Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Studs, Duds, Rising Stars, Injuries, Mayhem

No, I think I'm actually wrong about that. Will you vet that? I'm pulling it up. Sure. But the reality is with injuries like this specific. In Seattle. In Seattle. I'm playing Russell Wilson against the Niners. But with injuries like this, this has to be a wait and see. We can't give you any solid advice yet. We have to wait until the MRIs come back.

But just be aware that those guys are hurt and that you need to follow up before you make starts with either them or Russell Wilson. Now, good news is Russell did come out and say that the ankle felt good and he thought it would feel even better next week. A little bit of concern for Jonathan Stewart, hamstring ankle injury. Angles coming into the week, hamstring during the game. I believe he wants to add the groin next week and then he's going to do the trifecta. That was so upsetting to me. Jonathan Stewart, I apologize to everyone.

He was my start of the week, and I, man, I was so confident on that start of the week. I knew it was going to happen, and then he gets injured in the first quarter. But in my defense, did you see what Fossie Whitaker did? Fossi. 100 plus yards off the bench. Waka, Waka, Waka. Goes out there and gets 100 yards on the ground. Man, if Jonathan Stewart didn't go out, he would have been great. And another eye roll moment for Chargers fans and fantasy owners alike. Danny Woodhead exited the game with a knee injury. Caught underneath.

Telvin Smith in the first quarter dropped the ball, stayed on the turf, was carted off, and suddenly Melvin Gordon looks like a top 10 back. Melvin Gordon looks like a top 10 back. Kelvin Benjamin now has more targets to Travis Benjamin. It was all about the Benjamin's this week. Yes, it was. Travis Benjamin has Tyrol Williams. The whole passing game changes with Danny Woodhead being out. And like you said, Melvin Gordon, he has.

Has there been anything bad from Melvin Gordon from training camp on? No. He was one of the preseason players you could see with your eyes was a little bit different this year. And I was concerned about the week one snap percentages, but, I mean, you take Danny Woodhead out of the equation, then that changes everything. Yeah, he had 24 carries this week after Woodhead went out, and he looked good. First over 100-yard game for Melvin Gordon. Added another touchdown. And three more, three catches. So, uh,

I was shocked. I think you, this one's shocked. Do you have the breaking news? No, let's just go with this. Arian Foster, injured. Oh, man, that's so weird. Going to miss a game. Going to miss a game. Every other one. At minimum, he will miss one game. I hate this situation. I have JJ on my bench. I was a foster owner. I don't feel good about that because he fumbled. You got Kenyon Drake, Damien Williams. It's probably going to be a three-headed.

monster. Yeah, we don't celebrate injuries here and certainly not this one. And so I won't say I told you so. Oh, you're an astute man. Yeah, I mean, what is there to say? A healthy one point I got it of Arian Foster. He killed me this week. Mike Florio reports Brandon Marshall is an MCL injury. This is the Marshall miracle we saw on Thursday where he went down.

Everybody thought he was done. Then he played some more. Now you're talking MCL injury. I remember Larry Fitzgerald hit an MCL injury and took him a little bit of time to come back. Marshall was walking fine, but I know he did not come to practice today. You simply have to monitor this situation this week. Now, the nice thing is is Marshall gets 10 days because he played on Thursday. So he has more time than normal to get healthy. I would expect him to go, but we will need to update you on what's going on.

Yeah, if it was someone else, I mean, this is one of those situations where it really comes down to the person, their pain tolerance, their willingness to work through things. You know, an Eric Decker, a Brandon Marshall, I expect them to be back out there. Bills have fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman. I would like to be hired for $2.5 million a year and then fired and paid that money anyways. So I don't have to work. That's not too bad. I mean, I wouldn't want to work with Rex. So the coaches get paid that.

But the players, if you cut a player, they're like, I'm not paying you anymore. Well, in this situation, Greg Roman was the highest paid offensive coordinator in the league. That's unconscionable. He took them from a 30-something offense to like number nine last year or something like that. And now he's the scapego. Look, they're going to start 0-4 probably.

I mean, this is a team. You know, their next two matchups, I know they have the Patriots in week four. Yes. Who do they have this week? The Cardinals, right? I think they have the Cardinals this week. I'm pulling it up. Yep. In Buffalo. In Buffalo, the Cardinals. Look, this is, I mean, Rex is on his way out. Not a good situation in Buffalo. So.

That's all there is to say about that. Yeah, I would not want to come in for the temporary offensive coordinator job in Buffalo. All right. Let's make it, let's turn to the positive side of things. This week's fantasy stud muffins. All right, fantasy stud muffins from week number two, the guys that avoided injury and played well. Happy to say start of the week, Matt Ryan delivered 26 for 34, 396, three touchdowns, came away with the win.

Matt Ryan delivered. Philip Rivers said, I don't need no Keenan Allen or Danny Woodhead. Danny Woodhead. Very surprising performance there from Rivers. Big time game from Rivers. Cam Newton had a huge game, 24 for 40, 353 and 4. Cam Newton owes, for fantasy owners, I should say. You owe a big thank you to San Francisco for somehow staying in that game and letting Cam Newton produce. You saw that last year at times with Carolina. They would get up big.

And then they just kind of go to sleep because they dominated so easily that they're like, whatever, you can't do anything. And they come back in the game. They still don't lose. But that's so great for fantasy. If they can keep that up, that would be really good start your Carolina Panthers. It's a good stat patting strategy by Cam Newton. Oh, yeah. Very, very wise. What else is going on? What other quarterbacks delivered in week number two? Obviously, we had Tyrod Taylor bounced back late on Thursday. But the guy that I...

that I liked seeing a lot of the most was Derek Carr against Atlanta. This is two weeks in a row now where Atlanta's secondary has been kind of carved up. I wasn't sure whether Derek Carr was going to get the touchdowns through the air or whether they were going to run them in. But he had 300 yards and three touchdowns. That's great. And then you had Carson Palmer 18 for 31, 308, and three touchdowns. Larry Fitzgerald looking like he's 22. Are you guys buying back into tie rod?

No. Like he had 303, but. They do want to pass more now. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. With the new OC, allegedly they want to pass a little bit more. But tie rods almost his entire production, you know, came on two busted plays. Yeah, I'm not buying in. I have so many other options at quarterback. It's going to always be a matchup. I don't need to. All right. Let's talk about some wide receivers that delivered the goods. We talked about the Benjamin's Travis, Travis, Travis, Travis, Travis.

He sure benefited from the, he seemed to be the main beneficiary, although Taurow Williams played well too. Yeah, I think that there were several beneficiaries in this game. But Travis Benjamin played the part, played it well. Jacksonville, man. Wow. How's that Gus bust? You got a flat tire over there? Oh, yes. Oh. Hold on. America, brace yourself. Andy's in pain. Gus. Gus.

Listen, we've been through a lot over the past few years, and I have stayed by your side as though we were married, and now it is time for me to say goodbye. Oh, some paperwork being filed. Gus, I... Oh, no! He's taking the Gus Bradley picture off of the computer.

And putting it face down. Face down. I don't know what to say other than you have good players and you can't win and you can't even compete. I'm disappointed. I'm hurt. This is a very long one. And I am done with you. And it's been years and I'm done. Goodbye, Gus. Goodbye. Yeah. Welcome. Welcome to the right side. No, that's good. Let's see. Who else?

Who else? Let's get back happy. This is like the saddest show after this weekends of football. Andy's going to be crying for a while, so I'll take over. How about this? How about the true beneficiary of Josh McCown taking over? And that was rookie sensation Corey Coleman. Now he has someone that can get him in the ball five for 104 and two touchdowns had eight targets in the game. I mean, we never. The eye test. Coming into this year, Cory Coleman was one of the guys we had.

absolutely, you know, on another level of height. But then Robert Griffin, the lacking, you know, of a passing game, you just, you had to downplay him. He wasn't going to get enough targets to be relevant. So now the news is wait and see if McCown is still healthy because obviously he got, he's not going to be, even if he plays next week, McCown is just going to take himself out of the game. It doesn't take long for McCown to go down.

Eric Decker, is he a one? Like a wide receiver one? I mean, he's played him. 18 straight games with a touchdown or 80 yards. He's been a one. He was a one last year. Yeah. I mean, at this point, do you have, look, is he going to, is he going to be better than Brandon Marshall this year? No. But it's a legitimate question. Watching the game.

and how it's going. You see kind of Brandon Marshall, Quincy and Noonois is taking some of those targets away, but nothing is changing for Eric Decker. He is flying across the deep middle of that field, open enough, and getting targets, and in the red zone, he's an option. Eric Decker, you lit it up again. He'll light it up next week. Play him, start him from here on out until things change. Yeah, every week. Every week. Now, here's the originator. I believe this is the originator of the stay in the flames.

It is. He is. And I believe we can officially hop right in that fire. And that is Stefan Diggs, man. Nine for 182 and a touchdown. He is the NFL league leader in yards right now at the wide receiver position from the Minnesota Vikings. And he didn't make it into the actual stud muffins, but Sammy Biscuits, he looked fantastic. He looked fantastic in that first game. Does Sam Shields?

Matters? No, I said, does Sam Shields matter that much to that secondary? Yeah, just like Jordy did to the offense. I mean, it depends on the matchup, right? Like, if you're going up against a team that has really a number one weapon, then yeah, you need your number one cover guy. I mean, think about the Cardinals if they lost Patrick Peterson. I mean, that would change everything on that defense. That's the same thing with Sam Shields. Yeah, and who knows when Shields is back. Look, these are the guys we won't talk about tomorrow. So Stefan Diggs, rest of season.

Where do you see him? I mean, he's had two great weeks. He's clearly the number one. Showed the one thing I wanted to see, which was a connection with the new quarterback. I think Stefan Diggs going forward can be a wide receiver two. I think, you know, probably more of a low-end wide receiver two. I don't expect him to continue leading the league. They're still, even without Adrian Peterson, a team that wants to run, he'll have his big weeks, but they're not all going to be. I mean, this was an incredible 182-yard game. He...

He looks the part, though. He is very, very good. The offense and the defense of the Vikings to me is what limits him from being able to be a wider receiver one, though, on any kind of regular basis. He reminded me of Antonio Brown in this game. Yeah. Route running, big plays, smart routes. Short routes that he can take longer. Yeah, very impressive game. We talked, you know, DeAndre Hopkins had a great game. Him and Will Fuller combined for 100.

Total yards each. Great, great matchup for, I mean, great situation for Oswalder to have those two guys on the outside. Look at the rookie wide receivers this week, man. Corey Coleman, Will Fuller, and you had Sterling Shepard. Eight for 117. He led the New York Giants in passing. Everyone's asking the question, does this mean Odell Beckham Jr. can't do Odell Buckham Jr. things anymore because of Cruz, who, by the way, played almost every snap and Sterling Shepard. Look, if you watch the game.

O'Dell Beckham Jr. still had a good game, and he dropped a touchdown pass. I mean, he had a sideline touchdown pass that would have put the game away. He just dropped it. So, I mean, that changes the whole. He had a hole in the bottom of his breadbasket. Hole in the bottom of the breadbasket. It just snuck right through, but he would have had another great game. Who else here? Marvin Jones had a monstrous game. I think Marvin Jones is interesting because Golden Tate stunk. Golden Tate was the, the.

The yin to the yang here. I was not watching this game live, the Lions game, because, you know, you just can't catch every game live. And I kept looking on my computer and on my phone for news as to what happened to Golden Tate, why he's injured, what his injury is. He still got, Tate still got targets. He wasn't injured. No, no, he still got targets. So that's at least you can feel good about that. But for now, looks like Marvin Jones has taken over as the alpha of that past game.