Transcript of Starts of the Week + Week 1 Breakdown, It’s Football Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/4

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

Oh, welcome in. What?

Hey, It's football time. Yes.

Finally. Oh, man. Welcome into the show. Yes. Yes. Thursday, September fourth.

I wasn't sure we were going to make it.

It's football time.

This was one of the longest offseason. It just felt like forever.

It's here, Jason. Yesterday, you wanted it to be today, and now it's today.

Now it is today. I just had to be patient. The passage of time. Not necessarily my specialty, but yeah, I'm very excited. I'm also thrilled that we're getting the game we are getting tonight. I mean, there's so many fantasy Fancy football relevant pieces tonight. Can't wait.

Very much rooting for the Cowboys.

Oh, for the- This is just- Very, very much. For the miracle?

I told Jason this morning, it's just a play. It's one pick six in the game. It's an eight and a half line, right?

If they get one pick six, they will lose by- Two and a half.

This is perfect. This is exactly what we need. We need Mike doubling, tripling down. Béjan's invincible. That's Jason. Well, that's liked. Philly can't lose tonight.

We're set up. I will definitely be rooting for the Cowboys. I don't care who wins, but just I want them to- Is that because you have the Dax CD stack? Well, yes, that's a big part of it. Big part of it.

But you're not rooting for the Cowboys.

It's more- He's a Jerry Jones guy. I am rooting for the Cowboys simply because I want the Eagles to have to keep doing stuff. I want the Cowboys. I want good action. I feel like there's two ways this game goes. The Cowboys show up and it's a fun game, or the Cowboys don't show up, and we just watch an NFL team beating down a college team.

You know what I mean? No, they got beat by 30 plus points last year. It was not competitive between these two teams. But we have football tonight, and we're excited.

Very exciting.

We broke down the Thursday night game on yesterday's show. We have news to talk about today. We have our first starting parts of the Week segment of the year. And then we're going to jump right into the matchups for week number one of the NFL and fantasy football season and get through as many matchups as we can today. And we'll come back with more matchups tomorrow because we're getting into the swing of things here at the fantasy footballers. It is week one, and it's time to set those lineups and get things ready to rumble. So make sure you use all of the resources. If you've been a UDK user, and that's been the draft kit from February all the way through today, the kickoff part of the year. Now is the in-season app. It's time to shine there. The ultimate dashboard is part of the in-season app. All of the weekly rankings, Start/Sit tool, WaverWire pickups, Spot Start tool. And then as we gather data through the first handful of weeks, you can start to see the StreamFinder tool and the strength of schedule tools.

It gains its power.

Yes, it is charging up. Yes. So lots going on there. You can learn Call about it at fantasyfootballers. Com, and check that stuff out there. Join thefoot. Com as the community, and we're going to get right into it. It's time for news.

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

All right, we're into the news. The 49ers signed-Oh, he took them to the cleaners, guys. This was the-Juan, you got them.

This was pretty funny. You got them.

Juan Jennings, the big potential holdout, he got them to add three million in playtime incentives.

Honestly, it feels like when we're talking NFL contracts, This seems like pennies, but I mean, for Juan Jennings, just play time and you get up to an additional $3 million, that makes- It sounds very- That feels good.

Childish when you call it play time incentives. You know what I mean? Is he going to the McDonald's play place?

He's going to do blocks. Then he's going to do trains.

We're going to pay you for play time.

Well, I mean, it's funny because it's like, to me, he lost everything that he wanted. I mean, this is like a token addition to me. He didn't get any guaranteed extra money. All the stuff he said he wanted, it's just like, Okay, if we end up playing you a bunch, all right, we'll give you some incentives. I don't know. It's nice to have it figured out.

Everyone would take an extra $3 million incentive.

Yeah.

Denied. No.

We've got Christian Kirk, ham string injury, didn't participate in Wednesday's practice. There's actually been a couple of injuries that popped up this week, including Keion Coleman with a groin injury that we need to monitor as well. I don't know if you want to check groinindex. Com, Jason. I'm on it. Let me look. Is he on there?

I don't even need to check it.

Is his groin on there?

It is.

What did he say when he got hurt?

He said, My groin. Then the only other one right now is Kate Otton, who is, My groin.

Okay, those are direct quotes. But no, it sucks because I think Keion Coleman is the player that I was looking to get. Maybe he can get involved early on, but he Might not even play in week one. Same with Christian Kirk. And so Jaden Higgins suddenly becomes pretty interesting right out of the gate in Houston. We started last year in Houston, Niko, Del, Diggs. All of them, Diggs was really relevant early on. Niko was on fire early on. There's room for a lot more than just Niko in this offense, so maybe Jaden Higgins needs to be more closely paid attention to.

For sure, there's room. I mean, Tank Del was awesome while Niko Collins was awesome at times. Same with Diggs. There will be a necessary second target in this offense. Has to be.

Marvin Mims practicing in full. He was recovering from the groin injury. Jaden Reid didn't practice.

Dude, I'm The vibes are bad.

And Dontavian Wix was limited.

But this is what I expect. Dobbs. Don't start talking about Romeo Dobbs. But this is what I expect from Reid. I don't think he'll practice on a single Wednesday.

I think you're 100% right.

It's going to be torture.

Najee Harris expected to play on Friday against the Chiefs, but tough to predict how much he'll play, according to Jim Harbaugh. We talked about it briefly yesterday. I didn't expect. I I don't think anybody can expect Najee Harris to play a bunch of snaps. No. But supposedly going to play.

Yeah, he's been jogging and doing mostly stuff to the side for the majority of offseason. I can't imagine that they just go, Okay, it's 50-50.

Right. No, we'll see what happens. Kansas City, Los Angeles from Brazil. We'll preview that game today. Any other breaking news that I need to know about Al? You got anything back there? Not right now, but we'll keep an eye out. All right. That was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at progressive. Com. Progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and third-party insurers not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Oh, my goodness. Yes. It's time. Yes.

Starts of the Week, presented by Paramount+.

Oh, boy. It's Starts of the Week time. We'll kick off week one with each of our favorite picks.

I mean, Starts of of the Week, and we just were talking about whether there's any new news.

I'm seeing a- Do you need me to hit a button?

No. But Omarion Hampton will get the start over Najee Harris, according to Jim Harbaugh.

Okay.

Oh, was this needed to be said.

It's nice when it's said. It needed his... Fantasy players would love anything like that. That's fine. That makes me feel better. Yes.

Did you see the... Speaking of fantasy players, the McDaniel quote about Ollie Gordon? I did. Did you watch the press conference? No. Okay, so when you watch it, it's like... Oh, yeah. He's just like, This is a fantasy football question, right? Nice try. He's like, just hims and hauls.

He'll have zero plays or all the plays, zero yards or all the yards, or somewhere in between. Yeah.

I don't know the context, but I just saw a tweet with a quote from the Lyons OC being asked about the split between Montgomery and Jamir Gibbs.

Okay.

And?

We'll see.

Oh, Good. Yes, we will. But the nice thing is we'll see this weekend.

Yeah. Starts the week. We're kicking it off. These are our confidence-Don't want to tip your hand too much. These are our confidence plays, players that we think have great matchups and opportunities. In week one, it's time to get it off to a good start. I mean, week one is the weirdest week to do this because if you drafted players, you're playing the players you drafted. You're not getting too... I have seen some start-stake questions that make a lot of sense when Jerry, Judy, or R. J. Harvey. Yesterday, someone was asking me that one.

That's close to me. That's a really close question. I think when you drafted some of those guys, like Caleb Johnson is another perfect example, where where you drafted him might be a starting spot, but you probably want to give that some time. You might have drafted even someone like a Keenan Allen or someone that really late that just, there's a rationale for why they get off to a hot start.

All right, let's start at the quarterback position. I'm going to go with Joey B. Joe Burrow at Cleveland putting to bed the way he has- You're dancing with the flames right now. This is like he's been the least valuable player to play in the first couple of weeks.

He destroys you on week one.

So this is the first full season where Joe Burrow is not recovering from an injury. That's true. They have a 26. 5 point implied total. It's the second highest of the week, and you're going to have big plays. Cleveland's defense last year allowed the highest percentage of 15 plus yard plays. Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins & Company, they get it done. You're going to be happy with Joe Burrow in week one for once.

Well, he has been a quarterback one in week one once before in his career.

One time. One time. No, just the top 12.

No, last year, he was the quarterback 29, and the year prior, the quarterback 31.

All right. We're going to change that.

I agree. It probably will happen. I'm going to go with Bo Nicks. This is one of my higher statistically... When I finished the UDK, I was like, Wow, I think he's going to score a lot more fantasy points than where he was in drafts at the time. This week one, they are at home against Tennessee, seven and a half point favorites with a 25 and a half point team implied total. Nicks averaged 21 fantasy points per game, 250 and two and a half passing touch downs at home last year. Denver should take care of business, and Nicks has a strong week one output.

All right, Bo Nicks against Tennessee.

And I'm going with Jordan Love, a lower drafted quarterback in draft season. He's taking on the Lions. This is a matchup I want a part of. The packers are their two and a half point home favorites. They have a 25 point team implied total. The wide receivers, I get it on paper, seems a little bit scary, but I think that they figure it out a bit harder to run on or run against the Detroit Lions. And I think we get back to Jordan Love being the captain of the packers.

All right, my running back. I'm going to the same game Jason just mentioned. Bo Nicks against Tennessee was his quarterback. I'm going J. K. Dobbins against Tennessee. I like it. I am looking at veterans to play early in the season. It's not necessarily a sexy start, but it is going to be a productive one. J. K. Dobbins, literally last year, out of nowhere, Where? Started the year as the R-4, R-4 in the first two weeks of the season. They have not equivocated J. K. Dobbins as the number one right now. They rested him a ton in the preseason. R. J. Harvey feels like the flashier, sexier play, but I believe that Sean Payton, of all people, he really trusts veterans. He said nothing but the right stuff about J. K. Dobbins. And so I think the early down work here in week one, Tennessee, they're heavy favorites. I'm a big fan of J. K. Dobbins.

It took Kamara a while to get going as well. Then even when Kamara was going, it's like you have Mark Ingram, you have Alvin Kamara. There's room in Sean Payton's offense for two running backs.

Yeah, it's a great matchup. He's got two legs right now. That's a really important thing for him.

Are they both strong?

No, they're both strong right now. Are they? Yeah. Look at last year, how he started. One of those legs might atrophy as the season goes on, but I think he's okay. Speaking of people who might atrophy as the season goes along. How dare you? Well, but right now, Mike, Ken Bone Walker.

The plan.

I mean, look, this is pretty simple. If he's going to be on the field, and he is, he's not on the injury report right now, then he's great.

It was amazing because we've gotten to the point with Ken Walker where the actual news is like, they're like, Ken Walker practice today.

Right.

Yeah. That's the news. Ken Walker. That was the news I saw recently. He practiced, and that's good.

That is very good. It's part of the plan. This is a team, Mike brought it up, but they want to run the ball way more than they did last year. They've talked all offseason about the turnover game. They've got all the tight ends and the fullbacks. Fullbacks, maybe. Yeah. This is a system where they're going to give Kenneth Walker the ball and the 49ers as a matchup. It's not the defense you remember from years past. They lost a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball. But even last year, they were 29th versus fantasy runningbacks. They allowed the most rushing touchdowns to runningbacks in the entire NFL. So Kenneth Walker is going to get off to a strong smoking hot start this week and then trade him.

Okay, Mike.

Before he breaks.

Mike, it's your turn. He's going to be fine.

I'm going with James Connor against the Saints. Look, for the first six weeks, the Cardinals have the best strength of schedule for the running back position. Starting with week one, the Saints last year, just a wet, hot fart. 30th in rushing yards per game allowed, 26th in fancy points allowed. And just taking out week 17, where Connor got hurt. Last year, he was averaging 19 opportunities per game. The Cardinals are heavy favorites. I think they're a full-touchdown favorite despite being on the road. And I think that Connor is going to wear them out in the second half.

All right, my wide receiver start of the week is J. S. N. Jackson Smith in Jigba against San Francisco. Is he going to play a bunch of inside, outside? I don't care where he plays. It don't matter. He is the clear number one for Sam Darnold at home last year, where he is this week. He averaged eight targets, 72 yards per game. That's a great baseline. And against the 49ers, 20 targets in two games against them last year. I think J. S. N. Gets off to a great start and makes people truly believe he's a number one in fantasy.

Speaking of someone who I think gets off to a strong start making you believe they are a number one in fantasy, it's Mike's My guy. Hey-o. Teterola McKmillon. You drafted him to be great and not on your bench. If you look at top 10 drafted wide receiver over the last six years. They average seven plus targets per game as a rookie. Jalen Coker is out. They shipped off Adam Thielen. You got a Jaguar's defense that's a perfect week one matchup. They were atrociously bad last year. 30th in fantasy points to wide receiver's 31st in expected points added per pass attempt. So it's like everything is lining up for Timek to come out and week one show you, Oh, he's that dude. I've got him as my wide receiver 15 this week. There's almost no world where I'm not starting him.

The match Ups, you got the Panthers, Jags, and then we have the Falcons, Tampa Bay. I think those are sneaky games that could give us-High upside? Yeah, give us some fantasy bonanza this weekend. That's why I have Drake London as my start of the week. The game, we're looking at a 47. 5 point over under. That's currently the third highest right now. It's in the dome. We saw the numbers with Michael Pendex, a 40% target share, and Tampa Bay, they played highest rate of zone coverage last year. And London, last year, 33% of the team's first read targets versus zone. So he was the go-to guy. I like both of those matchups. I want just as many players as I can get. And I think Drake London. Obviously, we drafted him very high, but this is a situation where Drake London would not surprise me if he's the number one wide receiver on the week.

All right, wrapping up our starts of the week with the tight-in position. This is another game I think we'll have a pretty good production for fantasy, actually. It's got a 47. 5 point over under. It's Tyler Warren against the Miami Dolphins.

Oh, man.

In week one, the rookie, My My guy, and the top target in Indianapolis is going to be Tyler Warren this year. That's going to be the player that you want.

Miami's defense stinks.

Yeah, and especially even last year, we'll see what happens as they change into the new season. But eighth, most reception has given up to tight position last year. It was something you actively targeted. Polts have an implied point total of almost 25, so you like that. I think they get off to a good start. I think both teams score a lot in this game, to be honest with you.

What is your Tyler Warren stat line week one?

That's a great question. I'm going to go 6 for 72 in a countdown.

Oh, that is definitely- That would be spicy. That would be a goal.

I'm just telling you what's going to happen.

I'm not really- Oh, yeah, it's not a prediction.

No.

Okay. It's a report. Right. Okay, for my tight-end start of the week, you might have been upset. You might have been the last person to draft a tight-end, and you're like, Oh, shoot. I've got to take Mark Andrews.

Which I had to do. In our 14-team Listener League, I had a big problem with the tight-end situation.

I had one where I kept punting, kept punting, and I ended up with Andrews. It's like, Yeah, you might feel like you were stuck, but you're going to have a great week one starting tight-end. Isiah likely, unlikely to play, and you've got a 50 and a half point over under. I believe it's the highest of the week. The Bills play a ton of too high safety, 55% of the time last year on their dropbacks. Mark Andrews had a 15% target share versus that look, which was higher than Sam Laporta. 0. 46 fantasy points per route run, higher than Brock Bowers. This is a perfect week one matchup to to cure the ills from the beginning of last year for Mark Andrews.

All right, that was Starts of the Week presented by Paramount+. Watch the Lions versus the Packers game this Sunday. Get started at paramountplus. Com. Com/nfl.

Before we move to the next segment, my Start of the Week is David Najoku.

Why didn't you cut me off?

We were just having a good look.

It's week one, man.

Oh, I got a- A little Steve. I don't know if you knew this. Much like Red Zone, we actually interrupt.

Yeah, exactly.

We interrupt the start of the week with some commercial breaks.

So David Najoku versus the Cincinnati bangles. Son of a gun. The match The tip is fantastic. Fun stat here from the Borgogen. Last year, the Cincinnati bangles allowed the most tight-end receptions of any team over the last eight years. There's a whole bunch of other stuff, but you know what? We're going Narrative Street when Joe Flacko was announced as the starter, and you have a video of David Najoku in some ATV. I don't know what exactly the vehicle was, but he's riding-July 30th. With Joe Flacko, and he films himself celebrating.

He's very happy.

Just be like, Joe Flacko, and then Flacko is smiling. Those two dudes are bros, and I think they're going to bro down, and this weekend against the bangles. All right.

Guess what? We'll take a break, and then it'll be time to get into the matchups. All right, without further ado, let's get into week one.

Fantasy Forecast, presented by Prizepicks.

All right, we'll kick it off with a Friday night game from Brazil, the Kansas City Chiefs. Bonjour. They take on the Los Angeles Chargers, who get the... I guess they get the privilege of being the home team on the road in Brazil, so they lose a true home game. But the Vegas line here- Did they?

Yeah.

The Chargers.

I get what you're saying because they don't have the strongest- They might have more fans of Brazil.

Okay. All right. It It'll be exciting.

La people are not mad. They're just like, Yeah, whatever.

Chargers fans from San Diego are also not mad. We have two teams.

Who cares?

Vegas Line, Kansas City minus three. The overrunner is 46 and a half. So Last year, we had Packers-Egals open up in Brazil. The field was a major problem. Hopefully, that won't be the case this year, so we can get some good football. Last year, both of the games, Kansas City and Los Angeles played. Kc won them, but they were close 17-10, 19-17. The chargers have actually covered the spread in three of their last four meetings against the Chiefs. But we'll get to see the newly rebuilt backfield for the Los Angeles chargers. We just talked about Hampton getting the start. Najee Harris should make an appearance. He is number one in total games played since coming into the league at Running Back. His availability being an ability, that has been his greatest ability as a pro. He doesn't miss time, and so he accumulates, and he can take a lot of punishment, and he'll be back out there. So let's start with the Running Backs, actually. Let's start with Hampton, Najee, and then what we see on the other side. I've noticed in almost every draft, Kareem Hunt. He goes super late, sometimes not drafted. No interest in Kareem Hunt, but it will be Pacheco and Hunt in the backfield.

What do you expect to see from Pacheco? And are you watching him the most this week, as in, is this the same guy that we had a couple of years ago?

Yeah, for sure. So going into last year, I loved Pacheco. He was a my guy. He was all alone in the backfield. Week one, week two looked amazing. Then he broke his leg, and that's when they went out and signed Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt was not on this roster to start last season. And the reports out of camp have really been positive about Pacheco. They have been saying he's back to his former self because he never... When he got back last season, he did not look great. He didn't have the same explosiveness, wasn't the same player. Kareem Hunt was probably the better player on the field. He just did the right thing every time, knew the system. They used him around the goal line. They used him in the passing game. But he's a year older, and it wasn't like Kareem Hunt was special. Just Pacheco wasn't last year, so it was a one, two punch. I'm really curious, does it become Isiah Pacheco's team again, and Kareem Hunt is just a pure backup, or is this what we saw on the field last year, where it's a one, two split? As of this moment, I'm fine starting Pacheco as an R-B-2.

You probably have to where you drafted him. I would never start Kareem Hunt, but I'm going to keep my eyes on that one.

Goal line will be something to watch with Kareem Hunt. I think the team, barring Pacheco looking hugely better on every snap than Kareem Hunt, I do think Kareem Hunt will have a role in the offense, but not one where I'm flexing him at all this week. He's obviously... If Pacheco did go down, Kareem Hunt is going to be valuable the rest of the year. Hampton, we're comfortable starting Hampton, obviously, but the matchup is not great. We talked about this yesterday. It's a tough matchup. We'll see what it looks like in Brazil in week one. But how many touches would you expect Hampton to get? More than 15?

I think that's a good baseline. Yeah, I definitely think more than 15. You're playing against the Kansas City Chiefs. Their defense is good. It's going to be a lower scoring him. I don't think that the Chiefs are going to go out and get up two, three touch downs and make you have to throw the ball a lot. So Hampton will be, I think, north of 15 touches.

All right, the wide receiver is Xavier-worthy, probably, in my opinion, didn't get enough attention in drafts this past couple of weekends. Rashi Rice is going to be out six weeks. Hollywood Brown, he's going to be out there.

Now, Hollywood Brown is the guy at the wide receiver position I'm most interested to see of the- Because he have Does he have it? Does he have it? Yeah, does he have it? The last year hurt pretty much the whole year, comes in for just a few snaps towards the end of the year. But on almost every single one of those snaps, he was seeing a target. So he's just one of those Interesting, nasty boys. If you're in a real deep league and you're looking for someone to throw on your bench who could explode in value, Hollywood Brown fits that bill for me.

All right, Jason, Lad McConkey, Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnson.

Yeah, all three are somewhat in play. Quentin Johnson would just be a dart throw. I would really only start him if you had Justin Herbert and you're looking for a stack breakdown. But in week one, you probably don't need to. I believe Keenan is going to be very involved in this offense, especially early in the season. Lad McConkey was a breakout sensation last year. You look at in Brazil last year, that was the Jaden Reid game, right?

Where- Everything was broken.

Everything was broken. And Reid was so good as that light twitchy guy, and people couldn't really get him.

Defenders couldn't cut.

Exactly. So I'm looking at Lad McConkey and Xavier worthy here and just questioning if the field was in a bad condition, is that a little extra superpower for those two guys?

It could be. I mean, Lad McConkey is in play every single week.

Yeah, you're going to start probably either one of them, but I could see a slightly more special game for those two players if the field is in the same condition it was last year.

A lot of week one matchups are, what are we watching for? As opposed to giving a bunch of analysis on what to expect, because McConkey and Allen, what's it going to look like? We haven't seen them play together before. The Kansas City gave up the highest percentage of targets to the slot. Is there a lot of Keenan in the slot?

I think Glad will still have the slot more than Keenan, but that is exactly what we're going to watch for.

I think you're right, but we'll find out. Tampa Bay heading to Atlanta. Mike talked about this game, Vegas Line, Tampa minus one and a half. This is in Atlanta. The over-under is 46 and a half. The line opened up at Tampa, two and a half point favorites. Now it's one and a half. Atlanta won both of these games last year, surprisingly enough, when Tampa had the better season. The week five game was the Kirk Cousins 500 yards. Very fun game.

That was fun.

Then Atlanta won 31, 26 in week eight. We get to see some new stuff here. Michael Pendix Jr. Taking over, starting quarterback, got all of training camp. You know, Drake London, your start of the week, Mike. B. John Robinson, the number one or two-Undestructible. The one or two or three pick in a lot of draughts. Darnell Mooney, is he back out there? Kyle Pitz. It's been all positive about Kyle Pitz all offseason.

Offseason, usually are.

Well, let me give you some stats for Mr. Kyle Pitz against Tampa last year. Seven for 88, four for 91 and two.

No, that didn't happen.

Those are real stat lines.

No, they're not. Yep.

Sorry, Mike.

Kyle Pitz would never do that.

And Tampa was really bad against the tight-end position. I think Kyle Pitz is a great start this week.

Like I said, this matchup is fascinating. The defenses last year, for fantasy purposes, were just So bad. So good for us to play against the fantasy. The Bucs were 31st against quarterbacks. The Falcons were 27th against wide receivers. The Bucs were 27th. The Falcons were 29th. So I want pieces. Darnell Mooney is... It feels risky. He was limited on Wednesday with the shoulder.

You've got to have a better option with where you drafted Mooney.

I agree. But he is He's a player that I have my eye on in this matchup. He going deep against the Bucs secondary. I think you should expect a couple shots. If he's playing, I bet he comes down with one of them.

One player you may have a start-sit decision with, Emeka Abuka.

Start him.

Yep. Well, let's go to the website here. Start sick questions that were popular. People have them. Abuka or Pickens? Oh, gosh. Because Pickens plays tonight. I I would rather play Abuka myself.

I think I'd play Abuka. I would as well. I think that the game script in this one could be a fun game, and the Cowboys could be shut down. But it's another one of those, if you want to have a guy on opening night, I don't blame you.

Jason has never been more overwhelmed with opening night players because he's been so obsessed with this game. You're thirsty. I'm so thirsty. 90% of your analysis this week has been getting somebody in this game.

Just get him in this game. Ricky Pearsall. Watch football the night and have fun.

Ricky Pearsall or Abuka. This is another popular start-sit question. Mike, which one would you play?

I would play Abuka.

Courtland-sutton against Tennessee or Abuka against Atlanta? So at the running back position, start Bajon, start Bucky, the end, right? Start Mike Evans, start Drake London, and we broke down the tight ends already. At quarterback, Baker. We'll get to see if he can continue the 40 plus breakdown pace he had last year.

Yeah, I will be keeping an eye on Rashaud White, Sean Tucker situation. You're not starting them necessarily, but we can't forget Rashaud White was... He was an Rb2 last year.

Caught a lot of passes.

And so if he is involved, this is a pretty banged up, I feel like right now at the beginning of the year, Tristan Wurfs. K. D. Might play, don't know. Obviously, Chris Godwin won't, McMillan won't. So I'm curious where the ball goes for the Bucaneers.

The Cincinnati bangles take on the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland. Santee, five and a half point road favorites over and under. A beautiful 48. 5. Okay. I will say this. I think Burrow, no matter what, will be great in this game. I think Chase, Higgins, you start the stars of Cincinnati. But I don't know.

Andy's almost upset of the week. That's why I was surprised about the Joe Burrow start of the week.

Look at the over-unders, 48 and a half.

The angle is going to Bungle.

Look, you got those survivor pools. We've got our Picks thing that we do here in the office. This game terrifies me. It's not anything to do with Burrow. I think Burrow will be great. I think this will be a high-scoring game. I just don't know if at home with Joe Flacko, the Bangle's defense can stop them. I think there's a chance that Joe Flacko can do whatever he wants against Cincinnati's defense. You got to remember, this was a defense that was almost dead last against quarterbacks, wide receiver, tight ends. Najoku has something to say about that, right? Yes. And Jerry Judy ended the year from weeks 11 through 18, averaging 101 receiving yards a game and 17 fancy points. If you asked me the R. J. Harvey-judy question yesterday, which someone did, I answered Judy, because of this matchup. I don't know if this game was 34-31 or something. You know what I mean? Something crazy like that. I would not be shocked if it It was a full-on offensive explosion.

I completely agree. The Browns have a really good defense, but obviously, the Bangles are one of those offenses that should be able to overcome that. If they do, it should be a back and forth affair. I love that this game is in Cleveland, and I want a lot of pieces in there. When it comes to the receiving options for Joe Flacko, Najoku is a must start. I think Jerry Judy is basically a must start. I think he's going to get a ton of targets against this bangles. Tillman should be fine. Tillman, I am absolutely I find starting this week, I look at where I've got him in my rankings. I've got him over a Bateman or a Hollywood Brown, over, personally, a Josh Downs and Jaden Reid with them coming off being a little bit.

Josh Downs.

I don't blame you. I think that's all right. I'm still on the Pitman as the number one target, but I know I'm in the minority there. But I do think Cedric Tillman is startable this week.

Yeah, Jason's got Pitman in three weeks.

I do. It doesn't feel great, but he was a late pick.

Do we even have that anymore?

Let me see. Archives.

Look at the cemetery. Yeah. Come on.

Do it for the drop. All right, Jamar Chase-Higgens, of course. Chase Brown. Let's see him back out on the field. He was the Rb5 in fantasy from week nine on last year. It's not a complicated start-sit situation this game. It's just going to be a fun game, I think.

Yeah, I agree. Then there are situations, there are league out there where Jerome Ford...

I talked about Would you play Ford or Samson?

I think I lean Ford right now. But again, I would love to get some clarity. If you don't get any clarity, then I would just- You like Dobbins more than those two guys? Oh, man.

This week? I'm thinking of all the ambiguous situation. You like Warren more than those guys, I assume. Jalen Warren. Yeah, I think so. Echler more than those geese?

Yeah, Echler for sure.

Those geese? I don't know what that means. Okay, so Ford, you like a little more than Samson.

Yeah.

All right. We're going to see what happens. Still no word on Judkins, right?

No, no word on Judkins. I saw several reports saying that a deal was basically imminent. They were all from people that have- Him on their fantasy team? No, but they were just all from people that did not really have a following, and I didn't view any of them as a trusted source whatsoever. I'm just ignoring it, but it was in the back of my mind.

What I loved about the quote was, he could sign a contract as soon as next week. I think the understanding is he could sign at any day because they drafted him. So yeah, he could be signed right now when you're listening to this. He might sign in four weeks. Who knows?

Yeah, there's not a lot of accountability or worry with a report like that. I need to do some of that stuff. I need to find 10 or 12 phrases that are like, If it goes right, it looks good for me, and if it goes wrong, it doesn't matter.

Joe Burrow could throw as many or more as five passes this week.

Or I need to get one of those Pelicero deals and make some cash.

Oh, man.

Just have the agents slide you a little.

Look, I found money. Our Twitter accounts are available for reporting for low-end players.

Not yours, Mike. Not yours. You stand on... You're a man of principle.

Journalistic integrity.

Yeah. Until I see this money.

Miami taking on the Indianapolis Colts. We talked about this game earlier. Vegas Line Indy minus one and a half. So it's a close one. Over Under is 47 and a half. Right out of the gate before I get into the breakdown, I'm just curious who you think will win the game.

The Colts.

I did pick the Colts, yeah.

I'm with you. I think it's going to be the Colts. Both of these coaches are on the proverbial hot seat. Mcdaniel, they're running out of patience there. If the Colts don't get it going after what happened with Richardson, Shane Steigen could be in the same boat. In fact, the first NFL coach fired odds. I have them.

Okay.

Mike McDaniel is number one. Brian Dable, number two. Shane Steigen, three. Canales, four. Stefansky, five.

I know it's football. It's a hard core business. Business, and we talk about guys getting fired, and in fact, celebrate some guys getting fired, but this just seems mean.

You could bet money on who's going to lose their job.

Is that a form of hedge for the coach themselves?

Oh, What if they put half their salary on them getting fired?

The way McDaniel is handling-I guess they get paid no matter what, right?

They don't have no incentive, no time plate or play time incentive.

I mean, the fired coach money, that's good money. I do.

Yeah, really. I do love this game for fantasy purposes.

I do as well.

You look at the Colts defense last year, atrocious against almost every position. And while the Dolphins defense was pretty good last year, and they are getting some pieces back on the D-line, their secondary Harry just got decimated this offseason. They don't have one. They got rid of Jalen Ramsey. So I think that you're going to have a back and forth affair here where whoever's going to win this game is going to score a lot of points. And so you look at if you You like Josh Downs. If you're not worried at all about the health or Pitman, Tyler Warren start of the week, Tyreek Waddle. There's a lot of pieces here that I think you can play.

My biggest reason for loving Warren with the announcement of Jones being quarterback is the fact that over the last couple of years, nobody targets the short area of the field more than Daniel Jones. It's just his... He doesn't throw it deep. He doesn't have a great deep ball. 51% of his pass attempts within nine yards. That's the highest rate of any quarterback over the last two years. I think that's where Tyler Warren is going to really, really Excel. I honestly think there are going to be times this year that Jonathan Taylor owners are very upset because I think Tyler Warren is going to get push-push opportunities multiple times this year instead of Jonathan Taylor getting the ball on the goal line because he's that good at taking the ball from behind center. Maybe he'll throw the ball once.

Yeah, hopefully it's made up Four. Oh, I hope not. He's a lefty. I hate watching lefties throw.

Well, let's talk about Tua then. Weird, man. Yeah. Weird. Tua is 4-0 in week ones. So he's never lost a week one.

The dolphins usually do get off to a hotter start and then later in the season. This version of the dolphins, Tua being healthy is good. I think they've got better offensive pieces.

You just said you hate lefties throwing. You just don't like the way he looks.

I don't like the way it looks. And when I was a receiver, I hated catching the backward spin.

He's an armist.

Yeah, and I'm left-handed. So it's like- Michael Vick, too? I just didn't like the... Yeah, I would say run it.

Mike Vick threw the prettiest pass in the history of the National Football League.

Once it's out of his hand. Yeah, if you're just looking at the ball on the camera, It's a beautiful ball. I mean, it's spinning the wrong way.

Jason launches all of the Dolphins' games in a mirror. So weird. Just to assuage his troubles. All right, two has not been a stat consideration or a fantasy consideration by anybody at all.

On this week's dynasty pod, we were breaking down like, do you need to tear-Yeah, what hand are you right with, Jason?

Left. Okay.

We were breaking down like, do you need to tear up your quarterback? And you're talking about QB2s. I brought up Tua because he is just... The public opinion on Tua is so soured when we're not that far removed from Tua was the hotness. And last year, Didn't I trade him to you last year, or was it two years ago?

That was two years ago. Okay, he was a quarterback nine.

He was the hotness. I mean, yes, he has the concussion worries and concerns. But it's like when he played week one last year, two, it was fine. And then he gets hurt and comes back, and he had a month stretch where he was just dominating for fantasy purposes. So this is not a play two, even though the matchup is an area where I think you'd end up being okay. But it's Just keep an eye on the Dolphins. They are a team that are... They're a must-watch team for week one of what do they look like? Do they do the same garbage they were doing last year, where it's just everything is a check down to H and whoever the tight end is, which the Walrish still apparently ramping up because he didn't practice on Wednesday. But it's not impossible that this team tears everything up from last year, and they go back, and they are just chucking it downfield.

Well, H. N. Is in your lineup. Jonathan Taylor is in your lineup. Tye Rick and Waddle, I imagine you're playing them. Tye Rick dropped in a lot of our drafts. I think people are just afraid of the range of outcomes for Tye Rick. But again, he's not a captain anymore. He says he's got to prove himself again. We'll see if he's interested in doing that or fading away into retirement. Then Tyler Warren, start of the week. Downs and Pitman, you said the game. I'm a much bigger fan of Downs, so I'm very comfortable flexing Downs in this one. But I'm probably a little bit hesitant where you drafted these guys compared to other players. Are you starting downs or debo? I'd probably go debo. Debo. Downs or golden? I'd probably take a shot on golden.

I want that week one.

A dunes day.

I'd probably go with a dunes day. I'd play downs over a dunes day.

Yeah, I think I lean on that side as well.

Interesting. Just for colleagues that need it, Ollie Gordon, if he wasn't drafted, he is a priority stash for week one to just see what happens.

He could be playing every play or none of the plays.

Yeah, no. If If Ollie Gordon is undrafted in any of your colleagues before kickoff, absolutely, he should be rostered. I also think Devon Achan is going to get 10 targets this game.

Okay. Yeah, it's nice that he's back, and hopefully, he can stay healthy as he was banged up. We'll take a break and jump into some more matchups. Moving on. Las Vegas, the Raiders going to New England to take on the Patriots. Vegas Line has New England three-point home favorites. We didn't say that a lot last year. No. Like, Patriots and favorites.

We're going to say it quite a bit this year.

Over-unders, just 43 and a half.

Nice.

So that's not a lot. By the way, Pete Carroll, two weeks from now, turned 74 years old, will become the oldest head coach in the history of the National Football League.

It's wild.

It just doesn't seem that way. Okay. Josh McDaniels, back in New England, former head coach of the Raiders. Both of these offenses, one of the things that was troubling and a problem for fantasy last year was not having production at wide receiver. Once Devante Adams departed, it was always hard to predict. Jacobi Myers was the most reliable receiver for the Raiders last year. You can't really name a wide receiver in New England that was reliable. You are supposed to see Stefan Diggs out there. I just got a start-sit question around Stefan Diggs for week one. My biggest My worry about Diggs in week one is just if he gets a full allotment of snaps because they've equivocated on his availability.

He said he hopes he's not.

Yeah, he's coming back. Would you play Diggs or Keenan? Would you play Diggs or Jerome Ford?

I like Keenan. I like Ford there. I like Downs as well. Simply- More than Diggs. More than Diggs. Diggs is great. He is someone that I would love to have pieces of, and maybe he is 100% of the snaps.

Not like the whole thing?

Nice. But the issue here, there was a big question the whole offseason, will he be ready week one? It seemed like he should be. If he is full go, full allotment of snaps, I think week two and on, we're going to be playing him every single week. But you're right, Andy, there's questions to whether or not he will be limited game plan-wise. I don't want to take that shot week one.

All right. Well, Drake May. Are you comfortable playing Drake May in this It's interesting because with Diggs being questionable, and then it's Demario Douglas, it's Matt Collins, it's Kyle Williams, it's Hunter Henry, it's Trevian Henderson. There we go. It seems like Drake May could be good, but we might not know the weapons.

Yeah, no. I think of weapons. If Diggs plays half of the snaps, that's still an upgrade for the times he's on the field for Drake May. Trevian Henderson is going to be great.

So you expect Henderson to hit the ground running in week one?

I think Henderson is going to be great whenever he receives a pass. And so that will go to Drake May. If Henderson ends up with four receptions for 55 yards, you're the one who made up the number. Yeah, that's why. All that goes to Drake May, and Drake may runs the ball a lot. This isn't a super scary defense. You've got Max Crosby, but last year, if you look at it, the Raiders were ranked 22nd against quarterbacks, so it's not too scary, and they're favorite.

Drake May or Dak tonight?

It's over the night, baby.

Okay, but who scores more points?

You asked the wrong person.

Yeah. I'm still going to go Dak.

But who scores more points?

Drake May or Trevor Lawrence against Carolina?

I like that Trevor Lawrence game, so I'm going to go Tee-Law.

Okay. Well, we'll get to see Vrabel first game as the Patriots head coach. It could be a lot of the running game. Tee Ron Henderson, though, you feel comfortable with? Rb3 on the roster, Mike?

Yeah. I think things could definitely start slower, but the fact that he is a receiving specialist helps the fantasy situation If he doesn't get 10 plus carries, it's not a disaster because he could get four receptions.

I do think Henderson is someone that could get off to a slow start. He'll be good in in the receiving game, but how many carries do you think he gets? Genuw. Seven? Seven. Yeah. And that's scary to me for a player that... I would rather play Tony Pollard, who you drafted later in week one without Tajah.

Yeah, I understand.

Ashton Genti. First time we get to see Ashton Genti on an NFL field. Expectations for this one.

A lot of volume You?

Yeah, the matchup isn't too scary. The Patriots defense is improved from last year, but they were terrible last year, so they could still be improved and bad. The issue here is just, do the Raiders score enough? This is what we were saying when you were taking them at the end of the first round. Do they score enough most weeks, any week? It was only 43. 5 point over under to where you're happy with the shutdown opportunities.

Other receiving options for the Raiders Jacobi Myers has been unhappy.

Seemed like they were- Did you see his quote? Yes, that was so good. I did not.

What did he say?

He was asked, How did it go? You're in your back of the team. He's like, Yeah, I asked for the trade, and they said no.

That's just right.

He was just like, Defeated? Yeah. Just like, So I'm here.

He was just doing a last second money grab.

I actually think he could be a trade candidate midseason. He could? If they like what they see from Amari Cooper, from-They won't. Dontay Thornton Jr, who I'm really excited about.

They could?

And then Jack Basky get worked in, and they might be done with Jacobi Myers at some point.

Jacobi is playable, though. He's a wide receiver, three type.

All right. Play Brock Bowers, please. Cardinals are going to take on the New Orleans Saints. In New Orleans. Cardinals, six and a half point road favorites. The over-unders, just 43, giving Arizona 25 points. The Saints just 18. 5. Dome game. Very rare to have a spread of 6. 5 for a road team. It is the largest week one spread for Arizona since 1994.

They are not expected to be a juggernaut. This is not an Arizona Cardinal spread. This is a Saints spread. This is like, start your Cardinals DST, start your runningbacks against the the Saints every week. I don't see how the Saints can really be very competitive this season.

Yeah, I always get scared saying stuff like that out loud because it's the way it looks right now. But if you want a different direction, then you talk about Kelen Moore, the way a team plays for their head coach for the very first time, first start at home, at the Superdome with the crowd, a lot of momentum, a lot of noise.

Pace of play.

Yeah. I think there are some ways that this game is more competitive than we'd expect because the NFL, it just it bends on a player, too. But at least on paper, it looks like Arizona is going to be in a good position here. Kyler, then the Saints defense was pretty bad last year. You'd mentioned how much they struggled against the run, so James Connor, of course. But Kyler's greatest purpose this year, in my mind, in fantasy, is providing Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride. We'd love to see Marvin Harrison get off to a really strong start, more layup type of targets, not everything downfield. But we know Trey McBride is going to get his, what is his reception lines at six and a half. So Those are the players of note for Arizona.

Yeah, it's not much to question on the Arizona side. You're going to be watching to see the split between James Conner, Trey Benson. There's been some reports that it's going to be more of a one A, B type of situation. It wasn't last year. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still not this year, but you'll keep your eyes open for that.

Mike talked about the pace of play for Kelenmore Offenses, first, first, second, fourth, fourth, eighth. That is their neutral pace of play.

It's a lot of extra snaps.

Whether Spencer Rattler can handle it?

Yeah, that is the question. It's like, you can do that when you've got Jalen Hertz and Dak Prescott and veteran quarterbacks. Justin Herbert. Can you play that fast with Spencer Rattler? I don't know. Do you want to? Do you want more snaps?

I can see Al. He's close. I got a snap, man. Yeah, there it is. Alvin Kamara, are we just... Is this the put the blindfold on and just play him every week? Absolutely.

Close your eyes, plug your nose.

Chris Olave, is it a similar situation where you're just like...

I think it is. I think Chris Olave is just such a- That was Mike making a sound, Al. Oh. No, I think everyone in this whole studio- Which you thought something was wrong with the- There was a sound effect that played, but it wasn't. It was your mouth.

You were just making a How have you grown in a place that is reserved for fantasy football.

I mean, where I have Olave, there's just so many players- I'd play Ridley over Olave. Yeah, I'd play- I'd play a Dunes.

I'd play... Would you play Travis Hunter over him? Probably. I would. Probably be more fun. I wouldn't have to watch the Saints.

You don't have to watch.

The biggest problem is that I genuinely look at Olave and Rasheed Shahid identically in terms of whether you could start one or the other.

Wow.

I don't see Any differential.

I have Olave down in my tier with Downs, Jennings, Cedric Tillman, Romeo Dobbs. I don't think it's crazy to play those guys over Olave.

Last year, Olave was 7. 6 points per game in games played. Shahid was at 11. The year before, he was at 11. 7. Obviously, he's better than he was last year. The concussions, the smaller snap games, maybe it's a little bit higher in reality, but it's close. And Shahid at least offers gives you the 75-yard countdown. Brandon Cooke, I haven't heard a... If you told me he did never show up to training camp, I'd be like, I believe that, because I haven't heard a thing about him. I don't think he's going to be relevant at all.

The Cardinal's defense is one to watch. That was the entire emphasis of the offseason. Acquire guys like Josh Sweat. Give him that big contract, draft a bunch of defensive pieces.

Will Johnson in the second round, cornerback?

Yes. We'll see if it works, but this was the emphasis of the team.

Let's talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers going to play the New York Jets.

This one's fun.

With a sweet over-under of 38 and a half.

Oh, it's less fun.

Pittsburgh, three-point favorites. This is the lowest- Blarf.

38. 5?

Blarf. Lowest week one over-under in the last five years. Lowest week one over-under in the last five years. I do not- Which side you're taking? Of the two teams?

No, the over-under.

The Pepto.

Oh, I'll take the under, and I'll take Pittsburgh to win it. I'm not sure the Jets can do anything on offense in this game. I mean, the way Justin Fields has looked in preseason, combined with their-Laza Vera, Tucker, just went down. Yeah, they're offensive guard. Yeah.

That's one of those things where it's not like, oh-For the year? Yeah, out for the year. A lot of times people lose offensive linemen, and that sucks. This offseason, you lose an offensive lineman. This is not this offseason. This is like this week right before the season starts. They don't have a contingency plan, signing, trade for, draft pick type of guy to come in and replace the guy they lost.

Yeah, it's just a mess. You know Arian Smith? Yeah. Yeah, because some of you out there are like, What? Who? Yeah, there's reports that Arian Smith will be heavily counted on this year for the Jets. He's a wide receiver they drafted in the fourth round. Because outside of Garrett Wilson, it's Josh Reynolds and the Boys.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I heard Lazard's healthy.

So outside of Garrett Wilson, it's Josh Reynolds and the Boys.

Which is why We do like Mason Taylor, rookie tight-end. Miaou. Miaou, some Taylor. Thank you, Mike. He does not have the dog in him, according to you. So he's one you're not going to play this week, but you'll keep an eye on, see if he is targeted more than we expect because they do need someone else to throw the ball to.

Are you Jason Moore?

Yes, I am.

That was too long a pause. No, this one needs the emphasis. All right. Are you starting Caleb Johnson in week one?

It really depends. 38.

5 point over under.

It really depends on your league. There's one league where I am. No, I would not want to start Caleb Johnson. This is what I was saying earlier. There are players like a Keenan Allen, I would start over him, but it's really not a matter of, do I start him? No, I would start Caleb Johnson over Kareem Hunt, for sure. It's just who is your other option? I think most people, where you got Caleb Johnson in a draft, you can start other players.

Ramondre Stevenson.

Oh, that's a really good name. That's a coin flip. I think I would probably go Ramondre. I think he'll have more volume than Caleb. No, I'm going to go Caleb at that point.

Okay. Nick Chubb against the Rams.

Man, that's tough. That's really tough because you don't even know.

nick Chubb.

Yeah, goodness. I don't- There's nothing- No further question. I love this too much.

No, no, no.

Let's be clear. It is not a betrayal of Caleb Johnson to give him the time necessary to become something. To start player that you know is going to get guaranteed work in week one is intelligent. It's not foolish.

No, I'm backing you up.

I'm saying, Caleb can be great, and you can sit him for a couple of weeks.

I think Caleb Johnson... Well, let's just talk specifics here. How many carries do you think Caleb Johnson gets in this game?

Five.

I would say eight, but that's on the high side. I was going to say six. Yeah, so 5-8 carries, that's not what you want for fantasy football at all.

No, and a player who does not profile the catch and he passes, you can't just take 5-8 carries.

Yeah. I talked about it a little bit with Trevian Henderson, where I'm a little bit more nervous to start him. I'm not as nervous as Caleb Johnson, but that doesn't mean they're bad players. It just means you got to give them time.

Exactly. Yeah. And it's a low over-under. All the circumstantial stuff around the game is a negative.

So are you willing to put Jalen Warren in with all of the-Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Jalen Warren should be starter. He's an Rv2 to me. Okay.

D. K. Metcalf. We get to see the dominant target share, hopefully.

What an incredible player.

Mike is really just... Something happened over the last week where he just really-Yeah, I drafted him, so now he's awesome. Yeah.

I will say- It's not the best matchup situation for him. Yeah, Saucegard- What?

How? Come on, guys. We're talking about D. K. Metcalf.

I love D. K. Metcalf this season.

Mega millionaire D. K. Metcalf.

I do expect him to still get targets.

Unstoppable.

But he is going up. I mean, this is a defense that the Jets don't have a bad defense. You've got Saucegardner as a lockdown cornerback, and there's no one else to guard on this offense other than D. K. Metcalf. You're not worried about Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin. If I'm planning for this team, I'm just shutting down D. K. Metcalf, which lowers him to a flex option to me.

Anybody else to talk about in this game? John Smith had been missing practices, so we didn't get a lot of reports of Jonu Smith formations. But I do think in week one, we may walk away from this game going, Ah, son of a gun. There's Jonu. There's Jonu again. Maybe. Because there's a lot of weird stuff they're going to do in this offense that features John New Smith.

And similar to the Jets, they don't have other places to throw the balls. Yeah, I pluralized it. Pause?

I thought I caught an S on there. I got an S on there.

I wasn't quite sure. Yeah.

Is that what the Steeler's new plan is? Multi-ball?

Multi-ball? I don't think they're using one single ball for an entire game, Mike. I stand by what I said.

Yeah, he does.

He's right. You were Technically correct, which is the best correct.

One more. New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Vegas Line, Washington minus 6, the over-unders, 45 and a half. Okay, here we go. A battle in the NFC East. Washington won both games last year, although they were both very close, 21, 18, 27, 22. They were, if I remember correctly, tougher games for Jaden Daniels with that defensive front, and the defensive line, I'm in love with it for the Giants. First time we're going to see Debo Samuel in a Commander's uniform. We've got the running back situation that has been-Jaden, they played in week two. Okay. Okay.

And he was coming off of the opener where he was QB3, so he was QB 19 in week 2.

Okay. What's the other one? Let's see if my memory is good.

That would have been week 9, he scored just under 20 fancy points. So he was a QB1 that week.

But under 20? 19.

9.

How many points in the first one? 13.

4.

Thirteen to 19. I mean, they're fine, but they're not two of his good games last year.

It would have been, I I think that's it. Looking at it real quick, that's his worst game where he played all the snaps.

This was a Giants defense that was number nine against quarterbacks last year. They gave up 15. 8 on average, and Jaden didn't really surpass that. Ninth against wideouts, second against tight ends. Their one defensive problem was the running game, which might be broken up across three different players in Washington. It doesn't mean you don't play Echler. I think that's okay, but you could end up a little disappointed, I think.

And just to follow up on that, because we reported the unauthorized depth chart that they released where Bill was dead last. There was a report yesterday for watching how they are ordering in terms of running all of the practice. It was Echler and then Bill. Bill.

Bill Crosky. He can touch MCAP Hammer.

Okay. Okay.

Unbelievable. That one been in the chamber for a few days? Yeah, that's a good one.

You got to have some ammunition loaded.

Six-point favorites, though. At home, Washington, high, over, under. I'm not saying anything. You can play Jaden Daniels, of course. Home opener. Debo? Do you think it's a strong start for Debo, considering the fact that they're going to hand him the football, they're going to get him the screen game?

I don't think it's going to be a great start.

Over under 10 fancy points.

If you had to set it up right now. Half PPR, I'll take the under.

Mike, what about you? I'm not- I feel okay with him this week.

I'm far more bearish on Debo bouncing back than you guys are.

So under the 10 points this week? Yeah. Okay. What else do you have to say about the Washington side?

The Washington side- Terry McLaurin, just back out there. Yeah, Terry McLaurin, he'll have to be started. I'm going to start Austin Eckler in this. You look at defenses of really bad teams, right? And the Giants were a terrible team last year. They project to be a losing team this season, although their defense is very good. And when you look at good defenses on bad teams, a lot of times what you see is what you saw last year and what we expect this year, which is the running backs still have great success against them. You can't pass on them that much. It's not just because of their defensive personnel, but it's because you're in the lead. You took a lead, that other team can't do much, so you just keep running the ball. More opportunities for the running game, fewer opportunities for the passing game, fewer opportunities for the quarterback, and that's what I expect on the Washington side of the ball. Unless Russell Wilson could surprise and could come out looking a hot start this year, the way that he started well when he got the opportunity last year, that would be The only way that I think we get more that we like out of this game is if Russell Wilson comes out, looks good.

Maybe Theo Johnson is a week one breakout player. He's the second year tight end from the Giants that I really will have my eyes on. I mean, otherwise, I don't expect it to go well.

Malik Nabors, reminder, he was trailing or tied in 90% of all routes last year, and it might start that way again this year. I imagine Washington is going to win the football game, but I am excited to see what the Giants have in store on the offensive side with a different quarterback and whether Malik Nabors can get it done. Mike, other expectations from Tracy or Skatebu or the running game in New York?

I don't know the full expectations, but that's just one of the week one things that we will have the eye on of, does Skatebu immediately break into it, or is Tracy going to be a workhorse for at least a few weeks?

All right, we'll cut it off there. We'll get into more matchups tomorrow. That was fantasy Forecast presented by Prizepicks, the largest daily fantasy sports platform. Download the Prizepicks app today and use the code footballers and get $50 instantly in lineups when you play $5. So tomorrow we'll have more matchups, and we will also have the fantasy face-off again tomorrow. And then we'll get into the weekend. You'll get week one, football, finally, and some wins and some losses and some surprises and some crazy waiver wire, and we'll hit studs and duds and waivers early parts of next week. It's also a good time to remind people, if you were a ultimate draft kit buyer, if you used ultimate draft kit, there's a lot of you out there, the UDK or the UDK Plus, that season is over, right? The draft season from February to now is over. What we are doing, as a courtesy to anybody that bought the UDK or the UDK Plus, if you want the in-season tools and resources that we have available, the premium tools and resources, including the lineup optimizer and the waiver wire tool.

Forthcoming trade tools, rest of season rankings, stuff that we haven't even had before that we're going to have this season that's all in the ultimate... It'll be in the ultimate dashboard, which is part of being an ultimate Footclam member. To tell you the truth, if you If you upgrade now, it basically comes with the UDK for next year.

Yeah, because you can take your UDK, the amount that you paid for it, and basically just apply it towards an ultimate membership, which is a year-round membership that includes the UDK for next year, DFS pass, all of that stuff.

Everything we ever make, including the extra episode every week.

That cutoff is normally today. It's on kickoff. We're going to extend it a couple of days, and that'll be it. Then that credit will not exist anymore. You can go to jointhefoot. Com. Make sure you're logged in with your UDK account and just click on the ultimate package, and you will get a dollar for dollar credit.

A couple of pieces of news, which I'm sure we'll report it again tomorrow, just because it's so late. But Christian Kirk, Houston Texans, not practicing again today. So that Jalen Noel is someone to keep an eye on. And the Walrus, again, not seen practicing.

He's ramping up, Mike.

Any day now.

Oh, my gosh.

Devon, 8, and 11 targets.

Maybe he's got one of those Kauai Leonard no-show jobs. Maybe he Maybe he's a tight end for the Dolphins, but he doesn't actually play. Maybe. Thank you for joining us. It's football time, everybody. We'll catch you tomorrow.

Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy the game. 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 @theffballer. Ballers.