Week 3 Matchups + Wheel of Shame, The Yeti Rises? - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/23

You don't bank on Miles Sanders getting a touchdown. That's just that's a little extra gravy on what he is, which is like a mid-range running back too. Devante Smith in this game or Jahan Dotson on the other side. Oh, that's a good question. I'm going to go Devonta Smith over Johan Dotson. Johnson's the only wide receiver rookie over the last decade with three receiving touchdowns in the first two games. Very interesting. But again, needs that. Right now with the volume. We need more targets for Dodson. New Orleans, the Saints at 101 taking on the O and two Carolina Panthers. This game is in Carolina. The drafting sportsbook line, New Orleans, road favorites. Minus two and a half. The overrunners 41. So, you know, you're going to have this two former number one pick battle between James and Baker.

Who can lose the game least for their team? That is a really funny. Like usually when you get two former number one overall picks against each other, it's like, oh, that's exciting. And this is like, ooh. Yeah. Broken back James versus Broken Spirit Baker. Broken back James. We're there. He has a back in that has some fractures. Yeah. Yeah. Well, who didn't Matthew Stafford play with fractures and then he's back for an entire season? Yeah, he's a gamer. Yeah. So, I mean, let's set this standard for James. Was he great or? We're not going to talk about specifics other than the spine. I know that he will play. Yes, James James played. But we saw the Buccaneers are certainly a much more formidable foe than the Atlanta Falcons. But, I mean, really big drops in all metrics of efficiency for James. I think that makes this a really good.

litmus test for James Winston because James James witness witness yes thank you um because you can't tell whether or not it was the awesome buccaneers defense who is awesome I mean they are they look outstanding now that Bruce Ariens is is gone Todd Bowles is in there's you know that that defense has really stepped it up and so James might be fine or is it the the back issue the injury to Alvin Camara that really hurt. And the Carolina Panthers are kind of that middle of the road defense where I'm excited to see if the Saints can get it done with all their pass catchers. Chris Oliva, Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas is my start of the week this week. I think he's a good matchup. Yeah, I'm in on that. So I'm really curious if Jamis looks bad in this game. I'm going to be much more scared of the back. They also did not have Alvin Camara in week two as part of the offense. So.

How do you have confidence in in the past catchers, Jason? You seem to. Yeah, I mean, I think that Michael Thomas, one, he is a very good wide receiver, obviously, and two, the targets have been there and the valuable targets in the red zone. So he projects as a very solid wide receiver, too. I'm not putting him up as, you know, some elite option this week. We had a question yesterday where, you know, it will. They had really good options, and I benched Michael Thomas, but I do think that he should be in most starting lineups. The team is certainly not blaming injury yet. What about Chris Olave? Air yards for days last week. Prairie yards. Olave or Dotson this week? I would go Olave. I'm going to stick to the targets. Yeah, I'm going to taste the volume of Olavee.

Give me the temperature check on Christian McCaffrey. 20 opportunities last week. People are disappointed. He's still the running back nine. He's still Christian McCaffrey. He's still very good. The disappointing part is the targets. Baker is not checking it down to Christian McCaffrey, which is nonsense. If you're a quarterback and you've seen what Christian McCaffrey has done in his career, you need to get him the ball more. So that's hopefully the coaching. figures that out. Otherwise, Christian McCaffrey will still be a running back one, but just he's not going to compete for that elite top spot. It really is a situation of third down conversions because his opportunities and his usage is outstanding. It's very similar to the conversation with Najee where he's on the field.

More than anyone, he's being passed to, he's being given the ball. But if they don't convert first downs and don't have, I mean, their total plays run is among the worst in the league. So that's really what it comes down to is can the offense get it together? I don't think the offense gets it together against the Saints good defense. Well, and that's a problem with somebody like Damien Pierce, too, with that offense and how many, how are you, are you moving the ball down the field or not? Right. So he can score. Jacksonville, one-on-one, taking on the Los Angeles Chargers who are one-on-one, the Draft King Sportsbook line here. Chargers minus seven at home, over-under is 47 points. This is a great matchup between Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, who looks to be back in this game, looked good in practice yesterday, has thrown three passing touchdowns in both of his starts. And so the only thing that you can say about Justin Herbert in this game,

in any sort of negative senses, you just hope he doesn't re-injure or, you know, the injury becomes more severe. So do we know, is he going to play in a, a flackle? Yeah, the device. I mean, I imagine he will, but I don't know. We haven't got the confirmation on that yet. Yeah, and he didn't, you know, the nuance of his injury is something we need to pay attention to. The Chargers defense is very, very good. second in points per drive on offense. So right now, it should be all Chargers confidence starts, right? Echler, Mike Williams, we think Keenan Ellen will get back on the field. If he's active, you start him, though. Yeah, I think I'm at that as well. But hopefully you get some really positive news on Keenan Allen of like, oh, no, he's full go. He's ready because the.

If he's still hampered by the hamstring, that could be a potentially brutal awakening on Sunday. I think the real question here is because if Keenan Allen is starting, you're going to put him in your lineup. The one player that seems like he could go in and out is Josh Palmer. If Keenan is playing, you are not starting Josh Palmer. You're not saying, oh, well, maybe Keenan will hurt his hamstring. And if Keenan is out, I think Josh Palmer is a fine play. 91% of snaps last week. Breaking news. We covered the game yesterday. Okay. But we did get an update just now off of Twitter from Jameson Hensley saying, Rashad Bateman, not present. That sucks. During the media viewing portion of Friday's practice.

He was not on the injury report yesterday, but we don't have any update on Rashad Bateman. Obviously very important to pay attention to that. Mike's face says, I'm starting Lamar Jackson. Yeah. Who has Bateman in League of Record again? I do. How do you feel about that, Andy? Your panic fuels. Well, you've made some trades. You got depth. Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley, not present either for the Ravens, which is problematic for Lamar. Mike's face, very grimacy in the moment. So that's your update. Yeah, I don't like that. Very much. On the Saints side, Alvin Camara, we expect him to be back. What? You mean the Jags? We're going back to the Saints? What did I say? The Saints side. You wanted to talk? I did. I scrolled up the dock. I did. I scrolled up. That's a fair, that's a fair what, you know? What? Trevor Lawrence, James Robinson, Travis, ETN, Christian Kirk. Kirk has been outstanding through two weeks. Yeah, he's been fantastic. 26% of the targets.

leading the NFL in slot receiving yards. You are, for where you got him, you're probably still playing him, but this is not a top-tier matchup. The Chargers can shut down slot-wide receivers. Well, and that translates to James Robinson and Travis ETN. This could be a down week for both of those players. I agree. We had never not working yesterday and talked about the impact of being heavy underdogs. If you are not favored and you are five or more points, the underdog, it is not necessarily. a good outcome for you at the running back position game script james robinson is not going to have 25 opportunities yeah and if they're shutting down the slot i do think that mike your uh start of the week in evan ingram is a very good playoff of the way i thought it was tasum well yeah he had a co co-starters yes yes yeah evident evan ingram's not he's not going to tear the roof off but he's the tasem hill of the jaguars

How dare you? He gets far more opportunities. He led them in targets last week. He is on the field. He is a real part of the offense. Ninth most routes at the tight end position, man. Everett or Ingram this week, Mike, with your conviction about Ingram. Ooh, that's why the, if I needed the bigger game, and I somehow had both these options. If I needed the bigger game, I would go with Everett. But Ingram is, Engram's just a safe floor play. The Los Angeles Rams at 1-1 travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals who are also one-on-one. The Draft King Sportsbook line. Road favorite. Los Angeles minus three and a half over under is 48.5. Sean McVeigh has a 10-1 record against Cliff Kingsbury. So that's where we're at. Last year, Cardinals won the first matchup in Los Angeles. Otherwise, McVeigh has dominated, including the playoffs.

right now you can't have any hesitation about key ram offensive players because the cardinals are they're in the bottom three against quarterbacks running backs and tight-ins in terms of fantasy points given up it's been other than the second half of last week which they did they only gave up three points to the raiders it's been really really bad on defense and so right now you can't have any confidence that they can slow down Matthew Stafford with Cooper Cup, Alan Robinson. I think both of those guys are in play. Tyler Higby is Jason's start of the week. Oh, I love that one. Jason went double up on the Rams with Stafford and Higby. Yeah, I think that they're going to be able to throw on the Cardinals, no problemo. The question for the Rams, I think, is the Darrell Henderson Cam Acres split. If you've got to start one of them, it would be Darrell Henderson. But are you excited to start Darrell Henderson? Yeah, I don't feel like. Not after they recommitted to Cam Acres being.

Like the guy on the ground, incredibly inefficient yet again. So, I mean, how many games in a row of, how many games in a row can Cam Acres be running like sub three of carry? All of them? And, well, and the coaching staff still continue to give him the ball. Maybe it's the whole season. I don't know. But it was real, if you got Henderson on your team, it's frustrating to see Ann Acres get so many opportunities and be so bad. Well, on the other side of the ball, there is some opportunity here for Arizona. The Rams are allowing the second most points per drive in the league right now. The highest early down success rate. This was a defense that gave up 100 total rushing yards to Kyler Murray last year. And, you know, the wide receivers. They're scoring a lot of points against the Rams. The question is, do the Cardinals have the kind of wide receivers that can take advantage of that? Is the dorge? I mean, Hollywood Brown?

He's a fine wide receiver two play. He has really disappointed for the opportunity of becoming the target hog alpha wide receiver one. That is not what this system from Cliff Kingsbury has produced with Marquis Brown. So now it shifts from the hope of him being the one without Hopkins to the hope of him opening up things when Hopkins returns. He did hit that 11, the 10 plus target mark that, Kyler. He was also a what, like a centimeter from that being a touchdown on the play down the field. So I would have scored him back to back weeks. But yeah, he has not, he's definitely not come out and done what like Rashad Bateman has done in Baltimore. James Connor back on the practice field Friday. So right now I don't think Darrell Williams, Eno are pivot options for your roster. If for some reason Connor was a surprise and active.

You could probably move to Daryl Williams and bet on goal line opportunities. But if Connor plays, you're playing him. It's just not a great matchup. The Rams, the Rams giving up 9.3 points the running back so far. Zach Ertz, though, I am making him my start of the week this week. So necessary to this cardinal offense, the pass rush that's going to head Kyler's way. Ertz is arguably the most, you know, he could easily be the number one target in the game. Easily. Any other thoughts on this matchup? Do you have confidence to flex Alan Robinson, wide receiver two, Alan Robinson? Yeah, against the Cardinals, yes. The Falcons at 0 and 2 take on the 101 Seattle Seahawks. Kyle, are you thrilled to be tuning into this Barnburn? Not at all. Okay. Mario de Jino Smith. You know, first round pick matchup. I'm just nervous for pits. That's all. I am too, brother. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Seattle minus one at home. Over under is 42. And so.

Battle of the Bridge quarterbacks, here we go. Is anybody in this game a must start option for your fantasy team? Oh, man. What a good question. So, D.K. Metcalfe, I don't know if you guys covered that, but he's, he's my start of the week for this particular matchup because the Falcons have been so bad against fantasy wide receivers 30th. Combined that with being at home and. Pete Carroll at least saying they need to open it up a little bit more, which Gino Smith, very efficient game manager right now, number one in the NFL and completion rate, and yet dead last in average depth of target. So if we get to open that up just a little bit in this game, I think that DK Metcalf finally has the big game that we've been waiting for. They do need to open it up. This is a matchup that they should be able to open it up a little bit more.

On that being said, the Seahawks offense has not scored an offensive point in 90 minutes straight of gameplay. It has been since the first half of the first week. Six quarters. Six quarters of not having an offensive point scored. I think the Atlanta Falcons are a good. Yeah, sure. Good medicine for that. Yeah, this is going to be tough. You know, the Steelers wanted to open it up. But then you realize you have Mitch Trubisky. So the risk of opening it up, you know, people want to know, does the, do the Geno Smith turnover start to flow if they try to do that? So in terms of must start, Mike, you have confidence in Metcalf having his big game. I mean, you know, this, yeah. I think Drake London is in the category. Oh, he's a must play to me. Of flex worthy, 51% of the team's air yards. I do expect.

the Kyle Pitts involvement to go way up in this game. It is ironic that when I look at this game, there's only one must start, and it is Kyle Pitts. I would like to start Drake London in certain situations, but plenty of rosters have wide receivers above him. There aren't rosters out there that drafted Kyle Pitts who have a better option. A lot of the waiver wire guys we're talking about, you know, I like Evan Ingraham. I do. I think there's an opportunity for him this week. There is no way I would start Evan Ingram. over Kyle Pitts. Oh, no. That's what I'm saying. So he has an absolute must start. The Cordero Patterson situation, at least on paper, Giovante 108 total yards against Seattle. My name is Jeff. Jeff Wilson, 103 total yards against Seattle. So if there was going to be a week to try to predict Patterson being okay, you could try it. Yeah, I don't mind putting Patterson in there. He wasn't that great last week.

You could tell in week one that the game plan was to have Cordero Patterson split the reps with running backs, but then the starting running back got injured and he took over. Coming to week two, Tyler Algier was there, and they split those. So unless the running back gets injured from the get-go, he's not going to be, you know, he had 22 carries week one. That's not happening again without an injury. But I do think the combination of him, his utilization of the passing game, the matchup against Seattle, he's a fine flex play. Rashad Penny managers are reeling. Oh, man. Don't start Penny. Don't start Walker? You can't start either one for a while. Okay. The Green Bay Packers at 1-1 take on the 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, and the Draft King Sportsbook line here is Tampa minus one. The injury situation in Tampa Bay is it's troublesome. To say the least, you have a suspended Mike Evans that will not play in this matchup. Julio, Godwin, Gage, and Perryman are all questionable.

it's, you know, they had to sign Cole Beasley. This is why I love Leonard Fornett in this game. I think he's going to be necessary to both focal points of the offense. The running game, which is the one area, the Packers have given up a decent amount of points, and then the passing game, just being a target for Tom Brady, running a ton of routes. You know, I set it on yesterday's show. All right. Okay. Yeah, the thighs like what? The dumps, they're coming. Brady is 2-0 against Green Bay as the Buccaneer, but we are pretty, pretty down on Brady this week. Yeah, I think we're down on both offenses for what they usually are. Usually you love the Packers, you love the Buccaneers. Both teams are dealing with wide receiver injuries. I think a lot of the Packers side was, you know, rest. Randall Cobb had an illness and Alan Lazard's still working his way back from the ankle issue. But Lazard, Watkins, Christian Watson, and Randall Cobb all did not.

participate at all in practice on Thursday. That makes Romeo Dubs maybe more involved. He's been kind of splitting with Christian Watson, and he could have full-time use. But again, the Buccaneers defense has been outrageously good to start the season. If the Packers' offense doesn't get clicking and they haven't looked great so far this season, I think you could end up with two poor offensive Outings. A slight update from Tampa Bay. No, Chris God, when I practice. So he's going to miss, which was expected. Julio Jones is working on the side with the trainers. With that happening on a Friday, that's not necessarily great news to start. But he'll be back soon, just probably not this week. Aaron Jones, Monster Week last week, AJ Dylan, 37 opportunities in two weeks. Both of those players, it's not a good matchup. The Buccaneers defense is very, very good.

I'd be more concerned about A.J. Dillon just because of explosive plays, right? Aaron Jones last week. Fewer opportunities, much better fantasy week. You have to hope for a big play. Kyle and I made the tough decision yesterday to go with- You benching AJ? We did. We went Kareem Hunt over A.J. Dillon. Okay. But you wish you got in the end zone on that goal. Oh, man. I was dying. Three freaking carries. Kareem. You're Kareem Hunt, dude. Get in! That is where you dominate. He should have gone over the top the way that Chubb did. It was very frustrating that he did not score. Alan Lazard. Where are we with the Lazard King? I mean, he ran the most routes. Like he was in peripherals, he was their number one wide receiver, didn't turn into a whole bunch. I know he had the touchdown. We're still, I think we're still in a, you're circling the tarmac because.

You got to wait for him to truly be healthy. And then Aaron Rogers, put him on your bench. If I could. Like I would do the disgusting golf. Oh, golf for sure. Goff is not, doesn't make me feel bad about myself as a human. Starting cars of wins. That would make you feel. Makes me feel bad, but I think that's the right thing to do. The 49ers, one in one taking on the Denver Broncos and Sunday night football. I'll be excited to see this game live. Jimmy G. Back at it, Russell Wilson, can they get the offense going? The Draft King's Worthbook line, San Francisco minus one and a half, another road favorite. Overrunners 44 and a half, that's not a lot of points. But, you know, there's just, there's hope and dreams right now as the kind of currency in which we were living in here with Denver. You know, Russ discussed him in Unsolved Mysteries, Giovante.

You know, you love seeing how often he's on the field. 65% of snaps seems to be the past catching back. 19 opportunities hasn't been able to get into the end zone because this team hasn't been able to put up any points. Yeah. Again, the biggest concern for them to me is the coaching. I don't know if we get it figured out here. The San Francisco 49ers are a spectacular defense. That's not going to stop me of. Like, Giovante's in. Cortland Sutton is in. Do we have it? Jerry Judy is going to play? I don't think so. Okay. I don't think Jerry Judy is going to play. So questionable. It's possible, but Hamler was back at practice. Sutton's the only option that you can really take, right? In the wide receiver room, Jason? Yeah, that's it. It's pretty easy on that side of the ball. By the way, the 49ers have not allowed a team to rush for 100 yards in seven straight games. Well, my question was going to be Russ. If you have no Judy or you have a limited Judy, are you going to?

Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, those types. I am, yeah, until I see it from Russ if Jerry Judy's not out there and his weapons are a little bit limited. The San Francisco 49ers, they're a good defense. Right now they're a little inflated because of their first two weeks matchups. You know, they're basically like top 10, top five across the board. I don't think they're that good, but they are a solid defense. And we haven't seen the Broncos offense do much. So I am putting Russ on the bench. Certainly not cutting him because he's Russell Wilson. But I would, there's plenty of other options that I think you could start over him. This could be good theater this week because they're at home in Denver. That crowd, if they're often stagnates in the first half, I mean, the frustration that we've seen already with the coaching staff and their ability to kind of get things together. You know, it'll be three struggling weeks if they can't do it. Jeff Wilson is going to start at running back for the 49ers. He's a must play.

Yep, Broncos defense has been very good against running backs, but Wilson is the guy. Debo, of course, you play him, but through two weeks, wide receiver 29, wide receiver 25. I do think things will be better for him with Jimmy G. Agreed. Brandon Ayuk is interesting. Welcome back, Brandon. Yeah, I mean, based off of everything we heard over the off season of not just from the beat reporters, but from the players themselves saying Brandon Ayuk, has been tearing up training cap. He looks fantastic. And now you have the pocket passer back. Brandon Ayuk is, would you go try to trade low for him right now? Or would you let this weekend ride out against the Denver Broncos who are, I mean, it's two weeks, but they're currently number one against fantasy wide receivers. Would you predict a bad game and then go get Ayyuk? I think he's going to end up on some waiver wires. He might.

Yeah, I mean, I think if Brandon Ayyuk is projected to be good, he should be fine in this game. You know, obviously the Broncos have been great so far, but somewhat similar to the 49ers, the first two weeks matchups, you know, when you're playing against Gino Smith and change, it inflates your numbers. I think Brandon Ayyuk, if you want him, you go get him now because it's not like he's... it's not like he's going to cost you a lot to get Brandon. He's not rostered in 20% of league. Exactly. So you can actually go sign him and just hold on to him as a flyer. Yeah, he's a throw-in on a trade. You're not trying to, you know, acquire him at any cost. Kittle should play in this game. That's the good news for the 49ers. And you play George Kittl. Yeah, Kittl should be back out there. Ayuk or Renfro rest of season, just out of curiosity. Ooh. I'm going to go Ayuk. I'm going to go Ayuk.

All right. The Cowboys at 1-1 take on the 2-0 New York Giants. I'm sorry, Giants, but you're laughing with me. The Drafking Sportsbook Line Giants minus one at home over under 39 points are kind of our bookends on this week three. You get the Browns and you get the Steelers and that situation. And then you go to Monday night and you get Daniel Jones versus Cooper Rush. I mean, you never play those guys in fantasy. So then you have to say, well, what are we going to get with their teammates? Saquan led, let me ask you this about Saquan. He has 25 opportunities in both of the weeks. Week one, outstanding. Jason, you were ready to ship Austin Echlor off to get Saquan. Week two, same opportunities, not the production, not the fantasy value. Where are you with Saquan? Are you buying low right now based on opportunities?

because we don't know what this offense, we don't even know what wide receivers are going to run out there each and every week. And you just talked multiple times about situations where the offenses couldn't get down the field, costing running backs, fantasy points. Tell me where you're at. Would you still do that Echler trade? And where are you with Sequin? The Echler trade, maybe not, but I did try to trade for Barclay with other assets. The utilization is fantastic. I still think he, you know, you don't look as good as you look in week one, and then you just lost it. I am all in on Sequin being great rest of season, so he is a clear target after a down game against Carolina. Dalton Schultz on the other side, well, let's stay with the wide receivers, I guess, for a brief second because we're supposed to do that. But Cadarius, Tony.

Sterling Shepard, Wondale Robinson, Wondale probably won't be back out there. Kenny G. upset, angry, didn't get any snaps. Shepard is your Jacoby Myers of the offense that you can take your shot at. But, you know, Shepard has always been, even when, before the injury, Shepard's always been in this world where you get some good games, you don't get some good games. And this is season after season. So. You're just doing nothing with these guys? I mean, Shepard is a flex play if you're dealing with injuries or problems. I think he'll lead the team in targets, lead the team in snaps, lead the team in routes. He's the wide receiver one, and it could be okay. Dallas, the strength of this team right now is obviously on defense. This should be a low-scoring game. I don't think that it's that Sterling Shepard's a smash play. He's just someone that you can play. On the other side, I was going to say Dalton Schultz, it doesn't.