Starts of the Week + Week 1 Breakdown, It’s Football Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/8

Foot Clan, it is finally here. The 2022 season kicks off. We've got starts of the week and matchups and news and never not working. It is a jam-packed episode with a lot of excitement. And of course, Jason breaks out his boom-boom-boom kicker poetry, which is elite. Do not miss a minute. Make sure you like, subscribe, leave a comment. Enjoy. Hey, this is Al Robinson. And you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers podcast. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast. With your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Everybody. It's football time. Oh, the wait is over, Mike. Jason, we got football. There's a reason to live. Thursday, September 8th, it's kickoff time. We have football tonight.

Welcome into the fantasy footballers podcast. Andy Mike and Jason joined by the Ducers, Kyla Borgogin, Judge Giamatti, Al Borland. Good work, everybody. Yeah, well done. Well done. And to you at home. I know you joined in. Excellent work. We have never not working on the show today. We've got some news to talk about a lot, actually. If you joined us on Spotify Live yesterday afternoon, some of that had come through, but just injury, rumblings and... fears and all of that. We'll talk through some starts at decisions based on those injury reports. The fantasy forecast probably get through about seven, eight matchups on today's show. Starts of the week and the boom boom kicker. Oh, yeah. And, oh, yeah, there's football. Oh, me. Delights. Oh, man. Studio upgrade on the YouTube. Party time.

For one and all. Looking good. Having a big party. Well, I look, so many players. I think I got, you know, in our major leagues, you know, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, Dawson, Knox, Alan Robinson, Stefan Diggs, Gabe Davis. Yeah. I mean, they're Cam Acres and Daryl Henderson. And there's so many players. Oh, dude, don't start them. There's so many players that are. Going to be a blast to watch tonight. Devon Singletary. Does he have it? That's a great question. Is James Cook used in the passing game? Yeah. But he was not used. Twitter at the FF ballers. Follow us over there. Help us get to 300,000 subs on YouTube because we are at 299,000. The lights alone should have put that over the top. Is that how it works? If you upgrade the studio, you just get more subs. I mean, if you build it, they will come, right? YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballer. Subscribe. Click the bell. Mike is going live Sunday morning, every Sunday morning.

It's going to be a spectacular year. Mike will help you out right before all the games kickoff with start sit questions. You will watch a man cry. You will watch him laugh. I like to think of it as you'll watch him comb his beard. You're helping me. Right? It's like a coping thing. Yeah, well, I mean, we're all in it together. It's circular of I help you, you help me. We try and stay right side up. Which is, I mean, in fantasy football, one of the hardest things to do. As we begin today's show, we are bringing back one of the most popular segments of last year. Never Not Working. Presented by Head and Shoulders, Scamp Shield Technology, available at Walmart. Last year, 18 weeks of Never Not Working, 18 different unique tips and tricks and insights to help you unlock fantasy success. Mike, you are looking.

at this week's never not working. Yeah, head and shoulders never not working. We are always working here over at the fantasy footballers, and we're looking at some week one thresholds to consider because week one, it's a time for celebration. It is a time of much rejoicing. It is also a time. Oh, I'm undefeated, by the way. Absolutely. We all are. And it is also a time of much tilting as you watch and, like, this player that you loved, maybe they didn't produce, but here is a threshold. that you should be considering as in like reveal yourself yeah perhaps the efficiency wasn't there but was the utilization there so is this to protect against like panic in week one absolutely so week one

Which it could also induce panic. I was going to say, I think there's a couple players here that this could really cause extra panic on it. But it could. And so at the running back position, Jason brought this up on the 10 tips and tricks episode. Running backs who see fewer than 13 carries in week one, they tend to not return big production on the season. Gulp. Since 2011, guys who saw fewer than that mark, the 13 carries, they averaged under 500 rushing yards. And. about three rushing touchdowns on the season. I mean, it's eye opening. It seems like it's, it's, if one of those is like, well, this is common sense, but it's good to see some actual hard data about it at the wider. And like guys we're looking at, you know, Damien Pierce, everyone's favorite offseason fantasy football player. Does he hit that threshold? He should cross that. He, oh, he absolutely should. But if he doesn't, like 29 carries, right? I mean, over under over under, definitely over.

And it's just like Brice Hall is he hit that mark. I know that Jason's going to be clenched for the entirety of the Jets game. I am already pre-clinched. I'm hoping to unclench at some point. He's been clinched for weeks. Yeah. At the wide receiver position over the last five years, only 10% of the wide receivers finishing in the top 24. had fewer than five targets in week one. So pay attention to five targets at the wideout position. So, you know, you're looking, like the rookies, we know that they, sometimes it takes them a little bit to get going, but it's like Amun Rae St. Brown, do we get those five targets immediately and we just, we can feel a little bit more secure? What about Ron Dale Moore in Arizona? Sure. Where he's going to play and then you're like, is he going to be integral? Hopefully it's five or more targets. Sure. And like some lower tier guys, you know, Brandon I, you know, he had.

apparently a really strong off season over in San Francisco. He just got cut. John Lynch has cut. It's very possible. The Kansas City Chiefs, wide receivers, Juju, MBS, the Lizard King, maybe. Maybe we see him go off week one. I mean, probably if Al-Lazar is out. He has to break all these metrics, right? Because week one, he gets his five targets of the year. It doesn't mean for sure you're going to finish there. It's just saying that guys that finish under these thresholds, the probability it. It's already up against it. For the tide ends, over the last five years, 85% of the tight ends that finished in the top eight, they ran at least 23 routes in week one, guys that we will be paying close attention to. Evan Engram, Big Irv Smith, who is back for the Minnesota Vikings, Gerald Everett, David and Joku, and, of course, what's going on with Albert Ogwebinon for the Denver Broncos? I mean, that was quite the, uh,

Quite the ride this offseason of, okay, yeah, we're in. Oh, no, now we're out. The three wide receivers are going to take over. Tim Patrick goes down for the year, maybe Alberto. Oh, but it's Greg Dulcich time now. And then all of the preseason usage, he's playing in the fourth quarter with like second and third stringers. Oh, Dulcich is out. So those are, those are just some thresholds to keep in mind, uh, as you're watching week one. All right, get up to 100% dandruff protection that is never not working with head and shoulder scalp shield technology available at Walmart.com. Use it every time you shampoo. You can see the difference. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. It wouldn't be a new football season without groin index.com updating their list of groin injuries. But guys.

These are upsetting. 49ers tied in George Kittle didn't practice on Wednesday due to a groin injury, suffered in Monday's practice. They're calling him day to day, but here we are again with George Kittle. Man, it's tough in the streets. I mean, this has always been Kittles' problem is staying on the field. When he's on the field, he's excellent. This is one that's upsetting, though, because you don't have a backup option. You're not. going to drop him. But you need to be prepared. Yes, you do. And we'll talk about some tight ends on the starts of the week that I think you can actually find on some of your waiver wires if you need to pivot from George Kittle. But he is only day to day if he plays, you're playing him. And another groin injury to a player that is near and dear to your heart, Jason. Chase Admin's running back for the Dolphins limited with a groin injury. Yeah, this one stinks. He.

seemingly from everything that you had heard had wrapped up the primary running back position. Hopefully he is just held out and gets back to practice today. We will find out more soon. It is a situation where today you can be paying it. I mean, Rahim Moster is on waiver wires. Yeah. Not all of them, but a lot of them. And so if you need a week one start, maybe you drafted J.K. Dobbins and you thought he was going to play. Let me ask you this. If you draft the Cam Acres, you're playing him tonight against that Buffalo defense over a flyer on Rahim Moster. Yeah, I'm not waiting to find out the news on Chase Edmonds. I will start the guy that I drafted to play tonight, but I did not draft Cam Acres anywhere. Deonté Johnson limited Wednesday with his shoulder issue. He said he is trying everything he can do that his arm allows him to do to get out there on Sunday one day at a time. We'll see where it goes. It was an AC joint injury. That's, I mean, that's just not how you want.

players talk i'm trying to get this darn arm to work whatever it'll let me do um you kind of need your shoulder and your arm to catch the football a lot uh you know they're on the road against cincinnati with a new quarterback wear the device you know like dalvin cook did uh as a receiver so it's it's definitely worrisome do you he could get knocked out of the game that's another risk with an ac joint injury yeah all you do it like you're a football player It doesn't matter whether you want to protect your shoulder or not. You go up for a ball. You come down on the shoulder. He's not playing the rest of that game if that happens. So the question is, let's say he's questionable all week and then he gets the start. He is going to be active. Do you look for a pivot option later in the week and just protect yourself? Or do you say I'm playing the guy I drafted? Because for instance, I think most likely you're playing Deontay Johnson, but.

I know like tonight to give you the same question you gave me about Chase Edmonds, if I had Gabriel Davis tonight, I would be playing him over waiting on Deonti Johnson. I think there's a chance you could have like, you know, Rashad Bateman. I'll give you a two names. Elijah Moore, Darnell Mooney. Like there's a chance that you have those guys. Olave, Traylon Brooks. Would you start either of those over? Oh my gosh. I want to see Traylon's involvement. I would be more confident starting Olave Week 1 than Traylon. Chris Godwin. Not at practice today. Wait, what? That's what I'm seeing. Come on. Kyle, is this true? Full participant on Wednesday, but not practicing today? Correct. It's weird. Well, I think this is. Super. I think this is actually to be expected to some degree. He's been participating in camp. He's had the non-contact jersey on. The expectation is that he was not going to start.

the season and if they're getting now into look we are preparing for this game i don't think goblin plays this game that was my expectation i just drafted him in uh one of our leagues and and i drafted him expecting him to not play this week you think they have an extra contact jersey out there that they give to some guys that they really want to knock around that's your punishment like you you got to wear they you malved off yesterday you get the extra contact and the uh the the bucks are the sunday night game so i would uh

You could Russell gauge it. You could. Yeah, he's back. Or he's missed a lot of time. Julio is, like for instance, I have Julio. I drafted Julio in the same place I got Godwin for this purpose. I've got Julio in my lineup. I'm not starting Godwin. If Godwin is active this week, which I don't think he will be, I'm not starting. Michael Thomas returned to a limited practice. He equivocated on whether he'd be allowed to play on Sunday. Basically said, we'll find out that's the goal. I'd love to wait and see on Michael Thomas. It's a good goal. Yeah. Miles Sanders returned to a full practice on track to play in week one. We'll see what that running back room ends up like snap count wise. Christian Watson returned to a full practice. Alan Lazard did not practice. I had seen somewhere that it was being called an ankle injury.

for Alan Lazard. The only official report we got was that he was stepped on last week in practice. ankle makes sense. But we don't have, you know, does he have a toe problem of midfoot? We don't know what exactly is going on. And then we found out this morning that Matthew Stafford did have an off-season elbow procedure. That's why he described himself as 100% entering tonight. He had a PRP injection and a non-surgical procedure aimed at healing the elbow. So this was not a surgical procedure. The nice thing about this is, you know, the worry of if this was just from playing football and the only solution was rest, which is what they were kind of making it seem like this offseason, you're not going to get rest through the season. If there was this non-invasive procedure done and they are resting to give recovery from that procedure, that actually doesn't scare me. That makes the off-season rest make more sense to me. All right. Anything else breaking right now, gentlemen?

I appreciate the, all three of our producers are dawning the jerseys today. Was this planned? Was this discussed? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, why don't, why don't you? It's football time, baby. Everybody go to YouTube and take a look at the new producer cam, which cannot be turned on until we are after over. 300,000 subscribers. Oh my gosh. Man, you guys want it. Just got to subscribe harder, okay? Subscribe harder. Click the button as hard as you can. Kyle Pitts jersey for Kyle. Is that right? That's right. I love it. And then you got like a Marion Barber on there? Dion Sanders. Old school Darren Woodson. Oh, okay. All right. Safety for the Cowboys. Yeah. Yeah, I got the cowboy fan in here. And then Risen from the Dad, Al's got the Randall Cobb jersey on.

Which I know you bought the first go-round for Randall Cobb, right? Oh, you know it. Kind of like him in DFS this week. It's not bad. Price just right. All right. That was today's news and notes brought to you by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. It's time for the fantasy forecast followed by the starts of the week. Fantasy forecast. We have to be careful in today's show. Of course. Because the temptation to talk about every single player. and all of the unknowns. We could probably spend the whole episode on every matchup. Let's start with Adam Troutman. Yes. Yes. New Orleans, the Saints take on the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta. Just give me 23 routes. The Draft King Sportsbook line here, New Orleans, five and a half point road favorites. The over and under is just 42 points. These.

Teams have a tendency to surprise us sometimes, even when the lines are more extreme in terms of the divisional matchup, James Winston. In week one last year, you remember it? Yeah. Five touchdowns on what, like six passes? Yep. Marcus Mariotta at quarterback making the debut for Atlanta. Mariotta will be probably more exciting as the season goes on that like if you have to stream a particularly juicy matchup, but. For now, do not play him. And then let's look at the running back room here. Alvin Camara. Yes. Got that drop. Do we have the Alvin Camara drown? Oh, it's super. Oh, we've got it. We might. Might not. Cordero Patterson and Alvin Camarra. Right on time. That's really on Al. Alvin Camarra, Cordero Patterson, Cameras in your lineup. There has been some talk about Damien Williams.

over the last week. I know Tyler Algier is enticing for fantasy players, especially just on the promise that maybe somebody can take over the backfield. I think that's why that's been brought up. But as we begin the season, Cordero is going to have a ton of work out of the backfield. And Damien Williams seems to be the next man up. Agreed. It's funny, Cordero got off to such a hot start last year. His situation is very, very similar. And I don't want... to start him. Like when I've looked at my start-sit decisions and where he factors in, I have a really hard time putting him into the lineup, which maybe that just coincides with not having had kind of a hard time drafting him. Probably coincides with the number one ranked run defense as well in New Orleans. Yeah. So are you, is there any situation where you're starting Cordero Patterson? Are you starting someone like Ramandre Stevenson over Cordero Patterson? I am willing to, and I'll bring another name up, Melvin Gordon.

Sure. Where the matchup is really juicy, I would be willing to roll with the favorite in that situation. Gordon, perhaps, if you're trying to pick up the scraps at the end of the game, but I would more than likely go Patterson. It is still in question whether Drake London is going to be out there, Kyle, the resident Atlanta expert. Correct. So if he's out there first round rookie wide receivers in week one since 2016. They average three for 53, and only three of them have gone over 75 yards. So that fits with the, it might take a minute for rookies to get going. Jason said he wants to see Trela and Berks out there. Even Chris Olivae could be a risk of Michael Thomas is back out there. And, you know, three for 53 is not going to make you happy. Yeah, three for 53 seems like what you could get here because I think the expectation is that the Saints handle this game. I mean, obviously it's division.

It's a divisional game, so it could be a little bit closer, but this projects to be more of an Alvin Camara. They're leading. Even Mark Ingram could get some play here. That's one of the problems with Patterson. When they lost last year, he only had 10.6 touches per game, and they're projected to lose. In losses? Yeah. I mean, that seems like backwards of what you would expect. But his touches over the back half of the year were on the ground, not through the year. And that was the biggest problem. It also cost me a championship. Chris Olave, we just said it. Hopefully you can wait and see. You could always throw the dart here, though. The matchup is nice. The Falcons defense 27th against opposing wide receivers, giving up 30 points a game. And if Michael Thomas plays, I actually feel better about Olave in that situation because I think Thomas will end up with the matchup against AJ Terrell. That would be the...

expectation for me and OLAV might have more opportunities. Yeah, I think that really the only three players I'm really happy to start on from both sides of this game are Kyle Pitts, Alvin Camara, and James Winston. Because even though you don't know if it's going to be Michael Thomas or Chris O'Lave or Jarvis Landry, he will get, or Alvin Camara, I think Winston has a pretty solid game. All right, the San Francisco 49ers taking on the Chicago Bears, the Draft King Sportsbook Line, San Francisco, minus six and a half on the road. The over and under is just 40 points, which, well, those are all on the San Francisco side. They are projected for almost 24 points. The Bears 17. This is a fun one, though, because we get Trey Lance and we get Justin Fields to potentially high-ceiling fantasy quarterbacks. Let's see how they start off this season. I mean,

I expect Trey Lance to have a very solid game for Fields, though. This is a really strong test of looked solid in the preseason there in that one particular game week two, where I believe it was. But against the San Francisco 49ers, at least it's at home, but against the 49ers to start your year with this defense, going to be very tough for him. There is a big gap. in offensive line versus defensive line when you're looking at the bear's offense. The bear's offensive line is one of their biggest weaknesses, and the San Francisco 49ers defensive line is one of their biggest strengths. So even though David Montgomery is a player that you're probably starting where you drafted him, I think you're looking more for what is the utilization than what is the production in this game. Yeah, they are heavy underdogs at home. It will be a test for Trey Lance. I mean, first start.

as the kind of you've been handed the keys to this team officially, and you're on the road in soldier field. So I think that there will be some challenges there, but it will also mean that if he overcomes those on the road in week one, it should be a very good sign of things to come fantasy-wise for Trey Lance, if that happens. His rushing prop on Draft Kings right now is 38.5. rushing yards. Yeah, we posted a question on Twitter, on our main Twitter account last night. Who did you draft the most? Who are you most excited about and who are you most scared about? I believe I saw Owl's answer was Tray Lance, Tray Lance, Tray Lance. This is going to be a fun game to kick off the season with. And I think, look, just because it's his first game, you know, this season. He started a couple last year. You go, okay, well, it's going to be a challenge, but.

If you've got to have a challenge, give me the Bears. Right. The, okay, so put it to the test. Lance versus Stafford tonight against the bills. Lance. Lance. Dak or Lance. Dax against Tampa. Lance, I'm worried. We'll get to that game probably tomorrow. But, I mean, Dallas is off, again, offensive line versus defensive line. Strength versus weakness. That scares me. I'll take Lance. Cousins against Green Bay or Lance. Lance. Lance. All right, wait and see on Justin Fields. You talked about David Montgomery. Elijah Mitchell will get the start for the 49ers, but I expect to see some other backs out there. And that will be interesting in terms of who they trust. Jeff Wilson is next up on the debt chart, then Tery and Davis Price, then Jordan Mason. So we will see who gets opportunity and who looks good because I think Kyle Shannon is actively looking for.

the compliment and the next man up and what's going to happen here. I think that Jeff Wilson, as you're heading into the weekend, if should, like let's say one of these players, these inner players that we talked about, they go out and you're looking for someone to stash and the waiver wire is already kind of been combed through. Jeff Wilson could be the pass catching running back for San Francisco and he could be the goal line running back. So I think that he is worthy of, just put on the back of the bench and see what happens. The pass catchers in Chicago, Darnell Mooney,

Had a 28% target share last year. Or wait, what was his target share last year? It was about 25. 25. Yeah, it could go up this year with the options that they have. And then Cole Comet. I'm very excited about Cole Comet's debut. You know, the 49ers were good against tight ends, but he should be peppered with targets and given opportunities. And if it's a negative game script, both Mooney and Comet should have opportunities to, really, in the second half of the game, kind of... Worst case scenario, garbage time, some value. It's wild that you have this team of the Chicago Bears with the offense in a bad position, and yet there's some excitement for three of these players. Like the Montgomery, Mooney, and Commet all should have enough volume for their position. Yeah, consolidate the options and they are great for fantasy. I think a good question to ask in this game is Elijah Mitchell.

Are you concerned with the fact that he's been injured and are you worried about that? So when I look at my rankings and the one that I'm trying to decide, man, who would I start if I had these two guys are in this game? Elijah Mitchell or David Montgomery, who would you start? I would start David Montgomery. I chose the Elijah Mitchell's side. Montgomery will have a ton of pass catching opportunities and Mitchell won't. And so I guess I feel a little more confident in total opportunities, but maybe less efficient, like you said. Yeah, I was going with, you know, the favored team and the bad situation Montgomery finds himself in, but you're right, the past catching will be on David Montgomery. He said, who do you pick, Mike? Elijah Mitchell is higher in my rankings for me from, you know, week 10 through the playoffs, averaged 26 opportunities per game. Like Elijah Mitchell, utilization was almost Najee Harris levels. The pass catchers on San Francisco, Debo Samuel's in your lineup. Kiddle of he's healthy as in your lineup. Yep.

The question I have is, do you have any comfort in potentially starting Brennan a UCon week one? You probably don't have to. If Kittle is out. Because of your draft situation, but it's if Kittle is out? Yep, yep, 100%. All right. Let's take a quick break, and then we'll be back with a pretty exciting game in Cincinnati. The Pittsburgh Steelers head to Cincinnati to take on the Cincinnati Bengals, who are fresh off a Super Bowl appearance, the over under, and this one's 44, but the Cincinnati Bengals. That's a nice way to say it. The Super Bowl appearance? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's only two things you can say. I'm just saying. You appeared there or you won? I was just say you could say Super Bowl loser. Yeah. No, that would disrespect the season. Right. I would never do that. I would never call them this. To get like so close to your. I would never do that unless it was the Patriots that are lost or something like that. But I mean, look, Cincinnati's six and a half point home favorites in this game. They're projected to hit the 25 and a half point mark. Pittsburgh's down at 18.