The Week 3 Calls to WIN You Your Fantasy Matchup | Fantasy Focus

Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Eisen. Terms and conditions apply. Energy. My name is Daniel Dopp. Very excited to be here. We're going to talk about Thursday night football. We're going to dive into our week three preview part one. But first and foremost, you look nice. Mike, did you dress yourself this morning? You don't look as nice as you usually do. No, I did. Yeah. Why? What's wrong? This isn't just a standard t-shirt. It's like a slightly thicker t-shirt. It's heathered. It's like an ultra cotton t-shirt. Yeah. So it's a little nicer than usual. Oh, is that what it is? Let's be honest. Mike is trending so far up. He is off the charts. That's the Parker Washington of fashion. Oh, good for all. Kenneth Walker, the third of fashion. It's like annoying. He's had great projections, great fantasy analysis, and he dresses like a 10. His hair always looks good now, too. Wow. Wow. True. I've been told I need a haircut, so I don't know about that. Who told you that? Never mind. Okay. Yep. I figured. Yeah, I assumed. When in doubt. When in doubt, that's what it was. You know who. You know who. You look fantastic. You look great as well, Field. Very excited to be here to talk about football today. Thanks, man. I'm very excited. I am the Devon Achan right now of fantasy analyst when it comes to the way that I play. I'm a fantasy analyst. Stop. You're the tiny moving part of the show. Oh, that was a call out to this shirt that I'm wearing. That's a band. I'm going to go see a couple of bands this week. Can I ask you guys really quickly, have you ever heard of a band called Saves the Day? Of course. Yeah. All right. We were just talking about a band prior to the show. Yes. And their most iconic songs. Yes. And we managed to name, I named one and I was like, isn't it this? And you named a different song. That's true. We were talking about Five for Fighting. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What is Saves the Day's big song? Saves the Day. They had two big records. Through Being Cool and Saving the Day. Stay What You Are. My buddy Chris plays guitar, so I'm going to go see them this week. And then another band named Thrice, which is another pretty big band. I'm very excited to see them. I've seen them thrice. Taking Back Sunday? What about, you know, Taking Back Sunday? I know that one. Yeah. All right. Do you know, have you heard of Dan and Shay? I've heard of Dan and Shay, actually. Yeah, here we go. I'm going to see them. I'm going to see them Saturday night. And so is Fieldy. Wait, you're going? Yeah. Yes. Let's sit together. I love that all three of us are going to shows on Saturday night. All right. That's going to be fun. We're real friends here. We're going together, though. We excluded you. Yes, I know. They're too mainstream for you. I'm doing another thing. They've been heard on the radio, so you wouldn't know them. You know what I heard on the radio, unfortunately, yesterday was a quote from Sean McVay, guys, when we're talking about Puka Nakua. Let's dive into a little bit of football. That was an amazing segue right there. I appreciate that. Did you really hear it on the radio, though? I didn't. I didn't. But if I was, it would have been on ESPN radio where I heard it. Well done. Sean McVay didn't officially rule out Puka Nakua for this week. I don't like this week, by the way. Yeah. I say that in advance. There's a lot. There's a lot. A lot of bad. You should make plans to not have Puka. I'm just going to read this quote, and if this isn't the one that you guys are talking about, please let me know. Yeah. McVay said that Puka Nakua does not have a hernia, but when you're a skilled player and you're really trying to hit high speeds and you just really open up and you feel just, it's like some things can almost be like pre-hernia is kind of what he's feeling. So you err on the side of caution. Usually time is the best thing that allows that to heal. And then once you get to a certain point, then I think you feel pretty good moving forward. He didn't actually say how much time. It was going to be missed. But the idea of saying pre-hernia, taking time. What are you reading into this when you hear all of these things that he's talking about? Yeah, this morning I said to our show group text, like we should probably talk about Puka. I know we'll talk about it tomorrow because we'll have one more data point as to whether he practices or doesn't. Correct. I'm assuming he won't, but I think we should flag this now because if for some reason you have a consideration at flex that plays in tonight's game, Matthew Golden would be an example. If a guy who's on that flex radar that could be your best option if Puka doesn't play, you better be prepared to play that player tonight. One thing about Sean McVay is that he doesn't, he has a pretty bad poker face. He does basically everything else great. He doesn't have a great poker face. And that's actually a good thing for our purposes when he's describing injuries. And I would say that he is telling us without telling us directly that Puka is probably not going to play this upcoming weekend. So there's the actionable side of it of if you have a player that you think is good enough to be a flex, if Puka were on a buy, you should be strongly considering that player tonight. I just wanted to ask you guys, like, do you have buyer's remorse if you use a top five pick on Puka or have we not reached that point? I can't because it's not like we saw it coming. It's not like we were like, ah, he's injury prone. He's probably going to miss multiple games or like that could have happened. I mean, anybody, I don't want to put this in the, in the world. Exactly. All right. I won't, I won't say a specific name, but anybody could happen to anyone. And you can't look at it that way. If a guy busts, because they're not going to play, you're not going to play. If they're not playing well or something went wrong with the offense or whatever. Fine. But like if, if they struggle because their quarterback got hurt or because they got hurt, that it's hard for me to ever regret. Okay. I mean, it's unfortunate. No, I had a feeling you wouldn't feel the same. But in part, I moved Puka down. I didn't have his wide receiver four because I felt like there were three other wide receivers in Jamar Chase and JSN and Amad Aras St. Brown that are just like almost as safe as you can get. And at this point, if I didn't grab one of those three guys, when I felt like, dang, they are the safer play, but I want the upside of what Puka can be. Because I think his upside was potentially the highest, given what it can be in that offense. But did you think he was safer because of, for health reasons or just because we were worried about the suspension? Both. I think Puka maybe, uh, we talked yesterday about JSN and Amad Aras St. Brown and how they're not divas at the position of wide receiver. They're just like easy players. I'm not ever worried about them getting in trouble off the field. I'm not worried about what they're going to say in like a weird, in a moment. With Puka, there is a little bit of that. And there's a little bit of the health concern. We've seen him just miss time in pockets throughout his career so far. So that's why it's just like a, it was a safe play. He's still wide receiver four and there's going to be likely a full season. So like, do I have buyer's remorse? I don't know. Okay. Last question I'll ask on this. If you're 0-2 with Puka, and that's possible because if you use your first round pick on Puka, through two weeks, you've gotten 12.4 fantasy points. You had a pretty average week one, five catches for 74 yards. And you're 0-2. Yeah. And you don't know when Puka is going to play. Maybe it's this weekend, but it doesn't sound likely. Are you actively shopping him and taking the best that you can get? Man, it's, it's a conversation of like, where's the line? Like the line, it's like, do I trade him for CeeDee Lamb? You know, maybe. Sure. Okay. Yes. All right. So, but I don't know if I'm going much further than that. I don't know if I'm going outside the first round. Sometimes hesitant answers are actually very clear answers. Like both of you just told me like, the answer is no. Like, I'm not like actively. Being like, all right, I got to get the best I can for Puka. Yeah. But both of you would at least consider it. I don't think, by the way, the CeeDee Lamb manager would trade you CeeDee Lamb right now. Yeah, probably not. But that's my point. It's kind of like, I'm not going, like, I'm not trading him for Parker Washington. As much as I like him, I'm not going that far. And Washington might be a top 15 play the rest of the year. But I don't know if he's getting to the level of Nakua. Maybe he will. But I don't know. I'm not doing that. If Puka was my only miss, quote unquote, then I would consider maybe trying to move him. But if I also had like a Devon HN. Who hasn't lived up to expectations. And it's like, oh, shoot. Now I've got two underperforming guys. Yeah, there may be like another situation. Or one of the injured quarterbacks that you were, you know, really in on. You know, you might have to make a move. So, I think. I have a team with Puka. And I think this team is going to be awesome. It's in our Michigan Men League. Yep. Josh Allen. Zay Flowers. Puka Nakua. And Brock Bowers. Four of my first five picks. I think this team is going to be awesome. You got to hold that hope. But I am 0-2 because I've either had players unavailable. Or in the case of Puka, his one game he has played, he didn't play great. So, I'm like, I can't do anything with Puka yet. But 0-3 would be a really difficult hole to pick myself out of. That sounds like a coaching problem. I mean, you got the pieces field. Why is the coach not putting it together on the field for the team? I got to admit. I got to admit. I had a bad travel plan for our team. That's what it does. You're the dumbest guy in the room. And you make a bad travel plan. He set his lineup like minutes before the game started. Like, he just wasn't prepared at all. Speaking of, let's talk about Thursday Night Football. Don't wait until right before the game. To set your lineup. We're going to talk about it now. So, you can be all set and ready to go. Okay. Atlanta Falcons. Green Bay Packers. Lineup blocks in this one. Bajon Robinson. Drake London. Still lineup blocks. New quarterback. Because we've got a new quarterback. And then Christian Watson. The only lineup block on the other side. Mike, knowing that we've got a new quarterback. I do want to ask you why Kyle Pitts isn't also considered a lineup blocker. Or is he right on the fringe there? Yeah, he's borderline. Guys moving up, too. Kind of hurt him a little bit, too. Because he obviously is off to a slow start. And then you have Isaiah Legley in there. And now Dalton Cade in there. And we might have Dalton Schultz in that conversation. If Nico Collins doesn't play this week. He did not. I know. He did not. So, we have a lot of competition for that spot. And I think you don't have to force it, really. Like, I think he's fine. If you drafted Pitts and you want to fire him up. I think he'd have more confidence than you had during weeks one or two. But, yeah. I think he misses that cut. He's more like around the top ten than he is a cemented lineup block. As the no numbers guy. Yes. The player that we need to be discussing right now. Is Drake London. Drake London. Yeah. That's the one that. He's a lock. He's a lock. And the upside potential. And I am just basically guaranteed. teeing he'll go like three for 31 with what I'm about to say don't do it but let's just go through some of the good things that Michael Penix Jr. brings to the table compared to what we saw over the past two weeks please in 12 career starts Michael Penix Jr. has 227 passing yards per game like that serviceable not amazing but serviceable especially when you consider the Falcons in their first two games have 247 total passing yards so you're basically getting two for the price of one here when Michael Penix Jr. is starting versus Cooper Rush he has started 12 games in his career has Penix Drake London and Kyle Pitts have been available in all 12 of those games here's what numbers bear out in 12 games with Michael Penix Jr. as a starting quarterback Drake London is averaging 20.5 PPR points per game 11.1 targets 6.8 catches 96.8 receiving yards huge numbers and a target share of 34.7 you mean that's like what we saw last year for a while like top four or five wide receiver Drake London so especially against a Packers secondary that certainly has question marks a corner uh you're probably running out of time to make a trade for Drake London it sounds like what you're saying uh today's your day after tonight it might be a little problematic I've guaranteed you that it's going to be three for 31 by giving you this rosy outlook here on Drake London but for all the frustration that we felt during the first two weeks Michael Penix Jr. and even if the Penix experiment doesn't last that long because Atlanta I still think wants to win the game it's going to take a little bit longer to get a look at Tua at some point I think Tua gets us much closer to the numbers that I just shared for Drake London with Michael Penix Jr. than what we saw from Cooper Rush the past couple weeks no definitely the Penix mightier this week um then then the rush then the rush last week yes um Kyle Pitts the numbers aren't quite as favorable uh Kyle Pitts in those same 12 games 8.4 PPR points per game field I've got one catch for 15 yards through two weeks I'll take 8.4 PPR points right now I completely understand that I'm just letting you know you know compared to what we just like it's not like Penix returns it's not the same as Drake London and we're saying our confidence just skyrockets across the board for all these past catchers it has seemingly meant the most for Drake London so I'm very optimistic starting tonight a little bit of a hedge in my ranking just to see it Penix is coming off of a major knee injury we want to see how he looks in his first start back but uh I would have told you like I before last week I brought up Drake London as like I'm not going to be able to win the game I'm going to be sure we're starting him if there is Cooper Rush under center this week I am not asking that same question going into tonight's game by the way my uh he's my QB one and my uh Michael Jr. only fantasy team uh got another Michael Jr. back on the field love that saving that one for a while for a minute I mean we have no we talked about this Michael Pittman Jr. uh Mike Washington Jr. there's a lot of Mike good Mike Jr.'s out there so uh you know we're putting a team together what about let's talk about Packers Jordan Love guys are we at a point now where oh do you want to start with the running backs or you want to start with Jordan Love actually I think the running backs are fine because it could be really quick yeah let's do the running pass thank you all right yeah three three guys if you have three guys you have no guys in fantasy right so with that context with the way that we feel about it and given that we've seen this the last little bit is Jordan Love kind of like on that streamer like low-end QB one conversation for this week for you guys I'd never feel good about him in fantasy there's not much upside that's not the question the question is do you feel good yes the question is is he like a quarterback to 12 low-end QB one I think he is I think it's worth reminding people like we're staring down the barrel of three quarterbacks being unavailable this week Caleb Williams yeah Jane Daniels Jackson Dart all three of those guys and Jackson Dart now officially out for the regular season he's higher eligible as you'd imagine um but like three of our top I think if those guys are all healthy on average they're top 12 quarterbacks at worst so if 25 percent of our top 12 quarterback guys are gone like yeah so Jordan Love was QB 15 or 16 and now he's quarterback 12-ish like that makes sense that's where I land like you see a high-end streaming option no this is like the matchup is good enough though Bryce Young carved these dudes up last weekend that Love with a bad running game bad offensive line so hopefully gets the ball out quick and a consolidated receiver group I actually like not just Love but Christian Watson and I think Matthew Golden is really viable today yeah I think he's in the conversation this week as a streamer but in general I'm just like I don't know I don't feel and I rarely feel a lot of optimism because he hasn't done it for years it's the same conversation we have with a lot of people with Herbert in the offseason he just it's been so long since he was a consistent QB one he did it like one time one season like Herbert like I just I don't know I don't feel great about it but yeah I mean he's elite I'm at 12 you're a little higher at eight but eight yeah I also don't feel great about it but I do feel like all of the things line up for things to work in his favor there is no Josh Jacobs the running game is atrocious they have a very finite group of pass catchers now to funnel the ball to I mean for us at least in fantasy this is kind of like the best that we could get from Jordan Love you're a little you're you're a little lack you know they had so much depth in the past they're a little lacking a little bit right now they are on Jayden Reed's he might be out for this season yeah uh Sky Moore is gonna get some run uh in this one so we'll talk about Sky Moore a little later yeah we we will but uh yeah I mean look Christian Watson's resume isn't great with injuries too so if he misses time then you're looking at Golden and Kraft and that's about it for like guys who are like legit starters in the NFL so we have to uh keep an eye on that are you in the same spot do you feel the same way about Tucker Kraft that you do about Jordan Love kind of like the same conversation that's where I'm at yeah yeah we talked we talked about him yesterday like I'm a little more played every snap uh last week which is a point in the right direction but the production wasn't good so but with Reed out again they're gonna have to get him the ball a little bit more and by the way Atlanta three touchdowns to tight ends already this season maybe there's something there maybe there's all right who's taking this one Packers or Falcons Packers get it done at home I think I also took the Packers you did I can confirm that you can confirm that thank you field I appreciate that see uh Caleb Johnson in prime time tonight we'll see if he gets a little bit more play he's got a little bit more time to play I think he's got a little more last week maybe he'll get a little more uh good good Matt LaFleur had uh some positive things to say about him so we'll see oh producers took the Packers that must be for our man Q yeah big Packers fan yeah big Packers fan he came in wearing a Jordan Love jersey today man after my own heart yep Q is uh definitely uh he is all about his Packers yes he's from like uh the west coast too is he California and I think Oregon roots as well look at that there's where do you go to where do you go to school field yeah come on uh Q went to Harvard it's the Wesleyan that's accurate getting out of high interest credit card debt is hard by yourself which is why SoFi thinks it should be a team sport help yourself out with a SoFi personal loan and consolidate your high interest debt into one low monthly payment save even more with no fees required and do it with the speed you need with as soon as the same day funding put SoFi in coach visit SoFi.com slash team sport to learn more loans originated by SoFi bank and a member FDI terms and conditions apply and MLS six nine six eight nine one fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash team sport every day is better with donuts but who wants that sugar crash five hour energy has two bakery classics with none of the guilt you might want the raspberry flavor of a jelly donut five hour energy shot or maybe the rich and silky vanilla combo of the Boston cream donut five hour energy shot either way you're getting the guilty pleasure of a bakery none of the guilt new jelly donut and Boston cream donut five hour energy shots available at fivehourenergy.com and on Amazon taking a quick break to tell you how Saturday's game time can get a little messy your crew came over to watch sacks on the table drinks in hand and somebody celebrating like they just won the whole season and beyond and when that energy gets going your walls can end up taking the hit whether it's a big spill or a noticeable scuff that's where bear ultra interior paint comes in it adds an extra durable stain blocking finish that helps your walls hold up for the whole season it also delivers outstanding coverage and hide in fewer coats with easy application and a smooth even finish that goes on clean from the first pass plus that easy clean finish helps walls stay looking new longer so before the next kickoff give your space game ready defense and coverage that goes the distance bear ultra only at the home depot week three preview my friends let's get into it we're going to start as we always do kind of uh going around with a couple of storylines here with panthers and browns for the first one lineup locks chuba hubbard officially a lineup block jonathan brooks going to be out for a number of weeks i are eligible he's going to be the number one running back there and then both tetra mcmillan and jalen coker that's beautiful to see jalen coker is he belongs in there right now absolutely back-to-back weeks with nine targets for coker looks fantastic no bryce young with the three quarterbacks that we have out and the way bryce young has played the first two weeks is he on that fringe yeah i think he's not on that door i'm at 10 yeah okay knock on that door absolutely he's a little trappy sometimes the i don't know i'm still not fully trusting this offense i'm a little nervous about it going into cleveland and sometimes you'll just see get them like 13 to 10 games in cleveland like i'm a little nervous but uh we'll see i mean maybe this is the year for bryce maybe he finally put it all together and the browns were way more respectable defensively last weekend yes they were not good week one they were good in week two trevor lawrence lit him up in week 125 fantasy points four passing touchdowns mike if it's a 13 to 10 game does that mean that john judkins actually maybe got a lot of run in that one hopefully he got the touchdown if in that case i'm hoping uh the browns offense gets it rolling a little bit on the ground i you know we were nervous about the offensive line coming into the season that has reared its head so far because judkins averaging 2.3 yards per carry deshaun watson has faced a ton of pressure so far this season so it hasn't been great um this is a big week for quinch on judkins we talked about it yesterday you know it's been a while since he's had a good fantasy game tracing back to last season but he's playing almost 70 of the snaps he had five targets last week which probably isn't going anywhere with uh uh Raheem Sanders replacing Dylan Sampson in that you know number two role uh but the key here is really the matchup they're they're at home for the first time this year and they're playing Carolina who is loud 406 yards already to running backs through two games Chicago week one and 148 yards to the Falcons backs last week so this is an opportunity for Judkins to get rolling and that's going to be a huge part of this Cleveland offense so I'm optimistic I think he's very much at least in the lineup lock conversation this week I think he gets it going helps that he's a running back oh it always pushes him up closer to the running back of the lineup lock conversation given that uh what do you guys feel about Denzel Boston because the first two weeks he's looked like the only guy that has a connection with can I ask you what you feel about Denzel Boston sure I'll tell you a couple things about it tell me more uh first two weeks he looks like the only guy with a connection right with with Deshaun Watson cell phone service said this no no he was the only one really catching passes and being productive yeah two for 59 and a touchdown five for 95 and a touchdown that's only seven catches through the first two weeks so like I recognize as a part of this there's a little bit of chasing touchdowns here you could say but he's played 93 of the snaps field I think you talked about this a bunch he is a full-time player he is the one that is out there Panthers allowed many points to the Chicago Bears in week one it wasn't to all the guys that we wanted but it gives me a little bit of optimism that I think with what we saw the first two weeks that Denzel Boston has creeped into the conversation I'm way higher than you guys I have him at 28 if you've got 36 Mike you've got him at 38 do you want to see it another week before you're in on the Denzel Boston can start for me train with one tweak there I'm good on Denzel Boston it's the Browns offense as a whole day okay for the week before I'm like all right I 100% would have added him over wave on waivers or I did slash I had him on a couple teams already which is one of those like bonuses I didn't draft him being like you know what by week two I've got myself a lot of time to do this I've got myself a lot of time to do this a potential flex and Denzel Boston it was more of a long-range play but yes I think he was both worth the waiver wire ad this week but also a little bit of a wait and see like if there because the offense is a wait and see offense definitely yeah they could they could lay an egg on Sunday and it wouldn't stun me at all yeah he looks good I think he's gonna be a legit player in this league but one thing I will mention though is and the reason maybe I'm not a hair higher is Casey Concepcion's on the verge I think of a good game he has handled 10 of their carry so far which is a that's like peak it's crazy Bo Samuel level usage yeah Percy Arvin um and also Boston and Concepcion both have a 21% target share so I mean he's been busier than you realize his role is just different and Boston has hit a pair of touchdowns one of which was in garbage time but um there's reason for optimism if you look at the projection you might be like why is Concepcion hanging around like 10 points that's why because his usage has been really good he just hasn't converted quite yet but that's coming who you guys taking in this one I got the Panthers um I have uh the Panthers is really well yes I could there's I can see the Browns winning this they just went into Tampa and won but no you can't like that you can't you're they think it was such a hedge thing to say after it shows up but this is like a 51 49 one for me this is a close call Mike has the Panthers winning this game 22.4 to 21.6 that's what that's probably a little lower than that but yeah I don't know let's I can tell you though no it's okay we don't want to just give me 10 minutes to find it all right next up Jets and Lions 21 20 Panthers wow you were actually really close close to the Panthers way to go lineup locks in this one Jameer Yeb's obviously I'm on around St. Brown obviously Brees Hall and Garrett Wilson couple names that are not on that list Jamison Williams first two weeks guys hasn't been a lineup lock for our squads is this a week in which he finally gets back into form you think I am going to pretend like I'm a mirror and ask that question right back to you you know do you believe that Jamison Williams gets back into form this week played 91 of the snaps I mean this is the same kind of thing he's on the field all the time he had nine targets in week one with like two of them and he's been on the field all the time and he's got two major drops that if he doesn't have those drops I think we would be singing a little bit of a different tune because we would feel what we saw in week two is like oh this is part of the Jamison Williams roller coaster after what would have been a nice week one this is week two so I like that the this is the third highest implied total a lot of points are going to be scored there's a little bit of like this revenge game narrative I don't know if they're going to want to like run it up on Aaron Glenn I was like what is who does Jamison have no no no but like Dan Campbell and the Lions and like you know they're playing against their former defensive coordinator kind of a thing but a little bit extra rest home game Jared Goff in a dome you'll like all those things I think he's still a flex option but I have lost some confidence over the first couple of weeks in Jamison Williams I'm a little lower but to your point though snap share I route participation I area share all basically identical to last year in the last two seasons his target shares down a little bit but not by much I mean he should be better going forward I think he's going to be better than he was last year but I think he's going to be better than he was last year so Jets 4.7 yards per attempt allowed so far that's second best in the league that was a defense I thought was underrated coming into the year but they're better than I thought so far and we'll see if that continues this is a big test for them we're hoping Jamo gets on track but it kind of feels like Jets wide receivers might be in for a big day feel talk about I'll talk about them in just a moment but don't you think at some point this is year five for Jamison Williams even if you want to throw away his rookie season because he was coming off of an ACL tear like at what point do you learn that when you draft Jamison Williams you draft everything yeah you draft the good and the bad yeah and what you don't do is is pull the plug after two games because fantasy karma then leads to a 22 point performance and that's exactly right like you just have to when you draft them when you press that button in your draft room you have to acknowledge that no matter what happens in a two or three or even four week stretch it can't phase you because there has been very little rhyme or reason in the past like they have you mentioned the high implied total that's going to be every game for the Lions right there is that off bad defense and a very good offense yeah so the the implied total is going to be robust there's going to be opportunities for scoring they're going to have good matchups because of their schedule and it may not matter for Jamo like that's just the nature of how this player operates so the ranking matters for sure but I would say Jen like I only have Jamo on one or two teams and I haven't thought about removing him I've just said you know what I'm going to stick it out because eventually he's going to pop and when he does the good version of Jamo can be a very good very useful player not as much you I remember you told me this Daniel like there's not as much upside for Jamo is it feels like yeah like his career has like 26 27.8 or something like that yeah he doesn't even have a 30 point game to his name but there's enough upside that you got to keep riding that wave yeah he did have 16 points or more nine times last year yeah it was season over half the season and I would like to say even though he didn't make it on the list I think Sam Laporte is a lineup block with the way he's played the first two games of the season and the tight end yeah he probably could be in there it's a close call but yeah he's on that borderline so the player I wanted to discuss is Garrett Wilson as the as the Garrett Wilson enthusiast on this podcast yeah yes I think Mike is going to be on the he never he never bites on it ever I was playing into it thank you look everyone watching knows that's not true so correct just leaning into the comedy of it Mike obviously is the Garrett Wilson enthusiast on this show and I think this is just I mean if it's not this weekend for the absolute crush job for there's never going to be a matchup we feel as confident maybe I guess when they play Miami which that will be a good one too for for Garrett Wilson but I know it's a tiny tiny tiny tiny temple sample size but through two games the Lions have allowed by far the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers they've even been generous to tight ends so if you feel sort of I don't know a little frisky and you want to throw Kenyon Sadiq out there sounds like Mason Taylor is not going to play that will be a little bit too that would be a bridge too far for me but a really good opportunity for uh for Garrett Wilson to thrive and I'll say it in a deeper league like I'm not talking 10 teams 14 team league or larger Gino Smith your guy Mike on the streaming radar we got there yeah I'm not uh all right all right I'll give it to you in super flex probably not going further than that I like him I what I like about him is not for fantasy it's for get the ball in the hands of Garrett Wilson who by the way I want a little higher target here for Garrett Wilson it's down yeah it's like 24% 23.7 that's a solid number but that's not a Garrett Wilson number we need that to be a little higher I would agree uh yeah definitely he's a shot at a huge game here check in on fantasy focus countdown on Sunday morning and we will talk about a DFS lineup that has a double stack of Gino Smith with both of these wide receivers and then a Lions comeback on the other side double stack yes I was uh we were where I was I thought my two older daughters and I were playing this morning and we were playing like you know we breakfast uh we were up in the playroom we were just talking about random things and then we were um pretending we were casting spells on each other yeah and so naturally started that first I was I was a frog then I became frozen and then I became a unicorn who had three double stuffed Oreos on his horn your girls know how to play double double stuff double stack double stack yeah I was thinking pancakes my I went to breakfast so always great did you yeah no I mean like that's where my brain my brain went to breakfast sorry uh taking the Lions in this one you guys taking the Lions as well yeah everything the Lions all right moving on to the next uh game my friends Texans and Colts yeah guys Nico Collins did not practice don't like that don't like that sort of play it out here is like uh lineup blocks by the way Jonathan Taylor Tyler Warren for the other side but if Nico Collins the only one right now yeah if he plays he plays in there well if he doesn't practice today he'll be out of the projection so I'll keep an eye on that uh just a reminder new season um Tomiko Ryans has traditionally been amongst the least likely head coaches were a Wednesday or Thursday actually plays on Sunday okay that's good to know so just if he doesn't practice today day you can likely count on him being out so if we're planning on nico not being in there last week field we saw dalton schultz yeah is this just like a rinse like do you guys feel it's a rinse repeat situation or would you stay away if nico's out dalton schultz would be a top 10 tight end for me there is a very notable reservation that i have about dalton schultz not to the point that he would be like tight end 20 but i want you to temper expectations because the numbers suggest this guy should be like you know tight in three or four right he's run the most routes get the second most targets he had a monster week last week if nico's out there so so so so thin the texans have had the most un-texan-like game script though and that's the point that i think is important is that they've played games where they are either playing shootouts against the buffalo bills or playing from behind against cincinnati and they can't run the ball i know everybody got on me but i had the audacity to suggest that david montgomery might be a sell hopper after week one two weeks in like he's averaging like 2.6 yards per carry and woody marks is no better or he's a little better but not much right so they can't run the ball which is going to lead to more throwing but i don't think that's going to be so much throwing that dalton schultz is going to consistently be amongst the most routes run at tight end if nico's out though i'm still starting him i'm just letting you know that if he goes out there on sunday and finishes with four catches for 48 yards on five targets don't be surprised because the circumstances have been like top five and then he's going to be a sell hopper and then he's going to be a sell hopper five percentile for him in the first two weeks yeah he tends to have games like that but he did not have a game like that last year when nico was out he had a it was worse than four four eighty four four forty eight i think he had like three points or something in fantasy so uh just because nico's out that hasn't automatically meant big dalton schultz but i agree he'll be up a little higher in the rankings but i'm not i wouldn't consider him a lineup love i said to you guys last week if nico was out i was going to watch all of these receivers just to see if anyone established themselves the answer is no i'm done he's the only pass catcher that if nico is out you go into the matchups and you're going to be a sell hopper and then you're going to be a sell hopper saying i have some confidence obviously one of them could like it's a colts defense that got shredded by patrick mahomes they are not a good team period right now definitely not a good defense right now um so somebody could have a big day but we're not forecasting that going into the game yeah i made a joke last week about jared wayne having a role and he had like what four targets seven targets yeah he was busy it was unbelievable honestly we're going to be without both of the top two wide receivers in this one both wide receiver ones for each team because we know that unfortunately alec pierce another one placed on ir so he's going to be out there does that give more target share to josh downs to tyler warren how did it break out in your project how dare you disrespect laquan treadwell like that is that what it is after pierce led after pierce left last week he actually led the colts and routes run after that point did laquan treadwell but uh treadwell actually hasn't had uh a game with double digit fantasy points since 2021 it's kind of wild he's just hung around but that's five years ago somehow uh it's been it's been quite a while so he'll probably play more this week but darius slayton's on the roster and he will be in game shape because obviously he was with the giants until late august so actually he might have made it till september like the final cut yeah yeah um it was after that i think but he um he could have a role here too but the guy is obviously josh downs he had a 30 percent target share after or in in last week's game which obviously pierce like i missed most of that seven for 72 on nine targets so if you think about how the colts are going to operate their offense now going forward obviously jonathan taylor's number one but then it's downs and warren you're going to run through those three guys uh moving forward and to your point about houston they've really struggled so far the most touchdowns and fantasy points allowed to wide receivers already three have already hit 14 and a half points against them in just two games you have to think they're going to get that straightened out at some point i think back to like baltimore was that a couple years ago remember baltimore the first month was just unbelievably terrible defensively and then they were really good the rest of the year so maybe houston does the same thing and figures it out but so far they have been just torn apart tyler warren hasn't been the disappointment that colson loveland the other tight end has been but he has not been but he has he's not been he's had a touchdown in both games hasn't he's been that's the only by touchdown he's got nine catches for 34 yards not what we thought it was going to be yeah short range roll but yeah yeah no i'm just saying like field knows what i want to say yes like if colston loveland had had two like even average games we'd be talking about tyler warren i believe a little he's averaging under four yards a catch he's averaging like full back yards per catch he has a unique role for sure i mean he's gonna get goal line care i still feel okay about him just because especially with pierce out i mean he's gonna be so busy i think i have i don't exactly know what to make of the colts right now this is sort of a real life conversation more than a fantasy conversation well i think the texans are going to be an elite defense that will hang their hat on that and being you know cj stroud can be good enough like i thought about the texans in my afc super bowl pick coming in i'm seeing i yeah there's a lot i did a lot of everyone was higher than me on the texans i did not understand that but okay well who has more championship equity in your guys opinion the texans or the colts uh the texans yeah such an interesting team because it's like i feel like they've got a healthy number of solid players but it's like the ceiling just feels a little capped for this franchise yeah jonathan taylor is obviously amazing but like daniel jones is like a solid quarterback not a great quarterback you know like sauce gardner they traded for him and traded two first round picks like that's a hefty price for a guy that plays a position that and by the way like they're playing a lot of zone yeah if i said to you in today's past there's nothing that's not fantasy but like in today's passing league that the leaders of your passing squad were going to be daniel jones and alec pierce yeah that's got to rank towards the lower end and by the way they're both getting paid yeah that's the thing they're getting paid so i think where i land on the colts is like i think they are a good team i think they they can be a good team i said earlier they're a bad team because they have been through i mean they hung with the cheese but like they're owing to right um they can stay they can hang tough on occasion just because they're a good team i think they're a good team i think they're a good just don't feel like this team has they kind of sort of like where the steelers have been for the last decade or so it's like they can they can find their way to frisky it's an eight and nine team or nine and eight team yeah when it really matters that middle is a dangerous place to be in the nfl yeah but they're both owing to huge divisional game huge game whoever loses this game is in deep trouble must win for both teams well texans fans would say if we lose we'll be exactly where we were last year oh and three you're right are you taking this yeah i got the texans oh i'm taking the colts in this one yeah i have the colts as well me and the producers go with the texans yep i like it i like when we get the split every game day starts before the lights go up before the snap before the roar something's already at work cleaner quieter energy production running where the game lives strong enough for fourth and goal smart enough for what comes next powering game day 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same city as their team which is why marriott bonvoy has hotels close to nearly every nfl stadium bringing fans closer to the teams they love with over 30 different hotel brands so if you want to stay closer to your team check in for game day with marriott bonvoy the official sponsor of the nfl we'll see you there all right another one vikings and bucks we're gonna go to the mailbag after this but first we want to dive into one more game bucky irving and ameka abuka both still technically on the radar both on the lineup block list aaron jones justin jefferson as well aaron jones is officially iffy for the game on sunday he is yeah that's soreness though right so i'm not panicking on that one yet also i don't know when it's soreness how often and you really need to read into this with veteran players is it like we're just gonna be like soreness this one was like a legitimate like let's make sure we keep our eyes on this okay okay so i'm telling you guys now and if he's out sure like you'll see dj dallas move up in our rankings not to the point that he'll be in the top 20 i also think jerome ford yeah yeah he'll be probably be activated and i was less optimistic than you guys were on aaron jones last week his role was really good he well he had zero targets but he saw a lot of carries but just 10.4 fantasy points i don't think they'll do that again i like if he's banged up after one game of getting 20 ish carries i think they're going to be much more judicious with him for the next three weeks or longer if jordan mason isn't available after his ir period officially come that was a tricky one it was a surprising game script first of all remember it was a i mean they were ahead anyway but then caleb got hurt so they couldn't really take the lead from them the vikings couldn't score but the bears couldn't take the lead so minnesota just ran the ball into the ground we did not see that coming but it was also it's a really important divisional game so like they were they wanted jones out there they just don't have good options so i'm not surprised it went that way but i agree in general that's not going to be the point i think they'll be far more judicious but the thing that i wanted to talk about before this aaron jones was yesterday is kyler starting kyler murray is starting i don't really think and we had this conversation i think Monday, or Tuesday. I believe it was Tuesday. My rank Speaking for Justin Jefferson, didn't move up or down? Nope. Same with any other Minnesota skill player? Don't know. But as we just mentioned a few moments ago, 25% of our top 10 or 12 quarterbacks are going to be out this weekend, right? So is Kyler, can he resurrect himself enough that in future weeks we're talking about Kyler as a weekly starter? Because Jackson darts out for the year. We've had no timeline on Jaden Daniels, but it sure sounds like he ain't going to play for multiple weeks. Caleb Williams sounds like he's going to be multiple weeks as well. So if Kyler balls out on Sunday, then next week when we're going down this same path, are we going to be saying, yeah, Kyler's my QB8? I don't even know if they play next week. But Kyler is definitely talented in the ways that you need to be talented to be good for fantasy, right? He's still a very effective runner, even if he's not the same level of athlete as he once was. And he's got, I would say, good weapons around him, one of the best ever in Justin Jefferson, but good enough around him with a good offensive mind that he can resurrect. Resurrect his fantasy career. Agreed. Next week, they play the Miami Dolphins. Oh, baby. So think about that. I mean, even better. Like if Kyler shows, if he gets you 20 fantasy points this week, then I bet Mike will have him as projected as like the fifth quarterback. I was going to say QB5, QB6. He'll be in that vicinity. And keep in mind, if you had Jackson Dart or you had Jaden Daniels, he was out there in waivers in quite a few, like 10, 12 team leagues. Because he was out. So I scooped him up as a replacement for Dart. I think I have Lawrence in that league. It might be the FFC league. He's on my bench now. So now I'm going Lawrence, Kyler. And that might work out just fine. So Kyler's still available in 43% of ESPN leagues right now. So if you need a quarterback, go out and think about it. At least for these next two weeks. Mike, what do you want to talk about here from this game? By the way, we just had Justin Jefferson up on the screen for those that are watching. We were talking about Amon Ra and JSN being low maintenance. Shout out Justin Jefferson. He is. You're awesome. He's the best in that regard. 100%. Another receiver. We'll go from Jefferson to the number one, we hope, wide receiver for the Buccaneers. Emeka Abuka. I'm sticking with him as a lineup lock. He drafted him as such. He should stay in lineups. He hasn't been horrendous. He does have double-digit fantasy points in both games. We haven't gotten to that high ceiling. Obviously, he was bailed out by a touchdown last week. But he is leading the wide receiver room in snaps so far. The problem has been Baker Mayfield has been spreading out targets. You talked about this yesterday, Daniel. Four Bucs have exactly 10 or 11 targets so far. Abuka, Cade Otten, Bucky Irving, and Ted Hurst of all people. Jalen McMillan will probably play. A little more in this one as well. That's been a miss by me. I thought they were going to get Jalen McMillan more involved. I mean, he was out. He was clearly limited last week. They just were like, we'll give you a few snaps. Yeah, that could change this week. So, I wouldn't say miss yet. But the target share is too low. 18%. He was at 24% last year was Abuka. So, that number needs to go way up. If it does, he'll be just fine. And I'm optimistic that it will. This is a tricky matchup. Minnesota was so good against the pass last year. They shut down Chicago last week, even before the Caleb injury, obviously. But remember, they gave up 55 points to the Packers receivers in week one. So, maybe they can be had by at least one receiver. And if you're picking one from this group, obviously, it is Emeka Abuka. They're at home. They're 0-2. Huge game. Huge. They should be the best team in this division. Over under.5 weather delays on Sunday. Under. I would say under as well. That's the longest one I can remember in a long time last week. That was crazy. You guys are going with Vikes. Wallfield looks this up. You're going with Vikes. Are you going with the Vikings? I'm going with the Vikings. Who did I? Yeah, I picked Tampa. I thought so at home. I took the Vikings as well. You took Tampa? Yeah, they're at home. They're going to get us drained out. Sunday, 84. Beauty. Beauty down there. That's going to be nice. We have crazy weather coming our way here. I'll skip tomorrow's show and head down. And head down there? Okay, thanks. Just to report on Kyler. See what's going on with Emeka. I mean, we're supposed to get like three inches of rain here in Connecticut this weekend. Yeah, it's supposed to be a little stormy, windy, and all that kind of stuff on Saturday. Third straight wash. Be safe out there. My wife, taking care of three kids for a gigantic portion of Sunday, has just loved three straight rainy Sundays to start the season. Eric Moody's basically taking care of three kids when he handles chat because he's holding it down for us. That was a tough one. I didn't like that transition as much. I tried. I don't know. Red Pants Brigade. Thrice is not a band. It's the number of losses I will have come Tuesday. Hey, with that attitude, it's positive swing time. That's right. I appreciate that, though. Anthony Bubba 200 wants to know, Waddle or Kyron Williams in the flesh? That is a good one, but it's hard to argue against Kyron Williams right now. I think right now I'd still go with Kyron, but that's a good flex consideration. I have them both projected for 13. That's a really close call. That is amazing. I'll give it to Kyron just because Denver's been slow against the run so far. I'll lean that way. Do your projections not go to decimals? They do, but I have to. Oh, okay. Do you want to know? No, no, no. I understand that the guy got it. It would be funny if they are the same number, though, but let's see. How many decimals do your projections go? They go to a bazillion. That's not a real number. 13.1 for Waddle. 12.6 for Kyron, so it actually leans that way. It leans Waddle a little bit. All right. I'd go with Kyron still in that way. Yeah, the running backs are generally a little safer. Matt wants to know, Dak in a potential shootout or Mahomes in a potential second half run game script? Yes. Wait, both of them are good? I'm going with Mahomes. I have Mahomes higher, yeah. I would also do Mahomes. I don't think we're talking, we're not talking the game in Brazil today, but worth noting that the Ravens for sure traveled today, so we'll know on Zay Flowers. Yes. Burt Macklin wants to know from the FBI, if Bowers doesn't play, would you do Kyle Pitts or third and Juwan? Juwan Johnson. Do you know Burt Macklin fell into a pit one time? He did. He fell into a pit. Kyle Pitts. Wow. You're going Juwan? Is that your logic? Because honestly, I'd be so proud. That's pretty good. That's not my logic. My logic is I have him ranked 10 spots higher. I would do Kyle Pitts just with the, hopefully the rise in the offense with the new quarterback. Last one. This one's from Tony Nardelli. Oh, this one's painful. Holston Loveland or Oranda Gadsden. All right. So first of all, Gadsden, obviously on the rise because David Njoku's on IR and Charlie Kolar is going to be out for a while. So this is a shot for Gadsden to have a big role at tight end because they don't, they signed Hayden Rucci off the practice squad to be there too. They just don't have anyone there. I believe from somebody else's practice. Exactly. That's what I mean. He knows Mike McDaniel. Trust me. I looked at their practice squad immediately and was like, I don't see anyone. I recognize a tight end. They're going to, they have some trouble there. So. Gadsden should play a big role. If they're throwing to a tight end, if it's a passing down, you need a tight end in the field. Most of the time, it's going to be him in this game. So he's on the rise, but I'm sticking with Lothan. I can't, I can't do it. I have to leave him in there. I'm leaving him there as well. So do they only have two? Cause Charlie Kolar was previously announced as going to IR. Jim Harbaugh said they ended up getting some good news. So maybe, you know, probably not four weeks miss, but probably multiple weeks for him. Right now, are there only two healthy tight ends on the roster? Yes. They also have Alec Ingold who can do some things as an H back fullback, but on the practice squad, they have two guys that I was not familiar with when, you know, so I, they have, they have a problem at that spot, but again, it's good news for Gadsden to get a look here. It's always bad when you're a player in our ESPN fantasy database and Mike says, I was not familiar with your game. They were not, they were not active in the fantasy game. Let's put it that way. They have not played in the NFL quite yet, I believe. Okay. The problem is it's my subject, so I'll figure it out in a little bit. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about. Patriots and Jaguars. Yep. Pats and Jags lineup blocks in this one's Drake May at the low end of the QB radar in part because again, we have three quarterbacks missing this week. Trevor Lawrence also, and then Parker Washington obviously has absolutely crushed so far this year. I don't see any running backs for the Patriots on there guys. You don't, and there shouldn't be Daniel, but I did want to go back and check out what we saw last year because the Patriots are an interesting running back conversation for this week. Obviously, most people realize that Ramondre Stevenson. Stevenson fumbled last week, his first fumble of the season. He's glad I wasn't here for that show. Yes. You thought about it a little bit. His first fumble in a while by his own standards, right? Ramondre has been a very turnover prone player, but it's been a while since he fumbled. He fumbled in two separate games last year did Ramondre, including two fumbles in one game. So he had three fumbles lost in 2025, but two of them were in a single game. So I went back and I checked to see in the two games following his fumbles, how much was Ramondre Stevenson's role impacted, if at all, relative to Travion Henderson. Great exercise. Well, it turned out that he ended up playing more than Travion Henderson the following week, and he still had more carries than Travion Henderson in each of the following weeks. Now, it's worth noting that Ramondre kind of got hot at the end of last year, and that did coincide with where ball security was not really an issue with him at all. So those two games following fumbles, he was ineffective, but he was still the Patriots lead back. And I have him ranked as running back 27. Henderson I have ranked is running back 29. If you ask me which one of these guys is more likely to handle if they split up 25 carries and one gets 14 and one gets 11, I'll put my money on Ramondre Stevenson getting the 14 and Travion Henderson getting the 11. So it's certainly much narrower than where we thought it would be where we were last week going into that game with Travion healthy as well. But I still think Ramondre is the Patriots running back that is more likely to have a fantasy-relevant role. Yeah, I'm kind of projecting it how I did leading up to the season. Now, after what we saw last week, Henderson did double up Stevenson in snaps after the fumble in that game. I do expect that to even out. I think it is what it is. I think Stevenson, to your point, is just that guy that's reliable. He's going to be out there in passing situations, out there to pass block. He's going to be the starter. But Henderson's going to. Yeah, he's an effective player, but he's not quite as explosive for Henderson. And that's going to be Henderson's role. Remember, during the regular season last year, Henderson did have that holding edge in carry. So, even if there's some garbage time there, it was fairly even in terms of carry. but Stevenson had the edge in passing situations and that's what it's going to be so you might be looking at 10 carries and maybe one target from Henderson for the time being keep in mind he had zero targets even though he played such a big role last week so I don't feel great about Henderson as a starter but I don't feel great about Stevenson's fantasy upside which he also did not have last year it's kind of where we as you said it's kind of where we're coming in Henderson by the way and this has been brought up by several people is yes he had that 39 yard touchdown run but his other 14 or 15 carries were very ineffective I always think that's kind of a tough bit of analysis to do because through 18 I guess yeah 18 games of his NFL career like Travion Henderson is about as good of a bet as any player maybe other than Jameer Gibbs to have a long touchdown run I'm gonna say Jameer Gibbs is if you were to ask me who is the best bet this weekend have a 30 plus yard touchdown run I'm gonna go Gibbs won Gibbs definitely won yeah at the running back spot who's number two for you guys is it Bijan I would yeah I'd say him I was gonna say Ken Walker would be up there Taylor's in the top five I would still you know what Derrick Henry would still get it there yeah that's totally fair I would still include Devon HN I think he has a shot at a big play this week okay so Devon HN the point is that Travion Henderson ranks a lot higher on that list than he does our running back rankings oh yes so um I have again Romandre at running back 27 Travion at running back 29 a big game for the Patriots and Jaguars both teams are one and one here anything for the Jags no I think I know who we're starting and I am passing on the running backs if I can help it unless I have literally no other options and Basial Tootin is the only guy I have like until further notice it is the Parker Washington show here that's it and start Lawrence you can start to and but you're definitely starting Washington and you're definitely uh and that's it just uh strange for those that may wonder um we don't expect Christian Gonzalez to shadow Parker Washington uh no Washington is in the slot about half the time he might see a lot of Brian Thomas though I was kind of curious if they would put him on Myers or uh Thomas or just have him play aside or go on Washington when he's on the outside but it's nothing to worry about because they move around too much yeah that's right the Patriots faced in a more elite receiver in week one and Jackson Smith and Jigba who had a monster game obviously he did see some of Christian Gonzalez but just with the way they move him around and him just shadow that guy for a full while your guys yeah that's why your guy I'm on Ron never gets shadowed that's right so he's in the slot always moving around everywhere um very often I'm on an island I'm on Foxborough Island here yeah you are I am taking the Patriots I took the Jags Mike took the Jags our producers took the Jags yeah yeah we'll see how this one works out next game up Titans and Giants you can do the Titans Daniel after you give us the lineup this one makes me sad a little line of blocks here Cam Scadaboo Malik Neighbors and Isaiah Likely quick analysis on the Titans still line up Mike over to you yeah we're not starting any Titan both of the wide receivers are outside the top 50 of the wide receiver position right now there's just no chemistry you can't the running backs are hurt now they're both bad they're neither one of them practice both Tajay and Tony Pollard did not practice this week or on Wednesday I'm not playing Cam Ward I am not playing a tight end we are just unfortunately passing on all Titans but we have a lot to talk about for the Giants because without Jackson Dart how are we looking at the offense different by the way I just want to say Carnell Tate does have a 24 percent target here so maybe maybe it happens at some point at least he's getting the usage we'll see if that translates at some point uh but yeah I mean it's hard to believe but I still feel like you're locking in three Giants even with Jameis Winston out there we talked about this yesterday we know he can put up big passing numbers and that's what we're going for the guy averaged 20 fantasy points per game the last time he was a full-time starter which was about six or seven so I feel like he can still get the ball to Malik neighbors and Isaiah likely neighbors had a dud last week but he obviously got hurt early in that game and Dart left I kind of shook things up I'm not too worried about that the Titans have struggled against wide receivers so far they've allowed at least nine fantasy points to five different receivers already and the opposing number one receiver had a good game both times Garrett Wilson at 13.9 which is fine and last week Devontae Smith had 27.7 in that game so um some optimism for him Isaiah likely going to be very likely as 18 targets already we can't bench him at this point he's been too good no way third at tight end targets and catches and then Cam Scadaboo 18 for 81 and a touchdown in week one last week didn't run it as well 12 for 36 but had four targets in that game and caught them all for 19 yards so we need to kind of combine those give us the good rushing and also a handful of targets and then it'll be the full package for uh Cam Scadaboo played 60 percent of the snaps in both games even with Najee Harris and Devin Singletary involved last week uh Devin Singletary and Devin Singletary uh and again I think this is an exploitable defense so I think all three belong in lineups uh the Giants amongst the interesting options for streaming defenses this week facing the Titans obviously the Panthers also in that category facing the Browns a couple of options to sift through yeah Brian Burns out for the Giants hurts but otherwise they have no pass rush right now it's wild how do you guys feel are the Titans a highly rostered defense um is and I'm saying this is this silly like I don't think it's still I hear you coming from you know what I mean like is this you can throw for 400 yards you can throw for four touchdowns yeah yeah the other team that's right yeah he'll throw two of those touchdowns to the wrong team like would they would that be a defense if you had to stream someone I actually am using them in one of my DFS lineups because I had they were uh I'm just I'm buying into the potential Jameis narrative that's all I'm on the Giants in this game by the way I am also on the Giants in this yeah Giants all right we are hold on big opportunity for Jameis or four sweep sweep here all right last game Bengals and Steelers talk to me about these running backs Daniel I don't really want to yeah lineup locks in this one Chase Brown Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins all three of them no Joe Burrow we'll talk about that yeah we'll talk about it in a minute um running backs we had a DNP from Rico Dowdle Jalen Warren was actually limited at practice if we don't have Rico Dowdle out there I think Jalen Warren's going to move up our rankings to probably more of a low-end RB2 of potential flex option yeah definitely usable in this one given where we're at if Rico Dowdle plays then it probably eats enough into Jalen Warren that I wouldn't have him in the RB2 radar anymore unfortunately yeah he's tricky I thought about him for a little foreshadowing I did think about Jalen Warren as a sneaky start of the week oh we'll talk about tomorrow but Bengals might be good against the run so far like I that made me a little nervous and I if Dowdle's out I would feel better about it but we don't know for sure I do have him out of the projections for now so our guy uh Eli what how do you pronounce Heidenrich Heidenrich yeah great American could could have a role in this one uh alongside Jalen Warren which would be fun is that one person or is that two Hyde and Rick Eli Hyde and Realtor yes Eli Realtor and Heidenrich okay um he is the seventh round pick at a Navy oh yeah great young man I know this story yeah I didn't realize it from the name yeah yeah yeah okay that's very cool yeah he made the team as a seventh rounder and he's had three touches already but an opportunity to uh perhaps if Dowdle's out yeah we'll definitely keep an eye on this running back situation but if Jalen Warren's the only one we'll probably start him this week if Rico Dowdle's out there I'd rather not use either one of them on the other side of this Mike like DK Metcalf yeah guys we haven't done a ton of games in the last couple of weeks we haven't done a ton of games in the last couple of weeks we haven't done a ton of receiver corner uh matchup stuff because there hasn't been anything super impactful so far this season but this one could be very impactful uh for DK Metcalf first of all I mentioned the Bengals defense is not your slightly older brother's defense like they're a little bit better it's a little bit better this season uh they did not allow a they have not allowed a single receiver to reach 11 and a half fantasy points so far this season they played the Bucks and the Nico Collins list Texan Texans fine um but the the major thing here is potential shadow coverage DJ Turner on DK Metcalf uh he shouted him both times last year and you know what Metcalf did in those games less than 10 fantasy points in both of those games so this is a tough spot for him it'll probably help if Michael Pittman plays maybe they're less prone to put Turner on Metcalf exclusively in this one but he's going to see him a lot so I'm definitely worried about him especially with this atrocious start because I mean here's the thing if I told you in during draft season that Metcalf was going to be top five out receiver and snaps routes and targets you'd feel pretty good about that yeah he's averaging yeah 19 targets he's 62nd in receiving yards he's averaging 3.5 yards per target which is beyond terrible I mean you don't have to water fit when when you pause the podcast and then you go into our ratings and next to the stat chemistry there's the little flame next to all three of us yeah next to DK it's like an ice cold he has no chemistry no flame with Aaron Rodgers it doesn't look like in spite of the fact that he has 19 they do not look good with each other right now it is not great he if you know this is Aaron Rodgers likes last NFL season yep the Steelers pivot to a much more aggressive thrower next year DK will be one of those guys we spend all offseason talking about is yep this could be the re-breakout of DK Metcalf uh I'm taking the Bengals I think we all are I think I am too yeah maybe not because our producers oh Christina big Steelers fan hey well to the soil she's got to do it that's right this is the right way to do it Bengals two and oh I mean wow starting strong starting strong used to that no yeah all right let's do our Raheem Sanders pick of the week we missed here in week two unfortunately but week three we got some new guys on tap guys I'm gonna go with one AJ Dillon there it is let's go number two running back there in Carolina only rostered in 0.3 of leagues there's a shot that maybe he can get an end zone look or a goal line carry with Chuba Hubbard being the only other running back there field where you going Laquan Treadwell the aforementioned Laquan Treadwell had three catches for 61 yards last week we'll see whether Darius Layton is playing as soon as this weekend for Indianapolis. Kind of a similar skill set to Treadwell. But Treadwell, as Mike said, still hanging around. Former first-round pick, wearing that No. 13 for Indianapolis. Bad matchup against Houston, but crazier things have happened than Laquan Treadwell scoring in Week 3. I like it. I'm going to pick. I went a very similar direction here. I'm going Sky Moore, who I mentioned earlier. So, guys, this is fun because it's tonight. Yeah, baby, it's a night player. Sky Moore, just one career touchdown. That was back in 2023, during the regular season. He had a playoff touchdown as well. But still no Savion Williams for Green Bay. Now Jaden Reed is out. And Sky Moore already has quietly four targets this season, one of which was an end zone target, which is what we're looking for. Very good returner as well. By the way, you're right. Do they count? Do we count return touchdowns? Absolutely. That's an anytime touchdown. Yes. Atlanta, weirdly, has allowed four passing touchdowns already. None to a wide receiver, but maybe this will be the first one, perhaps. I like that. There's a chance. Our producers are going to go with Colby Young. I got to admit, this is a random one, but Andre Yoshivas is going to go on to IR. So, Colby Young, the third wide receiver for Cincinnati. You like it? Yeah, that's a good one. That's a great call. A guy that's going to, you know, low rostered, but they're going to play a larger role here this week. I got two others that I almost picked. Did you have others on the list? Eli Heiderich I almost picked, but I didn't know if Dowdle was going to not play. I like Jeremy Ruckert as a tight end. Mason Taylor. No Mason Taylor. Maybe not going to play. Yep. And the aforementioned, Jared Wayne. If there's no Nico Collins, Jared Wayne literally was a big part of that offense. He's rostered in under half a percent of leagues. Someone else I thought about. Can you do a parlay of, what, seven names that we give you? Kevin Pulser probably already has. They wouldn't, but also you could retire on Monday. Like, you're set. So, can you just start doing those every week so we can get you to retire? That would be great. That was mean. Oh, my gosh. Sorry. All right. Well, we love each other on this show. We do love this guy. We do love this guy. We do love this guy. Even though he didn't dress up today. That was mean. That's a hefty shirt, though. Thanks for hanging out with us today. I'm not sitting by a field at the concert now. Oh, no. But I sing all during concerts. You're going to want to hear it. You are going to want to hear it. I'm going to want to hear that. Thanks for hanging out with us today, my friends. Make sure you come back and hang out with us tomorrow. We're going to go through the rest of our week three preview. Recap what it was that was Thursday night football. Make sure you set your lineups. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. You deserve it. We'll see you guys later. Bye. You're in the 06010. 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