Fantasy Football - Starts of the Week + Week 5 Breakdown, Big Bye Decisions - Podcast for 10/2

it'll be better. But Gentry involved in the passing game, you're obviously going to start him, but it's been their offensive line was already a point of contention. And now you've lost your left tackle, Colton Miller. So it sucks. On that note, losing the left tackle, I do think the Colts are a pretty darn good defense. They have, they've had a lot of sacks, you know, week one, they had three sacks week three. They had four. They had three last week. This offensive line looks suspect. And this game is in Indianapolis. So you like that defense? I do. I think the DST for the Colts could be, they could get a touchdown in this one.

So if you look at the one weakness for the Colts this year from a fantasy perspective, where they're giving up points, they're shutting down the run pretty well. Giving up 34 fancy points a game to wide receivers. It's one of the reasons I like Jacoby Myers. I actually kind of made a... You overpaid to trade for him so you could start him against me. That's how confident you are with Jacoby Myers. Yeah, it was kind of like I wanted a chance to grab Jacoby Myers right now when he had a couple of down weeks. And I think Geno Smith, we see the Jekyll and Hyde performances.

But I think Geno can get him the football. And I think part of Geno's failures in the last three weeks has not been getting Jacoby Myers the ball enough and relying on deep shots to Trey Tucker or other players. So I kind of like Jacoby this week. I like the target share. Yeah, right now Colts are 29th against fancy wide receivers. So it makes sense. And then Bowers, you're playing Bowers. Yeah. But you're doing it with just not the expectation he's going to carry you right now. It's a bummer. Daniel Jones, Jason's start of the week. Jonathan Taylor, yep. Oh, yeah, baby.

The rest of the season rankings, Jonathan Taylor is what? Top three? Three? Yeah. Four running backs? It's two or three. Jason, you picked up DJ Giddens to ensure you're Jonathan Taylor right now. It's worth mentioning that you want to not be in that position where you like an offense, your guy goes down, and then you don't have the next man up. Yeah, we got to see in week one when the Colts were dominating Miami, and Jonathan Taylor just rode the bench in the fourth. We saw that Giddens was clearly the guy behind. You know, that wasn't for sure coming into the season.

So it's one of those situations where even if you don't have Jonathan Taylor, he's a good insurance back to be aware of in Giddens. If you do have Jonathan Taylor, you should get that insurance policy and pick up DJ Giddens. In the passing game, I think... Pittman. Pittman's been great. Warren. Yeah, Pittman and Warren, they're really good. I mean, Pittman in his three games, I told you week two to bench him against Sertan. He had a down week. Outside of that, eight targets, six for 80. Good rapport. Six for 73 and a touchdown. Five for 41 and a touchdown. He's been pretty much a top 24 wide receiver almost every week.

And I think he's getting in the, like, must start. Unless there's a really bad matchup, I'm starting him every week. Yeah, we didn't really know what the tendencies of Daniel Jones were going to be. And it seems like Michael Pittman is a go-to receiver. And Josh Downs, contrastly, isn't. With Tyler Warren being so valuable on those short and intermediate targets, Josh Downs is... Like, I have a bunch of leagues where... Heavy bye week, right? You know, I have some leagues where I have four or five guys on bye. Josh Downs had been sitting on the bench, and I'm going like,

am I really going to put Josh Downs in? I'm just kind of pivoting everywhere. Yeah. I'm going to sign somebody else, whether it's a Marvin Mims, whether, you know, somebody else. Even Isaiah Bond. I'd play Bond. No. Yes, I would. No. I would play Isaiah Bond over Josh Downs. I don't blame you. I'm doing that in a league. It's been very bad for Josh Downs. He's just the production he put up last year has not led to an increased, like, workload. The snaps are still right and mediocre right in the middle, and he's not getting targets. Yeah, I completely agree with the sentiment being shared

that Josh Downs is not someone that you can rely on right now. If you need four points, he's your guy. But I certainly, I mean, I feel like there are... Now that Tillman's heard, four points comes from Downs. We have to have a bet between Isaiah Bond and Josh Downs, because that's just, that's too easy. You know you don't like that I hit that button. Water bet. You know you're scared. Oh, I'm not scared. The guy, the rookie we have not seen in a very tough matchup versus Josh Downs, who we know is good in the NFL. We have seen him.

Against the... Water Seamer 28. Bond probably scored more fancy points last week than Downs did in a full game. Go look it up. He had... Last week, Bond had 7.3. Ah. Downs' high is 8.1. Well, I didn't say high. What did he have last week? 4.4. Okay. That's all. That's what I said. I said last week. Right, but on the season, still Josh Downs. Yeah, of course. Bond wasn't playing. Most importantly... Tillman was playing. Most importantly... Nice pivot. Wait, he couldn't play ahead of Tillman, who you said's not a good wide receiver? Crazy. He's gonna now. Isaiah Bond's not good.

Isaiah Bond is not good? Correct. You are... I'm gonna be honest with you. Your Browns takes right now are suspect. Isaiah Bond's, Jay? They're inflamed with emotion. You're already... You got Tillman Burns... I wasn't a big... All up and down your body. Genuinely, I wasn't a big Isaiah Bond fan coming in. Like, he was being rumored as a first-round pick. It was like him... He's very fast. Him and Matthew Golden. Yeah, teammates. Him and Matthew Golden, I just felt like, in the draft process, were being too overblown. They're not bad players. But they're not the hype train that I think people had with them.

Obviously, he's very fast. The Giants are 1-3. The Saints are 0-4. The game's in New Orleans. And the Vegas line, New Orleans, minus 1-1.5. The Saints favored. The over-under is 42-1.5. I guess you have to favor someone, don't you? I was like, when I see the Saints favored, I'm like, whoa. That's weird. When I pull out the book, it's like, who cares? Are you sure? The lines are off. Can they make somebody... There's fun games. Can they make the game inclined to be a tie? I mean, as much excitement as there is around Jackson Dart, there's going to be growing pains,

and I don't think there's going to be high passing volume. You lost Malik Neighbors. We had the scramble. Wandale, a lot of people had him rostered. Darius Slayton, yeah, if you get a deep shot from Jackson Dart, I'm not sure how many times they'll give him the shot to do that. They're going to lean on Scadaboo. They're going to lean on the running game. Ten attempts last week for Jackson Dart. But if you had to tell me, I would be very curious where his passing yardage line is for Jackson Dart. I'm guessing 150. Something like that. Kyle, feel free to break.

I would guess he's going to be like 181, something like that. So it's just the upside there in the passing game, 174. 174. So we'll see what happens. Alvin Kamara, Mike, you mentioned him, start of the week. Cam Scadaboo, he's an every week start right now, right? He is. And the Saints defense, 25th against the run. Scadaboo should be good. Kendra Miller, I believe by several metrics, has been the most effective running back in football so far this year on very limited touches. He's breaking a lot of tackles. Yeah, he's doing some work. It is interesting because there have been Alvin Kamara rumors.

This team, the Saints, they're winless. Alvin Kamara could help a team like Kansas City, a team like Arizona who's lost two starting running backs, somebody making a push. Now, we don't think Arizona's going to compete and make the playoffs, but they're 2-2. They're probably going to beat Tennessee this week. They think their offense is fantastic. They're going to be 3-2. They love their offense. It's firing on all cylinders. Yeah, so I think Alvin Kamara, if he's traded away, Kendra Miller becomes relevant, and that's a reason to put him on the bottom of rosters. Yeah, we talked about Miller on waiver day of someone who is –

you can pick him up. Not sure I want to play him just yet, but 11 carries, turned into 65 and a touchdown. So his role could just grow naturally over time, and then you have that kind of narrative, what if Alvin Kamara is traded in. Yeah, it's hard for me to imagine his contract. Like, personnel-wise, like, trading Kamara makes sense for the Saints. Other teams trading for Kamara makes sense, but his contract is still pretty big, so that's a hard one to swallow. But regardless of that, Kamara's been injured the last two years. He's an older back. So Kendra, I think, is a – you know, if I had to –

if I didn't have the starting running back and I had to choose whether it was Kendra Miller or the aforementioned DJ Giddens, I'd much rather have Kendra Miller. Sure. Yeah, just to go back to the contract, because I'm guessing we're going to bring up Alvin Kamara's contract for a while, but he's under contract until 2026 due to that last extension. So it's pretty big, dead money if he's cut before the end of that contract. His cap number next year – I'm looking at over the cap – his cap is at 18.5. Now, I don't know if that entire thing would transfer over

because probably some of that is a signing bonus that the Saints would eat should they trade Kamara because his guaranteed money next year is only $3 million. Yep. But then the following year, his dead cap's like $18 million. No, that's the year I'm talking about. Oh, okay. Okay. Olave, he is startable. Yep. It's a good matchup for him. But you're not allowed to smile very much when you do it. No, no, no. A lot of targets. This is your guy to get you 10 points. If you're taking a shot on Giants wide receivers, not name Malik Nabors at this point,

Darius Slayton had 22 targets in the two games that Nabors was out last year. I don't think the passing volume will justify that this week. No, it will not. But would you play Darius Slayton or what's another name that's compared? Like Shahid on the other side who's had four receptions every week? I would play Slayton. I think Slayton profiles to be their number one wide receiver here without Malik Nabors. Slayton or Josh Downs? Oh, they're back-to-back in my rankings. I was just looking at that, and I would go Slayton. I would play Slayton, too. Yeah, Downs' receptions, they just leave a lot.

Unless he's in the end zone, I think you're going to be bummed out, unfortunately. All right, we'll take a break and jump into some more matchups. With the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, you earn an unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase. That's right, every purchase. 2% cash back at restaurants, 2% cash back at the gym, which you'll need to burn off those restaurant calories. Groceries? Yep, you'll earn 2% cash back on those, too. New tires, new outfits, New York City getaway all earn 2% cash back. Noticing a trend? So, whether you're splurging on concert tickets, fueling up for your commute, or shopping for that perfect birthday gift for the bestie,

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Don't get caught without a great backup. Visit Progressive.com to quote today, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Okay. Welcome back from the break. A cough came through. Is this correct? No, the cough didn't come through for the audience because we have a producer that cuts that stuff out. But it did. It was like you coughed multiple times and you muted one of them. And then you're like- During the ad break, Jason was figuring out how mute button worked. No, no, no. My mute button was held down entirely the whole time.

Not one smidge of a movement the whole time and then one cough just came through. You got a bad mute button. What do you think about that, Al? I got a bad mute button. That's untrue. Oh, my gosh. That is not even up for debate. It is 100%. I mean, it's up for debate because one of your coughs came through the microphone. That would let it be open to debate. Let's try it again. Hit the mute button and try to talk. Also, it works fine. It's working right now? Yes. All right. Dallas, 1-2-1. Oh, that'll be fun all year long.

Taking on the New York Jets, who are 0-4. The game's in New York. Dallas is favored. Two and a half points on the road. The over-under is 47 and a half. We've talked a lot about this game already in the context of Justin Fields. This is the good stuff here. But, yeah, I mean, Dak right now, we thought it might be more of a challenge without Seedy. The game's in New York. Are you confident in Dak? Yes. Is he your starter this week, Jason? He is my starter this week. Against me. Against you. You know, he should be good. He's looked great every single week, even though he hasn't been necessarily good for fantasy.

You just watch how he's delivering the ball. Like, week one, he was the quarterback 29, didn't get 10 fantasy points. But he balled out against the Eagles. You watched the whole game. It was just multiple touchdowns from Javante Williams on the ground. And he's been great. Last week, against a very good Green Bay Packers, put up 40 points, and was the number one quarterback in fantasy. So, it's a little scary without Seedy. But I'm confident enough to start him. You know, my stream of the week was Brock Purdy, but I brought up Dak Preska in that time. And I think if I've got him, and I do, I'm starting him.

But is your confidence in George Pickens maximized here on the road? Sauce Gardner, the secondary for the Jets, do you feel totally confident in Pickens being a top 24 play? I do. It's really hard. Even against a tough matchup, it's difficult to imagine benching the number five wide receiver on the season. I just don't think it's a really tough matchup. I mean, the last three weeks for Pickens, nine targets, nine targets, 11 targets. That's a lot of targets. It's really... Which we definitely care about. If they're not from the Browns. Well, Mike and I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If they're not from Cleveland.

All right. Pickens, Javante. You've got to play Javante. He's been too good. Dak, Javante, Pickens, Ferguson. Stash, Jaden Blue. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I guess I'm not that wild about Stash and Jaden Blue just because Miles Sanders' injury looks short-term, but it's fine. For the weekend. Justin Fields. Yep. Brees Hall, going to get a ton of opportunities. No more Braylon Allen. Garrett Wilson, 37% targets here. Doing his darn best. That is literally... If you had to summarize the career for Garrett Wilson, doing his darn best is the summary. It's the same summary Terry McLaurin had when he was in Washington, but... But it's working this year.

It's working for fantasy this year. 37% target share. It's just what he does. Top 12 in three of four games. And just pay attention to Mason Taylor and the target counts for Mason Taylor. Rookie tight end, kitty cat, Mason Taylor. Six targets, seven targets last two weeks. And the fact that... Makes sense he'd be worked in, too. For sure, because you've got Garrett Wilson with a 37% target share because there's no one else to throw the ball to on this roster. It's like, throw the ball to Garrett Wilson. Throw the ball to Brees Hall out of the backfield. But if you're looking down the field, there's just no one else.

And they're starting to find Mason Taylor. And I think they're going to... I think they're... He was limited on Wednesday with a saucer of milk. Uh-huh. Got distracted. Ankle injury, it looks like. Mm-hmm. He was in route to practice. How productive does he need to be for you to, like, make the switch, to get him out of meowsing? Um, pretty productive. I don't think it's ever going to happen because the truth is there are players who can be good for fantasy... Yes. ...that don't have the dog in them. And I... What does he have to do to prove the dog, as I'm saying?

He doesn't have it. No, no. I mean, you do... Players... I'm with Mike. I saw it from college film. I saw... I loved Mason Taylor's college film. No, no. You don't get the double side this thing. No, I can absolutely love the tape. He did. He liked Mason Taylor. There are... I mean, I don't like most cats, but some cats are cool. This cat's cool. Mason Taylor's a cool cat. He's a cool cat. He's a cool cat, man. He is... Yeah, look, if we can get him to being, like, a beatnik, you know? He's just a hip, cool cat. Yeah.