Starts of the Week + Week 5 Breakdown! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/3

up to 68% of the snaps and ran 27 routes. That was the third most on that team. I think Joanne, I'm hoping that we get the touchdown because that's probably what you need this week. But in the tight end streets, things are rough. Let me just make sure that I understand what start of the week means. So would you go Joanne Johnson over that purple and black tight end from? What, Mark Andrews? Yeah, that guy. That scored zero two weeks in a row? If you have the courage necessary. Okay. All right. And then Jason, Tucker Kraft or the guy who doesn't ever score any points? I prefer Tucker Kraft, but I actually want to speak to Juan Johnson and say, get him on the horn. Yeah, you want to talk to him? Yeah. Let's bring on Joanne. Joanne, listen up. This man put on titanium underpants and I don't think he needs them because usually. It did seem a little intense.

Usually when Mike puts on these crazy underpants, it's a great thing for the rest of us because we don't have to smell the dump in those pants. That metal protects it. There's not going to be a dump of the pants this week. The plate is really good. I would play him ahead of Mark Andrews. And I've been the one saying, don't get rid of Mark Andrews. We got him. I think you could still start him. I have this is a man that's starting Joanne Johnson this week. Yeah, I've got Joanne Johnson as my tight in 11 this week. So I am starting him over a lot of other relevant like Zach Ertz.

Colby Parkinson, Tyler Conklin, Dalton Schultz. I would start Joanne Johnson over all those guys. All right, let's take a break. Jump into the matchups. It's time for Fantasy Forecast, presented by Draft King Sportsbook. All righty, we're jumping in. The Jets, the Vikings. Technically, the Vikings are the home team, but this is a London game. Mike, are you ready to rise and shine? Yeah, the alarm's set. 6.30. AM our time, 930 Eastern. Kill me. The Vikings are 4 and 0. The Jets 2 and 2 and the drafting sports book line, Minnesota minus 2 and a half. The overrunners just 40 points. Revenge game for Sam Richard Darnold. And, you know, I remember when he was coming out, like the talk about Sam Darnold was just how incredibly young he was. He is, you know, he was one of the youngest, if not the youngest.

quarterback drafted in the last 25 years. So like when you talk about development, like we got a lot of name submissions yesterday because Sam Darnal was originally the sacrificial baby. And the one that I think. Oh, I love it. It's the prodigal Sam. He's coming home, baby. The prodigal Sam has arrived. And he has been incredible. He was Jason's hungry for more this week. 11 passing touchdowns. This is an area where the Jets defense has been great. They are number one in 2024 and fancy points given up to opposing quarterbacks. They don't give up a lot. They have a great defense. This will be another test. Now, it's not, you know, this is a neutral site game. You've got Justin Jefferson and the return of Jordan Addison. It's been great for Sam Darnold. But I feel like this game overall from a fantasy perspective is a temper expectation because I love the defenses for both teams.

I haven't loved what I've seen on the offensive side from the Jets at all. Like, Brees Hall looks on film worse than Braylen Allen. Less explosive. He may be more versatile, but less explosive. Like, I went back and watched. Like, people are confused right now about Brees Hall. Because what you're seeing on film is not good enough. One of the surprising things, though, in the... the plays, and maybe it's not surprising because defenses are focusing on Brees. But if you look at the yards before contact between Brelin and Brees, it is drastic. Even though it's the same offensive line, it's like they are opening up holes for Brelin and not for Brees, and I think that's not the offensive line. I think that as defense is going, we've got to focus on stopping Brees Hall. The Vikings are a really good rushing defense. They can stop Brees.

in this game. However, they give up one of the highest rates of receptions to the running back position. And that is kind of where Brees thrives for fantasy. So I think Brees is going to be okay here, but not in the running game, just more in the passing game. Aaron Jones is rushing line on DK is 65 and a half, which is 15 more than Brees Hall. So confidence with both those guys starting this week. It's a low over under, but I can't imagine you bench either. Is Braylon Allen a flex consideration for you in a week where you're losing some running backs to the buy? No, not for me. I mean, there is a world where he can sneak in a touchdown. But I think without that against the Vikings, there's a tough matchup. He is still the backup. You're going to get around 10 opportunities. I just don't think that's enough in a poor matchup to start him. Let's say we know Singletary is ruled out. Would you rather start?

Braille and Alan or Tyrone Tracy? If Singletary was ruled out, I'd take the shot on Tracy. I don't know. I'll take the shot on him, but how about? Breece's Yards per attempt this year are 3.1 down from 4.5 last year. That's unfortunate. The always popular for me to talk about Jay, Rico Dowdell against Pittsburgh, which you're concerned about that matchup or Braylin Allen. I would go, Rico. Okay. Are you guys, my biggest question here is, are you cooling off on Sam Darnold, like in terms of starting him this week? Is are you playing Sam Darnold as a top 12 option? And I have, right now he's 13 for me. So he's just outside of that top 12. But, you know, the Jets, yes, we know their defense is very good. I'm not going to take away from them. But like, they've played against Brock Purdy this year. Week one, it was they.

And Purdy had like 200-something yards. He didn't have any touchdowns. But then it was Levis, Jacoby Brissette, and then Bo Nix, Bo Nix this past week. So they haven't really been tested just here. So would you just keep him in there, stand the flames? I think I probably would, yeah. Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson has not finished inside the top 24 at the position at all this year. In fact, in his entire career, it's only been 37% of the time they does that anyways. You have Mike Williams getting healthier. You have Alan Azard who has the connection with Rogers. It should happen this week. I can't imagine like the question of every week's start is still probably yes as a flex. But this is a team that could trade for Devante Adams as well. So you need to be on your guard. Yeah, for sure. I think you just change. Like Addison or Garrett Wilson this week.

I mean, it's a legitimate question. I would go Garrett Wilson because the target volume is more assured. He is still a talented wide receiver. It's been frustrating. I think we just need to change expectations. He's not a wide receiver one. We're hoping he's a wide receiver too. And I think he will be from here on out for the rest of the season. In this, in this matchup, he's more of a flex option. But with the targets he's getting, I don't know how you could ever bench him. The Carolina Panthers are one of the next games we're going to cover, but I want to stay here on this game. One last note because we didn't cover it in the news. Hawkinson is having his window returned to practice. Open. However, they are doing something where they're not activating it until Friday. And the reason that that is important is because they play Thursday night football on the 24th. So the window actually, usually you've got to be back.

You know, you count three games, but it could be four games. So it could be November 3rd if they choose. I mean, the fact that they're waiting until Friday says that maybe they are wanting to extend that. So just, I don't think they're going to rush Hawk back. I love the comment from Nathaniel Hackett about Garrett Wilson. We want to make him the focal point, but we can't force him the ball. I've never heard that about Jamar Chase. Never heard that about Justin Jefferson. I've heard we need to force him the ball. That's what I've heard from the elite of the elite.

Not on the same page. To be fair, they have forced him the ball for about three years. Carolina is one and three. They take on the two and two Chicago Bears. The DK Sportsbook line here, Chicago minus four. The over under is 41. Chicago pretty heavy home favorites here. This is one where I, this is the first time in, it's the first time in a little while where I'm teetering. Yeah. Teetering. Oh. Andy's almost upset of the wig. I. You know, I don't mind it. It's a four point line. That's pretty big. And the Panthers can score points. And that's the concern with the Bears is just scoring points. DeAndre Swift kind of a resurgence last week. Are you back in? I was briefly tempted for this week to make them a start of the week. Me too. You were as well. Oh, yeah. And we decided we didn't want to live in that world. The matchup is there. It is. The Panthers are historically bad. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

he's DeAndre Swift. Yeah, that's why we didn't make him start of the week. He deserves an apology from this show because. Oh, no. Every one week? Well, we did, to be fair, Mike, we did call him the worst football player that has ever played in the NFL, which I think looking back, possibly hyperbolic. Possibly. Okay. So we'll find out this week. He had a big week. Carolina, if you're ever going to start DeAndre Swift, this is the week to do it. I mean, at home, favorites, Carolina, giving up 30 points a game. to running backs. Like Swift should be fine. You say this is the week to do it because Carolina is one of the worst defenses against running backs. But Jacksonville is also one of the worst defenses against running backs. Washington commanders, one of the worst defenses against running backs. Arizona Cardinal, maybe the worst defense against those are the next four matchups for Swift. You're saying the next four matchups. Yeah. So we're going to be.

He's either going to make us eat crow or prove he's terrible. Last week showed me that this team is committed DeAndre Swift beyond our whims. They paid him money and they gave him opportunities last week. We heard Rocham might get an extended look like Swift looked great. You just have to accept that. He looked as bad as he could look for three weeks. He looked fast. He looked good. He got in the end zone. He caught the football. Again, Chuba, start of the week. Swift, start a bowl. And that's where you stop it running back. Now, at wide receiver, you've got a tremendous amount of confidence right now in Deontay Johnson and Xavier Leggett is a flex in my opinion. I agree. Legat is going to get more and more involved. He had some drops, still had to put up a big game. And without feeling and with Andy Dalton, both of those players are very viable. They are underdogs, according to Draft Kings. So.

Dalton's 37 and 40 passing attempts should continue. And I think Carolina is going to give them a game. It's just will Chicago score enough points? Because that's been difficult. The drives, sustained drives, they've been a challenge. Will you play any of the wide receivers from Chicago? I mean, being a matchup, the matchup is a good, across the board against Carolina. Yeah, DJ Moore should still be a flex play. Yeah, for sure. I mean, DJ Moore right now is for sure. He has 34 targets on the season. They have not been connecting well. But if you look at the last three weeks, like DJ Moore has sucked for three, let's call it three weeks in a row. He had 8.3 fantasy points, 11.2 fantasy points and 9.7 fantasy points. Those are totally serviceable. He's on pace for 100 receptions in that run. Yeah, this is, this is totally serviceable. I would push back and just say week one.

was five for 36. Keenan Allen played. Keenan Allen doesn't play the next two weeks. That's when he gets the 10 targets of 10 targets. Keenan Allen comes back last week, drops down to six and he's three for 22. Yeah, he scored a touchdown. And I'm not taking that away, but I'm saying in the two weeks that Keenan Allen has played and it's been all three wide receivers, five for 36, three for 22. That's my concern. Why don't we order the wide receivers then for, because you've got Adunzee there, who to me looks like he might be the best wide receiver there. He didn't do much last week when Keenan came back. This is a matchup you are fine to start against the Panthers. So who are you starting? I would. It's more by leaps and bounds above the other two. I would go more Odunze, Alan. I'd go more Alan Adunzee. That's how I would do it too.

but I don't want to play any of them. Yeah, Baltimore is two and two. They're taking on the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati. Bengals are one and three, saving their season last week. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Baltimore minus two and a half on the road. The over under is a beautiful 49 points. The game opened at 51. It was bet down a little bit. This is a, I mean, this should be a fun game. Cincinnati is full strength in the wide receiver room, which is mint Joe Burrow. has been getting it done, a little bit better at least. And then Baltimore just pulverized, pulverized the bills last week. The running game was unstoppable. There are still favorites here on the road. Where are your difficult decisions in this game? Because, you know, Lamar is going to be in your lineup. Burrow, I think, at home with a high over and under, you're definitely playing him. And obviously Derek Henry has been unbelievable. I think the difficult start.

question is over on the Bengals side of Zach Moss, his rushing line is at 43 and a half yards. But the, and he's been the main guy, and he's been good. But last week, the opportunities went to 50-50. So it's just, do you have the confidence in Zach Moss here in a bad matchup where Chase Brown looks like he's encroaching? 18 opportunities for Chase Brown. He was the running back six last week. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to start either. I mean, in my situation, I would love to start either. But if you've got other options, this is this is a 50-50 or I still think it is going to be more 60-40 with Moss over Brown. But Brown is really involved and they both are important players to this team. But the Ravens right now, you know, they're number three in fantasy points given up to running backs, averaging 14.4.

fantasy points per game and half PPR scoring. So if they just stay on average and then you're splitting that in half, I don't think you're going to be excited. You're basically saying, is my player going to get a touchdown or not? Part of that is they're throttling teams too. So it's just can the Bengals, if the Bengals can keep up, the running backs will have more opportunities, but they've been up by like three scores at halftime the past two weeks. It is a, they're both sketchy, sketchy opportunities there. because you have to make a lot of your opportunities against them. And like you said, if they blow out the Bengals, you're going to be in trouble. The one thing I will say is that the Ravens do, they give up passes to running backs. And maybe that's because they've been throttling teams. And so the dump offs are there. But that leads me to being Zach Moss. I mean, Zach Moss is already ahead because of the 60-40 split. But in the receiving game, that Zach Moss has been more.

involved five receptions two weeks ago four receptions last week i i think he will get four receptions um going forward this let me let me do something very like the the ravens have been they've heard us right they've heard us if we were people that spent on isaiah likely they heard us if we drafted mark andrews they heard us if you drafted zay flowers i mean zay flowers has been non-existent for two weeks um you can craft whatever storyline and narrative about the way the Ravens win games. I mean, when you score 35 points and 28 points, you might hope that Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews are a part of it. I mean, it's like if you have to paint this super narrow picture of a game script to make a player relevant every once in a while for the Ravens, that's a huge problem. Now, that being said, I mean, there's a world where Justice Hill is a better flex than Zayflowers and Mark Andrews.

Because he's on the field. He gets thrown the football. And their identity is executing in the passing game and using these tight ends to block. And, you know, Zay Flowers has been, you know, if you had told me he had two bad games, but he got targeted a bunch, I'd be like, cool. It's two bad games with six total targets between two games. He feels like he's completely boom or bust on one big play. Zay Flowers is. So pumped that Mark Andrews is stealing the headlines. Because that's all, we're worried about Mark Andrews. I mean, but Zay Flowers has, it's been brutal. Like, he's, he's completely shielded the poor production behind Mark Andrews lack of production. Four games in, wide receiver 49. I don't remember if we said Mark Andrews receiving line on DK. No. But it's 22 and a half yards. That's the overrunner. That's not an alt line.

Can we boo that? Do you have a boo button? The actual betting line. And I'm looking at that and I go, which side do you take? The thing is, is the last two weeks, and I hear what you're saying, Andy, the Ravens are good and they're going to blow a lot of teams out. They're going to win this way often. And so you've got to look at the game script and say, well, what do we believe is going to happen? I do think. They've got to bowl teams out with the players you like, though. No, no, no, I know. But the 35 points scored.

Right, but if they can, the Ravens want to do that all on the ground, if possible. You know what I mean? They would love to just run very Chargers-esque, and they have been able to. It's really a matter of, is the team across the field able to keep up? Like we thought a couple weeks ago the Cowboys were going to be able to keep up, and they didn't. It was a blowout. The final score looked close, but it wasn't. It was crazy end of the game and on-site kick and whatever. Last week was a blowout. So the question I have regarding this game, and it's specifically to you, Andy, do you think the Bengals will be able to score points throughout the game on the Ravens? Because that to me is whether you can start Zayflowers or pray for Mark Andrews. I mean, yeah, I think Cincinnati is going to keep up. Okay. But I don't think that I would start those players. No, but we might come back next week and have a slightly different view of the Ravens when they're actually in a competitive game. And I hope this is a competitive game. They lost their first two games.

Right. Mark Andrew's week two was actually not bad. It's hard to remember that, but he wasn't bad when they lost against the Ravens or the Raiders. Anybody else from this game you want to talk about? Nope. I mentioned earlier, but just, you know, keep your eye on Eric All Jr. rookie tight in for the Bengals. For Dynasty, I think. Miami's one and three. New England's one and three. And they get to play football against each other this week in New England. The Draft King Sportsbook line, New England minus one. The overrunners 36 and a half. I was genuinely, because that's really high. I was shocked when I saw that line because it was way higher than I thought it would be. Genuinely it was. We talked about Ramandre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson in yesterday's show, the fact that the team has come out and said, look, you know, we may have to start Antonio Gibson because Stevenson's fumbled for straight games. If you go look at like the DK probabilities for, you know, this Patriots offense, Stevenson's still the best odds to score a touchdown of any player in the entire game.

But it's not a, it's not strong. They're not favoring the touchdown. Right. Plus 125. So it's like, you know, a little bit less. He's just, he's the best of this game, because this game is. He's also the, he's also the favorite of the Patriots to score the first touchdown in the game. So when you talk about start, not start, he's still the favorite there. You know, Romandre, I think, I think you got to play him. I mean, if you have him, you got to play it. The way that we're talking about these other peripheral maybe starts, the Cam Acres and the Madison's and the peripheral options. I agree. The Dolphins defense has been horrible against the road. I don't get the minus one. I don't get the, I think the Patriots win this game by at least a full touchdown. I am on the Miami side. Are you? Okay. Yeah. Um, fight.

No, I don't think we care. I don't think we care. What's funny, what's funny? They're like, they wait at the dueling grounds for us and neither of us are showing up. You guys are both like, you're at home watching football? I'm not dying over this game. It's really not a big deal. No, man. It's hot outside of them. Wait for you guys on the duly ground. Let's go have a beer. I don't care. You want to switch sides on the bed? I don't care. I don't care. The, uh, the toolless dolphins defense. is totally different. Like when this offense can't score anything, can't move down the field, the way that the other team plays against them is basically to just keep running the ball at them. You don't need to do much to keep up because you're already in the lead. And the, the Dolphins offense is completely inept so far with their backup quarterbacks. Odell Beckham Jr. is on the way back. Does that change anything for you, Jason? He's not playing this week, though, right?

I remember the... Just stop. Yeah, I mean, it's irrelevant. No. No, no, no, he's passing the eye test at practice, guys. Okay. We'll see that. I think he comes back right around when Tua comes back. You know who I was... That's what I would do if I were Beckham. Like, oh, no, I think I need a couple more weeks here, guys. I want to be 100%. I wish they told me Tyler Huntley was passing the eye test at practice. Would you believe it? No. Because I don't believe the Beckham one either. We talked a lot about the Tyreek Hill Start. I don't want to be rolling out another flex option at wide receiver that has to catch one big play. They don't have the ceiling. Or give me nothing. Tyreek's ceiling is, like he was complaining profusely on the sideline. To the point where he had to come out yesterday in public and say, I'm committed to the Dolphins. Because trade speculation was happening yesterday. He was irate on the sideline.

Okay, let me. I think they're going to, if you're going to lose anyway, force the ball and make your best players happy. Sure. So I think Tyreeks is fine. If you're in a full PPR, he could get 10 for five. But let me, let me ask you some legitimate names. Your start of the week on Tavian Wix. If you have Wix off the waivers in a game where you know he has the explosive upside. I'll play Wix if I actually had to choose those two. Okay. Christian Kirk against Indianapolis. No, Tyreek. I would 100% play Christian Kirk personally. That's not even close to me.

JSN. Tyreek. Brian Thomas Jr. Brian Thomas. T. Higgins. Probably T. Higgins. Okay. Where do you stand, Mike? Because I think we're a little bit further apart. Are you more on Andy's side of? I was pretty much in lock, but Andy just said on that one. I'm not going to force him out of my roster, but I'm not going to force him in. I'm not playing Trey Tucker over him this week. I'm playing Tyree Kill over Tate Tucker. Yeah, I agree with that. In League of Record. Devon A-chan, do you grin and bear it and put him into your lineup? I mean, seven points and four points the past two weeks. You probably have. What if you had to flex A-chan or Tyreek? A-chan or I would go A-chan. A-chan's going to get more manufactured touches for sure. Also, if you look at the just the actual way that the Patriots play defense and what they have given up to running backs in the passing game, it does stand to reason that he should have, you know,

four receptions in this game. I think A. Chan is going to be not very good, but I think he'll be close to 10 fantasy plays. If you had Ramandre and A Chan. I'd rather play Remandre. That's where I am too. This is not a great exciting game. Let's get out of here. Jalen Waddle hits the bench then, and you're playing Michael Pittman and Mooney and those guys over Waddle? Yeah. As of now, yeah. And then you're not playing any more of those Patriot players? No. So can we like... Not talk about this anymore? Yes, please. All right, let's take a break, come back with some more matchups. All right, the Cleveland Browns, one and three, taking on the three and one Washington commanders. This is the highest team total for the commanders since week five of last year because they are three and a half point favorites. The overrunners, 43 and a half, and their implied total is almost 24 points. Right now, they're leading the division, right? Yes, they are. And right now you cannot stop their offense. I mean, we watched it firsthand last week. They are hyper-efficient.

executing at a high level. Looks like they're the second highest scoring NFC team. The Saints are the most because of those first two fraudulent weeks. The Jaden Daniels is a must start every week. He's scrambling. He's rushing on design runs. He's completing 80% of his passes. He has a big play guy in Terry McLaren. He has checked down guys that you can trust right now. Like the Washington side of the football. You know, Cleveland's a very formidable defense, but the fact that Washington's at home and that they're on a roll and nobody's been able to stop them yet makes me very excited about what we will get this week. Is there a chance that the commanders here, they've looked unbelievable, two and a half games or so of no punts, no turnovers, and almost every single one of those drives being a touchdown, not even a field goal, just unstoppable. They're the number one.