Starts of the Week + It’s Football Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/7

Are you digging deep on Elijah Moore? Just a final question here. If you're in a, you know, full PPR flex decisions, like Van Jefferson or Elijah Moore. Van Jefferson. Yeah, I would go Van. He projects to be the one right now. All right, Jacksonville. Oh, man, I drafted Van Jefferson and did not think about that Cooper Cup news. Oh, you did it? In relation to the longevity of success that Van Jefferson might have. Oh, and he plays against you this week. Oh, fantastic. Are you flexing on me with band Jefferson right now? It's all I have. Is this a band Jefferson flex? It's all I have. That's like the little, that's the nine-year-old flexing at me going like, oh, look as strong. Or squeezing my arm as hard as he can. Like, I'm going to show you. Thanks, bud. Hey, before we move on from the Browns, I do want to really quick discuss David Nogoku because. Oh, I love him. You love him. Yeah. And that's great. So you're just in.

You're starting him. You're keeping him. I am more of the mindset with some of these later round tight ends that I drafted. Like for instance, in our league of record, I grabbed Greg Dulcich. I love Greg Dulcich. I think he's good. But I am playing the streaming matchup with this tier of tight in personally. So if Tyler Higby was out there, I would rather start Tyler Higby than David Nogoku against the Bengals. If Juan Johnson, for me personally, I think the matchup is great. I would rather do that. And so the question is... Saints tight-in. Yes, Saints tight-in. Yeah, the question is, are you willing to drop, David? That's exactly what I'm... I'm not. No, I think Njoku is one of the few tight-ins as the ability to give you top five weeks. And so I'm going to ride him with this, you know, off-season of Deshaun Watson and this offense. I'm going to play him. I'm going to play him until I am proven wrong about David Njoku just because of upside potential. Sure. That would be my take. Although the Higby, the Higby situation,

is very tempting. If you're in a full PPR, I would be willing to make that same. That one I'd be willing to do. I will admit that. Yeah. Jacksonville, Indianapolis, games at home for Indy, the Draft King Sportsbook line, Jacksonville minus five. The overrunners 45 and a half. I'm so excited about the storylines in this game. This will be a game that I have my eyes on both sides of the ball. I can't wait to see what happens with Anthony Richardson. Yeah. He gets the benefit of starting at home. The Jacksonville Jaguars gave up a decent amount of points to the opposing quarterbacks last year. And he gets to show what he's got. And look, Anthony Richardson does not have to be the most polished NFL quarterback by any stretch of the imagination to deliver a wonderful fantasy week for you. So I can't bring myself to start him in any of the leagues where I took him. But I'm excited to watch it.

Yeah, if you're in a position where you have to start him, I don't think you need to be looking to the waiver wire to pivot. I think he's an okay start. Yeah. I do expect him to get off to a slow start in his NFL career. First half of the year versus second half of the year, I think it's going to be much better later. So if you did already pair him with like those quarterbacks we were talking about earlier, Geno Smith, Atuo, Atua, I would play those guys over Anthony Richardson and wait and see. But I do, he has a matchup here.

where he could be good right out of the gates just by running the ball. Would you go Sam Howell against Arizona? No. Okay, you play Richardson. Sam Howells value a lot of times will come on the ground. It won't be as much as Anthony Richardson. And I think similar to what we saw with the Houston Texans last year, even though they had a bad secondary, you never had good games for your wide receivers or your quarterback because teams just ran the ball on them. I think that's... The second half against Cardinals, I just expect Sam Howell does not need to do much other than say, here, take this ball and run with it. Yeah, a brand new head coach for Indianapolis this week. And we won't have Jonathan Taylor. You're going to have Dion Jackson getting the start. Jack Moss is not expected to play. Should be back week two or week three. Dion Jackson is a player getting started against me in a league. I know that. Congratulations, man.

Yeah, it's a one week start. Jacksonville's defense was pretty good against running backs last year, but it'll come down to receptions. Like if he gets the ball thrown his way, Dion Jackson had some good games last year. Yeah, there are worse things than starting Dion Jackson this week, but do keep your eye on the news. And we, Zach Moss not expected to play, but I believe he was limited on Wednesday. So who knows by Sunday if Zach Moss is in? And if Zach Moss is active, then I'm I'm bailing out. But if Moss is inactive, I think Dion Jackson, it could be a lot worse. He had a 10 receptions on 10 targets game last year and six receptions on eight targets game. I'm not excited about it. It's just not happening from Anthony Richardson, though. That's not the style of quarterback that's going to give him six even. I just, especially when Evan Hull is kind of the pass catching specialist, I'm OUT on this personally. But first game for Evan Hull as a rookie, but I.

If Moss is out, I expect Dion Jackson is going to get like 70 plus percent of the snaps. Michael Pittman. Michael Pittman, by the time drafts came around, I thought was a value. The whole offseason, I was like, he was being drafted as like the wide receiver 20, wide receiver 18. And I'm like, no. Take me out of that graphic. For those not watching, take me out. Put it back to Mike. He drafted him. I had no choice. I think he was a value. He was a value. 99 receptions last year for Michael Pittman. He's being drafted in a place where I think wide receivers are probably averaging 60 to 70 receptions. So in a PPR format, Michael Pittman is going to be a steal. This was the pendulum being swung out of frustration. A bunch of angry people swung it. Yeah. And it makes sense because it was very frustrating. He was catching passes that seemed to be behind the line of scrimmage. I mean, it was.

It was kind of like what happened to Deontay Johnson. And I think people see the path for Deonti Johnson to have a good year. And I think there's a path for Pittman. If Anthony Richardson comes out and he's a better quarterback than people give him credit for. Michael Pittman will be the reason why. And even if he's not, if he comes out and throws for 199 yards, I think the target share, the market share that Pittman's going to have of this offense, he's going to be a fine play. This matchup is good. You expect them to be throwing it the whole game long. Yeah, you do. Are you playing Drake London against Carolina? Oh, that's a great. Or are you playing Michael Pittman? Because the passing volume could be similar. I would play Drake London. I play Pittman. The way I see it is I think Pittman has a higher floor than Drake London, but Drake London has a higher ceiling. So depending on the rest of your roster, if you need upside, if you're going up against a juggernaut, I'd go London. If you need safety, I'd go Pittman. Sky Moore tonight or Pity City? Pity City. Did you fix the graphic?

Can we, did you fix it? Thank you. Hey, okay. If, if something good happens, I'm taking it all. It's all yours, Mike, and I bought the ticket right out. I hopped on a train, but no, I think, I think he's sneaky. He's, Michael Pittman is a good wide receiver. He is the number one wide receiver. Will he be usable or will he be adjacent? What did you call them? Wide receiver won't. Oh, won't? Yeah. Yeah, he did fit the bill where the wide receiver won for a team with the bottom five pass rate under expectation is usually not a good wide receiver. We'll find out. On the Jacksonville side, you're starting your stars. Lawrence, Ridley. Very excited to see his debut. ETN, of course. Christian Kirk? I think Christian Kirk is a fine start. I would start him. Ingram?

Yes. Evan Ingram, yeah, you drafted Evan Ingram to start. So Evan Ingram is then. Krisha Kirk is a fine flex option. I would play him behind Michael Pittman. And Tank Biggsby, I'm so excited to see, but I'm going to have him on my bench. The coaching staff said they're going to bring him along a little bit slower. I don't necessarily believe it. But where you drafted him, he doesn't need to be in your starting lineup. I want to just take a look. And Travis ETS should be a smash play. Tampa. Heads to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. The over under here is 45 and a half. The Draft King Sportsbook line is Minnesota has six point home favorites. That's exactly what we were talking about at the top. So this is an over under of 45. That's fantastic. But the implied team total for Tampa Bay is actually lower than the Indianapolis Colts. Correct. Yeah, because Minnesota is heavily favored. Correct. They were eight and one at home last year. We get to see Alexander Madison with the backfield to himself for the very first time. Let's ride.

We get to watch Jordan Addison make his debut. Is there a world where you're playing Jordan Edison this week? There's a world where he's in my lineup right now. There's a world where I'm forced to. So it's the world you're living in. I will say this. I would much prefer. I love Addison. He's one of my my guys. I think he's going to have a phenomenal year. I would much prefer to be able to sit him. In this matchup, he could have a good game, but you just don't know how much. snap percentage he's going to play, whether he's going to be really the third wide receiver. That's kind of my expectation. He could come out and surprise and be that Adam Thiel and roll from week one on. I would doubt it. The way that we've seen this Minnesota staff kind of handle some other rookies is not necessarily throwing them out there week one to the fire. So if you have to, like I do, okay. I think you could have a good game, but I would rather take a wait and see approach. All right. Justin Jefferson, you should play him. Hawkinson. Yep.

How about the Buccaneers? Are we watching with some curiosity here? We've got, you know, Baker Mayfield starting quarterback of Tampa Bay for the very first time. He is a chuck or checkdown type of quarterback, which could be okay. I mean, we've, I mean, just throwing some interceptions and you've got James Winston in that recipe. He's really interesting. If you're playing in a Superflex league and maybe you don't have the strongest options, I think Baker Mayfield could surprise this week against a putrid pass defense from the Minnesota Vikings with a high over under where they're going to need to throw and he's got weapons to throw to. He's someone that I think should probably crack Superflex league rosters this week. All right. Mike Evans. Off the injury report.

Off of it. Yeah, he's healthy. He's good. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are great plays. Kate Otten or David Najoku? David Najoku. Yeah. Tennessee takes on the Saints. Also, we've brought his name up a lot, but the player that I'm really watching is Sean Tucker backup running back of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Let's see if Rashad White is good. Let's see how much they split. Sean Tucker, I believe, is actually good. Uh, yeah, I'm, I'm going to be watching that. Yeah. And Rashad White has an opportunity. I don't know how it's going to get broken down in week one, but I'm playing Rashad White, but I'm saying I'm watching Sean Tucker with, you know. Excitement? Yes. All right. The Tennessee Titans take on the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans. The drafting sports book line here, New Orleans minus three. The over under is 41. Okay. Okay. The implied point total would give the Saints 22.

and the Titans 19. These are two teams that played very slow last year. Andy Dalton, Malik Willis, thank you for that. And, you know, Derek Carr gets to make his debut. And it's a great matchup. I'm excited. I mean, last year, the Titans defense against quarterback's wide receivers and Titans, not too good. It's pretty exciting for the entirety of the New Orleans Saints side. Derek Carr. A fine quarterback two fine streamer this week. Olave, absolutely. Jason already brought up Joanne Johnson. Are you talking about him later? I am. Spicy. And then Jamal Williams with the Alvin Camara three game suspension. Here we go again. Kendrae Miller as the ultimate recoverer. It's going to be Jamal Williams getting a ton of volume yet again.

goal line opportunities. Here's a question for you. Jamal Williams or Dion Jackson should Zach Moss not play? Jamal Williams. Jamal. Okay. Yeah. I agree. I think it's pretty easy. Alave, yes, you play him. Michael Thomas. We'll see what he has left. It's been an up and down situation. The reports in camp, sometimes they're good. Sometimes they're not so good. And we'll get to find out how, to me, it's about involvement in the offense. Is he out there every snap? Does he become one of Derek Carr's favorite targets? Or does he get lost in the non-olave options and the pile of tight ends that they have to throw out there on the field? Yeah. The way that I see this game going is it's going to be really, really good for the Saints if they can stop Derek Henry. Because what the Titans want to do is really make this game ugly. They want to slow it down. They want to control the clock, run it slow, and just keep.

the ball out of the Saints hands. And I could see that happening in this game. So I have a little bit of fear that it will not go as happy as it should be with the matchup for the Saints. But the fact that the Saints are at home, I think is very, very helpful here. I'm putting my bet that the Saints will produce a lot of fantasy points this week. But my fear is that Derek Henry just controls the clock a lot. Well, the Saints defense is one of my favorite plays this week. So if I was targeting defenses and drafts,

And I didn't want to take any of the kind of top actual defenses, which the Saints kind of are. But this matchup specifically, this and the commanders, they were my week one targets. Tennessee on the road. If you look at the Saints, end of season and the points they gave up to end last year, it was like 10 points, 10 points, 10 points, 10 points, win or lost. Sometimes they lost those games because they couldn't score. But they were a really high performing defense to end the year. And I think they win this game. Hopkins. You play him? Sure. Yeah. I would. And that might be the end of the receiver list for this roster. It is. Chica Conquo. No. Kind of, I agree. But a kind of a tight and darling of the offseason. Oh. Oh. Oh, no. Yeah. But with Hopkins coming in, it kind of cooled that off. And the matchup is not great. So I'd prefer not to play him. 49ers.

Going to Pittsburgh, taking on the Steelers and Kenny Pickett, the Draft King Sportsbook Line here. Oh, San Francisco minus two on the road, over under's 41 and a half. It's getting nasty. You've got Tomlin sitting at 164 and 3 against the spread as a home underdog. This game's going to be very interesting. Yes, it's going to be a bloodbath. For who? I'm just saying for football. Like, these are two physical teams that play so violently. I really think this is going to be just an angry, mean-spirited game. And I love it. There was a point here where we didn't think maybe Nick Bosa would be available. He got paid. Oh, yes. Sorry, Pippa Pickett. Yeah, Kenny Pickett, unfortunately, well, to face the number one rushing defense. So handing the ball off to Najee and Warren is going to be trepidacious.

They're just a great defense overall. So you're going to have all these offseason expectations of this new found picket offense. And the first week, they're going to have to get it done against the San Francisco team. And it's going to be hard. And it's going to make the draft investments in Harris and Deontay Johnson and Pickens and Pickett and Fryermuth, very like you might have some bad games. Not all of those guys, but you might have a few that make you go, oh, no. but it might not be indicative of the rest of the season. Yeah, you could say that in both directions here because I think that the Steelers defense, they've been so much better with Watt on the field. Watt should be available. And this is a defense that could really throw some stuff at Brock Purdy. We've brought it up very, I think maybe once before, maybe twice, but it's been a long time. Brock Purdy, who was just so great, you know, he was a revelation. You got to also be a little honest with the teams he was beaten.

last year, you know, he beat the commanders and the Raiders and the Seahawks and the Buccaneers and the Cardinals. Like, yeah, he won those games. That's great. But he hasn't faced a team like this yet. So with Watt bearing down, I think this could be really a defensive game where you're disappointed with a lot of the fantasy assets, but obviously where you drafted some of these guys like Najee and Debo and Christian McCaffrey, you're just, they're all in, but you might be disappointed. Are you at what are you doing with George Kittle? Because he was limited Wednesday. It's been an ongoing groin injury for at least a few weeks now. If you drafted George Kittle, you did it with like a fifth or a six-round pick. Are you playing him or you? You start him if he's active. It's similar to Kelsey in the sense that there's just pivot options at tight end are all garbage. And a bad game from Kittle can be just as good. Debo, Iyuk, McCaffrey. Yep.

McCaffrey over the last four years in games with 40 plus percent of snaps has averaged 22.6 fantasy points. I read that. I'm going in a Dynasty League about trading McCaffrey. We've been going back and forth all morning on trade offers. Oh, okay. I read that stat and clicked withdrawal. Not a joke. I mean, it was dangling out there to be accepted. In Dynasty. I'll take one year, McCaffrey. In Dynasty. We always talk about be out one year too early on running backs. That is historically the way to go. Christian McCaffrey feels like you might just go down with the ship. Just let him be a superstar until he's not. And then when he is eventually not a superstar, you just salute him and you thank him for his years of service. Yeah, I click withdrawal.

Kenny Pickett here, there's a good example of a matchup where I think most people, because of where they were drafted, you'd be starting in two quarterback leagues Kenny Pickett over Baker Mayfield, and I wouldn't. I would flip those, I would start Baker Mayfield because of the matchup here. And Howell? Howell scares me. I really, I love Howl. You know I'm all in on Howl. I think he wins the game. How in are you? I'm, was that a Howl in? Yeah, I don't know. I was just trying to miss it. That's not in there enough. I'm not very in this week against Cardinals.

That's a sad wolf. Yeah, I know. Not the not the breakthrough performance this week, huh? I think he'll have a good first half. You know, and I think Dodson's going to have a good game, but you want a whole game. You don't think Arizona's even going to score. Let's talk about that game. Cardinals take on the commanders, draft King Sportsbook line, Washington minus seven. The overrunner is just 38, which means the Cardinals are projected for 15 points. Oh, mercy. That's what I'm talking about. Gannon Ball! Oh, nice. Nice. So, wait, you're telling me the sports books don't know for sure who the starting quarterback is because it's top secret, really advantageous information for the Cardinals to hide.

and they have Washington favor by seven in the over under at 38, which if you've been around sports books, when a starting quarterback is not known, they often don't even put numbers up because they don't want to risk anything. But they're saying we do not care, just like the commanders. Well, let's see if the NFL does what it does, which is surprised the heck out of us sometimes. The way the commanders lose this ball game, I can tell you it right now. It's Sam Hell. If Sam Hill comes out and commits a couple turnovers, then that's the direction the game could go. Like it's like the commanders are three to zero. No, I mean, look. Because of turnovers. Like the same hell turns the ball over six times and they lose three to zero. Oh boy. Oh, I dare. No. Oh, do it. Do it. Do it. Your eyes got big. Push that button.

That's so. He's reaching. Don't use the magic. Oh, this is not good. Oh, no. Andy's almost upset of the wig. Homer! I don't know, listen. All right. This is not a Homer pick. I want us to lose every game. I want the first pick. It would be bad. But this is a seven-point line with a quarterback making his, you know, starting the season as the starter for the first time. I think you could say that about Josh Dobbs. You absolutely can. And I wish I didn't hit the button. Trust me. It's going to probably be wrong. But the game might be closer than you think. It's an almost upset. James Connor, you're playing him. James Connor, you are playing him. But you're nervous. Yeah, the matchup isn't good, but the matchup is pretty irrelevant. The matchup's going to be bad for the Cardinals every single week. James Conner is the only guy in the back. Yeah, don't wait for a good matchup for the Cardinals. Yeah. The, the.

You know, James Connor's going to get a ton of volume and probably five or six receptions. You know, so it's one of those things where he's not like a smash start. Oh, I've got to get him in there. There are other players that I would play ahead of them like Rahim Mostert. I would play ahead of him. But James Connor is about Jamal Williams. I think I would stick on the James Connor side. Oh, yeah. Me too. Brian Robinson. Yeah. Starting running back for the commanders on the other side. Antonio Gibson. Yeah, I think I'm willing to start Gibson, especially like if the game script goes as Jason and I are projecting of Washington having a nice lead in the second half, Antonio Gibson is going to get plenty of work. Do you believe that you should play Terry McLaurin if he's active under all circumstances?

All circumstances, no. I mean, it's going to depend on who you have on. Van Jefferson or Terry McClorn? I would probably go. I'd probably go Terry there. Okay. Is there a lower tier option? Christian Watson? I would go Christian Watson over Terry McLaren. If they're both active, they're both dealing with injuries. I'd go Terry. Really? Yeah. John Dodson? My guy. Dotson, I think, is a great start this week. Terry McLaur, any of it is active, we just don't know how much he's going to be hampered by that. We've heard about how difficult it is for a wide receiver to play through a turf toe, not just like difficult from a pain standpoint, but from a performance standpoint. You're having to plant and cut and burst off of your foot. So I think Dotson projects no matter what to be the wide receiver one for this matchup. I am absolutely fine playing Jahan Dotson. There's no cornerback that can cover.

Dotson on the Cardinals. Hollywood Brown. Is he just a player you play because he's everything they have right now on offense? In general, yes, I do worry about the hamstring issue. Obviously, he'll either be active or inactive, but given the fact that he was still not practicing Wednesday, sorry, go ahead. I'm not sure he's, I'm not sure he's going to be active. Are you playing Dotson over him? Yes. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dotson's actually seven of the top 10. StartSit questions on the website right now are Dotson related. Interesting. People are debating because they got value on him and they're debating whether this matchup is great like Skymore tonight or Dotson. I would go Dotson. Addison against Tampa Bay or Dotson? I would go Dotson. I would play Dotson. Zay Flowers against Houston or Dotson? I would play Dotson. That was very interesting but I would go Dotson. And then we said Hollywood. So.

Anybody else you're even whispering in Arizona? No. I'm going to keep my eyes on Michael Wilson. He might end up being the one if Hollywood is inactive. That's the rookie wide receiver from the third round this last year. And I want to see what happens with Trey McBride slash Zackertz. I don't think Zackertz is going to play. I agree. If he doesn't, I'm really interested to see how they use Trey McBride. Well, we might start him if Kelsey's out. Trey McBride, like, I mean, this is your dumpster diving. And I really can't advise to do it. But just watching, if Hollywood is out, I mean... What if Zachert starts? No. Are you saying, would I play Zach Ertz? Yeah, you said you're dumpster diving. I was going to say... Zacherts would be the starter if he's active. Yeah, but even if he is active, I'd... If he's active, I think it just destroys everything because... The whole world? Yeah. Because he just, I can't...

I don't see Zachers playing a full allotment of snaps, and then you're not going to feel comfortable playing him, and you're not going to feel comfortable taking the low, low percentage chance on Trey McBride. And then the other thing, keep your eyes on Cole Turner's involvement, Washington's tight end. Logan Thomas has missed most of camp with a calf injury. I believe he's playing, though, isn't he? That's what I say. Kyle, did you hear an update there? I think Logan Thomas is practicing. We'll look it up. Okay. I thought you were full time on Cole Turner related news, Kyle. I thought this was like you knew that world like the back of your hand. Is that not true? I'm just glad we get to talk about him. Yeah, yeah, we shouldn't have. Moving on. Starts of the week. All right, we're digging into our starts of the week. What are these? These are our confidence picks, players that you might be on the edge of.