Starts of the Week, Wk 1 Matchups, Lev Bell Saga

If you're in a 14 teamer, maybe six bench, he could be worth a speculative ad just to see. Okay. All right. Well, we've got so much to get through on today's show. But that is the headline news. And look, when we know something tangible, when we get more information, you're going to know. That's why we do a show every single day as we try to keep you up today. On Twitter, too. Yes. I say follow us on Twitter. I am at FF Hitman. Follow Jason at Jason FFL.

Andy is at Andy Holloway. And, of course, the show account is at the FF Ballers. Yep. Let's get into the news. News and notes from around the league. All right. Antonio Gates is optimistic. Play in the season opener. Are you taking any chances with Gates? No. I know Virgil Green is listed as the starter right now. Antonio Gates is just a...

an ad and hold. You can't play him this week. Hugh Jackson said Josh Gordon is on a pitch count in week one. They don't want to get him injured. He says he's 100% after his hamstring issues in camp, but does that change where you rank him? It doesn't change it that much for me, to be honest, because I've never seen him as a volume guy. He's a guy that if he plays 60, 65% of the snaps...

And they target them on those routes specifically. You know, you see that with some of these valuable players where to keep them healthy, they only put them in, you know, when they're going to use him. So less decoy plays and more, hey, we need him, put him in. So I think he's going to be okay. He'll be down a little bit compared to a normal week, but not much. All right, Adrian Peterson will start week one against the Cardinals. Yep. No surprise, sir. Yep. All right.

Mike, you've been calling that from the beginning. Yeah, it's after you use him like that in the, in the dress rehearsal, it's clear who you want to have as your starter. It's still going to be a very tough matchup for him. I think he has some success week one. Let's go with Rex Burkhead news. He's not listed on the injury report, but there was news this morning that he will be, quote, eased into the mix. That's from ESPN's Mike Rice. That's my concern. That's why he was my pump the brakes yesterday. The Patriots are going to go.

reverse of everything that they have always done. It used to be everyone was limited or questionable. Everyone in practice. Now it's everyone is healthy, but they may not be. Yeah, the writing is just on the wall for me in week one. I think he's going to be a very, very valuable player all year long, but I don't know why they risk him in week one when they have other options. But we'll see. I can still be wrong there. They may use them enough or he may score and it won't matter.

All right, some injury news. Rashad Penny, Doug Baldwin, Delaney Walker. They all seem to be healthy and ready to play, including Jordan Reed as well. Yes, Jordan Reed, please. So rule 86, yes. In effect. If you're new to the show, Rule 86 of fantasy football states that if Jordan Reed is healthy and playing, you play him because he's that good of a player. He is a transcendent.

talent at the tight-end position when it comes to fantasy football. So if you got him, if you drafted him, you're playing him. Yeah, all right. Let's talk about George Kittle. He's not on the injury report. Yeah, he should be out there week one. It's not a great matchup against Minnesota. Right. So you might want to wait a week or two and see how it fairs. But good that he's healthy. He'll be the starter. I'm not sure if you can wait because.

Unless you're going to roster two tight ends. George Kittle was a heavily drafted player. I mean, he was going right in that 10 to 12 range. So if you drafted George Kittle, Jason, are you just going to eat it and play him and find out what happens? Or are you going to actually roster two? If I'm drafting a tight end like George Kittle, who to me is not a week in week out starter, but a good streaming candidate, then I made a mistake in drafting him because of his week one matchup. And I would drop him and pick him up for possibly some of the people that we have on our starts of the week.

and play him and then pick him up and, you know, once you're past the first seven or eight tight-ins this year, the way that I see it, is you're in streaming, and I'm playing matchups, week in, week out every week. And we will have our starts of the week at the tight-in position today, so help you identify some of those streaming options. Tomorrow, by the way, we will update you on all injuries before the weekend, before the Sunday games, in and out on the show tomorrow. And a reminder, Sunday, the NFL.

slate, the full slate. Mike will be on all of the streaming universes. Stream all the things. Periscope. Facebook. Facebook, YouTube. Twitch. It doesn't matter. His morning, his Sunday morning, live stream will be everywhere. I recommend you go to YouTube. You subscribe and you click the bell. And then you'll just get a little notification on your phone. You click the what? The, oh, you want me to hit it? Sure. I don't know if I want him to hit this bell. Yeah.

That's a little ominous. I don't want that notification on Sunday morning. Like, Mike's coming. You've got to wear all black. I highly recommend you go wherever your screen has the highest resolution. To see more and more of you. Are you going to keep wearing those black shirts to make it look like you're getting a haircut on the live stream? No. Well, I don't know. It was a good look. It was wearing those really, really tight t-shirts where they're right around your neck. It looked like those. No, I'm going to take it up a notch this year. Yeah?

I'm just going to get my hair cut while I'm doing the live streams. Well, that's efficiency. Look, we work. That's how hard we work for you here at the fantasy footballers. We got to get our haircuts during live stream. A-Z, I need a traveling barber. Yeah, just brush your teeth during the live stream. Take care of all your hygiene during the live stream. All right, we're going to get into the fantasy forecast. And before we do that, I want to thank seat geek. Football's back. Seatgeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every game all season long.

Look, they search multiple ticket sites. They grade every ticket based on value. They make it so easy. Yes. It's visually easy. It's functionally easy. Every purchase is guaranteed. There's no drama with Seagieg. That's what I like. And you can get tickets to concerts and comedy theater, too. We're going to what, Jim Gaff again in December. Oh. You can get some tickets to see some comedy. Whether it's last minute or well-advanced your plan, go find.

The Seat Geek app. Grab it. We love it. We've used it for years. Plus, you get $20 off your first Seat Geek purchase. Download the Seat Geek app and enter the promo code Footballers today. That is the promo code footballers for $20 off your first Seatgeek purchase. Seatgeek. Life is an event. And guess what? They have the tickets. We want to thank Quip for sponsoring today's show. Ladies and gentlemen, the truth is most of us are brushing our teeth wrong. Not long enough. You're forgetting to change the brush on time.

And quip makes it easy, as easy as possible to rectify that situation because quip is an electric toothbrush. It costs a fraction of the bulkier brushes, packs the right amount of vibrations to clean your teeth. It's got a built-in timer and guiding pulses help you clean for the full dentist recommended two minutes. It's cheap. They got a subscription program, so you're getting a new brushhead every three months for just five bucks, including free shipping worldwide.

I love my quip. I love my quip so much. You know what I did? I got the wife a quip as well. You quipped the wife? I equipped the wife with a quip and said, you got to get you, you got to brush those teeth correct. And quip is the best way to do it. And right now, quip starts at just $25. If you go to get quip.com slash footballers right now, you'll get your first refill pack free with a quip electric toothbrush. That's your first refill pack free at get.

quip.com slash footballers spelled g-et-Q-U-I-P dot com slash footballers and before you hit the button we the last piece of news that I actually think is important the Saints waived rookie running back Boston Scott that means the only running backs on that roster heading into Sunday's game let's count them Alvin Camara Mike Gillisley

That's it. Those are the only running backs on that team. Mike Gillisley will not be a start of the week. He was in consideration. But they're, we'll talk about that match. They're taking the New England Patriot wide receiver approach. Yes. Where they just let go of anybody that, you know, that wasn't relevant. I believe they grabbed some offensive line in place of Boston Scott. Just say, we'll get into their matchup, but that's an important piece of news to me. All right.

Fantasy Forecast. Feeling good, Jason. Feeling so good. Real football. The Bills travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. Ravens are seven and a half point favorites. 40.5 is the over-under. Nathan Peterman gets the start in Buffalo. Let's start with Buffalo. Come on, Andy. Make it your almost subset. Are you kidding? No. No, I'm not making this an almost subset. Oh, man.

Not a lunatic. I mean, I am a lunatic, but I would have levitated and my soul would have left my body if you were calling for this. No, I think the line is too small. Okay, good. I think Baltimore is going to win the game by 10 points. So, or more. Nathan Peterman, Sean McCoy, Calvin Benjamin, Charles Clay, the Buffalo Bill's offense. Look, I'm okay playing Shady McCoy on the volume. Sure. He's going to be the release valve for Nathan Peterman. He's going to be the every down.

guy out of the backfield. I'm okay starting Kelvin Benjamin as a wide receiver three from a volume perspective as well. That's it. I mean, it's running back to wide receiver three for me. Yeah, Kelvin, I'm a, I'm pretty worried about Kelvin. I realize that the volume will be there and they are going to move the ball. I mean, I, you know, I question who's going to score more, the Bill's offense or the Ravens defense, which one puts more points on the board? But.

Calvin is a guy where, man, these first three weeks is so rough and he'll get the volume. If I can find another player to start over him, I would prefer to. I've got him on a couple of rosters because his value was good in the draft. But he's going to be a weight on my bench type of guy. He's a stash.

You would say? Yes. So going into week one then just to make the decision easier for somebody, would you play Robbie Anderson at Detroit or Kelvin Benjamin at Baltimore? Robbie Anderson. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Do you have any more, would you? Because the answer is yes. Yeah. Trick you. As in no Kelvin? Yeah. Interesting.

Sometimes I just don't want to over it. It takes time for a defense to come around to Baltimore's defense is going to be good. facetious. Yeah. All right, Baltimore side of the ball. Now, I heard this morning that Mike Florio has the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. I heard the same thing. And I actually, I don't think it's as hot take as they were nine and seven. They were almost in the playoffs last year. It's still like, I mean, the bills were nine and seven.

So it doesn't. With a massive negative point differential. And they were in the playoff. I'm just saying that's not enough for me to not be surprised at that pick. Here's why it's not shocking to me.

is because their defense is great. We all know that. But I believe that their offense has gotten significantly better. They know who they're starting running back is now. They have Kenneth. They know who their wide receivers are. And their wide receivers are tremendously better this season than last season. They're not great this season. But that's how bad it was last season for the Ravens. So, yeah, I mean, and I think they're in a situation where they'll be in the playoffs. And with that defense, they could make some noise.

You play Joe Flacco? I don't want to. I was going to mention him. I would not touch Joe Flacco myself. Because I love Alex Collins so very, very much this week. We're going to talk about him a little bit later in the show. Michael Crabtree, see, Michael Crabtree is in like that same tier of wide receiver three for me, but I would much rather play him than Kelvin Benjamin at this point. Would you play Crabtree over Kelvin?

No. No, I would play Calvin Benjamin over Crabtree. I'm not, you know, the way I see the wider receiver core in Baltimore is not a really cleanly defined one, two, three situation. I think it's going to be John Brownmore involved. I think it's just going to be everybody involved. I think it's going to be a whoever's open and whoever's hot. I just don't see it being clearly defined. So I would still take Benjamin and myself.

Alex Collins, Mike. We're going to talk about him later? We are. You're very, very... Very, very bullish. All right. Anything else you want to talk about in this match? I'm not going to play him, of course, but monitor Nick Boyle. He's listed right now as the starter, the tight end.