Week 4 Matchups + Wheel of Shame, Tua Talk - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/30

You know, Dawson Knox is just living in this half-injured purgatory of tight-end optimism where we can't, I don't think we've said to start him this year. And I wouldn't. So the Ravens' defense has been bad, though, against everybody. So at least in that regard, this is why Lamar Jackson has the most fantasy points through three weeks of a quarterback in the history of fantasy football. Yeah. Yeah, he does. Because he has to. And he has to keep every game kind of, he has these great starts and you're like, well, he's going to have to slow it down in the second half. But unlike Jalen Hertz, whose defense is outstanding, Baltimore is just like, we might give this lead up. And so it's perfect. It is a perfect storm right now. Rashad Bateman's in play. What do you do with J.K. Dobbins, who looks like he is on the way back. He practiced in full. He.

You give them another week because the- Seven attempts last week, sorry. Buffalo's secondary is injured. I think you can pass on them, but their front is great. They are tough to run on. This isn't the week where you just assume, first of all, that they're going to give him the workload to matter for fantasy and that he's going to beat the Buffalo bill. So this is another week to wait. You hope that the percentages go up, even if the fantasy output isn't great. The snaps were low, 43%, but the- To me, a 7% target share and the 54% of the running back attempts, like, that's a positive sign for going forward. But I agree that if you have anybody that you can put in over J.K. Dobbins, I get it's tough, but like, would you guys play? All of them. Whatever you say, I'm fine over J.D. McKissick. E.T.N., Michael Carter, Cam Acres, all of them. Tony Pollard? Sure.

Okay. Yeah. J.K. Dobbins needs to, I mean, the matchup is, Jason said it. The matchup is terrible. It's not like, you know, if it gets 10 touches, it's going to be bad. Los Angeles, one and two, the Chargers, taking on the O, two, and one, Houston Texans. The Drafking Sportsbook line here, the Chargers minus five on the road. The overrunners, 45 that gives the Chargers 25 points. This is, the Chargers story this season has not been the one they wanted written. injuries to their quarterback, Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa, inefficiency from Austin Echler, disappearing act from Mike Williams at times. So can the Houston Texans be the remedy to all of these ills? Can we see the resurgent Austin Echler? Can we see Mike Williams heavily targeted yet again? Yeah. I mean.

Wow. That was a yeah with a question mark at the end. It was. It was a yeah with the question mark at the end. You know, you would expect a touchdown lead from the teams before the season started. But the chargers with the injuries and on the offensive line and Herbert, they just have a lot of question marks. I mean, you're going to play them, right? You're not sitting Mike Williams in this matchup without Keenan Allen. And you're not sitting Austin Echler, who still can volume his way and target his way to an inefficient. Good fantasy day. And this is a great matchup for running backs against the Texas. So it's really, it's a hold your breath situation while you put them in your lineup. And I hope you survive the breath holding. I really hope it because those are two of my players. Well. I need you a big herb. Yeah, this is, this is a good matchup for them. And they should be able to bounce back.

after the whoopin they took at the hands of Jacksonville. I'll mention Josh Palmer. Josh Palmer, eight targets two weeks ago, nine last week. I mean, that's if Keenan's actually out, right? And, well, I was going to bring it out. Like Keenan Allen limped off the field. We don't have another update on Keenan. It's not looking great. Yeah, the update yesterday was, I mean, throughout the week, he had been doing individual work. And then we got just kind of a ominous. Okay, Keenan Allen just left with a trainer. And. That's, you know he's frustrated, but so we need some more information, but I would agree. It seems like we're trending in a bad situation for Keenan Allen. That puts Gerald Everett back in play, too. Sure. One of the most common start sit questions on the fantasy footballers.com right now. Crystal Lave versus the Minnesota Vikings or Big Mike Williams.

Oh, I thought you were going to say her Keenan. I was like, oh, that's easy. No. I think I would be that would not be a common question. Because of Dalton, I think I'd go Mike Williams there. Okay. Do you agree with that? The 56 percentage completion rate from Justin Herbert, who was very hurt last week. Here's what I want you to do, Mike. Put that exact question up on Twitter and see what people say. I want to know what the sentiment is around Mike Williams right now and Crystal Lave. Yeah, I'd be curious about that as well. But I would go Mike Williams.

The rib cartilage injury for Justin Herbert will continue to get better every single week. I mean, obviously we saw the same injury keep Alvin Kamara out and then he was back. And so I'm not saying Herbert is at 100% health now, but he will be healthier today than he was last week. Where they kept him in in a 38 to 10 game and let him keep playing. So whatever rib injection they did was spot on. Just watch those lungs. On the other side of the ball, the chargers have struggled against opposing running back. Fantasy running backs. Joey Bosa is not going to be a part of this defense. Damien Pierce is a solid start in my opinion in the RB2 range. He's at 17, I think, in our consensus rankings. So you can put him out there. Brandon Cook's 28% target share, but a really disappointing week last week. And again, you're looking at a situation that I think you have to keep playing Brandon Cooks because of how involved he is, but you're being limited by the quarterback right now. Yeah, it's wild.

what's going on with Brandon Cooks. I mean, on the year, like 28% of the targets, and yet that is turned into no higher than the wide receiver 27 in week one. Like 82 yards, week one, that was the high. And it's just been going down since then. It, it, everything makes sense for Brandon Cooks to get out of this slump. Is he a bylaw? Uh, I think so. As long as it's, Low enough. Like this isn't this isn't a by mid. This is a trailing Berks. Would you trade Trailing Berks for Brandon Cook? Yes, I would. And I like, we've talked about Berks. I like him. But I, the numbers and the history of Brandon Cooks say he will eventually get out of this funk. All right, quick break back with some more matchups. All right. The Arizona Cardinals at one and two. Take on the Carolina Panthers at one and two. The over under here is just 43 and a half on draft kings. The.

Sportsbook line, Carolina minus one and a half. So Arizona is, they're on a road hot streak. They've won eight straight on the road as an underdog. That is the longest streak in the history of the NFL. I don't see any huge reason why that can't continue here against Carolina. Carolina is just one and a half point home favorites. We do have a, the line has moved. It's now Arizona minus one. It just moved in the last two hours. That's McCaffrey. That's what that is. Uh-oh. That's Christian McCaffrey down. That does sound. If it moved in the last two hours, that means somebody around that, somebody around that practice field is not encouraged by what they saw. We saw this with Justin Herbert, and Herbert ended up playing. So that's not a guarantee McAfree doesn't play. But there's some nervousness in Vegas. Sure. Yeah.

And then we did see Herbert play, but then get trashed by the Jacksonville Jaguars. So the line move was smart there. That is really interesting. There is also a chance for rain in this one. Yeah. So I don't think that that's going to affect the line as far as who's going to win the game, but it's something to be aware of for the passing game. What are the big storylines in this game for you? What big starts at decisions stand out? I mean, the big questions are, on the Carolina side of it's been rough. I mean, Chris McCaffrey's getting the workload. He's been fine, but like the wide receivers, you had a big broken touchdown for Robbie Anderson in week one. DJ Moore, a very high draft pick, an incredibly talented wide receiver. On the year, we have, uh, what, seven total receptions for 88 yards, uh, highlighted by a one for two performance last week against the New Orleans Saints.

He has caught 39% of his passes. Having all of that knowledge. Remember that happened to him two years ago? He had a super low catch percentage compared to his historical average. And we were like, oh my gosh. They started using him as like the nine route guy. And he had another quarterback problem because that's all they had for a while. But who was right after Bridgewater? They had Taylor Heineke and Kyle Allen one year. The Panthers did? Yeah. Yep. It feels like a lifetime ago. I just thought, I thought DJ Moore had a really bad catch percentage on a ton of targets, and we were trying to excuse it away. The usage. He's also had Ted Bridgewater. I mean, it had totally flipped that year because that's the year like his A dot was massive and his yards per catch was was very high. Yeah, 56% 57%. This is just screaming trouble at the quarterback position over and over again. So the question for DJ Moore is knowing all those things.

But then knowing that the Arizona Cardinals defense is not scary, do you play DJ Moore this week? No, you don't. Part of that, and Jason, maybe you were going to bring it up, but Byron Murphy has been a shutdown corner so far this year, shut down Devonti Adams, shut down Cooper Cup. Arizona will also get back another corner this week. Trayvon Mullen, I don't think you can play DJ more until he gives you a reason to play him. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's. Not within the realm of possibility. He has a great game, 112 yards and a touchdown, but I can't possibly project him to a starting median score where I'm putting him in my lineup. If I've got Garrett Wilson or Romeo Dobbs or Jujo or Brandon Ayyuk, I'm putting all those players in my lineup over DJ Moore. Hollywood Brown had 17 targets last week. I've been asked if, you know, by multiple people, should you be?

Trading high on the target totals for Hollywood Brown because of the eventual return of Hopkins, my opinion has been kind of, no, I don't think you do that. I think it's just, you know, he's not a sell, he's not a buy, he's just what he is. Yeah, Hollywood is not someone that people are going hard after. You know, when you sell high on a player, it would have been, you know, a Jalen Waddle who looks like he's just broken out and he's, you know. The market says that that player is very valuable. Exactly. Marquise Brown's probably still undervalued in fantasy. But he's a strong play. You can start him pretty much with confidence in this week because of the targets. The Dorch, Greg Dorch, continues to be getting enough involvement where you could plug him in. Well, the question is Rondale Moore. We need an update on him. Because we think he'll be back. You do? You think he'll... He's been practicing. No, I know he got back to practice. I just, I would still be surprised if he's in this game. But I...

AJ Green will miss it, so that could put Dorch in play anyways. But the question for the Dorch, who has been very competent, if Rondale Moore is active, I mean, Dorch has been the slot wide receiver, and that's where Rondale Moore is going to go. Do you still have confidence in the Dorch? If they say Rondale Moore is active, we don't know how much he's going to play, but can you still play, Greg? Yeah, I think the Dorch gets. close to 10 targets this week with or without Rondell more. If Rondale's practicing again. If Rondale is active in this game, I think that he will be limited. I don't think they're going to put him after this long of an injury where he came back and then got re-endred. I don't think they're just throwing him straight to the wolves. By the way, I'm anti-Dorch if Rondale's active. Yeah, that's more where I am. But by the way, go pick up Rondale more. Sure. He should be stashed.

over the over this weekend to see what's going if if anything from gregg dorch's involvement you should be able to see the path because dorch is a jag he's just a guy he is how dare you look i really necessarily true yeah it is he's not a superstar andy isabella's just a guy no andy isabella's bad Like Andy Isabella is someone who can't crack a lineup. I can't argue. Look, you've never, you've had at least the Dorch has gone out and done something with 10 targets. Rondale has never done that. I'm saying a Josh Reynolds type of player who can volume his way to a fine fantasy production, that's the same with Greg Dorch. What Greg Dorch can't do is I don't think Greg Dorch can.

break tackles and have an 80-yard touchdown and do things athletically that Rondale Moore could do. If Rondell Moore gets the volume that Greg Dorch has been getting, and that's not a guarantee, but if he does, if he's running that role, then I think the talent of Rondale is fire. It could be very hard. Kyle's calling Diet Jameson Crowder. Diet Jameson Crowder. That's pretty funny. The dorsch or Rondale? Is that for the Dorch? That's the Dorch. That's the Dorch. Okay. Well, I think it's rude. It's calorie-free. Yeah, but the cancer-causing sugar substitutes. James Connor, he's averaging 30 rushing yards a game right now. I mean, if we wanted to print out the what goes wrong for Connor template, it would be he doesn't score and he can't run the football. And that's where we're at. Zacherts, 10 targets, 11 targets.

He will not goose you. That's one of his pledges he's made to the fantasy community. Yeah. And he's definitely playable. For sure. I would love to have Zacherts. Jason, what's wrong with Christian McCaffrey's body? Everything. It doesn't withstand belcow usage in the NFL. That's what's wrong with it. So McCaffrey, if he starts, he's starting, right? Yep. Of course. Yes. And if he's out, you're crying, weeping? In the corner. If he is out. Shower. In the shower. Yeah. So no one could see the tears. The tears on my face. It's amazing. They just hear the whales. When we talk about really bad teams with bad matchups, you can almost always find a start. But if Christian McCaffrey is out in this game, I don't think there is one. I don't think you can start DJ Moore or Robbie Anderson or anybody. Yeah, that could be a full.

A full set. Oh, man. The New England Patriots at 1 and 2 take on the Green Bay Packers who were 2 and 1. Mac Jones is practicing. The draft king sportsbook line, Green Bay minus 9 at home, though. And the overender's 40 points. That gives the Patriots just under 16. That's not great. Either way, whether it's Brian Hoyer or. Or back at practice, Mac Jones. Yeah, or Mac Jones. I mean, other people might not be back at practice. What is going? Oh, is that you? Are you the whale? Well, yeah, because I heard the same thing. When he said you can just hear the whales. And I know you were saying whaling. Yes. But I thought maybe you wailed like a whale. Well, that's for me to know and no one else to find out. That was the sound of Mac Jones coming off the field last week.

Dude, the video of them carrying Mac Jones down the stairs. He was screaming. That was a man in pain. Any changes to your thoughts on all of the Mac Jones related content from this week? No, based on him screaming coming off the field. No, because a lot of people would have just stayed on the field. But Mac Jones got off of the field. A lot of people would have been yelling louder, I think. Yes, of course. A lot of people wouldn't be practicing right now, but he is back of practice. Now, we have, because they all had the surgery. We have, right, we have actually seen quarterbacks play through a high ankle sprain. They don't need it quite the same as others, but their high ankle. They don't need their high ankle as much. Right. They don't, they don't need it as much as a running back or wide receiver that just completely is, you know, unplayable.

That being said, you're going to have an injured Mac Jones or probably a Brian Hoyer in this game. And that rules out all receiving options to me across the board. Devante Parker, I'm not chasing the big game without Jacobi Myers last week. I mean, they're an NFL team. They're going to throw the ball. Someone will catch it. But I'm not trying to predict who it's going to be or take the sub-16 projected. In Green Bay, yeah. I mean, Romandre, you're putting him in there as a flex? Yeah, I think he is a strong flex play. Same with Damien Harris? I think you might be able to play both of them, yeah. Okay. Aaron Jones, AJ Dylan, at home. Play him. The running defense for the Patriots. Don't care. You don't care. All right. So they're both in. Alan Lazard, Romeo Dobbs. This is.

Now this is a conversation because Alan Lazard is still recovering from the ankle injury, has scored in both weeks, but Romeo Dobbs was the story of last week. 24% of the targets came out of the gate just hot. I mean, on that first drive, some massive production, like an entire day's worth of fantasy production for Romeo Dobbs in that first drive. It's going to be very interesting to watch. how what happens here with like is what's the status of christian watson christian watson has been back at practice he's been practicing so i based on the videos that i've seen it looks like he's ready to go and he'll play which definitely takes a little bit off of romeo dobs here it takes the it increases the risk factor for sure yeah i i

I don't expect him to be the number one target necessarily in this game, whereas if Christian Watson was out. I mean, he played 89% of snaps last week Romeo Dobbs did, was the clear number one. He was the first read. There were designed plays for him. So it was really good for Dobbs. I think he could have another good week. But Christian Watson being back probably limits the guaranteed upside. Robert Tunyon was Mike start of the week. I am going to go as far as to guarantee a score in this game for Robert Tunyon. Okay. I'm putting it down. I love the pick, Mike. I think his breakout is coming. So if he's sitting there, if you're in the tight end wasteland and he's sitting there on the waiver wire, even if you have a David and Joku, even if you have an Irv Smith or anybody that you're going to, you feel better starting this week for whatever reason, which you shouldn't because the Patriots have given up like 16 points a game to tight ends. In my opinion, you pick up, pick up Bob. Yep.

Put Bob on your bench. We have a water bet with him, right? What was that? Didn't we do something? Um, yes. Who cares? We, who cares? I do. I just asked the question. Yeah, I mean, we do. Let's see. It's a, uh, I'm only seeing DJ Moore versus the Dorch. Yeah, that's all I'm seeing too. Hmm. I feel like we made a bet. Yeah. Because you're anti-Tunion. I'm not anti-Tunian, but I thought you hate the Bob. You taking Tanya over whoever the other player was, I thought was a little surprising. Probably in Joku. Maybe. Oh, Gerald Everett? I think it was. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there it was. There it was. Yeah. And that's crazy. Everett's great. That's not crazy. Who would you play, Mike? I. Bobby and your start of the week or Gerald Everett? This week.

I would probably go with Gerald Everett. They're very, I mean, they're like exact same team. Hey, handy. No, they're, they want a water bet this week, Gerald Everett? I thought we already did this. Well, let's, now it's official. Waterbet. Bobby, Bobby scoring. I guarantee a touchdown. I, that bet was during the party room on Spotify Live. There we go. The, I like, again, he's my start of the week. I like Bob Tunyon. I think he's a good play this week. The targets per route runner, great. The question for, for him is, If all of the wide receivers are healthy and going, then what does that do for Bob? Bob is going to own. Is this an official name change for us? Is this Bob? I like it. It's Big Bob Tunyon. I just, I find it to be a betrayal of the start of the week principles because Ever is not an auto start. And I feel like you're in that, I mean, you're in that range where, you know, he feels like.

We did two catches last week. Sounds like you should take his start of the week. You want to trade? Yeah, I wanted David and Joku. Let's trade. All right. This is the first start of the week trade in the history of the show. I've got Bob. Yeah, you do. Heck yeah. My start of the week, David and Joku is going to crush this week. Oh, now you can, now you don't have to sign with Bob Tunyon. There you go. Now the real question is David and Joku or Jared Everett. Yes. Oh, David and Joker. All right. There you go. Real start of the week.

That was a good trade. I should have gone for like a third rounder in there too with Injoku. All right. We're moving on. We're going to talk about the Denver Broncos taking on the Las Vegas Raiders. Draft King's Wordsbook line, Las Vegas minus two and a half at home. The overrunners 45 and a half. The storyline for the Denver Broncos has been bad offense, great defense, fourth against opposing quarterbacks, third against running backs, first against wide receivers, How do those defensive rankings affect the potential to stream Derek Carr at home and then play Josh Jacobs, Devante Adams, and company? I would prefer not to stream Derek Carr in this matchup. Devante Adams is every single week. Josh Jacobs is in that range of a running back where it's like, do you have, so Romandre Stevenson or Josh Jacobs? Where would you guys go? I think in this matchup I would prefer to have Ramondra. I'd prefer to have Devon Singletary.

I would put Devin ahead of both of those. Rashad Penny against Detroit or Josh Jacobs. Rashad Penny's a really fun play to me this week, but that's more, I feel like it's more GPP, like a tournament play. He could have a monster performance this week. He could also have like, you know, six for nine. That's not very nice. No, it would not be. For those that don't play like Draft Kings and Daily Fantasy. Do you mind summarizing what you mean when you refer to GPP? Yeah. So that's a big tournament play. So you've got to have someone that people aren't playing a lot of who really goes above expectation. And they have to have monster games. It's not a safe play. It's a risky, high upside volatile play to win in a tournament. Yeah, in a tournament, GPP guaranteed price pool. So Waller.

He's your tight end. You play him. Yes. On the other side of the ball, Russell Wilson, Mike has gone out on a limb. Oh, iron pants indeed. And went with the... Unlimited. Russell Wilson. He's the only quarterback in the entire NFL without a red zone touchdown. Here's the thing for the start of the week with Russ. Either it works out and we're like, great. Russell Wilson was a top 12 guy this week or he's terrible and we never need to speak of him again. A steel underpants. Strap in. Giovante Williams, Melvin Gordon. Unfortunately, these were guys who I think one touch apart last week. So that was the frustrating part with Javante. You know, his fancy points have gone down three weeks in a row, not up. He did have 15 attempts in back-to-back weeks. He's still looking good on the ground. It's just total opportunities.

You know, if Mike Boone, Mike Boone was one of the alerts last week. Yeah, that was sucky. Like Melvin Gordon is sucky. Don't bring Mike Boone into this. Come on. Let, let Javonte have those targets. That being said, even with that, while he had the lowest snap percentage of the season so far, he actually had the most opportunities he had of the season last week. Speaking of Javante. So I, this matchup is great. I'm starting Javonte without. Question. I think everybody who has Javante is, they might be a little worried about it. I'm saying don't be. You should have a good game. Melvin Gordon last week, 18 touches. Hunter Renfro, not at practice again. Seems like he could miss another week due to the concussion. Which puts Matt Collins. You chase the dragon. Well, I mean, you don't, you don't chase it, but you're willing to, like if you have to start another raider, it's him. The Dorch or Mac Collins? Mac Collins. Matt Collins. Agreed.

Yeah. Cortland Sutton, yep. Yep. The rest of the receivers and the tight ends. Nope. Sunday night football, the Chiefs 2 and 1 taken on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 and 1. This one should be fun. Tampa Bay one point home favorites according to the Draft King Sportsbook number. The over under is 46. This is a rematch. Super Bowl 55. Tampa Bay has been held under 20 points, 20 or below in all three games this year. Kansas City, the offense did not look good against Indianapolis last week. Mahomes only completing 57% of his passes almost as if Tyree Kilmatters. I think that's what stood out to me in this offense is that Tyree Kilmatters. He still got Travis Kelsey, who's incredible. But, you know, Juju, MBS, the non-existent Skymore, McColl Hardman. These are not weapons that, to me, have made enough plays to make Patrick Mahomes.