and he will be the guy all the opportunity in the world was given to marshawn lynch and company if marshawn lynch today would have done better than marshawn lloyd i think you are correct um and and what they showed is they need to be off the field so uh you know i don't know if this week jacobs gets all the work i think next week
Speaker 2there's a couple names ahead of him in rest of season rankings that make me go hmm a guy if i said chase brown or josh jacobs chase brown we're all doing chase brown right yeah if i said genti or genti okay though the jaylen warren that's the one name that i'm like sure that's because warren right now i have
Speaker 1higher no i i would i would rather uh have jacobs the thing for jacobs
Speaker 4deandre swift swift swift easily so i mean i think i don't think
Speaker 2there's other names that
Speaker 4you're going to debate karen williams you're not going to debate last year what it it's difficult to me for for jacobs of production wise because last year was it was volume and touchdowns he was overall he was not efficient like many many games under four yards of carry like this is and i know he's getting goal line so it's like we'll bring it down but he to me wasn't the same player but he was scoring in an outrageous clip you know for like three years in a row sure but he is that we're now a player who hasn't taken a snap yet they are in 30 for going into
Speaker 231st ranked offensive line as of seven hours ago on pff so that what were they there's only one worse jason it's the chargers um look my
Speaker 4question for two years ago what would what was their offensive line i don't know if we have access to that data it can't be as bad as it is this year are
Speaker 2you looking into that jay no
Speaker 4okay okay so i mean i did not volunteer sixth they were six they were sixth overall in 2024 i am not nearly as optimistic on jacobs outlook as you guys i mean he will score
Speaker 2i think 16 is is i think that's a bit
Speaker 4too high i would have him around in the
Speaker 220s let me give you names behind him
Speaker 4i'm running back to saquon get um the injury yeah that one's tough guys that one is actually tough that one's because i don't really like
Speaker 2that seems jacobs to me um but i have other names bruce hall bruce hall is his
Speaker 4own conversation because nope part of this one well i'm saying no i know i say that the conversation you have to you have to steer it over because braylon allen has not just been the guy for the jets braylon allen's been good and like it so what is your answer if you had to choose between bruce Paul and Jacobs? Jason. Probably Brees.
Speaker 2Cam Scataboo? Jacobs. And one more tough one, real tough, Jeremiah Love. If you had Jeremiah Love or Josh Jacobs?
Speaker 1I would go Jeremiah Love. I still think that the end of season, when he gets over the ankle injury, he is a truly elite special talent, and they will use him at the end of the year. It's going to be a slog to get there, but it'll be worth it.
Speaker 2All right. I mean, there are a lot of Jacobs questions coming in, like would you trade Chris Olave for Josh Jacobs? No. I mean, I would not. If you had an abundance of wide receivers, that still seems like too much.
Speaker 4You can get a better running back for Chris
Speaker 2Olave, I would think. Let's jump into some of the news.
Speaker 3News and notes from around the league.
Speaker 2All right. The commander's announced, and it is bad. Dan Quinn confirmed. Terry McLaurin tore his patellar tendon, which is a massive injury. This one is probably worse than tearing your Achilles. I mean, he is 31 right now. He will be well into 32 by the time this is potentially healed. I mean, I can remember one dude coming back from this injury and seemingly being fine, and it took him like two years, and it was Will Disley. Yeah. Yeah. But this is a. Just so those people know, this is a brutal injury. This is a lot worse than just tearing an ACL.
Speaker 1Yes. Yeah. This feels to me like a career-ending injury. Not that McLaurin won't necessarily play another snap of football, but for fantasy football purposes, I don't think he will be a guy that we ever start again.
Speaker 4Yeah. We talked about him a good bit on today's Dynasty podcast, because we were doing a redraft of the first two rounds of rookie drafts, which this year is fascinating of the shakeup. Yeah. That really has. Where did Denzel Boston go? Earlier than he did. Certainly. in the. Did he go ahead of. 106. No, that was a huge debate, though. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was a very strong debate. Look, I didn't.
Speaker 2I don't subscribe. And I was just curious what happened.
Speaker 4So, yeah, he went 106, but then the conversation for. It's Antonio Williams of. Was a fun prospect, third round, day two pick. Thank you. Like, the draft capital is there. We've seen some flashes of.
Speaker 2Did he go ahead of Jacoby Lehner behind him?
Speaker 4I think he went behind him, but only because of Kyle. But that was. The conversation was like.
Speaker 2Should I stop spoiling? Antonio Williams. These are fascinating.
Speaker 4I'm so curious. Where'd Jeremy go? Oh, he went really high. Yeah. Because I am. Which I admitted on the show. Listen, folks. I said my emotional attachment already to Jeremy Bernard is. You
Speaker 2know Mike's emotional attachment when
Speaker 4you ask him how many PSA-graded cards of a player he owns. Well, I don't have any graded of him yet. But you just bought two. They're raw. Didn't you buy two?
Speaker 2You just bought two Jeremy cards.
Speaker 4Yes, they will be graded in 12 months. But it's like Antonio. My new dino bro. Wait, is he on your dino team? Yes. Oh, there it is.
Speaker 2And I said it. And the truth. I revealed the truth. I didn't hide anything. There are three pillars of Mike's undying loyalty, and we've got them all here. I did not hide any of that. Also, that sucks.
Speaker 4That sucks that you have him. So, Antonio Williams. I'll trade you Zachariah Branch for him. No. Oh, darn. Antonio Williams, the path for him to make an attempt to be Washington's number one wide receiver? Clear. It's right in front of him. Stephon Diggs will have his role. His floor is safe. We talked about that. But long term, Antonio Williams, this is his audition. Like, he's going to show Washington, do you need to invest more capital in the wide receiver position, or is it in time for Antonio Williams? It's going to be fascinating to watch. The kid has skills. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if he can make that jump, but it's right there. It's pretty exciting for him.
Speaker 2Yeah. J.J. McCarthy has been announced as the starting quarterback for the New York football Giants in the game against the Texans. That will be tough. That will be tough. But he looked good in the fourth quarter and bad at the same time. He did the Winston. He basically looked like Jameis Winston. He threw picks and looked bad, and then also threw for 243 yards and scored 23 fancy points.
Speaker 1Yeah, he's not going to look great against the Texans. But you pretty much have to make this transition. Winston didn't seem like he was getting it done. You trade for J.J. McCarthy. The real question is if, for some reason, rest of season, J.J. McCarthy does take that step forward, does lead this team to the playoffs, which is totally a legitimate possibility with this division now. This is why I thought the trade was so weird. And then you get the Jackson-Dart-McCarthy conundrum.
Speaker 4You had to get a quarterback, but if you get J.J. McCarthy a development project, you're like, well, it's a good problem to have. No, it's not.
Speaker 1Ask Minnesota. Well, it is a good problem.
Speaker 4I don't think it's a good problem.
Speaker 2The way I see it is that you have to, if you want to, it's a winnable division, right?
Speaker 4It's a good problem that you will have, no matter what you do, you're going to get it wrong.
Speaker 1But it's like the 49ers developed Brock Purdy, and he looked good. And it's like, well, they had Trey Lance. They just went, no, we're going to go. I know he's not the guy that we were supposed to have. It worked out okay for them to have that problem.
Speaker 2You're talking in if this, then that scenarios that are low probability. Agreed. And you had to just get the best available trade candidate quarterback that could lead you to maybe making the playoffs at 7-10, because this division sucks. Right. I mean, I don't think there's going to be a lot of debate, but maybe if he goes on a run, there would be. I agree with that. Jordan Tyson will not practice this week. But? Getting closer to practicing. That's right. It does seem like his state for the last six weeks, each week. That's better than not.
Speaker 1Yeah, they have the bye week and week eight. So my assumption has been that they have had that as the target the whole time. And they said in that interview, they said that they're taking it slower than usual on purpose because they think he's a special talent. They loved what they saw in training camp. And they had a target. We don't know what that is. They're waiting for their target. It was not the same injury.
Speaker 2They came out and mentioned that. Right. So Terrence Ferguson is not going to be coming off of the injured reserve. Are you saying that Sean McVay lied about an injury again? Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yes, I did. Yep, I lied. Well, I never. Terrence Ferguson isn't expected to be ready, even though he said he would be ready.
Speaker 4That moves. You know, we talked about them and the waiver wire of the Rams have to do something. And we thought Terrence Ferguson, if he's going to be back, that's a very interesting pickup that you just have to wait a couple of weeks. But Tyler Higbee has cemented himself. He'll remain relevant.
Speaker 2Baker Mayfield seen participating on Wednesday throwing. So I think he's going to fight to play.
Speaker 1Yeah, he usually does. He placed her injury poorly.
Speaker 2Kyle Shanahan said Christian Kirk is a possibility to play for the 49ers in week seven.
Speaker 1It hurts his team, but tough. OK, Christian Kirk, we'll see.
Speaker 2Dan Graziano reports, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Giants add someone from the outside or give Tracy a bigger chance. Tyron Tracy. Was one of the names we mentioned. What a mess. Went for one dollar. One dollar to Jason today in the waiver. Cha-ching. Lucky guy. We'll take a break. We'll get into the Thursday night preview.
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Speaker 2Thursday Night Breakdown. Well, I am so excited for this one. It should be fun. New England's 4-2, and they travel to Chicago to take on the Bears, who are 4-2. Chicago, three-point home favorites. Look at that respect. Over-under is 50-and-a-half. And I've got a buddy going to this game. I think it's going to be super exciting. The weather seems good. Two 4-2 teams. Division winners. I mean, here we go. Drake May in the last three weeks, 3-0, 10 touchdowns, one pick. Fancy points per game. He pretty much quadrupled what he had been averaging.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, the last three weeks, he's lapping second place. He would be on pace for 5,000 passing yards, 56 touchdowns, and adding 580 rushing yards on the ground. I mean, he has been a machine. This matchup is one where I think the Bears. Bears defense can be good sometimes, but you expect the two quarterbacks and the two offenses. I don't know if he says check this out. Yeah, you know, this is a fun game. I hope that this hits the over. I think it could.
Speaker 2Yeah, the Bears and Patriots defenses, schedule adjusted. They're pretty good. Quarterback is the one position the Bears give up fancy points to. But running back and tight end, they don't give up. They're top 10 against those. Patriots, they're a great defense. Number three against quarterbacks, two against tight ends. So, Colston Loveland and company, you know, how much buy-in do we have on the one-week resurgence of Loveland? We knew we'd be in this boat at some point. We talked about the fact that we just didn't get to see a lot of Caleb and Colston. And, you know, Luther Burden led the team in, even though the snaps were so low, he led the team in catches with eight. He dominates the per-route stuff. 39% of snaps.
Speaker 4His utilization is so insane.
Speaker 2And Rome. Rome. Rome just right now, Rome feels, I'm going to be honest, I'm going to make the comp, feels a lot like Marv.
Speaker 4You know whose numbers are almost identical? Marv and Rome.
Speaker 2They're crazy. Well, it feels the same. It feels like Rome. Yeah. Like, it's not like Marv doesn't make a play. He does. He makes plays. And Rome makes plays. But from a fantasy, you know, consistency standpoint.
Speaker 4He just doesn't demand targets.
Speaker 2Like, let me ask the question. Because A.J. Brown looked terrible last week. He's going to be one week healthier. You lose Romeo Dobbs. He's on IR. You don't have Matt Collins. In this exact game, and you've got to start DeMario Douglas, who's been the wide receiver 9 and 10 in the last two weeks for the Patriots, for a quarterback that's been the best. Or you start Roma Dunze. Like, if I had those two guys, there's just, I don't think there's any way I'd put Rome into that lineup over DeMario Douglas. That is brutal. I mean, Rome has, Rome has one game this year in the top 20. It was 24, and it was 22 overall. He has scored how many touchdowns, Jason? I mean, like six weeks.
Speaker 4One? I'm not a Rome guy, but I give everyone the same pass. Like, I won't just say, well, I'm only going to give a pass to Bernard Loveland.
Speaker 2I don't give a pass to those guys, though. Not a full pass. I mean, I think there's the hopeful upside. But six weeks into the season, you haven't seen spectacular from any of these guys.
Speaker 1Well, but I think the pass is that the six weeks has been. Four of the six weeks hasn't been this offense with Caleb.
Speaker 2Devontae Smith in one week with Tanner McKee goes out there, target hog. Ben Johnson is not an idiot. They've won games without him. Yeah, they were winning. And they're not, they're still part of a, they're part of a mosaic of options in Chicago that at any moment, Kalief Raymond or Cole Komet or Swift, Roshan last week had a better game than Rome by 3X. That's my point.
Speaker 4And with Caleb. If I remember right, most of Roshan's production was like the fourth quarter when the game was already done.
Speaker 2Okay. Yeah. I mean, the game wasn't that done. I mean, they had to, they had to get a first down for the Falcons not to be able to tie the game. Yes. Look, my, my point is, is that this is a situation that we talked about the other week. You're going to be able to say whatever you want about these guys. Correct. If you want to say that that's the first of a bunch of great games in a row, say it. Believe it. Start them. I would start Demario Douglas over Roma Dunzay in this game. What about Burden? I would play Burden. Okay. Because the target volume is massive. I mean, you know, Demario Douglas two weeks ago was two touchdowns on five targets. Last week he got eight targets. And with Dobbs going down, the snaps are going up. So I, I, to me, he's a great one week start. I don't know if you guys disagree. I don't want to be biased. I don't, I don't disagree with that.
Speaker 1I don't disagree with that. Targeting the slot against Chicago is good. The slot rolls. The role has, you know, historically for this Patriots offense been a valuable role. And in a game with a 50 and a half point over under, I think Demario Douglas was one of the most popular pickup to play guys this week. So, you know, he's a flex option. I, I would still go Rome over him, but he's in that tier where like Rome is a flex at
Speaker 2best. Loveland was five for 60 and one last week. Will you play pits this week? Oh man. Or Colson Loveland? See, this is another situation where I genuinely think Hunter Henry on the other side might be better than Colson Loveland. The fancy points given up by the Patriots, regardless of Caleb starting 5.6 a game. You got two of them in Chicago, Hunter Henry, huge beneficiary of dubs in Matt Collins going down. Agreed. His last two weeks are, I mean, I think what's coming through is I think the Patriots are going to win the game.
Speaker 1Okay. It seems that way from, uh, from what you're saying. And I, I'm still on the. I would start Loveland, uh, I would, I would start Loveland over Henry Chicago's favorite goal favorite. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, I would also start Loveland over, over pits. Okay. Uh, this isn't a great matchup, but pits is even, even worse against San Francisco.
Speaker 2Is it worse than what is San Francisco number one against that end? Okay. So those are the top two. I was like, how is it? How is it worse? But there's only one. It can be one worse. Ramond Ray. Okay. Trevo. Oh, uh, what? So, uh, next gen stat on Trevo, 16 zone runs this year. He's gained 24 yards on them. Contacted at the line of scrimmage, 81% of the time. Um, he was 5.5 a carry last year on those attempts. He's, they say he's healthy. Ramond Ray has been the RB 13, 10 and 44 the last three weeks. I mean, I play Ramond Ray over Trevo, but where does Ramond Ray end up in your weekly ranks? I. Like, it, it
Speaker 4should be in Pierce
Speaker 2or Ramond Ray.
Speaker 4Well, we need, we need the Saquon news, but matchup wise, Damian Pierce getting Dallas is, would be more like it's a much better situation. I'm freaked out by the Patriots running backs right now because of the kinder stuff.
Speaker 1Yeah. And the comments that were made after the game, uh, Vrabel was asked, you know, cause if you're unaware, Corey kinder, a running back, you've never heard of, right? Nothing finer. Oh, very nice. Um, started getting, uh, a lot of work at the end of the game in the fourth quarter. And, and even over Ramond Ray, this wasn't just a Travion Henderson's dealing with his ankle injury. This was real. Andre's there and they're giving the ball to Corey kinder. And the comments afterwards were just, he's been running hard. He's been running great. And we've got three great backs and you just hate to hear that.
Speaker 2You do hate to hear that. Yeah. Especially if you are holding on to Trevo having any relevance for us this season. Cause I don't think Ramond Ray's role is going to diminish that much, but I think it's going to, I think Trevo's, if he's not efficient on his touches and kinder comes in, that sucks. Uh, on the other side, Swift is an easy play. If Monongahe, I mean, he's not practicing, so I can't imagine Monongahe's back in there.
Speaker 1Not, not at all. Not on the short week.
Speaker 2And Roshan seems terrifying against new England.
Speaker 4Yeah. Roshan, you're hoping you get a touchdown. You're hoping you get, well, yeah, a touchdown, but it's like four catches that that's where it will, you have to sneak, you have to PPR scam your way.
Speaker 1Or you're hoping for a blowout. You're hoping that the Patriots of the first two weeks shows up again. Um, and, and you get Roshan in cause you were right. It was eight carries to two carries Roshan to Deandre Swift in the fourth quarter. And while it ended up as a close game, they were blowing the tarnation out of them at that, at that point. They didn't think it would be a close game at the end. So, um, they had
Speaker 2zero tarnations left.
Speaker 1Yeah. Uh, they were all blown out of them, but Swift, I think is just a fantastic play each and every week. It doesn't matter the matchup, good matchup, bad matchup. Swift is. He's the clear lead back on a great offense. I mean, there's only been one week this season. He wasn't a top 24 back,
Speaker 2uh, AJ Brown, Demario Douglas, Hunter Henry, primary pass catchers in a game where they have an implied point total of 24. So, I mean, who else is he throwing the ball to? If he's been the number one quarterback, I don't know. Kyle Williams. I mean, could have a play, but it feels like those are the three guys that are catching the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 1I think AJ Brown will have a nice bounce back game. He, he, he got 10 targets last week. We talked about if he catches them. Yeah. If he, if he caught him last week, he would have been like, you know, seven for 80 and a touchdown. Um, and we'd be talking about, oh, how awesome AJ Brown is. I is a primetime guy. I think at Thursday night football, he's gonna, he's going to show out. I think that one's going to be fun to watch. Yeah. It'll be a fun game.
Speaker 2All right. Uh, don't drop your first pass. It was so much more than the drops to me. He just looked rickety.
Speaker 1I mean, he's coming back off of an ankle. I know, but injury that he has, you should have waited.
Speaker 2If that's the case, it's hard. It's hard to pass on the game. Any other thoughts on this one? You want to cover anything on Kayla?
Speaker 1I'm really excited. I think both quarterbacks just have to be started. Caleb and Drake may, it's a tough matchup, but, um, these guys are too good for fantasy. They run the ball and they can each throw three touchdowns.
Speaker 2All right. We have a ton of questions. A lot of stuff going on in fantasy. We want to help out the foot clan. Let's do it right now. Mailbag. I didn't think you were going to flourish. I did. I was trying to jump in and out.
Speaker 4You kind of sound like a cat.
Speaker 2Uh, we got voicemail questions. We got your questions that you sent in from the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Click that submit a question button, the voicemail hotline, 3 0 2 4 6 4 TFFB to the guy that called in and messed up his question this week. We'll see you in the next one. We heard you. It was awesome. Thank you. First question. Here is the voicemail.
Speaker 5Hey, footballers. This is Andrew from Baltimore. Just wondering, do I stay in the fire with Stroud, or do I go with Joe Burrow against Baltimore?
Speaker 4Thanks. So Joey Burrow plays the Baltimore Ravens. C.J. Stroud gets the Giants. The Giants is the much better matchup, and Stroud has absolutely been cooking. They're, of course, back-to-back in my ranks. I have Stroud one spot higher.
Speaker 2This is the ultimate play-the-stud versus stay-in-the-flame situation. What do you expect McCarthy to be able to do against Houston? Because a lot of these games this year, we've been surprised at how many points Houston's given up.
Speaker 1One of the things that I like about C.J. Stroud right now, because when I look at this game against the Giants, my biggest worry is they're not going to need to throw the ball. You get up. You can hit. Handle J.J. McCarthy. You can pick him off. Do a pick-six early.
Speaker 4Pick-six is the biggest threat.
Speaker 1And now you're like, well, game's over. They're just going to run the ball. I don't know that they can. With who? I don't know that they can run the ball.
Speaker 4If they score 21 points, it's because C.J. Stroud has three passing touchdowns, or they have a pick-six.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly. So this is where the lack of a running game right now for Houston, I'm going to stay in the flames. I think I'm sticking with Stroud. With Stroud. I'll play Burrow.
Speaker 2All right. I'd have a hard time sitting him down. I like Stroud this week a lot, but I don't think Burrow is – I mean, Lamar should be back, or could be back. Could be. That's the way I'd go. Question here. A lot of questions about him. We talked about him earlier, too. Jimmy writing in, is Brees Hall an automatic start if he comes back this week, or are you waiting a week? It is the Miami matchup.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would throw him right back in there. I agree. You might be disappointed. You might learn that he's in more of a time. Share them before, especially in the first week back, but in a matchup against Miami, a guy who was, you know, a top 15 back the first two weeks before he got injured, looked great. I would throw him right in my lineup. We're talking about such awful running backs to start. I'd be happy to have Brees in my lineup.
Speaker 2Ollie Gordon's been awesome. Would you play Ollie Gordon or Brees Hall back in your lineup? Because Gordon's numbers are great.
Speaker 1No, I think that that is a worthy pivot. I mean, if you had – if your last spot was between Brees Hall and Ollie Gordon, I think I would go Ollie Gordon. He has looked fantastic. He got all the work over Jalen Wright. The matchup is fine. Coming off a bye, yeah. I mean, Ollie Gordon is, in and of himself, I think, a good play.
Speaker 2Okay. Another voicemail question.
Speaker 5Hey, footballers. Love listening to the show. I'm needing to upgrade my receiver position, and I'm wanting to trade Garrett Wilson and Omari and Hampton for possibly A.J. Brown. Let me know what your thoughts are. I just need a more consistent player at receiver. Thank you. Bye. More consistent than Garrett Wilson?
Speaker 4Garrett Wilson and Omari and Hampton being traded for A.J.
Speaker 1Brown. No, I don't think I would do that. I mean, Garrett Wilson has been pretty darn good this year. He's had four good games to stinkers. Yeah, and one of the stinkers was this last week against Christian Gonzalez, where he came out and said there is no rivalry. Like, Christian Gonzalez has won every matchup he's ever had against Garrett Wilson. He's got Garrett Wilson's number. You know, obviously, they will play New England again, and that will be in the playoffs. In the fantasy playoffs. Yes, in week 16. That is a shame, but Garrett Wilson's been very, very good. We don't know what A.J. Brown's going to be.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's the part about A.J. Brown that I think is standing out to me is, you know, he's a complicated player to evaluate. Is the rapport going to be there with Drake May? I mean, some of the drops, some of the rapport needs to develop over time. We haven't seen it yet in New England. He's had his on and off days with Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia. He's coming off a high ankle sprain. Evaluating A.J. Brown the rest of the season, like, there's tremendous upside. There's some questions in my head, though.
Speaker 4Now, have you factored in you do get to remove Hampton from your team? If you did this trade?
Speaker 1Well, I think you might get this trade to go through if you offer Garrett Wilson for A.J. Brown. Straight up. I don't know if you can get it to go through if you add Hampton in there.
Speaker 2That's funny. By the way, Mike McDaniel is still the offensive coordinator. And there's been talk of them simplifying play calling to make it less confusing.
Speaker 1Well, you can't. I will say this. You cannot have a complicated scheme with four rookies on your offensive line. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's so complicated. The pattern. They've lost all their offensive linemen. They've got a slew of rookies having to be forced into starting. Yes, you do. You have to have a simple blocking scheme.
Speaker 2Rest of the season, would you rather have A.J. Brown or Carnell Tate? Donnie wants to know.
Speaker 1Ooh, that's interesting. I'm on the A.J. Brown side there. I still believe. Here's my belief for A.J. Brown. I think the next two or three weeks. He'll look like himself sometimes. It'll be a slow, you know, getting back from this ankle injury. He might not be at 100%. I genuinely believe A.J. Brown will be, at the end of the season, a difference-making, you know, top-ten wide receiver in the fantasy playoffs.
Speaker 2Okay. Next question from Chris in Southern California. Should I start Tony Pollard this week against the Cleveland defense or Jalen Waddell against Arizona in his flex? Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Wait, say that again? Tony Pollard or Jalen Waddell this week?
Speaker 1I would go Jalen Waddell. I think this is a bounce-back game for Waddell against Arizona. Arizona looked great against the Rams this last week. You can be like, oh, they shut down their wide receivers. There's questions there on how much of this was that this horrifically bad defense, that's giving up 30 points every single week to everyone, just all of a sudden they got good? Or they got to play, you know, LaFleur just came from the Rams, knows their system, knows their scheme. I watched a video talking about how just perfectly scheme-wise, every defensive play was like we knew what the call was. I don't think the Cardinals' defense is good, and I think Waddell has a bounce-back.
Speaker 2Mason wants to know what an appropriate haul is for Jamar Chase. He needs depth on his team. Kyle said he traded Chase away in a home league, this past week, when he was on bye, for depth.
Speaker 1Kyle, our Kyle?
Speaker 2Our Kyle. What did he get?
Speaker 1What was your haul?
Speaker 2It was Nico Collins, Jalen Warren, and Dak. But he gave up Chase and Shuck.
Speaker 4Oh. I don't think I would have done that.
Speaker 2Kyle is here, right?
Speaker 4Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2Talk to us. Bad work, Kyle.
Speaker 4I won, so I'm great. Oh, yeah, okay. Just one week. One week. The problem with Jamar Chase and players like that is there's really not an appropriate haul. Did you need to survive?
Speaker 2What's your record? I'm 4-2 now. Okay. That's a tough one. Was it at least tough? I needed running back depth as well, and I
Speaker 4like Nico.
Speaker 2That sounds like it was easy.
Speaker 4Yeah. No, getting Nico is a good start. You have to get an absolute known stud is the problem when you're trading away. Jamar Chase and then a true depth piece.
Speaker 2Yeah, the Warren part is tough because it's like if you had said a different name in there, if it was Jacobs, would you have felt different?
Speaker 1I would have felt better with Jacobs simply because the Warren-Rico split. Like, Warren was unbelievable in the games that Rico was going. They said, well, we're still going to work in Rico when he gets back. He got back, and they did, and Jalen Warren didn't have a very good game. So I worry that. The upside that we see what Warren can do, he won't be allowed to do.
Speaker 4I agree, but Warren still was the primary guy over Rico.
Speaker 1Yeah. Would you rather have Jalen Warren or Chuba Hubbard? Chuba. Chuba by leaps and bounds. I agree. Unfortunately. What a world.
Speaker 2Yeah, here we are. Jameson Williams or George Pickens? Is that for this week? Is that for life? I fit dad life 89 wants to know.
Speaker 1Well, his life is in the name. So for the rest of life.
Speaker 2Jamos had a couple good weeks. George Pickens has a more defined, I think, target share on the team. He definitely does. That's who I would take. You'd take
Speaker 4Pickens?
Speaker 2I'm going Pickens. Yeah, I would take Pickens.
Speaker 4It wasn't. So Pickens was 11 targets. So 13, and that was the game that CD got knocked out of. But 11 targets before that, or after that. Week three, he had 11 targets. Jameson Williams is just. It was like.
Speaker 1He caught two. He caught two touchdowns this last week. He caught two passes this last week.
Speaker 4He had two receptions for two touchdowns. Jameson Williams can go off every week, but you need to have.
Speaker 2He'll probably start cooking more often than not. Jameson? Yeah, he probably will. But again, I'd still take Pickens. Yeah, I lean Pickens. That Detroit offense is really humming. And you always get. It's nice because you get the deep shots no matter what. You get it with both of them. They're very similar. Like I said, the target share is probably a little bit more Guaranteed for pickings, although it's been weird. All right, we'll take a break. We'll jump into some more questions.
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Speaker 2This question comes in from YouTube at DangerDoom23. If there is not a rule in place to set a full lineup every week, is it wrong to remove a player that hasn't played if your week is already won by a couple of points? So, we see this most often when people are like, I'm up by a couple points, should I just bench my defense, which I don't ever have a problem with. I think that's good strategy.
Speaker 1If you don't have a rule against it, there's a very different thing between not fielding a lineup to try to lose or not fielding a lineup to ensure a victory. Like, the goal here, every team needs to be trying to win. If you're like, oh, I'm going to win if I play my quarterback, take my quarterback out, that's nonsense. That's not in the spirit of the game. That's without a rule. I don't think you should be able to do that. To say I'm up and I want to ensure I win, and what if my defense goes out and scores negative four? Yeah, pull that guy. That's just good strategy playing to win. And if you don't have a rule against it, I, you know, definitely, in my opinion.
Speaker 4You're playing fantasy football. You're playing within the confines of your rules. You just, you have to know how it works. Like, there are, there's a, there's features on platforms like Sleeper where you can be toggled on and off. You can drop a player after they have played. If it allows it, like, other people might get upset about it, but if this is in the rules of the game that you are playing, then go ahead and do it. You have to, like, that's where you're operating. That's your playground.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would definitely do it. I mean, there's no world where I wouldn't unless, know the rules of your league. Like, if I am on the, the playoff bubble and your tiebreaker is points scored. Right. And I'm, and I look like, hey, it's probably going to be me and two other teams tied for that last spot. Well, then you need more points for the, for the season long. Don't, don't hurt yourself in the total points you could score. But outside of that, yeah, just ensure you win.
Speaker 2Rest of season question on YouTube from Ely. Denzel Boston or Jordan Tyson, who would you rather have on your roster rest of season?
Speaker 1Boston. I think it has to be Boston. See, I feel pretty confident with the Boston side. It's Boston. I think I'm as bullish as anyone on Jordan Tyson. I just traded for Jordan Tyson. I don't know. It's a win. It's a win question. Yeah. I don't know when he comes back and then, you know, how slow it, Denzel Boston has been good now. It's on the field. So yeah, I would, I would go Boston. Okay. I did like in, in your, in your, your rookie draft redo on the dynasty show that Tyson stayed right there. Yeah. He was what? The third pick behind, Colonel Tate and Jeremiah love. That's absolutely where I still think he belongs. But in, in playing for this year, no, I would take Boston.
Speaker 2All right. Um, another follow-up on the rest of the season question, Colston Loveland, Dalton Kincaid rest of the season. I think I'd feel better about Colston.
Speaker 1Yeah, man. I, I, I, I lean Kincaid for upside. I don't know the Dalton Schultz upside for Loveland is,
Speaker 2has been displayed for a longer period of time.
Speaker 1Yeah. But I, I guess for Dalton Schultz, the, the issue I have is involved in the equation. What was the question? I thought it was Schultz versus Kincaid. Well, I misheard Colson Loveland or Kincaid. Oh, that's, but let me ask you this. If it was Schultz or Kincaid, who would you go with? I would go with Kincaid. Yeah. See? Totally.
Speaker 2Let me just drill.
Speaker 1I can't believe we were even like discussing it. Let me dig in here.
Speaker 2I don't know if you thought it was Schultz. No, for sure. Because if you thought it was Schultz, you wouldn't have had such a analytical, deep approach to it. It was like, who in the world would consider Schultz in that situation?
Speaker 1I, I, I was surprised. You were trying to give him credence? No, I was because Schultz had his big game, but when all the other wide receivers were out and Kincaid's been bad, but no Loveland versus Kincaid, I'd go Loveland.
Speaker 2Good. That's what we're with you. Next question. Will Jeremiah Love bounce back? This is easy. Chris wants to know. By end of year, yes. Jeremiah Love or Dalton Schultz, Jay? The rest of the season.
Speaker 4Let me look into the numbers. I think. Dig in.
Speaker 1Don't answer without being prepared. Okay. With Marv on the team now and Tank being back, I'll go Love.
Speaker 2Dang. Yeah. But do you think that Love will actually bounce back this year?
Speaker 1I absolutely do. I believe that he is. Would you still try to acquire him? I would. It's team dependent. You can't be a team that's sitting there two and four right now and go acquire Love. But if you are playoff bound and a team that is, the team that has Jeremiah Love, they probably have a bad record. Like, you know, there's always those posts of players on the teams that are 0 and 6, the most commonly rostered players. Jordan Love is going to, or Jeremiah Love is going to be one of those players.
Speaker 4Did you see the numbers, Jason? This is a, you'll enjoy this. This past week. So week six, it was the highest percentage of if you had this player, you won. And there was Kenneth Walker. If you had it, he was, you were like a 70 something percent win. Oh, that's cool. Christian McCaffrey in the seventies. Nice. I had both of those guys. How'd you do against me? And I lost because the rest of my team took such a steamer. This is a, there's also likely in pits,
Speaker 2which. Yeah. I wonder what the odds were with likely or pits on your team. Pretty high. So would you play Dak against Philly this week or Bo Nix against Arizona? Both games are on the road.
Speaker 4Dak. So I, Bo Nix needs to rattle off about eight great games before I think about it.
Speaker 2See that I made this decision out. I'll just be very transparent about it. And it doesn't feel good. And after I made it this morning, it still doesn't feel good. It feels bad because I, this is just, it's the psychology of fantasy. When a player has performed before they're on a good team. You just want to kind of project what they've done before. I dropped Bo Nix. I have a Josh Allen by and Bo Nix was my pickup a couple of weeks ago because that's like they play Arizona. That should be. And it's, you know, it's in Arizona, but who gives a crap? It should be a dominating performance. And then I went and like, you just look at Bo Nix this year. Like there's one game you're happy with one. There's also a seven point game, a six point game, a 10 point game.
Speaker 1Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2And, I, I signed Gino freaking Smith. Yeah, I support this to play over Bo Nix this week. I support it. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, man, Bo Nix would look cooler on my lineup, but I need to win.
Speaker 4I'll get out of here.
Speaker 2Bo Nix moving you down. Um, man, Instagram question from Keenan. Do you enjoy playing redraft or dynasty more?
Speaker 1Redraft more than dynasty. Keeper more than both. Keepers are league of record. What if you had my dynasty team?
Speaker 2Okay. All right. That's enough. We're done. We're done. You know, you can do your next baby start to the week tomorrow and matchups episode 2000 on Friday. Thank you for tuning in. Make sure you subscribe. We'll catch you soon.
Speaker 3Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.
Speaker 6We'll see you next time. So if you're tying the knot closing on a house or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's. better way to money let's get started at nm.com the northwestern mutual life insurance company milwaukee wisconsin
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