Starts of the Week + Week 3 Breakdown, V8 Special - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/24

You know, it just depends on your league. In our league, there's no chance that Derek Henry is, I couldn't trade my team for him if I wanted. I've tried. I've tried to trade for him. No luck. Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook, the only two options you're looking at on the Minnesota side. That is correct. Thielen we have is the wide receiver 9 on the week. Tennessee's giving up the second highest pass success rate in the NFL. A.J. Brown, we don't know if he's going to be out there. Oh, please don't. If he is.

The Vikings defense is putrid giving up almost 45 fantasy points of game to opposing whiteouts. It makes Corey Davis a spot start if he's not there. Yes, but the question is, I think, the difficult question, because if AJ Brown is out, Corey Davis, in every lineup that you have them. But if AJ Brown plays, you know, I'm speaking as someone who has AJ Brown and Corey Davis on the same team because when I lost AJ Brown, I picked up Corey Davis. I'm sure there's a lot of us out there. Lucky. Lucky.

Which one do you start if they both play? Because I certainly want a piece of the passing game against the Vikings. I would be starting A.J. Brown. If he's out there, I would be starting him. Corey Davis was pretty much invisible last week other than he caught an early short touchdown. And that saved his fantasy week. So I would go with A.J. Brown in the big play. Sure. But week one, Corey Davis, when A.J. Brown was there, was the more targeted, more efficient.

better wide receiver. So I think it's difficult. I need to see at least a full practice. So tomorrow, if A.J. Brown has a full practice tomorrow, then I would be confident to play him. Otherwise, I would not. And I would play Jonu Smith. Yes, either way. Johnu is the biggest beneficiary from AJ Brown being off the field. Johnu Smith. Let's ask a rest of season question, though. We know Brown will be back eventually. Would you rather have Johnny Smith or Mike Gisicki rest of season? Jonu Smith. But it's close. I lean Janu. Yeah. Okay. Noah Fant or Johnny Smith.

No offense. Evan Ingram or Johnny Smith? Johnny Smith. Angram. Okay. All right. The Raiders take on the New England Patriots this week. The Raiders undefeated. The Patriots are at 500. But they're six-point home favorites. And it's a 47.5 point over under. There were one play away from being undefeated. Yeah. They didn't even get close, though, on that play. No. I watched that play from a few angles. It was pretty gross. It was gross. It was a whoopsie.

by Cam Newton. Yeah, it's that whole debate of jumbo package versus, you know, spread it out a little bit and then let Cam run. I mean, they... You just got to always have a leak out. You know, if the play breaks down, he can dump it over the top. Mid-flip, could he have dumped it off? Even with a leakout on that particular play, Cam Newton just... The Defender won, and Cam Newton ran right into it. All right. The Raiders, though, they are 2-0 through two weeks.

And the Patriots are big time home favorites. It's a 47.5 point over under. We'll be talking about Cam Newton in a little while. Oh, that's what I'm talking about. Get on board, baby. Let's go. But even though Russell Wilson torched the Patriots who are, because of that game, now 27th in the NFL, some of the fancy points given up to opposing wide receivers, I don't think we expect that to be the norm facing Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalfe and Russell Wilson.

What do you believe about this Patriots defense right now? Is there anybody that you would start on this Raiders offense for fantasy purposes outside of Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller? Oh, man. Outside of those two? No. No. How dare you take my easy answers? You almost didn't name the Walleress. But Henry Ruggs. Brian Edwards, Hunter Renfro, it's a no for all of them. Stefan Gilmore is still there. And while the Patriots lost a lot of defensive.

stalwarts to the COVID opt-out list, and they aren't the same defense we saw last year. They are still obviously well-coached with a couple of great options, and Gilmore is not going to have to match up against D.K. Metcalfe every week. It's Jacobs, it's Waller, it's move on from the Raiders. Yeah, like I would rather play, I am playing Nikiel Harry over any of those other options for the Raiders. Yeah, that was going to be a question on the other side. Nick Hill Harry, a lot of targets.

past couple of weeks, kind of seems to be Cam's other main guy, like Edelman and Harry. What's super weird is, Nikiel Harry is being used in the short game, and we've seen Julian Edelman catch quite a few bomb passes. Bill Belichick always flipping the script. Yeah, Harry's...

going to have some games this year, especially. He hasn't gotten into the end zone yet. He tried, but he didn't. And he, if you watch him at Arizona State, a lot of big plays on screen passes. He has the ability to take that screen to the house. Sonny Michelle, horrible. Last week it was Burkhead getting all the snaps. Still not good for fantasy. James White's still not back at practice. Who knows if he even plays this week? Sony Michelle, I wouldn't even.

put a claim in on him if he was on waivers. Yeah. That's how I feel about Sony. I mean, he has stunk. He's not getting the opportunities you want. He's splitting time. And then if you pick him up for some hopeful turnaround, then Damien Harris comes off the short term I are. I don't see any reason to. That is a good point. To roster Sony. I love Andy bringing up Alshon Jeffrey as a claim right now because he's on your waiver wire. Damien Harris may also be on your waiver wire.

This is just a stash. I'm not proclaiming Damien Harris is coming in. He's taking the job. He's going to break out. But the drumbeat of the off season was growing very strongly for him. Everyone was saying he was the best running back in camp. So he at least has that opportunity. Yeah. And I was going to bring him up, but I wasn't going to be as positive as you were, just in the sense that we know now what New England does inside the five. It's going to be Cam Newton. So if you take away any chance of a goal line,

And you still got James White. Maybe it's because they look at the running backs and go, these guys are not going to get it done. All right. The 49ers take on the New York Giants this week in New York. The 49ers are four and a half point favorites. They're beat up, but not too beat up, to beat up the Giants. I love it. That was maybe the best sentence you have ever said on this show. I got it in three times. So we know kind of the situation. We lost Sequin Parkley.

Last week, Devante Freeman is going to be practicing, but he's, how worked into the offense will he be? If I had to pick a running back, it would be unquestionably Dionne Lewis this week because I know he's going to be involved in the passing game of this offense. We saw it last week where he actually had some fantasy production.

But it's not a situation I want to be in. Picking between multiple giants running backs. Don't do it. For a spot start against the defensive front of the 49ers. Yeah, I would pick DeVant to Freeman, and it's irrelevant because whoever it is, you don't want to start. And I think that there are better options out there. I mean, obviously, if you've lost two starting running backs and you had to pick one of these guys up, our apologies. But outside of that crazy situation,

You know, I just traded for DeVant Freeman on the cheap in our dynasty league because I am in serious need, serious need of a running back in that dynasty league. He's not in my lineup this week, even against a beat-up San Francisco 49ers defense. Let me broaden the question. Is there any giant that you would play this week? Yes. Okay, is it Darius Slayton? It is. I think Darius Slayton is a solid play. I think that Evan Engram, it really hasn't.

come through in a big way. He was heavily targeted last year. Yeah, and he was a cardiac player of through the whole first half. You're going, why did I draft Evan Engram? And then he finally got involved. Engram is a, he's still a weekly tight end starter at this point. And then. Sterling Shepherds out. Yeah, and that's what I was going to go. Golden Tate, if you are in quite the pickle, I think Golden Tate is worth a potential flex start. He's also a player that you could just

throw on your bench for over the weekend and see how things shake out as the giant schedule is about to open up and Shepard is going to miss multiple games. All right. On the other side, we don't know if it's going to be Jimmy G. or Nick Mullins, but do you know the backfield is going to be Derek McKinnon and Jeff Wilson? I think both of those players are startable. Yeah. I think Wilson will get a ton of work because McKinnon has been coming back from two years of injuries. Both players could give you fantasy production.

Outside of them, though, we're looking at Rule 81. Jordan Reed, George Kittle, we don't know if Kittles going to be available. We'll give you an update, but right now he's questionable. Well, let's confirm. I mean, we need to walk through the steps. Yeah, Rule 81. Is Jordan Reed healthy? Yes. Okay. Part two, is George Kittle not playing. We don't know yet, but if he is not, then Rule 81 is in full effect. And Jordan Reed is in your lineup. Yep. Okay.

Is there anybody else on the San Francisco side that you... No. Okay. No. Let's get to our starts. Starts of the week. Any volunteers to kick this one off? Sure, I'll go first. Here was... He pulls out a cart and cigarettes. I'll get my... I'm like the walrus in Alice, Wonderland.

I should have taken that time to not go first. That's why I laughed. I'm going to go first. I got this. With a quarterback that was a draft season favorite. I think he was probably the most common late round quarterback that the three of us combined were taking left, right and center, who we then dropped everywhere before week one and didn't get the chance to play because he did not have Kenny Gawaday. Matthew Stafford.

is a great quarterback in general. He leads the NFL and comeback games for a reason, and it's a great fantasy reason. It's because their team stinks, and he needs to come back, but he's great at it. He's phenomenal at, you know, the second half of the game. And if you look at the over-under here, a major points bonanza expected by Vegas in this game, high pace of play, Kenny Gawaday back, I am willing to start Matthew Stafford. Now, that is on the contingency that...

Gallaudet is back. So I was going to ask you, because I've been here before. I thought Gallaudet was playing when I made Stafford my start of the week and week one. He ended up sitting it out. Wasn't as pretty. My expectation because they took their time with Goladay is that they did. The Lions did what the Eagles did with Miles Sanders. They just flat said, no, we want to use you at full strength. We're not going to let you come back a little hobbled.

And so my expectation is that Gallaudet will play. That's why I'm making Stafford my start of the week. If he isn't, you can pivot to plenty of other options. All right, I'm jumping in. I'm giving you another streamer. He's my start of the week, but I wanted to highlight this streaming option. He's going tonight. So if you're going to make that decision, you've got to go now. Like maybe you're waiting on Jimmy Garoppolo. I would much rather play Ryan Fitzpatrick, the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins over Nick Mullins. Like just you're waiting on that.

for some reason. He just put up a top 12 performance against the Buffalo Bills. Jacksonville, meanwhile, just allowed a quarterback eight last week. You can pass on Jacksonville. Ryan Fitzpatrick, we were talking about it at the beginning. He, like, he's still good. Week one was against the Patriots. That's a tough matchup. Ryan Fitzpatrick is picking up where he left off at the end of last year, and I think that you could play him with confidence tonight.

All right, I'm going to go with Cameron Newton. Cam Newton facing the Raiders. Two weeks into the season. Where's the drop, man? 15. Oh, I was warming it up for you. You're right. I was too busy thinking about the argument for him. That's your argument. I'm done. He's been booty scooting. All right. My start of the week at running back. 15 carries 11 carries two touchdowns on the ground in each week, figuring it out 397 through the air last week. Love him. He's healthy.

Watch him play. He is healthy right now and healthy Kim Newton is fantasy goodness. Yeah, and it can get better. It can get better because, you know, he hasn't played with Harry and Edelman and this offense for a while. I didn't even have James White last week. He can get better. All right. I started the week at running back.

is going tonight as well is James Robinson. I haven't seen any of your guys start yet. This is all exciting to me. So James Robinson, this isn't some smash play matchup wonder, but he should be started in most leagues. I can't imagine that he's not.

start worthy, and I want to give my confidence in what I've seen from him as a player. Even though his snaps came down this last week, his opportunities went up for targets last week to go along with 16 carries. That's a phenomenal workload. He had 16 carries week one, and two, he's going to get the work. Tonight's game shouldn't be out of control one way or the other. So I think this is a good James Robinson matchup. Miami looks pretty good against running backs so far this season.