Starts of the Week + Week 1 Breakdown, It’s Football Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/10

if he goes back out there and goes full force, full game mode, and tears it on that first drive, you've really hurt your team. And I don't know that he has the upside to say, well, I've got to take that shot. So let's put this in. What about Kareem Hunt or David Montgomery? Kareem Hunt plays Baltimore. That's a situation that you probably have. I would play Kareem Hunt. I think I would as well, especially if it's any kind of PPR. If it's, if it's,

Well, either way, I think I would play Cream Hunt. Let's go a little bit further down the rung, though, Jason. Let me throw out some names. J.K. Dobbins. I play Montgomery. Hands down. I would play Montgomery over J.K. Dobbins. And how about James Robinson out of Jacksonville? And this is a news blurb coming up. Divine Ozygbo, the other potential starting running back for Jacksonville, was put on IR, because they brought on Dari Ogunba Wale.

formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So James Robinson and Chris Thompson are those are the guys for Jacksonville. I would absolutely start Chris Thompson. Great point. Yes. Well, that's not what I'm asking about. I take the shot on Robinson in week one in that situation. But Montgomery, regardless of whether he plays this week. Adjusting lineup? The Bears did not add to the depth chart at running back. That should be a good sign for Montgomery's recovery regardless.

Mike, you mentioned Divine Azigbo on to IR. James Robinson is a sneaky start this week. And they also didn't add Devante Freeman who visited with them. So Freeman is looking to visit as many places as possible, but not stay. He's been racking up air miles for a long time. And so he's just got to get him out now. Yeah. Brashad Perryman, Denzel Mims practicing in full for week one. Both are going to make their debut as.

New York Jets. We do have an update that Mike Evans is not practicing today. All right. So I was listening to Bruce Ariens last night and what his words were on that situation was that if he practices today, he said tomorrow then, that he would obviously play. Otherwise it would have to be a game time decision. So you're not going to know until game time. And I strongly recommend having a backup plan. I would guess right now that he does not play. Yeah.

Well, maybe you drafted Deshaun Jackson and you have a backup plan already. Kenyon Drake, not listed on the injury report, ready to go for week one. Cooper Cup working on a contract extension with the Rams. That's important news because we weren't. We weren't sure if they were considering moving on from him with Van Jefferson. And then Sean McVeigh is talking about the backfield committing to that three-back committee, which I 100% think it will be. I think you're going to see a little, probably more Malcolm Brown than anybody.

And then Cam Acres worked in, and if he's good, maybe earning a bigger role. And I don't know if Daryl Henderson's going to make it in there. I don't think I'm, yeah, you're not counting on him week one. Any other big time news? Brooks, you got anything significant before we get into our matchup breaks down? No, sir. All right. We want to thank today's sponsor. We're talking about Theragon. Oh, yes, sir. The stress, gentlemen, of daily life weighs on all of us.

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Fantasy forecast. We get to talk about football. Thursday night football update for you. We talked about the Texas Chiefs game yesterday. So if you want to hear that breakdown, you can go to yesterday's episode of the show. Also, an update for everyone. I'm going to be eating so much pizza tonight. Oh, my goodness. It's pizza night. Hey. Are we going to be down here? I don't. No, I'm planning to be at home with the family who's playing fantasy for the first.

year. And they, I mean, before I left the house, they were like pulling up their teams. Do I have anybody? And I've got bad news. My son is starting his fantasy football career with Pat Mahomes against him on the first night of football. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that might be rough. That's thrown into the deep end. You learn the pain of the Thursday. Brandon Cooks for tonight's game is a true game day decision. He is a.

Full on, do not start, no matter what. No, get out. 100% agree. The source said so far so good. There's optimism he'll play. Great. First time with Deshaun Watson, first game of the year with an injury. Sit him on your bench. If he has a great game on your bench, be happy. Yeah, fantastic. You've got a good player. But the odds of that happening are 10% and the odds of the opposite happening are 90%. All right, the New York Jets.

Head to Buffalo to take on the bills. These two teams have the same record right now. They're competing for this division. The bills are six. This is a tuba matchup if I've ever seen one. Their bills are six and a half point favorites. It's a 39.5 point over under. What would that put the implied team total at for the New York Jets, Andy? 16.5 points. What? This is a matchup where you really have to think about.

Do you start any jets in week one? Yeah. Like if you have an option to pivot away from, you know, Lev Bell or even Jameson Crowder in week one in Buffalo, with that implied point total, it's just not a great situation. On the teams where I drafted Chris Herndon, which I can think of two, I have double tight ends on those teams, picked up Jack Doyle, picked up Eric Ebron to start them over.

Herndon this week. The Bills have a great defense, and the Jets have an offense led by Adam Gase. And Sam Darnold, who has stunk. I mean, this has been in all the reports and practice, we need to, I want to find the path for them to take the step forward. Maybe Chris Herndon is part of that path. Maybe it's Perryman and Mims. But week one against the bills, that's just a very, very difficult situation. Love Bell, we mentioned him on yesterday's Buy or Sell.

You know, he's a volume RB2 this week. Jason, yeah. You're going to take it to 100 with Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Are you going to play Levi on Bell? Ooh, that's a question I don't like you asking. I'd be Bell for sure for me. Yeah, I still think I'm going to go with the volume. Even though we said, you know, that 10 point line is going to be basically where Love Bell's at. And I think the upside.

is higher with Jonathan Taylor. The floor is secure with Lev Bell. He's going to get guaranteed more touches than Jonathan Taylor. He's also going to be involved in the receiving game. So in any kind of PPR format, I think his, you know, his floor is never terrible. His ceiling just is non-existent. What about on the other side of the ball, the team that's picked to win and they look, it's hard to not see a very positive game script for the running backs over on Buffalo.

The perceived starter, Devin Singletary, would you start him or Levy on Bell? I would start Devin Singletary. I think Singletary is going to have a good game. All right. I would go Bell there as well. You're right, though. The matchup is in favor of the Bills. Singletary, Moss making his debut. There's a couple starts of the week in here. Mike loves Josh Allen this week. I do as well. He's been one of those players that this week one matchup was a difference maker in.

picking from the later round quarterbacks. When Josh Allen was on the board, it's like, okay, I get a take Josh Allen, start him at home against the Jets in week one. So he's a smash play this week. Stefan Diggs making his debut, I think it's going to be a bright, bright day for Stefan Dix. Yeah, as much shade as I've thrown on Diggs in the draft season, because, you know, I'm still concerned season long, but week one, this is.

So you guys like the Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs stack. Yeah. That you have in League of Records. Yes. Oh, I forgot. Yes. I do declare. But this old thing. Very nice. Very nice. Also, I do want to say this because we're throwing a lot of shade on the Jets and rightfully so here from a fantasy perspective. But I would throw Jameson Crowder out in a PPR league. You would still do it? I still would. I don't expect, you know, I think he's going to have like eight receptions. Yeah. It might be for 50 yards. But.

Even still, if you've got that eight-point baseline, I think he is a safe, low-ceiling guy. Okay. Anything else from this matchup you want to discuss? Nope. All right, the Chicago Bears. They go to Detroit. And the lions are three-point home favorites. It's a 43.5 point over under.

We did not get to see this matchup. I was looking this up this morning. We did not get to see this matchup with Matthew Stafford at all last year. Even though they played twice, both games came after Stafford left for the season, which meant the Bears got to face Jeff Driscoll and David Blow in those two matchups. The regression happened on the Bears' defensive side of the ball last year, but they're still a very stout defense. Stafford...

I think is going to have a tremendous year. Do you like him, do you like starting him in week one? I do. I actually, I'm not afraid of the Chicago Bears as a defense anymore. That's not to say that they're not a good defense, but really, when I look at fantasy, I don't care about the top half defenses. I care about the elite. I, you know, I don't want to start against a team that.

truly is shutting players down. The Jacksonville Jaguars of old. The Chicago Bears, to me, are not a plus matchup, but they're not going to sway me from taking a player that I think is going to have a good season with a good offense, good receiving options, and bench him. All right, Mitch Trubisky on the other side. Is he starting? Yeah, he's starting. Is he? I don't know. Of course he is, Mike Wink.

Man, you know that feeling though? You know why he's doing that, Mike? Did you not realize it? The high you get when you spring Ms. Trubisky on the opposing team? Yes, it feels really good. Irreplaceable. Here's the thing. Look what I got. Maybe the reason he has decided to go with Trubisky to start the season is because of this matchup where Trubisky has thrived the last three games against the Lions. Three touchdowns in each game. He has been really good against the Lions.