Week 8 Matchups + Chase Injury, Busted! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/28

If you will, the last few games are looking at his rushing yards, 250, 212, 211. This should be a smashed Eric Henry game. And they should smash the final score as well. Yeah, you know, Damien Pierce, four straight games with 20 plus opportunities. You play both running backs in this matchup and you don't play the quarterbacks. But what do you do with the whiteouts? Brandon Cook has yet to have a, you know, a big week. He was. The wide receiver 14 in week four, that was his only top 24 finish. What's going on with Brandon Cooks? And, you know, fantasy players have come to expect a lot more than this. Yeah, I can't tell you what is going on. At the beginning of the year, you would have explained it away saying Davis Mills is playing very poorly. And the Houston Texans, like everything has to go through Damian Pierce because the team is just, they can't throw the ball. But Davis Mills has.

been better the last couple weeks, and that still hasn't translated. Like, Davis Mills at 300 yards and two passing touchdowns last week. And Brendan Cook's four for 46. Like, it's, he is one of the bigger mysteries to me of this. Crazy season. The targets have gone down, started the season with double-digit targets in the first few weeks, and now five targets, six targets the last two weeks. This matchup is good enough that I'm willing to continue to bet on Brandon Cook's history because the Titans have given up a lot of big plays over the top. You've got Nico Collins gone. I'm still willing to throw Brandon Cooks in my lineup. So on the other side, Robert Woods has done nothing. I am not willing to throw Robert Woods in my lineup.

And then the tight ends aren't in play here either. So this game does not have a lot of fantasy storylines to go over. It's got the Yeti. Do we even worry about Vermont snow levels in a game like this? I don't think it matters. I think if it snowed in Vermont, he would have 700 yards and 18 touchdowns. I feel like the earth-shattering, you know, the shock waves. of him running over the Texas defense might be enough to disrupt weather patterns and cause some snow. Yeah, cause that snow, Mr. Henry. So it's basically played Derek Henry. Definitely play Damien Pierce. And you can play Brandon Cook's check out of this game. Yeah. The Washington commanders at 3 and 4 take on the 3 3 3 3rd. The Draft King Sportsbook line Colts minus 3. The over under is a 39 and a half. Ooh, nice. And Sam Ellinger.

is going to start. And the reports coming out of Indianapolis, they read like Frank Reich wouldn't have done this is what it reads like. It reads like the locker room, the head coach, and then Matt Ryan himself, everybody's shocked, everybody's dismayed, everybody wants to support Sam Ellinger in this opportunity. Well, Engager. Yes, for those they didn't tune in to Spotify Live. Jason invented a new way to pronounce his name. Well, we weren't sure if it was Ellinger or Ellinger because we had been confirmed both ways. And so I said, just do both. And then you can't be wrong. And Sam Ellingager was born. Yeah. And hopefully that's also where he died. He can, he can get out of the pocket? But I don't, you know, we don't know. But can he play quarterback? But can he play quarterback? I mean, this is a, this is a Washington defense that has not been good.

Schedule adjusted, they're one of the worst against quarterbacks, one of the worst against wideouts, middle of the pack against running backs. You can have, you know, much worse matchups to make your debut than this one at home where they're in a division that is, you know, they can still win this division. They're three, three, and one. The rest of the division is pretty bad. So, you know, Jonathan Taylor, we're still waiting for a big game since week one. Right. It's been rough. And we don't know what Ellinger's tendencies are going to be in the passing game. Is he willing to drop that ball off, or is he going to tuck it and run the way that some people think he might? Well, we've seen him in preseason. He does scramble. In college, he had a lot of rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns. He's not a supreme athlete, but he's good enough to scramble around. You know, you never saw Matt Ryan. As soon as the offensive line had any pressure, any problems, it was.

crush or fumble or interception. So I understand wanting to have a guy that can get out, make some plays happen when the script doesn't go according to plan. That being said, the offense has already talked about how this is a different style. Like you have to run a different offense with Ellinger than you would. Ellinger. Ellingager, yeah, thank you. than you would with Matt Ryan. They're not going to drop back and throw the ball 50 times. They are going to hand this ball off to Jonathan Taylor over and over and over. I don't know what his like Draft King's Sportsbook line is for carries. I'll take the over. I really do think that they're just going to give him the ball a ton. I'm terrified for Michael Pittman Jr. For Alec Pierce, for if you had picked up Pierce Campbell, I want to see the passing attempts.

for Ellinger and see if it is it going to be can he get to 30 can he get to 30 passing it we're on watch right now and at least with Pittman you know he's the primary like when I when I have a transition like this happen the biggest fear is look Matt Ryan plays his best they're throwing 40 plus times and multiple receivers are relevant right we see we've seen Alec Pierce spreading the ball around spread the ball around if Ellinger plays his best I think Pittman is still the only one that you can really count on you know Alec Pierce I cut him this week

I had a better option to put on my roster. I hated to do it, but his ascension is not happening under an inexperienced quarterback. So Pittman, yeah, we're watching with some nervousness. So then are you, let me throw out a couple names here to see if you would pivot away from Michael Pittman. Oh boy. Would you play Tyler Boyd at Cleveland? Yeah. Yeah, I would. Yeah, I would. Would you play Devante Smith in that juicy, juicy matchup? Yes, I would. Yeah, I'd play Devante Smith. I gave up so much to give Michael Pittman. I'm so upset. All right. And then in this matchup, Terry McLaurin, who finally saw a 25% target share for the, his highest target share of the year was 21% back in week three. Other than that, he's been in the teens with Taylor Heineke. It was back to let's force feed Terry McLaurin the ball. Would you play him over Pittman?

That one's close. You know, the Colts defense, great against wide outs, giving up 20 a game. I think I'm right on the fence there. I'm right on the fence there. Thank you, Andy. You're welcome. Speaking of McLaurin, I think you can take your shot there. Curtis Samuel, you can take a shot there in a PPR league. If you're not in full PPR, I'm not excited about Heineke throwing it to Curtis Samuel when the Colts give up 18.7 a game. I would agree with that. But in a full PPR, there are enough manufactured touches for Curtis Samuel drawn up plays. I think he got five carries last week. Yep. So you know he's going to touch the ball enough to be to have a baseline, even if his ceiling isn't super high. How are you feeling about Brian Robinson? 17 opportunities, 22 opportunities the last two weeks. They won the ball game last week when he got 22 chances.

Are you confident enough to flex him out in this week? I think that's what he is. He's a flex option. He's touching the ball enough to be fantasy relevant. I'm not excited because, you know, the offense doesn't look like one that's going to score a ton of points. So, you know, right now they're projected for 18.3 fantasy points. I mean, that's fewer than the Houston Texans are projected this week. 18.3. Or real points. Yeah. This is probably a fine matchup with because you have the debut of Ellen Giger. But the, but the, uh, uh, but Brian Robinson, I think he is, he is still in a spot where he will get game scripted out. If the manders are in, if the manders are getting blown out, then.

you'll see those touches come down. You'll see more Gibson. You'll see more McKiss. And you can play both defenses in this game. Taylor Heineke is never afraid to throw an interception. And we don't know the tendencies of Sam Ellinger. And I do think that they're going to try to protect him. So there's a chance that he doesn't throw the ball that much, doesn't turn the ball over. But also, this is his first NFL start. He has not thrown a pass as a starter in a regular season game. And, you know, his draft capital is not, he's not some highly touted superstar of the future. Yeah, he looked good in the preseason. Yes. But that is a different ball game. Fantasy because he runs. The 49ers are taking on the three and three Los Angeles Rams. Draft King Sportsbook line here, 49ers. Man. One and a half point favorites on the road. Over under is 42 and a half. I believe seven consecutive games that Kyle Shanahan has won over Sean McVe.

Yeah, it's... Mike, did you share that graphic with me the other day? I mean, it has been domination. It's a big, big game for this division. Shanahan just has McVeigh's number. It's wild. You watch these games and just outclass. Now, that being said, I mean, that streak can't happen forever. Like, that's already a crazy streak. So you can bet against it if you want. And if you wanted to bet against it, now might be the time solely because you have the Rams coming off of a buy. They have extra time to prepare for this game. Their real strength is their run defense. And the real strength of the San Francisco 49ers is the running game, especially considering I don't think Debo Samuel plays this week. Yeah, he did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. So if you've got no Debo Samuel and your new shiny object of Christian McCaffrey is going up against the strength run defense of the Rams, maybe the Rams at home off a by can actually win this matchup.

I don't think so. I'm trying to be a glass. I know. I get it. And the problem is, is this offense for the Rams, I don't know if it's fixed in a byweek. And I don't know if it's fixed going up against the 49ers defense. It could be. It's going to be close. I mean, the line is one and a half. So the problem is, is Cooper Cup is like the only guaranteed start on that ram side of the football, right? I mean, Tyler Higby, look, his time, his window, I think, is going to be closing. It could be. And he's still relevant for fantasy. It's just Van Jefferson is going to be back soon. Cooper Cup, Alan Robinson, more involved last time out. I just, I'm a little nervous because it's not like Higbee hasn't had windows of availability or, I mean, viability for fantasy players in the past. But the last time out, two targets, one catch for seven yards. It makes me a little nervous. I mean, he was, he was good for parts of last year.

But long stretches of limitations too. Yeah, Higby's always gone in stretches and spurts of being a really important part of this offense. And if you look at the stretch he was on, he was on pace for 163 targets. That's, we all know. That's an accident. There's nobody in the world that would be like, yeah, he's going to finish the year with 163 targets. So if he finishes the year with 100 targets, you know that the target numbers are going way down the rest of the way. So. You know, Alan Robinson, nice game last time. I'd be too nervous to start him in this matchup. Yeah, if you want to send him on your bench. Now, is Brandon Iuca, is a really good start this week? I think Brandon Iuke is a very good start. 11 targets, two straight weeks. Yeah, I mean, a ton of targets. You don't have Debo Samuel. Where you beat the Rams is against the wide receiver position. They're strong against everything else. I really do think Brandon Ayuk should probably be started on most rosters that he's on. And then Christian McCaffrey.

After a week of practice, you always start him. Oh, yes. Jimmy Grappolo is streaming option. George Kittle, the tight-in six and the tight-in won the past two weeks. Jason acquired him two weeks ago, so I give you all the credit. Thank you. I hope it keeps up. This isn't a great matchup for tight-ins, but when you've got George Kittle, you're just playing. The matchups are irrelevant. The Giants at six and one. Take on the four and three Seattle Seahawks. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Seahawks minus three. Because the Giants are always going to be underdogs. Come on. I think Seattle wins a game. I think it's time. It still is like, they're six and one. Yeah.

I worry a little bit for Seattle's offense with the health of D.K. Metcalfe and Tyler Lockett's still dealing with the hamstring issue, playing through it. I was happy he moved to full practice early in the week. Yeah, that is very, very good because you need him at full health if D.K. Metcalfe isn't there. We'll never know whether he's truly fully healthy or not, but what we've seen over the last couple weeks, he hasn't looked the same. Kenneth Walker is very, very good at football. It will be a challenge. for him this week against the Giants defensive front, but nothing that will make you change whether you're playing him. So, you know, lock it's a scary start, but if DK's out, which he should be, I think you can go his, you can look his direction.

But are you going after Marquis Goodwin? Are you chasing the four for 67 and two? I mean, it's just really hard to do that. It feels like a big trap. It feels like there's somebody else in this offense that might be involved. Maybe it's a Disney touchdown week. Maybe it's no affant. You can give it a go, but. Here's where I'm at. Let me just. Yeah, let's hear it. I picked up Marquise Goodwin. Remember last week's double flex of Michael Gallup and Romeo Dobbs? And we were talking on the waiver show. Well, what about? Marquis Goodwin. If D.K. Metcalf doesn't play. Do you play him over them? And we determined, yeah, we would rather throw Marquis Goodwin in there. I took a deeper dive and a look and the matchups and everything. And I decided, I'm going to pick up Mike Gassicki and play a double. Oh, a two tight in. I'm going tight in. So I'm going Gisicki over those other options because I do agree with you. I think Goodwin is a bit of a trap.

Well, Saquan on the other side. His worst fantasy finish of the entire year is RB17. Please keep playing him. Daniel Jones. And the matchup. The matchup is so good against the Seahawks. The Seahawks, the last two weeks have been much, much better on defense. I'm just going to say that. I think Daniel Jones, because of the way by weeks worked out, Herbert, Mahomes, you can play him. But the season-long Seahawks, the last couple of weeks, look, if it wasn't for a garbage time, Last two minute, Justin Herbert touchdown. He has a disastrous week against them. Kyla Murray had a tough week against them. I'm just throwing it out there that their defense, like teams do change. They do get better. They had a ton of rookies. They have evolved a little bit. And I think that, like I said, I think Seattle wins the ball game and they're at home. I'm just warning you that I think the floor might be lower than you think on Daniel Jones this week.

On Daniel Jones, I would agree. On Sequin, I think, against this defense. That was all about Daniel Jones. That's why I was talking about the quarterbacks. Sure. I was still piggybacking off of the matchup for running backs for Sequin. There should be rain in this game as well. I don't know if it will be enough to affect the passing game and promote the running game, but really the two players you want in this game are Walker and Barclay. So it's kind of like, ooh, a little rain, let's go. Sure. And then Wondale Robinson. I think he's startable as a flex player. The Seahawks, they've been solid against wide receivers over the course of the season, fifth and schedule adjusted points. But I think that, was the Tony trade yesterday? Yes. Who knows what day it is? And most of that reaction was just like, holy crap, Cadarious Tony is going to the Kansas City Chiefs. That's crazy. And I think we just, in passing, kind of throughout Wondale Robinson, but that's,

That's a big win for Wondale moving forward. He is an interesting player. This team has basically nothing at the wide receiver position. It's more valuable to me in like a long-term dynasty perspective because Tony wasn't playing this whole year. So it's not like our excitement for Wondale changes from this week because Tony wasn't playing. But your excitement for Wondale goes down. if Cadarious Tony gets back on the field. Of course. That's been all a part of the, what is the value? What is the real value of Wondale Robinson? Well, he was drafted by this regime, but Cadarious Tony can be back, and he's a good player. So I think it's a, it's a big, bigger deal for Wondale.

Because immediately his value just sustains and goes up as he gets more integrated into the office. I think it locks him in as the number one target for the rest of the season for this team. I don't necessarily think that the number one target for the Giants in Daniel Jones is fantasy gold, especially out of the slot and a player like Wondale. You know, I would expect the rest of the season him to average 10 targets a game because it's not, we know it's not Sterling Shepard, he's gone. We know it's not Kenny Goliday. He retired. We know it's not Cadarious Tony. They literally traded him. So, you know, David Sills and Richard James and Darius Slayton, Dary Slate might have a bigger fantasy day when he catches a bomb touchdown. But I think the main wide receiver one for the Giants is Wondale rest of season. Yeah, I'll push back. I don't think that's the case.

I think they're a prime candidate to pick somebody up. And Wondale's- To sign a free agent? No, like make a trade before the deadline. Wondale, I'm just throwing it out there. Like Wondale having a good game, you know, six targets, that's 50 yards. That's if he doesn't get into the end zone. I mean, he got in the end zone two weeks ago. That's wide receiver 27. I think he's pretty capped as a possession receiver. So full PPR, I like him. I do not think he's going to be. Super meaningful. I will push back on your pushback, sir. Two weeks ago when he was the wide receiver 27 with that touchdown, he played 23% of the snaps at his first game back from injury. Then he moved up to a very nice 69% of snaps, led the team of targets with eight. And going forward, I mean, if he ends up with six, seven, eight receptions a game, he's going to be a very...

reliable PPR option. I think he's more of a PPR play than, than, you know, half or standard. I just don't see him not demanding targets. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, he's essentially played two games and really just one, which was last week. So I'm trying to project for the future of someone who can really gain value here. Yeah. Wondell Robinson's in contention. Green Bay, Buffalo, Sunday night football, Packers. 11 point underdogs on the road. The overrunners 47 and a half. By the way, Jerry Judy was the name being mentioned with the Giants. We'll see. They've shown particular interest, according to beat reporters. They do have an extra third or third and a sixth. Yeah. Yeah, that was a big trade for them. Bills, heavy favorites, Packers, implied point totals, 18. The overunders, 47 and a half.

I mean, starting Packers right now is, that's what I'm giggling at. It's the Green Bay Packers, and Aaron Rogers is still the quarterback, and I'm looking through them, and I want to start nobody from that team on the road against the Buffalo Bills. And what a insane place to be that, like, if Lazard were active and healthy, maybe I would be like, okay, I guess my wide receiver three this week is Alan Lazard. But he's going to miss. He called himself doubtful. The Lizard King, no thanks. Romeo Dobbs and the drops and the lack of trust. And even Aaron Jones is like eight for 23 on the ground. Yeah, he had the 10 targets, but can. I don't think you can set him, but he's the only one I want to play. Yeah, but I don't want to play him, but I guess I will. Yeah, I mean, we're not going to start.

Rogers, right? Correct. He doesn't have weapons to throw the ball too, and he's playing against a great defense on the road in Buffalo. The ever popular, should I start this running back, would you play Rahim Mostert against the Detroit Lions? Oh, of course. Yeah, well above Aaron Jones. Okay. Would you play Devon Singletary on the other side of the ball or Aaron Jones? No, I'd play Aaron Jones. Yeah, I would as well. I currently have Devon Singletary ranked higher. Would you play? Let's see. Is there a good name here? I mean, Aaron Jones caught nine passes last week. Yeah? But what has he been doing before that through the air? Well, I mean, he's had two huge games this year. I just think the pedigree, the history of Aaron Jones over outweighs the Devon Singletar. It's not like Singletary's had all good games this year. And you don't know how Singletary is going to be used in this game. It was a little bit easier to predict when you.

had a game against Kansas City Chiefs and you knew it was going to be competitive. This game might not be competitive. And if it's not, usually in those games, even though that's a boon for the running back one, oftentimes for Devin Singletary, when it's not competitive, then they bring other people out. This is a team that has the chance to bring James Cook more involved, get him more snaps in a game like this. This is the time of year where those rookies get more involved. So I lean for the, Aaron Jones always has the, opportunity for an explosive game, even in a bad matchup. So I would go him over, over Singleton. All right. Stefan Diggs. Yes. Gabe Davis. Yes. Gabe Davis, number one, number 13, the last two weeks was 12 and week one, was injured in between. We hope that it continues. He is big play dependent right now. Yeah, he's big play dependent and big play magnetic. So he was, uh, he had two touchdowns two weeks ago, one touchdown.

last week. What I'm going to be watching for in this game is James Cook and Khalil Shakir, specifically the timeshare between Isaiah McKenzie and Khalil Shakir, the wide receivers in the slot. I want to see coming out of the buy, do they work those rookies more into the game plan? Or is this just, you know, if Isaiah McKenzie's back to full health, is he just the dude? I think it'll be really telling for potential value beyond this game. I'm not starting either one of them in this matchup. Dawson Knox. No, thank you. Is there a chance that he gets more, I mean, he got another week off from the injury was the number 10 tight end last time we saw him. I'm just curious if he could train the right direction. I don't think so. They've used him as a blocker a lot this season. I mean, he was the number 10 tight end with, what, 37 yards. He had a big touchdown down the field. Right. So three targets, three receptions is just not involved enough in the passing game to have me. We named a bunch of guys yesterday on, you know,

the matchups and the starts of the week that I would much rather have, like a Gassiki off of waiver. You think there's any chance he gets more involved after the buy, the way Shakir, what you're watching with Shakir. Well, Shakir and Cook, I think that that's when you have the ability to take these rookies who weren't involved and get them more involved. I mean, it's not like he hasn't been involved. He's been on the field 86% of snaps, 85% of snaps before the buy week. It's just a matter of how they're using him. And I think it's a Gabe Davis problem for him. Like they didn't have.

They didn't have another elite touchdown threat last year. You had Stefan Diggs and then, you know, who was Emmanuel Sanders and just guys who aren't a huge body like this. Gabe Davis is a big boy. The Cincinnati Bengals, four and three take on the two and five Cleveland Browns on Monday night football. They'll be without Jamar Chase. The trafficking sports book line, Bengals minus three. The overrunners 45. Joe Burrow, back-to-back, quarterback one weeks. Three passing touchdowns in each of them. Zach Taylor, please, please let it continue. I think it will mostly continue. This is not like a switch, right? You don't have like two modes where you switch it to one side and it's pass heavy and you switch it to the other side and it's run heavy. There's nuance here, Joe Burrow. They've been successful. You're certainly going to...

have an opportunity on Monday Night Football to be successful, and T. Higgins is a one. I mean, T. Higgins is a one on any other team in the NFL. So I think, yeah, maybe you work a very, you know, important Joe Mixing into the ball game, but I wouldn't bench Burrow or have great fears of his utilization. I'm not benching him, certainly, but the concern of it, I mean, they had that run switch on at the beginning of the year when Gerald Burrow was not. fantasy friendly and Joe Mixon was getting a billion carries every game. So it's possible to go back. But you're not, you're not benching any of these players. Joe Burrow is in. T. Higgins is in. Where do you guys have, what is your kind of gut reaction to? T. Higgins over this stretch. Again, we, we don't know fully what, yeah, what's going on with Jamar Chase. He's not on the IR as of right now. But if he is, that's a full month of games.