Starts of the Week + Week 4 Breakdown, Jason's Curse - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/26

Chicago, three-point home favorites. Over under is 41. And so here we go. It's been reported early this morning that the bears are going to give an extended look to Rochon Johnson, which they should. Yes. Because any extended look at DeAndre Swift will leave you vomiting in the toilet. This is why Rochon was a waiver ad. There were some clips going around highlighting DeAndre Swift's. choices as a runner. Another word might be ineptitude. I mean, you were, you were pretty kind with your words about DeAndre Swift earlier this week. Was I? Yeah, I think you said he's the worst player that's ever. Maybe the worst in the history of the national football league. Right. Oh, man. I mean, just, yeah, he's hurting their offense. Like, if I'm a Bears fan, I'm like, stop giving him the ball. If you want to make DeAndre Swift some sort of screen game pass catcher on third down,

That's fine. And give first and second to Rochon, although he can catch the football as well, and it's much bigger than you, DeAndre. I've got a great idea. First and second down Khalil Herbert, third down Rochon, and you re-roll what was just fine last year. Yeah. It would be better than what we're getting with Swift. So that makes Swift a bench for all three of us. His line is at 38.5 rushing yards. That is not optimism, and that matches everything I feel about him right now. DJ Moore and Roma Dunzee. Now I brought them up. They're my starts of the week. The secondary for the Rams is atrocious. The bears are at home. Their implied point total is 22. I like them, but I don't know if you guys like them. No, look, DJ Moore as a tradeaway, maybe you want to hold. Maybe you want to hold through this weekend because everything makes sense for him to have a good game and a Dunesay as well. So I don't mind that call at all. The thing about DJ Moore is, though,

If he goes out and has a bad game in this matchup, like the value plummets. And Keenan Allen returned to a limited practice. It's limited on Wednesday. If he is full go by the time Sunday hits, it's, Keenan Allen in week one was a target machine, if I'm remembering it right. He was 11 targets. He was 38% of the targets against Tennessee. Now, yeah, that's Caleb Williams' first ever game. But Keenan Allen is exactly the type of wide receiver that Caleb Williams should love throwing the ball to. Let's talk about where Keenan might impact as well because Colquette was a waiver wire pickup. He had a ton of targets. That is a concern for me. Like would you go Colquemette this week knowing that Keenan's probably limited or out over at Kyle Pitts? Or would you play Kyle Pitts? I would play Kyle Pitts. Yeah, I'd stick with Pitts. On the other side of the ball, predictability at wide receiver has been brutal.

The answer has been no one. The answer in this game, if you like made me pick DeMarcus or Tyler Johnson or Jordan Whittington or Tutu, I would pick Tutu. That's who I would pick to start if I had to flex a wide receiver from this team. Tyler Johnson's done nothing. And DeMarcus Robinson has done nothing. DeMarcus Robinson one catch last week, two the week before. Like Tutu seems like when he's on the field, he does have something with. Matthew Stafford that is a little like it was four for 93. What's funny is that he is this schemed up guy. Like 2-2 is not in as often, but when he's in, he's in motion. He's targeted on those plays where he's in motion and they're getting him down the field. I think that you are fine to take a shot on 2-2. I also think to Marcus Robinson is an okay play as well. Obviously the four targets, he only came down with one of them. However, he had a deep bomb.

Touch or not touchdown. It was like a 40 something yarder that he was called to catch at first and then they saw he was out of bounds slightly. And so he's on the field so much. He's running so many routes. So I'm fine taking the shot there. I mean, there's not a ton of wide receivers out there that are doing that. Mooney or DeMarcus Robinson? Mooney. Mooney. Kyron Williams? Yep. I think you should probably play him. Yep. And pay attention to Rochon, see what he does in this game. All right. Minnesota's 3-0. They go to Green Bay to take on the 2-1 Packers. The D.K. Sports League line, Green Bay minus 3 at home. The over-under is 43 and a half. We excited for this game? Yeah. This would be my game of the week if it were not for the gift that the Carolina Panthers and Andy Dalton have given me. So the Packers at home here, what's the latest on Jordan Love and, you know,

Are we expecting him to be back? It's still limited. I'm guessing he will be back. The play of Malik Willis, though, it's given them at least the opportunity that maybe they think, hey, we're at home, despite it being this divisional matchup that is, this is a very important game for the Green Bay Packers of if you fall to two and two and lose a division game and Minnesota is like four. That creates a problem of trying to catch up. So I think that Jordan Love is going to push to play. There are a lot of people that want to take the plunge, start Sam Darnold after the four touchdown game. You know, I have a super flex league. I'm going to start him over Anthony Richardson against Pittsburgh. I don't blame you. Are we in for a pumpkining or are we going to continue to see Sam Darnold execute this offense at this level? Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, maybe Jordan Addison back on the field.

Are you guys confident with him on the road in Lambo? Because I'm nervous. I think I'm more confident than Jason is. Now, the Sam Donald's touchdown rate is, it's astronomical. It's a 10.3%. And for a reminder, like the baseline around the league for a touchdown percent, which is how many of your attempts actually turn into a touchdown? It's about four and a half percent. Elite players can be up in the high fives. maybe low sixes. So that will come back down to earth. Aaron Jones will start getting rushing touchdowns. That will happen. But I believe in this offense so much. It's the same way that generally speaking, you believe in Sean McVeigh's offenses as well. So maybe someone like if you're streaming, maybe you go to like Gino over Sam Darnold. But I added Darnold in the league of record. I have Jordan Love is my main quarterback.

I'm preparing to play Jordan Love in this matchup. But I think long term, that why I picked up Darnold, Brock Party was available. And I said, no, I want Darnel on the team because I want to see if this is something that can continue. Because I think not this, not a 10% touchdown rate, but I think that Darnold can become one of those surprised quarterbacks that finishes in the top eight who no one had ranked anywhere near that. To be fair, when I... saw that you picked him up over Brock Purdy. I was like, what's Mike doing? So I think we disagree here. Obviously, I still just hesitate to believe that this is just going to be real and hold forever with Darnold. He's been great. I don't want to take anything away from it. And I love that you're willing to take the shot and say, hey, I think it is legit. I think, you know, he's got the right coaching staff. You know, you talked about genome as maybe a play over him, but Gino is the comp of like,

We've seen a player who was left for dead resurrect this career. And maybe that is what Donald gets to do this season. So I'm out. Andy, what's the tiebreaker there? Do you believe in Darnold the rest of season? Do you think it's going to hold up and be legit? Not like top five, but like do you think he's going to be a number one? No. But I mean, a streamworthy starter regularly the way we view Purdy. I mean, Purdy hit a waiver wire. this past week. Sam Darnold or Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes. I think if you compare him to Purdy, that's the best example that you can give. Now, Josh Jacobs was disappointing last week. You're with a different quarterback. He's not getting any targets in this offense with Malik Willis. They also split. I think that was the bigger thing for Josh Jacobs. Not that he was bad, but Emmanuel Wilson came in, 41% of the snaps, 41% of the running back attempts, and.

looked very good. I mean, it didn't bother me. Tennessee looked in the app-down offense, like giving Jacobs opportunities to come off the field, and then having Emmanuel Wilson break off a big touchdown certainly hurt Jacobs. But his rushing lines at 57.5. I'm comfortable with Jacobs. Jaden Reed, Christian Watson and company. You know, Reed is the only player I'm willing to start there. I know you guys talked about picking up some of these. Oh, yeah, baby. Oh, yeah. I have undone the curse. You have undone the curse? Yeah. I've been over here working my magic. Screw you two guys. Did you trade Jalen Waddle? I traded Jalen Waddle for Drake London. I did it because you guys told me not to do it. You guys convinced me to trade CD Lamb for Jaden Waddle years ago and that ruined me. I just got a superstar. I know it because you two guys cursed me and I don't did it. That's the right, baby. You traded Jalen, just a one for one? I added Pat Fryermuth.

See you later, sucker. I got to go get my superstar. I now believe it Drake London. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. If you drink one bottle of poison, the answer is not to drink a second bottle, Jason. This is great. Poison? Don't drink a second bottle of poison to make the first bottle go away. Oh, I love it. I broke that curse. Thank you, fellas. Yeah, it's great. Jason has been typing through the last two matchups. And I didn't know if someone was happening. I thought something was happening at home. I didn't know what was going on. I'm like, when will Jason come back to the show? Yeah. No, I'm back, baby. I'm back and I'm hyped. So thank you, fellas. Anyways, what were we talking about in the context? So you asked the question earlier, who's better for the rest of the career? To get the answer from us. I was so hoping. Do the opposite. Exactly right. Exactly right. I was so hoping that you guys concurred. And you both.

were definitive that waddle is better rest of career than drake london thank you thank you for that so the two you know fantasy football recent champions in that league agreed yeah and you went drake london to be fair i think we are the previous three champions in that league so we're all good here okay well back to the show jaden reed jaden reed yes unbelievably awesome um he is On a per touch basis, he's breaking. Not according to that letter, Mike made me read publicly to everybody a long time ago. Yeah, I mean, I didn't make you do nothing. Uh-huh. Yeah, anyone who was anti-Jaden Reed, I think you should be quick to take your L. He looks amazing on the field. He's been great with Malik Willis. He will be better with love. If you can get him now, I would get him now. He just, he's different. You know, you watch him on the field. And every time when he's got the ball on his hands, you go,

Oh, that guy's fast. He's, he's like lightning out there. Pittsburgh's 3 and all they take on the one and two Indianapolis Colts. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Pittsburgh minus one and a half. Over under is 40. So we've got three straight games with pretty low over unders. You've got Justin Fields v. Anthony Richardson. Richardson is at home, but the matchup is difficult. The pressure, the amount of fantasy points given up to the quarterback position through the year. Last year, Steelers only gave up 13.3 fancy points on average to quarterbacks. This year, they've lowered that to nine and a half. Well. And Anthony Richardson's averaging about nine and a half. Let me tell you, so we're doing the parley parquet later on. And I was super close again to switching from my running back receptions to Anthony Richardson over 0.5 interceptions because that is his current line. And that feels like.

I don't see how. It's at a half. It's at a half. So does he throw one or not? Yeah, he does. I mean, gosh. I don't know how he doesn't. I, like, the only way he doesn't is if he just fumbles too many times to have the opportunity to throw a pick. It's been a bumpy ride for Anthony Richardson. And when you contrast that to the kind of accuracy and performances you're getting from Jaden Daniels right now, I'm sure Colts fans are disappointed. We know that Richardson has tremendous potential, but this week is not the week that we expect to see that potential.

manifest into fantasy points. So to me, Richardson is a... He's outside of my top 12. Yeah, he's a bench unless you... Unless he can't, right? Yeah, I mean, so I have him in our League of Record. He's my main, you know, quarterback. I still view him as my number one quarterback on the roster, but he is a streaming option for me. So I've got Gino... in my lineup this week over Anthony Richardson. So if that shows you kind of where that bar is, he's pretty much a must sit for me this week. If you can't deal with a very good defense like he couldn't last week, then you cannot deal with the Steelers. Do you know how many points they've given up on the year so far? The Steelers? Yeah. Well, you said nine per game. Yeah, they're giving up times.

No, that was for quarterbacks, fantasy points is what I told you. But it's going to be pretty close to that. Like 30 points? Yeah, 26. If I had done the math, I would have got to 27. You should have left me. It just would have been the math based on the wrong things. But yeah, they don't. We are a results over process. That's right. That's right. Results over process, everyone. That's fair. That's fair. Number one in points per game. Number one in yards allowed. Indianapolis is the opposite of this. This is why I think Naji can just run it, run it, run it, take.

Low risk chances with Justin Fields. You know, Jonathan Taylor, his DK rushing line is 73 and a half and I would be taking the under on it. I get it. I mean, one big play, Jonathan Taylor can erase your expectations and you're obviously going to play him, but he's the only Colts that I really want to play. I think that's fair. And then on the other side, Pickens. Sure. Play pickings, play Naji, and then Fields. Would you play Fields of Richardson? I mean, I'd go Fields. I would play Fields. Yeah. I would play Fields. The, uh, a nasty boy question here for you guys. How do you feel? Look, love Naji. No argument. But if Jalen Warren is out, he didn't practice on Wednesday. What? If you're in a deeper format, what are your thoughts on Patterson? No, thanks. Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, it could work if he gets in the end zone. But otherwise, I think it'll just be, you know.

five fantasy points. He was higher than that last week. And when it was there, where Warren did get some snaps, 34% of snaps, nine opportunities, a 16% target share. I think, I think Patterson, if you're like a 14 teamer is, if Warren doesn't play, he's okay. The Broncos are one and two. They take on the two and one New York Jets, the Draft King Sportsbook line. Jets minus seven and a half at home. The over under is just 39 and a half, which is. This gives the Broncos an implied point total the lowest we've seen so far through four weeks. I think there's been a handful of teams right at 16. That's what they have on the road in New York. The Jets have an implied point total at 24. This is the, you know, this is the matchup where Bonix is going to be really, really put in a box. Yeah. Guys, Jifante Williams. Did you look at what the line was, Jay? Oh, I haven't seen it. Don't look at it. Oh, I want to guess.

His rushing line? His rushing yardage. Obviously, it's terrible. Starting running back. 29 and a half. You're a little too high. Oh, man. I went low. 24 and a half. 28 and a half. Oh my goodness. Javante. We also got word that Tyler Badee changed his name to Badee before the game. Right, right. Like what you're allowed to do. Splash. Taking a bath. He says he's going through some stuff. He doesn't want to get into it, but his name is Bade now. So that makes it sound like the stuff he's going through is some is Falcon related. Yeah. Yeah. And you got to wash that clean with a bidet. Um, also the name change happened to be good for his career. Dude, Tyler Biday is a great player. Yeah. Tyler Badey. I don't know. Yeah. Tyler Badey flush him out. You're saying because, you know, turning over a new leaf. Now I will say this. So the, when I look at this game, I saw the seven and a half point line earlier this week.

And it's one of those specific matchups where I understand the line because I don't, if you want to beat the Jets, here's how you beat the Jets, and you can beat the Jets easily if you have a good run game and you start strong with a good run game. You just take, you keep the lead and you keep running on them. They don't have a good rush defense. Their past defense is as good, if not the best in the league. They're eighth against running backs right now. Sure. Fantasy. I mean, if you look at the games and how they've played out, that's fine. But I'm just saying like,

personnel-wise and what I expect to be the huge. Denver can't run the ball. I don't know why they're so bad at running the ball. Maybe it's just Giovante. Maybe the bidet comes in and allows them to run. McLaughlin's been worse than Giovante on a per-touch basis. Or just as bad. If you can't get a lead and you can't run the ball, which they're not going to be able to do on the Jets. I don't think they're going to be able to run the ball on the Jets. They also won't be able to throw against them. Well, that's for sure. I mean, Bo Nix is.

going to... Last week was great for him, so I want to give him his flowers, but going on the road here is, if you doubled the line, I might take the Jets. I will say this. Bo Nix should be picked up in fantasy for future weeks. If you don't realize how much he's been rushing, his rushing touchdowns from college, his speed, like, he has not... Nine for 47 last week. He has not been given any credit really on our show. And... from anything I've seen much online or elsewhere as a mobile dual threat quarterback. But he actually is a mobile dual threat quarterback. We saw it in college. It's one of those things where it's like, would that translate or not? Baker kind of was. He ran in college and didn't. Bo Nix is running and he's running well and he's running away from defenders. So.

This isn't the matchup for it, but I do think he has decent fantasy output this year. If you look beneath the shadow of Patrick Sertan, you'll find Garrett Wilson lingering there. This matchup is not a good one. It's going to be tough. If you look historically, the last three weeks, Mike Evans, George Pickens, D.K. Metcalf, the yardage numbers against Patrick Sertan were low. Yeah, the couple plays that Wilson doesn't have Sartan on him. Hopefully that's when Rogers finds him. Yeah, and it's been, you know, Rogers has been willing the last few weeks to go away from Wilson based on coverage. So Lazard, dart throw. He's scoring a touchdown. I actually think he'll probably be okay in this game. And then Tyler Conklin, that's why I like him is because of the Certan treatment on Garrett Wilson. Do you guys think, like I'm trying to think about this Denver Broncos situation because Giovante is, it's toast. Joliel McLaughlin is not working. Are you?

Would you do a preliminary ad of Adrick Estimate? Not yet. No, because I don't think that this backfield is never going to be one person. This backfields, they're not going to say like we're just done with you to Giovante this season. So I don't think any one player can accumulate enough stats. I think it's going to be three to four guys. So when Estimate comes back, it's even worse for everybody. I just think it's worse. I just don't think you're ever going to, we're going to be where we were last year where you just. couldn't predictably start any player and the back. I mean, we're just re-rolling. It's the inverse of historical Sean Payton where you could start multiple backfield guys in a successful offense. Now you got a rookie quarterback and a struggling run game and too many options. Like, did you know Taylor Badee or Tyler Badee was going to get opportunity last week? Because I didn't. The answer wasn't to give it to McLaughlin a bunch of times. So I mean. We didn't even know who Badee was. It was true. They had a guy Badee that I knew. Right. I knew. I knew that guy.

Going back to Cordero Patterson as like if you're in a deep league and you need a backup, I feel like in this game I'd rather play Braylin Allen. I don't think he's someone that I'm trying to put into lineups, but you could see this game getting out of control and Braylon Allen having the entire fourth quarter to himself and cleaning up. And obviously he's talented. He has been worked in with Brees Hall starting in the first quarter. So he'll get some work in this game. And obviously Briece is going to crush. All right. Let's take a break and get back into some more matchups. Would you take

Bejan or Breece? Rest of season. Breeze. The Philadelphia Eagles 2-1 taking on the 2-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their disappointing performance last week. The Drafking Sportsbook line here, Philly on the road minus 2. The overrunters 44 points. Tampa, if you remember, spanked the Eagles in the NFC wildcard game last year. 32 to 9. Baker threw for 3, 37, and 3. And Hertz didn't run the football much. This year, What are we expecting in this game? I mean, we got the word on, I mentioned it earlier, Bucky Irving missed practice. We've got an update that Bucky Irving won't talk about the hamstring injury, but he says he thinks he'll be ready for Sunday, so we don't know what's going on. He says he feels pretty great. T. Higgins pretty great or like a normal person ready? Either way, I'm probably avoiding Bucky. Well, the, you know, the Eagles are top half against running backs, fancy points given up. They were top six last year.

So a split backfield with Rashad White and Buck Irving doesn't seem like a great place to target. Now, White in the passing game could obviously provide the, if you listen to Todd Bowles, the two press conferences he's given since that game, he's been pretty definitive about the fact that one, Buck year rings earn more snaps, but two, Buck year ring cannot win the job. I mean, that's kind of his language is that it's like it's going to be both those guys. You know, they need them both. and this is not about Bucky Irving winning the running back position. So Rashad White in this game is rushing lines only 36 and a half, but the passing game work, where are you fantasy wise with what Rashad White is to your lineup? Is he still an auto start to you? Because that's what he was drafted to be. I think he is near that. He's just, you know, an auto start doesn't mean that you are a running back one. I view him as an RB2, maybe even an RB3, but that is in most leagues going to be started.

regardless of the matchup. When you add in Bucky Irving's hamstring issue or non-issue, I think Rashad White is fine because of his work in the passing game. Mike Evans, it looks good for him in this game. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, I think, assuming they're out there, they were both limited on Wednesday. I think they're both fine. If they're both out there, you're playing both of them, right? With confidence. And then on the other side of the football, what do you, where does Jalen Hurst throw it? Like I, You know, I'm probably not going to hit the almost upset button on this game, but I could definitely see the Eagles offense struggling to move the football because of the fact that they may not have their top two wide receivers. And the numbers that Jalen Hertz puts up without those guys, they're not good. I talked about Dallas Goddard yesterday. Now, the the tight-in position so far through three games, if you adjust for the schedule, Tampa Bay is better against Titans this season than they were last season when they were historically bad. So maybe they have.

fix that, but it's still pretty early. They're going to need Dallas Goddard in this game. I don't know, you know, like, I'm not confident in Dallas Goddard. You're certainly going to start him. I mean, he's got the matchup and the opportunity. He's coming off of a great performance where you pretty much have to, the process says to start him, but he has disappointed people many, many times in the past. Well, Hertz, Barkley, and Goddard seemed like the three stars. Are you playing? Obviously, you're playing Devante Smith or AJ Brown if they were back. Yes, if they're active. But we're not expecting them back? We're not expecting them back. Later in the week, we'll have more information. You know, I would think Devante Smith has a chance because concussions are just out of the players control, out of our control. You can just be cleared and then you're ready to go. You're not recovering and you're just, you are good. So either one, if they're active, you're going to start. And also if you...

Breaking news. Huh? I just thought you guys would want to know. Did you trade for Jalen Wattle? No, no. I thought you might want to know that the Lions have activated a wide receiver to the team's starting roster. Fireball? No. Alan Robinson. Oh my gosh. Alan Robinson has been activated. to the active roster for the Detroit Lions. Hey. Still playing football. I didn't know he was on the Lions until just now. This is great. What are they doing? Oh, I know what they're doing. They're getting ready to run the ball. I mean, Alan Robinson played so many snaps last year for the Steelers. You have no, you can't even believe how often he was out there because he was, he was an offensive lineman out wide. He's just there to block other wide receivers.