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

Likes jazz music. Oh, for sure likes jazz music. Yeah. Yeah, this was my notes on him from college. Obviously, he's a son of a Hall of Fame NFL player, so he grew up... Not traditional jazz music, though. He likes the new, real poppy kind of... For sure. But, you know, he looked like a professional tight end in college. Like, he is always going to be in the right spot at the right time and do what is needed. I think he's a good player. He don't have that dog out. I have no interest in talking about this anymore. Okay. I could riff on this guy for forever.

The Denver Broncos are 2-2. They take on the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. The Vegas line here, Philly minus 3.5. The over-under is 43.5. The Eagles have won 20 of their last 21 ballgames. Favorite at home here. Pretty low over-under. The only game that they've lost out of the last 21 games was a Washington game in which Hurts left in the first quarter. They only need 8 yards per first down. They're the only team in the NFL that needs only 8 yards per first down. They are a complete team that can go 4-0 with an offense that everyone's upset about. I mean, I looked at Saquon Barkley.

Like, Saquon's been fine. But, I mean, he had 11 games over 100 yards last year. He has none this season. Right? This is... He is, in fact, running for 3.1 yards per carry. Yeah, it's not... And still dominating for fantasy. Yeah, exactly. Running back 14. Yeah, I wouldn't say that's dominating. I wouldn't say that's dominating. Okay. But he's still been starting... Three games over 15 points out of four is very, very good. So, the offense hasn't been as productive. The defense is holding it together. And they make... They're a clutch team. They figure things out over the course of a game, even if it starts bad.

A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith. It's the craziest... If you look in their consistency charts or you look at their player profiles on the website, it is a perfect mirror. It is... You would not have wanted to start them in six... Like, combined six starts. And then there's two in week three. Both of them were good in week three. But it's like... Basically, the Eagles threw the ball in week three. Yeah. And so, when they did, A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith were good. And the other weeks, they haven't needed to throw the ball, and they have not been good. I'm glad that the Broncos are looking like a good team right now.

Like, they're coming off of... It looks like they're getting it figured out. Coming off of a very big win where Bo Nix looked great. So, if the Broncos can come to Philadelphia and show up and put points on this good Eagles defense, then that's really good news for A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith. Two good players who we know can get it done. I was very happy to see A.J. Brown's comments. I don't know if you saw them. They are... Wait, actual comments? Actual comments. Not his. Not vague tweeting? Not like a... No, no, no. Yeah, he was just talking about basically wanting to get the ball, wanting to help the team,

how he can... He was being what every fantasy manager wants their wide receiver to do. A squeaky wheel. Good. He wants the ball. It's got to be... It's got to be frustrating. I know they're winning, but if you're a professional wide receiver... You want to contribute. Yeah, you want to be a part of the reason why you're winning. And not just because you're blocking. When you are 4-0, but not getting it done in fantasy, I still want you to complain. And he did. Thank you. So is that... How do you translate that all... Distill it all down to whether you start them?

You're going to start A.J. Brown... Because, I mean, the Broncos are very good against the wide receiver position, not even considering the... Like, I feel like we should have some start questions around A.J. Brown. Really? Okay. Let's ask some. A.J. Brown... There's certainly... Tedderoa McMillan against Miami. Yeah, so I would start Tedderoa over him. I would start Quinton Johnson over him. Those are guys... Jalen Waddell against Carolina. Yeah, with no Tyreek? I would start A.J. Brown there. Mike, what about you? I would play... I think it's Waddell. The... I think the conversation has to start of... Can Denver score points?

Yes. Like, in enough points that... Well, Sutton in the same game. I'd play Sutton. Sutton or A.J. Brown, you'd play Sutton. I would. I'd play Sutton as well. I've got them back-to-back in my rankings. Sutton one spot ahead. So, how are we feeling about the Denver offense, then, in this game? Bo Nix... I am there. J.K. Dobbins has been top 20 in four weeks. I'm a little worried about them going on the road and having success here. Sure. I am... And... Not that everyone has the ability, but, like, I have... Bo Nix has been my guy in my League of Records team.

I am playing Justin Fields this week over Bo Nix. Bo Nix. And I have Sutton. So, it's like, I could put the stack in. I'm making the decision to separate it. Yeah. To... And I'm in a... You know, a... A primetime fantasy matchup. It was, like, me versus one of the other top teams. And this is how I feel like I need to win. Yeah. I mean, I would... I would play Dak. I would play Baker. I would play Kyler over Bo Nix. He's not like a... You have to bench him. But if you have other options with good matchups, I would play him over Bo Nix.

Other question marks in this game that you guys want to bring up? Dallas Goddard had the... He was the tight end one last week. Dallas Goddard is... Isn't practicing on Wednesday. He's worth bringing up just because he has been involved. You know, he had seven targets in week one. Was the tight end seven in week three. Was the tight end one last week. But it was weird because they were kind of two manufactured touchdowns for him. It's just touchdowns for him. He's just keeping an eye on, but I still don't want to start him. And Devontae Smith is similar discussion as AJ Brown or a teardown?

Teardown for me. Yeah. J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey? I'm playing Dobbins. R.J. Harvey was my film watch for this week's Dynasty pod, kind of breaking it down. The utilization was exciting. You know, it was not all just the fourth quarter, which there was a heavy dose of... Are you looking at this bug? There's a spider descending from the... Is that a spider? I don't know. It's moving like... I think there's a spider. It's coming real close to you, Mike. It's coming. I got you. Catch out! It did not appear to be a spider because Mike did the wave the hand over the bug.

I thought he was trying to cut the weight. I was doing it like a magic trick. Right. But it didn't cut it well. I don't think most shows really cut away from analysis to spider battles. I would not. My bad. Your eyes were like protecting me. Yeah. I was trying to keep you safe. You could have gotten a bite. The utilization of Harvey, both Dobbins and Harvey were used a lot in the fourth quarter. Harvey got a decent amount of run in the first half as well. He got the five targets. So it's exciting to see. I think we're closing in on the point where Harvey can feel startable and safe.

You can still start him in this matchup because of their receiving work where Dobbins, I think, had a target compared to Harvey's five. Well, you're saying you can start Harvey this week? I think it's not a confident start, but I think he's playable. Yes. Travion Henderson or RJ Harvey? Henderson. I feel like this is not a great matchup for Harvey. I think you're hoping for the receptions is what I'm saying. I'd still go. Bill Krosky or Harvey? Probably Bill. I guess I'm not saying I want to get Harvey in there. I think we're very close to that point, maybe two more weeks, and we'll see even more.

If we give him 20 choices and he always chooses the other guy, he has to binge Harvey. Right. Okay. Michael Carter. Oh, that's a good one. All right, fine. Isaiah Pacheco. No, no, no. We give the names here. Oh, okay. You can't make your own names. You deal with the spiders. Yeah. Okay. Michael, how about Jordan Mason? Oh, all those guys are better than Harvey. You're just reading off the top. Saquon Barkley. Harvey. Yeah. Whoa, okay. All right. Well, I mean, yeah, it's a tough matchup. I think Harvey, for me personally, is more of a watch to see what happens.

It's going to be hard for both guys to be super fantasy productive every single week when we want stuff out of Sutton and you guys want to. Right. But what I'm saying is, like, Dobbins is getting, Dobbins will get the groundwork. And if they can't get that going, then Harvey could see another five-target week. Yeah. No, it's definitely possible. He feels very similar to Travion to me where it's like, you got to catch a little bit of lightning in a bottle. If Travion doesn't get into the end zone last week, which only happened because Hunter Henry was dragged down on the one-centimeter line, you're probably more disappointed you're not

looking at that game the same way. The very good news for Harvey is on film, he looks good. Miami is one in three. They take on the Carolina Panthers in Carolina. Miami, one and a half point road favorites. The over-under is 45.5. The line has jumped back and forth. It's a strange game because there are a lot of relevant pieces in this game. Like, if Rico gets a start, that's, you know, some clarity. He'll have all the opportunities. Devon Achan, a machine. You know, you have the injury to Tyreek making Jalen Waddell look like an upgrade. Malik Washington is interesting.

And then Darren Waller seems like an auto start at this point. Jason, your start of the week. And on the other side, you know, Ted Arroa McMillan, he's been weird because the offense is really, like, they've looked like garbage for all but one game. This is the truth. And he can't score. So the targets are cool and everything. But you also aren't coming down with that many of them. So Ted McMillan was somebody I was fighting for aggressively after a week or two. I am now not fighting as aggressively for Ted McMillan. I personally would love – I think he is one of the best trade for candidates out there.

Most rookie wide receivers year after year after year, they are better in the second half than in the first half. And in the first half, he's been a – That's good for him. He's been a disappointment, but he's on pace for 150 targets. The targets are there. His talent has looked good. If this offense, you know, last year at the second half of the year, they started getting better. I believe Ted Arroa ends up at the end of the season being someone that you can't bench. And so I would like to get him on my roster. Miami this week should be good for McMillan.

And then you get Dallas next week. He's the widest year of 28 right now. The targets are there. He's a very talented player. The quarterback is not great. The offense is not great. Wide receiver 28 with zero touchdowns is not bad. Yeah, but if he had to place a bet on touchdowns for the year for Ted, are we above four? I would take over four. My question was going to be, if he's 28 right now, what do you think he has rest of the season? Is he inside the top 15 to 20? I think so, yeah. I think he finishes the season in the top 15.

Yeah. I guess I'm just really turned off by that offense right now. So it's making me more hesitant to go fight for Ted. It's understandable. But obviously we've seen production, you know, Adam Thielen in the past, even Deontay Johnson in the past, although that was more Andy Dalton. Any other players in this game you want to mention? Malik Washington feels like a real wild card play. You hope that the offense revolves around him a little bit more than it has in the past. He's a very speedy, talented, great in the open field. Would you play Troy Franklin or Malik Washington?

Oh, man. That's very fair. I think I'd stick with Franklin. The known snaps. We're projecting that Malik will see a big uptick because they have the week to game plan without Tyreek. But last week it wasn't just an auto, oh, Tyreek is out. Malik Washington is in the full amount. Yeah. I mean, Tyreek went out in the second quarter. Obviously they didn't game plan like you're saying, but Malik still did not play 50% of the snaps in the game. If you want to strap on some very thick metal underpants, Tommy Trimble saw eight targets last week and the Miami Dolphins defense right now is 31st against that position.

Yeah. Jadavian Sanders, their second year tight end who was running ahead of Tommy Trimble or splitting. Right. He is out right now. So Trimble or Hawkinson? Trimble. Okay. Hawkinson, I'm done. I don't want that in my life anymore. Trimble or RJ Harvey? Harvey. Houston is one in three coming off their first victory of the season. They can thank Woody Marks and their opponent for that. Baltimore. They go to Baltimore. They take on the Ravens. What's left of them. Yeah. What's left of them. Is this, didn't we bet on this game, Jay? Um, yeah, I don't know if you and I did, but we disagreed that, um, you, you thought Houston

would cover. I was surprised that Houston was favored by a point and a half in Baltimore. Obviously no Lamar and the defense being really, really, um, shorthanded now with tons of injuries. I, I understand, um, why Houston would be favored. My hardship that I have is that Houston's offense has been abysmal. And so in Baltimore, I just don't see even against, you know, some, some second stringers and some injured guys. I'm not necessarily just going, well, the Ravens are, are going to be a bad defense. And therefore Houston, this bad offense is going to be good all of a sudden.

Well, at least they showed up last week. You know, Woody Marks is going to unlock a little bit of this offense. They have had no running game to speak of with Nick Chubb and the absence of Joe Mixon. 26 points last week. They were at home. It was Tennessee. We'll see what they do against the Baltimore defense that you guys mentioned at 30th against quarterbacks, 32nd against running backs, 28th against wideouts, 22nd against the tight end position. I expect short fields for Houston. I expect opportunities provided by their defense facing Cooper Rush. And I expect their defense to do a pretty good job on Derek Henry as the focal point.

It's, it is comforting for Baltimore fans and for these players that they're playing at home. Cooper Rush is not incompetent by any stretch of the imagination, but he's not Lamar Jackson. And so we, we've seen some struggles on offense, even with Lamar. I just love Houston's defense. And I think that they're going to get it going enough. Mike has, we have two start of the weeks on the Houston side, CJ Stroud, Woody Marks. You play Nico. The sentiment around Nico does not match what's actually going on very well. He's not certain. He's certainly not been a star or matched what you drafted him to be, but he does have a top five finish in his first four weeks.

He's been, and he's been, you know, 10 points or more in three, 9.9. I'm rounding up, but 9.9, 18.4, 12.7. It's not 130 target pace. It's not a total disaster, but that's not what you drafted him for. Last two weeks, 104 yards receiving, 79 yards receiving. He's only scored twice. I'm, you know, you play Nico Collins. That's what you do. Mm-hmm. I mean, are you, are you changing your year long view of Nico to the point where you'd trade him for Tet or something like that? Because I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't trade him for Tet. I would trade for Nico.

I think Nico is a great talent. He still looks good on the field. I'm not really. I have no real concerns for him. I no longer have the hope that he could be the number one wide receiver in fantasy. Yeah, that's fair. You know, when you were taking him in the first round, you're like, well, there's a range of outcomes where that happens. With the offensive line and the offense as a whole, that's not in the cards, but he is absolutely a dominant alpha. Rest of season, would you rather have him or Drake London? Yeah, I'd take, I'd take. I would take Nico.

Garrett Wilson. I would take Nico. Those are good names. Those are very close. Those are very close for me. I agree. That's the exact same tier to me. I choose not to answer. Smart. Henry, you play him. The snaps have gone down. They should lean on him. They need him in this game. He's a weird player rest of season rankings wise as well. Yeah, I think people who have him probably have some fears right now. If you, if you didn't have that week one where he, I mean, you do have it, but he's fumbled three times. He scored twice in week one.

After that, RB 58, 22 and 42. So it's not been the cruise control that you've hoped for. And him and Saquon, you know, they were the dominators last year. They've dropped down in tier so far this year. Zay Flowers, seven plus receptions in three or four games. I traded Zay Flowers to Mike. I love Zay Flowers, the player. One of the reasons I was okay trading him is because Zay Flowers is in that tier of wide receivers, physicality of wide receivers where it's like he does just disappear from time to time. There's just a game here or there. It happened all last year.

I had him last year. There's games where like somehow Zay Flowers is just, he's not the first read on this play. There's not a, you know, it's a Bateman day. The tight ends get involved. That's my only like knock on Zay Flowers as a player. If you need to throw to him, he's always open and he's very, very good after the catch. I have not, not ceiling confidence in Zay Flowers, but I have, I think he'll be a good play of, like he is the perfect player that Cooper Rush will need. So seven, seven, seven for 74 was last week.