Week 7 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls (Ep. 1778)

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. I would say every
Thursday morning. I wasn't here last week. You guys were
with Seth. He did a great job filling in. Appreciate
him stepping in for me. But as I am joined
most Thursday mornings by Jake Seeley from The Athletic and
by Pat fitz Morris. Guys, how are you doing? Heading
into week seven? We are a third of the way
through the NFL season. We are borderline halfway through the

(00:24):
regular season for fantasy already, and it gets more and
more shocking every week, just how quickly it goes by fitsy,
how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Doing well?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
The question is how are you doing? You had this
foot surgery? How are the crotches?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
First of all, don't please don't violate hippa and tell
everybody the surgery I had. No, I was skiing. Yes,
I had foot surgery. I had two kind of issues
in the foot, one fracture, one kind of bone resetting thing.
So I am in a boot, I am on crutches.
I was just telling you guys before the show that
I have never had crutches in my whole life. I've
never been in a walking boot either, so it's been

(00:57):
an adjustment. I'm very grateful to my mother who flew
out to kind of help out for a couple of
days post surgery and do stuff like walk my dog
and you know, just kind of make food and do
dishes and just general chores that are really difficult on crutches.
She is now gone, so it's now just up to
me to, you know, figure out how to get around.
And you'll go to the bottom of the stairs and

(01:18):
just like throw my water bottle up the stairs and
then go up after it on crutches and pick it
up at the top because you just can't carry stuff
very easily. So if anybody has any ideas, you know,
the fanny pack they used when they were on crutches,
or you know, start wearing a backpack around and I'm
open to ideas. I'm not gonna be on the crutches
very long. It will be on the boot for a while,
so get it.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Getting a little bit one of those the bags that's
in the front, but the clip is also in the front.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
That's what you need you Yeah, yeah, I don't I
like those like shoulder bags yet. Yeah, I did a
buddy of mine who had he tore his achilles two
summers ago. He lent me a knee scooter that he had.
Doesn't really work inside the house, just the way my
house is set up, it wouldn't be very helpful. But
out of the house that that has been help full,
and there is like a bag on the front of

(02:01):
that so that.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
I will say if you're gonna be on that for
a while. So Nicole has surgery twice. Well since I've
known her, she's actually five ankle surgeries. If if you
guys were Juwan Jennings, you'd be out there playing this
week as a decoy. But the the truth is two things.
Game changer put an extra knee pad on the pad
because your knee is gonna get really worn out. And
then if you go to Amazon, you can find tires
to go over the tires because if you go over

(02:24):
cracks or anything, that's really easy for that thing to
get stuck and everything. So I found these tires that
you can put over the tires for like more track
you can off road while you're on your kne knee scooter.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well I was gonnay. The knee scooter is like super
like loose and wobbly, honestly, And I can't tell if
it's on purpose so it can handle some of the
stuff or I feel like I'm gonna follow over on it,
so I try to use it in like like the
grocery store places where it's like a smooth, you know,
surface or something. So yeah, maybe I'll look into those tires.
I do have the extra padding on the on the
crutches themselves, like just because you're on them so much,

(02:55):
all right.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
So you want to do it, That's what I'm so
everybody out that the real podcast starts at three.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, yeah, we'll have that comment out there for sure.
Nobody cares about They don't care about my injuries. They
care about the injuries to their fantasy team, of which
there are plenty. This is our starts and six show,
waiver ads, touchdown calls, all that good stuff we always
do on Thursdays. All of our twenty twenty five consensus
rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros dot com
slash rankings. Let's dive into the popular waiver ads and

(03:23):
see if we are interested in starting any of these
guys right away or if they were just pickups. That
we are stashing to see what happens. The first name
here had a great game, Kamandi Viadell. Obviously, there was
some i'll say confusion about who was going to be
the starter for the Chargers backfield fits. Was it going
to be a Videll, Was it going to be Hasan Haskins.
It ends up being Videll In terms of the production

(03:44):
here clearly was you know, really good. Is this the
sort of thing that you expect to continue into Week
seven and beyond as long as he you know, has
this role or do you think that was maybe more
of a one off. It was up against the Dolphins
run defense, and you'd be maybe be a little more
hesitant about starting him this week. How are you approaching
by Dell?

Speaker 3 (04:01):
I think you're starting him if you picked him up.
I have him at running back twenty five, and I
think I'm below ECR on that if a player's a
lead back for his team, you're starting him unless he's
terrible or unless his offense is terrible.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Either of those caveats apply here with Kamani Vodell. Like
no doubt, Vadell benefited from the matchup against the Dolphins
who just have this cotton candy run defense. You average
six point nine yards per carry against Miami gets the
Colts this week, they're more of a neutral matchup, things
won't be quite as easy. But Vedell's usage last week
was lead back stuff sixty seven point two percent snapshare,

(04:37):
twenty one touches usage in the passing game, four targets,
three catches.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, you're you're playing him?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
What do you think, Jake? Are you at all worried
that this might be a week to week thing where
it was the videl week in week six and then
week seven ends up being a Haskins week or do
you think that this is his backfield?

Speaker 4 (04:54):
I think it's his backfield, But I would say the
worry only comes down to is Haskins is going to
get inside the five, inside the ten carries, because there
weren't a ton of opportunities for that. Vadell was doing
plenty just in the general sense of things.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
So maybe he loses a.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
Touchdown here or there, but it's not enough to knock
him out of the RB two range. I'm a little
bit higher than fits, but not by much. I still
have him in the same mix behind Jordan Mason, but
in with like a DeAndre Swift, the Jalen Warren, some
split backfield running backs, a Swift who gets all the touches,
but you know, has been pretty much inefficient outside of
last week, which was just one really big play for

(05:30):
that touchdown. So you kind of get the sense of
where I would risk Videll, and I guess against the
Colts there's a little bit more risk. But the good
thing here is what we expect the Colts to be
and worrysome on defense, but expect them to be a
team that still scores as almost at will at this point.
It's a tougher matchup that they see in most weeks,
but if they are scoring, they're probably not going to

(05:51):
use Haskins much. That being the Chargers because Videll is
in the passing game. Haskins is not.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
The next most popular waiver add this week Bam Knight
and he, you know, Videll, I think is kind of
an easy one, at least just in terms of where
he's ranked in ECR. He is at ranked as a
low en RB two, so that is you know, for
by and large, most people are going to be starting him.
Knight is more ranked in that mid to back and
running back three. I might have said wide receiver, I
meant running back, running back three range, So it's a

(06:19):
little bit a little trickier. And also, you know that
he didn't have this great smash start already that we
just saw out of Idell. You know, he'd eleven point
nine night. I'm talking about eleven point nine fantasy points
in half PPR scoring back in week six, just thirty
four yards in the ground. But he did get the
touchdown for the Cardinals. So Jake, I'll start with you
on this one. Is Night somebody that if you picked

(06:39):
him up, you're saying, hey, like lead back in the
Cardinals backfield. I'm going to roll with him. He's listed
as questionable, but assuming he plays.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
No, I honestly don't want to start him unless I'm desperate.
I have him behind both Texans running the backs to
give you an idea of how far down I am,
and I have him thirty six, mostly because there is
something interesting in that game for anybody that just might
check the box score is that Knight didn't see much
until day Ricanda left the game, and then additionally, by
that point of the game was when they were in contention,

(07:07):
and then with briefly the lead for a little bit,
and that's where Night was getting a lot of his run,
which suggests what we knew about Michael Carter two minute
drill passing game option is that Carter's going to be
the negative game script one, which is what we would
expect most weeks, especially against the Packers. So I don't
expect a lot of opportunities in general for this offense
once they get inside the tent, if they even get there,

(07:29):
but I do expect them to probably trying to keep
catch up with the Packers offense. So I have Carter
just in front of him. That all being said, I
have Carter one spot in front of him. I have
him thirty five and thirty six. Which is what I'm
telling you in my rankings is I'm not starting either
unless I'm desperate, because it could go either way. We
got that news that Night was going to be the lead.
Clearly wasn't. Michael Carter was getting all the run until
those injuries happened. The injury happened, But I still don't

(07:52):
want to start either unless I'm desperate.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
What do you think fits? I mean, Jake is lower
than consensus, but not by much. Knight is RB thirty
two in the half VPR consensus rankings. What do you
think where do you have them?

Speaker 3 (08:04):
I'm between Jake and ECR. I have Nights thirty four,
and I think I've Carter thirty five. But I should
probably flip that because I think Jake nailed it. I
think Carter is probably the guy to have in a
negative chase game script, and that's probably what they're going
to get against the Packers. And by the way, the
Packers are giving up a league low sixty six rushing

(08:24):
yards per game to running back, so this is a
pretty tough matchup for a guy who depends on his rushing. Yeah,
so this is like it is a split backfield and
kind of interesting by the way, that you've got a
University of North Carolina guy Carter and an NC State
guy Bam Knight sharing a backfield. We just need a
duke guy to make it a three way backfield, I guess. So, yeah,

(08:46):
I just I don't really want to play either of
these guys this week. I think you'd have to be
pretty desperate at running back.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Wake Forest fans are like, what we could you couldn't
get one of our running backs away.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
I was gonna say, if you're gonna do a three
running back, that's technically you should be Georgia Tech. So
to be clear, Yeah, yeah, with the wishbone.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Those are the two most popular running backs they do.
You want to throw a wide receiver out here as well.
Kendrick Bourne, who you know, because of injuries in that
receiving room, lots of injuries in that receiving room, has
had two wide receiver one weeks. He was wide receiver
nine in Week five against the Rams, wide receiver eleven
in Week six against the Bucks. You know, he had
one hundred and forty two yards receiving in both of

(09:26):
those games. He had ten catches in Week five, just
five in Week six. But obviously has been very productive
with this opportunity of there's, you know, again just so
many injuries going on in San Francisco. So, Fitz, I'll
start with you on this one. Kenrick Bourd he's wide
receiver twenty nine in ECR, so again kind of in
that range of like you could definitely have multiple options better,

(09:47):
but you know, he's not buried in the rankings to
the point where we're not buying into this so much.
It's kind of a hard thing to answer, because there,
you know, there are question marks, you know, surrounding what
this receiving room will look like on Sunday. But how
are you approaching Born right now? Is he somebody you're
interested in starting?

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Not really, well, definitely not.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
If Ricky Pearsall comes back, and.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
I don't know, I mean, if Pearsall plays, the target
outlook gets more complicated for Born, like it's already getting
more complicated, because it seems like there's an excellent chance
George Kittle comes back this week. Juwan Jennings is banged up,
as he'll be the first to tell you, but it
seems like he's gonna play, and we know Christian McCaffrey
is probably getting double digit targets. I guess the good

(10:34):
news for Born, and what could maybe booie his fantasy
outlook a little bit is that brock Pritty is not
ready to come back yet, so Bourne gets to play
with mac Jones. Stuo just seemed to have chemistry together
they played on the Patriots a few years ago. Bourne
has had one hundred and forty two yards each of
the last two weeks. He's been the primary target for

(10:55):
mac Jones. But yeah, things are not quite as sunny
with some of the pass catchers coming back and cutting
into Bourne's target share.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Piercell is still listed as just a fifteen percent chance
to play in the Fantasy Pros Are They Playing tool?
That's based on you know the history of him missing
practice and the fact that he did not practice on Wednesday.
This is not including any kind of Thursday or Friday
practice support yet as when we're recorded, so keep an
eye on that. That is subject to change. I would recommend
everybody check out the tool, the are they Playing tool
on Fantasy Pros again right now Piersoll fifteen percent chance

(11:26):
to play. That'll maybe be more clear as we get
later in the week. Jake, what are you doing with
Kendrick Bourne?

Speaker 4 (11:32):
We need the Charlie Day flow chart behind us for
this one because like you have Party versus Mac Jones,
which fits just brought up. So if it's Mac Jones,
feel better than if it's with Party, because as Fitz said,
there's some kind of chemistry between Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne.
So if it's Party, is that chemistry still there?

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Then you go down.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
Is Piercell playing completely? Agree with Fitz. If Piersoll's playing,
you knock down Burn probably similar ranking between the two
of them, and then if he's out, I would probably
keep by. Right now, I have Born at twenty six.
He sandwiched between the Chargers wide receivers, which of course
we don't even know Quentin Johnston's playing, but he's kind
of right there right now at twenty six with names
like he's behind Tedro McMillan but in front of Jamison Williams,

(12:11):
even though I like the matchup. And then of course
the George Kittle factor as he brought in, he probably
dings him the least, that being kittled dinging Born the least.
But if we had all three, if it was Purty
Pearcell and George Kittle, I think you have to almost
treat Born as a wide receiver three with the still
potential to be top fifteen, but a lot of risk
there because we had now a factor in the party connection,

(12:34):
Kittle and pearsall taking targets away. If we completely go
back to last week and it's nobody, none of them
are out there, then Born is honestly a top twenty
wide receiver. And if you throw Kittle into the mix
and he's the only one that plays that's actually where
I have born right now, I've born at twenty six
as in mac Jones with George Kittle. Okay, did did

(12:54):
that float chart that enough refer?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yes? I think she did. I was gonna say, I
think that is a good call. That Like, there's a
lot of moving parts on this one, so it's almost
like you don't want to say one hundred percent like
yes or no right now. It's it's not a binary decision.
It's very much a like if X, then.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Y and then if they trade for Chris o Love.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, all right, So pay attention to all of those
moving parts before you decide what to do with Kendrick Bourne.
If you had to, let's say you were picking between
him and somebody in the Thursday night game. This usually
comes out late enough that we don't talk about Thursday players,
but if you had to pick between him and a
player in the Thursday night game. So you don't know
the answer to these questions yet, you you it sounds like,
based on your ranking, you would go with starting him

(13:35):
and kind of lean in that direction or is that
not right?

Speaker 4 (13:37):
The only one I would I would wait, I would
not start t Higgins. I would wait.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Okay, let's go to our plane.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Well, no, well, I.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Fits, look like he disagreed.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
I want to say that you fits.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
So I've got I've got T Higgins ranked ahead of
Kendrick Bourne. But that is also with the assumption that
Ricky Piersoll does. Okay, so if Pearcell does not play,
I might scooch Born ahead of T.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Higgins, but we won't know. Well possibly we won't know.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Right, we should have a good idea of the practice
Wednesday as you got. I'm not saying this to you
guys because you guys know this, but for Wednesdays are
pretty much meaningless at this point. So if you get piersial,
I would say, even if it's not limited but like
there's no word for it, But if it's above limited
but not like a full like he's out there and
he's like doing most everything, I would be more with
Fits on that because now on a Thursday, if Pearcel

(14:30):
is doing that much, that would probably point to him playing.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
And I'm kind of cautiously optimistic that like Joe Flacco.
I don't want to say it's going to be the
same as it would be with Joe Burrell, but that
he can sort of pump new life into t Higgins.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
I mean he understood the assignment. Don't throw to anybody
else except for Chasing Higgins.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yes for sure.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
All right, let's move on to the plant your Flag segment.
These are the guys that you guys feel really strong
conviction in that you just really but it can be
any position. Ironically, you guys both picked the same position.
But the quarterback for this week, you guys are playing
to your flag just that you really believe in them.
They are going to have a good week that you
want to be above consensus on here, Jake, let's start
with you. Who's your plant your Flag quarterback this week?

Speaker 4 (15:14):
Yeah, this came up because I got a lot of
questions about the fact that he was one of my
top I think it was top two streaming quarterbacks this
week because his roster ship's falling below sixty percent because
everybody got frustrated at the beginning of the season, and
then of course to buy but CJ. Stroud and a
lot of the questions I got were like, oh, my gosh,
the Seahawks defense is really good. Look out for the
Seahawks defense, and like no, it's not really that good.

(15:34):
Like yes, it was but they've also lost two almost three,
like three players. One has been in and out in
the secondary. And if you look at what they've just
done over the last three games, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield,
Trevor Lawrence all two touchdowns. Kyler Murray was actually the
low scorer in those three games at sixteen, and then
Trevor Lawrence was just at twenty. Depending on your league,
it was like nineteen twenty. Baker Mayfield had a really

(15:56):
nice day throwing for almost four hundred yards. And even
if you go back to when their defense was healthy
in Week one, Brock Party threw for two touchdowns, it
has seventeen points against them. So I'm looking at CJ.
Stroud and yeah, the offensive line has always a concern,
but I go back to what I was saying about
the Seahawks. They're not healthy right now. If they were healthy,
of course I would be more concerned, but they've been
given it up, especially in the passing game. As I

(16:16):
just mentioned, for the last three games. There's just a
lot of injuries right there. And if you need quarterback help,
I'm starting c J. Stroud over justin fields. Justin fields
like the Panthers defense is strong, these past two weeks
against the run. But it's also he has no Garrett Wilson.
He got him killed. And that's why I wanted to
bring up c. J. Stroud because a lot of people
right now need a quarterback Like I love Jackson Dart
for the potential of his rushing up side, but I'm

(16:38):
starting Stroud over Dart in Denver. I'm doing that this week.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
What do you think fits Stroud is QB sixteen in ECR.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
I think that's about where I have him, so like
I can't.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
I think Jake might be a little more excited about
him than I am. Like I just I can't get
excited about a quarterback with a bad offensive line going
against the Seahawks in Seattle. Like the Seahawks, they're sixth
and pressure rate, tied for second in sacks, and yes,
they are really banged up in the secondary. They've been
playing without Devon Witherspoon and Reek Wollen, their two best cornerbacks,
and Julian Love their excellent safety. It's possible that they

(17:17):
could get one or more of those guys back. I
think they'll probably get Reek Wollen back. He had a
concussion and guys typically only missed one game with a concussion.
Not always, but typically I'm not as sure about Witherspoon,
who's got a knee issue, and Julian Love, who's got
the hamstring issue. I guess I'm okay with playing Stroud
if all of the DB's are still out for Seattle,

(17:37):
but if one or two of them come back, I'm
probably going to be fading Stroud in my rankings.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
So long I would be with you. If two came
back one, I'm still probably strongly on Stroud, but if two,
I'm with you. That's a good point to bring out.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's fair, by the way, for anybody who hasn't looked
at the actual schedule yet, this is, of course part
of the Monday night doubleheader that is going to be
taking us at ten o'clock Eastern I somebody who not
on the East Coast. I don't mind it as much
from the timing perspective. I don't like that there are
double headers on Mondays, especially more like I get why
they do one early in the year, I don't like
that there's multiple Now we're into mid August or August,

(18:11):
we're into mid October, and we're still doing this, So
I don't enjoy that at all, but the ten o'clock one,
I actually at least do prefer that they're separate and
I don't have to have them, you know, kind of
going on at the same time.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
I don't this last just put it at eight thirty. Like,
I'm not as opposed to the double headers as everybody
seems to be, because I don't mind two games at
the same time, especially like last week where most of
the overlap was about two quarters because the other two
the book ends didn't really overlap a lot, and then
you have the off top the halftime offsetting it. So
I don't mind it. I just I mind the ten
o'clock as a East Coast person.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I'm sure, yeah, yeah, fits. It's like it's not that
I it's not that I mind the two on at
the same time. It's just that it just feels wrong.
I'm just like Monday night football should just be one game.
It's like it's not even like a specific like, oh
I can't stand watching two games at the same time.
It's that I just don't. I just I like having
Monday night standalone.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yep, totally agree with you.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
I'm man the ten o'clock East Coast time, Like I
don't see how they can do that to peep on
the East coast, Like, hey, twice in a year.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
I mean they already did one earlier and they're doing
it again.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Oh yeah, I know the Raiders game. I did it.
I said, Look here's my wayver Colm. It's still posting
at midnight like it always does, and if anything happens,
I'll be updating it early in the morning. But see, yes,
the sidebar is. This is why I also like it too,
is because there's only six one o'clock games and I
can focus more. It saves me work on Monday from
having to go back and rewatch games on NFL Plus.

(19:32):
Is being able to watch more and being more attentive,
like it pulls off from the one o'clock games, And
that's what I like about.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, that's fair fits. Who is your quarterback that you're
picking for planting your flag?

Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's going to be Jared Goff.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
And look, it's a home game in the Ford field
of the Cores field of the NFL. We know that
scoring is always way up when the lines of home
games against a pass funnel Buccaneers defense in a game
with a Vegas total of fifty two and a half,
Golf gets to throw to Aman Ross, Saint Brown, Jamison Williams,
Sam Laporta, Jamier Gibbs.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
It's just a great setup.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
I've got him rank QB eight this week, one spot
behind Baker Mayfield, and I'll probably move Golf ahead of
Mayfield if Mike Evans isn't able to come back from
his hammy injury this week. And I think Jake is
on board with me, because I think Jake is golf
ranked even higher than I do.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, why do you hate golf? I have him at six.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
He uh, just for the record in terms of weekly
finishes this season, he has that QB one overall finish
in week two. He has not been a QB one
at any other point. His next highest finish is QB
thirteen so far this season. So this is higher than
he has been almost every week of the year. Jake.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
Yeah, And this is what happens with golf. And honestly,
it's the same argument for CJ. Straud when you have
to do it all with your arm to really reach
that number one or even top five finish. I mean
there's a lot of quarterbacks that sneak into like the
fourth fifth spot just with Jackson dart Is like, that's
the issue there. So, But I think, as Fitz said,
this is you're attacking the Buccaneers de defense. You're tech,
and I think, honestly to his point that if there's

(21:04):
no Mike Evans, you honestly start to worry about the
over under for if it was anybody but the Lions,
because the Lions are just like, oh, we're still up
forty to ten. Cool, We're gonna keep asking like who
the hell cares? Like that's just what they do.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Would you guys start golf over somebody like Jalen Hurts,
who's playing at Minnesota this week.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
I got that question the discord over at the Athletic
this morning. No, I have Hurts one spot in front
of golf and like, I'm not that scared of Minnesota
as everybody else seems to be. Like I'm scared. Fitz
has brought it up twice this year. I am scared
if it's an inexperienced offense. If it's an experienced quarterback,
a young quarterback, yes, then I am definitively terrified of

(21:43):
the Vikings defense. But Hurts experienced teams like that, Like, no,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna steer away from Hurts.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
What do you think about that same thing?

Speaker 2 (21:51):
I've Hurts franked higher too.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Okay, yeah, I've Hurts in a guteen league this week.
So I'm thinking about picking up a quarterback, you know,
maybe like a golf for Caleb Williams, because you get
to this point in this season and teams are just
holding onto one QB, so you actually do have some
pretty decent options available you could pick up and stream instead,
so able to see what I end up doing there.
But yeah, I mean the Vikings are very good. This

(22:15):
is a nursous conversation.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
We'll be out.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
I'm at five.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I got the only four Daniel's Mahomes, Prescott and May
are the only ones I would start over Hurts.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, it's not an easy matchup, but it's not a
skull and crosspawns matchup.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
EI there.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
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Speaker 1 (23:53):
All right, guyslet's get into our player debates here, running
back debate number one, Cam Skataboo versus Rasha In terms
of the vibes on these guys in general, coming into
like the season and where we are, it might feel
like there's a clear answer, but they are back to
back in ECR right now in the half VPR scoring. So, Fitz,
I'll start with you, who do you like better, Cam

(24:15):
Skataboo or Rashad White? In Week seven?

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Who is the better running back? Cam Scataboo or Rashad White.
I think it's Skataboo. I don't think it's particularly close.
Maybe I would consider starting Rashad White over Skataboo if
White had a cushy matchup. That's really not the case here.
White goes up against the Lions, Scataboo goes up against
the Broncos. They're both kind of tough matchups. White's matchup
is arguably tougher. The Lions have allowed fewer rushing yards

(24:40):
per game to running backs than the Broncos have. The
Lions run defense ranks fifth in DVOA, the Broncos rank eighth,
And like White, Skataboo catches passes two. He's averaged four
catches a game over the last four weeks and has
at least two catches in every game this season. White
has five hundred and ninety nine career carry He's averaged
three point eight yards per carry for his career. Like

(25:03):
start Cam, Skataboo's actually good at.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Football, yep, as Uh seems to be like the kids,
like what was last week, it took a while for
us to agree and maybe like right out of the
gate of what's we're doing is it's going to take
a while to degree possibly I'm on the other side
I have White. It's close, uh, mostly because I think
both are volume plays. Like I think that Skataboo has
been a volume play. It's not like he's averaging five

(25:26):
yards of carry and I know the touchdowns just came.
But maybe this is my Viking similarities. But I am
deathly afraid of Jackson Dart in this offense in Denver
like that, I just I am worried that they just
completely get stopped and act defensively, not like they're the
Broncos are going to put up thirty five points. And

(25:46):
maybe I'm underestimating what Dart and Scattaboo do just from
like a personality standpoint, whatever it might be. And Rashaw
White is pure volume. That's he's still been pure volume.
He's has eighteen and twenty touches the past two weeks.
But he gets into the end zone and fits is right.
But the one thing that the Lions have done, if
you look at it, like Judkins volume play got into

(26:06):
the end zone, Swift volume play got into the end zone,
Josh Jacobs volume play got into the end zone. Maybe
I'm banking too much on the Bucks being able to
get into the scoring range for White to get into
the end zone. But if I'm picking between the two,
that's just where I'm going to give the edges. I'm
going to give the Buccaneers the slide edge over the
Giants offense of being able to get their running back
into the end zone. But that's the thing. I'm not
going to disagree that vehemently because I could see them

(26:29):
both having twenty touches for eighty yards and then the
difference is going to be who scored.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, that's that's fair. Jake makes a great point, like
Baker Mayfield closes the gap between these guys because he
is more likely to keep the chains moving against the
Lions defense that's missing a few defensive backs. So good
point on that. That's what makes it kind of close.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
And you, Fitz just called it. You know, course Field,
like you are expecting a lot of points in that game,
whereas Giants at Denver. I know the Giants just scored
thirty four points in a game last week, but that
doesn't sound like a high scoring game just when you
hear it. No, what if I asked you, we only
do like a head to head in this segment usually,
But what if I threw in a third name here?
Because it's Rashad White ECRs RB fifteen. Skataboy is RB sixteen,

(27:14):
RB seventeen is in the game with Skatabooy with JK. Dobbins.
Do you guys agree with Dobbins being behind both of
those guys or would you put him ahead of either
or both of them?

Speaker 4 (27:21):
Jake, I'm behind both, but barely. Like I've been like arguing,
go get JK. Dobbins in trays because nobody wants him,
Like everybody's just like, oh, it's not going to keep happening.
He's not, but he's he's just that consistent RB sixteen
to twenty two, Like he's just he's not going to
be top ten, And I think that's why the ceiling
just isn't the same for him versus the other two.

(27:43):
And of course now I watch him score two touchdowns
against the Giants, but it just comes down to Dobbins
being more of that.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
He's the floor.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
Like if you told me between the three, who I
wanted to, like, hey, I need to bet that I
get at least eight points this week, it would be Dobbins.
But like if I wanted to go for who has
the higher ceiling. That's why I will go with the other.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Fits.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
So I've got Dobbins behind the other guys. Dobbin's far
and away the easiest matchup, but brings pretty much zero
to the table as a pass catcher, Like he can't
even catch passes in a Sean Payton offense where they
always throw to the running backs, they're not throwing the JK.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Dobbins. The other guys are pretty prolific pass catchers.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Right, Let's go to our next running back debate here.
I did want to include Videll because he was highly ranked,
even though he was in the popular waiver wire segment
as well already. So Videll is one of the names
here versus DeAndre Swift, who fits is coming off a
great game where he looked very good. He obviously had
the fifty five yard catching run for the touchdown, which
you know, really added to the scoring, but he also
had you know, just fourteen carries over one hundred yards

(28:42):
on the ground as well. It just looked a lot
better coming out of the by I felt watching that game.
So who do you like better this week? Swift or Videll.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Maybe it seems like I'm chasing the previous week's points.
The ultimate fantasy sin, but I do have Swift ranked higher.
I don't feel that strongly about it to not Ben
all that effective as a runner up until he had
the one hundred and eight yards against the Commanders. He's averaged
three point one yards per carry or worse in three
of his first four games and then had the big day.

(29:11):
Also that huge fifty five yard touchdown catch late, and
that was against a good run defense. So maybe Ben
Johnson worked out the bugs in the Chicago running game
while the Bears were on by, because the running game
was really good, just humming on Monday night. The run
blocking looked great, So cautious optimism that maybe Swift gets

(29:32):
a little more consistent from here on out.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, what do you think about this one, Jake?

Speaker 4 (29:36):
I have him almost back to back. I go Videll
slightly and it's it's not anything it gets like disagreeing
with fits on this one. It's just there's a couple
factors here. I hope, like to his point, I hope
Ben Johnson fixed it. And the thing that you saw
that they did in that game is, oh, by the way,
what do we want to do? What the freaking Patriots
should be doing with Henderson get Swift into space, stop

(29:57):
running in between the tackles. Why are we running Henderson? Sorry,
because I know it's not a Henderson thing, but I'm
just bringing up for comparison's sake. But part of that
too is Ben Johnson did have two weeks to prepare
for that game, two weeks to say this is our
game plan going forward, and as you said, fits maybe
hopefully Ben Johnson has said, you know what, this is
the way my offense can work with DeAndre Swift. He

(30:18):
clearly wants DeAndre Swift to be Bell Cowie. He's still barely.
I mean, there was a slight uptick from a non guy,
but it wasn't enough to be like, oh he's really
coming for the job at all, or even for a
fifty to fifty split with like David Montgomery or whatever.
But I just I want to see it a second time.
And I know the Saints matchup is a cushy one,
but again, getting into space and using in that fashion, yes,

(30:39):
please do that with Swift going forward. If you want
to go Swift. I'm not going to argue this is
another one where I'm not going to be like, oh
my god, you got to start Fordell. But I just
I have to see it a second time.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
How close did you say they were, DCA, they were
back to back for you or no?

Speaker 4 (30:53):
I go, I go Videll, Warren, Swift in order like
back to back to back like, and they're all inside
the top twenty two.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
So Vadella is twenty two in consensus, Swift is up
at night.

Speaker 4 (31:04):
I basically have them reversed of consensus. I have Adel
at twenty, Warren at twenty one, and Swift at twenty two.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Okay, yeah, all right, yeah, well we'll see that one, Pans.
I just like, I just really liked what I saw
from Swift, and and I totally get wanting to see
it again. I think that's completely fair, Jake. I just
I want to believe. I want to I will.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
Come with you. I was an X Files there you go,
I want to believe.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, I've never seen X Files, but I.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Knew you were going to say that. That's why I
said it, like it came to my mind, and I
knew the response out of your mouth was going to
be I've never seen it.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
There was some I can't remember what it was. I
didn't listen to the entire episode last week because I
was kind of out of it, recovering from surgery. But
I did listen a little to last week's episode and
there was some reference that you guys were talking about,
and I was like, I was screaming from my bed.
I was like, I actually know this reference. Oh was
it this a show that you guys were talking about?
The Dark Knight last week? And I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
because I knew that they filmed the early one in

(31:58):
Chicago and then Dark Night, Yes, And I was like
screaming that from my bed and you guys were talking about.
I was like, I, actually, this is a reference I
can actually talk about. And I was unable to. So
that was disappointing to me.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
That's what we do. We only bring up references, you know,
when you're not here.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yes, you wait till I'm not here to talk about
the movies I've seen. All right, let's get to the
wide Receiver debates. Here. We had to ask about Rashi Rice.
Just with him coming back, I want to know what
you guys think about him right off the back. Clearly,
this is somebody that if you have been sitting on
him for six weeks, you have been waiting for this moment.
To get Rashi Rice back into your lineup. I mean
he was going as high at certain points in the

(32:33):
summer as a second round pick in drafts. So this
is somebody that you expected to be a potential league
winner here. This is somebody who you expected to be,
like a real key cog in the machine of your
fantasy lineup. So I want to see what you guys
think about him in Week seven, first week back. Is
there gonna be Russ is there not? What does the
offense look like? All that stuff. So Rashi Rice versus

(32:54):
Brian Thomas Junior, who is coming off of his best
game of the season. Jake Fitz, I'll start with you
on this one. Actually, do you like Rice or Brian
Thomas Junior better?

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, I'll take Rashie Rice. But things have been getting
better for BTJ. Four catches for eighty yards against the
Chiefs two weeks ago, eight catches for ninety yards in
his first touchdown of the season last week against Seattle.
His two best games of the season, really his only
two good games of the season.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
But we talked.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Earlier about how banged up the Seattle secondary has been,
so that probably factored into Brian Thomas this big game
last week. I just think Rice is going to be
full go for the Chiefs right away and all the
stuff they do with him, those wide receiver screens and
little quick hitters, I get some of the best stuff
in Andy Reid's playbook. I don't think it's going to
be a slow build for Rashie Rice. They're gonna use

(33:41):
him heavily right away.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
I'm curious what you think, Jake, and and I'm curious
to like, I'm almost more curious just where you have
Rice ranks, because I think Brian Thomas Junior is a
little maybe not easy to rank just given what the
season has looked like. But Rice is the one where
I feel like there could be a pretty wide variance
here in terms of where you would come down on
him again just for his first week back. So where

(34:04):
do you have these guys ranked? And who do you
like better this week?

Speaker 4 (34:07):
So I apparently hate Rashi Rice having him at fourteen. Now,
that's also with Deebo and no Terry. So if Terry's
back debo slides behind him, if Diebo doesn't even play, obviously,
that's and Terry would not jump Rashi Rice if he
plays and there is no Deebo, Samuel so Rashi Rice
probably for all intensive purposes, ends up at thirteen. I
have Brian Thomas at eleven. That's how narrow the gap is.

(34:29):
But the reason I'm going with Brian Thomas, I wrote
it up in the Waiver column this week and like
I do a power up section of like what to
believe and everything and watching Brian Thomas, and this is
why I went and dug into the metrics, like I'm
watching him the past two weeks and I'm like, he
looks different and we can speculate. And I even said
that we could speculate. It was the rist and the
risk was bothering more than he let on, and that

(34:50):
was causing some of his hesitation for contested balls and
running over the middle when he made the business decision
and all that type of stuff. But it was also
the catches, just he's making the tougher ones that were tested.
And I went back and looked over the past three games.
After having a forty two percent on target percentage from
Trevor Lawrence in the first three games, the last three

(35:11):
games one hundred percent, not ninety not what one hundred
percent of the targets to Lawrence too. Brian Thomas have
been on target. They're connecting similar to someon what we saw.
Ridley before he got hurt was starting to connect with
Kevin Ward. It's not even to this level. Trevor Lawrence
and Brian Thomas are on the Mac Jones and Brian
Thomas train right now. Back with Mike Jones last year.

(35:32):
It's working and Brian Thomas looks good again. Brian Thomas
looks like himself, and that's why I give him the
slight edge I do think fits mentioned he listened to
the podcast that I had JJ zacher reeson on and
mentioned that he listened to that, and we talked about this,
and JJ brought up a really good point, and he said,
Rashid Rice can walk into twenty five percent target share
and Worthy can still be a thing because if you

(35:53):
look at Worthy and then the other wide receivers, the
other wide receivers basically equate to twenty five percent. And
I agree with him, and I agree with Rice potentially
being a wide receiver one going forward. But that conversation
also included expecting Travis Kelce to fall off as he
was last year and earlier this year. I don't necessarily
know that that happens boom right out of the gate.

(36:13):
Travis Kelcey's looked good finally again in the first year
of the past couple of weeks. You know, maybe they
just say, why do we need to force it ten
times to reshier Rice? So it's a I mean, we're
talking split in hairs here. The biggest answer that I
will say in this entire corporate co corporation of this
conversation is I have them at thirteen slash fourteen. So
that means you bench Pittman, you bench a Lave, You

(36:35):
bench guys that if you've been waiting and those have
been your wide receiver threes, they hit the bench for
Rashi Rice.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
I assume you guys both have Rice ahead of Thomas
in rest of season rankings right narrowly?

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yes, I do.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, Okay, let's go to another wide receiver debate here.
You just mentioned Alave Jake. How about Chris Alave or
Stefan Diggs, who had a very good Week five, had
a less good six although he had a fifty yard
catch that was called back on kind of an iffy
you know, penalty, So it would have looked a lot
different if that, you know, pass it had stayed completed.
So Diggs or a lave J could you like better?

Speaker 4 (37:11):
This week Spider Man meme pointing at each other the
essential same wide receivers of volume PPR guys bet both
facing defenses that we want to exploit, like this is
the play them both. But I have a Lovvey at
twenty and Stephan Diggs at twenty two, again a very
slim margin. Pittman is sandwiched in between them. I'm just
going to take a Loavy on the fact that the

(37:32):
one thing that we can say about both teams is
a Love's always going to be the main target. He's
going to always be I think Diggs will be more
often than not. And I actually think Diggs I brought
this up in the podcast too. I think he's a
good bye low because the two weeks prior to last
he was ninety percent out there and like the clear
number one, he was getting the targets. But Drake May
is Josh Allen is Lamar Jackson. He will spread it around.

(37:54):
He won't target the same guy every single week. He
will take what's given to him. And as we just
saw with Booty, which is why I'm kind of cool
on Booty phrazing is the fact that, like this was
the first good game since Week one, because May is
just gonna take what's there. This is the week where
Digs should be able to exploit that. But the slim
difference going to be I know, I don't have to
worry about a Lave being the main target. There's always

(38:15):
the chance that Diggs might be the second.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Or third Jake. You're almost exactly lined up with consensus.
You have a Lave two spots higher, and you have
them at twenty and twenty two. The consensus rankings have
them two spots apart, with LaVey at nineteen and Digs
at twenty one, So you're you're very very close to
being aligned with consensus on both of them. Fits. How
do you see it? Do you like Digs or a
Lave better?

Speaker 3 (38:37):
So a Lave has sixty four targets and thirty nine
catches this year. Diggs has thirty seven targets and thirty
two catches. So Alave has more catches than Diggs has targets.
But a Lave is averaging five point three yards per target.
Diggs is averaging ten point five.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yards per target.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
That's where the superior quarterback play comes in. I mean
one guy is playing with Drake May, the others tied
to Spencer Rep.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
So it's close.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
I have DIGS Wide receiver twenty a LAVE wide receiver
twenty one in a half point PPR, but in full
point PPR just because of the volume, I've got a
LAVE ranked a couple spots higher than DIGS.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Okay, let's go to some more start sit decisions here, guys.
We'll do another running back one here. How about Isaiah
Pichecko or either Patriots running back. Let you guys pick
and choose between them if you want to separate them.
If you have them kind of you know, handholding, then
that's fine as well. But Pa check O versus either
Patriots running back fits.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Oh, it's dealer's choice. I'll take the dealer's choice for him.
Give me Remondre Stevenson over Isaiah Pachecko. Like I know,
there seemed to be a usage shift in the Chiefs
backfield last week. Pachecko played more than twice as many
snaps as Kareem haunts. But is that the way it's
going to be henceforth? I don't know, Like it wouldn't
be shocking if it went back to being a near

(39:55):
even split between Pitchecko and Hunt this week with some
berchard Smith mixed in. And the Chiefs have been really
pass heavy. They're passing rate over expected last week against
the Lions was plus thirteen and a half percent. Just
give me Remondra in the easy matchup. Like the Titans
have allowed a league high nine touchdown runs to running backs.
They're giving up four point seven yards per carry to

(40:15):
running backs. Their run defense ranks twenty seventh and DVOA.
I know Remandre might be one fumble away from getting yanked.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
I'll take my chances.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
What do you think, Jake? And again you can also
pick your your Patriots right back of choice here.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
Well, how about like I'll do the Will Ferrell like, yeah,
fist pout. We finally agree. We just took a while,
but we got it. Actually we got here quicker this week.
I have Stevenson at twenty six, Pacheco at twenty seven,
Henderson at thirty. I slightly Steven sim everything fits said,
I agree with And this comes back to kind of
the similar conversation we had from earlier in the show.

(40:49):
I want that again. I want to believe X files
again two times for you I want to believe that
Pachecko's finally going to be the guy, but this is
this is one game, and I know it's against the Raiders,
but like, again, doesn't even need their running backs. With
the way that Patrick Mahomes is playing, it's almost like
he's proven. Like, hey, you know you made the joke
about the Warriors are just coasting through the season from
past years. It's like, this is clearly we did this

(41:11):
show at the beginning of the year when we speculated
and I brought up the point, I was like maybe
taking it on the chin, and the Super Bowl was
like their wake up call. Patrick Mahomes has come out
this season and being like, we're not just going to
coast through this season. He is going for the MVP
at this point, So it could just be all passing
volume and that's where Projeco obviously takes a big hit.
So that's why I give Stevenson the slightest of edges.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
I don't know what the odds are right now. I
would bet Mahomes winning the MVP, Like it's been a
few years, Okay, he should be the favorite, and I
unless it's like pretty poor odds, like even with him
as a favorite. I would bet on him right now.

Speaker 4 (41:46):
No, Baker's climbed up a bit. I know he's now
number three. I forget who's two fits if you know,
But I think at this point your point being, I
would agree with you unless Mahomes got hurt. I just don't.
I don't see anybody taking it from it at this point.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
Has someone jumped Baker?

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Last I checked, I thought Mahomes was two to one
and Baker was three to one, and then I was
a little bit of.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
A drop off, I mean.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
To number two then, because I remember.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Saker's been awesome, I don't want to do I don't
want to diminish Baker when I say that, I think
Mahomes is going to be the MVP.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
Now Alan's still number two. It's Mahomes, Alan Baker, and
then golf is a distant fourth, which is just crazy.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, I mean, injuries can always change things, right, Obviously
they have changed things already. That's why guys like Lamar
and Burrow aren't in the conversation. But yeah, it's hard
for like even Alan like to win it back to back.
You have to be so good and like he's already
just been just enough worse that like it almost rules
him out that I just like, I think I think

(42:44):
voters are going to say, like, hey, it's been long
enough since Mahomes got one. He's the best quarterback in football.
It's it's and he's playing awesome, like he's genuinely playing
at a deserving level, Like it's him. And then if
you want to take a long shot, it's it's Baker
just because Baker's been no I think I think it's
Mahomes at.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Forty to one. I just checked that foot. Would you
ever take the long shot on that? The Ravens somehow
run the table and then everybody's like Lamar, Like there's that.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Just because of hell startled.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
That's what I'm saying. That's super long odds.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
But like if they just especially yeah, especially since a
lot of people think Lamar kind of got jobbed, including
Worm last year.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
I don't just think it. I have two eyes.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
It's fine because Alan should have had it the year before,
Lamar should have had it last year.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
So just all sets.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
They can go trade the dates on there a little,
they can just change it.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Yeah. I don't actually totally disagree with that, but I
just I like, I hate that Lamar's historic season is
like now kind of lost to history in terms of
didn't actually win anything from it. I can't my my internet,
so so I can't pull up the odds. Well, I'm
glad you guys were able to check it out. But yeah,
forty to one. It's not bad for that possibility because
the only ended up missing two games, So that's I mean,
assuming he comes back, could be fine.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
And if they ran the table, they could leap the Chiefs.
They're only two losses behind. That's why I bring it.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Up a soft schedule the rest of the way.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, stop trying to get my hopes. Okay, this is
like the it's like the Avengers meme of Hawkeye, like,
don't do that. Don't give me hope. So we're not
gonna We're not going to get optimistic about that. Let's
go to a wide receiver starts the decision here. How
about Matthew Golden Jake coming off of you know what
we saw of him coming off of their bye in
week five against like iomnor who you know. Calvin Ridley

(44:21):
has his own I think it's a hamstring issue at
times this year has been a favorite target of cam Ward.
The offense isn't very good. But Golden or Io Man
or who do you like better?

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Yeah, this one comes down to, and I don't want
to say chinal defense one Christian Watson. And it's not
that I think Christian Watson deserves to be the threat
to be the number one, as we've seen the history
of just the inconsistency in his own right. But we're
going down the Packers road again of like they don't
have a one, they have eighteen number twos. But if
Christian Watson's back and he's out there, it just goes

(44:53):
back to I've won this ship. We just put it
like an X Files gift or avvy on the thing
for this the thumbnail is I want to believe I'm
a Golden person. Like I said pre season, I'll bring
up and say the fact that I missed this one.
I felt Golden was their answer to being a number one.
Not that he's an NFL number one, but he was
the one that could step in and be like, you know,
let's stop with these games at Romeo Dobbs and Jayden

(45:15):
Red and Dontavian Wicks and all the rest. Golden can
be the constant and then somebody's alongside of them. Probably
read if healthy. But at this point, I mean it
basically took Wis getting hurt for Golden to pull away.
Like Wicks going back to the previous game, had played
more routes and was more opportunities than Golden. So I
want to believe in Golden. It's just I see what

(45:35):
the Packers do, and I see what the four does,
and he does it all the time. So if Watson's
out there, I don't I would actually go Alu manner.
But if Watson's not back, then one hundred percent I
would go Golden.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Fitz, I have Golden ranked higher, and I will have
to reevaluate if Watson comes back. Right now, I don't
have Watson ranked. The Packers are pretty notoriously conservative about
bringing back injured players. So we're you and I do
the Dynasty podcast together with our good friend Scott Bagman.
You know I'm an enthusiastic elc I aman Or supporter,

(46:08):
and you know how skeptical I've been about Matthew Golden
and iaman Or has been used more heavily this season.
He's averaging five point seven targets a game, Golden three
point eight targets a game, And maybe I Amner gets
a target momp with Calvin Ridley out, but ultimately warm.
I want the guy in the functional passing attack, and.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
That ain't I am Manor like.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
There is something to be said for quality of targets.
Golden is averaging eleven point two yards per target and
I am n Or is averaging five point eight yards
per target.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Let's go to some flexes here, Jalen Wattle versus Jordan Mason,
and I don't know if you guys saw this. Andy
Slater tweeted this morning that this Dolphins Browns game could
have fifty to sixty mile per hour wind gusts in Cleveland.
So and considering who the quarterbacks are in that game,
not exactly the strongest are of any signal callers in

(47:02):
the NFL. So just an interesting thing to note there.
It's weatherwise for that one, but Jalen Waddle in that wind,
Jake or Jordan Mason.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
I already had Jordan Mason in front of them. And
I have a fantasy one oh one column over the
athletic and I bring up weather and at the wind
being a factor because you have wind, precipitation. All those
type of things in temperature all come into play, and
one of them is that fifteen plus doesn't really usually do.
That's kind of a tie break. Twenty five plus you
start to think about, like, hey, maybe I bench blank

(47:35):
for blank, Like you're not going to go out there
and bench Jalen Hurts to go start justin fields like
something like that. It's not gonna But when you talk
thirty five plus then it's like, oh my god, I
might want to actually consider even benching my studs now
again studs, I'm talking like that's you're not benching Patrick
Mahomes And thirty five plus you would think about it, though,
And the point is is that thinking about it, as

(47:57):
you just said, brings up everything you need to know
because you're talking about to Gemen. Wattle is the one
who would fall off obviously if Tua is going to
be that bad. So I already had Mason in front
of them. If the wind is really that It's not
just the fact that I would definitively I mean wide
gap Mason over Wattle. Is that Waddle now potentially falls
into the water with shiver three range because it's gonna

(48:17):
have to be short to get it to him, and
it's gonna have to be after the catch, which can
be done, but thirty five plus is going. Yeah, We've
seen it time and time again. It destroys passing games.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Yeah, what do you think fits?

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Yeah, And I'm a fade the weather guy generally, And
I always love it when like people ask questions on Twitter,
discard or whatever, like you know, oh, you you'd play
that quarterback over the other quarterback when the wind is
gonna be fifteen miles an hour and like, fifteen mile
an hour winds will not even tussle your hair, man,
Like I can go out in the backyard with my

(48:49):
son and throw the nerf ball around like, oh no,
fifteen miles an hour, it might blow over the fence,
Like no, oh hell, hair is an hour is nothing.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
I'll add to it. Eight chance of rain. You're getting
precipitation too. This is get the hell away from this game.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Cleveland is one stadium to where I do worry about
the wind because there is like a wind tunnel effect
in that stadium. So yeah, yeah, I mean I had
Wattle in neutral conditions, I would play Wattle because he
has been like we've seen a serious uptick in his
production without Tyreek Hill in wind like that.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
No, I'm playing Mason.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
Weather can change, of course, so you know, don't just
assume that it's going to be it's going to stay
that workast. So everybody should should keep an eye on that.
But as of right now, yeah, that was I saw
that tweet a few hours ago that it's looking really extreme,
so keep an eye out for that. Let's go to
another flex here, Tony Pollard or Jacobe Myers. I know
Myers has his own injury stuff going on. When I

(49:48):
put this together, he was still kind of in the
rankings and everything. I haven't checked for an update there,
fits what do you think Meyers if he plays or Pollard?

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Pollard wasn't exactly ringing the bell in fantasy when he
had the backfield to himself, and now Taiji Spears is
getting more run like. Spears played more snaps than Pollard
last week and looked better. Pollard is going against the
Patriots who are pretty tough against the run. So if
he plays, give me Myers, like the recent production has
been super discouraging under forty receiving yards in three straight games.

(50:19):
You would have thought that Myers would smash with brock
powers out of action. It hasn't happened. I still think
Myers is better bet than Pollard with the Raiders probably
in Chase s mooed against the Chiefs.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, that's why, by.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
The way, did not practice Wednesday. Yeah, just just to
note that yet, go ahead, Jake.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
I put that in quotes too, because I wonder how
much that has to do with the trade rumors. But
like the fact is is it fits is right. But
it's also four receptions in each of the last three games,
so you actually one game with three receptions, everything else
has been four plus and he's still going to get those.
And so you know, non PPR if you want to
make an argument, but everybody knows by now I'm anti
Pollard just for the fact that, like the argument I

(50:56):
brought up all the time from last year going into
this year, and that was before Taj was in the mix.
And to be honest, as a complete Pollard conversation, I
want to be surprised if Spears starts pushing for fifty
to fifty and then we're talking about Spears in the
way we used to talk about Jalen Warren alongside Naja
harrisays that we'd rather have the better looking, more explosive option.
So I'm with him. I'm with Myers on this one,

(51:16):
as long as he's playing and healthy. Just there's very
little upside for Pollard to let alone. The matchup that
fits brought up with the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Let's go to Zach Sharbonay versus Jerry Judy, who also
is obviously has that weather consideration now, and I'm wondering.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
Well, Dylan Gabriel in that win, I mean, he might
get knocked over, so I think we're just I'll get.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah, yeah, Tua and Dylan Gabriel being the two quarterbacks
in that game with that win kind of hilarious. Jaku,
do you like better here, Charbona or gd so.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Jokes aside, I'll love you to say, even without the
let's just say the weather breaks and it's clear and
ten mile an hour to wins, I'm still going Sharbonay
just because if you're gonna tell me who has the
better chance for probably similar touches potent, But even if
they do have similar touches, who's more likely to score?
I would just go lean with sharbon A on this one.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Fifth the weather I got to take scharbon A in
is two point six yards per carry apparently so.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
But they can't use him at the goal line.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
They are insistent and that is his only value. Jake
the fail into the end zone.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
But the weird thing about Judy like he is currently
wide receiver fifty seven and half point PPR Fantasy scoring.
But get this, he leads all NFL wide receivers in
number of routes run. He ranks fourth among receivers in
air yards. He's tied for tenth among receivers in targets.
But obviously, like the quality of targets not great. Only

(52:41):
sixty percent of his targets this season have been deemed catchable.
He's playing with the third round rookie quarterback Dylan Gabriel,
and Judy himself bears some of the blame. Let's face it,
he's been kind of a career underachiever. So with the
usage I would have been really tempted to take Judy here,
but with the there's there's no way. I'm just going

(53:02):
with Sharbone.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
One more flex here, Woody Marx or Kaishawan Booty. We
talked a little bit about Booty and we were talking
about Diggs. Marx of course coming off of his bye week.
So Fits, I'll start with you on this one, Marx
or Booty. Who do you like?

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Oh, I know which way Jake is going with this,
but I gotta be the Lex Luthor to Jake's Superman.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Here.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
I'm going with Kaishawn Booty. He's not been heavily targeted
this season, but he has been wildly efficient. Booty is
averaging thirteen point one yards per target and one point
eight six yards per up run, just excellent numbers, has
three touchdowns. Marx is in a split backfield with Nick Chubb,
tough matchup against the Seahawks, who ranked second in DVOA

(53:41):
versus the run, and Houston's offensive line is not so good.

Speaker 4 (53:45):
Yeah, just the one area where those Seahawks still are
strong even with those injuries. As he brought up earlier.
So I will say, yeah, you do know where I'm
going because I'm gonna go with Marx, but I will
say the fit of higher ceiling, I would go with
Booty if you need that play. And this is why
I bring this up a lot of times, and not
to like put the onus on the people watching, but
we're talking about flex plays. So we're talking about positions
where you were going to have to make that decision

(54:06):
and look at your team and say, you know what
do I have a really strong team and I'm fine,
and I just want to bet the better, you know,
the better consistent play out there. The thing is with
Marx is the touches were almost equal. The opportunities were
actually more from Marks in that last game. Is that
Chubb just had the bigger game. It's still a split
backfield and there's always the potential as you guys both
everybody knows this coming out of buys, and it usually

(54:27):
skews more towards wide receivers than running backs. But it
does happen, is that rookies, young players coming out of
buys sometimes seeing uptick.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Again.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
Usually it's more true for wide receivers, but it happens
with running backs too. If Marx was all of a
sudden the sixty forty side of the split, I want
to be shocked. But again they were talking safe play.
I will agree with Fit's one hundred percent though. If
you're looking for the ceiling, Booty has the higher ceiling.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
But Jake made this point on his podcast and it's
spot on that Drake May is basically like Josh Allen.
He just throws to the open guy. So it's going
to be real hard to like peg the right guy
in that.

Speaker 4 (55:02):
Yeah, And I know we're not talking about it, but
a lot of people are like, should I drop Hunter
Henry for Mason Taylor? And I'm like, this is what
happens one at tight end and with Drake May he'll
go back to Hunter Henry. And then everybody's like, oh
my god, I can't believe I missed the Hunter Henry game.
Like it's gonna come back around.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Let's go to quarterback here, Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence Jake,
Who do you like better?

Speaker 2 (55:23):
I have?

Speaker 4 (55:24):
This is now the inverse I feel just in front
of him, And this is the lowest I've ranked Justin
Fields all year because it's the rushing. But the guy
brought up before. Carolina's run defense has been playing better
over the last two weeks. It's not a huge sample
something all of a sudden, like Carolina defense watch out
for it, but it is. It's number one in rush EPA,
as in the toughest, as in the worst matchup possibly

(55:47):
for rush EPA over the past two weeks. And it's
not like they're facing slouches over the past two weeks.
So again, I'm not saying Panthers, oh my god, run
for the hills with the run game. But Justin Fields
did just get Garrett Wilson killed. So he's gonna be
throwing Tojosh Reynolds Mason Taylor and a bunch of people
will be like who. So that's part of the use.
But Fields is there, as in, he can run for

(56:07):
one hundred yards and has the ceiling if you do
not want to risk I say this all the time,
if you don't want to risk what we just saw
with Justin Fields last week as in three points, Trevor
Lawrence is your play like man, let me make that
one hundred percent clear.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Fifth, I don't even know if he's gonna have Josh Reynolds, Jake,
I thought I saw it again be questionable for this game. Yeah,
sidelined at practice Wednesday with a hip injury.

Speaker 4 (56:32):
It's Josh Renolds who gets more hurt, Josh Reynolds or
Juwan Jennings. At least Jawan Jennings plays through injuries.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
No kidding.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Yeah, So I do not want to play Justin Fields
this week. And if you do play him, you better
hope he gives you ten rushing points because I don't
think you're getting ten passing points.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Out of him last day.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Well, the rushing touchdown too, let's see, Yeah, you need
a touchdown, yes, out of him, no question. I think
his odds of giving you a rushing touchdown are probably
better than a passing touchdown. And last night, last night checks,
the prop for fields passing yardage on hard rock bets
was one hundred and seventy three point five passing yards.
I'm smashing the under on that bat. No Garrett Wilson,

(57:11):
maybe no Josh Reynolds. Top two receivers could be Aaron Smith,
who is really fast but had a twelve percent drop
rate in his final college season, and Tyler Johnson, who
has eighty career catches in fifty four career games. And man,
I just if he is going to get two hundred
passing yards, you would need to see some Keystone cops

(57:32):
tackling by the Panthers where they just fall down and
let guys run for sixty yards after the catch, because
and that really hasn't been the case. The Panther's not
an easy matchup. Their defense has not been bad this year,
middle of the pack in terms of fantasy points. A
lot of quarterbacks. Give me Lawrence and I'm never excited
about using Trevor Lawrence, but I've got him. Ranke QB fifteen.
I've got fields QB nineteen. I'm like seven spots below consensus.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Okay, Well, speaking of fields at the tight end, I
have here Mason Taylor, who is I mean, who else
is going to catch passes? Or Harold fannin junior who Again,
I did put this together before I saw the wind
I thing. I didn't mean to keep using players in
that game, but Bason Taylor or Harold Fanin fitz Sudi
like better man.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
I so want to say fan In here.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
I'll have to check day of game weather, and even
if there is some win, I might still go fannin.
Broncos tight ends have had twenty nine targets and twenty
catches in Dylan Gabriel's first two starts, and I know
if David Nijoku is out, and it looks like he
will be, that all the targets spillover is not just
going to Harold Fannin matchup against the Dolphins defense that's

(58:39):
allowed the fifth most receiving yards to tight ends, We'll
have to see on the weather because Taylor is a
decent play too. I know he flopped last week one
catch two yards against the Broncos. But the Panthers have
not been able to cover tight ends, that is their
Achilles heal on defense. They have given up the most
fantasy point second most this year, most I believe last
year to tight ends. And you know, like you said,

(59:02):
warm Fields has to throw to someone.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Jake, what do you think I mean fanning? Like to
the point about the wind, Like you would think his
usage might be such that the wind wouldn't be as
much of a detriment to him as it would be
to other players. But again, the opportunity for Taylor just
to get every target he can handle. So who do
you like better?

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (59:22):
So as of today and before this weather situation, By
the way, all that typing I was doing, I was
looking everywhere, there's no Justin Field's rushing touchdown prop yet
on anyway I found the passing is minus two seventy
five for over a half of a touchdown, which is,
by the way, insane to think about. It's not one
and a half, it's a half, and it's still minus
two seventy five. And even though I'm like, eh, I
don't think I'd even bet that for a passing one.

(59:45):
I just want to throw out how insane that is.
So by looking through all this, but yeah, I'm I'm
with fits now with the weather. Initially I had fan
In and ten and Mason Taylor at thirteen and that's
with no David and Joku in my ranks. Assuming that
stays the course. That weather though, like, I just don't
know how we can ignore it, and I would knock
Fannin down. I'm going to do my projections later today

(01:00:07):
as I do on Thursdays. I can see this being
super close, and I feel like, honestly, I know he's
one of the last men's standing, but this will be
in one where I would actually go Mason Taylor a
non PPR. If I was going full PPR, I would
probably stillly and fan In barely.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Say goodbye. To start sit dilemmas with fantasy pros, start
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(01:00:44):
Fantasy Pros app and make winning decisions in no time.
We are about to get to our touchdown calls for
the week, but first join our free Touchdown Calls contest
in the Fantasy Pros Discord. Each week, pick four players
you think will score with a bonus flex worth double.
Weekly winners get a twenty five dollars Fantasy Pros gift card,
and the season champ takes home a signed b Jon

(01:01:04):
Robinson Jersey. Play now by going to Fantasypros dot com
slash chat and heading to the Touchdown Calls channel. How
did you guys do with this last week? I didn't
get to.

Speaker 4 (01:01:14):
Hit the tight end. We're we're on a tight end
hole fits hit it first. We're two for two.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
That's too much pressure on me. I turned the tight end. Jake,
You're on running back this week. Fifth you're on receiver,
and I will be trying to continue our good luck
charm on the on the tight end side of things.
Start us off with running back, Jake.

Speaker 4 (01:01:32):
Yeah, so I already jinxed myself on the Athletic Discord
because somebody asked this question and I was like, you
know what, By the way, I'm five for six and
the only one I've missed I've actually hit the running
backs and the wide receivers. The only one I missed
was the first tight end touchdown call of the year.
And so now I've completely jinxed myself. So I might
as well say that again, I've jinxed myself. And I'm
not going for the easy I feel like Jonathan Taylor

(01:01:53):
and Josh Jacobs are the super easy ones. I wanted
to go a little bit more interesting, and I'm going
with Bill Crosskey Merrit against the cow Boys, and I
think the uses that we're seeing from him, I would
be concerned in fantasy in full point PPR or if
this is a receiving thing, because they just don't want
to use him in that fashion, very similar to Brian
Robinson and the like. But that matchup and that opportunity

(01:02:14):
for him, I think that we just saw what we
wanted to. Finally, is he got the start before Chris
Rodriguez got hurt, and he got basically the vast majority
of the touches. So going against the Cowboys, I think
that crossky Merit gets the touchdown, So now be ready
for that to ruin my streak and everybody's being mad
about Bill krossky merret having a terrible week.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
Fits Let's stick with the Washington Commanders theme. I'll go
with Terry McLaurin aka Terry mclovin. It seems like he's
going to return from his quad injury he got in
a limited practice on Wednesday. McLaurin gets into the end
zone against the Cowboys defense that's given up a league
high twelve touchdown catches to wide receivers, and McLaurin had

(01:02:54):
a touchdown in both of his games against Dallas last year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
I attempted to pick zach Ertz to just continue just Washington,
make it a sweeve when I put it in the sheet.
Who I picked initially was Mason Taylor. Doesn't have a
touchdown yet this season. The Panthers like, well, they are
good against the run, have not been good against tight
ends for a couple of years now. I am kind

(01:03:19):
of scared off just by the fact that when you
listed that over a half a passing touchdown prop Jake,
I was like, I don't want to take the over
and Now I'm like, why am I picking you? Are?

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
You might as well double down with it if you're
going to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Yeah, yeah, probably I should. Yeah, I'll stick with Taylor.
I mean kind of like you were talking about, like
Jonathan Taylor, Josh Jacobs, Like you don't want to just
pick the easy, like most obvious names every week. So
I'll stick with Taylor and hope to.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
Hear any of the opportunity you can change.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Yes, he will have the chance. 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 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. Hopefully we hit this Jacory

(01:04:08):
krossky maor Terry McLaurin and I am sticky with it
Mason Taylor for Jake ed Fitz, I'm Ryan Warman. Thanks
everybody for tuning in. Good luck here in week seven.
We'll see you next time. 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
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(01:04:29):
or on Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram and TikTok
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Episode Transcript

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Andrew Erickson

Joe Pisapia

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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;}Week 7 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls (Ep. 1778)