Week 4 Studs & Duds + Fantasy Funnels - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/30

which I think we are learning if we want to talk about like defense. We're talking about defenses to target, sure. But if we also want to include defenses to avoid, the Broncos are legit. I mean, ask Aaron Rogers and Garrett Wilson and, you know, the Denver defense is very good. C.J. Stroud finally came through with a big game. He was a start of the week. Sam Darnold kind of touched on it there of. I guess here's the question. Do you believe now, Jason, do you believe in Sam Darnold for fantasy? I do. It's just hesitant. It was hesitant. I mean, you saw it in this game. He once again had a handful of throws in the second half that were boneheaded, should have been picked. And he ended up pretty lucky to finish how he did. However, the beginning of that game, just outstanding. And this was.

You know, this was in Lamba. This was on the road in a hostile environment against a good team. By my count, look, San Francisco, Houston, Green Bay. I would say those are three of the better defenses in the NFL. And that's the three weeks that Sam Darnold has been on this run. Yeah. And so this next week, he will be home, but against the Jets. And a good pasty in their own right. And I mean, I think you've got to, you know, it's taken me, like the question has always been week after week after week. Do you believe? Do you buy in? And I've been so hesitant because we've got a long career here of, it's not like Gino Smith where he was gone for years and years and years. Like we had years and years and years for multiple franchises of Donald being the quarterback and failing. And so I was waiting, but I think I think you've got to.

You've got to turn the page and say he's got the weapons and he's got the offensive system. There's a lot of plays that you see schemeed wide open for him. And then he's got Justice Jefferson who's always wide open. So I think you can, I think Donald is legit. He's going to have his bad weeks. I know it's going to come, but he should be in the streaming candidates every week. Jaden Daniels is unbelievable. The Arizona defense is terrible. Yes, but. Another monster game for the rookie through four games. Jaden Daniels has led the commanders on more scoring drives than he's thrown in completions. I mean, if you jump on Twitter, the stats and the accolades that Jane Daniels has produced through his first four games are absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, he is, he looks perfect. He makes very few mistakes. He runs the ball so much, which is outstanding.

for fantasy, 82.1% completion rate through his first four games. That is insane. So, I mean, he's quickly becoming, you know, like a, I mean, who else would you start over him on a regular basis? Like, you're going to, despite the bad game, you're going to start Josh Allen over him. Yeah. For sure. I think if the weapons are back for Hertz, which I expect, you know, they got their by week this week. Sure. I would start Hertz. And then that's where the conversation starts, where it's like Lamar or Daniels. And the commanders came out and they, you know, I don't know for sure if I believe them or not because it's easy for them to say it in their position. They almost need to say it and want to say it. But they said that Jane Daniels was their number one quarterback. That if they had the run, they would have taken him over Caleb Williams. He certainly looks like he is deserving of that. It's looking good right now at the running back position.

King Henry continues to dominate. Still looks extremely fast. Once the locomotive has left the station, you can't stop it. And then Justice Hill, six targets. What were the other passing stats for the entirety of the Baltimore Ravens? Because Mark Andrews had one target. He dropped it. Zay Flowers was nothing. He did nothing. It was the running backs. Yeah, I mean, this was a game if, you know, if you didn't watch it, it got out of hand quickly. I mean, it was, you know, the first play of the game was Derek Henry running into the end zone from very, very far away. Here we go. Justice Hill led the team with six catches for 78 yards in the touchdown. Isaiah likely had a catch. Rashad Bateman had a catch. Zay Flowers had a catch. Nelson Agalore had two and then Derek Henry had three.

Yeah, it was this was one of those wild and weird games. And here's here's a thing because. I don't know, man. I don't know what you can even take away from this game. Forget this season. What do you do with the Ravens? They're winning games now. I mean, they started 0 and 2 in in tough battles. But they've played well. They've really been great the last two weeks. And they haven't needed to throw the ball. I think this is what they want to have happen. So it becomes so difficult to trust. I mean, you know, Mark Andrews back to back weeks with Gooses. I know we'll bring his name up towards the end of the show, but like you got to decide what to do. And the thing is, is it's working. And again, like on Lamar's rushing touchdown last night, Mark Andrews was out there dominating these guys on those blocks, just like Lamar is not getting injured or hit or hurt because.

The blocking of these tight ends has been awesome. Someone tell Mark Andrews to stop being a good blocker. Tell him to like, let some guys through. Teach him a lesson. DeAndre Swift tuned into our podcast last week where we were not very kind to him. And then he went 16 for 93 with a score on the ground and 7 for 72 through the air. I want to know how many. It's got to be like. 10% of leagues where DeAndre Swift was started. He plays Carolina next week. Yeah. And so he, no, he will 100% have a bad game. And the reason why, the reason why he'll have a bad game is because he's going to be started. See, he was, he was definitely started week one when he scored five fantasy points. Okay. He might have been started week two when he scored six fantasy points and week three where he scored five fantasy points. And then it was like, okay, that's three strikes you're out. He's on everyone's bench.

The Bears were talking about getting... Kyle said 41% on Sleeper. 41%. Okay, there's a lot of dead leagues out there then. Leaving him in there. So he's going to be started everywhere this next week. I mean, he looked good. Roshan was still the goal line back. Yes. Roshan was the goal line back. I don't believe Khalil Herbert had even touched the ball despite them talking about getting him more involved. He only had played special teams. And so, yeah, he will be started everywhere next week, which is the only reason I think he's going to have a bad week. It's not good analysis. It's just what he does to fantasy managers this whole career. Jordan Mason was awesome. Yet again, he is the running back five through the first month. The Cincinnati Bengals running backs. It was much closer to 50-50. The snaps was 60-40 and then with the work. The work was basically right down the middle. Chase Brown looked awesome. He was 15 for 80 with two on the ground. I believe both of those scores were in very close.

And then Zach Moss, 15 for 51, and he had the score through the air. I don't know if they're both going to be viable moving forward, but. Yeah, I mean, you've got to pick up Chase Brown. You have to pay attention to the fact that the split was even. Chase Brown clearly has more juice as far as speed. But Zach Moss has looked fine too. Sure. You know, I would guess going forward that it'll be continuing to be more about a 50-50 game. And, you know, they're not always going to get to play the Carolina Panthers. Next week, if you've got a 50-50 timeshare, we talked about you throw against Baltimore. That's the matchup. You can't really run against Baltimore. If they're splitting work, I'm going to bench both of them. Alva Camara.

Old man's strength coming through the RB one through the first month. Chuba Hubbard. He's the RB1. Yeah, Camara is. I guess that makes sense. He got another touchdown in seven receptions this week. Yeah, he's, he's been absolutely on fire. Chuba has looked great for the Carolina Panthers since Andy Dalton has taken over. Cut those four passes. Yeah, baby. Yeah, triple crowns coming in this week. That's right. That's right. It is a partay this week. So this is great if you have Chuba. It's probably less great if you were waiting on Jonathan Brooks and hoping that the offense would look good, but the running backs weren't able to get it done. I can't see the team just immediately moving on from Chuba. Brooks will get worked in, but it is him taking over. If that was your hope and dream, it would be at the second half at the earliest. Yeah, I think it'll be a month. If Jonathan Brooks is here next week, it will be a month from this week where he's.

actually like got the chance to lead the backfield. The Washington commanders Brian Robinson Jr. Jason started the week. Monster game 21 for 101 with a score on the ground. And just how bad are the Arizona Cardinals on defense? This bad. There was another running back on the team, not Austin Echler. who was 8 for 68 and 2 on the ground. It was Jeremy McNichols. Jeremy McNichols. We remember Sticky McNichols? I don't remember Sticky McNichols. That's what I always call him in my head. For real? Yeah. Oh, I did not know that. I don't know. It's a weird thing that happens. But Jeremy McNichols from someone's couch, I imagine. Like where? From Boise State. No, no. I'm saying what has Jeremy McNichols been up to? He's been on.

The Washington commanders, and he has not really been touching the ball, had one rushing attempt before this week, but the Cardinals suck. And so their defense is another one definitely to target. I mean, just they don't have the talent on the defensive side to stop anyone. Jonathan Taylor had himself a mighty fine game before he left against Pittsburgh. Stay tuned. We'll find out. Carvin Williams is going to die. Kyron Williams cannot stop scoring touchdowns. He is everything for this offense. He is absolutely everything for this offense. This is a guy that's playing like 90% of snaps and he's just. He was only 76% of the running back attempts this week. I mean, that's an incredibly great number. Yeah, I mean, 14% target share to go with that. 76% of the running back rush attempts for any team is.

outlandishly high. It's only down for him who the previous week was at 92%. James Connor 18 for 104 and a touchdown. Nico freaking Collins. He is. He is. He is. He is. He has only one game out of four this year where he is below 117 receiving yards. He is on pace for over two. thousand receiving yards. Yeah, he's on pace right now for 182 targets, 127 reception. This guy. 2078 receiving yards and eight and a half touchdowns. He won't necessarily keep up that pace. This matchup was perfect. We talk about the Jaguars. You want to target them. They play a ton of man defense. We knew that Nico was going to eat. We were only worried about his.

practice, was it a hamstring that he popped up with? That was the only concern at all for Nico. He crushed, I mean, you had him at more than 70 yards. He did that twice in the game. Yes, he did. And I don't know if you know this. I didn't know about it, Camara. Nico is the wide receiver one. Yeah, that would make sense. Yeah. So when you're on pace for 2,000 receiving yards, things have gone well for the first four games. Jada Reed, George Love was back. That meant Jaden Reed was back. He has been the wide receiver one. Did the butterman? Did the butterman do anything? He was on the field. Okay. And if you don't know who the butterman is. Well, everyone knows. It's clearly Bo Melton. Yeah. He's melting because he's like butterman. Uh, Bo, Bo Melton. Yeah. He actually only played 14% of the snaps. Yeah, he's, he is still going to take him. He's irrelevant. But Dantavian Wicks. 13 targets. 13 targets. Five for 78. Two scores.

dropped what should have been another touchdown on a Hail Mary that hit him right in the hands. But I don't have my rankings sorted out, but it's hard to see him not being the number one waiver wire pickup of the weekend or of this week. I should say. Jordan Addison was back. Three for 72 got the score. Justin Jefferson. Ho-hum. Six for 85 and one. Addison got two scores. He also had a rushing touchdown. Oh, that's right. So it was nice to see him back there. Yeah, Justin Jefferson had a very bad game for him. Six for 85 in a touchdown. And I, you know, I got to take my lumps on, you know, we talked about Darnold. Right. But like, my, my anti- Sam Darnold takes, um, they affected Justin Jefferson because I, Justin Jefferson, I kept saying he's going to, you know, he'll have over 1,500 yards on the season. Between the 20s, he's going to eat, he's the best wide receiver in football. He's going to be great. It's going to be a top 10 guy, but he can't be the wide receiver one because he can't score enough.

touchdowns. He'll probably have, you know, five or six touchdowns on the season. Well, he has four touchdowns through four weeks and has not yet had a game without one. Sam Darnold is the only quarterback through four weeks with more than 10 passing touchdowns. I believe number two is only at nine, right? No, Baker's laser is at eight. He's at eight. And Darnold's at 11, I think. Yeah, it is correct. Crazy. Laser. Mike Evans, CD Lamb, they had good games. Brian Thomas Jr. So this is funny. We were watching the game. Six for 86 with a score. And I had a plan coming in. You did. I had a plan coming in this week that I was really, really hoping that Brian Thomas Jr. had a bad game because I've lost so many players. I'm just losing guys left, right and center. You are. And I've got to find players out there that I can target and trade for cheap that I think could.

go ham and really break the game. And so I was just rooting for Brian Thomas to have a bad game so I could go trade for him. And then right off the back gets a touchdown. And then just crushes. Six for 86, the touchdown, a 13 yard rush attempt. He's the wide receiver 13 on the season. He's awesome. He's going to, I mean, I don't know what his ceiling can be with Trevor Lawrence because Trevor Lawrence, well, that's who he's stuck with. Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. So like. You know, if you put Brian Thomas in, I think, a better situation, what I see on the field is like he could just dominate. Maybe we'll get a better offensive coach in there. Maybe. Going with him, Christian Kirk had 12 targets. They heard us talking about, what are you doing? Why is Christian Kirk not really involved? It's weird. Seven for 61 and a score. Josh Downs, Jay, you mentioned it, but nine targets turned into eight for 82 with a touchdown.

He is. He's a waiver pickup regardless. Yeah, he's a waiver pickup regardless. He's a good player, but we don't know what the status will be because if Richardson is back and a hobbled Richardson, I will not be excited to play Josh Downs. For the Panthers, Andy Dalton, the red rifle keeps getting it done, throwing it to Deontay Johnson, Jason's start of the week, seven for 83 and a score. Xavier legit, six for 66, the mark of the beast, and two just. Ooh drops that were, uh, ooh. Yeah. It were bad. It's funny because we, we put, we put Xavier legit in the, you know, the kind of, well, he's in the studs here. Yeah. But he had a bad game. Football game. Football game. I mean, he, he had some bad drops. He had some bad miscommunications. I mean, when he had the ball on his hands, you could see like, wow, that is a big, strong, fast dude. And he could do some special stuff.

But he looked like a rookie out there. Like you compare him versus Brian Thomas Jr. And that's where it's like they both had good games. They're both talented rookies. One is a one looks like he could be a great wide receiver. And the other just looks like a raw athlete. Tucker Kraft of the Green Bay Packers. He plays tight end. It seems like the Green Bay Packers pulled themselves a Baltimore Ravens. Because Luke Musgrave was the chosen one last year. Last year in the draft. They went him and then Tucker Kraft. Was Luke second round pick? By you remembering that right? Luke correct. Thank you, Kyle. And then Tucker Kraft was right in the third, very similar to the Haydenhurst, Mark Andrews situation for the Ravens. And Tucker Kraft has taken the job. He has left Luke Musgrave in the dust. And Tucker has been like...

been dealing with injuries, and he still is running ahead of Luke Musgrave. Yeah, if you look at the snap percentages, Musgrave 25%, 44%, 56% and this week 33%, whereas Tucker Kraft has been on the field 96, 80, 67, and 86% of the time. I don't, I mean, maybe with Christian Watson going down, you can have a little bit more confidence, but I still... Possibly, yeah. I still have a little bit of a difficult time feeling like it's a... good shot with all the wide receivers that are there and this and the great running game like it feels like the tight end is like the least needed thing for this it was also again the the the monumental catch-up they were playing from behind the entire game taste him hill had the two rushing scores the muth he's getting he's getting luth by tight-in standards uh five for 57 and a touchdown he's the only tied in with four plus receptions in every single game

So that's great, but it hasn't amounted to much because really like this, it's so sad that this year we really are looking for five for 50. Like genuinely, if your tight end goes out and gets five for 50, you're okay. Yeah, but it's really the touchdowns you want and they have not been coming. This week I was really hoping for a bounceback. I tried to speak it into existence, tweeted out. It's like, this is the week. They're all going to be great. You did okay. Honestly, Kincade was pretty good. Kelsey came back to life. Kiddle was good. Taysam Hill was good. Everybody except Mark Andrews. The tight end won on the season was also good. Seven for 62 for Dallas Goddard. He doesn't have a touchdown. But the Travis Kelsey is this. Yeah, I mean, he's back. Yeah. So Rishie Rice leaving the Kansas City Chiefs, are we right back? Yeah, I mean, 100% right back. Kelsey was nine targets, seven for 89. And we saw.

this last year. At the beginning of the year, I mean, there is like incredibly strong correlation. Last season, the beginning of the year, Kelsey was the most dominant tight end. Yeah. Was way better than Leporto or anyone else on the field. He was crushing and it looked like when you spent the number five overall pick on him that maybe you should have spent the number four overall pick. He was dominating like that. And then that was when rookie Rushie Rice was barely involved, was playing you know, lower than 50% snap counts in a lot of those games. Midway in the season, they flipped the switch. Rushie Rice became the number one target, started playing 85% of the snaps. And Kelsey was a wet fart for fantasy in the second half of last year. Just terrible. And so you start this year, and Rushie Rice is the dominating target market share leader of this clubhouse. And it comes at the expense of Kelsey with Rushie Rice.

basically almost for sure done for the rest of the year. I think Kelsey, who else is it? I know. I mean, it's not going to be Juju Smith-Schuster and Xavier Worthy just getting 15 targets. This is Kelsey. So I think Kelsey is bad. I think what happens with Worthy? Do they say, okay, your first round pick, dude, it's time to step up. You've got to be a full-time guy now. Yeah, I think they're going to have to involve him more and more as the season goes along, just like they did with Rushie Rice last year. I think Xavier Worthy is a good football player and a good wide receiver. Not necessarily great, but more than what they've been utilizing him at. So I think he'll be pushed forward. All right, we're going to take a quick break, and then we will commiserate with you. There's studs, and there's deads. Poopped in his big boy pants.

The Buffalo Bills. Just put them all on here. Yeah. The Ravens shallacked them. You know, I saw, I saw something. I forget how many games it's been, but it was an incredible run where the bills have not lost by more than six points. I mean, they're just never, ever laid over a lap and spanked. Never. Not in the, like, not in the Stefan Diggs, Josh Allen era. You know, as soon as he got there and they were. They were. They were treated like. meat that is getting tenderized. Yeah, they were really pulverized. Josh Allen was, we got a real red light, green light situation going on. He play, let's see, the bills play Houston next week. I think they'll be all right. Kyler Mer, eh. Goodness gracious, what a disappointing game from the Arizona Cardinals. It started off great, an immediate touchdown to Marvin Harrison, Jr. And then they couldn't figure out how to beat.

The legendary staunch defense of the Washington commanders, this was the most disappointed. Look, I know people are disappointed in the Bills, but they're playing the Ravens. Yeah, I mean. It happens. It's the Baltimore Ravens. They are a top tier football team. Washington, while they're figuring it out on offense, their defense is still trash, and the Arizona Cardinals could do nothing. Yeah, the. Well, James, actually, James Connor was okay. And then they did, but they like. The game play was terrible. Part of the issue was how bad the Cardinals defense was allowed the commanders to have these long drives and just eat up a lot of clock. Like Kyler was 16 for 22. Completion percentage wise, he was fine. I'll bet his passer rating is okay. But for fantasy, he was bad. The Cardinals stunk. And this was in a matchup. We talk about you want to target the commanders. And you do since the beginning of last year.

Washington has allowed the most fantasy points to quarterbacks. It's just the two worst performances against them were both Cardinals. It was Joshua Dobbs last year scoring one fantasy point, and this week, Kyler, with 10 fantasy points. Where are we at with Kyler? As week one, it looked promising against the Buffalo Bills on the road in Buffalo to open the season. We knew it would be tougher. Has the crazy Marvin Harrison breakout game against the Rams. And now Detroit, he was the QB 17 with under 15 points two weeks ago, 10 points this week against Washington. Next two weeks are on the road against San Francisco and then Green Bay. Then he gets the Chargers after that. What's your panic level with Kyler Murray? You know, I think he's still going to be in every week's start because he should be rushing the ball. That was the weirdest part of this, like the game plan.

against the commanders seemed like there wasn't one. And what's crazy about this is that the commanders were the one with the short week. Like they played on Monday night football. They flew straight to Arizona. They didn't even go home. And then they came in here and really just made the Cardinals look foolish. But Kyler only had three rushing yards in the game. And, you know, the previous three weeks, he had 57, 59, and 45. rushing yards and then he just didn't run the ball. It was a really weird game. I still think you're going to view him as he'll be in the top 12 when you put your rankings together every week. I don't know how you would lower him low enough to bench. The hopes and dreams were he's back to being a top seven, top five type of an option. But like top 12, that's not great. I mean, you look at it with Laser Mayfield. You know, would you rather start

Would you make that pivot and start starting laser over Kyler? You, Kyler, in San Francisco, on the road. Very possible. A tough defense, divisional game. You know, maybe we'll take a strong look at that this week. 19 for 29, 245 passing yards with a touchdown and interception. Derek Carr. Oh, no. I'm sorry. That was Patrick Mahomes. That was. Well, he lost. This is the. He lost Rushie Rice. He was our tradeaway candidate or Andy's straightaway candidate this past weekend with Rice out of the picture. This is like Mahomes has been to QB 13, 14, 15, 15. I think I need to move past. I need to move past my anger and just be like, hey, I'm no longer mad at Patrick Mahomes.

Because I'm lowering my expectations. Yeah, yeah. I think that's the right way to do it. I mean, this is a quarterback that's going to go out there and score 15 fantasy points regularly. He doesn't go out there and is very rare for him to go out and score, you know, sub 10 fantasy points the way that a Derek Carr can do pretty often. Derek Carr is the next guy on here, 239 and no touchdown. Yeah. So I, I, you're talking about. Patrick Mahomes is just a high floor play. But with their defense being great, I kind of hope that their defense would take a step back this year. You know, they lost Sneed and maybe I was hoping that was like the key cog. But their defense has been really, really good. And so, yeah, Mahomes is just a streaming candidate. Kirk Cousins did not have a strong game. Not 100% his fault. His defense was taking care of things. At the running back position, Jason.

Who baby. Breecies, feces, 10 carries, four yards. We're talking about Breece Hall. Yeah. Five targets turned into two for 14. So what? 16 total yards on 15 opportunities? Yeah, he did not score. What? He did not score three fantasy points in half PPR scoring. I think this is a, you know, throw it away game. This was a game where you had the Jets. lose with nine points to a team that scored 10. There was weather. Bo, yes, it was a rainy game. Bo Nix, I believe got the W with 66 passing yards, something like that. It was very low. I'll confirm. The whole Jets offense was putrid. 60. You gave them six bonus yards. Oh, I gave him extra yards. Only 60 yards in a dominating victory. The split of carries 10 for Brees.