Starts of the Week + Week 3 Breakdown, Akers Reaction! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/21

A wonderful year. Dawson Knox did not practice Wednesday. Oh, for real? I didn't know that. Shoot. No, but it's too late. You already said it. No, he needs to. Knox. You're part of my team here on the, on the, on the, Kincaid was overdrafted watch. So. Get healthy, Dawson. I think Lapporte and Kincaid are going to average five receptions a game rest of season. Oh, hold on. Hold on. We have an update. I agree with you, Andy. And one of them was borderline undrafted and redraft leagues and the other was drafted way too high. We have an update. Dawson Knox did not practice today. Oh, shoot. Daggummit. All right. Well, Dalton Kincaid is a better play. You play?

Yeah, he's in play. He is. I mean, I look, I was very, very, very anti-Dalton Kincaid in the draft season. You know, I don't draft rookie tight ends. I think that that never works. That being said, rookie tight ends have good games. And they're just not a season-long winner. If you want to say, hey, he's going to be the only guy, Dawson Knox is out. Dawson Knox has had valuable targets each of the first two weeks. So if those go Dalton Kincaid's way and he gets all of it, I mean. Yeah, he's got 10 targets through two weeks. I think you could throw them in this week. And I think there's probably a broader, better discussion to have about this whole rookie tight-in narrative where draft season, I think, a really good approach to take is look statistically at the historicity of the rookie tight-end position and whether they perform. But then I think you have to be an independent thinker about the progress of players during the course of the year. And like you look at Detroit, you look at Sam Leporta, he's their starting tight-in, he's in on every down.

And so at this point in time, you know, and Jason's major argument was just the draft cost. Yeah, that was the problem. But at this point in time, it doesn't matter to me that Leport is a rookie. It doesn't matter to me that Dalton Kincaid's a rookie. What matters is what is the opportunity they're going to receive this week in this matchup and moving forward. And, you know, when I made the joke about Kincaid's performance last week, I didn't even know Knox was missing practice. So I just like six targets. And I feel like there's going to be those games where Gabe Davis has a down week and Dalton Kincaid is going to have a big week.

Logan Thomas missed practice. Look, the concussion was bad. If he's out, Cole Turner should get the passing down snaps with Jesse Bates getting the blocking snaps in that offense. Not the worst thing you can do. The pass rush is going to produce some PPR, like I'm talking Draft Kings. I'm talking. Take a shot at somebody like Cole Turner and Draft Kings. Are you staying in the flames with Brian Robinson, who's an RB3 in fantasy? I am. His utilization has been good enough to continue. You don't. expect him to have a monster week this week like he would have against the Arizona Cardinals. It's very predictable. But his volume says, yeah, he's in your lineup. We've talked about some real trash running backs. All right. Anybody else from this matchup that you want to talk about McLoran? I mean, just you play him. Okay. Yeah, this one, no almost upset there for me either. All right. I'm ready to move on. Let's do it. Welcome to starts of the week.

Presented by Purina Pro Plan. All right, my start of the week at the quarterback position is Kirk Cousins. Now, I'm playing him in Dynasty. I'm letting you know. It is a concern. It is a statistical concern. But I love this matchup. Oh, yes. That's why I'm playing him. It's great. He's at home. The Vikings are throwing at a historic rate. whether it's first down, second down, third down, we don't hand the ball off. You're not going to have Cam Acres in this game. You're also probably going to give up a ton of points and need to throw the football. Cousins has been rock solid at home. He's averaged 275 and 2. Justin Jefferson's going to be great. It's going to be a fun day. Kirk Cousins. My start of the week at quarterback is Gino Smith.

who look at that. Week two, it was more what we expected. Thank goodness. We were really, really worried after he lost his tackles midgame, but it's nice when you can game plan knowing that you're going to be without players versus losing them midgame. He had 328 passing yards, 78% completion rate, two passing touchdowns, added another 20 rushing touchdowns, looked great. And I'm not worried about the Panthers. You look at the Panthers stats. You go, oh, they've been really good against quarterbacks. They've played Desmond, Ritter, and Derek Carr. I've got Gino ranked as a top 10 quarterback this week. at home as six-point favorites. I think you can fire him up. And I've got Dak Prescott taking on the Arizona Cardinals. Yep. The matchup says they're going to win. They're going to win by a lot. And, look, Dak currently third and expected points per dropback. Like, Dak is playing very well. We highlighted that over the last five years when there is a double-digit favorite. They average about 30 points a game, almost 400 yards of offense.

So, look, Dax going to be involved in that, Arizona allowing a first down on 55% of their opponent's completions. That is just so outrageous. And it's the matchup is there. Since the beginning of 2022, opposing quarterbacks averaged about 20 fantasy points per game against Arizona. My running back start of the week is Fat Thor. Oh, man. Josh Jacobs taking on the Pittsburgh defense. Look, it's been tough sledding for Jacob so far. Dancing with the devil here. This was the same story last year. This year he started his RB 30 and 27. Last year was RB 33 and 25. It's been rough for the first two weeks, but I do think it gets better. And Josh Jacobs gets all the work. This was the rushing leader last year. Maybe it was a little bit of like, could have used some practice. It might have been nice to be in camp.

So usage monster, I think he's going to be good. I think he's going to score this week. Yep. I have, first of all, he's an incredible play and I completely agree he's going to be great. For my start of the week at Running Back, I've got Miles Sanders. You might be disappointed with what you have seen the first two weeks from Miles Sanders, but his volume has been there. And I realize that there's a quarterback issue here. You don't know necessarily if he's going to have Bryce Young this week, but against Seattle. They're going to rely on him. He's a volume play through two weeks, 24 and 19 opportunities, including 11 targets. That's the second most at the running back position. But he played against Atlanta, who kept the ball away. They played against the Saints and their great run defense. Now he's going up against the Seahawks. They're 25th against running backs at the fantasy position. They've allowed the six most running back fantasy points. Four rushing scores so far this year. They were bad against running backs last year. It's carried over.

Miles Sanders, if you've got the volume and you've got the matchup, I'm not sitting him this week. I'm going to say something gross, Jason. It's probably better for Miles Sanders if Andy Dalton's the quarterback. Yeah. This is what I'm saying. Like the injury, I'm less excited to play Seattle's defensive as Andy Dalton. Right. My running back start of the week, who's playing the Houston Texans? Well, it's Travis E.TN who has been used completely as a workhorse. We'll see if Tank Biggsby gets. And more involved as the season goes, but for now it is Travis ETN. Texans have allowed six rushing touchdowns last year against the Texans in two games. We're talking 114, 140 total yards from Mr. Travis ETN. Averaging 9.4 yards per carry is going to be fantastic. This could be the running back one on the week. And the only reason that Tank Bigsby is going to be possibly more involved this week.

is because Travis ETN is going to be sitting the fourth quarter tired from his three long touchdown runs. Jordan Addison is my wide receiver start of the week, stacking it with Kirk Cousins. The matchup is great. The snaps win up last week. Touchdowns in his first two weeks. This is the passing offense that's going to need to throw the football. I think he's a solid low-end wide receiver two flex option this week. I've got Amari Cooper just as an absolute must start this week against Tennessee. We love hanging with Mr. Cooper. We thought he was going to be out for Monday Night Football. All he did was just get 10 targets, go 7 for 90. He's at home this week. We already highlighted the matchup earlier on this show, how good it is to pass against the Titans. And at home, last year he averaged 10 targets, 6 for 85 and 15 fantasy points per game. Marty Cooper is locked in. Zay Flowers versus the Colts through two weeks. It is clear.

This is Mark Andrews and Zay Flowers team. Flowers has seen a target on 34% of Baltimore's first read targets. Baltimore. Baltimore. Baltimore's targets. That's per agency points. But what I'm saying is like the first read is Zay Flowers. And this is a matchup that Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones crushed, Nico Collins, Tank Dell crushed. The Ravens are throwing the ball a lot more. and they're heavy home favorites. Zay Flowers is back in a very good spot. All right, Jason, you can skip this one. Tight-in start of the week. I'm going with the Muth. I love this. I went to put the Muth in. He was my favorite, like, middling tight-end start. I just loved it. The Muth is going to get Luth this week against the Raiders. I talked about the fact that... I hope so. Pickens.

Pickens is an option that they need to turn to in the offense for explosiveness. It's not Alan Robinson or Naji Harris. Friamuth can get it done. Last week, the Raiders were blitzkrieged by the bill's tight ends, both of them. And when you put Knox and Kincaid together, it was 12 targets, eight receptions, a touchdown. I think Pat Friarmouth has a huge week. He's running enough routes. The Muth is getting lute this week, and then we'll skip J. And then Mike? I don't disagree that the Mewth. is a good play this week. Do you guys, do you know how many yards Faramuth has on the season through two weeks of football? Oh, I know he had almost none week. Well, who's his quarterback? It's Kenny Pickett. Oh, that's probably going to hurt. Well, I mean, didn't hurt George Pickens last week, eh, Andy? But do you know? I don't know. I'm excited to find out. I'm a little scared. I can count them on one hand. No. Five. Come on. Wow. Come on. Yeah.

The Muth is not Luth at all. The Mewth has two receptions for five yards. One was a one-yard touchdown. Oh, man, but it has not been. Oh, my call just became much more bold. It's a great matchup. And here's the thing with tight ends. Tight ends are-ins are-five yards. Five yards or two. I love that. You can count them on one of the positions. Like, you know, running backs, you want to target a good matchup, a bad matchup can really be devastating, but you're going to play them through most of them. The tight-end position is one where matchups are astoundingly important. This is the preface. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. You just got on. This is a disclaimer. Look, I'm supporting your pick because the Raiders are a great matchup. I'm trying to figure out how much money I want to bet you on yours. So go on. All right. We'll go a Benjamin. Yeah. But we got to figure out the line here. Oh, the line is Zachards versus your player. That's what we'll be better. So here. So my start of the week. Yeah, let me get to it. This week, my start of the week is.

Kyle Pitts. But Jason, you said to drop Kyle Pitts for Zach Hertz. And I would. I regretted saying it because of the matchup this week, but through the course of the season, I would much rather have Zach Hertz and his targets going forward. But this week, if you have Kyle Pitts, and I mean, every league, like Kyle Pitts isn't on the waivers. Even if he was dropped, he's probably been picked up by now already. People have him on the roster. He's extremely talented. The Detroit matchup is as good as it gets for the tight end position. They just placed quarterback C.J. Gardner Johnson on injured reserve. The weakest part of their defense is the middle of their secondary. That's where Kyle Pitts does his little bit of work.

They have given up the third most fantasy points allowed to the tight end position. The most tight in receiving yards. And it is from the likes of Noah Gray, Blake Bell, Noah Fant, Colby Parkinson, and Will Disle, Big Montana. Kyle Pitts can be started this week. Kyle Pitts is going to have a good game. And Andy and I are going to put a Zacherts versus. Yeah. $100 bet. $100 bet. Fantasy points? Is that what we're doing? Are we doing like a. Yeah, standard league fantasy points. Wait, did you say standard league? Yes, he did. No, no, no, no, no. Standard league fantasy points. No, you didn't say, you didn't. The man with the start of the week has to change the format to get the start. I'm not changing the format. It's standard. It's the default, right? Foot clan. This is the confidence he has in his start of the week. All right. Half PPR. Let's go. All right. Mike. Okay.

Yours is scary too. I'm just chasing a touchdown right now. If I'm streaming off the waiver wire, Jake Ferguson, aka Fergalicious, to stack with Dak Prescott because he's playing Arizona since the beginning of last season, the Cardinals allowing eight targets per game to the tight end position. We saw Darren Waller this past week, you know, get right against the Arizona Cardinals. And why am I chasing a touchdown? Well, Dak Prescott. currently has 18 red zone passing attempts on the season. Jake Ferguson has eight red zone targets. That is 45% of Dak Prescott's red zone targets going to Jake Ferguson. That's who he's so far through two weeks. That's who he's looking for when he's getting inside the 20. So for a good bet for a touchdown for a player that's probably on your waiver wire, Jake Ferguson. So you're thinking, Fergalicious, not turd Ferguson this week.

That's what I'm hoping for. All right. Thanks again to our sponsor, Peerina ProPlan Sport. ProPlan Sport provides fine-tuned nutrition for strength and stamina that enables dogs and owners to take on life's adventures together. Pro-plan sport, high-performance fuel for active dogs. It all starts here. Jason Moore's Ironclad, locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed boom, boom, kicker of the week. I traveled up north for a cage match henceforth under the wrestling name Leg Broseph. Moving like Cameron Acres, I used the Minnesota backbreaker, power bombing the Vikings, Greg Joseph. So to rhyme with Joseph. It's not bad. I mean, if you're ever going to get Greg Joseph in there, it's only option you've got, man. I mean, you rhyme, Joseph.

Yeah, that's not, I'm going to, I'm going to allow it. I mean, I don't have, I'm not the one that can regulate this segment anyway. Yeah, but I approve. I approve. All right, that is going to do it. We've got to wrap this one up. We've got, well, Mike, we can take it out on him. Wheel of Shame tomorrow. All right. That'll do it for today's episode. More matchups, the Fantasy Face Off, Wheel of Shame, all coming tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then. Thank you for listening, tuning in. Leg brosso. Goodbye. you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on join the foot dot com and follow us on twitter at the ffballers