Week 3 Fantasy Football Key Questions: Best Matchups, Rankings & Lineup Decisions (Ep. 2221)

This is an "I Heart" podcast, Guaranteed Human. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Little Richard. And we pull apart the story behind the image, discovering forgotten interviews that change exactly how we see these giants of our culture. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the fantasy-prose football podcast. I'm Ryan Warmley. Join today by Pat Fitzmorse. And by Derek Brown, we are answering our week three key questions here on the show, reviewing all of the matchups for week three. And this is kind of crazy that we're already here. This is really when trends become real patterns. And it feels-- everything just feels a little bit more real, right? Like, oh and two as a man, you're off to a bad start, but you can bounce back. You get to oh and three in your fantasy leagues. That's where it starts to feel closer to insurmountable, even if mathematically. It's not that case. Reminder for everybody that all of our weekly consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasyprose.com/rankings. Full slate to get through. So I say we just jump right in. Fitz, I will start with you with game one of the early slate. It's chargers at bills, a game that looked really fun prior to the season, looks a little bit more one-sided now. I think the spread last I checked was a full touchdown, which would have been surprising to hear a couple of weeks ago. Only two defenses fits have allowed more points this season through two weeks than Buffalo. Is this the week that the chargers offense finally comes through for fantasy managers? I'm still pretty skeptical. The chargers are 27th and offensive DVOA. 19th in yards per play, 31st in offensive EPA per play. It's just been pretty ugly the middle of the offensive line still looks like it's a big problem. The cold defense hasn't been great, but it's not cold's level bad. It's just that the bill's offense has been so good that it's forcing opposing offenses to really put their foot on the gas and try to keep up. So not a lot of hope for the chargers just because of how bleak it's looked so far and because that offensive line still looks like a problem. I think I'm slightly below consensus on a lot of the chargers. And to begin with, the consensus is pretty down on the chargers. But I don't know, maybe the Mike McDaniel offense suddenly kicks in the gear at some point. It's possible, but there's some underlying issues here. Debra, what do you think both in terms of the chargers offense, like getting a couple of games under their belt, maybe shaking off some of this, like, you know, rust and like wearing the new offense in terms of the bills, maybe not having the strongest defense. Also, in terms of like, fits the same, the bills having such a strong offense that the chargers might just get a lot of fantasy points from having to try to throw a ton to keep up. Do you think there's an opportunity here for the chargers offense to bounce back a bit for their fantasy managers? I think your hope for the chargers offense this week is that they look like the Packers did yesterday and you get a lot of garbage time production. I don't know what kind of chargers offense we get, man. I was skeptical about McDaniel in the off season. I remain skeptical, but this is, this is the tie up. Like, this is the week where if you want any kind of glimmer of hope, you got to hope that you get it this week, man, because if you don't get it this week, they got Seattle, they have Denver, they have Kansas City, they have Los Angeles, they have the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens right after this. So if hope isn't coming this week, people, it might not be coming at all. So I don't know, like, I see a path for the chargers in this, like with the bills, with how bad their defense has been in the early going, they've given up the 10th most yards per tent, fourth highest passing success rate. It's a good match up for Lad McConkey and the slot, they've given up the six most yards per target. It's a good match up for Maureen Hampton. The bills have given up the 10th highest explosive run rate, six highest missed tackle rate. And yet, I lay all of this out and we will see how hard Mike McDaniel can, Mike McDaniel this week. And I hope we get a good performance out of them, because I know a lot of people invested very heavily in them in the off season, I put it at a coin flip. And by the way, Worm, thanks for going straight into this game and not making me talk about the Packers and their Thursday night performance. Yeah, I kind of brought it up there just to fit Gaslight Fitsy a little bit, sorry, but I know he's hurt and sworn in too. You know what? Part of it, I would like to sit here and say that, oh, I'm just that kind of friend and colleague that I was like trying to think about your feelings. The truth is, because you're such a log show, I just kind of forgot to jump into it. Worm was so happy I didn't start the show wearing a sainz jersey that he didn't know what to do with himself. So no, no, no, I mean, it's a good it's a good comparison. I think for what we could possibly see in this game, right? Because I am very heavily invested in Jordan Love in my fantasy league this season. And I was very happy to see that they were down by so much so early in that game last night knowing that we would get some garbage time scoring from that passing game. So that it did end up panting out for Packers, fantasy managers the way that maybe it could for the chargers. Just to put a bow on this chargers game, you know, some of the rankings here at 50 mentioned being lower than consensus on a lot of these guys. Or and also that consensus looks a little low. Gadsden is tied in 15 and consensus Herbert is QB 13. Hampton is RB 14 and lad is wide receiver 18. So the kind of top guy at each position for the chargers is all in that mid teens range. Does any of those stand out to you as particularly high or low or do they all seem fair? I guess maybe I'm not below consensus on a lot of those guys I'm pretty much right at consensus. I mean that all sons fair and they could if this gets to be a shoot out. Those guys all could I'll kick those we three ranking spots. But man, it's just hard to have any confidence in what's going on with this chargers offense. I the guy that I'm kind of the most worried about in this game and I'll just bring this up real fast because the fact that he is only a 3.7% target share. Hampton is Maria Hampton. Like could he just be gamescripted out of this game and then it's just a lot of lad and Aronde Gadsden and whoever the heck else Quentin Johnson has been a ghost so far this year. But I'm worried about Hampton probably the most out of this trio or four pack of players. You know, if you want to throw QJ into this because he hasn't had any past game role. Like all of our hopes for McDaniel using him in the past game and dialing up easy button throws for Justin Herbert just has not been there. I suppose even if it means going out of order a bit, we should give at least a minute or two on the Thursday night game. There were some pretty big performances. Obviously B. John Robinson, Drake London, both getting 194 yards against Fitz's Packers, Defense, Michael Penix returns in this game to start for the Falcons and revives. And not that he looked amazing, but he revives their fantasy options outside of Kyle Pits unsurprisingly. Packers run game unsurprisingly continues to not really do anything. And even the passing game too, just behind this offensive line, it just feel like it was already not playing well, taking on more injuries. It might nuke the season in a lot of ways, Fitz, this offensive line. Yeah, it's the worst in the league. It might actually make the 2024, 2024, 2025 Houston Texans offensive line looked like the late 1980s, early 1990s, washing and hogs by comparison. I mean, this line is so bad, they allowed, I saw 15 quick pressures against the Falcons last night. That's the second most of any team this year. First most Green Bay Packers and Week 1 against the Viking 17 quick pressures. Like, it's just Zach Bakobwele was the only average to above average offensive line. And they had now he's out for the season. Everyone else is below average to way below average. And you've got guards playing tackle, centers playing guard. It's just a mess. They can't handle the inside of the offensive line. Can't handle power at all, which is going to be a major problem. So even when if Josh Jacobs comes back, like I think we're going to see a lot of 16 for 49 type rushing games from him where you need a touchdown or he's going to let you down. It feels to me similar to CJ Stroud and the Texans where you're under pressure so much and so emphatically that it starts to affect you even when you're not under pressure. They're not the same quarterback, right? But we've seen that happen with Stroud. And Greg Rosenthal from the NFL NFL media had a good tweet about half hour ago. He pointed out that Jordan Love was first in EPA per play in seventh and success rate when not pressured last season. This season when not under pressure. He's 25th and 27th in those metrics respectively. Watching the game, it feels to me like he feels the pressure even when it's not there because so often it is their fifth. And I know people who have Christian Watson and or Matthew Golden on their fantasy teams right now are probably pretty enthusiastic because it's a consolidated passing game. And the Packers since they can't run the ball, they're throwing a lot. I just worry that Jordan Love might not survive like this kind of pressure all season and that they're going to be Tyrod Taylor starts this week in which case you're going to feel less good about Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. As of right now, Debro, how do you feel about those two receivers? And I'll throw Tucker Kraft in there as well. He hasn't looked great this season. Obviously still working his way back from the injury. But the past catcher is in this in this receiving game. Golden has looked very good at particularly compared to last year. 100 yards in a touchdown last night, Christian Watson 96 yards in a touchdown. You obviously were all over him this off season. Do you think they can still continue to produce even if it is in these garbage time situations and things like that? Moving forward or are you really nervous? just about everybody on the Packers, given how love and this offense has looked. - I'm worried about the entire offense because of the volatility with, I mean, riding the roller coaster with Jordan Love and because of this offensive line, and everything that fits he laid out. I think the passing volume, because of how bad their defense is, we'll definitively be there. Regardless of if Josh Jacobs comes back or Flora wants to go run heavy, whatever, passing volume's gonna be there just out of necessity because I think they're going to be trailing. Like their defense can't stop anything right now. They can't rush it, like in fairness, the defense was actually pretty good at the first two weeks. Like the terrible game yesterday, but it wasn't a bad defense the first two weeks. And I don't think it's like it's not cold-slovel bad. - I mean, well, the other thing is they did play Carson Wentz and Gino Smith in the first two weeks, too. So I think that kind of helps with the defense, but their pressure rate was surprising. I talked about that in the primer leading up to this game. So like the pass versus their, they can't, they could not stop Bijan Robinson last night. Serial, like could not. Like the only times that the Atlanta Falcons weren't able to run the ball when they wanted to was when they decided to pass. So I worry about that. Plus all the blown coverages. It's not like they have amazing corners. Like they have a rookie starting, like the ups and downs of that. But like back to the pass catchers, I think that there will be passing volume. But again, you're gonna have to ride the roller coaster of what does that look like on a week to week basis? Because this offensive line is debilitating. And just talking about it from the 100th of you and the packers, like when you know you have a quarterback, like Jordan Love, that is, is pressure sensitive as somebody like Jared golf. Look at the, just juxtapose these two front offices. One invests in the offensive line and the other one says, I will make do. It'll be okay. And it's not okay. So it capsizes everything you want to do also from an offensive standpoint. Because LaFloor, we've talked about this at nauseam over the last few years. All he's wanted to do is run the ball, play slow, sit on leads. Like that's been his go to over the last few years of just running the ball and playing slow and choking at the clock, not only to the quarterback play, LaFloor cannot do that now. So what's he gonna do? Like we get, like we get all these stats about the packers blowing late game leads. Yeah, that's because LaFloor is not adjusting. Like we've seen an offense and a head coach scrambling to figure out what the heck to do in real time because their offensive line is patchwork. I mean, I could joke it right now about like, I'm just glad Tucker Kraft didn't play offensive line, but that was a real thing that got brought up last week. - Very quickly, no like explanation or anything. Just give me a one word answer. Yes or no, Kyle Pitz is droppable, yes or no fits. - Yeah, Pennix doesn't really look his way. - Debra, all hope is gone. - Same thing, very quick answer. Drake London rest this season is wide receiver what with Pennix back fits? - Item ranked wide receiver eight this week. Sounds about right. - Debra. - He's wide receiver one. Where you want to put him in wide receiver one is five minute range. - Yep. - All right, let's get back to the actual Sunday slate here. Next game up, Panthers at Browns. Only one offense in the NFL has scored more points than the Panthers so far this season, but of course that has come against the Bears and the Falcons in their first two games, although based on the Thursday night, maybe Falcons defense a little better than expected. Sorry again, fits on a scale from one to 10. How legitimate is the Panthers offense moving forward in your opinion? Debra, I'll start with you here. - I think it's 6.5, like I want to believe in it, but I'm not totally sold and this is not that I don't fully believe in all the skill players and stuff, and this is me going back to the Bryce Jung of it all. And just as we pull open the hood of like, okay, is what he is doing sustainable. Like the great metrics of Bryce Jung is, he's third in yards per attempt, he's tenth in passing, success rate, he's eighth in hero throw rate, but here comes the ugly. He also has the second highest deep ball rate, the second lowest catchable target rate and the second lowest highly accurate throw rate. So there's a lot to chew on there where it's high, excuse me, it's high variance throws that he's being asked to sit here and complete a lot. When you're walking that type of tightrope on a weekly basis, it's fraught with peril. Like it might crash and burn at any point, outside of the hole, like his size is still a limitation, how you run the offense because of his size and all that kind of stuff. So I guess I want to believe, but the metrics kind of make me be like, okay, is this the honeymoon phase before we see Bryce Jung kind of crater because he is walking a very thin tightrope here. - What do you think fits? Is this legitimate? Is this sustainable? Is the answer to that the same or are there's two different questions your opinion where you go in long term with this Panthers offense right now? - It's funny, numerically, D-Rogue gave the number 6.5 and I had my head 6.4, so I guess we're going to be really close. - Yeah, so Bryce is averaging 8.9 yards per pass attempt and his career average is 6.1 yards and his pass rating this year, 30, more than 30 points above his career pass rating of 82.5 this year, 113.3. I don't think obviously Bryce Jung can sustain this level of play, but I think he's going to be better than the career averages have been. Maybe he's turned a corner and I will say, like the Panthers offense of line has been really good. Just looking at some of the data they have over on F-T-N for offensive lines. Panthers right now, eighth and adjusted sac rates, ninth and adjusted line yards, which is a run blocking metric. First in power success, which is percentage of runs on third or fourth, down two yards or less to go, that achieved a first down or touchdown also includes runs on first and goal or second goal and the two yard line are closer. Panthers number one there. So that offensive line has been performing really well. That's going to help Bryce Jung and the running game. - Do you feel fits like Bryce Jung to whatever degree you have belief in him? Is it more are you thinking in terms of as a franchise quarterback or as a maybe a viable in a super flex league fantasy quarterback starter or is it more not for him, but for his ability to make Teteromic Millen and Jalen Kocher and Juba Hubbard fantasy viable? - Startable and super flex, more about his ability to make those guys viable. I mean, he's got good offensive line, really good weapons, got a couple of willow trees he can throw to in the end zone with Teteromic Millen and Aaron Waller and Kocher has proven to be really, really good. So he's definitely being helped by the supporting cast, but he's unquestionably played better than he had earlier in his career. - Can y'all imagine what this offense would also look like if we had Chris Brazill healthy? - I mean, it's size with these past guys. - I know, Bryce Jung doesn't have to see over the offensive line because again, to your point, he's got redwoods running across the trees. - I look up and there he is. - Yeah, oh man. - All right, let's go to Jets at Lions. Could be a really fun game here. This one is in Detroit. Like I said, Breeze Hall and Garrett Wilson are two of my favorite buys as talked about on the trade show earlier this week with Ericson. Really in the whole league right now, both are ranked inside the top 12 with their positions this week. So I ask you, who has the bigger day against this Lions defense between Breeze Hall and Garrett Wilson? Debra? - I think it's Breeze Hall. And I'm not saying that Garrett Wilson is gonna have a monster day. I think that the production and the target chair, market chair that 80 Mitchell has had could make this where it's not leaning in Mitchell's favor, but he's the downfill threat, Lions secondary sucks. If Geno Smith can be, get some clean pockets in this game because we know again, going back to pressure sense in quarterbacks, how sensitive Geno is. There's more volatility on that side where it's like, Breeze Hall is gonna get 20 touches. We saw last week he is game script proof. The Lions have not been good at stopping the run. Like 9th highest Russian success rate allowed. 3rd most yards before contact for a 10th allowed. So I'll just lean on Breeze Hall because I know regardless of Geno's play or not, he's getting 20 touches. If the game script goes sideways, the Lions start racking up the points and stuff like that, then he's gonna get a crap ton of targets. - Breeze Hall RB 11 in ECR for the week. Garrett Wilson, wide receiver nine. And that's with Christian Watson ahead of him who's already played. It's a really wide receiver eight amongst the guys who haven't played. Fits who of those two do you like better this week? - I like both. And as Debro pointed out, this is not a bad run game match at Purpose Hall. I am gonna go Wilson here. And yeah, I know Edna Mitchell has been a big factor. He is out-targeted Garrett Wilson 15 to 14 this season. And right now 80 Mitchell leads all NFL wide receivers in Ariard share at 59.4%. But Garrett Wilson has a perfectly fine Ariard share of 37.5%. Wilson and Mitchell pretty much account for all of Geno's Smith's Ariard's. And the Lions defense is just so bad. I mean, Tyler Schuck had 410 passing yards and three TDs against Detroit and week one. We two Josh Allen, 327 yards and four touchdowns without Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, the Lions defense, the second area is just awful. - Antivonta Maddox now. - Antivonta Maddox, that's great. - By the way, earlier this morning, I don't know if you saw, there's quote, "Some concern," 80 Mitchell is limited in practice today. He caught his finger on a jersey yesterday. [BLANK_AUDIO] Twitter right now. This is from the ESPN's Jets reporter and used the phrase, quote, some concern. And Aaron Glent said that Mitchell will be limited in practice today. If there's any way that he misses this game, then also juxtapose with the Mason Taylor news. I will sneak in some Kenyans declove here because he would become like the full-time guy, or at least I think he's going to run a higher route share than Jeremy Ruckert. And if Eddie Mitchell is limited or out of this game, then I think we're going to be competing with Breeze Hall probably for like second and third option in the passing attack. Isaiah Williams might even be playable. Yeah, yeah. By the way, just specifically, do you guys agree with what I was saying about on the trade show this week that these are two very good guys to buy right now? Like I don't even want to use from my love, just guys to buy right now at cost. I like investing in them. Especially for week three and week four going against Detroit and Chicago. The whole schedule and they get the browns after that pretty good. Yes, the next two weeks, especially our part of a dead start. There are boys that walk in the schedule. Patriots, then they get the dolphins and the Raiders after that. Oh, we this is what we talked about on Tuesday. Yeah, it's like remarkable. And then even like middle of the season, the Chargers defense hasn't looked good. Buffalo's on their Miami again. Like there are some really choice matchups to come in the future. It's a you call it out like what last week about Gino Smith being an awesome streamer and stuff like that and a lot of good mainly these two weeks. You mentioned a couple of defenses that might not be total pushover. So but we'll talk about those defenses later. No, get to the later. If you want to win a Todd Gurley signed Rams jersey, then this is your shot. All you have to do is subscribe to the tailgate YouTube channel right now. Drop a comment below on any video and that is it. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel. So make sure to turn on those notifications. So you can know what new videos are up and to claim your prize. All right, game number four on the Slates Texans at Colts. Key question here fits David Montgomery was RB six in week one and RB 48 and week two, which end of that spectrum will he be closer to in week three against the Colts. I would err on the high side. The Colts run defense might be the worst in the league. They've given up the second most rushing attention, rushing yards to running backs and the second most receiving yards to running back. So far, Monty's got three touchdowns, only 70 rushing yards so far, averaging 2.7 yards per carry. I think the bigger concern is that David Montgomery has only played three more snaps than Woody marks this season. So it's been kind of a split backfield, but the Colts defense is just so bad. And like, I think they have the worst linebackers in the league. And this is going to be a run defense. We should target and fantasy all season. Debro, do you feel like David Montgomery in the scope of the season is going to be more of a like touchdown or bus type of running back? I mean, through two weeks, that's essentially what it's been. He just happened to get three touchdowns in that first week. So it looks really good. Or do you expect better efficiency from him moving forward? And just to look like a better runner against maybe easier defenses? And I don't know what the efficiency is going to look like, because it's a bigger offensive line question. And just the archetype of running back, the day of Montgomery is like he needs that offensive line to give him some space to kind of get into the second level and create. And I don't know how much he's going to get that for the totality of the season. What I would say for Montgomery, my bigger thing, and why I am with Fitsy and I'm high on him this week is the unfortunate thing we saw from last week is he's apparently going to be more game script sensitive. Then I think any of us thought he was going to be like. And the fact of like his rushing volume went away. Would he more explain more when they were trailing? Like the best thing that can happen for David Montgomery is this Houston Texans defense wakes the hell up and looks like some semblance of what we thought. We were going to get into like get this year that we've seen over the last few years. This defense has been horrid. Their secondary looks lost. The past rush hasn't been amazing like they need to wake up. If they can wake up we get a lot of positive game scripts. Which is how I'm projecting this game because I'm not scared of the colds. Daniel Jones looks like 2025 cartoons in the freaking pocket. He can't move the velocity on his throws is amazing. And the cults are playing a passing attack dink and dunk down the freaking field. So can that work versus the Houston Texans past rush? Sure, but if the secondary and this defense wakes up they can be smothering and they're not going to sustain drives and they're not going to do anything. So a lot of positive game scripts I think is coming for David Montgomery and like if it's he laid out here it's a fantastic matchup on the ground. So I think that he's closer to the week one version of David Montgomery. But until this defense wakes up we're going to see volatility in this backfield. So that's a nice transition into I sort of threw a second question into this matchup about that defense. Is this the week that the Houston defense finally looks like a juggernaut? We expected it to be before the season given both what we think about the defense and what we think about this matchup fits. Yeah it's too good for the Texans not to have the boa constrictor defense we thought that have like the personnel is too good. What's going to be interesting the worm is if the Texans can stop Jonathan Taylor who has historically wrecked the Houston Texans 10 career games against Houston. Taylor is run for 1075 yards and has scored 10 touchdowns one again. And if you take out his 26 yard rushing day against the Texans in week 18 of last season when the Colts had already been eliminated from the playoffs and were playing without Daniel Jones. Taylor has averaged 116.6 rushing yards a game and 5.4 yards per carry against the Texans Hopper's career. But again totally different Texans outfit now than when Taylor first came into the league. Yeah Debra what do you think you mentioned it when you were talking earlier do you think the defense does step up this week in a way we haven't seen this season. I do because I think Daniel Jones looks horrible. He looks like a guy coming off in Achilles and I think his lack of mobility and lack of arm strength and the way that they're running this offense right now because of the limitations of investing in a quarterback coming off of a freaking Achilles repair. Yeah I think Houston gets going. All right let's go to the next game here Patriots at Jaguar. I'm not talking about the quarterbacks in this one. Drake May and Trevor Lawrence both finished outside the top 24 quarterbacks or seeing the outside of the top. Oh no it was 1224 week two. Drake May was QB 23 in week one. So Drake May is two very bad games. Trevor Lawrence one bad game out of the two. He's played so far this year. Which signal caller do you think bounces back in this matchup. May Lawrence both or neither Debra will start with you. I think both. I think both can. I'm a little bit more pessimistic about Trevor Lawrence only because it seems like Carlton Davis is going to be back. I think he would have had a much easier day if Carlton Davis wasn't going to play in this game but two full practices as the time of recording this. Trevor Lawrence also has the highest turnover worthy play rate in the NFL right now amongst quarterbacks and now I know that we got a two game sample and that a lot is not because he faced the Browns is because he faced the frickin Broncos but it's still noteworthy when you're going against the Patriots past defense. I do think that like both these quarterbacks can get going in this game though. You look at the jacks past defense. They haven't been amazing given up the fourth 14th highest pass and success rate the highest explosive pass rate. It's good matchups. Fronio dobs can get free. It's quietly a really strong match up for Hunter Henry. So I think both the answer for me is both. Hi this is Kylie breakman. Angel Jaratana. Jeremy Colhaine Cash MacDonald. And we're the hosts of the artist on artist on artist on artist podcast. The improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of wellness influencers. What I try to do is faux journal. I don't know if you guys heard of faux journaling. Yeah it's reading it's called reading. So you're so we don't like to use that word anymore. Okay a panel of New Yorker cartoonists. Have you guys done Terry Gross's Peloton class? No! I've been dying too. I'm so sorry I'm I'm seeing a reading of Sudako in the thousand paper cranes by Audrement Donald at the Wonderland bookstore. 14. That's crazy. I went to the Wonderland bookstore yesterday and I heard Nora Jones do a reading of Zero Dark 30. No way. 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They'll share their stories, including not just the wins that we all see, but the moments they had to persevere through when everyone counted them out. People like the co-founder of Buddy's Coffee, Rachel, who quickly went from being a New York Times success story to facing eviction. Being deemed a successful business by a near time, as a Puerto Rican girl from New York, who didn't finish college. I was like, I'm finally doing something. Maybe this is all working out. And then that day when the landlord comes in, it's like, you're all over that idea and he's stepped on you. Listen to Global Flow as a part of the Michael Thura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Fitz, May, Lawrence, both are neither. For what it's worth, Lawrence, QB8 in ECR this week, Drake, May, QB12. I tend to think both. And I'm way higher on consensus than May. I think I've got him QB8. And I'm just I'm sensing way more panic for May than for Lawrence. But here's the thing about May, Seattle and week one, toughest past defense in the league. Seattle just held the Cardinals to a game where they did not have a 10 yard completion. They didn't complete a pass for 10 or more yards. That happened, has not happened since it was replacement players in the strike year of 1987. And then, geez. May Drake, May was so terrible on week two that he averaged 9.5 yards per attempt against the Steelers. And I'm being facetious. Of course, May had 22 pass attempts versus the Steelers because he didn't need to throw because the Pittsburgh offense is so broken and the Patriots won 20 to 3 and didn't have to stomp the accelerator at all. So I don't think people should worry about May really tough match up in week one. And then just didn't have to throw in week two. Yeah, he doesn't have AJ Brown. Doesn't have Casey on booty around anymore. But I think he's going to be okay. He was always a spread it around guy last year. And I think he's going to continue to do that and start to pick up the pass. May is another player. And maybe just because he's a big name, you know, MVP runner up last year, all that stuff. Maybe it's harder to get him. But another guy who his schedule looks really intriguing the next two months, basically, you know, Buffalo, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Green Bay. Like there are some really fun matchups moving forward for him. Yeah, I think I I tend to agree with you guys that we'll see generally like both can bounce back in this one. I think like Trevor Lawrence was just a quarterback that I really was going after a lot and drafts the summer. And I'm not coming off of that just because of one bad game in Denver, Drake May. I think you guys laid out reasonable cases for why it's been a slow start and why that might change going forward. So yeah, we're all in the same page here. We can move on to the next game. Chiefs at Dolphins. We all expect the Chiefs to roll on this one. So let's take the opportunity to think about the bigger picture here. Patrick Mahomes, the offense have looked very back this season, particularly in their most recent game. So I want to kind of know where you guys are ranking the following players rest of season. Mahomes Walker, Kelsey, Rice and Worthy. We can take these one out of time. Fitz, I'll start with you. Where are you ranking Patrick Mahomes rest of season amongst quarterbacks? QB 10, which might be too low, but there's a big gap for me between the first 12 quarterbacks and the QB 2s. And Mahomes is in the circle of cross there. Debra. QB 8, but I'm with Fitz, like I think low in QB 1 is about right. Like I think there's just a large like wide scrum of like, where do you think about rock party, Trevor Lawrence, Dick Prescott, Patrick Mahomes, like a lot of the pocket passer type of guys. I could bump up Mahomes if we see another performance closer to what he did in week two because week one, he looked horrible. Week two, he was dialed in. Like that was the best version of Patrick Mahomes that I've seen in the last three seasons. Yeah, it looks really. It looks really good and really scary if you're a fan of an AFC team. Yeah, he looked awesome. All right. How about Kenneth Walker, Debra? Oh, Kenneth was going to be high, but RB 3 behind only Jamir Gibbs and Bajan Robinson. That's where I'm at. And I want to be very particular about how I describe this. I do not think that he continues to get 25 to 30 touches per game. I don't think that that happens because just like we were talking about my homes, I think as my homes in this passing attack, if they keep performing like they did last week, we're going to see more passing volume back in this offense. And I think you're going to see more image Johnson less Kenneth Walker in between the 20s in the sense of where Kenneth Walker can be a 20 touch to 22 touch player and a large portion of that, which we've already seen. Good Lord Andy Reed running backs. It's all kind of backward. Kenneth Walker in the passing game. I think we're going to see more of that. So like I'm not worried about his health in the sense of I don't think this like 30 touch workload is going to continue throughout the entirety of the season. So RB 3 for me. I should have mentioned by the Mahomes in consensus rest of season rankings is QB 9 Kenneth Walker is RB 4. So just one spot lower than Debra has him fits. Where is Kenneth Walker the rest of season running back for behind the big three of Gibs B. John and McCaffrey. And you can make a case for putting him ahead of McCaffrey. By the way, just in consensus, it's Taylor who is ahead of him, not McCaffrey. Oh, really? I would I would easily put McCaffrey or James Cook ahead of. It goes Gibs B. John Taylor Walker Cook McCaffrey is the top six in order. And then Derek Henry seven in the consensus right because okay, as you see, you guys are both definitely up there on Walker. Travis Kelsey at tight end rest of season. Where is he at for you, Fitz? TE8. Yes. Hand holding. He's holding tight in nine in consensus. By the way, I could make him up to tight in seven. If Daniel Jones and the Colts keep looking bad, like he's going to get a crap ton of volume. I'm not saying that like I want the talent of Travis Kelsey at this point of his career over Tyler Warren, but the Colts offense looks a lot worse. Richie Rice at wide receiver is rest of season what for you, Debra? Much low. You tell me where consensus is and I promise you that I'm probably 10 to 12 spots lower than consensus because I don't understand what people are looking at with Richie Rice and they feel comfortable. So, Warren, please tell me that he's a wide receiver, too, because I know he probably is in rest of season rankings. And I'm going to tell you how horribly wrong that is. So, a week ago, he was wide receiver 18. He has dropped. He is now wide receiver 23, so still inside wide. Still not low enough. Not low enough. He's wide receiver. I've got him at wide receiver 31. I've got him at wide receiver 31 right now because everybody is like, oh, he got a touchdown in week one and that helped his fantasy value. Okay, everybody got no targets. Oh, in week two, he got 80 receiving yards and again, so did Xavier worthy and he got no targets. Does everybody realize Richie Rice is not in this high target volume role that Kenneth Walker is now in that type of role now? He's not the drag artist. He's not getting a 30% target share in this offense. Richie Rice has a 9.5% target share, 9.5. That is wide receiver five type of market share usage. How is he a wide receiver to an ECR? How? Fits where you at? I'm at consensus, but I got to drop that because I totally agree with DeBro. I think I saw that right now Xavier Worthy has been targeted and more screen passes. Yes. And Richie Rice has the role is the role is totally changed. And Kenneth Walker, like this was my fear and the reason I didn't draft for Richie Rice anywhere just let he wasn't going to be needed for the same sort of role he's been playing in recent years. And that's kind of how it's played out so far. Yeah, where he's basically been the running back, catching passes out of the backfield. And now the gimmicky role is gone. Speaking of Worthy, last one, where is he? Rest of season, DeBro. Oh, Xavier Worthy. I've got him and wide receiver four territory. I probably need to bump him up a little bit. Like, I think he he should be living somewhere in about the wide receiver three-ish range. Yeah. Yeah. He's actually a wide receiver five in consensus. Yeah, I've got him out. I've got him I've got him at 50. I like I've got a 42 right now. Like, but you know, let me let me ask you this, Fits, because so in rest of season consensus rankings, Xavier Worthy is 51. Wide receiver 50 is Marvin Harrison Jr. Who would you run? Oh, that's too rough. That's too rough. I've got Marvin higher. Okay. Really? Are you hoping for a trade? I'm like, they're really close. You have to be hoping for a trade because he's not a part of that offense. I believe in Marvin Harrison Jr's talent, despite everybody's social media clips out there. Like, I just think that Arizona's screwing him over bad. Yeah. Before I get to the next question, I need to tell you about this new prediction market called polymarket. It's a stock exchange for sports, buying in and selling out on your terms when your team goes down to 20% you can buy in and sell it off at 40% when they come back to double your money. They are so confident. You'll never go back to the other guys. They're giving you a free $50 on your first trade when you deposit just $10 and now they've launched a new feature squads, a group chat where you can see what everyone is trading on. So download the polymarket app today and use FPPOD when you sign up. That's FPPOD to get $50 free after you trade just $10. next game here on the Sunday Slate. Titans at Giants, Debro, how are you ranking fantasy relevant Giants players in the first game with James Winston starting this season? I will be below consensus. I can tell you that. Um, I've got cam's cataboo at RV 23. I don't know what to do with Malik neighbors, um, because I don't know if he plays like he got a full practice in yesterday, uh, and started out limited for the week, but I still don't know if he's going to play with, with the bum wing. Um, Isaiah, likely I've got to tie it in nine. Neighbors will probably be like somewhere in the White receiver two ish range, um, when it's all said and done if he does play, but I don't have a lot of, and that, that are the, those are the only fantasy viable players in this offense for me. Like I don't care about Darnell Mooney or Malachi Fields or whoever. James is barely having a pulse and QB2 land for Super Flex leagues because he looked god awful, uh, last week. Um, so, yeah, you don't think you might look better like with a full week of knowing he's going to be starting and. I mean, he's been a backup in the NFL for how long? And he just needs to prepare like, I don't know, man, I don't, I don't know. There's also something to be said of it, you know, when the magic goes, it goes and he looked god awful. This whole conversation might be kind. So I'll tell you where I have these guys for now. Uh, James quarterback 28, scataboo RB 22 neighbors wide receiver 18 Isaiah likely 10 and 10. We might be moving all these guys to the point where we don't start any of them because they have a nor Easter coming into the east coast this weekend. And I know they're worried about what this is going to do to the Cubs Red Sox series in Boston. Um, I don't think this stretches as far down the east coast as Maryland. So the commanders, Seahawks game should be okay. But they're saying like the forecast for New Jersey on Sunday, uh, rain, sustain winds of 13 miles an hour, gusts of up to 27 miles an hour. That's, that's pretty similar to the weather we got in Chicago last Sunday for bears Vikings. And you saw not a lot of success in the passing game. All I heard, Fitsy was whenever the total is still bet the under. Yeah. Uh, I would definitely agree with that. Does that make you interested in scataboo though Fits? Just like, Hey, they're going to have to run the ball because they won't be able to throw or you're just like, I don't, I don't think everything. I don't think this regime wants to feed scataboo the way I'm dead. No, they don't. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. I, I was, we were under all of them. They all try to get them traded to Tennessee. So you can reunite with all the giants there in, uh, in Tennessee. I was aware of the weather stuff on the baseball side. I didn't even think about it for this game. So I'm glad you brought it up. The, uh, the total, by the way, consensus odds on betting pros.com, 38 and a half for the under it's going to be coming down, I think. And, and by the way, just to say for your rankings, you are either at consensus or like one or two below consensus on every one of those players you mentioned for right now, obviously. Yeah. And that's going to kind of move to because we still, there's so much injury news right now. Like where we're talking about all these players. Yeah. There's still so many situations left to be decided about quarterbacks, running backs, what happens with all of that that everybody needs to make sure they're double checking all of our rankings like on Sunday. Yeah. All right. That's an ugly game. Let's move on to the next one. Bengals at Steelers might also be an ugly game. Pretty much any game with the Steelers has been ugly so far. Bengals defense has looked much improved to start the season while the Steelers offense has been completely dreadful. Just one offensive touchdown for this team through two games. Debra, are you starting any Steelers this week? I will be starting Jalen Warren if he is the clear workhorse back of that offense. I will be starting Pat Fryer-Muth considering the usage. I don't know if we get Michael Pittman Jr. back, but if he is playing, I don't want to start him. I don't want to start Jeremy Bernard. If he's out, I don't want to start DK Mechaff. DK Mechaff is going to get shadowed by DJ Turner. And just for everybody at home, last year in the two meetings, Mechaff got DJ Turner. He followed him on 78, 90% of his routes. Mechaff didn't surpass 50 receiving yards in Turner's coverage and either game and he had zero touchdowns. I will not play DK Mechaff, but Jalen Warren and Pat Fryer-Muth, sure. Fitz, I knew you were going to bring up Fryer-Muth if Debra didn't just from doing the truth. Yesterday, he is in consensus rankings, tight and 17 right now. I know you haven't quite a bit hired in that. Yeah, tight and 10. Yeah. Or wait, maybe I've got likely 10 and Fryer-Muth 11, whatever. I'm going to be moving Fryer-Muth ahead of likely. Actually, I do have Fryer-Muth 10 and likely 11. Yeah, it's just the Bengals allow the most receptions receiving yards and touchdowns to tight end last year with Al Golden as the defensive coordinator. Golden's still the defensive coordinator and Dalton Schultz had 12 catches and 140 yards to the Texans for the Texans against the Bengals last week. And it seemed like this Bengals defense has gotten a lot better. It just seems like the Bengals are perfectly willing to concede seven yard throws over the middle to the opposing tight end. Like they are happy with that. They'll bend a little bit on those throws and sacrifice that for breaking elsewhere. I was just going to say so last year, Fryer-Muth had a game against the Bengals. Five catches, 111 yards, two touchdowns. And yeah, and just echoing what Debrose said about Jalen Warren, like quite possibly no Rico Dottle. Warren gets a huge share of the snaps, carries, and all those check down throws from the 42-year-old quarterback who is doing pretty much everything he can to avoid hits. To your point, I'll all say is I see your cult's worst linebacker group and I raise you the Bengals. They were lost last year because they got thrown. I don't know that they've been found. I think they're going to be better than the cults this year, but I know last year that was obviously like a lot of weak spots in the Bengals defense and that was the weakest, but I feel like those guys are going to be better this year. To your point though, the Fryer-Muth should eat them alive and cover us though. Yeah. Would you guys start frying with over Colson Lovelins just to get a sense of that? Yeah, I think you're getting a sense of that because I wrote it in the primer. I have no freaking clue what to do with Colson Lovelin because this bears passing attack is doing idiotic things and you're talking about broken offenses like they're running the ball well. What the heck are we doing? I think we got to throw out week two though. Like that was that game was just do we throw out week one two? Like is it Colson Lovelin and Rome and Luther Burton weren't good then too? It was weird, but they were having so much success on the ground against the Panthers like they run the ball. I just I don't think we've had circumstances under which we can fairly judge the bears pass. I think it's going to be fine. I think Lovelins are great by Lovelin right now. I don't disagree with you. I just don't know what the heck to do within this week considering what you see. Don't don't plan with Keith. Yeah, I know. I would co-sign. Yeah. Another game in the early slate Seahawks at commanders, the team from Seattle obviously flying east for an early start in this one. I don't think it really matters. That defense is going to travel. So with no Jaden Daniels and facing the best defensive football in my opinion, are you comfortable starting pretty much any commanders this week fits? No, and I've got I'm going to have to move these guys down right now. I've got McClore and wide receiver 29 and and digs wide receiver 32 and I looked at those ranking. So I'm like, why do I have these guys that high? You know, like so I don't really want to play those guys. I know Seattle sometimes gives up receiving production to running back. So maybe you could start Rashad White in a PPR league, but I really don't want to start either Rashad or Jekori Krosky-Marit either. That's the one. It's white in PPR. And I saw Devor nodding too. Yeah, just going on the receiver. He's still like Terrem Cloren's wide receiver 31 in consensus to find digs is wide receiver 34 in consensus. And man, I'm looking here like Rashad Bateman is behind those guys. I don't think they find me. I mean, with no Zay flowers, he's no you're not wrong. I knew you were going there. On Tavy and Wix is right behind Bateman. I would rather start Wix with bears defense than I would those two and given the circumstances like, yeah, I think they should be even lower than they are. I don't feel good about being above consensus on those two guys. That does not feel good. I think that's correct. Yeah, Deepro, you know, when you look at this mashup, is it just white or is there anybody else you would even make a case for? No, I'm not making a case for anybody else. It's just Rashad White. And it's just if you're in a PPR league and you need your running back room, which again, going back to the injuries is decimated. Rashad White is a PPR option because again, yeah, Seattle does get eaten up by by receiving backs 12 most receiving fantasy points per game this season. Last year, they quietly gave up the most receptions to running backs. And it just makes a ton of sense like we know the commanders are going to be playing catch up. Rashad White is the passing down back. The coverage structure Seattle runs with too high and funneling everything underneath. And I'll just make sense like he probably walks out of this. If he gets a garbage time touchdown, maybe he's a PPR RB two of the week, but again, a flex, but I don't want to play in anybody else like even Marcus Marioda and super flex. No, thank you. McDonald defenses have always given up, you know, catches to the running back. So that's that's not just like that. Yeah. By the way, just while we're on this game, Adam Peters said on local radio and DC earlier that they are not considering IR for Jayden Daniels. It sounds like surgery is not currently the the plan. I mean, I find it baffling, kind of honestly, not that I'm a doctor or have looked at any of this stuff, but it just seems crazy that if every time he falls in his elbow lands the wrong way, it's susceptible to this, that maybe you want to get surgery, but it seems like that's not the plan right now. That could change a lot of moving parts. He's not playing this week. That's all we know for sure. So good thing for Adam Peters and Dan Quinn. I mean, that might hopefully save their jobs or something, because I'm telling you, like if if J. Daniel goes on the IR and stuff, they will not be back for a 2027 season, promise you that. I think Peter's would be more likely to be back. I think Quinn would be sure. God awful as a GM. I know, but like his reputation, I think is stronger than Dan. Well, he's rep and what he's actually done with his rest and they don't they don't. Yeah, I'm not even disagreeing that. I just think usually you would maybe just see one to give him a chance to hire a different coach, but again, let's little see how it plays out. If you want to double your chances of winning your fantasy league, active fantasy pros users are twice as likely to win. Sink your league for free and get fast, personalized advice for your lineup, waivers, trades and more all powered by over 100 experts, get started at fantasy pros.com/myplaybook or on the fantasy pros app. All right, let's get to the late slate here guys. Smaller late slate because we have a pretty big early slate this week. Cardinals at 49ers. Key question here. Two weeks into his career, Jeremiah Love has yet to top 50 combined rushing and receiving yards in a game. Where are you ranking him against the 49ers team that has looked completely dominant so far this season. I'll be it against a team with weird travel stuff and the dolphins as those two opponents, Debra. Oh, Jeremiah Love. Where's he out of my rankings? I have as an RB three and when it all shakes out, that's where he's going to be somewhere in that RB three range. But if Giderian price is we get word, he's going to be like a full go this week. I'm putting him over Jeremiah Love. Travis HN sounds like he's going to be a full go this week. I mean, maybe either one of the patriots backs. I do not want to play Jeremiah Love at all. I don't want to play Tyler. I was here. One, it's the match up to their usage is just so baffling and idiotic. I don't understand it. But to your point, Worm, the 49ers have given up the fifth lowest explosive run rate, the seventh fewest yards of the contact pretend. But Jeremiah Love, uh, through two games as a 42% snap rate, he has a 32% route share. He's only averaged 12 and a half touches. And this is despite him being a player that in the limited volume has 2.85 yards at your contact, pretend you draft this guy fifth overall to put him behind Tyler. I was here and just prove that you were all idiotic. I don't know. Do those stats, Debra, normalize early in the seasons, things like target share and those usage numbers, or does that tend to be susceptible to small sample size, sort of early season flukes, depending on the game? Or is that like usually pretty quickly, like this is likely what it's going to be going forward? I mean, I would love to say the assumption of rational, it depends on it's every different team and how the players are playing. So every team is its own, you know, microorganism. But with this specifically, I don't know what they're going to do. Man, like, I mean, we, we screen the assumption of rational coaching all the time. You drafted the guy top five. He's a crazy talented. If it's not related to an injury, then why is he leading the backfield? It is related to an injury though. He had the high ankle. We know that definitively though. Like, well, it's, uh, reasonable to conclude that they are maybe easing him in a little bit after the high ankle sprain last month, which we know is a pretty severe, like basically is like a kin to an MCL sprain as far as the recovery time and being like full-go. So I think it stands to reason he's going to get more work in the coming weeks. I hope so. Yeah. I hope so. I really do hope so because what they're doing right now makes zero sins. And just, by the way, he is RB 25 in consensus and fits before I get your ranking here. Just to mention, uh, Nick Bosa will not play in this game. Uh, he pulled his calf during Thursday's practice. It is now expected to miss a few weeks. And sheafter tweeted, like four minutes ago, as of when we're taping this, the 49ers now are leaning toward not placing Bosa on injured reserve in part because they're running out of injured reserve spaces, which is remarkable here before week three, as he's gotten fully underway. Um, if it's where you had a Jeremiah love in this matchup, RB 24. I mean, I, I think the talent is evident and the role is going to continue to grow as he does get closer to 100% after that high ankle sprain. Like I, I really think that's partly why the usage has been what it has been so far. So it's kind of funny fits. I feel like this whole episode, not that you're not giving great analysis or, you know, cogent insights or anything, but it's a bit a lot of like, yeah, but basically in line with consensus, when any of the specific ranking questions that you've been like very aligned either off by just a spot or two on a lot of these, um, do you feel like the consensus is aligning with Fitsy? Can we? You know what? That's a much better way to frame it. Yeah. Fitsy's setting the market. That's a much better way to frame. That's the reality. Fits with like top 50 finish in the rankings contest. Uh, yeah. I know you weren't thrilled about that in the Wednesday show. So I had to bring it up again. Mayor crushing it. We should really all be following him. So far this season, uh, Can't believe I just said that out loud. Let's go to the next game. Vikings at Buccaneers with Kyler Murray returning. injuries in the Vikings running back room and a very messy Tampa Bay offense facing a chaotic Brian Flores defense. This game to me feels very hard to predict. So just make a prediction. Give me a final score and I guess it will be the player of the game in this one fits. I always like the, um, spots where it's like sort of the fat happy team against the wounded desperate team. So I'll take the wounded desperate Buccaneers here. 21 20 and I'll go with Bucky Irving as player of the game. 21 20 and Bucky Irving. Um, I don't have it pulled up here. I want to check what the total is in that that would be. Oh, if totals 42 and a half. So that would be, uh, under there. Uh, Debra, how do you see this one playing out? I was going to go like 21 18 and I'm also going to take the Buccaneers here. Um, and to your point, Warren, but yeah, I, this game feels like there's such a wide range of outcomes with, with how both of these defenses are so blitz happy. The Vikings do not give up a ton. But if you look at their metrics, they, they, their success rates versus rushing and passing are extremely low. But dude, when they give up big plays, oh, baby, they're both top 12 in explosive pass rate and rush rate. Like when they give it up, they give it up. So I think that that leads to a lot of volatility. And I'm going to go with Fitsy on this one for Bucky Irving and just for context here. Yeah. Uh, Minnesota is giving up the fifth highest explosive run rate and the 12th most yards before contact per attempt. They have specifically been exposed on gap runs and in a very limited sample, Bucky Irving on gap runs this year, 6.9 yards per carry. Wow. So you guys are very aligned on this one. Bucky is RB 18 this week. Is that too low? It's too low. It's too low. It's too low. It's funny that the Minnesota defense, the run defense, the stats are that so bad when, uh, that they're so bad when they face the Packers in week one. Yeah, not wrong. Yeah. Great point. Is there, uh, let me just start just if you're looking at bedimprose.com since we're, we're talking about Bucky. Um, his total consensus odds for your rushing arts is 57 and a half first touchdown score plus 625, um, rushing attempts 14 and a half is the total fantasy points overrunners 13. Uh, these are all different bets. You can see on, uh, on bedimprose.com anytime touching out by the way, plus 135, any of those standouts you fit since you like Bucky so much. I like them over on the rushing yardage. Same yardage. Same. Same. Same. Okay. Oh, yeah. Cool. Yeah. We're, weird game. I'm interested to watch it. But yeah, I just, I just feel like this could go in so many different directions that I really just don't know. So it's kind of funny that I, I asked this question on this game because I felt like, uh, who, who the heck knows what this is going to do. And then you guys both basically gave almost the same answer about you see this playing out. So maybe it is a little more obvious than, uh, than I thought, let's go to another game that I'm actually like weirdly very excited to watch Raiders at Saints. Uh, Tyler Schuck has already, uh, been a top eight quarterback twice this season. Uh, he has been a top 12 quarterback in six of his last eight games dating back to week 13 of last year. And then the only two games that he wasn't a top 12 quarterback, he was still no lower than QB 16 in those two games. So he has given you both floor and ceiling dating back to, uh, like I said, week 13 of last season. With all that said, where are you guys ranking, Schuck, both this week and the rest of season, Debra? So this feels like Stockholm syndrome. Have you been Saints piled? Um, I said, last week, that's a good man. I think they're good team. They're fun. I'm in on the Saints. I've got, uh, I got shot at QB eight, uh, for the week and rest of season. And just for everybody at home, he has QB five and fantasy points per game, uh, rest of season. I've got him at QB. I kind of go back and forth somewhere in the QB 10 to 12 range, like somewhere around the book between Drake, Major, golf, somewhere in that type of area code bits. I've got him QB 12 this week, QB 14 rest of season. I know that seems pessimistic. I just got to remind people that he had a 410 yard day against Alliance in week one after they fell down into a 21 zero hole. And right now he's second in the league and pass attempts. And he's going to be way up there and pass attempts because Kellen more likes to push the pace. And, you know, Schuck adds value with his legs. I think he's good. I think he's a viable starting quarterback in fantasy. Um, but the The Raiders are not the-- easiest matchup. And I know people think of Las Vegas being this pushover matchup, they have the second lowest opponent pass or rating right now behind only the Seahawks. And the Raiders have only given up one TD pass. And I mean, they can get it after it with the pass rush. We know that. So like, I don't think this is a cakewalk for Tyler Schuck. Oh, and by the way, can I can I give you guys a fun factoid about this game? They mentioned this on the athletic football podcast. And I guess St. Ted coach, Kellyn Moore dropped this himself. Kellyn Moore and Kirk Cousins were senior ball teammate in 2012. That is amazing. I think that's dating Kirk Cousins warning is Kellyn Moore. That makes Kellyn Moore look like a young man in Kirk. Oh, my gosh. That is hilarious. That's what I mean. For what it's worth fits. You're not that low in Chuck Relo to consensus. So you can be 10 and consensus for this week and QB 13 for SSC's and rankings. So you're one spot lower in one of those and two spots lower in the other. So you're not that far off you. And if you are fading a little bit relative to consensus, the only thing I want to add on the Raiders defense, they could be for real. The only counter that I have for this 50 is we're only two games in and they played Malik Williston, Justin Herbert in that combination of an offense. So I think they could be legit, but we need a bigger sample size. I do think that this is a very good litmus test for them though. Max Crosby does look like he's an MVP. Oh, dude. He's mad. Mad, man, baby. The Raiders got to be glad. So sad. You think he'd be a good Raven, huh, worm? Hmm. The Ravens didn't get under that tray because of this year is because of long term concern. I think everybody expected him to be good this season. I'm not surprised at all. He does look awesome. Yeah, but by the way, just like in terms of thinking about the Saints to like Chris Alave, rest of seasons wider, see for seven. That feels if anything, maybe too low. I mean, if he's healthy, awesome. So good. Yeah. Which certainly helps. Shuck. All right. Let's go to week 13, speaking of the Ravens, Ravens at Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. I was not sure at certain points in this week if they were actually going to play there. There have been rumors about the field. They are in Brazil. So this game is happening there. I am terrified by the quality of this field and having my team play on it and possibly injuries to come. I really hope Zay does not play. Obviously this offense looks a lot different without him, but I do not want to risk it. All that being said, this is the highest total of the week. It was 52 and a half. Last time I looked, I'll double check while we're talking to see if it's still at that at that level. But 52 and a half, is there anybody that you would actually fade in this matchup? Whether it's because of the field or just because it's, you know, a high number and you feel like the game might not go that way. Or are you guys trying to start as many players as possible from this game? Debra, I'll start with you. I'm starting everybody that I want. Okay. Zay for hours is not going to play. He still hasn't practiced this week. The Baltimore Ravens are not going to be stupid enough to put him on this reconfield with a hamstring issue. So I'm just going to get that out of the way. He did travel to Brazil just to, by the way, so it's not official yet. But high five and teammates are they get touchdowns. I agree with you. I'm just pointing out that he is there. Yeah. I just don't see a world where he plays in this game. But to that point, are you playing Lamar Jackson, Derek Henry, Rashad, Bateman, and Mark Andrews? Equivically, Hell yes. Are you playing all your usual cowboys and the only guy that I think like usage and touchdowns and stuff that maybe I'm kind of like on the fence just because his usage sucks and you're playing touchdown or bus is Jake Ferguson. But in a game with a 52 freaking total, he probably gets a touchdown and the red zone equity is there. So yeah, this is fire up all your usual cowboys and ravens. By the way, that total has actually gone up. It's 53 is consensus on. You can find it at 53 and a half in some places, but the consensus wild. So very high total. Yeah, I guess, I guess it's the better way to frame this isn't like, you know, are you sitting anybody? It's are you fading anybody relative to consensus, but no, most of the guys you're starting if you have. Yeah, Debro covered it perfectly. And the only thing I'll add, there was a good tweet by Pat Thormin of established the run today. He pointed out that Christian parkers, Dallas Cowboys defense, sort of predicated on the Vic Fangio defense. And Lamar Jackson has historically ripped up Vic Fangio defenses. So could be a big Lamar game this week. You also, I think it was you. Sorry if I'm putting words in your mouth, Fitz, but I think yesterday on the show, you might have mentioned that when field conditions are bad, that can sometimes benefit the offensive players because defense offensive players know where they're going. Defenders have to react and not being able to plant and cut as well. You might see guys kind of slipping around a bit. And it's a sort of thing where if Lamar is comfortable on this field or if they was playing, for example, those quick Twitch guys who are really shifting a change direction quickly can be a problem to deal with. So that kind of leans into into the higher total here in the offenses. Yeah, that's how it was in week one of 2025 and the Packers and Eagles played in Brazil. There were a lot of big games in the big plays in the passing game that day because a lot of defenders sort of getting shaken by, you know, quick cuts by wide receivers. So yeah, remember, I think Jayden Reed had a couple of touchdowns in that game. The Eagles, AJ Brown, I think went off in that game. Wouldn't surprise me. Like, I'm not betting the under on this game. I'll tell you that. I just want to lay out a really quick scenario, boys, trying to stop a train on any type of field. Much less when you try to dig your heels in against Eric, Eric, Eric Henry. I was just going to say, I don't know. We talked about Eric Henry. No, obviously, nothing actually. We're already starting to have a reason, but he's RB five in consensus. That feels to me. I mean, dude, he could run for a buck 50 in this game. Yeah. Yeah. I do not disagree. Like if, if, listen, as a Ravens fan, if they get out of this game with no major injuries, that's all I can ask for. Well, you just need that one. Doyle to hopefully call rushing plays. Who knows if that happens? He did say he had a quote earlier this week. He goes, yes, I'm aware that Eric Henry is on this team, because he was getting out for him. He's doing his best Todd Monkin. Horace. Yeah, we'll see what happens in this week. All right, let's go to Sunday night football Rams at Broncos. Key question here. Devante Adams and Jalen Waddle, both bounced back with big games in week two after poor performances in week one, which wide receiver has the better week three in this game. And by the way, when I put this question together, it was unclear on Puka. Still, we don't have definitive anything on if he's going to play or not, but it seems like it has trended in the wrong direction here. So maybe that plays into your pick in this one fits. Who do you expect to have a better week three? Devante Adams with Jalen Waddle. I'm assuming Puka's going to be out right now and taking people behind the curtain. I was doing my first pass at week three rankings while Devante Adams was destroying the New York Giants on Monday night football. So I may have been influenced by this right now. I've got Devante wide receiver 15. And I have sorry, Jalen Waddle wide receiver 17. So tell me, despite the likelihood of a Patrick Serten Jr. shadow on Devante Adams. So is this a mistake, deep bro? I have them back to back. I have Waddle at white receiver 12 and I have Adams at 13. Oh, the only reason that I have Waddle ahead of Adams is exactly what you just laid out with Patrick. Now in all of this, do I think that Sean McVeigh does smart things with Devante Adams because he's freaking Sean McVeigh and he doesn't fall into the same potholes that all the other idiots of the league do and just put Adams on an island. And if he is basically your entire passing attack or the clear one, is he going to move him into the slot and get him off a certain. Yes. But we do have to kind of nerf his his line just a little bit because he is going to see certain some and he's going to play on the boundary some. So that's where I split the difference between these two guys where I have Waddle who was the clear alpha that we were all kind of hoping he'd be in week two. And I think that that's his role projected forward. I have Waddle one spot ahead about Devante Adams only because a Patrick Serten. That's the only reason. So where did you say they are ranked? You said you have Waddle ahead. Why do you see for 12 and 13? 12 and 13. Okay. Devante Adams is why do you see for 12 and consensus. Jalen Waddle is why do you see for 15 and consensus rankings and the same neighborhood. And by the way, again, that's with like Christian Watson, Drake London are still in there. So it would be a little bit higher if you remove the guys who have already played. Yeah. I think that's fair. You know, Devante Adams, I mean, it's just if Puka is out. And by the way, are they playing tool on fantasy pros.com is Puka a 4% chance to play, which is the same as Zae Flowers and Nico Collins guys that we don't expect to play. So like we are in practice for last, it seems incredibly unlikely that he's going to play. So yeah, like it's hard to watch what we saw last week and not have Devante Adams pretty high. So Puka doesn't play just very quickly. I didn't write this question down, but Terrence Ferguson, like, how high would he rank for you guys if Puka is outfits? Probably right now, I've got him tied in 17. I don't know how much higher I can move him up. Like I just Terrence Ferguson versus Colston Loveland, Fitsy who he's starting. Right now, I've got Loveland higher, but I might have to get Ferguson ahead of Loveland. I just moved him in real time above Colston, Loveland because I'm projecting the game and the big thing that I was because I was very low on Ferguson walking out of last week, only in the sense of, is this truly repicable? And the thing that when I got to the primer and I dove into the numbers, looking at when that game was close in the first three quarters of the game, it's not just that, okay, fine, he had the clear number two target chair, he was going to use a crap ton. It was the fact that he had a 71% route share. That makes me anything like, okay, dude, like this isn't just maybe just one week. Maybe he just is the clear dude. And the overall numbers take it away because in the fourth quarter, they're just running the ball to take them off the field. They don't need them. Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda. So like, I think that at least for one week, yeah, the Terrence Ferguson show is definitely, um, I want to buy tickets to that. Um, and I feel good about it. I had a listener reach out to me and ask Terrence Ferguson if he goes out or draw on Johnson. For me, like, I did say Ferguson, I would Ferguson would be like probably like top eight ish for me. If, if I knew, if Ferguson's healthy, I'm pukas, not like, I am just very, I don't, I don't mind that there's a chance I'm out over my skis. I kind of want to be out over my skis. Terrence Ferguson. The other thing is going back to the Devonté Adams of all of this. How we're projecting this game. If certain is on Adams, the ball has to go somewhere. So, we're not projecting a crap done of like Jordan wedding. Right now. Terrence Ferguson is lowering consensus and around a gatson. Harold Fanon. I have loved one. Yeah. No. Mark Andrews. Like, yeah, I'd rather start for it. And all those guys, if I knew pukas for sure, out, which we're expecting him to be out. So I wanted to throw that out there. Also, because this is our Sunday night game, we're going to open up the prop bet cheat sheet and point out some of our favorite three and four star bets from the cheat sheet. Fits. I'll start with you. What's your favorite one this week for Sunday night football? Matthew Stafford under 243.5 passing yards. It's a three star bet. That just seems like a tall order with no poke nicoah. Debra. I'm actually going to go further down the cheat sheet. I'm going to go to star action with this one. I'm going to go back to the jail in Waddleville. I'm going to take the over for his 55.5 receiving yards. Again, the Rams have been, they looked much better in week two, but they have given up the 13th most fantasy points per opportunity to slot receivers. And I think Waddle gets fed again this week. Those were our top prop bets for Sunday night football courtesy of the betting pros prop bet cheat sheet. Find the best NFL player prop bets with the betting pros prop bet cheat sheet. Quickly compare lines from leading sports books against our daily NFL projections to uncover the props, offering the most value makes smarter prop betting decisions all season long at betting pros.com slash props. All right, guys, one final game here Monday night football Eagles at bears. I think we can go quickly on this one just because the bear is obviously there's this quarterback uncertainty assuming Caleb Williams doesn't play and knowing at least last I saw Tyson Beijing may not either. I'm not sure if there's been an update there that I missed. How are you guys ranking bearers past catchers against Philly just given this crazy uncertainty at quarterback, Debra? Lutha burden wider see for 30 Roma doons a wider see for 39. Colston, Loveland wider or tight end 15 right now. I is passing attack. I just man, I don't know how you feel any comfort or sliver of like hope of like like confidence of starting these guys like is that. Sorry. Let me rephrase that. Is there hope? Sure. They're all crazy talented and maybe they just do what they should have been doing the entirety of the season and run their offense through their best players. But what we've seen through two games is just in kind of a mess. So I mean, I can't rank them aggressively, especially with the match up here. You know, Debra, you're actually ahead of consensus on really? Oh, I'm going to change that thing. Yeah, on both burden and it doons a not on Loveland. I've got a lot, but I mean, I don't want to be above consensus. Well, the other part about this is like I've got Rashad Bateman behind Lutherburden right now. That'll move up and there's some other kind of players again, like moving ranks around with injuries. What about Devon Valle or Lutherburden? They're back to back in consensus. Valle, I feel better about Valle. I know his target volume and the Saints are passing at the second highest rate neutral script. Like I, yeah, fits you. Where are you at when these pass gets you? He's talked about Colston Loveland. So let's focus on the receivers here. Where are you at? I'm burdened and it doons a this week. Why receiver 38 or excuse me, oh, doons a wide receiver 38 burden wide receiver 44. Yes, you might as I'm bearish on the Chicago receivers this way. I'll show myself. Oh, yeah. So burden played fewer snaps than Khalif Raymond last week. I don't know what's up with that. You know, it's reminiscent of last year when burden was playing fewer snaps than Alameda is a chaos, but that was burden's rookie year. And we thought we got the Lutherburden breakout late last season. So the usage is kind of confusing. Did Ben Johnson sell all of his Lutherburden stocks? I wasn't aware of the insider trading. I haven't been given the update. Can anybody update me on that? You are fits ahead of consensus on a doons day. You are well below consensus on burden. You're like over 10 spots lower than consensus on burden, which would you rather start fits Lutherburden or carnal tape this week? It's going to be the noriester in New Jersey. So I would rather stay a burden. I got a better one. Denzel Boston. Oh, well, see, the reason I didn't ask I want to. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know you've already talked about that. I know exactly where I'm setting 50 up here a little bit. It's official. Ellie, go ahead. It's Denzel Boston for sure. Is he still inside your top 30 fits Boston? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He had to get 50 away up so I know, I know, I shouldn't have thought it is David Wicks ahead of both of these guys for both of you. Oh, yeah. In this game, he is the Wicks like weirdly, kind of lost snap and route chair last week, but he's ahead of burden for me. Devonte Smith, hamstring injury, didn't practice. Yeah. Yeah. That's sweet. That's with such a baller. With a matchup against the Bears defense. Yeah. They're outside corners are not bad, though. It's like the slot where they're going to get murdered, they're running game where they're going to get murdered. But I would only counter that with I think they're bad everywhere, but all right. We'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Thanks for everybody for checking out our key questions for week three. Best of luck setting those lineups this week for Fitz and Debra. I'm Ryan Warman. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts at fantasypros.com/review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok @FantasyPros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/FantasyPros. And we pull apart the story behind the image, discovering forgotten interviews that changed exactly how we see these giants of our culture. I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. 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