Week 9 Waivers & Season Ending Difference Makers - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/29

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Tuesday, October 29th, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. This is episode 1665 of the fantasy footballers podcast. Oh, no. For real? Yeah. Oh, okay. 1,665, you say? Well, I'm a little worried about tomorrow's episode. Oh, man. It could have been Halloween too. I know. I was telling the days. I was like, are we going to hit? I mean, it's not episode. If you put numbers in front of it, it, this isn't episode 666. Oh, I understand. But any, I mean, I mean, I mean, I know you will take any opportunity to bring the beast into this thing. Six receptions for 66 yards is also not, but it is. There are rules here.

Halloween is two days away. So if we want to skip tomorrow's show and line it up. All right. Or if you want to skip, Jason. Yeah, I'm out. So that way you only have one six, six, six, six on Halloween. You can do that. We have a good show for you today. 2618, that was a score last night, the Steelers, leaders in the division at six and two, because of course they are. Yeah, I mean, they are. They look like a good team. Obviously, their defense is good. But I will say that with Russell Wilson there, the way that they're utilizing him on those rollouts, it looks like a competent offense. Certainly not like a top tier offense where you're excited about them like the lions or the bills. But this is a team that can score as well as stop you from scoring. So going forward, I mean, you have to imagine they're going to make some noise and try to make a run in the playoffs. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I mean, Pickens had a monster game. He scored two touchdowns. Oh, okay. All right. Can we go upstairs to the catch? Can we go upstairs to the catch child? Uh, it that catch. Can we get the catch child into the game? That one was absurd. That was the double right foot. I mean, he caught the ball. Everyone watching the game. In fact, I was, I was deep in my kitchen, so I was like, I was in the living room where I'm very far from the TV. I'm talking to my wife. So deep. How deep is your kitchen? I'm just saying I was far from my television. He was two stories deep in the kitchen. I was far from my television and I'm watching and I'm talking to my wife, you know, we're like making dinner and I see the play across the room. Oh, you know. And I just scream. I was like, what a catch. I couldn't believe it. So I run over there and I watched just to make sure. And when I watched the replay to make sure.

I was like, oh man, that was a monster catch. What you meant was what an incomplete catch. I didn't even see it get overturned at the time. I was like, okay, this is a time. You know, it's like the touchdowns there. There's an extra point. Whatever. I've got like a couple minute break. And I come back and I'm like, wait. How was that not a touchdown? I would like to see a player catch the ball at about the 20. Okay. On the sideline. And then hop on one foot up the entire sideline into the end zone. spiked the ball, never put the left foot down. I want to see that happen and then call it incomplete. Oh, man. It's a catch. Yeah, it's a catch. It's definitely a catch. And then all the illegal formations or illegal shifts that are, oh my gosh. I was playing busy chauffeur dad last night, so I didn't get to see much of the first half. I was thrilled by the fact I didn't have to watch it because I checked in on my phone frequently and it was six consecutive field goals in the first time.

Just like we like it. Yeah, but there were three touchdowns that were called back because, you know, rules are rules. So that happened last night. It's both feet. It's not one, it's not two feet. It's both of them. It's got to be both of them. Or just like an elbow. Or one of those. One elbow is way better than. Yeah. Way, it's, that's way more powerful. Angle, wrist. Then double tap in the same foot. It's not a good night when you kind of agree with Russell Wilson on something. And that's what happened last night when he was talking. He was just like, man, it's a weird rule. He's like, can we, you know, if you touch the same foot twice, can we count that as like? I think we should. I believe everyone would watch that and say, oh yeah, we should catch. That should cause a catch. Only because it was a catch. Like the only reason I think they should count it as a catch is because the human being went up and caught the ball in bounds.

That's why. That's why I would call it a catch. Well, other than our complaining about catching the football, Tyrone Tracy 20 for 145 and 1 against a formidable defense. He looked really, really good. I had a trade Sunday morning that the whole league said I stole. Yeah, these are funny. You know, it was like I got a pick swap in my favor next year and got David Najuku for Tyrone Tracy. And then as you watch the game, it was like, I think I got the wrong into that deal. I mean, it's, it's why we say you never veto a trade. Yeah. Because the trade came through and it wasn't, it wasn't veto worthy, but I could see weird leagues maybe pitching a fit. Oh, for sure. There's leagues out there that would have. I mean, even you, even you replied to it and was like, I, I just clicked accept. Like, like, you know the trades in your favor when you have, that's your defense. Yeah. I, I kept reading the trade, assuming that the pick swap should be in the other.

the other way. Like, Najoku is greater sign. Which I still thought would have been a good deal for you. Tyrone Tracy. And instead, you know, I got the pick swap in my favor, but Tyrone Tracy looks legit. The nice thing is, so you had a game with Singletary back, and that was the game where Tyrone Tracy didn't look that great. He was still utilized more, but it was a bad fantasy output. So it looked like Tyrone Tracy was really good without Singletary, but with Singletary, he's not a usable asset. Instead, Singletary gets two carries in this game. to 20 from Tyrone Tracy. And if you look at the projection for the Giants, it's like, why would they not use Tyrone Tracy and leave neighbors and start pushing towards the future? Well, the biggest problem that exists now is that Singletary would have been a drop candidate, but now it probably can't be. Because Tyrone Tracy exited with a brain injury in the fourth quarter, and Devin Singletary might actually get a spot start now. So when we talk waivers today, that name was going to come up for sure.

All right, we'll move on from the game. It doesn't, I will say this. It doesn't seem like Pat Fryman. It's going to be a thing with Russell Wilson through two weeks. So at least in that respect, I was a little disappointed. Picking still had a good night. Slayton got involved again, and neighbors not efficient on the 13 targets, catch percentage wise, but obviously still a great, pretty good day. Welcome to Difference Makers, presented by I'm's pet food. Oh, man. Yeah, you know, Sometimes it's hard for us to distinguish whether, you know, a jam is fresh and it's good or it's just fresh. Like I don't know if I sometimes like new drops just because they're new. Right. That one is, that one's just great. Well, good. I'm glad people are enjoying it. And to be fair, you're at about 100% hit rate in 10 years on the drop. So there's got to be one I didn't like. So far. I can't name it, but like, I mean, I'm sure. Yeah. Knowing the man. You mailed one in.

You had to mail one. Had to. One? This is where he tells us, like, all the drops have been the same drop the whole time. Like, we never noticed. Working hard or hardly working. So difference makers, guys, we're looking at staying ahead of the curve, trying to find some players through the remainder of the season, looking at our strength of schedule tool, looking at the streamfinder tools, looking at the way teams are trending and trying to be a week or two ahead on difference makers. You know, last year. I'll bring this up again before I hand the baton off. There were two players in the middle of the season that I saw schedule-wise that were like, oh my gosh. Now, Mike brought one up. Dak Press got, I went out and got Dak immediately because I bought into everything Mike was selling. And it paid off big time. So Mike found that guy last year. Another one was David Najoku with the tied-in schedule over the back half of the year last year. Joe Flacco was quarterback. It worked out well. Who are some players that you guys have identified this week?

Well, I think one name. That isn't Calvin Ridley, obviously. Obviously. I mean, one name to bring up, similar to David Nogoku, you looked at the rest of season schedule last year for tight ends, and you went, man, there's a schedule here that's really great. Well, this lines up with a player who hasn't played ball yet, but T.J. Hawkinson has the third best remaining schedule for the tight end position. They have taken their time, making sure that he's healthy. He's had a lot of time to recover. Now, this was a serious injury. But the nice thing for T.J. Hawkinson is he was never, you know, he's not out there running, you know, 60 yards down the field, making crazy cuts. This is a player who is playing the smart, tight-in position, find the soft spot in the zone, play against the defense.

wisely and then he's big and strong and can just kind of carry people for a couple extra yards. I think Hawkinson, you've seen like Munt be involved. I believe that this system will be positive for a tight end. Darnel has looked good enough to get him involved. And, you know, Hawkinson, you're going to, I don't think people are going to play him this week. He should be active this week. I don't think people are going to play him. And so you might be able to acquire him. If you are a tight-in needy team, and he might surprise with how good he is down the stretch. Yeah, I think it is a, it's a risky proposition here. Like, just take a look at the landscape of your team, or your league. See which good teams are already settled on tight end and see if you need to compete with them. Again, really bad knee injury. We often see players it takes some time to come back. But.

the fact that they've waited this long plus the schedule it puts what's the test situation is he passing test is he failing tests uh i think he's passing them yeah i think he's passing them yeah i think he had he had passed every test except for yeah yeah yeah one where he could be activated yeah apparently i think he's going to pass that test this week he's going to pass that test and they they really need him if you look at you know jordan addison and jelan naylor johnny month you know they're not getting it done the way that this offense deserves. I think Hawkinson can step up to a large market share. Yeah, and then we got one player who could cost a bit more and then one that I think is cheaper, but it's just trying to make a difference for your roster over the next month. Chris Olave, yeah, he's coming off of a good game, 8 for 107. But the thing is, Carolina, Atlanta, Cleveland. These are all plus matchups. And then the buy week for Chris Alave and Derek Carr should be back.

So it's just a, like, whatever the, I think the market price of Chris Olava, it's fair. If like, you need to go get someone who can really help you win over the next couple weeks. And he's, he's Olava. It's the, his consistency on our website of scoring more than 10.5 fantasy points, his consistency, he's at an A for our grade. Like that, I don't, I don't think people realize how, like, just, Olave hasn't had these huge spike weeks. But overall, he's just been. a really, really strong player for your roster. And then Rahim Mostert, technically backup running back of the Miami Dolphins. But the next four games are very positive for the Miami Dolphins. And he got the goal line carries. Like this is, yes, it's Devon A. Chan's show. Rahim Moster is going to be involved. And trading for A. Chan right now would love to do that. That's going to be super duper expensive. But getting Rahim Mostert.

I mean, I think you can probably get him off of somebody's bench, and he's someone who could slide in as like a flex running back type of a situation. Again, Buffalo giving up three points more than a player's average. The Rams, it's pretty neutral. But then Vegas, almost four points. The Patriots, over four and a half points above what that position is usually scoring. So it's four premium matchups here for a cheaper running back. I think my favorite of the three is Oliva. One of the great features of Olave right now in Derek Carr's return is the fact that Rashid's jihad is not available. Yeah, sure. Derek Carr would prefer to throw it to Shahid, it seems, and he's not there. So Olave is super necessary. The expectation adjustment for Olave is a difficult, emotional one for fantasy players. You now have to accept Olave as the Brian Robinson of the wide receiver position. He's not the Jamar Tex. He's not the...

Tyreek Hill, he's not that he's not even the Drake London or the Garrett Wilson. Like he is, he's more of a, you know, that consistency grade of 10 and a half. I bet he's right at 10 and a half most of the time. Yeah, a lot of times he's in that like 10.5 to 12 points. That's where he's living. He doesn't have enough touchdowns, you know, historically to really have those big monster performances. He's never going to be a Jamar Chase, a Justin Jefferson. You hope with his skill set. I think his frame is maybe a little too slight, but like you hope the Amin Ra style of heavy target volume and kind of dependency on him, that's where you want him to kind of elevate towards. But he's going to, he doesn't go out there and put up duds very often. And that's pretty much true for over two years now. I think the Alman Ra comp is interesting because if he was in a system like that,

Oh, he would dominate. I was going to say, OLAV would just do what needs to be done. I mean, we've had quite a few wide receivers that have had potential that have not gotten it done for multiple years suddenly break out when the quarterback position is fixed and the system is fixed. You know, you can go to Drake London. You can go to Gary Wilson, you know, as a couple of examples. But we've seen McLaren this year. Sometimes it just is a quarterback problem. Mm-hmm. And a system problem. And so, yes, I like the Oliva recommendation. I think he's felt so bad. I mean, we've had two Rattler weeks, really two and a half. So that's a good pick. All right, that was difference makers presented by IMS pet food. When you choose IMS, you can see a difference in your pet with your own eyes.

Unless you're a referee. Healthy energy in five days. Healthy digestion in 10 days and healthy skin and coat in just 25 days. Feed arms and see a visible difference. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Now, Jay, Andy's allowed to do that joke because he's big ref. Oh, for sure. So he can make fun of the refs. Yeah, I mean, he's in the frat. Because I've got the tattoo. Yeah. I've got the brand. Yeah, he's, he's making fun of them. Self-deprecation is always a fun time. Me and big reps is not the, the ribbon of reality I want to go on through the show this year. I was on Team Catchchild last night.

That's good. Okay. You know, but what did you think about, I'll bet you were like. The legal formations were nice though, man. Yeah, we got him. We got him. That Malik neighbors, that illegal shift by neighbors. It was like he was, he maybe, maybe shifted and wrong. We let's take that touchdown back. Big time shift. No, I, uh, I play in a fantasy league that is all ref positions. So we get points for illegal formations. We get points for illegal shit. We get all that stuff. Yeah. You must love these prime time games. So I'm really, I'm really, really into that. All right. Tyrone Tracy, we talked about it. He's in the concussion protocol. Blitzing through the news real quick. Metcalf optimistic. He can return in week nine. That would be very good for Gino Smith. And I saw people bamboozled into Tyler Lockett.

And I'm not speaking from a place of superiority. I think we all thought that opportunity would be there with Metcalf standing down. We were one of them in the Scotty Fish League. We played Lockett and did not work out well. No, no, no, no, no. What? I said illegal shift. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's what the tape is. Don't rewind. That's what the tape is going to say. What is happening to me? Illegal shift. They look to F in the... letter in that word. It's doing really heavy lifting. I still have a fake tooth. Yeah. And so that's why. Great. Now the rest of the show I'm going to be thinking about the tape. The YouTube closed captions will tell. Tell the tape. Great. Great. I look forward to it. Christian McCaffrey. The team plans to open the 21 day window to return. Just open it.

Well, they don't need to open it because they're going on to buy. So they won't open it yet. They're on the bye week this week. Open the window. The expectation is he is the starting running back against Tampa Bay in Tampa in week 10. So right now, right now all the Christian McCaffrey managers have to be very excited to get back the number one player in fantasy over the last decade. I am so curious about, you know, when you brought up Hawkinson and the return from injury, I. I can see that being a hugely great move. And like from week one, you know instantly, like this is an eight target guy every week. And I could see it being. Oh, it's high risk. I agree. Like Johnny Munn's been performing the utilization. Maybe the snap counts aren't there. They're trying to make sure he's okay. I can see that going either way. I, with McCavry, I'm very curious as well if, like I could, I'd put the odds that I'm going to see the same Christian McCaffrey the moment he's back. But then I also just don't know after a bye week, Mason, Garindo played well.

I just don't know what they're going to do. Yeah, we'll have to wait and see. The difference is you can wait a week on Hawkinson. If McCaffrey's active, everyone's going to have him in the line. And the truth is, I really do think he's going to be like 85, 90 plus percent of snaps and just be the guy. I just hope he doesn't re-injure himself. Yeah, the Niners hope that too. T. Higgins. Did you say he's good, man? Is that because you got him in two leagues? Don't worry about it. So good. Don't worry about it. Did you get to react to Sunday live? Because we obviously didn't get to react on the show. You and I had him in our draft king's lineup. We had to make a pivot that afternoon after, you know, the moment of random quad injury. I talked about that no one in the world practices harder than T. Higgins clearly. I swear, I told Jason, I was like, Jalen Waddle and T. Higgins.

They hang out under the bleachers, man. They sprain each other's ankles. This is still, I am proud of tea because in years past, he liked to do this early in games. And you'd start him. Oh, you think he's, and now it's like, he's getting the hang of it. He's getting the hang of. He's like, you know what, guys, I am injured. I'm not going to play in this game. That's great news because we can, we can pivot. We can choose someone else. Had he started, there is a. 98 to 100% chance. He goes out in three snaps. 98 to 100. This year it's weird with T and the injuries because you also, if you're T. Higgins, why are you playing hurt? Oh, yeah. You're on. Is it a franchise tag or did they like do it? Okay. He's franchise. He's franchised. And the, you know, the rumors are flowing out because we're at the point where teams got to start making trades. Like teams are calling about T. Higgins and the.

The Bengals are saying no. And it's, okay. Asked if. Are they that team in everyone's league that's like, dude, you're not winning the championship. You need to sell for next year. It's like, no, I'm still going to make it. It's like, no, you're not. They need, they're three and five. Right. I guess. No, they, did you see Joe Burroughs comments? He said their goal is 10 wins. So at that point, you got to go, what, seven and two? The rest of the way. Also. The AFC East, did you guys? The bills, I didn't, it's fun to check in on the standards every once in a while. I know the entire division. Because look, we're, we're fantasy, right? Like, I know teams are good or if they're bad, but the records of the AFC East, the bills are at top at six and two. Then the dolphins are two and five. The pats are two and six. And the jets are two and six. Two wins is in second place. What is this? Yeah. That's what has the dolphins fans all like.

Ready to go. By the way, asked if Anthony Richardson would start in week nine. Richardson said, I'm a little tired from last week. We'll see. Oh, no. That's not a quote. The actual quote was from Shane Steichen and said, we're evaluating everything. The Anthony Richardson controversy right now in Indianapolis is one of the major storylines of the week. 44% completion percentage on the year, which far surpasses the 33% or whatever from last week. He has been by far the worst quarterback throwing the football in the league, getting consistent playing time. When you have a tremendous passer who for the last calendar year has consistently thrown for 300 and two or three touchdowns in Joe Flacco, this is a good enough football team to compete for this division. And the team is really like everybody's come out from the offensive coordinator to the center.

to Pat McAfee. I mean, just, they've never seen this in their life, a player coming off the field due to being tired. And Mike, I don't know if you were aware of this when we watch all the games. This was third in goal in the red zone. That part I did not remember. Sorry, it was third down in the red zone when he came off the field. Maybe he just wanted his team to be able to pass the ball. It's like, this is an important play. Take me out. I just never seen it. I mean, Luke Heakley yesterday. Yeah. Talked about it.

Ryan Kelly, their longtime center, this was his quote about him calling himself out. He said, quote, I think he knows it's not the standard he needs to play up to and the rest of the team holds him to. And I'll kind of leave the conversation that we've had at that. I'm sure he's going to take criticism for that. Rightfully so. I mean, it's a tough, tough look. But he's out there giving it his all for the team. No, that's not always pretty. That's a throwaway line. He's not out there giving it all for his team because he lit. No, he wasn't for that next play. Yeah, but he wasn't out there on that play. He gave his all on the play before and then he just, then he needed. I guess if you give everything. If you're not on the field, you can't give your all. Is that the quote is like he's out there every other play given his all? Yeah. Look, you play quarterback in the NFL.

You're drafted where you're drafted. You deserve criticism when you make mistakes and you deserve praise when you play well. So that's the way I view it with Richardson. The Colts are in a really tough position right now. You know, it's not it the Joe Flacco, we joked about this, right? Like Flacco not being re-signed by the Browns. We said might be in part to the controversy he would provide. Mm-hmm. for Watson before he got hurt because... It is not a mite. It is a 100%. And then the game that Watson got knocked out for the season and Doreen Thompson was the backup, it's part of the game plan. Bull crap. Bull crap. That was, we can't have Winston as the backup because we can't have the crap. We can't have the mob turn. And they just...

Then the Watson injury was like, oh, yeah, no, of course James is our backup starting quarterback. Well, let's put it this way. Joe Flacco's on our waiver list. Joe Flacco, somebody you should monitor. If he was dropped into quarterback leagues, please pick him up. This is something that's not going away. And look, let's say Anthony Richardson starts this week. That's the decision they made. I believe that will be the decision. Okay. Yeah. What happens next week? Exactly. What happens the week after? Are we going from 33% to 60% completion percentage in a week? It's going to be a weekly conversation based upon play. And right now, you would assume that the play is not going to immediately turn itself around. We saw really like two games last season as a rookie. And he showed flashes of greatness and some problems. This is such a young player that has never really put any kind of consistency together. It's difficult to imagine he's going to just magic consistency. The next two matchups,

on the road against Minnesota's passing defense. And, you know, that's not a great environment. And then the Buffalo Bills, you can run on them, but you can't pass on them very easily. So it's okay. The next week is the Jets on the road. That's fair. Jordan loves MRI revealed a groin strain. The injury is not expected to be a long-term issue. Groin Index.com providing all of the sound effects for this show. Derek Carr will practice optimistic to play. Dave Canales said the team will look at all the information before deciding which mistake to make a quarterback this week against the Saints. Yeah, they're going to look. It's funny because it's basically they're going to look at Andy's health over the next couple days. Basically, if Andy Dalton, their starter, is healthy, he will play. But the thumb is an issue right now. And that, to me, if it's Bryce Young, I want to play the Saints defense. And if it's Dalton, I might want to find somebody else. James Winston's the starter going forward for the Browns, he.

looked like what I'm going to go ahead and call a professional NFL quarterback during their upset win over the Ravens. In preparation for today's waiver episode, I went back and watched every Cedric Tillman snap, every Elijah Moore snap, and James Winston. Did you skip the Judy snaps? No, in the Judy snaps. Oh, okay. James Winston, yeah, he looked very good. I mean, he had his classic James Winston moment or two, like for instance when he. ended the game by throwing the ball to Kyle Hamilton directly, directly, except Kyle Hamilton decided to try to catch it 20 times and fail, and then it went down and won. Because as a defender, it's got to be disorienting when the ball comes directly to, like, right to you. Your job is a DB. It's like missing the layup, man. It's too easy. Well, it's your job as a DB is I'm stealing this away. It's never thrown to me. So when you're like, oh, whoa.