Week 3 Fantasy Football RANKINGS & Tiers: QB, RB, WR, & TE + Starts & Sits (09/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

(upbeat music) Welcome to Fantasy Injury Today. I'm Jamie Eisenberg, that's Dave Richard, that's Steve Cummings, this is Fantasy Football Today, but we have a lot of injuries that we're getting ready for for week number three. And hopefully you'll have a healthy fantasy roster. Hopefully we'll have some healthy players talk about. And hopefully I have some injury updates for you to set those lineups because there is a game tonight. Should be a fun one between the Packers and the Falcons. All right guys, so let's just start where we start all the time, which is the running back position. Because this position is really beat up as they all are. Quarterback is the worst because of who we're missing in terms of the star power not being there. But here's the list one through 12. And thankfully we have a lot of the stars that we're used to seeing Bees on Robinson will play tonight against the Packers. But there is, I guess it's changed a little bit since what I was expecting to talk about Bucky Irvin, but I'm gonna talk about you, however, because he's the starter of the week. And I'm excited to see what he's gonna do. Did you guys share my optimism that Chewbos is going to go off in this matchup against Cleveland? I worry about him going off. I do think he's going to be a very good running back. And what have we seen from the Panthers for the first two weeks of the season? They like to throw the ball. They're putting in there. Now they had to do a week one. They did not have to do it much in week two. They did it anyway against Atlanta. And I don't know if that's just because the Falcons defense is better than I expected. I do think this Brown's defense is actually pretty good. But one way to move the chains on them is on the ground. So I do think Chewbos at minimum is a top 15 type of fantasy running back. I agree 100% that he has a start. Like I think it's how many running back touches are going to be available. And is the difference between is he an RB1 or an RB2? But he's going to get probably 60 to 75% of those touches. So it should be a good day. Might get 90%. I mean, how much do they trust AJ Dylan or are they gonna bring Austin Eccler out of cobwebs and use him? It doesn't sound like it, but they don't have a lot of depth of the position. Trevor H&N is on IR. So we'll see what the Panthers do to replace. Don't know if the books could be a great situation for Buck here when this Brown's run defense has been good. Just not great. And hopefully this is the first time that they give up a touchdown to running back so far this season. All right, let's show you the list 13 through 24 and talk about some guys here that are dealing with some injuries or some questionable situations. And one of those guys would be Travis H&N, who's banged up a little bit now dealing with an ankle injury. So we're going to see a lot of players get picked up at various positions. Aaron Jones will talk about a little bit. He's banged up now with the knee injury. We got the Steelers situation with Jalen Warren and Rico Dotto, they're banged up. But Heath, when you look at the Saints' backfield, has not been easy to sort of say, okay, we thought this is gonna be the Travis H&N show and it's not, are we concerned about him playing? If he does play, are we gonna start him against the waiters? - As of right now, I think we're expecting him to play and you may have to start him. It's kind of how it is. It's not somebody I want to start. The role could not have been much worse through the first two weeks. We don't have Alvin Camera on week one and for some reason, Ken Ray Miller is actively involved. Camera comes back, he gets more Russia attempts and more targets than Travis H&N. Maybe the part of the reason was because of this being a little bit dinged up. He is the most borderline or B2 that you can find. Like, it's unlikely you're going to find somebody on the waiver wire this week that you'd want to start over him. Hopefully you have somebody on your bench. If Camera plays, are you starting? - If Camera plays and H&N doesn't? - No. - Okay, so we'll see what happens there just from the Saints' perspective. Dave, Cam Scoutaboo, not the best start so far to the season for him. Mostly from a usage standpoint, you know, did have 18 for 81 and a score in week one, but no catches, got four catches last week against the Rams. The quarterback situation now is clearly a mess for the Giants because they lose Jackson Darts is Cam Scoutaboo safe this week against Titans. - I like the matchup and that's enough to go with Cam Scoutaboo. I don't love the fact that he's sharing as much as he's sharing, but I do believe that he will be the short yardage goal on guy when it's not the two-minute drill. And I think that he's going to lead this team in touches. So it's a little bit leaning in the same direction as Travis H&N, but I think the offensive line's a little bit better in New York than it is in New Orleans. And I think the opportunities will be there for him. I'm cool with Scataboo as the top 20 running back. - All right, so hopefully he delivers, maybe, can be the catalyst of the Giants offense while they are banged up and league neighbors also dealing with a shoulder injury as well. So the list is 25 through 36 and we'll get into some starts and sits that we like as well as some sleepers and some more injury situations that we're monitoring here. And you see a name on this list that we're not used to seeing in the top 30, which is Tank Bigsby. So we have the situation with Saquon Barkley. We don't have any information. We'll hopefully get some today because they play on Monday night against the Bears. So Dave, how are you approaching the Eagles back, field Barkley in, Barkley out. What do we do about Bigsby if he's a starter? - I think Bigsby is in the flex range if there is no Saquon Barkley this week. We know he's going to split reps. Will Shipley will handle passing downs. Bigsby will do the rest. The Chicago run defense hasn't been amazing this year. You just saw what 32-year-old Aaron Jones did to them in week number two. So I think that there's a real good opportunity for Bigsby in the event that he ends up starting slash Saquon Barkley is out of. Of course, the Barkley plays. Bigsby will probably be on the waver wire pretty quickly. - Dave, if you saw on the list, the Broncos running back started to come into play here and we thought, okay, maybe JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey out. It's the Joan of Coleman show. We get to Wednesday's practice. Joan of Coleman's now hurt. Harvey looks like he's trending in the right direction. JK Dobbins is going to be fine. So how do you look at the Broncos backfield and the tough matchup against the ramps? - Yeah, our waver wire at is the most injured guy in the backfield and the healthiest guy in the backfield is JK Dobbins. Right next to Tank Bigsby, if Saquon Barkley's out. So I've got him two spots ahead right now, RB28. - That's Dobbins. - That's Dobbins. That's without Harvey. But I don't know how much that really matters. Harvey's going to do some things that Dobbins doesn't really do anyways. I do think if Harvey is cleared, he's also a flex because unlike the Tank Bigsby situation, where I think they're going up against a bad defense in the Bears, this team's going up against the ramps. I don't think they have a lot of success running the ball. So maybe that's a few more dump offs to RJ Harvey if he's healthy. - Yep, and just don't give up on Joan of Coleman yet. Even if he's hurt, it's gonna something that we said at the beginning of the season long term because of Dobbins and how he typically gets banged up throughout the course of the season. All right, let's show you just one more list. 37 through 48 because we do have some flex options that could be available to you or in the case of some of these situations, some desperation plays. I like Emma Johnson as a potential flex just because the chiefs are 10 and a half point favorites on the road and we could see Emma Johnson who's gotten off to a good start so far averaging over seven PPR points per game could be helpful for fantasy managers. Jadarian price, it will be somebody that will certainly rise up the rankings if he's cleared to play. We are expecting him at this point to be good to go so hopefully Jadarian price borderline number two running back. All right, talk about some starts and sets. I already gave you mine, which is Chubah Harbor who is the start of the week. He's like Jaylen Warren. So let's just break it down here. Warren with Rico Doudel or without Rico Doudel how you're approaching the Steelers against the Bengals. - So I think either way I'm viewing Jaylen Warren as an RB2, which might sound strange 'cause this is a good Bingles run defense and the Steelers should be playing from behind but the Bengals have allowed the most receptions to running backs through the first two weeks. They weren't good against pass catching running backs last year. The Steelers can't run the ball, no matter who it is. So they're probably going to use dump offs to Warren and if Doudel's their Doudel as their run game. I would view Warren as a high end RB2, probably a top 15 running back if there's no Doudel. If Doudel's active Warren's going to be in that 20 to 22 range, but I think even with Doudel I'd start Warren over Travis H&N and full PPR. - Okay, so we'll see how this practice reports go. Actually both mispractice on Wednesday but Rico Doudel was in a walking boot. So not looking good for him with the toe injury. All right, your start is a little bit questionable here, but because he's questionable himself, it sounded like he's not going to play this week. So Aaron Jones with the knee injury, you're still confident in starting. - Tell me why you think he's not going to start this week because Kevin O'Connell said that he was looking pretty good or feeling pretty good on Wednesday. They're going to see where he goes. - It sounded to me as if like he's got a knee injury, we're making contingency plans. All the beatwriters were suggesting we could see Jerome Ford get activated. DJ Dallas has got a toe injury. I mean, listen, so I just full disclosure, I write two different versions of Star Citizen, one just the positions and then one the whole full life column. I pulled Aaron Jones from the column because I don't think he's going to play. - Do you think then? All right, so I think that he goes everywhere. - I don't know if he's going to be a feature back here for Minnesota, I think they'll probably mix him in with Demon Clayborn and then you have Jones as a starter, so let's say he starts. - Long story short, he's going to be the lead back for them. - Sure. - Even if he's not at 100%, he proved it last week. He looked very, very good in this matchup against, well, they have this week. Why am I playing on it? It's Tampa Bay, it's not the best matchup, but you saw Cincinnati get some numbers against them in week number one, Cleveland, their run game isn't very good to begin with. I think that we can see Aaron Jones be in OK number two, running back, if he plays, if he doesn't play, I don't know how good I feel about trusting DJ Dallas or Demon Clayborn, these are guys I'd probably say the side. So my fingers are crossed that Aaron Jones plays against the box. - All right, so we'll see what happens with Jones again, hope we get a practice report before the end of the show, but continue to check cbsports.com for the latest news on Jones. Let's talk about some sister running backs here. Remondory Stevenson, did he get replaced? - I would put Travian Henderson on the sit list as well. So I don't think we can say that Stevenson got replaced. We saw a couple of times last year where it kind of looked like things were going to Travian Henderson and then all of a sudden here comes Remondory Stevenson playing 60% of the snaps again. And so maybe it was just a one week punishment. I think it was interesting even within that time where they were giving most of the snaps to Henderson. If they had an important passing down, it was still Remondory Stevenson on the field. This looks to me like once again, that unknown, it's not going to be 50/50 every week, but we kind of have to project it at 50/50. Unless we get a Stevenson fumble or we get another Henderson house call. And then I think it could really be moving in the direction of Travian Henderson on early downs, Remondory Stevenson on passing down. - And it's a tough match up to. Like Jacksonville gave up a touchdown in Jonah Coleman last week, but this is a really good run defense as we saw. - Yep. based on last season. All right, you're still staying away from Jeremy I love and just fantasy managers, what should they do at this point with a guy that was at worst? Probably a third-round pick, but we just can't start him right now. - I'm shocked that he's still started in 77% of CBS league stream. He's very talented. One of the things I really won't like about him was his explosion rate. He has one explosive play so far this season. And he's playing about half the snap. So these are all problematic. You look at what the 49ers have done. Blake Corm is the only running back to get more than 3.8 yards per carry against San Francisco this year. That run defense. While they're healthy, they're good. So it makes me nervous to trust Jeremy I love in a game where chances are Arizona is gonna be playing from behind. That means not a lot of touches for love. - Play him more. Let's just see him out there. This Tyler Algier thing is just so frustrating at this point. So yes, I think we're all in agreement. Stay away from Jeremy I love at least for one more week. I'm gonna try and sit Bachel to it and it's tough because he has lead running back for the Jaguars. But he feels very much like a trap back in a very tough matchup in Milton Williams' last 14 games. They've only allowed two touchdowns to running backs. And that's not what I think we're gonna have from Bachel to it. And you got lucky last week that he got the direct snap and he scored. But we're gonna see Chris Rodriguez down there the last time they were in the red zone. It was last week at least. It was Rodriguez down there. He's not working in the passing game. And so this Patriots run defense is good. The scenario is not great. I love what our colleague Piersko said. Give him more work. Let's just see what he can do because he's so explosive. This is just not the game where I think he's a must start running back more of a flex. Let's talk about this. - They talked about giving him more work in the passing game this week. - They're off fronts of court. - I also love to see it. If he has a bad game this week, he's a terrific by-low candidate. - Totally. And listen, they'll throw to him on first and second down. That would be the hope. On third downs, we just know that they play LeQuint Allen who came back last week after Missing Week 1. All right, I alluded to this as a guy that I like as a sleeper. You like Emmett Johnson as a sleeper this week. - Yeah, yeah. I've been moving about the rankings and tend on doing it some more. I think you just look at this game where the chiefs are 11 and a half point favorites. The dolphins have looked every bit the part of the worst team in football through the first two weeks. Kenneth Walker right play a half. Emmett Johnson, at the very least, unless he's just too important to them, should have a quarter's worth of play where he's getting touches. He's got four passes on the year. Broken three tackles on those four receptions has just been incredible in space. And if you give him 12 touches against this dolphins team, which honestly, the chiefs probably need to do. Anyways, Kenneth Walker's on pace right now for 476 touches. - He talks about it. - We need to, we need to even that split up just a little bit, Emmett Johnson could be a starter. - So I'm totally with you. You see what I haven't ranked. I did the same thing with K-line Black last week. I just wanted to caution. Thought same thing, dolphins thing. Back up look really good. Just didn't come to fruition. But maybe that was because Black was a little bit banged up. I think Emmett Johnson, though, could be a great sneaky option if you're stuck with a lot of the running back injuries. For example, like, Kenneth Johnson versus DJ Dallas, if there's no Aaron Jones, like that's what we're talking about for somebody like that. You like Tony Pollard as a sleeper, which is interesting. - This is a favorable game script that I think is coming for Tennessee against the Giants. I don't see the Giants pulling away from this one. I think the Titans can stay competitive in this game. And look, the Giants played on Monday. They got beat up on the ground. I would start Tony Pollard this week ahead of the Packers running backs on Thursday night against Atlanta. I think there's gonna be opportunities for him to get around 15 touches. Not saying that he's gonna be amazing, but he could fall into the end zone, average four yards per carry along the way, give us kind of a throwback to what we saw from Pollard at the end of last year. - Would be nice to see another situation where both guys mispractice on Wednesday, although for the Titans guys, both Pollard and Taijai Spears, they're dealing with, I wanted to say, Taijai Spears, they're dealing with soreness. So hopefully it's okay for both of those running backs. For me, I like Rashad White. I like what I saw from the last week. Six catches, 40 yards on six targets. We're gonna see this team most likely chasing points. It's a brutal defense. Seattle's obviously great, but I think this is not a great game for Jakory Kroski-Marit. There should be a game Rashad White's helping Marcus Mariotta. So not a bad flex play if you're looking for some help in PPR. We're gonna take a break and we come back and get into some wide receiver rankings. Tell you about a lot of injuries once again and some injury replacements. That's next on Fantasy Football Today. Welcome back to Fantasy Football Today. We're talking wide receiver rankings here for week three and lots of injuries that we're dealing with once again at this position. Let's show you the rank list one through 12. And we'll start with a guy that we don't usually see on here, but we might for the rest of the season. That's a guy playing tonight in Christian Watson. So Dave has it just become a set it and forget it with Watson. You could also factor in Matthew Golden now because we know Jay and Rita not gonna play in the game tonight against the Falcons. For Watson, it's definitely set it or forget it. He's earned it not just from what we saw last season, but through the first two games of this season, this Packers team has to throw the ball because they can't run it very well. This Atlanta front is actually not bad. At getting to the quarterback, it's gonna mean shorter throws for Jordan Love and Christian Watson can just get those slants and dig routes and go off to the races and we've already seen him do that this season. Matthew Golden's also in play as a number two fantasy wide receiver, like a better and full PPR than half and not, but he does have explosive ability. We didn't see it in the stats last week, but he drew two crucial pass interference calls on downfield throws against the Jets in week number two. And that makes me feel good about his role and the chances that he might have, even against Atlanta with their battered secondary on Thursday night. No A.J. Terrell, so that should hopefully help out both of those guys. Heath, we see Zay flowers as a number one receiver. I dropped him just because of the concern and thinking about if I have to play Matthew Golden or Christian Watson tonight, clearly he's a top 10 wide receiver if he does play what's the approach now for Zay flowers, which we may get a practice report before the end of the show. - That's going to be the key for me. If he doesn't practice today, then I think you have to start Watson over him, you have to start London over him, you have to start Golden over him. If he's a partial, you're probably still going to start Watson and London over him just to be safe. But if Zay flowers is on the field on Sunday, you're going to have to go find somebody else to pinch because you're going to start Zay flowers. - Yeah, let's just hope that there's no setback here. And last week we got him back at practice on Friday and then they ruled him doubtful for the game. So let's see what happens and clearly if he makes a trip to Brazil, that would be a good sign as well. Let's show you the ranked list 13 through 24, some more injury concerns or maybe concerns about other situations. Meaning Drake London gets his quarterback back tonight as the Falcons take on the Packers. And this is what Drake London has done in his last six games with Michael Penix. Five games over 110 yards. So I'm excuse, five games over 104 yards with one, two, three, six touchdowns. He's pretty good when he got Michael Penix. So Drake London, I think we're all going to say, start him at least as a number two receiver. We may regret not saying start him as a number one receiver. But Dave, we got DJ Moore also on this list. He's trying to come back from last week's shoulder and do you remember they played last Thursday? So a little bit of extra time for him. Practice on Wednesday and non-contactors. It's just DJ Moore plays, DJ Moore starts. Number two, fantasy wide receiver looks like the number one target for this Buffalo Bill's passing game. It looks like they're throwing the ball more and being more aggressive overall on offense. I'm going to want pieces of this offense more to the best one in the passing. All right, so let's hope that DJ Moore is 100%. Keon Coleman also got banged up so that could be a replacement option. Just in case Moore doesn't play and Keon Coleman does. There's also Khalil Shakir. So keep an eye on your waiver wire because Coleman and Shakir are available in a lot of leagues. Let's look at the ranked list 25 through 36. And a guy we weren't expecting to see on this list is on this list. And that's Rashi Rice, who has not had the greatest start so far to the season heath. But I thought he looked better against the Colts. And you mentioned this, like we could see the cheese do whatever they want, maybe in the run game, but maybe also in the passing game. I'm kind of going with the hope of let's get Rashi Rice going. But I don't think collectively we feel the same way. He's a number three wide receiver. It's so strange how much he's changed from this offseason. Like we were concerned, some of us more than others about him losing those short area targets to Kenneth Walker, that's happened. He's actually performed pretty well on the downfield targets when he's received him. I thought a couple of the in breaking routes. He looked pretty good on it. So I'm optimistic. I just think he's a number three wide receiver in a game where the chiefs might throw 25 passes. It's a very fair point. And look, you're going to see sometimes when you go to set your line up depending on what site you're playing on, what the opposing rank is for the position. The Dolphins have not been tested yet. So we've seen a cousin throw three touchdowns. We saw last week that Brock Perdue threw two and ran for one. They're just not challenging from their receiver standpoint. I think if Mike Evans was healthy, he has a better game last week. So Rice is sort of in this, you know, I think range of wide receivers where if you need to start on your starting game, if you have other options like Parker Washington or Jalen Coker or-- What about the Packers guys? The Packers guys are in better spots. So, you know, you can go a different route than Rashi Rice if you want to pivot off him. So let's show the next list of wide receivers 37 through 48. And this is where we start to get into a big question because of the Bears receivers. And so we know that it's not great right now because Caleb Williams not expected to play Monday night against the Eagles. Keith, you can piggyback off what Dave's about to say because you have Luther Burton as a sit. But Dave, how are you approaching? You can throw a close in love with him there as well. How are you approaching the Bears passing game with the backup quarterback? It's a 38 year old case kingdom. Third string quarterback. I think he was there to kind of help coach and not play. And now here he is playing against the Philadelphia Eagles defense with two of the best defensive tackles in football, a great outside corner. I am nervous. I do think the one benefit to have in kingdom there is that he'll play on time. And he won't scramble around like we've seen Caleb Williams do. And when Williams is running around, he's not going to the first read. He's not throwing to these premier players in the passing game. But I don't think the balls are going to be downfield very much. You're going to see a lot of short throws. I'm not really optimistic on Colson Lovelin, but I think he's the best of the three. I am especially pessimistic on Roma Dunze because he'll see Quinion Mitchell in coverage. That's somebody who runs downfield so much on the perimeter might not get more than two targets in the game. Yeah, I hope that Kenam sees things the way the Beijing did, because Beijing just came into the game. It was Luther Burton, Luther Burton, Luther Burton. And so if we get that, then that will give us optimism for next week. But we're talking about a guy that hasn't-- not start. Hasn't appeared in a football game since December of 2023, going up against the Philadelphia Eagles defense in his first time back. And the defense has struggled last week, I mean, you know, the Titans actually moved the ball against the defense So maybe they're a little bit angry and take it out on case kingdom and the bear is so easy to avoid the bears for at least this week But let's see if there is reason for optimism, especially if Caleb Williams can return soon I was getting to the starts and sits and Dave you're being really risky this week You got Aaron Jones and starting running back. He may not play you got Mike Evans as a starting wide receiver He may not play either if he plays though. I love the match up against Arizona I mean, obviously JSN and Lad Makonky different types of wide receivers at this point in their careers compared to Mike Evans But I always think that whenever Mike Evans plays he's a candidate to score no matter who he goes up against But if it's against Arizona, then certainly there's going to be a huge opportunities We know that Perdi has been playing great. We know that Marcus Robinson not going to play he was hurt last week Hopefully he's fine. He goes out there finds the end zone gets around five catches on top of it If Evans is out, do you slide Debo Samuel? I think absolutely you slide Debo Samuel in and he's probably like he compares Just his role a little bit more favorably to what JSN and certainly what Lad Makonky do and if there's going to be an uptick in targets because Evans isn't there Then yeah, you could see Debo Samuel is a number two receiver and maybe a candidate for 16 PPR points this week I just have a hard time and I listen I was the skeptical guy about Mike Evans coming into the year But we went through training camp and every three days it was a new Metal group that was sore or tight or I'm not gonna practice for a couple of days. He's played two games one of them He left early because something didn't feel right. I have a hard time like trusting him that he's going to be a full-time player Even if he's active and that he's going to play the full game in a game that they should win easily Yeah, right. So that'd be my concern also is like do you get the because he probably could have gutted through last week If he's saying that he feels okay, right, but they were winning so easily does he go out there like if I'm the 49ers I'm approaching it like you never want to take a team for granted Especially division rival. This is not one I want to push Mike Evans when I want him for December January when you could probably just beat the Cardinals again in theory with or without him But we hope to see him out there for me is at least a number three receiver, but We'd like to see the best of Mike Evans All right, he's got Jaylen Coker as a starter this week He's just been awesome through the first two weeks Yeah, and I think he's probably obvious as a top 24 guy But I think he's closer to 12 than he is to 24 the way this Panthers offense has functioned through the first two weeks Can absolutely sustain Teteron Macmillan and Jaylen Coker as both top 15 wide receivers as long as Bryce young keeps playing this way Well, and I think it's kind of debatable within a given week whether you want to rate Coker or Teteron Macmillan higher I would expect Coker to possibly see more work in the red zone and has has more big playability But they're both just seeing eight plus targets a week and producing this offense has produced the second most Explosive plays in the passing game behind only Josh out on the bills It's been fun to watch and hopefully continues the Browns defense look much better last week But I think as we talked about our podcast this morning You said and I agree more about the Bucks offense than the Browns defense. I'm excited to see Josh now Look, it's it this is the kind of role we talked about when Alex Pierce was dealing with the injury in the offseason He's going to be the lead receiver for the Colts when we saw it against the Chiefs then nine targets seven catches 72 yards I know this Texans defense is much better than what they've shown But they've been beaten up by every receiver that's played against them so far for Buffalo and Cincinnati vastly different types of players But I think Josh down is going to get peppered with targets and we love the opportunity for him We'll see what they're slayton does they just sign. We'll see what Keenan Allen does But I think this is a great chance to use Josh downs as for me a number two wide receiver Let's talk about some sit receivers Dave. You got James and Williams as someone you want to avoid this I'd rather start down to honestly should have had a better game than what he had in week number two and James and Williams Just he could have had a really good game in week one kind of an afterthought in week two Which is crazy when you think about all the points that the Lions put up against Buffalo And now it's the Jets and I think there is a little bit of an advantage for the Jets here because Aaron Glen used to be on the Lion Staff Has game planned against Jerrogoff in practice many many times knows what his weaknesses are I think this is a game where Jerrogoff can just get rid of the ball quickly Keep it short to St. Brown, Sam Laporte, Jameer Gibbs and not really take too many downfield shots at James and Williams Heath has said it a hundred times when we've talked about Jamo He is a boomer bus number three wide receiver and that's where he is He's a number three wide receiver, but I can find some other wide receivers that I like better than James and Williams this week So I would try and stay away from him if I could at some point's gonna go off You know just make sure that you understand if you put them on your bench for some other wide receivers You know Denzel Boston will come into conversation trade-tucker will come into the conversation that's started over those No, I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm just saying you know fantasy managers looking at what those guys have done Or at least did last week and then what James and Williams has not done so far So there's gonna be a week where he goes nuts and last time he wasn't home He had nine targets. We'll see if he does take advantage of this Jets secondary But I think we're on agreement more of a number three wide receiver for this week Heath I'm not forgetting about you already talked about Lucifer and I did that once already so far this season Let's move on to Terry McClure and who is actually a good history with with Mark Smarrider last year five starts together Three of those games he was over 14 ppr points, but you're just looking at the Seattle defense and how good they are They just held the Cardinals to 95 passing yards. This is not the week to say I'm going all in on Terry McClure and even Stefan Diggs I think we all like digs better at this point. Yeah, especially this week because he'll get open a little bit quicker Yep, yep, yep, but those underneath throws will be there for digs more than McClure and three receiver leagues You can still start McClure and but nine targets last week was encouraging we'll just see how this all looks with Mario He's the foreseeable he's a bilo after this week to assuming that he doesn't have a big game McClure does I wouldn't mind trying to trade for him schedule gets a little bit lighter for them, but just Seattle I'd seem we would like to avoid facing let's talk about some sleepers and maybe some replacement options I could help fantasy managers Davy got Denzel Boston as somebody that was hoping to see go Be productive for at least three weeks and a row three for three, right? He's been a top 20 receiver and ppr points each of the first two weeks the week one was fluky We can all agree with that the garbage time touchdown week two far less fluky and I doubt the browns run away with this one I think it's going to be much more of a competitive game against Carolina I think Boston's still going to get those opportunities So however long to Sean Watson to the quarterback I'm going to be in on Denzel Boston as at least a flex once it should her sanders all bets are off because should her sanders Not as good of a pass or downfield at least he wasn't last year, but Denzel Boston has really carved out a nice role for him in this Cleveland offense You're crazy man, you're going to Dolphin do you go with the Dolphin? It's a sleeper. I mean Dave sleeper We just the number one waiver wire at a wide receiver. Everybody knows about him. I'm going with the sleeper It's Malik Washington 26% target share in the first two weeks of the season now Caleb Douglas is gone He might have a 33% target share this week against the chiefs They're going to have to throw a little bit more. He might score ten fantasy points or eleven I think I get you in that neighbor he gets on that neighborhood pretty much every week somewhere between eight and eleven I would say that so if that's without a touchdown What if he scores a touchdown? Well now you're now that's crazy What does the Dolphin score touchdown? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's a listen I like the call because he could benefit a lot although he's been Yeah, he's really Washington Island. He you are in Lake Washington We don't go past 48. That's why you don't see the number that for us. What's lying? They'll show with the 79 ranking there I'm gonna go done taping wicks and we get an opportunity with no Dallas Goddard We'll see what their tight end situation looks like This is an opportunity against a bear bad bears defense wicks has been 12.4 PPR points or more each of the first two games ten targets So he's a guy that we've seen Jalen Hertz lean on at some point macaillem And I hope we'll take over and become more that second or third option depending when Dallas Goddard's back But on taping wicks could be a nice Third-wide receiver for you if you need to start somebody this week in this matchup against the Chicago Bears All right, we're gonna take a break right now We come back and again into quarterbacks and what do you do to replace Caleb Williams? Jane Daniels Jackson Dart will have that answer for you next year on F50 Welcome back to fantasy football today. We're talking about quarterbacks quarterbacks. Those are wide receivers I have some wide receiver updates for you We got Niko Collins not practicing on Thursday. It does not sound good for him Does not seem like Pukinakua is gonna play but we'll wait for an update Hopefully he'll practice at some point today and we're still waiting for his day flowers update We'll impact Lamar Jackson who you will see on this screen right now as we show you the list one through twelve We are still confident in Lamar Jackson right? We're still starting Lamar no matter it was a Yeah, yeah, I mean he's one spot too high because Brock Pertis QB two the other than that all men all right So we'll see where where we slot the Lamar Jackson based on how Zay flowers and what his practice report is But you know who's now a top 12 quarterback once again Catcher my homes. So Dave you were very confident in my homes playing at a high level coming into the season You know you haven't ranked as a top 12 guy but he was close for you I was drafted in the late and every league. Yeah, and now you're reaping the benefits He looks awesome so far through the first two weeks of the season does it continue against the dolphins the answers? Yes, but just how good will he be? Well, the question is how much will he have to do against the dolphins and and I kind of like where Heath's head is at this Which is Kansas City can use this game? Obviously they want to win it But maybe as a little bit of like a preseason type mindset where they try and get other elements of their offense going if they Struggle with those other elements. They just go back to what's been working which is handoff to Kenneth Walker Throw to Kenneth Walker, throw to Travis Kelsey Occasional shots in the red zone for for for Patrick mohms to score touchdowns and the end result is a big fantasy stat line We're at the point again where Patrick mohms is a must-start fantasy quarterback even in a game where he might not throw 30 times I was just thinking September game in Miami. It's gonna be hilarious. That's supposed to be cool this weekend Is it supposed to be okay? Good. I was gonna say it was me. I'll probably be wet when the dolphins beat the chiefs on Sunday And we're all with egg on our first. I mean listen, that would not be That would not be fun. We got Jordan Love as a top 12 quarterback he if he had a great game in week one against Minnesota Not as great a game against the Jets but here come the Falcons Yeah, and I think listen they don't have a JTRL The Packers can't run the ball at all So this is one of those teams that even if they are playing from ahead I think they're going to have to keep passing because they can't pick up first downs and move the clock in the run game What we've wanted for the last few years is a concentrated target share and more pass volume in Green Bay we're getting both of those because so many pass catchers are hurt. and they can't run the ball. Are you nervous about that offensive line in front of Jordan Love? Because they lost, they're down two starters now and one of them, they're right tackle, is out for the year. So I'm a little bit worried about how that's going to look and whether or not that means a lot of short throws from Jordan Love. I do think that they can eventually get into the red zone and Love is just gonna have to put the team on his shoulder at that point and make some plays. So I like him. I don't love a lot of quarterbacks this week. He's kind of a borderline QB1 for me. - So I don't mind him this week because of exactly what you said. - The Falcons have been surprisingly very good at getting to the quarterback, but I think a lot of it has to do with play in Pittsburgh in week one. So we'll see what they do in this match. - Well they were getting to Bryce Young last week too. - Yeah, but not affecting him. - It did sleep, but I think having the time to prepare for this, we talked about the Sunday podcast. He brought up the story that they were prepping Tucker Kraft to be an offensive lineman because they were dropping bodies left and right. So I think just like that. - Well no, they reported it. - I know the report, but that was like in case of like a desperate situation. - Well they were both close. - They were going right, they lost the lineman, but I don't want to scare people off of Tucker Kraft. - No, no, no, they have their reinforcements ready to go up this week, but that's how bad things were. I think they'll be prepared for it this week, even though it's a short week. So Jordan love a borderline starter. If you want to show the rankings 13 through 24, we talked about this just briefly that Pukinakua may not play, but it didn't bother Matthew Stafford last week against the Giants this week taking on the Broncos. Heath is Matthew Stafford still someone you consider starting. - Hey, he was someone I would consider starting. He's certainly not a must start. I would much rather start Tyler Schuck. He's right in the same range for me with Trevor Lawrence and Bryce Young and then Stafford, and then right behind those guys comes the Drake May group. - All right, so we'll see where Stafford, again, back in America, he looked much more like Matthew Stafford as opposed to look like against the 49ers. Let's talk about some starts and sits. Heath, you got Bryce Young as a starter. You like Jalen Cloaker, you like Teteroma Mill, and you like Bryce Young. - I do like Bryce Young. I like 37 1/2 pass attempts per game. I like throwing the ball down the field. The new offensive system in Carolina is working. And while he did get pressured against Atlanta, they've mostly done a good job of protecting him or at least avoiding sacks. He's only been sacked four times, despite the fact that he's dropped back 80 times in two games. I think things are going to continue to work in the passing game for Carolina, even against Cleveland. - Should be fun, and he's now rostered in over 90% of league. So fantasy managers, again, pivoting from Jane Daniels and Caleb Williams and Jackson Dart, this is a great replacement option if you can still get him. Same thing with Tyler Schuck, who's gonna be a guy I start, we're gonna talk about Trevor Lawrence in a second 'cause you're not disagreeing on that. But Tyler Schuck, 29.2 fantasy points in week one, 24.4 points in week two. He's now scored 20 or more fantasy points. Seven of his last eight games going back to last season. I know Las Vegas has been good so far against quarterback. So one was Malik Welles, one is Justin Herbert, that I think speaks more to what those two teams look like as opposed to what the Raiders defense looks like. Tyler Schuck is a top 10 quarterback for a week number three. All right, you like Trevor Lawrence. I do not tell me why you're starting. - I don't love him, he's a low end starter. He's in that same group for me as Jordan Love, as Matthew Stafford, but I do like the upside that he has because I think that this is gonna be a game push comes to shove. Jackson was gonna throw the ball. And yes, the Patriots defense has been great. Look at who they've gone up against. It's been Drew Locke in week one, and they were pretty okay against Drew Locke, and then last week he was Aaron Rogers. Lawrence is gonna be a tougher challenge for them, and I think Basel Tune will be okay this week. I think Trevor Lawrence is gonna have to carry the water here for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Parker Washington shouldn't be shadowed by Christian Gonzalez, and that gives him opportunities to continue to make some plays. And I think Lawrence will find some other guys to make plays. So I think at home it's a better opportunity for Trevor Lawrence low end starter. - He should definitely be better than he was last week, and I do think yes, low end starter, he's in the top 15 still for me, so probably not somebody that you're gonna replace, but you do look at the last nine games for the Patriots. Pretty good sample size, only one quarterback multiple touchdown passes against them. So Lawrence hopefully do a little bit with his legs. I thought last week was disappointing the way that he started compared to the way he finished. I thought he was off to a good start. So hopefully we get that multiple touchdown game for them, which would again be the second time in the last 10 games that a quarterback against the Patriots goes for multiple scores. The last quarterback to do that by the way was Josh Allen, who is just the most amazing quarterback ever. Let's talk about some guys that were looking to sit along with Trevor Lawrence for me, for you, Heath, it's Justin Herbert, and are we just done starting him in general? - You know, this is the one that I, I talk about with my projections, mostly math. Like it's mostly just the numbers, and then occasionally I put my thumb on it, and I have this temptation to put my thumb on it and say, you know what, Buffalo's defense is awful, Justin Herbert's gonna bounce back. I hate the fact though that it's a West Coast team going to a 1 p.m. game in Buffalo. I hate what this offense has looked like, and some of it is the supporting cast. Some of it is Justin Herbert. Some of it is the offensive coordinator. Nothing's working, nothing looks good. He's averaging 200 passing yards per game, and he has more interceptions than touchdowns. And the offensive line isn't playing well either. So if he's not good here, which should be a get right spot, then I definitely think we're done starting him. I'm not starting him here either. - Yeah, I mean, next week is Seattle. So if he doesn't play well against the team that has really struggled against quarterback so far, granted CJ Shraoud is who he is. So that's a positive, and then, you know, we know Jared Gough is a really good quarterback. So we need to see Justin Herbert do something if fantasy managers continue to start in the rest of the season. - I feel like it's garbage time for Justin Herbert. Like if he doesn't get good at it, it was garbage time, the last two weeks have been garbage time, but that's true. - Here's the problem. - No, he was in a close game. - No, I just meant the offense. - Oh, well done. He didn't do it against Arizona, and he didn't do it against Las Vegas, and that's why fantasy managers can't trust him, which I totally get. - Right, I agree. Trevor Lawrence is somebody I would start ahead of Justin Herbert. - Okay, Jordan loves same thing. - I agree. We got Drake May as a sit for you. - Yeah, I don't know if I'd start Drake May ahead of Justin Herbert because I think just the way the Patriots are operating now, I think they're trying to be careful. I think they want to lean on their defense. I think they absolutely want to lean on their ground game. They're going to test that jacks of a front. This could be a relatively low scoring game between the jaguars and the Patriots. I know that we drafted Drake May high. I would absolutely pivot to Tyler Shock or Bryce Young at this point and view Drake May as someone that I just, I need to see it first. And he might be somebody that we talk about buying low on two, three weeks from now, because the second half of the season, the schedule should be a little bit better. AJ Brown should be back. He should build his confidence up by then. And then we'll see the Superman that we saw leading the Patriots in 2025. - Talk about some sleeper quarterbacks for week three in the Sean Watson cracks your list. - Wow. - Yes, and I've cracked a lot of jokes about the Sean Watson over the last couple of years. He's been awful. But he hasn't been so far this season. He's averaging eight and a half yards per pass attempt. He's completed 76% of his passes. And he's averaging 30 rushing yards per game. I think the Carolina offense is going to have success. I think the Carolina defense is not near as good as their offense. And Watson chasing the score has another good fantasy day. I'm going to say it out loud. I would start to show on Watson over Justin Harper this week. - Wow. I mean, he's been a better fantasy quarterback. So play the stats and then play the matchup as well. Let's see what we got for Kyler Murray coming back from his concussion. - I like the matchup for some foremost against Tampa. That secondary has been a mess. Their pass rush, which was so balli-hood in the preseason. It really hasn't come to fruition. They've got some linebacker injuries and liabilities. And I think that the Vikings can take advantage. And if there is no Aaron Jones and if there isn't a semblance of a run game, then that's just more on the plate for the passing game. And that's really good for Kyler Murray. This is someone if Aaron Jones is out could really rise up the rankings and maybe even be a number one low end type of fantasy QB in his first game going up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneer. - And look, Carson Wentz got good numbers in week one. I know they're much different quarterbacks, but just the offense produced enough three touchdown game for Wentz, hopefully Kyler Murray can take advantage of Justin Jefferson. And for once, maybe Jordan Addison having big games against his defense. I'm going to go to Geno Smith just based on the matchup. And I think we're going to get a good stretch of games from Geno. The schedule is really good for the Jets moving forward. But this line's defense that get up the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks so far this season. Can Geno crack the 20 point barrier? 17 points last week against Green Bay. I think he gets there. So if you miss out on Shuck or Bryce Young or Kyler Murray, some of the quarterbacks we talked about on the waiver wire, I think Geno Smith is a good pivot play. All right, we're going to take a break. We come back when he gets the tight ends. Don't forget, we have your questions coming up as well. Stay right here at the fantasy football today. (upbeat music) Welcome back to fantasy football today. We're talking about tight end rankings. And we're going to show you the list one through 12 of our consensus rankings. And you will not see Colston Loveland. But you will see Brock Powers. We're excited to get him back. So hopefully he is the Brock Powers that we were drafting and he is okay and he starts to dominate and put up the numbers that a lot of fantasy managers have been waiting for. All right, Dave, give me 30 seconds on the two tight ends in Thursday night's game. You got Tucker Kraft, you got Kyle Pets. Are they both going to be the players that we drafted and getting the production that we need for them? I like the chances for Kraft with the one game of question mark for Green Bay, the offensive line of question mark for Green Bay. Kraft can get those short area targets and make some numbers with them. We know how good he is after the catch. Pets does not have a great track record with Michael Penix. 12 games together, only four times. Has he been double digits and PPR points? I would try and stay away from Kyle Pets this week. There are enough other tight ends out there on the waiver wire that you could have turned to and used in place of Kyle Pets. - Pets on Thursday night though, my gosh. He loves playing on Thursday night. All right, let's talk about, we'll skip that. We'll get to the starts and sets. We don't need to talk about the backup tight ends, although there are very good lists of them. Check out the consensus rankings to see guys like Pat Fryer-Muth and Ronde Gaston and maybe even Terrence Ferguson with the absence for Pukinacua if it does happen once again. All right, so Dave, you're starting to Juan Johnson this week as the Saints hopefully continue to feed him the ball. - 10 PPR points or more, each of the first two games of the season. He is a big part of this Saints passing offense and this Raiders pass rush. They're good, I buy into that pass rush. And the offensive line, it's a question mark now for New Orleans missing their left tackle. but everything else in that Raider's defense is a question too. And so I think we could see Tyler Schuck continue to lean on Joanne Johnson. I think another double digit PPR game is in play. Mark Andrews is somebody you're excited about, is that with or without Z-Flowers? More without Z-Flowers, but also with Z-Flowers. I think Z-Flowers will impact Rashad Bateman more than he will, Mark Andrews. This game has the highest over under on the slate. I'm not sure it's high enough. Anytime the Raven score a bunch of touchdowns, Andrews is a good chance to score one. Low-hanging fruit falls in my lap. I take Dalton Schultz as a starter. He is coming off an amazing game with 140 yards receiving last week. And I think we'll see him continue to dominate. Nico Collins is not practicing on Thursday. So Dalton Schultz taking on a defense that he beat up last year for at least 11 PPR points at both games against the Colts. He should do so once again. Second in targets among tight ends for the season. Let's talk about some sit tight ends. Dave, you're sitting Jake Ferguson who's coming off a two touchdown game. Yeah, let's play that game. Is he going to score a touchdown or is he not going to score a touch? And I think that's somebody that Baltimore can take away in the red zone with one guy. Hamilton, their safety, could line up against him. That's if they choose to do it Baltimore. They could use a linebacker instead because it's not like Jake Ferguson is that fast. So I am worried about what he is when he doesn't score. Usually that's less than eight PPR points. I'd rather start Terrence Ferguson than Jake Ferguson. Two catches, seven yards in week one. And almost scored a touchdown. But you saw what this that line was when he did not reach the end zone. Harold Fanon had a good game last week. You like to Sean Watson. You're not starting Fanon. His target per out run has fallen by 33% from last year to this year with the Sean Watson at quarterback. I would rather start my sleeper. We'll talk about him in just a moment. I'd rather start a run day. Gatson, I'd rather start Dalton Schultz. I'd rather start Mark Andrews. Not a top 12 title. I'm going to sit the aforementioned Colston Loveland because he has not been very good. And now we have a backup quarterback taking on the Eagles. So don't give up on Colston Loveland just yet. Don't drop him. But don't start him this week. There are other tight ends. You can pivot to like what he's just said about his sleeper. Terrence Ferguson. Dave, your sleeper is Darren Waller. My sleeper is Pat Frymouth. Why do we like Darren Waller? Good score, touch on. Same exact game that we play with Jake Ferguson. But Carolina against Cleveland. I think that there's going to be an opportunity there in the Red Zone for Waller to at least get a target. Two touchdowns last week should have had one in week one. So it's not a bad bet to make Terrence Ferguson. So let's just again, Puka in, Puka out. How are you approaching it? Oh, Puka's playing no chance. If Puka's out, I'm probably too low on him at 12. Because he's going to be the number two option in the passing game. And the number one option in the passing game is going to be lined up. The game's going to be lined up, an opposite of Pat Saritan, which could mean even more targets than we saw last week for Terrence Ferguson. Very excited to see what he can do if Puka does not play tougher matchup this week than when he got last week. But he was certainly featured by Matthew Stafford and Sean McVey. Pat Frymouth usually gets featured against the Bengals. His last ten games against them. Six touchdowns. He's averaging over 14 PPR points in this matchup. And they just could not stop Cole's, excuse me, Dalton Schultz last week. I wish they couldn't stop Cole's level. They could just stop Dalton Schultz last week. So Pat Frymouth and a good spot taking on his division. All right, when we come back, it's only your questions. Thank you for sending them to us on X using the hashtag #AskFFT. Those are next here on Fantasy Football Team. Quick AskFFT for you here. Should I start? Matthew Golden tonight at Flex. Have Mike Evans also, but not sure you'll play. So Dave, we started, if you are worried about getting burned and Evans doesn't practice on Thursday, Golden is the play. There you go. Next question. Reminds me of Stevenson. Rashad Bateman or Quentin Johnston in non-PPR. He thought you like, it's going to be Stevenson for me. I'd go Bateman. I'm going to go Bateman also of Zay is out, but probably Stevenson if. I might go Bateman, even if Zay is in. All right, look good last week. All right, last one. Donal's on WaverWire and Herbert and Stroud, I'd say, hold with what you got. Yep, agree. Let's see Donal come back to practice, but he's trying in the right direction. All right, thank you for watching Fantasy Football Today. Make sure you check out our Fantasy Football Day podcast, wherever podcast available. Check out our live stream on Sunday on YouTube. We are helping you dominate your fantasy leagues for Heath Cummings Day Richard and our wonderful production crew. I'm Jamie Eisenberg, thanks for watching FFT.