Starts of the Week + Week 2 Breakdown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/14

Better days are coming for James Cook. 12 carries, six targets. That's juicy stuff. Six targets is awesome. The fact that it turned into 17 yards, that's the Jets. And so I love the utilization and the fact that they're playing against the Raiders. James Cook's, James Cook to me is absolutely in every lineup that if I've got him on my roster, he's starting. Don't love the fact that the, I think we brought it up that. at the end of the game in the two minute drill, it was Latavius Murray. I think that could, I think it's possible that that could be a Jets thing as well, just for the past blocking against a great, you know, pass rush. And, you know, you got Max Crosby here for the Raiders, but I don't think most people look at the Raiders as this excellent pass rush. Okay. Let's talk about Josh Jacobs. He saw everything. I mean, I think Zemir White had three touches in the game.

You play Jacobs. Yes, you do. And by the way, the Jimmy G was an ankle. Yes. So he should be okay. Stefan Diggs was 10 for 1 or 2 in a touchdown. He's pretty good. Gabe the Babe. I am not. I'm not in on Gabe the Babe. I went to investigate making him my start of the week because you've got a lot of things in his favor here, 27 and a half point over or implied team total for the bills. You've got a beatable secondary here for the Raiders. And I went back and I looked at all of his game logs. I looked at the home road splits. I looked at the good defenses versus bad defenses, trying to figure out where he pops. And there's no rhyme or reason to anything he does. It's a dirty pop. So here's what Gabe Davis is. He is a stick of dynamite.

that if you need, if you're going up against someone, you could put him in on any matchup, any week. Don't even care. Don't even care what it is. It's just a matter of he is injecting volatility into your lineup. He can go and have 102. He can also stink. That's what he's going to be week in and week out. So this isn't about the Raiders. This is about your personal fantasy football roster. Do you need a big upside play? Play Gabe Davis. Do you need safety? Don't play Gabe Davis. Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox. They were similarly targeted in the first week. We'll talk about Dalton Kincaid later. Oh, baby. Let's look at the other side. Devante Adams had a rest day. Jacoby Myers, the concussion. It wasn't a great week for Devante Adams, but he's Devante Adams. So you're going to be playing him. Still had nine targets. Didn't score.

Hunter Renfro could end up being the step in for Jacoby Myers. I'm not really excited about that possibility against Buffalo. Are we done talking about this matchup? Is there somebody else you want to discuss? Just the question is, if Jacoby clears concussion protocol, which I would put that at a very, very low percentage. Do you play him? Yeah, I would play him in a PPR league, but I think that's 10%. I do think with him out of the way. Devante Adams has a get-right game. One of the things that was a little concerning to me is I didn't love the targets that went Josh Jacobs way in the first matchup with Jimmy G. I'd like to see a little bit more because that was what gave him some superpowers last year. He had three targets, two catches. So I'm watching that. I want to see what the tendencies are. The other thing is without Darren Waller in this offense, it's not a tight-in centric offense like it was.

You know, you had 76% of the targets go to wide receivers in Las Vegas. That wasn't normal. That was number three in the NFL this last week. Austin Hooper is just Austin Hooper. Michael Mayer didn't get a target. So it is worth watching how the Jacobs targets break down and whether, you know, if they keep doing that with the wide receivers, then Jacob Myers is going to be viable all year. Sure. Baltimore's 1-0, they take on the O&1 Cincinnati Bengals. The Draft King Sportsbook line has Cincinnati's three and a half point home favorites. The overrunners 46.5. Let me just be honest. I've had a hard time evaluating this game because historically speaking, these are very exciting games and matchups and good for fantasy. But I also have my preconceived notions of this Baltimore defense. We only got to see them against Houston, so we didn't see them on display. The Bengals look so terrible.

So it's one of those things where it's like, do you just imbue, bounce back across the board for Cincinnati? Like Burrow, Chase, Higgins, Mixing, is this going to be good against this Baltimore defense? Or is just going to be a dog fight in the AFC North? It's, I don't know that it matters. Like this is, I'm putting everybody back in. I'm not scared off of Joe Burrow unless it, do we have, what's the rain? Slight chance of rain. Little tiny hands. Yeah. So, but no, I'm still playing everybody. I'm still playing T. Higgins despite, look, T. Higgins just, this is what happens. He, he, he, he emotionally harms you occasionally throughout the season.

Yeah, I mean, T. Higgins should be in your lineup. We'll talk about him in a little bit. There's no reason to really go away from him. You do have a divisional matchup where sometimes, you know, we've seen over the last couple of years a 17 to 19, a 16 to 27, 17 to 24, lower scoring games. But we also saw, you know, 41 to 21, 41 to 17. These two teams are both really good. And there's enough important players, I believe you, everyone who has a bangle. really wants Mark Andrews to be active for this game. What we saw from the Baltimore Ravens offense in week one was probably the most disappointing thing I saw in week one because they went up against the Texans. And even though they covered their spread, which was the largest of the week and won, they did not look good doing it. It was a full...

game-long struggle to slowly score and they looked like they really were missing their number one target. So hopefully Mark Andrews is back. And if that offense can go, then you're going to play pretty much all of your pieces you drafted in these games. What about the running back situation in Baltimore, though, where you have to make Philadelphia-like decisions? Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, how are those touches going to break down? And how does that factor in when you look at? Todd Monkin's new offense. Yeah, I think it'll be 60-40 Justice Hill as far as the split goes because touches? Touches. Not snaps? Well, I guess no. I do think snaps. I think touches might be a little closer together, but the receptions will certainly be in the favor of Justice Hill. And so that's where fantasy wise, I want to lean on that side. We also saw Justice Hill used.

at the goal line, which you would think, oh, we get down to the goal line and they're going to bring in the big bruising back and Gus Edwards. But I think that, you know, the Todd Monk in offense is spread out. They'll throw it to the running back, get a receiving touchdown near the goal line as well. So I lean on the Justice Hill side. Not a great matchup against the Bengals. This isn't a smash like you have to start Justice Hill or Gus Edwards. I see them both as like flex options you could throw in. Obviously, we were super impressed with Zay Flowers in week one, but it would be kind of silly not to consider what Jason said about the absence of Mark Andrews in this offense. So our expectations still extremely high for Zay Flowers in this matchup? They are because it wasn't just like it wasn't just good production. It was he was their guy. I mean, he was the go-to piece of the offense despite spending all of that money.

on Odo Beckham and having a first round wide receiver and Rashad Bateman. It was the Zayflower show. We have a tweet from Football Insights saying Zayflower's 60% design target rate on 10 targets yesterday. And that would be like among all weeks since 2022. That's kind of like the highest or tied with the highest of the just featuring one player. And it wasn't simply they're featuring him. It was this kid is. nasty like he is going to do some really special things and of course when mark andrews comes in zay flower's target share will go down but i think that it's counterbalance that the offense will just beat better you'll have more scoring opportunities for zay he he's already in there for me as a wide receiver two that i'm playing every week the seahawks in their own one record traveled to detroit to take on the lions who had the big thursday night win over the chiefs the draft king sports book line here detroit minus five and a half

at home. It's delightful to say those lines, but it's unfamiliar. The over under is 47 and a half. Last week they played in week four, I believe, 93 combined points. Seattle's going to need to protect Gino Smith from Aidan Hutchinson if that's going to happen again. I don't know if they can't. And I don't know if they can do it because they might not have two of their offensive linemen. They signed 41-year-old Jason Peters, who's probably not available in this game. I do wonder if we're at risk of a bit of a blowout and then a running heavy second half for Detroit. You know, Jared Goff? Yes. You know, Mike is in on Jared Goff. He was the stream of the week. We'll talk about him later. I love both running backs in Detroit this week. I'm on Raw. He's going to be in your lineup.

And I think you can take the shot on Sam Laporta since he's out there every single snap. But I start up all of my Detroit Lions without hesitation. Without any hesitation. Amon Rae St. Brown could be the number one wide receiver this week. He lines up perfectly in this matchup the way that they're going to utilize him. I mean, we saw Puka last week just completely dominate the Seahawks. And Amin Ra is as good as it gets. Yeah, I mean, there's no Detroit line I'm not starting. I'm not excited to play Sam Leporta. I would play Kyle Pitts over him just because there's a lot of different ways this game could go for the lines. But it's a name you need to keep monitoring because he was so involved. Obviously five targets in your first game of NFL action is really good for the tight end position. Now the Seahawks. Yeah, there's a lot of worries on that side. You have.

talented players. I mean, Metcalf got into the end zone. Kenneth Walker dominated all the snaps in week one. That was a storyline we were following, and Zach Charbonnet only had 24% of snaps and three opportunities. Yeah, that's the big takeaway from week one was despite the groin injury that kept Walker out most of the preseason and some of this last week. As soon as the game started, you knew what was going on. And this is a situation where I am more hesitant to believe that, well, Charbonnet will just keep getting more and more because he's good. We've seen it before with Pete Carroll when he's got his guy that he loves. And they talked about this on draft day. Like they said, they talked to Kenneth Walker before drafting Charbonnet. They had a conversation and he was on board with the plan. And I think the plan is, he's your backup. All the beat reporters I talked to in Seattle, I didn't want to believe it through the draft season, but they all told me, draft Kenneth Walker.

It's Kenneth Walker's team. He's going to be the guy. And we saw that week one at the very least. So let's turn that into a fantasy conundrum then because players, every week we're going to have the waiver show. You're going to have players who want to go out and grab. Are you willing to let go of Zach Charbonnet? Yeah. If you're not the Kenneth Walker manager. So Zach Charbonnet needs to be seen to me as an insurance option. And he's one of the best. I think if Kenneth Walker goes down, I mean, the hullabaloo to get Zach Charbonnet would be incredible. But.

He's not going to do something. I don't believe he's going to really do something to be a weekly starter, a flex option, the way that we hoped he would. Now, we've only got one week and he's a rookie. So maybe I'm overreacting. But I mean, we had DJ Dallas play 22% of snaps. Zach Charbonnet, 24% of snaps. And we've just seen this before from Pete Carroll. So I am skeptical that Charbonnet will be a someone that you could play without an injury ahead of him. Yeah, and which I tend to agree with that, but of course, depending on how big your bench is, like, I'm trying to keep Charbon A on my bench. I'm like over a wide receiver four-ish type of a player where there's just, you're like, oh, I got, I'm going to hold on to this guy because maybe on a buy week I might need this. No, I'll find that wide receiver when I need to find them and just.

the way that the NFL is going right now, I'm going to have Charbonnet on my bench, if possible, because of the upside that that becomes should Walker mistimes. Yeah, I do agree, and I want to make sure it's not. I'm not saying get rid of Charbonnet. You know, get rid of Charbonnet if Rahim Moster was under waivers, and you can get a starter at that same position. What's the concern level for Tyler Lockett? He played 88% of snaps, but he was only 2 for 10. You had Jackson Smith and Jigba who played 59% of snaps, did not have a relevant game three for 13. The concern is the same. Are you playing him this week? Are you going to wait and see? I'd be willing to put him back out there. The concern for Lockett is just if you have concern for the Seattle offense, then that translates to Lockett. If you have some confidence that they're going to figure out the offensive line situation.

then Lockett is back into being great. All right, let's go to a must-win matchup. The Los Angeles Chargers at O'N-1 take on the Tennessee Titans who are O'N-1. Titans are the home team in this one. Drafking Sportsbook line has the Chargers as three-point road favorites. The overrunners 45 and a half. You don't want to start your season at O'N-2 in the AFC. And Tennessee lost 15 to 16 to New Orleans. The Chargers. They did what they do. They lost a close game that they competed in, lots of points on the board, but got caoed by Tyreek and Tua. What are we doing with this matchup? Because I have not seen a quarterback perform more consistently turd-like than Ryan Tannahill played last week. I mean, it was decisions. It was quality of throws.

Time to throw? It was everything. He looked in one week like a player that didn't deserve to play quarterback in this league. And yet they barely lost the football game. They did compete. His performance, I think, really negatively affected the amount of work that Derek Henry had the opportunity to get. The Andre Hopkins future with this team is going to be dependent on Tanna Hills competence. Tennessee is the home team here. They're underdogs. The chargers gave up a ton of yards last week. They look discombobulated as a defense. What are we expecting from the powerhouse Titans players, that is? We are expecting a bounce back game for Derek Henry. I think that this is a really nice matchup for him to be able to succeed and run on the Chargers. The Chargers rush defense is nothing special. And so if he's able to run the ball, I mean, that's the Titans only hope. The Titans hope in this game.

is that Derek Henry controls the clock, has a monstrous game, keeps Justin Herbert off the field. Were you concerned with the utilization by Henry last week? He was 48% of snaps in a game that was close. I read some stuff from the beat reporters in Tennessee, and it's kind of like his utilization was inexplicable. It was not something you expected to see. And I'm just curious, was it management of. Derek Henry's reps. I mean, like, he's normally in a close game. It was very strange. I was trying to do a quick look here, and it looks like since 2019, I can only find two games before this year that he was sub 50% of snaps. So for it to be... 34 pass attempts for Tanahill, too. For it to be week one, a rookie running back, Taj Spears. He's nice. He's a nice player, but he...

more snaps than Derek Henry. It's, it is a, it is a, it is a big red flag of eyes on this matchup. What is the utilization of Derek Henry? I'm still playing him with confidence of like, no, I spent the second runner on Derek Henry. He's King Henry. I think they'll figure it out. But if, and against the charges, he should figure it out. But if you, if we get another thing where he's like 50 to, you know, 50 to 60% of snaps and Tajay Spears is getting all this work on the field, not necessarily touches, but just being on the field, that will be very, very troublesome. Would you rather have Charbonnet, who you talked about earlier on your bench, or would you rather have Tajay Spears stashed away? Oh, that's a really good question. I would rather have Charbonnet. I think I go Spears because they, I mentioned it earlier, but they threw two wheel routes to.

Tajay Spears. He had a bunch of air yards that they didn't connect because Ryan Tanyhill had such a poor game, but the fact that they're even willing to use a running back in that way, like Spears is a guy that in a full desperate situation, you could put into a lineup as a flex play. And then if Derek Henry misses time, Tajay Spears is going to get a whole bunch of targets and a bunch of work. I want to talk about the Chargers offense because through one game, it was everything I saw last year. Mm-hmm. It was an exact replicate of what we, it was not what we hoped. We saw a lot of behind the line of scrimmage targets. Justin Herbert only threw for one touchdown. Keenan Allen looked good, but Mike Williams didn't impress. Quentin Johnson didn't impress. And we, of course, scored on the ground, right? Austin Echler and Joshua Kelly got into the end zone. And it was one of those games where you look at it and you say, this game is like two or three plays from Justin Herbert being the number one quarterback on the week. And they didn't happen, which was what?

It happened a lot last year because Justin Herbert threw for, was it, 4,800 yards? He was a lot. Stupid rushing touchdowns, man. Just tap that pass. Just tap that pass. Make it a pass. So, you know, he was good. I mean, 70% completion, 23 for 33 for 228 yards. He was very good, but this matchup is so much better. This matchup is so much better for Justin Herbert this week because the Titans now for. Is this the draft pick redemption game? Yeah, I think so. You've got the Titans who last season were so bad against quarterbacks, against wide receivers, against tight ends that you could throw on them like crazy, but you really couldn't run on them well. And then in one game that we saw so far this season, we saw that again. You know, they gave up 40 points to the wide receiver position and six points to the running back position. So given...

Echler's injury. I mean, if Echler's out there, you're obviously going to play him and he's a pass catcher. But I do think that the receiving weapons here and the passing game for Justin Herbert are going to be on fire. Where are you at for, let's say Echler goes limited practice Thursday and Friday? He suits up. Where are you with Joshua Kelly? Are you going to put him in there? I would not start Joshua Kelly. If Echler is active against the Titans. in a game where I don't project a bunch of rushing touchdowns. I wouldn't start. What about Joshua Kelly or Zach Moss? I would, I would, well, if Echler is out there, then definitely Joshua Kelly, if it's my lineup. If it's your lineup, Zach Moss makes more sense. We'll have more work, has a better matchup. Oh man, I want him to have a big game. But in my lineup, it's going to happen. That was the scary, that was why I had to get rid of him because I thought,

Oh, no. If Echler doesn't play, I have to play Zach Moss. And usually a fantasy manager would be like, well, I'm glad I have them. Not me. So big week for Mike Williams? I do. I think I want the pieces here for the passing game. So big week for Mike Williams. Derek Carr and the wide receivers for the Saints just carve this secondary up. The Chicago Bears at O-N-1 take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are 1-0. This is another one of those lower over-under games. The Drafking Sportsbook line has Tampa Bay two and a half point home favorites. The over-under is 40 and a half. The Bears have lost 11 in a row, and the Bucks could end up starting the season. 2-0 in the wide open NFC South. Is anybody in this game an auto start? We saw really disappointing performances from Rashad White. Justin Fields is an auto start. I think there's quite a few auto starts, actually.

I don't know how you would sit Evans and Godwin. Those two players had plenty of targets. So they're in. Justin Fields is in. Callow Herbert is probably in. Yeah, I'm still, I'm, like, I don't mind people being excited for the potential of Rocheon Johnson. But, like, Colee Herbert is still the starter for this team. I'm playing DJ more too. Oh, man, really? Yeah, I'm playing DJ more this week. I'm really, really playing him. Yeah, I don't mind that at all. He should, like. This is going to be. G. Moore should be squeaky wheel. Like he should have gone into the wide receiver meeting just. Flip a table. Just tearing the coach as a new one of like, you brought me here to be the one and you give me two targets. He went into the locker room and he started, his eyes started wigging out. And he saw all the bears logos. Start to transform to Panthers logos on the wall. And he's like, where am I? I've done this before. But no, I'm playing. I think the Chicago has a bounce back game here.

You know, the line is too close for me to go almost upset. I think Chicago wins the ball game. I think this is a bounce back adjustment game for Justin Fields. I think they let him run the ball more. I think DJ Moore is more highly targeted. I think they take more downfield chances. And I'm cool with the Bears in this game. Bears fix it. Also, I know I've been anti Rashad White because he's not very good at. football, but this is a really nice matchup. You still have to play Rashad White. When you're getting that level of volume, good things can happen. He's a good play this week. And they can definitely happen against the Bears. I certainly would, you know, if he was in my lineup, he's a flex worthy start. What should the Bears do with Chase Claypool? They should cut him. And I mean that. I mean that completely.

If you haven't seen the video of his snaps and the effort or lack thereof that he showed on the field, like I know you traded a, you traded basically a first round pick for him. The 32nd pick in this year's draft was traded last season for Chase Claypool. But what he did on the field. was an insult to your offense, an insult to your organization. An insult to football? Yeah, I mean, you're all wide receivers. They should 100% cut him to send a message to the rest of the team that like, it doesn't. The only reason he's playing. He doesn't matter enough to like, like he doesn't have clout to do that crap. No, the only reason he's playing is because they traded a two for it. Yeah. So I, yeah, for sure to me, I would cut him at the very least. Like, let's say you want to send a message. You're like,

We don't have a ton of talent. We need to keep him. Then you bench him for a week. Yeah, he's a healthy scratch. Yeah, healthy scratch. I also believe Kate Otten played the most snaps of any tight end in football in week one. So just something to monitor if your bar is set at on the field for a tight end? I don't, he didn't do much. No, but I was, I mean, wasn't smith out there for a hundo? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe it was. Maybe it was played more snaps. Maybe. So. Kansas City Jacksonville. This should be fun. Kansas City, oh and one. Going to Jacksonville, who's one and oh. The Draft King Sportsbook line has Kansas City as three and a half point favorites in this game. The overrunners 51. Yeah, baby. Thank you. Here we go. Thank you. I've had a hard time. Like, to me, obviously you're playing Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence. You're playing Travis E. T. And you're playing Calvin Ridley.

And you're playing Travis Kelsey if he's active. So let's get the auto starts out of the way. So that we can debate some more difficult situations. This is a game where the chiefs have a 27.3 implied point total. They're going to put points up on the board. And yet you have a smattering of names. You have Pacheco, who, you know, he was out on the field a tonne last week, had four receptions. You have Cadarius Tony and Rashi Rice and Skymore. who, look, last week, it was really hard. Like the whole wide receiver room was a discouragement other than maybe Rice who benefited from having the touchdown. But do you try to go back to the well? Do you try to find some value there this week? No. Cadarius, Tony, is practicing in full. They've been defending him. You're not.

taking a shot on it it's easy to defend him right now he's not very fast you're not taking a shot on any of those guys no no not in the wide receiver core uh i'm fine holding on to cadarius tony rushy rice if you want um i'm not starting cadarius tony i'm not starting sky more i'm not starting rushy rice who i like or mv s i know there's a high over under maybe you want to throw one of these guys in a dfs lineup or two hope that you know mvs gets an 80 yard touchdown or something like that but the