Fantasy Football - Week 1 Matchups + CMC Panic, TNF Reactions - Podcast for 9/5

We'll see what Xavier Leggett and Travis Hunter have in this one. Travis Hunter, how many snaps does he play? Do you feel comfortable? I am playing Travis Hunter. You do? Okay. And then would you play them over Ricky Pearsall? Because that's one of the top start-s-sit decisions. Is Christian McCaff reactive? That is a question that I cannot answer for you, Mike. Although I pray that our crack staff back there in Ducers Alley would break through with any news. I'm sure they will. But so, like a decision I am making in the listener league, I have Travis Hunter and then I got Jordan Mason there sitting on my bench for the game on Monday night. I have Travis Hunter well ahead of that situation. Okay. What else are you watching in this one? The other things I'm watching are like Brenton Strange. He is the starting tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Will he, I know it's easy to be like, man, look at the Evan Engram targets that have, that are gone. Like strange, this is a different offense. So you can't just one for one plug those, those guys in. But he was a highly drafted player. I believe he was a second round pick. Yeah, a round two pick in 2023 has flashed a couple of times. So he's a player that is going to be on the watch for. the next week's waiver wire, I imagine. Tennessee traveling to Denver, tough matchup for them to start the season and for Cam Ward's debut. This is why Io Manor was on the bench of those three guys. Don't worry, guys. Chance with Thunderstorm. Tennessee at Denver, overrunners just 42 and a half. That gives the Tennessee at probably, Kyle, you can confirm this. That looks like probably the lowest implied point total of the week. Denver eight and a half point favorites. Tennessee at 17 implied.

Denver at 25.5. So look, it's heavily favored Denver Bronco players this week. Bo Nix. J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, we'll talk about them. I think there are a ton of expectations for this Denver team in a fantasy universe. So it's a nice matchup to start the year, you hope? For Bo Nix, your start of the week, Jason, for J.K. Dobbins, my start of the week. Our expectations for Dobbins and Harvey, if you had them both, which one would you play? And what are you looking for? I would start Dobbins over Harvey, but I think both are near each other kind of RB2s that are both in play to start. I expect Dobbins to have more work. I expect RJ Harvey to be more efficient with the work. The question is going to be when I'm watching this game is who gets the passing work. That's where the value is going to come in this offense over the long term with the kind of the

Sean Payton's system, what we saw with the targets with Giovante Williams last year. And, you know, will RJ Harvey be allowed to have those valuable targets early in his rookie season, TBD? So we'll be watching for that. We'll also have Cortland Sutton in our lineups. But I feel like people have really equivocated and had trouble, you know, lined in the sand with Franklin, Mims, and Pat Bryan. Oh, for sure. Because I think obviously one of these guys is going to have a really good week. But. You know, Mims at the end of last year was great. Troy Franklin, the big plays, Pat Bryant. How much work does he get? I feel like if someone has a good game, as the wide receiver too, it's going to be on the back of a big play. Like, it's going to be just one play. So I don't think there's going to be a lot to take away from it other than snap percentage and two wide receiver sets. That's what I'm going to be looking for. It looked like Marvin Mims had that kind of on lockdown, but then he got injured giving Franklin and Pat Bryant that opportunity to get in there. I expect this game to be much more.

run focused in the second half. I think, you know, it's going to be hard. It's tough sledding for Cam Ward to go into Denver against this elite defense with the weapons he has in his first game and looks special. So if the Broncos get out to a big lead, obviously they're favored by eight and a half. I think it'll be a second half running game. Cortland Sutton will get his and the only other wide receiver worth starting on the Broncos is whoever you think catches a long bomb touchdown. So you can probably have an ingram. Yeah, yeah. Engram's locked in. He'll be played as a top 12 tight end all year. Are you scared of Ridley? Oh, I am. Because the first game. Sir tan, my friend. And exactly. That's why I think Iowa Manor could actually be okay, because they could be down by a bunch. And Ridley could be not getting as many targets in week one as you'd hope. Yeah, I, man. Let's try and find some names here. So Calvin Ridley.

Well, we have a couple from the start sit tool. I mean, Jalen Waddle against Indianapolis or Calvin Ridley. Debo against the Giants or Calvin Ridley. I'm going to go Debo there. I'd go Debo there. Ebuca. Ebuca. Yeah. And, you know, Tony Waller. Tony Waller? Is that Tony Pollard and Darren Waller? Yeah. That's Toby Dobbins. Maybe you've heard of him. Toby Robbins. Tony Pollard, he'll get a bunch of volume, but he may not be very effective. The Broncos defense, I think, were third in least rushing yards given up. It's going to be tough for Tony Pollard to get into the end zone, I think. Yeah, but the volume, you know, it's kind of like what we saw with Giovante yesterday had over 70% of the utilization. If you're getting the vast majority, then if there's a touchdown, it's going to go to Pollard, and you'll get a couple dump off screens, you'll get enough work to where. I think Pollard is pretty much in most everybody's lineup.

The San Francisco 49ers, Mike said they go as CMC goes. They travel to Seattle. They are one and a half point road favorites in Seattle. Oh. The overrunners 43 and a half. I probably would pick Seattle regardless of CMC status to win this game. I'm a little shocked that they're one and a half point favorites, but Seattle's got a brand new situation, brand new quarterback, brand new offensive coordinator. We've got two starts of the week on the Seattle side. Kenneth Walker and Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, we talked about them on yesterday's show. So, you know, those are your primary starts in Seattle, and I'm not sure you go beyond them. Are there players that you were, I mean, Cooper Cup, I mean, late drafted, Tori Horton's going to start in three wide. The tight-in situation is completely new for them. A.J. Barner's the starter.

Elijah Arroyo, the more athletic freak in the Tidead Room. And Sam Darnold, nobody's starting Sam Darnold. So does it stop at Ken Bone in Jackson Smith and Jigba? Yeah, I mean, Cooper Cup would be the next man up if you got a deeper league. But you really want to see it first. You want to see. I expect Cooper Cup to play the primary slot role for this team, but we just don't know. We don't know for sure. So we've got to wait and see. I would take a wait and see approach if you can. Do you guys both have San Francisco winning this game? I mean, we've had a... No, I just went to check because we do our weekly picks early in the week, and I was curious what that was. The line at the beginning of the week was minus two and a half. Right. And then I took the Seahawks. So I agree with you here. I think the Seahawks can cover. What's kind of strange about San Francisco's offense to me is while there are a lot of pieces that could be very good, I don't feel like any of them have really...

played together in a while. Like, CMC's been out a long time. Brian Robinson is brand new. Juan Jennings has not been practicing, but he's supposed to get a full allotment of snaps. Ricky Pearsall, he had a good end of the season, but this is like a fairly new player to the offense. No more Debo, no Iuke. George Kittle, very familiar there. We can feel super confident with him, but, you know, I guess it's the question of how quickly does this new offense with those weapons come together in a way that seems really clean because i think the seattle defense is underrated i think seattle's defense has the potential to be a top five top ten defense those are very different numbers to me well they the numbers actually bear itself out i wonder if i just mean being a top five versus being a top ten like but top ten is like you can be middle of the pack top five is you're an elite defense you know um i think they described themselves pretty well i think top ten you could be in the top ten sure that's that's a top third it could be six seven what else

Eight. Okay. And that's it? Hold on. Wait, nine. What? Yeah. All of those? It might be top nine. Okay. Okay, I understand now. So you don't like it if I say top five, top 10 rain. I thought it was fine. No, I'm just saying. Very different numbers. When you said top five defense, that was like, whoa, that's shocking. And then you're like, or a top 10. I guess you backed it off a little bit. Yeah. And then you're like top 10. It's like, oh, yeah, well, I could see that. I mean, it's just like, you know, you're either bold or you're not. And I'm saying you try to be both. I'm not going to let you. I'm not going to stand for that. I'm not going to just be like, oh, sure, they could be the best defense or top. I'm not joking when I tell you this.

I just looked this up. Greg Olson. You know Greg Olson? I've heard him. This is a direct quote. I think this Seahawks defense has a chance to be a top five, top seven defense by the end of the season. That's a man. That's a man. That's what I'm talking about. There's no hedge. Because top seven's good. You know what I mean? Yeah, Greg. Greg Olson gets it. We got Greg Olson on a photo over here somewhere. Yeah, I also like you referred to him as analyst. I mean, I know that's what he, but it's like, all of fame tight end. But yeah, I mean, I, I, the tight end version of him, I trust less about defense. You will bring me, bring me Greg Olson. You bring me this man. Yeah. Just look at this. Yes, sir. Oh, per Greg Olson's analysis, Jason. This is a man. Tight. He's not afraid. Defense eight. That's not in the cards. No, no, no. That's not top defense. Oh, top seven. It's so stupid.

That's my that's my man. Also, if we could talk just for one more second about Greg Olson, who I love and adore. For the podcasters, there's a very, very large painting of Greg Olson right next to us. Hair. Yeah. Which obviously he's playing football here. He's sweaty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks bad. Looks nowhere near as bad as when he's an analyst. I saw, I mean, when he is, when he is, no, I'm just saying like when they go to him in the booth. Right. Dude. What are you doing? I saw him on a podcast recently. And he was walking a hat. And I was like, you're so handsome. Why aren't you always wearing a hat? Show the people like under your hat. I'm not a man. This is a man. I'm a boy. He's staying here today. Okay. We'll keep Greg Olson to hang out. I almost got him. All right.

We're watching for CMC. Look, if CMC doesn't play, Brian Robinson is in play. I mean, he's going to be, he's going to be their starter. Juan Jennings, but where does he? Let's just because we won't, we won't have another recording. I mean, Sunday live. Yeah, if you catch it. Oh, yeah, tell the people about Sunday live. Sunday. Guys, if Christian McCaffrey's out, Sunday live will not be happy. I will be stepping in over Mike's body. No, but I think we should answer the question like CMC is ruled Sunday dead. It's Sunday dead. Ruled. Sunday dead. Where does that put Brian Robinson? Because it seems like it would be him almost alone. No, no, Grendo is back and healthy. Probably around. Back and healthy? Yeah. Yeah, he is. Oh, I would, I'm not going to rocket ship Brian Robinson up to be like top 12. Yeah, yeah. 20. As a, it's an RB2. Let me give you some names. Okay. All right, let me give you some names. Obviously, we're not going to start them over the elite tier. So going down to like running back.

Well, let's look at this game. Would you still start Ken Walker over? Yes, I would. Oh, yeah. Okay. Would you? Go lower. Would you? Trayvion Henderson. That's a questionable name. That's a great. That's a great one to say. I'd probably, I'd probably shoot my shot on Brian Robinson if he's a starter. I would be on the Brian Robinson side if Christian McCaffrey doesn't play. Doesn't feel good to say. No. But I think that's the right call. I think we get to a tier where you're looking at Traveon Henderson. Maybe. What about? Oh, no, Pacheco will have already played. Maybe Jalen Warren.

I'd play Robinson over more. What about R.J. Harvey? What about Dobbins? Did you go Robinson over? I think I would go Brian Robinson over all of these players. Yeah, I think so too. All right. So Joanne Jennings, who's been limited, got the incentives. He's going to be back. He's still a nervous start for me. I'd much, I feel better with Pearsall in this first week with the calf injury. Kiddle, yeah. Yeah. So, and if you're making a decision at quarterback, two quarterback leagues. Purdy or Love against Detroit, I'd go Love. I would as well. Purdy or Kyler at New Orleans, I'd go Kyler. I'd go Kyler. Purdy or Drake May against Las Vegas. That one, I'm going to stick with Purdy. I will say this. I'll go May at home. If I drafted May and I don't have, like if I have both guys, okay, if I drafted Drake May for the breakout season, I'm not going to drop him for Purdy by any means. I would be willing to take the risk.

on that first week. Those guys are back to back for me. So that's a tough decision. I had one question, though, last two matchups. Jennings or Calvin Ridley? Because I feel like I'm on the Jennings side there. I think I might go safety of Ridley? Of Ridley. Of with the... Jennings missed, you know, essentially all of camp with the calf. I know he's been back the last couple days and running around. But in... I'd like to see that. If I, if I, Calvin Ridley, the hill, the targets are there. The upside's not, but. All right. We'll take another break and jump back into our matchups. We've got Detroit Green Bay coming up. Lowe's nose Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on cobalt power tools, pit boss grills, LG appliances, and more. Then once your to-do list is done,

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I'm still just... Football is... Every year. Great. It is great. I'm back in, man. I'm back in. This is fun. You and Greg? The show is healing. The show is a healing force to forget about AJ Brown. Because you get zoomed in on that one thing. C drop Wilson. Then you can zoom out. You're like, oh, no, there's other things to have fun with. Detroit at Green Bay. This is a really fun, exciting game. Vegas line, Green Bay, two and a half point home favorites. The over under is... 47 and a half, which you love to see. We probably will get the Michael Parsons debut, but not necessarily with him dealing with some injuries. But that would be exciting. Detroit won both games last year, 2414, 3431. They were close. That second one was amazing. Jordan Love is Mike's start of the week at home against Detroit.

when he was at home last year against Detroit, he threw the ball 39 times, the second most of the entire year. Let's do that again. You also have, you know, he was recovering, was it a hand injury in the preseason? Yeah, a thumb. But last year, he was limited mobility-wise. One of the reasons I like him on this team with Matt LaFleur, it's the ability to maybe run a little bit more this year, do more outside the pocket. You know, the Bryce Young scramble increase at the end of the year. You want to see that with Jordan Love. He doesn't have to run it.

Just get out of the pocket. His arm, he can make plays. You've got the debut of Matthew Golden. I was told. Okay. Who are you told by? That was a producer. That's K-pop. What? No, that's Matthew Golden. Don't worry about that. Yeah. Wait, who is it? Matthew Golden. Brooks just said, quote. Oh, hold on. He said, Brooks said what was that? Brooks, you don't have children. You're fine. I've seen it. So Jordan Love, Matthew Golden. I feel very comfortable starting Golden. It's funny because Ibuka, McMillan, Golden, Hunter, Travis Hunter. I feel good starting all those guys this week. Yeah, no, I agree. Over the years, we've learned to be less afraid of rookie wide receivers, even at the beginning of the season. They should be stronger towards the end of the year. But the opportunities here have lined up really nicely for the higher drafted guys to where they're on the field.

more than we expected. You know, like Buka and Travis Hunter, even Matthew Golden, they didn't seem like they were guaranteed locks to be on the field as wide receivers for Travis Hunter for the majority of snaps. Now, injuries, off seasons, and, you know, coaching comments have said they're pretty much all locked in starters. We have Jaden Reed who, look, it would not be a shock if Jaden Reed had a great game. Like that's in the card. It's just really nerve-wracking to play him because you don't know if he will leave early, if he will be healthy enough, he's going to be managing an injury. I'm just saying that because they're at home in week one, and last year he was the number one receiver in week one. It's possible. Josh Jacobs, start with confidence. Would you play like Jacoby Myers against the Patriots or would you play Jane Reed? I mean, it's a great, terrible decision there. Josh Downs, Miami Dolphins.

I'd probably try downs there. I don't know if I'd go Myers, because I just don't. I don't know. You could. I agree with you, though. It would go, it would go downs, Reed Myers to me. Okay. Romeo Dobbs also going to play in this one, Dantavius Wick. Dontavian Wicks will see Tucker Kraft, 20% target share in two games against Detroit last year, also in place. You've got a lot of pieces in Green Bay that you can be excited about. And Jared golf on the other side, he'll be throwing the ball to Alman Rice, St. Brown, Jameson Williams, my guy getting to go on the road here in Lambo, Isaac to Slah. Oh, man. We'll be watching the snaps for this rookie. Yes, we will. Jamir Gibbs, David Montgomery, both in play, Sam LaPorte in play. I mean, there are not many benches in this game. There's not many benches. I would say that the two players I'm probably most fearful of based upon matchups.

would be Jameson Williams with the addition of Michael Parsons, that like long developing deeper shots that you're looking for might be a little bit more difficult versus the get it out quick to Amman Raw. And Josh Jacobs. an auto start, you can't go away from him. But if he has a bad week one, you got to keep in mind that even though we saw the Detroit lines kind of collapsed defensively based on injuries last year, for the last several years, they have been almost impossible to run the ball against. So if it comes out healthy, week one, Josh Jacobs, inefficient, ineffective, maybe they throw the ball more. He might be a target for me. Yeah, it's interesting because like the Packers often succeeded on the ground last year, and that's the strength of the Lions defense. And then the Lions.

They threw the ball so well, but the strength of the Packers defense, fifth against quarterbacks, under 15 points a game given up, sixth against wide receivers. Add Micah Parsons. Yeah. So potentially. He may not play. Houston at Los Angeles. Vegas line is Los Angeles. The Rams minus three. The overrunners 43 and a half. That's low. And here we go. You know, the defenses, I think a lot of people are excited about the Texans defense this year for good reason. Matthew Stafford. It's been a tumultuous offseason, but he's there. He's going to play. Pooka Nakua, Devante Adams, Kairn Williams, all locks for your lineup this week at home? Oh, for sure. Absolutely. And then on the other side, Nico Collins, of course, what are you doing with the running backs? People want to know, how is the wind blowing? Nick Chubb, Damien Pierce. I have no problem having taken either or both late in your drafts. There's no world where I'm starting. Like, if I have to start.

One, I would start Chubb first. I would start Nick Chub by a mile. Sure, but I'm saying I would not, I would really like to not start Nick Chub this week. I don't think it's- What about Jordan Mason at Chicago? A tough decent. I'd play a tough defense. I would play Jordan Mason. I think Chicago's defense is good, but it's much more difficult to throw on them than run. See, I play Nick Chubb. Yeah, I just think more work. I mean, Jordan Mason could be very touchdown dependent. Could be. What about the Jacksonville running backs or Nick Chubb? Or as our show doc has him listed chubster. I'm not sure. I think he's done enough at the NFL level to not have that nickname. I would play both of the Jacksonville guys. The Rams are like the sneaky DST. I think that the Houston Texan's offensive line against the Rams front. It's going to be a problem. It looks like Houston still has the slowest player in NFL history. Dalton Schultz is their tight in. Are you playing Dalton Schultz?

No. That's not a real question. All right. I just wanted you just wanted to dunk on Schultz. It's the doctor. I at least go after Tom Palliserio. He's going after Dalton Schultz for no reason. No, no, he's great for his speed. Points per, you know, 40 time or something. You know, he's pretty good. All right. We've got Christian Kirk's going to be out. We talked about it at the top. So you could take a flyer on Jaden Higgins, I think. Yeah. No, I. I don't mind taking a flyer on him at all. One of these other wide receivers outside of Nico Collins will do something. It's tough to have it be in your starting lineup week one, but you can see the path for it. And I will be... Higgins or Thornton, sorry. Did you say this earlier? I did. I said Higgins was locked in for me. Interesting. In terms of keeping an eye on things, a player, I don't know that we've said Tyler Higby.

one time over this offseason. Because last year was mostly gone to injury. But his final week, so he came back for the last three weeks. And week 18 was five for 46 with a touchdown. And then you look at the playoffs, five for 58, seven for 54 with a touchdown, including a 10 target game. And then you look at the NFL draft and a second round pick spent on. Terrence Ferguson. Yeah, I'm in agreement with Mike. You would play him this? No, no, no, no, no. This is, he did not say play him. This is keep an eye on it. All right. That if I have him in basketball a bunch of places because I think he will do stuff. If Tyler Higby in week one pops for six targets, like that I don't think that'll be a surprising thing. Then you'll have to make a decision. He was really out on Higgily. It will surprise me. Well, I, first of all, I wouldn't play him. I thought you were saying you could take a shot on him. But.

If he has a good week, I still feel like as the season goes on, Terrence Ferguson will be more and more involved. So it'd be tough for me to pick him up going, okay, we learned what the rest of the season's going to be like from week. Not necessarily the season, but we all, every year in the draft, you're like, look at these tight ends. They're all draftable. And then week one happens, you go, 70% of these dudes are pure trash. Who is actually getting volume? And Tyler Higby would not surprise me to be one of those guys this week. Sunday night football. You can cue Jason Moore wanting this game. Baltimore at Buffalo. The Vegas line is Baltimore minus one. Is that surprised you? What? Is that true? Wait, really? Baltimore. No, I took Baltimore. Let me check because it was. It must be getting better around. Oh, 100%. The over under 50 and a half. And it was.

Like Buffalo was favored at one point. Correct. I remember I took the Ravens as dogs in this game. Let me check what the line are. Oh, it's on back and forth the last three days. Interesting. So basically a heads up. Looks like it opened it where I'm looking at Buffalo minus one and a half. And now it's Baltimore minus one and a half. So look, nothing like playing the exact team that you played in the divisional round last year, Mr. Mark Andrews. Oh, shh, shh. that's too soon. It's too soon for him to have to play them again. That's for sure. Buffalo, yeah, this is going to be a fun one. I mean, for fantasy, you don't get a lot of 50 plus point over unders and we've got one here. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, James Cook, Derek Henry, those guys are locked in to your lineup. I would, you know, much like Higby, keep your eye on Dalton Kincaid because he's a free agent in a lot of leagues.

And then Mark Andrews was Jason's start of the week. So the tight end, tight end one right now would know Isaiah likely available is something you can pay attention to. You know, last year Buffalo struggled against the run or they funneled to the run, you could say. And so we'll see if Patrick Ricard being out and Derek Henry gets, you know, is he the same Derek Henry? He always seems to be. But at some point, right, he's got to not be. I think that will happen in his 40s. You, you. That's the best bet possible. What are you doing at the wide receiver position, though? For a game with a 50 point over under, both teams have wide receiver rooms that I'm nervous about who to play. Now, Zayflowers is probably the safest of the whole group. Yep, yep. But then like Rashad Bateman, is he in play? Would you play Bateman? Would you play, you know, Higgins or Thornton?