Starts of the Week + Week 6 Breakdown, Iffy Starts - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/12

On today's episode, we break down the news, and we also break down a bunch of really difficult start-sit decisions. We tell you exactly how we are handling those predicaments. And with Jason gone, the boom-boom kicker, it's up to me, baby. Make sure you subscribe right now, leave us some comments about how great my boom-boom reading was and enjoy. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. It's football time. Roar. That's right, Jake Gris. Couldn't have said it better myself. Jason wasn't lying. He's not here. He went on to injured reserve for the next two days. What, that old, the Deshaun Watson? Oh, yeah, he's technically, yeah, you're right. It's the, medically cleared, but still hurting. Yeah, Jason was medically cleared to perform for today's show.

But chose not to. I said, nah, man. Nah. But, yeah, two-man ban. Mike the Fantasy Hitman is here. Hello. I'm here. And we've got the full crew over there in Deucer's Alley. Now, Brooks is, he's reppping the, you know, to get into the baseball talk, he's reppping the Orioles. Oh, shit. That's poor form. We had a rough time. But that was at a full sweep? You know it was. You know what? I wasn't 100% sure, Brooks. I'm sorry about that. No problem. I do know a thing or two about sweeps. Yeah. Yeah, as do I. Yes. What a ninth inning I saw. Did you catch some of it? Yeah, I was coaching the boys football team, so I missed most of the game. But I saw a couple innings. I saw us win. I, you know, my favorite people, you know, the Diamondbacks are our team. And it's been a rough go.

And when I say rough go, I mean 16 years since they won a playoff series. And I throw a couple tweets up about the Diamondbacks. And my favorite people that are now muted are the ones that say stick to football. Stick to football. What? Yeah. Stick to football. You're not even like making a political statement. You're just talking about a different sports? I'm saying, I think my tweets are like, um, yeah. Me and my 12-year-old are celebrating the home runs. Yeah, but stick to the football. Stick to football. I'd like eat it. You know what I mean? Goodness gracious. But look, look, it's fun. It's fun. And listen, Dodgers fans are very, uh, yeah, it's probably Dodger fans telling you to stick to football. Oh, they are, I can see it because it's not just Dodger fans. It's Dodger fans that have the, their avatar is Dodger themed. So they're real serious.

But let me give you a headline. Yeah, you're a loser. Dude, that's the headline. I was going to say, everybody hates you except, I mean, you've won like 100 games five times in 10 years. You're like the Yankees of the NL. Everyone hates you except for your people because you always win. So just give us a minute. That's all I'm saying. But yeah, Brooks, I'm sorry. I would have loved to have our team's face off in the World Series. Yeah, our main footballer's account isn't tweeting about baseball. Are the Minnesota Twins still in? They just got eliminated last night. Crap. Because you used to be a Twins fan. Yeah. I was like when I sort of knew what was going on. I was like, whoa, a twins Diamondbacks? World Series? That would be fun. The Astros defeated them last night. Oh, well, I still got a team in. Yeah, you still got one of them. But this is a, this is a football podcast. We'll get to it. We've got starts of the week today.

matchups to talk about boom boom kicker performed by oh no it won't be it won't be jay gris no i've i i found something i now are you doing did you prepare it or you just well when i say i prepared it i mean like last night i had to do some stuff in my backyard found like a patch of dirt okay kind of uncomfortable i was what is what is this right there was a scroll Okay. There was a scroll in my backyard. In my backyard. And it just said week six on it. So I'll, I'm going to, you're going to read the scroll. I haven't even read it yet. I'm just going to, I'm going to open it live on there. How I know it's the boom, boom, kicker scroll. Don't worry about that part. Well, I said week six on it. Yeah. What else could it be? I just assume it's kicker related. Follow the show over on X at the FF ballers. If you want one baseball tweet every 16 years, you can follow me at Andy Holloway.

You can follow Jason at Jason FFL. Follow Mike at FF Hitman. Mike is constantly reminding me of the power of the mute button. Oh, man. Yeah. I forget about it after a while. And then I do a filter. Look. A turd purge. I generally social media, you know, X, it's a good time. But sometimes, okay. Sometimes it's not. Like, if you're going to come disrespectful and just rude. I will never hear from you again. Yeah, but you will keep talking. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Please. Please keep talking to me. Well, let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. I can't stop thinking about the scroll. I can't wait to see what's on that scroll. Is this papyrus? Like, not the font, not the font, but the actual, like the material. Yeah, it, I mean.

I would call it more like a grocery bag. Okay. Well, it is like the old paper. It's boom, boom. So, Deshaun Watson did not practice again. Oh, man. Kevin Savansky told reporters that PJ Walker is now the quarterback too. He would be the one starting it, which they're starting the game. That's great news for the Cleveland Browns because I have a really hard time with like Amari Cooper right now. Yeah, I get that. PJ Walker, we've seen it, right? Like this is not always a great ride. No. And if it was PG Walker and the Browns at home against the Cardinals, I'd be cool. Yeah. It's the Browns at home against the 49ers. So that seems like a bad time. So I'm not, I, as an Amari Cooper manager right now, I am, he's on my bench. And that, that isn't a lot, like, I'm not telling everybody to bench him because I know what message we'll get out there.

I'm just saying that, like, I have, I could play Debo, right? Like, so I'm going to play Debo right now over him because I just, if Watson was back, I'd have a lot of confidence. Yeah, I think that moving, I mean, Amari Cooper is you kind of traded, not, not super low, but you went and you got Amari Cooper. I think that he's someone maybe you can get right now. And I think it's a good idea because. Yeah, he had a horrible game with, he's. Probably not going to have a great game. It's possible that the manager who has Amari Cooper needs a win right now and can't withstand a potential bad game for Mori Cooper. That's the sell. That's something you've got to be looking for. Jeff Wilson returned to a practice as a limited participant. There was a comment this morning. I believe the offensive coordinator was asked whether or not, yeah, it was the offensive coordinator Frank Smith, asked whether or not Jeff Wilson appears ready to play.

And let me read the quote. Yes. Okay. That was the quote. That would clear some things up and make, I mean, Rahim Moster is going to be a great start. But if Jeff Wilson is active, I would expect he's the second man up. That's what you would think. Yeah. Sequin Barkley limited on Wednesday, still up in the air. Darren Waller, he says he expects to play Sunday night. So you're taking a risk. Oh, man. What's the Monday night football game, Bruxie? Or do you guys remember? I think it's Chargers, Cowboys. So Parham, Everett. Maybe somehow Ferguson's on the way. Or like a schoon could be your like emergency pivot. I'm just trying to think if you want to ride Waller into the night. Yeah. Which I know Al Borland, you got Darren Waller. I do. And are you going to, I guess just watch the news. Yeah, I'll be watching. I signed or I traded for Logan Thomas just in case. Yeah, he might be a better play anyways. I don't know.

Mike Evans did not practice Wednesday. Is that panic alarm? No, I'm not going to panic alarm it, but I am going to be highly concerned that Mike Evans suffered a hamstring injury back in week four. He had the bye week. Yeah, he had the time off. So, I mean, it was already, it needed to be, you needed to be hesitant about Mike Evans, a 30-year-old with a hamstring injury. It's going to take him longer to recover. just naturally given he's a little bit older for an NFL player. So the fact that he's not going on Wednesday, it is you need to be paying attention. Because like if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting anything done against the Detroit Lions, it's going to be throw the ball. Yeah. They're not going to run. I was going to say like that is a, it's a home game, but it would be a little concerning for the box offense as a whole to not have Mike Evans against the Lions pass rush. So we still have still no Mike Evans.

So we've confirmed through Thursday. Yeah, we've got a tweet from Greg Allman. Still no Mike Evans at Buck's practice today, though Todd Bulls said Wednesday that the important day for him would be Friday. Okay. Yeah, Friday is a, I mean, that's tomorrow. Can't be feeling good about it. Hollywood Brown did not practice Wednesday due to illness, so we hope he would be back. Keante Ingram, Cardinals running back, Keanu, back at practice in a limited fashion. Limited, yeah. He is still, I mean, this came out midday. A lot of, you know, red alert out there. Keonti Ingraham is listed as RB1 on the depth chart. To me, it was more so the comments from Jonathan Gannon saying, like, we're excited to have Ingram back out there. Yeah, and I was the one in our League of Record that went the, like, I had to make a huge move. I needed a running back too, so I was the one who went after Demarcato, but set on the show. Like,

It wouldn't surprise me if the team says that Keonté Ingram is their guy. I just, I'm still betting on Demarcato because I saw someone who actually has an NFL ability, in my opinion, compared to what Ingram has shown. Like, Ingram hasn't had a bunch of chances, but he's had, he's had some opportunities. I know, including last, I believe last year, different regime and everything. But when you had, did, I. Like Connor missed a game or something. He's averaging 1.3 yards for carry this year, Mike. That's all you need to say. But last year they could have gone to him, but they didn't. Yeah, last year he had Connor missed a lot of time. Ingram's highest carry week last year was nine carries, Mike. And he got 14 yards on those nine carries. Yes. It was 2.2 last year, so it has gone down. Kyle's reminded me. And the team went. So when Connor was out, the team went to Eno Benjamin.

and Eno was okay, and then he was rewarded by being removed from the team. Yeah, yeah, he's gone. It's so, why is Ingram on the team? I don't know. Locker room guy. Maybe, nice fella. All right, Thursday night official designations for the game this evening. Travis Kelsey listed questionable, but expected to play. Yeah, Swift is going, so he's going to play. Oh, is she? Yeah, it was reported. Oh, Mike reporting on. I'm only past- On Taylor Swift with the most hesitant voice ever. Because I don't want to give it more. But that actually does. Why would you go if he's not playing? That's the point. It's a pretty strong signal to me that Travis Kelsey is going to go. Giovante Williams removed from the injury report will play. Greg Dulcich, questionable. I do want to throw this out there last week. Everyone listening, you got to experience the DJ Moore Justin Fields Thursday night football, right? Al, you experienced that. I sure did.

And Mike was on the receiving it. I sure did. Now, just for those following along watching Thursday Night Football, I want you to understand here. Mike and I are squaring off this week in our League of Record. And it's a big time matchup that basically the loser is in trouble. We'll be looking at do I sell for next year. And I've got Isaiah Pacheco tonight and Travis Kelsey. So I'm hoping we can do a little whole, like a redo of what happened last week. Let's go Rashi Rice. Oh, in lieu of? You're like, who else could possibly get the ball for the Chiefs against the Broncos? I mean, I can't say let's go Skymore because that's just dumb. Yeah. All right. You do have the Kansas City defense tonight. Oh, yeah. Let's go Kansas City defense. I get to root for Russell Wilson. All right. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Fantasy forecast. We have another London game? It never stops. Are you serious?

The attack upon my Sunday morning's sleep. What happens if, so I think they're going to move franchises over there. Like, I think that's coming. And in Jacksonville, probably become the London Jaguars. Because there's a lot of Jaguars over in England. It's probably happening. It'll probably be two teams. I don't, I mean, will this be the norm, though? Like, well, these games, I mean, they would have to take place early. Yes. Because the way time zones work. The time zone is, it's a massive problem for. I mean, I don't mind getting up and watching football in the morning. Some people would really enjoy it. And for the East Coasters, it's not that early. No, it's just for you. Yes. And the entirety of the West Coast. It's early. I want you to write the letter to Roger Goodell. I want you to, dear sir.

You may not know this, but I do Sunday live and I really need to sleep in on Sunday. Yeah. And he will send me a photo of him just covered in $100 bills. Double birds. And be like, I can't hear you. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we have... Because it's not... It is not good for the NFL. Like the sport, the product, the game. You're saying the performances are impacted by the travel. It is not... It is not... Good for them. Just like Thursday Night Football is not good for actual football. There are no native populations of Jaguars living in the UK. So are we changing the team name? That's an interesting one. Like cups of tea or something? Oh, yeah. Take dead Brits. Look, I don't know what to go with, man. What do they call the guards that don't show any reaction? What are the royal? What do they call? There's got to be a name for those guys. It is. It's escaping me.

Yeah, I got three people in Ducers Alley, they know nothing. Come on, come on, guys. A bee feeder, bee feeder. They're not bee feeders. Yeah, that's their nickname. Beefeaters? Yes. That's the best team name ever. The London bee feeders. Oh, I will swag up with that. I mean, that's their. You're talking about the guards that you try to make them laugh and they don't laugh? Yes, that's the slang term. So that's not the official name, but they are. Oh, that's the team name. They are called bee feeders. Wow. And they got meat pies over there. I guess Queens Guard would, you know. Yeah, well, that's, yeah, if you want to be formal about it. Or Kingsguard, right? Uh, would be now. Uh, would be now. Yeah. What are we talking about? All right, Baltimore is three and two. See what you have done to us, Roger. Yeah, you made it talk about London. Uh, the Ravens three and two taking on the Tennessee Titans who are two and three. The draft king sports book line, Baltimore minus four and a half. The over under's 40 and a half. Golly. Already.

Oh. Andy's almost upset of the wig. I really tried to resist this one. Wow. I mean, but what if I can tell you that they won't drop seven passes this week? Baltimore? Yeah. You can't tell me that. But what if I... What if you hope? What if I can imply that they won't drop seven passes? Look, that would be helpful. Because, like, I think legitimately, if they don't, if they catch... Two more of those seven, they probably win last week. Yeah. That's how crazy and egregious the drops were. To highlight, I will highlight it here. Pro football focus, the highest graded quarterback of last week was Lamar Jackson, whose team lost in a very low scoring game against the Steelers. He was a massive disappointment for fantasy football, and it was not his fault. Yeah, I saw it coming.

Got that one right. You got the game right, but you... Look, the Baltimore Ravens... They figured out a way to lose. The Baltimore Ravens offense is a, is now becoming an every week series of ifs. The execution of, like, you got the Super MVP season from Lamar Jackson. And then since then, it's been, if they've been healthy, if they caught the football, if they didn't, if they had some running backs, you know, if Lamar Jackson wasn't hurt. If, if, if. Like, it's just not coming together. Now, Lamar played great. I think he's a potential buy in fantasy after last week's disastrous seven-drop performance by this crew. But let's be fair about it. Rashad Bateman is the kind of guy that drops passes. Nelson Aguilar is the kind of guy that drops passes. Beckham is the kind of guy that...

drops passes. I mean, this is, and Zay Flowers, he had a couple of huge mistakes last week. He's a rookie. So, you know, the Mark Andrews drops, those are the ones that are the hurt the most. I can agree with that. The Titans have played better. Tana Hill has played better. This game is not, you know, it's a neutral ground. Derek Henry, you know, they're winning the football game. You're going to be a lot happier with his performance. What is the, man, the Tajay Spears sentiment right now? Like I, when I look at this week, it is screaming at me about all of the, like, running back twos and threes, the spears. And, and then you had, like, you know, Salvin Ahmed and Jeff Wilson and DiMarcato and Deontah Foreman. And, like, there's a bunch of these players without Zach Moss. Like, what do you do? You know, that.

These number twos that aren't going to be the primary running back. Do you like Spears more than Warren, less than Warren? Less than Warren. Spears is a 50 plus percent of snaps in four or five games. Yeah, he's a dart throw. And it's strange because he's getting the snaps. You know, like week one, 54 percent of snaps, seven opportunities. Week three, 56 percent, eight opportunities. The next week, 53%, but only nine opportunities. He had a good fantasy football game in week five because he had, you know, he was four for 35 through the air. And he had that nice run to get the rushing touchdown. So he is a dart throw because, but he's only, he's a dart throw for game script. Like if you, if you're on Andy's side of, I mean, if you think that the Titans are going to be almost upsetting or.

perhaps winning this game, then Spears would not be in consideration for me. If you see a world where the Ravens are winning by two scores or so, then Tajay Spears is in play because he'll be the one on the field. It won't be Henry. Titans thus far are middle of the pack, a little bit better in terms of fantasy points allowed when you adjust for schedule. They're giving up 14.7 to opposing quarterbacks. which is good enough for 14th, so it's been fine, tight-ins, not doing a lot against them. They're seventh in the league. Do we only have one by week this week? Yeah, it's just the two teams. Steelers and Packers are the only two teams? Yes, sir. Okay. So Warren not in play for anybody. But DeAndre Hopkins, are you chasing what you saw last week? It was a really good performance. He looked pretty good. They did lose the game, right? They lost 16 to 23 to the Colts, but 11 targets.

8 for 140 still yet to get into the end zone this year. Yeah, and his yards per completion in the last three weeks, it's been up at a place where you're happy with it. If you're going to get 11 targets every single week, then Hopkins is great. Yeah, we're talking to 30% target share. Wide receiver 33, 34 on the season. He's in play as a wide receiver 3 or a flex. Zayflowers has one finish inside the top 24 this year. It was week one, which sometimes that could be the setup in a way. Wide receiver 50, 41, 51. Last week, 11 targets, five receptions had a huge drop. He had two nasty drops. Two nasty drops and one where he fell down. It's kind of hard to tell if the ball shifted in the wind, which caused the fall down. But end of the play was still a, so, I mean, you have three really big missed opportunities for flowers.

Bateman has had three targets in all four of his active games this year, which pales in comparison to Mr. Zay Flowers. Last week, you saw four targets for Odell Beckham, Aguilar involved. If you're playing pass catchers, it's Flowers or Andrews. No one else is getting the volume to have confidence. Can you see the future with the running back room in Baltimore? I think that it is still primarily Gus Edwards. 12 opportunities last week for Gus, all on the ground, no targets. Yeah, and he was at, so he had 43% of the snaps. I think Justice Hill ended up higher than him at 56%. He also scored. Justice Hill had the four targets. Yeah, Justice Hill had 32 yards on the ground and the touchdown. If my memory is correct, I think Gus Edwards kind of helped them get there, and it just happened to be, this is the sub, the rotation, Gus Edwards is going to take a break here. Both are in play.

Both you're really hoping for a touchdown, at least Justice Hill, though, will get you a couple receptions. That is exactly how I see it over in B-feater country. All right, so no other discussions then in this game? We good? I mean, other than, unless you want to talk about more about Derek Henry of just what the what? I mean, he is not what you wanted and expected, and yet he's the RB 15. You know, through five weeks with a couple of larger duds in there. You need Derek Henry around the goal line, and this offense has struggled. And for what it's worth, despite my almost upset, the Tennessee Titans are not scoring a ton of points this year. And when Tanahill is played over there in London, he scored fewer than 10 points and three of five starts. Oh, or sorry, three of five starts this year.

This is his fourth game in London. All right. Quick break. Coming back with another matchup. All right. The Washington Commanders at 2 and 3 take on the Atlanta Falcons who are 3 and 2. The Draft King Sportsbook Line Atlanta minus 2 and a half. The overrunner is 42 and a half. Ritter v. Howl. I told these guys last night I was building my Draft Kings lineup and I was looking for a flex. And all of a sudden I see this Washington Atlanta matchup. And I say, oh my gosh, Bejohn Robinson is 5,700? He's in my lineup. It's unbeatable. It was Brian Robinson. Yeah, yeah, but the B. Robinson guy. The B. Robinson got me because they play each other this week. You got Bijon versus Brian. You had Diamondback Brain. I did have Diamond Back Brain and.

How embarrassing would that have been on Friday? Oh, I'm so upset. If I say Bejohn Robinson and then during the week. See this? He's only 50, 300? You idiot. How do you not have him? Yeah, well, there you go. I pivoted. But yeah, Bejohn, Brian Robinson. The opportunities in weeks one and two for Brian Robinson were huge. He was kind of one of the breakout stars to start the year. The last three weeks, it's gone down. Atlanta's favorite in this one. Where's your comfort level with Brian Robinson right now? It is so-so. I mean, he's another game script running back. In these games when they are trailing for a lot, it's Antonio Gibson. I mean, not that Gibson was a superstar by any means last week, but he was on the field for 54% of the snaps. He had four catches for 64 yards. But the point being,

When they're losing, it's Antonio Gibson. And when they're winning, it will be Brian Robinson. So it's a committee, but it's a committee by game script. All right. Terry McLaurin is a wide receiver, what rest of the season? Three? Two-ish. Two-ish. Yeah, I think he'll, he's still Terry, he's still great, and he'll have big games. So that pushes him over. I think on a week-to-week basis, so you're expecting a three, which really stinks. On the other side of the ball, Drake London, nine targets last week, seven the week before. He actually caught six passes. Best game of the year, six for 78, no touchdown. But... A double-digit fantasy points. If you were looking at rest of the season, I'd take Terry McClorin over Drake London. Would you? Yeah. I mean, Drake's the one who's actually putting up some numbers. Are you looking at... Let me look at Terry. Terry has a spike game against Philadelphia at 18.6, but...

He has two double-digit games, and that was Denver, which, yeah, it's the Denver Broncos, and then Philly, which they were in, you know, massive trailing mode where they had to air the ball out. Yeah, I'll take Terry. And it's not a disrespect to Drake. It's just the confidence I have in the quarterback getting the ball near him. And they have the same targets this year. Drake Lennon's caught 17 passes. McClorn has got 25 of them. But Drake London has done as well as he can do. And Kyle Pitts had a game last week. Dude. Which was great because I played him. Against him, that is. I don't know how much you got to see of it over the weekend. But Desmond Ritter, like, Desmond Ritter bawled out. He looked incredible. I mean, he was sharp. He was making correct reads. His ball placement was tremendous. I mean, the fact. I mean, 76% of passes completed. That's a, on 37 attempts. The fact that he, I mean, I.

We have too much evidence for me to say that was it. That was the Turner or the corner was turned for Desmond Ritter. But it's nice to know that it exists. Like there is a world where Desmond Ritter can actually be competent. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of Jay Gris' quarterback, Justin Fields. Where you had like three games that looked like he was incapable. Yeah, two games where he's throwing four touchdowns and looked excellent. This was the quiet down the Taylor Heineke crew game. for Desmond Radio last week. And the matchup is like Washington, when it comes to passing the ball, they're giving up points. You know, we have on the season, they're 28th, but schedule adjusted 23rd against quarterbacks, 29th against wide receivers. I think Drake London is in play this week. That was the third time in two seasons that Kyle Pitts finished in the top 10 at the tight end position. Seven for 87. Still hasn't scored this year.