Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 4 Matchups, Muscle Hamster

guys that has the touchdown upside every week. But I have the confidence to play Diggs and Thielen. They're both in the top 10 in terms of total receptions on the year so far. So they've been a great tandem. Do you agree with that or like it was only one game? I've already said you can't sit Diggs. Okay. So Diggs is an auto start. Yeah, it's a little hard to chase what happened last week. We can't possibly expect Case Keenum to do that again just because he's at home. But.

It's a good offense. I mean, it really is. The offensive line is improved. The rookie running back is helping great receivers. And Kyle Rudolph, I think, has a great matchup here. It's interesting. At home against the Lions. So you aren't afraid of what happened last week with Kyle Rudolph? I am not. Okay. As we'll see. Yeah. Oh, goodness. Starts of the week.

All right, starts of the week for week number four. Let's kick it off with the tight-in position. Let's go backwards here. Jared Cook versus Denver is my start of the week. You have a banged-up Crabtree, an underwhelming Cooper right now in Denver. They know how to guard the wide receiver, but what they don't know how to defend is the tight-in position thus far. The last two weeks, they gave up a touchdown to both Witten and Clay. And right now they're 25th in the league in terms of...

how many points they give up to the tight-end position. So it seems like a good mix here for Jared Cook. I'll jump in here. Mine's Ryan Griffin. I love it. He's, I guess so that speaks to Andy's confidence in Deshaun Watson. Last week, Jimmy Graham finally came to life against Tennessee, had a great stat line, got a really big hug on one of the plays. And last week, Ryan Griffin, five for 61 in a touchdown against the Patriots. He played 61.

of 71 snaps. So Ryan Griffin from the Houston Texans, I mean, he's, he's the go-to, tight end. I mean, Fedorowitz is hurt. Ryan Griffin has done so, done these things in the past. He's a, he's a good pass catcher. He's my star. I am personally starting him in many of my leagues.

And I'm going with the aforementioned Kyle Rudolph. You know, people might be dropping him in certain leagues. Nonsense. And I agree. That's nonsense. He's a talented player on what we just described as a good offense with a lot of weapons. And the matchup against the Lions, you know, it might look a little worrisome if you just look at the season totals. But they played Atlanta that hasn't really used the tight end. And Arizona, Jermaine Gresham is not.

a huge weapon. When they played the New York Giants, they gave up over 100 yards and a touchdown. That was where Evan Ingram had the great game. I think Kyle Rudolph can sneak in a touchdown in this game. Yeah. I'm interested to see what happens with Rudolph for the rest of the season because they've definitely, Cook has really affected that offense. So yeah, yeah, okay. By the way, honorable mention, maybe just a mention in general. I think people should be taking a cursory look at.

signing Austin Severian Jenkins. Yes. I think he's going to have a good week this week against Jacksonville. Last week, the leading target and reception receiver of any kind on the Jets in that impressive home win. He's worth a peeksy. Absolutely. All right. Wide receiver, I'm going with Golden Tate against Minnesota. Look, Minnesota is giving up 23, 41, and 43 points to fantasy wide receivers. Now, Mike is right. Xavier Rose knows how to shut down the number one guy.

But the rest of the team is giving it up. I mean, they don't give it up on the ground. And now you mix in an offense that passes 67% of the time. That's third most in the NFL. That's just a recipe for we're passing 87% of the time against this defense. Golden Tate is always guaranteed a number of targets. And so I think you're just going to see a run through the air philosophy. And Golden Tate plays that role in Detroit. So I think he's a really safe play against Minnesota.

The update, because we misspoke, the expectation was that Patrick Peterson was going to, the report was he'll shadowed Golden Tate, but he didn't. He played the majority of his snaps against Marvin Jones, who was, I mean, he had the touchdown, but other than that, Marvin Jones did nothing. So I just wanted to clarify that. Sure. So for my wide receiver start of the week, and this is something where I'm putting my fantasy where my mouth is, I am starting him. Your fantasy?

My fantasy football. That could go terribly. But it's gone great. Please go in the other room. I'm going with Marquis Lee, the wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, because he has been the clear number one receiver. Now, fantasy purposes, Alan Hearns has caught the touchdowns. But if you look at routes run, snaps, targets, every, every statistic says that Marquisley is, is for fantasy points, is the number one. Well, even there, I mean, last week, we had.

highest target share in the NFL at the wide receiver position right behind Evans and Julio Jones right ahead of Tyree Kill and Tyree Kill and T.Y Hilton. Exactly. Thank you. And week one, he was not involved at all. Zero catches, zero receptions. Once they had to go back and practice without Alan Robinson and figure out, okay, who's our number one. He comes in seven for 76. Last week, four for 65. And this week, he gets the New York Jets.

I think they'll be able to throw the ball. And you had two red zone targets with Marquis Lee last week, one of which really almost scored. And then after that is when Hurons got his touchdown, I think Marquis Lee is a safe floor with a decent seal. For a man who made Delvin Kirk, Clark, Delvin Cook his start of the week last week, you were going quite bold with Rudolph and Lee thus far. I like it. And even bolder with Marietta who used.

You say you would play someone else. I don't like him. So Mike, who's your wide receiver? I'm going with a Sir Mix a lot. Double up here. Mr. The magic minute man, Devante Parker. The magic minute man. The point the point a minute man. The way he was. Getting you an entire week's worth of value in that last minute. He's just, he's talented. He's going to, he's going to get targeted from Jay Cutler. It's against the saints.

I'm buying into the matchup and I'm buying into Devante Parker again. Okay. I did the math. If he can replicate, like keep pace with that final drive throughout the whole season, he'll put up about 14,400 fantasy points. So that's good news. If he can just, I'll take 50% of that. Okay. My running back start of the week is Chris Carson. I mentioned it before. ProCise is banged up and he's the only one that took snaps away from Carson last week. Carson got in to the end zone through the air.

And I, look, it's his backfield and he plays Indianapolis. So that's just juicy. And I think you, I think you will have tough decisions. I think there will be those out there because of where you picked up Carson. You're saying Carson or Corwell, Carson or Abdullah, Carson are some of these struggling starters that you drafted to be a starter. And look, I'd play Carson over all of them. Chris Carson or Jaquiz Rogers? Chris Carson. Okay.

Yeah, I don't blame you there. I'm going to go with Christian McCaffrey this week. The Carolina Panthers, obviously Cam Newton's been told, we don't want you to run as much. Kelvin Benjamin is banged up, and they're playing the Patriots in Foxborough. This is a high over, under, the Patriots are going to put up points, and you're going to have a lot of opportunity for the dump off screens that the Patriots so far have not been able to really handle. They have not.

done a good job guarding that. And if Christian McCaffrey has the opportunity to, you know, he had nine receptions for 100 yards last week. And I think this is a matchup where he could break something, get in the end zone. And I think he's a great start. Now I'm going with Joey Mixing. Please. I'm going Joey Mixing. And please. Part of these starts, I'm saying these are starts that I have confidence in. And I'm, I'm, I'm.

making these starts in the leagues i have joe mixon he's been on my bench waiting to see and i think it's time hibernating i he's just been sleeping he ate a big lunch yes and he had to be he prepared for this game against the browns this is this is the confidence start for joe mickson this is the week where

You thought you could do it last week, but I... You could, by the way. I mean, you could start it last week. He was start worthy. Yeah, well, I'm saying his end stateline, but you weren't sure. All signs and arrows pointed to with the coordinator change that Joe Mixen was going to get the ball more, but it was, I wasn't confident playing him. This is the week where I'm unleashing Joe Mixing on my starting roster, and I actually feel good about it.

Well, I'm starting his teammate at the quarterback position, and I don't feel good about it because it's hard to. Red regrets coming back. Andy Dalton, I don't like saying the name out loud. Careful. Yeah, if you say it three times, he actually appears. But I sure like him against Cleveland. Look, this is a game that he can explode. He throws a ball way over your head. I think that this is a game where Joe Mixing earns him some of them free yards out of the backfield. A big play. Cleveland's been so susceptible. They do not put pressure.

on the quarterback. The third worst in the league on putting pressure and hurries on the quarterback. That's been an area of struggle for Andy Dalton where he feels like he has to get the ball out of his hand too quickly because the offensive line is coming together still. This is their, you know, if they lose this game in Cleveland, you know, the wheels have fallen off of the Bengals season in its entirety. So there's too much on the line. We saw too much last week with Bill Laser and improved Andy Dalton. I think you can start him this week.

Oof, but don't take my word for it. All right, before I let Jason shut it down, I'm going to throw mine out. It's Dak Prescott, and you may think, well, I'm playing Dak every week, but he's at home against the Rams. Dak is in my top five this week. I said I love the big three from Dallas, and I love them this week. I think that all three of them can have a monster game against the son of bum himself. If the 49ers can put up points, I expect.

the Dallas Cowboys at home to easily be able to put up points. So I love Dak this week. And I'm going to continue living on the edge with my starts. Yeah, you are. I've dug deeper going a little risky this week. But I'm going with Marcus Marietta. And clearly it's a pick that not everybody would agree with since Andy and I have a water bet. He is not confident in Marcus Mario. I think you guys should also do Marioita versus Andy Dalton. So.

Well, no, because I also like Andy Dahlman. Here's the thing. Here's the thing with Marcus Mario. Fight. You're going on the road to Houston a bad matchup. So I think a lot of people are going to sit him. And, you know, I think the only time he's played Houston, he had a terrible game. The thing is, is I don't think their defense is as good this week as it has been before. And you saw that last week. Obviously, Tom Brady. Okay.

He's the goat, but he's still through for 378 yards and five touchdowns. That still happened against this defense. And the thing is, is this defense lost AJ Bouye last year. They're shut down top corner, and they were able to do that because they had Kevin Johnson, who went out last game. And I don't expect to play this week. They also are missing Brian Cushing. So three of their five best players are gone on the defensive side of the ball.

Would you? Okay. My interesting puzzled look at my face was referring to A.J. Bouillet is one of their top five players. No, from last year. Yes. I'm saying, I'm saying, well, he's been gone for three, for these three games. And right now, over the three games, I think the Texans are averaging the 25th worst score against quarterback. So I believe, look, I'm not saying Marioita is going to.

This isn't like you're DAC, right? DAC is safe. Everyone's playing them. You're saying DAC is going to have a phenomenal game. I'm simply saying Marks Marioata in what appears to be a tough matchup. I think you can still start. All right. Jason Moore's Ironclad. Locked and loaded. 100% guaranteed boom, boom, boom kicker of the wig. At home, big score, big Vegas line. Great kicker. I'm going, Dan Bailey.

Oh, there it is. Thanks, Jay. That's it. Thanks a lot. That is it for today's episode. We'll be back with more matchups tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in, subscribing, listening. We appreciate it. All your support. And we will catch you soon. Make sure you check out draft.com slash ballers if you want to play with us this week. And we'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter.

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