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

good enough points, and yet to the eyeballs, it's like, I'm still really disappointed in the Eagles, but that just means they have room to get better with the new offensive coordinator. On the Eagles side, there's not many questions. I think you know now you have to start DeAndre Swift until proven otherwise. You have to start their two wide receivers, and you're not going to bench Dallas Goddard either. So it's a pretty straightforward Eagles decision. Fun tweet by Ian Hart. It's DeAndre Swift's yards per rush this year are 6.8. Jalen Hertz's yard per pass this year, 6.9. Nice. So, you know, Jalen Hertz is number eight at quarterback right now. And that's what you're feeling. You're watching the game and you're feeling 6.9 yards per pass.

And if you're unfamiliar with what your yards per pass should be, it should not be 6.9 yards per pass. We need to be up like 11 here. It really feels like the games have looked like a struggle on offense for Jalen Hertz passing the football. But then they always hit on one or two big plays. So it's like struggle, struggle, struggle, bomb touchdown. His days made. We're happy. But like you said, there's room there's room for them to improve. Washington's been bad against whiteouts, AJ Brown and Devante Smith. Smith finally had a down game, but you put him in your lineup. And, you know, Kenneth Gainwell is the hardest of the decisions to be made, but he's going to be out there about 50% of the time. There's going to be some opportunities. And so I think it's Eagles into your lineups. Welcome to Starts of the Week, presented by Purina Pro Plan. All right, we're into the starts of the week. Some confidence picks for your team.

looking for those great matchups and opportunities. I'll kick it off at quarterback. I'm going with, and it's been a long time, I think, since I've said this name in this segment. Oh, man. I'm going. Did you just read it for the first time? Mm-hmm. Russell? Mm-hmm. I'm getting nuts with Russell Wilson this week, taken on Chicago. He's been completely fine for fantasy. On the year, he's the quarterback nine, and this matchup is great. Their favorite, Chicago is a disaster on the defensive side, and I think he can be a top 12 guy this year. He's got the weapons. You talk about Hungary for more with Marvin Mims, and Judy is back, and Sutton is performing, and you have opportunities here with Giovante getting going. The Bears, 31st and yards per attempt, given up, 31st and expected points per pass attempt.

This is the week to start Russell Wilson. I'm making it on my start. I don't blame you at quarterback. Oh, how dare you wince and then give me this start of the week? Are you going to wince right back? Okay, you wince right back. And this isn't Carson Wins. This is Daniel Jones in Seattle. I like what's going on boys. Yeah. It's nasty. Yeah, give me that drop. Daniel Jones, probably sitting on your waiver wire after last week's poop fest, you know, against San Francisco on Thursday. He's back on prime time. But this time. He is at home. He is favored. He is in a 47 point over under, which is tied for the third highest of the week. And he's playing against Seattle. You might remember Seattle from such movies as Andy Dalton just went ham on them last week. They ranked 28th and scheduled adjusted fantasy points to quarterbacks, 30th and expected points per pass attempt. And Daniel Jones is a boom bust player. I said in the draft season, do not draft Daniel Jones. He was the quarterback nine last year.

He's going to be great in so many weeks. Do not draft him because you're not playing him every week. He's a streamer and pick him up in the right matchups. I don't know, like last week when he was the quarterback one on the week, the best quarterback against Arizona, the week before this past weekend. This is a good matchup. He should be good. He runs the ball. I'm not afraid of the Seattle defense at all, so I think you could start Daniel Jones. And I will say, I am not. Concerned with the injuries that San Francisco currently has, I will have Brock Purdy as my start of the week. He is an underrated floor at play. They have the highest implied team total of the week, 29 points. He has two plus passing touchdowns and seven of eight career regular season starts. If Debo is out, George Kittle is going to eat. As long as he has two of his guys, which there are four, and I'm counting Christian McCaffrey as a pass catcher, then I will still be playing Brock Purdy against Arizona.

My running back start of the week is the most unheralded star of the season at the running back position so far. James Cook is my start of the week. It's unbelievable. James Cook is truly dominating at the running back position. He is averaging 6.1 yards per carry on the year. And it's like, oh, well, that's, you know, on 14.7 attempts per game. So he's getting the work. It's a Miami matchup with the high over under. He's the RB 14 through three weeks despite not scoring a touchdown. He's the Chris Olavet right now of the running back position. He is. He is. Yeah, exactly. And like I said, the highest overrunder of the week, the Miami run defense is a lot of first down on 34% of the rush attempts. There's too much to stop with Buffalo and Cook. Look, he can be an RB one this week. I'm expecting big, big, big things. Yeah. For me, I want to give you the confidence to play James Connor.

in a terrible matchup. James Connor is going on the road against the San Francisco 49ers who have shut down everyone. And so you might say, man, I don't know if I can really throw him in my lineup. Right. And you might sound just like that. Look, the Cardinals are going to get blown out. The Cardinals will lose. How dare you? How dare you? Is good. They will mostly. shut down the run game, but here's the thing. James Connor is matchup proof. He is 100%. It doesn't matter if we're going to win or lose. His opportunities per game are good enough to have him in your lineup. I want to read you something. This is last year. His running back weekly finishes 25, running back 14, 6, 4, 12, 5, 15. Now I want to read you whether they won or lost those games. Oh, I know where this is going.

win, or I'm sorry, loss. Oh, the joke is. Well, because it went loss, win, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss. It don't matter. Yeah, the Cardinals are going to get smoked, but he is getting 20 opportunities a game. You've got to put them in your lineup. Don't bench them because of a bad matchup. What happens if Arizona wins in San Francisco and they... beat Dallas, San Francisco and back-to-back weeks with Joshua Dobbs. What do you do? I mean, there's got to be something you do for the words that you just put out there into the world. I mean, I want you to run a mile. Whoa, that's okay. I'll do 25 push-ups. Geez, a mile. No, thank you. Mike, who's your... Did you ever ran a mile? It's terrible. I'm going with Giovante Williams, Denver Broncos. He gets to play the Chicago Bears, and it has been a...

Not great start here for Javante Williams, but the utilization is there. He's averaging an opportunity on 57% of his snaps. That's third best among running backs, seeing a target every 14 snaps. That's better than Jemir Gibbs. He just has not scored. The problem is the per snap analysis is the problem, right? Because he's only getting 42% of the snap. Right, but he is still, he is seeing more opportunities. far more opportunities than Somaget P. Rine as of right now. You think he's going to get going? I do. With the coming off the injury. The Bears, the Bears match up 30 first because no one could be 32nd in schedule adjusted fantasy points. The running backs after the Denver Broncos have secured that title for rest of season. But the Bears are second worst. So I think that Giovante gets it going this week. We're going to get a tutty.

I thought about pivoting out of my wide receiver start of the week after the Andy Dalton, Bryce Young news. But, you know, Bryce Young was a rookie. He's going to progress over time, and the Minnesota matchups too good to resist. Adam Thielen. What? Adam Thielen is, look, it's volume. He's getting piles and piles of volume. They don't have better options on this team, and they don't need them. Adam Thelan's getting open on a regular basis. He's getting open in the flat. He's getting open down the field. That's the area where Bryce Young has struggled as being able to connect with them. I mean, there were plays two weeks ago where Adam Thielen would have a much bigger day had Bryce Young been able to connect with him once he got open down the field. So Adam Thielen against his former team coming off of a big week. His last two weeks for Adam Thielen, just to refresh your memory, 18 for 199 and 2. This is a game where Minnesota is going to put up points.

And there's a game where Minnesota is going to give up points because that's been the recipe. Kirk Cousins is the number one or number two in fantasy, depending on your scoring system and their own three. That tells you that they are giving up points on the back end. Adam Thieland is my start of the week. Yeah, I don't mind it. My start of the week is a more explosive player. I did do it. Wow. You said you weren't going to do it. I'm going Gabe the babe. Gabe Davis. I want pieces in this game. He just need to stay away from him so he can keep doing what he's doing. Just stop getting in his corner. And what he's been doing is scoring touchdowns like he do. He's got back-to-back weeks with a touchdown. He's been solid so far this year. He shows up in big games. Everyone remembers the playoff game where he was four touchdowns and one of the best performances of all time. This game has the highest over under of the week with 54 points.

You know, Josh Allen, he's completing a career high 73% of his passes. Part of that is because Gabe Davis is catching 60% of his passes, which is a career high for him. So I think that if he's on my roster, like if Gabe Davis is on my bench, in this matchup, I want pieces of this game. I would find a way to get him in my lineup in case this is one of his 150 and, you know, two touchdown type of games. I'm going with Jacoby Myers as my start of the week, wide receiver from the Las Vegas Raiders. You want to talk about funneling targets to just two players? The Las Vegas Raiders. So, Devante Adams, absolutely incredible, currently seeing a 40% target share on the season. Jacobi Myers, he's over 30%. Like, he is absolutely being utilized. He's looked apart every week. I don't know what New England was thinking.

They made a huge mistake here. Week 1, 9 for 81 and 2, misses the week from a concussion, right back to 12 targets, 7 for 85. A player seeing a 31% target share next to Devante Adams is absolutely wild. Oh, yeah, they play the Chargers, 31st and schedule adjusted fantasy points to the wide receiver position. I'm getting Jacoby into my lineup. Luke Musgrave is my tight-in start of the week. Luke must grate tonight against the Lions. It was from Kyle if you don't like it. Put that on him. It was mediocre. He's seeing downfield targets. The lions are terrible against tight ends. And you saw Johnny Smith and Kyle Pitts, who combined for 17 targets. Pitts with eight. Johnny with nine. So if you want to really cry yourself to sleep on the Kyle Pitts narratives, we got a new one. Johnny Smith getting more targets. Highest drafted tight end of all time.

What are we doing? For no reason, apparently. Yeah. So Luke Musgrave is my start of the week. All right. You're going with the rookie. I'm going with a rookie tight end. Sam Leporta playing in Green Bay. He's just, this is simple. You're staying in the flames. If you picked him up and, you know, you had someone else that was struggling like David Najoku, you just keep rolling Sam Leporta out there. He's the tight end two right now on the season. most receptions ever for a rookie tied-in through three weeks. His 37% target share last week, that was the third highest ever in a game for a rookie tight-in. He's a trustworthy target of Jared Gough right now. So let's put that one to the test because I think most people are wanting to play him, but let's make it more consequential. Are you playing Leporta over everybody but Kelsey? Because if he's your start of the week here, he's tied in two on the week, Waller.

Andrews, Kittle. Can't play him over Kittle. No, I'm not playing him over Kittle. I'm not playing him over Andrews either yet. And then Hawkinson would be ahead of him. And then it's Loporta. So I would play him ahead of Waller. Okay. Mike, you start of the week. It's easy, baby. What? What a surprise? He is back, Evan Engram, who's just cruising along. You got me. He's cruised. You thought I was going to change? I thought you were going to change. You said you were going to change. I did. And then I changed back. Tight end five on the year. Tight end five without a touchdown. The tight in position, and he is tight in five. Third in tight in targets, receptions and receiving yards. And the Falcons were reported this past week. Evan Engram, look, Zay Jones, likely to miss again. That's more targets for Evan Engram. Keep playing him. All right. Thanks again to our sponsor, Purina Pro Plan Sport.

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They'll put him in the Smithsonian, Mike, but then he won't visit the Smithsonian. Oh, I would be too bored. He's too bored to go to a museum and stare at something. Jason is the only person who would, they would throw a party, have a brand new exhibit. All dedicated to him and he would not go. Oh, I wouldn't show up for the party. Orders? Of course. Well, then I'm at the party. It's a museum. I haven't been to a museum with hors d'oeuvres yet. Jason needs a snack bar at a museum. That's the only thing that's missing. You put a nice little snack bar right in the center of the museum. I'm going to love that museum. You just want to go to snack bars. That is it for today's episode. More matchups tomorrow. The fantasy face off and the wheel of shame returns. Oh, boy.

Enjoy the game tonight, everybody. See you tomorrow. 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 at theFF ballers.