November 1, 2023 • 27 mins
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It's Fox Sports Radio's Official Fantasy Football Podcast! Dan Beyer, Mike Harmon, and Ryan Burschinger look back on the first half of the fantasy football season and identify the players who have been the most frustrating to roster, and the players who have been the greatest joy to have carrying your team!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies, you want experience during your football season, well, buckle up,
sweet cheeks. We've got all the experience in the world.
This is I Want Your Flex with Dan Byer and
Mike Harmon. Mike and Dan break down everything you need
to set your lineups, from position rankings to starts and sits.
(00:24):
The guys help you make those hard decisions. And now
let's get your flex on. Here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Here. It is another episode of I Want Your Flex.
We're gonna have some fun with this one. We'll be
pulling our hair out for half of the episode, and
then we will be thanking our lucky starts for the
other half. Because Mike Harmon, Ryan Berschinger and myself are
gonna be talking about the players that we have loved
to love and love to hate so far this season,
(00:54):
most frustrating players that we've had on our teams, and
the players that we've thoroughly enjoyed having on our fantasy teams.
I know there could be a lot of candidates for
these nominees, Mike, but this is gonna be fun because
I think there's gonna be some interesting names that may
not be at the top of rankings, but for some
reason or another, maybe have just shined or didn't shine
(01:18):
as much on your fantasy team this year.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, I think what's been curious, like the ebb and
flow and trying to smooth things out, Like we talk
about it all the time from a rankings perspective, you know,
before the season is like, all right, just to the aggregate,
is my guy gonna end up top ten? But then
once we get into in season roster management, the roller
(01:41):
coaster ride is maddening, where you know, the hey, you
got your three points, Hey you got thirty. That's gonna
look great when it evens out at the end of
the year and it's like he was tight end four,
Like no, but week to week I wanted to, you know,
punch myself in the face for having to make the choice.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Uh, verse, you got some names that just immediately came
to the top of your head.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I think with the guys that I've struggled with the most,
one would be Miles Sanders.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
And I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We're diving right now. I love it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, let's go after it because uh And I
think that this is also just a good frustration with
the running back position as a whole. One of my
teams is just completely decimated at running back, where I've
had to start Kenneth Gainwell in two straight weeks because
I have no other option losing Kyen Williams to injury,
(02:34):
which Kyen Williams would make my love list, he unfortunately
can't because of the injury, but I have loved having him.
But yeah, just the frustrations with running back as a whole,
and I think Miles Sanders does really embody that rather nicely.
Where the team invested in him, he was going into
a situation where it seemed like he was going to
be the lead guy in an offense that was going
(02:54):
to have to depend on their veterans, which they have
with with Adam Thielen, and he when he's been healthy,
he's just really hasn't gotten it going very much at all,
and to the point where now it looks like he's
maybe just been completely passed up. So I think the frustration,
especially with Sanders, was for the last couple of weeks,
(03:16):
feeling like he's a guy that I can't start, but
I also can't really cut him because he doesn't seem
like a guy who is cutable in the climate of
the way running backs are, and the fact that you
look at the guy and you think he should be
at least somewhat close to what he was last season.
The team definitely invested in him as if they were
(03:37):
going to use him that way, and they just simply
haven't been able to because he hasn't been that good
and has also been hurt.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He is a guy that I had as a holdover
for a few years when he was with the Eagles,
and so I could not pick the right week to
play him because right when I would get fed up
with him, I'd bench him, and then he'd have like
two seventy yard runs, you know, and you know, like,
man is going on here. Here's my advice for Miles Sanders.
(04:05):
Do cut him, and then whoever picks him up just
relish in their misery, because it truly is like it.
It is such an absolute headache. I don't have the
same sort of feelings. It's not the similar situation of
Miles Sanders, because this guy's actually been on this team
for a while and he actually had one good week,
(04:25):
unfortunately it was Week one. But having Aaron Jones on
my roster has been nothing but a pure headache because
not only has the injury situation been foggy at different
times throughout the year. Now that he's back on the field,
they're doing nothing, absolutely nothing. I thought he was going
to provide them a shot in the arm through the
(04:47):
bye week, and then the two games that he's had
since then have been nothing burgers. And so like, having
Aaron Jones on my team has been an absolute headache
this season.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Because I've been on the other side of that. I've
got the the aj DI and so thinking that the well,
I mean, look just philosophically, yeah, become the run game
to stabilize things, to make things easier on Jordan Love
seem like elemental football one oh one. And then they've
been able to do nothing and the ground game with
either of them, and Dylan had several games to himself
(05:19):
and still grossly underperformed two other running backs from my world.
They got a couple of wide receivers to put on
the airing of grievances as well. Derrick Henry one game
over twenty Fantasy points this year, and it took a
passing touchdown when he did that jump pass to do
it right. Yeah, and then Rashad White down there in
(05:41):
Tampa now a lot of questions of how good the
Tampa squad would be, and they've had their moments, and
certainly Evans and Godwin remained the focal points. But thinking,
all right, White's a guy that if this is going
to work, that he'd have ample workload and be able
to put up some points. Four games this year with
(06:04):
fewer than eleven Fantasy points. Now the last two weeks
of total of thirteen receptions have had made him at
least a viable RB two and hopefully that activity in
the passing game continues. But you know, overall, just grossly disappointing.
To add to the running back woes.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'm also close to wanting to cut Damian Pierce. Yeah,
you know, I know that we touched a little bit
on him and Devin Singletary in a previous episode, but
I also look at the value of Pierce and coming
down the stretch of who they play in the Fantasy playoffs,
like Tennessee's secondary you can get something on them, but
they are pretty good against the run. Cleveland's pretty good
(06:47):
as well. That's who they play in weeks fifteen, sixteen,
and seventeen, and prior to that they have the Jets
in Week fourteen. So if you don't do anything at
Damian Pierce in a stretch where you've got Arizona Jacksonville
a debt for coming up after those games against the
Buccaneers and Bengals, there's no value, Like it's just you're
(07:08):
hoping that maybe he shows up in four games and
he's been so much of a headache right now and
now it seems like there's a time share. Yeah, I'm
kind of done with Damian Pierce in Houston.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Looking at receiver. I fortunately do not have any shares
of him, but I'd imagine the frustration is very real
for managers out there. And that's that's with Chris o'lave
because you know the talent, you know the ability and
the offense that he's and should cater to his ability.
And it's the fact that like when you look at
(07:41):
his target totals, you would think it's it's so hard
because obviously targets are it can be anything. It could
be thrown ten yards over the receiver's head and still
we considered a target. But we as fantasy players use
targets so heavily because it gives an indication of at
least how much they could be involved in the offense.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
You're just thinking about that picture, the shot of the
ball hitting him in the helmet. That's the one that's
just been vexing you for the last twenty four plus hours.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Look at a couple of these games. He had two
weeks ago, fifteen targets and that translated to seven catches
for fifty seven yards. And when you have that level
of a target share and to have it be at
that low, you feel very disappointed with that. Of course,
his game against the Bucks one catch for four yards
on six targets, Like it's unfortunately with you've seen now,
(08:35):
especially with Kamara joining the rejoining that offense, Derek Carr
is just checking it down like crazy and he's turned
Alvin Kamara into a PPR monster again. So it's not
really something that's catering as well to a Lave's talents
as people thought it was going to. So, yeah, it
must be very frustrating to see what happens with the
(08:57):
Lave on a weekly basis, knowing what could be there.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I think the other part to that is you're seeing
Rashid Shahed and his productivity right on deep balls, huge
huge plays right, just not not a huge catch count,
but impactful and they're watching, go, well, why can't he
hook up with a lobby like that? And certainly that
(09:22):
that frustration is there and we've seen it aired out
on the field.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
We we could talk about DeVante Adams. That one's just
the low hanging fruit, uh to a lot of this,
But I'll go to DK Metcalf.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Tak the wizard out of my mind.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean I've heavily invested in him in in my
leagues this year the positive side. You know, I've got
a couple of guys that are consistently on my rosters,
but Dk Metcalf a guy on the wrong side. Uh,
certainly time and again, and then Treylon Burks I expected
more from now he's miss time due to injury and
(10:02):
maybe my thought of what the arrival of DeAndre Hopkins
and working opposite him would be. But when he's been
on the field, he's been nothing. And while it wasn't
a heavy investment, I made it on a couple of rosters,
thinking a number two option would be a viable WR
(10:22):
three or WR four depending on the league setup.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
And right now it's.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
The is is it just cut bait altogether? Because Most
of the leagues I'm in are the heavy roster, right,
so there's twenty guys on these rosters.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So I was like, all right, is there.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Anything better sitting on the waiver wire that would allow
me to just cut him?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So I don't have to look at the name anymore.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Do any of you guys have Kelvin Ridley on any teams?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
I have him on two?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Okay? Has he been annoying? Because oh he's there?
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Yeah, he's there too. You know that Christian Kirk's the one.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of the misconception, I think, right,
I mean with yeah, Ridley had the week one and Kirk,
I believe, didn't do anything in week one, and it's
completely changed. And I mean, you know, even saw against
Pittsburgh again Evan Ingram, and you know, Zay Jones hasn't
(11:21):
been available, but you thought everybody was going to go
down a spot because Calvin Ridley came in. And then
after week one you're like, oh, yeah, look at how
that's going. And that hasn't gone that. But I still
hear people talking about Calvin Ridley being the main guy,
and I'm like, I don't know that's the case. You know,
so he would be another disappointment not on any of
(11:41):
my teams, but a name that at least pops up
for I'd have to be frustrated because I would have
expected more from him.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I will give one more here, and I wanted to
hold off because we've we've discussed him at length many
times through the weeks. Here it's been Darren Waller. I've
i've I came into the season a very strong believer
in uh, in Waller being the focal point of the
Giants passing offense. And this is, you know, a Giants
(12:10):
passing offense and that had what negative.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Nine passing teams.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
So it's been that sort of journey with Waller where
for the first few games of the season he was
he was involved for one of them, but then he
had some really lackluster games in those first couple and
you were just kind of hoping things would turn around.
Against the Dolphins, he went eight for eighty six and
you're like, all right, this this this should work. Takes
(12:40):
a bit of a step back against the Bills, then
as a big game against against Washington, and then of
course the the injury game UH this last week. So
with Waller, unfortunately it is such an up and down ride.
We've talked about it on this podcast before, where there
are a handful of tight ends that have passed them
up and I still I just keep throwing him out
there on a weekend week out basis just hoping that
(13:02):
he has one of those good games. But the problem
is is that he could very easily give you nothing
and at tight end, where this year there's been more
better tight ends than normal. It's it's been rather frustrating.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
A right one last wide receiver victim of Circumla, a
team we've talked about a lot as well, Amari Cooper
in Cleveland where he would have drafted him. The expectation
that Deshaun Watson, while I never thought he'd get back
to top five or whatever, you know, expectations folks would
have had going out of his time in Houston, which
(13:36):
seems like a lifetime ago, that you'd have some semblance,
consistent play while he's not on the field.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
And then we look at you know, PJ. Walker and company.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You've only got three games, and one of them happened
this week in the loss to Seattle, where he's had
you know, more than four receptions.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
It's only happened three times.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Go back to Week two against Pittsburgh, Week three against
Tennessee and then this game against Seattle otherwise and to
one hundred yard games, like you're just not getting consistency
and if you went in early on him, it's the
all right, I'm just gonna I have to play him
because the targets are gonna still come, but will they
(14:19):
actually yield anything? Most weeks the answer is.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No, Tony Pollard, so so.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, even this week with a big blowout win.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, was no touchdowns since week one? Maybe a little
Calvin Ridley esque because you thought that big things were
coming and just haven't been. Not only have the yardage
not been there, but not getting in the end zone either.
So he has been frustrating. He is on one of
my teams. There it is are frustrating players so far
(14:52):
in the fantasy football season. Would we come back, Mike Carmen,
Ryan bersching around myself will make this a positive experience? Yeah,
guys that we've loved having on our team so far.
That's next here on. I want your flex all right.
Time to put a smile on our face. Hit Mike
up at Swollen Dome. Fine, Ryan, Bershinger at Ryan Berschinger
and hit me up at Dan Byer on Fox. Guys,
you've loved having on your fantasy football team this season,
(15:15):
and I'm just gonna start. I've got Josh Allen in
a couple of leagues, and I don't care about the
problems that they have. And there you know, even when
like Josh Allen doesn't have like a Josh Allen sort
of night, there are there are weeks when he just
absolutely carries your football team. And I've got him in
a couple of leagues. Touchdown passes in every game so
far this season, touchdown runs in all but three of
(15:39):
them so far. It's been a lot of fun to
have Josh Allen on my fantasy Oh.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
No question. I'm sitting on all but one league. I
had Lamar.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Jackson as my starter. Just decided that was going to
be my guy. Not so much for the what everybody
anticipated with Todd Mukan and like suddenly there was some
guru that was going to fix everything. No, they went
and invested. You know, the had the slap fight between
the GM and the wide receivers, hoping for a year
(16:09):
of hell from Mark Andrews, but more just believing in
what Lamar Jackson is as a player, both on the
field and in the fantasy realm, that he would still
deliver in big, big ways. And right now he's QB four.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah, Josh Allen was the first one that came to
my mind as well. That has been a lot of fun, thankfully.
How about Raheem Moster just because of the draft value
that we got him at Honestly, like I didn't draft
him in the league that I have him in. I
picked him up off waivers after.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
That makes it even more fun.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Yeah, no, actually it is wonderful.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I mean you've had obviously two monster games of course,
the the Bronco game with three four touchdowns total, and
then you had against the Panthers seventeen for one fifteen
and two on the ground, also a receiving touchdown in
that game. The only concern is that it looks like
that production might you know, start to start to regress
(17:08):
a bit. But I will say it has been rather
fun having him. He's definitely been a huge part of
carrying this team because, like I said, yeah, you kind
of picked him up off the scrap heap, so he
was he was like my third or fourth running back
on this team and made up for the fact that
Miles Sanders was just a completely nothing. So thank you Raheem.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Picking up of DeAndre Swift in the Guillotine League that
we are all in for one dollar after week one
where we just had the three rushing yards. But he
has been a pleasant surprise. Hasn't been the dominating workload
guy that I thought huge plays that you had in
Detroit at times, but he's actually been really really good
(17:49):
to get just with the value that you likely got
him at. A lot of people gave up on him
after week one, so that has at least been refreshing
to have DeAndre Swift in the backfield and not seeing
him buried behind someone else or taking up you know,
o Well Kenneth Gainwell. I was gonna say you'd lose
goal line touches, but that would mean Kenneth Gainwell would
(18:10):
have to get into the end zone and also stop
dming people at halftime. But DeAndre Swift, it would be
a nominee consistent, not out of this world guys, not
like man Deandres Swift is added again, but it's just
been really good for the value that I ended up
getting him at No.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
No question about it. Wide receiver, we've talked about a bunch.
Adam Thielen, who coming in is like player twenty in
PPR leagues for the consistency after that Week one three
point two point performance, he's been as consistent as almost
(18:52):
anybody at the position, which is a nice fine because
he would have either have been a late round draft
pick in most leagues, picked him up on waivers and
have had him for a couple of weeks in one league,
and certainly for guillotine purposes, he was a very nice
pickup as the season wore on and rewarding me and
(19:13):
keeping me above the fray.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Same Adam Thelen was another one of mine as well
in same situation. I picked him up off of waivers
and it's been a ton of fun. I also realized
that Thelan and Mostert were both dropped by the same
person in this league, so oh wow. And that's our
editor's lead. So, Ricky Herrera, I'm very sorry for what
happened to you, but thank you very much for just
(19:39):
tossing these guys out there for me. Another one, and
I feel like he's almost been under the radar, even
though he's running back too and that's Travis Etn. He's
arguably Fantasy MVP. He's been incredible. The numbers that he's
been putting up on on a weekly basis is a
full PPR league over the last four weeks, thirty six
(20:01):
point four, twenty three point three, twenty two point seven,
twenty five point nine. It has been consistently excellent numbers
and production from Travis Etn. So that that has been
a fantastic especially was he was my second round pick,
so to have him give first round value as the
second round pick has been tremendous.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Not world beater, But I didn't know how things were
going to go in Tampa. Mike Evans continuing to score
touchdowns again, it's not out of this world stuff, but
I wondered if there was going to be a fall,
like a step back, because you go from Tom Brady
to Baker Mayfield. You don't know if maybe Baker's going
(20:43):
to have a rapport with Chris Godwin or someone else. Sure,
and you know Evans is scoring, you know, five touchdowns
on the season. It's been very positive. Not huge, huge
yardage games outside of the Bears game, but enough for
you like, all right, I'm just gonna put Mike Evans in,
he's gonna get his stuff. He's going to do his thing,
(21:05):
even if there's a weird touchdown off of a helmet
and goes into his lap. Hey, whatever the case may be.
But having Mike Evans and him providing the production that
he probably would have gotten with Tom Brady as his
quarterback still still is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
No, And I'll obviously the one thing that Tampa you know,
between all the numbers, they've been really good at turnover differential.
They're number one in the league. Wow, right, and Baker
taking care of the football. You may not always make
the best throw. You might might be down on, you know,
points per game in terms of what Tampa is putting up. Yeah, overall,
(21:40):
but they're doing a good job and taking the ball
away and not giving it back. So that's going to
yield better opportunities. And you know, I complained about Rashad
White before in theory that bodes well long term and
it certainly as for Evans productivity to date. The guy
we'd be remissing in this kind of scenario not talking
(22:03):
about was a guy like Zach Moss, who, while Jonathan
Taylor was out, helped carry things but even with Taylor
back still giving you good returns, you know when it
would look like you would just be relegated to another
guy once again, and certainly coming out of the draft process,
(22:27):
right you had Evan Hall, you had a lot of
question he gets hurt kid from Northwestern se obligatory Northwestern.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Comment for the weeks.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
But no, Hall was a guy that got drafted but
in a lot of fantasy leagues based on what the
pecking order looked to be while Taylor was out, and
you know, based on preseason, which again is another hey,
preseason football will do you in.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
But you know, you look.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
At what what Moss was in Buffalo and didn't hit
yet week after week, you know you're getting double digits
even with Taylor back in.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
I will mention we haven't mentioned any of the one
of two guys, and it's probably because none of us have.
Well I know that Dan has one of them, but
so I'll go with the other one. I definitely wish
I had Christian McCaffrey. I'd be very happy if I
had Christian McCaffrey. I don't have Christian McCaffrey anywhere, but
(23:27):
of course he scores in every game. He even yeah,
even when he's even when he's hurt, Apparently it really
doesn't matter. I thought i'd be excited to have Elijah
Mitchell once Christian McCaffrey is a bleak started barking, and
since then, I believe he's combined for negative points in
those two games. So apparently Christian McCaffrey has reached his
(23:51):
iron man season. And good for you and good for
everyone who took him first. Overall, good job.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
You know, I wasn't going to go top of the
list because I think like I think, like you know,
it's nice to have Tyreek Hill. It's nice to have
a J. Brown. I mean, you know, you talk about
the streak too. I guess if I don't have a J. Brown.
I did get Tyreek Hill in our Guillotine League that
we've talked about in the past, but I don't have
him in any other leagues, and that is a shame.
(24:21):
Ceedee Lamb I do have. So that's probably my biggest name,
and so coming off of the week that he had,
especially because there has been a lot of chatter about
Ceedee Lamb. Yeah, so I've had at the expense of
Tony Pollard that we talked about last segment at least
seeing Ceedee Lamb do his thing. But that's that's expected.
When the Cowboys are home playing against the team that
(24:41):
they are better than that kicks off at one o'clock
Eastern time, it's like perfect opportunity for Ceede Lamb to
show his stuff, and coming off that Rams game, he did.
So it's fun when Ceedee Lamb scores and does his stuff.
Even though there's been some question so big name that way,
I'd put Lamb probably probably even more than Tyri Kill
(25:03):
just because, uh, I mean, tyry Kill is just such
a freaking machine. It's crazy, all right, anybody else, anybody else,
anyone else is missing? Yeah, you guys don't want to
get to my.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Words.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I go back to more airing at the grievances stump.
But certainly you know the positivity, you know, through eight weeks,
it's just funny right as we flip and we did
a little bit in the prior episode about you know,
just the flux of the quarterback position because we're already
starting to creep towards those numbers that we had last
(25:40):
year in terms of numbers of quarterbacks starting games and
so everything at the pinball effect and the you know,
lamentation that we had a week the.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
More therean no buys.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah that was fun.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Which really made no sense in the middle of the season.
But again, scheduling being what it is, the mess that
it is that you know, now we move back into
week nine and try to come on the downside of
things and hopefully your roster is not obliterated by a
bunch of red red marks next to your players' names.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I want to end on a positive note, so I'm
not going to talk about the late window of games
that we have coming up in week nine, So I
just want to end on a positive note. I'm not
gonna say anything about the Colt set Panthers, Giants at
Raiders and Cowboys and Eagles, So I'm not gonna say
anything about that late window scheduling wise that we've got
(26:40):
in week nine because I want to end on a
positive note, guys, and that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Well, at least you have that one game to pay
attention to during your window on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Oh my goodness. At le positive Oh man, hey, you
know we can watch Zach Moss, which I agree. You know,
there's there's Adam Thla in for those Panther fans out there.
But if you see Miles Sanders get the ball, close
your eyes all right there, It is a little different
twist on the episode. Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome,
(27:10):
get Bursch at Ryan Bursching, or you can find me
at dan Byer on Fox. All right, we'll look ahead
to week nine and all of everything that it has
to offer and so much more next time right here,
and I want your flax. Talk to you then,
Ladies, you want experience during your football season, well, buckle up,
sweet cheeks. We've got all the experience in the world.
This is I Want Your Flex with Dan Byer and
Mike Harmon. Mike and Dan break down everything you need
to set your lineups, from position rankings to starts and sits.
(00:24):
The guys help you make those hard decisions. And now
let's get your flex on. Here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Here. It is another episode of I Want Your Flex.
We're gonna have some fun with this one. We'll be
pulling our hair out for half of the episode, and
then we will be thanking our lucky starts for the
other half. Because Mike Harmon, Ryan Berschinger and myself are
gonna be talking about the players that we have loved
to love and love to hate so far this season,
(00:54):
most frustrating players that we've had on our teams, and
the players that we've thoroughly enjoyed having on our fantasy teams.
I know there could be a lot of candidates for
these nominees, Mike, but this is gonna be fun because
I think there's gonna be some interesting names that may
not be at the top of rankings, but for some
reason or another, maybe have just shined or didn't shine
(01:18):
as much on your fantasy team this year.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, I think what's been curious, like the ebb and
flow and trying to smooth things out, Like we talk
about it all the time from a rankings perspective, you know,
before the season is like, all right, just to the aggregate,
is my guy gonna end up top ten? But then
once we get into in season roster management, the roller
(01:41):
coaster ride is maddening, where you know, the hey, you
got your three points, Hey you got thirty. That's gonna
look great when it evens out at the end of
the year and it's like he was tight end four,
Like no, but week to week I wanted to, you know,
punch myself in the face for having to make the choice.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Uh, verse, you got some names that just immediately came
to the top of your head.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I think with the guys that I've struggled with the most,
one would be Miles Sanders.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
And I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We're diving right now. I love it.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, let's go after it because uh And I
think that this is also just a good frustration with
the running back position as a whole. One of my
teams is just completely decimated at running back, where I've
had to start Kenneth Gainwell in two straight weeks because
I have no other option losing Kyen Williams to injury,
(02:34):
which Kyen Williams would make my love list, he unfortunately
can't because of the injury, but I have loved having him.
But yeah, just the frustrations with running back as a whole,
and I think Miles Sanders does really embody that rather nicely.
Where the team invested in him, he was going into
a situation where it seemed like he was going to
be the lead guy in an offense that was going
(02:54):
to have to depend on their veterans, which they have
with with Adam Thielen, and he when he's been healthy,
he's just really hasn't gotten it going very much at all,
and to the point where now it looks like he's
maybe just been completely passed up. So I think the frustration,
especially with Sanders, was for the last couple of weeks,
(03:16):
feeling like he's a guy that I can't start, but
I also can't really cut him because he doesn't seem
like a guy who is cutable in the climate of
the way running backs are, and the fact that you
look at the guy and you think he should be
at least somewhat close to what he was last season.
The team definitely invested in him as if they were
(03:37):
going to use him that way, and they just simply
haven't been able to because he hasn't been that good
and has also been hurt.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He is a guy that I had as a holdover
for a few years when he was with the Eagles,
and so I could not pick the right week to
play him because right when I would get fed up
with him, I'd bench him, and then he'd have like
two seventy yard runs, you know, and you know, like,
man is going on here. Here's my advice for Miles Sanders.
(04:05):
Do cut him, and then whoever picks him up just
relish in their misery, because it truly is like it.
It is such an absolute headache. I don't have the
same sort of feelings. It's not the similar situation of
Miles Sanders, because this guy's actually been on this team
for a while and he actually had one good week,
(04:25):
unfortunately it was Week one. But having Aaron Jones on
my roster has been nothing but a pure headache because
not only has the injury situation been foggy at different
times throughout the year. Now that he's back on the field,
they're doing nothing, absolutely nothing. I thought he was going
to provide them a shot in the arm through the
(04:47):
bye week, and then the two games that he's had
since then have been nothing burgers. And so like, having
Aaron Jones on my team has been an absolute headache
this season.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Because I've been on the other side of that. I've
got the the aj DI and so thinking that the well,
I mean, look just philosophically, yeah, become the run game
to stabilize things, to make things easier on Jordan Love
seem like elemental football one oh one. And then they've
been able to do nothing and the ground game with
either of them, and Dylan had several games to himself
(05:19):
and still grossly underperformed two other running backs from my world.
They got a couple of wide receivers to put on
the airing of grievances as well. Derrick Henry one game
over twenty Fantasy points this year, and it took a
passing touchdown when he did that jump pass to do
it right. Yeah, and then Rashad White down there in
(05:41):
Tampa now a lot of questions of how good the
Tampa squad would be, and they've had their moments, and
certainly Evans and Godwin remained the focal points. But thinking,
all right, White's a guy that if this is going
to work, that he'd have ample workload and be able
to put up some points. Four games this year with
(06:04):
fewer than eleven Fantasy points. Now the last two weeks
of total of thirteen receptions have had made him at
least a viable RB two and hopefully that activity in
the passing game continues. But you know, overall, just grossly disappointing.
To add to the running back woes.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I'm also close to wanting to cut Damian Pierce. Yeah,
you know, I know that we touched a little bit
on him and Devin Singletary in a previous episode, but
I also look at the value of Pierce and coming
down the stretch of who they play in the Fantasy playoffs,
like Tennessee's secondary you can get something on them, but
they are pretty good against the run. Cleveland's pretty good
(06:47):
as well. That's who they play in weeks fifteen, sixteen,
and seventeen, and prior to that they have the Jets
in Week fourteen. So if you don't do anything at
Damian Pierce in a stretch where you've got Arizona Jacksonville
a debt for coming up after those games against the
Buccaneers and Bengals, there's no value, Like it's just you're
(07:08):
hoping that maybe he shows up in four games and
he's been so much of a headache right now and
now it seems like there's a time share. Yeah, I'm
kind of done with Damian Pierce in Houston.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Looking at receiver. I fortunately do not have any shares
of him, but I'd imagine the frustration is very real
for managers out there. And that's that's with Chris o'lave
because you know the talent, you know the ability and
the offense that he's and should cater to his ability.
And it's the fact that like when you look at
(07:41):
his target totals, you would think it's it's so hard
because obviously targets are it can be anything. It could
be thrown ten yards over the receiver's head and still
we considered a target. But we as fantasy players use
targets so heavily because it gives an indication of at
least how much they could be involved in the offense.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
You're just thinking about that picture, the shot of the
ball hitting him in the helmet. That's the one that's
just been vexing you for the last twenty four plus hours.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Look at a couple of these games. He had two
weeks ago, fifteen targets and that translated to seven catches
for fifty seven yards. And when you have that level
of a target share and to have it be at
that low, you feel very disappointed with that. Of course,
his game against the Bucks one catch for four yards
on six targets, Like it's unfortunately with you've seen now,
(08:35):
especially with Kamara joining the rejoining that offense, Derek Carr
is just checking it down like crazy and he's turned
Alvin Kamara into a PPR monster again. So it's not
really something that's catering as well to a Lave's talents
as people thought it was going to. So, yeah, it
must be very frustrating to see what happens with the
(08:57):
Lave on a weekly basis, knowing what could be there.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I think the other part to that is you're seeing
Rashid Shahed and his productivity right on deep balls, huge
huge plays right, just not not a huge catch count,
but impactful and they're watching, go, well, why can't he
hook up with a lobby like that? And certainly that
(09:22):
that frustration is there and we've seen it aired out
on the field.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
We we could talk about DeVante Adams. That one's just
the low hanging fruit, uh to a lot of this,
But I'll go to DK Metcalf.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Tak the wizard out of my mind.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean I've heavily invested in him in in my
leagues this year the positive side. You know, I've got
a couple of guys that are consistently on my rosters,
but Dk Metcalf a guy on the wrong side. Uh,
certainly time and again, and then Treylon Burks I expected
more from now he's miss time due to injury and
(10:02):
maybe my thought of what the arrival of DeAndre Hopkins
and working opposite him would be. But when he's been
on the field, he's been nothing. And while it wasn't
a heavy investment, I made it on a couple of rosters,
thinking a number two option would be a viable WR
(10:22):
three or WR four depending on the league setup.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
And right now it's.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
The is is it just cut bait altogether? Because Most
of the leagues I'm in are the heavy roster, right,
so there's twenty guys on these rosters.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
So I was like, all right, is there.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Anything better sitting on the waiver wire that would allow
me to just cut him?
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So I don't have to look at the name anymore.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Do any of you guys have Kelvin Ridley on any teams?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
I have him on two?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Okay? Has he been annoying? Because oh he's there?
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Yeah, he's there too. You know that Christian Kirk's the one.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of the misconception, I think, right,
I mean with yeah, Ridley had the week one and Kirk,
I believe, didn't do anything in week one, and it's
completely changed. And I mean, you know, even saw against
Pittsburgh again Evan Ingram, and you know, Zay Jones hasn't
(11:21):
been available, but you thought everybody was going to go
down a spot because Calvin Ridley came in. And then
after week one you're like, oh, yeah, look at how
that's going. And that hasn't gone that. But I still
hear people talking about Calvin Ridley being the main guy,
and I'm like, I don't know that's the case. You know,
so he would be another disappointment not on any of
(11:41):
my teams, but a name that at least pops up
for I'd have to be frustrated because I would have
expected more from him.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I will give one more here, and I wanted to
hold off because we've we've discussed him at length many
times through the weeks. Here it's been Darren Waller. I've
i've I came into the season a very strong believer
in uh, in Waller being the focal point of the
Giants passing offense. And this is, you know, a Giants
(12:10):
passing offense and that had what negative.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Nine passing teams.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
So it's been that sort of journey with Waller where
for the first few games of the season he was
he was involved for one of them, but then he
had some really lackluster games in those first couple and
you were just kind of hoping things would turn around.
Against the Dolphins, he went eight for eighty six and
you're like, all right, this this this should work. Takes
(12:40):
a bit of a step back against the Bills, then
as a big game against against Washington, and then of
course the the injury game UH this last week. So
with Waller, unfortunately it is such an up and down ride.
We've talked about it on this podcast before, where there
are a handful of tight ends that have passed them
up and I still I just keep throwing him out
there on a weekend week out basis just hoping that
(13:02):
he has one of those good games. But the problem
is is that he could very easily give you nothing
and at tight end, where this year there's been more
better tight ends than normal. It's it's been rather frustrating.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
A right one last wide receiver victim of Circumla, a
team we've talked about a lot as well, Amari Cooper
in Cleveland where he would have drafted him. The expectation
that Deshaun Watson, while I never thought he'd get back
to top five or whatever, you know, expectations folks would
have had going out of his time in Houston, which
(13:36):
seems like a lifetime ago, that you'd have some semblance,
consistent play while he's not on the field.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
And then we look at you know, PJ. Walker and company.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You've only got three games, and one of them happened
this week in the loss to Seattle, where he's had
you know, more than four receptions.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
It's only happened three times.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Go back to Week two against Pittsburgh, Week three against
Tennessee and then this game against Seattle otherwise and to
one hundred yard games, like you're just not getting consistency
and if you went in early on him, it's the
all right, I'm just gonna I have to play him
because the targets are gonna still come, but will they
(14:19):
actually yield anything? Most weeks the answer is.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
No, Tony Pollard, so so.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, even this week with a big blowout win.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, was no touchdowns since week one? Maybe a little
Calvin Ridley esque because you thought that big things were
coming and just haven't been. Not only have the yardage
not been there, but not getting in the end zone either.
So he has been frustrating. He is on one of
my teams. There it is are frustrating players so far
(14:52):
in the fantasy football season. Would we come back, Mike Carmen,
Ryan bersching around myself will make this a positive experience? Yeah,
guys that we've loved having on our team so far.
That's next here on. I want your flex all right.
Time to put a smile on our face. Hit Mike
up at Swollen Dome. Fine, Ryan, Bershinger at Ryan Berschinger
and hit me up at Dan Byer on Fox. Guys,
you've loved having on your fantasy football team this season,
(15:15):
and I'm just gonna start. I've got Josh Allen in
a couple of leagues, and I don't care about the
problems that they have. And there you know, even when
like Josh Allen doesn't have like a Josh Allen sort
of night, there are there are weeks when he just
absolutely carries your football team. And I've got him in
a couple of leagues. Touchdown passes in every game so
far this season, touchdown runs in all but three of
(15:39):
them so far. It's been a lot of fun to
have Josh Allen on my fantasy Oh.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
No question. I'm sitting on all but one league. I
had Lamar.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Jackson as my starter. Just decided that was going to
be my guy. Not so much for the what everybody
anticipated with Todd Mukan and like suddenly there was some
guru that was going to fix everything. No, they went
and invested. You know, the had the slap fight between
the GM and the wide receivers, hoping for a year
(16:09):
of hell from Mark Andrews, but more just believing in
what Lamar Jackson is as a player, both on the
field and in the fantasy realm, that he would still
deliver in big, big ways. And right now he's QB four.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah, Josh Allen was the first one that came to
my mind as well. That has been a lot of fun, thankfully.
How about Raheem Moster just because of the draft value
that we got him at Honestly, like I didn't draft
him in the league that I have him in. I
picked him up off waivers after.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
That makes it even more fun.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Yeah, no, actually it is wonderful.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I mean you've had obviously two monster games of course,
the the Bronco game with three four touchdowns total, and
then you had against the Panthers seventeen for one fifteen
and two on the ground, also a receiving touchdown in
that game. The only concern is that it looks like
that production might you know, start to start to regress
(17:08):
a bit. But I will say it has been rather
fun having him. He's definitely been a huge part of
carrying this team because, like I said, yeah, you kind
of picked him up off the scrap heap, so he
was he was like my third or fourth running back
on this team and made up for the fact that
Miles Sanders was just a completely nothing. So thank you Raheem.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Picking up of DeAndre Swift in the Guillotine League that
we are all in for one dollar after week one
where we just had the three rushing yards. But he
has been a pleasant surprise. Hasn't been the dominating workload
guy that I thought huge plays that you had in
Detroit at times, but he's actually been really really good
(17:49):
to get just with the value that you likely got
him at. A lot of people gave up on him
after week one, so that has at least been refreshing
to have DeAndre Swift in the backfield and not seeing
him buried behind someone else or taking up you know,
o Well Kenneth Gainwell. I was gonna say you'd lose
goal line touches, but that would mean Kenneth Gainwell would
(18:10):
have to get into the end zone and also stop
dming people at halftime. But DeAndre Swift, it would be
a nominee consistent, not out of this world guys, not
like man Deandres Swift is added again, but it's just
been really good for the value that I ended up
getting him at No.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
No question about it. Wide receiver, we've talked about a bunch.
Adam Thielen, who coming in is like player twenty in
PPR leagues for the consistency after that Week one three
point two point performance, he's been as consistent as almost
(18:52):
anybody at the position, which is a nice fine because
he would have either have been a late round draft
pick in most leagues, picked him up on waivers and
have had him for a couple of weeks in one league,
and certainly for guillotine purposes, he was a very nice
pickup as the season wore on and rewarding me and
(19:13):
keeping me above the fray.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Same Adam Thelen was another one of mine as well
in same situation. I picked him up off of waivers
and it's been a ton of fun. I also realized
that Thelan and Mostert were both dropped by the same
person in this league, so oh wow. And that's our
editor's lead. So, Ricky Herrera, I'm very sorry for what
happened to you, but thank you very much for just
(19:39):
tossing these guys out there for me. Another one, and
I feel like he's almost been under the radar, even
though he's running back too and that's Travis Etn. He's
arguably Fantasy MVP. He's been incredible. The numbers that he's
been putting up on on a weekly basis is a
full PPR league over the last four weeks, thirty six
(20:01):
point four, twenty three point three, twenty two point seven,
twenty five point nine. It has been consistently excellent numbers
and production from Travis Etn. So that that has been
a fantastic especially was he was my second round pick,
so to have him give first round value as the
second round pick has been tremendous.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Not world beater, But I didn't know how things were
going to go in Tampa. Mike Evans continuing to score
touchdowns again, it's not out of this world stuff, but
I wondered if there was going to be a fall,
like a step back, because you go from Tom Brady
to Baker Mayfield. You don't know if maybe Baker's going
(20:43):
to have a rapport with Chris Godwin or someone else. Sure,
and you know Evans is scoring, you know, five touchdowns
on the season. It's been very positive. Not huge, huge
yardage games outside of the Bears game, but enough for
you like, all right, I'm just gonna put Mike Evans in,
he's gonna get his stuff. He's going to do his thing,
(21:05):
even if there's a weird touchdown off of a helmet
and goes into his lap. Hey, whatever the case may be.
But having Mike Evans and him providing the production that
he probably would have gotten with Tom Brady as his
quarterback still still is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
No, And I'll obviously the one thing that Tampa you know,
between all the numbers, they've been really good at turnover differential.
They're number one in the league. Wow, right, and Baker
taking care of the football. You may not always make
the best throw. You might might be down on, you know,
points per game in terms of what Tampa is putting up. Yeah, overall,
(21:40):
but they're doing a good job and taking the ball
away and not giving it back. So that's going to
yield better opportunities. And you know, I complained about Rashad
White before in theory that bodes well long term and
it certainly as for Evans productivity to date. The guy
we'd be remissing in this kind of scenario not talking
(22:03):
about was a guy like Zach Moss, who, while Jonathan
Taylor was out, helped carry things but even with Taylor
back still giving you good returns, you know when it
would look like you would just be relegated to another
guy once again, and certainly coming out of the draft process,
(22:27):
right you had Evan Hall, you had a lot of
question he gets hurt kid from Northwestern se obligatory Northwestern.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Comment for the weeks.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
But no, Hall was a guy that got drafted but
in a lot of fantasy leagues based on what the
pecking order looked to be while Taylor was out, and
you know, based on preseason, which again is another hey,
preseason football will do you in.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
But you know, you look.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
At what what Moss was in Buffalo and didn't hit
yet week after week, you know you're getting double digits
even with Taylor back in.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
I will mention we haven't mentioned any of the one
of two guys, and it's probably because none of us have.
Well I know that Dan has one of them, but
so I'll go with the other one. I definitely wish
I had Christian McCaffrey. I'd be very happy if I
had Christian McCaffrey. I don't have Christian McCaffrey anywhere, but
(23:27):
of course he scores in every game. He even yeah,
even when he's even when he's hurt, Apparently it really
doesn't matter. I thought i'd be excited to have Elijah
Mitchell once Christian McCaffrey is a bleak started barking, and
since then, I believe he's combined for negative points in
those two games. So apparently Christian McCaffrey has reached his
(23:51):
iron man season. And good for you and good for
everyone who took him first. Overall, good job.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
You know, I wasn't going to go top of the
list because I think like I think, like you know,
it's nice to have Tyreek Hill. It's nice to have
a J. Brown. I mean, you know, you talk about
the streak too. I guess if I don't have a J. Brown.
I did get Tyreek Hill in our Guillotine League that
we've talked about in the past, but I don't have
him in any other leagues, and that is a shame.
(24:21):
Ceedee Lamb I do have. So that's probably my biggest name,
and so coming off of the week that he had,
especially because there has been a lot of chatter about
Ceedee Lamb. Yeah, so I've had at the expense of
Tony Pollard that we talked about last segment at least
seeing Ceedee Lamb do his thing. But that's that's expected.
When the Cowboys are home playing against the team that
(24:41):
they are better than that kicks off at one o'clock
Eastern time, it's like perfect opportunity for Ceede Lamb to
show his stuff, and coming off that Rams game, he did.
So it's fun when Ceedee Lamb scores and does his stuff.
Even though there's been some question so big name that way,
I'd put Lamb probably probably even more than Tyri Kill
(25:03):
just because, uh, I mean, tyry Kill is just such
a freaking machine. It's crazy, all right, anybody else, anybody else,
anyone else is missing? Yeah, you guys don't want to
get to my.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Words.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I go back to more airing at the grievances stump.
But certainly you know the positivity, you know, through eight weeks,
it's just funny right as we flip and we did
a little bit in the prior episode about you know,
just the flux of the quarterback position because we're already
starting to creep towards those numbers that we had last
(25:40):
year in terms of numbers of quarterbacks starting games and
so everything at the pinball effect and the you know,
lamentation that we had a week the.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
More therean no buys.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah that was fun.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Which really made no sense in the middle of the season.
But again, scheduling being what it is, the mess that
it is that you know, now we move back into
week nine and try to come on the downside of
things and hopefully your roster is not obliterated by a
bunch of red red marks next to your players' names.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I want to end on a positive note, so I'm
not going to talk about the late window of games
that we have coming up in week nine, So I
just want to end on a positive note. I'm not
gonna say anything about the Colt set Panthers, Giants at
Raiders and Cowboys and Eagles, So I'm not gonna say
anything about that late window scheduling wise that we've got
(26:40):
in week nine because I want to end on a
positive note, guys, and that's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Well, at least you have that one game to pay
attention to during your window on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Oh my goodness. At le positive Oh man, hey, you
know we can watch Zach Moss, which I agree. You know,
there's there's Adam Thla in for those Panther fans out there.
But if you see Miles Sanders get the ball, close
your eyes all right there, It is a little different
twist on the episode. Hit Mike up at Swollen Dome,
(27:10):
get Bursch at Ryan Bursching, or you can find me
at dan Byer on Fox. All right, we'll look ahead
to week nine and all of everything that it has
to offer and so much more next time right here,
and I want your flax. Talk to you then,
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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