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

offense against fantasy defenses. Like, you know, if you're creating a lineup and you're looking to stream defenses, you go, oh, I don't want to play against the commanders. They're unstoppable. Is there a chance of this way more fraudulent than we think? I mean, the matchups that they have this two and a half game stretch. Read them. The New York Giants. Yeah, okay. The Cincinnati Bengals and the Arizona Cardinals. They have dominated those teams. That's not a huge test. The Cleveland Browns are a legitimately good defense. No. You don't think there's any chance. No. I mean, they're not going to do, they're going to perform at some, you know, impossible to repeat level. So if that is deterrent, if doing what they're doing is considered fraudulent, if they don't complete 85% of the passes, never punt. No, I'm saying they come out and have a bad game, like just a, like a bad offensive performance. No, I don't think so. Yeah, the, that's my, that's my thought. The trouble for the Browns is that the defense is great, but the offense is so bad that.

Eventually, the defense breaks. I think Cleveland will keep up in this game. The Washington defense is not good. Are you willing? David Njoku should be returning. Are you willing to stream Deshawn Watson? Yes. I know that's a hard thing to say. No, I'm not. You're not? No, not with the other options we've discussed this week. I mean, Sam Darnold or Deshaun Watson? I would play Darnold. Yeah, I'm going to stay in the touchdown. I'm looking at who can throw three touchdowns. I don't think Watson's throwing two. Anthony Richardson with no practice against the Jags or Deshawn Watson. I'll play Watson. I'll play Watson. Yeah, that was a. Yeah, we were different there. But that's more of an Anthony Richardson take. Like Andy's very anti- Anthony Richardson. That's why I was posing like how low is Watson.

Yeah, I mean, this game in the matchup looks good. Caleb Williams against the Panthers. I'll play Watts. Okay. Yeah, I mean, the Washington defense struggled. They did stop Kyler from being productive last week. They kind of stopped themselves. But getting Najoku back is helpful for the offense. Amari Cooper's receiving lines 51 and a half. If you go watch that stupid, stupid play last week, 82-yard touchdown called back on a phantom holding call. It's really unbelievable. Had nothing to do with the play. And wasn't to hold. The Browns would have won the game. Browns would have won the game and Watson would have had a monster game. Yeah. Everything is viewed differently from the Cleveland Browns if a fraudulent play call. If they were two and two right now. If they were two and two and Watson's coming off a great matchup and you're playing against the commanders, you're going, of course you start Watson. This is a great, there's a great game for it. What was the original one that I said I would Darnold? Yeah, I'd still play Darnold. But what was the other one?

Richardson. It went Donald and then Richardson. No, I'm worried about re-injury with Richardson. That's fair. And the single digit accident. That's fair. But if he's healthy, if you could guarantee me, Richardson's going to play the full game, I'll probably score more fantasy points than Watson will. But in this game, Cooper, you're starting. How do you feel about Terry McLuhan right now as an asset in fantasy? Like are you, is he a buy, sell, hold? I would love to sell him. personally off of two back-to-back games while the commander's offense looks unstoppable. I think people are in, and he is the number one target. Ten targets. Last week was great. Touchdown in two straight weeks. But, I mean, it's not going to always be roses. Week one, he had 17 yards. Week two, he had 22 yards. I think that personally that the commanders are at their peak right now of the season. Like, right this week they are literally viewed as one of, if not the best offense in the league. That's not what they are.

That's not what this Cliff Kingsbury-led offense with one wide receiver actually is. And so if I could capitalize on Terry, I personally would. Let me give you the schedule. Cleveland this week, that's tougher. Baltimore on the road, but Baltimore has been the pass funnel. Then Carolina. Carolina is good. Baltimore's bad. Chicago. Very good defense. And then Giants. And then Pittsburgh. I mean, it's just a back-and-forth sled of... Pretty good defenses. I would say over the next month, they play majority good defenses. Sure. Brian Robinson didn't practice on Wednesday. Austin Echler, we expect to be back. Monitor Brian Robinson. I think he's fine. He's been a must start. And if he doesn't play, I mean, Echler is a good start. He would be. If Echler was alone, he has been excellent. You would play him this week if he was active? 100%. Concussion. I wouldn't do that. Why? He said without Robinson.

Oh, without Robinson? Yeah. Oh, I thought you said with Robbins. No, no, no. Without Robinson, I think he's an excellent play. With Robinson back. With Robinson back, he's just a, like, I would play him over my, you know, I'm starting on Alan Lazard or Tyrone Tracy or like scrap heaps. He's looked really, really good. On a per touch basis, he's been awesome. And because it's a concussion, not a like a soft tissue issue, I don't worry as much about the re-injury. Okay. Yeah, he's not there for me. Zach Ertz is hashtag not a goose. If you need not a goose at tight end, there's your option. And the joku, would you put him right back in your lineup if he's in there this week with how he looked to start the season? Just because of the state of the tight end. He only played 37% of snaps in week one and got hurt.

He was the tight in nine that way. He was the tight in nine. Yeah, that's why. I mean, but they went, he went to him a lot. Like, like at least our little teeny bit of evidence of what we hoped would see was that he's going to get targeted a lot. And the way that who's taking the most Saxon football? Yeah, Watson. Deshaun Watson. So the, the underneath, the quick release, I think, I think that is going to be a crucial step for getting the Browns into the red zone. They need, they need David Nenjoke. Jerome Ford? Yeah. Playing him? Yep. All right. The Colts are 2 and 2. They take on the 0 and 4 Jacksonville Jaguars. The drafting sportsbook line here is Jacksonville minus 3. The overrunner is 46. I like Jacksonville this game. I think this is the get right game for Jacksonville for sure. I like the overrunner in it. We talked about ETN. We talked about Brian Thomas. Not messing around with Trevor Lawrence despite that confidence. See, I think he's a fine streamer.

Or Deshawn Watson. I would play Lawrence. I'd go Watson. But I see them as the same tier. So we're similar. Christian Kirk has had 10 and 12 targets the last two weeks. Where are you feeling? He had two just absolute disappearing acts and two great games. I mean, it's the, it's sort of similar to what happened, how last season started that they like forget Christian Kirk is on the team. And then they go, oh, yeah, yeah. No, that guy's pretty good. We should. Target him 10 times and then 12 times. The wild card is Evan Engram, which he was limited practice on Wednesday. Is he back? How does he acclimate? Is he ready to go right back into the full-time Evan Engram role, which that could take away from Christian Kirk? So that's the thing to watch. Is he right back in your lineup if he's at the end? Ingram? Yeah. In this economy? As long as the news is positive or if we can get.

I feel like we've got to get like one full practice. On the other side of the football, John, that Taylor's the questionable situation with Trey Serman being your start of the week. If Taylor's active, how nervous are you in this matchup? Because of, like we've seen, this is the same ankle, by the way, that we dealt with a couple years ago where we would get a start and a stop and a start and a stop. If he's out there on the ankle and you know what the re-injury risk is going to be. Are you just, I still play him, but I don't think he's playing. Yeah, I agree with both of those things. I wouldn't be nervous at all because of the Jaguar's defense. I would be excited to play him. And I mean, I guess I would be nervous while I watch him run every time being like, stay strong, stay strong, Jonathan. But the matchup is just too good. If he's out there, I expect him to be a top three back on the week. Oh, that's why. Oh, there is. Anthony Richardson is out there in pads.

Yeah, it does, it really does seem like all the reporting every, I expect Anthony Richardson to play this week. He's been practicing. So it's not even like he's just not going to practice and go in. I, I fully expect him to be the starter in this game. Okay, so then. What does that do to the whiteout? Yeah, Josh Downs and Michael Pittman targeted. Josh Downs targeted on 36% of his routes in two games. That's an unbelievably good number. He's a good player. Michael Pittman is a good player, but Richardson has just not given us the yardage that we need. What's funny is that when Anthony Richardson is in the game, I feel like a better start, and I wouldn't start this player. But like Alec Pierce or Adonai Mitchell, like when there is fantasy value to be had, it's a 70-yard pass. It's not two passes to Michael Pittman. Exactly. It's not Adon, he's. No, sure. I mean, he's only in for a couple of plays.

But those plays that he comes, my point is I could see Adnan Mitchell coming in here and playing 20% of snaps running 12 routes and ending the game with the best fantasy game because he came in on one of the nine routes that he caught a 55-yard touchdown. My point is I don't want to start any of them. Yeah, I don't really want to either. It's a nerve-wracking. It'll be a nerve-wracking game even if you're starting Richardson in terms of re-injury, underperformance, turnovers. All of that stuff. The matchup's good, but it's also, you know. The re-injury risk is legit. If you want to worry and pivot off of him, I don't blame anyone out there for doing it. Personally, you know, I drafted Anthony Richardson. My team needs big blow-up potential. This is here. I mean, Anthony Richardson, he can either get re-injured and have negative fantasy points on your roster, very volatile, but he could.

absolutely easily have two rushing touchdowns in this game, one bomb touchdown and end up as the quarterback won this week in a perfect matchup. I will say this for this game. It does appear that very high chances of rain in this game. A little bit rain. A little bit rain. That's going to help his 50% accuracy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good stuff. Yeah. By the way, a couple of injury updates. Malik neighbors not practicing again. Going to be a final decision leading up to the game. Devin Singletary not practicing again. No sign of Joe Mix and at practice yet. Not a great situation. They talked about him being day to day. And then Andy Reid said that they're still waiting for Rashi Rice's knees swelling to subside before he undergoes additional testing. What is going on? He did mention there is no greater sense of optimism yet. So we just don't know yet. The swelling is obfigating the testing. This is the weirdest. This is the weirdest injury situation.

I can remember. All right. We do have one more segment, guys. Oh, yes. Go ahead and hand them out, baby. The parley partay worked out. They worked out last week. Yes, it did. We got three crowns we get to put on our heads today. We three kings of orange. Oh, yeah, baby. It's very, it's a good thing. It's a good thing. Last week, Mike, Nico over 70 yards. Yeah, we did. Got it. Twice. Chuba Hubbard, Jason, over two and a half reception. We made it. It took a long time to get there, but we got four quarters, baby. That was a sweat. And then Garrett Wilson under 65 and a half receiving yards also hit. So for the first time this season, Triple Crown, very happy to see that. And, you know, you might as well just throw those the clown. Yeah, we don't need them anymore. The clown wigs away. This week, I'm going to go with Zachert's 25 plus receiving yards.

Zach Gertz has been over the 25 receiving mark in three or four games. He's averaging four receptions per game. Last week he caught a two-point conversion, doesn't go on the stat sheet. But he's still a go-to receiver. You've got a pass rush to worry about this week against Cleveland. And I think Zachertz is just, he's just so reliable for those eight to 10-yard catches. He just needs two and a half of them. So I think. I think I'm going Zachers, 25 plus. Yep. I'm going to take a touchdown this week, which is sometimes a spicy bet. Or sometimes you're playing against the Arizona Cardinals and you are the San Francisco 49ers. Yeah. They have the highest team implied total of the year. 29 points expected to be scored. That's three touchdowns is what D.K. is saying. You should mention who your guy is. It's Jordan Mason, baby. Anytime touchdown. I mean, he's seeing 39% of the 49ers.

total team rush plus targets, which is the same as Christian McCaffrey last year. Remember Christian McCaffrey went on like this like year-long run of scoring touchdowns? And you got to the point where when you were betting whether Christian McCaffrey would score a touch, it was like minus 250. Yeah. It's like, yeah, it's going to happen. We all know it's going to happen. So I think Jordan Mason against the Cardinals, he's going to get a touchdown. I'm going Joe Burrow 250 plus passing yards. We already broke down that matchup. The Baltimore Ravens are a pass funnel historically. Joe Burrow, they have unleashed him and the passing game against the Baltimore Ravens since he ranks fifth and pass rate over expectation. And look, the Ravens are allowing the third most passing yards per game. So that's why I'm in on Burrow. All right, Erds, Mason, and Burrow. That was Fantasy Forecast, presented by Draft King Sportsbook. New Draft King's customers. Bet $5 to get $200 in bonus bets. Instantly download the sportsbook app and use the code ballers.

Only a draft king sports book. The crown is yours. The crown is ours, fellas. We look good. That's going to do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you for joining us and supporting this podcast. More matchups tomorrow, fantasy face off tomorrow. Good luck tonight. And remember, take those players out of your flex spot, put them in running back and wide achiever. Goodbye. Call 8778-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y-467-369-469. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-9-777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus beds expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash F.T. Ball.