Unsolved Mysteries + Hungry for More, Prophetic Hope - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/20

It's a jam-packed episode. We talk about three players that we are hungry for more production. We break down some unsolved mysteries. A lot of news going on with the Cleveland Browns running backs and the Thursday night matchup. Make sure you subscribe right now. Leave us some comments and enjoy the show. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Wednesday, September 20th, welcome into the fantasy footballers podcast. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Back in the building, ready to talk fantasy football with you. The deucers are here as well. Judge Giamatti, Al Borland, the rap scallion. They all got the caps on. I've been the only one ruining this little cap festival the last couple days. It's all right. All are welcome. All are welcome. You want to wear a hat? Yeah, head up. Put it on. You want to take it off? That's fine. Yeah.

Take it off, Jay. Yeah. No, no. I don't want to take it off. He said if you want to. Oh, it's freedom. Freedom of hat choice. He's being an American. Okay. Exercise your freedom, not to display the top of your head. Yeah, well, it's, I mean, it's a compounding issue now. You got hat hair with a little hair. Yeah, don't take it off. Welcome in Thursday night preview today. We've got Unsolved Mysteries. We are looking at some of the... biggest question marks around fantasy football through two weeks. We've got some news to talk about, hungry for more on the show today. It's a busy jam-packed episode, and we've got big news from this morning to talk about as well. So happy to have you with us. Thank you for supporting the show. Thank you for subscribing over on YouTube. We appreciate it. It's the best way to catch Mike the Fantasy Hitman live every Sunday morning before the games, part giving you analysis, part freaking out himself.

which is 100% fantasy football. I'm with you. 100% fun. Yeah, it's a good time. That's ballerslive.com. You can catch Mike over there. Thanks to everybody that's left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Yeah, and also just to throw that out, if you subscribe, if you subscribe on YouTube and hit that bell, then whenever Mike goes live, you will be notified. You could just throw it on your phone. It's super easy. I watch you every week, Mike. Oh, thanks, buddy. You're welcome. He's watching you. And what else? The new Dynasty podcast, new episode, just landed this morning. Yeah, we break down some trends. We break down Nick Chubb's dynasty value. I mean, a lot. Yeah, I know. Look, these are tough conversations, but you have to have them. Dynasty football never stops. And this is a podcast, not a funeral? Correct. Okay, good. Correct.

And what else, Mike? We've got something spicy going on. Yeah, we are up for a Signal Award, Best Sports Podcast. So we need the... I like winning things. We need the Foot Clan to head over there and support us. If you got a moment, Foot Clan Vote.com. It won't take you very long. And if we went, it's a really cool trophy. It is a really cool. I mean, that's what it comes down to. We look at the aesthetics of the trophies we could win and decide whether or not to enlist the footclane. It's real shiny. It is pretty shiny. I like it. I think last year we have a silver and a bronze. Oh, no. I bet you the gold one's shinier. Yes, it is. And heavier. And heavier. Footclamvote.com to make Mike happy. Please. And let's move on. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eads.

All right, here we are post week two looking at some hungry for more candidates, players that we have recently seen flashing out there, providing some fantasy value, maybe some nibbles for the first time in a while, and now we are hungry for more. Mike, I'm going to let you go first because if it wasn't for you, my answer would have been Nico Collins, but I didn't want to double down on Houston Texans whiteout, so go ahead. That's fair. Like, I think, I think Nico's that guy. So, like, I'm hungry for more fancy points from Nico, but I think that they're coming. This guy, the question is, will they? It's Tank Dell, their rookie wide receiver. He was a third round pick. He is little bitty baby boy. That is the knock against him. But at the University of Houston, Monster Production. Guys, final, Kyle, are we sure on these stats?

What? Final two years. That's correct. 199 receptions, 2,727 receiving yards and 29 receiving touchdown. This guy was a production monster. And what does he do in his first real chance with Noah Brown not out there? 10 targets, 7 for 72 with a tutty, 79% of the snaps, believe that was more snaps than Nico Collins. And I'm... The question is, will this keep continuing? Because C.J. Stroud looks better than a rookie should look in the situation that he's placed in. Negative game scripts. The Houston Texans on top of that are passing more in a neutral situations than we would have expected. And Tank Dell, he may just be good. I know he's a hot waiver wire pickup. I'm trying to get him on my teams where he's available.

And I'm hungry. But you did not get him on your team where he was available. Waivers just ran. You got out bed. He went for 10 Fab in our league of record. So that just went through. But yeah, I think Tankdale is, you know, when you have a rookie wide receiver with opportunity in an offense that's giving you some unexpected passing volume, negative game scripts, I like it. Jason, why don't you? Go with a guy I don't agree with. Oh, you're wrong. You're wrong. Get hungry because I am hungry for more on Gabe the babe. Gabe Davis. I know this was a guy. I was really excited about coming into last year. Even though he finished as the wide receiver 29, it came in, you know, in spurts and was a disappointment overall last season. What I am hungry for is very, very simple.

catching the ball. I mean, I'm so hungry for catching. You're hungry for ketchup? Catchup on the ball. Yeah, that's what I said. I love a good, you know, put the pigskin and catch up. Okay. Last week, he had the highest catch rate of his entire career. He's never had a game where he caught the ball so well, so long as you take away, you know, like two for two and he's 100% catch rate in a game. Any game where he's had more than three targets, he's never done what he did this last week. Shout out to the Raiders. Sure, all through training camp. You had the same exact phrase, the same thing being said. It was early on, it was through camp, it was through preseason, that Gabe Davis is catching everything. I don't know why that that's how it was being reported, but all the beat reporters were saying he's catching everything thrown his way. And then what he did was he caught.

Six of his seven targets for 92 yards and a touchdown. And this is a guy who is out on the field. He has run over 80 routes already in two weeks. Last season, he had a pace of over 100 targets, finished with 48 receptions. This is a guy who is playing in an offense where if he gets up to 65% catch rate, he's going to be great for fantasy football because the targets are there. The offense is there. I am hungry for him to catch the ball at higher percentage. And so far so good this year. I mean, there's a reason right now, Josh Allen leads the NFL and completion percentage. Some of that is Gabe Davis. So let's just keep doing it, especially, especially for my League of Record team. It's more of a prophetic hope. I think a prophetic hope is a wonderful title for Gabe Davis. This year he's had one really bad matchup and one very good matchup. And so the truth shall be revealed. Last year it was.

tough to know when you'd get him. And so more consistent, higher target share would be nice for Gabe Davis. That's my concern. But, you know, this is hungry for more. And I understand. I am making the very difficult decision to select a player that was my demise this past week. This is big of you. It's George Pickens. I am hungry for more of George Pickens in the Pittsburgh offense in part because... There is no Deonté Johnson. He's on IR. No, no, no, no. I mean, he's on IR, but he's day to day. Right. He's day. On that I are. Yeah. It's not Alan Robinson that's going to be the proliferator of the offense. It's not Najee Harris, who prefers going backwards. It is George Pickens. And what I'm hungry for in particular is what we saw this past week, which was, we did it, America. We didn't just send George Pickens on a go route down the sideline.

His big play was a crossing route in the middle of the field. He turned on the jets. I mean, you talk about explosive capability. George Pickens is a much more dynamic receiver than we've had the opportunity to see. Kenny Pickett is pretty awful, but he'll be better if he throws it to George Pickens. So, you know, he has more 20-plus-yard receptions. then Garrett Wilson and Oliva combined since the beginning of 2022. He has a big play machine. I just want to see the target start to go his way so that we can get it all on display. Yeah, and if they were catchable, it would be awesome. You guys old enough to remember when the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense looked unstoppable in preseason? Yeah. Yeah, me too. They have looked bad. Sorry, Steelers. Bad. There are some players that...

just stayed the same this season. Then there are a player, I mean, Baker is a player that's in the other camp. You know, Baker's had a better than an expected season. But can he picket? Looks like Kenny Pickett this year. Justin Fields has not taken a leap at all. No, no, I mean, watching, like if you're too happy, like maybe you're too happy, life's going your way too much, you're smiling a lot, you're laughing. You want to tone that down, go watch some of the film of Justin Fields. and the lack of decisiveness. And, yeah, some players stay the same. Some players have changed. It's tough to buy into the hype. Yeah, Getsy. Designed runs, okay? Designed runs for Justin Fields. He's got a superpower. Just use that. Don't make him throw the ball. All right. That was hungry for more. Presented by Uber Eats with Uber Eats. Get anything delivered? Well, almost, almost anything. Running backs? No. No.

Flapjacks and babybacks? Yeah. Yeah, you can do that. Order now on the app. Product availability may vary by region. See the app for details. News and notes from Around the League. Presented by USAA Insurance. Big news this morning. Waver Day. A lot of people out there fighting for Jerome Ford and the Browns have signed Cream Hunt to a one-year deal. It happened this morning. Jerome Ford, there was a heavy investment. Jason and I have had actually an opportunity to talk about this situation for quite a bit of time before the show. Mike, we have not spoken to you about it. So I am curious your take of what you think this backfield will look like. Jason and I are in pretty much we have the same opinion. Well, I will start that this morning, if you are persistently online, such as myself, it was a wild ride because it went from, you know, later last night.

Cream Hunt is going to be visiting the Cleveland Browns. And then it was, oh, there was, we need a correction in the verbiage because it was, no, Kareem Hunt's going to try out. And there is a very big difference of if someone is visiting, that means the team already is good. Like, we know you're a good player. Let's see if it's a fit, contractually speaking. But a tryout means we need to make sure that you still have juice. So that it was like, okay, cream stock up. Well, cream stock down. Then this morning it was, oh, Cream Hunt very, very close to a one-year deal. Whoa. And two come in and the verbiage of the tweet was replace Nick Chubb. And it was like, oh, crap. Cream on stock way back up. And then we got another Cleveland Beat report saying, no, no, no, no. Jerome Ford will still be the leader of this backfield. So it was an insanely bumpy ride this morning. I adjusted. Jerome Ford wasn't available in.

the majority of my leagues. And my, I mean, I wish I could show you guys. That's just the ticker of the fab that I was on. I'm like, okay, I'm in on drone four. Whoa, whoa, that's, I'm out. I'm out. Oh, I'm back in. I'm out. I'm back in, baby. So where have you landed? I have. I have landed on the fact that what has happened in the past of going back to when they refused to trade Kareem Hunt. We're not exactly sure why, but maybe they just, they weren't going to get the draft pick they wanted. And then they did not use Kareem Hunt. And when they used him, he was quite inefficient. They did not bring him back over the offseason. They felt like Jerome Ford was good enough. He was ready to go. He had enough time as a rookie. So I do believe that Jerome Ford will see the, I think this is a 1-2, not a 1-A-1B. I think this is 1-2 and it's Jerome Ford. That is essentially, I believe, how Andy and I have it. We see Kareem Hunt coming back.

to this team to not change what, I mean, this is the same coaching staff, the same team, the same situation. It seems very clear and straightforward that at least to start, Kareem Hunt should play the Kareem Hunt role, the one that he had last year. And he was, I know it feels like he was completely uninvolved. We talked about when they didn't trade him, they didn't use him. And they did. He was on the field for 42% of their snaps on the season. He played in every single game. He just didn't do much because he isn't the Kareem Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs. He isn't the 2017 version of Kareem Hunt. He has lost a step. He's not the guy that is, you know, sometimes you go, well, how is he going to keep this great player behind him from overtaking him, even if Jerome Ford starts with the lead role. Kareem Hunt isn't that dude anymore. Kareem Hunt is a veteran.

who is necessary for this depth chart, who knows the system, who will come in on third downs. He will probably receive more receiving work than Jerome Ford. But Jerome Ford is the one. Jerome Ford is going to play the Nick Chubb role. And obviously the big difference here, Andy, you said this really well in the studio beforehand, was Nick Chubb cannot lose the Nick Chub role. Jerome Ford could. If Jerome Ford comes out and just... is putrid. Ball security issues. Sure, yeah. Shorter leash. Bad efficiency, etc. That being said, I think Jerome Ford, he showed enough in week one for me to believe that he's going to keep that role. So I, he's not Nick Chub. He's not going to put up the numbers Nick Chub did because Nick Chub is special. But he will be the one and Cream Hunt will be someone that I don't, I don't think is going to be very relevant. He'll be out there for third down. And I also believe that Cream Hunt was extremely selective with his.

where he wanted to go this offseason. We've seen that, right? He's had opportunities. He had visited some places. It was reported that he went to the Saints. And I think Chicago? I thought it was Indianapolis. Oh, yeah, okay. It was Indianapolis. I do think that there's some level of guarantee provided him that he'll be utilized. I don't think that he's agreeing to this deal to come here and they say, well, you're not going to be on the field. So I think I'll be there on third down. And I think I'd rather have drummed forward overall because of how washed, I think, Kareem Hunt is.

Yeah, I agree. It was also... But he's going to frustrate Jerome Ford managers. He could. And also, Pierre Strong was the current backup. And they... Who was a release from... Yeah, they saw... Oh, no, they traded him. Wait. It was a trade from New England to get Pierce Strong. But it was, they saw it on the field. And they said, no, we got to upgrade that. You lose Nick Chubb, you got to add to the room. So if Hunt is still on your waivers, I think he's a cursory ad because running backs are hard to come by. But, you know, I wouldn't be throwing him right in the lineup anytime soon either. Yeah, yeah, give him a little while to acclimate, get ready, and see what his role is really going to be. And I would assume that, you know, week one, week two of his availability, he's not going to even play his role yet.

as he works back into football shape. Jamal Williams out for the immediate future with the hamstring injury. And head coach Dennis Allen says, Kendry Miller will be a full go at practice. Here we go, baby. This week, which is going to dominate. Let's go, Kendra. We've got one week before Alvin Kamara comes back. This is your moment. With Kendry Miller actually in the spotlight with a chance to hopefully stay healthy. He's got a match up against Green Bay. Through two weeks, they've given up the 26th most fantasy points to running back position. Come on, Kendrae. Are you optimistic? I am optimistic. You know, it's one of those things where I believe the talent of Kendra Miller is really, really good. I know both Mike and myself absolutely loved his collegiate film. He was one of our...

favorites. What we saw in very, very, very limited work this offseason since he spent most of it re-injuring and recovering and then re-endering himself was great. Like, you know, he caught that bomb wheel route passed down the field in his one preseason game that I remember. I think if he comes in and he's a full go and you don't have Alvin Kamarian, you don't have Jamal Williams, he's going to get enough opportunity to show his talent in a winnable matchup and I think he'll succeed. Some concern about Anthony Richardson's availability. He's still in the concussion protocol. He will not practice Wednesday. And so Gardner-Minshu could end up getting the start. We'll monitor that situation. Dan Campbell said Amun-Raw-St. Brown will not practice on Wednesday. It's considered day-to-day. It's concerning to me because Amundraa-St. Brown is not the kind of wide receiver where it's a big play here or a big play there. He's generally a pile-it-up type of guy. And if this...

Like, are you getting 80% of Amanrae St. Brown if he's dealing with turf toe? And is 80% enough for you? I mean, what is your moving forward policy with Amman Ross St. Brown? Yeah, I mean, I think that's the way I see it. You're going to get 75, 80% of Alman Ross St. Brown. Yes, to answer your question, that is good enough to be started in fantasy football. You know, because he's usually that, you know, great off the line. good route running, you know, get a short, quick pass. I do worry a little bit about that explosiveness off that foot. Hopefully they'll figure out, you know, which ways to utilize him better with the specific foot injury he has. I'm still going to keep him in my lineup if he's active, though. Okay. Well, one more piece of news from the best named beat writer in the land. Jack Hammer. Jack Hammer. Okay. I thought you just stopped the Jack. Pause for effect.

Of the Santa Rosa Press, Democrats said, Brandon Ayyuk had a CT scan yesterday. Revealed no break in the clavicle area, limited in practice, game time decision, Thursday night game. What's your gut telling you right now? Are you making plans? My gut is telling me that he will be active and he will absolutely not be in my lineup. Once he got hurt again the second time in that game, he didn't do much from then on out. I think he. I think he's in a role where he like, this is, this is, you know, just my own opinion, no insight. But it feels like he, because he was dog housed for effort early in his career and Shanahan loves the hard, tough, gritty play through injury guys. He loves Jack Hammer. Yeah. Oh, for sure. I think Brandon Ayuk's going to just say, I have to be out there. I will be out there. But he's, I think he's really hurt. So I don't think he's going to be great. I am.

I will be making plans to put someone else in my lineup because either he's out and you have to or he's in and I would hope I can have a better option. All right. Any other news? You got anything, Bruxie? Not yet. That was today's news and notes presented as always by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back with unsolved mysteries. All right, we are back. And we've got questions. And it's time to answer them. I hope you guys have the answers. Unsolved mysteries. All right, here we go. Last year, for what it's worth, the top mysteries after two weeks that we were talking about, the usage of Kyle Pitts. Okay, which we have the answer. The Bengals offense and offensive line woes. We got a very definitive answer the rest of the season. Russell Wilson, whether he can turn it around. He didn't. But he did not turn it around.

And then Matt Ryan and the Colts offense last year. Matt Ryan was once a quarterback in the National Football League. The graphic team is. Jason has a full head of hair. Jason is, and he's got the trench coat on? I mean, is that a paying homage to? Yeah, whatever is. Sherlock? No, the host of Unsolved Mysteries. That's right. That's, that's his hair. William Riker. Robert Stack. Oh, is that? Oh, that was unsolved mission. Who was I was like? You were thinking of the never happened. Oh, yeah. I was thinking. Not this time. Yeah. What show is that? Brooks. What was that show? Crap. I don't know. Oh, we got to look this up. Rap Scallion? No, he's shaking his head. The whole. We've lost it. We've made it up. If you don't know what we're referencing, we've got to tweet this out. It's an all-timer.

All right, guys, I've had to search Will Riker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To find out the actor's name. Remind me. Jonathan Friggs. Okay. And now Jonathan Friggs. That name is made up. Beyond belief. Oh, is that what that show was? Okay. Yeah. Well, here we are in Unsolved Mysteries. We made it up. And number one. Number one is Jemir Gibbs' usage and whether it will improve. Now, let me give you some numbers because I think it's been hard for fantasy players to understand what's happened. And you had an RB36 finish in week one. He had 27% of the snaps, ran nine routes, seven rushing attempts, 60 total yards, just two targets. Last week, week two, he was a running back 24 in fantasy. 9.1 fantasy points played 48% of snaps, 21 routes.

Seven rush attempts, nine targets, which you'd like to see that number. Led the team in targets. And with the injuries taking place on this offense. Yeah. You know, Ammonrae St. Brown and now David Mopportunity, who is going to have the opportunity to sit on the bench for a few weeks. Well, he's day to day. What is the expectation for Jemir Gibbs' usage moving forward? Because as is often the case with rookie running backs, it has been a slow acclamation. Yeah, the opportunity for Jemir Gibbs is going to be essentially what we saw last game. That is my belief. I think he will be a max 55% snap type of player. It was at 48% of snaps. I don't think he's going to get much more than the 16 opportunities he had last game. And that is absolutely enough for Gibbs to be very good.

He's never going to be a guy that's out there touching the ball 30 times. He's not built for it, and I don't believe this team wants to use him in that way. They drafted him for the role that we're seeing. Will his usage go up a little bit more than week two? Yeah, that was his second week in the NFL. I believe he gets on the field a little bit more, slightly above 50%. He's never going to be a workhorse, never going to be a bell cow, and he's never going to need to beat. He was 2.4 yards per carry last week.

As putrid, he did not have any explosive run. That's not going to be the norm. This guy is just a lightning bolt on the field. If he finds a crease, he's gone. Very similar to like Kenneth Walker. Kenneth Walker can just suck, suck, suck, tackle, tackle, tackle. Oh, there you go. He's gone. He's got a great fantasy day. So let me highlight something to you. He had. an opportunity on 50% of his snaps last week. He had a 36.6.6% target per route run last week. And that's insane for a running back. And so you're talking about above Alvin Camara's best season and Echler's best season and McCaffrey's best season and David Johnson's best season. So if that type of number continues, it's only going to be a matter of time until...

you have a very explosive fantasy production day. And at least in the short term, the Amin Rae St. Brown, should he miss time or be limited because he actually has turf toe? I think Jemir Gibbs is the number one benefactor of that situation. Like we could see plenty of snaps where you're like, oh, look in the backfield. Oh, it's freaking Craig Reynolds again. But then look at the slot. Oh, there's Jemir Gibbs. So I... I do believe that the arrow is still pointing up. Being in on 48% of the snaps, but seeing an opportunity on 50% of them is absolutely outrageous. That's a player that they need to get on the field more, and they will figure it out. Let me ask you this then, because would you rather have Remandre Stevenson and what you've seen from the New England offense, or would you rather have Jemir Gibbs moving forward? I'd rather have Ramandre Stevenson. I still think that he...