Week 3 Studs & Duds + Injury Reactions, Trade Talk - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/28

Pooka Nakua? Also, on that injury, we got news that Caleb Williams is a grade two hamstring. It was originally reported there was a grade one. So give him a little bit more respect for his pain. But that's usually like a four to six week injury. If you're a skill position player, they're saying they expect him to miss three or four weeks because obviously is a pocket passer. But that does mean I doubt he is scrambling as much when he first comes back.

All right, let's talk about the Puka Nakua situation. He did not play again. They said he could return in week four, but he's dealing with an injury that's impacting his explosiveness and the, I mean, the Shephti, Schmefti tweet, the organization does not believe surgery in this situation will be needed, but it's not off the table if Nakua does not show signs of improvement. Weeks ago, Andy was saying he was afraid of sports hernia. Then after that, McVeigh comes out and says it's,

He definitively said it is not a hernia. Then after that, it is, it's being reported as a hip injury and a groin injury. And it goes back and forth. It's his hip, it's his groin. Which sounds, I don't know, exactly like a sports hernia. It looks like a core muscle injury that if he doesn't get his explosiveness back, here's the problem with those injuries. And this is red alert. And maybe he's back next week. But is he the same puka next week? You know what I mean? Is he as explosive?

Also, the longer you wait to rehab this, obviously the longer it will take to recover from surgery if you need one. A sports core injury surgery is going to take some time to recover from and you're losing weeks. That's my biggest concern about the season. So, you know, it was a loss last night. It was a crazy game. It seemed like there was no chance for Denver to score. Then they managed to figure out how to do it.

and they lose another game. I mean, they're one and two. I can't believe they won. I know. Watching that game, it felt like the Rams were in complete control, even until the very end, when they were not, when they were losing, you're like, hey, no, the Rams, they're fine. They got this, right? 100%. I mean, it really, it really seemed like they were in control of that game. Some of that is, you know, when you're on the road, it makes a difference. That kind of the...

the vibe of the stadium behind you at the end of the game. It's so funny. I was watching that game and I was like, the Denver Broncos don't have a great offense. But what they do have, genuinely, is a, they believe that they are a great team. They believe that they're going to win every game. You know what I mean? Like, if they're in a game at the end, they...

They have that winner's mentality that carries over to games, even though you watch for a lot of this game. It was like, man, their offense just didn't look good. And they figure it out in the end. So the biggest news, Devon A-chan, out for the year with a torn ACL. It's a big one. Now we, I actually think there's going to be some nuance and thought here as we get into waivers tomorrow because the initial knee-jerk reaction that I had because.

you know, Ollie Gordon took over and played the rest of the game. Looked good. I think Ollie Gordon's a good player. I've thought that for a while. Ever since he's, I mean, every snap he's gotten, I feel like he has something better than the Jalen Wright. But Jalen Wright wasn't, Jaylen Wright's ahead of him in the depth chart, technically, and did not play in this game. He was out with a foot injury. So I'm not saying you don't dump a lot onto Ollie Gordon versus Jailen Wright. I'm just saying there's a chance and probably a likelihood that there's a committee situation in some proportion here.

Yeah. They like Jalen Wright. And, you know, if you just think this guy's going to take over with the kind of market, you know, target market share running back share in this offense, I'm, you know, as A Chan, I don't think that's happening. No way. No, of course not. A. Chan over his two healthy games was getting 81% of the snaps. That's an outrageous number for running backs. They don't play 81% of snaps. During that time, he was averaging less than 10 fantasy points per game.

So now you split that up on a bad offense between Ollie Gordon and Jalen Wright. Is it going to be the number one pickup? Maybe if you're a running back needy team, is it going to be a rest of season great fantasy asset? No. Yeah, that one's a tough one. I think there were some teams this week that kind of put up a little bit of a fight. Miami was one of them. I mean, they looked okay in stretches of this game, kept the game close. But huge bummer. We lose another player for the entire season.

Baker Mayfield dislocated his thumb and was screaming on the field. Yeah, also just on such a dumb play. Yeah, they didn't need to try to pick up a third and 19 with three-time outs and a chance to just let their defense go out and get them the ball back. They're expecting the last report two to four weeks with the thumb MRI today.

More injuries. I mean, the quarterback injuries have been wild this year. Yeah. And they have such ramifications for everybody in those offenses, right, with Jaden and Dart. And these guys going down, you know, whether it's Bucky Irving or Abuka's chance to surge back to relevance or whatever the case may be, just sucks. Agreed. Breeze Hall left in the second half with a thigh injury did not return. No, the quote was also not great. He said, quote,

I felt something when I was running, and then I got tackled and planted, and then felt something else, so we'll see. Felt two things. Not great. I didn't realize it was that bad. Who's got him in Dynasty? Breece Hall? Yeah. I only say that because let's talk about this next player. Travis H.N. Who's got two of my three running back. Exited with a hamstring strain. Yeah, it's been like survival right now.

in a lot of leagues. The issue with H.N. Jr.'s hamstring strain is that he was on the injury report this week with a hamstring injury. So whenever you reagravate it, you're usually going to miss some time. And the running game of the Saints against the Raiders actually looked okay. Like, H.N. finished 13 for 57 and caught both and caught his two targets. I mean, it was, it was, we were on path to a much better game for him. So this is a bummer. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, my goodness. All right, Mike, what's next on the docket? Any good news? No, we got to keep going through the bad news first. Rashad White, he injured his shoulder. He did not return to the game. He was seen with an ice pack on his shoulder. And the Washington commanders there. Awesome, excellent. The first thing they did was they signed Austin Echler, which that's fun. A shout out to add. We love Echler. Yeah, great friend of fantasy football.

Great player in his time. Doesn't seem like good news for Rashad White if they immediately put a guy who would take over that job on the team. So many more injuries to talk about. Jack Bash fractured his forearm. So that'll be a long time. And then Justin Jefferson, this one is a problem because every medical person I saw break this injury down because he did not return, they're all.

correlating it to the same injuries we saw with A.J. Brown, you know, high ankle sprain. Yeah, high ankle sprains last year were all one to three week injuries. This year, they are surgery. They are six to eight week injuries. Apparently ankles are getting softer or something. Is that an official report? Yeah, that's an official report. No, we don't, I mean, they have a week six by. It looks like a high ankle. We'll see what the final report is. Mike Evans got carted off with a rib injury. He got.

Smooshed. Yeah, I just, I just feel like it's always something. Yeah, it is. And what's crazy is usually it's his soft tissue. This was all of his organs. Yeah, I mean, this was, he got absolutely rough. That's, that's true. Well, the ribs. I always say organs are soft. The ribs that protect the organs, they turn soft. And, I mean, he got, um, just smacked in the ribs. So other than Pearsall, stripling, DeMarcus Robinson, Christian Kirk.

You know, Mike Evans, they've got everybody in the receiving game. It is tough. Like Brock Purdy's been amazing. They didn't have a catch. Did you know this, Jason? No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Debo Samuel led the team in receiving. Oh, yeah. 80 receiving yards. Zero catches. Because of the hook and ladder. Yeah. I mean, that's ridiculous. That's wild. Jalen Coker, quad injury didn't return. You don't like that with a wide receiver. And apparently, Tederoa McMillan is not him. Dude.

Jalen Coe, I believe I saw it was one target after Jalen Coker left, and there was plenty of time. And they had a game script that they needed to throw. And they were not, Bryce was not throwing at Nick Mill. Bryce Young has looked very, very, very good when Jalen Coker's been available. For your first round wide receiver, offensive rookie of the year, a 12% target share when you're having to throw is.

Oh, is Darren Waller in the flats? It was, I mean, the pass rushing Mason Graham and company, like the pressures, I think there were like five players in Cleveland that had three plus pressures each. That was a big component to not being able to get it down field, but it's feeling a little bit like the Coker, Coker Michael Wilson comp and the Tet McMillan. I don't, Marvin Harrison Comp. I don't agree with that because. It's a real extreme. Marvin is bad.

Tetaro is good. He is a good player. I mean, like Mike just said, he was the offensive rookie of the year last year. He had over 1,000 yards as a rookie. That was a bad game. All wide receivers have down games. He should have been targeted more. We're surprised he's not. That's not prescriptive going forward. I mean, this is a player who as a rookie was targeted 122 times. So next week versus Detroit, who's got a very banged up secondary. I would be happy to start Ted. Yeah, I.

94% of the routes and five targets for McMillan. You know, what you said is true. Ted McMillan is good. Is he great? Can he get to great? Can he get to great? I don't know. Jalen McMillan aggravated his knee injury. Terrence Ferguson on almost the first play of the game, ankle injury, then came back in, then hurt it again. Came back like a dog got that first down he needed despite jumping on one leg. And then he's like, I can't. That's crazy, man.

Add depth if you can because you're going to need it. We haven't even gotten into bye weeks. Nope. These are buy weeks made by players. Also, I can't talk about anybody else that I like because it is not going on. You're killing guys. I mean, I liked A-chan a lot, guys. I liked A-chan a lot. And four of my other dudes are hurt, and Ladd McConkey is clearly not himself. If you watch him walk on and off the field, he's like struggling. Man, that team is in so much trouble.

Oh, holy moment. The chargers? The chargers are in so five turnovers and you can't win? The chargers? You know, you say like, oh, they're going to charger. Like, that's a thing. And I've heard people that get really upset with that. Like, that's not fair to them. That's not a real thing. Here's a tweet from Evan Abrams. Since 2013, teams with five plus turnovers and a negative four turnover margin are three.

81 and 1 straight up. The three wins were the bills over the Chargers. Oh, I'm afraid of these next two. The Jaguars over the Chargers? Okay. And the Broncos over the Chargers. The Chargers are the only team you can beat if you have five turnovers? I mean, dude. What? Is it, are they cursed? I don't know, man. Well, now you have a discussion to have around a guy we'll talk about in the Duds because the Snapshare for Amari and Hampton.

Was not good. Nope. Let's take a break. Catch our breath. But there was some good. There was some good. We'll talk about them. Yeah. That's what we're doing next. All right. Let's bring some positivity to the show. This week's fantasy stud muffins. Start of the week, Brock Purdy, number one score at the quarterback position this week. Hyper-efficient. He's very good. Snap share percentage for Mr. George Kittle has risen.

immensely. One of the bigger stories of the week. He may be back. 297 and 4 for Brock Purdy. It doesn't matter if all his receivers are gone. He is just slicing and dicing. Sam Darnold managed to bring, I mean, look at this list. Sam Darnold, Gino Smith, Jacoby Reset, Bow Nix. You didn't hear me say Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, you know.

None of the guys that you thought were the guarantees this week. It was Darnold, Gino, Brissette, and Bo Nix from the grave at halftime. There was a name right under Bo Nix. And Tyler Shuck. Who won that game, Mike? In our battle of our adopted teams. Yeah. You want to hear my prediction now? Sure. The Raiders win the division. The Raiders beat the Chiefs next week. Okay.

Wow. All right. Oh, I've always been a lifelong Raiders fan for these last three weeks. That was, it was an awesome game. That was a fun game. I mean, I did not know who was going to win at any point. I think what it proved was that both of these teams are legit. Yeah. Like I, I just watched two good teams playing and we're three weeks in now. And I think Cousins has three touchdowns and three straight games. Kirk Couss has been playing.