Fantasy Football - Midseason Review + Trade Targets, TNF Preview - Podcast for 10/29

I don't think any of us really have doubts about him rest of season. No, at this point, he's shown enough. His schedule is also very good going forward. I know on the Falcons team in the League of Record, they have Drake May. And I was really worried. You mean Josh's team? No, no, no, I don't. I was not a misspeak. I understand it, but people don't know who you're talking about. Yeah, when you say the Falcons, they think the Falcons the team. That's fair. I mean Matt Pingree, who we call the Falcon. Anyways, their team is one of the super teams in our league of record, very high odds to make it to the championship. And I thought that their weakness was Drake May, and now I look at that, you know, that was, you know, a month ago, like, oh, maybe he'll falter. He has been flawless. Like, not only is he great in the pocket, his downfield shots are so accurate.

But he gets out, he runs the ball. I mean, there's really, there's no hole in his game right now. If you want to know what it looks like on a season, because I think that's helpful sometimes when you look at how they're performing, he's on pace for 4,300 yards and 32 touchdowns, while also running for 530 yards and four more touchdown. So that's where he's at. It's been awesome. Daniel Jones, he's been a top 12 quarterback in six of eight weeks. Just, just embrace it. Yeah, I mean, when you're. scoring at the rate that they're scoring it is so much upside and they're getting healthier you know what i mean like they've had a lot of weeks where they were missing players josh downs has been hurt alec pierce got knocked out with a concussion they have weapons to give you big plays and then they have you know jonathan taylor to play action too it's just it works well bow nicks are sitting at seven it's been more uh he's the roller coastery with him yeah he's the weird name of of the list so far he's the one where you're like uh uh

Do I feel great locking him in the rest of the season? No. No, his play has been really erratic. Last two weeks have been amazing. Well, yeah, but even the last two weeks, like two weeks ago, he was the quarterback one. But also he had four points going into the fourth quarter and looked like a trash quarterback. Yeah, but he can do it. Yes. No, absolutely. I mean, I love Bo Knicks, the man. And coming into this season, I was pretty high on him in the quarterback rankings. But just the eye test and. It's so weird how he can play very well and then really poorly. Underthrow guys, throw it behind him, throw picks where he's not seeing the defenders. He just thinks he can do more on the move than he can. That is exactly what it feels like. Like he gets on the move and he thinks he's Superman and he's trying crazy stuff. He just gets adrenaline going. There are quite a few quarterbacks I would take over Bow next, locked into my starting position. Who are ranked after him? That are ranked after him. Jaden Daniels is the first one. I'd much rather have Jayden.

Daniels was at number nine in points per game right now? My one note for Bo Nix as we're going through the second half of the year. And I've mentioned Pat Bryant a couple times, but Pat Bryant is getting more integrated into the offense. He had a super boss touchdown catch. Super boss. So if he can truly step into a role as a three and now you're talking, it's Cortland Sutton, the breakout of Troy Franklin, and. The upside of Pat Bryant, that would make me feel a bit more comfy for those championship weeks. They're so deep at the past catcher position, in my opinion. You know, you have Mims that at any moment can give you a big play. You have Evan Ingram who's been targeted eight, eight, seven times. I mean, he's been targeted a lot. Their versatility, throwing the ball to RJ Harvey, like it gives Knicks a really nice baseline that, you know, whether or not, I mean, I would take Jaden Daniels over him, certainly. Yeah, I would do that too. But how about, how about Herbert? I think those are.

Neck and neck. Yeah, I would probably take Herbert over Bo Nix. I would probably take Dak over Nix. I would probably take Love rest of the season, my second half sleeper over Nix. I would probably take Baker Mayfield over Nix, although his schedule is a little rough. So is Dak. Yeah, they are. The Dallas Cowboys passing schedule coming up, it's got a rough stretch. We highlighted it. Now it's at home for a few of those difficult matchups, but they're still tough. No question. Yeah. And then rounding out the top 10, Herbert, Daniels, Stafford and Dak tied. And outside of the top 10, Jordan Love is the next closest one at 18.7 per game. Then Baker, Caleb, Gough, and Rogers. The best one is Justin Fields, sitting at 16.5 points per game.

He has never scored anywhere near that. No. He's like he's 5 or 30. So it's like 16. That is the perfect average. Yeah. It's like, of course he's 16 points per game. He will continue being 16 points per game. Yeah, that's like a hit once, fail twice type of average, right? Because that's on the lower end. So 16 puts him at 18 at quarterback position. That's about a hit twice. So we got kind of an every other guy. We have we got four hits, three misses. As far as good games. What was last week fantasy points? 20 point. Last week he was good. He was the, it was against the Bengals. 20 points? Yeah. So that certainly helped him. But he. Fields and the Jets looked much better. They're going into the by week, but then it's Cleveland. I would say if there's any quarterback, he's going to get destroyed. There's any quarterback that hasn't done hardly anything this year that, for fantasy purposes that I believe could have a strong second half. It would be Sam Darnold.

currently sitting at the quarterback 20. He's looked really good. What about Kyler? Kyler, I hate. No, thank you. He plays Dallas this week, so he should be started, and I think I'll have a good fantasy. Could you start Kyler this week against Dallas or Bo Nix this week? I would start Bo. I don't care. Bow is against Houston on the road. I would still start Bo. I think that one's a tough one, actually. It's tough for sure. I just hate Kyler. I don't want to watch it. Right, but that's not the best analysis ever heard. No. Hatred based. No. Yeah. That's, sometimes it's emotional. Yeah. Yeah. Just for the Cardinals. 31 out of 32. I'm good. Okay. Running backs top running backs on the year. I think you know who's number one. Jonathan Taylor, who is putting up 25 and a half fantasy points a game. Dating back to 2007, that is the second highest per game average compared to what? It was CMC 2019. Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Taylor, just because there's nothing more fun than this, he is on pace for 1,800 rushing yards, 26 rushing touchdowns, and another 4 through the air with 430 receiving yards. He is carrying people. Yeah, I mean, in our chop league, there's somebody who's had piles of injuries. But they have Jonathan Taylor, and they're alive. They're not chopped. He is the anti-curse. He's the anti-ring. He carries your team. It would be hard to say, hey, this guy can keep up 26 touchdown a year average. But it doesn't feel like he can, like sometimes it feels like he should score more. You watch games he scores 30 plus fantasy points and you're like he should add more in that game. Yeah, but I mean, genuinely some of his best games like this last week against Tennessee, he didn't play as much as he could have played because they, you know, walloped them and they brought in the backups at the end of the game. He is.

three different times this year been the running back one on the week. And another two times been in the top three. So dominant. This is every year, there are, every single year in fantasy, there is a player or two players that lap the field at their position. Seek one last year. And Jamar Chase last year, lapped the field at the wide receiver position. This year, it looks like it's going to be Johnny Taylor. Four points ahead of second. place in a points per game. It's just wild. I'm going to put this to the test though with Mike right here. Christian McCaffrey is number two on this list. So first of all, victory lap for Mike, 21.1 fantasy points per game on pace for 455 opportunities. I don't know what happened last week to everybody on the 49ers. But like, I mean, you just said the lapping the field of John and Taylor, he is scoring significantly more fancy points per game than Christian McCaffrey on a significantly better offense.

you're going for a title this year. Would you trade Christian McCaffrey to the Jonathan Taylor manager for Jonathan Taylor? Yeah. I mean, we had our draft, what our redrafted a couple weeks ago. I took Taylor one. Yes, yes. Of course, my heart. And I want to be like, yeah, I told you Christian McCaffrey. But no, man, Jonathan Taylor, what the Colts have become, I think you could not, even the most diehard of Colts fan could not have. predicted or projected. 7 and 1 with this kind of scoring. That the Colts would be one of the best offenses we've seen in modern NFL history. The Colts were legitimately, you just look at the odds. This is not a subjective opinion. You look at the odds of coaches that could be fired. Shane Steichen was on that list because of how.

upside down the management of the team was last year. Even this year going into training camp in the off season, in the program, it's like who's the quarterback? And it felt so silly. It's like, oh, it's going to be Anthony Richardson. Remember how much it went back and forth this off season during like, preseason. It was like, oh, Anthony Richardson is in the lead. He's going to get the job. No, Daniel Jones is playing great at, you know, it went back and forth. And it just seemed a mess until games started. And Jonathan Taylor and Daniel Jones said, Watch, check this out. Said that they made the right choice with Daniel Jones. For sure. And so CMC's number two, Bijan's number three, James Cook number four, Josh Jacobs number five. Jemir Gibbs. 18.1 a game, that's great. I mean, he is less than a point away from being the fourth overall. And yet Gibbs feels a little bit like he didn't, he isn't quite delivering on the draft selection spot. Yeah, I mean, people were taking him as the running back two in some leagues.

It is a little disappointing and having, you know, Dan Campbell come out and say we want to get David Montgomery to the ball more. It's tough, but he still has the complete nuclear option of, you know, he's doing this with David Montgomery there. Either one of those players ends up getting injured, missing time, then the other guy will, you know, be in that league winning category. Yeah, he, when you look at who is drafted at the... At the tippy top of the draft, he's probably okay. I mean, Bijan, it was Bijan, it was Barclay, and it was Gibbs, normally the three first ones off the board. Bijan's sitting at three with 19.2, Gibbs at 6 with 18.1, and Saquan is sitting at 11 at 14.5. So Saquan was certainly the more damaging pick than Gibbs was. I was trying to go look at the opportunities. They said they wanted to get.

David Montgomery the Ballmore and then they gave Gibbs the second most opportunities on the year. So maybe that's something you say to make David Montgomery feel better. And you're just like, yeah, dude, you got him. We said we were going to give you that opportunity. You did it. You got him, David. Devon A. Chan sits at seven at 17.2 fantasy points per game. He's averaging 20 opportunities the game. Last year it was 17. He has been just a he's been awesome. An amazing player for fantasy teams. I mean, what, RB 17. at worst. He has been great. On a weekly basis. He scares me. He really does. Like, when you are undersized and you get that much work, it's very difficult to just stay healthy. That's all, that's the only fear. I mean, he, he looks great. Um, is explosive. The offenses scoring points. Um, but it's just like, you know, that was the fear with Bucky. The, the fear with Bucky Irving is when you're like a 200 pound back and you are like a.

Bell cow. Bucky runs a little more injury prone than A. Chan does. I would agree with that. He's more of between the tackle. Bucky tries to play really big, which he does. Yeah. It's very successfully for his size. But it's like I- Von A-chan has started 32 consecutive games without injured. Yeah. I'm just saying I would rather have I'd take him over your hands. I'd take him off your hands. Like, Ollie Gordon, if, if, if A-chan could be a really efficient guy getting 14-15 touches a game, I- It feels like better than him being... For long term? Yeah, exactly. 20 touches a game. Just stay healthy. I love A-chan. Giovante Williams is number eight on the list. Finally found a guy. To the top seven, that's while the order is, you know, a little bit mixed up. That's whatever. That happens every year. Javante sneaking in here. Pretty, pretty incredible season. What a bounce back for him to...

I mean, he's averaging a rushing touchdown per game. And he is, that's pretty good. He is clearly their entire running game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Jane Blue concerns are not. 77% of snaps, 72% of snaps, 80% of snaps, 77, 85, 72 and 69% of snaps. Like, that is incredible for a running back. He's the Rico Dowell. Yeah, he really is. Bucky Irving, don't forget about him. Rico would have 10,000 yards. on the Cowboys. Giovante looks good. I know. I know. I know. I know. Good. I don't think any of us believe that it's going away for Giovanni. I'll give you this, Mike. I think Rico would have as much production as Javante if he was the starter. Okay. I'll take it. Yeah. Bucky Irving is number nine. Don't forget about him. He hasn't played since week four. He was averaging 15.6 a game. I say don't forget about him because I really hope we can, we don't forget about him. I hope he comes back and he's healthy. They need him. Bad. Bad, bad.

Yeah, the running game hasn't been the same. And honestly, Baker hasn't looked the same either. Yeah, it's been, and I mean, four weeks seems like they probably gambled and lost on the IR thing. Yeah, because they're supposed to get him back after the buy, hopefully. Yeah, but we, yeah, they're in the buy week right now. I would, I would think he'll be back week 10. DeAndre Swift is number 10 on the list. He's on pace for 53 Red Zone rush attempts. His previous career high was 37. They keep going to him. They have worked Monongai, and you look at the snap counts for Monongai. I think it's two straight weeks above 50%. Let me double check if I can spell Monongai, which I can't. It's Manon, no, no. It was 45. 46. So two straight 45%. Yeah, that's a lot of work compared to where he was at. So it's just working for them to rotate both guys in. Swift has been really efficient there.

Barkley and Scataboo. There was some encouraging, we should say this. Yes, yes. The reports right now are that like the Giants and everybody reporting it are expecting him to be back for the offseason training program. Yeah, four to six month recovery was what I just saw reported, which is that's an awesome timeline. If, you know, if that's what their expectation is, that gives you hope that because we don't know the details of. ligament damage and you know we didn't get an update that there was yeah there were and it was not just a dislocated ankle there was no they did report on that and it was it was a lot and again being back for the off-season program yeah it's a fibula fracture and a deltoid ligament rupture yeah how can that be four to six well because it's not and that's what I wanted to caveat it's four to six and they expect them back in the program but medical experts that I trust that I've been reading they're saying it's more like a 10-month situation to be

really back to a full degree. But being able to be back in camp and start working towards getting back to your old self, look, that's all you want. We need this guy in the game of football. Yeah, we do. We thought it'd be a head injury, you know? No, I knew it wouldn't be a head injury. Yeah, that thing's impossible. That thing's titanium. It is made of, it's filled with cement. How do you guys feel about Kyron Williams, who's sitting at number 13 overall, 14.3 fantasy points per game. It feels like... You know, Kyron feels like you're driving by the luxury car dealership. And then he's like the Ford Taurus of the running back room. It does feel like that. Reliable. Always gets it done. But like nobody's like he's not got the flashy features that make people go trade for him. I think the issue is the highs have been high. But I mean, you not Kyron like, at least the, you know, the true breakout season.

Week 2, week 4, and then week 7, it was nine points or fewer. He's only on pace for four touchdowns. He's only scored twice. No, that's on the ground. He does have three receiving touchdowns. Right. But, I mean, on the ground, that's what you used to get. And that's where it is more. No 100-yard games. It's more troublesome for Kyron for the future. I mean, Devante Adams. That's what it is? Like three. Three goal-line touchdowns for Devonte. Just in one game. The fact that that is now a possibility, just it's not like, I mean, Kyron's a, I think a, where is he right now? What did you just say? He's that number 13. I think that's fine. You know, like that 13 to 10, like he'll still be solid, but. Last year he had eight rushing touchdowns by this time and he has two. Yeah, the dream of top five, I think, is not.

He's a very good back. The Rams look like a good offense, but I see him as an RB2. And if you look ahead, now that we're halfway through the season and you say, okay, well, what's the playoff schedule? Does it open up for him or does it not? It's not good. You've got the Detroit Lions who are very difficult to run on. So if you're talking about, you know, will he get rushing touchdowns? That's difficult. You have on the road against Seattle, which has been a good rushing defense, and then on the road against Atlanta. which so far has been a mostly good rushing defense. He is past his by. So if you were to trade for him with a player who has not, I mean, you can, you get yourself an extra game. The next man up on the list of Marian Hampton in the games without nausea before he got hurt, RB6, RB5, and then got hurt and still ended up in the top 24 in week five and now is out for a prolonged period of time.

It's so disappointing. This is a player that was going to majorly impact fantasy football. And it's just another one of these injuries that is, you know, taking a good quality player off the field that we don't get to watch play. He was averaging 17.6 opportunities a game. Judkins comes in at 15 right now. Say just the Kamani Vidal Sassoon. What were the, read me the Hampton opportunities? 17.6. So he, Vidal and his three start. whatever you want to call them. He's at 16.7 attempts. I'm sorry. So he's at 20 opportunities a game. Their head coach came out and said he's playing like a number one running back. And averaging over 15 points a week in those in those three contests. I mean it's and Tennessee is this week. Man. And I mean, when is. And then Pittsburgh? When is Hampton even back? Yeah. Man, the Vidal pickup. If you got them. Enjoy it.

Judkins at 15 and then just outside the top 15 if you want to ask the question, who could be a top 15 rest of season from this group? Henry, Gentile, Doudal, E.T.N. Breece Hall. These are all guys outside the top 15 right now. You know, the one that jumps out to me, obviously, I think, you know, Gentie would be one that I think I feel comfortable about. He could. Gentie and Breece Hall are kind of the same to me in the fact that. Bad team, bad offense, don't want to watch them, but they're going to get a ton of work, and it's going to work out a lot of the time. And they're talented players. And Jentee catching a lot of passes. I would agree. Those two names are fine. I still, I mean, I said in the Thursday breakdown. I think Derek Henry is a monster rest of season. Sure. Personally. About to start snowing. Yeah, there was snow in Vermont this last week. Oh, weird. Yeah, weird. And then Derek Henry was good. Go figure.

Other names, you know, I'm curious, the trade deadlines coming up, and that could change the landscape for a couple of running backs. I don't know if, you know, Brees Hall, Tony Pollard, if a team makes a move to go get a guy, that'll be interesting rest of the season. All right, we'll take a break. We'll talk wide receivers and tight ends. Foot Clan, we want you to meet Claude, the AI designed to be your thinking partner, Poppin, Josh. When you're making fantasy decisions, Claude helps you work through the complexity behind your choices, like weighing a rookie's upside against the veteran's floor or analyzing how weathered patterns might affect your quarterback choice. Claude goes beyond easy answers. It's the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough. It thinks with you, not for you. Try Claude for free at clod.a.ai slash...

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averaging 117 receiving yards a game, 11 plus fantasy points in all seven games played machine-like. Yeah, he is, his target share is otherworldly. If you have a 30% target share, you're pretty much locked as a wide receiver one. It's very difficult to not finish as a wide receiver one if you can be one of the elites at a 30% target share. He's at 38%. I mean, when they throw the ball, It runs through JSN. And, you know, the question that people might have had this time last year is like, is he good enough? Yep. The answer is, yeah. You can't cover him. No. Alman Rae St. Brown comes in at number three. Ho-hum. He just gets it done. He's on pace for 148 targets, 121 receptions, 1317. I don't know. I don't know who I would, like, I might prefer Amman Raw.

of all fantasy wide receivers genuinely, like Jamar Chase will be way, you know, bigger games, but more volatility. He'll have some down games too. Puka gets injured. To me, Amun Ra is like the most consistent every single week. I am so, it's just like plugged in and my confidence level in him just having a great game every week. I think he might be the highest of all wide receivers for me. Chase comes in at four. The targets have been out of control with Flacco. It was really bad with Jake Browning. And, you know, we're talking unusable territory. Six fancy points, four fantasy points. And then boom. 26, 20, 30, 15. And we talked about the insane target pace with Flacco. I mean, he'd be on pace for 357 targets the last two games. George Pickens comes in at number five.

15.8 fantasy points per game. Certainly took advantage of the opportunity when C.D. Lamb went out. The last two games, he settled more into probably, like this is one player that if you say, hey, who's going to drop out of the top 10? It would easily be the pick-ins pick for me because while he'll be good, he won't be great. I mean, the last two weeks, wide receiver 27, wide receiver 23, that's about, you know, the 20 range is about where I'd have him. Yeah, those are great. His, you know, he's going to. His yardage has been fantastic, even with C.D. Lamb back, 82 yards, 70. Those are good numbers. But when he was the wider receiver 1, when he was the wide receiver 2 on the week, those were C.D. Lameless games. C.D. Lambsless. C.D. Lameless. Garrett Wilson at 6. Devant Adams at 7. That's how good Garrett is. He's dealing with that bull crap. It's like running rounds with the chain or a, like a big old.

He's got like a weighted vest on? I was thinking around the ankle. He had like a cement block of the team dragging him down, but he gets it done. Hopefully back soon as well. Tied for eighth. We have three names. Addison, Abuka, and Odunze. The Addison one sneaking in there. Yeah, I mean, we brought this up last week a little bit, and he... He has more points per game than Justin Jefferson, his teammate. Also, the best wide receiver in football. Yeah, he does. Jordan Addison? Yeah, 13.3. No, the best wide receiver football. Oh. Pitman's at number 11, Metcalf at 12, Drake London at 13, Jefferson at 14, and C.D. Lamb at 15 in points per game. That's not fair. Because of his... Yeah, you're averaging a goose in there when he got injured in the beginning of a game. I'm going to see how many he really is averaging per game. You want Lamb to have his respect. I'm guessing it'll be about...

be about 15, 16. Which would put him right at 4-5 range. So you let me know, Jay. It is 15.2. That would put him at number 6. Not good enough. Just ahead of Garrett Wilson. I mean, I think, you know, Matt Kaff, I think he's been a wild story because he feels not great, but still being a wide receiver 1 at this juncture. He's had three of the last four weeks he's finished inside the top 12. So. maybe we don't complain maybe we just accept the touchdowns that are coming our way as long as those keep coming how do you feel about jefferson uh do you feel like i'm optimistic you know the schedule's great yes which is great for addison too and i'm a j j mccarthy apologist of we talked about him i think on the dynasty show but of just