Start Dylan Sampson or Jacory Croskey-Merritt? | Week 1 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sleepers, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls! (Ep. 1689) - FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm
Ryan warmly joined as I will be every Thursday morning
in season by Pat fitz Morris and by Jake Seely
from the Athletic Guys.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We have made it. It is the morning of the opener.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
We get real, actual fantasy points in our matchups tonight
courtesy of the Eagles and Cowboys, and we're all pretty
darn excited about it.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Fits.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, we are. We were just talking about this. I
will be watching the opener at a bar and it
might be one of the last games. Well, it probably
will be the last game I'm watching a bar all season.
It just doesn't work out with the content schedule the
rest of the way. But really excited about it, Really
excited for football Twitter, especially during standalone games. It's always
a little wild on Twitter. That's fun to follow. Yeah,

(00:49):
so it's been a long off season.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Make sure everybody's following us at Fantasy Pros on Twitter,
slash x and also on Instagram and TikTok and everywhere
else we are available on social Jake, what are your
kind of just feelings here at the end of the offseason,
at the end of draft season and now kind of
shifting our focus into in season coverage.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
The feelings are I can't believe it's already here. I
actually said that to Nicole last night. I was like,
this doesn't feel like week one for some reason. I
don't know what the strange preseason whatever it might have been,
but excited for it to happen. Excited for all the overreactions.
It's week one. Crazy things are going to happen, Guys
are going to come up to do and guys are
going to go off on your bench or even on waivers,
and it's week one. Let's just have the fun, the

(01:31):
fact the football's back.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Right, Embrace the fact that we don't know anything. You
don't know anything. We're just here to have fun, watch
some football, make the best guesses we can, and try
to win some fantasy matchups. Quick reminder for everybody that
all of our twenty twenty five in season consensus rankings
and tiers can be found at fantasypros dot com slash
rankings each and every week of the season. All the
different scoring formats that you could need on there. So

(01:54):
the way the show's going to work is Jake is
new to the show from last year, fits you and
I did it together last yearn to be a couple
different segments on our Thursday show. Every single week, we
are normally gonna have sort of a waiver ads segment,
basically asking the question, these the most popular waiver wires
of the week. Are we actually starting them right away
or are these long term pickups. We're obviously not gonna

(02:15):
have that this week because there have been no games
too have waiver ads coming off of quite yet, so
that'll be starting next week. The sections we are going
to have today and we'll have every week are sort
of a plant your flag opportunity where we're going to say, like,
this is really like our guy of the week. It
doesn't matter what position he is, we really believe that
this guy is like the start that you want to
be making of the week, the guy that we are
really convicted in, I should say.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
And then we're gonna do some player debates.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
We're gonna get some guys that you guys have some
natural disagreement on You might find them to be close,
but some guys that hopefully you are you know, kind
of organically feeling on opposite sides about guys who are
close to each other in the expert consensus rankings where
you cains some running backs and receivers, also some flex
kind of head to head start sit decisions there. And
then we'll wrap up with our touchdown Calls contests, which
you can participate in on discord. Anybody listening throughout the

(03:01):
season win some cool prizes. Mike Mayer and Kelly Kirby
do a great job of running that over on the
Fantasy Pros Discord. So we're gonna kind of alternate what
position we're taking, but we're gonna give you our touchdown
calls of the week. For example, this week it'll be
Jacot running back, Fitz or our receiver myself a tight end.
Next week, we'll rotate through give you three names each
and every week. That is what the show is going
to look like this year, and I am super excited

(03:22):
for it, and I'm super excited to start off with
the plant your Flag segment, especially because you guys picked
two players from probably the most shocking team you could
possibly have picked if anybody was paying attention to draft rankings.
If either of them are another team, I think would
have been the most surprising you did go with one
of them. Fitz will start with you who's your plant
or flag player this week?

Speaker 3 (03:43):
It is David Nijoku, and Nijoku is part of that
big tight end blob below the big three of Brock Bauers,
Trey McBride, and George Kittle. But Nijoku rises to the
top of the blob this week. It's such a good
setup for him. When Joe Flacco started five games for

(04:04):
the Browns late in the twenty twenty three season, Nijoku
had thirty receptions for three hundred ninety yards and four
touchdowns in those five games and was the tight end
one in half point PPR over that stretch. So Nijoku
and Flacco have already cooked together, and Nijoku opens with
a terrific matchup against the Bengals. Cincinnati allowed one hundred

(04:26):
eleven catches oneye and fourteen yards and ten touchdowns to
tight ends in twenty twenty four. Basically tight ends against
the Bengals last year were like peak Rob Gronkowski. So
it's a great setup for Najoku this week.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Jake, you are as I alluded to, also picking a
Cleveland Brown for this.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yeah, and if David and Joku is going to have
a good week, well his quarterback's going to have a
good week. I am way above consensus on Joe Flacco.
I have him one spot behind Jared Goff, which is
because they both have to do it with their arms.
And honestly, if we're looking at these two games, we
could assume both will be shootouts. But the better defenses
are in the lions of Packers matchup the opportunity here

(05:11):
going against the Bengals. Look, Joe Flacco I've mentioned, I
think on this show or it was with somebody on
one of the recent shows, over his last seventeen starts
over forty four hundred yards, Joe Flacco is going to throw.
The Cleveland Browns are going to throw. The six to
nine Bengals are going to force the Cleveland Browns to throw.
So if somebody's going out there, I'm throwing for three
hundred yards and three touchdowns, even with potential interceptions at

(05:31):
Week one, and it's add this range of Dak Prescott,
who has to do it with his arm. Tonight against
the Eagles, I was scared of their secondary. Jared Golf
have some concerns going against the Packers. I think Joe
Flacco deserves to be in that conversation with them. So
if you're looking for that, Hey, I drafted Kayleb Williams
and I really don't want to start them in week one.
Let's go Joe Flacco.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Do you guys have any interest in the running game
for the Browns as well? Is just like because you
guys are obviously focusing them a passing game here, but
like Dylan Samson Drome for like, are we thinking this
is just gonna be like a start all your Browns opportunity?

Speaker 4 (06:03):
So yes, Dylan Samson know Jerome Ford, Like Jerome Ford
feels like the safe play and maybe if we're talking
six teams on a bye, I'm just gonna chase the
upside of Samson similar to the Commander's backfield, I'm gonna
chase Austin Eckler. I'm gonna chase the Austin Eckler for
the Browns in a game I'm going back to again,
I expect the Browns to have the pass and try
to play keep up. I'm gonna go with the more
explosive option. It could be Jerome Fod that out scores him.

(06:25):
I'm just gonna chase the upside of.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
That backfield fits.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
What do you think about the running game and like,
do you is there a chance the Browns win this game,
just given not only the Bengals defense, but the way
they have started their past few seasons.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh yeah, after watching the Bengals landegg against the Patriots
in Week one last year, you could totally see them
losing in Cleveland and having to you know, deal with
the dog pound. So I could totally see that, especially
if it's windy. You get that win tunnel effect in
Cleveland sometimes, and you know if that throws off the
Cincinnati passing game. As for the Browns running game, I mean,

(06:59):
if you are a Border of Sampson stakeholder, I think
you wish you were getting this match up like in
a week with a lot of bys and later in
the season when there were buys and injuries, because like
Ford and Samson would be startable in like Week seven
in this matchup. But this week, when everyone's pretty healthy
going into the season and you know you've got all

(07:21):
your studs ready to roll, I don't think you're starting
those guys, even in a pretty good looking matchup against
the Bengals. And by the way, I think the fact
that you know I'm taking David Nijoku and Jake is
taking Joe Flack. I think what Jake and I are
trying to say is that, you know, we think the
Browns are going to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Well, to be clear real quickly, I actually have Austin
Eckler and Samson back to back at thirty two and
thirty three. So I'm with him that even if I
have Samson higher, it's not like you have to start him.
There's not a lot of teams that dig that far already.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah, I'm I'm pulling up here. What the odds are
for the Browns to win the AFC this year year?
Just let's see, Well, just to represent an AFC in
the Super Bowl, it's one hundred and fifty to one.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. All right, guys, let's
get into our start hit player debates. We're gonna have
a couple of running backs, a couple receivers that we
can maybe dive a little bit deeper on day we'll
have a room to go through a little quicker, a

(09:46):
larger chunk of sort of flex options. Hit on a
quarterback and tight end or two and see what we think.
So we'll start off with the running backs. And I
want to start off with a veteran coming off of
injury versus a rookie. It's Isaiah pitcheco versus traving On Henderson,
two players that I really liked targeting in drafts this
year at their respective costs. But if you had a

(10:07):
couple running backs that you drafted higher, you might need
to be picking between only one of them for your
flex spot maybe, or for that RB two spot depending
on your roster build.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
So, Jake, I'll start with you. Who are you starting
this week? Between Pacheco and Henderson.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
It's super close, but I'm going with Pachecko. I love
Henderson as anybody knows. I thought that Henderson was worth
going into the fourth round, maybe even late third in
the pre drafts for the season. But really what it
comes down to is still questions about the Patriots offense.
Still questions of like, what do we expect Henderson to
get mid teen touches? Like I do? But would it

(10:39):
be a shock if they come out and still use
Stevenson and still using Antonio Gibson, go full blown committee
and bring them along slowly. Whatever it might be. I
go back to and I've referenced it on my pod,
I've referenced on other pods. Continue to give you credit, Pat,
every single time I say Pat. Fitzmore said this two
months ago. If Pachecko never played last season, will we
be ranking them higher? Legitimate question, so much so that

(11:01):
we not only had that question, but you guys saw it.
We got to see a little bit of Pa Checko
on the preseason, and similar to Deebo Samuel, he looked
like he had his burst back. And if Pacheco has
his burst back, I know he's not going to get
used a lot in the passing game. But somebody has
the touchdown equity that I can count on that, Hey, this,
they're going to use him at the goal line. I
don't have to worry about the Patriots playing Patriots games
with Mike Rabel and Josh Daniels at the goal line.

(11:23):
So that's where I go with it. It's only four
spots apart, but I would go with Pacheck over Henderson
a week one.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
But before I tossed.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
The fit, is it close enough Jake that if we
were taught we're gonna largely look at this through the
prism of a half PPR setting. It feels full PPR.
Would you switch it to Henderson?

Speaker 4 (11:38):
It would probably be back to back. It would close
the gap that much.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, fits What do you think between these two? Again
from the half PPR perspective.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
I also have at close I've Henderson ranked a little
higher RB twenty versus RB twenty three for Pacheck O.
And you know, hopefully Pachecko is back to what he was.
I agree with Jake. You know, he looked really good
in the preseason and obviously wasn't one hundred percent late
last year when he came back from that broken leg
after only what like ten or eleven weeks. But is

(12:06):
Pachecko going to be a true lead back or does
Kareem Hunt still get meaningful playing time? Does rookie Burchard
Smith play on passing downs for the Chiefs? And then
Pacheco also gets a matchup against a Chargers defense that
allowed the sixth fewest fantasy points to running backs last year.
It's it's an easier matchup for Henderson at home against

(12:29):
the Raiders, and just traveon Henderson is a big play
waiting to happen, Like that's where that's why we're less
concerned about him sharing work than I think we are
with the back like Pacheco, who kind of really needs
that lead role to really be impactful. So I think
Henderson gives us at least one big play in his

(12:51):
NFL debut.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
You know, I'm just now I actually I don't want
to put together all these kind of head to head debates,
and I did not do this intentionally, like lean very heavy,
I am now realizing that of the eight names in
our like kind of four main debates we have here,
five of them are rookies. I guess there is like
it kind of makes sense that I might naturally happen
because we haven't seen these guys yet, so there's a

(13:13):
little extra level of uncertainty and like are we starting
them right away in general? Fits do you view this
rookie class we'll get into some of these other specific
names and these other debates. Do you view this rookie
class as one that is ready to you know, start
off hot right away in the first month of the
season and be, you know, very viable fantasy starters immediately.
I know some rookie classes, it feels like it maybe
takes a little while for those guys to get going.

(13:35):
Do you feel like this is one where, for the
most part, we can kind of dive right in.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
No, not necessarily. I mean, I think there are small
handful who we can reasonably trust early on because they're
positioned for pretty heavy touch volume, whether it's you know,
on the ground or in the passing game, receivers or
running backs. But there there are not a lot of
those guys this year, and I think it might be

(14:00):
a good running back class, but a lot of these
guys do not have an immediate path to heavy touches.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
What do you think, Jake about the kind of the
class early impact in general? The same thing.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
It's really like, who, like, we know Henderson, we know
we're going to talk about another in Amaron Hampton and
everything like that, But it's the wide receivers. There's probably
two or three definitively can count on. It's getting too
excited about the rest. Like I was over on the
chat on the Athletic and somebody asked about how excited
should I be for au Manner and I was like, look,
I was one of the biggest proponents of aum Manner.

(14:30):
But this is still like we're talking weeks into the
season potential here and maybe he kicks Tyre Lockett to
the side quickly. But we did this last year too.
Remember Dylan Labbay. Everybody is super excited for Lave in
the writers' backfield. And I'm not saying that like, hey,
you know you took a flyer on him and I
did too. It's just remember, don't overrate rookies in general,
because we love to do it every single year.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, let's ask about another rookie here.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
R J.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
Harvey versus his backfield mate JK. Dobbins out in Denver.
They are very close in our staff rankings I'm looking here. Yeah,
they're also very close to two spots apart in the
expert consensus rankings overall. So a very feasible decision that
somebody might have to be making here, especially given where
you might have drafted these guys fits. I'll start with
you on this one.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
RJ. Harvey or JK. Dobbins in Week one, so I preferred.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Harvey over Dobbinson drafts. I think Harvey is the better
season long outlook, but in week one, I think Dobbins
is the slightly better play. He's listed as the starter
on the Broncos depth chart, you know, and I know
that's the veteran deference thing which a lot of coaches do,
but maybe Dobbins really does get a majority of the
snaps at running back until Bronco's head coach Sean Payton

(15:39):
is confident that Harvey won't be a liability in pass protection,
and we can be pretty sure that Dobbins is going
to get the goal line work for the Broncos. They're
probably gonna have a run friendly game script in week
one their big home favorites over the Titans. I think
Dobbins is the primary mail carrier for Denver this week.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Do you see it the same way Jake at me?

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Dobbins had such a hot, hot start last year, you
could see the Denver maybe taking a similar approach where
they say, we don't really trust this guy to stay
healthy the whole season, so let's kind of run him
as much as we can early on before he wears down.
Or do you say, listen, like we're thinking talking about
this in half GPR RJ. Harvey is definitely gonna be
the better pass catcher of the two, just giving Dobbins
his history there, and you prefer him for that reason,

(16:21):
Which way are you going?

Speaker 4 (16:22):
I'm kind of in between, so to speak. I have
Harvey one spot in front of Dobbins, and that's half
point BPR, mostly because you know, I agree with Fits,
but I think it's more so if we saw in
the preseason use and according to people covering the team
in practices, and it seemed like that Dobbins was the
third down back because of what Fits brought up with
the pass catching concern, which just makes me think like, Okay,

(16:44):
maybe it's a split and R. J. Harvey is the
quote unquote lead, and he gets like a lot of
first and second down, And that's where I lean slightly to.
This is where I agreed with him, is that I
think this could be a very run positive game script
and the fact that it's the Titans and we expect
that it's one of the biggest lines on the table
for the fact that Broncos are being favored. So that
being like, hey, we know Dobbins has injury history, why

(17:05):
are we going to run him into the ground in
Week one? You know, maybe it goes the other way.
Maybe this is, hey, we've got time to make Harvey
a thing, and we can use Dobbins and then save
Harvey to last the entire season because it's his first
NFL season. But my biggest point here is going to
be they are down by twenty eight and twenty nine.
They're behind Tyrone Tracy, who I don't even love, but
just Tyrone Tracy Warren names that, like I know leusage

(17:29):
at least, And I could see this spinning either different direction,
Like if it was a seventy thirty split JK. Dobbins
being the seventy it wouldn't shock me and that's why
if you can avoid it, I would at least try
to avoid it for a week.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
You know what, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Oh sorry, I was just gonna say this situation reminds
me a little bit, and this is gonna seem like
I'm insulting JK. Dobbins because I think he's better than
the player he comps to in this comparison. It reminds
me a little bit of the Bengals last year with
Chase Brown and Zach Moss, where I think the assumption
was like Chase Brown was maybe going to get his

(18:02):
initial work on passing downs because he was like that,
the quicker and more explosive guy. But no, Chase Brown
was not entirely trustworthy in pass protection early, so he
actually got his early work on early downs, and Zach
Moss was like the main passing down guy. It could
be a little like that this year too. It's just

(18:22):
will RJ. Harvey be able to like overthrow Dobbins completely
just because he has you know, I think he clearly
has more Jews. But Dobbins is better than Zach Moss
was though. That's the issue.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Jake kind of he already answered the question that I
was going to follow up with. So I'll ask you
fits are these guys you said the ranks close together,
but where in the rankings are they? Are they more
in that kind of flex range, like an RB three
type range, or do you have him maybe up close
towards the RB twos.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
So I have Dobbins RB twenty six on Harvey RB
twenty eight and half PPR. So there, yeah, kind of
flex the flex zone.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
Let's get wide receiver questions here. We'll start with two
of really my favorite players in drafts. We're talking about
a lot of guys that I just really liked, which
maybe this will be helpful to me setting my lineup
because I have a lot of them across my leagues.
I like to take advantage of doing these shows in
that way. Teoll McMillan versus Courtland Sutton, And you know

(19:19):
McMillan obviously rookie who just like keeps going higher and
higher in drafts, like throughout August and into September. They're
just so much helium there. Courtland Sutton, maybe you overlooked
in terms of how we talked about them on their
show on the shows because there wasn't much to say.
But somebody that I really like and I think his
genuine upside compared to where he was going. You know,

(19:39):
McMillan is gonna have such this amazing target share opportunity
right off the bat we expect and and Sutton.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
You know, the Broncos are big favorites.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
I think they're gonna have to throw to get there
at some point in that in the process of those games.
So I really like both these guys. Jake, I'll start
with you on this one. Who do you have ranked
higher in Week one? McMillan or Sutton?

Speaker 4 (19:58):
When I feel like we're making this segment and flip
seely over here, because I go back to back again,
Sutton one spot in front of McMillan. But that's I'm
gonna go lean towards the veteran. I'm gonna lean towards
the quarterback I trust more. And that's coming from somebody
who likes Bryce Young to continue what he did late
last year. Although I will say she'll Pottier's copaid it
head on shit, Yeah, thank you, how you say his

(20:18):
last name? He actually pointed this out when you were
sawing about their offenses this year, and we all saw it.
We saw Bryce Young played better we saw the EPA
numbers if you want to back it up with metrics,
But the one part where Bryce Young didn't actually look
better in a metrics standpoint was success rate, which kind
of takes away like you know, throwing a three like
third down and twelve and you throw fifteen yards to

(20:40):
get a first down equals out to if you threw
for forty five yards, because it's still a successful play,
and that's kind of brings back like offsetting the big
plays versus you just got the first down.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
Anyway.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
All that being instead is he was actually still towards
the bottom of the league in success rate. So I'm
saying that Bryce Young, as much as I believe in him,
he played better to a degree, but he still wasn't
a bo Nix's caliber. And I'm not saying like I
love bo Nix that much. I'm just saying I trust
bon Nicks, I trust Courtland Sutton over a rookie and
Bryce Young, and it's a very narrow margin. They're back
to back. But that's why I'm going to go the

(21:11):
time break to Sutton.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Fits I was kind of finalizing this is season long,
not Week one, but my kind of season long official
rankings for the Fantasy Pros accuracy contests last night, and
I was feeling very bold and just like, if I
want to be overly aggressive on one guy this year,
it is Teteroa McMillan, and I ended up actually pushing
him all the way up to my wide receiver twelve

(21:34):
for the season, which it's only tied for the highest
ranking amongst anybody in the in the contest, but I
wanted to be higher than Deebro, which we'll talk about
when we record our Friday show later this week. But
but I just feel so convicted about him week one,
though I do get why there could be a case

(21:55):
against it. So I'm not saying that like he's a
mustart in every circumstance, regardless in the first ever NFL game,
So what do you think between McMillan and.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Were might need to beat you at the bar fits?
That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
So the other person who has Tetoroe McMillan wide receiver
twelve is not Derek Brown.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
No, he's got a wide receiver forty.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
I tweeted last night my like my iface pros does
like a cool thing where creates a graphic four the
experts to share it very easily, and I shared my
graphic of the receivers and I tagged Debro in it.
I was like balls in your court to catch out
to me here, I believe he has a wide receiver fourteen.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, so I've got McMillan ranked ahead of Sutton wide
receiver sixteen for McMillan Sutton wide receiver twenty two. No
issues with Sutton, you know, I feel like low end
wide receiver two is a perfectly respectable place for him
to be. But if I were betting on which of
these guys was going to get more targets this week,
I'm absolutely betting McMillan over Sutton. The Panthers traded Adam

(22:53):
Thielen Jalen Cocher is hurt. They're being forced to trot
out Hunter Renfro as their slot man. Their outside receiver
opposite McMillan is Xavier Lagette, who is just objectively bad
as a rookie last year one point one nine yards
per route run, five point nine yards per target. McMillan
should be in line for heavy target volume right away
against a Jacksonville defense that doesn't really have any cornerback

(23:15):
matchups to fear well, at least not as long as
Travis Hunter's primarily being used as a wide out and
not a corner. So yeah, just I feel like McMillan
has a really good chance at ten plus targets this week.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Are there any surprising names that you're starting McMillan ahead of, like,
beyond Sutton obviously, but anybody else that might surprise listeners?

Speaker 3 (23:37):
I mean, right, Fred Harrison, Yeah, same, Garrett Wilson. Wilson
is a tough matchup Terry McLaurin, DeVante Adams.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Not McLaurin or Adams worst. Yeah, you're just in general
spots in front of me, but I do have them
in front of, like you said, Garrett Wilson as well
in front of DJ Moore.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
So oh yeah, yeah, let's let's go to two other
rookie receivers here at Mechagbuka or Matthew Golden. Abuka was
going higher than Golden, but that gap.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
For as much as Igbuka was rising throughout August, Golden
was also rising in real time ADP. So at this
point as we sit here, you know one of these
Aguka is ranked higher. But I'm curious if you guys
see a case for Golden because he is I think
the better chance to be his team's leading target getter
in this in this first week, as supposed to a

(24:31):
Buka who will likely be behind Mike Evans fits.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I'll start with you on this one, Agbuka or Golden.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
In week one, egg Buka, he was the better prospect
all along with the far better college resume, and now
he's a chance to be a full time guy right
away with Chris Godwin out, and I like Agbuka's matchup
against Atlanta. The Falcon secondary isn't very good and it
looks like their top slot cornerback is going to be
fourth round rookie Billy Bowman junior, who was a safety

(24:59):
at Oklahoma. So I like Egbuka in that head to
head match up. If you know, Igbuka takes most of
his SLA snaps in the slot. And all the news
about Golden coming out of training camp was positive, but
the target distribution in Green Bay could be just wildly
unpredictable from week to week, just as it was last year.

(25:20):
I don't think Golden really profiles as a high volume
target earner, and Detroit has one of the best defensive
backfields in the league.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Jake, what do you think.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
I hear everything, but I'm still going Golden, and I
don't disagree. I had Agbuca clearly as the better prospect. Actually,
at that time of the draft, not knowing what was
going on with the situation, I thought Isaiah Bond was
the better wide receiver than Matthew Golden. But I also
considered the landing spots. And I'm not saying fits wrong
is what he's saying. Buka is the number two. I
just look at the fact that I think Golden is

(25:51):
clearly the one. Jaden Reed is dealing with the foot issue.
How much is he out there? And I go back
to the how much is he out there for this
entire Packer's crew. This is what frustrated us last year
in Fantasy was that nobody on the Packers was getting
more than sixty five seventy percent of the routes. And
we were just like, what the hell is They're trotting
out a bunch of twos and threes and just like, Hey,
who's going to do it this week? And I think
that the answer is we still have a bunch of

(26:12):
two or threes. I still like Dobbs as a nice
flyer because I don't know how long Jana Reid is
going to last. And I'm talking about for waivers, but
Dobbs is the big play threat. I think Golden can
do everything that the Packers need him to do. I
don't think he's a super complete wide receiver, let me
make that clear. Like I don't think he's of the
ilk of Abuka, but I do think he is the
number one and I agree the Detroit secondary is worrisome.

(26:34):
But at the same time, I don't see this going
out there and being a thirteen to ten ground and
pound game on both sides. It maybe I'm wrong in
that aspect, but I just look at the one versus
the two, and that's why I give him the slight edge.
It's very close. This is another one. They almost are
back to back of my rankings, but I go with
the one slid edge over the two for his team.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
I also feel like fits that like, I expect both
of these teams to be pass heavy in Week one,
but if one of their opponents was to lay a
complete egg and therefore allowed the team to be more
run heavy, I think it would be the Falcons allowing
the Bucks to run more. I don't like the Lions
that they are going to score, and therefore I think
the Packers are going to need to throw to keep up,

(27:13):
even if the Lions maybe have the stronger secondary than
the Falcons do.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
If that, if that logic makes sense.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, I mean maybe. But like the Packers were something
like eight percent over expected run rate last year, So.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
Jordan Love, it will hurt some.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
I've been operating under theseember right, that's because of Love's
injuries probably.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, Love was never truly healthy. So but like normally,
Lafleur has been pretty close to even as far as run.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Yes, I will say one thing for FITs' argument against
yours worm is that the Jordan or Jordan the Jared
golf outdoors thing isn't really a thing anymore, especially as
we just saw last year in December outdoors and yes,
one in San Francisco, but back to back weeks in
San Francisco and Chicago putting up big numbers. The one
area he does still struggle in Green Bay. Actually, almost

(28:02):
every single year he struggled in Green Bay. So if
there is I thought you were going to say this,
if there was a game that I did say it
wasn't going to be a thirteen to ten ground and pound.
But if it was a slog and all of a
sudden both offenses are struggling, I think that is in play,
more so for the Lions, which would pull back the
passing game for the Packers. Anyway, you just create whate
over narrative you want. This is how you create. No,
I'm not I'm not even I'm not joking by saying

(28:23):
that it's like out there that's struggling with these decisions.
What is the narrative you believe that could happen and
that helps you make your decision.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
It does, but it makes me think of like the
numbers never lie with the big asters on ESPN, and
like you can you can frame it the way you
want to. Before we move off this, when did those
games usually happen though?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
In Green Bay? I can't remember what time of year.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
Was a season I was looking sea a little bit colder. Yeah,
I don't even think it was that bad though, because
I was looking at golf the other day for that
and referencing there was two games and I think it
was outdoors, Harry, I'll tell you right now. So outdoors
in Green Bay Week nine last year somewhat cold. I
could go back and actually like look at the temperature,
but week four of the year before, it wasn't that.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Okay, Yeah, yeah, relatively really Yeah, all right, let's get
to we'll kind of go quicker through. We have like
a larger chunk of we call it rapid fire.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Doesn't need to be like literally a rapid fire, but
we'll kind of go quicker through these ones. We got
a running back or receiver, quarterback, a tight end, and
a handful of flex head to heads here. These are
mostly more veterans. I do have one more kind of
rookie head to head here, so we'll just do that now.
The running back Dylan Sampson, who we talked about a
little and talking about the Browns versus Jacory Krossky Merritt,

(29:35):
who was this darling of the preseason. Then the depth
chart comes out and he's OURB four on it for
the Commanders. I don't know how much weight we're putting
on that, So I wanted to ask Dylan Sampson or
Bill Merritt, fits will go with you first.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
I'm not gonna deny Bill, so I'll go with Krosskey Merritt.
They're both going to be committee guys. I know, Samson's
matchup against the Bengals is pretty attractive, but like krossky
Merrit's match against the Giants might not be a bad
one either. I mean, if you're going up against the
defense that includes Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, Abdul Carter,

(30:09):
Kevon Thibodeau, when you want to run the ball to
keep those guys from pitting their ears back and going
hard after Jayden Daniels. So I could see the Commanders
endeavoring to, you know, get the run game going in
this one.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
But what do you think fits the usage is going
to look like in this backfield? Just like now that
we have seen what the depth start looks like, we've
seen what the preseasons looked like, We've heard all the
quotes coming out of camp, what do you actually expect
this breakdown to be?

Speaker 3 (30:37):
I'll say, like twelve to fourteen carries for krossky Merritts,
you know, four or five for Eckler, plus a good
number of targets and maybe you know four or five
for Chris Rodriguez.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Jake, what do you think about Sampson versus crossky Merit.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
Yeah, this is a big disagreement between us. I am
full on Samson because I think he is Austin Eckler,
as I mentioned. But and maybe this is trusting the
wrong people, but I'm talking to people that cover the
commanders and say, this is a real committee and a
real problem coming out of the gate. And the fact
that they're not just doing coach speak with Chris Rodriguez.
They're acknowledging the fact the team is that they love

(31:17):
Krossky Merrit. They do clearly love them, but love him
also long term. And the fact that they're acknowledging he's
played one game since twenty twenty three and this is
going to be a committee because they want him healthy
for the second half of the season. So don't be surprised.
And I'm quoting, and I'm not gonna say who it
is in case he's wrong, but quoting say, don't be
surprised if Krossky Merrick it's like five touches in week one,

(31:39):
just because they are going committee and thinking long term
with Krossky Merit. So that's the only reason I'm going
to this. If Judkins was out there for the Browns,
I'd be one hundred percent with fits. But it's just
two versus three. And that's where I'm going to go
with Samson.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
I wonder, too fit We'll go quicker on the other
ones here, But I wonder if if it is a committee,
that not only is it a committee, but that Jacory
Krossky Merrit is getting the worst of the touches to
be getting. Yeah, Eckler catching passes, Rodriguez getting the goal
line carries and build just between the twenties back and
even if he does get some amount, you know, some

(32:16):
percentage of these touches, it's not the good percentage.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah, the high value touch is going to the other guy.
That's a concern. And I know, h you know, Ben Gretch,
really sharp analyst calls the guys who get the between
the twenties touches trap backs, and trap is an acronym.
I wish I knew what it stands for, but like
it's an apt acronym because four backs, yes, yes, And

(32:38):
you know, like I'm not bullish on Crosskey Merrit overall.
In drafts, I had him as like a running back
four and like I've I've got a ton of Eckler
in drafts, and I got some Chris Rodriguez really late
I don't know if I drafted Crosskey Merrit anywhere because
he was just too one share.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
Of him, and I have him both in the thirties
this week. It's not like' like ah yeah, like.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Get get yeah, same here, yeah, same here. I've got
Crosskey Merit. I think at RB thirty seven this week,
so I don't think you should even start him. I
just maybe like I'm a smidge more than Samson.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
All right, let's go to a receiver here, Roma Dunsay
or Calvin Ridley. Jacob, curious what your thought is on
this one. I know you've been high on a duneesday
throughout the summer.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
I told you what you coin flipping me for. This
is Dunsday is one spot in front of Ridley, Like
this is like I have so much Ridley this season,
and I've been talking him up, talking him and talking
up but included the fact of b warned Week one
is a tough road and I'm one there like hey, like,
I look at matchups, but don't overrate corners too much
because teams can move wide receivers around. Volume can off

(33:40):
set it. But the concerning thing is when you have
somebody certain's level and then also the defense around him.
Wh'ere sure you can move them around, but you're still
facing the tough defense no matter where you get moved.
Minnesota also has a good defense. But I'll give a
dunsay the slight edge, very very slight edge over Calvin
Ridley in week one, just because I believe a little
bit more in offense and a little bit more in

(34:01):
that game. I love some cam Award, but I think
it could be a kind of a two for fifty
game for Ridley, where I think that Dooonsday Caz just
has a little bit better of a bet in week one.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Well, let me go ahead and like apologize. For the
course of the season, there's probably gonna be a lot
of these coin flips now throwing your way. I try
to find dams that are close in ECR close ish
that you guys disagree on, and the point of that
is so that you know the audience get kind of
here both sides of the argument.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
Stronger opinions on like much of the rest of that,
just like movie rankings in my article this week, So
like a much more stronger opinions coming up.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, oh go, I'm looking forward to hearing this.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
If it's what do you think Roma Dunesday or Calvin
Ridley in this really tough matchup?

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Yeah, I mean, and this might be a dilemma people
have if they drafted. You know, Ridley and Rome as
like their second, third, or third and fourth receivers. So
it's close for me too. I've got both ranked as
back end wide receiver threes this week. I think I'm
going Ridley. I know for a lot of people, Patrick's

(35:05):
or Tan Junior is just a skull and crossbones matchup.
They want to stay far away, just poison, not starting Ridley.
But it's just it's really hard to tell what the
target distribution is going to look like for the Bears
in any given week. So even though Dunsay is a
better matchup, like, Ridley is the clear number one guy
for the Titans, and I think I'm going to roll

(35:26):
with him over Adoonsay, I just feel like, even with
a tough matchup, Ridley is probably getting at least seven
or eight targets this week.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Let's do some flexes.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Aaron Jones versus Jalen Waddle fits. I'll start with you
on this one.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
Oh man, I'll say Waddle, it's in the coin flip zone.
Really close call. I'm just a big Jalen Wattle guy,
like three straight thousand yard seasons to begin his NFL career,
former sixth overall pick. Like, I don't want to just
totally fade the guy because last year was a bad year,
obviously related to the quarterback situation.

Speaker 4 (35:57):
Jake, I'm going this is one that like, I have
Aaron Jones hired, not by much, but this is really
the answer that people need. If it's a safe play,
you want, it's Aaron Jones. The Bears run defense is
still a concern. I know they've made some changes, but
still a concern going to this year. And that's the Hey,
I know I'm going to get production, Jalen Waddle. If
you want the ceiling, that's the way I would go.
But I don't know how many people are chasing a

(36:18):
super high ceiling in Week one?

Speaker 2 (36:20):
How about DK Metcalf or Travis Etn?

Speaker 4 (36:24):
Jake, Oh, DK Metcalf, Like, I don't even want the
guaranteed points with Etn? How much does that lead even mean?
I know that DK Metcalf, Hey, could he career high
on targets this year? He's had one hundred and twenty
plus before, But one hundred thirty one hundred and forty
Aaron Rodgers lead wide receiver over the past eight years,
I think six times have been over one hundred thirty
targets or at least one hundred and twenty somewhere in

(36:45):
that range. I saw the stat the other day. I
wish I would have penned it. But yeah, Dk Metcalf,
the volume is coming, and I you give me ten targets,
give me eight targets. DK Metcalf is probably finishing as
a top twenty wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
So we finally have one that is not a coin flip.
Have very strong conviction on here.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yes, fits, what do you think.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
I'm gonna go with etn here? So I worry about
Metcalfs chemistry with Aaron Rodgers, like his lead receivers in
the past were Devonte Adams, Jordan Nelson, these guys who
Rogers is a timing guy. He wants his receivers in
specific places and he wants them there on time. And
that's not really DK Metcalf's game. Like his game is
just like I'm covered, throw me the ball, I'm gonna

(37:25):
get it. And so, yeah, I don't know about that.
I think it's gonna be really messy. I also don't
know how much like Aaron Rodgers wants to just like
sit back in the pocket anymore. Like I think he's
kind of tired of getting hit. So I'm gonna give
the edged et. And he's listed as a co starter
with Tank Bigsby. I think it's fine to have a

(37:48):
half share of carries against a Panthers defense that gave
up twenty five hundred rushing yards to running backs last year.
That was almost five hundred more rushing yards allowed than
the next worst run defense. And I know, getting Derek
Brown back from injury, uh not our Derek Brown, by
the way, that's gonna help the Carolina rundy a little bit.

(38:10):
But like this Panther's rundy is still not gonna be good.
So I'll take etn here.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Well, then when we speak, were you for the next one?
Go ahead?

Speaker 2 (38:18):
That's gonna says Biggs.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah. The next one is taking big Y versus Juan
Jennings fits.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah, same thing. I'm going Bigsby and Jennings like he's
been idle for a while, hasn't really practiced because of
you know this uh injury slash contract impass and the
Seahawks have some really good corners man Devon Weatherspoon and
uh Reek Wollen. Like tough matchup.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
Yeah, this is another one. I'm just gonna go with Jenning's.
I'm going on the upside of the wide receivers, like
I just if I'm again this kind of is the
Aaron Jones one if I need points. Cool, but like
I could see Bigsby actually being the better option than
the eat N if this is a runaway game to start,
Like if they're up fourteen to three, I could see
more Bigsby. And that's why I kind of lean off ETN.
If it's all of a sudden they stay competitive and

(39:04):
keep it going, I can see more ETN than Bigsby.
So for me, I think that, like I hope you
Like I've never said this about an athletic coworker, but
I hope Vic Taefer is wrong. Like he came out
yesterday and said that I hate to ruin everybody's fantasy's excitement.
I'm paraphrasing, but he said, Ricky Pearsall might not be

(39:24):
what people want him to be this year. He might
not be the one. It's still Jennings. Jennings is out
there this is what we're excited to see him. Piersill
is still working his way up, will be the number two,
but he still has some improvements to make. I didn't
love seeing that. I saw some of the improvements from
Ricky Pearsel. I still ranked Piersoll slightly in front of
Jennings for this week, but on that upside of Jennings,
I'm just gonna take Jennings. It's kind of comes down

(39:47):
to again, I'm gonna it depends on your team. I
don't want five points, and I feel like Etn and
Bigsby without a touchdown are kind of five six point guys,
and I'm just gonna go for the wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
One more flex here, Jake Marvin Mims or Jordan Mason.

Speaker 4 (40:01):
This is one hundred percent. What do you need? Do
you need points Mason? If you're going for ceiling, it's Mims.
And I hate to put that on the people listening,
but it's true. Like if I just want the production,
like I will rank Mason higher. That's really what it is. Like,
I am ranking Mason higher. That's the production. But if
I need it to somehow be like, hey, you know
what I drafted early August I already lost somebody. Brian

(40:23):
Robinson got got traded. I have an injury, and I
just need a ceiling play. This ceiling play is Marvin
Mims fits.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
Oh man. I've been president of the Marvin Mims Fan
club ball off season, but I gotta go with Mason here.
Like the same reason, right, Pretty yeah, I mean pretty
good bet for at least ten or twelve touches. Gives
you the Monday night hammer just in case you're down
after Sunday. That's always nice to have in your pocket.
This would be closer if not for the groin slash

(40:52):
thigh injury that Mims has been dealing with lately. Like
he's expected to play. But I'd rather just roll off
Mason and not take any chances.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
I've got a quarterback and a tight end decision here.
We'll do the quarterback first. Trevor Lawrence or Kyler Murray fits.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
What do you think about that one?

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Lawrence? Pretty favorable matchups for both. I like Lawrence's matchup
just a little bit more. The Panthers allow the third
most fantasy points to quarterbacks last year. They gave up
a league high thirty five touchdown passes last season, and
the Panthers opponent passer rating of one h five point
four was worst in the league. So it's just Kyler

(41:29):
could have a good game against the Saints too. I
don't think the Saints cornerbacks or pass rush are all
that fearsome, but I could also see, you know, the
Cardinals really just wanting to run the heck out of
the ball in that game.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
These guys are back to back in ECR by the
way QB nine and QB ten, and given where they
were going in drafts, I do think it's possible that
there are teams out there who have Kyler as their
starter and Lawrence as their backup, and we'll have this
decision to make, Jake, what do you think Lawrence or Kyler?

Speaker 4 (41:56):
It's Kyler, But by this limitst of margins, I just
I have. I have the excitement everybody does, like the
Jaguars are one of the most popular breakout offenses, and
we're finally going to get what we get from Trevor Lawrence.
But I know that Kyler doesn't run like he used to,
but he still runs, and I know what I'm getting
for Kyler. Am I going to get Trevor Lawrence? I'm
gonna get Trevor Lawrence. We've seen for his entire NFL

(42:17):
career so far, and that's terrible decisions and impatient throws
and just I mean, I want to see it, and
I have no problem if you want to start Trevor Lawrence.
And this is a coin flip this again situation, but
I'm going Kyler, all.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Right, the tight end one here, my end. A lot
of people's two favorite tight end breakouts late round picks
you could make this year, Tyler Warren and Tucker Craft.
I know I am in a couple leagues where I
have both of them. I know Ericson is in leagues
where he's both of them are content team league.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
He took both of them.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
So if you took both of them and said I'm
going to take two shots here getting a breakout tight end,
but you got to pick one to start each week, Jake,
who are you starting?

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Tyler Warren or Tucker Craft?

Speaker 4 (42:56):
I will say if you saw what I sent you
and you see the update, I originally was leaning Craft,
but the more I thought about it, I brought up
the whole situation with golf and how this game could go.
And then I saw some reporting this morning that's the
offensive coordinator and team and Colts in general. And look,
this is a completely different answer than a month ago
when Anthony Richardson was thought to possibly be in the

(43:18):
quarterback But Daniel Jones lives in the intermediate field. That
lives there. Tyler Warren being called Gronkowski is obviously hyperbole,
let's be clear about that. But when the team has
that kind of aspirations for him, I'm going to give
Warren the ceiling in the edge here, mostly because again,
Daniel Jones is the quarterback. I actually think it's concerning
for Alec Pierce, a little bit concerning for Michael Pittman,

(43:40):
but also concerning for Josh Downs, who I think fits
either quarterback style. But Josh Downs is more of a
threat to be hurt by Warren, which, again, Daniel Jones,
I'm gonna go with Warren fits.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
I feel like you're gonna agree, but correct me if
I'm wrong.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
No, I agree, it's Tyler Warren.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Hey, we finally got agreement.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Yeah, and you know well, and I'm high on Craft too,
But the Lions are just kind of a tough matchup
for him. Detroit a lot of the second fewest fantasy
points to tight ends last year, and Kraft had thirty
four and forty one yards in his two games against
the Lions last season.

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(44:36):
Fantasy Pros app and make winning decisions in no time.
All right, guys, we'll wrap things up with our touchdown
calls contest. Jake, who are you picking at running back?

Speaker 4 (44:44):
Yeah, which probably makes me sound like I should come
off Coyler Murray, But it's James Connor, just because I
think they should be able to handle this game. I
think they're an interesting survivor pick that people are making.
I don't know if I would make them my one
hundred percent pick, but it's an interesting one that could
be the worst team in the league in that you
target to potentially go Ohen seventeen and if so in
there in control plenty of runs and James Connor while

(45:06):
he's healthy.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
James Connor while.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Healthy is RB one and he's a good bet to
score every single week. I know the easiest one would
been Derek Henry, but I want to be a little
bit more interesting than that.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Uh, Fits, he's your pick.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
Well, my pick is definitely not in a survivor pool.
The Cardinals on the road in Week one, No, but
I am going to take a Cardinal for my touchdown
coll I'm going to take Marvin Harrison Junior. I just
I think there's a mandate for Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew
pettsing to get Marvin Harrison Junior going this season, Like
they spent the fourth overall pick on him last year.

(45:39):
They need this dude to be a star. And you
know who else is going to catch touchdown passes for
the Cardinals Tray McBride. Come on, you know he doesn't
score touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
I'm pretty invested in Trey McBride this year. So I'm
hoping that you end up being wrong about this stance.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Fits.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
I hope he is right about like we've talked about
a few weeks ago and I brought up in fits agreed,
like stop sending them on freaking go routes. I put
this in the article It's insane. The Cardinals Marvin Harrison
one hundred and two go routes last year, sixteenth most
in the league. You know what separation score was minus
point zero six 't nine, which is eighth worst among

(46:16):
all wide receivers with fifty plus rounds. Like, stop sending
them on verts every damn play, right, His average depth
of target was like over thirteen yards.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
And if you look at the average depth of target
for the top guys like Jamar Chase and Seeding Lamp, like,
it's a lot shorter than that because those guys get
some easy completions near the line of scrimmage too, in
addition to the deep stuff. And like Marvin Harrison junior,
if you watched him at Ohio State, like he wasn't
you know, a vertical receiver. That wasn't his game.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
No, that's part of like he would like when you
said about his route concerns coming out of college, part
of it was that would be one of his route
concerns that was coming out of college.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Is that right?

Speaker 4 (46:51):
We don't need to be doing this with him. Sorry
to sidebar you there.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Sorry, I've got tight end.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
I am not keeping making this a Cardinals if I'm
not taking Trey McBride, I am going with Mark Andrews.
And you know, the Ravens care about winning more than
they care about individual accolades or anything. But I do
think that this is a team that adores Mark Andrews.
He's a veteran leader, he has been a consummate professional
and a great players. He's probably gonna be in the
Ravens Ring of honor one day. And they heard all

(47:20):
offseason people talking about like gott to trade him away.
He cost them this playoff game, both with the fumble
he had in the second half against the Bills and
obviously the drop everybody remembers at the very end. I
think the Ravens are going to go into this game
and say, if the opportunity to presents itself, we are
going to get Andrews a touchdown to get him some
redemption and feel like they're getting some small form of revenge.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Lamar loves Andrews.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
He's gonna be even said he's not, the fact that
he just Trusts Andrews more than anybody else when they're
in the red zone he has his entire career. I
think they also wanted to see him catch a touchdown
in this game, so this was an easy first call
with them going back to the scene of the crime
in Buffalo. I think the Ravens are going to try
and get Andrews touchdown here, and it's going to be
a high scoring game. It's gonna be a lot of
throwing back and forth, so I think they'll have an
opportunity to do it. So we've got James Conner at

(48:05):
running back, Marvin Harrison Junior at wide receiver, and Mark
Andrews at tight end. Let us know in the comments
who you think blows it for us? Which are those
three you think doesn't score a touchdown? On who was
wrong in their touchdown calls? Contest pick. You could dominate
your fantasy football league with Fantasy Pros Premium, now available
free for six months when you deposit and place your
first wager on one of our partner sports books. This

(48:27):
is the easiest way to get full access to our
top fantasy tools all season long. Go to fantasypros dot
com slash Premium to get started. Before we get out
of here, I should ask you this at the top
of Jake, what are you going on for in season
coverage at the.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Athletic Yeah, waivers rankings matchup rankings, which I know people
are like taking them with a grand as salt, and
I agree because they get more accurate as the season
goes on. But I adjust a lot in the off
season four movement and changes, so like some of the
worst aren't the worst as you might expect.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
But yes, the.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Top twenty five movie rankings that I've watched so far
in twenty twenty five, Superman was number one, How to
Train Your Drag, and I'm surprised nobody got I always
thought people were gonna come for me. I put that
at too, just because I love it so much. In
Front of Weapons Weapons was three.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
I didn't even see How to Train Your Dragon. This
the remake because I loved the original animated so much.
I was like, why did they need to make it?
What was the remake? Good?

Speaker 3 (49:14):
It was?

Speaker 4 (49:15):
It's it's live it's the remake. It's not even a
remake er, it's just if you wanted the animated one
to be live action, boom, you got it. And that's
all I needed. And that's why I just love it.
The only I will say not having Craig Ferguson was
the only one that kind of hurt, just not having
him as a Gobbler or whatever the heck his name was.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Was, whatever the name is.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yet I did love the animated one, so maybe I
will have to check out the remake.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
We'll see fits Did you see that? When I'm guessing not.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
I did not. Weapons is definitely on my short list
of movies.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
I don't do horror movies. That's like I just I
love movies.

Speaker 4 (49:47):
You watch because it's vampire, not high not like real horror.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
You know what I didn't. I wanted to see Sinners,
I didn't.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
Did you checked in at number four?

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Well, I was supposed to watch that with my daughter,
who was a horror movie, but then she cheated on
me and went with some friends and watched the movies.
I didn't get to. I didn't get to see it.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Watch it a thriller like I like like Silence of
the Lambs or like get Out.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
That's like kind of.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Horror, but like more closer towards the thriller side of things,
but like true horror.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
I don't really do a good job with Well.

Speaker 4 (50:15):
See then you might like weapons, Weapons was kind of
more thriller, Like it's not like super like jump ghost
out of the closet type of thing.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Yeah, like like paranormal activity that's like not my bag,
like that type of movie.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Okay, we're before we go. I just have to ask,
was it cathartic for you to talk about the Mark
Andrews drop on the eve of a new Baltimore Ravens station.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Holding on to that still, I'm not sure how many
times I've actually discussed it in the last seven months,
or however many months it's been. It was. It's been
very difficult to uh to bring up, so maybe a
little bit cathartic. I like, I also just love Mark Andrews,
Like he's an awesome dude and has been a great
representative for Baltimore for a while. So it's like, you know,
you feel like he just he just takes so much

(50:56):
heat for so long that you want to like, they weren't.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
The ones I would player you want to hang out with?
Is Mark Andrews?

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Oh my gosh, he'd be up there on the list
for sure. I would need to think more about it
before you know, Yo, who would be fun?

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Is Marlin?

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Humphrey just because that dude is wild, takes on everything.
It would definitely have to be a raven.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
I want to hang out with David Montgomery because he's
just like us, well me and liking all those superhero
like all the anime and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Jamal Williams would be fun for that reason too.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
Yes, I was gonna say also Xavier Leaguet because I
could understand half the stuff he was saying. I would
be lacking the whole time.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Zavery Lee, get Hey, v goowayd uh fits. What about you?
Who would you hang out with?

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Oh? Darre A Goomba Walley because we went to the
same high school and the same university. Really nice, that's
what we did.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Well, let us know the comments who you guys would
hang out with? You don't pick any NFL player spend
a day with them. I will go ahead and wrap
up there. For Jake and Fitz, I'm ryan warmly thanks
for tuning in. We'll see again every Thursday all season long.
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

(52:04):
at fantasypros dot com, Slash Review or on Spotify.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Follow us on x

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Instagram and TikTok at fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our
YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasypros

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Start Dylan Sampson or Jacory Croskey-Merritt? | Week 1 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sleepers, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls! (Ep. 1689)

Episode Transcript

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Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

Derek Brown

Thor Nystrom

Ryan Wormeli

Pat Fitzmaurice

Matthew Freedman

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Start Dylan Sampson or Jacory Croskey-Merritt? | Week 1 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sleepers, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls! (Ep. 1689)