The 15 Biggest Fantasy Football Questions for Week 2 (Ep. 1705)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy pros Football Podcast. I'm
Ryan Warmley, joined as I am every Friday morning, by
Derek Brown and by Pat fitz Morris. Guys, we were
doing our Key Questions episode, as we will be doing
every Friday morning all season long. Unlike last week, we
were actually taping this on Friday morning so we can
actually react to the Thursday night game and fits. Like

(00:22):
I went into this season, I didn't say this on
any shows because I wasn't on any shows we were
doing official predictions. The Packers were my Super Bowl pick
to come out of the NFC. I feel pretty good
about that through two weeks. Man, how are you feeling
about your team?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm feeling really good, Worm, And you know, I think
I can speak for a lot of Packers fans on this,
at least, you know, older Packer fans like myself. But
like over the last twenty five plus years or so,
like post Reggie White retirement, like the Packers have had
a lot of teams with, you know, like very good

(00:54):
to great offenses betrayed by leaky defenses. That's a big
part of the reason that Aaron Rodgers only won one
Super Bowl during his time in Green Bay. This is
the best defense the Packers have had since the Reggie White,
Leroy Butler, Santana Dots and Craig Newsom, et cetera, et
cetera heyday in the mid to late nineties. Like this

(01:17):
defense is awesome, and you know everyone knows Michael Parsons
and huge get for them, Xavier McKinney, Edger and Cooper,
those guys look like stars. And then like all these
unherlded guys they have in the secondary like Keishawn Nickson, Carrington, Valentine,
Javon Bullard, Like this is a really good defense, and
for fantasy, I think this is a defense that we

(01:41):
are quickly going to regard the way we maybe regard
the Denver defense, Like, oh no, you know, this is
not a good matchup for my guys, Like do I
maybe sit this guy that most weeks I'm unquestionably starting.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, Debro, I mean, I you know, I mentioned that
I had the Packers, I had them as my Super
Bowl pick before the Micah Parsons. Straight. Now that that's
got down, the defense is just on a whole another level.
And I like, I know that there's stuff going on
with both the Lions and the Commanders in terms of
like we expected some regressions maybe from Washington. The Lions,
of course losing Ben Johnson. These are not the exact

(02:15):
same teams as they were a year ago. But having
said that, these were two of the best offenses in
football a year ago, and the Packers were not challenged
by them.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
No, man, and I'll be very transparent here. I wrote
about it in the primer for the last two weeks.
I needed to see with the green Bay Packers defense.
I believed their run defense was legit. I did not
move off of that, even despite the moving Kenny Clark.
And I said this before, I said before we turned
the cameras on. But one of the greatest things Brian

(02:43):
Kunankus has ever done is convincing Jerry Jones that the
reason that the Green Bay Packers run defense was good
was because of Kenny Clark. It was not, and they
are still a top shelf unit against the run. But
I needed to see it with the secondary. Man, these corners,
we all talked about them all offseason, what was this
going to look like? And you know, I dunked on

(03:03):
them and stuff, and then they're playing really good football. Man, Mike,
and I think two parts of this one we got
to respect to the Packers defense and two to the
Commander's side. Dude, their offensive line is a problem. Josh
Connery is like he got smoked the entire night. He
didn't have a chance against Michael Parsons or whoever they
put up against him. Like dudes having a hold guy,

(03:24):
So Jane Daniels doesn't get like crushed into Smith reens.
So they got to figure out the offensive line, specifically
right tackle and Cliff Kingsbury. Man, we gotta get anything
besides the screen and go balls and back shoulder throws
to Noah Brown. Anything you got anything else? Crossers deeve overs,
stretching the field deep, stretching the defense vertically. Because if

(03:45):
you're not willing to run the ball, and you're going
to sit here and put everything and lay it all
of the feet of Jane Daniels and ask him to
forget every sin. Jane Daniels can do a lot of that,
but he can't do everything.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Man.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
You got to help him out some way like that.
This offense was so vanilla and just predictable, dude, Like
you knew they were going to run the ball after
the beginning of this game. Even though this game wasn't
out of reach for most of it, they just didn't
have the inclination to just hey Jayden, go save us.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
It felt more out of reach than it actually was.
The score was a bit deceiving, and like you look
at the stat line, like, oh, Jane Daniels like two
hundred yards, two touchdowns. You know, that's not the worst
day ever. It's like that was all garbage time. Like this,
this offense was doing nothing until the end of the game.
You know, no rusher, whether Jane Daniels or one of
the running backs, had even twenty yards in this game.

(04:39):
You know, obviously Ertz had the late touchdown, but yeah,
it just fits nothing doing from this offense.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, that was it. But like again, I mean, I
don't worry about Jade Daniels too much. Like one of
my one of my now Packer fan friends was texting
me during that game. He's like, you know, Jayde Daniels
is a phenomenal quarterback, completely amazing, and our defense is
making him look like Jacoby Burssette tonight.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yep. Yeah, jeez. That's a pretty harsh praise, or right,
I would say, for strong praise, for for the Packers.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Sorry, Jacoby, Yeah, it's fair.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, I did in this quickly on the Packers' offense
because we mostly talk about the defense. Like obviously, like
Jordan Love is looking like he was a pretty good
value where he was going. Tucker Craft clearly looking like,
you know, one of the better tight ends you know
so far it's only two games in. Other pass catchers,
and obviously Josh Jacobs, we know what he is, but
fit's other pass catchers in this offense, Like is it

(05:40):
I mean, it's not over for Golden right, he's two
weeks in, but I know you and Deeber were both
a little lower in him going in Jayden Reid gets
hurt here, Like is there a room to be starting
anybody here besides Craft Jacobs? And then depending on your
quarterback situation Love.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
That's the weird thing that Love has played well and
you still feel like you can't really start any pack
or pass catchers besides Tucker Craft, And like, I don't
know that the Jaden Reid injury, which probably I saw
one estimate of six to eight weeks that seems pretty
optimistic for a broken collar bone. I don't know if
we see him before Thanksgiving or even December. But like,

(06:15):
I don't know if Reed's absence makes Dobbs, Golden Dontevinwick's
any more playable. I kind of think they're just gonna
plug savvy on Williams in the Reeds role and see
what he can do. So I still think it's going
to be, you know, weirdly, just this wide receiver by
committee approach where you can't really use any of these

(06:36):
guys unless you're really in a bind and the bye
weeks are hitting and you've got a lot of injuries.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
This is what I said, d Row before the season.
We had our one of our key questions in our
season long preview episode was kind of comparing some of
our favorite later on quarterbacks, and I said, the reason
I liked Love so much was I expected this to
be a good team, but I didn't know who to
pick out of the pass catchers. So let me just
make sure I'm getting kind of all of them, you know,
by getting the quarterback in Love, do you have a

(07:04):
favorite out of them? I mean obviously you left Tucker Craft,
I mean besides him, or are you kind of avoiding
them all too?

Speaker 3 (07:09):
It's Craft or nobody, and for everybody to look like
I will own this too, about this, like I was
not high on him in the primer, but dude, like after,
I mean, let's not just have like revisionist history about
yesterday and okay, Tucker Craft had an amazing day one
twenty four seven targets. Let's also talk about like what
we did and didn't know before week two. I mean,

(07:32):
Jordan Love still only threw the ball in this game
thirty one times in week one. Jordan Love threw the
ball twenty two times in Week one. No pass catcher
in the Green Bay offense had more than five targets.
Craft himself had four and the touchdown saved his fantasy day.
And so no, it's it's Craft or nobody, dude, Like

(07:53):
I wrote it up in the primer, Dubbs and Craft
were the only guys with over like a sixty percent
route here. Matthew Golden didn't even eclipse sixty percent. All
these other guys, Dontavian Wicks, everybody else didn't eclipse sixty percent.
It is wide receiver by committee. You can't even like,
I think Matthew Golden's droppable. And I'm not going to
move off of that because in a wide receiver by

(08:14):
committee approach. He got two targets in week one and
two targets in week two, and we've seen what this
offense looks like and Love was awesome. There's still a
passing volume concern here in this offense. Thirty one times
when he had nine point four yards per attempt and
threw for two touchdowns, Like, that's really good, but it

(08:36):
doesn't make me feel better about Jordan Love moving forward.
The only person with this offense or two people I
want to start in fantasy from this offense is Josh
Jacobs and Tucker Craft, and it's nobody else, Dude, nobody.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
I'm a little more optimistic about Love going before we
can move off this game and get to the questions
going forward, I'm a little more optimist about Love going forward.
I think he will start connecting me.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
And he played really good, But I mean like it's
the past volumere. I mean like.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
It's never see every time every year we see a
passing quarterback run really hot for the whole season, like
Baker Mayfield last year. And I'm I think this offense
is good enough that there's a chance that that's loved. Also,
not every game will the defense be so utterly dominant
that they don't have to throw.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
There will be I mean, after the two weeks we
could say that, two weeks we could say they're not
like dominant. I thought we just game their flowers weren't.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Like I said, you know, we thought there was gonna
be maybe regression coming for the Commanders. Jane Daniels didn't
look that great against New York either, and the Lions
that was their first game without Ben Johnson. So I'm
not saying the Packers were taking advantage of two easy opponents.
They clearly were not. But I'm just saying it's very
early in the season. I'm not expecting them to make
every single opponent all year long look like they don't
know how to play football. On the offensive side of

(09:49):
the ball, I think there will be opportunity for me.
And also Love just barely missed out on too long
plays to add to his stats to Golden, and I
know only two targets for Golden, but those That's what
I love too, is.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
I think I think Worm is more of a Packer's
homer than you are.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
No, I just I just think I just think Love
was at QB nineteen or whatever he was in ADP
was too low, and I feel good about that. Even
if the pass volume is lower. I'm not saying he's
going to be QB three this season. I'm saying I
think he will be a value the whole one.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
We'll have the debate about the two thousand Ravens defense
versus the twenty twenty five Packers defense some other time.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
I'll be very happy for you if we could genuinely
have that debate at some point and it's not ridiculous.
Let's let's get into the key questions here. We'll start
with the Sunday Early Slate. Quick reminder that all of
our twenty twenty five consensus rankings and tiers can be
found at fantasypros dot com slash rankings. First game up
on the Early Slate, Browns at Ravens. I want to
ask you guys about the tight ends in this one.

(10:44):
Which tight end in this game is more likely to
repeat their Week one performance another down game for Mark
Andrews or another good game from Harold fannin junior deeper.
I'll start with you.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
I really wanted to say neither of these, but the
way you phrase this, yes staying within the framework of
the question worm, I'll say Harold Fannin And this goes
to the matchup. I mean Baltimore, you don't really want
to stress their secondary like I know, like their corners
had a rough Week one, but still like you've been
able to get over on them with tight ends last
year they get the ninth most receiving yards, twelve most

(11:15):
Fantasy points tight ends. So I think of a picking one,
it's Harold Fannin. Although I have a lot of concerns man,
like I see so many different outcomes for Harold Fannon
moving forward, like he easily could be twenty twenty four,
Isaiah likely in twenty twenty five, Like that could easily happen,
And this could have been the best game of his
entire career, not career, but the entire season. Just the

(11:38):
usage was I'm not gonna say fraudulent, but it was very,
very shaky with a sixty percent routes here, So need
to see more of it moving forward. But I think
if I got to make one bets, probably fan and
having a good game.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, I wasn't fits really expecting a big volume game
from Mark Andrews because I know that a the Ravens
feel like they can run the ball on the bills,
which they obviously did ahead and especially after.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
That grand Delpit comment. Did you see that worm? He said?
It's easy, It's easy to tackle Derrick Henry tell me,
I look for.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
That laxt week what I expected out of Andrews. But
you're right that comment from delfit is why didn't say it?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Why do you say that before the game? You know
Henry's going to make it a point to stiff arm
him into another universe, and I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Aley A. Halilton made a good point, like I don't
need bulletimbore material to play hard, and like my job
is to play hard anyway. But it's also just wat like,
like what is the what is the upside there? But
but the point I was making is that I didn't
expect to set a volume for Andrews in Week one
because I knew they could run against Buffalo, and I
news Flowers is the type of receiver that they like
to use against the type of defense that Buffalo runs.

(12:43):
So having settled that, I expected more of a scoring opportunity,
like you know, red zone touchdown stuff. The Ravens just
kept scoring from so far away that they didn't really
have you know, many of those opportunities, even for a
team that scored forty points. So I wouldn't be surprised
if there is more like red zone work for Andrews
coming up here. But Fits, I'm curious what you think.
Are you more expecting a down game for Andrews again

(13:03):
or a good game from Fantasy.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I like the clever phrasing of this question, Worm, because
you're like testing whether we're optimists or pessimists, because like
it's either good for both or bad for both. Unfortunately,
I think I have to be the kill joy here
and take the negative stance, Like I think another down
game from Mark Andrews is probably more likely than another
good game from Fannin Like, I don't hate the matchup
for Andrews and I don't think he's toast, but Lamar

(13:27):
Jackson through nineteen passes against the Bills last week and
Mark Andrews had one target and one five yard catch
in a game the Ravens were leading for about three quarters.
And sorry to bring up that game again, Worm.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
But like I brought it up myself, I knew it
was coming.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
So in a game against the Browns where the Ravens
are something like twelve point favorites. It's pretty easy to
envision another very low volume passing game for Lamar, So
it might just be a touchdown or bus game for Andrews.
And look, I don't want to be the wet blanket
with regard to Fannin, like I got him in a
few of my Dynasty rookie drafts. I was a little

(14:04):
puzzled when people would take either Terence Ferguson or sorry
Debro Elijah Arroyo over Fannin and rookie drafts. And I
know Arroyo had a great day of practice at the
Senior Bawl with you in attendance, Debro. But Fannin had
one hundred and seventeen catches and over fifteen hundred receiving
yards in his final college season at Bowling Green, like
he led the FBS in catches and receiving yards as

(14:27):
a freaking tight end. So I don't know. I mean
it's possible. Fannin is just a star right off the bat,
and I love that he's playing in a high volume
passing attack with Joe Flacco slinging it around. I just
don't know if we can bank on something close to
nine targets for Fannin every week it's the Browns number
two tight end.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Debro you a rest of season. What do you think
about Fannon.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I think I think if you want to take an
upset swing at tight end, he's a perfect one to
do it. Because the thing that we haven't discussed here
yet is that I think there's a non zero chance
with the Cleveland Browns. We know that they're not they're
not going anywhere this year, like that's just that, that's
a fact. I think there's a non zero chance that
David and Joku has traded at some point this season.

(15:12):
And if that's the case, the runway is absolutely clear
because he's a refree. He's a free agent after this year.
So if Cleveland can you know, get some kind of
like Day three pick back for David and Joku, that's
a move that you do. So I mean Fannin, look,
people paid for him on waivers and stuff like that.
Hold him. I'm not telling anybody to start him. Although

(15:33):
the state of the tight end position is getting worse
and worse by the day with more players going out
with injuries and it's just dropped tight ends dropping like flies.
But Fannin is a huge upside swing, so I'm here
and willing to take it.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Ravens minus twelve on hard Rock bet That is the
biggest spread of the week by a mile. It's almost
double any other spread as of when I was putting
the sheet together on Thursday. Will the Ravens cover minus
twelve fits?

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I've already bet on them worm like I don't. I
don't love betting big favorites, but the Ravens had the
tough loss to the Bills in Week one, and after
this game against the Browns, the Ravens get the Lions
and the Chiefs like they cannot afford to look past
this game. I think the Browns are going to have
the Ravens full attention this week. I don't know if
it'll be a total blot, but I do think the

(16:20):
Ravens cover Debra.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
I don't think they cover only because of the Cleveland
passing volume and stuff like that. Like I think garbage
Time could sit here and destroy it. Like I'm not
saying that they can't, but I just think the Browns
do enough in garbage time to sit here and make
it closer so where they don't come.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
The back door. That's my only back door is definitely
open for the Browns on this one.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, I would bet on the I mean, we just
saw last year, like the Ravens facing one of the
best teams in football, losing a heartbreaker at the end,
and then they lost to the Raiders at home in
Week two.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
I means close to and I know it's the Bengals defense,
but they did for the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
First game as an opponent in Baltimore, Like I don't.
I'm very curious to see what that looks like.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
So that this was like say nine, I would say
the Ravens cover. If this was like nine or ten,
it's a huge line, dude.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, division game all that. So all right, let's go
to game number two. Speaking the Bengals, Jags at Bengals,
what are your expectations for Travis Etn coming off his
big Week one and now without Tank Bigsby in the backfield,
If it's starting with.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
You pretty high. I've got him ranked RB fifteen this week,
and I'm disappointed I only drafted Etn in like one
league when he was so cheap in drafts, Like there
were three bets you could have made in the Jacksonville backfield. Etn,
Tank Bigsby or Basal Tuton. And I was never gonna
bet on Bigsby because there's just I feel like there's
never any point to betting on a running back who

(17:47):
doesn't catch passes unless his name is Derrick Henry. So
I'm mad at myself for not investing more heavily in
Tutin or especially ETN, and like Liam Cohen and James
Gladstone have made their choice, like Gladstone traded big speed
of the Eagle so not to ETN. Toot and then
Leaquin Allen is a passing down specialist. But it looks
like it's going to be primarily ETN at least early on,

(18:10):
and we should probably be enthusiastic about the lead running
back in a Liam Cohen offense, like Cohen knows what
he's doing with the running game. Bucky Irving smashed last
season with Cohen as the OC in Tampa. Maybe it's
Etn's time to smash.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Did you move him up any significant Well, I'm sure
you did, but like how much did you move him
up in rest of season rankings? After seeing what we saw?

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Hugely? Man? I had him ranked like in the you know,
low end RB three in my draft rankings, which was
way too low, and now he's like a mid range
RB two For me.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I started to ask you did you move him up?
And then I was like, no, that's a stupid way
to raise that question.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Clearly. Yeah, yeah, man, man, I called by just got
him wrong.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I I liked him
early in the draft process, then I kind of came
off him, and now I'm I came I think I
have Tann in like one, maybe two leagues, and I,
you know, feel some right about that, dee bro, what
about you?

Speaker 3 (19:02):
I mean, I'll own it. I was not on et
in the entire draft season, wasn't. I mean it was
a down year. Last year, he's been dinged up. I
looked at if you're looking at which one of these
guys could possibly get moved into trade and maybe get
them the most in return, it would be Etn because
he'd be the guy that would again assuming he went
to some other situation, that be a team trading for

(19:23):
a guy they felt like could be their starter, and
he plus it being an impending free agent. And I
was wrong. Tank Bigsby was the guy that they moved
and Etn is the guy they're going to lean on
and I feel good about him, like I've got him
at RB. What I've got him this week RB fifteen,
noh yeah RB sixteen right now and I moved them
up to RB fifteen and rest of the season rankings

(19:43):
like solid RB two. People should be definitely holding Baseial
touton because he's also gonna make noise in this backfield.
Like for as good as etm was, he still played
sixty one percent of the snap so there is room
for another running back to get usage. And I think
I asked Bachial Tootin gets more reps, We're gonna see
more usage in this offense. So you definitely need to
hold him, not drop him. And Eten's gonna have another

(20:04):
fantastic week like the Bengals in Week one. Tan highest
miss tackle rate, twelfth highest rushing success rate, So Etan
another fantastic weekend coming. Yeah, I was wrong about him, Mari.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
I mean, in fairness, like the metrics for Etn were
pretty terrible last year as far as like bas after
contact for Carrie, rushing yards over inspected mistackles forest like
he just wasn't good. But I do think this Cohen
scheme with like a lot of the wide zone stuff
they run is probably a better fit for ETN than
the offense he was in last year.

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Speaker 1 (21:43):
Giants at Cowboys scale of one to ten. How much
trust do we have in Javonte Williams coming off his
big opening night game debro H seven.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
That might seem insane, but tell me the difference between
Javonte Williams workload Week one and Amrit Hampton's they are
the spider Man de Bean like they're They're exactly the same.
Javante played eighty percent of the snaps he got. I
mean he got almost seventy percent of the rushing works,
seventy one percent route share. I know the two short
scores definitely helped his fantasy day. And I'm not saying

(22:16):
that he was efficient, but if you watch the game
and he was getting slammed into the freaking a gap
the entire time, like, there was no like, let's try
to get him to the edge, There was no like
inside zone, there was nothing like that. So I think
a better day and we just saw like this Commander's
rushing attack didn't look good in week two. They looked
pretty dang good in Week one, and a lot of
that has to do with the Giants run defense. Already

(22:36):
went to hard Rock bet and hit the over for
Javonte Williams rushing yards, which is now right now, the
line is at fifty four and a half.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Okay, if it's what do you think you are? You
also that high on the scale and A're you interested
in betting that over?

Speaker 2 (22:50):
No? No, totally different take here. Put me down for
a three. Like the big game was touchdown driven, a
couple of short touchdowns, there were no long runs. I
don't think Javante forced a single mistackle on that game.
He averaged three point six yards per carry against an
Eagles defense that lost Jalen Carter a complete wrecking ball
in the interior, uh, just seconds into the game. Because

(23:13):
of that spitting incident, it looks like Javonte's clearly the
Cowboys lead back. Yes, I just don't really have much
faith that he can turn that role into consistently meaningful
fantasy production.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Truthfully, that's kind of the answer I expected from both
of you guys to write. I was surprised that you
have more faith than Javonte, you know, going into this swat.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Who's taking work away from him, Jane Blood who was
in inactive or Miles Sanders who put the ball on.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
I was thinking like they were trading for Travis etn
at some point. But I guess that's off the table now.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, that's off the table. I was with you on
that one, Fincy, like, I though that happened, right.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I messaged you during that opener, like I went back
and found in May you me and Ericson had a
seven minute conversation on an episode about how it's ridiculous
that Javonte Williams ADP was RB thirty seven at that time.
I went and checked to see what the real time
ADP was at the end of August, it was RB
thirty seven. It didn't live at all, and I was like,
what are we doing here? And it's for the reasons

(24:09):
that we saw in the opening night game, which is
I expect the Cowboys to be the poor man's Bengals,
which means he is going to be the running back
for a team that I expect to actually score kind
of a lot of points and need to score a
lot of points because of the defense, and he's going
to get every opportunity to score touchdowns. So he The
reason I don't know that I have a ton of
trust in him week to week is because I don't
know when those touchdowns are going to come. But I

(24:29):
think he's going to have all the opportunity in the world,
like that is not going anywhere barring injury, I don't think,
And it's why he is probably my most rostered player
because I just kept saying, like, the dude's available like
a pick one hundred, and he's going to be the
starting running back for what I think is a good offense.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
I agree with, but that's why my confidence is so high.
After Week one, we have so many committee backfields and
we don't know where the touches are going in all
these backfields, Like how do you feel good about starting
anybody from Seattle? How do you feel good about starting
anybody from Pittsburgh? How do you feel good about running
Travon Henderson out there when he even played forty percent
of the snaps. R J Harvey and all those other
players and all these rookies and stuff. I know, Javonte

(25:06):
is gonna get all the freaking work. That's why I'm
out of seven right now, because he's gonna get all
the freaking work.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
And I need to imagine too. I said this on
the Thursday show, fits with you and Jake, but I
do I didn't go back and look through the play
by play to see what the literal you know, yards
per carry were on every run before and after the
lightning delay. It did feel like the offenses on both
sides just kind of like fell hard after the long delay.
So I don't I don't want to just strictly look

(25:31):
at the like, oh, three point six yards per Cary
he was bad and say, like, you know, it felt
like kind of the both offenses really struggled after that.
So maybe that plays into the efficiency somewhat. Yeah, all right,
let's go to a game. Four Bears at Lions is
Detroit going to take a bigger step back this season
than expected? Or did they just run into a buzzsaw

(25:52):
in the Packers in Week one? And by the way,
I wrote this question before the Thursday night game, and
now it looks like maybe that has answered the question
for us quite pop fits what he.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yah the buzz saw is the answer. It's reasonable to
think the Lions are not going to achieve the same
level of offensive success without Ben Johnson calling the plays
and without center Frank Ragnow who retired. I mean, Detroit
scored seventy touchdowns last year. They're still gonna have a
good offense, though, Like I am, expecting the Lions to

(26:21):
get the train back on the track against the Bears
at home at Ford Field. I would not be surprised
if the Detroit offense cooked up a forty burger for
the Bears this week.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Dee Rob, assuming that you have the same answer, especially
given what we saw last night, so correct me if
I'm wrong. But if I'm not wrong, I'll kind of
pivot and ask what did you think of Ben Johnson's
first game at Chicago?

Speaker 3 (26:43):
In general, I thought Ben Johnson did really good. I
can't say the same for Caleb Williams, but I thought
Ben Johnson because there were guys open all over the field,
Caleb just couldn't hit him. So I mean, I thought
Ben Johnson did a fantastic job considering everything. And yeah,
I'm not pressing the painting button on the Lions. I'll
say the biggest thing for them is one, Yes, the

(27:04):
Green Bay buss saw two man that they've They've got
to figure out their offensive line. Like their guards were
the big problem in Week one, Like Christian Mahogany and
Tate Ratledge looked lost, they looked like they were on
a different planet. So for and this is so like
central to what is up like helped the Lions because

(27:26):
they've had a top five offensive line and they've made
moves in the drafts and stuff like that to make
sure that they had future pieces to where if anything happened.
But those future pieces that were not playing well right now. Now.
I do think that like, can Mahogany play a better football,
We saw him play good football last year. Can Tate
Ratledge you know, find his NFL legs? Sure those things

(27:47):
can happen. It's only one freaking game, but it still
wasn't good and we know how pressure sensitive Jared Golf is.
You can't run the ball if you can't stop, especially
if you're getting blown up in the freaking interior. So
Detroit to fix their woes. Like yeah, the offensive play
calling is a question mark, like motion, play action, all
these things that make it cheat codes for quarterbacks and offenses.

(28:07):
The other part about this, if you can't open up
lanes for your running backs and you can't protect your quarterback,
especially with the interior, and considering the quarterback you have,
you're gonna get crushed. So Detroit they have to figure
out the offensive line. They do that, everything else looks better.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
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(28:44):
Pros Premium subscribers at Fantasypros dot com, Slash my playbook
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the London games are gonna be here sooner than you realize.
Are a great time to have autopilot. We had that
surprise inactive for Alvin Kamara a few years ago, and

(29:06):
folks on the West coast, unless you're up at six thirty,
you missed it and had them in your lineup. So
I would highly recommend autopilot to anybody, especially I mean
really all the time, but especially when we get to
those London games, and especially if you're on the West coast.
All right, let's go to Game number five, Patriots at
Dolphins Debro. Miami sure looked like the worst team in
football in Week one. I cannot remember ever seeing vibes

(29:28):
that bad in Week one, like even and again, I'll
said this on the Thursday Show. I watched Miami lose
fifty nine to ten to the Ravens in Week one
in twenty nineteen, and I thought that Miami team had
better vibes than this one we saw in Week one
this year. It just looks so horrendous. So understanding that
are we starting as many Patriots as possible given the matchup.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah, I mean, I think like you're starting all the
usual suspects like Drake may should be in lineups. You're
still probably running Travon Henderson hoping for better days, and
he breaks off a big run Hunter Henry. If you're
I mean, if you have George Kittle, Evan Ingram, maybe
even brought powers this week misses the game, you're probably

(30:12):
starting Hunter Henry, and I think he's a fantastic start.
I mean, this defense gave up the twelfth most receiving
yards and twelfth most Fantasy points to opposing tight ends.
He had great usage in Week one. If he had
got his score a touchdown, he would have been probably
a top five tight end for the week. The guy
that I want to highlight here specifically is Keishon Butte. Like,
I think that the production we had a Week one
is more real than it is fraudulent. And I honestly, dude,

(30:35):
I didn't even write him up for the primer Week
one like that was a miss by me, But I
didn't know if he was going to be a full
time starter in this offense. And going back to last year,
like maybe we should have given more respect to him
in Draft season two, considering Week sixteen through eighteen last year,
but had a twenty one point three percent target chair.
He had two point seven nine yards per route run
and at almost a twenty six percent first reach here,

(30:56):
and a ton of those metrics were there in Week one,
like the dude let the team with a twenty three
percent first re chair. So I love him as a
flex play this week. I think there's upside to be
had there. But yeah, you're probably firing up everybody else
that you did in Week one, outside of like Ramandre Stevenson,
who just looked like he cannot break tackles anymore, and
that snapshare is probably gonna flip more in Henderson's favor

(31:18):
this week.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
De wro would you rather start Drake may or Patrick
Mahomes this week?

Speaker 3 (31:22):
Drake may not even close.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Okay, we talked about that on the Start SAT Show.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
I mean, Patrick Mahomes doesn't run like he did in
Week one. He's not paying off for you as a
fantasy option. Can he do that? Sure? But you're depending
upon that, all.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Right, Fitz? What do you think about the Patriots in
this matchup?

Speaker 3 (31:37):
So?

Speaker 2 (31:38):
I know how bad the Dolphins looked, and I feel
pretty good about the bet I made back in June,
taking them under eight and a half wins at like
minus one thirty. Like, I'm kind of mad I didn't
bet my retirement savings on that now, but like I
would warn people though, like the Dolphins are still favored
in this game, and historically they been pretty good in

(32:00):
early season home games in Miami where the heat and
humidity sometimes just melt their opponents. Like Drake May could
have a big day, it's probably gonna depend on how
well he handles the blitz because the Dolphins blitzed at
the highest rate in the league last week, more than
half their snaps, but then again it didn't really work.
Their pressure rate was third lowest, third lowest with all

(32:23):
those blitzes. But like, if if the Blitz does get
home this week, it's possible May struggles a little bit.
And I don't know that there's a new England pass
catcher we can totally count on, Like Stefan Diggs might
not be one hundred percent yet after the ACL tear
last year, Jamario Douglas, Kayshawn Boody, Hunter, Henry they're all
sort of fringy for fantasy and at running back like

(32:46):
uugh Ramandri Stevenson out snapped Trevion Henderson forty six twenty
five in Week one, which is just like we hate
to see. That could change in week two and Henderson
doesn't really need a ton of snaps play off, and
he has so much big play potential. But I can't
confidently predict a good game for a running back who
might not play even forty percent of his team's offensive snaps.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Let's go to the next game on the slate, forty
nine Ers at Saints. Which offense do you trust more?
For fantasy this week? Debro the Spencer Rattler led Saints
for the mac Jones led forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
It's the forty nine ers, dude, Like, I can somebody
tell me what they What were you watching in week
one if you thought Spencer Ratler played good, because I've
heard that narrative so much this week and people are like, oh,
he looked perfectly fine, and I'm like, really, really, for
the quarterback that had the fifth few stards per attempt,

(33:41):
the six lowest pass rate in the twelfth lowest CPOE,
and the seventh lowest catchuple target rate, he looked okay.
He looked like a competent INFL quarterback. I'm just gonna
say to cap this off, I think you need to
go get your eyes checked. It's time for an eye
doctor appointment, if that's what you think. So, no, it's
the forty nine ers like Mac Jones might be Mac Jones,

(34:03):
but I trust more and Kyle Shanahan and that offensive
system than Kellen Moore featuring forty six pass attempts for
Spencer Rattler and Alvin Kamara getting two targets from that.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, dude, I was just going to say, like, forty
six attempts for Rattler is you know, jaw dropping? And
I'm scrolling through now, was that the most of the week?
I know Drake May also had forty six, so maybe
it's tied. I'm I'm going through every matchup here just
quickly to see if I can see if he did
have the most.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
He might have too left.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
He taught okay, so he tied with Drake May and
Josh Allen. They both also had forty six pass attempts.
That's remarkable. Fits What do you think Spencer Ratler led
Saints or Mac Jones led forty nine ers?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
I mean, it's the forty nine ers, but really it's
only one guy. It's Christian McCaffrey. Like, if if I
were to give you guys as the over under and
you had to bet five hundred bucks on this either
way Christian McCaffrey twenty four and a half touches, which
way are you betting at?

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Over?

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Over? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I mean don't care if it's deuced. An injury is
the only thing that stops him. Short of that, I think.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, well so so then fits what about the pass
catcher specifically, Like would you rather be starting somebody like
Pearsall or a lave in this matchup? In their respective matchups?
You know, given the quarterback situation.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
I think I've got a Lave ranked higher, Like, dude,
so the Piersall thing? I really, what do we think
the passing volume is going to be for the forty
nine ers with mac Jones? Like if mac Jones is
throwing twenty three passes in a game where the forty
nine ers, you know, could win handily, Like what what

(35:44):
kind of a day do we think Ricky Pearsaw is
going to have?

Speaker 3 (35:48):
Pearsaw's going to have eight targets at least? I mean,
and I I mean who Juwan Jennings might not play
in this game. If Christian McCaffrey is who are they
going to throw the ball? I think it's gonna be
a lot of McAffrey and.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Pierce all ranked ahead of Alava. If we know Jettings
is out, yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
I don't think he plays. He didn't even practice. I
don't think yesterday.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
So if you want a chance to win a signed
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(36:26):
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be sure to subscribe and turn on those notifications so
you can be alerted when new episodes are up and
to claim your prize. All right, next, Tame Guys Bills
at Jets. By the way, while we were daping this at,
Oliver has been ruled out for this game just for
this one. Relative to cost, It's not really relevant to

(36:48):
this question, but I want to mention it because it
does impact the matchup overall, but relative to cost, because
obviously one is ranked much higher than the other. Who
would you rather buy high on after Week one? Breese
Hall or Keon Coleman, Deep Roth start with you.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
I mean, i'l goo Breesehall here. I'll just take the
low hanging fruit like this is not like a lack
of faith in Keon Coleman. I mean, just Breese Hall.
We should have been price enforcing more man like. He
looked fantastic. He had almost sixty percent of the snaps.
He looked awesome, like twenty six percent misstackle rate. The
the concerning thing for him is that he only got

(37:23):
two out of six red zone carries. I don't know
if that continues for the entirety of the year. With
how much better he looked than every other running back
on that depth chart in week one, So and considering
the state of the running back position and fantasy, I'm
more willing to buy high on Breese Hall. Because also
the other point of that this, I was very encouraged
what I saw from Justin Fields man. He looked really

(37:45):
really good in week one, So more faith in this
offense moving forward. And it's not that I don't like
Keon Coleman, It's just I don't know if we see
a twenty four percent target chair and a thirty five
percent first rechair for him for the entire season. We
could and I could be wrong with that.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Fits you are like a key On Coleman, you know,
supporter and somebody that you've been high out for a while.
Even as somebody who obviously watched that game very closely,
I did look at the boxer at the end and
go he had one hundred and twelve yards and a
touchdown and eleven target like. I was actually surprised by
the stat line even having watched the whole game. Obviously,
the touchdown was a little bit flukey with some of
the tipball stuff in the end zone. And Breece Hall

(38:23):
of course, looked really good too. He's going to cost
you more so again relative to cost? Who would rather
buy high?

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah? Relative to cost is the key phrase here. Worm
and Keon did have some late production in that game,
and maybe some of the air comes out of the
Keon balloon this week if he has to go up
against Sauce Gardner all day, like Sauce could maybe shadow
Keon in this one, but yeah, overall, yeah, I mean
I'm a key On buyer, So he's my answer here,
Like I'm sure there are gonna be weeks where Josh

(38:50):
Allen spreads it around, but I do think Keon can
be a thousand yard receiver who maybe flirts with ten touchdowns.
The thing is, Breece did look to ficking week one.
I don't think talent was really ever the question. It's
just a matter of usage. And Aaron Glenn kept saying
in the offseason he wanted to use multiple backs. Well,
I mean Hall played fifty eight percent of the snaps

(39:11):
in Week one. That's a pretty good share, but it's
not really a workhorse type workload. And we saw Braylan
Allen scoring eight yard touchdown like Debro said, it wasn't
really Breece Hall exclusively in the red zone. And I'm
also not quite ready to trust the Jets offense, like
maybe their new OC Tanner Engstrand turns out to be

(39:34):
a genius. And you know, I had a hope like
as a head coach somewhere a year from now, but
like I don't trust fully trust Justin Fields as a passer.
Garrett Wilson is their only credible pass catcher. The offensive
line took a big hit with the Elijah vir Tucker injury,
and like, if the Jets offense as a whole isn't

(39:55):
very good and if Breece Hall isn't a workhorse, I mean,
it might be kind of a roller coaster season and form.
Like that's where we care so much about red zone
usage because touchdowns are six points, and you know, to
get six points on yardage, you have to get sixty yards,
which is a lot of work. Like touch falling into
the end zone from inside the five yard line is
the shortcut, Like that's the cheat code to get a

(40:17):
big season out of a running back. Bresall could have
fourteen hundred yards from scrimmage or fifteen hundred yards this season,
and if he scores three or four touchdowns, like he's
going to be an RB two at best. So I'm
a little I'm just totally not buying that Bresaw is
gonna be great and that we all got it wrong
to be worried about his workload in the offseason.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Let's go to Seahawks at Steelers. What do we make
of Seattle's running back situation through one week? With like
one of the most like discussed points, you're really throughout
this whole week, de bro, what do you make of
the running back situation in Seattle?

Speaker 3 (40:52):
It's a god awful mess. I think I think Kenneth
Walker is not fully healthy. I think that's what it is.
I think he's either not fully healthy or this is
a ramp up game.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Want to he seemed really broken up about it.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
I mean, dude, well, I mean, anybody listen to all
these shows I've had for him all off season, man
like and again, like, I mean, this is, you know,
after one game, owning a lot of l's. Now, with
the rest of the season plays out, we shall see.
But I mean there's a lot of different ways to
dice this up. Man. Sharbon Ay did lead the backfield
with fifty eight percent of the snaps. The touch count

(41:24):
was really close to these two guys he scharbon Ay
did get four red zone carries versus Walker's two. Walker
was still involved there. The thing that I want to
highlight is for as much as everybody wants to run
away with Sharbona and they're like Oh see, like I
told you, so he's the guy that whatever. Neither one
of these running backs were good on a per touch
basis last week. Like, let's let's be very clear about that.

(41:47):
Like Kenneth Walker didn't force any mistackles. He had two
point one yards ut of contact pertention, which is not good.
But zach Scharbonay had an eight percent mistackle rate. Zach
Scharbonay had one point six seven yards out of contact
perre attend, which is even worse to Ken Walker. So
neither one of these guys are good. I don't know
what to make out of this backfield because we don't know,

(42:09):
like truly and definitively, we don't know where Walker's health
is at, if this is a ramp up thing, if
this backfield is gonna flip, if better days are ahead,
if this offense can even be good. Because everybody, like
you know, talk about Jackson Smith and Jigba and the
game that he had in week one, y'all think he's
gonna get eighty three percent of the receiving yardage on

(42:31):
a weekly basis. When Sam Darnel didn't look good and
didn't throw for a lot of yards, you think that's
gonna repeat every single week. Cooper Cup was dust. Like
this whole offense is very suspect.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
What do you think fits holy overreaction, Batman, Did you
just say Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbaday aren't good?

Speaker 3 (42:51):
No? I said they didn't look good. Very big difference,
all right.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
I mean, like, I'm not that worried about their running
back usage in Week one, like Walker, investors should not
freak out. Yes, Charbonay out snapped to Walker thirty to
twenty one. But like Walker, to de Bro's point, like
he had the foot injury last season and missed some
practice time in August with footsore nets and I think
the Seahawks are just being a little cautious, Like Charbona

(43:14):
is one of the better backup running backs in the NFL,
so they can afford to lighten Walker's load if he's
not one hundred percent. I just I don't think the
foot issue is a big concern. I think things could
tilt toward Walker in the weeks to come. And like,
the good news is that Walker got touches on a
really high percentage of his snaps. He had twenty one

(43:35):
snaps and either carried the ball or ran a route
on nineteen of them. Like Walker had ten carries in
thirteen receptions, so thirteen touches and twenty one snaps. I
don't think there should be uh blood in the streets yet, Like,
don't panic on Walker.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
No, I want to be very clear, I'm not panicking,
but I think looking at what we saw in week one,
it's tough to understand like where this backfield goes. Like
like say, like we're four weeks into the future, can
any of us definitively say we know who the guy
that is going to be leading as.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Well, We're gonna we're gonna get more data, do you, bro,
don't worry? What's one week?

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Like I know, but like walking into the season, I
thought it was gonna be Kenneth Walker workhorse every down
back I'm not saying that can't happen later in the
season or can't even happen like three weeks from now.
I'm just saying, as we sit here right now after
one game, it's a tougher bet to make, and it's
harder to say that than preseason wise. I'm looking at

(44:32):
last year's usage. I'm not getting rid of Kenneth Walker
or trading him away or dropping him or doing any
of that overreaction ridiculousness not doing that.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Before we move on this game, just quickly, do you
guys think this was kind of a fluky big week
one for Aaron Rodgers or is this offense maybe going
to be better than we thought?

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Fits It's not always going to look that good, but
Rogers still has pretty extraordinary arm talent. I just don't
think he has the pocket presence or the mobility within
the pocket that he had in his heyday. So if
if you can't put pressure on Aaron Rodgers, he can
smoke you. But if you can pressure them, you know,
all bets are off.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Debra, I agree with Fitzi, and I think, like looking
at the upcoming schedule, like, yeah, he probably gets over
on Seattle this week because they didn't seem like the
their their defense is still figuring some things out, New
England the same thing. But then he's got Minnesota in
week four. I think that's kind of your your litmus
test for Aaron Rodgers, like can he hold up against

(45:26):
Brian Flores and what that blitz rate is going to
look like? And to Fitzi's point, yeah, like he he
hit the nail on the head, like can he sit
back in the pocket and dice you up? Sure, but
the mobility is a big concern. I mean, he's still
like everything we kind of like joked about in the
offseason is still real with all of that, and his
deeper metrics weren't amazing, Like he was still only sixteenth
and highly accurate throw rate in twenty second and catchuple

(45:49):
target rate. So while a lot of like the more
surface stats in the box score looked really good, there's
still some underlying concerns here.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Last game in the early slate ran a Titans. I'll
give it some pretty straightforward. Everybody knew it was probably
best to find other options for your Titans players in
week one, given the matchup, you know, cam Ward's first
game in Denver, all that stuff. So how do we
feel about specifically Calvin Ridley and Tony Pollard in this
matchup against La deebro I'll start with you.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
I mean I feel fine about both of them. I
feel better about Pollard than I do Ridley just looking
at the secondary matchup. But Ridley's going to get the volume.
I mean, the shadow coverage didn't move cam Ward off,
its still forcing the ball to Ridley. In Week one.
Dude still got a twenty eight percent target chair in
a twenty six percent first reach here, so volume is
going to be there. I think Pollard has a better day.
And dude, do we talk about bell Cow usage. He

(46:38):
played ninety percent of the snaps, had nineteen touches eighty
nine total yards. I wish we'd see some more pass
game usage for him, but cam Ward is not a
quarterback that likes to check it down, so I don't
think that's coming. But I think better day for Pollard.
So I feel good about both them, but better about
Pollard than I do about Ridley Fits.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yeah, I mean tough matchup for the Titans in Week one.
I mean the Broncos probably the second best defense in
the league behind the Green Bay Packers. No, but seriously,
the Broncos, I mean Broncos have a terrific defense. It's
not surprising that the Titans struggled on the road in
Denver with cam Ward making his first NFL start, so
things are probably going to look a little better this week,

(47:16):
even though the Rams defense is no pushover. So I've
got Pollard ranked RB eighteen. He's a solid volume play.
I've got Ridley at wide receiver thirty two.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
All right, let's go to the late afternoon slate on Sunday,
Panthers at Cardinals. Did Bryce Young really turn back into
a pumpkin after a strong finish last season? Or was
this just a very bad fluky Week one? And kind
of along those lines fits do you expect the Panthers
offense to bounce back at all?

Speaker 2 (47:42):
This being without Ikey Ikuanu they're starting left tackle a
top ten draft pick didn't help last week, Like Ikey
had to go and undergo an emergency appendec to me
a few weeks ago. I think they get him back
this week like he was. I believe back at practice
on Thursday, so that would help. I'm I don't know.
I'm cautiously optimistic that Bryce looks better this week. I've

(48:04):
got them ranked QB twenty four, so I guess the
optimism only only goes so far.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Debra, I was looking up A Kwanu's stuff. Limited practices
on Wednesday and Thursday, so probably a fifty to fifty,
but I hope he's back at least not this week,
probably next. But to fifty's point, Bryce didn't look good,
but I'm not pressing the panic button after one game.
Just looking at some of the deeper metrics for him,
like still had the fourteenth best highly echered throw rate,

(48:33):
third lowest off target rates. So I think it was
a bad game for Bryce Young. I think the bigger
thing for me is I think like his lack of
weapons dude like xavierly Get is not it. I think
that is a bigger, more concerning thing. And they are
not giving JT. Sanders full running this offense, their obsession
with having Tommy Trimble on the field, So this could
be more of like I mean, outside of tedor Oe McMillan,

(48:55):
who were you worried about passing attack like I was
thin getting.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
He's like the important at it to bring up. Do
you think Bryce can be good enough to support Team
Mac in the way we thought throughout August or does
this concern you for McMillan going forward.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
No, I think I think he's gonna get his volume
and he's good enough. And it here's the thing. If
he's not good enough, we're gonna see some Andy Dalton
pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Okay, Uh, Broncos at Colts, do you brow the Colts
are arguably going for facing the worst defense in football
to the best this week, you know, setting aside Green
Bay for fits. Uh, we're still starting. You know, guys
like Taylor and Warren obviously are very much in starting range,
but specifically Michael Pittman Junior. Are you interested in starting
Pittman coming off of his big week one?

Speaker 3 (49:35):
No, I'm not. Patrick tutan Man Like, no, I'm not.
I'm not playing Pittman. There's no way. There's no way
that I'm playing Pittman. Cirtan followed with Ridley on eighty
seven percent of his routes. Cam Ward only threw in
that direction when really, when when Certain was on Ridley once?

(49:55):
That's no, I'm not starting Pittman. No fits.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Yeah, Patrick Certain isn't going to shadow Alec Pierce. So
I've got I've got Yeah, where do you have pitting
in Steve Brow, I've got him RB or wide receiver
forty seven.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Dude, I'm probably living in that range. Actually, I think
I pushed him outside of my top fifty to be honest, Yeah,
I got him at wide receiver fifty one. I put him.
I pushed him outside of my top fifty because I'm like,
there's just there's just no way, man. No, way certain
is awesome, man, Like this is Reeves Island in twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
He's wide receiver forty three in ECR just for reference,
that's a that's a half PPR s. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
All I can say is if you play him this week,
good luck. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Uh deebro. I have a second question on this game.
What did we make of the running back usage in
Denver in week one? Obviously you were very high on RJ.
Harvey coming into the season.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Frustrating to say the least. I didn't think that Sean
Payton was gonna roll with a three headed committee with
Tyler Batty getting a twenty five percent twenty five point
six percent route chair But dude, Tyler Bady, he goes
back in to nothingness, Like if he just goes away
in this backfield, RJ. Harvey has the role that I
thought he was gonna have from the get So, you know,

(51:09):
can Beaty hang around and this is more of a
frustrating thing. Yeah, definitely. But the thing for RJ. Harvey
is that you wanted to see in week one to
demand basically more work in this backfield to prove that
he deserves it. Is every time you give him the ball,
he's making plays and he ripped off the long run.
So like I think better days are ahead for RJ. Harvey,

(51:29):
I thought, you know, JK. Dobbins, we saw really good.
I think he's a solid start man. JK. Dobbins have
as an RB two this week. Like his usage in
this backfield. He got all three of the red zone carries.
We know what he's gonna get. He at eighteen touches,
he's probably a lock for fourteen plus and maybe a
touchdown this week. I think with how bow Knicks looked,
the big thing that I think that my takeaway for

(51:51):
looking at how this game could play out. Bo Nix
looked really rough in week one. This is a game
and a game script where if the inver wants to
just lean on their rushing attack and feed Harvey and
feed Dobbins and their two backs. I think this is
one of those games where they could do that, put
up points and both those running backs come away with
good days fits.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
What do you think came particularly in this matchup for
this background?

Speaker 2 (52:14):
First of all, Debro, this is for you and for
my friend Jeff who listens to the show. It's Tyler
Badet like that thing in a French bathroom that you
use to You know.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
I've heard seventy different ways I'm wrong. If it's a day, I'm.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Wrong, but negative percent chance Debra has ever used it
to day.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
So he says himself, that's how it's pronounced bday. My
friend Jeff tried to correct me. He's a Missouri grad
who goes to Miszoo games, and he said the PA
announcer at Missoo always pronounced it beaty, so he assumed
that was correct. Well, Jeff, you and the PA announcer
got it wrong. It's the day, so I'll own it. Okay,
but excuse me, so I've got I've got. Dobbins ranked

(52:54):
RB twenty seven this week in r J. Harvey RB
thirty eight. Like it's a Sean Payton backfield. We know
both guys are gonna get work, They're both gonna get targets,
They're both gonna be worthy of at least flex consideration.
But for now, it does look like Dobbins is the
preferred fantasy guy and probably the only startable guy in
week two. Out snapped Harvey pretty dramatically in Week one.

(53:15):
I wish we've got more than a twenty nine percent
snapchare from Harvey, Like, I'm guessing that does increase in
the weeks to come. I mean, we saw the views
on that fifty yard run. Man, he looked amazing on that.
But you know, he only played eight more snaps than
Tyler Bade but.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
A last game in the Sunday Late Slave. By the way,
this is just like nine games in the early slate,
three in the Late Slaves. Ridiculous. I hate it say
it is a big though. Eagles at Chiefs fits. I'll
start with you on this one. What are expectations for
Chiefs pass catchers in this game? And you know, when
I wrote this question, I was like pretty certain Worthy

(53:52):
wasn't going to play. He is practicing in a limited capacity,
so you know, take that for what it's worth. But
if there's no Worthy, what do we expect out of
the pass catchers in this one? With no Worthy?

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Rice at I'm just gonna assume he doesn't play, like
I can't see him play like. I don't think he plays,
you know, And I know that was an early game.
He's had like an extra two days, but after dislocated shoulder,
So if he doesn't play, I feel like there's no
way Hollywood Brown can sniff sixteen targets again, Like almost
all of those targets were within five yards of the
line of scrimmage too, Like, I think a great under

(54:22):
bet is Hollywood on sixteen and a half receiving yards
this week. Like his average depth of target in that
game was six point three yards, and that number was
like dramatically inflated by the play where Mahomes was scrambling
and the Chargers defense totally lost track of Hollywood and
he caught about like twenty five or thirty yards downfield. Like,
I just worry that dude isn't going to make it

(54:43):
through a game if they keep asking him to catch
these short little passes and then deal with tacklers who
outweigh him by fifty to one hundred pounds. So I
think maybe it's a more equitable target split this week
between Hollywood, Kelsey Juju and Taekwon Thornton, who seems like
he's gonna their designated deep ball guy. We'll see, but

(55:04):
I'm I'm betting the under on the sort of usage
we saw for Hollywood last week.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
By the way, we haven't are they playing tool of
Fantasy pros Xavier Worthy based on the models is a
forty one percent chance of play that's based on like
practice status and things like that. That feels a little high,
but it is also still saying that it's more likely
than not he doesn't play. So I would continue to
operate under the assumption he doesn't, but you can continue
to check that tool and see if that change is given.

(55:31):
Whatever practice looks like on Friday, Debro again, assuming Worth
he's not there, what do you think this pass catching
group is going to look like?

Speaker 3 (55:40):
FITZI, I love you so freaking much, man. I just
went to hard Rock Bet and hit the under A
Marque's Hollywood Brown for sixty three into half, scening yards
Bryce sixty three into half. Yes to everything Fitzy is
talking about here, Like, here's the other point. We all
lived in a world last year, because VIZI remember this

(56:00):
Year're gonna remember this as soon as I bringing up
the week where we all talked about Juju Smith Schuster
and a high volume role and a rehive rice roll.
We all remember that happened last year. Would we all
be absolutely an incredibly shocked and dismayed if Juju comes
out and he's in the high volume role this week
and it's not Hollywood to Fitzy's point, like that is

(56:22):
not Hollywood's game, man, Like you don't want to sit
here and feed him all those freaking targets, like he's
gonna get destroyed. He's gonna get hurt, like he's been
getting hurt the last few different years, and I don't
want to see injuries and stuff like that. But that's
also not the best utilization of his talents. So the
other part we had to talk about here is Hollywood
he played more out of the snap last week, out
of excuse me, out of the slot. He played more

(56:44):
out of the slot last week. That means Cooper Gene.
That's not good things for Hollywood Brown this week. So
if you want to pick on anybody in this Philadelphia's secondary,
I think it's easily Dori Jackson. Okay, well, that's probably
gonna be one of these outside wide receivers Taekwan Thornton
who do that kind of speed versus a Tory Jackson.
Good luck or just doju on the outside. So no,

(57:07):
I'm more or less fading Hollywood Brown, like I think
that that was a one off. I'm not saying that
he doesn't get targets and usage and stuff like that,
but sixteen targets no, And to Fitzi's point, yeah, most
of that came on one broken play.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Let's go to Sunday Night Football Falcons at Vikings. Falcons
running game twenty two rushes for forty eight yards from
the running backs and the Vikings passing game just one
hundred and forty three total passing yards, no receiver with
more than forty four yards. Both struggled in Week one.
Fits which unit does better in this matchup again? Falcons
running game or Vikings passing game?

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Good question. I like I would say that I'm just
gonna bet on Bijeon. Like, the Vikings do have a
really good run defense, but I want to bet on
Bijeon to bounce back this week.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Debra, I'm gonna say I'm gonna bet on the Vice
King's passing attack. I know, shocker, shocker because JJ McCarthy,
But dude, he looked good. He found his half of
that game. Yeah, I mean, but I mean, first NFL
start on the road in his hometown. All of those
things and everything that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong,

(58:18):
and we haven't even brought up here. Did they get
Darrisaw back? This week. If that happens too, then better
days for JJ McCarthy or ahead. I just I'm more
inclined to bet on this passing attack. And it's not
really a slide against Bejean, but I think the offensive
line injuries for the Atlanta Falcons did play a role.
In Week one, Bejon saved his day with a monster

(58:39):
receiving game, and he could do that again this week.
I just don't know if we're going to see the
efficiency in the Minnesota Vikings run defense is legit and
has been for two years.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
We've got a doubleheader on Monday night football, which I
never enjoy. One of those games is Bucks at Texans.
I'm going to try not to ask about a Mecca
every single week, and we did ask that him last week,
but if like we have to talk about it more.
Coming off of his two touchdown NFL debut, where is
he ranked for you guys for this week as his
encore and also where is he ranked rest of season

(59:09):
among receivers for you guys fits, I'll start with it.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Come on, can't we get a Kate ot And question
in here? I mean, that's give the people what they want, man.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
I I this is the last game, I came up
with a question for I actually really could not think
of doing, and so finally I was like, I'll I'll
break break the Igbuka glass. In case of emergency, we
can always talk about.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
I've got Egbuka Wide receiver twenty three this week, Wide
receiver twenty seven rest of season. Like, I don't think
Chris Godwin is going to displace or substantially devalue Eggbuka
upon his return.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Debra wide receiver twenty two for this week and wide
receiver eighteen for the rest of the season. I think, dude,
I don't think we see a healthy version of Chris
Godwin for the entirety of this season. Like the sharp
people that I care about their injury analysis, Deepak, Jeff Mueller,
like people that I follow and I actually care about
their injury analysis, do not forecast that Chris Godwin is

(01:00:05):
going to be one hundred percent maybe at any time
this season. Like people are like, oh, he's back up ractice,
Like the team immediately comes out and says like, ohya,
he's probably not gonna play for a while, so you know,
pump the brakes, Like I just think that like that's
going to impact it like, I don't think they're gonna
rush him back, and I think drafting Agbuka makes a
ton of sense now, like with you know what we

(01:00:25):
know now about Chris Godwin and the Glen McMillan injury,
and I don't even know if we see McMillen for
the rest of the season, man, Like the next issue
is serious, Like we might even see him come back
at the buy. So I think the Abukah stuff is
real and it's here to stay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Fits What would you need to see out of Aguka
to move him up that high? Why does your eighteen
rest of season.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Just a bigger target volume game? He had what six
targets in Week one? So I'm like, I love the guy,
no question about it, but just you know, is and
is the passing game with the Buccaneers going to work
as well with Grizzard at the controls instead of Liam Cohen.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
All right, last game here Charters at Raiders, which statement
do you guys buy more? And deebra I'll start with
you on this one. Ashton Genty who had two point
zero yards per carry in Week one was overrated this
draft season? Or Justin Herbert who was QB five and
week one scoring and some of the scores ahead of him,
are you know, guys that we don't expect to stay
there was underrated this draft season. So again, Ashton Genty

(01:01:28):
overrated this draft season or Justin Herbert underrated this draft
season relative to their position, Deebra, what do you think.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
You can't pay me to say that gent was overrated.
I'm just I'm not doing that. So and I think
also to pair with us, yes, Justin Herbert was massively underrated.
And again not wanting to overreact, but I talked about
this during that throughout the offseason. I talked about the
range of outcomes and I believing because a lot of
us push back about like Greg Rohlman's high pass rate

(01:01:55):
last year, and I said, like, look, they either go
back to being what we've always seen from a greg
Or offense, or this is signal about what could happen
in twenty twenty five. And I was like, both of
those things could easily happen. Like I'm not saying that
I definitively know, I'm just leaving the door open that
like we could get a pass heavy offense for the
Chargers because dude, like I think we could easily say

(01:02:18):
this is the best passer at this point of his
career that Greg Rohman has ever had to run an
offense through like. And this is no shaded Lamar, but
Lamar was not the passer that he is today. Earlier
in his career he just was not so. And you
look at the previous quarterbacks, Colin Kaepernick, Tyrod Taylor, like,
these guys were not like top of the league passers.
And Justin Herbert is man like. Because we all have

(01:02:39):
to talk about the Greg Roman offense that we saw
in Week one, is that is not even close to
any Greg Roman offense we have ever seen ever before.
He's doing all the things smart, all the things wise.
He was twelfth in play action rate ninth and most
motion rate thirteenth and neutral passing rate and second and
pass rate over expectation. If I took all of the
if I took Greg Roman's name out of this and

(01:03:00):
I just gave you those statistics, would we all say, oh,
is this a Ben Johnson offense? But they're using a
craft on a play action, They're using a craft on
a motion Like, what's the difference except the name that's
plastered to all these statistics? And maybe this doesn't like
continue throughout the entirety of the season, But what do
we see out of week one and when he's checking

(01:03:21):
all of these boxes and Justin Herbert has keenan Allen,
Lad McConkie and QJ, and I think the breakout is
real for QJ.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
Dude.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
Yeah, I'm bought in on Justin Herbert.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Yeah, I don't disagree that Herbert's a better passer than
Lamar was. At the time that Greg Roman was coordinator.
Greg Roman also was like not designing modern NFL like
passing the tree, but he is like, yeah, yeah, I
just wanted to be clear that it wasn't just like
he was limited by his quarterbacks. He was also limiting
his quarterbacks passing games to himself. But it didn't look
like that this week. Like for sure, I'm totally with you,

(01:03:54):
Like I besides the two guys on Sunday Night Football,
you know, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, but those two,
I thought Herbert looked like the best quarterback in football
this week. Like like the I even setting inside the
stats shut A lot of people love this. The eye
test alone was like holy And I've always been a
Herbert believer. I have liked him. I am not one
of these guys. Oh he can't win in the playoffs,
so therefore he's bad. I have liked Herbert. I thought

(01:04:16):
he looked insanely good. Did one just the eye test alone. Also,
I want to be really clear Fits, I didn't mean
the ash Genzy was overrated. I meant that you know
him as a fantasy you know, first round guy was
When I say overrated, obviously we still really like the player.
So I just want to be clear about that. But
same question to you, Fitz was Genty overrated this draft

(01:04:36):
season or Herbert?

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Quick word about Genty He had no running room. He
was getting hit like right at the line of scrimmage
and a lot of his plays. But if the Raiders
continue to sling it around like they did against the Patriots,
like he's gonna have more room to run because like
Gino Smith was dicing up the Patriots, I'm not worried
about him. Yeah, same take as Dee Bro that Herbert
was underrated, And I'm definitely feeling some remorse that I

(01:04:58):
only got Herbert in like one league. And I did
worry about Greg Roman and Debro. In addition to Debro's
point about Herbert probably being the best pure passer that
Roman has ever had. Like it was also the fact
that this team just drafted Omarion Hampton in the first
round and signed Najie Harris, like I figured they were
going to run the ball a lot, And I don't

(01:05:18):
want to read too much into their run pass split
from week one because Nase not up to speed after
missing camp. I can understand why they wouldn't repeatedly want
to slam their rookie running back into the teeth of
a perennially excellent Chiefs run defense, but now the chargers
of multiple pass catching weapons too, like Lad McConkie is awesome,

(01:05:38):
Keenan Allen is still good, aging very gracefully, And I
don't want to jinx it, but it looks like Quentin
Johnston went out and bought himself a decent pair of hands.
So I don't think Herbert's talent was ever in question.
He's a terrific passer and a good runner. It was
just a question of whether he'd be steering run heavy offense,
and it looks like that might not be the case.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Hj's happy to go more. You learned that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Yeah, I don't have a lot of Herbert and redraft
this year. I was pretty aggressive actually in acquiring him
in Dynasty the last two off seasons, like kind of
pushing back against the Greg Roman narrative, and I'm feeling
pretty good about that at this point. All Right, we'll
wrap things up there. We went a little long this week.
Best luck to everybody here in Week two. This is
like like week one, and we know the matchups for
so long, we think about them for so long. We're

(01:06:23):
just coming off draft seasons. There's nothing to react to yet.
Week two is the first like real week week of
fantasy and like, what do we see last week? How
are we adjusting the lineups? All of that. So very
excited for this weekend of games and the rest of
the season moving forward. Boor Debro and fits. I'm Ryan Warmley.
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see again next time. Thanks
for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast. If

(01:06:43):
you love the show, the best free way to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts
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