Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Week 6 Waivers, Streams of the Week, Injury News

running back injuries. Yeah, I was going to say for NFL players. Yeah. That's great news. No, no harm befell any humans, which is always great. Now, you did have, we've alluded to it already, you did have the previous injury of Charles Sims becoming a bigger deal. Yes. And you had Jack Wiz Rogers very involved. Now, do you pick him up, though, going on a, on a by week? On the by week, I'm not sure if I do. If you have Doug Martin,

then maybe I consider it just because you want to protect yourself. So let's say you had Charles Sims, you're like, oh, I'm riding this out. If Doug Martin is not back after the bye week, you're going to want somebody who you can plug into your starting roster. So that would be the situation where I consider it. But other than that, I'm probably leaving him alone. If he's just going to go onto my bench as a stash and hope, there's other guys who I'd rather stash and hope right now.

Yeah, so let's say you need a play, right? Because there are a lot of teams. One of my teams included, I've got the McKinnon-Eaterian Peterson combo, and they are on by. This week, Minnesota and Tampa Bay, those are the only two teams on by. So if you've got those running backs, you might need a spot start. Who is it that you would pick up that you would say, if I have my choice of starting only one week, I only need a one week play.

Who would that guy be to get the most points this week, Mike? So there's three guys that are at the top of the list. James Stark's assuming Eddie Lacey if he's going to miss some time. Look, Eddie Lacey is a bigger guy. I mean, so I feel like an ankle injury is going to take a little bit longer to heal up. Then you have Ballal Powell, who is growing in usage up in New York, and James White. So those are the three names that I gravitate towards.

And I believe I would go with James White. That would be mine as well. 100%. We've seen, we saw the offense turn things around. Now, Garrett Blunt was coming into that game injured. And I don't think he left any worse for where, but they might be trying to limit his workload after he got about, I believe the number was 10,000 to two carries. And I might have been three. 10,000 three? Yeah, I believe so. And those first four games. So maybe they're giving him some well-deserved rest. But James White.

You don't pick them up because for the rushing stats, only five for 26, but four for 63 through the air. That's spectacular numbers of you have over 80 total yards from scrimmage. That's what I would want from a guy I can grab off the waivers. Dionne Lewis last year made huge waves of noise in the fantasy community. Even in standard leagues, I think in PPR he was a top five guy. I want to say in standard when he was in.

played full games in those weeks. I think he was the number seven back. But he did most of his damage through the air just like James White did. And one of the things people don't realize is that the passing production, James White versus Dionne Lewis, James White actually outproduced Dion Lewis. He just doesn't have the same ability on the ground. But if he could add 20, I mean, last week he got 26 yards on the ground.

You add that to the 63 yards. That's a great game from a running back. Completely agree. And I think James White will see the end zone through the air several times this year. James White, to me, is a great pickup now. I can play him this week. I can play him next week. And we should also throw the name of Dionne Lewis out there. He's only owned in 18% of leagues. Now, he's still a couple weeks before he's eligible to come back, right? Yeah, I wouldn't expect to see Dionne Lewis before week 10. Yeah, exactly. He should be eligible to return.

Before he returns. Correct. Meaning he's not ready to go. He's not at practice right now, ready to go, just not eligible to come back. He's still recovering from his injury, which makes James White all the better play. But with Tom Brady back, if you need a guy, I mean, I'm fine picking up both of these guys and taking up two roster spots to secure one start worthy running back every single week. So the Patriots have the week nine by. I believe Lewis is eligible week eight. So that's why it.

It makes sense for them to not rush him back that week, give him a couple more weeks of practice, and then week 10, unleash the beast. Yeah, Belal Powell, I think, is another spot start that is worthy. We've seen the Arizona Cardinals. He plays on Monday night in Arizona. His usage has gone up. Last week, he got six receptions. The week prior to that, he got six receptions. Oh, oh. And the week prior to that. No, don't do it. He got six receptions. He's the mark of the beast.

No! But Belal Powell. The mark of the beast for your opponent. Am I right? Well, hopefully not. He's playing the Arizona Cardinals. Oh, yeah, I take it back. But the Arizona Cardinals have been able to constantly, they blitz. And the way you beat a blitz is that screen game. We've seen plenty of teams do that. Belal Powell is fantastic in that role. He has been productive the last few weeks. I'm not expecting anywhere near, you know, an RB1.

or even I don't think I can rely on like that top end RB2 value. But I don't think Belal Powell's going to go out there and get you, you know, 0.5 points. If you're in any kind of PPR setting, if he gets another six passes, you've either got three to six points, depending on your scoring format, established, and then you get all the yards, you get that touchdown opportunity. And I think Matt Forte, who has been hurt with the ribs, he's not going to have a huge game against Arizona rushing D. Yeah, I would agree with that. Speaking of another PPR running back, Bobby Rainey,

continues to look very Bobby Rainy, which is when he's on, he is very on. He looks spectacular. You combine that with the Giants' offense is a mess. Yeah, they are. Eli does not look comfortable at all. We were on the way to launch yesterday, and what are the two adjectives? We said, how does Eli look? He looks confused? Yes. He looks scared. He does. Those two things. Like, when you watch him play right now, it's like he's never been in this offense.

That's very bizarre. And it's so weird because he, the last couple years, he's gotten more and more used to this offense. He's been, he's on the best two years of his life before this. And now you add in two more valuable weapons and Victor Cruz coming back, who seems okay. And Sterling Shepard, a great incoming rookie. And now how much of this should be, should we put the blame on, look, he just went to Minnesota. And, and they went to Green Bay.

Those aren't exactly easy matchups. Sure. He went to Green Bay, especially Green Bay was coming off the buy. They had the extra time to scheme. But I have great concerns now for Eli. People are asking, what do I do with Eli Manning? I'm moving on. I'm finding a different option. I dropped him in our League of Record this morning. But Bobby Rainey getting just tons of targets because Eli makes his first read. Maybe he makes the second read. And then he'll spike the bar on the ground or he'll dump it off to Bobby Rainey.

A couple names to monitor just in case they were actually dropped. Jonathan Stewart is available in about right around 25% of leagues, TG Eldon as well. And then speaking of stashes, people have given up on Derek Henry. They have dropped him. He is available in over 40% of leagues. I have said this for weeks, but I think he is the best handcuff.

handcuff he's a real one he's a real one he's the best handcuff to own if he was he's a sam elliott if he was dropped in our league i would i would be willing to drop plenty of other guys who can produce now like take a t jeldon right t jeldon i could actually put in and he could produce they produce probably more than derrick henry

But the upside, the upside is not there. I'm going to throw one other stash name out. We were just talking about the Giants and they need something to fix their situation. And we saw that they were much better with Rashad Jennings in there as they were expected. He's available in a quarter of leagues right now. And look, if he might be back this week.

If he's not, he's going to be available in even more than a quarter of leagues because people just can't keep holding on to injured running backs. And so he's a name that if you've got the room on your bench, you've got a larger bench, or you've got garbage on your bench. He's worth picking up. Sure. So we got the tight end situation is not the best right now. You had Cameron Brate, who we were all buying into because the targets were there. Huge disappointment. The end zone targets are there.

And then he gets three targets. That was a weird game. In a winnable matchup for tight ends. Tight ends have been taking advantage of the Panthers secondary all year long, but not Camberbrate. Eric Ebron has been dropped in a lot of places because of the injury. I was shocked to see that Eric Ebron was only owned in 46% of leagues.

He is a talented tight-in. You saw last game when he was out that they really could have used him. And he's been involved. He's been successful. He's involved in the Red Zone. This week he's going up against L.A., who has been middle of the pack against the tight-in. Now, do you expect Eric Ebron to be back this week? That's the real question. I think so. Eric Ebron, to me... Sorry for that. That is...

That is hard-hitting analysis right there. I think so. Eric Ebron to me is a guy that I would rather have, I would rather have Eric Ebron than a spot start where I'm saying, okay, the matchup for so-and-so is okay. I can play them this week because I think Eric Ebron in most weeks is playable. And if you're in that streaming position, I'd rather have a guy like Eric Ebron than say Hunter Henry. Sure. Charles Clay is an interesting name where the last couple weeks he's getting more involved.

5 for 73 last week with the five targets. The Buffalo Bills have really turned around their season since they got rid of Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator. That seemed to rally the troops up in Buffalo, and now they get a matchup like you talked about San Francisco. We talked about this off here, but San Francisco has to go across the entire continental United States.

Not easy. We saw Buffalo Handle, Arizona making that trip. So I would not be shocked to see Buffalo handle San Francisco. Jesse James continues to impress. You had eight targets. He had that wide open touchdown where you had somehow a gargantuan monster of a man. He was left uncovered. The only person within five yards. And this was like from the two yard line. So it was like how.

I mean, how do you even have any area wide open? That was a great play call. Jesse James, to me, is probably like, like, if you're looking at the tight ends that are widely available, right? I mean, you could go get Kobe Fleener or Gary Barnage in about a quarter of leagues. You can get, you know, Eric Ebron in half of leagues. But if you're like, look, I'm in a competitive league, these guys are taken.

of the guys that are mostly available in three quarters of leagues, Jesse James is the guy I want. You've seen him. He's got three touchdowns on the year already. He's involved enough in the passing game. I do think he's a little bit more touchdown dependent, but he's a key cog in this, and I think he's getting more and more involved in the offense. This week specifically, he's going to Miami. That's a winnable matchup. So, you know, Jesse James.

is a decent pickup. What about the concerns of Laderius Green, who the forgotten man, Lederius Green, a huge offseason signing for Pittsburgh had the weird. Is he going to retire? Is it an ankle? Is it a concussion? Yeah, we had, and we never got clarity on that. What we do know is Lerius Green was on the Pup list, which means he's eligible to return in week seven. That doesn't mean he will be back.

but he's at least eligible. I would give, you know, the percentage odds of him returning in week seven a solid 10%. Because mystery always means that there's something you might not know, but I have heard no rumors of him being on track. There were many more rumors of him not playing this year than being ready in week seven. Rumors of him not playing again.

Right, exactly. So for me, I'm not very scared off by Laderius Green, and I'm certainly not going to be scared off of him in the sense that what it costs you to get Jesse James is nothing. Sure. You can let the waivers clear and then just go pick him up, or you can bid a dollar or $2 and you'll get Jesse James. So if Laderius Green comes back, just cut him. Who cares? I will say Laderius Green says there is a good possibility he's able to return when first eligible.

Great. Said I don't want to jinx it, but my ankle's feeling good. How's your head? I don't know about the head. All right, a couple defenses that are great, we think are great stream picks based on matchup. You have the Lions at home versus the Case Keenham-led Rams. That's okay, but the Lions defense to me, I mean, look, I like being at home against Case Keenums-led Rams. The matchup is good. I would agree that the defense is not.