Transcript of Week 3 Matchups + Packers in Peril, Wheel of Shame! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/25

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in.

I really wanted to hit you with a, it's garbage time.

We did have some of that. Friday, September 18th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Mike, the Fantasy Hitman, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway back with you. Great show for you today. Jumping back into the fantasy forecast, more matchups. We've got the Wheel of Shame. We've got our fantasy face-off. We have news, injuries. Foot Clan Friday. Packer panic in the streets. Oh, 35 to 14. What a difference not Cooper Rush makes.

Yeah. I mean, we, we had talked about that. Like you cannot, you can't say that Drake London is bad or, you know, that the Falcons are what we saw those first 2 weeks. Also, the Packers are very bad.

I mean, let's go to, let's go to resident Packer fan.

Oh yeah.

Jer, how you doing?

Oh, wait a minute. He's doing an impression.

Where is he? Papa Josh is the villain. He's fake crying.

Al isn't even here. He, I think he's taken a day for, it's a mental health day for him.

He did have a coward. He had a note in our Slack channel last night because he had to go watch a performance of this.

He loves and breathes the Packers.

Yes. He is a diehard Packers fan. And he said, fortunately, I couldn't watch the game. Probably saved my life.

Well, I mean, I'll tell you who, you know, Jordan Love's not long for the NFL with the way the offensive line is playing. He's been sacked more than anybody through 3 games.

And a lot of them are like comically ragdoll type of sacks.

I mean, you look at this game and then you're like, Jordan Love attempted 53 passes, more than double the amount of passes Michael Penix Jr. had. Oh, oh, but That's because the running backs combined for 17 yards on— or sorry, that's not even right. 16 yards. No, 17 yards on 8 carries.

Yeah.

Marshawn Lloyd, Caleb Johnson. I mean, the offensive line is making its impact across the board.

Yeah. The soothsayers out there calling for the Caleb Johnson breakout game.

Nope.

Nope.

The Tucker Kraft breakout game.

A. Nope.

Nope. But don't worry. Skyy Moore got 7 targets.

Tucker Kraft, the epitome of fantasy football here of game environment ended up sensational.

53 pass attempts.

Opportunity for Tucker Kraft. 8 targets. Your tight end got 8 targets. Oh, that's very exciting. Except He caught what?

4 of them.

4 of them for how many yards?

26. And one of the catches, Mike, was one of the grossest passes I've ever seen thrown. It was a basically lateral—

That one didn't count as a pass, did it?

Yeah.

That was a backwards pass.

No, that's not a rush attempt. He'd be in rush attempts. He caught the ball. It was one of his 4 catches.

A lot of— That is generous.

A lot of tipped ball that went flying sideways. He caught it. He dropped 2 passes, which by the way, he only dropped 3. The 3 is the most he's dropped in a year and he dropped 2 last night.

Yeah.

He's not, he's not back.

He's not back to full strength. I mean, this is in the offseason. I was saying he was kind of off my board at ADP because I don't want the slow start. However, I fully expect Kraft to be awesome this year. Like he is very involved. He's very good. He's just, he's working his way back, you know, to full health, full strength. And they've got to figure out this offensive line.

Can Micah Parsons play right tackle?

I'm sure he can. I'm sure.

I bet if that on the list of things he could figure out.

How about 194 yards rushing by Bijan and 194 yards receiving by Drake London?

Baby, it is more than 5 yards from Kyle Pitts. They hogged them all.

I mean, Kyle Pitts, 1 for 5.

Epic.

Still winning that trade, boys.

Epic tight end failure. But I mean, there was so much fantasy goodness in this one. Those, the Falcons guys. Matthew Golden, 101, delightful. Christian Watson, my guy, a little bit, maybe, maybe some stinky. I don't care. We got 96 and a touchdown out of Christian Watson. So overall, I mean, Tucker Kraft getting the 8 targets and doing nothing, major, major disappointment, but it couldn't be more over. Overall, pretty good for fantasy.

Couldn't be more over for Marshawn Lloyd.

It—

yeah, I mean, yeah, he's, he's not that good. And I wonder, you know, I don't think—

yeah, I know what you're going to say.

I've been saying Josh Jacobs, they need, they need Josh Jacobs desperately. Here's the truth. They need a running game desperately. The last time we have seen Josh Jacobs with this team, they had a great running game. So I keep saying they just need Josh Jacobs back and they, and they really do. They need a running back that can get it done. The question is, can Josh Jacobs get it done with this offensive line? Because right now they've got some big issues to figure out.

Yeah, this was, this was a nightmare for, I mean, you were very lucky that Golden and Watson, if you had them, you got the big games considering how bad everything else went for the Packers. You know, Jordan Love garbage timed his—

Jordan Love, 300 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Yeah, you're okay.

That's fine.

And I don't really lay a lot at the feet of Jordan Love. I mean, it's just, it's a discombobulated offense through and through. They're not doing anything well.

They should be 0-3.

They should be 0-3. They were very fortunate to come back and win against the Jets. And yeah, it's Friday.

Foot Clan Friday.

Every week on Friday, we give $100 away via gift card to one of our supporters. And if you're over at jointhefoot.com, you are— we appreciate you. Today's winner, Bamsey Pants.

I'm never going back to the pants store.

Sure.

Why not? Sure.

Yeah. Bamsey Pants with the dub.

That's cool.

Sometimes I feel like they're just— I know we randomly choose winners, but sometimes I feel like you don't randomly choose them.

Wow.

You just give me something funny to say.

Our people are funny.

They are. Let's talk news.

News and notes from around the league.

Commanders general manager Adam Peters said the team is optimistic about Jayden Daniels returning in 2026. As of right now, surgery and IR are not on the table.

As of right now.

Now.

I heard one report saying he might miss as few as one game. TBD, but we were saying we were waiting for some news here. Looks like they're trying to get him back as soon as possible.

All right. Well, look, DJ Moore downgraded to a DNP on Thursday. Keon Coleman still out. This is not a great situation. You don't want to go backwards in terms of designations during the week. So maybe DJ Moore is going to miss another week. They take on the Chargers at home. Keon Coleman would have been a nice, hey, give him a shot. But the truth is you probably could do worse than Khalil Shakir this week. Khalil Shakir is a PPR option.

And Dalton Kincaid continues to look like one of the steals of the draft.

Nico Collins did not practice, not practicing today or Thursday. Jalen Coker, he had been downgraded to a DNP.

It was weird.

But was seen at practice today.

Yeah. And it was said that he looked good at practice today. So I think Coker should be fine. Xavier Legette was also back, right?

Yes.

So there you go. Caleb Douglas will not play this week for the Dolphins. The one receiver that looked like he had anything going.

He's going to miss some time.

Chris Bell expected to play this week.

Okay.

Adonai Mitchell, who got a lot of attention on yesterday's show, showed up on the injury report with a fingy injury.

Oh no, my fingy.

Got caught in a jersey.

I mean, they said there's some concern over the injury and he will be limited.

I hate that that sounds so nonsense, but it's like, okay, imagine you got your finger stuck in someone's jersey and then it just like dislocated or something.

Yeah.

Us mortals, we would be out. We'd call out of work for 2 weeks.

Yeah. Didn't I break your, like half break your thumb throwing a football and you were done for the year?

Yeah. I was out.

You were out.

I do think fingers are pretty important for wide receivers to catch the ball.

I'm just saying we, we, We joke about it. We were like, but that, that's not great.

There's concern he may not be able to play.

So just more targets for Garrett Wilson. Yeah.

Tajé Spears did not practice. Tony Pollard returned to practice. Rico Dowdle did not practice. Sam Darnold was upgraded to a full practice for the Seahawks.

All right.

And then we do have injuries to catch you up on. We'll handle them and tackle them during the forecast. So let's jump right in.

Fantasy Forecast presented by PrizePicks.

Yesterday we covered the Chargers, Bills, Panthers, Browns, Jets, Lions, Texans, Colts, Chiefs, Dolphins, Titans, Giants, Bengals, Steelers, Seahawks, Commanders. So if you want to hear those, you can listen to yesterday's episode. We got 7 more matchups to talk through starting with the New England Patriots back to 1-1 taking on the 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars. This game's in Jacksonville. The Vegas line, Jacksonville minus 3. The over-under is 45.5. Yeah, I don't know what you guys did with your little, like, the pool picks here in the office. This one was a troubling, difficult one for me.

The first thing I did was look at the Atlanta Falcons versus the Green Bay Packers. And I was like, come on, come on, 13 straight home openers.

Come on.

Yeah.

I was like, that's how many they had won?

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't know that.

And I was like, Atlanta, there's no way. I'm like, they're going to screw this up, but I'm going to pick the Packers anyways. So that's how I've started.

Yeah. Well, look, this game, this one's interesting to me. New England's defense got it together last week. Drake Maye has not been a fantasy force thus far. Trevor Lawrence slowed down by Denver last week. How do you feel about the 2 ball throwers? In this one.

Man, I don't know about Trevor Lawrence.

That's exactly what I was just going to say. Even though it's the tougher matchup, I would prefer to play Trevor Lawrence over Drake May. We just haven't seen much good from Drake May since he lost his wide receivers. I mean, that's, that's a difficult thing to try to do when you're, you know, you lost Diggs, you lost Booty, and then you replaced them with AJ Brown, who you lost. Drake Maye is still a very good quarterback. I looked at his PrizePicks projection and almost went with it because, you know, to me it was like against Jacksonville, you should do it.

What is it?

I'll look it up real quick. That was this morning when I was looking last.

All right. How nasty are you willing to get with the quarterback position versus Drake Maye? Like, are we saying Geno Smith against the Detroit Lions?

Man, that is, that is nasty.

Kyler Murray against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Kyler is interesting to me.

I currently have Geno projected ahead.

There's no way I would try Kyler out. The only, the only plays we saw from Kyler were garbage. Then he got hurt.

Okay. So you're not going, what about Geno?

I don't, I don't think I would. I think I'd stick with Drake Maye.

I would as well.

Maye was at 216.5 passing yards.

The players that I would play over Maye would be kind of those, those love affairs we've talked about recently. Shyke and Bryce Young, where it's like you might have picked them up off of waivers, still be rostering Drake Maye.

Brock Purdy for sure.

Oh, Brock Purdy for sure. What about Stafford against Denver?

Man. Is it, is it in Denver?

No, I play Maye.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm going to play Maye.

Oh man.

Trevo and Rhamondre. Last week, Rhamondre had the fumble, so he saw his snaps cut down to 36%. Trevo had the big play, but was held in check outside of that. Which of the 2 would you rather start this week, Mike?

Dude, it's impossible. It was, it would have been Rhamondre last week, but he fumbled. This is, this is part of the, it's just a huge problem of you, you don't know when it will actually be Tre'Vion Henderson, at least for now. With the current information.

You know what sucks is that—

I guess I would play Rhamondre.

So Tre'Vion had 60% of snaps last week. How many targets do you think he had?

Not enough.

Zero is not enough. Zero targets, zero receptions. That's the part of like, how do you put Tre'Vion in a position where he can succeed? You know, he's the only one that can give you a special run, but he had 16 carries last week. How do you not give him a couple of screens?

How do you not see him getting hits?

When you don't have wide receivers?

I think they will. I think they'll get him more and more and more. This was his, you know, his first game back and they were up by so much in that game where, you know, I think it would have been different if it was, you know, a different game script. I did look up the Drake May projection here. 216.5 passing yards. Yeah, on the passing side. Yeah, I have him projected for around 250 and I'm like, oh man, that's, it's so tempting. But at the same time, He just has no one to throw the ball to because they won't put Trevo in the slot.

Beshal Tooten seems like he's the dude. Did you see in our League of Record, Chris Rodriguez got dumped this morning? Like the decision has been made. 6 opportunities in each of the last 2 weeks. Parker Washington seems like the dude. Are you starting another wide receiver, Jason, for Jacksonville?

I will say that I think a sneaky start is Brian Thomas Jr. in this matchup. You know, when you've got a superstar corner, which the Patriots do have, I don't know necessarily that they will use him in shadow coverage, but oftentimes that lets a quality wide receiver 2 shine. So this is a matchup where, you know, last year you could throw on the Patriots.

You're calling him a quality wide receiver 2?

Yeah, I think Brian Thomas Jr. is a quality wide receiver 2. You disagree?

He's been real bad, man. Like he got 8 targets last week. He got 3 of them for 40 yards.

Oh man, that sounds like Metcalf. Anytime, anytime a receiver catches a low percentage of their targets, that's calling, that's calling in a Metcalf.

If we're— and so if we want to do that algebra, the way I feel about DK Metcalf.

I'm kind of more on Jason's side with this one. I think that BTJ might be a little bit sneaky here. It's a 45.5-point over-under. I don't know where Christian Rodriguez is going to end up, you know, lining up. It might be on the outside. It might be on BTJ more than the guy that they move around the formation a lot in Parker. But I wouldn't be surprised if, if he saw 8 targets again. I'm not messing around with Patriots wideouts. I don't know how to predict that right now. Dobbs and Matt Collins and Douglas and Hunter Henry. It would be Dobbs, I guess, if there was one to choose. Last week bounced back for 3 catches, 96 yards.

Yeah, only 4 targets. The snaps still remain low. low, but his, his ADOT is like, he's got, if he comes down with one, he's, it's going to be a big one.

What's his A-dog? Does he have it in him?

I think Romeo Doubs has dog. Hmm.

I feel like if he did, you would have called him Romeo Dog.

No, I don't know.

At least dogs.

Arizona 1-1, San Francisco 2-0. Vegas line here, San Francisco -8.5, over-under 47.5. I, I'm so excited because I almost brought it up a minute ago because you were talking about different quarterbacks with Drake Maye. And I was going to say, obviously Brock Purdy, right? I think I did say that.

Yes.

But I wanted to bring up the fact that you talk about perfect storms forming.

Oh man.

We talked about Carolina and Bryce Young and the fact that the substation is taking names. 6 defensive linemen in 2 weeks have gone down for the 49ers. The latest news this morning, we don't report a lot of defensive news.

Right.

But Nick Bosa injured, multiple week absence, could be longer. The 49ers are being— their defense is being stripped bare. I mean, their offense as well, but they're getting to the point now where you're like, you know, could you see Arizona putting up points in San Francisco? I don't know. I, it seems 50-50 with Brissett and whether the offense works week to week. But not having Nick Bosa, not having the pass rush we saw from Seattle last week.

Certainly better for the Cardinals.

I mean, you're just getting to the point where like San Francisco and Brock Purdy, like Brock Purdy is looking more like the long-term every week answer at quarterback for fantasy football players.

Brock Purdy is, he's a plug and play to me at this point. I don't, I don't see any reason to move off of him.

Would you rather have him or Shuck rest of the season locked into your lineup?

Brock Purdy.

Yeah. Okay.

Brock Purdy, because I know, like, every— again, everything with Shuck is just, it's a brewing excitement. It's a what could be. I like that. Brock Purdy is the guy. Like, Brock Purdy is, is so fantastic. He is like a one of one that his touchdown rate— Jason, you brought it up yesterday, I think— of he just, he throws his touchdown percentages. It's over 7 and you go, yeah, that's not regressing. That's just who Brock Purdy is at this point. For the Cardinals, I don't think they, they mentioned that Jacoby Brissett got hurt or was dealing with something in the game. They didn't say anything specific. I don't remember. He looked awful.

Yeah.

And I think he was dealing with the pass rush and that was the biggest thing.

I feel like something was wrong.

I think they talked about his quad.

Yeah. I thought it was a quad issue, which I haven't seen anything about it, but I think that That should be a, like, it's a concern of McBride is in absolutely. And then after that, I mean, are you, what are you doing with it? So Jeremiah Love.

We're still frustrated there. I mean, this is, this is the issue with a rookie who is highly drafted in fantasy when you take him at that 2-3 turn at the beginning of the year, because we're still seeing like last week Tyler Allgeier was 64% of snaps. And, you know, Love is not getting enough of the work. I fully expect that to change as the season goes on. Love will usurp him and take over and become the leader. He freaking better if you spend a top 5 pick on him.

Yeah. I mean, it was Seattle. It was Seattle last week. I mean, that, and he's coming back from a high ankle sprain. I was going to ask the question, is he a buy low? Because to me, he's a huge buy low opportunity.

He definitely should be. And just for some context of, of where the market feels about Jeremiah Love, the PrizePicks projection for McCaffrey. for yards from scrimmage. So rush receiving just under 100 yards. That, yeah, that makes sense.

McCaffrey.

Jeremiah Love's down to 58.5. Yeah. I mean, for a combined rushing and receiving.

Yeah. You're going to have to call your shot as to which week he takes over the job or at least usurps him to become the leader of the job. I think it could be this week with the hurting defensive line, the divisional game. And now we're 3 weeks removed from that ankle injury. It could be now.

Do we, you, Do we— I don't— we're 2 weeks in. It's hard to make real assessments like that. Do you think Tyler Allgeier is just going to go away? No, I don't think Tyler Allgeier is going to go away enough to a point where Jeremiah Love can—

like, I think that—

or is Jeremiah Love going to— does it going to feel like Jaderian Price at the end of the year?

No, I don't think so. I think that Allgeier will never go away. He will be involved. And unfortunately, He'll probably be involved near the goal line. However, I expect that Jeremiah Love will get to 60% of the opportunities, the work, and that I think will be enough.

He's going to go like Bijan and Tyler Allgeier.

Exactly right. And Bijan got off to a slow start his rookie year, but what was still very good by the end for fantasy.

And we haven't had that kind of iconic Jeremiah Love play yet. We're going to have one. Or 2 or 10. Like he's going to have the breakaway run, the Bijan type of run. So I do think it's a buy low opportunity. You're not, you know, you can't go in with absolute confidence right now, which is why it's a buy low opportunity. Somebody might be willing to give him up for, you know, let me just give you a hypothetical. Chuba has a big week this week. Jeremiah Love stays sub 40% snaps.

Oof.

You know, I think that's when you start to, you're 3 weeks in. Somebody might decide Jeremiah Love's not happening and that Chuba is just something to bring up. If you have 3 straight top 12 weeks from Chuba, I'd still be willing to trade him away for Jeremiah Love.

Okay.

Oh yeah, I would as well. Also update on the Brissett. He's been a full participant Wednesday and Thursday at practice, but he is listed on the injury report with a hip injury. Okay.

Deebo is in.

Yeah, start of the week.

Your start of the week. He's He's the last man standing. And then George Kittle, the snaps still aren't there, but 4 for 80 and a touchdown last week.

Yeah, I'd really, I'd take the production of Kittle over these snaps of freaking Tucker Kraft right now. Like I'm going, these guys came back from ACLs. They're doing more with—

No, Kittle was Achilles.

Sorry. They're doing more with less. You know what I mean? Like Kittle, he comes in, they're like, hey, we're going to go to you.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Kittle's awesome.

Mike Evans, you are on injury watch. He did not practice on Thursday. He is a veteran. He's the type of guy that might not practice a lot and still play. Is he in?

I think so. I think if he is, I think if he's active, I'm going to have him in.

Josh Downs or Mike Evans?

I'd go Mike Evans.

If Mike Evans plays, I would play him. But that's, that's tough. And when legit, when is management, you know, the substation is just like, it feels like a fun bit that we do on Twitter. At some point, at some point they actually had, they have to actually take it serious, right?

Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's actually the substation. I think it's the way that they train, the way that their medical staff brings players back, the time, like there's, there is something going on. For sure. They've literally been the leader in, in starter injuries for like 6 consecutive years.

But they changed staffs over that time. That was one of the big headlines a few years ago.

I mean, maybe it's Shanahan and you're not going to change it and he forces people to get back.

I don't, I don't know.

You playing any Cardinal wideouts in this game?

No.

So play Trey McBride?

Yep.

Okay. We'll take a break. We'll get into some more matchups. The Minnesota Vikings at 2-0 taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 0-2. Vegas line, Minnesota minus 1.5 on the road. Over-under is just 42.5 in this game. It's been overcoming adversity for Minnesota versus creating adversity for Baker Mayfield and the offense in Tampa Bay.

A problem of my own design.

And yet Tampa is favored in this game. The old consequences of my own actions. It's just, this is one of those games where if Tampa wins it, it's an— it's a nightmare for Minnesota because it means that Kyler Murray came out there, didn't win the ballgame, and Carson Wentz got them 2 dubs. And I just think that that's not a great story. It's not a great look. For Minnesota.

That would be awful. The first thing that went through my head when I saw the spread, because honestly, I think the Vikings should be favored by more than a point and a half. Their defense has been outrageously good and the Buccaneers do not look like they have it together. They, they have lost a lot of games here since the second half of last year. I mean, they were—

They got Watson another start.

They got who?

The Buccaneers were so bad that Deshaun Watson will still be starting for the Cleveland Browns.

Yes, exactly. And so when I saw that line, I was like, is this just like Kyler Murray?

Like, it's so on—

it's like a hedge against Kyler just being terrible because I just don't see how the Buccaneers win this outside of Kyler being terrible.

Well, I, I could see it. I mean, the low over-under, they seem to be angling towards a close defensive-minded game. I wouldn't say any of us have been like super impressed with the Minnesota offense in the last 2 weeks.

They've gotten some stuff done, but I mean, they're, they're part of the Bears though of the like week 1, their offense in the second half was awesome. And week 2, you have to throw it in the garbage. Because of the storm.

Yeah. I mean, it's still, it still was Carson Wentz and we haven't seen Kyler. So I, you know, we're not playing Addison. We're not playing Hockenson. We might not be playing a running back on this team this week. That's another factor, right? Like if Aaron Jones, he is limited and he's, he's supposed to be back, but that is a factor in the way that this offense is going to be able to function if it's, you know, that could be a bigger portion of the why this, I think I misspoke and said Tampa was favored by 1.5, by the way, Jason, you corrected me. Minnesota minus 1.5, but it's close. The Ibuka situation, he is at— PricePicks has him at 48.5 receiving yards. He's only got a 17% target share on the year. Where are you? What's the headspace for Emeka Ibuka? Is he a buy low? Is he a, I'm scared after the second half of last year? Is this a Baker needs to prove it before I believe? What is the situation there?

I am very concerned about it, about how they are spreading the ball around. I just wanted to double check. So yeah, so 17, 18% for Ameca.

As far as target share.

Target share.

Disgusting.

You know who's got 17% target share in that offense?

Cade Otton.

It's me. Yeah.

Ted Hurst.

17%.

Oh my gosh.

If only we could fly.

Like they can't fly.

That's why I'm concerned.

No, that's—

I mean, Ted Hurst out here. Ted Fred Durst Hurst pulling in a 17% target share out the gate.

Is he, is he Ted Fred Durst Hurst or is he?

I don't know.

Is he Fred Hurst?

I don't know.

So is that what you're afraid?

Yeah, I am. I'm very, I'm very concerned that, that he is not. It's like—

He is not him.

I don't know about that, but I was the— Don't hear what I'm not saying, but it's like Marv is not commanding targets for Arizona. Ameka Bouka is clearly not commanding targets from Baker the way that we feel like he should be as a first-round talent, as he should, he should clearly be the number one and he is not being treated like it.

Yeah. And honestly, he got off to such a strong start as a rookie. that I think we forgot who he was. He was one of my favorite prospects as a wide receiver because what I saw was just a phenomenal wide receiver. But also, you know, for fantasy purposes, I didn't think he had a super high ceiling. He wasn't my wide receiver 1 for the rookies. When we were talking about him pre-NFL draft, I was like, he is a perfect wide receiver. Great route runner, good hands, does everything you want. But he's not the kind of like Nabers-esque explosive athlete that's going to take over in fantasy. have these incredible deep touchdowns, you know, left, right, and center. He to me is like the perfect NFL wide receiver too. And he seemed like he was to start last year when they had Mike Evans and all that. He hasn't scored 10 fantasy points since week 10 last year. I mean, that is a lot of games in a row where I think you might just have to adjust your expectations and say he's not a fantasy star.

You said since week 10?

Of last year.

Yeah. They're, they're, they're 2-9 in those games.

Do you—

going back to week 10 of last year, they have been—

which is 10 games in a row.

They have been a terrible football team.

Where do we want— do you feel like the blame is Baker Mayfield or Ibuka?

I think it's been a mix. It's pretty much what it's been since week 10, which is Baker was hurt. Ibuka was hurt last year. This year Baker is a nightmare so far. He cannot connect down the field.

He's 30th in EPA per play among quarterbacks.

Every, every downfield ball he's overthrowing people. I mean, you talked about Ted Hurst's target share. Where's the big plays? There aren't any big plays. It's not Hurst's fault. He's been around the ball. To me, this is, you've got to start giving Bucky Irving even more work. You need to pick your spots and give some easier completions to Baker Mayfield, which should be a buka.

They were like, Bucky's been on a— we got him on a snap count right now.

Bull crap.

15 opportunities, 21 opportunities. What are they going to do? What's going to happen?

They're just counting his snaps.

No, I love it. I mean, obviously Bucky has been a good pick so far, very involved. And I think that the worries of This is going to be a 50-50 timeshare with Kenny Gainwell that they brought in is that's already been answered. That's, that's not the case. But against this Minnesota Vikings defense, I'm not, I'm not excited for anybody. I'm certainly not excited for Bucky either. He's— am I starting him? Yeah, he's going to get the opportunities. You're hoping for a touchdown somewhere. Probably a bad game. I'm not starting Baker. Honestly, I think Ibuka is a player that if you have other good options, I would—

Ibuka or Downs? Downs is now the measuring stick for the week.

All right. Let me actually look at that one.

By the way, Ibuka is a rookie.

Downs is one spot ahead of Ibuka for me.

Outside the last 3 games of last year, he's 24% target share as a rookie. He had games at 30%, 35% target share. The fact he's at 17%, he did that one time in his first 14 games and now he's done it through 2 games. It is problematic. They seem like a team that may be the— I don't know who the leading candidate for a midseason firing is. To me, it's Todd Bowles.

Yeah. Yeah.

He's got to be up there. I think I would still play Ibuka over Downs just because Downs has an equally bad matchup against Houston.

He'll be fine.

Hopefully.

Josh Downs.

I hope so. But there's plenty of players, you know, the Jalen Coker tier, Jameson Williams, who's been bad. Those type of players I would, I would be playing over Ibuka.

Let's go to Rio. Baltimore, Dallas. We're in Brazil.

Bonjour.

Baltimore minus 3.5, over-under 53.5. Both teams are 1-1, right?

Both teams, I believe, are 1-1. This is, uh, Zay Flowers is traveling, uh, with the team, but he has not practiced yet.

So him traveling, I thought it was very strange. Like, how do you, if he's not, he hasn't practiced yet. On track to not play, went down to Brazil. Then I saw a video of one of the Ravens players posted it and they're in this like fancy hotel pool.

That might be why.

And I was like, oh, okay.

I'm not missing out on my trip to Brazil. I got this passport for a reason.

Okay. I guess they're human beings and maybe he just was like, I'm going to Brazil.

So we, we have some news. Ronnie Stanley did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, offensive tackle for the Ravens, something to keep in mind. Dallas, I mean, you're playing, you're playing both quarterbacks. Obviously Dak and Lamar get starts here in Rio.

This game could be awesome. We got a 53.5-point over-under here. We don't know what the field condition will be. If it's anything like the other Brazil game.

Are you surprised? Is Baltimore -3.5 when you might not have Zay Flowers on the field after what their offense looked like last week against the Saints? To me, I'm a little surprised.

Yeah, I get it that it's, well, I guess, I mean, it's, it's like a neutral site.

Yeah.

Because you're not in, like, if you gave Dallas the home field advantage, then I think I'd be more surprised about it. But in a completely neutral head-to-head, it's like, I would take the Ravens.

You playing Ibuka or Rashad Bateman in this game with no Zay Flowers?

That's a legit question. I think that in this game against Dallas, if Zay Flowers doesn't go, I would rather play Bateman. He'll, he will fly up my rankings when we get confirmation that, uh, that Zay Flowers is out. And alternatively, if Zay Flowers plays, obviously you've got issues with possible re-aggravation, but there's no world where he would be out of my lineup. I mean, against Dallas in a 53.5-point over-under, you want the exciting pieces, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and then wide receiver 1, whoever that is, which is either Zay Flowers or Rashad Bateman.

Yeah. And I know you released him and he doesn't have a lot of upside, but I think you could do worse than Mark Andrews. this week as a spot start at tight end. The targets have still been there, 6 and 7. If Flowers is not there, 7 targets to the tight end position with a chance of a touchdown is in play. We've talked a lot about Javonte Williams this week. You're obviously playing Lamb and Pickens. Javonte is a kind of, uh, must play still.

Yes. Don't let our discussions about Javonte dissuade you from starting him. We're just, we're concerned long term. But as of right now, he is the workhorse and he's going to get all of the opportunity. Dallas is going to score a bunch of points.

Did we ask the Chuba versus Javonte rest of season question?

I don't, I don't think we did.

These ones are just popping into my head today. And that's another one where I'm like, I think I'd rather have the Chuba side.

That one, I'm going to take the offense of the Cowboys, but I, they're in the exact same tier. I would take the Javonte side. I don't think anyone is coming to take Javonte's job. And while Brooks is injured for 6 weeks and it'll be a long stretch, I could see towards the fantasy playoffs that becoming more of a timeshare.

Wait, you got to let Jonathan Brooks go. It's done.

It's done. It's not very done.

Your fears now would lie with AJ Dillon.

Okay. So you don't think Brooks is coming back at the end of the year?

Zero.

Oh, he might come back to the team.

I mean, he was healthy, by the way, to start this year and they don't use him.

Yeah.

I don't see it.

Yeah. Not this year anyways.

Austin Ekeler on the way, maybe.

Maybe.

Let's see. Las Vegas 2-0, Saints 1-1. Vegas line is New Orleans minus 3. See that one? That one's confusing because they say the Vegas line, but then it's like the Vegas Raiders.

Oh, I see. Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

So they set their own lines there in Vegas. New Orleans minus 3.

We're favored again, guys.

They're giving themselves bullets and board material here.

Over-under is 43.5. And I already got one this week, but why not do another?

Oh, Mr.

Raiders over-under.

Andy's Almost Upset of the Week.

Andy tries to walk around the office like he's not a Raiders guy.

I mean, he's like, I'm sorry, you know, I'm sort of a Raiders guy. He does that.

Everyone knows you freaking love the Raiders.

What's funny is when he was saying that—

This is me v. you this week. This is our auxiliary teams.

Yeah. When, when he was saying that earlier outside of the studio, he was wearing a Raiders helmet. He's like, I don't understand. People don't know.

Has it come through that I might believe a little bit in the Raiders? And I will say this. And Max Crosby and that rookie corner and defense.

I love what Kubiak is doing. I think that the team looks good. They are honestly surprising. You know what they look like? What do they look like?

Stable.

Yeah. It's not, I mean, you're not just going to Kubiak, a good coach. You're going from a broken version of Pete Carroll and sons last year that was totally inept. And so I do think the Raiders are a good team. I don't think that they are a bad team. However, I think the Saints are a very good team. This is their home opener. And that, I mean, that stadium is going to be wild. They are so excited for the Saints. So this is going to be tough sledding for the Raiders. And if the Raiders go in there and win, they will make a statement.

Here's what's impressive to me about the Raiders. They have shown me something on the defensive side of the football and they've won 2 games without their best offensive player and one of the best players in the game. Brock Bowers, who should be returning this week. So adding Brock Bowers to the equation. Adding Bowers to the equation. Look, I'm not going to feel as confident about that upset if Bowers sits it down. But I've talked about the fact Kelvin Banks is out for this offensive line. You're going to see Tyler Shuck deal with pressure the whole game. He may deal well with it at home. But, you know, I don't, I don't know what in the world's going on in the running game for the Saints, but I don't know if they have one right now.

Achane Jr. limited on Wednesday and Thursday with a hamstring. I mean, this, I think it's hands off.

I think the Raiders win this game.

Oh, you said it.

I think the Raiders win the game. It's going to be interesting.

The only, the only thing that you just need to keep in mind, because I know that they have looked really competent, really solid. Max Crosby's amazing, is that they played against the Chargers, who now we are questioning if they're good, and the Dolphins, who we don't have to question. We know. We haven't, we haven't seen them really pushed yet. Will the Saints push them?

I mean, it's a 43.5-point over-under. We're not expecting big scores in this game. That's a low over-under.

It's, it's lower.

It's 23 to 20 in that, in that line. It's a lower one. I, I think that the plan for the Raiders is play good defense, run the football 30 times. That's the one area the Saints have been beat through 2 weeks. It's 26.2 fantasy points given up through 2 weeks. For the Saints, they have the workhorse in Gente to do that. And you've got Trey Tucker and hopefully Brock Bowers back in the equation. Fantasy-wise, play Gente. Play Bowers if he's active. Play Tucker if you're desperate. Olave, of course.

Mm-hmm.

Vailly would be—

I think Vailly is, of course, as a flex.

Yeah, he's viable.

9 targets, 7 targets. The volume will be there.

And then the running backs, I don't know if you can play one.

It's really, really tough. The only way that I think you could play one is if it turns out that one guy is active alone. Like if—

I feel like it's a trap.

It feels like a trap. Kendre Miller did not practice, but it was illness. And so he was inactive last week. I presume that that was because Alvin Kamara was active. So this is like kind of a roulette table where I'm like, the ball is bouncing around and it could be Travis AJ Jr. is active or inactive. Kendre Miller's active or inactive. And Alvin Kamara is irrelevant. He is not a good enough player at this stage of the career to put him in. I mean, he could, he could literally touch the ball 20 times and be a bad player.

I was going to give you the numbers. This is why it's a trap to me. If Achane Jr. is out and you're like, maybe Kamara. Alvin Kamara had 15 opportunities last week.

Incredible. How many targets?

That includes 6 targets.

Wow.

More valuable than carries. 15 opportunities and he put up 4.7 fantasy points.

You would, you're not going to convince me that Kendre Miller gets more work than Kamara. That's for sure.

And, and no, but my point is, Kendre Miller is like the only one of this group who could do anything.

If Kendre Miller got 8 opportunities and Alvin Kamara got 14, I would assume more fantasy points than Kendre Miller. But I agree. I think you're hands off in the running back room right now.

And we've talked extensively about Tyler Shuck. You can use the start-sit tool on the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. to throw in all these other quarterbacks.

Is it Juwan Johnson?

Of course.

Juwan Johnson is fine.

It's fine.

It's not, I mean, I'd play.

It's not a plus matchup.

I would just be chasing the higher over-unders with the Johnson tier of tight ends.

Sure.

So like, you're going Mark Andrews over Juwan Johnson?

I'm okay doing that. Yeah. I like the targets there. I mean, it's, it's been a couple of big plays for Juwan Johnson so far. I mean, he's only had 3 catches and 4 catches and he had a huge run down the sideline and a touchdown in week 1. I'm not taking anything away from the player. I just don't know if the targets are going to be where you want them to be. We'll take a break. We'll talk Sunday night, Monday night football, and we'll get into the fantasy faceoff. Well, this one should be fun. The Rams 1-1 taking on the 1-1 Denver Broncos. The Vegas line, the Rams minus 2.5 in Denver. Over-under 44.5. Mike, you got Blake Corum in as your start of the week. Kyren and Blake, you're playing them both?

Yes.

And then Puka not expected to play again. Davante Adams was insane last week. He was 32% target share, has a 42% targets per route run with Puka off the field as a Ram. And yeah, you know the equation here. I mean, Terrence Ferguson is the fun, exciting upside secondary target. Because you saw 9 targets. You saw a concerted effort to make him a focal point in the passing game that led to 14.5 fantasy points and a touchdown.

And he dropped 2 big plays. Like he should have had a bigger, a bigger day.

Yeah. I mean, he's, he's super like it's sort of cheat code-esque because Ferguson really is like a big slot receiver and you get to play him at tight end.

Seems to be the rules. If your last name is Ferguson, And then one of the top targets, one of the top wide receivers is out, then you're a great option for fantasy football.

This is simple. Fantasy is so simple.

Just look for the name Ferguson. I would say, so looking at him on Sleeper, what I'm seeing is his roster percentage at 23%. So still crazy, still pretty widely available. And I would agree, like if you're in the Juwan Johnson tier, oh my gosh, and you get news that I mean, I think it'd be pretty shocking at this point with what we're hearing that if Puka plays. But once you get the official word that Puka is going to be out, I would put Terrence Ferguson in over someone like Juwan.

Terrence Ferguson must be rostered in every league. Like to me, if you, you look at like, okay, Sam LaPorta, amazing, great, better offense. I feel like there's more target, you know, opportunities here for Ferguson or Tyler Warren against Houston. Ferguson to me is like, now that we know Puka's not playing, and unfortunately I think when Puka comes back, this isn't a rest of season, just Terrence Ferguson's going to be awesome. He might be the receiver 3 for this team, but the receiver 3 is usually irrelevant for this team. The first 2 are pretty doggone good though. So while either's out—

And just clarify, Puka has not been ruled out.

Yeah.

Oh, I thought you said—

No, no, no. He's not expected to play.

I thought you said he was definitely out.

That's why I was saying we need the official word.

We don't believe he will.

Certainly.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have a nasty question for you, Jason.

Ferguson v. Ferguson, by the way, if that's your matchup this week, I just want to see it on socials.

I'd go Ferguson. Terrence Ferguson or the doctor, Dalton Schultz.

Yeah. If—

make me an appointment.

If Puka is out, then I think I would go Terrence Ferguson.

Just chase the upside.

Yeah. The youth, the athleticism. And I think both are going to get a ton of targets.

I think the Broncos defense is what talks me into the other side of that one.

Okay.

I mean, last year, it's available.

I know a lot of people have been—

it's hard to get in last minute.

They've been seeing the doctor lately.

Yeah. But how about the other side?

How about the other side? The Broncos?

I mean, Waddle is in.

Man, we're starting less Broncos than we were before, aren't we?

I mean, we—

Bo Nix is no longer in the conversation.

No, I think that's it. I'm not—

the Waddle check out.

The running back room is a disaster of who's actually active.

And, and Tyler Baddey will get work with whatever other dude gets activated. Right now, Dobbins is a full practice. Harvey's a full practice and Jonah Collins a DNP.

And you're playing the Rams. I'm not. I think it's a trap to play a Broncos running back right now.

Yeah, I can't disagree. The Eagles are 2-0 taking on the Chicago Bears who are 1-1. Who have the 3rd lowest, 4th lowest implied point total of 18.5 this year.

Wait, they were going to break the scoring record.

Oh gosh. Philly minus 4.5, over-under 41.5. I mean, this is just a pretty simple— This is a bummer. This is a bummer situation where you literally look at this game and you don't have to say anything fantastic about the Eagles offense to know they're going to win the game because I don't think Chicago can put up enough points. Now maybe Ben Johnson is a miracle worker and a Bae Johnson. And Keenum can find— I mean, they have weapons. I don't want to give them no chance, but it's 4.5 road favorites. That's heavy. And, you know, I don't think Manongai is going to play in this game. He's been a DNP 2 straight days.

We'll see.

We have a DNP for Tyson Bagent, who is the better of the backups. He's actually shown the ability to— like, he'll take a shot downfield. He'll take a shot to the, you know, to the outside. I don't know if Keenum still has it. It's just a bummer. No Caleb Williams in this game. Odunze, Burden, Loveland. I don't think you want to go there against the Eagles.

Not really.

And it just sucks. It's like the air has come out of the sails here for Chicago and you just have to be patient. Like to me, Loveland's going to be okay this year. I believe that. He's not, he's not my, my guy. I believe that as somebody who Believes in the talent of Colston Loveland, the run that he had at the end of last year, and the fact that this is not an incompetent franchise that'll avoid getting the ball to one of the best players at the position. But I don't think it happens this week and it might not happen for a few weeks.

Yeah, I love Case Keenum. The dude, his last start was negative fantasy points and that was in 2023. He's 38 years old.

I thought he was only doing the State Farm commercials.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, put it in the backup. He wasn't supposed to be the backup. He was the backup to the backup. He's like, ah, shoot. He talked up Ben Johnson amazingly, talked about how he's the greatest. He's worked with so many great head coaches and this is the best offensive mind he's ever seen. I'm sure they can scheme up some stuff, but Case Keenum, this version of him, I agree, is just not going to be able to get it done. I know that the Eagles have looked not great, almost lost and probably should have lost the Tennessee Titans last week, but Case Keenum at quarterback is going to be I mean, it's just almost impossible. And Swift seems like, okay, he might be alone. You know, they're going to need him. A guy might not be active and you're probably still starting him. But this is—

I mean, you're still starting him.

You're going to have tough sledding. The defense with Carter there, they're going to plug the line. They're going to play a ton of guys in the box. I don't expect easy gains for Swift.

No, it just lines up as a tough game for that offense altogether. On the other side, you have injuries all over the place. You have— we lost Dallas Goedert, so he's not a part of the offense. Eli Stowers is on IR and not going to be a part of this team, it seems like. So you're, you're right now no tight end option. Saquon Barkley was the only running back— they injured Saquon Barkley— to practice. Shipley and Tank both out on Thursday. He was limited.

The big waiver pickups. It's just like Jonah Coleman. The old rope-a-dope.

It's like Jonah Coleman. The guy that comes in with the opportunity gets hurt immediately.

The starter is back.

And then did not practice Thursday, DeVonta Smith, the hamstring, which by the way, the hamstring is what bothered him preseason.

I will say, oh, I didn't see that.

He didn't practice Thursday.

I will say, no, it's Thursday, but this is the Monday night game.

Okay.

So that's like missing a Wednesday practice.

So pay close attention.

But yes, you need to be aware. What do you guys think of, so with, you know, the tight end situation, And it being the, the ever surviving Zach Ertz who just keeps getting jobs. Do you want to stash Mekhi Lemon more?

Yeah, for sure. I think Mekhi Lemon is a great stash right now. I, I went back and you watched the tape. I watched the tape.

That convinced me.

I watched the tape this last week and obviously bad game. He didn't do anything. He caught one pass, I believe.

Better than week 1.

Yes. Better than week 1. He was used everywhere. He lined up in the backfield. He lined up in the slot. He lined up outside. He was, you know, running routes in all 3 levels. He was, you know, leaking out for a screen. He was working the middle of the field. He was going deep. He was on the field and running routes and he looked good. He was getting open. It just, it didn't work. It didn't happen last week.

I'm seeing, let me double check them on the, oh, that was the 4th quarter. So Lemon ran about 80% of the routes. Oh, he was, he was totally out there.

That's full-time.

More routes than done. D'Onta'Vion Wicks.

He's a good player. And so to me, they need him a lot right now. And I believe he will be super involved. He's a, he's a good quality first round rookie wide receiver who's out there getting opportunities. It just hasn't happened yet.

I also feel like Vailly has gotten a lot of attention as a viable 2. Well, the season's almost the exact same for D'Onta'Vion Wicks.

Oh, Wicks, absolutely.

They are averaging the same points per game, targets, target share. Both guys have been good. You need to think of Wicks as a startable player.

Absolutely.

Wicks or Downs as the final question.

I'll play Wicks.

I'll play Josh Downs.

All right. Let's jump into the face-off.

Fantasy Face-Off presented by PrizePicks.

I think Jason's made it known, but he is sitting here with the the Wheel of Shame once again, maybe because of the guy that didn't perform last night.

Hey, I can't lose again with Jordan Love this week, baby.

Because he already played. So unfortunately for you, Jay, you got to spin it again.

Wheel of Shame.

All righty.

Let's spin that wheel.

Yes, yes, yes. You lucky, lucky man. All right.

What do we got? We got toe jam, clown nose. Egghead. Polly.

Oh, Polly.

Oh, Polly wants—

oh no.

Polly, Mike, do you want to feed the parrot?

Hand me some crackers.

Bust open these saltines here so that you're equipped.

Yeah, I'll take some.

I'm probably just going to throw them at him.

No, I don't mean to say this, Jason. How big is your mouth hole?

Not— Not big enough for a cracker.

Oh, we're just going to throw it.

Oh my Lord. This is, guys, this is, this is a real problem.

I missed.

Here you go, buddy. Here, have a cracker.

I want some crackers.

Do you need to, does someone need to read your line for you?

Probably 100% they have to read my line. I am about 30 seconds from death.

You got some air holes. You're fine.

I can breathe.

Have a cracker and breathe.

I just can't see.

Yeah. Just have a cracker.

Is this my nose? Am I eating through my nostril?

You are eating through the side mouth.

Yeah.

The classic parrot side mouth. Oh, he's eating the cracker.

All right. Start us off here.

All right. I'm going, my Green Goblin is quarterback Bryce Young. I'm taking 159.5 passing yards. I'm taking the more.

All right. Doing it. Looking good, Jay. I am— guys, let's have some fun. Jameis Winston, 17.5 passing completions, and I will take the more.

Okay. Winston completions.

Yeah.

So I wonder what Jason's doing.

Jay, do you have any idea what you're doing or do we have to figure this out?

I have a couple different ideas. I made several lineups.

Well, you got to go with the one you come up with.

Why don't we throw it up on the board? Yeah.

Put it up on the board. We'll read it for you.

Jason has Daniel Jones less yards than 219.5 passing yards.

Oh, you hater. But that makes sense.

It is. I think that the Texans—

This board is saving him today.

The Texans defense, as well as the fact that he hasn't thrown for that so far this season, you know, it's—

Quiet, Parrot. All right.

We are at running back. I am going to go with Blake Corum. I'm taking—

Oh my, you're taking my start.

46.5 rushing yards. I'm taking the more. Had this one selected early in the week and it didn't move. So Blake Corum more than 46.5 rushing yards. I like it. What are you doing with your hands?

I'm wiping crumbs and crackers off.

That's what you're doing.

Ken Bone Walker.

Kenneth Walker.

All right. What do you got?

86.5 rushing yards. No problem.

You're taking the OR for Kenneth Walker.

No problem for Kenneth Walker.

All right, Jason, let's reveal.

I've got Cam Why don't you say what my line is?

57.5 yards are projected for Kev Scadaboo.

You did good on that one.

You're going more, huh?

You did a good— you feel good on that one.

Yeah.

Have a cracker.

This is nonsense.

Oh, I love it.

I will say it looks like that game is going to be very rainy now. So that sucks.

Oh, I mean, wait, what? Why would it— why would it suck for— that's running football. Yeah, that sucks for Jameis. It's great for running. All right, guys, I'm not all— I'm not going to be kind with everybody. You're not going to like this one, but it's been working so far. Ja'Marr Chase, 77.5 receiving yards. I'm taking the less against Pittsburgh. I'm taking the less. Last week I managed to get it with Trey McBride on his less. So I'm going Ja'Marr Chase.

I don't blame you.

He has a cracker that's perched in the mouth.

So you're telling me the Tennessee Giants game is going to be rainy, huh?

Yeah.

Yes, that's a bummer for Jameis. And because then the Jalen Coker news was also a bummer for me because I took the Tedderole McMillan 7.5 receiving targets. I went more.

Okay.

Because I thought I was going to be sneaky and get a Jalen Coker.

Not so sneaky. Why don't we reveal Jason's wide receiver?

Jason's wide receiver is my Green Goblin. Oh, Amon-Ra St. Brown, your Green Goblin, 32.5 receiving yards.

I told you guys before the show, I was like, I was like, my Green Goblin feels like the easiest thing of all time.

That's fun.

Here you go.

For you. Have a treat, Paulie.

All right. Let's finish it up here. Maybe not a surprise. I won't be shocked if I'm not alone with it, but I'm going Dalton Schultz, 50.5 receiving yards. I'm taking the more with the doctor. We did okay last week too, by the way. We didn't do too bad. Who do you got at your tight end?

We did. We did all right. My tight end is my Green Goblin. I will take the Muth. 2.5 receptions. We will go more.

Okay.

I like that. Jason, let's reveal it.

I like the rest of mine.

Johnson. Juwan.

Oh, Juwan Johnson, 35.5 receiving yards. You will take the more.

Yeah. He's averaging 60 right now.

I like it. And I like the game environment. I like it. Whoa. How do you still have more crackers?

I just wanted to go through the whole sleeve. How many crackers do you get? It's so, it's really fun to throw stuff at your friends. All right. That was Fantasy Faceoff presented by PrizePicks. Download it today and follow our account at the FF Ballers because we We'll be dropping our fantasy footballers player pack lineup every week in the app. PrizePicks, run your game. You've really gone from on the edge of dying to enjoying being a parrot.

I don't know what's going on in the outside world, but I got crackers in here.

Yes, you do.

You do.

We're going to say goodbye. Monday, Punday coming. Your reactions to the weekend. Make sure you tune in. Make sure you subscribe. And if you want to be a part of the community, head to jointhefoot.com. Get access this week into the ultimate dashboard. It'll help you make your start-sit decisions. I'm going to let this guy get out of this mask.

I'll see you on Sunday, everybody.

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.