Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, MNF Preview

uh you know they were expected to run the ball and dominate i mean there were almost ten point favorites at home almost lost the game probably should have lost the game is this just because the whole offense was discombobulated that we didn't see the running production in seattle that we expected or is this just because the timeshare disappointed everybody that started these guys for fantasy purposes i think that the timeshare will continue to disappoint the where it was interesting pro cites was getting early action as well but he left the game with an injury so i'm

I would be interested to see what the actual snaps are going to look like with a fully healthy process. With all three of these guys healthy, I think there is fantasy trouble if you're going to try and start any of them. I want to share some breaking news right now. Doug Peterson came out and said, Zach Ertz is week to week with a rib injury. Week to week with a rib injury is a rib displacement injury.

And that's definitely not good because he was a go-to receiver in that game, as tight-ins usually are for rookie quarterbacks. So that's going to hurt the whole offense if he's out this week. All right. Lack of production from Devonta Freeman this week. Lack of production of him, Gio Bernard this week, a game I thought Gio would be much more successful in. Yeah. You know, is it the defensive front of the Jets? Is it the defense of the Jets? Was the game flow? What was it with?

Freeman and Bernard. Give me your rundown in the long-term value of both those guys. Well, speaking on Gio Bernard and Jeremy Hill, I mean, I knew that this was going to be a much more defensive oriented running game. That's not going to be Gio's fort. You know, his MO, that's a Jeremy Hill style of game. Jeremy Hill was more involved in the running game. Not by much, though. And it was a difficult matchup to boot. So you had kind of a perfect storm. I stayed away from both backs. Jeremy Hill got you the touchdown, but if he didn't, then he.

you know, exactly, Mike. He didn't do much. It was just a tough matchup against that Jets D line. Okay. As far as Devont to Freeman, that's, that's a question. A lot of people freaking out.

Absolutely. And I think that they are a little bit right to freak out because while he is better than Tevin Coleman, better for the system than Tevin Coleman, there was a near 50-50 split. There was a near-50 split. There was a near-50 split. And what made DeVante Freeman so incredibly valuable last year for fantasy was he was like an 85% snap percentage guy. He was...

It was just usage rate was out of this world. And if Tevin Coleman's this involved, you can't get to that level again. Devante Freeman played just over 55% of the snaps. All right. Let's move on to the wide receivers where I think we saw the most disappointment. Demarius Thomas had a rough week, 4-4-48. You need to monitor Thomas' status as well. They said he's getting a second opinion on his hip, which would make...

Look, they have that matchup with the Colts this week. You need to monitor that closely. Obviously, Emmanuel Sanders actually out-targeted Demarius Thomas in this game. Do you call Shakira in? When you need a second opinion on your hips? Yes. In 1998, you do. Yeah. Des Bryant. Oh, man. Man. The amount of Twitter, look, it's easy to gloat, but I'm going to do it for a minute. The amount of hate.

The amount of hate I got for not loving the Dak Prescott implications for Dez Bryant. Come on, man. But Andy. Oh, there it was. He's going to go to his wide receiver one every time. For one time for eight yards. You're right. Every time for one time. Look, Dak Prescott's best friend is Cole Beasley and Jason Whitten. Oh, yeah. Holy Cole Beasley. Jason Whitton was the start of the week for a reason. He had nine catches in this game. I believe he easily led the team in receptions.

Cole Beasley showed up. This is going to be a team that needs to try to, you know, Des is going to have better games. Well, he had the drop part two where he thought he had a touchdown and then the old instant replay said, no. He's going to have better games, but it's not going to be smooth sailing the way you'd hope for Romo. Now, all the reports to that Romo says he's going to be back sooner than later. Des is a by-low candidate like he seems to be.

every year lately, I would go in on him as a buy low guy? Yeah, he was a guy that for the quick question, I was between Alan Robinson and Des Bryant. If you can get Des Bryant on the cheap, it's fine. Like Mike said, he had a touchdown that was an inch away from being, you know, his fantasy day would have been fine. I mean, still a disappointment, but he would have been okay. And not every game script is going to go this way. And when Tony Romo gets back, Des will be Des. Tyler Lockett, Kenny Stills, Kamar Aiken, other disappointments.

Lockett didn't look very involved. Lockett had a couple of drops that were just kind of embarrassing. He had a fumble, I think. Kenny Stills had the drop of the week. Oh, the drop of the century. He was 10 yards wide open behind the defense on like a 50-yard bomb to go for, I mean, he could have done somersaults, like just rolled somersaults for 20 yards into the end zone. And it hit him right in his bread basket.

And he closed his hands before the ball got there. His hands are his breadbasket. Oh, man. Apparently. That's not your bread basket. Your bread baskets is usually in the gut. Yeah. Well, that's where, I mean, it was right here. It has two bread baskets. No, no, no. He was holding. The ball was near his gut. He hit him right. Right to disagree on that one. He dropped it right in the money maker. Right in the money. His hands?

I guess I mean, he's a wide receiver. He's grasping. Kamar Aiken, I'm concerned. I'm concerned as well. There's too many, too many malice defeat. He played behind Smith, Signor, and, uh, and Wallace. So, uh, that's unfortunate for Aiken. Did you hear, now look, there was a press conference with Steve Smith. And he talked about the whole wide receiving court. And then he talked about Kamar Aiken. And you know how he talked about Kamar Aiken? Positively? No. Oh, I mean, yes.

But in the way that... Which one is it? Both. It's both. Okay. It's like this. You know, when I missed the show, Mike did a real good job of filling in. He did a real good job when he filled in. That's how we talked about Kamar Akit. He said, you know, Bradshaw Perryman had a great catch, by the way, down the sideline. Just won. But that's going to be the worry. I think there's going to be about 10 guys that get about three catches a week.

for the Baltimore Ravens. So I'm staying away from the wide receiver court. Brandon Marshall owners do not panic. There was a series where he was just getting targeted repeatedly in the end zone. It just didn't happen this week. All right. Gary Barnage, Kobe Fleener, Martellus Bennett, pooped their pants to speak. Bennett had to stay in him block. I don't think, I think people started Bennett.

hoping he'd be gronk this week. I thought, but he couldn't run any routes. Yeah, he had to stay in the block with missing three offensive linemen. I thought Bennett was going to be really good against Arizona. And obviously Kobe Fleener, look, that's a guy that, you know, I have personally talked up. I said he was going to get off to a slow start. That was a real slow start for a game like that. So he's a guy that you need to need to monitor. I still think he's going to be okay this year. I really do. But if you drafted him, you.

almost definitely had to start him, especially in a game like this, and he really let you down. He did. All right. Let's preview the Monday night games. You got two of them tonight, the Steelers at the Redskins, the Rams at the 49ers. The big decisions here, what are you doing with Matt Jones? I mean, I guess at this point you've made your decision. Do you expect big things out of him? Nope.

Yeah, I don't expect big things, but he should have enough volume. You know, I'm expecting him to be somewhere in that 7 to 12 fantasy points range, depending on your scoring format. The guy for me that I just want to bring up real quick in this game, because I've had a couple people say that, you know, because of whatever happened to their team, they need a dart throw in tonight's games. Who should they pick up off of waivers? And if you're in that situation, Darius Hayward Bay.

is a guy to me that is definitely on your waivers, right? I mean, he's 100% unowned. And with Marcus Wheaton being out and, you know, Big Ben being able to throw for a lot of yards, I think Darius Hayward Bay would be a shot in the dark type of guy. What about Coates? If he's on your waivers, would you rather start Coates or Darius Hayward Bay? Personally. Personally. If I had both of them on my roster, I would start Darius Hayward Bay.

Okay. But I wouldn't feel good about it. Yeah, I'd start Coates, but I'm reminded of our argument of I'd rather have Hayward Bay than Marcus Wheaton. So, ugh. A little bit of extra news that came in about Sammy Watkins just now, just that his availability will be determinant on discomfort from a week-to-week basis. Great. Great. Good luck, Samuel Watkins. I said off the air. So right before the show.

The news came in that they weren't going to shut him down, that he was going to manage the pain and play. And what I said to Mike, I said, this is great news because now you won't get vetoed when you trade him. And honestly, if I could get, if I could get 75 cents on the dollar, I think I would do it. I mean, I'm not bailing for 50 cents. Would you trade him for Keenan Allen?

It would be tempting, but I would probably turn that down. All right. You're starting Big Ben. You're starting Antonio Brown. Dee Will is looking good tonight. Kurt Cousins on the other side is my start of the week. We'll see if that works out. I like the opportunity for this game to turn into kind of a higher scoring affair. Kirk Cousins, I have a personal favor to ask of you. I'm in a matchup with Jason, and I believe I need 39 points. Yes. Yes, you do. Kirk Couss.

I need you. I have a personal favor to ask of you. I'm the only one who believes in you and I need you. This is great because we had, I think, on Fannings, we did our Fanning's debate of the week on Kirk Cousins. And now he is the winner or loser for our direct head-to-head matchup. I hate you. And I'm going to be right on that. Set your phasers to, I don't know, stun. Take your phasers to men. Right. Hit them right in the breadbasket. Right off the fingertips.

That one could go on the Twitter account too. I've got 10 bread baskets. All my fingers. I've got 10 bread baskets. All right. The Rams take on the 49ers. Just out of curiosity. Yeah. If what you guys were saying is a bread basket. It wasn't close to any part of his chest. If a quarterback throws it in the bread basket, is he supposed to not catch it with the hands? He just lets it fall to the ground? If no. Catch it only with the belly?

No, you know what a body catch is like versus a hands catch. A bread basket because you're making the shape. If you see this right now. Of a basket that is ready to catch bread. A bread basket is one of those jumping. No, it's not like that. It goes right into your gut. You catch it first with your chest. That's a bread basket catch. Have you ever tried to catch bread with your hands?

You just crumple it. If he brought his hands lower, it would have been exactly, I mean, he dropped it right in. It's an over the top throw. It can't get into his breadbasket at all. If he had turned around, he did turn. Jumped up and struck his belly up. That's right. He would have done a better job catching the ball. I completely agree. He had 10 yards on him. He should have turned around and breadbasketed it. He should have breadbasketed it. You're right. It's okay. It's okay, Jason. The Rams 49ers game, you're starting Todd Gurley.

How do you guys feel about Carlos Hyde tonight? Are you just, man? No, I feel fine about it. Oh, come on. I do. I do. He's been saying that all week. He has him as an RB2. I do not. I don't love the matchup. I don't love the offense. I'm not high on Carlos Hyde, but if you have him, there's a good chance. He did come out last year in week one against the Great Vikings defense and light it up, so you never know. He is at home as well. So I'm as okay. Hyde or Matt Jones?

I would go with Matt Jones. I'm sure people have both of them on their roster. I'm going Matt Jones in that situation. I am too. I'll take hide. I'm going to go Gurley over all those guys. I'm okay with that. I'm worried about Gurley because AP was my number one. Gurley's my number two. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. He'll show up. He'll be fine. He'll show up. All right. That is it for today's show. Thanks for listening. Hey, tomorrow. Oh, yeah, big show. I hope you're right back. Did you have Keenan Allen? Do you have Sammy Watkins?

It's time for the waiver wire. You need to go to the wire. Yeah, you need to go to the wire. I am very excited about that show. It's going to be a great one tomorrow. We're going to have some other stuff we're doing as well. And so definitely check that out. Visit us on the web, the fancy footballers. We're going to have a mailbag segment. Maybe tomorrow, definitely on Wednesday. So we're answering your questions there on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Mike, do you have any parting words? Say, hey, if you need a trophy for a loser, if you need a trophy for a winner.