Fantasy Football - Starts of the Week + Week 4 Breakdown, Big Trade! - Podcast for 9/25

The Fantasy Footballer Studio is sponsored by Walmart. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Hi, welcome in. It's football time. Yes. Yes, it is. Good luck to you. And Marv. Thursday, September 25th. The day of the Marvin Harrison redemption tour beginning tonight. Probably not. Actually, almost certainly not, but we do have football tonight. Andy Mike and Jason, the Fantasy Footballers podcast, back with you. Thank you for following the show, listening to the show, hanging out with us all year long. We are heading into week four. Cardinals at home tonight against the sea chickens. Oh, got them.

Got them. You're not a hawk, you're a chicken. I am, you know, I'm a really big cardinal fan. You guys know this. I love the Cardinals. Yeah, and that's why you are all. Your fantasy team is all in. So yesterday we, I briefly said I was going to offer Zay Flowers for Marvin Harrison on the show. I think I called Marvin Harrison a baby buy. Yes, yes, you did. Because he's not a full on go get him at any cost. I mean, I saw a lot of people taking the trade advice show and going out there and making moves. I saw.

Tons of players, like Ginty, Jacobs, those guys getting acquired. There was a surprising amount of Drake London for Ashton Ginty trades, including from our own Kyle the Borgogan, who as a Falcons fan went out and traded Drake London and got Ashton Jenty. Interesting. Like that seems to be like a compatible trade right now because they're both, you know, top 12 picks that are disappointing people and, you know, you might need a running back, might need a wide receiver. So that's happening a lot. But I said on the show, I just offered Mike. I offered him Marvin Harrison. Or sorry, I offered him Zay Flowers for Marvin Harrison. Mm-hmm. And he thought a lot about it. Oh, so much thinking. And then he didn't do it. And then I offered him Justin Fields and Zay Flowers for Marvin Harrison. Yeah, you know I'm a sucker for Justin Fields. And I've got Marvin Harrison now, baby. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Hardy lights. Yeah, that's a.

He's really willing to do it. The best part about this is you now in the League of Record have the Kyler Marv stack. It couldn't be worse. And no one has talked more crap about how bad they are, about how bad this offense is, about how Kyler doesn't have it, isn't good. And then, and now you are relying upon them. Can I make a little comparison of where I'm out right now? Yes, please. If I booked a wedding venue. and I invited the guests and I had people fly in and I have every I got the DJ on retainer and everything's booked and it starts to rain I'm gonna pretend I like the rain I'm gonna pretend everything's gonna be just fine I'm gonna pretend it's gonna be the best wedding of all time that's the current mental state would I pass a drug test probably not yeah but Marvin Harrison is on the roster we don't need no meows we don't need no cats yeah

Look, Mike, you said it before the show. After last week's public embarrassment of Marvin Harrison. What better time to publicly embarrassing him. Embarrass him again. Arizona better go to him early and easy. Right. Yeah. First play, little screen, little slant. Something easy. Make sure he catches it. Yes. Let's get the ball moving. Now, if he drops that pass, it's just it's over. He might as well as head to the locker room. You guys saw the screenshot that appears he's looking upwards while he's catching the football? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is he watching himself on the Jumbotron try to catch a football? He's like, yeah, look how cool this is. I, he just, he missed, clearly he missed the ball. So the trade happened. Yep. Mike's a sucker for Justin Fields. We know that. Yeah. And I'm a sucker for pain. So we'll just buy in one more time. And then final note.

you are we're playing yeah we're playing the heads up i gave you marv so if marv does the 102 tonight it will be against me you also wouldn't have been playing kailer murray you would have been playing justin field yeah so you opted into kiler and marv tonight and i want the people at home to watch they watch jason win a monday night football matcher now watch tonight knowing that every catch that marvin makes hurts mike it's gonna be fascinating i also will be very happy I know. I need him to be good. You guys are still Marv fans. So we've got a huge show today. We have starts of the week. We've got a ton of matchups to get into. It's a big week for fantasy, right? We've got three weeks of data. So the tools, they've been activated, right? The streamfinder tool, the strength of schedule tool, an opportunity to get into all of the Foot Clan tools and resources. We got rest of season rankings launching.

soon today question mark no today today yeah you could have gone with soon we no no i i want to i want to force our hand so we will have a rest of season rankings up today and we have never had those before correct so for the first time ever rest of season rankings should be helpful for evaluating trades obviously i got marvin number one rest of season very easy unbiased opinion there all right let's uh Let's jump into the news. And before we do that, I want to remind you, join the foot.com for all of those tools, including the rest of season rankings, the ultimate dashboard, the extra episodes, the community. The waiver wire tool. Yeah, it's, uh, we're piling them up. At this point, I think we're going to take a few things away. Well, yeah, we got to balance, right? You prune the bush, yeah. So it can grow more beautiful. Can we do the like the Disney vault thing? Oh, that's a good idea. When they all, when they decided that this would be a cool idea in the 90s to just like,

We'll just release a movie for a couple minutes. You know that movie you like? Can't get it. Now you want it. You can't have it. I guess they knew the power of scarcity, which they've not, they've opposited it with Star Wars movies now. Yeah. There's no scarcity. Well, we do vault. Go to footclan.com before it disappears. News and notes from around the league. Presented by progressive insurance. Zach Charbonnet. He is officially listed as questionable, but he has three full practices this week. Zach, come on. It's a short week, man. Just rest up. Oh, you'd like another Ken Bone Walker evening? Yeah. Cardinals Devens is pretty good. You guys both have Seattle winning the game? I do, yeah. Yeah. And the line is kind of a toss-up because it's gone back and forth. Cardinals started favored right now at Seattle by like one or something like that. Yep. Last I saw was Seattle one and a half. Okay. It should be interesting. It might be a bit of a defensive game.

I wonder if we'll get some low story. Do you expect Charbonate to play since he practiced all week? I do. Yeah, I do too. Jacori Kroski Merritt had missed Wednesday's practice. It was listed as precautionary and that he should be back out there. Devante Adams also didn't practice on Wednesday. Hamstring. You don't like hearing older receivers with hamstring issues, but Sean McVeigh says it's not going to affect his availability. Did you have some thoughts? Well, I'll have thoughts in our next segment for sure. our next segment yeah oh okay isaiah likely limited in wednesday's walk through still don't know if isaiah likely's going to be back out there you know there there have been people that have mark andrews and maybe they got britton strange on the bench if you can swap britton strange for isaiah likely uh put them on your roster that's fine i think try to figure out who's going to be the guy there big week for andrews last week Xavier worthy full practice on wednesday but

I don't know what the snaps are going to look like for worthy. Do you have confidence in him? I would not start him. I would not. I don't think there's any way that you can start him with the report that he's going to be back on a limited basis wearing a harness. Like you've got to see what it looks like first. I can't fathom he gets enough touches. He might help the chiefs, but not necessarily help your fantasy team. DeAndre Swift. Cole Comet, limited on Wednesday, Colston Loveland, not practicing. He has dealt with injury issues so far. Maybe. Ricky Pearsall, Joan Jennings, also didn't practice. Pearsall with the knee, he says it's feeling good. I actually don't know when I hurt my knee. Little soreness, not concerned. But it's the 49ers. Anybody that shows up on the practice report for the 49ers, it's from zero to 100 games out that they're going to miss. So Brock Purdy, Mack Jones, both limited on Wednesday. I think it'll be Purdy this week.

Do you guys have opinions on that's where I lean to. Yeah, I believe Purdy will be there. And if he is out there, he's been a decent fantasy option for, you know, like I lost DAC, basically. That's how I feel like Dak had a the same injury that CD Lamb had with CD out. I'm like, especially in a tough matchup, I can't imagine playing him. But Brock is on my radar. Yeah, no, it, it makes sense. I almost signed him this morning in one of our leagues. All right, that was news and notes, 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. All right, time to jump in. Starts of the week. Presented by Paramount Plus.

Starts of the week for week number four at the quarterback position. This is the start of the week. Jordan Love. Jordan Love. It better be. Playing Dallas, the Cowboys, who they only put eight guys out on defense every week. And we haven't seen, look, it was disappointing last week. I thought Jordan Love would be fine against Cleveland. I thought they would get it done. Cleveland is making sure no one is fine against them. So that was a backfire. But. You know, the previous two weeks before last week's debacle for the Packers, leading the NFL in A-DOT, average depth of target, throwing it down the field. Inexcusably, like I had kind of made some comments. I didn't make an official guarantee, but I had said that Matthew Golden was going to score last week. I stand by it because Matthew Golden caught a pass up the sideline. There was no safety or defensive back ahead of him. And then he ran.

straight out of bounds. The Packers sideline, he ran to the Packers side. And when he went out of bounds, you see like five players whose, you know, hands go to their helmet, like, what did you just do? He was running at an angle. It was like they tilted the field to the right and he like rolled out. But the crazy thing was like his, his momentum very well might have taken him out of bounds. He might not have been able. he might not have been able to actually stay in bounds there maybe but he did not try i mean didn't didn't remotely like lean at all it was just like hey i got i got a nice catch let me walk right out of bounds really easily is he uh is it meouthy no no not yet not yet yeah yeah but jordan love is my start of the week

and the Cowboys pass defense. We know how dukey they are. Oh, they're. Let's hope he does it early. Dead last in yards per attempt allowed. Dead last in completion percentage over expectation. Dead last in explosive pass play rate. They put the, well, yeah, we'll just call them bad. They put the Duke and Duke. Yeah, look, I was going to say they put the something in Dallas. But here we go. Yeah. All right. I'm going to go with. Oh, but people think I hate Dallas, by the way. I just saw this. People think I'm like personal vendetta. I actually kind of like Dallas. I'd like them to win. This is called objective analysis. Have you watched your team? Right. Yeah, your defense is terrible. All right. So my start of the week this week, Caleb Williams. Oh, boy. What would have thought? The Raiders. I know. Who would have thought, right? Caleb Williams has not had a great beginning to his career, but from a fantasy football perspective.

He's been very good. He's actually the quarterback three right now on the season. And his fantasy game, it's taking another leap this year thanks to his scrambling. The only quarterbacks with more fantasy points off of scrambles so far this season, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Jalen Hertz. Nine scrambles for 79 yards and a touchdown. And the defensive matchup is great. I love picking games that are in a dome. Thank you. The weather will be fine. And the past defense of the Raiders, 28th and expected pass points, 25th and passing yards allowed, 25th and fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. You know, he is a guy that I was sad to see. It was like a pump fake for me. When Dak went down, I looked at Sleeper, and he was one of the highest trending quarterbacks, like additions. And I was like, I don't know how he made that list because he's rostered almost everywhere, but I was like, oh.

I thought he was on the waivers. I was like, yeah, baby. He's not. But I would start him if I had him. Mike, who do you got? I'm going with Bo Nix against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are not a very good team. Right now, and it's not been great, honestly, for Bo Nix. The QB 21 through three weeks. He's averaging under 200 passing yards a game. However, this week, we all have them ranked in the top 10. The Broncos have a 26 point implied team total. That's the fourth highest. for this week. The rushing floor still has been there for two of the three weeks. He's averaging six attempts and 24 yards per game. And since he has allowed the six most completions to opposing quarterbacks, they can't get pressure on Bo. He just missed on three deep shots last week. I mean, he hits on one of those. The concern for Bo Nix has gone out the window. And I'm going to double up here because this is pretty rare for, I think, any of us to ever do on the show. My quarterback,

and my running back start of the week are from the same exact team. So I was going to throw it out, is J.K. Dobbins, who through three weeks has been the running back 13, 15, and 12 with a touchdown in each game. We saw a little more consolidation from the Broncos. Like Biday kind of got the boot last week, and it actually didn't really turn into an uptick for RJ Harvey, turned into an uptick for J.K. Dobbins, who... He's looked really good. He has looked good. And I mean, while he's looking good, you've got to stay on this train. Bengals defense saw it. They were manhandled by Jordan Mason and the matchup of the Denver O line, third and yards before contact. Cincinnati's defense 27th and yards before contact allowed. It is a match made in heaven. I really like the Broncos this week. All right. Amarion Hampton is my running back start of the week against the Giants. It was a matter of time and circumstance, right?

We did have a very unfortunate injury. Nobody wants to see that happen. Hampton took advantage of the increased opportunities. And here we are. We're three weeks into the season, and it's Amari and Hampton's backfield from here on out. I know we had somebody in one of our leagues make a trade, I think a week or two ago. They got Amarion Hampton plus something for Chase Brown at the time. And you look at the way that that has turned. Fantasy football is cruel. Yeah, and the Giants, look, for all of their strengths on the defensive side so far, the run defense has been very exploitable. Second most rushing yards allowed, second most yards after contact, which is a Hampton special, second highest rush success rate on man and gap scheme plays, which is a Greg Roman special. So look, it's a really good matchup for Hampton. I think it's going to be start them this week. It's going to be start them here on out. Yeah, start them every week, but it's a smash matchup for sure.

Just a quick little nugget here for Dynasty Bros out there. If you hadn't seen, there was a report that Kamani Vidal is actually the next man up for the Chargers. That's encouraging for Hampton. This was nothing against Hampton. It's just you want to stash back up running backs. And Vidal, according to this report, that Jim Harbaugh is when he said it. Sassoon. So he's back. Yeah. The locks will be washed. My starting running back, Chuba Hubbard, going to play against the New England Patriots. He's running back 13 on the season. He's averaging 19 opportunities a game. He is, you know, you forget that he's one of the elites when it comes to volume, workload. He's one of eight running backs with 40 plus rush attempts and 10 receptions so far this season. He's on pace for 79 receptions.

And right now the matchup against New England, they are giving up quite a lot of right now fourth most running back receiving yards. So even though that's not like his exact specialty, he is being used in that way. Tet is a little banged up. I mean, Hubbard is just. Who would you rather throw to, Chuba Hubbard or Xavier Leggett? Oh, I mean, exactly. That's why Chuba is getting four or five targets in this game. So I think he's someone that should be in your lineup. Does he still feel extremely disrespected? in the world of fantasy football. Is that going to be? He is still disrespected by me in my mind and heart. I still, this is why I got to like force him to be a start of the week. I got into the dock before you. I was strongly considering putting Chuba in. And I do. I think he's a great play. I do have a little bit of pause that of the way that Rico has been used lately. Rico has sucked. You talked about the goal line. The opportunities in the last game, I think we're all.

We're all Rico in the... Yes, in the five. But it's like those... They did come later in the blowout, but just overall, Rico... He's just... I have some pause with Chuba long-term. But for this week, I'm with it as a start of the week. All right. Wide receiver, Mike? Wide receiver. I got Jacoby Myers. I know Trey Tucker is the hotness and everything, but I'm going with Jacoby. I kind of like that. I'm going against the Chicago Bears. He's still their number one guy. Weeks one and two, he was getting absolutely peppered with targets. And then you can't get peppered with targets when your teammate is taking the ball to the house. One touch scores. Exactly. So like last week, it was only four targets. He still managed to get 63 receiving yards. And he is, there's only five wide receivers who have hit 60 or more receiving yards in each of the first three games. Puka, JSN, Keenan, Kuge. And.

Jacobi Myers. He, I think you got to go right back to the fantasy vegetables. He'll be good for you team. I think that's a super smart play because everyone was kind of buying into the target totals and you're going to have outlier weeks. You're going to have down weeks. But we like Gino Smith this week and I like that one. All right, my tandem. I'm putting Jordan Love with Matthew Golden starting him. Matthew Golden started the week. He's in my lineup and he's going to play football this weekend. He, a dude. He's going to score this weekend. If it doesn't, he's going to score. Wait, is that a touchdown guarantee? Yeah, he needed it. That would have led him up the field and not out of bounds if I had just given him the touchdown guarantee. So Matthew Golden into the end zone, maybe twice. With the snap counts and the route participation this week, if he doesn't do something, it will be highly concerning. It will be, this has to be the game. The only reason something wouldn't happen for Matthew Golden this week is because you're expecting it to happen. That's how it feels for fantasy football.

I saw somebody say that the other day. Look, 71% route participation last week, up from 65, up from 44. You don't have Jaden Reed. We think Tucker Kraft is healthy. He'll be involved. But Matthew Golden, I think it was seven opportunities in a game where their offense barely did anything last week. The Cowboys are giving up so many yards. Matthew Golden will get behind this defense. I'm all about it this week. Sure. I'll give you the touchdown guarantee for Matthew Golden officially. All right. All right. I think he's going to get two now. My wide receiver start of the week. Plus 1,700 for two. Yes. Because that's ludicrous. I might have just played with that. Okay. Invested. Yeah, an investment. Devante Adams, obviously him popping up with the hamstring isn't something I love to see, but it was a Wednesday. McVeigh said he's not concerned. It's just hopefully just one of those veteran day of rests.

He's been so good, guys. His, he has. His utilization is otherworldly and what he is doing right now. So the last nine years, Devante Adams has averaged 1213 yards and 11 touchdowns. Through three weeks, he is on pace for 1,207 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's so good. He's just, Devante Adams is just being Devante Adams. Stafford can absolutely support him. We saw this with Cooper Cup and Puka together. He's just a staple of consistencies. The wide receiver 11 right now. And the Rams Colts game, highest over under of the week, 49 and a half. The Rams are three and a half point home favorites. You know, Devante Adams shouldn't be a question mark anymore. There's a world, right, where we have L.A. versus L.A. and the Super Bowl this year. Like both of those teams are definitely on the short list of potential candidates to get there.

That'd be pretty cool. At the tight end position, I'm going with T.J. Hawkinson. Okay. Hockey's versus. People need to hear this. In Ireland, bonjour, everyone. Jordan Addison is back. Is this because of the quarterback upgrade? It might have something to do with it. And, look, Addison's back, so people might be like, I don't want to play Hockey's. No, I'm in on him, the 20% target share that he's had through three games. It's number six. among tight ends in the league right now. We saw Hunter Henry destroy this Pittsburgh Steelers defense just recently. And Narrative Street, guys, the Minnesota Vikings are just a tiny plane right away from their homeland. Scandinavia. Oh, the Vikings out there. Yeah. Okay. So clearly. They're more comfortable. Yes. They're like, hey, we're back.

i think somebody got mad at me saying that they were going on the road two weeks in a row because it was like they're going overseas oh i was like that seems to count to me yeah i mean if there was super count it should say they're going on the road and the seas because i don't think they're going on the seas you don't think they're taking the boat you don't think they're taking a boat correct i know it's uh when you say on the road it implies that i could drive there okay oh that's a good counter counterpoint. You just talked about Hunter Henry. He is my start of the week this week. It's been really interesting to see the New England Patriots offense and who are the most dependable pass catchers. What if I told you Hunter Henry led the team in targets per game, target share, and receiving yards per game? I mean, through three weeks, he's always been capable. Sometimes Titans aren't necessary. Right now he feels extremely necessary. Stefan Diggs is good enough to run seven yards and turn around.

Kishon Booty seems like the next best player, but Demerio Douglas not involved. Kyle Williams not involved. It's been Hunter Henry. Get Kyle Williams on the field. And let's remember we haven't seen a lot of Drake May, right? He's going to pick his favorites. He feels very comfortable targeting Hunter Henry. It's Carolina. Eight most fancy points given up to tight in. I think you just stay with Hunter Henry. He's better than Zach Hertz this week. To me, he's better than Kyle Pitts this week. He's the start of the week. Speaking of necessary. Ferg Daddy. Oh, yes. He is currently still living. He will, he will, that can't continue for much longer because he's finally rested after he's got to be. And Ferg Daddy is. Ferg daddy is Jake Ferguson. Got it. Jake Ferguson tied in for the Dallas Cowboys who will need to throw the ball a lot and do not have C.D. Lamb through three weeks. He has the most total receptions of any tight end to start a season since 2016.

Here are the players in the NFL with more receptions than for daddy. Pooka Nakua. End of list. That is it. That's wild. That's crazy. You're good to start him right now. He is needed. He is necessary. And he should be in your lineup. Yeah. They don't have a lot. No. Like even even the opportunity for like turpin. This week feels a little like nerve wrecking. Yeah. I don't think it's turpent time. Nice. Nice. Okay. That was starts of the week presented by Paramount Plus. Watch the Ravens versus Chiefs game this Sunday. Get started at Paramount Plus.com slash NFL. We'll take a break. We'll hit the forecast. Into the forecast we go. Fantasy forecast presented by prize picks. 27 receptions for Jake Ferguson. The next highest at the tight-in position. Do you know who it is? Is it Juan?

Is Joanne Johnson? Next highest after that. Do you know who it is? Trey McBride. Yeah, that makes sense. Number four and number five are tied. Okay. Henry? Harold Fanon and Kyle Pitts. Yeah. Boy, Kyle Pitts didn't do a lot with that. Yeah. Career? With his career, yes, his career. All right, into the forecast we go. international games this week. Make sure you set your lineups early. And my alarm clock NFL, ugh. This is where the, what the West Coast is not the best coast. It's 9.30 Eastern. East Coast. Like this is what East Coasters, this is what we're used to. Yeah. You wake up and you let football come to you. It's Sunday morning. You let the sun wake you up. No alarm clock necessary. You just wake up and there's football.

Over here, I'm like, it's dark outside. Yeah, we're playing football. We've got the 6.30 a.m. game. Minnesota versus Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's hitting 2-1, Minnesota 2-1 game in, well, Ireland. So 2.5. Minnesota, they're the favorites. 40 and a half over under. That's not great. So both teams right now in the bottom 10 and pass rate over expectation, they're not throwing the ball a ton. which is really, really surprising for the Vikings that has not been their style in the LaFleur era. And I think it will change. I think it will change with Carson Wentz right now. I mean, and it could have changed last week with Carson Wentz, except the Minnesota defense couldn't stop scoring. So like, I mean, even a, please stop. Even a team that likes to pass over expectation.