Transcript of Week 5 Waivers + Tyreek Talk, Hole-in-One? - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/6

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

Oh, welcome in. Welcome to Tuesday, October 6th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway. Waiver day. Week 4 is over. We had a game, a lot of points.

A lot of points. Man.

I mean, mostly good points. There were a few.

Oh, the garbage. Oh, it was the stinkiest.

of garbage.

I mean, there it was, it was dangerous garbage. That was, that was, that was like eating a tenderloin that had been left out all day. That's dangerous.

You would know some of that.

I would know a little bit something. But if you hurt my Olave, if Olave is seriously hurt.

I mean, I don't under— 45-24, you're down 45-17. There's 3, 4 minutes left in the game. Tyler Shuck has hurt his left hand at this point. There's no conceivable fashion in which you can come back in this game.

Nope.

And you end up—

He's trying to get momentum, I guess.

What was so weird about that final drive of the game, because I'm— so I was in a matchup with Jason in League of Shadows, another one of our leagues. And he needed like 17 points from Shuck and Valet to win. It was just like—

Which I assumed going in, I'm going to win.

Like Shuck should do that by himself. No Valet. And we're going into that final drive. I'm up a point. I'm up a point in this game. And they, the drive starts and it's handoff, handoff, handoff to CJ Donaldson, right? It's just, it's just right. Like, and by the way, he plays football for the Saints because Kamara was banged up and you're like, okay, well, let's take him off the field. Although Kamara came back in, scored a touchdown.

Well, because Kendre was like, I got the butter hands.

Kendre gets any opportunity Kendre gets, he blows.

They apparently, he has 5 fumbles already this year.

It seems, it feels like 50.

That's what the graphics said.

I mean, that's insane. That's every time you get the ball.

He doesn't get the ball that much.

It can't be 5.

That's impossible.

Maybe 5 out of your last 15 carries, but—

Maybe.

I guess I see 2, but maybe that's just 2 lost.

But for those that weren't watching the end of this game because you had no reason to, CJ Donaldson starts getting the football. And so it's obvious that if you're going to hand the ball off, the Saints are conceding.

Yeah.

We're on to week 5.

You don't hand the ball off a bunch of times.

We're good.

But then all of a sudden it's like you get to 3rd down. And he's the bombs. I mean, he threw a bomb down the sideline trying to get Veale, trying to get Olave. And then they drive down for the dirtiest, stinkiest garbage time stuff that I've ever seen. But what people don't know is, and maybe you do if you're watching it, but like Olave comes on a crossing pattern, gets tackled, hyperextends his right knee. It's as clear as day in the video. Now it wasn't, it didn't look wild. Like there was no guarantee that this is a major injury or anything, but he limps off the field.

Yeah. What are you doing? And this is not revisionist history or hindsight being 20/20. We were all in Slack like, please, why is Olave on the field?

Stop it.

Why is this? Why are these players? Why is Stroud on the field?

But this is dumb. Yeah.

You gotta, you gotta put the backups in and move on to, you know, the next week with your guys healthy. You're, you're a team that is trying to compete in a winnable division. And man, to put that risk out there. I mean, look, If it goes well fantasy-wise, yay. Yeah. We'll take garbage points, but yeah, this is crazy.

And, and, you know, Atlanta is a different team.

Oh yeah.

Who is this? Who is this team?

This team is, if you want to know the, the if this, then that implications of a quarterback change, look no further than the Atlanta Falcons. People don't realize that. It's not just like, hey, your offense kind of sucks. Like if your defense gets a break, guess what? You're a better defense. You can rush the passer. You can blitz more often. You can keep teams honest. You know what they need to do because your offense is a threat.

Or if your, if your defense is having to come on the field in their own red zone because the offense turned it over, the quarterback changes everything for these teams.

Did you see the stat, by the way? It was The first 2 games of the season, Atlanta was the worst offense in football. The last 2 weeks of the season, they are the best offense in football. That is an insane—

35 points and 45 points the last 2 weeks scored by Atlanta.

Play action is just a machine now with Bijan and then Brian Robinson. I was up by like 6,000 points to Mike. There was a point in that game when it started the way it did with Bijan that I was like, is this a 60-point game from Bijan coming?

Yeah, you were, you were basically up by 60 and not worried. And then it's like, the way that started. But the other B. Robinson bailed you out.

Yes.

And scored 3 touchdowns.

That was frustrating. That was very, very frustrating.

Yeah. I mean, it was absolutely, it was a crazy game. And, you know, I think Olave is a machine. Bijan is a machine. Drake London with Penix is a machine.

If you bought low on any of those things, And it was, I know that the quarterback helps get your defense in check, but it wasn't like, it wasn't completely the offense's fault that they got throttled by the Carolina Panthers in week 2. They lost 3-34. Like that was, that's not all on, that's not on the offense. It's just weird. This team has truly transformed. The Saints, my Saints. Look, I have enough losing in my life. New Orleans, if you would like to continue to be my team, I need you to fix it.

Yeah, it was a crazy game. And you know, they're 1-3. The New Orleans Saints, for all the good that we've seen, is 1-3 at this point in time, Mike. All right, let's talk news.

News and notes from around the league.

So yeah, you'll have to monitor Chris Olave with the potential knee injury and, you know, shake your fist at the sky if he's hurt.

Yeah. Also, Shuck, just start running. What happened to that? Where did that guy go?

I don't—

Because this is the thing, like the touchdown, Shuck actually, Shuck played okay. He just, I mean, he got the one garbage touchdown, but the touchdowns went to Kamara. So when that happens, it's like, If you aren't running, then it's brutal. But that, that was very bizarre that he didn't.

My concern, 63% completion percentage, 286 yards.

No interceptions.

They did a good job of setting the edge, to be honest. I felt like 2 weeks ago I said I'm very worried about the Saints offense because of the fact that—

Because of the line.

The offensive line and the injury to Achane was compounding it because say what you want about— is Achane good?

Donaldson?

Well, yeah. I mean, like Alvin Kamara had 23 rushing yards and scored 2 touchdowns. Donaldson is the next man up after that. Kendre Miller fumbles everything. If you, if you don't have a running game, see, see colon Green Bay Packers. If you don't have a running game and you don't have an offensive line, which is what both of those teams' situations are, guess what? You've got, you got 2 troubled teams, right? You got 2. Are the Packers 1-3 or are they 2-2?

I don't remember.

But I mean, both of these teams have the same problem.

Should be 2.

But the pass rush, there was a point in this game where Tyler Shuck, yeah, they're 2-2. There was a point in the game where Tyler Shuck just looked skittish to me because he knew what was coming.

Yeah. He was getting squished.

And he played, I think, as good as you can play with that situation. He was willing to take massive hits, but you've got injury risk now on the table for him. You talk about don't want to run the football. I mean, like him, like I get it. You're probably tired from getting up. Lamar Jackson ankle outside chance to play in week 5, could miss multiple games, but injured is not considered— injury is not considered long-term or surgical.

This seems like the classic high ankle sprain, which the data says you basically either miss no games or 3 games. So hopefully he's back this week. I will say that you would expect when he gets back him to not be quite as mobile, which is a shame because he was playing outstanding. I mean, it Even, even this so good. Even this last week, you look and it's like, oh, he had a good fantasy game. He played half the game. He would have been the quarterback 1 on the week if he, you know, got a second half. So be healthy, Lamar.

Ben Johnson said Tyson Bagent will start in week 5 against the Packers as we wait for Caleb's return. Secret Bagent man getting another start. Bears are 3-1.

Yeah, they're doing all right.

Saquon Barkley week to week with a hamstring injury. Tank Bigsby is on IR.

Yeah, that's a big thing.

Core muscle repair surgery. Core muscle number 2 with one guy with a pre, pre-hernia. That's the report on—

wink.

He doesn't have a hernia.

Yeah, it's not a hernia. It's like a pre-hernia.

I don't have diabetes.

I got pre-diabetes.

I think we all have pre-hernias at this point.

That's true. At any moment. Picking up something heavy.

Yeah.

Yeah. I'm pre-hernia for sure.

I'm ready to have a hernia at any moment.

At any time.

Seahawks are signing Joe Mixon. He is going to join the Seahawks. So you will now have a Mixon, Salami, Emmanuel Wilson waiver day today. We'll talk about it. And Jadarrius Price on IR.

Charbonnet.

And Charbonnet. I forgot. There's 5.

Yeah.

You know what they say when you have 5 running backs?

You've got 5.

You've got 5.

It is very bizarre for, for Joe Mixon to launch incredible work by Joe Mixon's PR team of putting out that hype video of him being the one like, what happened to Joe Mixon? He's like, you could have told us. And then immediately—

He's like, you got signed the next day after that.

He really did. You know what I want to have happen more than I want for the first time ever this version of the Seahawks to have a workhorse back.

And it's just Joe Mixon.

Joe Mixon is the guy who comes in and gets all the work.

What's funny is, is that, and we'll discuss, I'll wait. Let's wait to have the conversation around Emmanuel Wilson in the waiver show. But I have thoughts about what's going to happen here. I will be wrong. Tee Higgins is day to day with his adductor strain. Ja'Marr Chase is in the concussion protocol. And here's the thing. We're going into week 5. Mike already— that's what Mike's sound. Give me that sound again, Mike. So listen, the Cincinnati Bengals have a week 6 bye. So concussion protocol is a— it's a tough achievement on a 1-week basis.

Yeah, that's kind of its own thing of like, if Chase clears, he'll be fine. It's Tee Higgins. That's the bigger problem.

Well, but they probably are going to need these wide receivers to beat the Oh, it's the Dolphins. Okay.

To me, it's like if Chase is, if Chase is on the edge here and you've been winning with your defense, I don't know. You could, you could definitely secure a couple of injury situations by giving them the bye week.

I don't know. I mean, we saw what happened to the Vikings. They were like, we're going to go without Justin Jefferson. They barely beat the Dolphins.

Oh, I thought you were going to say they won.

They did.

They did. It worked fine.

It didn't work fine. It was very close.

Hey, look, sticky gets sticky this week against Miami.

If one of those guys is out, out, then yes.

Wasn't it Hockenson with 13 catches against Miami last week?

Yeah.

So something to pay attention to here on the waivers. All right. ESPN's Adam Schmefter reporting Broncos. Some guy we don't know. Pat Bryant will miss a few weeks suffering a sprained ankle.

That is positive news because the mechanism of the injury was like, this might be, it might be the year.

Yeah. So he's, they got good news on him and Pat Surtain in terms of not being season-ending injuries. Tank Dell will have his practice window opened this week for the—

I remember that guy—

for the 0-4 Texans.

This is wonderful. I mean, it's just like if he gets back and plays football on a weekly basis, this isn't— forget fantasy.

Yeah.

We're way off from like having him be relevant. Just the human. If he gets back and plays football on a regular basis, right? What a, What a great thing.

Oh, here we go. Cardinals.

They—

Paris Johnson, their left tackle, tore his bicep, will be out for the year. But also Jeremiah Love tweaked his other ankle in the Week 4 loss. So, you know, that's a bit of an answer to the postgame press conference where we were talking about yesterday. He was like, put somebody else in. And then he didn't get a snap on the final drive. And we were like, what are you doing?

That's what they were doing. That would make— this is good news.

And this is my fault because he was my trade for candidate and I already have 3 my guys in an MVP.

Stop killing everybody.

3 my guys in an MVP out. And so I bring up Jeremiah Love's name and he's like, I got 2 ankles I can hurt.

You gotta go all in on Deshaun Watson, man. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta claim him. Bright days ahead, right, Andy?

I mean, I signed Ja'Marr Chase in our chop league. And he got a concussion instantly.

Okay.

Sorry, Mike.

It's all right.

You were collateral damage on that one. But my team will be done after this week if he misses the week. So yeah. So Jeremiah Love, you know, Tyler Allgeier is a conversation today because how much work does Love get this week?

And that game environment is going to be juicy.

Who do they play?

The Cardinals-Lions.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

Yeah. The Lions.

Yeah.

There's 2 games this week that are, what, 54.5.

Rams and Buffalo?

I don't remember. Kyle, what is— yeah, Rams-Buffalo. Yeah.

Oh boy. And there you go. We'll take a break. We'll talk waivers.

Waiver Wire presented by T-Mobile.

All right. We're here, guys. We have bye weeks. The Chiefs and Panthers are not here this week. So Ken Walker and that fantastic start. Rasheed Rice, who will get an extra week to recover.

Walker probably needs a little bit of a rest.

Honestly, yeah. On pace for 400,000 opportunities. But no Mahomes, no Kelce, you know, no Tedderoa McMillan. He gets a break as well.

Or Chuba. He's been so good.

So week 6, we have 4 teams. Week 7, 4 teams. But this week, just 2. Let's go ahead and jump into the waiver wire starting at the running back position. We can continue the conversation here. 61% rostered. He was a pickup last week. But Emmanuel Wilson playing against the Chargers, 21 for 81 and a touchdown, 4 targets, another touchdown through the air. De'Aaron Price on IR. George Salami's just, you know, he's who we thought he was.

He's an undrafted free agent who had like a dozen touches in his career before this year and he's not that good. They signed Joe Mixon. True. But Joe Mixon is not going to come right in and, you know, immediately take over. They've got Charbonnet's practice window open. That doesn't mean he's playing this week. That means they've got 21 days to activate him to the starting roster.

Did you see his left quad?

Yeah, it looked a lot smaller than the right quad. Oh, it like—

That happens.

Yeah. I mean, it's normal. This is why people are always surprised when we're talking about like people coming back off of injuries. There's a ramp up period like Malik Nabers getting off to a slow start.

Except for one dude. Except for—

Yeah, there's a man.

Except for George freaking Kittle.

Yeah, there's a man.

Did you see?

He's different.

He hit 19.5 miles per hour on his touchdown coming off a torn Achilles.

Any dude.

I think that was faster than Rasheed Shaheed did in that game or one of the studs.

But you just know he's going to stop it. I don't want to say it out loud.

Stop it.

It just always happens. It's what he does.

He is awesome.

He is awesome. I adore him. He was my guy last year. He's fantastic for fantasy when he's out there.

Right.

Stay out there.

So I think Wilson is the, he's probably the number 1 running back. It's just the question of, do you feel like the work will continue? Because that's what this is. It's not about necessarily who's the greatest player at this point. It's who's going to get the work.

I'm just concerned about how much fab. It's not whether he's a big pickup. It's just—

He's also quite rostered.

He's quite rostered. Like I would be— I'm going to say this for sure. Like I'd much rather have Ollie Gordon rest of season than Emmanuel Wilson.

Yes.

Oh, for sure.

I think Joe Mixon will get work and more work and more work in this offense.

But at what point?

I don't know how soon it's going to happen. I do think he's going to get like at some point in this season, he'll be getting as much work, if not more than Emmanuel Wilson.

Right. But Wilson's just like, he's a, this is a temporary fix.

This is like a this week.

San Francisco at home, Denver on the road, then Kansas City for the next 3 weeks. I'm just saying my, my spend would be desperation only.

I agree. He's, he's not a huge pickup for me, but he is a 1-week pickup. In my opinion, I don't think he's going to go away because he's played his way onto the field. But I don't want anything to do with the Seahawks running system right now because—

You don't have Charbonnet? I mean—

So Emmanuel Wisslin should be picked up. Charbonnet should be picked up. Joe Mixon should be picked up in certain situations.

Those 3 names already make you have a problem.

Exactly.

Because Price will come back.

Absolutely. So I, that's where I'm saying in general, I don't want to rely on this Seahawks team. This week, I think Emmanuel Wilson gets a lot of work. I think their hand is kind of forced right now while they're getting these other guys involved. They're waiting for people to come back. Emmanuel Wilson will get work. He's a fine enough start to me. But, but then talk like, would you rather have him or Will Shipley, who now might be the only guy in town?

Well, they will definitely bring somebody up their practice squad. Let's see. It's, it's a play the hits type of a situation we have. Jayden Blue. We have Damian Pierce and we have Carson Steele. One of those guys is coming up. Yeah. Will Shipley— I mean, Damian Pierce has had some success in the past. I don't know who's going to be the— like, I don't know who's going to come in and really be part of the timeshare, but one of them will.

I mean, it feels like Shipley is sort of a— he's going to maybe 1 to 2 week situation where I could see him competitive for you. Like he's not rostered.

Yeah.

At the level that Emmanuel Wilson is. So I think on a lot of boards, on a lot of running back lists, it's going to be him at the tippy top.

This week is Jacksonville.

I know. It's not good.

No. Next week, Carolina.

What is the status of Saquon? Because we know that, that Tank Bigsby is on IR.

I believe he was called week to week.

Okay. Which I will say this. This is an important part of this. You talk about these other players that are being brought up and Maybe they'll be involved and I'm sure they're not going to just give 100% of work to any running back. Nobody gets that. But I do think Will Shipley is a very good player. That is, that, that shouldn't be lost. He's a, is an excellent pass catcher and, and a quality back. So should he get all the opportunity, I think he'll do well with it. Not a great matchup with Jacksonville, but I prefer Will Shipley to Emmanuel Wilson.

So then archetype-wise, you have Will Shipley, And Austin Ekeler, who, which yes, Ekeler is a—

Ekeler looked kind of okay.

Ekeler is definitely older, but in his first game, you know, kind of off of the couch, what, 4 carries, 2 targets. Bill Crosby got a bunch, like a bunch of targets for him. Will that hold up or will they, will they have Ekeler take over that, that job?

Well, you know, they had a different quarterback in there. I do think that targeting Commanders right now, is, you know, we'll talk about Antonio Williams, but you expect to get Jayden Daniels back, I think, this week.

We've heard it's possible.

Yeah, it's possible this week. Not a guarantee, but that just helps everybody. So if you, if you want to talk, you know, the Austin Ekeler, the offense should get a little bit better.

The other 2 major names, in my opinion, are going to be Tyler Allgeier, who we just talked about. Now that we know that Love is dealing with another injury, he's 46% rostered. Allgeier is. And then Keaton Mitchell, who has seen snaps and targets increase 3 consecutive weeks. Keaton Mitchell seems to be something that they want to do. And there was a very—

By they, you mean?

Well, both Harbaugh and McDaniel. Oh, because there was a, there was a pretty contentious line of questioning to Harbaugh. And it was, it was logically correct the way that they phrased it to him. And they basically said, well, You know, Hampton had the most opportunities in week 2. And then all of a sudden he's got reduced opportunities after the fumble. And they're like, well, you know, we just want to do what's best for the team. This is how we, what we believe is best for the team is to use all 3 guys. And he's like, well, wasn't that best for the team starting in week 1? If like, if it was best for the team, why didn't you do that in week 1 and 2? And he's just like, I think I've answered your question.

I think he has. Like, this is now where we are. Maybe we thought it was the best way in weeks 1 and 2 and we've changed our minds.

Yeah. I mean, and Keaton Mitchell was coming off an injury to start the season. So that could have been some acclimation. I'm very concerned with the, the, the direction that things are going there.

Yeah. Well, you should be there. The team hasn't won a game, hasn't looked good in a game. They have a slog of the next, still the next 4 weeks. 5 games are games that they will probably be underdogs in.

And it's a little tricky because the snaps themselves are fairly close. But Kyle Betz, I don't know which one of you is on there. You shared something yesterday. Maybe I'll find it on Betz's socials. But the actual utilization, the running, the rushing attempts.

Yeah, we need to know opportunities.

The rushing attempts are the ones that are going Let me see if I can find that real quick. Hampton. So his share of running back carries over the last 3 weeks, 82% to 63% to 38%.

That's weird, man.

So he played fewer snaps than both those guys, but his rushing share has been smashed.

And so, well, it's because he's been playing really poor. Oh wait, no, he's looked good every time he's touched the ball. That's right.

Says you.

Says, says the analytics as well. Look at, look, I mean, look, look at the actual—

I think that he's looked okay.

I would say I'm more on Mike's side with that, but I think a lot of it is, it's intangible factors. It's the fumbles. It's passing down work. It's, are you in the right place at the right time? We don't see when a guy's running the way they're supposed to or not. Something has gone sideways for the whole entire team. You tell me that you have a wide receiver you, you can figure out there.

Nope.

Can't play the quarterback, wideout, or running back, but otherwise— oh wait, what about tight end?

I was going to say, don't forget about Gadsden. He can't be played.

I mean, that is— it's not just that they're a terrible team. They literally have nobody you can play. So yeah.

It's okay. They've got Denver, Kansas City, the Rams.

So look, Allgeier against Detroit.

It's for the best. Just let—

I mean, I think Allgeier is my favorite pickup.

Allgeier over Keaton Mitchell?

Based on the fact that we just found out more about the, the, the news on Jeremiah Love. Now Love probably won't miss, but I think the fact that the matchup is against Detroit who can't play defense, I think the Cardinals are the best offensive situation. You know, Will Shipley is going into a complete disgusting mess of offense right now. Like Will Shipley's dependent on Jalen Hurts and no DeVonta Smith and no Lane Johnson. Like that's a tougher situation than Arizona scoring against Detroit. That would be my logic of it.

Gotcha.

So if I'm looking one week start, plus Emmanuel Wilson's over 60% rostered, Allgeier's at 46%. That's the way I would go. Now, now Ekeler, Keaton Mitchell, they're going to have like kind of a long-term committee value that they're going to be mixed into stuff. You're not going to get zeros from them. But, you know, I wouldn't spend up big money on him.

I agree with the cost. I'm not going all in. Wilson, I think, is the best. I agree. He's the best temporary guy.

And another guy—

I struggle between Shipley and Keaton Mitchell at 2. Like, just the— not that Keaton Mitchell is very desirable right now. It's just the way that things are trending. And then you add in, what was it, 6 6 targets. Is that what he had?

Yeah.

I mean, 10 carries and 6 targets. Like, it's tough in the running back streets for fantasy football. That's not the worst.

Yeah. Keaton Mitchell definitely should be picked up. I would prefer him over Allgeier simply because I— it seems like the coaches want to have Jeremiah Love, you know, be the guy. We saw that a couple of weeks ago. If he's banged up, it might not be able to happen right now. The coach seems like they want Keaton Mitchell to be the guy. to be the guy, which is awful.

It's also worth noting Chris Brooks is dealing with a potentially significant injury for the Packers. We didn't mention it in the news.

We should have.

But Marshawn Lloyd had been cut by a lot of people. So he's only 51% rostered. I don't want him. I don't want Caleb Johnson. I don't want any of the offense.

I don't want any of them.

But Caleb fumbled again because of course he had the only good run of the entire day and he followed it with a fumble. It's like the Three Stooges, but didn't— behind center for Green Bay.

Didn't Lloyd fumble too?

Oh, of course he did.

I mean, of course he did. These guys are just—

Of course he did.

Awful.

I mean, it's the— Dude.

They need Josh Jacobs so bad.

I mean, it's been ugly. So let's, let's talk wideouts. We need to move, move on. Romeo Doubs, 59% rostered. You know, there was an injury to Mack Hollins. Antonio Brown's not back soon. The only little caveat—

Antonio Brown?

Or AJ Brown, sorry. The only caveat here is that they play the Raiders. They play the Jets. Both of those teams, the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins, have actually been bad for wide receivers the next 4 weeks. But I think Dobbs is a great pickup. I know the Dolphins.

The Jets are just a succubus.

Yeah.

Like, it's not because they're shutting everyone down. They're just like, They just— what if the game was half over already? Yeah.

What are you—

they're the—

come on, let's play.

Tortoise and no hare.

Yeah.

I mean, they are bad. But, but let's talk about the top pickups here at wide receiver.

I think Romeo Doubs, he's, he's mostly rostered, but he's a great pickup with Mack Hollins had a non-contact calf injury and it's not something that's going to be like super long term. It wasn't Achilles, but I expect that he will probably miss a game or two. And in that environment, they finally started figuring out how to use Romeo Doubs. He looked good. So I think he would be like, he would be my clear guy I want the most at wide receiver. He's probably, he's probably rostered at 59%.

And you have to ask, like watching Drake Maye those first 3 weeks, that was a like emotionally destroyed man. There was no confidence. Did he get some of that back where like everyone, you know, you know, his biggest problem this week. What's the, what's the biggest problem this week?

My Raiders.

Oh yeah.

My Raiders are going to be his biggest problem.

Sure.

That's a good— I don't think that's a bad game environment though.

I'm saying that like when we talked about it, it looked like he had the yips, Drake Maye. You're like, did he, did he get his groove back? Because if he did, then Romeo Doubs looks even better.

There are 2 players that I think are like secret starts that are low rostered and very interesting. They both are actually rostered in 15% of leagues. Keon Coleman and Antonio Williams, because Keon Coleman and Antonio Williams both have a missing wide receiver 1 potentially for this week. We don't know about DJ Moore. They said not long term, but you may give him a week this time because he played through the injury last week.

Probably should.

You should. And then Antonio Williams with no Terry McLaurin, 8 targets for Antonio Williams, 7 for Keon Coleman. Coleman was much better with his targets. He was 6 for 116 and 1. The game environment, the Rams, that should be high scoring. I really like Keon Coleman as a, as a, a 1-week start with longer-term potential.

Yeah, I do too. I mean, however long—

Assuming they delete Dalton Kincaid.

However long DJ Moore is out. I believe that Keon Coleman will be a valuable piece. He's looked the part. Obviously the coach has spent the entire offseason being like, you know, we love him. If DJ Moore is there, I am very hesitant to start Keon Coleman.

Yeah, I would probably be.

But I like both of those players. And Antonio Williams is fun because this is a rookie who has looked really good. He hasn't been on the field that much. He's been playing like 40% of snaps. But every time he's had the opportunity, he's been good.

They go to him.

And you know that last week he had a massive touchdown that was called back on penalty. They didn't have Jayden Daniels. And so now all of a sudden, if you're without Terry McLaurin and Antonio Williams is on the field and he has Jayden Daniels and he's a rookie that can ascend and become better, more integrated into the offense, that's a, that's a fun pickup to me.

There are a lot of other names. I want to have the Tyreek Hill conversation. Because Tyreek Hill is obviously not rostered right now.

Oh, he is. He's shockingly rostered quite a bit.

Sorry, I meant on an NFL team.

Oh yes, that is true.

He currently has no NFL team.

He's 54% rostered?

Yeah.

Well, you degenerates.

It's a result of the last—

Oh man, hope is a— hope is a—

I mean, Joe Mixon was getting picked up all over the place on Sunday before we even had a team. The thing with Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs are on bye this week. They're the natural destination. They're not the guaranteed destination. Tyreek is a— he's got an ego. He wants to get paid properly for his commiserate with his history.

Yeah.

And I'm not positive that the team, that the Chiefs are willing to pay that money right now. So we just basically—

Also, when is he ready?

Yeah, we don't have answers to those questions and he doesn't go on an IR. He takes a roster spot that is brutal at this time of year. Like I dropped Darren Waller this morning. Because they're going on bye. Like, I just don't even, I can't even hold Waller over the bye. I'd rather have another player to put on this roster that has a chance to do something this week and give me trade value or starting value with the bye week starting.

Yeah. I mean, you don't know when he's back. He was originally targeting November. November's not that far away, but it's several weeks, obviously.

In fantasy football time, it's forever.

He could come back sooner, maybe because of being forced into action with the injuries that the Chiefs wide receivers you know, Kaur already has familiarity with the system, with Bieniemy, with Mahomes. To me, Tyreek Hill is a, is a very important pickup. It's, you've got to look at your roster. You got to look at your bench size. You got to say, am I able to hold a guy that might not play? Is he going to be great? I don't know. Probably not. But you know what his talent and ability could be if it hits. You look at guys like Stefon Diggs. who he's not the same Stefon Diggs that he used to be, but he's really relevant for fantasy football.

When you talk about in Washington or last year, both. So like if Diggs is sitting there on the waiver wire though, and I tell you, you can't play for 6 weeks. Let's just pretend that happens, right? Because I think it's a good exercise. If you're getting Diggs production out of Tyreek Hill, not worth it. Well, and I don't, I'm not sure it gets better than that. Rashee Rice is not long-term hurt. Yeah.

Tyreek Hill is there. The Rashee Rice news was That he was a baby. I mean, essentially, I will never attack a man because I have no idea what it felt like. But it— the news was more positive that it could just be a slight hamstring injury.

But look at this, like Tyquan Thornton. Okay.

His was not slight.

No, no. His injury is 12 to 16 weeks, playoffs maybe. But Tyquan Thornton had a 25-point game for this offense, right? So that's— I mean, he could, he could come in and be Thornton. Like, but if you say he's Thornton, nobody's fighting. Nobody was fighting for Thornton on the waiver wire. If he came in and he's Diggs, you said he's not worth it. So that means he's got to be better than Diggs.

For a hold. But so it's like—

For a hold, right? Like AJ, if AJ Brown was out there and you're like, you got to hold him on your bench, no IR spot for 6 weeks, we'd all be like, yeah.

Right.

So what is that?

That's exactly what I'm saying.

I'm not saying that's a pretty—

I'm not saying that the probability is high that he comes back and is a star. I am absolutely saying that's possible. I believe it's possible that Tyreek Hill comes back and is a top 15 wide receiver for fantasy.

So no, no implications here. I'm not trying to disprove that. I'm just pointing out 2024 before the injury, Tyreek Hill was 81 for 959 in 17 weeks. Okay. So I mean, that was not good. And then Miami last year in 4 weeks, he's, he's been 10 points a game for the last 2 weeks. So he's, I'm just saying he's years removed. with an injury. So what would you spend to have the hold? Like, what are you going to spend? Tell me what you're going to do in our League of Record. Well, we have millions of people listening.

I will probably—

Because I'm not— I will have no— I'm not putting a bid in on it.

I will probably drop like 20% of fab.

You will get him.

Fantastic.

So Kansas City-wise—

But your team is unique.

Kansas City-wise, because that's the The, I think, Jay, what your target is, is you're like, I think that Tyreek Hill ends up on Kansas City.

Right. Yes. Okay.

So in the meantime, while he's not playing, these guys are lower on the waiver wire, but I think you got to lump them in. It's like, what, what does Kansas City do in the meantime? Because they're on, they're on bye. But even though Rashee Rice, the news is good, I would expect him to miss week, week 6. And Thornton won't be out. So what is the move there? Who are that? Do you like Cyrus Allen? Was the preseason guy that he was— we get one chief a year every, every single season that he's a late round pick that has something that the Twitter hive likes about it.

I don't care about either guy. You're going to say Jalen Royals and Cyrus Allen. I don't care about either guy because we've, we've gone through years and years of the Justin Watsons and Thorntons and And like none of those guys are going to be a focal point for Patrick Mahomes.

I, yeah.

So me personally, I'm not wasting my time on Cyrus Allen.

The way that the game unfolded, Skyy Moore. Yeah. The way the game unfolded was that basically Jaylen Royals came in for Rashee Rice and Cyrus Allen came in for Thornton when they went down. That's not a guarantee that those are the roles that they would inherit, but I, that's the evidence we have. That's what I would be working with. So if Rashee Rice's injury is not long-term, then Jaylen Royals isn't that valuable. Cyrus Allen would be the guy I would pick up ahead. But then if Tyreek comes in, that's worthless. They're going to buy. So I do not think I'm going hard after either of them. You know, $0 bids on either, they're fine, but I'm not going hard after them.

If you go ahead, Mike.

That's interesting to me of like being willing to dump 20% on chasing the dragon of Tyreek Hill when these guys are actually on the team.

Yeah. I mean, the, you know, remember the ceiling comp, it's a ceiling thing. And I do think Tyreek Hill's ceiling, 2024, when he wasn't that good and it was a couple of years ago, he also was playing for Tua, but not just Tua missed a third of the season and was gone. So that was, you know, it's like if he comes back to a team that is needy with Bieniemy, with Mahomes. We've, we've seen it work. And we've also seen like when Hall of Fame level players come back, you know, there's, there's a lot of—

He's going to be 33. Yeah, we have, you know, it's shooting your shot based on your situation. I think one of the best sneaky starts that you could have this week is actually going to be Dante Meyers, wide receiver, Cincinnati Bengals.

Could be.

Plays Miami, had 9 targets, played 89% of snaps. You're like, who's that? I get it. You've never heard of him. Dante Meyers came in and was the beneficiary. They don't have Yoshi Voss. They have an injury to Tee Higgins. And Tee Higgins, if he's anything, he's a great player and he recovers slow. And then Ja'Marr Chase, do we have him this week? There's a world where Dante Meyers and Mike Gesicki are the top 2 receiving targets alongside Chase Brown for the Bengals for one week against Miami. I'm just saying.

I'm with you that it's a strong one.

And you can put them on. Most people out there that aren't listening to this show can add Dante Meyers for a dollar a fab. No one in your league is going to— they'll be fighting for Tyreek. And you can add Dante Myers and no one will know and you can start him. That's if those guys are out.

I agree.

What about Mitch Tinsley, the other wide receiver there who has the same pathway?

I'll take the guy who got 9 targets.

Yeah.

Like he was out. He was already out there when everybody was actually healthy.

No targets for Tinsley, 53% of snaps. He is a big play guy. I've seen those. The deep balls have gone to him before. Was he the one that was with Buffalo? Was it Tinsley that was with Buffalo or was he always with Cincinnati? Yeah, I guess it's always Cincinnati. Somebody flashed. I think he flashed in the preseason one of these years. Maybe that's why I recognized the name. But I, you know, the other name I want to just throw it out there real quick. Concepcion, 62% rostered. Roman Wilson, only 7% rostered.

Roman Wilson's interesting.

The snaps are just microscopic. So you're like, if you don't have snaps, Can you rely on this guy with Aaron Rodgers? That's the scare of the situation. But Malik Washington, these are like next tier down. Khalil Shakir should get work. Khalil Shakir will score exactly 8 fantasy points this week. If you're into that, you could do worse.

You could also, if you're into that, just pick up Malik Washington.

Yeah. Malik Washington in a full PPR league.

He's about, he is just like whoever in the league is like, I need a receiver. I need to borrow a receiver this week.

Yeah.

Can you, can someone, if you're someone spare receiver and you're like, yeah, the waiver wire, it's got Malik Washington.

Always. Yeah.

Just play him. You'll get, you'll get 50 to 70 yards. And then you just, it's like, do the 5-day reset. Leave a penny, take a penny.

He is Kalishekere for the Dolphins.

You'll get 10 points if you're in a PPR league, which is not bad.

Right.

Drop candidates at wide receiver. Dontavian Wicks, Courtland Sutton, Quentin Johnston. I would be willing to drop all 3 for sure.

Um, Quge is droppable. Man, I don't know that I would drop— I wouldn't drop Wicks just yet.

I would not either. Sutton and Quge, I'm fine moving on.

It's just wild because the last 2 weeks, like Wicks, Wicks goes to Jacksonville. Your quarterback threw for net negative 5 yards in the second half. I think you're very big play dependent on Dontayvion Wicks.

Yeah, you are. But we've seen it already. I mean, 73 yards week 1, 74 yards week 2, 2 down weeks since then.

And Wicks himself is getting open. So it feels like if they got to figure something out.

I mean, they don't have to.

If you sign him for 4 weeks, are you— you're probably dropping him for any— most of the guys we talked about though, right?

The earlier wide receivers?

I mean, Dante Meyers for this week.

For this week, yeah. Assuming the injuries go as we think. And of course Coleman and Dobbs, but there— Wicks isn't like a, I'm just getting rid of him at all costs type of player.

Let's take a break. We'll talk tight ends. Well, the story at tight end this week is TJ Hockenson, 13 targets, 13 for 119. And frankly, He looked pretty good. He caught all 13 of the targets. I thought he looked solid. Maybe he's taken more time than expected to come back from his injury where he didn't look like the old TJ Hockenson last week. This is one where it's like you're betting on Jefferson missing again.

Yeah.

But also it could be a trend. You said, hey, we don't know what it looks like with Kyler Murray. Maybe we do now. I mean, maybe Kyler Murray, who we know from Arizona, doesn't like to take a hit. Is going to throw the ball. I mean, his problem, he throws the ball short now.

Yeah.

It's really annoying. It's disgusting.

Hockenson was with Murray against Tampa Bay where he put up 4 targets, 2 for 11.

In week 3, you're saying?

Yeah. Murray played week 3.

Yeah.

Yeah. So we have, we only have 2 games of Murray. One was awesome for Hockenson.

Yes.

And the other one was like, your tight end.

Jefferson, is that the game Jefferson went out then though?

Yes.

Okay. So we don't have, if Jefferson's completely out.

You're saying maybe game plan.

I just mean like Jefferson was, when did he even leave?

12% of snaps. He left at the very beginning.

Okay. In 15 games without Jefferson in his career, he's averaged 6 targets per game in those games. Brenton Strange, we talked about his snaps and route share going up. Mike Gesicki.

Yeah. Like Gesicki.

I mean, Gesicki is sneaky.

If they're both dealing With the injuries, you know, if we're doing our calculus here for if Bengals are out and Jefferson is out, I would rather play Gesicki.

I'd still play Hockenson.

I would be Hockenson in that situation, but I think both are great pickup and plays this week if their respective wide receivers are out.

We got Friday the 13th here, 12.7% rostered, 10 targets, 8 for 82.

Is that Michael?

You mean Halloween?

Oh yeah, I do mean Halloween.

I was like, I'm trying to find a Jason.

You're looking for a Jason.

Jason or a Voorhees or something.

Yeah. Michael Mayer, man.

In the month of October.

I know.

Come on.

It's early October and I'm old. 8 for 82 for Michael Mayer though. Like, would you rather flex Michael Mayer or Trey Tucker? I was like, people are really slow on the uptake here. It's because it's not the right movie. No, we got Lord of the Rings here.

I would—

would you flex Tucker or Mayer?

I would rather flex Tucker.

I think I was trying to set you up to pick the right answer.

Oh, Mayer, Cousins and company. They, at least last week, they love the tight end position like no one else does.

Yeah, it was, it was funny because it was like, man, it wasn't— Mayer was getting everything in that game.

2 weeks ago, Mayer was double digits.

So did Brock Bowers.

Because of the— well, 32 yards. 3 for 32.

Wait, did he score then?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, look, he's a part of the offense. No, he's playing more snaps than Brock Bowers. So I just think he's, he's a funny— we don't have a lot of like side tight ends in the history of fantasy football where you're like, you know, Bowers is an every week start, but then Michael Mayer is like relevant. Like they don't have wide receivers at all beyond Trey Tucker. I don't even know who was the highest targeted guy outside of Trey Tucker at wide receiver last week. Cody White. Is that, is that who I'm thinking of?

Let's find out.

I just think it's a funny offense because you also had Ian Thomas scored a touchdown and got a bunch of targets.

See, I see Tucker with 8, White with 5.

Yeah. Michael Mayer was 10 targets and then Ian Thomas was involved.

I also think Tyler Higbee is worth mentioning. I know he was definitely someone that we, you have to play if Puka is out. Puka came back and so it was like, we're not going to play him. He still had 6 targets. He was 5 for 67. This is a game environment. That's one of those 54.5-point over-under games where Buffalo's going to go and score. They're going to be throwing a lot. And so Higbee has been involved. And the fact that all of, you know, it's funny because this was a team where it was like, they've got so many good tight ends, but I don't like them because there's so many. They all got injured. They're all gone. So Higbee's kind of last man standing there. And so, you know, if you just want a piece of that game, he will cost you nothing.

Defenses this week, my favorite, probably the Bengals against Miami. Jacksonville plays Philly. That's another amazing one. Jacksonville's the number 4 scoring fantasy defense at this juncture of the year.

They're a good defense.

And the Eagles are beat up. So I don't think, I don't think you're at risk of a problem in that one. I don't think you're like the Eagles might fight and win, but they're not winning with 30 points. They're winning 17 to 10. 14 or something. And then the Raiders play the Patriots and the Raiders have been one of the higher scoring offenses. Didn't happen last week against Kansas City.

It just depends on which Drake Maye shows up because if Drake Maye looks like he did last week, it's not a good matchup. If Drake Maye looks like he did to start the season, you know, wheels up.

Do you want, would you risk that the Drake Maye variable or would you look at the Cowboys against Tampa Bay, which is going to be Jaylen Daniels again.

Yeah, I think the Cowboys and the Commanders divisional opponents, you're targeting the quarterback. You're targeting the undrafted free agent rookie quarterback in the Tampa Bay matchup, or you're targeting Jameis Winston, who, yeah, he might score on you, but you've got a lot of pick-6 opportunities.

Yes, you do.

I would much prefer the Commanders to the Cowboys. I don't really want to put the Cowboys defense on Yeah, I mean, the Cowboys defense is awful, obviously. Negative 1 and 1 the last 2 weeks. And I know who you're targeting there. So you could, you could try to be opportunistic, but I'd like the Commanders at home more.

Sure.

And then Cleveland plays the Jets and the Jets are slow. And so points are slow and Cleveland's defense has been pretty good. 7 points, 6 points, 9 points. That game is currently in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, it won't finish before any of the other games.

The Jets are ruining things. I mean, it really is like—

You never looked up and saw them on offense.

Never.

Never.

They are just— they are— it's funny because it's like you want to be like, oh, it's not a good defense. There's a great team to target. It's like, no, no, they're so slow that they are going to— they're going to always look like a good defense somehow.

I mean, you literally have to break— my brain went to like, okay, you play this game in the The Bears have 89 plays and you have 35. And I start thinking to myself, like, that's basically like saying in the scale set by the Jets, the Bears got 12 quarters of football on offense and the Jets got 4. If the Jets set the scale for how a game goes, that's wild. You're like, who's going to score more fantasy points? The team with 12 quarters or the team with 4?

Yeah, it works if you have a truly elite defense. But if your defense just allows them to pick up third down or an elite running game and have these long drives, it doesn't work for you.

It's just funny. It's a funny story. That was the waiver wire presented by T-Mobile. When you're updating your roster right before kickoff, you've got coverage that you can count on. Just another reason game days are better with T-Mobile. Check it out at t-mobile.com/membership. Let's talk quarterbacks.

Full stream ahead.

I think we'll let Mike go first here because he has the lowest rostered option by far on our streaming quarterback segment.

I went to put him in the—

did you?

Yeah, absolutely. He's a great start.

All right. We'll jump in.

Steel underpants. Jump into your steel underpants?

Yeah. That could be painful. Yeah.

We'll go one way each. All right. Doesn't really protect you. The parts you want protected are very exposed. It's Jacoby Brissett against Detroit. I don't love the fact that they just lost their left tackle, but being the Cardinals.

Yeah.

Yes. Thank you. The Arizona Cardinals, but a 54.5-point over-under. The Detroit defense allowing over 300 passing yards per game. Week 1. Shuck Daddy, QB4. Week 2, Josh Allen, QB1. Check this out. Week 3, remember I was talking about the Jets and how terrible it was? Geno Smith was the quarterback 3. Bryce Young, QB5. This is a defense that we can play anyone else against.

Hey, where's the beef? Yeah, I mean, I really— Jacoby Brissett is just the weirdest. I think, I think he's basically Winston.

Yeah.

He's Winston, but he's a little bit more measured.

Except for he had 3 picks last week. Yeah.

No, he still gets the interceptions, but he doesn't get the interceptions of just like Malik Nabers is down there somewhere.

I just, you know, 166 yards against the Giants. I just feel like you, he can throw for 400 and he can just look terrible. But the important thing to know is the Cardinals will lose because he's got to keep his 2-14 record building.

Yeah. But it's all, It's all good. 304 passing yards per game, people.

There are 2 quarterbacks that are heavily rostered but minimally started right now. One had a good week last week. One had a terrible week. I'll bring up the Matthew Stafford start. He was not good last week. They survived and a miracle comeback at the end of that game. Thank you, Kyren Williams. That was the reason why. But here you go. Monday Night Football against the Bills. Oh, that's so exciting. 54.5 over-under.

That's going to be so much fun to watch.

So I think Stafford, if you have him on your bench, if he's been dropped, if he's dropped this week, which this is the one you look out for.

Yes.

When you have the bad week, people will move on to another quarterback. That's why I'm flagging it. He was only 49% started last week. It will be a lower number this week. I think you put him right back in.

Yeah. Another player in the same boat who was dropped. He's heavily rostered, but all on new teams. Drake Maye was Dropped in every league and then someone picked him up and probably had him on their bench when he went off this past week. I think the matchup— I sure did. Exactly. I think the matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders at home, the defense has been good, but the offense has been good. And I think that's the important part is that the Raiders are going to be able to score. And Drake Maye looked great last week. Patriots are still 3.5-point home favorites. I'm willing to take that risk gamble and put him in there. I also like Jordan Love in the game environment against Chicago. However, just watch out. It's way too early to know wins, but it does look like it might be a little too windy in Lambeau. So be on the lookout.

I was just realizing that Stafford, so he's starting Monday Night Football. That will be right probably a few hours after I hit a hole-in-one.

Yeah.

I don't know if people really, we haven't talked about it in a while.

No, the hole-in-one challenge, which I mean, not much of a challenge really. But it will be taking place next Monday. So I don't, I don't know when, when Matt's going to have the video to you, but it's going to be a lot of editing.

So it might take him a couple of weeks.

I, honest truth, due to the hours of missing. I just don't want to be down there that long. So I figure I need to make it sooner than, because I don't want you guys to be stuck down at the course. You know what I mean? It's, it's for you.

Don't worry about me, man. I'm going to be having a great time.

Oh yeah. Mike and I are going to be really enjoying ourselves.

Yeah.

It's going to be great.

So I figure I'm going to predict that I make the hole-in-one in about 2 hours.

Okay. I'm going to predict you leave injured.

Okay. How much time do I have, Matt? 12 hours. 12 hours.

I'm going to predict you leave.

I mean, Monday Night Football.

No, 8 hours.

Monday Night Football.

You give up after 8 hours.

You guys will get to watch the game. Somebody can, while I'm, if I'm still going, which I'll probably be going for my second hole-in-one at this point. But you got somebody can hold a screen up for me so I can watch the game.

Sure. Yeah, we got you for sure. We'll figure it out.

So that's finally happening. So that'll be super easy. All right. That'll do it for today's episode of the show. We'll be back tomorrow. Thursday night preview mailbag. We have a snap count episode or a segment tomorrow. Starts of the week on Thursday and the week continues as we head into week 5. Good luck with the fantasy teams. A reminder, if you want to be a part of the community, get access to the Tons of premium tools, new ones coming all the time. Head to jointhefoot.com, become a Foot Clan supporter.

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