Transcript of Week 3 Waivers & Streamers + Rookie Rundown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/16

The fantasy footballer's studio is sponsored by Walmart. Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. The fantasy footballer is back with you Tuesday, September 16th. Mike, the fantasy hitman, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Week 2 in the Books, and we are here with a WaverWire episode. News to talk about. We'll reflect on the Monday night games, and we will We'll talk about the rookies because I think that's one of the big reactions from the two weeks. The Dukeies. Okay.

Panic in the streets.

Yeah, we've had two weeks of NFL football. We've had A bunch of rookie runningbacks with huge opportunities, or so we thought, or perhaps they will come. But Hampton, Genti, Henderson, Caleb Johnson, R. J. Harvey, it It's not been a good two weeks. There are a lot of people with panic, like you said, and they want to know what to do with these players that they drafted to start. And last night, if we want to get into the two games, we had the Bucaneers and Baker, Mayfield.

Dog.

20 to 19 over the Texas who are now 0-2 in that division.

I saw Baker suffer, I think, three season-ending injuries last night.

His knees are destroyed, his ankles, gone.

And yet, continues to play.

Dog.

He's so fun to watch. He is an incredible story.

The play where he is down, he is on his knees, wriving in pain, and then immediately gets up to talk crap. He's like, Oh, wait.

Because it fuels him.

He turned the switch off. The pain switch, he flipped it off.

Someone's near me. I could talk some crap to his face. Check this out. I'm not even hurting anymore.

And then he ran- Until he went on the bench and his face was the man who was in extreme pain.

There was no one to talk crap to you on the bench, man. Then he ran again. Oh, yeah.

Fourth and 15, he was fine and popped back up. They get it done. Bucky Irving, 17 for 71, didn't score Rashaad White with the tricky touch down at the end. Oh, man.

Because there's no... If I'm that defense and I see Rashaad White, 0. 0 % chance that they're going to run the ball. That's why it was so smart.

I know. That's why it was so smart.

Mike Evans. It's disrespectful.

Five for 56. Abuka, four for 29. Did save it with a countdown.

An illegal countdown.

And Bucky Irving, pay attention here. Six for 50 through the air through two weeks. This is something you saw in preseason that has been validated so far with the snap counts as high as they are for Bucky Irving. Getting involved in the passing game. He led the team in receptions. Just like, wow. That wasn't something I think we saw coming. And then Nico Collins, it was good and bad for Nico. He scored an amazing shutdown. Nine targets, awesome. But only three of them were caught, and the offense still looks like it's okay at best.

Yeah, that offensive line is going to be an issue.

I mean, it's not like we didn't know how important offensive lines are. But if you look around the league, You look at the Eagles and the lions, these teams who focus on their offensive line. Then there are a handful of teams, the Bangles now without Joe Burrow because they couldn't protect them, and he just kept getting massacred behind the line, or the Texans who You have plenty of skill, position, talent, a good quarterback, and it's irrelevant. Your offense is just inept when you have no offensive line.

In the other game, the Chargers beat the Raiders 20 to 9. It was a bad day for Gino Smith.

Gino was so disappointing.

For somebody that has been near the top of the league in completion percentage in recent years, to go 24 for 43 and constantly be missing players that are wide open. Mike was sweating a victory and needed Jacobi Myers not to do anything. Myers had 12 targets. He only caught six of them, and multiple shutdown opportunities were taken away by Gino Smith. Brock Bowers- And really, really good defense.

Yeah, the Chargers defense looks fully legit. I mean, they play angry.

Can it finally happen? It's always injuries. Years and years and years, you feel like, Hey, the sneaky insiders are like, Yeah, it's the chargers. This is the year. They're going to be good. And then it never works, but Harbaugh has changed the franchise.

They're ready to make a serious run and be a Super Bowl contender.

Justin Herbert was great. And through two weeks, you guys got to realize this, He's basically sustaining three good fantasy options at wide receiver. Quentin Johnston, Keenan Allen, both scored. Keenan, my saving Grace start of the week, for goodness sakes. I needed Keenan in a big way.

We're on to week three, bro.

Yeah, Lad McConkey, five for 48. He is not going to be what he was last year, I think. I think that was why I was concerned about drafting him in general, was just that Keenan and having more options.

I am personally not concerned about Lad at all.

I'm not really concerned. It's just where did you tear him in before the season and where do you tear him in now? I think he was unanimously a wide receiver one before the season. Do you look at him as a top 12 wide receiver now, Mike?

No, not top 12. The Keenan Allen, when they brought him in, that was... Lad McConkey was on the board for my guy for the entire offseason, and then the Keenan Allen was like that I had to pivot away because that true ceiling was gone. But the way that they're throwing, teams will eventually start respecting the other options. They're like, Oh, I guess we do have to guard Keuj. Maybe that's something that we have to shut down. And then that re opens the field for Lad.

Honestly, Kuj is a big problem for defenses because he is not their best, most important thing you need to shut down. He's not. The way that Lad and Keenan can command just normal drives and just moving chains, and they get open, and you're focused on them. It was before that breakdown from Kuj. I remember having the thought in my head. I was like, It feels impossible that Kuj doesn't get a long bomb in this game because eventually, you're going to take a couple shots, and the This offense cannot be focused on that when you've got Lad. To me, I look at this offense and I just go, wow, they have a real... With the laser beam that Herbert can throw, the routes and the space that these two possession-receivers can make. I know Trey Harris just getting involved, but even if you start working on huge, you have two other rookies. This is going to be an offense that's hard to stop.

One of the big things, I think, leading us into the discussion about the rookies because I named five. You spent high draft capital on Genti, on Hampton, on Henderson, on Harvey, really. And then the other ones in the mix, you drafted them at a point in your draft where you're wanting to start them. It hasn't really been viable to start them. And then in this game, Genti and Hampton both struggled. Through two weeks, the chargers are number one in pass rate over expectation in the National Football League. They're not really running the same running schemes that Baltimore ran when Greg Roman was there. So far, we're putting the ball in the hands of Justin Herbert, and it's working. They're 2-0. But just to give you perspective, if you want to think about how you go about the rookie situation, because right now, it is a sell low on everybody. If you wanted to get rid of them- Correct. Buy low. Yeah, or buy low if you're on the other side of it. Here's some numbers. Ryan Heath collected these just to give you data. Through two weeks as rookies, Bucky Irving was averaging five points a game.

Rashi Rice had run 16 routes. Jamir Gibbs had a 37% snapshare. Devon Achan had played five snaps. Justin Jefferson had six targets. Nick Chubb had five rush attempts. Christian McAfree was averaging 2. 7 a carry. And you can go on and on. It's not very normal for a, and those are all stars, for these players to come out and give you dominant performances to start the year. And unfortunately, they're getting in their own way. Hampton had the fumble.

Now, that's-It was after not getting a ton of work, though.

That was a tough fumble, too, because he got hit so fast, but it was on him. Genti couldn't pass block to save his life against this defense. We know Henderson had three penalties. Caleb Johnson managed to hurt his team without touching the football.

Honestly, the way we talked about I'm very, very excited. We knew it would take some time. The- People are not a big fan of that. I know, but that was the thing. The Genti and Hampton, that's more confusing to me. You took Ashton Genti at number 6 overall, and then you're in a two-minute drill and you're running out Dylan Lauby to catch passes. It It's only two weeks, of course, but as of right now, that's egregious of either your scouting not being 100% confident in a... You're a rebuilding team, and you took a running back at number 6. That is, I stand by of bad teams should never take a running back that high. But the fact that you're like, No, we need to run another player out there for Genti, that is horrific.

Well, you saw week one, Genti played 86% of the snaps. It's what we expected. This week, it was 56% of the snaps.

And he made mistakes in pass protection repeatedly, and that could have had a lot to do with it. He looked better to me.

We saw some of the college gente of you're like, Oh, okay, this guy, he can be a very, very special player. But if This is going to be the mix. That's weird. The Hampton, taking a first-round running back when you are going to do this with the passing game is very strange to me.

I would say that with those three main guys, the three highest drafted in fantasy football, personally, I would try to make cheap offers on them. In different league, people are going to be freaking out their O and two because of these guys who are disappointing, who aren't on the field. If you can buy them cheap, I do not, I personally expect those three runningbacks to finish the season as bad fantasy asset.

I'm the least concerned about Genti for sure. I think Genti is going to be just fine. Hampton is probably the second I'm least concerned concerned about, but it is a concern to have Harris now, 50/50 on the rush attempts in this game. You need to give it some time. You let it breathe. But it doesn't mean you have to start those players either.

Right. Yeah. No. Even if you trade for them, if you find a good deal where you can flip a decent elder running back who's doing okay in a wide receiver who's had a good first two weeks, and you can acquire one of these running backs, that doesn't mean you have to start them.

That's the data on the rookies and our take on them 11% of the way through the season. Let's talk some news.

News and notes from Around the League, presented by Progressive Insurance.

More quarterback injuries, more pain. Jaden Daniels with the knee sprain, truly day to day. Dan Quinn said he, Can't tell what that means for Sunday right now. He had an MRI. I think it's very fair to surmise eyes that Jaden Daniels will probably have fewer rushing attempts in the next couple of weeks. He may not even play in this game, but if he does, I would expect him to be more limited mobility-wise with the knee sprain. Jj McCarthy We just found out. He has a high ankle sprain, and he's going to be out for 2-4 weeks. Carson wins.

By the way, McCarthy has an injured ankle.

Yeah, there's a bunch of- Just seeing some weird stuff out there.

The play is out there, this video. It wasn't at the beginning of the game, but it was right before the end of the third quarter. Defender gets away with a hip drop and landed right on McCarthy's ankle.

Yep. And the Vikings have two international games in Dublin and London before the week 6 by. Carson Wenz will take over. Joe Burrow, we talked about it yesterday, but the Turf toe injury looks like the bangles will be without them probably the rest of of the season. Brock Purdy, unlikely to play this week.

Justin- Do you see who the bangles signed?

Like 50 guys?

Yeah, but- No. No. Footie award winner.

Footie award winner. Brett Rippin' Farts. Yeah. He's back, baby. Ripping farts.

Good locker room guy. Yeah.

Anyways. Justin Fields is in concussion protocol, and Aaron Glenn said it'll be hard to start him if he doesn't practice Wednesday or Thursday, which seems like definitely up in the on Justin Fields.

This is a really tough week for quarterback streaming. It is. And it's combined at the same time, you have a ton of managers in every single league that are going to the wire. They need a quarterback this week with all these injuries. So it's rough in the streets.

Probably not going to have Aaron Jones this week for the Vikings as well. So no Aaron Jones, no JJ McCarthy. Juan Jennings, who came out in week 2 action with an ankle injury, and then, I think, came back in. But we'll see. They're going to pay attention to Juan Jennings this week, along with four more 49er injuries. Liam Cohen said, Brian Thomas entered. This is such a weird...

This story is super weird because- Liam. Dubal. What? Liam. There's rules. What are you doing?

He was trying to backtrack it.

He was just working through some stuff.

Anyways, the story is Brian Thomas apparently entered the game with a wrist injury. I don't know if that affects your dog level.

What?

But Brian Thomas Jr, you're supposed to on an injury report? Yeah. And then they interview him and they're like, Yeah, so if he came in with a wrist injury, why isn't he on the report? And then Liam Cohen looked like a deer in the headlights. It's like, Well, you know. Well, yeah, it's just something he's been dealing with. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, duval.

Liam, get it together, man.

Then Chris Rodriguez will be back in the fold in week three now that the Austin Eckler season is over for the commanders. That was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at progressive. Com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company Affiliates and Third-Party Insurers. Not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. We're going to jump in the waiver wire.

The WaverWire, presented by Walmart.

It's probably a good time to remind you that the ultimate dashboard exists for a reason, and it's an opportunity for you to get in there and take advantage of the lineup optimizer and the WaverWire tool.

Yeah, I I got to a point where I felt like I was in too many leads, and Tuesdays were awful. And then the ultimate dashboard made WaverWire so easy. We're going to talk through players today who are-Some higher-level guys. Some higher-level guys, some lower-level guys. We won't get through everybody. But we do have the tool that syncs with your league. You can see who is available in each one of your league very, very easily, and it just makes it so smooth.

So you can check that Join thefoot. Com. Get access to the community, support the show, hang out with really good people, and take advantage of those premium tools. Also, the waiver wire rankings are on the site, thefantasyfootballers. Com. We'll start at the running back position. What was that, Jason? What? Just heard a little- Are you going straight from Ripping Farts into Bayeshaal Tootin?

Look, I didn't name them.

Yeah, this is really you're living in your- In a dream world.

This is a dream.

Everything's a joke.

Bayeshaal Tootin is near the titty top of the list, but I was surprised to see Ramondre Stevenson was only rostered in 60% of the league.

That blew my mind when I saw that number.

That feels like it is a result of emotion. We just don't like him.

Yeah, well, and we're so excited about Henderson. The report before this week came out that Henderson was going to potentially, last week, see a lot more snaps. Honestly, I believe that- Is that the report from liars.

Com?

No, I think it was true. I think it was true. I think it was true because you watch Vrabel talk about how Henderson was doing what Ramondre did in practice this week. But what happened in the beginning of the game was Henderson, he got the bench. I mean, he came out in three holding penalties, and it's like, well, you can't play football for me anymore.

Ramondre was terrible in week one. So just against the Las Vegas Raiders, he had 10 opportunities. He was 7 for 15 on the ground, and he caught two passes for 12 yards.

Makes you wonder if the Raiders' run defense might be after what we saw last night.

Yeah, possible.

Maybe they're pretty good.

Possible. But I'm saying, for your surprise, Andy, for Ramondre, he had the exact same amount of snaps, and he was garbage in week one.

Yeah, but no starting running back should not be your roster. Exactly. It's insane. I mean, it's like Ramondre Stevenson is getting starter snaps and carries, and it's like, you have to put that on your roster. We're sitting here.

I mean, I know- Bayeshaal Tootin is not available in the league I'm playing. Caleb Johnson is not available in the league I'm playing, and they weren't playing. Ramondre is the starting running back for the Patriots. He has to be rostered everywhere.

I mean, Bayeshaal Tootin, he looked the part to me. Yes. 8 for 42 on the ground, had the reception for the countdown. Bayeshaal Tootin is available in more league. He is the running back for Jacksonville. They got rid of Tink Bigsby. Seems like they were very smart to do so because Tootin doesn't seem any... He seems like he's got juice.

He does for sure.

Those are the two guys for me.

Travis ETN looked really good in week one, looked really good in week two. So maybe he's back to what he was two years ago. But when you are targeting some of these backups, last year, you brought this up, Mike, the reason that you really liked Bucky Irving was because you did not believe in Rashaud White. Rashaad White was a fine football player, but he wasn't really that explosive, efficient player. I would not be surprised if as the season goes along, all of a sudden, Travis Etienne, reveal yourself. He's not quite as great as he's been these first two weeks.

If you need short-term help, Ramondre Stevenson plays Pittsburgh next week, who through two weeks looks just awful against runningbacks, followed up by Carolina. So I think my short term, I need a bandaid right now. I don't mind going after Ramondre Andre. He's probably going to be cheaper compared to Tootin. And Tootin is a longer term view. You can't start him yet, but I agree with Jason. By the halfway point of the season, it's possible that both Etienne and Tootin are very startable.

Yeah, I think Tootin can be started workload-wise, but matchups are tough coming up with Houston and Kansas City, two of the next three.

What's really difficult is that I don't have a lot of lower roster names at Running Back that I'm excited about making it all the more emphatic why Ramondre needs to be rostered. Because Trey Benson, he's getting work in Arizona. It's not a ton, but he looks good. He'd be another name.

He makes targets. He makes targets. He makes targets is pretty great.

The only other couple names that I even think on my list, and you guys can name others that you might have interest in, you want to see what Chris Rodriguez's involvement is in Washington in week three? Okay, that's interesting. Maybe he's not rostered.

To me, he's a big name. Chris Rodriguez, obviously- It's hard to go from healthy scratch. Absolutely. But what helps that is- How dare you?

How dare you?

It could be McNickels, more involved than Rodriguez, and they have... Yeah, that's a not rostered name.

Yeah, those two guys, Chris Rodriguez Jr. And Jeremy McNickels. I don't believe that they're going to give 100% of workload to Bill, in which case one of those guys will be relevant, and they're widely available.

Mike, do you have anybody else you want to surface?

Yes, a name. The waiver wire, it's gross, but Tyler Algier is getting work. I know he looked particularly good this past week and then was salting the game away against Minnesota. But I mean, week one, he had just as many carries as Bajon Robinson. Week two, he had 16 carries. So he's not someone... It'll be really, really high variance. But they do seem to trust him when they get inside the goal line, much to the chagrin of all of us who have Béjon. You're like, Oh, hey, look who's out there again. It's Tyler Algier. So it's a desperation play, but he at least gets volume and gets some carries near the goal line.

Also, when we're looking at the insurance options, Blake Corm and Miles Sanders are guys who are widely available that should 100% be rostered.

You cannot make me roster Miles Sanders.

I actually think he's one of the better insurance-back options because should something happen to Javante, I think it would be just him.

Okay. With the healthy scratch of Jaden Blue.

The big drop candidates, somehow of the rookies. I would let Caleb Johnson go, personally. I would, too. But Harvey, Henderson, Hampton, they need to be rostered. Pacheco, I wouldn't cut because it's the same principle as Ramondre. A starting running back should not be cut. But I don't think you play him right now. It's just Look, players get hurt every week.

Yeah, and people are asking about Aaron Jones. That's another, you don't get rid of Aaron Jones, even though he's going to miss this week.

Yeah, for sure. And he had a great week one. All right, we'll take a break. We'll talk about some wide receiver All right, let's talk about some wide receiver pickups. We talked about the big game from One of the few rookies playing well right now, Eilk Iomanner, who was four for 56 in a touch, still only rostered in 28% of the league. I still believe he's a good pickup. Who's at the tippy top of your list this week, though? We have opportunities calling for Romeo Dobbs with Jaden Reid being out.

At the tippy top, I don't know that there's a clear number one. The two guys that I would want the most are Romeo Dobbs and Troy Franklin, who Franklin has been... Yes, hit the button, Jason. Like, six targets in week one. It's four for 44. That's whatever. But then you got the eight for 89, including a big play off, and that's off of nine targets.

83% of snaps, which is not what we've seen. That's his career high so far?

Sean Payton. Sean Payton tricks us all the time. So next week could come out, and it could be, oh, Marvin Mims is playing 80% of the snaps. That's in the range of outcome. So I'm not going super hard after Troy Franklin, but him and Romeo Dobbs are my top. No, go ahead. That's what you finish this sentence. Those are my top two guys at the wide receiver position.

I think maybe it should be Wendell.

Wendell is in the discussion with all these guys. He's playing a full allotment of snaps and getting a ton of target.

You know what his target pace is? Take a guess. You're a good guesser.

I'm going to guess 140.

153. Okay. Terrible guess. No, Wendell, he's unrostered in most First Leagues. He got shamefully, and I apologize. His name did not come up somehow in the studs on Monday, and that is not okay for a player that was 8 for 142 in a countdown. He was one of the best studs of the entire week. The cool thing was- You still have Russell, and Russell will throw it.

The really cool thing was they threw it to him this last game, at least, on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

320 plus yard receptions, which matches his career total.

Well, yeah, because usually he just is a jitterbug behind the line of scrimmage, and they give him the ball, and he doesn't break a tackle, and he gets a bunch of targets and receptions for no yards. Let the guy run down the field and then throw him the ball. It was great to see.

Do you realize I mean, we did not intentionally watch the Giants last year, and it was really just for our own health. Do you know what his numbers were last year?

Yeah, it was- Do you realize how many catches and targets he had? The amount of receptions with the amount of yards was Kyle could probably put the stat.

93 catches.

It was historically low.

140 targets, but 7. 5 a catch.

Under 700 yards.

It's insane, though, to have... Anytime you have those targets, you have the opportunity having a big game. To me, he's probably my number one pickup because of the passing volume I saw from Russell Wilson. You can talk about- Chiefs Chargers is next. I like Io Manor. Sure. But it's like, Kam Ward is going to have... They're going to manage his pass attempts quite a bit.

I like Io Manor a lot as a talent. I really don't like him as a pickup, personally. I don't trust Kam Ward over the next six, seven weeks. In dynasty, I think it's a wonderful asset, but he scares me more than a lot of these other guys. I'd much rather have Wandale Robinson. Cedric Tillman is another name who's available in half of your leads. I know he caught the most ridiculous shutdown that was not to him. It was to a defender. He got lucky, but he's still on the field and getting a lot of targets.

Yeah, the other names, Mooney, not heavily involved. I don't really like the passing game in Atlanta right now, so I thought I'd be all over Mooney as a top pickup this week. I don't feel that way at all with Drake London and with Kyle Pitz and with how little they're letting... I mean, Michael Pendex is under 150 yards passing.

Yeah, this past week, but week one, they were chucking it. I don't know that we have a true definitive look at what they're going to look like.

Yeah, the Falcons really feel like we're still gathering data on them.

Donald Mooney, though, is heavily rostered. Would you drop him for Wanda? Would you drop him for Franklin? Would you drop him for Tillman? Would you drop him for Dobbs? Io Manor? That's like- I don't think I would. If you're making a transition for upside play, for some reason, I don't see Mooney as that upside.

I don't think I would make that play. I see him in the same tier as those guys, and then you got to spend FAB to go sideways to.

Then with Romeo Dobbs, because of the Jaden Reid collarbone injury, where he will be out for a very long time, Dontavian Wicks, hands team superstar. He had six targets. He was 4 for 44. If you remember how the flow of the game went this past week, Wix got targets early, and then his rate in the slot went up because of the Jaden Reid injury. So while Dobbs is at the top because he's the most secure number one wide receiver that the Greenway of Packers have, he's always out there. But Wix is an upside play who is very available, and he's going to be stepping into a more full-time role.

Is it possible that DeAndre Hopkins can He had only two targets and a countdown every single week this year?

If you want to chase it, feel free.

Yeah, he's- Week one, two targets, two receptions, one breakdown.

Week two, two targets, two receptions, one countdown.

He's still good at the competitive catch universe. Sure.

But for that logic, why would you not go get Devantez Walker, who I believe was- That's true. Was two for two?

That's right. I think he has three targets on the season and three touch downs?

No, I think no. Is it just the two? No, it's just two targets this past week. But they were both touch downs.

Are you chasing Taekwan Thornton?

No.

Well, let me ask you, Andy. Is he getting a touch down this week? Yeah. Is it for Oracle?

I need to know. No, probably not. Okay.

All right, no.

We'll wait and pick a different player this week, or maybe just live on that for a few weeks. Stefan Diggs, would you drop Diggs? The hard part about them is like- I don't know.

I would drop Diggs for most of the players we're talking about. Would you really? Iomanner?

Wanddale?

Wanddale, I would.

He went from 41% to 52%.

I think I'm holding on to Diggs.

I think so, too.

I mean, Boody only had one catch and one target.

In my League of Record team, Stéphane Diggs is my most droppable player. I had higher draft capital, so it's harder to find someone to drop. I look at it, I just don't know. I was to Kyle about it of, is he just a guy that we're going to hold on to the whole year waiting for it to happen? Or is it two weeks, the snaps going up? That's very encouraging because it was going to take time. It always takes guys time to come back from an ACL. The fact that he was ready week one was a bit surprising to me, but it was only 41% of the snaps. With the work going up, I think I'll hold him for one more week. If we can get up into the '60s next week, then Then you're going to be happy that you held onto him.

Some people ask him about dropping Matthew Golden. I would not do that at all. No way. Again, he's another one of the rookies that hasn't made a big splash yet, but opportunity is knocking for Green Bay right now. The passing game, they're taking lots of shots. I love that.

They're taking shots to Golden, yeah.

Matthew Golden right now is looking like the Jamieson Williams of the Packers. It's not going to be- It's low variance, low hit rate, I should say. High variance, yeah. Yes. There is a weekly Targets Per Out run report by AJ Passman on the website. You can check that out. We will turn the page here. We'll look at tight ends. Juan Johnson still not rostered in 50% of the league.

I tried to tell you people.

Yeah, unfortunately, I play with Mike in most of my league, so he is heavily rostered. By Mike. By Mike.

The targets are what are encouraging, and he could have caught two more of them and would have been seven for 65 in a countdown, and we'd be talking even more about him.

20 targets right now through two weeks.

He's my number one pickup of the week.

Of all players?

Yes. I don't blame you. The tight-end position people are in need, and he looks like a very high floor type of-With ceiling.

Of option. Week one, he had a great stat line, and he barely missed a a shutdown right at the end of the game. It's the utilization that we're chasing here with Jowan Johnson. Because if he gets used like this, he will be a top five tight end at the end of the year.

I am very curious about what... Because Spencer Rattler, I would say, has played better than expected. Yes, he has. But I am curious when they go on the road the next couple of weeks, how that adjustment takes place. That's fair. They did get to play at home for the first two weeks. They go to Seattle, go to Buffalo. It doesn't change anything about whether he's a top pickup. He is my top tight-end pickup. He's number four on my list. I'd pick up Ramondre, Tootin, and Wanddale ahead of But if you need a tight end, obviously, he's the highest priority.

If he is gone, the name that I want to throw out there is Jotavian Sanders. Jotavian Sanders is a second-year, very athletic tight end who last year, if you don't remember how the season went in his rookie season, he started to break out with Bryce Young. When Bryce Young came back, he had a stretch before he got... It was a neck injury. About week three. Yeah, week 13, he got his neck injured. But right up until that point, He was breaking out. He was looking good, especially for a rookie, gets injured, doesn't do much the rest of the time. And now, look, Xavier Laguette.

I was going to ask, is this for J'Tavion Sanders?

I don't actually buy this past week for Sanders at all. Do you know what his past attempt was for him, for Bryce Young? This was a garbage second half. So he still only played 60 %.

He's going to get a lot of those.

He still only played 60 % of the snaps. I'm not saying that you can't bring the name up. I, of course. But I don't believe in this last week.

The potential for a year or two breakout that they need. Coming into this season, it seemed like they've got a lot of weapons. They got Adam Thielen, they've got second year Xavier Laguette, they've got Teterola MacMillan. Now it's like they've got Ted. There's a space. He's that dude.

And Hunter Renfro.

Right. It's like Renfro, and they need someone else to step up. And Jotavian is a very athletic, great-No, it's good.

Whenever there's a young tight-in that you can bring up that has opportunity to break out. It's a lot more exciting than the guy that I'd pick up ahead of him.

Zackerts. Which is Zackerts.

Because I think Zackerts, even if mobility for Jaden Daniels goes down, I think this is going to be the safety blanket for this team for weeks.

But I think the worry is if there's potential that Jaden Daniels doesn't play this week. Obviously, you're not going to play Ertz with a backup.

Certainly, no. But I like Ertz right behind Johan Johnson myself. Britten Strange is still in the mix. If you want to drop Mark Andrews' mic, what do you say to that person?

You say, Goodbye.

Evan Ingram? Goodbye. Colson Loveling?

Oh, goodbye.

On the defensive side, Atlanta.

What are these teams What are these teams doing? Excuse me? No, it's all done. What are these teams doing? That Colston Loveland, the number 10 overall pick, and then a few pics later is Tyler Warren, both elite type in prospects. One guy, Tyler Warren, they were like, right away. He was our first-round pick. We should get him acclimated and see what he can do. Is it Lovalent?

Mike- I was about to read that tweet to you, but then you made the strong counterpoint of Tyler Warren's involvement. Of all people on this planet, two weeks into 2025? Dude, you got to look at that dog meter, okay?

Because-oh, yeah, That's fair.

Warren's got it. Yeah, he does. My issue with Loveling coming in was like, he's a good athlete, but he's never broke a tackle in his life.

I'm going to check the tape. Yeah. I will return. You go look. I'm going to tell you, if he needs to go to the Kitty Kennel, He's being banished there right now by his coach.

I was going to say, really, Cole Komet's a really good player. He is. The Colts, they've got one other tight in. Let's see if we still have a drop for him. Oh, yeah. They still have I can't say the exact answer, but Tyler Warren is heavily involved, and they're playing much better football.

It's two weeks. It's two weeks. Leveland was hurt during the offseason process. It's frustrating to see a guy drafted head to Ben Johnson of Tyler Warren, and they can't figure out how to get it going.

Well, it's very possible he's called a lot of plays for him, and then Caleb Williams has just not listened.

Very possible, too.

Defensively, Atlanta plays Carolina. Atlanta is their defensive front right now. They were putting so much pressure on the quarterback in that game this past Sunday night, and they play Carolina. And Bryce Young is going to make mistakes. He's been making them for two weeks. Arizona had a defensive score against him. They had an interception, and Atlanta probably won't be dumb enough to play, what, 55 attempt prevent defense from the second quarter on. Tampa plays the Jets and maybe a backup quarterback.

It's tough in the stream for the quarterback, but there are some really good-Tough in the streams. There are some good DST options.

Seattle plays New Orleans and Spencer Rattler, and they get to do it at home, and their defense is pretty good. So Seattle looks mighty nice. Arizona, who's been a pretty good defense, minus that second half of stupidity. They play San Francisco and Mac Jones, so I don't know how confident you feel there. But if you-I'm okay with it. If you drafted Arizona and you played them for two weeks, do you just keep riding or do you- You've been pretty happy, but I think you should always be looking every single week.

For instance, if you drafted Arizona and you're happy with them, they put up good points last week and the Falcons are sitting out there. I would much rather pick up the Falcons or just get more points for my team this week.

I would play the Falcons against the Panthers, the Bucks against the Jets, the Seahawks, Saints, Colts are playing, Cam Ward, and then the Chargers. I'm not scared of Denver's offense as of right now, so I'd be happy to play the Chargers against them.

Yeah, the Chargers defense just looks outstanding. In a divisional match I'm fine with that. It is a very good week for streaming defenses.

All right. That was this week's WaverWire presented by Walmart. Who knew you could get what you need in as fast as an hour? Get free delivery on your First Express delivery order with code Express. Valid for first Express Delivery order, $50 minimum, subject to availability. Restrictions apply. We'll take a break, and we'll jump into quarterback streaming options as soon as I find this button. All right. Mike said it. It's tough in the stream, so we're going to try anyways.

Full stream ahead.

Jason's got the top guy Okay, so we'll let him.

Yep, start. I got two guys. Because it's tough, I'm going to throw a second one in there. But the main guy you're talking about is Daniel Jones.

That we do not have listed? Correct.

Okay. The main guy is Daniel Jones. I mean, this is... It's a trap. This is what It feels like.

I will say this. We have recommended Daniel Jones in the streaming segment multiple times in the past.

Yes. He has the wheels to always have a good fantasy day. Going on the road against Tennessee, it's a good match up. The Colts are still the only team that haven't punted the ball through two games, and he's looking great. He's playing like he was drafted to be great at number six overall. Only Lamar is averaging a higher fantasy points per drop back. Right now, they're three and a half point road favorites. He's the guy- Per jockstrap. Per jockstrap. The other name I just want to throw out there because look, Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold played pretty well. He is on your waivers, especially after a bad week. At home. A bad week one at home against the Saints.

That sounds pretty good.

Yeah, seven and a half point favorites.

Yeah, seven and a half point favorites. It's going to be a fine.

I don't mind that one at all.

It's funny because Sam Darnold is my stream of the week, actually.

Oh.

No, I'm just kidding.

I was like, I did not see that.

No, mine is A bit of a... No, mine's not nasty, Mike.

Oh, you're going with this one?

Yes. Okay. Yeah, because look, people drafted their starters. Jason brought up Justin Herbert last week in the streaming section. He is more rostered than he used to be, but he's sitting on people's benches, and you're having to make decisions between Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert. You're having to make decisions between Jake May and Justin Herbert. I'm not. This conversation, you're not making those decisions.

I'm not making any decision when Justin Herbert's there. It's an auto decision. Dude, he is going to... He is awesome. He is so good.

He's always been awesome and so good.

Yeah, but he's got weapons.

That's his whole career, he's been awesome and so good.

He's got weapons, man.

He's all high. They love them. They're number one in pass rate over expectations through two weeks. This is the he's your starter conversation. I think that that matters because if you pick them up, you're still making a streaming decision, even if he's rostered. You still have to decide over Kyler. You still have to decide over those other players. Daniel Jones, those other guys that you have on your roster. To me, I want to endorse Justin Herbert as, Hey, the way the offense is running, this is not a fluky multi-touchdown performance. This is a pattern and a way the offense is functioning. The bonus, Nasty, would be Mac Jones. Yeah, there we go. Mac Jones had a really good week. I'm going to tell you, he didn't look like he knew what the game of football, the rules or how to play through the first quarter. He looked confused He's confused and scared. If you put a small child in the pocket at a quarterback, he looked that way. He looked skittish and weird. Then all of a sudden, you look up and Mac Jones is delivering the ball to the corner of the end zone to Christian McAfree or across the middle to Jowan Jennings.

Unfortunately, he's just-I'll throw in.

Arizona's secondary got depleted.

Not just their secondary. Their defensive line guy injured, too. I was going to say, part of the end of the game-They lost at least four guys. Yes. Part of the end of the game against the Carolina Panthers was they played vanilla, almost prevent defense, and it was awful. But part of it was they lost four starting defensive players during that game.

39 pass attempts for Mac Jones, 279 yards and three touch-downs, and no picks. And so he did fumble twice. That explains the dancing in the pocket. But he has an option.

All right, let's keep it going. Carson Wentz.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Carson, we are so back. Freaking Wentz.

I'm not going to do it. That offensive line.

This is for which, yeah, there was a report that their left tackle was probably not going to be back. Look, I told you, it's really, really difficult.

Is this still underpants, the situation?

Oh, I don't have my buttons. Oh, man. Where's my buttons?

You don't have your underpants?

Somebody find the underpant. This is the highest level. Give me the unoptedium, please.

We need Mike to have his underpants at all times.

Seriously, that would be really important for us sitting near him.

That's a failure Here on my part, I will- Can you find it? I will get that fixed. All right, I'll be talking. Get it fixed or hit the button.

Hey, Jeremy, hit it. Hit it.

I don't have it in my board either, but I'll get it.

Hit it.

Just keep talking. All the underpants are missing?

Oh, man.

Well, he's heard what I said about the pants store. Which ones did you want?

Jeremy, put them on.

Unobtanium.

Thank you.

Unobtainium Underpads.

Thank you. I forgot about the graphic. I'm not sure I wanted that as much as I thought I did.

The whole section is about streaming. I'm trying to find someone who you could play off your waiver wire because things went bad for you, or you're in a deep league. Carson Wentz, Kevin O'Neill. The first two stars for JJ McCarthy have not been good. Historically, everyone else that Kevin O'Neill has put out there has produced. And the great news, we are playing against the Cincinnati Bangles defense, so they have allowed the fifth most passing yards per game. And Carson Wents, he can run a little bit, so we got a little bit of that cheat code built in. Again, this is the nastiest of the nasty play, but the peripherals make sense to me that Carson Wents can come in here and give you two 50 and 2, and maybe 30 on the ground.

Okay. The Underpants, they're on. Would you just drop Burrow, McCarthy, Purdy? None of them really feel like month old.

In context, of course.

Purdy and McCarthy were already streamers. Those were guys where if you need to drop them to pick someone up, you can. They're injured, so I'm fine dropping them. Joe Burrow, you basically have to drop him, but it That is so sad.

It is very sad. Honest, I'd probably put him into my IR until I'm forced. That I got other players that are like, I have to hold these players. I'll see you later, Joe Burrow.

I traded Burrow last week, and I genuinely feel bad.

You You are the fantasy reaper in mass because it wasn't just Burrow. It was the Burrow-Chase stack, and you got paid. While Chase is not going to disappear, he's not going to disappear. You don't feel bad.

He's certainly not going to be-I feel good as well. Yeah, Yeah, but I feel a little bad.

You're putting on a show. This is a facade. We see right through you.

I don't believe it for a moment. I feel bad and lucky.

I would feel- That's usually when people feel lucky, they feel- First time I've been lucky before.

First time I've I've never been like that. In the Bulls documentary.

In the Thornton one.

The Bulls documentary where the old guy is playing the throw the coin when he's playing against Jordan. Yeah. You feel bad like that. Sorry. Your problem, not mine.

But the other person was laboring. I win. They were laboring for so long on whether they'd accept that trade, and they wanted to pull the trigger. They're like, Oh, gosh, Burrow Chase.

Hey.

Things happen.

You go risky maneuver. You to win. I love that.

Yeah, that's true.

But I don't feel bad for his team.

All right, let's take a couple of minutes here, and let's jump into the mailbag, which I have a button for that, too. I know I do.

Buttons are everywhere.

Mailbag.

Maybe everything's in storage. All the underpants, are they in a digital bureau?

So many mothballs. He heard me talking about just how the pants store is business. But, Jeremy, the underpant store is very much in business.

It's even more important when the pants store is out of business.

We aren't Winnie the Pooh in this.

No, we're street legal.

No, Donald Duck over here. My apologies to you and the Footclient.

It will be rectified. We're free.

We're free from the shackles of the pants.

Unincumbled from the pants.

Yes, but we are still hiding our shade.

Street legal.

Street legal, as Mike said. Thank you. All right. If you have a question for this show, go to the website, thefantasyfootballers. Com. You can also dial our voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. We're going to answer a few questions here. Caleb in Wisconsin said, Matthew Golden was dropped in my league. How much FAB would you spend to pick him up? I have the receiver depth for him to sit on my bench until he breaks out. Let's say a number out of 100 FAB at the same time and see if we're in agreement. All right. 3, 2, 1, 10. 21. Oh, you both went 20, 21. I went 10.

Yeah, I think in that range, 10 to 21. Oh, okay.

A 5 to 10 defense, but we could go big FAB gaps.

No, this is a rookie who had such high draft capital on a good offense with injuries and opportunity around him. You've got to take the shot on those type of players. It might not work, but there's too many flags that you aim for, too many checkboxes for you to just ignore it.

Hags in Pentaluma, California.

Oh, I've never heard. That sounds darn near like a. There's no way that's in California.

I've never heard of that. Is now the right time to trade away Javante Williams? If so, what would you try to get from him? It did pop into my head when we were talking about the rookies, the idea of crafting, and you need more than the two pieces because you wouldn't want to draw so much attention to it. But that's how I think about the trade, right? But you talked about Genti.

Oh, look, Javante's in there.

But Javante is the number two running back on the season.

Yeah.

Genti is your big frustration player. If you could work a few other pieces in there, some pics and a couple of players.

I wonder. I bet you could do it. There are certainly league where you could trade, not every league, but you could trade Javante for Hampton.

What are the odds, I know that Javante, because of the success so far, the lack of depth behind him, the fact he's been so good, what's the chances he ends a top 10 running back? We're sitting here going, Well, that was dumb.

I think there is certainly a greater than zero % chance he ends the year, the whole year as very, very successful. I would caution one thing, which is over the next six weeks, their center is injured. And that is a big deal for a guy who... Givante has looked pretty good. He's looked strong, but he gets what's given to him. He's not really a creative on his own type of guy. So if that... This seems like the sell high moment, but also, hear what I am I'm saying.

Okay, hold on.

Sell high. Don't just be like, I can get something for Javante. You have something for Javante. Javante has value. If you're going to sell him, sell him high.

Hear what I am saying. Can we bring that into the fold? Would you trade Chase Brown for Ken of the Walker? Naps in Utah. Naps has a question for us. Chase Brown for Ken Bone Walker.

No.

I was wondering where you would be on a buy of Ken Bone Walker right now? Because there's going to be the sell high people.

Sure. I think Ken Walker, my value on him is basically his ADP, where he was drafted. So I think he is net neutral. Chase Brown did take a hit in value because of Burrow, but he still was getting all the work. And I think Chase Brown will be okay. He has juice, and he's getting everything.

Yeah. I The bangles are not going to go to zero here. They have a lot of skill position players, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, Chase Brown. They're going to make Jake Browning- Also, you will disagree, they're well-coached, very well Well-coached. Right.

The bangles?

No, right. I do disagree.

The bangles are very well-coached. Jake Browning's success in the past shows me that, too.

Yeah, and Jake Browning is a decent backup option. So Chase Brown is not going to become irrelevant back. I did try to make a couple trade offers. You'd be happy for Ken Bohn after week one, but I didn't get them to go through.

They must have been real bad.

Yeah, well, I was hoping that Ken Bohn's not playing football and being bad at it week one was more impactful.

All right, James G, this question probably going to get answered by Jason as well. I'm seriously considering trading A. J. Brown for Ameca Abuka. Redraft League, is this a dumb trade on my part? Please advise, and I want to know the answer.

I will start it by saying, I got a tweet this morning of someone saying, So I was just offered Justin Jefferson for Ameca Abuka? Is it weird that I'm- Hesitating? Hesitating?

It's probably not that weird with the quarterback situation in Minnesota.

It's not weird that you're hesitating. I would still immediately go do it because Abuka's got three touch downs. He was not very involved. No. And like I said, an illegal touch down.

Someone was sweating out a. Yeah, it was. What happened on it?

I didn't see it. The offensive lineman goes out to block and whiffs the block, but clearly throws the leg to trip. So much that when they came back from a commercial, they go to the rules expert and they're like, Yeah, that was a trip. That should have been called.

Man.

But I would- Okay, so to Jason, would you trade Ajay Brown?

I love Emeka Bukha. He's my guy. He's playing 93% of snaps. He's still only about 20% of the target share, which I would hope he was more like 25% target share. 29 yards last week. I love him. I think he's good. I like the passing attack, but he is not A. J. Brown. I would still rather have the A. J. Brown side. If you could trade a Bukha for A. J.

Brown-what did you just say, Al?

I bet you could. I said if I had a Bukha, I don't think I could trade him right now for A. J. Brown. That's the hard part of our trade, man. Especially if you're just doing a one-for-one positional trade, there will be a winner and a loser of the trade. And the emotional attachment to the success that he's had so far this season is just hard. Like I said, people are hesitating to get just the Jefferson form?

Well, I mean, think about this. That question absolutely would have come up two weeks into Brian Thomas Jr. Last year. Would you trade Brian Thomas Jr. For A. J. Brown last year? I mean, I think 100% of people would say that It would have been a good decision. In last year's instance, it would not have been. It would have been better to have Brian Thomas Jr. Probably better to have Malik Nabors. I think the biggest question for me with Abuka is, if you're not in the target share now, now he's going to grow. He's going to become more connected with Baker, but you will get Godwin back, but you will get Wurfs back as well. I think that's going to help this offense a lot. There are people worried about Bucky, and I'm like, to me, that's crazy because of Rashaud. Why? Having a good game and scoring. Look, Tristan Wurfs is going to make a humongous difference in this offense. Huge. And it could be as soon as next week. So that's going to help them altogether. I'm certainly a believer in Baker as well with those weapons coming back. So if there's a chance to go get Baker, I would do it.

All right, that is going to do it for today's show. We have unsolved mysteries tomorrow and a Thursday night preview. Start of the Week matchup preview is coming up. And a reminder, join thefoot. Com for the community. Support the show. Get access to premium tools like the WaverWire tool inside of the ultimate dashboard. More upgrades happening each and every week, by the way, in the app and on the web. So take advantage of them. We'll catch you tomorrow.

Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot. Com, and follow us on Twitter @theffballers.