Fantasy Football - Week 3 Waivers & Streamers + Rookie Rundown - Podcast for 9/16

The fantasy footballer studio is sponsored by Walmart. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. The fantasy footballers back with you Tuesday, September 16th. Mike, the fantasy hitman, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Week two in the books, and we are here with...

A waiver wire episode, news to talk about, we'll reflect on the Monday night games, and we will talk about the rookies. Because I think that's one of the big reactions from two weeks. The Dukies. Oh, okay. Hanuk in the streets. Yeah, we've had two weeks of NFL football. We've had a bunch of rookie running backs with huge opportunities or so we thought. Or. perhaps they will come. But Hampton, Gentie, Henderson, Caleb Johnson, RJ Harvey. It's not been a good two weeks. There are a lot of people with panic, like you said, and they want to know what to do with these players that they drafted to start. And last night, you know, if we want to get into the two games, we had the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield. Dog. 20 to 19 over the Texas who are now 0.2 in that division. I saw Baker suffer.

I think three season-ending injuries last night. His knees are destroyed. His ankles gone. And yet continues to play. Dog. He's so fun to watch. He is an incredible story. The play where he is down. He is. on his knees writhing kind of in pain and then immediately gets off to get up to talk crap he's like oh wait because of fuels him he turned the switch off the pain switch like she flipped it off someone's near me i could talk some crap to his face check this out i'm not even hurting anymore and then he ran until he went on the bench and his face was the man of who is an extreme pain there was no one to talk crap to you on the bench man then he ran again yeah yeah fourth and 15 he was fine and popped back up and

So they get it done. Bucky Irving, 17 for 71, didn't score Rashad White with the tricky touchdown at the end. Because there's no, if I'm that defense, and I see Rashad White, 0.0% chance that they're going to run the ball. That's why it was so smart. That's why it's so smart. Oh, it's, it's disrespectful. 5 for 56. Abuka, 4 for 29 did save it with a touchdown. And a legal touchdown. And Bucky Irving, pay attention here. 6 for 50 through the air. through two weeks. This is something you saw in preseason that has been validated so far with the snap counts as high as they are for Buck Irving, getting involved in the passing game. I mean, he was, he led the team in receptions. Just like, wow, that wasn't something I think we saw coming. And then Nico Collins, you know, it was good and bad for Nico. He scored an amazing touchdown. Nine targets, awesome, but only three of them were caught. And the offense still looks like it's okay at best.

Yeah, that offensive line is going to be an issue. I mean, it's not like we didn't know how important offensive lines are. But if you look around the league, you look at the Eagles and the, you know, the lions and these teams who focus on their offensive line. And then there are a handful of teams, the Bengals now without Joe Burrow because they couldn't protect them and he just kept getting massacred behind the line or the Texans who have plenty of skill position. talent, a good quarterback, and it's irrelevant. Your offense is just inept when you have no offensive line. In the other game, the Chargers beat the Raiders 20 to 9. It was a bad day for Gino Smith. Gino was so disappointing. For somebody that has been near the top of the league in completion percentage in recent years, to go 24 for 43 and constantly be missing players that are wide open.

Mike was sweating out a victory and needed Jacoby Myers not to do anything. Myers had 12 targets. He only caught six of them and multiple touchdown opportunities were taken away by Gino Smith. Brock Bowers. And really, really good defense. Yeah, the Chargers defense looks fully legit. I mean, they are, they play angry. Is this? Can it finally happen after years? It's always injuries. Years and years and years. You feel like, hey. You're the sneaky insiders are like, yeah, it's the Chargers. This is the year. They're going to be good. And then it never works. But Harbaugh. Harbaugh has changed the franchise. They're ready to make a serious run and be a Super Bowl contender. Justin Herbert was great. And through two weeks, I mean, you guys got to realize this. He's basically sustaining three good fantasy options at wide receiver. Quentin Johnston, Keenan Allen, both scored. Keenan.

my saving grace start of the week for goodness sakes i needed keenan in a big way we're on to week three bro yeah lad mcconkey five for 48 he is not going to be what he was last year i think i think that was why i was concerned about drafting him in general was just that keenan and having more options i i am personally not concerned about lad i'm not really concerned it's just where do where did you tear him in before the season and where do you tear him in now i mean he's I think he was unanimously a wide receiver one before the season. Do you look at him as a wide receiver, a top 12 wide receiver now, Mike? No, not top 12. The Keenan Allen, when they brought him in, that was, like, Ladd McConkey was on the board for my guy for the entire offseason. And the Keenan Allen was like that I had to pivot away because that true ceiling was gone. But the way that they're throwing and, like, teams will eventually start respecting.

the other options of like they're like oh i guess we do have to guard keogh maybe that's something that we have to shut down and then that just that reopens the field for lad honestly keoges is a big problem for defenses because he is not their best most important thing you need to shut down he's not you the way that lad and keenan can command just normal drives and just moving chains and they get open and you're focused on them. It was before that touchdown from Kuge. I remember having the thought in my head. I was like, it feels impossible that Kuge doesn't get a long bomb in this game because eventually you're going to take a couple shots and the defense cannot be focused on that when you've got Latin. So to me, I look at this offense and I just go, wow, they have a real with with the laser beam that Herbert can throw, the routes and the space

that these two possession receivers can make. And I know Trey Harris just getting involved, but even if you start working on Q's, you have two other rookies. Like, this is going to be an offense. It's hard to stop. So one of the big things, I think, leading us into the discussion about the rookies, because I, you know, I named five, like you spent high draft capital on Gentry, on Hampton, on Henderson, on Harvey, really. You know, and then the other one's in the mix. You draft them at a point in your drafts where you're wanting to start them. It hasn't really been viable to start them. And then in this game, Gentie and Hampton both struggled. Through two weeks, the charges are number one in pass rate over expectation in the National Football League. They're not really running the same running schemes that Baltimore ran when Greg Roman was there. So so far, we're putting the ball in the hands of Justin Herbert and it's working. They're two and oh.

But just to give you perspective, if you want to think about how you go about the rookie situation, because right now it is a sell low on everybody. If you wanted to get rid of them, buy low. Yeah, or buy low and if you're on the other side of it. Here's some numbers. Ryan Heath collected these just to give you data. Through two weeks as rookies, Bucky Irving was averaging five points a game. Rashi Rice had run 16 routes. Jemir Gibbs had a 37% snap share. Devon A-chan had played five snaps. Justin Jefferson had six targets. Nick Chubb had five rush attempts. Christian McCaffrey was averaging 2.7 a carry. And you can go on and on. Like it is not, it's not very normal for a, and those are all stars, for these players to come out and give you dominant performances to start the year. And unfortunately, they're getting in their own way. Hampton had the fumble. Now that's...

It was after not getting a ton of work, though. That was a tough fumble too because he got hit so fast, but it was on him. Genti couldn't pass block to save his life against this defense. We know Henderson had the three, he had three penalties. Caleb Johnson managed to hurt his team without touching the football. The like Henderson was. Honestly, the way we talked about Henderson, I'm very, very excited. We knew it would take some time. People are not a big fan of that. I know, but that was the thing. The Gentie and Hampton one, that's more confusing to me. You took Ashton Genty at number six overall, and then you're in a two-minute drill, and you're running out Dylan Lauby to catch passes.

Like, that is, it's only two weeks, of course, but as of right now, that's egregious of either your scouting, not being 100% confident in a, you're a rebuilding team and you took a running back at number six. That is, I stand by of bad teams should never take a running back that high. But the fact that you're like, no, we need to run another player out there for Gentie. That is horrificness. Week one, Gentie played. 86% of the snaps. It's what we expected this week. It was 56% of the snaps. And he made mistakes in pass protection repeatedly, and that could have had a lot to do it. He looked better to me. We saw some of the college gentie of you're like, oh, okay, this guy, he can be a very, very special player. But if this is going to be the mix, that's weird. And the Hampton is taking a first round running back.

when you are going to do this with the passing game, it's very strange to me. I would say that with those three main guys, the three highest drafted in fantasy football, personally, I would try to make cheap offers on them. You know, in different leagues, people are going to be freaking out. They're oh and two because of these guys who are disappointing, who aren't on the field. If you can buy them cheap, I do not personally expect those three running backs to finish the season as bad. fantasy assets. I'm the least concerned about Gentie for sure. Yeah. I think Gentie is going to be just fine. I'm probably, you know, Hampton is probably the second I'm least concerned about, but it is a concern to have Harris now 50-50 on the on the rush attempts in this game. And you just, you need to give it some time. You let it breathe. But it doesn't mean you have to start those players either. Right. Yeah. No, even if you trade for them, if you, if you find a good deal where you can flip, you know, a.

a decent elder running back who's doing okay and a, you know, a wide receiver who's had a good first two weeks and you can acquire one of these running backs. That doesn't mean you have to start them. So that's the data on the rookies and our take on them 11% of the way through the season. Let's talk some news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by progressive insurance. More quarterback injuries, more pain. Jaden Daniels with the knee sprain. Truly day-to-day and Dan Quinn said he, quote, can't tell what that means for Sunday right now. He had an MRI. So we'll, you know, I think it's very fair to surmise that Jaden Daniels will probably have fewer rushing attempts in the next couple of weeks. He may not even play in this game. But if he does, I would expect him to be more limited mobility-wise. Sure. With the knee sprain. J.J. McCarthy.

We just found out. He has a high ankle sprain and he's going to be out for two to four weeks. Carson wins. By the way, McCarthy has an injured ankle. Yeah, there's a bunch of. Just seeing some weird stuff out there. And there is the plays out there, this video, it wasn't at the beginning of the game, but it was right before the end of the third quarter defender gets away with a hip drop and landed right on McCarthy's ankle. Yep. And the Vikings have two international games in Dublin and London before the week six by. Carson Wins will take over. Joe Burrow, we talked about it yesterday, but the turf toe injury looks like the Bengals will be without him probably the rest of the season. Brock Purdy, unlikely to play this week. Do you see who the Bengals signed? Like 50 guys? No, no. Footy Award winner. Footy Award winner.

Brett ripping farts! Yeah! He's back, baby. Rippin' Farts. Good locker room guy. Yeah. Anyways. Justin Fields is in concussion protocol. And Aaron Glenn said it'll be hard to start him if he doesn't practice Wednesday or Thursday, which seems like definitely up in the air on Justin Fields. This is a really tough week for quarterback streaming. It is. And it's combined with at the same time, you have a ton of... managers in every single league that are going to the wire. Like they need a quarterback this week with all these injuries. So it's rough in the streets. Probably not going to have Aaron Jones this week for the Vikings as well. So no Aaron Jones, no JJ McCarthy. Juan Jennings, who came out in week two action with an ankle injury and then I think came back in. But we'll see. They're going to pay attention to John Jennings this week along with like four more 49er injuries. Liam Cohen said Brian Thomas entered.

This is such a weird. This story is super weird. Liam. There's rules. So what are you doing? He was trying to backtrack it. He was just working through some stuff. So anyways, the story is Brian Thomas apparently entered the game with a wrist injury. I don't know if that affects your dog level. But Brian Thomas Jr., you're supposed to be on an injury report. Yeah. And then they interview him and they're like, yeah. So if he came in with a wrist injury, why isn't he on the report? And then Liam Cohen looked like a deer in the headlights. Like, well, you know, well, yeah, it's just something he's kind of been dealing with. La la la la la la la la la. Duval. Liam. Get it together, man. And then Chris Rodriguez will be back in the fold in week three now that the Austin Eccler season is over for the commanders. That was news and note sponsored by progressive insurance. Quote today at progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and third party insurers.

Not available in all states or situations coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. We're going to jump into the waiver wire. The waiver wire, presented by Walmart. It's probably a good time to remind you that the ultimate dashboard exists for a reason, and it's an opportunity for you to get in there and take advantage of the lineup optimizer and the waiver wire tool. Yeah, I got to a point where I felt like I was in too many leagues and Tuesdays were awful. And then the ultimate dashboard made waiver wires so easy. You can look, we're going to talk through players today who are. Some higher level guys. Some higher level guys. Some lower level guys. We won't get through everybody. But we do have the tool that syncs with your league. You can see who is available in each one of your leagues very, very easily. And it just makes it so smooth. So you can check that out. Join thefoot.com. Get access to the community.

support the show hang out with really good people and uh take advantage of those premium tools also the waiver wire rankings are on the site the fantasy footballers dot com we'll start at the running back position what was that jason what just heard are you going straight from ripping farts into bayshalt toton look this i didn't name them yeah this is really you're you're living in your uh in a dream world this is a dream everything's a fart joke Bayshall Tootin is near the tippy top of the list, but I was surprised to see Ramandre Stevenson was only rostered in 60% of leagues. That blew my mind when I saw that number. That feels like it is a result of like emotion. Like we just don't like him. Yeah. Well, and we're so excited about Henderson and the report before this week came out that Henderson was going to potentially.

last week see a lot more snaps. And honestly, I believe that that report from liars.com. No, I think it was true. I think it was true because you watch Vrabel talk about how Henderson was doing what Remandre did in practice this week. But what happened in the beginning of the game was Henderson, he got the bench. I mean, he came out in three holding penalties and it's like, well, you can't play football for me anymore. I mean, Remandre was terrible in week one. So just a. against the Las Vegas Raiders, he had 10 opportunities. He was seven for 15 on the ground and he caught two passes for 12 yards. Makes you wonder if the Raiders run defense might be after what we saw last night. Yeah, possible. Maybe they're pretty good. Possible. But I'm saying like for your surprise, Andy, for Romandre, he had the exact same amount of snaps and he was garbage in week one. Yeah, but no starting running back should not be rostered. Exactly. It's insane. I mean, it's like Romandre Stevenson is getting started.

snaps and carries, and it's like, you have to put that on your roster. We're sitting here. I mean, I know. Bachelutein is not available in the leagues I'm playing. Caleb Johnson is not available in the leagues I'm playing. And they weren't playing. Like, Ramandre is the starting running back for the Patriots. He has to be rostered everywhere. So those are, I mean, Baychall Tudin, who was, who was, he looked the part to me. Yes. 8 for 42 on the ground, had the reception for the touchdown. Bachelal Tudin is available in more leagues. He is the running back for Jacksonville. They got rid of Tink Bigsby.

Seems like they were very smart to do so because Tutin doesn't seem any Me seems like he's got juice and he does for sure I saw those are the two guys for me Travis ETN looked really good in week one looked really good in week two so maybe he's back to what he was two years ago but when you are targeting some of these backups you know last year you brought this up Mike the reason that you really liked Bucky Irving was because you did not believe in Rashad White Rashad White was a fine football player, but he wasn't really that explosive, efficient player. And I would not be surprised if as the season goes along, all of a sudden Travis E.T.N. kind of reveal yourself. Yeah. He's not quite as great as he's been these first two weeks. If you need short-term help, Ramandre Stevenson plays Pittsburgh next week, who through two weeks looks just awful against running backs, followed up by Carolina. So I think my short-term...

I just need some, I need a Band-Aid right now. I don't mind going after Ramandre. He's probably going to be cheaper compared to Tutin. And Tutan is like a, a longer-term view of, you can't start him yet, but I agree with Jason of by the halfway point of the season, it's possible that both E.T.N. and Tutan are very startable. Yeah, I think Tutan... can be started workload-wise, but matchups are tough coming up with Houston and Kansas City, two of the next three. What's really difficult is that I don't have a lot of lower roster names at running back that I'm excited about making it all the more emphatic why Vermontery needs to be rostered. Because Trey Benson is, you know, he's getting work in Arizona. It's not a ton, but he looks good. He'd be another name. Six targets is pretty great.

The only other couple names that I even think on my list, and you guys can name others that you might have interest in, you know, you want to see what Chris Rodriguez's involvement is in Washington in week three. Okay, that's interesting. Maybe he's not rostered. To me, he's a big name. Chris Rodriguez, you know, obviously hard to go from healthy scratch. Absolutely. But what helps that is, how dare you? How dare you? And they have, I mean, it could be McNichols more involved than Rodriguez. And they have. Yeah, I mean, that's a not-rastered name. Yeah, those two guys. Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols, I don't believe that they're going to give 100% of workload to Bill, in which case, one of those guys will be relevant and they're widely available. So, Mike, do you have anybody else who you want to surface? I mean, I- Yes, a name. It's the waiver wire. It's gross, but Tyler Algier is getting work. I know he looked particularly good this past week and then what's kind of salting the game away.

against Minnesota. But, I mean, week one, he had just as many carries as Bejohn Robinson. Week two, he had 16 carries. So he's not someone, like, it'll be really, really high variance. But they do seem to trust him. When they get inside the goal line to much to the chagrin of all of us who have Bijan, you're like, oh, hey, look who's out there again. It's Tyler Alger. So it's a... It's a desperation play, but he at least gets volume and gets some carries near the goal line. Also, when we're looking at the insurance options, Blake Corm and Miles Sanders are guys who are widely available that should 100% be rostered. You cannot make me roster Miles Sanders. I actually think he's one of the better insurance back options because should something happen to Giovante, I think it would be just him. Okay. With the healthy scratch of Jaden Blue.

We also, you know, the big drop candidates, somehow they're rookies. I would let Caleb Johnson go personally. I would too. But Harvey Henderson, Hampton, they need to be rostered. Pachaco, I wouldn't cut because it's the same principle as Ramandre. A starting running back should not be cut. But I don't think you play him right now. It's just, look, players get hurt every week. Yeah, and people are asking about Aaron Jones. That's another you don't get rid of Aaron Jones, even though he's going to miss this week. Yeah, for sure. for sure and he had a great week one so all right we'll take a break we'll talk about some wide receiver options foot clan the season look it's underway al the season is underway you got those rankings those sleepers you got the can't miss picks we've got it all laid out on the line i don't know if you're ready for that but the best fantasy team out there we still need a backup

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or a hailstorm at home. Well, Progressive is there with 24-7 support. Don't get caught without a great backup. Visit progressive.com to quote today, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers, not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. This episode is brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. This season, make sure to subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV where you will get every game. every Sunday all in one place. NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV gives you everything you need to win Sunday. Watch up to four games at once with Multiview or follow your fantasy team and watch the game on one screen. You can even catch up to live with key plays. Now get NFL Sunday ticket month to month and cancel at any time. Go to YouTube.com slash fantasy footballers to sign up today.

Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Base plan required renews every month during the 2025 regular season only. Your membership for the following month can be canceled any time before your renewal date. Terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded, no refunds. All right, let's talk about some wide receiver pickups. We talked about the big game from... You know, one of the few rookies playing well right now, Alec Iow Manor, who was four for 56 in a touchdown, still only rostered in 28% of leagues. I still believe he's a good pickup. Who's at the tippy top of your list this week, though? We have opportunities calling for Romeo Dobbs with Jaden Reed being out. At the tippy top, I don't know that there's a clear number one. The two guys that I would want the most are Romeo Dobbs and Troy Franklin, who Franklin has been, yes, hit the button, Jason.

Like six targets in week one. It's four for 44. That's, you know, whatever. But then you get the eight for 89, including a big playoff, and that's off of nine targets. 83% of snaps, which is not what we've seen. That's his career high so far. It's, and Sean Payton, Sean Payton tricks us all the time. So next week could come out, and it could be, oh, Marvin Mims is playing 80% of the snaps. That's in the range of outcomes, so I'm not going like. super hard after Troy Franklin, but he's just, him and Romeo Dobbs are my top. No, go ahead. Those are my top two guys at the wide receiver position. I think maybe it should be Wondale. Wondale is in the discussion with all these guys. He's playing a full allotment of snaps and getting a ton of target. You know what his target paces? Take a guess. You're a good guesser. I'm going to guess 140. 153.