Ride or Die + Super Bowl Picks, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/7

remind you how good they are. You're playing them. But what about a battle of the wide receiver twos on these teams? Gabriel Davis had the monster performance in the playoffs and then Alan Robinson got the big money deal and the reports in camp have been so strong. If you're staring down the decision between those two players, where do you go in week one? Between them, I go Alan Robinson. You drafted him higher, you know, and I think that. You've got enough time here to really game plan for Cooper Cup. But you're starting both of these guys. Like both need to be in your lineups. These are two teams from last year that are extremely up timbo. Buffalo was second neutral pace. Timbo. Timbo. Up timbo. And the Rams were. That's like a, it's like a superhero. Up timbo? No, Timbo. Sounds like a really strong man.

Sounds like Kimbo. Kimbo slice. Maybe that's what it reminded me on. There it is. And Rambo. The Rams were tied for fifth in neutral pace, Buffalo second. And these are two teams that throw the ball all over the place. Top three in passing attempts inside the 10. Both quarterbacks were top five in red zone touching touchdown passes. So yeah, honestly. I would rather sit Devin Singletary and Camacres. I'm not trying to get Singletary in my lineup. If I have to pick one, I pick Singletary. I am trying to get Gabriel Davis and Alan Robinson. And even Isaiah McKinsey, I'm not pushing him into the lineup, but I think he's a fine flex play. I am, um, I'm, I'm,

I'm nervous about the dependency on McKinsey in week one. He's like Cammakers. I'd love to wait and see because I do think James and Crowder is on the field. I think he's going to have snaps, especially if McKinsey's been battling to get back on the field. Makes me a little nervous. Dawson Knox a much better play than Tyler Higby on the other side. Dawson Knox lasted very long in drafts, sometimes undrafted as well. But in opportunity there, last year the Rams defense, middle of the pack against tight ends. Yeah, really the only way that the Rams were exploited last year was the wide receiver position. So for me, the heads up of Gabe Davis, Alan Robinson. I got the edge to Gabe. Okay. Any other storylines from this game? Van Jefferson, not ready to get back out there yet. Anything else you guys want to talk about? I can't wait. I can't wait to watch it. Yes. Hope everything goes perfect for my fantasy teams and none of your guys is. Oh, thanks, bud. Yeah, I got you. Mailbag.

All right, I liked it. All right, if you have a question for the show, the fantasy footballers.com, click the submit a question button or dial the voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. Now, we got a little cheating at the top of the mailback because Brooks and Phoenix tossed his own question in there first. Oh, cheater, cheater, cheater. And if I didn't know any better, I would think that that is the very same Judge Giovanni. That's just my guess. Who are your Super Bowl? Picks. I've got the Thursday night game. So it's very simple. I have Buffalo defeating the Rams who returned to the Super Bowl. So it's the first and the last. Who do you have winning tomorrow's game? I also have Buffalo. Okay. Yeah, I have the money line on Buffalo. All right. Jay, who you got? I do as well. And I also have Buffalo winning the Super Bowl this year. I think they're the best roster top to bottom. But I have them winning over the Packers who I think have quite an easyish path.

to the Super Bowl. The NFC, much easier. Their division, much easier than the Rams. I think that they'll go in as the number one seat. Not an easy path for my pick, because I am taking the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl. That defense finally paired to not just a competent offense that I'm projecting, but an actual top-notch offense. I think that takes them to Super Bowl victory. And I'm going with the Saints. as the team that the Broncos will defeat. They are, we kind of mentioned this a week or two ago. They're just, they are sneaky, sneaky good. They're great on the defensive side of the football. And James Winston, before the ACL Ter, was playing incredibly efficient and good football. And now he's paired with an actual.

an actual room of starting NFL-wide receivers compared to what he had last year. So out of curiosity, Mike, because of the divisions that both the Broncos and Saints are in Tampa Bay to deal with, and then the Broncos obviously dealing with the Chiefs and the playoff-bound Raiders and the Chargers. Do you have both of those teams winning their respective divisions or taking the wildcard route to the playoffs? I have the Broncos winning their division, and I have a... a very sharp football mind that I listened to just over the weekend. He was talking about that Tom Brady's going to fall off this year. Oh, okay. Wow, bold. So, but now I will still take the bucks to win that division. And the Saints will take the hard path. Okay. All right. Jumping into the mailbag here, we're going to be dealing with some week one questions for the first time. There are a lot of questions that were submitted regarding.

Michael Thomas. Oh, man. Can I trust Michael Thomas in week one? Should I start Michael Thomas in week one? Those types of questions. So let's start there. Can you? Yes, you can do whatever you want. That would be the best answer for the entire middle back. You just do what you want to do. No, I'm preferring to not start Michael Thomas in week one. He obviously got back from the two-year-long ankle injury. and was looking finally good in camp. But then he had the hamstring injury, and we have not seen him recovered since that point. We haven't seen game, film, or anything of real football since his second injury here. I want to see that first. I think that, you know, I'm not starting Isaiah McKinsey over Michael Thomas, but common names that people will be wondering. Juju Smith-Schuster.

against Arizona. Amunrah St. Brown, what is he going to be? Like, I'm going with those caliber of players over Michael Thomas in week one, hoping that Michael Thomas is awesome and destroys and looks great, and you had a great pick. But I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that because I think I'll die. The total for the Saints Falcons, I mean, we're 42, right? 42 points. However, you know, the Saints are implied to be at. 24 points, which, I mean, you can, that's not the worst. And I think that there is a chance that the Falcons, they, like, I mean, they lose this game, but they make it a little bit more competitive. They're at home and they've got Drake London's back and healthy. So they actually have an offense this year compared to last year. And I think Michael Thomas, where you drafted him, he's got a rough matchup this week, right, Kyle? Yeah, AJ Terrell's a big deal.

Number one cornerback, according to pro football focus. Let me ask you this because this is a question my son actually has in our family league. He drafted both Michael Thomas and Chris Olave. Oh, I'd play Thomas. Really? I would play. I'd play O'Avey. Because a fantasy mind that I have listened to before said that Olave was the wide receiver one. By the end of the year. Okay, so not Walt Thomas is nursing his hamstring, but later when he gets back. He was present at the walkthrough. All right. I will play OLAV. Yeah, same. Mike hates Olave, obviously. Week one start decision. If you were doing the Michael Thomas dance, Michael Thomas or Juju against Arizona. Juju, Juju. Michael Thomas or Mooney against San Francisco. I play Mooney. Amon Ra, St. Brown against Philly. Oman Ra. Yep. Elijah Moore against Baltimore. Oh, Elijah Moore.

Adam Thielen against Green Bay. Yeah, everyone, we're starting them all against Michael Thomas. Amari Cooper at Carolina. Hey, Michael Thomas. I'll take Amari Cooper. I do it. Amari Cooper, speak like the way you were talking about Dawson Knox of we haven't really talked about him. Amari Cooper, I just have, I have no idea. I feel just nothingness, absolute nothingness for Amari Cooper this year. I just don't. Just a neutrality? Just a pure apathy. Is it going to be good? Is it going to be bad? Yeah. I just don't care. Okay. Follow up question on Amari Cooper, Mike. Right. Redraft and dynasty value. I just don't care. Is Amari Cooper underrated? Jason, do you think he's underrated?

Right now? I do not. I think that the wide receiver won for Jacoby Brissette teams. We've got a lot of data on it. They're not usually all that valuable. This is Dyno. So you're talking next year, Cooper, theoretically on the Browns, theoretically Deshawn Watson. Yeah, I actually do think he is undervalued in Dynasty because at the very end of this year, he's going to become the one for Deshawn Watson. He will enter next year as the one for Deshaun Watson. I thought part of the negative. messaging that I've heard about Amari Cooper is related to being on the backside of a productive career and declining. You think that in a dynasty league then a year removed from now that you still feel confident in him? To be valuable is just a matter of how they're being valued. And right now Amari Cooper, even in dynasty leagues, I feel like is pretty much left for dead. Nobody wants Amari Cooper. And I think he will.

he will be worth more than what he costs to get. You don't have to give up much. I think it'll be fine in redraft. Would you say you just don't care? Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to take a view on it. You know, it's like there are a lot of teams with struggles at the quarterback position, but he is so far and away the number one on that team. Like the talent level between Omari Cooper and the rest of the wide receivers that they have, it's vast. Like he should be able to absorb targets. You know, we talk about players like Christian Kirk with Trevor Lawrence being a disaster last year and having all this confidence in Christian Kirk coming in. The Browns went out and acquired Amari Cooper, and I understand it's not Deshaun Watson, but he may surprise you. I mean, there was a time when Terrell Pryor was a relevant fantasy-wide receiver and a Brown's offense that was run heavy that had no quarterback. So I just can't help but think Amari Cooper is better than that Terrell Pryor. And in Dynasty, you know, he's 28 right now.

But next year, $15 million dead cap, the next year after that $11 million dead cap, he has a long-term contract in place right now. All right. We are going to look at this one. YouTube question from Keith says, am I wrong to want Julio over Rondale as a bench wide receiver, a flyer? I don't think you're wrong. No. I don't think that's wrong. They're both, I mean, they go right around the same area of the draft. And they're, I mean, you can see the path. For both of them, you have, as long as Tom Brady is still good, you have a top-tier quarterback. Kyler is a top-tier quarterback for fantasy purposes. It comes down to what is your belief in Chris Godwin, which the update on Chris Godwin, if you hadn't seen, he was practicing without a knee brace. But the, and his quote, I believe, is he going to play week one? And he says it comes down to feel it.

comes down to does Chris Godwin feel like he's ready to play? So that's still up in the air. And if Chris Godwin is out, then Julio Jones is, I would play him week one. Generically speaking, I am always going to take a second year, second round draft pick wide receiver over a 3,800 year old wide receiver. Who's going to go right into the Hall of Fame. Right. But the reality is Rondell Moore. probably won't play week one. And Julio should be at his most valuable, the least injured and the most injured team around him in week one. So if you want to take a shot with Julio right off the bat in your drafts, if you've still got a draft to go, I don't blame you at all. The only, yeah, I can be completely wrong about this. So you'd want to look it up. But Chris Godwin, the videos that I saw of him with no brace in practice, no pads.

running around with the team gingerly, you know, nothing that was intense. He may have later got into that, but what I saw didn't give me the, like, oh, he's definitely playing in week one. And Russell Gage, we know we'll be back as well. So very tentative there, situation-wise. Question from ZTC. Could DJ Chark be good this year? Yeah, he could. You know, the reminder of. He played essentially three games, was a top 24 wide receiver in two of them. And he, until, you know, until Williams is ready to go, it's Amun Ra and DJ Chark as the starting wide receivers. Yeah, I know Hawkinson is there, but, I mean, Hawkinson is just, he's had so many opportunities to really break out and hasn't become the player that the Lions thought he would. And...

the Lions will be trailing in games. And DJ Chark is still big and he's still fast. And Jared Goff is not a bad quarterback. He's not, you know, the franchise. He's not Matthew Stafford. He's not Matthew Stafford. But he supported a good Cooper Cup, a good Robert Woods. I think if DJ Moore, if DJ Chark is, you know, he's looked good through preseason through camp, yeah, he could get off to a, to a fine start. I mean, Josh Reynolds had relevance at times. with the lions because of Jared Goff. I can't help but compare him to the Blake Bortles type of situation. If you're willing to throw the ball a ton, Jacksonville, Blake Bortles, golf is going, they're going to be down. They're going to be at least competing in the passing game. There is a shot at it. Definitely an undrafted player in most leagues, but could be somebody that has a big week one and all of a sudden people are running to the waiver wire. All right. YouTube question from Brendan, start Rashad Bateman.

or Damien Pierce in a half PPR league in week one. Rashad Bateman against the Jets, Damian Pierce against Indianapolis. Ooh. I will be going Rashad Bateman. I think Rashad Bateman is criminally undervalued in drafts right now. He's the clear wide receiver one for the Ravens who they are a run heavy team, but they don't have running backs just like last year to start the season. And the Jets are. Not a scary defense. I'd probably take, depending on my roster, I'd probably take the guaranteed points of Damien Pearson week one. Just knowing that he's going to get the ball 10, 15 times minimum as the starting running back. I will probably go that route against Indianapolis and let my eyeballs watch what this offense looks like without Hollywood Brown in Baltimore. Eileen Bateman, but that's, I mean, that's a compelling argument for just.

knowing that Pierce is going to get some points. I don't love the matchup, and I do love the matchup for Rashad Bateman. If I was a heavy underdog, I'd probably go the Bateman route and just hope I end up with a couple touchdowns in a great matchup where they're apparently favored by, what, 200 on the row? Chase Edmonds or Elijah Moore in a non-PPR. Non-PPR. Interesting. Who do? What's the Dolphins line at? In a non-PPR, you can look up the line, Kyle. In a non-PPR, you're really going to win the matchup with a touchdown. I know that the Dolphins are playing the Patriots week one. But if I had to make a bet on which player gets a touchdown, I think it would be Chase Edmonds. I really like Elijah Moore this week. So is that how you'd go with? Yeah. So I got to split the difference here. Yep.

I'm probably going to go with the guaranteed points here of Chase, admins, the running back. But are they guaranteed? They're guaranteed. Yeah, the touches, if I had to bet on 10, you know, 10, 15 opportunities, Chase is going to get that no matter what. Elijah Moore, it's like, it's amazing how we've been spun into the circle of Zach Wilson because when Joe Flacco plays quarterback, We also run to the waiver wired for that defense because we've seen him go out and step into games and throw five interceptions and make mistakes. So the thought process that Flacco is going to go out there and be better than he's been before, it's not guaranteed. Yeah, I will say, even if this were Zach Wilson starting, I mean, I guess the injury part is a little concerning. But if there's for a healthy Zach Wilson in this matchup against the Ravens, it would still be Elijah Moore for me.

Perhaps they are back on the defensive side of the football. But what we have to go off of were last year's numbers and they were absolutely atrocious. But the Ravens, I would project to have a solid lead here and a lot of catch up for Elijah Moore. All right. Last one here. AJ DJ. AJ, D.J. Moore in week one, Instagram question from Jonathan. Dylan plays at Minnesota or DJ Moore against Cleveland at home. It's DJ Moore. I mean, AJ Dylan, we expect to be a little bit more involved. But when you're grabbing him, you're grabbing him as a flex-style regular player, hoping that you get the true breakout year or if an injury happens later to Aaron Jones that Dylan will be unstoppable. Whereas DJ Moore, you drafted him to be probably your wide receiver too. If I'm picking these guys heads up, it's definitely DJ for me. Mike? DJ Moore. I'm going to go with the guaranteed points of A.J. Dylan in week one against Minnesota.

But it's a close one. And if I needed ceiling, it would definitely be DJ more. All right. Tomorrow's episode of the show has Never Not Working, the beginning of the matchups for the weekend, starts of the week as well. You don't want to miss it. And if you want to be part of our listener community, that is, it's just a fun place to spend your fantasy season. We have a free Discord that you can go and join. You can see that by going to the Fantasy Footballers.com and clicking the little Discord icon in the upper right corner. Join that. It is 20,000-plus fantasy football fanatics that...

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