Running Back Help, Stat!

You need help at running back and the FFW crew is here with a variety of suggestions to help fill the void. Plus, they break down all the Week 3 matchups. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice. Now
along with the guys from Guillotine Leagues dot com. Here's
your host, Paul Chargian.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchi and
co hosts today are Scott Fish and Brian Johnson. Kind
of an original formula going right here.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
What's up?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Boys? Feels like Week thirty right now?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, give it all the running back injuries. Yeah, I
mean not.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
Just the running backs. Everyone everyone, even crazy Wan Mowers
are getting stolen from the Bears facility. It's a total chaos.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, they've got coaches quitting. It's it is a it's
it's been as challenging a start to a fantasy season
as I can remember. And we're really testing the metal
of fantasy managers right out of the gate and your
ability to change course, figure out what to panic on,

(01:09):
how much money to bid on players. It is. It
is shifting sands constantly.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah. We said, if you make it to week one
unscathed in terms of injuries to your team, you're not safe.
Once that. Once the ball is kicked off in week one,
everyone is in danger.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And that's been the case, and we had a variety
of injuries and problems. Week two had just as many.
It's been. It's bad, but we're here to help. We're
gonna give you all kinds of suggestions for players you
can find that can help your roster pronto and if
nothing else, will help you start bench the right guys.
As we break down all of the games on the
schedule Fantasy Football Weekly style with letter grades. We'll also

(01:49):
give you nine players upon whom you can take a chance.
I know you need these running backs. We're gonna give
you some running backs you can work with, maybe available
even on the waiver wire. Three tough questions will be answered,
and we'll give you premature speculation. Which does mine involves
a running back upon whom you can speculate.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
For service mine?

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Oh all right, hopefully you don't have same one. We'll
find out when we get there.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
I hope we do.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Let's dive into the matchup, Scott while we're chatting Falcons
at Lions. Yes, this game. Falcons have been a frustrating
team for basically, if you've got anybody other than John Robinson.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
I suppose I suppose Tyler.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Old Gerard the big first game they did nothing.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Kick off on and Rsbond. Oh, I suppose you're you're
on the Falcon side. I was gonna say in this matchup,
there's plenty of Oh, you just want to.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Get the Kyle Pitts shots out of the way right now.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
No, no, no, no, Let's start with the passing game
for the Falcons here, because we'll talk about Bijon and
Algier and that split in a minute here. But on
the passing side, I do have Drake London with a
see he had a goosag in week one, rebounded for
six for sixty seven yards and touch on last week. CJ.
Gardner Johnson will be out with the torn pack, making
that defense for the Lions a little less stingy this week.

(03:01):
And they already weren't that great. They're bottom five against quarterbacks,
bottom you know, bottom ten against wide receivers, so I
do have a C grade there. There's a little concern
it's a tougher spot. They've held wide receivers under seventy
five yards, but three of them did score, so there's
a possibility of that then again, it was Kansas City
and Seattle who throw the ball a lot. Kyle Pitts

(03:24):
I also have a C grade on he was outscored
by John U John U last three charge.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Oh you think I don't know that? Oh yeah, baby.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
But thirty five percent of the team's area yards seventeen
percent target cheer. Like we talk about this all the time.
The metrics are there, always there for pits, the production
is never there. How is this even possible? I will
say he went six for one and six catches for
one hundred two yards last time he faced the Lions.

(03:52):
That was too That was to his rookie season, though,
But the Lions just gave up one hundred and seventy
five yards in a score of the last two weeks
to Blake Bell, Noah Gray, no offense, will Disley Colbe
Parkinson combine. But it's the third best matchup for tight ends.
I got a C grade on him because like it
should be a B or an A if he was
producing it at all. But I just can't trust him.

(04:14):
Desmond Ridder I got on the bench. I don't care
that it's a bottom five matchup against quarterbacks. You know
they played Gino in Mahomes, it's gonna rank low. I'm
not starting Ridder even in a shootout until he shows
me something. And the eye test, he does not look good.
He doesn't look good, doesn't.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I completely agree.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Absolutely over to the running game Bjon Robinson. I do
have an A grade on the eye test. He looks real.
He looks really, really good.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Okay, so let's stop there for a second. Yes, we
all agree Jon Robinson looks special. But does that mean
Arthur Smith is going to stop now him or not?

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Right?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
I don't know, right. I mean that's in fact, I
made the joke online last week that if young Wyku
was drafted in the top ten, Arthur Smith wouldn't wouldn't
even kick the field goal. So he doesn't. He doesn't
like to utilize them. But he's second in the NFL
in rushing yards over expected. Pacheco and Walker were held

(05:11):
in check on yards by the Detroit Lions, but Beshawn
Robbinson just seems different. I do think this game is
gonna stay fairly competitive. Atlanta is winning and they're staying
in competitive games even though it seems like the Detroit
offense should be able to blow them away. They've stayed competitive,
So I'll keep giving a grade there, and I'm gonna

(05:31):
segrade to Tyler Algier, who's dropping fifteen touches a game
like they're just Arthur Smith is running the ball like
he had Derrick Henry, only with two backs, like thirty
thirty five touches. So if I'm gonna get twelve, fifteen,
seventeen touches out of Tyler l Geer, yeah, I'm gonna
give him the volume. C That's what I'm gonna do,
ye know, for.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Everybody who's struggling trying to find a viable running back, right, Yeah,
Tyler El's here's a guy you can go by coming
off a quiet game. Yeah, still gets a lot of
touches in a run heavy offense. And you know, to me,
that's the kind of guy you can target to try
to get some help.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Not only that, and Bijon Robinson owners have to hate this.
He's the red zone guy. He's third in the NFL
and red zone opportunities. He's the guy that gets like
Bijon got that one pass catch from like the eight
yard inn or whatever, But Tyler old is getting gola
and stuff in red zone stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
So hey, Scott, Yes, we like touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
We do like touchdowns. We do like touchdowns. Let's go
over the Lions side. I got a B grade on
Jared Goff. He just had his interceptionless streak end is
the third longest in NFL history. He keeps control of
that ball, he doesn't turn it over, which isn't hurting you.
The Falcons just held Bryce Young and Jordan Love do
one hundred and forty six yards and one hundred and
fifty one yards. But Love did have three scores in

(06:45):
that last in that game last week, and Goff is
definitely I think way better than both. Yeah, so better
weapons too. Over to the running game, David Montgomery. Even
though like it's it's starting to sound like it's not
as bad of an injury as Weed, we still don't
think he's gonna go very unlikely, very unlikely. So Jamior Gibbs,

(07:06):
I'm gonna give I know it's weird. I'm gonna give
him his first A grade of this season, and it
might be a little high high. Yeah, Gibbs should be
thrust into a fifteen to twenty touch role this week
with good receiving upsides. The Lions target their running backs
at the second lowest clip in the league, which isn't good,

(07:27):
but I think that changes because he'll get more snaps
and he'll be the receiving back. Craig Reynolds is going
to get a C grade here. Yes, he's had his
moments in the past when thrust into starting touches. It's
not gonna be starting touches here, but I think he's
gonna take ten or so touches there. I think they're
gonna lean on the run game a little bit, and
this one as it stays close, I.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Think this is gonna be way closer to fifty to
fifty than you do. After Montgomery went okay, every went
out of the game. Last week, it was six touches
for Gibbs, four for for uh, Craig Reynolds, half of
half of Jumior Gibbs were on targets.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
I'm telling you, mind you, I said fifteen touches for Gibbs,
ten for ten for Craig Reynolds. I just think Gibbs
is going to be more efficient and past catching work
with his touches to get the better grade. Probably it
probably should have been a B N a C. As
I think about it here.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
What about the angle real quick where DeAndre Swift just
went off for the Eagles and now the Lions have
to justify. It's an interesting as.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Interesting SEA grade on Craig Reynolds over the wide receivers
Josh Reynolds. I have a C grade on four for
eighteen week one, five for sixty six and two scores
last week. It's it's a decent matchup here against the
Falcons for wide receivers, especially because they just lost one
of their safeties and I'm forgetting his name, but no

(08:52):
wide receivers topped forty yards against the Falcons. That's actually
not great. But this is a better offense than the
two that they'd played. As we mentioned at the start,
Jeff Okuda is the one that might not play. It's
not a safety, it's a nick A corner he might play.
If he does go, I might downgrade them a little,
but it is a revenge game for Okuda.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
I think they know how to attackle Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
That might be it. That might be it. So I
have a C grade on Josh Renolds. I have an
A grade on Amnra who has been hurt this week,
banged up this week, but he came back in the
game last week. He's gonna play through it. He'll be fine.
He just gets so much work and he gets de Alford,
who allows the sixth most fantasy points per route among
slot receivers. Over to Sam Laporta, I gotta be grade

(09:37):
on him. Five plus catches in both games, has run
the second most routes on the team. Hurst did well
last week against this defense. I think it's a good
start for Laporta once again.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Let's go to the Titans taking on the Browns. Browns
defense has been really good through a couple of games,
and the Titans offense inconsistent. Maybe no DeAndre Hopkins. I
don't think there's a lot to love here outside of
Derek Henry. But Brian, what do you think?

Speaker 4 (10:01):
No, you hit the nail on the head. I only
have a starting grade on Derreck Henry, and it's just
to see dealing with a toe injury, but he should
play an awful matchup. Though Cleveland's defense is ranked second
and expected points allowed graded third best by Pro Football Focus. Overall,
the Browns have also allowed the fifth fewest points and
second fewest yards on a per snap basis just a

(10:24):
nightmare matchup, especially for Henry. Cleveland has yet to surrender
a touchdown to an opposing running back all year. And
Henry isn't the only Titans running back he was seeing
significant snaps. It's also Taja Spears, who we'll talk about
a little more later in the show, but he is
on the bench in a brutal matchup, as is DeAndre
Hopkins and Treylon Burks. DeAndre Hopkins went from full practice

(10:45):
on Wednesday to limited on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
To out on Friday, so no practice Friday.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Running the wrong way, and either way, he's going to
see a ton of Denzel Ward in coverage, one of
the better corners in the game. The Browns have allowed
the third fewest wide receiver receptions through the first two weeks,
so Trailon Burks, he's on the bench as well. So
is tight end Chigokonkwo. Unlike in Week one, Chig actually
scored Fantasy points in Week two. He had a goose

(11:13):
eggk in Week one, but the Browns have allowed only
four tight end receptions for nineteen scoreless yard So he
is on the bench, and that means Ryan Tannehill obviously
on the bench as well. Over to the Brown side,
I might I might shed a tear here. I'm still
a little shell shocked by the Nick Chubb injury, so
he is obviously on the bench, maybe for the rest

(11:35):
of his career. But Jerome Ford, he appears to be
the guy now despite the signing of Kareem Hunt, former
Brown now current Brown.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, and they say Hunt will be on the field,
but I can't imagine it's going to be in a
big role.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Jerome Ford will be the guy. But this is an awful,
awful matchup to be the starter. This happened to Josh
Kelly last week for the Charters going up against the Titans,
who have allowed ninety eight scoreless rushing yards. I'm thirty
seven combined rushing attempts by posing running backs so far.
That is not good. Tennessee has also surrendered squat through

(12:10):
the air four total catches for twenty scoreless yards to
running back. So just a c for Ford. Really a
volume based play. But I love Amari Cooper this week,
giving him an a ooh, I like it. Ten targets
last week, caught seven for ninety that's the volume we like.
The Titans have yielded the third most targets to opposing
wide receivers and the most red zone targets to the

(12:34):
position by a.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Lot, and that's Cooper's game right there.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
That is Cooper's game. So you cannot sit him against
a pass or a defense at funnels their opposition to
the pass. Love Cooper with an am going to give
Elijah Morris ce here Again, the Titans have yielded the
third most targets to opposing wide receivers. More only had
three catches last week, but he was targeted nine times.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Nine times nine.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
So again against a defense that funnels the opposition to
the pass, I love More. I won't say I love him,
but he definitely gets a start in grade with the
CMA going to the wide wide receiver three range for
the Browns, it's way too muddled right now. We will
give David and Joku a C grade two slow start
for him. Harrison Bryant and Jordan Akins have kind of
vultured some targets from Djoku to start the season as well,

(13:23):
But the Titans just allowed five catches for seventy eight
yards to the Chargers tight ends last week. So in
Djokubu in Djoku is startable. And lastly, as bad as
he's looks, I've given an A to Cooper a couple
of seas. So Deshaun Watson gets a c.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
This you say, if not now never scenario, Kah Watson,
if he doesn't perform here, just drop him out right.

Speaker 4 (13:47):
Yeah, And this is like he was the third tier
of quarterbacks where we said you should not draft him,
but he was drafted as a top ten quarterback. So
if he's on your roster, you start him this week.
And if you don't, like you said, if you don't
start him this week, you never started him again.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Colts take on the Ravens. Ravens are crippled with injury,
both offensively and defensively, and Anthony Richardson's been ruled out,
but there's still a shocking number of startable coltson here,
beginning with Gardner Minshew, who looked capable in relief last week,
completing seventy one percent of his pass is playing most
of the game. Ravens are without two key defensive backs,

(14:21):
Marcus Williams and Marlin Humphrey. Those are big losses. The
Ravens haven't really been tested by opposing quarterbacks. They faced C. J.
Stroud in his first ever game, and they hobbled Joe
Burrow After that and even Burrows threw a couple of
touchdowns on one leg. So I kind of like Gardner
Minshew with a C grade here. If you're in a pinch,
let's give him a start and two of his receivers
clock in is startable here too. Michael Pittman B grade

(14:42):
last week nine targets for Gardner Minshew. For Michael Pittman,
He's the fourth heaviest targeted receiver in the league twenty
three already. We love that Pittman maybe sitting on a
nice bounce back season from last year's dud. He plays
from all over the field and we'll see all parts
of an already battered secondary. Even the Ravens stopper their

(15:03):
best cornerback, Ronald Darby, surrendered sixty nine yards in week
one and a score in week two. How about this
sleeper for you, Josh Downs C grade startable grade well
targeted with five targets in each matchup, including four targets
from Gardner Minshew last week. He's got the best individual
matchup of any of the Colts receivers, going up against

(15:23):
slot corner Arius Washington, who's allowed the second most slot
receptions and the second most slot yards of all corners,
so we'll trial Josh Downs with a C grade here
as well. And then lastly, how about Zach Bloss. It's
taken this to finally get the payday we've richly desired.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
We can't say he's back because he was never really here.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
He got basically, but he got.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Every touch eight percent of the snap.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Every touch almost every snap.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Post post post post hype sleeper.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
That's Zack Moss. I had two carries inside the twenty,
one of which got him a touchdown, and one thing.
Without Anthony Richardson playing, that's one less guy to snipe
touchdowns from Zach Moss. Baltimore's, though a very good run defense,
currently ranked third best by Pro Football Focus, and no
back his top fifty nine yards and they're allowing just
three and a half yards per carry. I'm giving Zach

(16:17):
Moss a B grade on volume. I still think he's
very startable here. And then let's go to the Baltimore side.
They've got some key injuries across their offensive line. Ronnie Staley.
Ronnie Stanley's been ruled out and Tyler Linderbaum's been ruled
out as well. Those are big losses their two best linemen.
But Nevertheless, we've got starting players here. Mark Andrews great

(16:37):
season debut last week, fully healthy. Now he's just an
automatic grade A start. We're gonna keep him in your lineups.
Lamar Jackson far more encouraging usage last week. We got
more mobility, we got more downfield passing, six designed runs
last week after just two in Week one. Colt's pass
defense is bad. After losing both their starting cornerbacks in

(16:58):
the offseason, they've really strung. They gave up three hundred
and eighty yards to c. J. Stroud for Pete's sake.
Colts rank twenty ninth in coverage by Pro Football Focus
and Lamar Jackson enjoying the lowest pressure rate of his
career so far, and that was last week when he
was missing lineman then too. So I've got a very
optimistic A grade on Lamar Jackson, even though I was
at a lot of worries coming out of Week one.

(17:21):
Jay Flowers has looked very good despite just being a rookie.
Flowers has blossomed into the team's leader in every receiving
category indies. Secondary has given up the fourth most receiver
yards per game and tied for the most receiver scores
through two games. B grade for Zay Flowers. Rashad Bateman
gets a starting grade in this one. His snap usage

(17:43):
and his routes run are down about a third from
previous years, but this matchup is fantastic. Valuable dart throw
here and especially with OBJ missing this game, Orshod Bateman,
you could put him into your lineup and even Nelson
AGUILARMI wow, he replaces Obj like he did last week

(18:04):
they got five He got six targets, five catches and
a touchdown last week replacing Obj not even a full game,
so assuming he's gonna take those routes, he gets a
dream matchup against cornerback Darryl Baker, who's already allowed two
scores and an opposer posing passer rating of one hundred
and thirty four, So Nelson Aguilar viable starter C grade.

(18:26):
Then there's Gus Edwards. Justice Hill's been ruled out, so
Gus should be a bell cow in this game, with
just a little bit of Melvin Gordon, who likely gets
called up from the practice squads as a change of paceback.
Last week, Gus got three or four running back snaps
in gold to gost situations, and now with Justice Hill out,
he's assuredly going to get goal line carries if there
are any. Edwards averaged six and a half yards per

(18:48):
carry and so far this season and the Colts are
giving up just two and a half yards per carrying.
They've held down to some pretty good runners Travis Etn
Damian Pierce to this point. But I still like Gus
and I can give him a B grade here. So
that about wraps up our long first block of games.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Gus deserves this Bell Cow opportunity.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I'm excited for it he does. I hope he makes
the best of it here. We've been waiting a long
time for Gus to be like Bell.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
Coow back offense Melvin Gordon, but we've seen enough.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
When we come back, take a chance on me. Nine
players not normally in your starting lineup will tell you
who they are, who you can pick up when we
come back. Take a chance on me. You need it

(19:57):
this week more than any other. Ye need running back help,
and we're to do our best to unearth some people
that can help you out. I'm gonna change things up, guys.
We're gonna start with the running back position. Boy, because
I know this is why people are listening today. They
need running back help in the worst possible way. Who
can we go to? We begin with Scott Fish.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
Yeah, I'm going to Jalen Warren. This week's eighty six
yards on ten touches where Harris nase. Harris for the
Steelers only had forty three yards on eleven touches as well.
Twenty one of those came on one play. The Raiders
allow the fifth most running back touches and the third
most combo yards to running backs. They just gave up
the farm to James Cook and a couple scores to

(20:39):
Harris and Murray the week before. He'll also get past
game work.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
All right, Brian, you're taking a chance with me running back.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
I'm going with Dallas's Rico Dowdle.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
I like a deep deep call. Okay, what do you
like here.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Against the Cardinals. I don't think any players too deep,
especially considering Arizona just put starting defensive end LJ. Colle
Kallier on IR, starting defensive tackle, Carlos Watkins on IR,
starting strong safety Buddha Baker is on IR. So I'm
liking Dowdell this week. Of course, Tony Pollard is gonna smash,

(21:14):
but Dowdell should should see ten to twelve touches. He
saw eight touches in a blowout win against the Jets
last week, a couple red zone carries. This too, should
be a blowout win for Dallas. So Rico Dowbtell if
you're dumpster diving at running back, which we all are, I'm.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Gonna go Josh Kelly. Austin Eckler ruled out. Kelly saw
seventy nine percent of the running back snaps last week.
Vikings have seen the second most carries and they've allowed
the second most rushing yards. They ranked thirty first by
Pro Football Focus in run defense. Josh Kelly gets most
of the work there. He's already been taken in your league.
You could try Spiller if you're really in a pinch

(21:51):
as well. I don't have a starting grade on Spiller
in this game, but look, it's desperate times, and you know,
if he's gonna get twenty five percent of the carries
against a leaky run defense, maybe that's enough for Spiller
to do a little something. Let's go to the quarterback position. Scott.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Oh, it's so out of whack. I don't even know
what to do.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Feel so weird.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
I am going to CJ. Stroud, which I know Matt
went with last week. I think you stick with him.
I hope you kept him on your roster. He's looked
decent through two games, not turning the ball, over coming
off three hundred and eighty four yard day against the Colts.
The game script of being down ten point dog screams
password for this for the for Stroud and the Texans. Also,

(22:28):
they run the most plays while trailing in the NFL
by a long distance, which is going to keep him
passing the Jags back to back two hundred and sixty
plus yard two score days they've allowed.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
How about this, CJ. Stroud through two games, one one
hundred and nine dropbacks. It's unreal in two games, unbelievable.
We'll talk more about this later.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, ninety two attempts.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Brian, you take a chance at me quarterback.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
I've got Andy Dalton at the Seahawks. And for those
who don't know, Andy Dalton is a Carolina Panther.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
If you've lost track of as many years.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
He is now their starting quarterback at least for this week.
Bryce Young not gonna play with an ankle injury. His opponent,
the Seahawks are top ten in the most pass attempts allowed.
They have surrendered the third most passing yards among teams
that have played only two games, which is the majority
of teams, and Seattle also graded thirty first against the
pass by Pro Football Focus. Will also be without starting

(23:24):
cornerback Dreek Woollen most likely, so the red rifle. Why not,
let's dust it off, Let's go andy, all right?

Speaker 1 (23:30):
You know, I just bumped him up our Guillotine League rankings.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
He kind of talked me into it. I'm gonna keep
going to the well on this. It's three straight weeks
in which I'm imploring you to play Baker Mayfield.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, this is a good spot. It is a good spot.
Like it.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
The Monday Nighter Eagles have a great run defense and
his secondary that's missing a bunch of key starters, including
safety Read Blanket hip cornerback of Auntie Maddox and possibly
James Bradbury. Again, the Eels have allowed the most passing
touchdowns in the second most passing yards. I could probably
just stop right there. In fact, I will. I'm just
gonna do it. Hang it up right there, Baker Mahs,
Evans Godwin, and that's you know, in a game script

(24:04):
that's going to go their way.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Charge seventeen weeks of Baker Mayfield. I know, take a
chance on me. Are you to stop me?

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Let's go to the wide receiver position. Who do you got, Scott?

Speaker 3 (24:13):
I am pairing up the wide receiver to might take
a chance on me. Quarterback Tank Dell increased snaps in
targets last week with Noah Brown out with that injury.
Scored his first touchdown fourteenth among wide receivers in separation
at three point three yards. He's he's getting some separation,
played mostly outside last week, immediately a full time role.

(24:34):
This is a guy that c J. Stroub pounded the
table for. I like him in this matchup, Brian, you
take a chance with me?

Speaker 4 (24:41):
Receiver is I too, will be pairing my quarterback with
a wide receiver. So I've got Jonathan Mingo to pair
with Andy Dalton. At Seattle last week, Mingo out targeted
DJ Hark eight to one. So regardless of Chark's health
or the change of quarterback, Mingo is the preferred option
between the two. Mingo has a ninety eight percent snapshare

(25:02):
this season, so he's on the field virtually all the time. Yes,
he's eighth among all players in air yard share percentage
forty three percent of Carolina's air yard So they're going
to him. His time will come and again Tarik Wollen,
starting corner for the Seahawks, likely out Seattle has given
up a lot of passing yards so far, So I'm
going with Jonathan Mingo.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
The Panthers are the slowest team in the NFL. It's yes,
it is. That is such a plotting offense. Now you
may be thinking to yourself self, the Chiefs could score
one hundred points against Chicago. I'd like to start one
of their wide receivers. But which one to start? How

(25:45):
about the receiver that's on the field more than any
other receiver and is available in your league right now? Okay,
and that is Marquez Valdez.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yes, I was gonna say, Justin Watson.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
How about actually second most downfield threat against a defense
that's already allowed six deep completions in just two weeks.
He'll usually see rookie corner Tyreek Stevenson, who's allowed touchdowns
in both games to start his career, including a seventy
yarder to Mike Evans last week. He's giving up an
opposer passer rating of one hundred and forty eight in

(26:18):
his coverage. And the guy who's going to be on
Tyreek Stevenson the most, Marquez Valdez scantling Ah Texans take
on the Jaguars. Scott, Yeah, already talked to me about
elements of the Texans pass did. But what about our guy,
Nico Collins.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
We've been waiting he's our guy. We've been waiting us
for three years. He's our guy. I want to give
him an A grade so bad, I really do, I
really do, But it's it's still a B grade. I
swear that thirty year breakouts is happening. Twenty three percent
target share awesome. Eyebel Test says he's a stud lead
receiver and he's dropped seventy plus and scored and back
to back against the Jags. But this this is a

(26:57):
Jags team that's, you know, pretty middle of the pack.
They allowed a decent game to Michael Pittman, but other
than that, they're keeping all other wide receivers under seventy yards.
Just to B grade, I need to see a little
more of it. I think it's a good game script,
but Tank Dell did come on pretty hard this last game. Also,
Robert Woods is being a thorn in that side side

(27:18):
of Nico Collins. Would be an A grade if it
wasn't for Robert Woods getting seven plus catches each game,
eight nine ten targets. I do have a secrete on
Robert Woods three red zone targets fifty plus yards in
both games. If he's going to be getting six seven
catches and fifty plus yards in red zone targets, you
gotta give him a grade, even though he doesn't look

(27:38):
as good as Tank and Nico agree, but those are
the only guys in the past game on the bench.
I have Damian Pierce.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Come to this.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
I know it has come to this. He did go
twenty nine for one hundred and thirteen in the last
score in the last meeting of these two players. But
he's only playing forty five percent of the snaps, which
isn't good, but the game script has been bad for him.
Devin Singletary is playing the passing down role and the
two minute drill role, so not only that his efficiency

(28:11):
is terrible three point zero three yards per carrying the
final four games last year, he's consistently being contacted behind
the line of scrimmage thirty eight yards after contact last
week and he had thirty one yards rushing. That's how
much he's getting hit behind the yard. Yeah, it's just
it's not good. He needs he needs thirty carries to
get sixty yards.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
We'll talk more about him later in the show.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
All right over to the jag side. I have a
C grade on Trevor Lawrence. He's looked a little bit
off to the eye test. In the last couple of weeks.
The Texans have held quarterbacks under two and in thirty
yards in both games. Part of that is they get
behind so much that other teams. The teams don't have
to run. So I think Lawrence is not gonna have
to do a lot of work here and they're gonna

(28:55):
lean on the running game where Travis etn I am
given an A grade too. Through two games, travesy Tan
has run fifty six routes tank bigsby four.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, it's that that is not panned out the way
me either.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
He is absolutely the bell cow. He left the lame
game late last week with cramps, but he should be
fine for this one. Houston has placed seven linemen and
on ir and tour playing heart playing hurt A grade there.
I do have Bigsby on the bench. But if you're
really struggling, it's a really good game script for him
to finally get some work. He just didn't get it

(29:31):
the last like his snaps went down.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah, I'm actually going to pinch in. A couple of
my guillotine leagues are running back and I'm starting them.
I'm starting Tank Bigsby. I don't love it, but I'm
doing it.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
I have a grade on Kelvin Ridley, a B grade
on Christian Kirk. Kelvin Ridley did take a backseat to
Kirk last week. It was a great matchup for the
slock guy for for Christian Kirk, and he came up strong.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Jalen Petrie s Jones got knocked out of the game, Yes.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Too, Jalen Petrie, and I'm yeah, Jalen Petrie and Derek
Stingley will both be missing from this secondary, which is
going to help both of them. Christian Kirk gets one
of the best wide receiver cornerback matchups. He gets m J. Stewart,
a converted safety trying to cover him out there. I
don't trust a converted safety on Christian Kirk, especially when

(30:17):
it's one who allows nearly a full fantasy point per
route run. So if Christian Kirk runs thirty routes, what
is that in points? Like thirty points?

Speaker 1 (30:25):
That's right? Really?

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, ratio, I have a B grade there, and I
have a C grade on Avin Ingram, who has five
plus catches in back to back games, forty nine plus
yards in both. He's not getting red zone targets, but
the Texans just allowed six for seventy and a score
to tight ends last week.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Broncos take on the Dolphins, Brian and for the running game,
at least last week, it was pretty much all Javonte Williams.
Do you think that trend extends here?

Speaker 4 (30:51):
Yeah? I got to be on Javonte Williams, who I
did not expect to be getting this much run this
early in the season, nor would even be suiting up
the first four weeks of the season. He is almost
all the way back. I would give him an A
if not coming off the major injury, but again, he's
his workload is farester pass what I expected, so he
gets a be The Dolphins have already surrendered three rushing

(31:14):
scores and more than three hundred and twenty combo yards
to opposing running backs. That is a lot. Miami has
also yielded the second most red zone touches to a
post and running backs, So a bev for Jamonte Williams.
But I got samaj p Ryan on the bench. There's
a certain running back pushing him for playing time, which
we'll talk about a little more. So just Javonte Williams
with the starting grade out of the Denver backfield, Jerry

(31:36):
Judy and Courtland Sutton. I'm gonna give both a C
grade too. I was close to a bee, but I
think they both might eat into each other as a workload.
The Dolphins are one of ten teams to allow thirty
plus wide receiver catches so far, so a good matchup
for both Judy and Sutton. I can't give Marvin Mims
a C as well, though, even though he had one
hundred and thirteen yards in a touchdown last week on

(31:58):
two targets catches and then they never went back to
him for the rest of the game for whatever reason.
So can't trust Mims yet too light point, but he
should certainly not be available in virtually any league right now.
It should be rostered in almost every format. Adam Troutman
almost gave him a SEA as well, considering the Dolphins
are one of four teams to surrender multiple tight end

(32:20):
scores through the first two weeks. But Troutman was not
targeted last week and the Broncos will probably need his
blocking considering Russell Wilson was sacked seven times and took
fourteen nits last week. So I've got Troutman on the bench,
but I will give Wilson the sea. He does have
the second most touchdown passes, the fourth highest passer rating,

(32:41):
and the ninth most rushing yards among all quarterbacks, so
he does get to see here. Those numbers are a
little padded by the flukey Hail Mary touchdown he threw
to Brandon Johnson last week, but Wilson is startable in
this suspected shootout, which is really going to come from
the Miami side, starting with Raheem Mostert. He gets a
a went off against a tough Patriots run defense last week.

(33:03):
He's most just paying massive dividends no matter where you
drafted him this summer. That could change, but for now,
he's easily a top ten back and the matchup is
decent enough here. The Broncos are top twelve and nemo's
fantasy points allowed to running backs. So an A for
Raheem Mostert, an easy A for Tyreek Hill. The Broncos
have allowed the second most wide receiver touchdowns so far

(33:25):
this season. Hill is second in targets inside the ten
yard line and first in catches inside the ten. And
obviously Tyreek Kill can score from anywhere. So these are
just numbers you love to hear at a Hill, he
gets an A. Jalen Waddle, I'll give him a B
if he plays. He didn't concussion proto call as of now.
If he plays, though, he gets a B. Just six

(33:46):
targets last week, but he did lead the Dolphins in
receiving yards with eighty six yards on four catches. My
guy Durham Smythe Smyth Tyson gonna give him a C.
Three catches in each of the first two games as
quote unquote the guy at tight end. Those aren't great numbers,
I know, but sadly they are serviceable in the tight
end wasteland. The Broncos did allow seven catches for eighty

(34:08):
nine yards in a touchdown to the Commander's tight ends
last week. So A see for Smythe and two agets
an A two is the man so far if he's healthy.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Two is the guy when we come back, Chargers and
Vikings over unders fifty four points? Is there anybody you
wouldn't start find out when we come back Fantasy Football Weekly?

(34:45):
Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Scott Fish, Brian Johnson, and
I am Paul Charchion going through all the matchups Fantasy
style Chargers taking on the Vikings, and it's basically a
start everybody matchup. A grades for Justin air Bear with
a potentially fighting big game coming, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen
all a grades massive size and talent mismatch for Keenan

(35:09):
Allen and Mike Williams. And just to highlight the size
difference the Vikings cornerbacks, McKai Blackman is five foot ten,
Byron Murphy's five foot eleven Keenan Allen are six two
and sixty four and contested catches are going to go
their way almost certainly in this game. The only receiver
I've got a bench grade on, sorry, Brian Gerald. Everett
undoubtedly a capable receiver, but he is the fifth option

(35:30):
on a team loaded with receiving talent. Just five catches
and two games in Minnesota's giving up just twenty scoreless
tight end yards per game. There are points coming. If
you need a dart throw tight end, I could see it,
but I can't move him to a C grade here.
Josh Kelly was might take a chance on me running back.
Let's go to the Viking side, where similarly I've got
the quarterback, wide receiver and another receiver. All is obvious.

(35:52):
A's cousins Jefferson and TJ. Hockinson. Kirk is the highest
scoring fantasy quarterback right now. He plays in a pass first,
past second, past third offense. Jefferson draws the easiest coverage
of maybe his entire season against cornerback J. C. Jackson
and A Sante Samuel, and Hockinson leads all tight ends
and receptions in touchdowns. So those guys are automatics. I

(36:13):
also like Jordan Addison in this game. He's got the
touchdowns in both games to start his career. He's got
the deep a dot of seventeen yards per target. Holy cow,
He's getting open through route running and kJ Osborne has
been bad, and so I think he's gonna start absorbing
more and more of kJ osborne routs. Chargers cornerbacks hold

(36:35):
Pro Football focus coverage rankings of forty first, one hundred second,
and one hundred and twenty third. Jordan Addison is in play.
Alexander Madison suffering from a variety of issues. Negative game scripts,
lousy blocking in the league's lowest run play percentage have
all made him an unmitigated fantasy disaster to this point.

(36:57):
Kevin O'Connell running the ball at a twenty two rate.
I've got a C grade on him here only because
the Pro Football Focus, who's got Chargers is the third
worst run defense. I don't although I don't see it
that way. They held Raheem Moster to three and a
half yards per carry, Derreck Henry to three point two
yards per carry, both guys scored. I just think there's
enough points here, and the running back landscape is so

(37:19):
dried up, I'd go ahead and go with Alejander.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Lot's opportunity for a high scoring game too. A lot
of points could get a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, that's I think we're hoping for forty five yards
in a touchdown.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Think it's fifty four highest of the week it is.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Pats take on the Oh. By the way, can makers
not expected to PARTI Patriots taking on the Jets. Scott,
what do you like out of Romandra Stevenson And by
the way, Ezekiel Elliott is done? Yeah? Mooyd does he
look slow?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Twelve touches in week one, five touches last week. Zeke
is yeah, Zeke is cooked like cook is cooked. Ramandre
Stevenson after Pollard last week. Against this Jets defense, I
think the Pats may look to replicate what works, which
just volume. Running eighteen plus touches in back to back
games for Stevenson three plus catches Niche has not dropped

(38:07):
a pass, and the once he has caught, he's averaging
over ten yards after the catch. Wow. So they may
look to get him involved in that too. I do
have a B grade on him. He's the only runner
I have a B grade on in the past game.
I only have a grade on one player, and it's
going to shock you. Do you want to take a guess?
It might not shock you. It's Hunter Henry oh Okay

(38:30):
is the only Mac Jones I have a bench grade on.
He's attempting more passes than anyone else. But this Jets
pass defense is much better than what they've faced so far.
It's a Jets dy that has held Josh Allen and
Dak Prescott to two hundred and fifty ish yards or
less and three scores and three picks. It's not a

(38:50):
good spot for any of the pass catchers, especially with
DeVante Parker coming back to split everything up even more.
Hunter Henry, I think we may have to start believing
five for fifty six in a score, six for fifty
two in a score. Jets have given up two scores
to tight ends just last week. In Week one, they
allowed seven catches for fifty one yards. I'm a B

(39:11):
grade on Henry and you could probably bump him up,
but I have a B grade on Henry. Over to
the Jets side, I have an A grade on Garrett Wilson,
and that may just be about it. I think that
Brice Hall deserves a see here. But Garrett Wilson, even
when held to two catches, he somehow made that eighty
three yards in a score. Yeah, he just gets it done.

(39:34):
He'll get mostly Christian Gonzaz who started to shadow after
Marcus Jones left and who is now on IR. He
started to shadow Tyreek last week, but he did give
up a score to Tyreek. He gave up a score
in Week one I think Garrett Wilson gets his. He's
the guy they have to run this offense through. Brice Hall.
He tweeted his anger about only getting four carries. Squeaky

(39:56):
mouse gets the cheese. I think they're gonna or squeaky
wheel gets the grease or whatever you want to call it.
Mouse's way here gainwell head seventy four yards in week one,
most at one hundred and twenty seven and two scores
last week. If Preestall gets it and they realize Cook
is Cooketon Carter isn't that good, Priest Hall should get
a Sea grade here. And that's all I got for
this game.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
All right, Let's move on Panthers taking on the Seahawks. Bryan.
The Panthers' offense, as I mentioned earlier, has it looked awful.
But you like Andy Dalton, he was your take a
chance on me quarterback?

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Uh yeah, I liked him enough to give him a
very soft Sea and I like Jonathan Mingo. Might take
a chance on my wide receiver. I'll also give Adam
Thielen a Sea nine targets last week he caught seven
for fifty four yards in a touchdown. I think we
can expect similar volume here, especially with Andy Dalton who's
not much of a deep ball specialist. So Thieling gets
a starting C grade, as is Hayden Hurst was invisible

(40:45):
last week, but at a nice showing in Week one.
This is a good matchup on paper for Hurst. The
Seahawks have allowed the fourth most receiving yards to opposing
tight ends, So a SEA for Hurst and a C
for running back Miles Sanders, who was averaging nearly two
twenty touches per game. He's yet to score anything with him,
He's yet to score, but the Seahawks have surrendered four

(41:06):
rushing touchdowns to opposing running backs and have allowed the
sixth most fantasy points to the position through two games.
So I will give Sanders a starting grade. With the
SEA over to the Seattle side, and they're running back
Kenneth Walker, he gets a SEE as well. The Seahawks
are likely to remain without both starting offensive tackles, but

(41:27):
this is not a daunting matchup for Walker. Carolina is
ranked twenty second against the run by Pro Football Focus.
Somewhat of a scary stat though for Kenneth Walker, one
fourth quarter touch through the first two games.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Weirdy, very weird. They were trailing in the first game.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
But that said Walker has still outsnapped Zach Charbonay he
did last week forty three to nineteen, so Charbona is
still on the bench again the Sea for Walker. I'm
gonna give Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, both of Bee.
The Panthers will be without starting quarterback cornerback j C. Horn,
who's out with a hamstring injury. That bodes well for

(42:07):
both Metcalf and Lockett, but I got Jackson Smith and
Jigba on the bench. His A dot average depth of
target is just one point eight yards. He's also played
less than sixty percent of Seattle's offensive snaps in both games.
So JSN just not a reliable starter at this moment,
but someone you might want to buy low on in

(42:27):
both redraft and dynasty formats due to that slow start.
And it's always a slow start for Noah Fans and
any other tight end for Seattle. Even though Will Disley
might not play in this game, I got to put
Fant on the bench. Seattle just refuses to give one
tight end significant snaps and that's not gonna be Fans
and Gino Smith. I'm on the fence here. I'm gonna

(42:47):
bench Gino in this game. I think this is gonna
be a heavy run game for the Seahawks. Gino was
twenty seventh and twenty plus passyard attempt rate last week,
and I think we see a similar conservative game plan
against the Panthers, who have funneled their opponents to the run.
So far, Carolina has the sixth highest opponent rushing play percentage.

(43:10):
Teams just aren't passing against the Panthers. So I got
I got Gino on the bench For that reason.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
I've been giving some thought to trying to acquire Zach
Sharboney on the cheap in Dynasty.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
It's interesting, you know, right now he's getting no run
at all, and I think there might be a desperate
you know, some.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Ken Walker has an injury history.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
He does, he does, so what do you think? Yes,
I would do it.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
I would do it. I have a question on the
Jets Patriots matchup. If you had to throw a dart
at Kendrick Bourn, Juju Smith, Schuster, and DeVante Parker, who
would it be? Born Letton targets week one, Parker in
week three or we two. Juju is the slot guy.
He's gonna avoid Sauce and DJ Reid.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, that's that's probably.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
That's where Diggson, That's where Digs and Lamb made there. Hey,
the last two weeks, there could be something to that,
maybe a juju. See did I go too low? No,
that's about okay, I had him. I had him as bench.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Is Kashan Voody the answer the road answer?

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Now, if you.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
Know Mario Douglas, you haven't tried a Guillotine league yet.
We're still creating new leagues drafts almost every day of
the week. You can still get into a brand new,
fresh Guillotine league with all the things you've already learned
through a couple of weeks of play, which you know,
Christian McCaffrey might be the first player off the board.
Now it's like, yeah, the one running back left standing
that you feel like you can rely on when we

(44:21):
come back. Three tough questions. If you can play along,
go three and oh with our panel of experts as
we break down some of the tricky running back situations
in the league. It's our number two Fantasy Football Weekly

(44:46):
Week number three. It's desperation time for many, and tough
questions abound. Also, some tough weather potentially watch the weather
Sunday morning, Baltimore, Washington, New York, the the East coast
potentially get a lamb basted with rain and wind. You'll
want to keep your eye on that as possibility for
Sunday as well.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
Of course, it is tough question number one, what the.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Hell's wrong with Damian Pierce? We begin with Brian Johnson.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
Nothing. I don't want you to fire me here. Perfect
in every way. No rough start for Pierce, but hey,
his opponents have been no kwalk. The Texans have played
the Ravens and the Colts, who are ranked third and
first against the run by Pro Football Focus. Devin Singletary
isn't really stealing Pierce's job. We talked about it earlier

(45:38):
in the show. He's taken some third down snaps, but
that's really more so for pass pro Singletary had four
carries last week, so it's not like Pierce is seding
those carries to Singletary. And last, and certainly not least,
the O line has just been ravaged by injuries for Houston.
I joke, I wasn't joking.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
This.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
This hurts my soul. This reminds me of Lamar Miller.
For the Texans about seven or eight years ago. I
remember just a very talented, oh deep, elite running back
running behind the most garbage of offensive lines year in
and year out. Hopefully that that changes for Peer. So
it's not the player, it's the scenario right now for Peer.
So I guess what is wrong with him? Nothing is

(46:19):
their options for this answer. I'll go with nothing. All right,
He'll be okay. Don't panic, Scott.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
You already answered this question defectively earlier in your matchup.
You should probably have figured out that that was going
to happen. What the hell's wrong with Damian Pierce? Do
anything you want to add? You just want to yield
to your earlier comments.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
I will mention my reiterate that even last year, in
his final four games before his injury, he was averaging
barely over three yards per carry. Part of his problem
is he seeks out contact, and if that first contact
tackles him, he's not getting yards. And because the offensive
line isn't blocking and he's getting hit behind the line

(46:56):
of scrimmage, that means he's getting negative yards or not
many yards. I think I think we've mentioned a bunch
of things that are factoring in. But he really needs
to learn to avoid defenders. He had a ton of
broken tackles last year. If he doesn't get those broken tackles,
he's not avoiding the tackles.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
He's got to break four tackles. He's run for sixty
nine yards this year. Yeah, seventy after contact, yep. I
mean think about think about how staggering.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
I mentioned that about last week. Thirty eight after contact,
thirty one yards.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Right, I mean, you know, it's just a total disaster
on the offensive line. And then yet in the game
scripts that have worked heavily against Pierce, big early deficits
for Houston. And then the part of this that I
was really banking on with Pierce was for him to
become more involved in the passing game, and that has
not happened yet. And maybe it's just his young quarterback.
Maybe it's not Pierce's run. Get this thirty eight routes.

(47:49):
Thirty eight routes, It's plenty of routes for a running
back to have run to this stage. He's been targeted
six times. Thanks for nothing.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
C J.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Stroud, who actually I like c J. Stroud. I wish
you would were to Damian Pierce. I will continue to
contend that there's nothing wrong with Damian Pierce. It's everything
around him. And if you'd put Damian Pierce on a
different team, you'd have a very different outcome.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Okay, tough.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
Question number two.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
You can name your price for Pooka Nakula right now,
if you're the Poka Nakula owner.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
I've seen some pretty big ones out there.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Are you holding or are you selling? Scott?

Speaker 3 (48:22):
I'm probably holding. I'm probably holding. We don't know if
this soft tissue hamstring injury is going to go on
for longer than we expect, or lingo or re injure,
and I want him. I want to win games now.
He's part of the Breakfast Breakfast club. He has breakfast
with Cooper Cup and Matthew Stafford. I like that. The goal,

(48:44):
like I said, the goal is to win games.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Now.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
We don't know what the split will b when Cup
gets back, but Matthew Stafford's thrown it forty five times
per game. What if there's still ten plus targets there
for Pooka Nakoula.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
I'm just gonna hold on and try to win, all right, Brian,
you can name your price for Pooka Nakula right now,
how are you holding? Are you selling high?

Speaker 4 (49:03):
Speaking of targets, the wide receiver target lead leaders through
the first two weeks Puka Nakua thirty five second, Justin
Jefferson with twenty five unreal and yes, Cooper Cup is
not playing, but Puoka is not playing the Cooper Cup role.
Supposedly that's too too at well, so who's to say
when Cooper Cup comes back? Pooka doesn't even see more targets,

(49:26):
So why not just just hold on to him? You
might be that league winning unicorn that is unearthed in
week one. I'm holding.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Fundamentally he looks good. Test oh he does. Per I
love selling high on overproducing players at a high water mark,
but fundamentally, yeah, fundamentally I can't do it in this situation, right,
I agree? Just too legit. And the real question that
everybody's got in the back of their mind is do
I trade away Pooka knowing Cup is going to come back.

(49:56):
We don't know when Cup's going to come back. To
Scott's point, but here's here's the the main thing you
really need to know. That guy who's gonna get iced
out of the Rams when Cooper Cup comes back is
Van Jefferson. Now, he had always been an outside receiver,
but they've moved Van Jefferson's routes into the slot that's
Cooper Cups spot, because they're already planning for Cooper Cup

(50:19):
to come back and take away their worst performing receiver,
Van Jefferson by a mile. All last year they desperately
needed Van Jefferson to step up. They got nothing. This year,
they're getting nothing. Van Jefferson's gonna be the odd man out.
And there's a scenario where Cooper Cup does come back,
is fully healthy, and Pookin a Coua is still the

(50:41):
best guy. You can't trade Pookinakua right now.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
Tough question number three, what is.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
The appropriate level of concern for Breese Hall? Is it none?
Is it some? Or is it a bowel loosening level
of existential dread? We go back to Brian.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
I can't be blowed on Breese because a guy I
was fading all summer just because I didn't think he
was gonna see the workload coming off the major knee injury.
Granted he is his first two carries, I was eating
some crow. He had over one hundred yards. But he's
clearly not the Briess Young we saw, I'm sorry, the
Breese Hall we saw last year. He's gonna split carries

(51:23):
with Dalvin Cook, is he Abana Conda, Michael Carter? And Man,
this Jets team is not guaranteed to make the playoffs now,
not that they were guaranteed to make the playoffs with
Aaron Rodgers, but you like their chances a lot more.
And are they going to be so inclined just to
ramp up Breese's Hall into what is presumed to be
a lost season as we get later into the year.

(51:44):
So I'm not blowed, but there is some concern. I
still don't think he's gonna get the fifteen twenty plus
touches that you would command the ADP that we saw
from Breese which was third round in August.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
So it's just something for me, all right, Scott, what
is the propriate level of concern for Brishall?

Speaker 3 (52:01):
I'm interrupted? None? None, not a one, Okay, not a one,
No concern, No appropriate level could My appropriate level for
concern for Breese Hall is none. Their defense is awesome.
They're good enough to keep them in games and getting
games close, so they're gonna keep to the running game.
He looked so good in week one. He's already complaining

(52:23):
he needs more touches. We've seen what Dalvin Cook and
Michael Carter looked like. They are going to have to
feed Brishall's That's what this team is. That's their identity.
Run the ball with Breese Hall, keep it out of
Zach Wilson's hands, and play defense none. He's gonna be
a fifteen to twenty touchback and he's gonna get back
in football shape. So those breakaway runs, he can actually

(52:44):
get him to the end zone instead of gaining rundown
from behind.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Wow, I feel attacked in many ways. This is also
asking is Zach Wilson just an offense killer? I mean,
is he just gonna murder this offense?

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Well?

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Last year in his starts and he had plenty of
like nine, the Jets averaged nineteen points. That's not that bad.
It's not great.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
It's also not good.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
It's not that bad. It's not you know, not to
the point where you're like, well, the whole offense is
gonna be non functional.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Now did Breese Hall play those games? Well?

Speaker 1 (53:15):
It actually, it's funny. So I looked up they had
four games together, like three and a quarter defends together.
In that small sample size where both Zach Wilson was
starting and Brece Hall was playing before he got hurt,
he averaged one hundred and twenty eight yards and a
touchdown per game. You go, And that was with that

(53:35):
Jets offensive line last year that was completely ravaged by injury.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
It's better. The defense is better, yep.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Now last week they played Dallas. It looks like Dallas
is the best defense in the league, just you know,
killing a pone everybody they're facing. So I'm going to
try to just throw out last week my current appropriate
level of concern for Breese Hall. And oh one other
point that I forget, forgot to put on here, Dalvin
Cook on Zoe's He doesn't look like the same guy

(54:03):
at all to me. And we've seen we've watched a
lot for you though, So yes, thank you. Appropriate level
of concern for Breeze.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Hall is not can we say less than none?

Speaker 1 (54:12):
No, you can't. All right, We're gonna go this is
this is that's way too a minus to non minus.
I don't do that here.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
Bill.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Bill's taking on the commanders. Let's talk through I want
to I think I want to start with James Cook.
This is a tough matchup for James Cook play facing
the Commanders, Washington giving up just fifty seven rushing yards
per game and Cook sadly getting what Cook sadly getting
vultured in the red zone. Damien Harris Latavious Murray have

(54:43):
nine red zone touches. James Cook has two. This was
exactly the concern that we had in the preseason, the like,
we all love James Cook, but he might be sitting
on a five touchdown year and that was the worry
and right now that's the continues to be the concern.
He is He's gonna have to score from distance.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
What's insane about him? He's a top twelve running back
without scoring a touchdown at this moment. Yeah, that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Cook is getting a lot of passing down work, but
the Commanders are a lead against receiving backs. No Back
his top thirty three receiving yards against Washington in twelve
games going back to the middle last year. Wow. No
back has scored through the air in ten games against Washington,
and that includes games against gifted receivers who faced Washington
like Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley. And Tony Pollard. Jeez,

(55:30):
they all went belly up against Washington. I've only got
a C grade on James Cook in this game. Let's
go to the passing game. Stefan Diggs gets an obvious
A here, and he's gonna be able to exploit rookie
Emmanuel Forbes, who was beat for four catches eighty six
yards against Denver last week. He's an A. Gabe Davis
gets a C grade here last week a massive forty

(55:50):
nine percent air yard share. But you know, the bid
on Gabe Davis, the blow up games and then the
tougher matchup where he usually does not show up, and
I think this might be a tougher one. He's mostly
gonna draw Kendall Fuller, who's allowed just twenty seven scoreless
yards in his coverage through two games. You know, Davis
has always been a feaster famine player, and this feels

(56:13):
like a famine side of that coin. So just the
C grade on Gabe Davis here. Dalton Kincaid of note
Dawson Knox missed so much practice, but then he returned
in full on Friday, So it looks like Dawson Knox
is gonna go. But here's the thing. Dal Kincaid's already
killing him, already head of Dawson Knox in target share,
He's tied for third on his team and targets. Kincaid

(56:34):
looks very reliable. He's caught ten of his eleven targets
in two games. I mean, he looks totally legit. He'll
face Commander's linebacker Cody Barton, who has allowed nine of
the ten targets in his coverage to be completed, and
over half of ken Kid's yardage just come after the catch.
In seventy three percent of Barton's yardage just come after
the catch. So Kenkaid should be good after the catch
here too. We're gonna go be great. And Dalton Kincaid,

(56:56):
even with Dawson Knox.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
In's still in those red zone touches too.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Josh Allen, if I've gotten I've got a's, b's, and
c's for his receivers, obviously, I like Josh Allen here.
Aided by the return of Chase Young, the Commander's pass
rush has been excellent. They ranked third best by Pro
Football Focus. Washington's already generated forty eight quarterback pressures in
two games. Very impressive. Russell Wilson scampered for fifty six

(57:21):
yards against Washington last week, including three design runs, So
Josh Allen probably go something done on the ground here,
but I think given the pass rush, I'm just gonna
keep Josh Allen to a modest B grade. Let's go
to Washington, where this is a thornier situation. I want
to begin with. That's right Sam Howell, who looks like

(57:41):
a legit NFL starting quarterback despite it.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
He's actually he actually is a starting quarterback is but
he's a legits accurate.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
A legit starting quarterback. I think Howel's looked, it looked
pretty darn good. They need to unleash more d passes
for the kid. He's got a big arm, and they've
he's been given. They've been very cautious with him, as
they doubt is just six point eight yards. We need
more deep throws from from Sam Howell.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Now.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
I understand he's young and they're trying to be cautious
about not asking him to do too much, but come on,
let's manufacture some deep tries here. The Bills have allowed
just four completions over twenty eight yards, so I can't
call for a breakout deep passing game from Howell coming
in this game, and the once daunting Buffalo secondary is
slumping though no cornerback ranks higher than quarterback forty five
in PFF grades, So I've got a B grade on

(58:28):
Sam Howell here in Parks. I think he'll run in
twenty thirty forty yards that'll help his receivers mostly be's
and c's. Let's talk Terry McLaurin, who runs the majority
of his routes from the right side of the field,
which puts him on cornerback Christian Benford most commonly. He's
a run of the milk corner. Gave up a healthy
fifteen yards per catch last year and sixteen yards per

(58:48):
catch this year. John Dotson's dying because Eric Benemy's not
unleashing downfield passing, and that's Dotson's game. So I've only
got the C grade on him. But I do have
a C grade on him even though he's done very
little becauseus White is a shadow of his former self,
allowing a passer rating of one hundred and twenty five
in his coverage and he's given up touchdowns in both games.
Despite some Lukewarren quarterbacking that they've seen Zach Wilson, Jimmy

(59:12):
Garoppolo lighting up Tredavious White. So I'm going back to
the well one more time on Johan Dotson here, and
then I also got to mention Curtis Samuel, who has
become very involved in this offense. He's already been targeted
eight times through two games. He's gotten a few runs
in there as well. He's caught every single target that's
come his way. He's still got the tiny a dot
and they're thrown to him basically the line of scrimmage.

(59:33):
But still it's he's getting enough work where if you're
in a desperate spot, we could consider Curtis Samuel as
an official FFW dartthrow. Then I want you to keep
an eye on sophomore tight end Cole Turner, who looks
like the future of the tight end position for Washington.
Don't start him yet, but do pay attention to him. Lastly,

(59:54):
Brian Robinson, to my eyes, he looks a little better
than last year. He's runna harder, he's more elusive. He's
limited by that lousy offensive line though, seventy percent of
his yard to just come after contact, and other than
Breest Hall's breakaway run, the Bills are allowing just two
point seven yards per carry, and that includes holding a
far better runner, Josh Jacobs the negative two yards last week.
So I can only muster up a B grade for

(01:00:17):
Brian Robinson. All right, let's go to New Orleans taking
on Green Bay. Scott.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Yeah, so New Orleans taking on Green Bay. I got
a B grade on Derek Carr. The Packers allowed Desmond
Ritter and Justin Fields to go for two hundred and
thirty yards and a couple scores and two hundred and
seventeen yards in a score. And if those two can
do that, right, right, Derek Carr is gonna go for
probably four hundreds. So maybe I should have had an
A grade. It is. It's a pretty good defense. But

(01:00:47):
Jire Alexander may not go. Keep an eye on that.
He's got that back injury was limited in practice. I
would feel better about the bee if he doesn't go,
but if he does, he's I still got to be here.
The receivers, Chris Alave, I'm given the A two. He's
averaging over ten targets, seven catches, and ninety nine yards.
He was an inch away from a score on on
Monday night. There just just barely stepped out. Darnell Mooney

(01:01:10):
went for fifty plus to score in the slot. Drake
London went for sixty plus in score on the left.
Those are the two spots that Olave plays eighty three
percent of his snaps from those two spots. He'll find
his way to an A grade here. Michael Thomas, I'm
giving a C grade too. You could talk me into
a bee. He's averaging eight and a half targets, six
catches fifty eight yards. The eye test looks good. That

(01:01:31):
was a great sideline grab in that last game. C
grade here. I could give a SE grade to Shaheed.
I don't know if there's enough to go around in
this one. This is really this is gonna be a
pretty tough defense, especially if jayre plays, and it's supposedly
gonna be a low scoring game. I don't think there's
gonna be quite enough for a guy that's only playing
thirty five snaps snaps per game. He does well with him.

(01:01:53):
He's got a good match up against Keishawn Nixon, who's
CB ninety five according to PFF. I have him on
the bench. Maybe a dart throw. Can I give him
a D? Is that a D? Dark brow can.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
But you can give him a Darth throw right there.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
Yeah, I'm giving a B grade to Kendre Miller in
his first game. Oh look at that, Look at that.
We know what Tony Jones is. He was twelve for
thirty four. Yeah. I scored a couple of times twelve
rushes for thirty four yards the other night, starting starting
games a couple of years ago. Six for ten yards,
sixteen for twenty seven yards. This is not the back.
Derek Carr said he wants to see violence out of

(01:02:27):
Kendre Miller this week. He should be the starting back.
I'm giving him a B grade against the Packers team
allowing the sixth most fantasy points to running backs after
allowing one hundred and forty three to the Bears backs
and two hundred and twenty to the Falcons backs. Wow Over.
On the Packer's side, I'm giving Jordan Love a C grade.
It's not the same matchup he's gonna get. He's gonna

(01:02:49):
get the fourth best defense against the pass. But they
held down Ryan Tannehill and Bryce Young. I mean it
is what it is. They're gonna have a good ranking
because that. But Love has had a couple great fans leagues,
but also leads the NFL in off target throws and
the majority of his yards have come after the catch.
I'm gonna give him the se grade here. I'm think
he's gonna come down to earth a little bit on

(01:03:09):
this one. Aaron Jones. If he does go and it
sounds like he's finally gonna go, he'll resort aj Dillon
back to the bench because he's been so ineffective in
Aaron Jones stead, He's on the right side of questable.
He's a good pass catcher. Nor Land's defense has held
down rushers, but they've allowed eight catches last week to

(01:03:30):
running backs. Henry even went through for fifty plus through
the air. C grade there in the receivers. It's too
early for me to start Christian Watson. He's questionable. He
might go. I can't trust him in his first week back,
so I have him on the bench. Jaydon Reid and
Romeo Dubbs. Dobbs, excuse me. I'm given s grades to
assuming that Christian Watson either won't go or will be

(01:03:52):
highly limited. So Reid gets the best matchup against Alante
Taylor in the slot, who's been targeted twenty times in
his two games sixteen for one hundred and five and
a score. Good matchup for Jane Reed. Romeo Dobbs, well,
he's been he's been the main benefit beneficiary so far.

(01:04:12):
Four targets a game three for twenty eight, got a score.
Marcus May suspension the safety for the New Orleans Saints
should ease up the defense a little bit. And that's it.
Just to segrade for Dobbs, assuming he'll get four to
six targets and make something work with them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Yeah, makes sense, makes sense. It's a little clearer when
Watson doesn't play. When he comes back, he's gonna be
a lot of thorny to figure out who to play.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Yeah. By the way, don't even consider Luke Musgrave Saints
of about twenty scoreless yards to the tight end total
this year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
When we come back, Cowboys taking on the Cardinals. It
sounds like a one sided affair. But we'll find out
if there's any sneaky plays from Brian Johnson. We come
back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly.

(01:05:19):
You can get all my player rankings available for free
at Guillotine leagues dot com. You should also join a
Guillotine Leagues it's the funest way to play fantasy football,
flat out. End of story, end of statement. Right there,
we go to the Cowboys taking on the Cardinals. Brian,
this feels like a one sided affair, and I'm guessing
it's kind of a start all Cowboys, bench all Cardinals.

Speaker 4 (01:05:37):
Pretty much, Start all Cowboys. When Rico Dowdle was my
take a chance on.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
The outing back, you know they're all getting in.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
Yeah, you know you're gonna give Tony Pollard an A.
We're not gonna get any further into that one. Cede
Lamb also gets an A. Eleven catches for one hundred
and forty three yards last week from CD. That's the
alpha volume we're looking for. He is second in most
yards after the catch, behind only Puka Nakua, of course,
the one wide receiver in all the world. So in
a grade for CD, Brandon Cooks and Michael Gallup A

(01:06:06):
little thorny here. Cooks missed last week with the sprained MCL.
He's shaping up to be a game time decision. If
Cooks goes, I'll give him a C and Gallop the
bench grade. If cook sits, I guess I'll give Gallup
a C. Gallup disappointed last week against the Jets, but
he was sacrificed to Sauce Gardner, so I'm not going

(01:06:27):
to read too much into that. You're not going to
start both. So again Cook's plays, he gets the C
if cook sits sea for Gallup, see for Jake Ferguson
either way close to a B grade here. Jake Ferguson
leads all players with seven red zone targets, and Scott
informed me he's also tied with Tyreek Kill for the
most targets inside the five yard line, So you got

(01:06:47):
to like Ferguson, who scored last week. The Cardinals have
allowed the eighth most catches in the third most yards
at tight ends and they just put starting safety Buddha
Baker on IR So you know what, I'm giving Fergie
the B here.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
Dak I'll throw him on a second touchdown too last week.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
And speaking of Dak, I got an A on CD,
A B on Fergie, so safe B for Dak. The
only concern here really is is just Dallas runs all
over Arizona's and then they don't need to throw it ton.
But still you're not gonna sit Dak, so a B
for him over to the Cardinal's side. You're sitting pretty
much everyone but not James Connor, even though the Cowboys

(01:07:24):
have allowed the fewest fantasy points to running back. So
this is purely a volume play with James Connor, which
is nothing new. That's basically what he is every week.
He's still going to get his fifteen to twenty touches.
So a c for Connor. I'm gonna give Marky's brown a.
See was going to bench all the wide receivers until
all Pro corner Trayvon Diggs tore up his knee in
practice for Dallas, a brutal blow for them, So I

(01:07:47):
will give a sea to Hollywood, who had ten targets
last week. The rest of the Cardinals wide receivers combined
for just five. So that's why Rondell Moore and Michael
Wilson are on the bench. But old man zach Ertz,
let's roll him out there one more time. He gets
to see leads A leads the Cardinals and targets. He
is tied for twelve among all players of the NFL

(01:08:07):
with twelve catches. Only TJ. Hockinson has more catches among
tight ends than zach Ertz, and the Cowboys have surrendered
fifty plus yards to tight ends and opposing tight ends
in both games so far. Sadly, that's a lot of
yards through tight ends. It is this season, so a
see for Ertz, but Josh Dobbs, no Sea, he gets
a B, a B for bench for Dobbs.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Bears and the Chiefs. This thing is going to be
brutally ugly the Bears side. I'm just gonna start with
the runners Khalil Herbert and Roshan Johnson, who are just
on the bench and they're they're uninvolved in this They're
unproductive in this offense. And the green game script is
going to turn against the Bears running game at roughly
I don't know, the four minute mark of the first quarter.

Speaker 4 (01:08:49):
Well, they can't cut the grass either because all they
so they're gonna be slowed in that regarded.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Way to go Chicago garbage time sees for a few
people in the passing game here Dj Moore, the positive
game script will help him. They'll be throwing throughout and
while he has caught all eight of his targets, it's
eight for eight. The bad news is Dj Moore, the
best Bears receiver by a mile, is sitting at a
fourteen percent target rate. How dumb is that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
He isn't wrong, as the video clip said, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
Because everybody knows, including the opponents, more runs from all
over the field and has plus matchups against everybody except
Trent McDuffie, who mostly plays the slot. C grade for
Dj Moore, C grade for Cole Kamet, who leads the
team in targets share at twenty one percent, but it
has not amounted to Cole Kmet being a notable fantasy
provider here. The Chiefs have been yielding to tight ends.

(01:09:40):
They've allowed the sixth most receptions and the eighth most yards.
So we'll give Cole Cometta se grade here as well.
And then Justin Fields, who looks like an epically non
functional passer, and the Chiefs have held far better throwers
Jared Goff Trevor Lawrence to one combined touchdown. I'm only
giving a se grade here to Field for his rushing upside. Yeah,

(01:10:01):
but even then, get this, he's gotten two designed runs
and then three design runs. Yeah, thank thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
Luke getzide I will say they're not counting the RPOs
like he scored on a touchdown. There was an RPO
like that's a kind of a designed run.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
But it's kind of a design run. Chiefs have faced
three mobile quarterbacks going back through last year. None of
them did anything. But it's I just I feel like,
at the end of the day, garbage time, maybe Fields
connects on a deep pass. Maybe he runs you enough
to be meaningful.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
He should have five to ten design runs a game.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
He really should. In Kansas City, obviously, Mahomes and Kelsey
elite starts, maybe their best starts all season. Where could
you go for some help from receivers? I already gave
you Marquez Valdez scantling as might take a chance on
your receiver, But also how about a little Sky Moore
in a risk reward play with a glorious matchup. The
downside is Moore's paltry usage in snapcount. He's only on

(01:10:52):
the field for about half of the plays, and he's
targeted on just twelve percent of Mahomes passes so far.
But he matches up in the slot against backup corner
back Greg Stroman, the sausage King of Chicago, who has
seen just fifty two cousins in four years. That was
Abe Frohman, but we're gonna go with Gate with Greg Stroman. Yes,

(01:11:13):
and then lastly, Isaiah Pacheco is questionable and he's got
a hamstring injury. They're gonna get way ahead early. I
can only I'm only gonna put a C grade on
Pacheco because I'm really worried that they're going to rest him.
Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, you know if.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
He doesn't go, is it the hyphen game, Marquez Marqus, Yes,
it's the all hyphen the hyphen game.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
So pay close attention to this, watch for any reports
on this. They don't need Pacheco to win. I still
like you kind of have to start him, assuming he's
gonna go, because it's going to be so lopsided. But
if you're in a pinch at running back and who
isn't Clyde Edwards alaisbod you can pick up and start
in a blowout win coming m some mess.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
I like it, Yeah, I do like it all.

Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
Right, not that you need more incentive to start Patrick Mahomes,
But this is the sad Trombone sky Spight game. Patrick Mahomes.
The Bears like the Sad Trombone Sky over Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 3 (01:12:08):
I don't think he cares about that anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
I'm guessing he's moving on.

Speaker 4 (01:12:11):
I think he want to stick it to him a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
Steelers and the Raiders Sunday nights, Scott, Let's start on
the Steelers Steelers side. This offense looks every bit as
broken as it does.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Yeah, what happened to preseason? Kenny Pickett?

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
I know, bring him back? Please?

Speaker 3 (01:12:26):
I got a question for you, charge. Kenny Pickett has
played fifteen full games. How many multi touchdown games does
he have? That'd be zero zero and fifteen fifty tries.
The Raiders have allowed multiple scores and back to back
but better quarterbacks than Pott Picket. I have Pickt on
the bench, as well as most of the passing game.
Alan Robinson great week one, fought it up with a

(01:12:48):
twelve yard Don. In Week two without Don, Deontay Johnson
on the field's now on, I are Calvin Johnson has
a great matchup against ja Corey Bennett. You can't trust
more than just George Pickens on this offense. If Kenny
Picktt's gonna throw for two hundred yards in one score,
he's the only one you're gonna trust with anything. Balled
out last week I will say a lot of that

(01:13:09):
was on the one of the seventy one yard catch,
the seventy ward.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
Sure about that. It would have been a disaster.

Speaker 3 (01:13:15):
Yeah it would have. Yeah, it would have. It would
have been like a three for fifty yard day, which
is why he's only gonna get the B grade because
he needs to make that play happen in order to
get the A grade. He'll see Marcus Peters, who's allowing
the seventeenth most Fantasy points per route run. I will
say he's top three yards after the catch, yards after
the catch expected right there with you know, Waddle and

(01:13:36):
Garrett Wilson and stuff. But a big catch will do that.
So B grade for George Pickens, Pat Friarmouth, I have
a bench grade on. He'll see has two catches in
two weeks. What is going on there? Last week it's
a good spot against the Ridgers team that's allowed seven
plus catches to tight ends and back to back, so
if you're really desperate, but man, it's just not showing
up on the stat line. Right now, over to the

(01:13:59):
Las Vegas side, I have Jimmy Garoppolo on the bench
perty and Watson went for two hundred and twenty yards
two hundred thirty five yards each got like one to
two yard one to two scores. That's basically Jimmy G's
career stat line is two hundred and twenty yards and
a touchdown and a half. If you're fine with that,
you can have a C grade. But I'm not fine
with that. I'm putting him on the bench. DeVante Adams,

(01:14:21):
I will give a starting grade on, though I'm gonna
give him an A grade. Six plus catches six sixty
six plus yards in both games, eight plus targets. Top
wide receivers against the Steelers have averaged over one hundred
yards and each scored. Micka Fitzpatrick is likely to miss
with that chess contusion he suffered on the Nick on
the Nick Chubb injury play. Nobody cares about his chest,

(01:14:43):
so that's going to bring the defense down a level.
A grade on DeVante Adams. I'm gonna give the S
grade on Jacoby Myers. Here missed Week one with a concussion,
but he led the team in red zone targets in
Week one. It led the team in targets, catches, yards, touchdowns.
Week one upgraded to full practices. I'm giving the secrete
and I think he's going to get it done here.
In the running game, Josh Jacobs has not looked like

(01:15:05):
Josh Jacobs of last year. He's not looked good. He's
got negative eight yards before contact on the year. He's
constantly hit behind the yard, behind the loose. That's a
lot of it's offensive line exactly. But he also I
don't I think eye test he hasn't looked as good,
but he does see twenty percent target year, He's getting
seventeen and a half touches. He gets a good spot

(01:15:26):
this week against a Steelers defense that allowed one hundred
and seventy nine running back yards in Week one, one
hundred and ninety six running back yards last week. I'm
giving him a B grade here.

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
All right, when we come back, who are the players
that you want to pick up now that everybody else
is going to be trying to pick up next week?
Find out as we jump in the time machine for
premature speculation. And if you haven't joined a guillotine league,
it's the funest, freshest way to play fantasy football. At

(01:15:57):
this stage, you would be playing with sixteen to be solved,
sixteen weeks to go in this season. Every week the
low scoring team gets cut and all the players go
to the waiver wire. The rest of us build superstar
lineups to go head to head. All you have to
do is not finish last in your Guillotine league Guillotine
leagues dot Com. Coming up next, Premature Speculation, final segment

(01:16:42):
of Fantasy Football Weekly for week number three. This is
a segment we like to call premature Speculation. Jump in
the time machine, pick up some guys that everybody else
is going to be trying to pick up. Next week.
We begin with Scott Fish.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna start with Taji's two percent rostered on
ya who fourteen percent rostered on ESPN rostered by Paul
Charchion in my home league. Annoyingly. Yes, they clearly love him.
His touches increased from.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
Week going to purposely.

Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
I love annoyingly, not unknowingly annoyingly for me who wanted
to go. I mean, if it's a ten team league
like I thought it would be available.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
No, he's not a league winner. Yeah everything, that's a
sharp league.

Speaker 3 (01:17:27):
Though it's a sharply averaging nearly seven yards per carry.
Taj spears on the year, granted on just eleven carries,
but Derek Henry's dealing with that turf tow He's been
limited in and missed a practice even this week. He
should go. But if that lingers, and remember last year
he tried to play on it for a while and
then ultimately was out for the rest of the season,

(01:17:48):
that's right, if that happens again with we're looking at
RB one on a very run heavy offense. Taj Spears.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
Spears is a league winner if anything, bat and we
don't root for injury benything back pass catcher.

Speaker 3 (01:18:00):
I didn't even mention that great past.

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
That's yeah, yeah, his role is only good expand totally.
Taj Spears should be roster in every league. Yep, Brian,
your premature speculation player.

Speaker 4 (01:18:09):
Yeah. I love Spears as well, but he is not
college football's all time leading rusher. The guy I'm about
to mention is and he's available in one hundred percent
of leagues, I'm pretty sure at least ninety nine point
percent of them, Okay, and that is Jalil McLaughlin of
the Denver Broncos.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
I have him in church. He is, We've got it covered.
He is.

Speaker 4 (01:18:32):
He is college football's all time leading rusher. He first
started at Ordre Dame. No, not University of Notre Dame,
but Notre Dame College in Ohio either. I thought that
I might have in the school that Rudy went to,
like du he's like JV Notre Dame. But no, it's
not it. But uh started out there, finished at Youngstown
State again, finished his college football's all time leading rusher

(01:18:56):
seventy nine touchdowns on in fury. Went undrafted, but was
signed by the Denver Broncos. McLaughlin MC it's tough to
say I think of McLaughlin scored on a five yard
touchdown run last week. Sadly he's only touch of the game.
The Broncos refused to give him the ball in the
second half, but he could take some JP Ryan's job.

(01:19:18):
They want to get him more involved. He's free.

Speaker 3 (01:19:20):
He shot Payton, the most honest man in the NFL,
says they really want to get him involved.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
He never lies, never lied. I never lied, I know,
but hey, we're dumpster diving for running backs at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
One of the great calls of the preseason was Brian
Johnson identifying Kyron Willis. Right, So tip of the hat
to you. You haven't been on the show in a couple
of weeks, so you get a job back for that.
Let's go to his backup, Zach Evans, who I think
you know, Ronnie Rivers is getting some run right now,
but he's that guy. Zach Evans is a really fun talent.

(01:19:53):
I like this kid a lot at Old Miss. He's
a rookie running back. And if anything happens to Williams,
who got he was never exactly a He kind of
was a workhorse at Notre Dame, the other Notre Dame,
the University of Yeah, that's right, the real Notre Dame.
But if anything were to go wrong here, or if
they just decide they want to distribute the ball a

(01:20:14):
little bit more, whatever, Zach Evans would be next guy up.
And I'm telling you this kid is good. He can
break some tackles. He's a long strider. They used him
in all kinds of different roles at Ole Miss. Zach
Evans is exactly the kind of guy you just want
to stash see how this thing plays out. And you know,
Karen Williams has no history of performing at a high

(01:20:34):
level in the NFL. Doesn't mean he won't. But maybe
Zach Evans ends up, you know, at some point being meaningfulness.
All right, let's go to our final two matchups. Brian
Rams taking on Speaking of the Rams taking on the Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:20:46):
Yeah, speaking of Kien Williams, will start with him. He
gets a B. He is one of two running backs
with double digit carries inside the twenty yard line so
far this year. Kien Williams Tony Pollard the only other
running back.

Speaker 3 (01:20:58):
Go ahead, Scott, No, go for it. I got a
fun stat for Karen Willis.

Speaker 4 (01:21:01):
I love fun stats about Kien Williams. Williams also has
eighty pass routes run. That's the most for any running
back by a lot. Romandre Stevenson is second with sixty one.
Give me that stat.

Speaker 3 (01:21:12):
So cam Akers with the Rams saw eight man boxes
on forty five percent of his plays. That was the
second most of the NFL. Kiren Williams has not seen
an eight man box yet. Wow, not yet. They're too
afraid of Peacock Puka. I love it Pecock.

Speaker 4 (01:21:26):
So that might happen with the Bengals this week. His
opponent we shall see. The Bengals have only allowed seven
catches for thirty three scoreless yards running backs, so not
much of an angle there. It seems, but both the
Browns and Ravens running backs collectively top one hundred yards
against Sincy. So a B for Williams. Zach Evans might
gets a run. I like that prespect call as well.

(01:21:47):
Not a starting great for him though, Pooka Akua, we're
already in a A range, just obvious a obvious A range.
The Bengals only allowed seven wide receiver catches to the
Browns in Week one, but the Ravens wideouts combined for
fifteen catches against Cincy last week, and again wheris at
auto start Pookin Nakua range in week three. It's pretty incredible.

(01:22:09):
One more shout out to Thor for that free spec
two to at Well also a starting grade. He gets
a B. It is two starts with Cooper cup on
ir six catches for one one hundred nineteen yards and
seven for seventy seven. He's also third among all wide
receivers in first down catches, trailing only justin Jefferson Tyreek
Hill and Pooka Nakua is two to at Well, he

(01:22:31):
gets the Bee Tyler Higbee. Last past catcher we'll mention
for the Rams, he gets the sea opposing tight ends
or averaging five and a half catches forty seven yards
against the Bengals. Will take that in the wasteland all day,
every day. And lastly, Matt stafford, he's throwing a pookin Akua,
so he gets a bee at bare minimum. So to
give him a bee here against the Bengals, who allowed
two hundred and thirty seven yards and two passing touchdowns

(01:22:54):
to Lamar Jackson last week on just thirty three passed attempts.
The Rams are averaging seventy eight offensive plays per game,
most in the NFL by a lot. Over to the
Bengals side, Joe Mixon gets a see Christian McCaffrey had
a good game against the Rams last week. Mixon is
no CMC. We know that, but there is some shot
at some upside for mixing. The Rams are giving up
five point three yards per carry and yielding three point

(01:23:17):
five red zone attempt red zone attempts per game to
opposing offenses. Mixon has seen one hundred percent of the
Bengals red zone attempts. At running back Jamar Chase definitely
not an A grade here. Brutals start for Chase. It
could be worse. He at least has caught some passes,
but not a great matchup. The Rams have surrender just
one wide receiver score through the first two games, and

(01:23:37):
opposing wide receivers are also averaging less than ten catches
and one hundred and fifteen yards per game against LA.
Those are not good numbers. That's why just a CE
for t Higgins even though he did have two touchdowns
last week in almost one hundred yards. Week one he
had nothing, but he did have one hundred and forty
seven unrealized air yards, so the yard going his way.

(01:23:57):
But it's all about Joe Burrow in this.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
They're smart people are saying with that calf injury, he
can't drive the deep passes. He doesn't have the he
doesn't have the strength to do it with the legs.
There's a real chance they shut him down.

Speaker 3 (01:24:12):
Like a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:24:13):
Game is in play as a possibility.

Speaker 4 (01:24:15):
Even if active this week, I got him on the bench.
Half can't trust them and Tyler.

Speaker 3 (01:24:19):
Boys, especially Monday night they're on the Monday Night is.

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
Yeah, they're on the bench too.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Eagles and Bucks are the other Monday Night game. Jalen Hurts,
DeVonta Smith, A J. Brown are all locked. So you
know those are a grades, and I don't think you'd
think about it anyway, but monitor Devanta Smith's hamstring injury
just in case something were weird were to happen there.
But it looks like they're all good to go. The
only the guy from the passing game I want to
mention Dallas Goddard. I like this opportunity do Goddard's run

(01:24:44):
the second most routes among all tight ends. The Bucks
have allowed the fourth most tight end receptions while facing
the second most tight end targets, and they're giving up
a seventy five percent catch rate against tight end. So
I think it all comes together for Goddard here in
a B grade. The running backs situation is frustrating, so
it looks like Kenneth Gainwell is going to go. It
looks like Boston Scott's going to get out of the

(01:25:05):
concussion protocol in time, so I think he's going to go.
So I've only got C grades on DeAndre Swift and
Kenneth Gainwell, and what's going to be I think a
very frustrating role play mix between these guys and the committee.
Bucks run defense looks good on paper, but they've also
played two opponents with terrible offensive lines and inept running games.
That's obviously the opposite of Philadelphia's runners have been fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:25:28):
Just to update you, Boston Scott did clear protocol and
he did practice Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
That is That's all good news, but it's good news
news again. We don't root for injury here. Kenneth Gainwell
will be more involved than people want after DeAndre Swift
looked brilliant last year, and I think he's going to
be the more likely back for receptions. The Bucks have
allowed modest receiving totals to running backs, although they did
give up a receiving touchdown in the opener. So in

(01:25:54):
a split back field, I can only come up with
C grades on those guys, especially when your quarterback is
going to house any touchdowns near the star. So all right,
let's go to the buck side. I've got a take
a chance on me. C grade on Baker Mayfield. I
love Chris Godwin as the slot receiver. Godwin's gonna benefit
directly from the absence of Avante Maddox. The Eagles have

(01:26:15):
allowed the most passing yards and the fifth most yards
to receivers specifically, and he's going to face off against
backup cornerback Mario Goodrich, who has allowed one hundred percent
of the six passes in his coverage to be caught
last week, including a touchdown against him. A grade from
Chris Godwin and a B grade for Mike Evans. Even

(01:26:35):
though he's gonna go, he's gonna be on the sleigh
ride with Darius Slay shadowing him, which is a tough matchup,
but it's not impossible. Justin Jefferson was able to put
up seven catches in eighty eight yards on Darius Slay
last week. Mike Evans isn't as good, but he's still good,
so he's still startable. And a B grade for Mike Evans.
And how about an official FFW dart threat on Trey Palms. Yes,

(01:27:01):
if James Bradbury misses this game, and he might consider
Trey Palmer, who would get backup cornerback coverage throughout the game.
He's scored in the opener against Minnesota and then he
saw a big jump in playing time last week up
to thirty five snaps. Keep your eye on Trey Palmer
and if you're in a desperate spot, consider him in
this week picked him league, I like it. Rashad White

(01:27:22):
after an atrocious Week one. He bounced back with one
hundred receiving scrimmage yards last week, five catches and a touchdown.
In Week two, Philadelphia's allowed the six fewest points to
running backs. They have not given up a touchdown. That
part worries me. But Philadelphia has allowed sixteen receptions in
two games to running backs, that is the fourth most.
And White has gone seven for seven on passes thrown

(01:27:43):
his way. He's a very adroit receiver. So I think
for shot, White's gonna get a little something done in
this game through the air. He gets a B grade.

Speaker 4 (01:27:51):
And Baker was your take a chance on me quarterback? Yeah,
everyone was asking who's the next Geno Smith this year?
It's looking like it's Baker Mayfield right now. Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
You know we talked about one matchups too.

Speaker 1 (01:28:03):
Oh yeah, that was it. We talked about how easy
that schedule was for the Bucks coming out of the gate,
and it continues here. And I thought the Eagles game
was going to be a tough one, but it really isn't.
If you miss any part of the show, check you
get all my player rankings available for free at Guillotine
leagues dot com. You'll want to check that out. You'll
also want to join your twenty third guillotine league. Highly recommend.
The twenty third is gonna be the one that gets

(01:28:23):
you really over the top. That's the one you're gonna
want and while you're While you're at it, I was
a reminder we have private leagues as well, for as
small groups as eight. You can run your private guillotine
league at guillotine leagues dot com. Thanks for listening, everybody,
Best of luck in week three. We'll talk to you
next week. Bye bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production

(01:28:47):
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