Top Week 3 Fantasy Moves After Key Injuries! 🏈

Get ready to dominate Week 3 of your fantasy football league! 🏈 In this episode of Operation Domination, we're breaking down the top fantasy moves you need to make after those brutal key injuries. From Joe Burrow's turf toe concerns to Austin Ekeler's season-ending Achilles injury, and how they impact your lineups, we’ve got you covered with expert insights and actionable advice to keep you ahead of the competition. 

Wondering what to do with players like Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, or Kenneth Walker? We've got the answers. Should you trust replacements like Jake Browning or Zach Charbonnet? Find out here! 🚨

Make sure to subscribe, hit that notification bell, and join our ever-growing community of fantasy football enthusiasts as we navigate the ups and downs of the NFL season together. Don’t miss a single update that could make or break your lineup!

Stay tuned for more expert fantasy advice and join us on the Fantasy Football Advice Network for all your NFL needs. Let's win those leagues and turn injuries into opportunities!

 💪 #FantasyFootball #NFLFootball #FantasyAdvice #NFLInjuries #FantasyMoves
#fantasyfootballdraftstrategy #nfl #fantasyfootball #week2waiverwirepickups #week2start/sit

CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:21 - Joe Burrow Highlights
05:02 - JJ McCarthy Analysis
09:02 - Jayden Daniels Performance
11:34 - Justin Fields Overview
13:14 - Garrett Wilson Skills
14:07 - Breece Hall Insights
14:58 - Brock Purdy Breakdown
19:51 - Aaron Jones Review
22:27 - Austin Ekeler Performance
25:12 - Zach Charbonnet Profile
27:30 - Xavier Worthy Discussion
29:50 - Jauan Jennings Review
33:00 - Josh Downs Analysis
34:50 - Emeka Egbuka Insights
36:40 - Tyler Warren Breakdown
38:03 - Dallas Goedert Profile
40:45 - Evan Engram Review
42:54 - Tucker Kraft Highlights
46:09 - Sign Off


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Operation Domination is underway. The ultimate game plan to dominate
your with your hosts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
You gotta be confident about your achilles.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
I gotta don't hope, be great. I'm dominated. Well.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome back in to another episode of Operation Domination. As always,
I'm your host, Dan Materer. Make sure you download us
on your favorite podcast app and if you want to
check out our video content, all you have to do
is go to our YouTube channel, the Fantasy Football Advice
Network at f f advice Net to catch all of
our content and everybody else's which is helping you win

(00:49):
your leagues. And that's what we are doing here today.
That's why I have the one, the only, the great,
the host of Injeless podcast, doctor Bryan Scott in the building.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
What's going on? Brian? What up? Dan? We got a lots,
we got lots to talk about tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, we gotta we gotta burn through this, so I'm
gonna dispense with the pleasantries. This list just got high
profile and deep fast heading into week three. So first
of all, let's just kick it off with the guy
that we know is not gonna play this week, but
I want to get your take on it. Joe Burrow
tow the toe has been the plague of the season
thus far.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, all of a sudden, like within the last week.
Joe burrow Man, what do you say, the guy just
every like two years, like clockwork. He's got something serious
going on that's gonna take a lot of time off
his his career. And you know the they're calling it
a turf toe. They're saying surgery is expected, slash needed.

(01:53):
I don't know if they've actually come out yet and
said that they have a date of the surgery in mind,
but they're saying three months, yes, and I think that
is very optimistic. I think this is season ending. Let
me just tell you, with turf toe injuries, it has
to be a really severe injury for them to do

(02:13):
surgical reconstruction on this or surgical repair. Why we hear
a lot about this injury, It's not often surgically treated.
It's pretty rare that you get a severe Grade three
injury like this. I will say that watching the video
of him getting hurt was a very classic example of
how you get a turf toe. He had a hyper

(02:34):
extension injury to the toe as he was getting tackled
with the defenders weight all on him. So it was
a very common way to get this injury. So if
it is severe, then I can see why because it
was a classic type of injury mechanism. But again they're
saying three months. I think that's very optimistic. This could
potentially be season ending. Well, three months is three quarters

(02:58):
of the season, literally, and I think when I say
season ending, I mean extending well beyond the season. Well, sure,
and I get that.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
And the point that I'm more making is that even
if it's the optimistic three month timeline that's been reported,
and you know, let's just say it's that, we're still
talking best case scenario Joe Burrows back week fourteen, week fifteen,
And then after all that time off, if you're holding
on to Joe and you're in redraft leagues, are you

(03:28):
really going to trust to play him in your fantasy
football playoffs? Because first of all, if you got there,
you probably found another option. I don't even know if
you trust him. Because people were asking me, are you
gonna put Joe Burrow in the ir My answer to
that was no, I mean one quarterback league's redraft. No,
I'm probably not gonna bother here, because even if he
comes back, I don't know that I'm gonna trust him
for my playoff run at that point. And the only

(03:50):
reason they're leaving the door open as an organization is
if it's three months and if the Bengals, which are huge,
if are actually competing for a playoff spot, they want
to keep that door open as a potential possibility. But
to your point, it could be slim pickens as far
as the odds go with that even happening. Now here's
the good news on a fantasy football front. Jake Browning
came in and really didn't skip a beat. It wasn't

(04:11):
as if they went to a run first team. They
showed you that even with Jake Browning back there, they're
going to be a pass first and neutral game scrip.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
But it does not matter.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
He had thirty two attempts, he had two hundred and
forty one yards, two touchdowns, three picks, and the turnovers.
For fantasy, you really don't mind that because that means
the other team stays in it like Jacksonville did in
that game, and you have to keep throwing the football
and guys like Jamar Chase have big games anyway. So
I'm not overly concerned about this. Yes, It's a little
bit of a downgrade for Chase, but not really much
of one. He would still stay squarely in my top

(04:41):
three receivers. I'm a little bit more worried about t Higgins,
who didn't have a great game in this one. That's
what would bother me a little bit more so. But
Chase Brown, Jamar Chase. I'm not really putting a big
downgrade on this. I think that's the good news you
can take from fantasy. If you have those players, if
you have Joe Burrow, maybe you got Indiana Jones, maybe
there's some other hit me up at Dan mader Ff

(05:01):
and I'll try to help you out depending on what's
on your league. Let's get into the next quarterback, because
this one's this one's a little fishy to me. So
JJ McCarthy ankle issue. What do you have there on
the medical front.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
I'm reading and seeing reports saying hi ankle sprain and
that he was seen wearing a boot, which is not
good and probably at least out this week, if not
possibly several more. As we've talked about high ankle sprains before,
they tend to have a little bit longer of a
recovery period. Sometimes as much as four to six weeks,

(05:34):
depending on the severity they I've seen some reports projecting
him being out two to four, so maybe it's a
mild high ankle spring. Even with a mild one, I
still kind of tend toward that four week mark, but
it doesn't look like week three is happening. And I
don't recall him getting hurt. Was this a practice injury
or did this happen in game? I don't recall.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
So this is the vishy part that I that I
brought up, and that's why I apparently this happened during
the game. No one who watched the game can pinpoint
any point in time when this would have happened, because
he played through the entire game and at no point
looked hindered in any kind of capacity in his mobility. Now,
I'm not saying that they made up an injury or

(06:16):
trying to go into conspiracy theory here that they're trying
to bench JJ McCarthy. I'm not that crazy, but I
do think it's a little bit odd that nothing obvious happened.
He seemed fine as soon as the bell rang, and
all of a sudden, he's in the boot, And I
wonder if This is more of a he did injured himself. Yes,
but I wonder if the Vikings are looking at this

(06:37):
and like that two and four a week timeline came
out pretty quickly, and I do wonder if that's the
Vikings saying, you know what, maybe take a seat, young buck,
because this offense is not working right now. We'll give
it the Carson Wentz as a veteran, you take a
few weeks off, nurse that little injury, come on back,
and we'll see we can get a you know, a
brace young resurgence out of you. We benched him, brought
you back kind of deal. It's just a little funny.

(06:59):
I don't get too off the weeds, but it's a
little funny.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
One thing I've always been concerned about with him is
actually him coming off of this knee injury that he
had that shut him down all last season. That to me,
is actually more concerning than anything else he's had to
deal with in his short career, including this high ankle
spring that mysteriously happens. So maybe they're kind of throwing
the Maybe they're putting up like a you know, a

(07:22):
mirage over here so that we get distracted by this
high ankle injury and maybe it's really his knee. I
don't know that that would be the closest state of
conspiracy theory I could come up with, because you know,
he had meniscal injury meniscal repair surgery on that knee.
Young guy like that. Those surgeries are not an absolute
home run slam dunk. Those surgeries sometimes are very tenuous

(07:45):
and can easily be reinjured. So that was something moving
forward in his career you always have to be cognizant
of if you're going to draft him in your fantasy league,
there is the chance that that could at some point
come up to bite him again. Maybe this is it,
Maybe this is what they're happening. I'm just throwing that
out there. But like you said, I didn't see him
get hurt. I watched a lot of that game that

(08:05):
he played in this past weekend, So I'm not really
sure how that happened. Benching that nobody has to jump
all over as a result to it. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'm just saying anyway, as far as the fantasy impact
of this goes, it can't be much worse for anybody
you haven't been happy with justin Jefferson, you haven't been
happy with GJ.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Hogginson.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
You haven't really been happy with much of anything on
that Minnesota offense through two weeks so far of JJ McCarthy.
People look at Carthon Wentz and they've rolled their eyes.
But the fact is, last time we saw Cartson Wentz,
albeit that's been a while ago, but he knows how
to get the ball at least to his number one weapons.
And Kevin O'Connell outside of JJ McCarthy, has typically been
able to make any quarterback viable in getting that ball

(08:44):
to the number one weapon. So I actually look at
this maybe as an imminent upcreed for the time being.
Maybe not long term, but imminent for now. I actually
would feel a little bit more comfortable getting a quarterback change.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Here if I have justin Jefferson and TJ. Hokinson. But
that's just me.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
So let's talk about Jayden Daniels dealing with a neat issue.
And I know you were on social media about like,
can you guys actually tell me what the injury even is?

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean I saw the play where they
think he got hurt. U did it. It looked pretty innocent,
and then they said they got an MRI. I think
the following day or Monday or whatever that week was.
And then they were saying a knee spring, which is
a very generic term for it's nothing serious, or at
least they're trying to make it portray it that way.

(09:31):
You know, it sounds like he's day to day. He
missed practice. I think today, maybe even yesterday. I don't
think he's practice yet this week, if I'm not mistaken.
So that's gonna be real telling if he does anything
at all tomorrow. It doesn't sound like this week is
gonna happen unless they're gonna make him a game time decision.
But I think in week three, man, if you can't

(09:52):
get on the field for practice, it's too early in
the year for guys to be missing that much practice
heading into their game on the weekend. So that to
me tells me he's probably not gonna play. It at
least tells you he's legitially dealing with something.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
And again, we record this show on Thursday night, so
we're talking about the Friday practice report when we say today.
But yeah, so it tells you he's definitely dealing with
something if he can't go. It is Marcus Mariota at
the quarterback position now. Mariota in his own right, because
he runs, is a streaming option, is a viable replacement
for Jayden Daniels. If you need to replace him with
somebody you can actually just pivot to the backup quarterback.

(10:26):
Doesn't always work out that way. I do think when
we talked about this on yesterday's show, Go Back and
listen our start sits of the week in our ranking debates,
one of the people asked us, you know who would
I rather start, Deebo Samuel or Terry McLaurin, Which is
funny in its own right because you got the two
receivers on the same team right now. It's not only

(10:46):
because Deebo has been better through the first two weeks,
as McLaurin, I think is still kind of climbing his
way back after not practicing throughout training camp. But he's
the one who has a three point eight a dot.
He's the one who's staying around the line of scrimmage.
Everything he's doing is yards after the catch. We all
know what Marcus Mariota does. He keeps it close to
the line of scrimmage. I don't see this changing as

(11:06):
far as how the usage is going between these two
wide receivers, I think you're gonna see a healthy amount
of depot and Terry McLaurin is hoping for that one
big play. McLaurin, somebody already had a lower end wide
receiver through my ranks. If Jade Daniels is out, I'm
probably gonna boost him down to wide receiver for territory
and tell you don't really need to.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Play him this week in your lineup. So that's something
I'm gonna watch.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Deebo, I think is the one that I feel safe
with along with Zach Ertz if been playing him as
a low end tight end.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
One two.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
All right, we still got more quarterback injury, so justin fields,
I mean, we already know he got rolled out. That
might be the earliest I've ever seen a player get
rolled out with a concussion.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
I mean that I can think of outside of like Tula. Yeah,
I mean, that happened pretty quick, so it must have
been significant. His symptoms must be significant enough that they
don't think it's gonna clear by the weekends, and so
they're just basically ruling him out and not making him
push through anything unnecessarily, which is what you want to do.
With concussion management, he's going to have to clear concussion

(12:05):
protocol before even steps down the field to do anything
strenuous or well, I should shouldn't say that. He's going
to have to prove that he can do strenuous activity
before he clears concussion protocol. So until we see him
out in the practice field, he's going to remain in
that protocol. And if he can't even do anything, then
that just means it's going to take him long to recover.

(12:26):
So we'll see what happens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week.
If he can get back on the field do some
physically exertional activity, perhaps he can get back to a
full practice and then get cleared. But it's a progression
kind of thing. You have to demonstrate that you can

(12:46):
do very very limited, very very easy physical activity first,
remain symptom free before they kind of graduate you to
the next step. So it happens in a stepway fashion,
which means he hasn't even started this step yet. So
it's we're not gonna get really much as far as
where he's at until next week.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, and being that they've ruled him out so quickly
and next week's definitely gonna be in question. Like you're saying, so,
Tyrod Taylor comes in, and Tyrod Taylor just every year
finds a way to be relevant roaver Wire and Fantasy football.
No matter what his situation, no matter where he is,
he just his name always winds up popping up at
some point in a season. It's absolutely crazy to me

(13:30):
how it actually happens. So with Tyrod coming in, is
it a little bit of a downgrade on the Garrett
Wilson ceiling. Yes, Justin Fields does have a rapport with
Garrett Wilson. He will throw a deep ball to him
to give him that little extra pop. Is it a
huge downgrade? No, I mean just based on what Fields
did a week ago. It was affully at thwenty nine

(13:51):
yards like three quarters.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
It was so bad. Fields isn't quite that bad.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
But at the same time, like you can't feel like
you're really losing a ton if you have a Garrett
Wilson right now. So I feel safe in playing him
at least as the top twenty four wide receiver heading
into this week. Brice Hall, I think this could be
a little bit of a step up for Breese Hall.
They're gonna lean a little bit more on the running game,
and Tyrod Taylor, for a running quarterback, actually checks the

(14:18):
ball down at an actual balanced rate, an average rate.
Justin Field doesn't do that. Jalen Hurts doesn't do that.
Most rushing quarterbacks don't check the ball down to their
running backs very often. A lot of times I like
to take off and run in their own right. Tyrod Taylor,
especially being he's a veteran now, has no problem dumping
the ball off.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
We've seen this before.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
So Brees Hall, who's not getting a ton of running
room but clearly is the best running back and still
being utilized as the lead back for the Jets after
all the fear that we had in the offseason, he
might get a couple extra targets in this game. Look
out for that. So Brees Hall is squarely in my
top twenty four. This doesn't change much for me as
far as those guys go. Let's get into Brock party.

(14:59):
So this one sounded it might be trending in a
right direction. I don't know what do you think?

Speaker 1 (15:04):
I do? I do think it is he I think
had a limited practice session today. He's dealing with two issues,
the toe and the shoulder issues. But it sounds like
he could potentially suit up as either a backup or
maybe get some limited at game action this weekend. It
might be a true game time decision, but we'll see
what he does the rest of the week as we
get closer to game. Now, he's the toe injury he's

(15:28):
dealing with is a turf toe variant, so it's not
quite as severe as Joe Burrow. A turf toe injury
is an actual injury to a distinct structure in and
around the great toe, So Joe Burrow apparently that's what
he has, but brock Purty has what more commonly people get,
which is probably just a sprain or some type of

(15:49):
injury in and around the great toe. We automatically assume
all the time that it's a turf toe, but a
true turf toe is more what Joe Burrow is dealing
with and not Rock Party. So that's why he's come
back so quickly from this toe injury, which of the
two injuries he's dealing with, seems to have been the
most significant, which makes sense because you have to plant

(16:09):
and push off your foot if it's your back foot,
land and follow through with your front foot. It help
it's important to when you're scrambling and trying to push
and change direction, so it the toe definitely is more
significant than the shoulder, typically depending on what the injuries were,
of course, but from what we can surmise from all

(16:29):
the reports, it sounds like the toe was the bigger
problem of the two and now he's making progress. So
I think he's going to be a true game time decision.
I think if he does get in there, it could
be limited action depending on the outcome of the game
and how things kind of pan out, or he could
be suited up as a backup role with the with
the thinking that he's probably gonna be ready full go,

(16:51):
no restrictions or anything by week three four. Sorry, it's
a little crazy because his original timeline two to five
weeks and now he's missed a week and now where
we're talking about him possibly coming back after mac Jones
performed decently. I grant you it was the Saints.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
However, he did perform decently, and I don't know what
the rush of bringing rock Perty necessarily back after performance
from mac Jones would be. Now here's what I will say,
just on the fantasy side of this thing. If Brock
Perdy does play, and I want to ask you this,
how effective do you think he would be in his
mobility because part of while he's not a big dual

(17:30):
threat or anything like that, his mobility not just in
rushing production, but his ability to extend the pocket and
make those bigger plays is typically when he does how
limited and that would he be?

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Well, well, I think he will be limited because he
hasn't really had any game action since he went out,
and he hasn't really practiced in full yet, so you
have a very limited time before that happens. And that's
what I'm saying, Like, I don't think he's going to
be a full go this week if he does play.
I think if he is playing, it'll be limited. They
may actually throw him out there and see how he
respect and see if he's somewhat limited in his mobility,

(18:04):
which that would be the issue. And that's why I
think the toe is the more telling injury of the two.
Again not as severe as Joe Burrow, but the fact
that they're saying that he's possibly playing. If his toe
was bad, they wouldn't even consider it.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Sure, Okay, But my point of that being is that
if Perdy doesn't have his mobility to extend players or
even pick up rextra rushing yards. He wouldn't be a
top twelve play if he does go this week.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
The only bene Honestly, I don't think they're gonna put
him out there if he shows any signs of favoring
that foot. I don't think that will I.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Would be surprised, especially at this point in the season
and how the Niners are desperately trying to make sure
they stay healthy enough until they get some more guys
back in George Kittle and brand Ayuk. From fantasy standpoint,
the only thing Purdy would benefit would be if you
have Ricky Piersaw. So what was definitely stood out to
me in that Saints game is that Piersall and are
definitely on the same page, and Pearsall's Purty's guy Mac

(19:06):
Jones comes in and even a banged up Juwan Jennings,
He's like Juan Juan Juan. Now Py, I mean, Piersaw
didn't have two bad of a game, four catchers fifty
six yards in that matchup, but the big plays and
the guy who was getting the first red targets, and
that was Juwan Jennings. The week before it was Ricky
Pearsall with Brock Party, So I do think there's a
correlation there that had been talk all off season how

(19:28):
Pearsall and Party were getting together and really Piersaw's really
harping on getting on the same page. So that's where
the benefit would be if it's Brock Party. Otherwise, I'm
not too worried about anybody else with Mac Jones, Christian McCaffrey.
It doesn't matter what quarterback you have back there. So
the quarterbacks kind of dictate is a Juwan or is
a Piarsaw heading into this week that you want to start.

(19:48):
That's going to come down to see who plays this Sunday. Okay,
so running backs, let's get into that. Aaron Jones hamstring
on the IR so he's out for definitely four weeks.
What's your take on this and what do you expect
out of him when he returns?

Speaker 1 (20:03):
So four games, not four weeks? Four games. I don't
know why I start, but four games, So just keep
that in mind. That's important. I mean they're saying grade two.
I mean that's at least four weeks. Again, this is
one of those things I reinjury rates with hamstrings, how
well he gets through his rehab, how much he's able
to do when that twenty one day window starts and

(20:26):
he's able to start really pushing it on the practice
field to test it out, it could extend well beyond
the four weeks or four games. So not good at
this stage of the season. This is probably the most
important because now you've made it through preseason, you're into
week four. This is like the really the most crucial

(20:48):
part of the year, as you start going against division rivals,
you start building team chemistry, you start getting better conditioning
under your belt, and he's not gonna be able to
do all that. So it's a terrible time to have
a hamstring injury. Not that there's a very good time,
but definitely sets you back. And when he does come back,
he will be a step slower. He will be a

(21:08):
step behind just in all facets of the game unfortunately.
And so that's why with this, it's going to be
at least four games, possibly well longer than four weeks,
maybe as much as six to eight, depending on again
bye weeks and how he does with his rehab. But
not a good injury at this juncture of the season. Well,
I can give you the rundown.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
So the earliest Aaron Jones is going to be able
to return, it's going to be week eight because they
do have a bye in week six, so you have
week three, Week four, Week five, bye, week six. Then
he stills the miss week seven because that would be
the fourth game. So week eight is the earliest you're
going to get Aaron Jones back. In the meantime, Jordan
Mason to the freaking moon. Now he's going to get

(21:50):
all the workload. The only thing about Jordan Mason is
that we saw even when he came in for Christian
McCaffrey a season ago, he was still a non factor
in the receiving game. So you are getting a high
volume rusher. I don't know how involved in the passing
game he's really going to be. That has not been
his repertoire. I don't know if something's changed or he's
gotten better than that because we haven't really been able

(22:10):
to see it yet with him in Minnesota. But even
with the rushing he has on an offense that we
know Kevin O'Connell can coach, he's still a high end
must star RB two for me and I'm probably sure
for everybody else Okay, So this next one is depressing
because this is going to be the last time I
talk about this player on the show for this season,

(22:31):
and I'm worried it's going to be for the rest
of his career.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
I hope not.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
But Austin Eckler blue his achilles last Thursday.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
It looked tall.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
So what is your take on him with his achilles
at this age at that position?

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Not good? Not good at all, potentially career ending. You
lose a lot of power in that leg. You'll lose
a lot of your ability to provide explosiveness. And at
the running back position, we all know how important that
is with just running in general, sprinting it, but then
you know, having to cut back and hit holes and

(23:10):
take on contact. I mean, it's just a devastating injury.
And then you factor in the age. It just everything's
working against him with this injury, unfortunately, really, really is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
So what this is due fantasy wise, Not to be callous,
because Austin Eckler is amazing and he's a great, you know,
member of the fantasy football community, so of course we
all extra love him here. But hopefully he can get back.
This won't be the end of it, But we'll have
to see. In the meantime, Bill krossky Merritt is expected
to be the lead back. Chris Rodriguez, who's been healthy

(23:41):
and active the last two weeks, is going to expect
to be active in this way in this one. Here's
how it was breaking down. So first of all, Bill
krossky Merritt, even after Austin Eckler went out, was not
very involved, had four touches in that game.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
It looked like they were ready to turn things over
to Eckler.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Now it's surprising considering krossky Merritt showed some pop in
week one but was not really rewarded for in week two.
I don't know what the reasoning behind that was, if
there was something in the locker room or a pass
protection missed or something along those lines that we are
not privy to that information. But the expectation now there's
no more Eckler, it's gonna have to be Merit, who
looked like the best running back throughout camp.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
But this this might be a three way.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Committee because in the meantime, Jerry McNichols assume as Eckler
went out, just assumed the passing role. He took over
that entire role that Eckler had in the passing, the
two minute drill, long down distance, everything. So if it's
gonna be Crossky Merritt, we could see Chris Rodriguez get
mixed on a short yard of situations. We could see
Jerry McNichols taking all the passing down situations. If you

(24:42):
have a three headed committee, you're waiting for somebody to
bust loose.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
That is that is possible.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
I would say Crosskey Merritt has the best chance to
bus loose, But until we get a clear cut picture,
he's nothing more than a mid level RB three for
me that you don't necessarily have to play depending on
your flex options until you see how this is called
to break out, because it could just be a mess.
So be aware of that. Don't just be like, oh, Bill,
cross your Merrit to the moon. Maybe you think about it,
Maybe you have some other options at your table, because

(25:08):
this could go a lot of different ways there right
now in that Washington backfield, last running back I want
to talk about Zach Sharbonay popped up with a foot issue,
didn't practice on Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
What were you able to find out? Not much? Reports
were kind of scant and I couldn't find any details
about the specific nature of his injury. It's likely some
type of sprain. It sounds like he's already carrying a
questionable tag heading into the weekend. To what he does
between today being Thursday and Friday heading into the game,

(25:42):
we'll have to see. Definitely one of those ones you
want to pay attention the morning of the game when
the final rosters have to be in. Usually it's ninety
minutes before kickoffs, so certainly somebody to watch and see
where they end up last minute, because I don't think
we're going to get much more information until.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Well, and he might be a game time decision and
keep him out with Seattle. I gotta check what the
time that game is, but they're typically playing on the
four o'clock hour here. But he didn't practice today either,
so it's two days in a row where he hasn't practiced,
and they play at four o'clock against the Saints, so
two days in a row nonpractice. At best case scenario,
he's a kickoff decision. The only thing I would say
is the silver lining is that maybe this explains why,

(26:24):
or at least a little bit why he had fifteen
carries for ten yards, because that was abysmal this past Sunday,
so we're hoping, well, maybe it wasn't all just him
playing badly while Kenneth Walker went crazy. But with him
being banged up and Ken Walker having a great game,
let's say Scharbon is even active, it should be the
Kenneth Walker show this week. And this could be what

(26:45):
Walker fans who drafted him are hoping for in some ways,
not that Sharponnagu gets hurt, but the opportunity for Walker
to kind of re establish himself as the number one
guy because so far sharbonnez outsnapped him two weeks in
a row. So Walker gets locked in as a top
twenty play. Of course, this weekend against the Saints, he
could even be a top ten play with his ceiling upside.

(27:06):
If Sharbonay can't go and he's getting in that bulk
with the work, keep your eyes on this though. If
sharbon Ay does go, I would probably keep him on
your bench. He was already kind of that RB that
high in RB three territory as it is, because he
was in a committee with Walker and where Charlie usage
is gonna go, probably look for better options even if
he is active in this one. Let's go to the

(27:27):
wide receivers Xavier Worthy shoulder. We're getting some progress, though,
so what do you think. Yeah, he's gonna be weak
to week. It really is going to come down to
how he feels and whether he thinks he's ready. He
had an MRI after he had that shoulder dislocation. I
think it did show a label tear, but that's not
unexpected to find after a shoulder dislocation.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
It was a one time traumatic dislocation. At his age,
that's usually not anything that necessarily requires immediate surgery. He's
not having any stability issue. He's been seen wearing some
type of protective brace for his shoulder and that will
limit some of his range of motion, which may make
it tough for him to catch passes at a higher level.

(28:11):
So I think once he feels comfortable with that and
some of that soreness dissipates, will get a better sense
of whether he's going to be ready. I'm not so
sure they're gonna throw him out there this weekend. I
don't think he's quite there yet. It could be next week.
That's more realistic to me. But they're saying he's weaked week,
so he's probably gonna be carrying a questionable tag until

(28:33):
we get him back to full yeah, and people are
just waiting for it. So I'm in bad call.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
I said, Look, I think Hollywood Brown's going to get
a hell of a target share and be a top
twenty four play with no Xavier Worthy last week.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
That did not happen the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Davis is good, but my god, there's something broken right
now on that Chiefs offense and they got to get
it figured out.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Is brutal.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Having said that, they play your team, the Giants this week,
so I want to double down and say, while the
Giants have a better defense, and I think people realize
it's mostly on their front seven, it's not in their
back four. So I do think that's the area where
you can take advantage of that defense. If Xavier Worthy
does play, I have him ranked as if he will
right now, I only have him as a wide recier

(29:16):
thirty six. So a low and wide receiver three coming
back from their shoulder injury, the offense doesn't look quite right.
I can't expect a big medium projection out of an
Xavier Worthy heading into this week. Having said that, if
he's out Hollywood Brown will probably crack my top thirty,
meaning I'm most likely playing him and going forward again
this week. It may not be as bullish as put
him inside my top twenty four, but he will be

(29:38):
my top thirty, which means you probably should be in
your lineup anyway, whether it be a flex or a
wide receiver three, depending upon your lineups. Someone's got to
catch the ball and it should be an easier time
this week against the Giants. I would suspect Jwan Jennings.
So he had a shoulder, now he has an ankle issue.
What would have got there?

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Again, not much that kind of popped up out of nowhere.
Whether I could remember which one was first, To be
honest with you, Okay, he's day to day one of
those ones you just have to kind of keep an
eye on things and see what he does in practice.
But regardless, I don't think either of them are serious.

(30:18):
The shoulder one, You are correct. I think we talked
about that during the preseason, if I'm not mistaken. We
talked about last week. Yeah, I mean we talked about
that before. So I don't know what the ankle thing
is going on. As far as the shoulder goes I
think this is something that might follow him throughout the year,
because I think he was even dealing with this last
season at some point. It sounds like it's just a
cute on chronic kind of thing that may pop up

(30:39):
from time to time. Nothing that is serious enough that
it's going to shut him down for extended period of time.
But it seems like it's a nagging, recurring thing because
I think he did deal with some issues with his
shoulder last season as well, and then we talked about
it a few weeks ago. I think I even talked
about this during the preseason when it came to him.
If I'm not mistaken, maybe not on your show, Dan,
maybe on some of the other shows I do, but
the shoulders saying again, there haven't been very forthright with

(31:03):
what's going on, so we don't have a lot of detail.
Some people were speculating that it was an ac joint
spring that keeps happening or never quite fully healed. But
other than that, I don't really have much else. Well,
here's what I have for you.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
I do remember when that play happened, because it happened
in the first half, in the second quarter, and he
was rolled banged up came out in the second half
and had the big play and blew up and like
I said, was number mac Jones was number one target.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
So he was able to get through at that game.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Now, as a medical professional, you know, especially with ankle injuries,
sometimes in the moments, you can get through things that
then swallow up and get worse the next couple of days.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
So quite possible. There.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Here's what I can tell you. He didn't practice yesterday,
and he didn't practice on Thursday. Whether you practice Friday
or not, it's going to go a long way. Keep
this in mind. He didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday last week,
practicing limited capacity on Friday and still played. Remember the
extension he signed is a three million dollars instead of
base on playing diet, so he's going to try to go,

(32:05):
so we'll keep that in mind.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
He might have he might have cursed himself with that
contract because as soon as he signed it he's been
banged up.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
And find ways to play through it. But you can
on your body, can only play through so much.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
So another guy that is in a similar situation that
we didn't put on the list, and I real quick,
I'll just mention is the Mooney over in Atlanta been
dealing with the shoulder issue. His shoulder issue also goes
back to last year. He was dealing with it preseason.
He was limited in action, then suited up and played
last week, but it looks like he's going to be
again questionable heading into this weekend. So another guy to

(32:35):
keep an eye on. I have him on my fantasy team.
I had him start. That was probably not a smart
move on my part. He didn't do much at all.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Outside of a Bjeon Robinson and we did the confirmation
is Bijon again. No one did much, not Sunday night
game anyway, So don't feel bad.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
I had Drake London. I'm sitting there, where are my targets?
My goodness?

Speaker 2 (32:57):
But I just double piggyback real quick to join on
Jennings if he plays again. We're talking about high and
wide receiver, four wide receiver, three territory decent Mattress Arizona.
But I'm not like he needs injuries stacking up. So
it's why I'm not gonna have him any higher than that.
Josh Downs. He's dealing with an ankle issue. What you
got there?

Speaker 1 (33:14):
He actually returned to practice today, but from some of
the reports I saw, if that's true, and he's trending
toward available this weekend, so it sounds like it wasn't
a serious issue. I did not see the injury because
I cannot watch the cults with Daniel Jones going to
and oh that was what after all the stuff that

(33:35):
happened while he was in New York. I just can't.
So it sounds like it's nothing serious. He should be
ready to go. He'll probably be bandaged up then taped up.
But given his kind of style of play and his
more short range passes from Daniel Jones, I don't think
this is going to affect him so much that he
shouldn't be Fantasy relevant.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, and to the extent that he even is. I mean,
so dan je is playing really well, but it's been
a super spender offense outside of Tyler Warre. Like Tyler
Warren is the only pass catcher right now that you
can trust. We're gonna talk about him though in the
second as far as the target share goes, because Piman
and Josh Downs and Alan Peers have all been kind
of getting sprinkled in here and there, and I expected
Josh Downs.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Going to be more of a primary target. I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
While I loved Tyler Warren, I knew he was a
talented beast, I didn't know he's gonna quite hit the
ground running in this fashion this early. So that's been
a big part of it. So Josh downs more of
a mid level wide receiver four maybe towards wide receiver
five territory, only playing him in full PPR leagues if frankly,
I don't have better options, and in twelve man leagues,
I'm gonna assume you probably have a better option. I

(34:39):
am in a fourteen team league where I am hoping
he plays because I actually need him as a fourteen
team league. But it's a different type of story. Here's
a big one for this weekend. A Mecca Abuca hip
and groin has not practiced the last two days. What's
going on?

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yeah, I have him on one of my rosters too,
so I'm a little concerned myself. It sounds like it's
some type of hip adductor or he didn't participate Wednesday
or Thursday. Friday will be telling. Uh doesn't sound good.
He's a young rookie receiver. I think they're gonna kind
of treat him with kid gloves. And you know, make
sure he's right before they send him back out there.

(35:15):
I have a bad feeling that we're not gonna see
him this week. Hopefully we'll see him the following week,
but we won't know that necessarily until we get through
this weekend. But I don't it doesn't look good at
this stage. Yeah, I'm trying.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
I'm kind of trending towards I don't know if he's
gonna play in this one. So if you have Mike Evans,
you can look at us like, oh, finally, Like Mike
Evans is not be getting targeted the way you'd want
him to because a Mecca Abuka has been that good
through the first two weeks, right, so you would expect him.
He does get a little bit of a bump of
Amiga can't play on the flip side, Sertling Shepherd becomes

(35:47):
a sneaky little streamer because he has been involved in
the routes anyway, he would take on that role, maybe
even Kate Odd. We get a couple more targets, but
still not enough for him to crack my top sixteen,
which is where you need to be to be a
tight end. So that's kind of how that shakes out
for now, but man, you don't want to see it
when a guy has been off to the hot star
as a rookie that he has been, so we'll keep

(36:09):
our eyes on that. I think we got a positive
development on this player today or on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Lad McConkie dealing with an arm issue. Yeah, some report
said it was like a biceps thing. I'm not really
sure if that means like a strain or maybe he
got like a deep contusion to the bicep. But he
did practice wearing a brace in full today, so that's
a good sign. I don't think this is gonna be
a game absence for him this weekend. I think we'll

(36:35):
see him in there.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Okay, well that is good news. That's what it was
starting to sound like too, So let's just go to
the tight ends. Tyler Warren, who I was talking about?

Speaker 1 (36:43):
A toe? Another freaking cow. What is happening toes? I
don't know. I think it's just coincidence. I'm not sure
they can attribute it to the turf or anything else
like that. He missed Wednesday but then returned in a
limited fashion today. We'll see what he can do tomorrow.
You know the problem with this is that for most
teams on Fridays, it's just like a simple walkthrough. They

(37:04):
don't really do much. It's not very high paced or
high energy. It's not contact typically, so it's really hard
to gauge whether guys are ready if they're not practicing
in full on Thursday, and then you know, that's a
lot a lot of times it's because of travel schedules
and just getting everything ready for the weekend games and
traveling to their destinations wherever they're playing. So Fridays tend

(37:27):
to be a very slow walkthrough day where you don't
really get much information. You can't really gauge whether the
players are ready. And I'm a feeling Tyler Warren is
going to fall in that boat tomorrow or Friday. We're
not going to necessarily see him doing much then, and
we're not going to know if he's ready even if
he does practice in full. So this could be a
true game time decision. But the fact that he went
from no practice to a limited practice tells me it's

(37:49):
probably nothing serious. He could be a game time decision.
He's probably going to have a questionable tag unless he's
completely off the injured list on Friday.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
So yeah, We'll keep an eye on that on Friday,
big one because Tyler Warns already established himself as a
top three tight end when George Kittle banged up, Brock
Bauers kind of underperforming a little bit, and Trey McBride,
you know, Kyler Murray as a whole other conversation for
another day.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Dallas god he knee issue. What's he got? Yeah, I'm
not again sure what his issue is. I think it's
some type of spray and they haven't really said for sure.
He did have a limited practice on Thursday, but they've
been capping his sessions at like a certain I guess
limit of plays and limit of drills and all that stuff.
So he hasn't really had a full days as of

(38:35):
today or recording here. So if he can get a
Friday session in, that's that's definitely in the positive direction.
He could be another true game time decision with a
questionable tag. It doesn't sound like it's anything serious. I
haven't seen reports saying it's anything serious, but Dallas Goddard
has dealt with some significant injuries throughout his career, nothing
recent that I can recall off the top of my head.

(38:56):
But again, another guy just to keep an eye on
and have a backup play in place.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
He's never played a full season. Every single year he
misses a handful of games playing and simple, but when
he is on the field, he is the guy who
hangs around that like ten to fourteen area, making himself
relevant and fancy football. It's never real pretty, you never
feel great about it. But there's a different element to
this story. Dallas Goddard didn't play last week, and I

(39:23):
gets the Chiefs. Chiefs do have a very good defense,
but if you had DeVonta Smith, you a J. Brown
and there was no Dallas Goddard on the field, when
those guys typically go off is when that target consolidation happens.
I talk about offenses being broken now because the Eagles
have Sa Kwan and Jalen Hurts who can just run

(39:44):
the ball, it doesn't look as bad as the Chiefs
who have to lean on Patrick Mahomes throwing it to
receivers who can't get open. But they don't look right either,
plain and simple, that passing attack, the concepts play calling
and changing it out after losing Kellim Moore, it it
doesn't look right and they're not taking their play actions.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
I talked about this the other day.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
They are not taking their play action shots down the
field off of that running game that made that offensive weapon.
They didn't throw the ball ton Last year, they ran
the ball the most in the entire NFL. AJ Brown
Devanta Smith were still excellent because they took those shots.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
The Eagles aren't doing that.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
The Eagles are playing like a Chiefs level passing a
concept with a team that's run first. That's not good
for fantasy. So I'm more worried about this team schematically
than I am about anybody getting any kind of target
consolidation right now. I think AJ Brown Devanta Smith are
too talented the bench, especially this early in the season.
But something's got to change that. Otherwise we might have

(40:42):
all over hyped the Eagles offense in its entirety red
flags for me, I don't even want to talk about
this guy, but I'll just mention Evan Ingram back. You know,
you know I don't want to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I know, wasn't he on here? Where are we talking
about him? For CAF issue?

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Like yeah, last week? But I honestly I don't even
remember what that issue. I do know it wasn't a
back issue.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
I know this is a new one. I think he
had a calf string or something. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
He missed multiple practices this week. He's trending George questionable again.
What he does on a Friday is probably But this
guy's often injured. He was introduced with the Giants. All
the time he's been injured since he left the Giants.
I don't know, man, I can't. I still don't understand

(41:23):
why he's so fantasy relevant. I know he's got the
tools there to be an impact player in a fantasy world,
but I've never wanted to or even made a hesitation
about clicking his name on my draft board. So I
don't really have anything positive to say. Well, has to
just see what happens with him, but he's probably gonna
be questionable. Here's what's clear.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Regardless of the injury, he's not the joker position that
That's what's very clear. So the big popular pickup this
this past week was was Troy Franklin, and I get
it to some degree. For first of all, the first
couple of weeks of the football season, rare is it
that you're ever getting good value on the waiver wire.
That's more throwing the bye weeks and mid season when
people have to make drops that they don't want to

(42:05):
make because of those bie weeks, and maybe because they
have a couple injured guys on top of it, and
you get roster constraints. So what we will still go
pick up Troy Franklin. What I would say here is
a caution. I caution people on this. Outside of Courtland Sutton,
nobody has a set role of that offense. It could
be Marvin MEM's next week. Pat Bryant could get worked,
and Sean Payton is just a menace when it comes

(42:27):
to fantasy football, whether it's the running back, the backfield.
Everyone's waiting on a hard J Harvey that hasn't happened
and he seems to be losing more work again. The
JK Dobbins was barely involved last week, or what happens
outside of the number one target in the receiving game.
It's so what I'm saying is that you basically can't
predict it. I'm okay if you picked up Troy Franklin,

(42:47):
I wouldn't be shocked if you want it turning around
dropping him next week because somebody else got involved though
last but certainly, not least because this was my number
one tight end coming into the week. Tucker Craft had
a neat issue you on in Thursday's practice.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yeah, were you able to.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Find out anything because they were so scrambling to see
what the severity was.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Yeah. Well, multiple reports have said that the team has
evaluated him. I think he's scheduled to undergo some more
testing tomorrow Friday, but that they're saying it doesn't appear
to be anything long term, so I guess you can
take that for what you want. That doesn't tell me

(43:28):
much because long term means long term, but it doesn't
mean not short term either, So it could be that
a week or two if it's a mild little spring.
Hopefully it's nothing serious. We'll definitely have more as we
get closer to the weekend. Here as we get closer
to game time. It doesn't sound good in the sense
that it was significant enough that he had to come

(43:50):
out of practice. He was being evaluated on the sideline,
brought into the locker room, and multiple reports I've read
have said that they are that he will undergo more tests,
So that usually means some type of more advanced imaging
like an MRI. What that shows will then kind of
dictate what he does or does not do going forward
and whether or not he's down for the multiple weeks

(44:10):
or just a few days. So couldn't come in the
worse time. Thursdays not when you want to be getting
hurt again, because Fridays usually are just a simple walkthrough,
a lot of film, a lot of preparation for game
day is not usually too strenuous, so you're not gonna
really have a chance to test it out per se
until game day. So if they do get a scan
and it doesn't show any major structural injuries, then it's

(44:33):
really gonna be a matter of how comfortable he feels
on game day, and again that's gonna take you down
to the wire, so he'll probably at the very least
have a questionable tag unless that MRI comes back and
shows something significantly wrong that they need to address.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Jayden read out six to eight weeks, and now Tucker
Kraft getting hurt in practice, maybe he won't be out
for multiple weeks even if he does miss Sunday, But
not what you wanted to see.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
If you're gonna ask me.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Okay, well they're dropping like flies. Who's next up in
that Packers' offense. I don't know, good luck to you.
I know it's supposed to give you a better advice to that,
but there's been such a it's been such a roulette wheel. Anyway,
in all seriousness, here's my actual advice. I said it
yesterday's show. Romeo Dobbs is established in his role, so
you can play him. He's a low and wide receiver three,

(45:18):
high and wide receiver four with maybe an upticking targets
between Jayden Reid and if Tucker Craftford have missed this week,
but we know he kind of has a ceiling limit.
The Tavian Wicks looks like the second best wide receiver
to me on that team right now. Now without Jayden Reed,
maybe Matthew Golden fits more of that role and so
he gets kind of more designed touches, and he has

(45:40):
played a little bit more than the Tavian Wicks, but
he does not look like the better wide receiver. Wix
looks like he's better to me than he was a
season ago. He looks better than Golden Now.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I do think Wis will take on the bigger role.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
And if you want to take a shot in DFS,
which is what I'm doing, I'm taking a shot in
Dantavian Wicks at thirty seven hundred dollars, maybe throwing your
bench see what happens. But we've been trying to wait
and see what happens with the Packers' offense ever since
Matt Lafloor took over, So who knows.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
I'm not gonna put it out.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
There and put a stamp on any one guy with
that is gonna wrap up the show, though, Brian, I
want to thank you so much for coming on. As
always tell people where they need to check you out
and where to follow you.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Well, first of all, it's my pleasure Dan, you know
I love doing your show. Probably the most thorough update
you'll find anywhere when it comes to injuries. And don't forget,
I'm just using the stuff that we all read in
the press and the media as well, So nothing behind
the scenes here. It's just using my knowledge over the
last twenty something years kind of help guide you guys
about what to do when your fantasy relevant players get injured.

(46:40):
With that said, you can find me on Dan Show
every Thursday. You can find me oh we record on Thursday.
You can find me on that sports podcast network with
TSS Fantasy Friday nights and Sunday mornings right before kickoff.
And then next week I'm actually doing a nice special
appearance with Deb Wickess of The Blonde Blitz, which is
an amazing show. Dev's an Emmy winning producer, She's awesome.

(47:03):
She's got a lot of contacts within the NFL. She's
gonna be having some NFL guys on, I believe to
talk football on that show, and so check that out.
That's a I don't do that show very often. That
we usually get together every couple weeks, so that would
be cool. We're going to try and do a little
more going forward to season, so check that out. And
then of course I got my tag there Injured List
pod on x, the Injured List Podcast on Instagram and Facebook,

(47:28):
and the website The Injured List dot Com. Love it,
absolutely love it. Brian. Love having you on. I can't
wait to have you on again next week.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
We'll be back tomorrow with Jazz Florida Sports Betting Weekly
to talk about our best bets of the weekend.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
We had a hell of a week two.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
Let me tell you so, not only helping you win
fantasy football matchups, but line in your pockets Green too.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
Make sure you download Operation Domination on your.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Favorite podcast app and check out our video content on
the YouTube channel the Fantasy Football Advice Network at FF
advice Net.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Until then, we'll see you