Fantasy Football - Take Checks + TNF Preview, Trade Decisions - Podcast for 9/10

The Fantasy Footmuller Studio is sponsored by Walmart. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. I don't know what we're doing. I saw him do it, so I did it. Wednesday, September 10th show, 1800. Oh, is it really? Oh, turn of the century. Thanks, Benjamin Franklin.

What? We're in the 1800s now. I just stared at Jason during the welcome in because he said he got thrown off yesterday. Oh, I was trying to throw him off again. No, you didn't. I was too busy staring at the screen that is waiting to run waivers. I went to change a bid and it said, oh no. It said the player you are bidding on is no longer available, meaning it's run. Okay. But it is not yet displaying to us. That is the. That is the moment we are living in. Turn of the century. Welcome in. So which league are you checking on? League of record. Okay. Yeah. Did you go to work? You know, so here's before it runs, I already know how it's going to happen. I decided this year I'm going a little bit harder than I usually do. I really want to add a couple of important pieces. Went hard after Cuge and went hard after Cajon Booty.

and I promise you I got neither. There's no way that what I thought I... So I just went to up my bid. What is... To me, I was $19. For each? Yeah. Oh, that's pretty hard. Well, okay, good. I'm happy to hear that because when I put... Well, no, you might not get huge, but I think you'll definitely get booty. You won't get huge. I will? You will not. Oh, okay. All right. How Portland is. The cards are... I did slowly go. I did a hundred of my fab. Oh, but I did more than 18, so if you bid 18, you won't get him. Well, I bid more than 18 as well. I did not, uh, I did not bid on either of those guys. Well, no, I'd zero dollar bids, but, uh, yeah. My, I, and now that we're just putting the cards on the table, all, the most I spent was on Harold Fanon. Oh, I really wanted Harold Fanon. Well, you might have got him if you went hard. How much did you bid on Harold Fanon? I, I think it was like 12. I went 13.

Oh, son of my God. I'm always just under. Andy, you glossed over a great point. I don't think we highlighted it yesterday. Zero dollar bids. Yeah, people. Zero dollar. If you could be looking at the waiver wire saying there's no chance I, I'm just not in the position to get this player. Zero dollar bids. They go through more than you would think. And because everyone gets that mentality of like, I don't want to overbid. So I'm not going to do anything. Put a zero dollar in. Yes. Sometimes. Yes. Sometimes things happen. It is unbelievable how many times that someone gets a player that no one else bid on that you're like, I thought everyone was going hard. Yes. I mean, you just always, if there's a player worth rostering and you don't want to spend on them, put a zero dollar bid in. It's great advice. You're not going to get them in a chopped league though if you put a zero dollar bid on. That's what I just found out.

Yeah, we are playing our first chopped league ever, and boy, oh boy, did people spend money in week one. Malik Neighbors was on the chopped team, so he fell to waivers and 551 of the thousand dollars spent. Yeah, it seems like I got nobody in that one. But welcome in. We've got a fun show. The waivers are running, everyone. Yeah, we sometimes it's fun when they start up here to react. But we have a great show for you today. We are going to dig into some backup options. One of our favorite things to do is drop it like it's hot and talk about, especially after week one, people are eager to go and spend on waivers and drop players that maybe have a real future and just had a bad week one. So we'll talk about them. We got news to get into. We got the Thursday night preview. We got mailbag. And we're even going to take a quick look here at our initial early takes on the season. A reminder.

If you want access to the customized waiver wire tool as we talk about waivers and the ultimate dashboard lineup optimizer and all of our premium tools and resources, it's as simple as going to join the foot.com becoming an official supporter of the show, a member of the foot clan. And then you will have access to all of those tools year round on the web and in the exclusive footclan app. And you can do that at join the foot.com. So quick question. as you two continue to stare down your waivers. Let's, uh, I'm sorry, were you talking? Let's take, let's take a look here. One take that you feel you have gotten right after, you know, week one confirmed your opinion. And one take you feel very shaky about after week one. Can they both be George Kittle? No, I mean, I get it. Kittle is right. Kittle was, it was great about it. Kittle had four targets in like three seconds. I are.

I'll hop in. I would say that the player that I'm really happy with, because I felt kind of on an island here was Michael Pittman. I think Michael Pittman, I went back, I talked about it more on the dynasty episode that released today. But if you look at last year in the games that Michael Pittman played without Anthony Richardson, every single game other than the one he got injured in, He was double-digit fantasy points. He was basically a wide receiver 2 every single week when he wasn't playing with Anthony Richardson. And then you go, okay, so most of last year he was with Anthony Richardson. It was just a disaster. But what about the year prior? But the year prior, he was the wide receiver 15. The year prior, he was the wide receiver 23. The year prior, he was the wide receiver 15. And then even last year, whenever he wasn't playing with Anthony Richardson, he was a wide receiver 2. So now you've got Daniel Jones there. And he is the, you know, he's the clear to me.

and so far after one week, the primary target in the wide receiver core. I believe he was mispriced and is a good wide receiver. He's also paid to be their alpha. I love Michael Pittman. I think Downs will be more and more as the season goes along. I mean, he had the hamstring. Was that what it was? I can't remember. He had an injury that held him out for a good chunk there of training camp. And then he was only in. uh the slot so but i i'm i'm that doesn't mean i'm out i will 100% grant you that while while i do think that pitman is more valuable for fantasy than josh downs even if josh downs is a better like actual wide receiver which he might be the week one happenstance where you destroyed miami that does not put you in three wide receiver sets throwing the ball a ton that's where josh downs will thrive

because he played only in the slot. So if you don't have three wide receivers on the field, he's not going to be out there. So this is not an overreaction that Josh Downs is dead by any means from week one when you are up 30 to nothing in the blink of an eye on the dolphins. The take I am feeling shaky about holding on to that little plant. Stay strong little roots is, of course, Caleb Johnson. Caleb Johnson, you know, my fantasy MVP, that guy that I really believe in, I really believe in the talent. I said it will start slow. He will not be on the field, you know, ahead of Jalen Warren. And my biggest fear was Arthur and Kenneth Gainwell. And week one, it was Kenneth Gainwell out snapped Jalen Warren. What are you doing?

But I'm feeling very shaky because I don't like liking players that don't play football. The hardest part is going to be the question we're going to ask probably for three or four weeks in a row, which is do you drop Caleb Johnson? Because if he gets the exact same amount of work this next week, I think you're going to be in this place where... Most everyone's going to feel they have to drop him. And I will feel like contractually obligated to go pick him up. So if you plainly drop him, he will be Ross. By the way, you did get Kayshan Booty. You did not get Quentin Johnston. Okay. That was the order that I put them in on my money. Great. And you did get Booty. Way too much.

My take that I feel like I got right or is heading that direction is JSN being a true alpha in Seattle? Well, it was just like, what, a 50% target share? Yeah, not wide receiver. It was the highest on the week, right? It's the highest of all time. Yeah, so JSN playing outside Cooper Cup barely involved. Jason is. Well, Cooper Cup actually ran more routes. Wild, wild. Yeah, Jason looks real good after one week. And then I actually went back and watched a bunch of film of Jason and it was better than the stats, which were great. Okay. Yeah, that's great to hear. And then one take I feel very shaky about or 31 dollars for Juan Johnson. Huh? What league are you talking about? Uh, the listener league. Oh, okay. I mean, that's. Let the man talk. Sorry. We'll react to the waivers. It's like seeing a spider. Man, I'm not going to just not react. It's a 14 team league. I'm going to release a spider if you don't be quiet for a second. Watch it. Uh, no, the, the take I feel very.

quickly on the opposite side of now is my doubts around Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson at least through one week, which again, Mike, you brought it up and you are the Justin Fields truth. Correct. Justin Fields couldn't look like garbage next week. He certainly could. But right now, this was not, this was just such an impressive performance through four quarters with his passing, with his evasiveness, the rushing game, and then Garrett Wilson being that primary target. constantly, who should have had two touchdowns. Yeah. You know, I doubted both of those guys feeling shaky about that take through one week. We'll see what the future holds. But, I mean, I had a league where I traded for Justin Fields on the cheat because I think, you know, Mike, we asked you the question, and this maybe will help the listeners out there. Justin Herbert or Justin Fields, which Justin would you rather have rest of season? And Mike's response was essentially Herbert's probably got the higher floor, but Justin Fields could be.

If you get the right season, a league winner. Because if you can run... He can finish top three. Yeah, I mean, we've seen him do that. Now, it's going to be hard for the Jets, but it was a week one matchup against Pittsburgh's defense, and he put up big numbers. So that would be the one that I feel like maybe I got wrong. I think Herbert couldn't finish top three as well. I do not think. I think he's literally finished his quarterback two before. I think it's possible. I guess I'd frame it as it's more likely to me. that Fields finishes his top three than Herbert. There was a tweet from Jacob Gibbs who highlighted that Justin Field Fields had the second lowest first read target rate per fantasy data as in as in Fields was going through his progressions. He wasn't just pulling a TWA. Nice. Swish. I'll take it. But yeah, like, you know, Tua, I don't know if you guys saw the stuff about, uh,

Was it Howard was talking about to us? Somebody was like, we know that if we shut down to his first read, he just melts. And the fact that that Fields was lower, yes, Kyle, it was, it was Xavier and Howard. The fact that Fields was actually reading and going through a progression, that is fantastic news. The take I feel pretty good about is Jordan Mason of the Minnesota Vikings and of just that. I knew that Aaron Jones is going to be involved in the passing game more than Jordan Mason. Aaron Jones was at a 15% target share. Jordan Mason was at 5% though. However, Mason was at 58% of the running back carries. And just one week, but eyeball test was they tried to run a little bit with Aaron Jones at the beginning of the game. It did not work. They put Jordan Mason in and immediately chunk plays are starting to happen.

So I think that that transition happens even more rapidly now of seeing what Jordan Mason can do on the ground. And then if this Vikings offense gets cooking like we think, and he's the goal line running back, I think that for where he was drafted, he's going to be a home run pick. Now, the complete opposite of that, I mean, it's what Jason, mine's obvious. It's Ken Bone Walker of what for the Seattle Seahawks. It was a complete time share. It felt, it didn't feel like a timeshare when you were watching. It felt like it's Charbs on the field all the time and he just keeps having success. It really did. And then every time Walker got a touch, it was same old, same old. He just crushed in the back field. I remember a quote from you, which is, I believe Sharbs had the ball and you go, oh, sure, you block for sharps. As the Walker apologists, it very much felt like the team was letting him down. But Walker, I think, was 10 for 20. He had.

three receptions is just it feels for his ADP it feels incredibly shaky at this point I do think better days are ahead for Walker but he what was these he may not match the ADP what was the stat that I shared with you the other day I think in the last seven Ken Walker oh that he's just he's under four a carry under four a carry um yeah he is too a carry in that game like he was not he has not been able to rip off a Ken Walker, big run. I do think there has been, I mean, because we've seen enough of him. I think there's a correlation between his tackle breaking and putting himself in positions to break tackles. I do think that there's maybe a when I get the ball. I'm not making the right first read situation going on after that much time with Ken Walker. But we'll move on. Talk some backup options. Backup options presented by progressive insurance. All right.

Drop it like it's hot, folks. We had waiver wire go through today. We want to see which players. We want you to pay attention to which players were dropped to go pick up the new hotness. So if you didn't get the waiver wire ads, if you didn't spend up, here are some backup options you should pay attention to. In week one, quarterbacks. What do you think? Trevor Lawrence is a guy that, you know, he wasn't picked up much. Because he was super disappointing in week one. He was super disappointing. So he would. very likely be dropped. But I think the matchup against Cincinnati, we saw Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco had a great game. Unfortunately, he has two interceptions that also killed potential more yards and touchdowns on his drives that were not his fault when he threw it to the hands of his receivers and they popped it up. But the Bengals defense did not look especially difficult as expected. And I think that Trevor Lawrence going into week two.

against Cincinnati is probably a pretty good play this week. He's a good streaming option, so that would be someone beyond who was picked up this week at quarterback. Yeah, and I'd mention Caleb, who Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears, he still seems to be available in about 35%. Well, and this is, again, these are numbers before the waiver hit, so we don't even need to, I mean, if Caleb is dropped, yeah, pay attention. He was the quarterback six in two games against Detroit last year. It's, and it comes down to the running. And what's QB9 in week one? He was six for 58 with a touchdown on the ground. Through the air didn't look fantastic. But on the ground, I mean, he looked so incredibly fast. And he looked like he had, was dunked in Greece or Vaseline. And the Minnesota Vikings could not get him. They were getting there, but they could not get him. I was really surprised with the athleticism.

Yeah, no, I was too. I know we know he was athletic. Right. But week one looked the speed different. Yeah. He did. Yeah, he was able to pull away. You're saying from some of the rushers and things. Yeah. If running backs were picked up in your league, if Tutin or Samson or somebody and you didn't pick them up, pay attention, make, you know, take a look and see if Trey Benson got dropped after one week. Sometimes people pick up backups in the draft and then move on to somebody that they feel like they can start. Pay attention to DJ Giddens, who Jason mentioned yesterday, barely rostered, backing up Jonathan Taylor, who has a vast injury history and hurt his neck in week one. I also saw in a lot of leagues, Kendra Miller was dropped in, I would say most. Like him, Will Shipley, those guys were dropped. Will Shipley makes sense because they brought someone in. But while Kendra didn't very little.

did almost nothing, only played 15% of the snaps, and so that's why everyone's dropping him. He was the running back, too. It wasn't like someone else played ahead of him. It was just Alvin Camara played 79% of the snap. So as an insurance option behind an older Camara who's missed games every year for the last several, it seems like someone that should be rostered. All right, wide receivers, if you missed out on picking up Quge, as Jason did, or Kashon Booty or Tillman or Hollywood Brown players we mentioned on yesterday's show, maybe. Take a look and see if... I like these three. Juju Smith. Schuster is out there, barely rostered. Going to play a ton of snaps. If worthy, misses more time. No Rashi Rice was 5'4. Nice. Has... And then Wondale? Juju feels like he's 34. He's 28 years old. Oh, no, he's not. He is? Oh, that's a Cameron artist pain situation. Bad birth certificate? He, uh, calling out Juju is...

I think important for people. While we have heard on this podcast that Tyquan Thornton is guaranteed to score. A 43-yard touchdown? 42. 42. Now, he has to do that on his three targets is the biggest issue. He'll have five this week. Okay. But Juju is going to get targets. I mean, he, he, I don't know that he was a huge part of the game plan going into last week, but now that they hit. have the hand that they are dealt, he will be involved. And he just, Juju, it just keeps popping up for the chiefs. When they need him, he gives you a usable week for fantasy. People might have dropped, you know, some of those top-drop candidates, too, like Jaden Higgins or Cooper Cup that you could add to the roster. Trey Tucker as well, had a big touchdown. And we think Brock Bowers is okay. But tight end wise, if you didn't grab Joanne Johnson or Harold Fanon or Britton Strange, pay attention to Johnny Smith. He will be.

Definitely used all the time by Arthur Smith. And I don't know if it's a last name thing. I don't know what it is, but he likes Johnny. And Hunter Henry, of course, he might be out there. People are bored with Hunter Henry. And Dalton Kincaid. I was going to say Dalton Kincaid and Dallas Goddard, bigger names that were not necessarily drafted in a lot of leagues that both looked good week one. Those are... I think I'd go Goddard over Dalton Kincaid. Kincaid played like half the game. And, I mean, he came through with the big time touchdown, but he was only out there for 51% of the snaps and got. So just imagine, Mike. What if he's out for 80% of the room to grow? I agree with that. He won't be as the Buffalo Bills have shown us with Dalton Kincaid. Yeah, that could have been interpreted as an actually bad game for Kincaid when you consider that his quarterback passed for 250 yards in the fourth quarter. That's how I.

Take it. It might be a cell high. It's like, oh, 100%. Like Travis Kelsey, who got the touchdown and is also a cell high because I had a 10% of targets. He was like not involved in that game when they needed him. Now, this might be, this, it could be super galaxy brained. Real, real galaxy brain. But did you see the quote of, it's probably from that other stupid podcast, but Kelsey was talking about running into Worthy. Did you do a podcast? Yeah, it's garbage. Don't listen to it. Oh my gosh. I didn't mean to set that up. Well, they get ratings because they have superstar pop stars on. Oh my gosh. Jealous much. But anyways, he was talking about like, I mean, there's a human, again, could be galaxy brain. There's a human element. He took his teammate out. Do you like, do you think that that affected him at all mentally? Or was he able to just completely block that out? He talked it out. He talked about that.

on the podcast and how bad he was and how he's got to be a lot better than that and that was his mistake and these are they're human beings um also he's part of game playing sometimes and other times he's not i mean they were playing obviously a defense that was pretty good well we'll see i'm not gonna i'm not bailing on kelsey completely but it was the lowest target share he's had since 2017 so wolf keep that in mind Also on the defensive side, if you're looking for multi-week pickups that are still out there, the Patriots have a really decent schedule. Miami, Pittsburgh, Carolina. The Seahawks play Pittsburgh in New Orleans. So New Orleans is coming up for them. Man. Those are a couple of payments. I saw the Phillies. There's a chance Seattle just has a good defense. I agree. I believe I said top five to 10. And that was ridiculous. The range was too much. It was too much. But I.

I might be on your side there. Yeah, and the Eagles, I've seen the Eagles drop a lot. Yeah. Thank you, Mike. The Eagles have been dropped in a lot of leagues that I make because they're playing the Chiefs this week. So you go, oh, I don't want to play them. That's fine. But they're obviously a great defense. They're playing against the Chiefs. Sure, but I would pick them up. Well, it's in Arrowhead. Maybe not. All right. That was Backup Option sponsored by Progressive Insurance Quote today at Progressive.com. We'll go ahead and take a break and talk some news. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on prize picks, being right can get you paid. Don't miss any of the excitement this season on prize picks where it's good to be right. Look, prize picks is the best way to win cash this football season, which players are going off.

Which ones are not? Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your takes into cash all season long on prize picks. They also invented the flex play, which means you can still cash out even if your lineup isn't perfect. You can double your money, even if one of your picks doesn't hit. Price picks is the best place to win cash while watching sports. Join millions of users and sign up today. Download the app today and use code footballers to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code footballers to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, it's good to be right. Lo's nose Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on cobalt power tools, pit boss grills, LG appliances, and more.

Then, once your to-do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy the game. Shop in store or online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's, official partner of the NFL. All right, let's jump in. News and notes from Around the League, presented by Progressive Insurance. The Packers signed, currently injured. Wide receiver, Christian Watson, do a one-year $13 million contract extension. Who is Christian Watson's agent? Okay. Are you looking to find us a new agent? Pekari, you're doing some good work out there. So this puts him under contract, I believe, for, he was already under contract for next year, I think. Is that right? So he was, this is year four. No, he would not be. Okay. So they did they.

They're giving him another year. It does prove some things we said about him in the beginning of the year, which is maybe he's one of those IRS stashes to pay attention to because they have plans for him. Yeah, nice job. Not sure when he's going to be back. Jake London and Darnell Mooney expected to practice today. Rahim Morris says he expects London to play this week. It's a Sunday night football game, which makes it. You'd like to see them out there and get that confirmed towards the end of the week. It also means, and this is the time of year where we try to remind you because we're not in the flow of it. When you've got these questionable players on Sunday night, Monday night, make sure that they are in your flex position so you have more opportunities to pivot out of them if it's a last. Oh, turns out he's not playing. Give yourself some flexibility. The 49ers have a weekly part of the show.

It seems when we talk injuries. Joan Jennings is day to day, looking pretty good for him not to be majorly injured. Jake Moody has been cut to the joy of many, many, many, many 49ers fans. And do you want to, do you want to hit some sad music here, Al? Oh, man. George Kittle officially placed on injured reserve. That sucks. George Jason, any thoughts? He's going to miss the next four games, and while he's missing that time, he's going to go to those Caesars, probably on an elk or some kind of reindeer. Sure. He's going to upgrade to a reindeer at this point. He's going to have a great time, probably drink some bruskees. This isn't what other NFL players should be doing, but this is what George Kittle can do, and then he's going to come back out.

in week six and dominate yeah i like that part i hope i hope you're right george you owe me some fab i was gonna one of the one of the things that kind of sucks is that the opening season window was going to be the best for george yes because you're going to get back to marcus robinson brandon iuke other players later on not that he won't be amazing he will but um will shipley dealing with fractured ribs aha yeah Totally had nothing to do with the injured Will Shipley why we traded for Tank Bigsby. So we, yeah, Will Shipley, you can cut him. I did in a couple of leagues to move on. And it'll be Tank Bigsby and AJ Dillon back behind Sequin Barkley. That was News and Notes, sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at Progressive.com, Progressive Casualty Insurance, Company affiliates, and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations, coverage subject, policy, terms, limits, and conditions. Let's talk Thursday.