Rest of Season Rankings REVEALED: Who’s CLIMBING and Who’s CRASHING? 😱 | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football: “Rest of Season Rankings REVEALED: Who’s CLIMBING and Who’s CRASHING?”

Podcast: Fantasy Focus Football (ESPN)
Hosts: Field Yates, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay
Date: October 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on major shifts in rest-of-season fantasy football rankings as we enter the crucial mid-season stretch. The crew—Field, Daniel, and Mike—delve into key risers and fallers based on updated strength of schedule, player health, depth chart movement, and recent performances. The conversation is lively, peppered with classic banter and a few deep statistical dives. They also discuss trade and start/sit strategies, the playoff outlook for several fantasy-relevant teams, and how minor news like IR moves and depth chart changes ripple through fantasy leagues.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Strength of Schedule: The New Fantasy Lens

[02:50] Daniel sets the table:

• The main theme: leveraging Mike Clay’s just-released strength of schedule (SoS) analysis to adjust the rest-of-season fantasy rankings.

[08:04] Mike updates on the new ESPN SoS tool:

“We built the page on ESPN.com so you can just go there and check that out every single week.” – Mike Clay

• SoS comparisons are provided for all key positions—quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, even kicker.

Notables:

• Patriots have the easiest schedule for kickers ([08:24])
• Ravens’ schedule goes from most difficult to among the easiest for almost all fantasy positions ([40:32])

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2. Stock Up: Players Trending Up (Who’s Climbing)

[02:53] Field and Mike’s picks for risers:

• Field: Jauan Jennings (WR, 49ers)
  Reasons: Brock Purdy returns soon, increased target share (over 23% last two games), 49ers have 8th easiest SoS for WRs rest of year.

  “Jennings… is going to end up being a more effective player. Worth noting… as of this conversation, there’s no sign of Ricky Pearsall on the field at practice for the Niners.” – Field ([03:14])

• Mike: Jaylen Warren (RB, Steelers)
  Reasons: Underproducing in TDs but has high usage (13.8 carries, 3.7 targets/game), schedule flips from tough to 6th easiest for RBs.

  “He’s very much in the running back one conversation… the deeper into the year you get, it’s harder to find buy lows. I feel like there’s a little value on him.” – Mike ([05:54])

• Daniel: Javonte Williams (RB, Cowboys) Reasons: Snap share (74%), top 10 in many RB metrics, passing game involvement.

  “I am all in on him. Shows no signs of slowing down in the second half of the season.” – Daniel ([10:00])

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3. Stock Down: Players Trending Down (Who’s Crashing)

[11:20] Who might be fading as the schedule tightens or roles decline?

• Field: Garrett Wilson (WR, Jets)
  Schedule: Faces Browns, Patriots, Ravens, Falcons, Dolphins after bye; offense struggling; possible QB change on horizon.

  “Wilson… might slide back into like mid-tier WR2 status.” – Field ([13:02])

• Mike: J.K. Dobbins (RB, Ravens) Reasons: Lacks passing work, faces the hardest RB schedule going forward, playoff path brutal (Packers, Jags, Chiefs).

  “He might be a liability during the fantasy playoffs.” – Mike ([15:19])

• Daniel: Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR, Cardinals) Reasons: Schedule becomes neutral, highly TD-dependent, not delivering WR2 value.

  “He is who he is at this point.” – Daniel ([18:04])

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4. Start/Sit and Week 9 Decisions

[24:07] Hot takes and actionable moves for the immediate week:

• Starts:

  • Kyle Pitts (Falcons TE): Strong recent usage & favorable matchup vs. NE ([24:07])

    “Kyle Pitts is someone you could potentially count on here in week 9 as a potential top 10 to 12 tight end.” – Daniel

  • Kamani Vidal (RB, Chargers): Strong workload without Omari Hampton, great matchup vs. Titans ([25:57])
  • Travis Hunter (WR, Broncos): Usage expanding, sees career-highs before the bye, plus matchup vs. Raiders ([27:29])

• Sits:

  • Jordan Mason (RB, Vikings): Little passing game involvement, extremely TD-dependent ([30:28])
  • Tony Pollard (RB, Titans): Volume, snap share, and offensive environment all trending down ([32:32])
  • Bill Crosby Merits (RB, Commanders): Game script, tough matchup, not involved in passing game ([36:55])

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5. Trade/Strategy Tips and Rest-of-Season Targets

[38:37] Bounce-back and trade candidates highlighted for the home stretch:

• BUY:

  • Lamar Jackson (QB, Ravens): Schedule flip from 32nd-hardest to 5th-easiest, dual-threat upside ([39:06])
  • Bucky Irving (RB, Bucs): Post-bye, schedule improves, quietly high-volume player ([41:15])
  • Justin Jefferson (WR, Vikings): Easiest WR SoS rest of season, QB confidence stabilizing ([45:40])

• SELL/EXPLORE:

  • Patrick Mahomes (QB, Chiefs): Schedule turns brutal, could trade for value – “Mahomes goes from 10th to 32nd going forward.” – Field ([53:55])

“If you have Patrick Mahomes, who’s currently quarterback one, potentially dipping down to like quarterback five, you could orchestrate a really interesting maneuver right now.” – Field ([54:08])

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Other Key Insights

- Injury & Roster Moves Analysis

[19:38] Field breaks down the “roster gymnastics” related to Michael Carter on the Cardinals, explaining how teams work around cap rules and roster limits.

- Humor, Culture, and Quotes

“If you don’t have the passing down work at all, it just crushes your… It’s really tough. It can’t bail you out.” – Mike on Jordan Mason’s fantasy value ([32:10])

“He is who he is at this point.” – Daniel on Marvin Harrison Jr. ([18:04])

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- Fun & Memorable Banter

• On bad fantasy luck:
  “How much lower can [Jerry] Judy go?” – Field, on volatile WR performances ([16:32])
• Mike gets stuck with two “punishments” from the “Start/Sit Wheel,” contemplating doing a helmeted Bobby Boucher voice as payback ([65:08])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:50] Rest-of-season SoS & why it matters
• [05:54] Jaylen Warren and RB value swings
• [10:00] Why Daniel is high on Javonte Williams
• [11:11] Turning to players who are trending down
• [13:02] Garrett Wilson’s tough road ahead
• [15:19] Dobbins: playoff red flags
• [18:04] Marvin Harrison Jr.: Changing expectations
• [24:07] Start/Sit of the week: Kyle Pitts, Kamani Vidal, Travis Hunter
• [30:28] Daniel on Vikings RBs and sit calls
• [32:32] Field buries Tony Pollard’s rest-of-season value
• [39:06] Lamar Jackson: Ultimate buy-low?
• [41:15] Bucky Irving: Quiet bounce-back candidate
• [45:40] Justin Jefferson: Weaponizing strength of schedule
• [53:55] Patrick Mahomes: Shock-tough schedule ahead
• [65:01] Punishment wheel, wrap-up, and mailbag

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Closing Mailbag (Selected Highlights)

• George Pickens vs. T. Higgins vs. Tetaira McMillan: All pick Pickens due to matchup and usage ([61:46])
• Brock Bowers vs. Oronde Gadsden at TE: Bowers if active, but both are strong options ([62:37])
• Addison vs. Moore vs. Quentin Johnston for ROS flex: Mike ranks Addison, then Johnston, then Moore ([64:31])

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Tone and Style

This episode is rich with the classic Fantasy Focus blend: in-depth fantasy strategy, updated data insights, and plenty of relatable, lighthearted fun. Expect actionable takeaways, clear player analysis, and ongoing inside jokes—all delivered in a direct, debate-style tone.

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Notable Quotes

“He’s very much in the running back one conversation… I feel like there’s a little value on him if you’re looking to make a deal.”
– Mike Clay on Jaylen Warren, [06:13]

“You can no longer look at [Marvin Harrison Jr.] through rose colored glasses… He is who he is at this point.”
– Daniel Dopp, [18:04]

“Jennings… is going to end up being a more effective player. Worth noting… as of this conversation, there’s no sign of Ricky Pearsall on the field at practice for the Niners.”
– Field Yates, [03:14]

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Episode Takeaway

The fantasy landscape is shifting rapidly as the NFL season enters the back half. Successful managers should reevaluate the rest-of-season potential of key players based on health, usage, and especially schedule. Buy low on elite talents when adversity and tough early-season defenses have cratered value; don’t hesitate to bench or even trade away “name” players trending into brutal situations.

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For more, visit espn.com/fantasy and follow the team on social media.

Transcript

[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

Plus outfit recommendations and styling tips. I keep what works and send back the rest. It's so easy. Make style easy. Get started [e-mail] Spotify. That's stitchfix.com Spotify.

[Daniel Dopp]

What's good, friends? Welcome into Fantasy focused Football presented by Little Caesars alongside Field Jates and Michael Clay. My name is Daniel Dopp. Honestly, a little bummed. Yesterday was a ton of fun having Liz on the show.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Now we got to have Mike instead.

[Field Yates]

Has Liz already flown home?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, Liz is still here. She's doing work at the mothership right now.

[Field Yates]

So, like, hypothetically, Liz would have been available for this show.

[Daniel Dopp]

She would have been. Yes.

[Mike Clay]

She's right there. I mean, I could just.

[Field Yates]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

I just. We just check out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can we do a tag team? We do like a. You guys. Were you into tag team wrestling back in the day or just like straight up single person wrestling?

[Field Yates]

My kids are now getting old enough where they allow me to do fake wrestling moves on them and it's awesome.

[Mike Clay]

Love that.

[Field Yates]

But they think it's a game. They're like, this is amazing that you're like, you know, doing like, you know, flips and moonsaults and all this stuff.

[Daniel Dopp]

Meanwhile, you're like 25 and oh, against them. They have no idea you've dominated.

[Field Yates]

That's right.

[Mike Clay]

No, really? I'll go take a nap. You want me to? I mean, I'm still on that topic. I don't know what you guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right, well, we're gonna dive into a bunch of fun stuff today. Very excited to have you here, I guess. We are excited to have you, Mike. Obviously we only get to have you a couple of days a week. So pumped to be able to have you here. So shout out to our friends over at trophy smack. Visit trophysmac.com for 10% off. Use the promo code focus10 over there. Today we're going to dive into some rest of season rankings and how we are looking at players based on the strength of schedule. Mike, yesterday you put out a big strength of schedule update for the rest of the season. So we're going to talk about some guys that we are high or low on based on the rest of the season as well as some start sit options for us this week. And we Spin the start of the week. Excuse me. The punishment wheel for starts of the week.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that works.

[Daniel Dopp]

Excited to see who gets to spin that.

[Mike Clay]

It's late. She's not here, so.

[Field Yates]

Oh, that's what it is. So somebody can stand in Liz's place.

[Mike Clay]

That's right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. We'll figure out who that is later on in the show. And shout out to our buddy, Eric Moody. Follow him on social media, Rick N. Moody and hang out with him in our YouTube chat. Loves answering the questions and we love being able to have Eric in there. So shout out to our buddy. Let's dive in right now to our rest of season rankings locks. We are going to use Mike's strength of schedule for the rest of the season to talk about a couple of different people. Here we go. We got a guy that we are high on and a guy that we are low on rest of season.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm going to start with you, Phil Jates, for the guy you are high on first.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. So I interpreted this as a player that's maybe going to trend up and one who might trend down. I don't want this to be interpreted as this guy goes from wide receiver 40 to wide receiver 8 or something. I also don't want it to be taken as this guy's going to go from wide receiver 8 to wide receiver 40. It might just be a slight uptick or a slight downtick. My player who I think is trending up, though is Juwan Jennings for the 49ers.

[Mike Clay]

Okay. All right.

[Field Yates]

I think this weekend we have. Well, I don't know. I don't think this. Kyle Shanahan has indicated there's this chance that we'll see Brock Purdy this weekend one way or another. Brock Purdy is coming back relatively soon, whether it's week nine against the Giants or week 10 for the 49ers. And I think that obviously gives a boost to Juwan Jennings and the entire offense. Mac Jones played really, really well. That being said, Brock purdy now makes $55 million for a reason. Jennings has just one game all season with 10 or more fantasy points. He is not at the moment viewed as a lineup lockdown. He's practicing in full now. He was hurt for much of the first half of the season. Brock Purdy is going to come back soon and they have the 8th easiest, 8th easiest schedule going forward for wide receivers according to Mike clay. Do the 49ers. So Brock Purdy coming back. Jennings getting healthier. He's got back to back games with a 23.3% or higher target share, better schedule going forward. Makes me feel like Juwan Jennings, who's been so clutch for them for so long, is going to end up being a more effective player. Worth noting that Brandon Aiuk, he might end up practicing at some point. There's no certainty that he practices and then actually plays in games. Feels like eyes are mostly fixed on 2026 for Brandon Aiyuk and as of this conversation, and it could change in five hours, there's no sign of Ricky Pearsall on the field at practice for the Niners.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, he's that guy. There's always guys like this throughout the season. Every year that you're like, okay, well he didn't go on IR so probably a week or two and then I leave him in the projections and it's like, no, that again. But then I have him in there the next week and then no, bad again. And like your soul's in there again. Because I just keep assuming or it just seems like one week away, but it's that week never comes.

[Field Yates]

And that, by the way, is how I would go about it as well if I were in your seat here. Because the 49ers have not said he's going to be out this weekend. There just seems to be some a lack of clarity in terms of his practice status to begin the week. So I do think that Joanne Jennings will trend up as this Niners team, by the way, also playing really consequential football. You know, one of the things that I thought about as I was going through this is are there guys that are playing well right now that are veterans on poor teams? Like if Calvin Ridley doesn't get traded before next Tuesday's deadline and the Titans continue to struggle, might there be a time later on in the year where Ridley sees his snap percentage go down a little bit? Only because it's like we have to see what we have and or more of what we have in Timber, Ray DK and also Ellok IO manners. Jennings was my first one. You got anybody, Mike or no?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I sure do. A guy that I have ranked fairly well.

[Daniel Dopp]

Mike said no. Did anybody make.

[Field Yates]

I don't. Nah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't bring him to the table.

[Field Yates]

That I passed on the assignment.

[Mike Clay]

That sounds like a joke I would make.

[Field Yates]

But not today.

[Mike Clay]

I'm here for business, guys. Okay. I wasn't here Monday or Tuesday as you.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's right.

[Mike Clay]

You got to get to it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

A guy that pops out in my rest of season rankings and projections who it might surprise people that he's quite this high is Jalen Warren. I think Jaylen Warren is very much in the running back one conversation. He hasn't scored a touchdown since week one, but he's been unlucky in that department. His expected total is 2.9. He, he has five carries inside the five yard line. Remember, he did miss a game as well and they've had their bye week on top of that. But he's playing well. Four and a half yards per carry, 8.9 yards per target. He's averaging 13.8 carries and 3.7 targets per game. So that's solid. That works out to 17 touches. And this number might surprise you. How many yards per game do you think he's averaging this season?

[Field Yates]

74.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm going to say six or seven night.

[Mike Clay]

94.

[Daniel Dopp]

94 is much higher than I thought.

[Mike Clay]

94 yards per game.

[Field Yates]

You know the reason why I should have known that is I play in one non PPR league and I have Jalen Warren and I'm like man, this guy every week is pretty good for me.

[Mike Clay]

Just keeps chipping away. And again he's kind of like below based on his usage he should be a little higher and I think he will get there. Some bad touchdown luck and a part of the reason he hasn't been where we want him to be is the Steelers have faced the sixth hardest schedule for running backs going forward. It projects as the sixth easiest so it actually frees up for him. So Jalen Warren is a guy that actually I feel like the deeper into the year you get it's harder to find by lows. I feel like there's a little value on him if you're looking to make a deal. So super bumped for him that. What do you got Mike?

[Daniel Dopp]

We got the just really quickly while we have this strength of schedule up on our screen. For those watching the YouTube. Mike, can you just give us like a quick overview of what the screen is showing us here when we look at it?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, so if you're looking at the screen, the upper left corner, we'll just start with the jets right there you see a six in green for year to date for quarterback. So they've had the sixth in easiest schedule for quarterback so far this season. And then right next to it is for quarterbacks rest of season it's 19th. So kind of a mid pack schedule going forward for to Rod Taylor or Justin Fields, whoever's under center right next to that. Actually just to give you a better indicator there, the jets running back so far have had the Easiest schedule so far this season and it gets a little tougher going forward. So it's laid out for all six of the key fantasy positions. Love that.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, go check that out. Not only is it available at your on your social media, Ike Clay, NFL on the web.

[Mike Clay]

Now, this is the first week I posted every week on social starting with like week five. Five once we have a good sample. But now we built the page on ESPN.com so you can just go there and check that out every single week.

[Field Yates]

Can I tell you something?

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

You're a sicko.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

Kickers. Yeah, I saw that you got kickers in there.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Who has the easiest schedule going forward for kickers?

[Mike Clay]

The easiest schedule for kickers is the Patriots, actually.

[Field Yates]

Oh, wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow.

[Field Yates]

And by the way, the kicker is all of a sudden money.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, well, that's. Yeah. In kicker there is a little bit of cool correlation with schedule because, you know, the easier the schedule, the more likely the kicker is to score points. I mean, fantasy.

[Field Yates]

What an opportunity for the patriots right now. Man. 6 and 2, light schedule, light schedule. Quarterback is the real deal. Who is your pick for a player who stock up for the rest of the season.

[Daniel Dopp]

You probably don't even need to kick if you're the Patriots. Knowing that Drake Mall's Drake ball's deep. Drake May's deep ball is so good.

[Field Yates]

Oh, yes.

[Mike Clay]

You got this.

[Daniel Dopp]

Listen, I did a little bit differently than you guys.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Because I looked at it from the start of the season to where we're at now and do I think it's going to continue? So, like from where we started to where I am now and. And my player that I am highest on is going to continue to stay high. I think is. We've already talked about him. Javante Williams came in as a mid tier RB2, probably actually a low end RB2 or a flex option in the.

[Field Yates]

Probably at best low end RB2. Correct.

[Daniel Dopp]

With the way that we thought this passing game was going to be great and the way that we look at this and the reason why I think this is going to continue is because of three things we're looking at. Is he getting playing time with that playing time, is he getting the opportunities or is he having to split time with other people and then is he taking advantage of that opportunities and turning it into production? He's on the field 74% of the snaps. That's the sixth most amongst running backs so far this year. There is no. Like we've seen a little bit of Jaden Blue come on the last couple of weeks.

[Field Yates]

I don't know.

[Mike Clay]

This is the week. Don't Richard Smith and Jaden Blue. I'm starting to both. And Bashal Tootin.

[Field Yates]

Nope.

[Mike Clay]

One of them.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Maybe we'll get to that. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

But I do not believe that we are at a spot where this is going to be a committee. It has very clearly been Javante Williams and a big part of that is he's top 10 in rush attempts, top 10 in rushing yards, top 10 in rushing touchdowns, top five in targets. So he's getting passing game work as well. Top 10 in receptions. And he has six games over 17 and a half fantasy points for this Dallas Cowboys offense. I thought coming into the season I was so out on Javante Williams. It was all pass catchers. Cause I just thought their defense was going to be bad. They were going to have to throw a bunch. But not only is he involved in the passing game, he looks so much better as a rusher this year than he did in the last season. So I am all in on him. Shows no signs of slowing down in the second half of the season. Mike Clay or is there signs of slowing down? What is the Dallas Cowboys strength?

[Mike Clay]

Schedule is on the tougher side, but nothing that's unattainable. I mean they are. It does show six hardest, so.

[Field Yates]

But it's been hard so far.

[Mike Clay]

It's been hard so far.

[Field Yates]

Good. Yeah, exactly.

[Mike Clay]

So I'm not super worried about it. But I will say, who would have thought a running back needs to escape Sean Payton to really take his name to the next level. I mean, the efficiency was not good there last year and maybe he really is just a year further out from the injury and has turned the corner. But the circumstances have worked out perfect for him. But again, it, that was always the sticking point with me. It was like, yeah, he has a path to potentially be a lead back. A lot of volume, a lot to like in the stylist offense. But you're like, but he didn't do it last year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

And he had great opportunity behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. A good offense. So why is it going to work now? And it has worked. It just, it's. He's made the leap.

[Field Yates]

All right, so let's go to the other side of the coin here and the player that I have, and I mentioned earlier very specifically, okay, it's not that this player is seeing a serious spike in value, positive or negatively, but perhaps a little bit of a discount going forward.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Garrett Wilson. And this one pains me because Wilson has Probably punched above preseason expectations so far. But consider some of the upcoming matchups assuming that Wilson is healthy coming out of the jets buy. For whatever it's worth, Wilson during the jets bonus practice yesterday was not on the field, at least when reporters were out there. So he's still nursing that knee situation. But his upcoming matchups include the Browns, who the numbers don't bear out that they have been dominant against wide receivers but still a very good defense. Yes, the Patriots, who I can't recall the exact numbers here, Mike, but Christian Gonzalez is back.

[Mike Clay]

He shadowed for the first time this season last week. And Jerry Judy, if you had him on in your lineup, hopefully you did it because he had zero catches.

[Field Yates]

Wow. So Christian Gonzalez confirmed. Awesome.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

Ravens, you like that matchup Even if they are trending in the right direction defensively, maybe not by then. Yep, by now. By then we'll see. But um, it has not been great so far. The Falcons, who yes, Darno Mooney got, excuse me, Jalen Waddle got the best of them this past week, but they have for the much of the season just been really, really good. And then finally the Dolphins, who Wilson and the jets have already played once, as Mike has told us several times before, is that the Dolphins numbers are a bit skewed by the fact that teams are just running the heck out of the ball against them. That being said, the Dolphins are still a team that like that might be the case in five weeks. Like the jets might just try to focus their offense through Breece Hall. And the jets also for the last five games, like they've scored only one touchdown three of five times. So like it's just a low scoring offense in general. So Wilson, who probably right now is viewed when healthy as like a borderline wide receiver one might slide back into like mid tier wide receiver two status.

[Mike Clay]

I would agree with that. And it could, it could help him if Tyrod Taylor takes over a quarterback just because it's going to be. He'll still run, but not as much as Justin Field. So there'll be a little bit more pass volume. It could be six to eight more pass attempts per game.

[Field Yates]

And I think this last weekend bought Justin Fields some measure of time.

[Mike Clay]

Another game. Although I was wondering if either way he might get one more look with that matchup against Cincinnati. I mean you're. I think you're right. I think he comes out of the buy and gets a start. But it might be Cleveland.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. And if they're playing the Browns, who.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, and he has 12 passing yards in the first half, we might see Tyrod in the second half. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

However, it's the Cincinnati Bengals who have given up the most fantasy points to running backs. And I realize he's a quarterback, but, like, if he just does the thing that he does with his legs and just runs against.

[Mike Clay]

That's why we ranked him as a starter last week, because he had the Bengals. I mean, as bad as it's been, it was a great matchup, and he delivered again.

[Daniel Dopp]

He did all right. All right, Mike, what about you? Who are you having low on your list?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Mike, I. This is a.

[Field Yates]

My first pick, just to be candid.

[Mike Clay]

What's that?

[Field Yates]

Our producer came back to me. Christina said, hey, Mike, and you pick the same player. I said, I'll pivot.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, you. Oh, go ahead.

[Daniel Dopp]

I like it.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

It's an interesting name because it feels like if you just. If you just mention this guy's name, you're like, oh, he's. He's been pretty good so far, but not as good as you probably realize. J.K. dobbins is a name on the list here, so 16.1 touches per game, but his best weekly finish is 14th so far. 121 yards last week, but it was against the Cowboys. No surprise. We gave him a value boost in the matchup. He's averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

[Field Yates]

Terrific.

[Mike Clay]

That's been the trend throughout his career. He's an efficient runner, but he has nine catches for 32 yards receipt through the air this year, hasn't cleared 10 yards in a single game. And all that has happened with the second easiest schedule for running back so far. Moving forward, it is hardest for running backs, so it's going to be tough. And also as if it's bad, not bad enough that it's hard going forward in the fantasy playoffs. Weeks 15 through 17, we'll say for the sake of this. The packers, the Jags, and the Chiefs, they're all top 10 against running backs so far. So if you're counting on Dobbins moving forward. Bless you.

[Field Yates]

Thank you.

[Mike Clay]

You don't get the passing game work. Rushing is going to get harder, and he might be a liability during the fantasy playoffs. So Dobbins is a one. I mean, this might be your window either now or next time. He has a decent game. Make that. Make the change. But they're playing Houston this week. This is a tough matchup.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Right out of the gate.

[Daniel Dopp]

Also, I just would love for you to mention that the kicker goes from the third easiest schedule to the 30th hardest schedule for the Denver Broncos.

[Mike Clay]

And to make a change if you have Will Lutz, apparently that's right. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Boy. Second easiest schedule to 32nd. Like you. Is there a team that or a position that had as big of a gap as Broncos running backs did when.

[Mike Clay]

You were looking at the largest?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think that would have to be 1 to 32.

[Field Yates]

So. Or 1 to 3.

[Mike Clay]

The only other one goes the opposite direction. It's the Ravens tight ends. They go from second hardest to easiest.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

Tight ends are always the tricky there. That might be the most volatile, volatile one there because it depends on who the tight end is. But that's the one that jumps out.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. The most was my pick.

[Field Yates]

It's a good, It's a good answer by Mike all the way around. All right.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was going to say Jerry Judy, but he's on a buy this week, so I didn't want to dance.

[Mike Clay]

Also Jerry Judy later.

[Field Yates]

How much lower can he go?

[Daniel Dopp]

That's the poll thing again. I started from where we were at the beginning of the season to where we are now. Do I think things will change from here? So for me, I am looking at a guy that was a mid tier wide receiver too, with growth expectations in his sophomore season.

[Field Yates]

In his sophomore season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay, Marvin Harrison Jr. And now he is a matchup dependent, touchdown dependent wide out. Who is Marvin Harrison Jr. Unfortunately, weeks in which he did not find the end zone this year, he's got five of them. Only one time did he top 7.8 fantasy points. He's just not getting volume. He's seen either five or six targets in five of his six healthy games. Ended up leaving one game early, obviously with a concussion, unfortunately. But even this week against the friendliest of defenses, the Arizona Cardinals play the Dallas Cowboys. Does Marvin Harrison Jr. Crack your top 20 at the wide receiver position? This not so almost means no. So the answer that we're playing the Dallas Cowboys and It's Marvin Harrison Jr. The former number four overall pick of the draft and we don't even have him Inside the top 20 at the wide receiver spot. And it's just because of the fact that there's no steady floor. I don't feel confident in a floor at all for Marvin Harrison Jr. You, you're hoping for boom weeks. You're hoping for big plays, you're hoping for touchdowns. So he's going to be a high upside flex play because of the fact he's playing the Dallas Cowboys. But Mike, I want to ask you, does the second half of the season maybe give some Schedule, hope and optimism. Or is it just all despair at this point?

[Mike Clay]

It's not despair, it's neutral. So seventh easiest so far, mid pack going forward.

[Daniel Dopp]

Seventh easiest to mid pack.

[Mike Clay]

So it's about the same really. That's within the margin of error. So nothing to.

[Daniel Dopp]

I feel like Marvin Harrison Jr. We have already done this. But just for me to say it, like we have fully changed our expectations as to who this player is for us in fantasy football. Yeah. You can no longer look at him with through the rose colored glasses of maybe he's going to take that step. He is who he is at this point.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Maybe someday he'll make that big league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sure.

[Mike Clay]

We've seen before, we've seen guys have.

[Daniel Dopp]

A new quarterback a couple of years.

[Mike Clay]

Devonte Adams. Adams, always the one we referenced.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Maybe the most, the best example. There's other guys too, I think. Roddy White, I believe was very similar to Nistar. Really slow. There's a few guys like that. But maybe, maybe he'll get there, but he's just not there yet.

[Field Yates]

Two things, you know, the big difference, obviously people are always going to respond with yeah, But Marvin Harrison Jr. Was the fourth overall pick in the draft.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Field Yates]

Like you expect a guy taking fourth overall to come out of the gates and be excellent right away. This is a thing kind of tying back. Circling back to yesterday, we were talking about Michael Carter and roster gymnastics. And of course, Mike, you track this every single day because you are updating the projections literally every single day. I wanted to just address this like a little bit because I did sort of, I said, hey, you know, one of the logical explanations for why he was cut on Monday is you can avoid paying the active roster salary at the beginning of the week. That is a, that is like a thing that can happen with teams. I don't want to make it. I am not saying that the Cardinals did this thing. They were motivated exclusively by finances. The Cardinals brought back two players from IR yesterday. They designated them to return. It could be a simple roster gymnastics thing. Hey, we need two roster spots to get those two guys back up on the 53 man roster on Monday. Because they play a Monday game, they can elevate Michael Carter from the practice squad to the 53 man roster. Which by the way, if they do that, he gets the same check he would have gotten if he was on the 53 man roster the entire time. So I think Michael Carter will be made whole one way or another. But this time of the year you see a ton of roster gymnastics with players Coming back from IR and practice squad elevations.

[Daniel Dopp]

I've been talking Cardinals case is probably.

[Field Yates]

A little bit more straightforward than I made it seem yesterday. Probably just we needed two roster spots. We're going to take care of that early in the week and we'll figure out the roster later on in the week. As opposed to skirting a few thousand dollars.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

You know what I did for the projections when that news broke that he got cut? I did nothing. It's the exact same role I assumed you would play. So I, I think I. I texted you guys right after that and said probably roster gymnastics.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Mike Clay]

So, yeah, it's common.

[Field Yates]

Yep. So this stuff, it's just a funky time of the year. A lot of injuries, teams are managing. But yes, I think we all expect him to be on the field on Monday night as a 53 man roster player. Because if not, Bam might. Might get 25 carries and seven targets. Yeah. So we'll keep an eye on that one. Again, the elevation would be due by 4pm Eastern on Monday time. So it's not. They could do it any day, but it would be 4pm Eastern time on Monday.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Bam Knight, we already have inside the top 20. Feels like he would just get even more on here this week.

[Mike Clay]

So maybe, maybe one more. But Trey Benson eligible to return after this week, but. So you might get a.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll see.

[Mike Clay]

Good matchup here. Good matchup for Bam Knight and then perhaps often running with Trey Benson, which I hope so. Cause I got him on waivers now. Did you? Last night. I did. You got. You got Tracy, I think. Right? Did I say or no? No. Dan Graziano got Tyrone Tracy. We had two good running backs available on waivers.

[Field Yates]

Didn't Graz have Trey Benson?

[Mike Clay]

He did. He cut him on Sunday for Bam night.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, it was on the Michael Carter train. I've actually been talking with HR to see if we could cut Mike every Saturday just to keep him on his toes to be like.

[Mike Clay]

Are you sure you're going to cut me?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Every Saturday. Every Saturday we cut you and then bring you back on Sunday. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

You can only do that three times. So then you have to put me on the active roster.

[Daniel Dopp]

So that's tough. I'm not sure your active roster material, Mike. Let's do some stardom or sit them here for week nine.

[Field Yates]

Ooh, my FF now team is shaping up right now. Let's go.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sometimes it's really fun on Wednesday to look at your squad after waivers ran and you're like, let me get in.

[Mike Clay]

Bye week. When guys come back from buy weeks because some of the mine got devastated by buys last week. So I'm like, all right. No, I'm still.

[Field Yates]

I'm on right? And Rasheed Rice worth noting.

[Mike Clay]

Your your team is good. Wow, you're wheeling me in in points. I'm still first in points, but I've lost three in a row right there alone.

[Field Yates]

Malik neighbors out for the year. Omari and Hampton's been banged up and we're still doing.

[Daniel Dopp]

They're still doing it.

[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Mike Clay]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

You know who else has been cooking with gas lately?

[Field Yates]

Field I have no idea.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was a good segue though.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it was.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was great.

[Mike Clay]

We'll see.

[Daniel Dopp]

Three of the last four weeks, Kyle Pitts has scored 13 or more fantasy points.

[Field Yates]

This is our start of this is.

[Daniel Dopp]

Our start of this is my start.

[Mike Clay]

Talking positively about Kyle Pitt.

[Daniel Dopp]

I Decided. I decided.

[Mike Clay]

This is a first on fantasy, folks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you remember when we wore the shirts? Yes, the Falcons shirts. It wasn't Kyle Pitt's fault. Yes, it wasn't. Three of the last four weeks, he said 13 or more fantasy points, five for 70 and a touchdown for 18 fantasy points in week four. Went on a buy in week five. Had unfortunately a dud in week six and then seven for 62 on 10 targets in week seven and nine for 59 on nine targets in week eight.

[Mike Clay]

No Drake London.

[Daniel Dopp]

We're going to continue to monitor Drake London's hip injury. Thank you for that, Mike Clay. And he obviously didn't play last week, so we'll see if he doesn't play this week. If there's no Drake London, we're expecting even more. I mean, 10 targets and nine targets in each of the last two games. Like, if he's going to continue to get that kind of work, then I think that with where we're at with the starting tight end position, Kyle Pitts is someone you could potentially count on here in weekend nine as a potential top 10 to 12 tight end. And I want you to look at this. Okay. I realize it's difficult when you look at teams who have faced tight ends field. You have said this.

[Mike Clay]

It's tough.

[Daniel Dopp]

Cause it's like the tight end position is so all over.

[Field Yates]

Two good ones and all of a sudd.

[Mike Clay]

Exactly.

[Field Yates]

Toast.

[Mike Clay]

Yep.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is what the Patriots have done against tight end so far this year. Harold Fannin, 18.4 fantasy points. That's good. Dalton Kincaid, 16.8 fantasy points. Brock Bowers, 15.3 fantasy points. Tommy Tremble, 15.2 fantasy points. David Njoku, 13.7 fantasy points. Mitchell Evans, 11.3 fantasy points. If I'm getting 11 or more fantasy points from the tight end spot, I'm feeling pretty good with the starting tight end that I have.

[Mike Clay]

There are.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Only the Cincinnati Bengals have allowed more games of eleven or more fantasy points to the tight end position than the New England Patriots. Which is why we are back in on Kyle Pitts here in week nine, my friends.

[Field Yates]

All right, you convinced me there. My start of the week is Kamani Vidal, who I don't think this is a gigantic surprise for a lot of people, but just to kind of put a pen to or kind of. Excuse me, just like explain how good and how effective he has been at least in two of his three starts. We thought that when Omari Hampton got hurt, we might see both Hassan Haskins and Kamani Vidal. Not really. And Haskins has been hurt since. So that definitely impacts things. But 67% of the snaps, 65% of the snaps and 74% of the snaps over the past three weeks for Kamani Vidal. He has a hundred or more rushing yards in two of those three games. They draw the Titans this upcoming weekend. Their bottom eight in terms of holding opposing running backs off the board and fantasy points. Jim Harbaugh had some very nice things to say about Kamani Vidal. Joe Alt is back. The offensive line felt much more like itself yesterday. Makai Bect or last week I should say Makai Becton getting healthier as well. It's a good offensive line. Yes. Justin Herbert and this offense has been extremely pass focused. But it wouldn't surprise any of us if they're up big in this game. Vidal is a top 15 running back play for me this week.

[Mike Clay]

Love that. I like it. I think he's kind of found his way into that number two job. When Marian Hampton comes back, I'm sure he'll have a role. And that might be another month from now, but.

[Field Yates]

So we have no idea on Hampton. Like I and Stefania often reminds us of this is that people here. You've been placed on ir. Oh, we'll see you after four games. It's four games minimum, right? Right. So it could be six games for Hampton. Who knows?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

All right, my turn.

[Field Yates]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

This guy I almost used at the top of the show for a guy I have ranked higher. Yeah, he's played at rest of season but I'm pretty fired up to see what we get out of him this week. It's Travis Hunter. Yes.

[Field Yates]

Almost as my pick as well.

[Daniel Dopp]

I might as well.

[Mike Clay]

I have Travis Hunter.

[Daniel Dopp]

We Mike, I think you and I have him ranked pretty high this week.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I'm at a 35. Honestly, that might be too low. Actually you hear some of the reports right now. It's essentially that he might be the priority target going forward. Man, we might be flip flopping him and Brian Thomas soon and that might be like ah, there's no way that's true. But remember, I mean they actually invested more draft capital in Hunter than they did Thomas. So if he's a full time officer.

[Field Yates]

This regime that did that, right?

[Mike Clay]

Yes, this regime, that's right. And frankly Hunter is outplaying him right now. Certainly based on what we saw in the most recent game before the buy. Thirteen targets, eight catches, 101 yards and a touchdown. All four of those are career highs. In fact, that was his first game over 9.4 fantasy points. He had 24.1. Most notably here because obviously the big question with him is his usage. He was a full time offensive player until garbage time. He didn't play any defense until the final drive or two of that game. On top of all that, a great matchup here against the Raiders. More in this tomorrow. But they've allowed the fourth most catches and fantasy points to receivers as well as nine touchdowns. So Travis Hunter is a guy who you can feel better about starting and that was not the case a month ago.

[Daniel Dopp]

I actually picked.

[Field Yates]

But I'm the one that's 25th on Travis.

[Mike Clay]

I was just. Oh, you're even higher than us.

[Field Yates]

You guys are at 35.

[Mike Clay]

Are you ahead of Brian Thomas?

[Daniel Dopp]

He is. Yes.

[Mike Clay]

You have him ahead of time. It's going to be close.

[Daniel Dopp]

I actually have him at 22. I have him as wide receiver 22. Yeah, you're the lowest field you do have and maybe this is the thing, but like you do have Travis Hunter at 25 and you have Brian Thomas Jr. At 26.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, that sounds right.

[Daniel Dopp]

So you're right there next to each other. And I think that's why I have them so close. I think I have them at. At 19 and 22. So like they're just. I think the gap has shrunk now and that we, we're going to see more anyway.

[Mike Clay]

Let me, let me start over with a more negative outlook. So guys, he's only got double digit fantasy points one time.

[Daniel Dopp]

There you go. There you go.

[Mike Clay]

You're ranking him that high.

[Daniel Dopp]

That high. Are you kidding?

[Mike Clay]

Which honestly, there's some truth to that. I mean, there's a reason I'm hedging a little bit. I mean these, of course, you know, we need to see it more than. I still think he started.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm leaning into the optimism and the matchup that you described.

[Mike Clay]

And look, I have him on a bunch of Raiders. I'm pumped. I feel like now I have a potential flex option or a wide receiver three going forward. Maybe more than that. Yeah, there's at least one you mentioned. Yeah, I want. That's what I wanted to refer to. You said something about this isn't a guy that I'm going to, I think is going to go from like wide receiver 40 to wide receiver 8. Like Hunter. Could there be that guy? Make a short list of guys that could make that leap. I mean we saw Brian Thompson, Bobo. That's it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. Yeah, that checks out. All right. I want to talk about some Vikings running backs. Jordan Mason's last three games 16 for 56 and a touchdown for 12.6 fantasy points. 15 for 57 and a touchdown for 11.7 fantasy points. And then 5 for 6. No touchdowns, 1.6 fantasy points. If he doesn't score a touchdown, he's scoring somewhere between like five and seven points a game.

[Field Yates]

Does that mean that he has exactly zero receiving yards on two catches over those last three games? Let me pull this up.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's a great question. Why don't you pull that up while I do the rest of this? Yep, you worry about that, but he should be. We've talked about this field has already mentioned this before, but right now with the lack of pass catching ability in this offense and Aaron Jones being back now as a part of this backfield, I believe that unless you think this is a good matchup where Jordan Mason is going to get in the end zone, he's probably not startable. I think he should be on benches here in Week 9. Aaron Jones scored five fantasy points last week, played 53% of the snaps. He's the better of the two options. Because I do expect Detroit to be up in this game. I expect the game script to be a passing game. Running back is the one that you would for Jordan Mason. Exactly. So if there's one of these guys that you're going to start, it will be Aaron Jones. He is a flex option for me against the Detroit Lions. Thinking you're just going to get some passing game usage. Couple things though. Only one running back has topped 70 scrimmage yards against the Detroit Lions so far this year. Only three running backs have even reached 12 fantasy points against them. So if I'm going to pick one of these two running backs to do it, it's not Jordan Mason. It's going to be Aaron Jones through the air. I'm lowering expectations on both of them and I have both of them outside my top 25 at the running back position here in week nine.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Mason has been a major disappointment even with Aaron Jones for all but two games this season. He's been under 13 fantasy points in six of seven games.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not great.

[Field Yates]

Not great.

[Mike Clay]

Thought we'd get more touchdowns, more goal line work and more rushing volume. It just hasn't happened.

[Daniel Dopp]

I had him as a potential breakout after what he did starting the season last year for cmc. Obviously got hurt and then like coming to Minnesota, it was like, what happens if Aaron Jones either gets banged up or misses time because that's happened and he's a little bit of an older running back and it just didn't Materialize into that production we were hoping for.

[Mike Clay]

If you don't have the passing down work at all, it just crushes your. It's really tough. It's just you. It can't bail you out and give you like okay, bad rushing day. But still got eight or nine points. I could deal with that. But getting like what did you get last week? Less than a point. He had six yards last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

1.6 fantasy points. Yeah.

[Field Yates]

It was not seven total receiving yards over the last three games.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yikes.

[Field Yates]

Super touchdown dependent.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, what about you? Who you sit in field?

[Field Yates]

I am sitting. And again, no major surprise here. Tony Pollard, who coming into this season, maybe the hope was lots of volume. He was top 10 in touches last year. But over the last three games with Tajie Spears getting healthier, he's played four games total, but three games where he's been a real factor. Tony par has been under 60% of the snaps in each of the last three games. He was hovering around 80 plus percent of the snaps the beginning of the season. 44 or fewer rushing yards and zero finishes inside the top 20 for Tony Pollard. He has just one of those all seasons. I'm not sure there's anybody on the Titans offense you want any piece of in fantasy right now. Just an incredibly low ceiling because they don't score points. So I am out on Tony Pollard. I'm not sure that's going to change going forward.

[Daniel Dopp]

You said under 60% of the snaps in each of the last two games.

[Mike Clay]

Three.

[Daniel Dopp]

Three games.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Titans second hardest schedule going forward as well. So it's going to be a challenge. You have to hope at some point they give Tajie Spears more and more work. He's gone off a good game. It's very possible. But right now, nine carries was a.

[Field Yates]

Season high for Tajie Spears last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

By the way, do you think they trade Calvin Ridley? If I may be open to. With all these young receivers, I feel like they should. I think they traded Roger McCreary so they're. And by the way, they traded him with a shorthanded cornerback room. So that tells you they're looking to the.

[Field Yates]

I think the Titans could do it. Something along the lines of this is it's a lot of money for the rest of the season for Calvin Ridley for a team that will be acquiring him. And most of the teams that are acquiring him are good teams. Good teams usually are low on cap space because they have a lot of good players. Right. I could see it being one of those where a team acquires Calvin Ridley and the Titans pay down much of his salary for the rest of this season.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sure.

[Field Yates]

If you could have Calvin Ridley for $3 million for the rest of the year, you might be enticed if you have to pay $6 million for the rest of the year or $10 million for the rest. I don't know what exactly half the of. Of his base salary is.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's a big hard part is too. Like, I don't know how to think like a billionaire. Where it's like, what is $10 million this year but I get to maybe win a championship? Like, what does that mean to me? I don't know.

[Field Yates]

Let me pull up his.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's a tough quantifiable.

[Mike Clay]

It's tricky because it's been a rough year, and last year we saw two teams trade for veteran receivers and did not go particularly well with DeAndre Hopkins and Amari Cooper.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Mike Clay]

In Buffalo, who barely played. So we'll see. But it feels like it makes a.

[Field Yates]

Lot of sense way more than that. So his base salary is $22.5 million right now, which means that if he gets traded at the trade deadline, take that number and divide it in half 11.25. You'd have to have $11.25 million in cap space. And also you have to pay him that cash for the rest of this season.

[Mike Clay]

That's going to be tough.

[Field Yates]

I don't think anybody wants to pay him $11.25 million, but if the Titans said, hey, we'll pay 8 million of that 11.25 million, you're on the hook for the remaining 3.25.

[Mike Clay]

I could see a little more draft capital to do that.

[Field Yates]

You know what's amazing is we open up the. It's so funny how you open up the Google and you just search Calvin Ridley contract and the first thing that pops up, either it's AI or we're just. We've lost the plot here. This is from. I don't even know what this network is. Oh, the Titans are trading Calvin Ridley to the green bay packers 16 hours ago.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, this is all. Yeah, it's just fake stuff now. That's the Internet now. You really can't trust anything. Yeah, I see that stuff all the time. I keep seeing A.J. brown one traded. It's. It's nonsense.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's so frustrating. Can I really quickly, just while we're here, we take. We took a detour into the trade deadline. Cul de sac.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can I ask you guys if you felt like Is there a better chance that Calvin Ridley or Breece hall gets moved at the trade deadline? Because I feel like those are the two names that we kind of keep coming back to in fantasy football.

[Field Yates]

Probably neither.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's not like. That's not the question.

[Field Yates]

I know, but Breeze hall, they just had their best game of the season. Their only good game of the season. He was amazing. They're probably going to keep him.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it's so. Yeah, it's so tough. It's even like Jerome Ford makes a lot of sense. But now Judkins is hurt. So it's like all these guys. There's so many reasons why was Devonte.

[Daniel Dopp]

Adams a trade deadline trade last year or was that just a.

[Field Yates]

No, he was. He hurt his hamstring, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, that's right. He hurt his hamstring. I remember that.

[Mike Clay]

By the way, can we agree that, like, especially when we're ranking or evaluating them for fantasy. Calvin Ridley and Jerry Judy. Just the same guy. Yes, it's the same guy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

Spider Man.

[Daniel Dopp]

100%. Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. All right, join my sit for the week. I guess another running back that's not living up to the hype.

[Daniel Dopp]

Probably Jared Lauren.

[Mike Clay]

Bill Crosby Merits told you guys last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

What?

[Mike Clay]

You told us what he did.

[Field Yates]

I was like, I faded Bill last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was a good call by field.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, but it's not just last week. It's three in a row under six fantasy points in three straight games. We saw the big game. That's where we were like, here we go. Austin Eckler was out. He at the 25, 27 point game with two touchdowns in week five. But since then, guys. So in that game, 150 yards, two touchdowns, 27 fantasy.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's great.

[Mike Clay]

Last three games, a combined 125 yards, zero touchdowns and 12.5 not a fantasy points. Not good. They play Seattle this week. It looks like a neutral matchup, but it is very, very bad for Bill Crosby. And here's why. They're allowing an NFL O 3.0 yards per carry and just two touchdowns to running backs, but they've led the most catches to running back.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's the opposite of what his game is.

[Mike Clay]

That's exactly right. He's yet to clear two targets in a game. Has a total of six yards on four targets the last three weeks. So this is a, if anything a Jeremy McNichols game. It is not a Chris Rodriguez game or a Bill Crosby merit game. So he should be very much on bench.

[Field Yates]

Yeah. And the other fundamental change for Washington this year Compared to last year and compared to what our preseason expectations probably were. Is that. But they're not very good. Yeah, they're 3 and 5 right now, and they're staring 3 and 6 right in the face on Sunday Night Football against the Seahawks. If they get back on track and Jaden, who has magic within him, just makes them. Make them a winning football team, then Bill Crosby. Merit stands to benefit. Like they whooped the Chargers a few weeks ago. But if they're more like the team we've seen of late. Yeah, Then it's a problem.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not feeling great either way. But unfortunately, Field, you had a great call on this last week, Mike. Love that. For this week, unfortunately, we just got to find a way to get the ball in his hands in the passing game. Can we.

[Mike Clay]

They're not doing it.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's just not a thing.

[Field Yates]

Not going to happen.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, I'll stop trying to make it happen then. Guys, let's go ahead and dive into some bounce back candidates here. Okay? And like, maybe looking at this, we can look at rest of season, strength of schedule as well. Mike Clay, who brought Lamar Jackson to the table?

[Field Yates]

I did.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did we?

[Mike Clay]

I have two. Two of the four names we're gonna talk about, I brought to the table.

[Daniel Dopp]

So there was some. I brought one to the table. Do you have one to the table here as well?

[Field Yates]

I do, yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, you brought. Oh, yeah, no, no, no, no.

[Daniel Dopp]

But there was probably some overlap, which is why.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, well, Lamar J. List. Look, I know to some extent that this is kind of obvious. If Lamar Jackson is healthy, of course he's going to be terrific. But I wanted to do two things here.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

I'm going to talk about how good he has been so far when he's played this season, because his three full games, 29.4 points, 26.3, 27.0 guys. He averaged 24.8 last year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Wow.

[Mike Clay]

Okay, so he's actually been above that in all three games so far. He led the NFL in passing touchdowns with nine. He was second in rushing yards through week three. And. And on top of all that, just to re. You know, just establishing. We haven't seen him for a month. He's awesome. The Ravens quarterbacks go from the hardest schedule so far to the fifth easiest moving forward. Wow. And on top of that, the Ravens have two wins. They are. And this isn't like, hey, we. You know, sometimes you see quarterbacks that are very good that kind of can coast a little. Josh Allen won't run as much. You know, things like that, but off the pedal, right? They. They cannot. They have to have the foot all the way down to use your. Your reference. I mean, they have to win, win, win. They have to at least get to a over.500 to make the playoffs and then anything goes. So there's a lot to love about Lamar Jackson and I don't know if you have a more of a buy low window than you do right now. If he comes back in his one more big game, it's status quo. So if you can get them, Mike, now is the chance.

[Daniel Dopp]

This strength of schedule is great. I'm looking at this right now on our screen. Ravens quarterbacks go from 32nd hardest to fifth easiest.

[Mike Clay]

Hardest.

[Field Yates]

Yes, hardest.

[Daniel Dopp]

Running backs go from hardest as well, 32nd to 16th. So now mid pack for Derek Henry, Derrick Henry, forget about it. For wide receivers, it's basically a wash. Tight ends go from 31st to first and then the defense even goes from 30th hardest to the third easiest. Schedule. Ravens just have an easy schedule, basically across the board.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. I mean, and we kind of knew that. You look at their schedule to open the season, it was like good offense, good offense, good offense, good, good. So it's been a challenge and it lightens up a lot going forward.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, maybe the buy low window for all Ravens options here this week.

[Mike Clay]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

Do it by Thursday then.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Miami. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Have we heard anything new on Bucky Irving recently?

[Field Yates]

Nope. Nothing.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

I have no idea.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

But they are on a buy this week, so he won't play.

[Daniel Dopp]

Won't play.

[Mike Clay]

He's on my list anyway. Is he?

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, well then like tell us.

[Mike Clay]

Me to go again. Yeah, why not? Let's go back to Bucky Irving. He faces by this week. So you can't. You're not going to start him.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not starting this guy.

[Mike Clay]

Look again, very similar to Lamar Jackson. I wanted to reestablish again how good he was because I feel like it was kind of quiet, it was kind of the status quo out of the gate. But he was very good. 18.0 fantasy points per game during those four games. At least 13.9 in all four. So if you had him in your line, if you felt really good about that. A lot of volume. 17.8 carries per game and four plus targets. And all four. He caught every one. He got all 19 of his targets to open the season. And of course, this is the strength of schedule aspect here. Bucks running backs go from 8th hardest so far to 10th easiest going forward. That includes the Dolphins and the Falcons during The fantasy playoffs. Both have struggled against running backs this season. So Bucky Irving, again, you're looking at. It's always this roller coaster of value with players. Right now, it's down with Bucky Irving, especially with the uncertainty. But we do expect him back at some point. I guess there's still some risk there because we don't know for sure, and it's a little bit mysterious. But when he comes back, he should be in a really good spot.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that Bucks, I mean, going from 25th, hardest schedule to 10th, easy as. That seems really nice.

[Mike Clay]

And if you buy, you know, these. You know, if you're looking at this chart, it's very hard for the passing game. Passing game was difficult for Baker, hardest for the wide receivers.

[Field Yates]

It's been hard all year.

[Mike Clay]

It's been hard. And it's even harder going forward.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

All right.

[Field Yates]

By the way, your chart looks like a gigantic Christmas tree.

[Daniel Dopp]

The red and green with everything.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it's cool.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

But if you're colorblind, which. Can you see it?

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

I can see it. Okay. But I am not. No, I am colorblind. But. But these ones that you chose are okay.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we do that intentionally. We're very aware of colorblind, but the numbers are on there, too, so.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did I ever tell you that, like, growing up, my mom had no idea that I was colorblind?

[Field Yates]

Yes. Sorry.

[Daniel Dopp]

She had no idea. I went to basic training. I had to do, like, the test, and they were like, tell us the numbers in the circles.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, that.

[Daniel Dopp]

And I was just like, there's. It's just a bunch of dots. What are you talking. And they were like, oh, no, this is a problem. And my mom was like, this makes so much sense now because you looked like an idiot when you went to high school. Every day your clothes didn't match, you'd wear, like, blues and blacks and browns and all these colors that don't fit each other. I got a Rosie at home. That figures it out for me now. That's why, so. But thank you for being this guy, for all the colorblind people in our lives, making sure we can still see your shirt.

[Mike Clay]

That's right.

[Field Yates]

We're seeing problems. You ever show up late to the game and your friends already saved your seat, your drink, even a plate that's looking out, that's having your back. And that's exactly what AT&T does with the AT&T guarantee. They know staying connected matters. That's why AT&T has connectivity you depend on, guaranteed. Or they'll proactively make it right. Just like that friend who takes care of things before you even ask. AT&T connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for detail details.

[Daniel Dopp]

Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all new ESPN app. All of ESPN all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments. The electricity is palpable. Step up your game. With no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience.

[Mike Clay]

Level up.

[Daniel Dopp]

For more on the ESPN app or at stream espn.com Sign up now. Eight years ago, I blew my football career.

[Field Yates]

He dropped it at the one yard line.

[Daniel Dopp]

Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu. If I can't play as Russ, I'll play as someone else. My name's Chad and last name Lisa.

[Mike Clay]

From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning. Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is acting and starring Glen Powell.

[Field Yates]

He thinks you're a rubber chew toy.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not rubber. I'm a man. The Hulu Original series Chad Powers is.

[Field Yates]

Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundled subscribers terms apply.

[Mike Clay]

New episodes Tuesdays.

[Field Yates]

That's right. All right, I'm up. Next year. If we could, could we pull up the Vikings and how their matchups have been so far? Let's check that out going forward. Yeah, check this out. Trademark My clay.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, hey, you make your own video.

[Daniel Dopp]

That'll be fun.

[Mike Clay]

You're not allowed to say that phrase unless you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, is it like. Yeah, there's like a registered trademark next to it. Yeah, it's.

[Field Yates]

Seriously, can we. There we go.

[Daniel Dopp]

There we go.

[Field Yates]

So the Vikings, you may notice up to this point, have had the 22nd ranked schedule for wide receivers. Going forward, they have the easiest schedule.

[Mike Clay]

Sure do.

[Field Yates]

Number one. So does this bode well for Justin Jefferson who has not been a bus this year but has not been this like nuclear wide receiver a la Puka Nukua or Jackson Smith and Jigba or Jamar Chase, right? Yep, yep. There is a mitigating factor here which is that Carson Wentz is now out for the rest of the season. And Carson Wentz has proved that he can make Justin Jefferson what we need him to be like. That 10 for 126 game is awesome. And last week in the first half alone, Justin Jefferson had over 13 fantasy points. J.J. mcCarthy is back now and I expect J.J. mcCarthy to be the starter for the rest of the season for Minnesota. If he's really good, then Minnesota not only gets back on track, but the pick was justified. The 10th overall selection, the decision to let Sam Darnold walk, it was all justified. If he's not good, then we got some problems up there in Minnesota, not just in real life, but also probably for Justin Jefferson. But we are hopeful that JJ McCarthy. Here's where I think I have a little bit more optimism compared to where he was at the beginning of the season, is there's no longer a specter of Carson wentz hanging over J.J. mcCarthy's head. Max Brosmer, their backup quarterback, now undrafted free agent out of Minnesota. Actually, I'm just not convinced that Minnesota, if JJ struggles, is going to pull the plug to play Max Brock Field.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, am I totally wrong here? It felt like Carson Wentz was like borderline unable to play and they didn't want to put that backup quarterback.

[Field Yates]

That's been quite the popular subject up the Minnesota Twitter streets. No, I there's been a lot of talk of soft benching and I think the, you know, Vikings media has kind of rallied against that and been like, no, like he just wasn't healthy enough. Right. So the messaging, at least from the Vikings media and then in the Vikings themselves and national reporters has been the JJ just isn't quite ready yet. I'm taking them at their word on that. But now going forward, if JJ struggles, they don't have the Carson Wentz card to play. Like, if he struggles, but they hang in there and they're five and six after week 12, then you might say, let's try to go to Carson Wentz and see if he can't help us stay afloat in the playoff race with JJ's current struggles. Now, if that's the case, like, I just think they're going to play J.J. mcCarthy going forward. Hopefully that gives him a bit more confidence and peace of mind. Keep in mind, at the very beginning of the season, right, week one, he has one good quarter. Week two, he has a baby that week. Like the guy becomes a dad and he goes into a game on a short week. Like, maybe JJ is just set up for better success going forward. And that would mean good things for Justin Jefferson, who by no means has been bad. But there's a chance that we get Justin Jefferson back to the feels like.

[Daniel Dopp]

He'S set up for success going forward because his strength of schedule gets easier too. Right?

[Mike Clay]

Jefferson number one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. J.J. mcCarthy. Yeah, we were saying one of the easiest as well.

[Mike Clay]

But looking at more closely at the specifics of Jefferson's schedule hit me the he it is very light. He doesn't have any Hard games. The hardest is 17th easiest. So it's like mid pack is the toughest. Lions, Ravens, who we talked about him struggling. Maybe they'll be better. Chicago, Green Bay has not been good against him. Seattle's. That's, I think, the toughest one. That's a mid pack. Washington, they've struggled. Dallas, and now we're getting to the fantasy. The Giants, which you could see Paulson adibo that week, but where Giants have been bad against receivers. And then with everything on the line in week 17, if that's your championship, it's the Lions again, who, you know, they might be healthier a corner by then, but they're gonna have to throw against them a lot. And if you play in the week 18 even, it's the Packers. There's nothing harder than 17th easiest. So going forward, this passing game is at least set up for success. We'll see if they can deliver on it.

[Daniel Dopp]

There is Nothing harder than 17th easiest is a sentence I'm still trying to figure out right now.

[Field Yates]

Seventeen, you know, I'm not a big.

[Mike Clay]

Math guy myself, you know, enthusiast. Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, all right, all right. There you go. All right, all right. Got it. Okay, you guys gotta stop saying big words and sentences on the show.

[Field Yates]

What did Liz say again yesterday?

[Daniel Dopp]

She said yes. Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Proclivity.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

You've got a proclivity to say dumb stuff on this show. Mike, did I use it right?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, you didn't. Yes. What dumb stuff?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think I used it right.

[Field Yates]

One of them guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, one of you guys.

[Mike Clay]

Okay. I talk weird. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

County, Pennsylvania water.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can we talk about.

[Field Yates]

You don't say Wooder.

[Mike Clay]

No.

[Daniel Dopp]

You don't say our director, Brian Tay.

[Mike Clay]

I say enough weird.

[Field Yates]

He's a Delco guy.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's a Baltimore, Maryland thing. The worder.

[Field Yates]

I thought warder was Delco.

[Daniel Dopp]

Right.

[Field Yates]

Isn't that like Philly area?

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, they're all. They're all in that same.

[Mike Clay]

It is for some reason. I just didn't catch that one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, okay. All right, all right. No big deal.

[Field Yates]

People actually, they're like, you're from Massachusetts. Why don't you have a Boston accent? I've just trained myself. Like, growing up, I would just pack the cat. Have it yet. No, My mom's from Ohio. My dad's from Hawaii. I have no Boston accident.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like that just didn't happen. Yeah, that's hilarious.

[Field Yates]

Never happened. Yeah, I would have. Got a couple observations after this.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

After a buy in week eight, if you remember, in week seven, Sam Laporta had a tough outing three catches for 15 yards. Yeah, I see a bounce back coming this week for Sam Laporta. And one of the reasons why it's not just Sam Laporta, it's also going to be Brock Bowers and Trey McBride because they didn't get to play last week on national Tight end day. So here we go now heading into week nine against the Minnesota Vikings, if when you look at what Sam Laporta has done, 20 fantasy points in week five, 16 and a half fantasy points in week six, four and a half in week seven. It was unfortunately a dud there after finding the end zone in back to back games. And I feel like this is going to be another one of those situations we've watched. How are the Lions been utilizing their offensive stars so far this year? It is Amon Ra. It is Jameer Gibbs. Both David Montgomery and Jameson Williams have kind of fallen to the wayside based on what our expectations were. And Sam Laporta has, even though it hasn't always been fantastic, he's kind of found that spot as like the number three option in this offense ahead of I think those other two guys.

[Mike Clay]

So he's are Laporta.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're going to disagree.

[Field Yates]

I'm not like it's Sam's awesome. The offense is awesome. Yeah. It just feels to me like I have a hard time stamping that. Like anybody not named Amon Ra. Jameer Gibbs is a weekly stamp.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I mean he can't be. He's annoying me. He has three top five fantasy weeks. He's been outside the top 20 every other week so far this season. And guys, the targets aren't there. Remember he had that slow start last year and then he picked it up 7.2 targets per game going forward. And then he was really solid in fantasy. That was over a nine game stretch, including the playoffs this year. He hasn't cleared six targets in a game since week two. Yeah, it's a big dip in usage and it's, it's been problematic and it's led to. He's been one of the most boom bus players in Phantom.

[Daniel Dopp]

Are you not starting? So here's the hard part for me.

[Field Yates]

You're starting. Of course, of course. I'm just saying like what I don't think is that that territory of tight ends at the very top where it's like you don't have a, like this guy's going to play and you expect like 12 fantasy points a week. No problem.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's not him anymore.

[Field Yates]

You know Trey McBride, hopefully Brock Bowers you know, George Kittle, those types where you're like, those guys are not just like, their competitive advantages week in and week out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Field Yates]

Sam Laporta will be in some weeks for sure.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Field Yates]

I'm not sure he will in other weeks. Like. And I just can't blame them for what they do offensively. They're an absolute wagon. And if it's the Amanra and Jameer Gibbs show. And some weeks there's some Sam laporta, some maybe sometimes there's some JMO who apparently, like, barely ever catches the ball anymore. Crazy Monty has some weeks. Cleave Raymond has some plays.

[Mike Clay]

Like, yeah, people get mad at us sometimes. I'll tweet something about that. It's clearly a fantasy tweet. Right? Like the frustrations with Sam Laporte. And they'll be like, who cares about fantasy where our team's winning? Like, yeah, we know we're complaining about fantasy lines. Are doing anything wrong, that's fine, but it's still annoying to us.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sam laporta, anytime. Touchdown. Plus 185@ ESPN BET. I'm telling you guys this week, Sam Laporta finds his way in the end zone.

[Field Yates]

I love that. Okay, great observation from this sheet.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Great article. Really tremendous job. I love it. This is another reason why you're indispensable. I thought the most interesting one. And again, it's not going to move the needle in terms of whether you are playing this player or not, but at least introduces the potential for. Would you trade this player? Which right now seems like a ridiculous idea. Okay, Coop, off the Chiefs page there for a second.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, yeah.

[Field Yates]

Who has the hardest strength of schedule amongst quarterbacks for the rest of the season?

[Mike Clay]

1. Patrick. Yeah, I thought you were asking Patrick Mahomes. Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, really?

[Field Yates]

How about that? Mahomes goes from 10 to 30 seconds going forward. Is Patrick Mahomes not going to be a starter? No, of course he'd be a starter. But if you have Patrick Mahomes, who's currently quarterback one, potentially dipping down to like quarterback five, you could orchestrate a really interesting maneuver right now. There might be somebody out there that would say, I will give you my Jaden Daniels plus something for your Patrick Bohems.

[Daniel Dopp]

Ooh.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. This is. This is a tough slate. Starts this week with the Bills, Then they have the buy.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Then they go and play Denver on the road. Then they. And they have Denver again, by the way, during championship week. Week 17 is also Denver. But anyway, it goes Bills by Denver, then the Colts, then Dallas, which Is we love that one for sure.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, he might.

[Mike Clay]

That's the only light matchup on here, though, because then you have Houston, then you have the division game against the Chargers, and then you go to face Tennessee, who they haven't had to throw. No one's had to throw against the Titans. And especially then when they're, you know, so that might not be the big late game. You know, throwing a lot in the second half, scrambling a lot. And then I mentioned Denver, so. And Raiders, week 18, if you play then. So yeah, this is a. It's, it's. It's a lot tougher.

[Field Yates]

Now I got to ask this question. If the Chiefs win this weekend at Buffalo, going to their buy, come back, beat the Broncos, then beat the Colts, like, do we just book hotels for them in Santa Clara at that point?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Field Yates]

Just wanted to make that that clear.

[Mike Clay]

Although, I mean, your Lions at this point, at that point last year were like, they're going to the super bowl. And they felt that way. Hurts.

[Field Yates]

I'm just saying, like.

[Mike Clay]

But injuries aside, yes.

[Field Yates]

If ever, like, if you're the Colts and you're the Broncos, like, and you're smelling some blood right now, that they both have at least a game in hand over Kansas City, if you don't take care of business, then like, oh, boy, you might regret going to Arrowhead in the playoffs.

[Daniel Dopp]

Game in hand is better than two in the bush, though.

[Field Yates]

I think that's true. Yes. One other piece of news. Isaiah Pacheco, now banged up. He got hurt late in that game and it looked really bad at first. And then he ended up, like, bouncing back up the training table and everybody was like, oh, he's made out of rubber bands. Sounds like he might be iffy for this week. Get ready to speak Kareem Hunt, people.

[Mike Clay]

And maybe I pulled Pacheco that whenever someone's. Whenever a team says a player's week to week and send a day to day, I pull them out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

I always pull them out. I mean, unless there's some reason not to. But yeah, that, that code, that's code for me because I'd say 98% of the time that players out that week.

[Field Yates]

I pulled him out to be 60% cream hunt at least. Maybe 40%.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Should be the passing down back. Not that they target the running backs a ton, but he should handle that with. Because Pacheco's kind of held it. It's been, it's been Burchard Smith with a little edge to Pacheco in passing, in the passing and Cream hunt not really involved and that included last year when Pacheco was out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can I really quickly I want to talk one nerdy strategy thing. Trigger warning for all the nerds out there. When you're going Mike, that's you. Specifically when we're looking at trades, you're talking about Patrick Mahomes. You said his buy is coming up next week. Yeah, I think one of the things that we don't talk about enough that I think is a really valuable thing to do is for you to look at quarterbacks if you're going to make a move who's already had their buy and can you trade a player that has yet to have their buy for a player that has already had their buy so you're not missing any playing time whatsoever.

[Field Yates]

Dude, I got somebody to tell you guys I actually made this trade in the war room and it's not that the trade has been the reason why my team is now four and four and has lost two straight games but the exact benefit you're talking about was like part of my calculation.

[Daniel Dopp]

That was part of it.

[Field Yates]

What the heck man. I traded for Caleb Williams post by. It was my Brock Purdy and Wandell Robinson for his Caleb Purdy.

[Mike Clay]

There you go.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's what we're talking about.

[Field Yates]

So Brock hasn't played then. So I would have been searching for. It's a 16 team league so I would. I would have been digging amongst the pile of like I don't even know who like truly. It's like a lot of teams have backup quarterbacks as well. So it's like Mac Jones. It would have been like Mac Jones. It would have been maybe Dylan Gabriel maybe I wouldn't go that low but yeah. Michael Penix. Okay Tua who was great last week but of course with tua it's up and down. Right.

[Mike Clay]

So.

[Field Yates]

So yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Anyways.

[Daniel Dopp]

Didn'T work out.

[Field Yates]

We'll talk more about Caleb tomorrow. It's an unbelievable matchup.

[Mike Clay]

Chicago, Chicago second easiest schedule for quarterback so far and it goes to fourth easiest. So it's so light going forward but he also has underwhelmed a lot.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay let's. But I want. Can I pump the brakes on like maybe just took that long in this new Ben Johnson offense for him to get there and now we're excited that fourth easiest still the rest of the way. There's some reason for optimism.

[Mike Clay]

Hopefully he adds value with his legs. Of course there is.

[Field Yates]

There's definitely potential but he needs to get cooking here in a hurry at least for our purposes. In Fantasy football.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed.

[Field Yates]

All right.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Mike Clay gets to spin the wheel. As a reminder, do we have our starts of the week from last week by any chance?

[Field Yates]

Well, the important part is that Liz Lowe's a loss and Mike is spinning in her place.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Doing her a solid. I didn't lose.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

So we look at it. Actually, the hilarious thing if you guys did not remember rushed us.

[Mike Clay]

Nice job.

[Daniel Dopp]

Thank you very much.

[Field Yates]

Really well done by Aaron.

[Daniel Dopp]

We look at this. Aaron Rodgers for Mike Clay. Both Mike Clay and field.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Isaiah Pacheco for both Mike and field. Kate Otten for both Mike and field. So it was really just down to which wide receiver came out on top. Field had Elick Ayomanner. Mike had Darnell Mooney.

[Mike Clay]

Disappointed me in a big way. I thought Calvin really might come back last week, but So I had three.

[Daniel Dopp]

Players that scored more than 19 fantasy points.

[Field Yates]

Went off King. Let's go.

[Daniel Dopp]

Holy smokes.

[Mike Clay]

Who's Brown? I don't even know who that is.

[Field Yates]

Hollywood.

[Mike Clay]

No, it's not AJ Right round.

[Daniel Dopp]

Great question. What did. Well, they did something for me.

[Field Yates]

It was a wide receiver or running back.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't remember.

[Mike Clay]

That wasn't Chase Brown, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

No, there's no Chase Brown. Oh, my gosh. And I had Troy Franklin as my anytime. You can trust Troy Franklin. We always do that here on the show, so.

[Mike Clay]

Yes, anytime. Yeah. Nailed it. Nice job. I deserve this one.

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I saw the payoff last year week's, by the way. So you guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, we got to double up.

[Mike Clay]

We could do two for one here.

[Field Yates]

We got to find sha, like, Pop Warner football helmet.

[Mike Clay]

Yep. Yeah, we do with my giant.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. We got a spin here from my play. Spin, spin, spin. And we're going to land on start the week accent.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. We. The accent that Mike is going to do is starts of the weekend landed dangerously close to ice bath.

[Field Yates]

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.

[Mike Clay]

I'm not doing the ice bath. Yes, I will.

[Daniel Dopp]

You might.

[Mike Clay]

I will pay your way out of it.

[Daniel Dopp]

You might.

[Field Yates]

Oh, ice bath. Whoa.

[Mike Clay]

I have one request for this. Do not get me canceled.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

Thank you.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'll tell you what you're. As long as you don't do a prospector accent and take it from me, then I'm okay with it.

[Mike Clay]

You nailed that.

[Field Yates]

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't. I'm not good at. I can't tell the difference between Australia.

[Mike Clay]

I will be her. I will be horrific at this. So I don't know what it's going to be. That's not going to go well.

[Daniel Dopp]

Fantastic.

[Field Yates]

What would be your preferred option?

[Mike Clay]

I don't know. I don't even have an answer.

[Field Yates]

British. That's fairly straightforward.

[Mike Clay]

Italian. T. Mercado. That's pretty good right there.

[Field Yates]

Tyranny Taylor Mustache this week.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. That's all I could do.

[Daniel Dopp]

I would love to see your ASL accent and, like, see how you're going to deliver.

[Mike Clay]

You know what that is?

[Field Yates]

It's American Sign Language.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, got it, got it, got it. Okay. Yes. All right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Geez.

[Mike Clay]

I don't know anything.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's not your fault.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, I'm not like I'm hiding it. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's dive into a couple of questions here before we get out of the show. Very excited to out what we're going to do for Mike's two punishments, though. A reminder. Our friend Eric Moody hanging out and chat. Follow him on social media at Eric and Moody. The first question that we have from our mailbag comes from Just a moment. It comes from Just call me. Just call Met.

[Mike Clay]

Just call me T. Call me T.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is that what it is?

[Mike Clay]

I don't know. I'm assuming that's what.

[Field Yates]

That's how we're reading it.

[Mike Clay]

Just call me T. Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Field Yates]

I don't know.

[Daniel Dopp]

Who knows? Goes George Pickens. T. Higgins.

[Field Yates]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

Or Teteroa McMillan this week. Pick one.

[Mike Clay]

I probably pickens, right?

[Field Yates]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I have Pickens ahead of McMillan. Tetero facing in Green Bay. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Which it's not like, they've been great. That they have some issues at corner or like, I don't. You're not really scared of their cornerback situation. But Pickens is a tough one because I do have him in FF now. And I'm like, I. He said I'm in a position where he, in theory, should be on my bench because I have like. Like, I met calf. I go ahead.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Three running backs. I have a running back to go in the flex. So we only start two, but I'm like, how do I bench this guy? He's been so good. So he. He's a tricky one for sure. But I think he is your best option here going up against Arizona.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think so, too. That's where I would go.

[Field Yates]

Yeah, me too.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, next question that we have from our YouTube chat comes from. RM wants to know a Ronda Gadsden or Brock Bowers, two guys that were.

[Mike Clay]

Just superstars as rookie tight ends in the NFL.

[Field Yates]

Can we just go both and flex one of the other one of them.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Ideally I'm going to go Bowers. If Bowers is active, he's an auto start if you ask me. By the way. Orande, as good as he has been, you know, he was very quiet in the second half last weekend and I think they might be a little motivated to get Quentin Johnson going a little bit this week. But a good matchup against the Raiders across the board. So I think they're both startable. But I would go Bowers.

[Field Yates]

I wonder if they just like show each other the ultimate sign of respect in jersey swap after the game. Like if Bowers is like, hey man, I've been a huge fan of yours for a month.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Field Yates]

Can I please have your jersey as the best tight end in the NFL?

[Daniel Dopp]

That's so funny. All right, let's do one more. I would also go with Brock Bowers. It's tough. I mean, how do you not play Brock Bowers if you have. But by the way, if you've got a Ronda Gadsden and Brock Bowers and Brock Bowers is fully healthy, not only is your team awesome, but like maybe see if you can make a move for a tight end starved team and maybe help yourself as well once Bowers is back.

[Mike Clay]

That's another guy by the way, I would be trying to trade for right now Brock Bowers. Yeah, again, it's always about yeah where value is. It's not going to be any lower than it is now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Where it's at right now, you know.

[Mike Clay]

That'S fair on ir obviously.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, we got one more question here from our YouTube chat. This one comes from case Jones Jr. Wants to know Addison Moore or Quinton Johnston in my flight going forward. I think it's Q Q's Jones Jr.

[Field Yates]

I think you should try to intentionally read it as pos is like poorly as possible possible Us Jones Jer.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's what it was. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Field Yates]

That's fair quest Joe's Jr.

[Daniel Dopp]

I've got PTSD right now from the last time that things happened when I almost got canceled.

[Mike Clay]

What happened when you got Bart Simpson?

[Daniel Dopp]

No. Yes. Michael Penn X wrote in a joke and had a thing.

[Field Yates]

We haven't heard from my in a while.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no. It's been a minute.

[Field Yates]

In the chat or no.

[Daniel Dopp]

Probably still in chat. Okay, probably.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's hope so anyway.

[Mike Clay]

Guys, I have these ranked 31st, 32nd and 33rd. Not even joking.

[Daniel Dopp]

Are you serious?

[Field Yates]

Really?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. It's Jordan Addison, Quentin Johnston, DJ Moore. I have them in that order.

[Field Yates]

I land on Addison personally, but it's close.

[Mike Clay]

I have him highest against the Lions. I should have to throw it all out, but I have I q. I have second. He has a good matchup against the Titans. And then DJ Moore against the Bengals. You're going to have a dunes a shadow by DJ Turner. More on that tomorrow. But they've struggled otherwise against receivers, so secondary receivers is who's gotten the job done against the Bengals this year. And that would be DJ Moore. So. So the three good options. Pick your poison.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love it. Great show today, guys.

[Field Yates]

Hey, hey.

[Daniel Dopp]

We got to figure out how we're gonna get Mike to pay off two punishments by the end of the week. We'll have to figure helmets out and do an accident.

[Mike Clay]

Good, because I'm wearing a helmet and I do the accent. It's offensive.

[Field Yates]

You know what?

[Mike Clay]

No one will know who it is.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no, I just figured it out.

[Mike Clay]

What I was saying.

[Field Yates]

How about I just do one spin and whatever it lands on you pay off.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Rather than two punches, we'll take the two punishments. Make it one punishment. Oh, it's on.

[Field Yates]

Ice bath.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's amazing. Incredible.

[Mike Clay]

It depends what it is.

[Field Yates]

Oh, my God. It's.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Field Yates]

Ice bath again.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you do. Do you do like a Bobby Boucher? Like. Right. Could you wear a helmet and do the Adam Sandler accent at the same time? Right. It wasn't that Bobby Boucher. Was that right?

[Field Yates]

I'm Bobby Boucher.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you should watch Waterboy, see if you can pay off both of them. A little throwback.

[Field Yates]

We used to make cinematic masterpieces.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, those movies were. Used to be so good.

[Daniel Dopp]

I just watched Invincible yesterday. Oh, yeah, it was just.

[Field Yates]

Are you Mike Clay? He watches that every Saturday night.

[Mike Clay]

He does?

[Field Yates]

To get Sundays.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, say that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, that's so fun. All right, that's going to do it for today's show. Today's show was presented by Little Caesars. Don't forget to come back and hang out with us tomorrow. And don't forget to love each other. Be kind to yourself. We'll see you guys on Thursday. Focus Fantasy. Fantasy.

[Mike Clay]

Focus.

[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Mike Clay]

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[Field Yates]

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[Mike Clay]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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[Daniel Dopp]

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[Field Yates]

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