Transcript of Week 4 Waivers + Tough Drop Decisions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/29

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

Football is the best.

Freaking Case Keenum's the best.

Case Keenum. Like not just winning, but looking very competent.

Do we not?

It was awesome.

Do we not see my point from a few shows ago?

The parody?

No, just that there's guys that are veteran quarterbacks.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

That get thrown to the garbage heap and apparently are capable of playing so much better than Cam Ward.

Yeah. Yes. Case Keenum, like in his time.

I know.

Was like, he was, he was efficient.

Yeah. I mean, he was a guy who— But his time was 2019. He's been doing it over half a decade ago.

I was shocked he was still in the league. I really was.

Well, he was, he was, he said that he is, he retired mentally.

Yeah, that's right.

Okay. And then mentally, well, he hadn't put it in paperwork, but he decided that he was going to retire and walk away. And then Ben Johnson called him and the only reason he came back was for Ben Johnson. Yeah.

And then he wins on Monday Night Football in front of his family.

It was 27 to 7.

It was awesome.

Ben Johnson is very good.

He was in the back and like Keenum was seriously on point. Like so much stuff was just short timing and Keenum was like the ball placement. It had to be precise and he was, he got it done.

Yeah, this was, this was not a good night for the Eagles.

No, no, it was not.

I would say year. I don't think I would. I don't think I would relegate. They almost lost to the Titans with Cam Ward.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which seems impossible.

I mean, genuinely, like, this feels like an 0-3 team.

Well, they could have lost to the Commanders in week 1 as well. They, they're not, you know, they're feeling the absence of AJ Brown. They're feeling the age of Saquon Barkley, the explosive plays on the team. We're not using Mekhi Lemon. Eli Stowers was a terrible draft pick. We don't have Dallas Goedert, who had a really good week 1 and 2. Dontayvion Wicks, 2 for 32. DeVonta Smith, 6 for 65. Saquon was 15 for 82, no touchdown. Jalen Hurts, I mean, hugely disappointing fantasy night.

I was shocked they didn't run more. Like Barkley to the outside was working fantastic. And then they're like, no, we're going to, let's have, let's have Jalen Hurts take this offense on. It's like unnecessary. Barkley is destroying these people. You could kill them on the ground. It's the Bears.

So, so the Bears won 27 to 7. They won with 59 points in week 1. And here we are with Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze.

Oh, Loveland, just stretch your arms, man. That was the—

Yeah, you say that, but also Rome, just, just open your hands because he caught it with his fingers closed and therefore did not catch the ball.

I don't expect more.

Caught it with his fingers closed.

That's what happened. His fingers were like too closed already and it hit the outside of his fingertips. Like, what are you doing?

Which he's second in the league in drops, I think, over the last couple of years.

Well, I don't know how you say much. It was, uh, Hardis was pointing out that People destroy Quentin Johnston for his drops and Rome is one drop behind him.

I was—

except, yeah, QJ has like a ton of volume.

I was unwilling to acknowledge Jason's recommendation of Khalif Raymond 2 weeks ago because I was not capable.

No, emotionally, mentally.

That this person in the face of a D'Onze Loveland burden could have any sort of meaningful long-term role.

Look, when you're 32 years old.

In year 11.

In year 11 as an undrafted free agent.

free agent journeyman that's hit different teams.

You've got to, you got to make your mark.

I mean, I give so much credit to somebody like Ben Johnson for, for like just being player agnostic and just taking the best play, the best player, the best route and prioritizing.

I don't know if you guys have seen the play. Benjamin Sollock on Twitter shared it. There was a play schemed up where 2 wide receivers ran through the C-gap. Like the play is wild.

You watch this and you're like—

So they run up through the C-gap.

Yeah. I mean, so you've got like, like no cornerbacks essentially on 2 different wide receivers going in different directions. It is mastermind level stuff.

Well, and the QB sneak for Case Keenum to get a rushing touchdown was we're going to have the guards fake. Like we sent, they did the complete opposite of what is it? Big man football. We're stronger. Rawr, we're going right. They're like, no, we're going to act like we're— the guards are going to pull out. And then Case Keenum, Case Keenum scores a rushing touchdown. I feel like you got Philadelphia, you got to walk home. There's no buses allowed. If Case Keenum gets a rushing touchdown, you walk.

I know.

I hope it's raining.

I know a couple of things. I know that the— now Burden got into the end zone on a play that was basically a running play and he got pushed in from 8 yards away. Adunze, 3 for 44. However, 4 for 31.

11 targets for Luther Burden.

Yes.

We will take that.

Yes, we will. Feed the burden.

Yes.

But I will say this.

Is that Mary Poppins you're going with?

You know what? Sure.

Poppins.

I know it's so much.

Feed the burden.

Feed the birds. Poppins. Poppins. I just know this from 12 years of fantasy football. If Khalif Raymond's roster percentage surpasses like, oh, it's over 50%. This dude will never do it again.

You can't look at him.

I mean, is there any of you, let's say we've just put all 4 of these Bears on your team. There's nobody that's starting Khalif Raymond over Odunze or Loveland.

It feels impossible to do that. It, I mean, he played 75% of the snaps. He's been over 60% of the snaps in all 3 weeks. And so therefore on a good offense where he's very involved and knows the system well and is being used well, you feel like you should be able to start him. But how, how do you start a year 11? Like we know who Khalif Raymond is.

Yeah.

Ben Johnson knows who he is, which is a superstar.

He's the next Parker Washington.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, remember we were doing the, like who's the next Michael Wilson? I think we did the time machine. Yeah. We found him.

We might have. I mean, at least through 3 weeks. And here we are, 3 weeks into the fantasy season. It is a, it is a moment in time where we can say, hey, if it hasn't gone your way, do not give up.

Correct.

We have been here for 12 years and we have seen literally hundreds, maybe thousands of people write in at 0-4, 0-5, make the playoffs, win a championship. Have you seen the injuries this year?

Yeah.

Everything that's terrible that has happened to you and your bad luck, because there is, there's bountiful bad luck this year. That bad luck, that cloud, it might move over to your opponent next week.

Also, in every league, there are, you know, as the weeks go on, you get into week 4, week 5, you've got, you know, half the league is on the bottom half of their league and they start Giving up, folding, not trying as hard, not going on the way. And the league gets a little easier as well. You know, so stay the course and you'll be fine.

Yeah, it's been, it's been wild so far. But don't be the one to give up first. When those other teams start to give up, right, you can take advantage. Let's talk some news.

News and notes from around the league.

All right. Jameis Winston remains the team's starting quarterback for now.

For how many weeks you give it?

2. 1.

Yeah.

Maybe 1.

You think that they'll have McCarthy up to speed in 1 week?

Well, let's put it this way. If the Cardinals beat him this week and Winston commits turnovers, it's possible.

The Cardinals are the entire reason it'll be 1 or more because either the Cardinals are bad and Jameis Winston wins and they're not going to, they're not going to pull him after a victory and he might look fine.

Right.

Or the Arizona Cardinals Cardinals beat you and then you're like, we've got to make a change. I hear what you're saying. Let's just, let's just see how one week goes. But genuinely, it is one week at a time with Jameis. He's the starter this week. He will not be the starter rest of season. He's just not playing well enough.

No, he's playing. He's the worst statistical quarterback in the league and we've seen Cam Ward.

I, we have. I don't. Like, I do think that JJ McCarthy will eventually take over. But in terms of Jameis being thrown in against the Rams when you're not, when you haven't been getting the starter reps and then playing in that, in the storm game, I'll give him at least one more week against the Cardinals.

That is, that is fair. We got to remember that that Titans game was a storm and you can't hold anything against him against the Rams. So maybe is there a chance we see—

There's a chance.

Famous Jameis. It feels slim, but that would be awesome. That'd be awesome for neighbors to have someone that is just airing it out.

Jayden Daniels will travel with the team to London and practice in some capacity this week. So Jayden Daniels should be back sooner than later. What a game by Mariota last week.

Yes.

Good news here. Justin Jefferson ankle injury, not anything long-term and could play in week 4 against the Dolphins. Wow. So avoided, you know, the dreaded high ankle scenario. That's exciting news.

It is. I hadn't seen that. I was contemplating Kyler as my stream of the week. I think he's a fine enough pickup. But then I was like, without Justin Jefferson, I don't know how long he's going to be out. But if Jefferson's back soon, even if it's not necessarily playing this week, Kyler's outlook is much better.

Mike Evans is day to day with his rib injury.

That changed quick. I thought he died.

He didn't.

I mean, the way, the way he went to his knees, his face was that of a man who was, who took 3 arrows in the chest and was reaching out to the, to the scenic landscape. It was like, this is it. This is how I go.

And I didn't, I didn't feel like it was, you know, this is a tough dude. Mike Evans, you know, has, has taken plenty of shots.

He's tough.

It really seemed like he took 3 arrows in the chest from Budda Baker. And well, I'm shocked that he's day to day.

Yeah, they'll manage him through the week before deciding on his week 4 availability. Travis Etienne Jr. will miss some time for the Saints with the hamstring. Timeline not determined.

It was a re-aggravation, just a reminder. It's like he was on, he was maybe going to miss with a hamstring, went in, gave us the, as we've seen many, many times, the retweak of the hamstring. So I would imagine it's multiple weeks.

Travis Achane Jr. will miss some time. I said that one. Breece Hall considered week to week with a quad injury.

I'm Ron Burgundy.

I'm pretty sure that Travis Achane Jr. will miss a few weeks.

So it's a hamstring. It's a re-aggravation of the same hamstring.

All right. All right.

Breece Hall considered week to week with his quad injury.

Yeah, that makes the signing of like Braylon Allen, if he's not already on your team like he is for Mike in League of Record.

What?

How'd he get there?

It makes that signing for like kind of difficult.

I did not realize that, Mike.

Yeah.

I was going to go pretty hard after Braylon Allen.

Well, you can't.

Dig good.

You can't. So yeah, I mean, Braylon Allen will get the bulk of the work. He's looked okay this year. It's just a matter of, do you get it for a week? Do you get it for 2 weeks? Yeah. Somewhere in that department.

We'll be talking about all these, all these running backs here in the waiver segment.

But he like Braylon Allen gets Chicago. And you can run on the Bears.

The— Yeah, I'm playing Mike this week.

We got the week-to-week update, but Aaron Glenn was saying, I'm not— we're not going to give a full update until Wednesday.

Terrence Ferguson unlikely to play in week 4. They also lost Colby Parkinson to an AC joint. Maybe Higbee is a 1-week. I mean, they don't sound like Puka is going to be back for this week.

They've said more because last week—

Yeah, there was another comment about the fact that like He should be back soon, but it might not be this week.

Okay. Because we had McVay, who is a liar, McLiarface about injuries.

Can't lie if you don't show up to the press conference.

Thank you, McVay.

Well, I mean, he showed up.

He just left early.

He dipped out.

Yeah.

Oh, nobody's here yet. I was here. Goodbye. Wow.

Not happy. But yeah, there you go. We'll monitor more throughout the week. We got waivers on today's show. So much to talk about. Jump right in. Let's take a quick break and we'll hop into the waivers.

Waiver Wire presented by T-Mobile.

Okay. Well, it's been kind of slow on the waiver wire for the past few weeks in terms of like high investment waiver priority burning situations. But this week is different. We do have some. players that I think could be significant.

Tough.

It's tough.

It's tough.

Yeah. I mean, let's start at running back. That's where the story is. We talked about Braelon Allen. He's going to get an opportunity to start if Breece Hall is out. Let's talk about Ollie Gordon II. Last week, 17 for 41 and a touchdown, 3 targets, 3 for 14. You know, in conversations in the offseason when they tried to box him into being a short yardage player. Their head coach came out and said he would rather see Gordon compete to be an every-down back. I think he's capable of doing it. Every snap of Ollie Gordon I've ever seen at the professional level, I've been personally impressed. I think he's a pretty talented player. He was very productive in college. He should get the majority of the work, but Jaylen Wright will be involved. Jaylen Wright is a player that they value the speed, the big playability.

Listed ahead of Gordon on the depth chart before last week.

And the further complication to the fab spend decision is the fact that this is a team that is not going to score a lot of points the rest of the way. In no way, shape, and form is Ollie Gordon, De'Von Achane. And Achane was struggling to put up much more than 10, 11 points on a weekly basis with all the snaps. This week, for example, they have the lowest implied point total. at 13.5.

So that's the lowest of the year.

Yeah. And that has to be right. You're going to— here's what's going to happen.

The matchup is at Minnesota.

Yeah. You're going to go to Minnesota and you're going to spend a bunch of fab on Ollie Gordon. And then you might end up feeling really bad about it for a week at least. So what is the framework here? Because in all my leagues, getting anybody at running back, having running back depth is the hardest possible thing that you can do. And so there's value here. It's just how much.

I am, I'm just, I'm concerned. Like, Ollie Gordon should be added in every single league. But I, the, it will be once Jaylen Wright is back. I think it will be, you know, far more of a committee on a low-scoring team. And they're like the schedule the next 2 weeks is at Minnesota and then it's Cincinnati, which I know Warren had a good game against Cincinnati. I still, believe that their defense is much improved. And then it's the bye week. It was like, that's a hard thing to commit a ton of fab to a running back that I think is going to suck for 2 weeks and then you can't play him at 3 weeks.

Yeah. I do think Ollie Gordon is the right pickup. Jaylen Wright is not good.

I, yeah, I don't think he's that great.

I mean, he is, he's a very good athlete. And if you can find him a lane he can run where you can't catch him. That part is good. If you find him a lane, I'm not sure he will find the lane. And I doubt you're making a lot of, you know, openings with a bad offensive line, no threat of a passing game. So I'm not fearful of Jaylen Wright. I think Ollie Gordon, Andy's right, has basically shown that he's a quality NFL player. But it's going to be a month before you're confident enough to play him. So dropping a ton of fab is tough.

If I haven't been destroyed by injuries at my running back position and it's just like, hey, I need, I want a quick fix. I prefer Braelon a lot.

I completely, completely agree. If you're needing a start right now the next 2 weeks, but if you're good, if you're solid.

Probably getting a player for the rest of the year is worth more fab.

Yes.

Agreed. But I'm concerned that is he actually worth the fab in the end?

I mean, let me, let me ask you this. If Ja'Kori Crosby-Merritt was out on the waiver wire, what fab would he receive? I'm trying to pick some—

More than Ollie Gordon.

More than Ollie Gordon.

Yes.

See, I mean, I think that's a situation where he's been under 50% of snaps every week. Not hyperproductive. I mean, getting a starter week for the rest of the year is the equation here.

Right. But is Ollie Gordon going to be 70% of the snaps, 60%? We don't know that yet. Where I lean, Bill, just in your hypotheticals, they will like Mariota and that team looked great. Jayden Daniels will be back. I just believe more in Washington.

Yeah. They have, they're signing Ekeler. They have Kaytron Allen.

Yeah. Bill could be in big trouble.

I mean, what's the fab spend if you have 100 fab still?

For Ollie Gordon?

Yeah.

I mean, he will, I imagine he's going to go for 20 plus because it's a, like the starters out for the year.

I think for sure. I think he could go.

But I don't know that I would sign him.

I think you could go up to 50.

Yeah. You're going to have him go for a lot. Are you willing to do it? I don't think I'm willing to go for it.

But the nice thing about both of these guys.

Maybe in the 30s.

Like instead of a veteran running back coming in that you know what they're about, like let's say Devin Singletary was the only back in town in New York. You kind of know what you're getting. With Ollie Gordon, there is tremendous upside potential on a bad team, but it's still a young player that we haven't seen given all of the work. So from an explosiveness standpoint, you could be surprised in a positive way as opposed to spinning up on a Singletary type of guy. Now, Braylon Allen is more rostered. Like, Ollie's out there for every league that I'm in. He's basically on no teams. Ironically, As the Achane manager in our league of record, I drafted Ollie Gordon and then cut him because that's what ends up happening when you have other opportunities to pick up players that, you know, excel. Braylon Allen, 21% rostered. He has scored, I think, 2 times this year, right?

No, the first one was called back.

That's right.

But he's looked very good.

22 years old. Had the youngest breakout age of any running back. But again, it could be very temporary.

Yeah.

You've got Chicago in Chicago this weekend and Cleveland. Cleveland has been stepping up on the defensive side. Chicago last night, you can run on them, but it's in Chicago. And I don't know, we've been let down by Braelon Allen starts before.

Yes, for sure we have. We're not going to have a definitive update on Breece until after your waivers run. Most likely, depending on what, what time your waivers actually run. I think that from, from what I've seen, I think Breece Hall is going to miss at least 2 weeks. In which case, Braelon Allen, I think, is a very good start. I, I've really liked what we've seen from the Jets so far. The offensive line has been a significant improvement from the year prior. Geno's been slinging. They've got the weapons. Sadiq looks like the real deal.

Mm-hmm.

You know, it's, it's a much better situation. Obviously it's not long-term. It's not rest of season. That being said, Braylon Allen has been kind of a flex with benefits. So it's not like, you know, when Breece comes back that Braylon Allen is completely, you know, 100% unusable. Like you said, he had a touchdown last week and I had a touchdown that was called back on a penalty in week 1. And then you have obviously the, the Saints backfield, which I'm very curious your guys' opinion. I think we're going to disagree here.

This is regarding Alvin Kamara. Kamara and Kendre Miller.

Yeah.

Yeah. Kamara is 54% rostered. Kendre Miller is 3% rostered. A couple of tough matchups coming up. Kamara. Yeah. The disagreement that I think we're going to have is just what we believe the team's philosophical approach is going to be to that position. And I think most of the work's going to go to Alvin Kamara. I think that his— I think there's a lot more to the equation for them than— and I think we've seen it even with Achane being active because we've been embarrassed at their utilization of Kamara with a healthy Achane.

Oh, that's still so confusing.

I mean, to me, it's like I was—

I was— we've done this the whole offseason, the whole Achane Jr. thing. And you're like, with Achane's utilization, and I'm right there at the Dolphins. I'm like, what did they do?

No, sorry.

No, it's not. But I mean, it's just weird.

Like I expect the majority of all the work to go to Alvin Kamara in the absence of Achane. You'll work Kendre Miller in, but I don't expect, like if I had to start one on a weekly basis, I'd in half or full point, it'd be Kamara every time.

Yeah. So the way that I see, I would be surprised if all the work goes to Kamara because they just spent a ton of money to bring a running back in and they didn't give him all the work. They seem like they want a committee. They were using whoever it was, Kendre Miller in week 1 when Kamara wasn't there. You know, they, when Kamara was there, they were using Achane as the backup, it seemed like, and involving 2 backs. I think both backs will be involved. I agree with you that Alvin Kamara is clearly the leader in volume in snaps. Kendre Miller will be the backup, but I think Alvin Kamara is going to go for a lot more fab. And if, you know, I said this 2 weeks ago, I think if Kendre Miller gets 10 touches and Alvin Kamara gets 16 touches, I think Kendre probably scores more fantasy points just because Kamara looks not the same. I mean, he's—

He looked, he looked better this past week. And I'll say in the 4th quarter, Alvin Kamara had 5 carries to Kendre's 2. And Kamara ran 12 routes to Kendre's 8. So it was on Kamara's side, but Kendre Miller wasn't a non-factor.

I think they're both worth picking up this week. And to Jason's point, it's like if Kamara went for 20 fab and you can get Kendre for 3, I'd prefer the Kendre side. You'd want to go the Kendre side.

Yeah.

But it's going to be a prolonged absence, I think, for Achane, at least 3 weeks.

Certainly not saying spend the most on Kendre Miller and drop fab. I think he's just a value for He's going to not cost a lot. He shouldn't.

Keaton Mitchell, Emmitt Johnson, Jaylen Wright. You know, if you want to spend, it's a very similar situation there. Ollie Gordon is going to be the big ticket. Kendre Wright or Jaylen Wright. Yeah, I'm mixing Kendre Miller and Jaylen Wright together. It might not even matter. Those are a couple other names. Jaylen Wright's probably, you could get him. on the cheap just in case the distribution is different?

Yeah, you could. I, I don't want the backup. Like the Saints look like a good offense. The Saints are, are a fast pace of play. Tyler Shuck looks legit. The Dolphins having the backup in a timeshare, I don't know that I want the starter in the timeshare for the Dolphins. So I'm not, I'm not doing anything for Jaylen Wright. Keaton Mitchell though, Bears, you know, talking about he was, he was unfortunately for Hampton managers, they were, Keaton Mitchell was very involved. 8 carries, 3 targets. He's an explosive player.

I'm not going— 38% of snaps.

I'm not going hard after him, but I do think he is, should be rostered.

Depth at running back that you might be able to get on the cheap and—

You prefer Keaton or— Mike Washington.

Keaton.

Yeah, I would prefer Keaton.

The other names to pick up are just, you know, kind of insurance backs. Make sure that Kalen Black is rostered. You know, Kenny Gainwell, we thought maybe would be a pickup, but it seems like Bucky Irving. I had read something from September 24th because I was doing some research on Bucky Irving for the injury. And I don't remember the source, but they talked about him being on a pitch count early in the season. And then, yes.

Yeah.

And then we got him even in a close game. We got him pulled out and he just sat for the last 15 plays of the game or whatever it was this past week. There was no— Bucky Irving was just standing on the sideline. Everyone assumed he was hurt. And they must be handling this in a strict manner when it comes to the to the pitch count, but he seems to be fine. Like I, I was trying to figure out, was this a, you know, is this like an attitude thing? Like was there something that he did that got the team frustrated? You know, he didn't fumble, but it seemed like they literally hit a mark. You look at his games.

Yeah. It could be a pass protection call.

Yeah, it could have been. It's just weird to take maybe the best like talent that you have out of the game. But if you look at the opportunities in the 3 games, You know, it was 8 attempts on the ground, then 17, then 15. He stops at 15 and they don't put him back in. But at least 4 targets in every game. It's going to be weird for that team and Gainwell and all of those guys as we deal with no Baker for a little bit of time. But is there anybody else? I mean, Austin Ekeler, are you adding him? I mean, I, there's, I don't think so.

Deep, deep leagues.

Yeah. I don't think like if Austin Ekeler comes back to a team, which I could see very much happening. Should he be added? Yeah. Will he be a fantasy relevant starter? Will he be able to play his way into a really important role? I would be surprised. The only other player I would mention, I would whisper, is Caleb Johnson. You know, more weeks in the system. You've got a couple more weeks before we probably find out what's going on with Josh Jacobs. And man, they need to figure out a running game. They just have to make some changes.

We might not get Jacobs back. I mean, sure, the league is trying to get that video and that could be— this thing has been snip, snap, snip, snap all over the place. So I don't, I don't mind you mentioning him as much as I should mind you mentioning him. My number 1 wide receiver pickup this week is Chris Bell. His snaps went up. This is Miami wide receiver. His snaps went up to 71%, 7 targets, 4 for 67. Caleb Douglas has been out. You lose the weapon in the passing game that Achane was getting the targets every week. And this is the expectation for somebody like Chris Bell coming off an injury, missing all of training camp, wasn't seeing the snap counts that we needed for any type of viability, but saw them jump from 41% to 71%, 7 targets, big-bodied guy, had multiple red zone looks in this game, had opportunities for touchdowns. To me, I personally think that's a much better opportunity on a team that's going to be throwing from behind all game long than what I'm seeing out of like Wicks. And I would take him over Malik Washington too.

It's pretty wild that we are, you know, kind of the consensus, the top 4-ish wide receivers, it's going to be the Eagles and the Dolphins.

Right. Wicks and Lemon, Bell and Washington.

It's absurd because it's like, well, of course it should be Mekhi Lemon, a first-round pick. But then we have the app, just more evidence of yesterday against Chicago, a very negative game script. We need to throw the ball. Dontavian Wicks, 2 for 32. Mekhi Lemon, 3 for 29. Like, meanwhile, Chris Bell and Malik Washington there. It's nothing special happening, but they're 17 targets between them. Like they're not destroying you.

The ironic part about those 4 top wide receivers is that all 4 are terrible plays this week. Like you're going up against the Rams and the Vikings respectively. So I don't know that I want to put any into my starting lineup. And if I'm not putting any into my starting lineup, I would, I would go with the rookies, Chris Bell and Mekhi Lemon as, you know, the the hold and, and look for the future for them to progress, to get more involved, to get better as, as NFL players. Chris Bell won't cost you much and is widely available.

Yeah. I think if you're looking for a start this week, the best one to pick up and play might just be Kanata Mumfield.

Yes.

Because the chance that, you know, we saw a big week.

Yeah.

Who was that? Mum's the word, baby. Mum's the word. Look, 4 for 93 and a touchdown. Obviously one of them, it was a huge play, but 73% of snaps. Puka Nacua may miss another week. You're not going to have Terrence Ferguson this week. You know, Higbee will be involved. But look, Mumfield, the matchup, the Eagles, we just watched a no-name. If, if, if Khalif Raymond can do it, Mumfield can do it. So to me, that's like your probably low competition pickup and start.

Yeah, you could also throw Jacoby Myers out there.

Jacoby Myers is higher up for me as well.

He's a better wide receiver. He's, you know, a part of the system. Brian Thomas Jr. has been taken to the back of the shed. He had 8 targets this last week. And then the matchup on the road against Cincinnati, you expect a shootout there between Jacksonville, Cincinnati. It's a game you want, you know, pieces of. I would also say This week, if you're picking someone up because you need to start this week, depending on, you know, if, if it is a flex level, like, you know, it's not your wide receiver 1 or 2, you might want to pick up and start a tight end over some of these wide receivers.

They've been scoring a lot.

A rare thing. I just think there's, there's some names there where I prefer a lot of the stash and holds at wide receiver versus the play this week. And, and I think that there's some matchups and some injuries at tight end that can push you that way. I will say not available in any of my leagues. Probably not available in yours, but it says 25% of leagues Jordan Addison is out there. So just check if he is out there.

75% rostered.

Yeah.

So people didn't let him go early and then now there's a chance that it's a benefit.

Yeah, absolutely. I think with, with Kyler there and potentially no Jefferson, that could be a good start.

Ready for the drop candidates at wide receiver?

Sure.

By the way, some other names we could mention real quick. Roman Wilson, Pat Bryant, You know, I think chasing Roman Wilson is wild because I, you know, last week it was Jeremy Bernard and I think it's going to rotate around. Darnell Washington got a ton of work instead of Freiermuth.

Well, Roman Wilson was, was good last week.

Yeah.

Except he had the, the Dumbo play where it bounces off of him and turns into an interception and a score and he kind of got benched.

Yeah.

After that.

By Rodgers, probably.

I would imagine. that the captain had something to say about it. But Roman, over the first month or so of the— not over the first 3 weeks, Roman's looked like the best wide receiver on that team.

It seems like he, you know, Rodgers hates Pittman maybe even more than he hates Roman Wilson. And so yeah.

DK Metcalf's his own thing.

Are you cutting Quentin Johnston?

Yes.

Rashid Shaheed?

Yeah.

Michael Pittman?

Yeah.

Brian Thomas.

Oh, landmine.

Yeah. I think he's a drop in a landmine.

Yeah.

Anytime you would start Britton Strange every week over Brian Thomas, you're in trouble. Marvin Harrison Jr.

I think, oh man, that's tough.

I'm not, I probably don't cut him. But I mean, if you're sort of, that's sort of like, I mean, are you cutting Metcalf? I mean, you're not cutting Metcalf.

No. Metcalf's getting too much work.

Godwin. I mean, yeah, you're going to have no Baker for a while. I just feel like the upside is gone.

Yeah. I wasn't rostering Godwin already. Can't cut him.

Very proud of that fact.

But yeah, it's like Keenan. If you're talking the battle of the olds, I'd rather have Keenan right now.

Man. Khalif Raymond.

Dude, superstar.

Mumford and Sons or Raymond. Everybody loves Raymond.

Raymond.

Raymond. Long term.

What is the roster percentage on Raymond? Because maybe he's too—

I'm seeing 13.9.

So would you take Chris Bell or Raymond? Because I don't want to ignore Raymond if he's— if we're here at the top.

No, he— I'll go Chris Bell in that one. But Raymond is— let me go. Raymond is right now my wide receiver 5 and that's behind Malik Washington. So yeah, maybe that's not the right call.

I'm telling you, if he hits 50% roster percentage, it's over. Yeah, it's over.

That's great. Everyone pick him up because that means that it's Burton and Loveland time.

That's a good point. We could make it happen. We could do it. All right. Let's take a break and we'll talk tight ends and quarterbacks. All right. The Grand Canyon, Sadiq, is going to be the dude at the tight end position for the week. He's 33% rostered. There's been, you know, Jason picked him up, held him, dropped him, picked him back up. I made a trade offer for him. This was why. I mean, there was the chance that you were going to see a breakout performance. It's not a coincidence it happened and coincided with Mason Taylor missing a week.

And Adonai Mitchell.

And Adonai Mitchell. Yeah.

So, and playing in Detroit.

Okay.

It was a nice fit. So to temper the expectations, I would temper the expectations. However, we're not sure that Mason Taylor, Ardenise back. He's going to Chicago, another great matchup. And this is a player that, I mean, he was drafted with—

Once you break out.

Yeah. Once you break out, you're going to break back in. You're going to play more and more. 58% of snaps, 57% of routes. That was, you know, the high so far for his early career. He looked great. His yards after the catch, his speed. He really looks like a, like a hybrid wide receiver tight end. He doesn't, he doesn't look like a wide receiver to me and he doesn't look like a tight end to me. He's like a thick big boy wide receiver.

I mean, 6'3, 240. So he's not like a— honestly, he's not a towering tight end.

No, he runs around like Anquan Boldin. That's what it reminds me of.

Totally.

He runs around like Hines Ward or something. Like he's a boulder and he is an athletic freak. He's a mismatch on every play.

He's my number 1 pickup this week across all positions, including the running backs. I don't mind that. I think that Sadiq has the chance to be a difference maker.

He's 2 for me.

Yeah, I have Allen at the top just for plug-and-play need, but Sadiq.

Allen?

Braylon Allen.

Oh, okay.

Josh.

Not Keenan.

No, not— yeah, Josh.

If Josh Allen is out there, drop your fab.

Yeah, I probably would.

Not Keenan though.

Yeah.

No, no, no, no. Keenan Robinson.

Keenan is my wide receiver 5. 5.

Yeah.

Not Tim Allen.

No, he's in the comedian list.

Okay. So stupid.

We don't show that.

So Sadiq, yeah, he's 2 for me. I have, I've got Ollie. I've got Ollie at the top. Darren Waller though, 8 targets, 5 for 51. If Coker's out for an extended period of time, I think Waller will get more and more opportunities that aren't just red zone opportunities.

Detroit matchup this week. Yeah, that's juicy.

That's the best matchup for tight ends right now.

This is another one of those where I was saying, you know, if you need a spot start and at your flex, I think Waller might be better than some of these other wide receivers. You know, he's used around the end zone. He's needed. He's getting more and more involved. He was injured, you know, late into camp and was getting worse.

He was also just a late pickup.

Yeah, late pickup and old as dirt. So he's just getting more and more involved. I expect him to have Probably his highest snaps, highest route percentage share this week in a good matchup. So 5 targets last week is pretty good for a player like that, especially one that's looked for around the end zone. And then, I mean, I, you know, it's tough. You don't want to fall into the trap, but Tyler Higbee, you know, the reason I wanted Terrence Ferguson is because the, the second target for the Rams is Tyler Higbee. enormously valuable. And if Puka continues to miss and Terrence Ferguson, we know, is not playing and Colby Parkinson got injured, like, so here's the question though.

Higbee got 11 targets.

I think people are going to have a problem with, they picked up Ferguson. We don't know how long he's going to miss. We don't know when Puka is coming back. Would you just drop Ferguson to play Higbee this week if you need a 1-week start? Because that's where it's really, really tough to me.

Probably.

I probably would.

Yeah, I think you got to do what you got to do. I would, I really don't want to drop Terrence Ferguson. But if you need to, if you can't roster 2 tight ends, which sometimes you can't, if you've got a shorter bench or other injured players, then you, you can move on from Terrence Ferguson.

There's another category of tight end roster or managers. Which is I've got Colston Loveland. So I already have 2 tight ends. I picked up Ferguson to play instead of Loveland. I can't drop Loveland.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Then you have to move on to Ferguson.

But I will say this, Ferguson in his own right is a good pickup. Like he will probably be dropped in a lot of leagues. We always say drop it like it's hot. Make sure you're looking at when your waivers go through, not just who got who, but who dropped who. And Ferguson will be dropped in a lot of leagues if you have the extra room for him. for a couple of weeks from now, I would roster him.

And then if you need another start, Brenton Strange, good matchup this week. Maybe an opportunity with the, I don't know, deletion of Brian Thomas Jr.

Well, they ran, we brought it up on the show. They ran a lot of 12. Like the snap counts for Jacoby and Parker were the exact same as Brenton Strange.

Yeah. Defenses this week. Hello, Minnesota. There's a reason Mike and I both tried to get them last week in the league. Knowing that the Tampa, you know, Miami combo was coming up. We got outbid. But Minnesota this week against Miami is the go-to must pick up. Now they're 80% rostered because people signed them to play against Tampa. Baltimore as well. Baltimore has Tennessee this week. I think that's why they're sitting on Mike's roster.

Correct.

Yeah, that's cool. That's against me too. But they're 69% rostered. You know, the best, by the way, do you know who the number one scoring fantasy defense is in the National Football League.

The way you're asking, I don't know, but it would be against the Raiders.

Yeah, that's what I would assume because you're a Raiders fan too.

Yeah, that would be the Raiders. The Raiders who, you know, they played New Orleans this past week, still had a double-digit fantasy performance because the— I think they forced 4 fumbles, 3 sacks, interception. They're kind of a just ferocious defense right now. They get to play the Raiders or sorry, the Chiefs. They get to play the Chiefs this week. So I do think they're interesting long term.

I think the Packers are also a pretty good pickup. They're going to Tampa Bay and they're going to play, you know, we always try to target the quarterbacks. You want quarterbacks that are going to make mistakes, throw, throw picks, take sacks. And when you have kind of an undrafted free agent rookie quarterback making his first start, Jalen Daniels, that is That is a nice player to target.

You got Jayden Daniels?

Oh, we have Jayden Daniels at home.

Look, I am still a little bit burned from the Packers against Michael Penix, but I get it. It should, it should be fine. And, and to that point, they really not— nobody has been worse than Winston and the Cardinals play Winston this week and they do it.

It's tough. It's tough because the Cardinals, I mean, Winston throws picks. He loves to throw picks.

And thus far also no, no completions. Yeah. He doesn't do the completions, but he's doing the picks.

But it's like Arizona Cardinals last week, no sacks, no interceptions, no fumbles.

Oh, they have the worst pressure rate of anybody.

You know, points allowed. But I get it.

I get it. I think it might be okay. All right. That was the waiver wire presented by T-Mobile. When you're updating your roster right before kickoff, you've got coverage you can count on. Just another reason game days are better with T-Mobile. Check it out at t-mobile.com/membership. Let's do some full stream ahead. Or Jason, you're putting your finger up saying, Pause. The wind.

Checking the wind. I'm just going to throw a name out there.

Oh no.

Disgusting.

Hold on.

You already threw Caleb out there.

You could, you know, if you've got room, you should pick up Tyreek Hill. He's going to come back at some point.

We're so far away.

You think? He tweeted that he's—

yeah, he said, I'm going to get up off the couch and get to work.

He'll join. He'll join the Chiefs in week 10.

Yeah. I mean, it might be— it might be— it might be—

You can't IR him though.

Maybe like there's— We know there's degenerates in like 16-team leagues and stuff like that. Okay, fine.

Maybe.

But in a standard 12 or 14, I don't— I'm not wasting a spot on Hill.

We've got him in Dino Jr., Mike.

That's a dynasty league. That's very different.

All right, let's get into the streams.

Full stream ahead.

All right, I think you're going to see Some interesting names hit the waiver wire this week, and I think Bryce Young is going to be one of them. But I think Bryce Young is a good stream this week against Detroit. Sunday Night Football. The team has come out and taken responsibility for the gross mismanagement of Tedderow and McMillan. I don't know if you saw that. Dave Canales came out and was just like, we're going to take all the heat on this. Like, we didn't move them around, put them in a position to succeed. We didn't do what it takes.

So That's nice of them to say.

Yeah.

Just do it. How, how does that possibly happen?

You know, games get away from you and the pressure was crazy. I mean, that's something we need to give credit to Mason Graham and those— the Browns are 2-1 for a reason.

Yeah.

And a lot of it's the defense has stepped up. Like people thought they would disappear with no Myles Garrett, but they have, you know, with Jared Verse and Mason Graham and that, that group. I just think Bryce Young, once they lost Coker, it was a disheveled offense. I think this will be a much different game. I don't know what the over-under is right now, but Bryce Young, I think, bounces back.

50.5.

Yeah. Yeah. I think he bounces back this week. And I think this was one of those guys that it's not a waiver pickup on Tuesday. It's a waiver pickup on Wednesday when he gets dropped, when he gets cut, they drop it like it's hot.

Yeah. I'm going to go with a guy who is very available. Eugene Cyril Smith III.

Okay.

Colloquially known as Geno Smith. My dude, the quarterback for the New York Jets.

Talking about quarterback 3 from last week, 31 for 37, 84% completion percentage, 321 and 3. Got it done every day of the week.

I talked about the offensive line has been holding up. Geno is, is okay if you can protect him. Yes. And the offensive line has been pleasantly. I mean, look, he's 75.5% completion rate through 3 weeks, 6th in passer rating, 8th in total EPA among quarterbacks. He's playing good ball and the Bears defense is beatable. 25th in EPA per dropback, 29th in pressure rate, which that—

That's in Chicago or at home?

I believe that's in Chicago. So, so long as the weather.

Yeah.

I mean, whenever I'm like picking things like this, it's like, oh, they're outdoors in Chicago.

Right.

Oh, they're outdoors in San Francisco.

Don't need your—

outdoors in New York.

I'm just like, I'm going with someone who will not be playing in the United States. We will go with Marcus Mariota.

Oh, are they across the pond?

They are going over there playing in London.

I love this one.

Mariota, he is a wild man because he can give you games like they did last week where you're like, holy crap, you beat the Seattle Seahawks. And then he can absolutely fall on his face. But he is available in everywhere in about 94% of leagues. He was awesome, threw for 3 touchdowns.

The Colts defense is so bad.

He's still running and the Colts defense stinks.

They're, they just, they're terrible.

So if you are not going to win a lot of games, like if you are in the hellscape of quarterbacks, because you mean the Drake May hellscape, the Justin Herbert hellscape. The Justin Herbert hellscape.

The Baker Mayfield hellscape.

The Jackson Dart hellscape.

If I would—

Jayden Daniels hellscape.

I'm not, I'm not playing Drake May.

We could do this forever, Mike.

I'm not playing Drake May. I will, I'll put Marcus Mariota in there.

Will you drop Drake May?

He feels like a landmine at this point.

For the next—

will you drop him for Bo Nix?

For the next— yeah. I mean, Bo Nix was almost my stream of the week. I think he's—

Bo Nix is going to get like I feel very confident that the Denver offense, after they get out of this like extremely tough part of the schedule and it opens up, their offense is going to be much better. And Drake May and the Patriots, will they improve?

I think they will, especially when they get AJ Brown back. But that's a long time from now.

Yeah, that's like 2 months from now.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's a landmine for a while.

Yeah, that's crazy. A lot of decisions to be made this week. If you want custom waiver wire rankings, you can import your leagues, ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper. You can get a custom listing of the best pickups available in your league, spot starts, lineup optimizer. All that stuff is part of the Foot Clan at jointhefoot.com along with bonus episodes, a ton of in-season tools, and a lot of stuff you can check out. We appreciate the Foot Clan supporting this show at jointhefoot.com. We're going to say Goodbye, but just for today. And we'll be back tomorrow with another episode filled with Khalif Raymonds and Kanata Mumfields and all the players that are going to help you win a fantasy championship. It's wild. Goodbye. Bye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on social media. Follow us on Twitter @TheFFBallers.