October 6, 2025 • 18 mins
Join Joe Pisapia and Jake Ciely for their top six fantasy football waiver wire pickups ahead of NFL Week 6!
Timestamps: (May be off due to ads)
Intro - 0:00:00
Michael Carter - 0:00:26
Isaiah Bond - 0:02:38
Theo Johnson and Mason Taylor - 0:05:57
Tory Horton - 0:09:25
FantasyPros Waiver Central - 0:12:02
Xavier Hutchinson - 0:12:47
LAC RBs - 0:14:16
Outro - 0:17:55
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy
Football Podcast. This is me Joey p Joep's a Pia
and it's time to look ahead to the waiver wire
short form style with my good friend Jake Seally from
the Athletic And of course it was a wild week
for injury news that we're just coming off of for
all the running backs. So many running backs already picked
up off the waiver wire, but if you're looking in
(00:22):
some leagues, this guy still might be out there. It's
Michael Carter. He's thirty nine percent rostered in Yahoo. He
is over fifty percent rostered already on Sleeper because they
have a little bit more activity in those leagues, a
little bit deeper league. So again we understand Michael Carter
is a guy that you might not be available in
your league, but I think we got to talk about
him as the number one guy coming off this week.
(00:44):
Here eighteen carries, fifty one yards, one touchdown. He also
had five targets caught all five for twenty two. So
obviously no Benson, no Connor de Marcado doesn't quite recognize
me with the goal line is, but Michael Carter does
and let's talk about him to start the show today. Jake.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, So I think that's the important part is it's
not just the waivers, because it's most leagues in sleeper
as you said, probably already have him rostered by in
ten team leagues or but the bigger question also being
like what are we looking at going forward here? And
the one thing that the Cardinals told us clearly was, hey, yeah,
the guy off the practice squad is taking the lead job.
Like we heard all week, it might be a one
(01:22):
to two punch, it might be fifty to fifty with
Day Mercado.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
In the passing downs, Day.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Mccatto not only kept his role, it was that minimized role.
It was occasional third downs, it was some two minute drills.
And then, of course, as you mentioned, he just made
the problem even worse in the fact that throwing the
ball down at the goal line, which we're still doing
every single year for the entire history of the NFL,
and these still idiots keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It's not even a celebration, it's not even I don't
get it.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
But anyway, they brought in Bam night before they brought
in Day Mercado, which tells you all you need to know.
And that's why we're talking about Michael Carter because looking
at Michael Carter, yeah, we could see day Mercado go
the other way. They do fit Green Bay in two weeks,
and maybe that's a game where you do see more
of day Mercado in the mix if he hasn't been
benched because of that stupid, idiotic fumble. But at the
(02:08):
same time, even that case, sixty forty still to Michael Carter.
And that's the point here. If you didn't get him,
or if you did get him, like sell High, you're
probably looking at you would have to think top twenty because.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
He's clearly the lead. It's still gonna be Michael Carter.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's still not going to be amazing production every single week,
but as an RB two against the Colts this week, yeah,
he's going to be in play against Green Bay. It
might be a little bit more dicey, but we're still
talking about buys and then you get the Cowboys coming
out of thereby. So that's why we're talking Michael Carter.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right. Last week we talked a little bit about
Isaiah Bond, two of the Cleveland Browns, who has a
lot of talent, a lot of speed, now a new
quarterback with Dylan Gabriel. So Gabriel made his first start yesterday.
There were some good and some bad in it, and
obviously you know, some issues there, but this does seem
to be a player still that I think we're looking
at and saying projectability long term. You see Judkins, you
see Isaiah Bond. You see this team getting a little
(02:59):
bit more explode. And to a certain degree too, you
have Dylan Gabriel can move around the pocket, get loose,
make things happen, extend plays a little bit. So all
of that I think helps the Isaiah Bond argument a
little bit as you're looking forward, and I agree, I
look at somebody I picked up in all my leagues
last week because of what I saw, Cedri tilm was
gonna be on the show for a little bit still.
(03:19):
But even when Tilman comes back, I mean, you could
see a Jerry Judy moved, you know, at a trade deadline.
I could see that happening. But what are your thoughts
here on Isaiah Bond going forward of the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So not only was he out there, a ton I
was out there only behind Isaiah Bond and David and
Joku and routes, but he only had the second Only
he had the second most, I said, only David and
ju who had more targets than him.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Of course, maybe love he was behind Jerry Judy just
for clarity, right, because behind Isaiah Bond. No, Isaiah Bond
can't be behind Isaiah Bond.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
He can behind I said, And yeah, it is very said.
I mean he might have been. If he was behind himself,
some of those.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Targets might have been catchable. So well, it would have
been nice. It would have been nice. A little bit
more regets would be nice.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Routes were Judy and a Joku ahead of Bond, and
then only in Joku was ahead of Bond in targets.
There you go like, I'm I tripped up over there.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So somehow we've cleared for.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
The YouTube comments come for you. I'm gonna come for you,
you know, don't they all the time anyway?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
So I would have loved to see.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I even tweeted it live in the Games as Isaia
Bond talent fan. I said, I would love to see
some of these targets actually turn into receptions.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And there's something there.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Gabriel is looking for him Gabriel just wasn't the timing
wasn't there. He was kind of looking at him. When
we talk about the NFL window, that once you recognize
the NFL window as a quarterback, it's already closing and
it's too late. And that's what we saw somewhat with
Gabriel yesterday. He was connecting a ton with the Joku. Obviously,
people want to get back on the Joku train. By
the way, I'm one of the people that dropped in
Joko for Mason Taylor. Mason Taylor had a fine day,
(04:47):
but it wasn't in Joku. But anyway, point Beam, I
think there's going to be opportunities for Bond going forward.
And you mentioned it that if Tilben comes back, maybe
he's not even the two when he is back, and
maybe because that's Bond or as you said, Jerry Judy's
not even on this team. Maybe in Joko's not on
this team anymore as Cleveland's going forward. But either way,
you have to like the seven target. You have to
like the fact that Gabriel looked for him early and
(05:08):
often and throughout the game and it didn't stop even
though the connections weren't there. And that's why like Isaiah
Bond for the appeal, He's not gonna be more than
a wide receiver four. But we are talking now, we
immediately go from everybody has him probably in the league listening,
Michael Carter, and now we have four guys that are
like probably available in most of your leagues.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah. Yeah, And I would say also with Bond two,
you have Fannin, you have Judkins. Going back to that,
you just it feels like the Browns are kind of
slowly remaking themselves quietly, and I'm kind of curious about it.
Dylan Gabriels and that was the interesting thing football. But
that's we'll see how that dropped a.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Fan into about fifty percent of the routes yesterday, which
was really interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, so we'll keep an eye on it. We'll definitely
keep an eye on those things. But Bond is a guy,
especially with the bye weeks coming too, you could spot
start him in that flex spot potentially. All right, let's
talk about some of this tight ends, right Theo Johnson
had two scores. Jackson Dart Mason Taylor was a guy
that I know Deebro was talking about last week year
on some programs. Taylor yesterday sixty seven yards on nine receptions,
(06:10):
so he's getting a ton of work. So he's starting
to emerge. It's weird to say this, but it was
a really good week for free agent tight ends. The
question is now how to spend on them? Right? Are
we chasing these touchdowns with THEO Johnson or is Mason
Taylor more the priority for you?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I think you could argue either way.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So the interesting one for THEO Johnson's going to be
if Darius Slayton's hurt, so because he got hurt late
in that game, and if he's missing time, now they're
down in another person and now you're looking at Jalen
Highland has to step up. Well, what we saw kind
of in that game, it wasn't just THEO Johnson as
a lot of people got frustrated early and understandably so
as Daniel Bellinger was back in the mix. But similar
to the Browns and some of these other teams, it
(06:47):
was a lot more twelve two tight ends than the
Giants have really ever run. And I think that could
be something going forward, which I'm not overly concerned about
Danian Bellager because I pulled it up right before we
did this thirty one percent of the rounds, like he
just happened to get those early targets and that was
frustrating people. I think both are in play. I will
take THEO Johnson slightly in front of Mason Taylor, despite
the fact I think Mason Taylor's role as the number
(07:10):
two for the Jets is much more clear and much
more secure. This is somebody you and I and a
couple other people on this network we're talking about in
the preseason as like, watch for Taylor because look at
that receiving room. He's going to be the number two
and sometime THEO Johnson, because of injuries, is potentially walking
into the number two rule where it can be Wandell
Robinson and him is Slayton's injury is not that bad.
(07:31):
I think you could argue for Taylor over It's just
you're going to get the inconsistency of Justin Fields.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
If that game.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Ended ninety percent of the way through that game, Mason
Taylor and the whole rest of the Jets would have
had a miserable day. Garrett Wilson would not have had
a touchdown. Justin Fields would be the twenty seventh quarterback
out of twenty eight This week, like just that last
ten percent of the game saved everything.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So if you're looking for tight ends.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which by the way, Joe, we're on a record pace
potentially depending on what happens tonight. You remember when we
broke the reception record on tight end Week last year.
There's a chance we could break it tonight, even with
four teams on a buy. That was in a Week
one game. And now we have four teams in a
buy tonight, and we're.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Four teams on a buy and no brock Bower. So
it's not like you're getting to those quote unquote premium
talent guys. That's really interesting actually, so so just to
be clear, so Johnson over tailor if the Slate news
is more of an extended.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Absence at least two weeks or if not more.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Okay, all right, so really interesting stuf there. Look at
that Jet game was weird too, because it was almost
ten to three at the half before the fumble, and
then you know you were right there. Then they go
up seventeen three, and then they just open up in
the third quarter and then just kind of sit back.
Week five. I won money on Carolina yesterday. I won
(08:41):
money a lot of stuff. I'm very happy boy.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So fifty percent of my Giant Survivor, the big one,
fifty percent were out with the Rams and the Cardinals,
and like.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It's always week five.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I actually did a one where your you get two
knockouts and I took the Titans in one, so like
because you get the double knockout.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So I was like, youn, know what, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well, you know it's uh survivor pools are getting trickier
and trickier. Is a lot of powery in the league.
We have no undefeated teams too, as we roll Inday
Week six already, so that doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, the Jets, oh yeah, sorry Jet fans, Sorry.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
To pile on in a Monday morning. I know it's
rough enough for you. All right, let's get to one
more guy, and then we're gonna talk about a few
other players too, whether or not we're chasing them. Let's
talk about Tory Horton. He only has nine catches on
the year, but a third of them are for touchdowns.
I know we can't chase touchdowns, but man, Dory Horton
does show up with those sixes and know those standard leagues,
and you know that really makes a difference. He's a
player that you know, I like. Going into the process
(09:40):
of NFL draft, I was a big fan of him.
I've got him on Tyna Steve Rosters, and I've got
him in every deeper league going into the year because
I just thought over time you would emerge. And I
think Sam Darnold looked. That was a great game yesterday
in a lot of ways. That was probably the best
football game right Tampa Seattle. Those two quarterbacks going back
and forth, two guys you know in the same draft too,
had high expected, fell short and now kind of have
(10:01):
rejuvenated their careers. It was really fun. But Tory Horton
seems to be the guy in these tight spots and
he should have another Honestly, last week he should another
touchdown too. So he has been the guy in the
red zone and I think that should count for something,
especially as we are now in bye week season for
fantasy football.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I think that's the really interesting so pulling that
up as well, it was Jackson Smith and jac but
A J. Barner with three and then Tory Horton was
the only other one with one. It was no Cooper
Cup and now Cooper Cups still running in front of him.
But as we've seen Cooper Cupp do this throughout the season,
and I don't think he's going to give completely cast
aside as long as he still has a game every
three weeks, which is kind of what his pace has been,
(10:40):
maybe every other week. But at some point there might
just be the falloff, and that's what we're playing Tory
Horton for. As you mentioned on top of it, we're
gonna get bye weeks where we only have two this
upcoming week, but then we're going to hit the four
and the six is coming for the by mcgednon, which
is always wonderful. Why the NFL has to do that,
but you're gonna give you an opportunity where you could
look at some matchups and say, you know what, yeah,
that's desperation and play that I could look at and
(11:01):
he's more appealing than chasing like you know Dante Thornton
who got benched essentially for Jack Besh yesterday, or trying
to chase Jalen Tolbert or those guys. Like we know,
Tory Horton's going to be involved because of the three wide,
because of how much they like to use him, as
you mentioned in the red Zone. So there's also the upside.
Someone to Isaac Teslaw that if anything happened to the
top two and this would be a Cooper Cup situation
(11:23):
where also could just be a Benching loses his role
and gets put into the slot that Tory Horton sees
upside even without an injury. And I think that's the
interesting thing people need to remember, is that Cooper Cup
could get thrown into the slot when they go through
wide and then Horton's all of a sudden starting outside
more consistently.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I'd like to see that. I'd like to see
that very much. So as the season goes on, I
just if Cooper Cup again, I think we can keep
saying this, right, if Cooper Cup is the thing standing
in the way of Tory Horton, let's not let that
stand in the way. Let's just not do it, all right,
I know, I know, but it's October. It's still October now,
so by the time it's November, if he's still standing
in the way, I'm going to be irritated. But I'll
(11:57):
see how it goes, all right. It's a couple other
guys that want to ask Jacob back. But about as
we go on here, on the show. But before we do,
just a quick reminder as well to use the tools
here Fantasy Pros to help you get all the right
waiver claims, and Waiver Central is that tool, so don't
miss out on snagging potential potential difference makers like guys
like Michael Carter, like Tory Horton, like some of the
tight ends we're talking about here today. Waiver Central is
(12:19):
available at Fantasypros dot com. Slash my playbook. Just download
the Fantasy Pros app and just sink your leagues for free,
and you're gonna instantly see suggestions on which players you
should add and which ones you should drop. So don't
forget to use waiver Central and use the Waiver Planner
too to get a complete customized waiver plan for your league,
including fab bid suggestions, pickup bids, and one click submissions
(12:40):
for the top Fantasy football league site. So again, all
this is available at my playbook on fantasypros dot com. Okay,
a couple other guys to talk about here. Want to
talk about Xavier Hutchinson'll add a couple of touchdowns. Is
that something you want to chase in Week six?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Jake, I will chase in the fact that if I
just have a spot and I bite need a wide
receiver in a deeper league because they're on a buy,
so he's going to get overlooked. And you know how
a lot of people will go to sleep in places
like that and they'll look at projected week six and
then he won't show up because he's not going to
be playing the Xavier Hudgerson is frustrating, and yeah, I'm
gonna stash him in deep leagues. I mean we're talking
(13:12):
twelve to fourteen deep deeper benches. But he's running as
the two. They won't stop running him.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
As the two.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This team drafts a second round wired receiver and Jaden
Higgins guarantees his full damn contract, And I was like,
you know what, you're fourth.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Wait, we don't even care Kristian Kirk.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I't's back from entry, I know, And so I bring
up Christian Kirk to say this. He's like, this is
what's most concerning about it is Christian Kirk getting hurt
or Christian Kirk only being out there fifty percent of
the time. You know who's running the slot when Kirk's
not on the field is Jalen Noel, which makes sense,
because that's who Noel is supposed to replace, is Kirk.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The fact with Higgins is.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
He was supposed to replace Tank Dell as the number
two outside.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It's Xavier Hutchinson and what is his third year? And
we saw the pre camp news or the trading camp
preseason news. As I made that one word, I'm going
to start using that pre camp pre camp news.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You like it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
He starts saw like Hutcheson's having a great pre camp
and then we're like, ah, yeah, but it's.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
This third year.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
We know who Jayden Higgins is. Well, currently the Texans
know that Xavier Hutchison is their number two. So again,
deep leagues not super excited. But if you need a
wide receiver in a deep one and he's gonna get
overlooked because they're on buy, that's why.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah. All right, let's talk about the Chargers running back
situation again. Some of these running back rooms are just
getting really thin. So now we have them Any Hampton
who's gonna miss some time with an injury, which means
you're gonna have us On Haskins, You're gonna have Kamani
by dal Do you have any interest in either of
those how do you provide for them? How do you
rank them? If we're going into week six here trying
(14:35):
to look for some help from the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
There you go. You know, man, you hate when I
do this.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Ah, there you go. It's the poop emoji for those
of you listening, There you go. Poop emoji made an
appearance on the YouTube show Everybody.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So the only reason if it wasn't like if it
happened next week in their next two games, where the
Colts and the Vikings be like, do the hell cares?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Like even if?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And it sounds like the Walking Boots precautionary but they's
just like play the world. Where Hampton's missing two games,
they get Miami this week, and that's only reason anybody cares.
But the problem is it's haskins of Vodal, Like, I'm
not that interested just because it's gonna be a mess
of a backfield. This is something that Roman wants to
go to anyway, is using two running backs. Hampton forced
(15:18):
a hand with the loss of Naje Harris, of course,
and Hampton being so good That's why I say forced
his hand. So if Hampton's out against Miami, fine, you
can desperation to start Haskins in Vidal, I would start
both of them over chasing day Mercato. But that's kind
of the world we're in. It's like that, So like
right now it would be Michael Carter and then these
two and then day Mercado. But these two in a
(15:40):
bucket of like, Okay, you're gonna hope one of them
can show off and have a good day.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
But this the split, Like, it's okay, Joe for us
to say this.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
We don't know Harball's mind, we don't know Roman's mind,
we don't know what they're truly planning this week. We
all speculated what the Cardinals we're gonna do, and we
read the tea leaves and said, like Carters should be
the lead.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Don't think anybody was expecting it to be a.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Ninety ten split, obviously Night included, but the point being
of how far aside Day Mercado was, it's okay for
us to say, you know what, we don't know if
it's going to be Haskins seventy percent and Vanol thirty
or vice versa, or just a full fifty to fifty.
And in that case, the answer is if you're desperate
at running back, you can start either one of them,
only because it's the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I would lean Haskins of the two of them personally,
just because of the history that he has with Harball
at Michigan. They had a lot of success together, and
I think sometimes just the comfortability, you know when when
you're talking about Lario, Yeah, absolutely, familiarity it matters. You know.
Coaches like to favor the guys that they trust, and
you know, when you're winning national championships again in the
big games at Michigan, you trust those certain guys. So
to me, I think Haskins might and hopefully.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
He would be the answer at the goal line that
that would be the right part.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You would hope, you would hope. But again, I don't
worry everybody. I'm sure more running backs will get hurt
and I'm sure we'll have to look for more guys.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So there we go. Coeks ago, we were talking about
how healthy running backs were.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, right, Like, oh, running backs are really holding it
down this year. No, not so much. Everybody had Kyle
Manongai to coming out of the bye just in case
because they might be changing a little bit of that
shift there in the Chicago.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I want to throw that out there forever.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I feel like we talked about him a few times,
so for every but I want.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
To say, you want to mention it again because as
you said, he's not gonna have stats the sword for
last week because he didn't play because he was on
a buy and coming out of a bye. DeAndre Swift
had that touchdown two weeks ago. You know, he didn't
play very well. The touchdown kind of masked. It was
kind of like the perfume scent over a really stinky performance.
So don't let that fool you.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Can I say something, Joe, how about the show?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Everybody out there as we finished the show love something
as much as the Patriots love Stevenson and the Bears
loved DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I swear to God, if you know, if if f'
Andre Stevens, if you fumble like I don't know, nine
or ten more times, we might take your job might
be on the line nine or ten more times. And
then that's it, buddy, Stop all right. We got to
get out of here because the short forms are coming
a long form video sree subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Make sure you sink your legs. Use the fantasy pros
(18:00):
app and of course shout out to Jake Ceali and
all the great work he does at the Athletic. That'll
do it for us, but the story of the game
goes on for Jake Celi. I'm Joey P. We'll see
you next time. Kids. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy
Pros Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the
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(18:21):
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YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy
Football Podcast. This is me Joey p Joep's a Pia
and it's time to look ahead to the waiver wire
short form style with my good friend Jake Seally from
the Athletic And of course it was a wild week
for injury news that we're just coming off of for
all the running backs. So many running backs already picked
up off the waiver wire, but if you're looking in
(00:22):
some leagues, this guy still might be out there. It's
Michael Carter. He's thirty nine percent rostered in Yahoo. He
is over fifty percent rostered already on Sleeper because they
have a little bit more activity in those leagues, a
little bit deeper league. So again we understand Michael Carter
is a guy that you might not be available in
your league, but I think we got to talk about
him as the number one guy coming off this week.
(00:44):
Here eighteen carries, fifty one yards, one touchdown. He also
had five targets caught all five for twenty two. So
obviously no Benson, no Connor de Marcado doesn't quite recognize
me with the goal line is, but Michael Carter does
and let's talk about him to start the show today. Jake.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, So I think that's the important part is it's
not just the waivers, because it's most leagues in sleeper
as you said, probably already have him rostered by in
ten team leagues or but the bigger question also being
like what are we looking at going forward here? And
the one thing that the Cardinals told us clearly was, hey, yeah,
the guy off the practice squad is taking the lead job.
Like we heard all week, it might be a one
(01:22):
to two punch, it might be fifty to fifty with
Day Mercado.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
In the passing downs, Day.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Mccatto not only kept his role, it was that minimized role.
It was occasional third downs, it was some two minute drills.
And then, of course, as you mentioned, he just made
the problem even worse in the fact that throwing the
ball down at the goal line, which we're still doing
every single year for the entire history of the NFL,
and these still idiots keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It's not even a celebration, it's not even I don't
get it.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
But anyway, they brought in Bam night before they brought
in Day Mercado, which tells you all you need to know.
And that's why we're talking about Michael Carter because looking
at Michael Carter, yeah, we could see day Mercado go
the other way. They do fit Green Bay in two weeks,
and maybe that's a game where you do see more
of day Mercado in the mix if he hasn't been
benched because of that stupid, idiotic fumble. But at the
(02:08):
same time, even that case, sixty forty still to Michael Carter.
And that's the point here. If you didn't get him,
or if you did get him, like sell High, you're
probably looking at you would have to think top twenty because.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
He's clearly the lead. It's still gonna be Michael Carter.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's still not going to be amazing production every single week,
but as an RB two against the Colts this week, yeah,
he's going to be in play against Green Bay. It
might be a little bit more dicey, but we're still
talking about buys and then you get the Cowboys coming
out of thereby. So that's why we're talking Michael Carter.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right. Last week we talked a little bit about
Isaiah Bond, two of the Cleveland Browns, who has a
lot of talent, a lot of speed, now a new
quarterback with Dylan Gabriel. So Gabriel made his first start yesterday.
There were some good and some bad in it, and
obviously you know, some issues there, but this does seem
to be a player still that I think we're looking
at and saying projectability long term. You see Judkins, you
see Isaiah Bond. You see this team getting a little
(02:59):
bit more explode. And to a certain degree too, you
have Dylan Gabriel can move around the pocket, get loose,
make things happen, extend plays a little bit. So all
of that I think helps the Isaiah Bond argument a
little bit as you're looking forward, and I agree, I
look at somebody I picked up in all my leagues
last week because of what I saw, Cedri tilm was
gonna be on the show for a little bit still.
(03:19):
But even when Tilman comes back, I mean, you could
see a Jerry Judy moved, you know, at a trade deadline.
I could see that happening. But what are your thoughts
here on Isaiah Bond going forward of the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So not only was he out there, a ton I
was out there only behind Isaiah Bond and David and
Joku and routes, but he only had the second Only
he had the second most, I said, only David and
ju who had more targets than him.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Of course, maybe love he was behind Jerry Judy just
for clarity, right, because behind Isaiah Bond. No, Isaiah Bond
can't be behind Isaiah Bond.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
He can behind I said, And yeah, it is very said.
I mean he might have been. If he was behind himself,
some of those.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Targets might have been catchable. So well, it would have
been nice. It would have been nice. A little bit
more regets would be nice.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Routes were Judy and a Joku ahead of Bond, and
then only in Joku was ahead of Bond in targets.
There you go like, I'm I tripped up over there.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So somehow we've cleared for.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
The YouTube comments come for you. I'm gonna come for you,
you know, don't they all the time anyway?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
So I would have loved to see.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I even tweeted it live in the Games as Isaia
Bond talent fan. I said, I would love to see
some of these targets actually turn into receptions.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And there's something there.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Gabriel is looking for him Gabriel just wasn't the timing
wasn't there. He was kind of looking at him. When
we talk about the NFL window, that once you recognize
the NFL window as a quarterback, it's already closing and
it's too late. And that's what we saw somewhat with
Gabriel yesterday. He was connecting a ton with the Joku. Obviously,
people want to get back on the Joku train. By
the way, I'm one of the people that dropped in
Joko for Mason Taylor. Mason Taylor had a fine day,
(04:47):
but it wasn't in Joku. But anyway, point Beam, I
think there's going to be opportunities for Bond going forward.
And you mentioned it that if Tilben comes back, maybe
he's not even the two when he is back, and
maybe because that's Bond or as you said, Jerry Judy's
not even on this team. Maybe in Joko's not on
this team anymore as Cleveland's going forward. But either way,
you have to like the seven target. You have to
like the fact that Gabriel looked for him early and
(05:08):
often and throughout the game and it didn't stop even
though the connections weren't there. And that's why like Isaiah
Bond for the appeal, He's not gonna be more than
a wide receiver four. But we are talking now, we
immediately go from everybody has him probably in the league listening,
Michael Carter, and now we have four guys that are
like probably available in most of your leagues.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah. Yeah, And I would say also with Bond two,
you have Fannin, you have Judkins. Going back to that,
you just it feels like the Browns are kind of
slowly remaking themselves quietly, and I'm kind of curious about it.
Dylan Gabriels and that was the interesting thing football. But
that's we'll see how that dropped a.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Fan into about fifty percent of the routes yesterday, which
was really interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, so we'll keep an eye on it. We'll definitely
keep an eye on those things. But Bond is a guy,
especially with the bye weeks coming too, you could spot
start him in that flex spot potentially. All right, let's
talk about some of this tight ends, right Theo Johnson
had two scores. Jackson Dart Mason Taylor was a guy
that I know Deebro was talking about last week year
on some programs. Taylor yesterday sixty seven yards on nine receptions,
(06:10):
so he's getting a ton of work. So he's starting
to emerge. It's weird to say this, but it was
a really good week for free agent tight ends. The
question is now how to spend on them? Right? Are
we chasing these touchdowns with THEO Johnson or is Mason
Taylor more the priority for you?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I think you could argue either way.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
So the interesting one for THEO Johnson's going to be
if Darius Slayton's hurt, so because he got hurt late
in that game, and if he's missing time, now they're
down in another person and now you're looking at Jalen
Highland has to step up. Well, what we saw kind
of in that game, it wasn't just THEO Johnson as
a lot of people got frustrated early and understandably so
as Daniel Bellinger was back in the mix. But similar
to the Browns and some of these other teams, it
(06:47):
was a lot more twelve two tight ends than the
Giants have really ever run. And I think that could
be something going forward, which I'm not overly concerned about
Danian Bellager because I pulled it up right before we
did this thirty one percent of the rounds, like he
just happened to get those early targets and that was
frustrating people. I think both are in play. I will
take THEO Johnson slightly in front of Mason Taylor, despite
the fact I think Mason Taylor's role as the number
(07:10):
two for the Jets is much more clear and much
more secure. This is somebody you and I and a
couple other people on this network we're talking about in
the preseason as like, watch for Taylor because look at
that receiving room. He's going to be the number two
and sometime THEO Johnson, because of injuries, is potentially walking
into the number two rule where it can be Wandell
Robinson and him is Slayton's injury is not that bad.
(07:31):
I think you could argue for Taylor over It's just
you're going to get the inconsistency of Justin Fields.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
If that game.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Ended ninety percent of the way through that game, Mason
Taylor and the whole rest of the Jets would have
had a miserable day. Garrett Wilson would not have had
a touchdown. Justin Fields would be the twenty seventh quarterback
out of twenty eight This week, like just that last
ten percent of the game saved everything.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So if you're looking for tight ends.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which by the way, Joe, we're on a record pace
potentially depending on what happens tonight. You remember when we
broke the reception record on tight end Week last year.
There's a chance we could break it tonight, even with
four teams on a buy. That was in a Week
one game. And now we have four teams in a
buy tonight, and we're.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Four teams on a buy and no brock Bower. So
it's not like you're getting to those quote unquote premium
talent guys. That's really interesting actually, so so just to
be clear, so Johnson over tailor if the Slate news
is more of an extended.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Absence at least two weeks or if not more.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Okay, all right, so really interesting stuf there. Look at
that Jet game was weird too, because it was almost
ten to three at the half before the fumble, and
then you know you were right there. Then they go
up seventeen three, and then they just open up in
the third quarter and then just kind of sit back.
Week five. I won money on Carolina yesterday. I won
(08:41):
money a lot of stuff. I'm very happy boy.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So fifty percent of my Giant Survivor, the big one,
fifty percent were out with the Rams and the Cardinals,
and like.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
It's always week five.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I actually did a one where your you get two
knockouts and I took the Titans in one, so like
because you get the double knockout.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So I was like, youn, know what, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Well, you know it's uh survivor pools are getting trickier
and trickier. Is a lot of powery in the league.
We have no undefeated teams too, as we roll Inday
Week six already, so that doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, the Jets, oh yeah, sorry Jet fans, Sorry.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
To pile on in a Monday morning. I know it's
rough enough for you. All right, let's get to one
more guy, and then we're gonna talk about a few
other players too, whether or not we're chasing them. Let's
talk about Tory Horton. He only has nine catches on
the year, but a third of them are for touchdowns.
I know we can't chase touchdowns, but man, Dory Horton
does show up with those sixes and know those standard leagues,
and you know that really makes a difference. He's a
player that you know, I like. Going into the process
(09:40):
of NFL draft, I was a big fan of him.
I've got him on Tyna Steve Rosters, and I've got
him in every deeper league going into the year because
I just thought over time you would emerge. And I
think Sam Darnold looked. That was a great game yesterday
in a lot of ways. That was probably the best
football game right Tampa Seattle. Those two quarterbacks going back
and forth, two guys you know in the same draft too,
had high expected, fell short and now kind of have
(10:01):
rejuvenated their careers. It was really fun. But Tory Horton
seems to be the guy in these tight spots and
he should have another Honestly, last week he should another
touchdown too. So he has been the guy in the
red zone and I think that should count for something,
especially as we are now in bye week season for
fantasy football.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I think that's the really interesting so pulling that
up as well, it was Jackson Smith and jac but
A J. Barner with three and then Tory Horton was
the only other one with one. It was no Cooper
Cup and now Cooper Cups still running in front of him.
But as we've seen Cooper Cupp do this throughout the season,
and I don't think he's going to give completely cast
aside as long as he still has a game every
three weeks, which is kind of what his pace has been,
(10:40):
maybe every other week. But at some point there might
just be the falloff, and that's what we're playing Tory
Horton for. As you mentioned on top of it, we're
gonna get bye weeks where we only have two this
upcoming week, but then we're going to hit the four
and the six is coming for the by mcgednon, which
is always wonderful. Why the NFL has to do that,
but you're gonna give you an opportunity where you could
look at some matchups and say, you know what, yeah,
that's desperation and play that I could look at and
(11:01):
he's more appealing than chasing like you know Dante Thornton
who got benched essentially for Jack Besh yesterday, or trying
to chase Jalen Tolbert or those guys. Like we know,
Tory Horton's going to be involved because of the three wide,
because of how much they like to use him, as
you mentioned in the red Zone. So there's also the upside.
Someone to Isaac Teslaw that if anything happened to the
top two and this would be a Cooper Cup situation
(11:23):
where also could just be a Benching loses his role
and gets put into the slot that Tory Horton sees
upside even without an injury. And I think that's the
interesting thing people need to remember, is that Cooper Cup
could get thrown into the slot when they go through
wide and then Horton's all of a sudden starting outside
more consistently.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I'd like to see that. I'd like to see
that very much. So as the season goes on, I
just if Cooper Cup again, I think we can keep
saying this, right, if Cooper Cup is the thing standing
in the way of Tory Horton, let's not let that
stand in the way. Let's just not do it, all right,
I know, I know, but it's October. It's still October now,
so by the time it's November, if he's still standing
in the way, I'm going to be irritated. But I'll
(11:57):
see how it goes, all right. It's a couple other
guys that want to ask Jacob back. But about as
we go on here, on the show. But before we do,
just a quick reminder as well to use the tools
here Fantasy Pros to help you get all the right
waiver claims, and Waiver Central is that tool, so don't
miss out on snagging potential potential difference makers like guys
like Michael Carter, like Tory Horton, like some of the
tight ends we're talking about here today. Waiver Central is
(12:19):
available at Fantasypros dot com. Slash my playbook. Just download
the Fantasy Pros app and just sink your leagues for free,
and you're gonna instantly see suggestions on which players you
should add and which ones you should drop. So don't
forget to use waiver Central and use the Waiver Planner
too to get a complete customized waiver plan for your league,
including fab bid suggestions, pickup bids, and one click submissions
(12:40):
for the top Fantasy football league site. So again, all
this is available at my playbook on fantasypros dot com. Okay,
a couple other guys to talk about here. Want to
talk about Xavier Hutchinson'll add a couple of touchdowns. Is
that something you want to chase in Week six?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Jake, I will chase in the fact that if I
just have a spot and I bite need a wide
receiver in a deeper league because they're on a buy,
so he's going to get overlooked. And you know how
a lot of people will go to sleep in places
like that and they'll look at projected week six and
then he won't show up because he's not going to
be playing the Xavier Hudgerson is frustrating, and yeah, I'm
gonna stash him in deep leagues. I mean we're talking
(13:12):
twelve to fourteen deep deeper benches. But he's running as
the two. They won't stop running him.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
As the two.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This team drafts a second round wired receiver and Jaden
Higgins guarantees his full damn contract, And I was like,
you know what, you're fourth.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Wait, we don't even care Kristian Kirk.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I't's back from entry, I know, And so I bring
up Christian Kirk to say this. He's like, this is
what's most concerning about it is Christian Kirk getting hurt
or Christian Kirk only being out there fifty percent of
the time. You know who's running the slot when Kirk's
not on the field is Jalen Noel, which makes sense,
because that's who Noel is supposed to replace, is Kirk.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
The fact with Higgins is.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
He was supposed to replace Tank Dell as the number
two outside.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It's Xavier Hutchinson and what is his third year? And
we saw the pre camp news or the trading camp
preseason news. As I made that one word, I'm going
to start using that pre camp pre camp news.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You like it.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
He starts saw like Hutcheson's having a great pre camp
and then we're like, ah, yeah, but it's.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
This third year.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
We know who Jayden Higgins is. Well, currently the Texans
know that Xavier Hutchison is their number two. So again,
deep leagues not super excited. But if you need a
wide receiver in a deep one and he's gonna get
overlooked because they're on buy, that's why.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah. All right, let's talk about the Chargers running back
situation again. Some of these running back rooms are just
getting really thin. So now we have them Any Hampton
who's gonna miss some time with an injury, which means
you're gonna have us On Haskins, You're gonna have Kamani
by dal Do you have any interest in either of
those how do you provide for them? How do you
rank them? If we're going into week six here trying
(14:35):
to look for some help from the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
There you go. You know, man, you hate when I
do this.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Ah, there you go. It's the poop emoji for those
of you listening, There you go. Poop emoji made an
appearance on the YouTube show Everybody.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So the only reason if it wasn't like if it
happened next week in their next two games, where the
Colts and the Vikings be like, do the hell cares?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Like even if?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And it sounds like the Walking Boots precautionary but they's
just like play the world. Where Hampton's missing two games,
they get Miami this week, and that's only reason anybody cares.
But the problem is it's haskins of Vodal, Like, I'm
not that interested just because it's gonna be a mess
of a backfield. This is something that Roman wants to
go to anyway, is using two running backs. Hampton forced
(15:18):
a hand with the loss of Naje Harris, of course,
and Hampton being so good That's why I say forced
his hand. So if Hampton's out against Miami, fine, you
can desperation to start Haskins in Vidal, I would start
both of them over chasing day Mercato. But that's kind
of the world we're in. It's like that, So like
right now it would be Michael Carter and then these
two and then day Mercado. But these two in a
(15:40):
bucket of like, Okay, you're gonna hope one of them
can show off and have a good day.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
But this the split, Like, it's okay, Joe for us
to say this.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
We don't know Harball's mind, we don't know Roman's mind,
we don't know what they're truly planning this week. We
all speculated what the Cardinals we're gonna do, and we
read the tea leaves and said, like Carters should be
the lead.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Don't think anybody was expecting it to be a.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Ninety ten split, obviously Night included, but the point being
of how far aside Day Mercado was, it's okay for
us to say, you know what, we don't know if
it's going to be Haskins seventy percent and Vanol thirty
or vice versa, or just a full fifty to fifty.
And in that case, the answer is if you're desperate
at running back, you can start either one of them,
only because it's the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I would lean Haskins of the two of them personally,
just because of the history that he has with Harball
at Michigan. They had a lot of success together, and
I think sometimes just the comfortability, you know when when
you're talking about Lario, Yeah, absolutely, familiarity it matters. You know.
Coaches like to favor the guys that they trust, and
you know, when you're winning national championships again in the
big games at Michigan, you trust those certain guys. So
to me, I think Haskins might and hopefully.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
He would be the answer at the goal line that
that would be the right part.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You would hope, you would hope. But again, I don't
worry everybody. I'm sure more running backs will get hurt
and I'm sure we'll have to look for more guys.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So there we go. Coeks ago, we were talking about
how healthy running backs were.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, right, Like, oh, running backs are really holding it
down this year. No, not so much. Everybody had Kyle
Manongai to coming out of the bye just in case
because they might be changing a little bit of that
shift there in the Chicago.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I want to throw that out there forever.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I feel like we talked about him a few times,
so for every but I want.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
To say, you want to mention it again because as
you said, he's not gonna have stats the sword for
last week because he didn't play because he was on
a buy and coming out of a bye. DeAndre Swift
had that touchdown two weeks ago. You know, he didn't
play very well. The touchdown kind of masked. It was
kind of like the perfume scent over a really stinky performance.
So don't let that fool you.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Can I say something, Joe, how about the show?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Everybody out there as we finished the show love something
as much as the Patriots love Stevenson and the Bears
loved DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I swear to God, if you know, if if f'
Andre Stevens, if you fumble like I don't know, nine
or ten more times, we might take your job might
be on the line nine or ten more times. And
then that's it, buddy, Stop all right. We got to
get out of here because the short forms are coming
a long form video sree subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Make sure you sink your legs. Use the fantasy pros
(18:00):
app and of course shout out to Jake Ceali and
all the great work he does at the Athletic. That'll
do it for us, but the story of the game
goes on for Jake Celi. I'm Joey P. We'll see
you next time. Kids. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy
Pros Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the
best freeway to support us is by leaving a positive
review on Apple podcasts at Fantasypros dot com, slash review,
(18:21):
or on Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok
at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at
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Joe Pisapia
Derek Brown
Thor Nystrom
Ryan Wormeli
Pat Fitzmaurice
Matthew Freedman
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