Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 10 Matchups, Bobbing for Apples

I mean, he has been absolutely sensational. It's incredible that a team can have two running backs be considered RB-1s. But here we are, and that is at some detriment to Michael Thomas. I just wanted to get a quick Michael Thomas temperature gauge from you guys, because last night, seemingly more than more nights, I got a whole bunch of Michael Thomas questions, as in should I trade for Michael Thomas?

people skeptical and hesitant to trade for Michael Thomas as in like illustrated by this someone asked me what's a standard league should I trade away juju smith schuster for Michael Thomas wow that's but that's where people are is they are they feel like Michael Thomas has been a massive disappointment but he has Michael Thomas has been great now listen he's no no he's not disappointed you because of where exactly he's disappointed you because of where not just that

But listen, listen to the argument here because people that own him are way too down on him and their perspective because of disappointment is usually incorrect. If you get a wide receiver who's catching seven passes, if any game you've got a guy and he caught seven balls, you're going, that's a really good solid game. Right now.

Despite the fact that he's only had two touchdowns on the year, he's still the number 17 wide receiver. He's a wide receiver too. And if you listen to his last stretch of games receptions-wise...

Eight receptions, which is great. Seven, which is great. Seven, which is great. Then he had that down game in Detroit. He had the one really bad game. Then eight receptions. Seven, he is incredibly involved in the game. The touchdowns just aren't there, and they will be. I mean, I don't think that Michael Thomas, who came out and looked great in the red zone with Drew Brees, is going to finish the year with three touchdowns. He's got two right now. I think he gets up.

Five or six. So I love Michael Thomas as a trade target. He's on pace for 100 and nearly 1,100 yards. Yeah. But I feel like it's a big disappointment. Fundamentally, I think I disagree with the take there. Because you can list off all those reception totals and you have the 17th best wide receiver. When we came into this year, we were talking about him as a top five wide receiver like he finished the year last year. You're not talking about three games.

You're talking about we're through going into week 10 now, never over 100 yards. That's what I'm saying. Like, it's not just the touchdowns. He's not had a 100-yard game as the number one wide receiver for Drew Brees for the entirety of the year. I think you need to adjust. Now, that trade for Drew Smith-Shooster is insane. No, but you have to adjust your expectations for Michael Thomas. He has not been a big play, prolific wide receiver 1. He has been a hyper-consistent wide receiver 2.

That's why he's at 17, right? I mean, you are getting Jarvis Landry out of Michael Thomas this year. That is exactly what you're getting. You're getting high quantity of receptions, low touchdowns, low yardage, possession receiver. I wouldn't say low yardage. I mean, he's been in, he hasn't hit 100, yes, but he's been over 80, four games, 77. I just wanted to. 1,100 yard.

is 68 a game average. So you say he's on pace for, so 68 yards a game is his average. I'm not talking bad about Michael Thomas. I'm not telling you trade him for Juju Smith-Schuster. But here's the fact that I, and this is an important conversation, when a player comes out and has a monster first year, just like a monster first couple games in a season, you start to build that player up in your mind and it's very hard to adjust that expectation for that player.

I'm saying I think he might be a possession receiver that belongs in the wide receiver two category as opposed to a top five player, which is how he was being projected in the beginning of the year. And I think a 10-game sample size in his sophomore year might be enough for us to do that. See, and the way that I look at Michael Thomas is he's a wide receiver one. He's a top 12 guy. He'll finish this season as a top 12 guy. He's, you know, he's 17th right now.

But he's already had his bye week. Four guys ahead of him have not had their by week. They're nine games in. There's players ahead of him like Golden Tate and Chris Hogan and Jarvis Landry that I don't expect to finish there. So yes, top five, sure. No, he's not been one of those true game changers. But he's going to finish this year, unless he gets injured, I believe, as a wide receiver one, which is great. I mean, that's the opposite of a bust. If you get a guy in the first round and he finishes as a wide receiver one,

Plus he's consistent. I like him. This game, this matchup, let's talk about this actual matchup, is not the best for him, but it's not the worst. The Buffalo Bills are pretty in the middle when it comes to points given up to wide receiver against versus, you know, what other people have done to the same wide receivers that they've faced. So I think on the road, Drew Brees, gets a little bumped down. So Michael Thomas, this week I think it's more in line with what your expectation is, Andy, in the sense that

You know, he might be the wide receiver 15 or 16 or 17, not a top 12 guy on the road in Buffalo. Let's talk about the bills. I expect LaShawn McCoy to bounce back this week. I don't think anybody should be afraid of playing him. The Saints give up 20.3 fantasy points per game to the running back position. He's at home too. And he's at home, and he's just too important to that offense. They lost without giving him the ball last week. What do we expect from Kelvin Benjamin's debut for the Buffalo Bills? The bills throw the ball to the wide receiver the third least amount of times.

per game in the league. Yeah, I, but they haven't had wide receivers. There's a chicken and egg situation. Certainly. I would not start him. He was coming out for that short week, you know, and so he wasn't able to play last week. But I just, I can't start him. What do you think he, so I guess the question for Kelvin Benjamin should just be, what do you feel like the upside is for him the rest of the season as a Buffalo bill?

touchdown dependent three wide receiver three or would you I think he has a chance to be a contributing number two I mean they didn't bring him in here for no reason he's a big target they have banged up tight-in situation yeah I think he the question then is you know do you start him over Jordan Matthews or Zay Jones or Deontay Thompson who's had big weeks to me Benjamin is the is the play I want because I don't you know it's that I don't know what I got maybe I get two touchdowns out of him

Sure. Charles Clay has been practicing. If he's in, is he back in your lineup? Yeah, I mean, if Charles, he's back in mind. Yeah, if Charles Clay is starting, I think that you're going to want to start him unless you've got a stud because he's been a very consistent, necessary target there. I'm not fully convinced he's going to start this week, though. Yeah, yesterday was his first practice and it was limited. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they give him another week. One thing to note on this game before we move on.

This is set to be the coldest game of the week, 33 degrees in Buffalo. So monitor that as it gets closer because, you know, when we're talking about this on a Thursday, you don't know exactly what the weather's going to be like on Sunday. But when it starts dipping below 30 and getting in the 20s, that's where, that's the threshold where you see a significant change.

from past attempts to rush attempts. And so they will go to the ground more when it dips it into the 20s. So just monitor that. It could be bad for Michael Thomas and for Calvin Benjamin. Great news for LaShawn McCoy and Mark Ingram and Alvin Camara. Look out for our Sunday morning weather article. Yes. Eric Ludwig. Oh, my gosh, I can hear Brooks. Yeah. How are you doing? Yeah, guys. Hey. Hey. That's a little loud, Brooks. Traditionally, you don't, in the middle of talking, you don't move the microphone.

But it sounds very good. I appreciate the fact that I can hear you. It's awesome. By the way, when it gets cold, you know what else that means? That means the holidays are coming. We want to take a quick second and thank today's sponsor. Jason brought them up a couple shows ago, Omaha Steaks. Look, we had them as a sponsor last year during the holiday season because they have this insane deal that tons of our listeners took advantage of. We had a chance to try all of the great food that they send you.

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38 point over under. I think that's perfect. I think it'll be under. I really like the Bears in this game. They're five and a half point favorites. Their defense is legitimate. The Packers' offense is illegitimate. If that's a descriptor that applies to Brett Hundley and company. That's great. I had a tweet this morning, a listener basically saying, can I bench Jordy Nelson? Can I bench him for a list of,

mediocre other options like juju smith schuster or something else and i was like if you want i mean that didn't used to be the answer for jordy nelson is if you want to bench him go ahead it's a shame but right now i think fantasy owners really want to know

from a start-s-it perspective, is Aaron Jones an option? Ty Montgomery, is he an option? This is a running back by committee. Mike McCarthy came out and said, look, it's going to be Montgomery on third down. It's going to be Aaron Jones on first and second down. That's what the expectation is. I mean, that's pretty usual, right? Almost every NFL team, that's how it goes. But Aaron Jones, 4.6 yards before contact per carry, third best in the league. Yeah, he's been great, but I can't trust him.

I'm not going to start a running back there until they figure out what's going on. Now, there is the narrative that says he whiffed on a pass protection, and so he was taken out of the rest of the game. I've never seen that before. I've never seen someone who is the starter.

who is important. I've seen that happen. I've seen it on a fumble. But my point is this, is that what you got last week out of Aaron Jones was a landmine on your fantasy team. And if you put them in again this week without knowing, is he the starter? Is he not out of the bias? Ty Montgomery, who got the more work? Is he the starter? On a terrible offense against a good defense, I think the only player in this entire game that I'm willing to start.