Fantasy Football - Unsolved Mysteries + TNF Preview, Top 5 Surprises - Podcast for 9/17

The Fantasy Footballer Studio is sponsored by Walmart. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers podcast for Wednesday, September 17th. Welcome in one and all. Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. The Ducers in the building today. Al Borland is here.

Let's see. You're still in our chopped league. Oh, yeah. Papa Josh, you're still in the chop league. And then the falcons here helping with the show. Thanks, Derek Kenny. Oh, bad. You call them Danny. Derek Hennessy. Oh, man. Things just get better and better for the falcon. We're in a big, if you don't know what it is, a chop league, a guillotine league where the lowest score every week gets cut out of the league and all the players get released into the waiver wire. And we're doing one with all of the. The office here. And then the waiver wire is wild. I mean, you have a thousand fab to spend. And I dropped half of it today. And, yeah, old Derek Hennessy. Yeah. Yeah. Matt had to pour one out. Had to pour one out. For his homies. So all the, all the waivers went through this morning. And the falcon got chopped last week. And I'm on the chopping block this week. I know that. Matt, I appreciate your donation to my team. Yeah, Jordan Mason. Because my team was.

looking thin. So yeah, that's what we're reacting to this morning. We have a big show today. Backup options, NFL news to talk about. We're going to dive into some unsolved mysteries on the show today. Preview the Thursday night game and then get into the mailbag if we have time for it. It is a good time and we're going into week three. We'll give a little shout out here. The current Megalobole leader, Conscious Rising. 329 points in the lead after two weeks out of 20,000 people. So congratulations there. But it's just two weeks. You know what I mean? It's just two weeks. You might not even make the playoffs. Yeah. So congrats though. Shout out to them. Megal bowl leader. This person is they're riding high. They are my enemy. And you're like, hey, they're probably not going to make the playoffs. What a bum. I plan to win this league. Okay. So. Well, I didn't hear your name.

I don't need to have my name said now. Talk to me in week 17. Okay. A reminder. I will make a note. Talk to Jason in week 17. There you go. About Meglabel. Weekly rankings, start sit tool, all the articles on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Also available in our free in season app. Just look for the fantasy footballers app on the app store, on the Google Play store. And you can grab that and have some starts sit in your pocket every week. You can follow us on X at the FF Ballers. Follow Jason at Jason FFL. Mike at FF. Hitman. I'm at Andy Holloway. Mike was making some world news for us yesterday in a hatless episode of the show. Mike shaved off the locks. Had to cut it down. And I would say 50% of the comments was what's happening. Just in time for winter. Also, strangely.

some like strange backhanded uh insults several people were like oh no no he cut off his hair now he looks too much like andy oh gross yeah which is gross i think was the implication no it is i don't know which one of us it's gross for oh that's true that's it's pretty it could just be insulting to both of us oh i'm sure yeah that makes the most sense all right let's jump into our first segment Backup options, presented by Progressive Insurance. If you're not in a chop league, Derek Hennessy is probably not one of the backup options. You can pick up on your waiver wire. So we like to... He was there for us. I know. He's sitting there. I used the waiver wire tool to identify Derek Hennessy to add him to the roster. Look, we have a list of the most dropped players on Sleeper over the last 24 hours.

So I want to share some of those because this segment, you know, we always say every week, drop a leg, it's hot. We want you to pay attention to who is dropped on Waver Day. Everyone fights for the newest. I mean, Wondale Robinson was picked up in a lot of leagues. Sure. And I'm sure some pretty good players were dropped to pick up and chase the Wondale 142-yard game. But the most dropped players on sleeper the last 24 hours, Joe Burrow and Justin Fields at quarterback. Ollie Gordon Tank, Biggsby, Jaden Blue at running back. jaden reed who had double surgery like yeah we found out this morning jaden reed had the clavicle surgery and then threw in a side of a two for a side of the foot surgery i'll bet he saved a little bit of cash on that deal if you need surgery

Do it all. Yeah. Do it all at once. Yeah, I mean, he was obviously trying to play through the the foot injury and then he's like, well, if I'm going to miss time and I've got to pay for, you know, anesthesia. Jones. Yes. Yeah. Jones fracture. The feet. The feet are getting lots of action this year. Yeah. They really are. The Jones fracture, the turf toes. We need to take care of the feet. There's a coach who's loving it. Uh-huh. Jaden Reed, Marvin Mims, Jaden Higgins, Calvin Austin, Khalil Shakir. It's not that good of a joke, guys. Goodness gracious. The deucers really were cracking up on that one. A real Rex Ryan fan base back there. Goodness. Mark Andrews, Evan Ingram, Britain Strange. You know, Evan Ingram right now is like I saw him on the waiver wire in our league and it really, it did tempt me a little bit because if you need a tight end, it's hard to see his name there. Oh, the Joker in Denver. Plus, it's fair to say that like, you know, he was hurt.

He was hurt, and so there's a chance to snap cows playing behind Troutman, but I didn't pick him up. 100%. That calf issue, we weren't even sure if he was going to play last week. I throw last week out, and I've been the all-offseason anti-Evon Ingram person, but I do not think that week two's lull is going to be indicative of what he's going to do rest of season. He's still going to be bad, but not that bad. And, yeah, so there's your biggest drops from the week. So we want to look at three names. Maybe they've been dropped or you need some more names to pay attention to on the waiver wire. Mike, I'm going to let you start because the running back situation in Houston is an ever-evolving non-Joe Mixon situation. Yeah, Joe Mixon is still gone. And I want to highlight Woody Marks. He was a fourth round pick. You know, the snaps went up from week one to week two and had a big time 37-yard catch.

And honestly, the biggest thing here is that Damien Pierce was a healthy scratch on Monday. And that was surprising to me. Like Woody Marks was a guy, okay, if you're in Dynasty, you're aware of the name. But for redraft, there was just really no need. But now, with the way that things are going for Houston, I think that Woody Marks is a, for certain builds is a good stash. He's not someone that you can play just yet. But increase of snaps. The other backup seems to be like what he seems to have taken his job now. And something to pay attention to is though. Darya Gumba Wale was PFF's lowest graded pass blocker of week two. I did see some of his whiffs. And it frustrated me because that guy finds himself on the field and third down so much. So yeah, it's worth paying attention to you. I'll throw Tori Horton out there, wide receiver for Seattle. Great preseason. Slow start to the year.

Finally got four targets this past week, scored for Seattle. And we talked a lot about the way rookies progressed. Like not a lot of rookies have made an early impact. Tyler Warren, Amika, Egbuka, and Tetaroa McMillan. Those are kind of the highlights so far. But Cooper Cup, older veteran wide receiver, you could see a second half transition, Horton getting more work, more opportunities. So. whether he's an ad today, tomorrow, just pay attention to the snap counts, the production in Seattle, and see what happens. Yeah, I've got a couple of names, but I think the primary one that might be dropped in a handful of leagues, he's not going to be dropped to everywhere, but Matthew Golden will hit some waivers. Sometimes teams just have to, even if you don't want to drop him because he was a first round NFL draft pick, injuries and needs, sometimes it's like, well, I mean, the guy has, what, four targets on the season right now?

through two games. He hasn't hit a 10% market share. So he's done Jack's squat, which is why he'll hit some waivers. But Matthew Golden has been good, actually good on the field. The Packers look outstanding. Jordan Love is firing on all cylinders. According to Fantasy Points data, Matthew Golden right now is leading the league in average separation score. He is... He is. It's a matter of time. Yeah, it's a matter of time. And they need him. And it's a good offense. So Matthew Golden, I would scoop up. Two other names I want to quickly throw out. Jaden Higgins will be on almost every waiver wire after, you know, he's not a. You sure? You want the... You guys brought him up as you would drop him yesterday, and I'm fine dropping him. I'm saying Christian Kirk is supposed to be back now. No, I get that. But I'm just saying as the season goes on, they have to make changes for the Houston Texans. And I think Higgins...

will have relevance by the end of the year. So maybe you don't pick them up this week. Maybe it's next week or the, you know, just wait and watch. But I've got my eyes on him still. And then the other name, you look, if you didn't like Jaden Higgins, you're going to hate this one. You guys are going to, yeah. Oh, this is nasty. But there are teams that will benefit. It's nasty butt. I've never heard of him. Mark Andrews. Mark. Oh, no. Jason. Yeah. Jason. Yeah. Listen to my logic here. I would say. I hope it was dead. That was it for five minutes. Listen to this. Listen, check this out. I've got a feeling. No, here, here, there's a quarter of every single league out there that have no option at tight in. You're, you're trying to play someone that.

you're thinking might get four or five targets and it just looks bad and you're going on the waiver wire picking up jatavian sanders hoping there's a breakout yada yada but when you actually need to start someone the likelihood of a touchdown coming from mark andrews is much higher than most of the riffraff on the waiver wire he had a touchdown last week he literally had one street rats alone jason he caught a touchdown It was pretty much done deal and then an amazing defensive punch out right in the end zone, knocked the ball out of his hands. Because he's got old weak hands now. Sure, but I mean, this is a guy who will have a lot of touchdowns through the season. He is not a possession receiver like he used to be. He's not going to go out there and get eight targets in a game. But if you just want a touchdown play, Lamar is going to throw 30 touchdowns this year and several of them are going to go to Andrews. We saw.

last year he had disappearing X like crazy and then just goes against double digits touchdowns two targets side the five this past week so it's unfortunately if you're in the touchdown only zone mark andrews is in that category and it's not much different than Zach hurts to be honest that hurts if he doesn't score you're nasty but andrews nasty but that was backup option sponsored by progressive insurance quote today at progressive com let's talk news News and notes from Around the League. Presented by Progressive Insurance. It was announced this morning that Justin Fields is officially out this week as he deals with a concussion. To Rod Taylor will start against the Buccaneers. It was announced before waivers went through, but didn't have that out sitting next to his name. Until just after.

Oh, can you move in there? Oh, he's marked out now. Oh, fantastic. Oh, it's great. You've got some backup options. Who are you talking about? Yeah. All right. Aaron Jones placed on IR with the hamstring injury. He'll be out through the team's week six buy at a minimum. This is a huge opportunity for Jordan Mason. The team itself, I will say like Jordan Mason should be successful and should be started, but the offensive line combined with the change of quarterback will add some variables to the equation. I'm very, very curious about the Vikings' offense in general and how much success they can have. You should have a little bit of, you know, I don't know if it's trepidation, but just like what is Justin Jefferson for the next handful of weeks? Everybody's seen the route, the route seen around the world, the T.J. Hawkinson route. I mean, we've all seen this, right? No, I don't know what you're talking about. Please share.

This does not feel like the route scene around the world. Well, you two are hiding under a rock. Go ahead and just search TJ Hawkinson route. That won't be hard to find. He had a very unimpressive route that led many to believe he is toast, which I brought this up to Jason earlier in the week that I think he's toast. We haven't seen T.J. Hawkinson post-injury look good at all. So I don't, you know, no production this year, no production at the end of last year. And yeah, you can judge it however you want. I'm not. I have no confidence in T.J. Hawkinson. He did a double fake. He went in and out and then back in. Slowly. Yeah, it was pretty slow. Like I think, remember yesterday you told me that I could run like Joe Flacco? Mike, you can run that route. Oh, that's a big compliment. You can run that route. We'll see. I mean, it's the offense in general in Minnesota. We trust Kevin O'Connell, but at the same time, what, seven of eight quarters have looked pretty bad for JJ McCarthy. But we have, we'll have Carson Wentz here.

The offensive line still remains a huge issue. But it's like for Carson Wentz, who was, he was a later joiner to the Minnesota Vikings. I believe he joined the squad in late August. So hopefully he's ready to go. But we've seen Kevin O'Connell take guys off the street, but just like right to the team, right to a starting position and be fantasy relevant. So it's like, can offensive line aside, can the offense be? that much worse than what we've seen with J.J. McCarthy. And then the next two weeks... You know who their quarterback should have been? Who's that? Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones was on the roster. That should have been their quarterback. So was Sam Darnold. But the next two matchups for Jordan Mason, Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who through two weeks looked like a absolute run funnel. So at least for the next two weeks, I have...

some excitement to play Mason. It was funny. Many leagues. That is the Browns and do several leagues that I have. I had the Steelers defense out of the draft. Right. Yeah. Oh, they were a target. I played them. Yeah, week one against Justin. I have moved on in every league this morning from the Steelers defense. Christian Watson anticipates returning to practice for the Packers sometime soon. His window to come back opens up in week six. And then Christian Kirk is expected to come back for the Texans. That offense has looked. So bad. I mean, they're 0-2 in a division they're expected to win. The ball is not getting spread around to anybody. Nico Collins is not producing the way fantasy players hope. They can't run the football. Their offensive line is just struggled. Jaden Higgins, Noel Hutchinson. The reason I don't like Higgins is because it's just kind of a mess. I mean, it could be Hutchinson as much as it could be Higgins. Sure. I agree completely. And when you watch the games, you just know their offensive line is.

It is a, it's not, to call it a sieve or a colander is unfair to colanders, because that stops some stuff from getting through. It's just non-existent. And fabulous. However, you look at the first, the chef joke, you look at the first two, the first two weeks was the Rams, whose defense, I think, is outstanding, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who have a great defensive line. And so. Hopefully, when, I mean, this was Stroud, so far his whole career. He has beat up on bad defenses. And maybe part of that is because when he actually has some protection, he can sling it. It's not always going to be as bad. So like they've got Jacksonville, Tennessee as the next two weeks. I think there could be some healing here.

All right, that was news and notes, sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at progressive.com, progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Let's take a break and we'll jump into some spooky unsolved mysteries. Lowe's Nose Sundays are for football. So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on cobalt power tools. pit boss grills, LG appliances, and more. Then, once your to-do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy the game. Shop in store or online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's, official partner of the NFL. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on prize picks, being right can get you paid.

Don't miss any of the excitement this season on prize picks where it's good to be right. Look, prize picks is the best way to win cash this football season, which players are going off, which ones are not. Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your takes into cash all season long on prize picks. They also invented the flex play, which means you can still cash out even if your lineup isn't perfect. You can double your money, even if one of your picks doesn't hit. Price picks is the best place to win cash while watching sports. Join millions of users and sign up today. Download the app today and use code footballers to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code footballers to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Price picks, it's good to be right. All righty. We did this last year. We'll talk about what we did last year and how it worked out, but it's time to jump in. Unsolved Mysteries.

So last year at this time, we were talking about what happened to the elite tight ends. Laporta was drafted very highly. Kelsey, both of those guys, there was panic in the streets through two weeks. We also asked the question, is Sam Donald actually good after two weeks? The answer was pretty much yes. We asked that, I think, 17 straight weeks. It was an unsolved mystery for a long time. And then we had been talking about passing numbers and will they come back? It was a struggle to start the year. We put this out there. We wanted to figure out what you're asking about. So we have three unsolved mysteries to discuss. The first one being Drake London, or as Kyle put it, is the bridge falling down or under construction? I guess that would be a London bridge joke. Is that what that is? Yeah. Drake London. Only the best here. Through two weeks. Yeah, Cullender jokes and bridge jokes. That's what we do. All right, through two weeks, he's the wide receiver.

28 and 77 in his two weeks. A lot was made. I think too much was made personally of the final three weeks of the season with Michael Pinnock Jr. 15 targets though in week one. Turning 15 targets into wide receiver 28, that's tough. And then last week, three for 49 with a fumble. Atlanta is playing extremely slow. They're 31st and pass rate over expectation. That is... the inverse of what we've been excited about with Justin Herbert, obviously. I mean, they've just ran and ran and ran. It is what I would do if I were them. And one of the things with Atlanta that I think we're seeing through two weeks is an evolution and progress on the defensive side of the football. I think they have a pretty good pass rush, a pretty good defense compared to where they had been in the past. So maybe the strategy in Atlanta is going to be much more Bijan-Algir heavy.

protect Michael Pinnock's, not that he won't have big games, but you did see the perfect variance in two weeks. You saw almost a 300-yard game and you saw 140-yard game. That being a possibility, does it change your view on Drake London at all? He was drafted as the wide receiver, what, nine? Yeah, about there. I think we, based on how you've talked this last week about the Falcons, I think you and I, at least, Andy, will disagree here. I don't think London Bridge has fallen down here. I do not believe that this looks like a team that is coming out with specific game plans for their opponents. You know, you watched the beginning of this last week in prime time against Minnesota and every play was a handoff to Bijon to start that game. It's like, this is what we're doing. Whereas the week prior when they're going up against Vita Vian and that divisional opponent they knew well, who has such a good, you know, run-stopping defense.

They did the exact opposite. Bejohn only had 12 carries in the entire game. He was out wide. They were throwing the ball like crazy. And so this is, I believe, a team that is going to have plenty of, plenty of games where they are throwing like crazy. And while their defense has impressed me so far, I think their defenses looked really, really good, which is not something we've said of the Falcons for... Yeah, that is true. Ever. It's been quite a while. I mean, when was the last time the Falcons' demons was like, man, that defense was good. I can't ever remember.

But I've only watched football for about 30 years. So it could have been before that. But there's still not a team that is projected to win 12 games. They're going to be in a lot of shootouts, and they're willing to throw the ball. So my opinion on this unsolved mystery is that, like, I've made a couple offers for Drake London in hopes that, you know, bad opening start to the season. Maybe you're afraid that they're not going to throw the ball. I don't think that's going to happen. And on the London side, on the positive side, he still, he had a terrible, outrageously bad game this last week, but that included a couple of drops just on him that included a fumble with a good punchout. Awful game, but he still had, you know, he still had the involvement, the utilization. So to me, he's, what is he like, almost 40% of their first read targets. Sounds about right. London is, you know.

feels still safe to me. Yeah, and remember he was, he got knocked out in week one with the shoulder injury, so he's, you know, still recovering from that. I'm, I'm on more of the side of, I would go, I'd make some offers to try and get Drake London. We get Carolina next week. The defense has played well, but we are getting news that AJ Terrell is now weak to week with the hamstring injury, so, and they're bringing a bunch of guys in, so I would expect. Like, I mean, that's great news for, for Tetaro and McMillan this week as they play against Carolina. But I think overall London will bounce back and we'll look back at the first two weeks and go, oh, yeah, yeah. Remember that when that happened. Giovante Williams, will it continue? Javante Williams is the RB4 and back-to-back weeks to open the year. He had one top five fantasy finish in the previous 54 games played in his entire career. He had seven targets last week.

in the offense. My son has been giving me the business on Giovante. How so? Like he's just, why didn't you believe? Yeah, he's like, he's like, Javante's dog. And I'm like, that may be, but this man has been garbage for so, so many years. So it wasn't a high probability bet. He was someone that was laid out of, you know, if you tuned into our, our offseason tips, I don't know, shows. Yeah, thank you. Shows of just. highlighting certain backfields that you want to take a chance on it. Giovante Williams was in a backfield that you needed to take a chance on it because he was so late. Will it continue? I'm very concerned about the injury to the center. But if they can get that figured out, then I don't see a reason this won't continue. Like the biggest threat would be, I know Miles Sanders is the backup, but the biggest threat to Giovante really losing fantasy value is Jaden Blue.

He's not a threat unless Giovante is unproductive. Right. So far, the gap seems massive between. And last year it was Zeke. Zeke was, Zeke looked and the numbers looked awful. It was infuriating. Giovante's been great. So, you know, also one thing to note, Dallas games have been unbelievably close. 132 of 139 offensive plays were neutral. It was like within seven points, which is crazy. Like, that's almost every. play that they've had in the entire season. So, you know, if they get behind by a bunch, I don't, you know, what does that mean? I don't know. Last week was a shootout and he was heavily involved. So, you know, Jason, where do you stand on Giovante? Would, are you a, would you buy? I don't think I'm going to buy, but I'm certainly going to hold. I believe that he is, he's impressed me through two weeks. He gets what is given to him, but he has played. I mean, your son's not wrong. He's looked like he's got the dog in him. Yeah.

He always has. He just, that knee injury was apparently so devastating. He just needed to be five or six, eight years removed from the injury. I don't think it's a health thing where it's like now he's got his explosiveness back. I'm not seeing old school Giovante where it's like, whoa, he's so incredibly hard to take down. He's so speedy and bursty after getting stopped for a moment. Those things aren't there. Those things are never coming back for Giovante. But the actual utilization is what we dream of. for fantasy football. He is a full bell cow. And he's on a good offense that, look, part of the reason I loved. 74% of snaps. That's just, that is so incredible. There's, you know, a handful of guys across the league that get that kind of treatment. And one of the reasons I was so in on the DAC CD stack this year, it was a combination of bad defense, good offense, and no running game. But it turns out.