Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Week 5 Waivers, Streams of the Week, Injury News

I think he's a great stash with Tom Brady coming back. We've seen Brandon LaFelle be successful in that year, or in that position when he was in New England. And Sammy Coates is on the rise for me. He's looked better. He's getting far more involved. He had eight targets last week. And he gets to play the Jets, which are a very beatable secondary right now. And Coates is just, he's going downfield.

a ton of passes over 20 yards, 20 plus yards. And he's just, he has surpassed, I think, all the other backup receivers besides Brown you had. Marcus Wheaton got benched for Darius Hayward Bay. And then Hayward Bay went out and, of course, Wheaton got his touchdown. But Sammy Coates is now the wide receiver, too, kind of officially for the Steelers. I do want to pause for one second to address something. We had a.

A couple of people talked to us yesterday thinking we were making light of the concussion by Cam Newton as though we were actually, you know, happy that he got hurt. I think we were pretty clear on the show. The fact that, you know, Mike, you came out and said that you weren't happy. And, you know, I said for a fact that I think it was a little bit less showboating. He looked to the left, thought the guy was away, took to the right. Then he slowed down. And so we were joking about that. It's not.

I want to make it clear that we're not saying we're happy he got injured. Jason was making the point comparing it to UFC. UFC and the fact that when somebody lets their guard down on purpose. On purpose. To egg on getting hit. Right. It was the fact that he had to pay a price for that, not necessarily got hurt. Right. I'm certainly not happy he got hurt. I would love for Cam to be in there. I really am a Cam fan. But when you're saying, hey, try to hit me. I hope you get hit.

Well, there's a big difference between, you know, there's a lot of sensitivity around camera now because he keeps taking hits in the pocket that aren't getting flagged. And I think that's ridiculous. Yeah, it's not fair. But in that situation, as a runner, slowing up, I mean, he should have protected himself. He's accountable to his own decision-making on that play, and the hit was appropriate. He was trying to keep him out of the end zone. He could have just jogged in and-

This wouldn't have been an issue at all. All right. Running back waiver wire. It's time to talk. Big names here. Everybody needs a running back. And, you know, you have Chris and Michael on by this week. You've got the Kansas City Chiefs running backs on by. Who is the headliner that you want to talk about? Well, Jordan Howard is, he's not widely available. But if he is, you need to pick him up. He looks like a legit running back, a legitimate three-down workhorse running back. And John Fox has said as much.

The big guy, the big headliner this week is Terrence West. The aforementioned, Justice Forsett is no longer in town. Buck Allen was the backup and the clear backup to Terrence West. Now, West is not a pass catching running back. So this was a product of the game flow that he was able to bang out. He had 21 carries for 111 yards. Or, yeah, 113 yards, sorry. And so he's definitely worth picking up.

But on the same token is Kenneth Dixon, who, well, Terrence West has kind of thrown some cold water on the quick emergence of Kenneth Dixon. If Terrence West can play well, Dixon will still eat into his workload. I think he can take over the passing role of Buck Allen quickly. But if Wes continues to play well, then you're not going to see Dixon just usurp him immediately. Why Dixon, I think, is a great stash, is because he couldn't.

He could outperform West and play his way into the starting role, unlike a lot of backups where it takes an injury. I mean, Dixon can do it himself. Are you guys dropping Cameron Artist's pain for Terrence West? Yes. Yeah, I would. I think Cameron Artis Pain is going to be fine in games where they are ahead and, you know, the game script is run the ball. What we saw last week was shockingly that Carolina was...

way down and they had to throw the ball. That's why Fossey Whitaker got so involved. I believe he was their leading receiver. He was. And he was a running back. So he, I mean, Whitaker should be looked at as well. But for me, if I'm out there on the waiver wire, and I had to make this decision last week. So this shows that I actually, I liked him before any news came out of.

possible injury to Matt Forte, but that's Belal Powell. That's a guy I think that really needs to be picked up right now because he has been great on the season. You watch every single snap where he's touched the ball and he's done something special with it. He's a very talented running back. The team really likes him. They paid him, but they brought in Matt Forte, and Matt Forte got 77% of the touches.

of the snaps in weeks one and two. In weeks three and four, he had 56%. It's starting to change. And now if there is that rumored injury to Matt Forte, Belal Powell's the type of guy that I think would take over. He's not going to get, you know, 100% of what Matt Forte got in week one and two, but he would be a good fantasy option. Would you drop T.J. Yeld them for Terrence West? Yeah, I would.

Even though you have a very, you just talked about Kenneth Dixon. So you're talking about a very temporary situation for Terrence West versus a more permanent one for T.J. Yeldon. And for the record, Yelden looked much better than Ivory this past week. Yelden was well over five of carry and had a bunch of really impressive runs, catches. See, I didn't see. The way I saw the game was the Colts were just letting him run. But they didn't let Ivory run. Ivory had a couple good runs. But I just, that's what I saw. We can, we can disagree on that.

What about the statistics? Maybe overall Ivory was not as strong statistically as Ivory or as Yeldon, but I felt like when I was watching Yeldon, he was just getting these wide open lanes from the Colts, which he's not going to get. And he hasn't gotten up until that point. So I'm still not on Team Yeldon. Well, you don't have to be on Team Yelden. I would rather have West. For a couple weeks. I think when you're talking about...

guys like that, right, where you're not necessarily going to start either, but you might need to start one on a given week. This would be a good time. I mean, obviously, we haven't brought this up, but we've got bye weeks this week. T.J. Yeldon is on by. And so if you needed to drop a T.J. Yelden who's on by for a Terrence West who can play, I'm absolutely fine with that. As far as who I think is better rest of season? I think rest of season Yelden's role is more secure because I do think Dixon takes...

takes on. But for the next couple weeks, I would rather have West. Yeldin is the number 24 ranked running back. There's no chance you drop that. How do you drop the 24th ranked running back? Yeah, that's a fair point. All right, let's talk about a couple other guys. Orleans Dark was scored again last night. We don't know how long Rashid Jennings is going to be out or not involved. To be honest, I was more impressed with Bobby Rainey in that game.

Rainy ran hard. He was more elusive. I love Bobby Rainy. He caught a bunch of passes. He will, he only earned himself more playing time. So I'm not super excited about Darkwood. And we saw the flash from Paul Perkins. There are only large play of the game. Yeah, it's a mess there. I'm not, I'm not touching any of these New York running backs right now. All right. And then Wendell Smallwood, we talked about.

Ryan Matthews, Smallwood last week was 17 for 79 in a touchdown. It's only owned in 9.9% of leagues. You must add him. If you have the opportunity to add Smallwood, you know, some of these rookies and see what they become DeAndre Washington. I like having those on my bench unless you're desperate, unless you have a bunch of buys and you have to unload these guys. So, all right, let's move on to tight ends. Who are the tight ends you're looking to pick up this week? There are a lot of guys that are...

You know, probably one of these names is available in your league. The big, those three guys of Kyle Rudolph, Tyler, Eifert, and Jimmy Graham. I mean, these guys are mostly owned, but we just want to throw the names out there just in case they happen to be available. So that's what I'm saying. One of them might be, you know, in your league. Let's say all three are available. Who are you going after? I'm going off, Eifert, or Graham. Which three? Of Rudolph, Eifert and Graham. Let's say they're all available. Who are you grabbing?

Uh, me personally, I'm grabbing Jimmy Graham. Yeah. Better offense, better circumstances. Rudolph has flashed before, and I know it's four weeks and the target numbers are there, so it might not change. But there are still scenarios where that defense is so darn good that he seems to get shut down. Jimmy Graham seems to be like the, like one B on the reads. Yeah. This is another one of those practical situations where you have to look and say,

You know, I don't want to personally, I don't like rostering two tight ends. I very rarely do it unless I was holding on to like an effort for injury reasons. Jimmy Graham is on by this week. So if you're picking him up, you're kind of burning that second roster spot for a tight end. And for that reason, I would take Rudolph. But I agree that Graham is probably more assured. I am really impressed with Graham. He looks good. I can't believe he was able to come back from that.

Yeah. So the guys who are more widely available, my target would be Zach Erds. He was dropped in a good bit of leagues. He's available in almost 40% of ESPN leagues. He had a great week one. I mean, you saw the rapport, the instant rapport with Carson Wentz. And moving forward, I think he's the second best option, second best pass catcher on the team behind. You have Jordan Matthews and Zach Kurtz. Zekers had seven targets. He was six for 58 in week one.

And the biggest news of that story is Carson Wentz looks like a capable quarterback. And if you have a capable quarterback and the number two target is your tied in, that's a guy I won on my team. I'll go with another Zach. I think Zach Miller, you know, we talked about the two injured, you know, Kevin White and Alson and Jeffrey, who, by the way, I think they're going to do that thing where you, you know how you like to tie your legs together and you become one player? A three-legged race. Yeah, three-legged race. I think they're going to do that become one wide receiver.

Zach Miller, you know, another touchdown this past week, and Hoyer has looked to him in the red zone. Not a lot of other options. I think it's good. I think another guy very much worth picking up. He's only owned in 9% of leagues. He is among the league leaders in red zone targets, targets inside the 20. He's total targets at the tight end, goal line targets, and that's Cameron Bray.

Cameron Brate has more top 12 fantasy weeks this year than Austin Saffarian Jenkins had last year and we're in week four. Love the targets. I mean, he's looking to him. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's a good one. And he looked at him against Denver, tough match. That's a great name. And Hunter Henry has, as long as Antonio Gates is out, Hunter Henry has shown more than capable of, and not just hoping that it gets a touchdown. I mean, you're getting good yardage out of him as well.

What's the latest on Gates? Do you expect them to play this week? I don't think so. I can look and see if there's been an update. All right. Streaming defensive options this week, I love the Rams and the Bills and the Bills and the Rams. Okay? So, like, I don't know which of those two options I would choose. The bills are going on the road to L.A. So I guess I would take the home option. The Steelers are taking on the Jets, and the Steelers at home looked great last week. Plus...

Ryan Fitzpatrick is good for at least two interceptions. Oh, yeah. So maybe they take one back to the house. I'm going to continue rolling. I know a lot of people right now who played the Patriots defense this last week. They had to have been very disappointed. I'm going to roll them again. I think that Bill Belichick gets that ship righted. You come back. You've got Cleveland at home. I think that's another great option. Great option. All right. You guys ready to move on? Let's do it. Full stream ahead.

All right. Let's talk streaming quarterback options. I'll jump in right here. You're going back to the well, Mike? I absolutely am. I'm going with Brian Hoyer, who is 3.9% owned. Look, Brian Hoyer has started two weeks. Brian Hoyer has been a quarterback one for two weeks. I mean, look, he's, we saw him last year.

in Houston was a more than capable fill-in fantasy quarterback. He got it done with the Andre Hopkins, and he has weapons. Hopkins must miss him. He probably does. And for Hoyer, I will throw this caveat out. If for some reason you're looking at Alshan and Kevin White are not going, I would probably pull back on Brian Hoyer. But as long as one of those guys is in there with Eddie Royal and Zach Miller and Jordan Howard, who is great in the receiving game,

Brian Hoyer, I think, is a great option again. He just, he is, like I said, as long as it's not the playoffs, Brian Hoyer can perform for you. All right. Jason, who's your streaming quarterback option? My streaming quarterback option was Brian Hoyer. And then, which is, sorry, he takes on the Colts. Yes. By the way. Which is, as I mentioned, a great matchup here. Unfortunately, he was taken. So then I went to pick another guy and a little spoiler alert.