Team Turnarounds + Hungry for More, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/18

Calvin Ridley has been hot and cold, but this is not a great matchup in a low scoring game. Are these players that are just locked in your lineup, or are you making decisions? Both of those guys are locked into my lineup on the basis of a six. The wide receivers? Yeah, Kirk and Ridley are both in my lineup because of the six by weeks this week. They're both locked in. That is fair. Yeah, I mean, you have Trevor Lawrence. We had a limited practice in Tuesday. Remember he. banged up the knee in this past weekend. What does Sean McVeigh think about the knee situation? Oh, he's never seen a healthier knee. And Cindy McVeigh, what does she think? It's the healthiest knee of all time. Okay, just making sure. Yeah, but that's... I'll figure out the grandma's name. Let's bury this family. But Trevor Lawrence, Monday was considered a, in the no practice, he was considered, I think he was a considered a no practice, limited on Tuesday.

It is tough. Like, are you playing, I don't disagree with the wide receivers because of the buy weeks. It's a tough situation. But are you looking at Trevor Lawrence against the Saints who on the year are, they're a pretty sturdy and stout defense fantasy wise. Are you playing Lawrence? Are you looking at a streaming option like Sam Howell? I'm looking at a streaming option. I want somebody with higher than maybe quarterback 13 ceiling this week. Yeah, I currently have. It's funny because default with six players on or six teams on by, you think, well, Trevor Lawrence is going to have to start. It's not a great matchup. He's got his own knee injury he's working through. Right now he's quarterback 14 for me on the week. So that's outside of a, that's outside of a starter. There's, you know, 13 guys, I think, that are better plays. So yeah, you look, you look elsewhere. I agree.

and beyond like howl i mean we've talked about obviously golf is going to be you're going to probably stay in the flames with golf and that offense yes yes even players like russell wilson against green bay would be in consideration what about cousins against san francisco uh andy brooks are they at home are they at home what's it's monday night right yeah prime prime time cousins against 49ers you say yeah okay yeah that's That's a good variable to discuss. I think I'll stay with Trevor. Yeah, I think so. I want to know what's going to happen early in the week rather than wait. Susan McVeigh is the grandmother. Good work. We're going to keep this going. Cindy, Susan, Sean. All right. By the way, Michael Thomas, I think he's always in play as kind of like a basement level PPR guy. KJ. Osborne against 49ers or Michael Thomas. I'll go KJ. Osborne.

I don't think Michael Thomas has a ceiling. He's got a pretty good floor. You know, he's not going to go out there and goose you. It's just, it's 50 yards. That's what he'll give you. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's exceptionally consistent. Here's his yardage over the course of the season. 61, 55, 55, 50, 50, 53, 65, 45. He's getting right around there. Right when he hits 50, they go, let's move to a lot of it. They move to a lobby to take the next burden. So anything else from this game you want to discuss? Let's see. It just worth noting Jamal Williams' practice window is open. He's not going to play this week, but it'll be interesting to see what the team does with Camara once Jamal is actually back. I like both DSTs. I think you can play Jacksonville against the Saints. I think you could play the Saints against Jacksonville. Okay. Yeah, I can see that. Mailbag. If you have a question for the show.

You can go over to the fantasy footballers.com. You can click that submit a question button or dial the voicemail hotline. 302464 TFFB. We're going to start with the voicemail today. Hey, guys. Advice this year. I have a question at Tide End. Would you play Michael Mayors or Logan Thomas? Thank you. Tight end question. Michael Mayer against Chicago or Logan Thomas against the Giants. I'll go back to Logan Thomas. What do you guys think? I like Michael Mayer a lot this week. But it's, you don't want to get too reactionary and just, you know, snip, snip, snip, back and forth. Logan Thomas has had two really good games this year. One week two, that was, but I mean, it was two catches and he had a touchdown. And then the him against Chicago, 9477 with a touchdown. That's, which is part of why I like Michael Mayer this week of the.

The ascension looks like it is happening, and Chicago is such a good matchup for tight ends. Yeah, well, both are plus matchups for tight ends. If you look at the last five weeks, adjust for schedule, they're both good plays. I would rather have Michael Mayer on my roster than Logan Thomas, who I think has the chance to ascend to a more of a must-start weekly option. Logan Thomas is a, we know he's a streaming option. He doesn't have the ability to, I think, ascend to where he's locked in. So if it's close, and to me it is close between those two guys, I don't want to roster both. So I would rather start Michael Mayer and have him be on my roster. Brooks was mentioning a lot of people bailing on Thomas after the down game, still played the same allotment of snaps, just didn't end up with the targets and hit our waiver wire. I know that. Another voicemail question. Hey, man.

My team is one in five right now. I'm just looking for some motivation. I already know who to start. It's just anybody off the waiver. So I take. I appreciate it. That man. Oh, man. I'm one in five. That's a broken man. Keep fighting. We hear this every single year. And I want a voicemail later when you make the playoffs to say. Hey man. You told me keep fighting. And I did. I played guys off the waivers. And I made the playoffs. And then I want a voicemail when you just stink your way to a championship because it happens. You'll get there and you'll be just so thoroughly dominated in the projections. And then the other team, that monster team, you're going up against week one of the playoffs. They just have a fart fest. And you win?

And you win and you win and you have that bling. It happens every year. Just keep fighting to make the playoffs. You're one in five, man. It's house money at this point. Just you have, you're like, there's nothing to lose at this point. Just keep going after it. All you, all you really need is a couple, a couple stinky wins, which look, look back, look back at the first six weeks. I promise there are some teams where you look at them, the score that they had and they won. And you get angry about it because. They don't deserve to win. Just go get some of those wins you didn't deserve. The biggest thing is if all the bad teams give up and you don't, you're at the tippy top of that list, which means you'll be on the fringe. I mean, you might make the playoffs. You can fight for it. You might not. But you'll be at the top of the bad teams because you kept fighting. Wins do get easier. That's something we don't talk about enough. But through the middle of the season and towards the fantasy playoffs, there are going to be.

easier wins because there are going to be teams that stop really trying. They quit too early. They're two and four. They're not going hard after waivers. Now they've got to crap your team. You end up going up against them and they're easier to beat. Just if you keep scratching and clawing, you'll get more wins as the season goes on. Interesting question here. I don't know if it'll take you a second to think of one, but YouTube question from Joe O'Sullivan. Who is one team? that will improve over the course of the year. And one team that you think will regress. So, you know, we've already seen some signs of life from the Cincinnati offense. So I'm going to take them off the board for you. But teams that are really at the bottom, teams that are at the top where you have a name? Hmm. I think like, go ahead. Offensively.

Just across the board, I think that the Seahawks are going to get better. The fact that we have, you know, we've only had one explosive game from Tyler Lockett. D.K. Metcalf is not performing the way that we know that he can. And the utilization of Jackson Smith and Jigba has been baffling to say the least. But the numbers have, like the average depth target has slowly creeped up for JSN. So just over the second half. I think that there is a chance that this team clicks and gets it going. The two teams that come to mind for me are the Saints who will be playing. I don't necessarily think it's. Their schedule is very good. I don't think it's necessarily going to be tomorrow night, but they have a lot of talent. Derek Carr has not been fun to watch, but he has been injured, and I think he's recovered from that. They have a lava. They have Michael Thomas. Camara is back. This is an offense that should get better as the season goes on.

And then the Steelers, because they've been putrid and they've got Mike Tomlin. You know, I'm just always going to assume. But are they, is the fantasy output going to get better? No. Okay. But I think the fantasy output will get better for the same. I've got a team that is going to be worse. Well, it's not the Patriots. Go on. The Miami Dolphins. Well, yeah, that's fair. Because unsustainable levels of production. So when you look at sell high situations. I mean, even this past week, I was looking at the chart for expected fantasy points versus actual production. Like Rahim Moster scored like 32 and a half fantasy points. His expected production this past week was like 18. And so they're generally at the tippy top of that list right now because you're out there's out there breaking records with the most yardage that any team has ever done through six weeks. And, you know, you're going to face the Eagles and you're going to face the chiefs and you're going to face the jets twice. And, you know, there are some matchups on.

on the docket that are going to be. So with all that happening, would you trade high on Rahim Mostert? Of course I would, but here's the problem with Mosterd is he is not, if Rihim Moster's numbers were attached to Bijon, you could trade high and get a haul. His numbers are attached to Rih Moster. So nobody, I've had no, I have Mosterd everywhere. Or at least I haven't been in a couple leagues where he's dominating and I have good records because of it. I've not had one offer for him. I'm not going to receive an offer for him. But would you use him to shop around? I don't think I can get what I need from him. So, no, I haven't. I haven't shopped him around because I know no one's paying. I have one more team that I think there is a clear pathway to having a much better offense. I bet I know who it is. Arizona. No.

Oh, I thought you didn't go with Kyler's return. That would make a lot of sense. By the way, Kyler could be practicing this week. Yeah, we meant to bring this up on the, there were reports locally here, reports locally here that they believe next week, Kyler will have his 21 day window activated. Now, he, that does not mean he's going to play that week. In fact, it means he's not going to play that week. But that's when everyone's going to go and pick him up. So if you want someone like Kyler, and you want to get him for free on waivers. Now is the week. Next week you'll have to bid for him, but it will still be several weeks. It's going to take some time. I mean, the guy's been recovering from an ACL, and it's a brand new offense. Like, Kyler, to my knowledge, has not taken a snap in this offense. Maybe he's hitting the books real hard. Fingers crossed, that's what he's doing. So he wouldn't. Yeah, Mike.

I'm sure. That's why the fingers are crossed. And I'm saying I hope that it has happened because reports have been not the best on that front for Kyler Murray. You know, the homework clause. In the past, in the past. But my point being, even when he gets activated, like how long does it take Kyler Murray? How many games does it take Kyler to get comfortable and going in this office? The first game. I think the first game he's active. That's a confidence level that I don't have. I think the first game he is active, he will be good for fantasy football. He's an upgrade over Dobbs who has been decent for fantasy football. He's an upgrade over Dobbs for Hollywood. Yeah, I mean, I think the first week it'll matter. But again, he won't be active for several more weeks. The team I was going to bring up was the Baltimore Ravens because they've got a new system that.

hasn't seemed to work well. No. Right? Like their offense just looks, they're one of the least fun offenses to watch for me between drops and what I think is bad play design and disappointment for all of our Todd Munkin excitement coming into the year and the speed and pace of play and neutral pass rates that basically nothing has changed. I believe that they have enough talent in a new system to really write the ship. that they would be someone, I think, to target. Yeah, it's wild. That, that situation is so tough for me. One of the reasons I didn't buy in at the beginning of the season is because we have such a prolonged example of Lamar's ebbs and flows. You know, he's a, we have consistency charts as part of the join the foot. You know, he's a C on there, even including this year where 41% of the time he's reaching a benchmark that you're happy, which is less than 50%. And so it's hard.

Because we saw it in the MVP year. We saw the consistency every week. And we all know like the capability of Lamar Jackson remains. Like I don't think we're ever going to have a year in his NFL career. We don't believe he could flip a switch and seven, eight games go off. And he's amazing. And so that's going to stay there in permanent. So that one makes sense. I mean, the whole division. I mean, Cleveland gets a lot better on offense if Deshaun Watson's back. And maybe tomorrow. He could be back any minute. Any minute, any month. It might be at noon. I can see that. Yeah. Right after lunch. Back to back, we got two Nico Collins questions. Jonathan Cannon says, Nico Collins or Crystal Lave rest of season. Also, thank you, Andy. I drafted Tyreek at 103, and I'm 5 in 1. Nice. Is that because I had Tyreek at the tippy top? Yeah, you had them very, very high. Yeah, no, I'm still absolutely.

Chris Olave in this situation. Nico Collins has played a couple games here without Tank Dell, has a rookie quarterback who's looked great, but I mean, Chris Olave is a far more talented wide receiver than Nico Collins. That's not taking anything away from Nico Collins. It's just the truth. Yeah, I'll go, I'm going to take Olavee. Yeah, that's the right call. But I think Nico is going to be very good. Like that's not a one's good, one's bad. Right. And then T. Higgins, would you trade him for Nico Collins in a full PPR? Instagram question. T. Higgins is so frustrating. Pretty bad year for the second wide receiver might take over from the first narratives. Mr. Waddle, not close. Close start. Mr. Devonte Smith, not close. And T. Higgins. T. Higgins has been a, I mean, he has the one huge game. And I think there's enough.

He has a long enough track record that I believe it will bounce back. The Bengals are already looking like they are shifting and bouncing back. He has the buy week this week to have another, you know, heal up period for his ribs. Then three of the four weeks, San Francisco, Buffalo, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Oh, I don't like to hear that. Actually, four or five weeks are awful. It's not good matchups. He is probably my number one trade four target, though. I really. He was that before I saw that schedule. To me, T. Higgins and the Baltimore, or the Cincinnati Bengals, I mean, you had Burrow, super injured, look awful. You know, it was like he has looked really bad this season, and that's not going to stay. When he gets fully healthy,

I believe that this offense will be good. But she had another scramble play this weekend where you went, oh, yeah, the calf's all right. And now you've got a bye week. I don't know, man. Yeah, well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. I'm not saying go pay the sun, moon, stars for T. Higgards because he's going to be great. What I'm saying is he's on by and he has absolutely been abysmal. He's just. But would you trade Nicole Collins for him? That was the question. Yeah, I would. See, I would not do that. I'll take the number one for Stroud and that freewheeling offense and over the, like the T. Higgins dance is still a, we've still lived in that world where it's up and down and all around, either when he's been healthy. So that's my side. Mike, split the difference. So Nico is on, he's also on by this week. Then we got Carolina, Tampa Bay, the Bengals, Arizona, Jacksonville, Denver. That's a much better stretch schedule.

And I love Stroud, but Stroud has not, the last couple weeks Stroud hasn't looked as good as he did to start the season. So maybe the NFL is catching up on some things of how they needed to defend him. I, man, I think I'm going to take, I think I'll take tea. But that's very difficult. I really wasn't sure which way you were going to do. I say tea and I don't even know. Check with me later. You can get that deal done. If you're the team manager and you want Nico, you can get that deal done. in 80% of leagues. Probably true. Fun question here from multiple people asking, is Naji dropable? Oh, no. No, he is not dropable, but it is funny. Breaking news. Speaker the devil. Unbelievable timing. Cardinals have designated Kyler Murray to return. Well, there you go. The rumors were true. Probably won't play this week, but I almost certainly won't play this week, but it could be next week. And I had read some stuff around the valley here that next week was a target.

To play? To play. Oh, wow. Not this week, but next week. Yeah, I will, that's interesting. I haven't heard that. My expectation has previously been that when they open his window up, they're going to give him all three weeks to practice. This also ends any speculation from the tank for Caleb. Yeah, well, the Cardinals are going to move on and they're not going to bring him back this year. We've said from the beginning, like that's not happening. Kyler's playing this year. People just want to make things happen sometimes that have not been. Like there's no sign of any kind from this organization inside ever this offseason that they don't believe in Kyle Murray. Yeah, I haven't seen anything either. And so. And they risk, just so people understand, you risk everything if you wanted to move on from Kyler Murray by allowing them to play football because his contract is guaranteed for injury.

And if you put him back out on the field and you wanted to move on from him, those are non-congruant logical steps to take. So, you know, Kyler, I've seen a lot of people stashing him. You start looking at Hollywood Brown as a by-candidate because he's the go-to guy, best friends with Kyler. Something to pay attention to. Jason's perking up in his dynasty league. It's definitely exciting. But I'm over here giggling going back to the question about not here. Oh, yeah. Because I'm sitting here thinking, what I thought is like, you can't, you can't drop Noggi. And you can't. You really can't. He is, he is receiving too many opportunities at a running back position. Like, that's, that's enough. If he was on waivers, you'd pick him up. Would you rather have him or Zach Evans? And, you're silly goose. What's funny is I was going to say, like, you can't, I can't get myself to drop Tyler Algier. And Tyler Algear's been, you know, he's getting opportunities. He's not.

After that week one where he got the multi-touchdowns, he's averaging 4.3 fantasy points per game. But like, including that week one and including all the games of Najee, he is outscoring Najee this year. Tyler Algier has had a better season than Najee who has just been putrid. Here's his fantasy points. Here's his, here's Najee's fantasy points per game. I don't know if you guys realize how bad. I'm looking at it. 4.3 week one. San Francisco. 4.8, week two. Cleveland. Great defense again. Okay, the Raiders. That's a team you can run on. Six and a half fantasy points on 20 opportunities. He got the ball. Then against Houston, his best game in the season, 10 fantasy points. And last week against Baltimore, 4.5 fantasy points. Gross. When you give him the football, because I wanted to look this up, it's not a stat we refer to a lot.

but it is one I refer to right now in my Naji bashing victory lap. When you give them the football, you get 0.49 fantasy points. That's what you're receiving. If you look at every opportunity that he's had this year. 0.49 fantasy points. Nice. So the great news for- Sorry, that's every rushing attempt. The great news for Naji this week. You get 1.73 with Mostert. I mean, his ranking will be much higher this week. because of the buy. Because there's six teams on buy. So there's, he will be tough. Yeah. Check your league. Because Jason's right. You should put him on there because he's guaranteed opportunities. People are fighting over Zach Evans and Craig Reynolds and Keontay Ingram's getting fab spent on him and DeMarcato was last week. And so to pay attention. And, you know, we did see.

Last season, him start really putridly awful. And then the second half of the season, I think he was like the running back four. See like a baby Yetty? Problem is that Warren is leveled up. Yeah. Over the last few weeks too. Yeah. No, I, I, the, the, uh, the sun is not shining brightly on Najee's future, but, um, shouldn't be dropped. There is, there is still the world where he becomes fantasy relevant again with the opportunities he's getting. if they figure things out as an offense as a whole. Oh, that's not happening. So he has no touchdowns on the season so far through five weeks. Yeah, I've watched enough. I've watched enough Kenny Pickett to know why that is. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to. We're all trying to figure out the guy who did this. Yeah, yeah. Who was it? It could be any of us. We'll close our eyes. Just get out of here.

I mean, if we're going to sit here and talk about the Jets players not having certain ceilings because of Zach Wilson, we need to have the picket conversation. Yep. Deontay Johnson's coming back. How excited are you? Look, I mean, that is helpful for the Steelers offense. I mean, but Deontay Johnson. What's amazing is, do you know off the top of your head? Do you know the record of the Steelers? I'm going to guess we are six weeks in, but they didn't play six. They're five. What's the record? They're not three and two, are they? Yes, they are. Oh, my goodness, Tomlin, you've done it again. Yes, they are. You magician. I mean, I need it like that. What if we found out Tomlin just had a guy that changed the standings. He had like a little hacker guy. Wow. And everybody looks up every week and goes, what, they're nine and eight. They're not how I remember it at all. You are a wizard. I mean, that division, the Bengals are at the bottom in three and three. Wow. And they are.

They're two, the Steelers are two and oh in the division. They're probably going to make the playoff. They always do. And their schedule coming out. The Rams, Jacksonville, Titans, Packers, like, those are, those are winnable games. I have heard. I heard so much Kenny Pickett hype from the Steelers fans that were like all over Twitter. I've heard none of that. And here are three and two. Preseason looked good. Hey, he owns the preseason. Yeah. All right. That is going to do it. for today's episode of the show. Thank you for joining us. Head over to Jointhefoot.com, become a part of our fantasy football community. And a lot of you over there, getting ready for the week. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Starts of the week. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.