Starts of the Week + Brutal Start/Sit Decisions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/28

And it wasn't just, it's not just the blowout against Kansas City. That was a shalacking, 10 to 41. 17 to 27. I mean, was the final score against the Tampa Bay Bucks in week two. Kalila Herbert has to have more than seven carries. DJ Moore through three weeks is on pace for 62 receptions, 963 yards, and five touchdowns. Last week, he salvaged the week with a touchdown. He was three, four, 41. Yeah. Six for 104 the previous week. I think you can play DJ Moore this. Yeah. He's a flex. To me, he's better than a flex. He's better than a flex. Yeah, I think this is a good matchup for DJ Moore. I mean, you obviously saw the Denver Broncos give up a lot of points last week. And two weeks ago, you know, he had over 100 yards. He was very involved, seven targets. They're at home. I like DJ Moore this week.

Giovante Williams, you can start him. We'll talk about him later along with Russ. And then Jerry Judy limited on Wednesday. I like, you know, they got some things going a little bit last week. Jerry Judy was five for 81 in the blowout. If he plays, I'm comfortable with him as a, like, would you do Judy or DJ Moore? I would go DJ Moore. DJ Moore. Okay. Cortland Sutton had the best worst game last week, two fumbles, drop touchdown, and yet eight for 91 and a touchdown in the game. Previous two weeks, not so good. Wide receiver 48. He's wide receiver 25 in week one. He's a flexible play. And he does seem to be a heavily targeted player in this offense. So he's someone that I think would be very difficult to bench in this matchup. It's not really fantasy actionable, but did you guys see the?

The Judy trade whispers are starting to take night again. Oh, Marvin. Oh, Marvin. That would be good for Marvin. Where are the destinations? Who cares? The moon. Yeah, I mean, I think we're just in the... He's going to be traded to the moon. Traded to the moon for all that cheese. Get Marvin Mems on the field. Hi. Show the moon. Come here, Jerry. All right. We are moving on. Quick break. Oh, moon. Moving on. I don't know. Oh, yeah, we're on top farm. Sorry, we'll give you a break and we'll be back in a second. Just have it a good time. Welcome back, Baltimore, two and one, taking on the Cleveland Browns, who are two and one. Draft King Sports with Glenn Cleveland, three-point home favorites. The overrunner is just 40 and a half. Makes sense. And the injury bug is bit Baltimore.

Gus Edwards, concussion, Justice Hill, didn't practice with the turf toe, Rashad Badman, the hamstring, Beckham, the ankle. Now, Gus Edwards was practicing, and it seems like he will be ready to go. I wouldn't play him. No, I'm not saying I'm excited to play him against the Cleveland Brown's defense, which is shutting down everybody, but just he will be active and will get touches. And it's not just the offense that is. injured. It's worth noting here for both sides of the ball that their defense has been just completely obliterated. You still don't have Marlon Humphrey back, did not participate in Wednesday's practice. So the really good Baltimore Ravens defense is not scary right now. Yeah, and Cleveland is number one against quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends, number two against running backs. They've been shutting everybody down, and the Baltimore offense has not looked good. And the fact this game's in Cleveland,

even more ammo for the Baltimore offense not getting it going again. When Melvin Gordon and Kenyon Drake are involved in the running game and no disrespect is eight flowers, but he's not the physical force that can be the complete mover of the offense. In a lot of respects, him and Mark Andrews do the same stuff. And so in that regard. You don't have a downfield threat right now, which is hurting the underneath stuff. Lamar Jackson has looked mediocre at best. He's doing a lot of the hold the ball evasive. He's been good for fantasy. I would agree that he has not looked great. This offense has not looked great. But the last two weeks, it's been over 20 points. Last week, 28, 28 fantasy points. Had himself a really good game where he.

finally ran. He had 101 rushing yards. That's what we want to see. So I still think you're okay starting Lamar here. This isn't the matchup you want. But the receiving options are very scary. And I think Zay Jones, or I'm sorry, Zay Flowers, is going to have a very similar game to what he had last week, which is a ton of targets, a ton of receptions, and they're going to be 90% of the time, a screen pass, a little tiny pass that doesn't go much. So if you're in a full PPR league, I think Flowers is a fine play as...

The pass rush is going to be coming right through to Lamar Jackson, and they're just going to try to get the ball out to Zay Flowers' hands quickly, but I don't expect a big game. Two things. One, Lamar Jackson. How many touchdowns on the year do you think he has? Passing. Passing. The one Mark Andrews won, and I think that's it. I'll go two. Two. Two zero touchdown games this year for Lamar Jackson. Passing. Has Flowers got a touchdown, did he? No. I don't think so. Aguilar. Yeah, okay, it was Aguilar. Because he had two, Lamar had two rushing touchdowns last week. I'm just saying this high flying passing offense has two passing touchdowns through three weeks. And I will make a water bet with somebody. I think Elijah Moore has a better game than Zay Flowers in this one, and I would play him over, say, Flowers. Anybody want that bet? Can we? I will take that bet if it's only full PPR. Sure. Okay. Water bet.

The thing I do love about Elijah Moore to speak to your belief is that it's really been a consolidation where it's Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore. Like that's where those are where Deshaun Watson's targets are going. And I love for fantasy purposes when an offense says, hey, here's my one, here's my two. I don't really look at the tight end. I don't look at my wide receiver three. I don't look like I'm just going to keep throwing it to those guys. On pace for 140 plus targets right now, Elijah Moore was 9 for 9 last week on his targets. It was only good for 49 yards, which is 5.4, a clip. Very similar to the game you projected for Zay Flowers. It was very similar to the game Zayflowers had last week where he was 8 for 48. 8 for 48 on 9 targets. They're the same guy. Unleash Flowers, please. They won't be able to. I think Cleveland's defense and pass rush is too good. I'm saying just in general. It's like.

Zay Flowers had success going down the field in college. And this is not looking at the size of them. Tank Dell is being used for big chunk catches. It's not just all right near the line of scrimmage. Let these guys play. Yeah, I mean, it would be nice to see. I don't know how they do. I don't know how they do it with Aguilar, Bateman, Beckham in the rotation. But. I think what we're saying is that Mark Andrews, you're playing him, A Flowers, PPR League, might be all right. Lamar Jackson, he's been in your lineup. On the other side, Deshaun Watson, he was very, very good last week. He sure was. He was 23 or 25 in a clean pocket, number one among all quarterbacks and had a very good week. We'll see what happens against Baltimore at home. They've been bad against whiteouts, pretty good everywhere else.

Watson is a player, like would you play Watson or Russell Wilson? I would play Watson. That's very close. He feels like a safer floor play. But if you need a ceiling, I would go Russell. Jerome Ford. He was good last week for fantasy. He was the least efficient of the backs. There was a lot of involvement from both Karim Hunt and Pierre Strong relative to what we would have hoped, I think, for Jerome Ford. The matchup, it's, I mean, are you playing Jerome Ford with confidence? Not necessarily confidence, but I'm going to play him. Last week, Tennessee is a pass funnel defense. That's part of what helped the success of Deshawn Watson is you throw on that team. You cannot run on them. You can throw on them. And...

So I think that they go back to Ford a bit more than they did last week. A-chanter Ford. It's one of the more popular start-sick questions, people that spin up on both players' consecutive weeks on the waiverware. I want the 55-point game. I'm going to H-H-N. What about Gibbs tonight or Jerome Ford? Gibbs. Givante. Javante. Against Chicago. Javante. Okay, so Ford is a... An option. That's a good way to put it. Omari Cooper, of course, you play him. And I think we let David Najoku just settle down the waiver. Let him be. Yeah. And I think you said it right. You don't need to hold on to David Najoku on your, you don't have to roster two times. I'd rather play Musgrave tonight. For sure. There's a handful of waiver type of tight ends. I would rather start. So Najoku should be on the waivers, not on your bench. Part of that consolidation you were talking about. Yep. The Cincinnati.

Bengals, one and two, taking on the Tennessee Titans who are one and two. The Draft King Sportsbook Line Cincinnati, two and a half point road favorites. The overrunners 40 and a half. Jason, tell me why you were shaking your head. I was shaking my head because this is such a good matchup for quarterbacks. And Joe Burrow has been not himself. It's one of those things where last week we basically told everybody, start whoever you have over Joe Burrow. We were blessed because he was the second Monday night game. Or it was like, you probably don't have an option and so you need to start someone else that worked because his game was putrid. Didn't even score 10 fantasy points as a quarterback. Now it's hard. Now it's really, really hard because in general, if this was an average to below average matchup, I would say this is someone who should be on your bench. Certainly not on the waiver wire. But on the bench, while he works through his calf issue, there are other guys that you could throw out ahead of him. But with the Tennessee Titans, we just talked about it. They are a pass funnel. You don't run on them.

But you do pass on them and you pass on them pretty easily. So it's like this should be what heals the calf. This should be fine. Yeah, I think you start Joe Burrow. I would start him over Trevor Lawrence. That was where I was going to go. And I'm in agreement with you. Yeah. But it's scary. It's scary because he's been so bad. And it's not his fault. He's not bad. But he's playing through this injury. And it clearly shows. Okay. Higgins. He's had the roller coaster season, but you keep playing Higgins. Oh, we're back. This is the good week. Oh, red light, green light. Bad week. Now we're in a good week. A little bit of a ping pong situation. Mixing, good week last week. I mean, you're, you've kind of got some core players you're playing on the Cincinnati side, and I think you can do it with confidence. Jamar Chase was heavily targeted. Welcome back to the league. Jamar. On the other side, we've talked a lot about it.

It's been pretty gross. You know, the defense for Cincinnati looked ferocious last week. The Tennessee matchup has been great for defenses. So I think Cincinnati's in play. Oh, yes. I mean, is it Derek Henry and then Hopkins? Like Hopkins are Thielen. Feeling. Yeah, I don't know that I want to start DeAndre Hopkins, to be honest. I mean, this is, we talked about this in the draft season. The bottom five and pass rate over expectation, which seems like what Tennessee Titans will finish this season as, they usually have their wide receiver one, not be a top 36 wide receiver. And that's basically what we've seen. I mean, DeAndre Hopkins' best week this year was the wide receiver 30. Then he was the wide receiver 61, then the wide receiver 59. He's still the first read.

He's still the main guy in this offense. It's just not an offense you want the passing game on and certainly not against the Bengals. So I'm not starting Hopkins. That's maybe why nobody went running after DeAndre Hopkins in the offseason. Do we have to talk about this game anymore? Nope. Okay. That's cool. The Rams are one and two. They take on the two and one Indianapolis Colts, the draft King Sportsbook line. It's moved. Los Angeles. The Rams minus one. The over under is 47. Is that, well, it opened up with the Colts as favorites. So is it a reflection of just the betting or is it a reflection of the quarterback being more secured as Anthony Richardson. You think the line moved negatively because the presumption now is that Anthony Richardson will be the quarterback? I'm merely asking guy a question. Usually when a line moves significantly, it is due to a primary player.

that is not a running back, changing health. And so I would imagine that's what it is. Last week, the Rams could not punch it into the end zone. So, you know, you saw Pook and Nakua have an okay game. Tutu Outwell looked pretty good. Kyron Williams played every single snap for the Rams. I think, obviously, Kyron is locked into your lineup. Yes. Puka is locked in. I think Tutu's a flex guy. Is Stafford in the stream consideration, or are we just trying to avoid it? No, 100%. He is a streamable option this week. I think, you know, when you look at Stafford versus Brock Purdy, Brock Purdy has the most, the San Francisco 49ers have the highest implied team total this week. That's what you want. And that's why Purdy was a good start. But now with the question marks for Debo, the question marks for Iyuk's shoulders, I think I'd throw Stafford in ahead. This game has.

a surprisingly good pace of play. And I think there will be enough plays in here where, like you said, 2-2 is a flex. I think 2-2 is a really fine play. Like, I will probably start him if I have him. Puka should be awesome. I want to talk about Anthony Richardson because we haven't had the occasion to do so. Week one, he was the quarterback four. Then in week two, he scored two times on the ground in the first few minutes of the game and was knocked out with a concussion. He was going to be. top four quarterback. Yeah, so I think he's kind of hiding and then he missed the next week. So is Anthony Richardson one of those players where maybe he hit the waiver wire? Maybe he's not even in people's minds to start this week. And yet maybe he should be. Should absolutely be started. It's a concussion. If he's back, this is not a lingering leg issue, which is what we need from Richardson. We need him to be running out there. He's.

He's running like a maniac. I mean, he's getting it done. 37 pass attempts, though, in week one, you did like to see that. And he was already, he already had 10 pass attempts when he got knocked out of the game. He doesn't, him being active doesn't change your view on Pittman, right? No. Putting him out there. Zach Moss? Nope. It doesn't change anything for me. I don't like it. This is an easy matchup because Richardson is immediately into my lineup if he's back. Moss is actually getting running back volume. The matchup is. average, so that's fine. And then Michael Pittman's the only wide receiver with eight plus receptions in all three weeks so far. Those 37 passing attempts in week one, it turned into a massive target share for Michael Pittman. This game has sneaky shootout potential. It's in a dome. The Colter's second highest, no huddle rate, fifth in plays per game with Shane Steichen, and the Rams are third in pass rate over expectation. Yeah, baby. This could be a bigger game than we.

This is the surprising over. This is the one that's like, oh, man, I didn't see this game being a high flying 55 point total. It got bad up from 45 to 47 on the over under as well. So Josh Downs was the hungry for more. I'm curious to see how he performs in week four here. I'm probably not putting him on my lineup unless I'm desperate. I was going to bring up. Josh Downs is the one player that is affected by Anthony Richardson coming back. Not that he is not going to get enough targets. He had a decent game in week one with.

Anthony Richardson being there. But Anthony Richardson is going to run the ball more. That short yardage stuff is much more Gardner-Minchu style than it is Anthony Richardson. All right. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 2-1 take on the New Orleans Saints who are sitting at 2-1. The DK Sportsbook line is New Orleans minus three. Oh. Andy's almost upset of the wig. That line is surprising even to me. And I'm a... I like James. That line is surprising to me, but in the other way. I don't think Tampa Bay goes and scores well in New Orleans at all. But tell us why, Andy. Well, I mean, it's an over under of 40. This game is not projecting to be a high scoring affair. I just don't have the confidence that James Winston will string enough consistent drives together to compete with Tampa Bay. I mean, I.

Tampa Bay just lost their first matchup. It was against Philly. Philly's defense stepped up. I still thought that they had some good drives in that game. You know, you've got a pretty simple fantasy outlook for Tampa. I think the only real big conversation piece, like Mike Evans is in your lineup. Rashad White is an RB2 to flex, but he's probably being played. He's already RB21 on the year. 19 opportunities a game. Jason just, you know, told everybody to trade for Josh Jacobs due to opportunities and he's not. Shot White is not as talented as Josh Jacobs, but he is getting targets in the passing game. So I think he's a flex RB2. But the Chris Godwin question. I mean, this is a new offensive coordinator with a new quarterback. You're running a new offense. And Chris Godwin thus far.

I thought I saw on the field a less than Chris Godwin last season. And now I'm wondering if that's where we're at. It made sense coming off of his. He had a really bad knee injury. Yeah, he tore his ACL. But it wasn't just a clean ACL. It was a multi-ligament thing that he was going back from. And it was like, we didn't expect him to be out to start the season. This season, I was excited to see Chris Godwin back to full strength. I mean, he's only 27 years old. It's not like he's. You know, this is year two recovered, but I agree with you, Andy. He doesn't look like pre-ACL injury Chris Godwin. He is not the first read. That was what made Chris Godwin good. He was a PPR machine. You know, one of those guys that's 150 plus targets. And right now, there is a 150 plus target pace player on this team. And is Mike Evans. So Chris Godwin is just a flex play right now. I think that he's one of the toughest.

players to bench because the name has so many years of history. And you might have some players that are performing. Like a good example would be, and I think it's really a fair question, Tutu Atwell or Chris Godwin. Tutu Atwell is definitely a better start right now. Yeah. And that's just mind blowing, I think. And it hurts fantasy emotions when you stare at your lineup. And you're like, man, I should have Chris Godwin right there in my flex. But that might be the worst decision versus playing a Tutu Atwell or any other emerging. Why, you know, Elijah Moore could outperform Chris Godwin this week easily. Yeah, yeah, it really is true. Chris Godwin isn't someone that I think you have to bench. He's still a quality wide receiver, great hands involved in the offense. But he is a flex option that you just need to look at your, you know, across the field. If I had Chris Godwin and I had Michael Thomas, I think I'd play Michael Thomas. He's had more targets on the season. And I think it's the, I would rather play the guy at home favored.

against the weaker defense. Not that the Buccaneers have a bad defense, but they aren't the Saints defense. The Saints defense is outstanding. Chris Olives start to the season, three games, is what? Is it a disappointment? No. No. No, it's. No top 12 finishes. His usage is elite. His production is fantastic. He just doesn't have touchdowns. I mean, he's. Is this the weak? Can we get a mic right? Touchdown guarantee for Crystal Lave with his old pal James? We did see 31% of the targets once James was in. Oh, I like that. That was the target shared to Chris Lave. Juicy. I will not guarantee a touchdown, but I will guarantee that you should. Go for it. I guarantee it. Okay, good. There's a touchdown here for.

For Christian Olave. There we go. Chris Olave has been fantastic. He's averaging 100 yards a game, right? Yeah, he's over 300 in three games. No top 12 finishes, but he's the wide receiver 14 on the year. Yeah, without a touchdown. I mean, you can't be disappointed with what he's done. He's going to keep getting better. Obviously, the quarterback situation, we don't know if it's an improvement or a negative going to James Winston. Hopefully, James Winston starts this game off with a pick six or two. And then you can have Christian Olavi Dominique. Alvin Camara is back, baby. He's back and I would play him. Oh, for sure. He's back and he's the only running back I would play. Yep. Yeah, you're not going to. Yeah, because you don't know for sure yet if Kendra Miller has that running back two role that has been, you know, forever in. There's been a quality RB2, you know, when you had for years. Why?

Ingram. Ingram and Camara. Yeah, and I think that there will be a good role there, but we don't know whose it is. If it's Kendra Miller or if it's Tony Jones right now. So I'm not starting Kendra Miller. Alvin Camara, I think everyone who has him is like, oh, yes, fine. And also, I'm not starting Rashad White. I know you say like he's okay. Okay, well, we got to get names then because there are running back needy teams, like my League of Record team. I would be very happy to start Rashad White. I would start Jalen Warren over Rashad White.

Okay, with the Houston matchup? Absolutely. What about Elijah Mitchell against Arizona hoping that they game script clean it up? Mitchell was involved last week. That one is tough enough where I think I would start Rashad White. You don't like the matchup and you don't like the production. Yeah, two of his three weeks, he hasn't hit six fantasy points. This is a terrible matchup. The T. Higgins of running backs. Yeah, and it's a terrible, terrible matchup. Would you go? Kenneth Gainwell against Washington. Yeah. All right. All right. We have a bit of a news update. Jaylon Wattle has cleared protocol. So he is going to be back out there. We were expecting it, but it's good to hear an official report. One more matchup today before our starts of the week. The commanders are two and one. The Philadelphia Eagles are 3 and 0. They're at home. This is not going to be an almost upset. The Drafking Sportsbook line has Philadelphia minus 8. The overrunners 43. If I could be.

Look, I'm going to ask everybody, say a prayer for Sam Hill. Oh, yeah. For his family, because this is going to be a bloodbath. Look, Sam Hal has been a huge disappointment. I started to believe. I love the intangibles, but he has shown now through three weeks that he just can't resist holding the football. He is Justin Fields in that football, holding it too long. The stat is un- believable. The NFL record, which this, this record ruined the career of David Carr. David Carr took 76 sacks once. He took 76 sacks and his career was over. Sam Howell's on pace for 107 sacks. He is getting demolished. Gentlemen Carter is a superstar, Fletcher Cox, the offensive line, Hassan Reddick. Like I said, say a prayer for Sam.

He won't have to hold the ball very long. That is the benefit. Like if we're saying, hey, he's holding it too long, he won't have to. It's like a couple seconds, and then he will be on his back. Did you see Rivera's quotes on Sam Howell? He came out and was 100% completely behind him, supported him, said that there is no, you know, question. He's the starter that he really likes what he's seen from Howell on the season. There was a bad game, and we're moving on. And he got that script from Robert Sala? Yes. No, look, he's for all... Sam Hal in the right matchup is a rookie. He's a sophomore, but he's a rookie. The problem is, is you have these very talented pass-catching weapons. People want to play in fantasy, and they can't. And, like, I was digging into this. I see it in our show doc, too. Like, Jehan Dodson's running more routes than any player on this entire team, and he's top 12 in the NFL in rounds run. And yet, they don't...

throw him the football. They're dumping it down to tight ends to Antonio Gibson for low value touches. They need to get the ball down the field or get it into the hands of their playmakers. Terry McClurent always makes plays when targeted. John Dotson would if he could just get more targets on these routes run. None of that I don't think is going to happen this week. Now the Eagles, by the numbers, they look like they've struggled against quarterbacks and wide receivers. You know, to me, it's a mirage from the first two weeks. They showed against Tampa Bay what they actually, what their defense is all about. They're at home in this game. I just, look, I don't see a path for Washington to compete. Yeah, I agree. This should be a pretty one-sided affair. I mean, it's over a touchdown favorite for the Philadelphia Eagles, and these teams look headed in different directions. The Eagles offense hasn't looked great to me. This is a 3-0 offense who's putting up.