Starts of the Week + Week 4 Breakdown, Steel Underpants - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/29

Huge show today, super important. We got starts of the week. We've got tons of the matchups for week four. And of course, never not working on the podcast today. You don't want to miss a minute. Make sure you click that subscribe button. That's right. There it is. It's right there. Click it. No, click it because you want to listen to Mike on Sunday live as he helps you each and every week with your last minute discussions. Make sure you click the bell. So we can tell you when he's going live. Enjoy the show. The Fantasy Footballer Studio is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Visit Samsung.com to learn more. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. And it's football time. Hey! Yes, it is, Mike. We missed that last week. I mean, I said it last week. It just was...

You were just at home. Yeah, I was at home. My throat was closed. Right. I believe I called it a ring of fire. It would be. It was bad. It's funny to, oh, was it? My throat, yeah. You weren't doing great? No, no, no, no. Had the cold go through the house. Yes. You blame your kids? Of course I do. Okay. It was definitely them. I mean, one of them was patient zero. Yeah, it wasn't any of us. I mean, we were all fine. Yeah. It is a funny thought in my head that no matter where you are. When the intro on Thursday hits, your body just, it's compulsory. It just screams. It's football time. You might have been like middle of a cereal bite. It's football top. Yeah, you should not. Don't do it with food in your mouth. No, but I mean. Risk of choking is. That's right. Jason's not with us today. A little under the weather. So Mike and I, we have it on lockdown.

Thursday, September 29th, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. I mean, that's what he wants us to believe. And we probably have this in the news. But whatever, we'll just get to it right now. The Chargers wide receiver Jason Moore was called up to the active roster. Oh, is that a fact? Yes. Oh, with Jalen Guyton going down? Yes. So Jason Moore has been called up to the active roster. I have nods from the Borgogan. Yes, it is 100% true. So that's not a coincidence. We've never seen them in the same room together. I haven't. And, I mean, imagine. The resemblance is uncanny. Imagine him being called up to the active roster and then our Jason Moore had to miss a show. Wow. I mean. Yeah, okay. I think we know what's going on. So pick him up.

In fantasy leagues? Oh, no. I've seen him play football. All right. Hey, we have a lot on today's show, never not working. A ton of matchups, news starts of the week on today's show. So we'll share Jason's starts with you. I'm sure Michael make sure hit one of his is Tayson Hill today. The worst part is that if you're in a deep league this week with what's going on with James, it might not be the worst Hail Mary. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Like if, because Dayson's tight end, right? He's tight end eligible. Yeah, but he could take some snaps. He might take quarterback again. So we got a lot going on. Nothing that compares to what's going on in Florida right now. Yeah. So thoughts and prayers with those in Florida dealing with the ramifications of Hurricane Ian. If you go to red cross.org, it takes you directly to a place you can contribute towards.

relief for everyone that is under not just Floridians but everybody that is dealing with the aftermath and i know that's been downgraded to a tropical storm yes now but dude the the footage everyone saw it on twitter was wild of of the sharks on the freeway streets filling up what the world is going on man so um hope everybody out there is staying safe and uh Like I said, our thoughts are with you as you work towards recovery now. You can follow this podcast, Twitter, at the FFBallers, Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers, the community. Join thefoot.com. You get a bonus weekly show. You've got 30,000-plus Foot Clan supporters who are just the best people to spend your fantasy football season with. I mean, they're chopping it up on the Discord. I know.

I know, it's great. So much chopping. There's so much going on. The Discord is really going wild. It's really chopping. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Yes, this is good. I don't know. Yeah, he's on Discord as well. We're moving on. We good? Yeah, man, there's a lot to cover. Never not working. Presented by Head and Shoulders, Scamp Shield Technology, available at Walmart. All right, today we're going to be talking about running back scoring. You know, like it's not meeting the expectation. And we've all waited for things like a long time and they end up being a disappointment. We have some examples here. You know, the PlayStation 5 shortage, which I think is still going on. It absolutely is. What are we doing? It's not just the PlayStation, by the way. I went to buy my brother an Xbox. Right. Same story. We don't want to sell a lot of them. We want to sell just a few.

Gotta keep the hype up. I guess. Russell Wilson and Denver, we waited. I mean, it's not going so great. And this one, I did not put it in here, but the Kenobi Disney Plus show. What's that all about, fellas? It was hyped up, not as good as we wanted. You didn't, I liked it. So this is, you guys are telling a tale of anticipation, not meeting reality. I enjoyed it. Correct. Okay. I liked me some Kenobi. But anyway, so here's the thing. Mighty Ducks three. Definitely wasn't as good as the first two. Just making sure. He's got the Mighty Ducks cap on today. So, look, we are all feeling the pain. You know, Jonathan Taylor, the Consensus 101, Christian McCaffrey, the number two, and both of these guys. So McCaffrey right now is the running back 12. Jonathan Taylor is the running back 10. Echler, Dalvin, Mixon. We're only three games in here, but, you know.

Things are feeling pretty rough. And so we wanted to try and give some context of let's look at what is going on. You know, the top 12 running backs, they've scored the fewest combined points of the last seven years and the third lowest since 1999. So scoring at the position everywhere. It's just it's just down. It's not your team. It's not your fault. It's everybody's team. So for an example, our league of record, you know, It's been running forever. We got savvy people in there. We went and looked at all the RB1 starts through three weeks. 64% of those running back one starts have failed to meet running back one expectations. We're just, we're not hitting it. Again, everybody is feeling the pain. We're trying to figure out what's going on. Well, the committee approach through the three weeks, we have only 17 instances of a running back scene 20 plus carries.

That's the second lowest mark of the last 20 years. Look, the zone. Lower volume. Yeah, the volume has gone down. Zone defense is being run at a high rate more than 70% of the time. So teams are abandoning the man coverage. It leaves fewer one-on-one opportunities for running backs in the run and the passing game. The overall variance. So. I've noticed, sorry, let me just jump in real quick. I've just noticed the explosive plays diminished, and it makes sense with his own defense situation. You look at Jonathan Taylor, I think he's fourth in rushing yards in the league, but they're not around the goal line, so he's not scoring, and then there haven't been the explosive breakaway plays. McCaffrey hasn't had a lot of those. Derek Henry is known for them. So some of that, you know, it's one play. Right.

But if the defense is changing the way that they're approaching the run game, that would have an impact. And so what can we do about this? It's you go. You try to capitalize. Look at Joe Mixen. He ranks number one in expected fantasy points right now among running backs. But if you have seen the questions coming into us, if you tuned into our Spotify live yesterday, people are like, what do I do with Joe Mixing? If you have Joe Mixon, you just hold on to him. If you don't have him, you try and you go trade for him. ranks number four in expected points, and yet he is the running back 21, James Connor, eighth and expected points, currently the RB25. So my advice for these underproducing running backs is try and go get them. Oh, like, uh, like Jonathan Taylor? Like Jonathan Taylor. As Andy just went in our league of records, somehow pulled off a trade for Jonathan Taylor. I'm not sure what the other manager was like the, Giovante was included in the trade and some picks.

So look, the time is now. Just imagine that. Imagine me sitting last year like at this time and you're like, I'm going to try and get Jonathan Taylor. The answer to that is a door smashed in your face. Right. So you expect big time players to bounce back. Again, all running back scoring is down. So why not try and get the top tier players who are more likely to bounce back? No, it's a good point. And if you can do it by packaging other assets with running backs that have had some burst weeks, that's a good strategy. You know, there are a number of backs that we expected more from. And over the course of a season, if they're being given opportunities, you're going to see, you're going to see it come back to the average. Right. And that's how you keep working. Always be working out there on the trade market.

Get up to 100% dandruff protection that is never not working with head and shoulders scalp shield technology available at walmart.com. Use it every time you shampoo and see the difference. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Always working. Unless you're Jace. I think he's working right now. Okay. Yeah? Yeah, he's on the practice field. All right. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Learning his routes. I forgot the gag we were going with. Like, what? Some Thursday night football updates for you, Tua, expected to play. Jalen Wado, good to go. I guess he was dealing with a groin injury. Did he show up on groin index.com? I mean, if it was an officially listed groin injury, he did. I mean, that means a lot to me. If they don't make it on there, that groin is doing just fine. The Norland Saints, James Winston.

Did not practice again. Michael Thomas did not practice. Okay. Jarvis Landry was back out there on the practice field. Tasem Hill was practicing. Did the wide receiver one practice? Chris Olavet? Yeah. Yeah, you bet you. All right. Do we have anything new on this situation with Winston, Kyle? Not right now. Keep your eyes on it. Because I'm sure Dennis Allen will be talking to the media over the next couple of hours to maybe. reinforce the fact that Winston will be starting or maybe throw some cold water on our expectations. I say, how are you feeling, you're playing O'Lava, how are you feeling about the potential that it's Andy Dalton mixed match, maybe Taysom Hill? Not as good. Okay. No, I mean, Dalton is better than a lot of, like if. Like better than Tassam Hill.

Yeah, and better than Ian Book and better than Kellyn Monde and better than, you know, nobody's better than Cooper Rush. But Andy Dalton is a capable backup and he took the first team reps. So it could be Dalton this week. But no Michael Thomas gives you more of a target guarantee with Chris Oliva. And it actually would put, well, I guess if Dalton's starting, I probably don't go to Jarvis Landry. But yeah. Jonathan Taylor was a do not practice on Wednesday. He has, according to reports, never missed a practice in high school or college or with the Colts. One beat rider was... It's quite the quote. I mean, he basically said there's a better chance that he kicks a puppy than misses the football game. I mean, I don't know why we need to go there. To bring the puppies in there? Yeah, I didn't... I think he's saying it's unlikely. Yeah, well...

We hope he's saying that. Right, right. Goodness. So we expect Taylor to be okay. No practice report yet today. And none right now. Okay. It was a toe that was sore after the Kansas City game is what we're hearing. This one is more concerning. Christian McCaffrey quad injury. We're every week now? Well, you made it clear that they shouldn't be reporting. Yes. McCaffrey injuries unless it meant something. I agree. Does this mean something? I don't know because they keep reporting bull crap out of Carolina. And so is this serious? I don't know. There was one beat reporter that said it seemed more serious than the previous week's fake serious things. I saw that as well. I also saw some speculation that it popped up during the game. And it's probably not a big deal. So we just, we need, we need Thursday and Friday here. Agreed. Agreed. So it makes you nervous.

Very. Because it's Christian McCaffrey. Zach Wilson will start for the Jets. Really quickly, Mike, does that change your approach to any of their receivers? Seems like Gary Wilson is the only start right now. Yeah, I mean, it freaks me out a little bit because you aren't 100% sure that Garrett will see the same amount of targets that he saw on those first few weeks with Joe Flacco. I mean, I'm playing the talent, Garrett. Elijah Moore, I'm not cutting him, but. Putting him on the bench is probably the right move right now. Julio Jones, Chris Godwin, both limited and practice. Mike Evans back from the suspension. It's possible Julio gets back out there this week, Godwin as well. Dak Press got the most realistic return date, according to Ian Rappaport, is week six. Oh, come on. You can look at that. That's a week later than he was speculating. Keenan Allen expected to play this week, but not given the green light yet. Yeah, yesterday he was still doing individual work.

And what else do we have? Ron Dale Moore practiced again on Thursday. Cardinals could get Ron Dale Moore back. Hey, all right. Is he a speculative ad at all? Sure. I mean, look, the Dorch is soaking up targets and the Dorch is playing the Rondale Moore position for the Arizona Cardinals. You think the Dorch will be removed from action? I probably. Yeah. It was a good run for the Dorch. I mean, the Dorch has earned his place on the team, but his upside for the team is not what Rondale Moore's is. Yeah, they go to Carolina this week. Carolina, I think, always beats the Cardinals. So we'll see if that train continues. Dalton Schultz will practice on Thursday. All right. Any other news, Mr. I did see some chaos about Mack Jones.

Yes. Mac Jones not ruling himself out yet. No, other, he didn't want us to know that other guys would be ruled out by now. They would have definitely ruled themselves out. Yes. Days ago. Yes, but he is not ruled out. Don't count him out. Still no surgery. That's right. Still may be playing. Still could be playing. He's not going to play, but maybe. Right. Maybe this time. Yeah. I mean, if Mac Jones does play, he's. Tough son of gun. Because we're over here. Trashing the reports. Well, he's also going to say that. They said it was a high ankle sprain, right? People spent, yeah, a bad one. And people spent up on a pretty expensive defense. So, you know, with the Packers. The Packers, sure. So him coming back would hurt that a little bit. Would it? Would it make Devante Parker interesting? No. Probably not. Okay.

Either you're playing, the Packers are playing a backup quarterback or they're playing a guy who has a reported high ankle sprain that if you've never had a high ankle sprain, ladies and gentlemen, it's very difficult to walk, let alone play a football game. I know he'd be real taped up, but that's still incredibly difficult. Okay. All right. I'm not buying it. Not buying it. But he, you know. Other people would buy it. Yeah, maybe. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Into the forecast we go. Fantasy forecast. We got a lot of games, Mike. That's all right. Ready to get down to business. We got it. We got it. The Minnesota Vikings at 2 and 1 travel, or actually they don't travel to New Orleans. They travel to London. Well, they both travel. They both travel across the pond. New Orleans is 1 and 2.

The Draft King Sportsbook line here, Minnesota minus two and a half on the road, over under 43. So New Orleans' offense has been really disappointing. Yes. And you've had issues with, let's start at the top here because Alvin Camara has not been Super Camario. No, he is not. People are worried. We just talked about running backs returning to form. Among running backs with 10 plus carries, he has graded 59 out of 59. Oh, goodness. So this has not simply been a lack of carries. This has been the Austin Echler issue that we discussed at great length. He's also been injured. He has. He's been banged up. I'm playing him. Okay. You're playing out. You're expected to get better. Oh, well, it's you. He is a starting running back that gets a lot of work and his matchup is great. The Minnesota Vikings currently 28th best against fantasy running backs.

Yeah, giving up almost 25 fantasy points a game. Yep. Staying on that side of the ball, we just discussed it. Michael Thomas hasn't practiced for two days. If he's back, he's not a guarantee to be healthy. Landry coming back to practice also got banged up. So Crystal Lave right now, he leads the National Football League in Air Yards. He's an awesome player. He was my favorite rookie to watch on film. at Ohio State, along with Garrett Wilson. But Oliva is just crisp. And he just, you watch these games where James Winston is chucking at 38 times. Alave just finds himself open down the field. And he's part of the future of the great wide receivers in the NFL. Michael Thomas or Brandon Ayuk against the Rams? I would, I would probably go Iuke. Okay. Michael Thomas or Adam Thielen in this same matchup.

I'll probably go feel it. I think I'm just staying away from Michael Thomas. That's what that says to me. I would say that like, I know we've talked a lot about the rookie wide receivers. Would you be actively pursuing Olave because you believe in a trade he'd be considered a lower tier than what he might be the rest of the season or not really? I would love to get Chris Olave on my team. It's difficult because this is where the emotional part of fantasy football comes and the human aspect. When you draft especially a rookie and they are great for your team right away, you love that player. Like my... Your Drake London life. My love for Drake London is currently off the charts because me and Kyle drafted him and it was a hit. And he looks like a fantastic top 24 wide receiver for the rest of the season. So getting him off of our team, it's almost impossible.

because of the irrational love. Who did you want to take there? Who did you want us? We wanted Olave. Oh, man. Gee whiz. It would be the same exact thing. If Olavee were on my team and he's getting those targets, I'd say screw y'all. Crystal Lave is the best player of all time. And I called it. He's on my team. No, that's true. It is. So you're saying going and getting him is probably very difficult when they're riding high. Yes. And the potential of a rookie, you know, you've got three years in the NFL. And as far as Mike and I are concerned, whatever rookie we have,

appears to be the next Justin Jefferson. Exactly. I mean, so if you can, look, not everyone's going to be as ridiculous as me and Andy. So if you can go get a lobby, I would recommend doing that. It doesn't help that we're in a keeper league. Right. Kirk Cousins on the other side, he's averaging 6.4 yards per attempt, the lowest of his career through three games. The Saints defense has been wonderful. I mean, they're only giving up 13.3 fantasy points a game to the quarterback position so far, which is better than even last year. on a point per game basis where they were the number six overall against quarterback. So it's hard here in London to go and, you know, endorse Kirk Cousins against the Saints. Yeah, I would try and get out if I could. Some common questions we are getting is like Jared Gough against Seattle. Yeah, I'm playing golf even without Amonra. Over Cousins. I lean that way as well. Mariotta versus Cleveland. He's my stream of the week. I lean that Marioita is a safer play this week.

The hard part here for Kirk Cousins is Justin Jefferson, superstar wide receiver. Justin Jefferson is going to see a lot of Marshall and Lattimore in this game, which is trouble for all wide receivers. This is not, you don't bench Justin Jefferson because they'll move them around. If they can get him into the slot and exploit one particular play, then Jefferson's good to go. But I'm saying this could be another week where Jefferson struggles. Which makes Thielen interesting. He scored last week. Going back to Cousins, Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins, I'm going Russ against Las Vegas. I would play Russ. Dalvin Cook, what do we expect from Dalvin Cook? He didn't practice yesterday. I don't know if we have a report for today. None for today yet. They're fitting the device. How long does that process take to get fitted for it? Weeks. He doesn't have the device from last year? Because that's the one I'd use, the one where he went crazy on Pittsburgh. It's a one off. Oh, really? It's very expensive. 3D printed?

It, like, it wears down throughout the game. Yeah, all right. Tony Stark is not always available to build a new. But, I mean, you've printed stuff on the 3D print. You're like it's, it does take a while. The filamentic. Yeah. It's a one-time use. Infill, yeah. If Dalvin Cook is playing, you kind of play Dalvin Cook. If he's not, Madison has always been a strong start. Matchup sucks, but the volume will be there. Yeah, I was going to say, I'd be. Jamal Williams over Madison if I had that choice. Yeah, I can see that. Because of the matchup where last year, Saints number one against opposing running backs this year, they're in the top 10 again. Jefferson, you start him Thielen, a spot start. Yep. I'd start him over Elijah Moore. I'd start him over the Dorch. Yep. When I look at Romeo Dobbs versus Thielen, it gets a little tighter. I probably go, I probably go with Dobbs assuming Christian Watson's out again. Yes. Okay, J. Osborne had the touchdown last week.

I mean, he also, I mean, he had some targets. He's, I just don't want third target here. It's, well, it's, it's about Jefferson. Like, do you think that Jefferson is more contained than usual? Probably, probably not. Probably not. You would, I know, I know. He was certainly contained last week. I agree. I agree. It's hard to keep a good Jefferson down. I agree. Cleveland Brown's at two and one, taking on the Atlanta Falcons at one and two, the draft king, the draft king sports book line here, Cleveland minus one and a half. The overrunner is 47. This is one of those games where if you are counting on passing game targets, you might be disappointed. These are established the run football teams. Both teams rank bottom four and pass rate over expectation. If you were excited about the first half of Kyle Pitts, you got the running game in the second half. It was Cordell Patterson, who has two RB4 finishes now in three weeks.

It's amazing. It is. And Nick Chubb and Cream Hunt are the motor of the Cleveland offense. So the over under being 47 and a half, that's more respective of the defense is kind of not being very good. Kyle's saying it moved down. It was at 50. Okay. So it's being, the money is moving it down. Yeah, it's a tough thing because I think the game will go by quickly with the running game. But then you have a Falcons defense that's been atrocious. And you have a Brown's defense that could be without, I think they will be without Miles Garrett this week. Yes, more than likely. And already was struggling. I mean, they're giving up 34 points opposing fantasy wide receivers a game. So it's not been good on the defensive side of the ball and this game's on the road for them. So this matchup is now, like looking at it now with the fresh eyes, this is a meter match, man. It feels that way, right? Like they.

Both have a good running game because Patterson's got the old man strength rolling. You have a true wide receiver one, Drake London, with a 33% target share. Meanwhile, Amari Cooper has bounced back from the week one turd of a game, and he is now seeing 36% of the targets the past few weeks. He's finished in the top 10 in each of the last two weeks. He's getting true number one usage, and then you have... You have the tight end of Kyle Pitts versus David and Joku. I don't know. This is a fun matchup. The question is how confident are you in Cordarral Patterson at this point? He doesn't, he's not catching. Okay, so Jamal Williams. Who? Because I'd go Patterson. I'd stay with Patterson on this one. I don't know how much work Craig Reynolds is going to get. And I just don't want to be surprised. I know Patterson's going to get it all. I mean, he'll get most of me. Most. You know what I mean.

Algiers not involved a lot. You have the two RB-4s, but you have an RB-51 sandwiched right there in the middle. Yeah. That's devastation. That's true. It could be riskier. Are you going Jamal then? I think Jamal will get more targets. The strangest thing again about Patterson's usage is the lack of targets. One of the players on the waiver show that got some fab spent on picking him up this week was David Njoku tied in for the Browns. The matchup, it's juicy. Falcons giving up 17 points a game to opposing tight ends right now. That's second worst in the league. I wanted him to be my start of the week, but I couldn't do it. Really? Yes. Couldn't do it because you like another player more? No, because someone else had already made that selection. Gotcha. So yes, I'm chasing the points. Yes. In Joku over Conklin? Yeah, because of the Garrett Wilson. And over the mute? Yeah, over the mute as well. And Zach Wilson is what I meant. Yeah.