Week 1 Waiver Wire: Browns RBs, Hollywood Brown, Bryce Young among top targets

Summary

Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry

Episode: Week 1 Waiver Wire: Browns RBs, Hollywood Brown, Bryce Young among top targets

Date: September 2, 2025
Host: Matthew Berry (NBC Sports) with Connor and Jay

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Episode Overview

This episode kicks off the fantasy football season by diving into Week 1 waiver wire priorities, focusing on high-value, widely available running backs (notably in the Browns backfield), receivers stepping into big roles (Hollywood Brown, Keenan Allen, Adam Thielen, Cedric Tillman), and some promising quarterbacks (Bryce Young, Michael Penix Jr.). The hosts also recap their own industry draft ("League of Assholes"), offering insights into draft strategy and team construction for various league formats.

Berry, Connor, and Jay bring an upbeat, irreverent, and conversational style, peppered with banter, fantasy football wisdom, and inside jokes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Opening Banter & Marathon Draft Recap (01:01–03:20)

• The crew jokes about wardrobe, spouses disinterested in fantasy content, and Clark Brady's marathon fantasy football viewing ("He just sat there for 12 hours watching!" – Berry, 01:57).
• The team draft is complete -- teasing they'll review teams later.

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Week 1 Waiver Wire: Running Back Priorities (03:20–14:10)

Browns Backfield: Quinshon Judkins, Jerome Ford, Dylan Sampson

• Availability: Judkins (50%), Ford (54%), Sampson (52%).
• Judkins:
  • "If and when he signs, he's going to quickly establish himself as the best running back on the Browns." (Berry, 04:06)
  • Stash candidate for upside, but "you're not starting Judkins this week."
• Week 1 Value:
  • Ford: Most likely involved in passing downs; “if you need floor this week, I think it’s Jerome Ford” (Berry, 07:04).
  • Sampson: Better TD upside if you need a home run swing.
• Committee Risk: Preseason usage suggests a split; Browns are underdogs in a high-total game.
• Jay's Take: “Judkins is the guy who’s actually got the upside...RB2 guy that you’re starting every week.” (06:34)

Other Running Backs to Consider

• Trey Benson (61% available):
  • Premium insurance for James Conner, who is "on the love list this week" (Berry, 08:43).
  • Saints allowed most rushing TDs to RBs last year.
• Ali Gordon (65% available):
  • With Jalen Wright out, Gordon backs up an injury-prone Devon Achane in Miami. Strong stash and possible TD vulture (Connor, 11:12).
• Others:
  • Jaden Blue (Cowboys), Amarian Hampton, Najee Harris revival, Woody Mark (Texans), Kenneth Gainwell—all quick honorable mentions with matchup notes.

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Useful Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Nothing screams desperation like trying to make sense of the Browns backfield." – Matthew Berry (04:06)
• “Long term upside, you prefer Judkins. If you need floor this week, it’s Ford. If you want upside, it’s Sampson.” – Berry (07:04)
• "Kevin Stefanski, two-time coach of the year...not a lot of people are aware he won coach of the year two times." (Berry, 05:17)

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Wide Receivers: Waiver Wire Targets (14:10–22:44)

Hollywood Brown

• Chiefs' de facto WR1 while Rice suspended, other WRs injured.
• “I think [the Chiefs] will go out of their way to dial up explosives in this game...They’ve been hearing it for two years that they can’t get explosives” (Jay, 15:46)
• “I think Patrick Mahomes goes scorched earth this year.” – Berry (15:58)

Keenan Allen

• "It just felt snoozy…people thought Keenan Allen must be done because no one wants him. No, he just wanted a lot of money." (Berry, 17:14)
• "He has a higher floor than Trey Harris." (Berry, 17:54)
• KLS (Kendry Lambert-Smith) named as a deep-league flyer.

Adam Thielen

• "Averaged almost 10 yards a target…can still get open... knows the system, knows Kevin O’Connell." (Berry, 19:11)
• Good early-season fill-in with Jordan Addison suspended.

Cedric Tillman (Club Ced)

• “18+ points in three of his four final healthy games in 2024…The Browns are going to be chasing points a lot.” (Connor, 20:20)
• “Tillman needs to be rostered in more leagues than he is right now, for sure.” (Berry, 21:39)
• Browns set up for high catch-up volume with Flacco.

Other Notables

• Marvin Mims (Broncos), Christian Kirk (Texans), Wandale Robinson (Giants) all flagged as deep-league or PPR “cheat codes.”

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Tight Ends and Tools (23:54–30:41)

Featured TEs:

• Cade Otton (TB):
  • "This is somebody who last year, in two games against Atlanta, averaged over 62 yards a game.” (Berry, 25:54)
  • Godwin/PUP, vacated targets.
• Brenton Strange (CAR):
  • “The fact that he’s 78% available? It’s a little...Strange.” (Connor & Berry, 26:44) — show banter
  • Panthers allowed most TDs to TEs last year.
• Jonnu Smith, Theo Johnson, Chig Okonkwo — all mentioned as high-upside, surprise usage options thanks to shaky WR depth/changing offenses.

Waiver Tools

• FantasyLife.com’s Waiver Wire Tool demoed; helps calculate FAAB bids and optimize adds per your settings.

Memorable Banter

• Berry’s wardrobe and sock discussion (27:00–28:36), including a shoutout to NBC’s wardrobe department and stylist.

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Quarterbacks: Waiver Streamers and Deep Stashes (30:41–35:05)

Bryce Young (Panthers)

• Jacksonville allowed third-most fantasy points to QBs last year.
• “He’s looked more confident...flash a level of competence that he's going to be able to live up to those shootouts.” (Jay, 31:10)

Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons)

• Faces vulnerable Bucs pass D.
• “Probably, with Anthony Richardson not a starter, I'd make Penix the favorite to lead the NFL in average depth of target.” (Jay, 33:35)
• High ceiling for big-play weeks.

Quick Mentions

• Daniel Jones (floor via rushing), Tua Tagovailoa (favorable matchup), Joe Flacco (negative script, ton of attempts = streamer).

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Team Defenses to Stream (36:43–37:24)

• Cardinals, Commanders, Jets, Rams, Bengals — all meet roster thresholds and have good/sneaky matchups.
• “Bengals would be my best pick for a pick-six this week...Flacco will throw it to the other team a couple of times.” (Berry, 37:02)

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League of Assholes Draft Recap (40:00–52:46)

Format:

• 12-team, PPR, Superflex

Draft Banter Highlights

• Berry’s opening: "I am the champ until a new champion is crowned... and I demand all of you call me that!" (40:00)
• Narrated, (sometimes chaotic) draft clips, with jokes about team stacking, positional runs, and Berry’s endless monologuing.
• Running back hoarding (Dev's team), WR depth strategies, and superflex value picks dissected.

Hosts' Teams & Strategies:

• Matthew Berry: Anchored by Jaden Daniels, Derrick Henry, Mike Evans, loaded with high-upside backs and WRs; “I have a lot of Cortland Sutton this year and a lot of Josh Downs.”
• Jay (Chubby Leather Daddies): Loaded at WR (Amon-Ra, JSN, Kupp), Hurts & Herbert at QB; thinner RB depth but confident in high-end starters.
• Connor: Anchor RB (Saquon Barkley) then backed up with handcuff backs for safety; big believer in Mahomes, upside WRs (Travis Hunter, Pearsall).

Draft Takeaway:

• General advice: "Don’t chase positional runs, just draft talent—trade later if you’re loaded at one spot."
• Fantasy community = "League of Assholes... more like League of Idiots!" (YouTube comment cited, 46:02)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "Find a guy that looks at you the way Arthur Smith looks at Jonnu Smith." (Berry, 28:40)
• "It’s closing time. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here." (Berry, 55:15, closing motto)

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Timestamped Guide to Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Key Points | |-----------|---------|------------| | 03:20–07:31 | RB Waiver Wire | Browns backfield, Judkins, Ford, Sampson—how to parse upside vs. floor for Week 1 | | 07:45–14:10 | More RBs | Trey Benson, Ali Gordon, quick mentions (Jaden Blue, Hampton, Najee, Gainwell) | | 14:10–22:44 | WR Waiver Wire | Hollywood Brown, Keenan Allen, Adam Thielen, Cedric Tillman, deeper names | | 23:54–30:41 | Tight Ends | Cade Otton, Brenton Strange, deep stashes (Jonnu, Theo, Chig), plus FantasyLife waiver tool | | 30:41–35:05 | Waiver QBs | Bryce Young, Michael Penix Jr., streaming notes on DJ, Tua, Flacco | | 36:43–37:24 | Defenses | Cardinals, Commanders, Jets, Rams, Bengals D/ST streaming | | 40:00–52:46 | Draft Recap | Picks, strategies, trades, coping with RB runs, banter-filled behind-the-scenes info |

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Closing & Final Takeaways

• The show highlights the fluidity of Week 1 waivers — don’t panic, take upside shots early.
• Stash high-upside RBs behind injury-prone or unsettled starters.
• WRs stepping into new roles or benefiting from teammate injuries/suspensions are priority adds.
• Use league-specific tools to calibrate waiver bids and start/sit decisions.
• Enjoy the chaos: drafting isn’t just about having fun — “it’s about getting chiggy with it!”

Final Sign-off:
“It’s closing time. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. For Jay, for Connor, I’m Matthew Berry. We’ll see you tomorrow. Peace out.” (Matthew Berry, 55:15)

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Transcript

[Matthew Berry]

So I was just parking my car and then I saw you. The Gecko. Huge fan. I'm always honored to meet fans out in the wild. The honor is mine. I just love being able to file a claim in under two minutes with the Geico app. Well, the Geico app is top notch. I know you get asked this all the time, but could you sign it? Sign what? The app. Yeah, sure. Oh, that means so much. Oh, it rubbed off the screen when I touched it. Could you sign it again? Anything to help, I suppose.

[Jay]

You're the best.

[Matthew Berry]

Get more than just savings.

[Connor]

Get more with geico.

[Jay]

Substance use disorder and addiction is so isolating.

[Connor]

And so as a black woman in.

[Matthew Berry]

Recovery, hope must be loud. It grows louder when you ask for help and you're vulnerable. It is the thread that lets you know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. When we learn the power of hope.

[Connor]

Recovery is possible, find out [e-mail], brought to you by the National Council for Mental well Being Shatterproof and the AD Council.

[Matthew Berry]

Well, welcome in, everybody. I will not have either of you besmirch the good name of the NBC Sports wardrobe department.

[Connor]

Has been set. Yeah, that is right.

[Matthew Berry]

Let's go.

[Connor]

Accepted. Clark Grady, as you see, has a live stream plan.

[Matthew Berry]

You can either. You can either watch the marathon or you can watch Click Clark Brady watch the marathon, which is Robbie. Right. You know, by the way, make it a second screen for Lawrence, Jay and Trista. I'm Matthew. Have a great Labor Day weekend. We will see you on Tuesday. Thank you. For everyone who watched.

[Jay]

That was 12 hours watching fantasy football.

[Matthew Berry]

Fantasy Football Happy hour with Matthew Barry.

[Connor]

Welcome to the fantasy football happy hour. Clark Brady, you drink for free today at the happy hour bar. You survived the marathon.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, not only that, I'll tell. He drinks drinks for free because it didn't seem like he drank at all. Like he just. It looks like he just sat there for 12 hours watching this damn thing. I, you know, God bless that man.

[Connor]

Incredible job, incredible effort, well done.

[Jay]

The Brady cast, as he aptly named it, been waiting for the. The competitor to the Brady cast for quite some time. We've.

[Matthew Berry]

The Brady cast, he's watched more of this show than I have. Let's be clear.

[Connor]

That's right.

[Matthew Berry]

I don't.

[Connor]

You know, he's watched more. I wasn't even here the last two episodes.

[Matthew Berry]

That's right. He's watched more than you have.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Matthew Berry]

I'm barely paying attention when I'm on air, so, you know, God bless this guy.

[Jay]

My wife's Neville. He's never seen it. I don't think you. I don't think Beth watches it that much either. Kristen does.

[Connor]

No, just the open. She likes when we do, like, four minutes of no football and then it's like, she's out.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. And then she's. Then she's out. I get it.

[Connor]

She's got other things to do. As do we.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. Beth is almost. Beth's seen a little bit of it, but not very much. Not very much.

[Jay]

She knows you're on it.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, exactly. She tunes in on days when I'm out. Like, she's like, oh, okay, Lawrence. I like him.

[Connor]

We'll check this out today.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Great job, Clark Brady, much appreciated. You are now prepared for your drafts, I hope after 12 hours of streaming live. Live, we have our drafts in the books. The league of assholes draft is complete, and we have all the results of that coming your way. Later, we're going to talk about some of our teams. Obviously, the giant board is right behind me here. The magnificent fantasy football happy hour board. But before we do any of that, we're hitting the waiver wire. Start of the season.

[Jay]

It's week one.

[Connor]

It is.

[Matthew Berry]

It's week one. We have football this week. We have football this week. We are two days away from actual professional football. Cowboys at eagles right here on NBC. And Peacock, I'm a company man. And so people that have had their drafts already, Connor, might be going through their first waiver wire tonight.

[Connor]

They hate their roster already. And what better way to start the NFL season than the Browns backfield. Quinshawn Judges.

[Matthew Berry]

Oh, we're still back.

[Connor]

Sampson, Jerome Ford. We are back and ready for week one because all of these guys meet our threshold of availability. Quinte, Sean, Judkins, 50%, obviously. The other two guys that are expected, of course, course, to actually play and play more. Jerome ford is at 54%. Dylan Sampson, the other rookie, at 52%. Matthew, if you're desperate, what do you make of this backfield? Because you got to be desperate.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. If you're. Yeah. Nothing screams desperation like trying to make sense of the Browns backfield. But what I'll tell you is that, look, Quinhon Johnkins has yet to sign with the team. Now, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Brown Dealer, she's done a great job covering the Browns for years and years and years and years. She came out and said recently that she thinks that you may see Judkins this week. That, you know, hearing that the sides might be close. But either way, you're not starting Judkins this week, but we all think here that if and when he signs and is with the team, he's going to fairly quickly establish himself as the best running back on the Browns. So if you don't need somebody, quote this week, grab him, stash him. We think ultimately he'll be the best guy and what should be a competent Browns offense. That said, if you need somebody this week, you're looking around. I do think both Ford and Sampson are sort of interesting in a flex kind of way. Like so it's a 47.5 over under Conner. It's the second highest game in the slate. Browns are a five and a half point underdog and so Ford, Ford becomes sort of interesting because he's the. We expect Dylan Sampson to be the first and second on guy and Jerome Ford to be the pass catching running back here. Obviously he's the one most familiar with Kevin Stefanski's system. I don't know if you're aware of this, but Kevin Stefanski two time coach of the year two time, not a lot of people are aware that he won coach of the year two times in a row. Not two times in a row, but two times overall. What I was going to say is but in the preseason guys, Ford and Sampson split their time evenly with the ones like it wasn't just all Sampson. So you've got a bit of a committee here. And then when you think about the Bengals last year will have the third highest catch rate to opposing running backs that maybe Jerome Ford has some sneaky value this year. And as you saw Connor, he's available in like a lot of leagues.

[Connor]

He's available more than half the leagues. And this is a game with a high total because we know the Bengals can score points which means maybe the Browns will be playing a little catch up here. The Browns team total guys is 20 and a half. That's not that, that's not that low for the Browns in this week. Like this is the week you're shaking.

[Matthew Berry]

Your head like that is not a line you would have made.

[Jay]

Yeah, well it's more a reflection on who they're playing as opposed to the talent. Like if they're playing the Broncos like 13.

[Connor]

So yeah, this is the waiver wire this week.

[Matthew Berry]

So.

[Jay]

And so it's difficult because the Bengals run defense is putrid. It was putrid last year bottom five defense, but it's putrid in all regards. You can do whatever you want against the Bengals. And Kevin Stefanski last time he had Joe Flacco he was just uncorky and Flacco was throwing a million times a game. So not sure how it's going to look. I think the Browns backfield, it's certainly the most confusing. Jacksonville's is up there too. Dallas is a little confusing too, but if you can solve this one, you figure it out like I think, and it's not so much for this week, but I think Judkins is now going too late in drawing. He's the guy who's actually got the upside where he's a guy who could be, you know, an RB2 guy that you're starting every week. He's not going to get that with Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampson week in, week out, I think. So we're going to talk about our draft later on, but I took Judkins, I think pick 116. I think once you get into that range. You want to take a flyer on the upside.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, I would just say for this week specifically, I think long term upside, you prefer Judkins. If you need floor this week, I think it's Jerome Ford because I do think he'll be involved in the passing game. If I need upside, I'll say Sampson because I think he's got the best chance at a touchdown. Of the two running backs, I think the jury's still out on Dylan Sampson. Jay, I mean, I agree with you on Jerome Ford being kind of is what it is, but I think there's a chance that Sampson could be good a day three pick there as well. But let's move on.

[Connor]

I gotta give a shout out.

[Matthew Berry]

Hang on. Go ahead.

[Connor]

In the comments. J. Stabs, this is somebody that has watched a lot of waiver wire shows. Waiver wire show. When does the Hunter Henry portion start? Oh, yeah, stick around for tight end.

[Matthew Berry]

Good question. Yeah, just wait.

[Connor]

Yeah, Hunter Henry. Oh, it's real estate.

[Jay]

Been talking about him and Kenyon Drake for four years.

[Connor]

Oh my goodness. Kenyon Drake. All right, another running back here, guys. Trey Benson, 61% availability, which is a little surprising for one of the better insurance backs in fantasy? I think against the Saints. The Saints allowed 18 rushing touchdowns to running backs last year that was tied for the most in the NFL. Jay, is there a world where Benson's workload hopefully goes up after they invested two years ago a day to pick in him?

[Jay]

Potentially. I think while James Conner is healthy though, it's going to be the James Conner show. I do think the Saints, I think their defense might be sneaky competent where the defensive line is probably. It's one of the strengths of the team at this point, the linebacking Cor as well. We'll see. I think that this is going to be a game script where Arizona can run the ball. They're been hovering around touchdown favorites in New Orleans which doesn't both great for the Saints to touchdown Dogs at home to a team that is an underdog to make the playoffs in the Cardinals. But Benson, he's got upside. I think this week. Yeah, it's an interesting target. We'll see what they do. But ultimately it's still James Conner's backfield.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. But I do think given, you know, a long history of injuries for James Conner throughout his NFL career. We love James Conner here and if I were, if I were, we're still doing a love hate show on Thursday and James Conner going to be on the love list this week. Make no mistake. To your point. They're baby touchdown. They're touchdown favorites against the Saints team that last year no team in the NFL gave up more rushing touchdowns to opposing running backs than the New Orleans Saints. So we do think there's a pretty good chance that James Conner gets into the end zone this week. I will say, however, that given the fact that they are a big favorite and that whether it's 1A, 1B or it's just, you know, an increase, we expect a bigger role this year for Trey Benson. So both as an insurance back for James Conner and on the chance that Jonathan Gannon was telling the truth that it's going to be more of a committee. I don't personally think it is. I think it's going to be 70, 30. But I do think there's upside to Benson both in junk time this year and obviously down the stretch.

[Jay]

You'll love this this week.

[Matthew Berry]

Junk time this week. I should say.

[Jay]

You'll like this one, Matthew. On the weekend I placed the wager on the New Orleans Saints to make the playoffs. Plus 900.

[Matthew Berry]

Look at you.

[Jay]

Kind of the sequel to my Giants Saints plus nine. The second easiest schedule in football. The roster's not that bad outside of quarterback, which is the problem and the reason why they're plus 900. But I don't know. It's the NFL. Like when you play in an easy division and you have talent, there's variance with new head coach OC DC got to just kind of lottery tickets at quarterback. I don't know. Plus 900.

[Connor]

I think they're one game.

[Matthew Berry]

Was it a significant bet or just a just a little bit in case Fairly significant bet.

[Jay]

We'll see how it goes large for yourself.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Matthew Berry]

Spencer.

[Jay]

Spencer Rattler to the moon.

[Connor]

The good news is I think they're plus 1700 to win the division.

[Jay]

So, yeah, they're not probably not going to win the division, but sneak in at 9 and 8.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Show me some magic. Kellen Moore.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Brandon Staley. Renaissance season for Brandon Staley.

[Matthew Berry]

He's back. Anything's possible.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Connor]

I appreciate your optimism on the show, Jay. Ali Gordon, our other running back here. Guys, he's got the Colts. He's 65% available.

[Matthew Berry]

That is crazy.

[Connor]

That is crazy. Right?

[Matthew Berry]

And what's weird is, is that that's got to be from leagues that are. Because I've been in drafts where he's going really early. Like I've been. I've done a lot of drafts this past week. I've been doing a lot of guillotineleague.com drafts and it's like he's going early in those two, which I'm like, sort of like. Like you. There's no room for error in a Guillotine league. But in. In standard redraft again with Jalen Wright not expected to play week one, what seems like a significant injury. And so Devon Hn, great news. He's going to be playing week one. We all expected this. But you know, the fact is Ali Gordon is the backup to an, you know, on an offense, an offense that doesn't have a lot of other people that can touch the ball. He's looked great in camp so far. Yeah. Connor. Ollie Gordon, if Devon Hn were to ever miss any time, I think would easily be a, you know, a starting running back in fantasy football. And I think there's some potential touchdown vulture in deeper leagues role immediately.

[Connor]

I mean, with Ali Gordon, this is somebody two years ago going into his final college season, he was supposed to be Amarian Hampton.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Connor]

Like a first round running back, you know, workhorse back, can do everything for you. He falls off a cliff his final college season. There's a lot of questions of what happened to this guy, what happened to this program. And it feels like he's built up his stock again with a great rookie training camp after falling in the draft. And this is the perfect place for a guy like that to land because Mike McDaniel say what you want about some of his flaws, he can dial up a run game.

[Jay]

How much of an injury risk do you think Devon Hn is relative to your average running back? Because it feels like he was banged up last year, but he played every game. It was his rookie season where he did miss time. You know he's not built like Derrick Henry so you have the natural concerns there. But do you think he is a real like outlier injury risk?

[Connor]

I think he's above average injury risk because of his size in the NFL and that's just how it goes. Then you have his own teammate Tyreek Hill saying that on what third and short that they should go to somebody else. Jalen Wright. Now it's Ali Gordon. So yeah, I think listen, number one, if he's out in your league you should just pick him up. Two, if you have a chan, you should have already had him on your. You have to have him on your roster. It's almost like the Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet for sure right now for sure.

[Matthew Berry]

Colts bottom 10 run defense last season as well. So it's a nice matchup. Week 1 for the Dolphins run game. Just other quick guys that I want to mention here. Jaden Blue was a full participant in Monday's practice report. So you know there's a very good chance. Jaden Blue leads the Cowboys backfield. He's out there more than 50% of leagues we all love. Amarian Hampton. Najee Harris left for basically dead. He's ramping up to play in week one. Jay, I know you're very excited about this. You're wearing a Naji Harris.

[Jay]

You can hear the Naji footsteps.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes. But anyway, look, he's going to have a role. Woody Mark, you know we're still figuring out clarity in this in this Texans backfield. Is it Nick Chubb? Is it Damian Pierce? Woody Mark seems to have the third down role. He's the guy that has the most upside. I think. I think he's really interesting and I just want to mention Kenneth Gainwell who is running with the ones again. We don't think Caleb Johnson necessarily has the trust of Aaron Rodgers. I am telling you because I've seen this movie a million times. Fantasy managers are going to drive themselves crazy on Sunday. Everyone that drafted Caleb Johnson is going to be like, why is Kenneth Gainwell getting work for the Steelers? What is Arthur Smith doing again? Jalen Warren got paid over the weekend as well. Real money. By the way, Jaylen Warren got paid real money. I think he's probably the Steelers running back you want for those that still have drafts this week. But Kenneth Gainwell is going to surprise people about how much he plays.

[Connor]

I think so too. Our favorite fantasy villain Arthur Smith will be back in full swing. Fire up John who Smith. Fire up Kenneth Gainwell. All the favorites playing all the hits.

[Matthew Berry]

Yep.

[Connor]

All right, let's go over to the wide receivers. If you need help there Right now, you start with the Chiefs. This is actually an offense you could be excited about and grab someone from waivers and that is Hollywood Brown right now, guys. Obviously Rasheed Rice is out with the suspension. Jalen Royals, the rookie wide receiver that had a nice camp is dealing with a knee injury. So you look towards Hollywood Brown as his target. Share should go up because of this.

[Matthew Berry]

Matthew, the talented player that just hasn't been able to stay healthy recently as well. But you've got Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce and then it's a little bit wide open. All due respect to Noah Gray and juju Smith shooting, who you see there on your screen, Hollywood Brown in his two games that he played last year, he only played two with a week 16 and 17. But in those two games he was targeted on 44% of his routes. Mahomes obviously trying to get him into rhythm, get him into the into the game. So I don't know that you want to start Hollywood Brown. Let's see how this Chiefs offense looks in week one in the Brazil game against the Chargers. But certainly given this is a guy that was a top 20 fantasy wide receiver for a number of years when he was in Baltimore, we saw some success in Arizona as well.

[Jay]

Is old. Matthew feels like 50, but he's four and a half years younger than Devonte Adams. Just he dealt with a lot of injuries. And look, Xavier Worthy is still a little theoretical like in terms of how expanded his route tree is going to be, his capacity to be a true wide receiver one like there are going to be for the first six weeks. There's going to be a reasonable chance on a given week that Hollywood Brown is the number one guy for Patrick Mahomes. He'll be an underdog to Xavier Worthy, but there is a chance. And the charges secondary doesn't really scare you that much. I think that the Chiefs, I think that they will go out of their way to dial up explosives in this game because they've been hearing it for two years now that they can't get explosives. Now they have Josh Simmons at left tackle, they have a fortified offensive line and they have Hollywood Brown alongside Xavier Worthy. So I think they'll take shots down the field.

[Matthew Berry]

100% agree. I've been on record as saying I think that after everything that happened in the super bowl last year and all the chirping and blah, blah, blah, I think Patrick Holmes goes scorched earth this Year. I think he goes. I think he goes scorched earth this year. And he's back to them homes that we saw, you know, fantasy superstar a couple of years ago on the other.

[Connor]

Side of this game. Guys, Keenan Allen against the Chiefs in this Brazil game. Listen, Jay, it feels like nobody cares about Keenan Allen. He was wide receiver 21 in points per game over the final seven games of the season. He might still have something left in the tank here.

[Jay]

Yeah. And the thing is, is that he is wide receiver two, presumably for Justin Herbert, who is one of the 10 most talented quarterbacks in the NFL. Now it's a distant wide receiver two to lad McConkey, and we'll see how much they run the ball. Perhaps they have to throw it a little bit more without Rashawn Slater blocking up the run game. But look, this Chiefs defense is. It's a solid defense. Overall, I don't think it's going to reach the heights of best defense in the league that it was flirting with a couple of years ago. But Keenan Allen, simple. He has the existing rapport with Justin Herbert and he's going to be out there on the field.

[Matthew Berry]

I think people were forgetting about him just because he's an older player. He was unsigned for a long time, so just sort of felt snoozy. And I think that was. That was not a reflection on the lack of talent, although that's. I think the fantasy community was like, oh, Keenan Allen must be done because no one wants him. No. Kenan Allen wanted a lot of money and teams weren't willing to pay.

[Connor]

And he got a good amount of.

[Matthew Berry]

Money, ultimately did, from the Chargers. But he just. Kenan Allen was patient. He also wanted the right situation. I think he wanted to play on the West Coast. These are all things that I've heard. I don't know. I can't confirm any of this. But I just. There. There are. There are a lot of reasons beyond just football why Kenan Allen was unsigned for so long. And I think the fantasy community just assumed, oh, he's not good. This is a guy who earned a 27% target share last year. He was a. He was wide receiver 33 on a points per game basis last year, despite the fact the Bears were an abysmal offense. Right. And throughout his year. Is Keenan Allen higher floor than expecting Trey Harris to contribute? This is. Julio, think you are. I see what he did there.

[Connor]

Julio, think you are. I am.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, right. I am. But I'll tell you, yes, I do think he has a higher floor than expecting Trey Harris to contribute. It's been a little bit banged up, I'll tell you that. I even think somebody else I'll mention if you're in a deeper league. Kendry, Lambert, Smith, Keandry, I should say kls, he is somebody that I think is kind of interesting. I know they like him a lot. Feels like he got a little bit more run with the ones this year than Trey Harris did. And so when we were at the hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, talking to some of the Chargers players on the field beforehand, like KLS is the guy that came up a lot, not Trey Harris. No one said anything bad about Trey Harris, but I was just like, maybe it's just because, hey, it's a fifth round pick and they weren't. Didn't know what to expect. But he's been impressive in this preseason. Connor. I think it's McConkey and Keenan Allen, but I think there's a scenario where KLS outdoes Trey Harris this year, fantasy wise.

[Connor]

Yeah. And you wonder what it would look like if one of the top guys get hurt. Ladd is a smaller wide receiver that's gotten banged up before. Keenan Allen's older. So a name to keep an eye on for sure. Another one, another throwback name here. Adam Thielen. Adam Thielen now in a much better situation in Minnesota, obviously. Jordan Addison is suspended for the first couple weeks of the season. Jalen Naylor has been dealing with a hand injury. Thielen is available in 73% of leagues right now. Matthew, this is JJ McCarthy's number two wide receiver.

[Matthew Berry]

Last year he averaged almost 10 yards a target, 9.9 yards per target in 2024 that was top 10among wide receivers with at least 10 targets. He's somebody that can still get open. He's somebody that obviously knows this system, knows Kevin o'. Connell. And we expect the Vikings to be throwing, you know, again they're on the road at Chicago Bears should have a good run defense as well. Wouldn't be surprised to see Adam Thielen have a role for these first couple of weeks and then we'll see what happens when Addison comes back. I think Hawkinson has a big year as well. I'm hearing that Hawkinson's been getting a ton of looks and practice for the Vikings as well. But Thielen's out there in too many leagues.

[Jay]

Yeah, I agree. I think it's going to be interesting to see how much they pass the ball just in week one, like relative to expectation, where there's been A lot of chat about how, you know, bring in Jordan Mason, fortify the interior of the offensive line. KOC wants to get back to being a running team. Like it's all just words for now. Like are they actually going to throw the ball a ton less when you still have Justin Jefferson, TJ Hawkinson there? We'll see. I think that they probably will because of the rookie quarterback. But that is one of the, I think the more high variance elements just in terms of what a team is going to look like in week one.

[Connor]

My favorite wide receiver on this list, Cedric Tillman back on the waiver wire show. Club said open again.

[Matthew Berry]

Club set is open again and I.

[Connor]

Think will be open against the Bengals. 76% availability. So club set is out there more than of these guys on the list. 18 plus points in three of his four final healthy games in 2024. That was week seven to 11. Then he had a significant concussion that shut down a lot of his season. Listen, the Browns, Matthew, they're going to be chasing points a lot and that means a lot of opportunity I think for Cedric Tillman and Joe Flacco could throw. It's not like we have the questions of is Dylan Gabriel out there? Is a rookie in Shador out there so Tillman like he was last year for a couple weeks could be valuable.

[Matthew Berry]

He's got, he's got some yolo to him. Obviously Joe Flacco does and I'm not convinced that Jerry Judy is better wide receiver than Cedric Tillman. I'm not convinced that he's going to earn that. Jerry Judy is going to earn a higher target share. I get Jerry Jeudy had an unbelievable game against the Broncos last year. I know there's some excitement here but you know, like we'll see. Like that all came with a different quarterback. I think Jerry Judy is going to be fine and I'm a big Njoku fan as you know. But listen, you and I both love Cedric Tillman. We've seen it in flashes. We needed to see it for long stretch. But given how, how much we think the Browns are going to be chasing points and the fact that we think Judy probably gets the majority of the defensive attention to the extent that the Bengals can have any. Tillman needs to be rostered in more leagues than he is right now. That's for sure.

[Connor]

Surprising to me.

[Jay]

Joe Flacco and his comeback player of the season with Cleveland in 2023. He played six games, one of them was in the playoffs. Still won the award despite only playing five regular season games. In five of those six games, he threw the ball at least 44 times. Yeah, which is completely ridiculous. But that's just what they wanted to do. I think a big reason they did that is that they couldn't block anything in terms of getting a run game going.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Jay]

Not sure that they're in a substantially better situation now. We'll see. The Bengals are a very soft run defense, as we mentioned, but yeah, Flacco's going to air it out. And in terms of like, wide receivers that he's competing with outside of Jerry Judy for Cedric Thomas, like Jamari Thrash, like, there's not a lot going on there.

[Matthew Berry]

That's true. Jay, very quick question for you. Of all the reasons you hate Joe Flacco, and I know there are many, is it that he won comeback player of the Year? I didn't like that. Or that same season he was my number two quarterback on my initial League of Assholes championship run. Which. Which part of Joe Flacco's resume do you hate the most?

[Jay]

Yeah, look, as much as I enjoy seeing you falter is definitely the comeback player of the year. It's not even close.

[Matthew Berry]

You are significant money, someone present for the moment.

[Connor]

That's the lowest point I've ever seen. Jay and I spent a lot of time with him.

[Jay]

Yes, you have. So it was a tough scene at 2am at Momofuku in Las Vegas.

[Connor]

Honestly, your spirits better than most people.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes. Yeah.

[Jay]

Trudge put on brave face.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, he did a well job. All right, real quickly, a couple guys that I just want to mention as well. Guys, Marvin Mims is going to be the number two guy for what we think is a pretty good Denver offense. Last year he was second among wide receivers in fantasy points per target, minimum 50 targets. So if he can get you more targets. And this it looks through the preseason he's been running with it. Once he's opposite Cortland Sutton and what we think Christian Kirk there as well. Look, Houston's got those two rookie wide receivers. We know, Nico Collins, but again, we really don't think the Texans are going to be able to run the ball. They're going to have to throw more with CJ Stroud. Christian Kirk is going to be that slot guy. A position that last year had Stefon Diggs as a top 20 wide receiver on a points per game basis until he got hurt. And as long as we're talking about slot guys and sort of PPR cheat codes, Wandell Robinson had 140 targets last year that was top 10among wide receivers. He faces my commander, who obviously are going to send a ton of defensive pressure and looks towards Malik Neighbors. So Wandell Robinson underneath could be an outlet for Russell Wilson.

[Connor]

All right, we move to tight ends where everybody's been waiting for the Hunter Henry appearance. But no, we're going to start with Kay Dutton today, a career high 19% target share in 2024. And Matthew, this is one where tight end can be tricky. You might want the fantasy life plus waiver wire tool to help you out in this kind of spot.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, you just, you just take a look at here. You go to fantasy, you go to tool. Look at all those tools available to you. All the tools there we go to the waiver wire put in. Okay, what's our league? You can sync your league, by the way. Oh, we're in the league of. Okay, who are the. I want to look at which. Who's available? Right. I'm clicking on tight end right here. Who's available? Oh, Hunter Henry's available. What should I bid here? It suggests how much fab you should bet based on all the league, how many. It does all the work. Where it looks at like not only how much fab do you have, but how much does everyone in your league have? How much should you bid, where you are in the season, how desperately you need a titan, Everything like that does all this incredible logic for you. It's available at FantasyLife.com youm can sync your league for free at FantasyLife.com but you can upgrade there to our waiver wire tool. We have a bunch of other great tools as you saw in the drop down, not just for fantasy, but for dfs for best ball, for Guillotine, like whatever, whatever kind of game or platform you play on, we support it as well. Use promo code ROTA20 or if you want J20, Connor20 or Matthew20. Any of that will give you a 20% off [e-mail] Kate Otten is an interesting one here because we don't expect Chris Godwin to play. We know Jaylen McMillan won't, guys. And so it's really. It's the rookie Emeka Abuka and it's Mike Evans on the outside. But Kate Otten I think is sort of going to be their slot guy. I know they can move a buka inside Connor, but this is somebody who last year, in two games against Atlanta last year averaged over 62 yards a game. You talked about the target share. There's a familiarity there with Baker Mayfield here. Again, if you're sort of Desperate at tight end until Chris Godwin comes back. Kay Dutton, who last year became a thing with all the injuries that become a thing again.

[Connor]

So that's the key is that we've seen this already from Baker Mayfield and this good offense. What happened when they dealt with injury at wide receiver and they're going into the season with injury at wide receiver. We love Emeko Buka. Mike Evans is great, but Kate Otten was the guy that got a big jump. Jay.

[Jay]

Yeah. Last year we were talking about who's going to assume the slot receiver role with Chris Godwin breaking his ankle. Well, it was kind of Kate Otten, he was the guy who really feasted on that over the middle stuff. And it is going to be as deep as this wide receiver room is. They've made changes like Trey Palmer's gone now that Chris Godwin is going to miss the. Now it seems like he's going to miss the first month of the season. I don't understand what they're doing the PUP list in Tampa Bay, but regardless, it's going to be, I think, a pretty streamlined offense in the pass game to Kate Otten, Mike Evans and Emeko Bruka.

[Connor]

All right, our next one, Brenton Strange. Here's the Panthers, 78% available. Here's a little fun fact. You know what he is.

[Matthew Berry]

The fact that he's 78% available, it's a little strange.

[Connor]

Strange.

[Matthew Berry]

A little strange.

[Connor]

You know what else is a little strange?

[Matthew Berry]

Chef's kiss. Thank you. Stephen. Make sure you clip that for the Emmy reel right there. Just make sure you, you clip that time code that. Send that over. Yeah. Hashtag viral.

[Connor]

There's our viral clip of the day.

[Jay]

Socks. Matthew, what's going on?

[Matthew Berry]

I came up with that on my own, by the way. Oh, no.

[Jay]

Are you wearing socks or are these like skin colored socks?

[Matthew Berry]

I'm wearing, I'm wearing socks, but they're like, they're short. If you can get a close up.

[Connor]

Here, you got the no shirts.

[Matthew Berry]

I've got sort of the no socks. Like you can. Can you see there? Hang on.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's the shot we needed for today.

[Matthew Berry]

I am wearing socks. I'm wearing socks, but they're. They're low socks, like, and it. They're black. So they blend in.

[Jay]

Gotta have to throw the proverbial challenge there.

[Matthew Berry]

I will, I will have. No. This is what was given to me by the, by the NBC Sports wardrobe department. I will hear. No. Hear nothing but praise for that.

[Jay]

Wow.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Jay]

No, it's a good look. If you're 29 years old in the hair.

[Matthew Berry]

Mr. T wants to know.

[Connor]

Yeah. What material is that shirt Matt is wearing? Like a cross between corduroy and terry clock.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, it's a weird one. I. I gotta be honest with you. This is also was. I don't know. Feel it. You tell me.

[Connor]

It's pretty good.

[Matthew Berry]

I have a cool. It's. It's nice. I'll tell you, it's super comfy. I think it looks good. Again, I have to tell you about the NBC Sports wardrobe department. Real quickly, shout out to Amy Acton and the Acton style group because I will tell you this right now. I've given them very little to work with and they make me look good like it's their job. Like NBC said, hey. And they shove me at them. They said, hey, we've got to put this guy in football night in America. Can you make this guy presentable to a national TV audience? And I don't know how they've done it, but they seem to have done it. I've given them very little to work with and they've done a great job. They continue to do a great job. They've done it for years and years and years. So I looked good on the Tonight Show. That was all them plus 3,000 cashes.

[Jay]

No, I like the Facebook exec T shirt with blazer look for foul. That was good.

[Matthew Berry]

Anyway, shout out acting style group. There you go.

[Connor]

Somehow we got from Brenton Strange to that I don't even. That's quite strange.

[Matthew Berry]

Welcome to our show. All right, real quickly, let me just mention a couple other tight ends as well. We talked about K Dot and we talked about Breton Strange. No team, by the way, allowed more touchdowns than tight ends than the Carolina Panthers. Strange could be in for a nice game. How about John U. Smith? We talked about this. Just like Kenneth Gainwell. You guys are going to be shocked and annoyed and look at how much John ou Smith gets used in this dumb Steelers offense. But again, Arthur Smith. I tell my daughters, look, find a guy that looks at you the way Arthur Smith looks at John O. Smith. How about Theo Johnson? We've talked a lot about Mason Taylor. I like both New York football tight ends. New York City, not, you know, of course New York Bills are the only true New York team. But you guys know what I'm talking about. Theo Johnson, very good chance. We just talked about Wando Robinson. But there's a chance Connor, where Theo Johnson is the number two pass catcher for this Giants offense.

[Connor]

Right? I mean, there's going to be opportunity There and I think Russ can lean on him because of his length at times. So Darius Slayton, when you look at the other options, throwing a Tyrone, he's.

[Matthew Berry]

Had a very strong, very strong camp. Second year player out of Penn State. Three of his four, three of his final four games last year he had at least six targets. And so he's been having a strong camp. Give me some Theo Johnson. And then you know what? Wouldn't be a first week waiver wire tight end segment without my guy. Chigaconkwa getting Chiggy with it. He always shows up getting Chiggy with it. Absolutely. I think this Titans offense is going to be better than people think. I think again with Cam Ward under center, Brian Callahan wants to push the ball downfield after Calvin Ridley, it's like it's Tyler Lockett. It's like, I mean it's like it's a couple of rounds.

[Connor]

Elikayo Manor.

[Matthew Berry]

Right? Exactly.

[Connor]

Gunnar Helm could make an appearance in this section one day for November.

[Matthew Berry]

But just again you think about they're playing Denver this week. You assume that Pat Surtan is going to be on Calvin Ridley. So who's going to get some of the underneath stuff? Right. Obviously I do think Chiga Konkwo has a nice game in week one.

[Connor]

K Gemma89 Johnu and Theo Johnson. I could see Chig may be the biggest surprise if Cam and the OC get what a weapon he can be.

[Matthew Berry]

There's never been about his physical skills by Chicaconkwo.

[Connor]

You know, you hope that Tennessee's got a good defense, but you hope at times they are playing a throw script at the end of games. And Cam Ward likes to run around and look for guys out of structure and maybe that benefits Chig Akonkwo. Let's get to the quarterbacks here, guys, and we're going to stick with the game We've talked a lot about already. That is the Panthers at Jacksonville. Bryce Young J the Jaguars allowed the third most fantasy points to quarterbacks last year. And Bryce in the second half of the season started to turn the corner.

[Jay]

Yeah, he absolutely turned the corner. And it was largely against the soft schedule. He also played really well against the Eagles defense. He's looked more confident. I now think of Bryce Young. I think of him as like Kansas City. Alex Smith, like that's the player that you want him to be. It's just short, accurate stuff, reads the game well, can move a little bit with his legs and he gets a Jags defense. It was bottom three in the NFL last year. I think they'll be better this year, but I don't think they're going to be top 10 better. And also the Panthers, the beauty for Bryce Young is that pants defense is going to be bad again. Like there's not a great deal of talent there. So I think they're going to be in a lot of shootouts. And Bryce Young I think flash a level of competence last year that he's going to be able to live up to those shootouts and compile stats.

[Matthew Berry]

I'm with you. It's also the, I mean I think Carolina Jacksonville might be one of the most entertaining games this weekend as well. I mean again, Jags a lot of the third most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. I'm excited, I'm super excited about the Jaguars offense. We just talked about Breton Strange, but as you know btj Travis Hunter, Trevor Lawrence I do think is a sleeper this year as well. So Bryce Young kind of going head to head with him. He finished the year strong as you mentioned. So I do think Bryce Young is somebody that if you're looking for a quarterback is somebody that probably should be picked up.

[Jay]

Head to head matchup of the Baker Mayfield Fixers and Dave Canales and Liam Cohen. So we'll see who is truly responsible.

[Matthew Berry]

Let's go.

[Connor]

We got Michael Penix on the list here, guys as well, 67% availability. He's got the Bucs. As great as the Bucs have been in this Baker Mayfield era, their past defense did rank 29th last season. You can throw on this and this is another game, Matthew, that maybe we kind of find a little bit of a shootout script. I know it's not common week one, but these two quarterbacks, they will throw down the field, right?

[Matthew Berry]

I mean you've talked about Michael Penix quite a bit as well. I mean look like as bad as Kirk Cousins was last year in his two games against Tampa Bay, he crushed and so there's a chance that they get Darnell Mooney back this week. He's been back at practice which would help which helped Penix again. Penix has some of that YOLO to him as well. I think he's more accurate downfield than Joe Flacco perhaps. But you know we expect a big year out of Drake London. Obviously you've got Bijan out of the backfield and I do think if he gets Darnell Mooney, little Ray, Ray McLeod. Still not talking about Kyle Pitts by the way. Cut to Kyle Pitts scoring three touchdowns in this game. But whatever. All I'm going to say is that I do think Michael Penix Jr. Becoming like a top 10 top 12 fantasy quarterback not outside the realm of possibility.

[Connor]

Kind of like two years ago Jordan love throwing all those touchdowns where you're you know and love ran more than that year. That pass panics will but that's kind of the script you want.

[Jay]

Yeah, I think panics are probably with Anthony Richardson not the starter. I'd make Pennix the favorite to lead the NFL on average depth of target in terms of his passes. Like he's just going to chug it downfield. That's just what he does. And with the Bucks, even though I think the past defense will be better than it was last year but the main thing is that how run defense is going to be it's Vita Bay is still there so they're a really good run defense. So it's going to be more of a pass funnel still.

[Connor]

All right, a couple of mentions at quarterback here. Daniel Jones, Matthew against the Dolphins, Tua against the Colts and then once again you just can't escape Joe Blacko.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, well, I mean look again, these are all sort of guys that again, if you're desperate, if you need to stream somebody, if you don't love the matchup with one of the guys you have but Daniel Jones, he's had 69 career starts. He averages over 30 rushing yards per game. We expect that to be a sneaky shootout. That game's in home in Indianapolis as well on the turf. Tua facing him by the way on the road at the Colts. Colts. Colts were 26th against the pass last year as well to a fully healthy Tyreek Waddle. Fully healthy. Let's go. And then finally, yeah, Joe Flacco. Look, you mentioned it, Jay, you said like he didn't throw a game. He didn't have one game I think. Right. Only one game where they Andrew Less than 44 passes last year when he started. This is somebody that they're just going to chuck it a lot. We talked about the single the Bengals defense is bad and we also expect the Bengals offense to be able to score quite a bit. So they're just going to be negative game script where they're not only going to have to throw but they're going to be able to throw, I suspect. DraftKings like if you're playing DFS, Joe Flacco is going to be a very popular pick on DraftKings this week.

[Connor]

If you need a defense. Of course let's actually get to a YouTube comment here before we do any of that.

[Matthew Berry]

Old Chuck.

[Connor]

This one is from old Chuck. Jay was that guy who fell to his knees in the middle of a Walmart when Flacco won comeback player of the year. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of a casino in the States.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes. Right.

[Connor]

He didn't fall to his knees and scream.

[Jay]

Yeah. After they shot Mama Fukushima, you down? We headed down to the bar underneath, which is the dark side. It was more like the Willem Dafoe and end of platoon, if you can recall. Slow Mo shooting in the jungle in van.

[Connor]

Yes. Very dark scene.

[Matthew Berry]

To be clear though, old shot Jay does often go to Walmart to find discount Briana Stewart jerseys.

[Jay]

The good news though is that after that to wake up at 8am to interview Rob Riggle wearing a SWAT outfit.

[Matthew Berry]

We also did that. That is true. We had to. We had to do that. And yeah, Jay, I like that we.

[Connor]

Had to do that.

[Matthew Berry]

Jay has the collection of WNBA jerseys and we did. In fact, yeah, we, we interviewed Rob Riggle who was dressed in full on army gear.

[Jay]

Yeah, swat.

[Matthew Berry]

He was dressed as a SWAT guy. Ready to go. No, but, but he was there to promote a golf line. Like he was promoting golf clubs. And we were like, why are you. Where you draft as a. Like. I don't know. He had a bit. There was a whole bit to it. I don't remember the bit.

[Connor]

I just got good energy from Rob.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, Rob's hilarious. We love Rob Riggle. Rob's hilarious.

[Jay]

We've.

[Connor]

We've definitely done some random things on this show in four years. How about some defenses you could add if you're in trouble there? These are defenses that meet our threshold. Obviously you'd love to have more of those.

[Matthew Berry]

We should actually do a different show called Random Shit. You know, it's like more of the.

[Connor]

Closing time of happy hour. Yeah, closing time is where it's like.

[Matthew Berry]

With J. Connor Matthew. Yeah. All right, go ahead.

[Connor]

We'll work on it.

[Matthew Berry]

All right, so here's some defenses if you want to stream a defense. Got the Cardinals at Spencer Rattler. That should be fun. My commander's at home against the Giants. Your Jets, Connor against Aaron Rodgers. That under is one of my favorite.

[Connor]

Bets of the week. If it moves too much, I'll stay off it. But I got it at 39.5. I don't think the teams are going to score a lot in that game for sure.

[Matthew Berry]

And how about the Rams against Rams against the Houston Texans as well? Again, we just, we don't know about that offensive line in Texas and obviously then. Listen, Joe Flacco he'll chuck it a lot and he usually completes to his own team, but he'll throw it to the other team a couple of times as well. You know if they're if they the Bengals would be my best pick for a pick six this week just because Jameis isn't playing but Flacco is.

[Jay]

Yeah, don't stream the Cardinals defense. My Saints are going to light him up playoff berth.

[Connor]

Get personalized fantasy football Spoken like somebody.

[Matthew Berry]

That has never seen Spencer Rattler play.

[Connor]

Football based on your league settings with Fantasy Life plus, your league is unique. Your advice should be Too head to FantasyLife.com and use code ROTO20 for 20% off. You could also use Matthew 20, Connor 20J20 works as well.

[Matthew Berry]

Tomorrow I'll give an update on the standings about how those promo codes are going. Jay and I were tied for the lead last time I checked, but as you see like no matter what kind of format you play, what kind of league settings you have, you get points for first down. We got projections for it. We got waiver tools for it. We got start sit advice for it too. Check it [e-mail] we had our own.

[Connor]

Draft day last week. We go over the much awaited results right after this.

[Matthew Berry]

Hey, what if a quarterback completed four out of five of his passes or a point guard hit four out of five from behind the arc? Well now when you're hiring you can play at that level because four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. From healthcare to hospitality to business, services, manufacturing and more, ZipRecruiter makes hiring faster and easier. And today you can try it for [e-mail] FFHH ZipRecruiter doesn't wait for the right candidates to find you. ZipRecruiter scouts top talent for you first. When you post your job, ZipRecruiter hustles to start showing it to the most qualified people. Then ZipRecruiter races to build a roster of great candidates for your job. And hey, you can invite your top picks to apply to encourage them to apply sooner. See for yourself. Just go to this exclusive web address to try ZipRecruiter for free. Ziprecruiter.com ffhh Once again ZipRecruiter.com ffhh ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire for 140 years, MultiCare has been in Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with local communities.

[Jay]

And expanding access to care.

[Matthew Berry]

Together we're building a healthier future.

[Connor]

Learn [e-mail] and now a next level.

[Matthew Berry]

Moment from AT&T business. Say you've sent out a gigantic shipment of pillows and they need to be.

[Connor]

There in time for International Sleep day.

[Matthew Berry]

You've got AT and T5G so you're fully confident, but the vendor isn't responding and International Sleep Day is tomorrow. Luckily, AT&T 5G lets you deal with any issues with ease, so the pillows.

[Connor]

Will get delivered and everyone can sleep soundly, especially you.

[Matthew Berry]

AT&T 5G requires a compatible plan and device coverage not available everywhere. Learn more [e-mail] 5G Network I'm I am the champ. I am the champ. Until a new champion is crowned. If somehow it's not me, I am still the champion and I demand all of you call me that. And with that, allow this to the fourth year of the League of Assholes Draft may now commence. I'd like.

[Connor]

I'd like to do something very dramatic.

[Matthew Berry]

Here.

[Connor]

Something that would trigger the whole league, but instead I'm just going to take Lamar Jackson when I can find him. Are they alphabetical?

[Jay]

Well, there's been two absolute meltdowns so far. The first meltdown was the meltdown of Matthew Berry's personality in that disgraceful 30 minute monologue. Second meltdown was Lawrence Jackson taking Jameer Gibbs third in Superdraftly. So I will Super Flex League. I will gleefully take Jalen Hurts Sootball mvp. My team name is the Chubby Leather Daddies.

[Connor]

So all right, before I make back to back picks here, I'd like to remind everybody of two things. One, I still hate this league. It's stupid. I don't know why we play Super Flex. Probably tailored to Matthew in some way. Number two, I beat Matthew the one time we played last year. I just choked in the playoffs with my first pick. To conclude the first round, I'm going to be very brave and take Saquon Barkley since nobody wanted to do that. And then my first pick of the second round, I'm going to be a believer in the bounce back for Patrick.

[Matthew Berry]

Mahomes in a league where, you know, people talk a good game and then they don't take the player when it's time to take them.

[Connor]

I'm going to go with Dre London right here. The best player remaining on my board. I think he's a top five receiver here. And just on a side note, this league in draft order was rigged for Matthew Berry. That's why he has Jaden Daniels on his Fantasy team right now. It's rigged.

[Matthew Berry]

That's a very serious accusation you're throwing at winning. Todd Zeal do not have much of a choice here.

[Jay]

Wait, Matthew.

[Matthew Berry]

What? Polygon, if you took Kyler Murray as your rider or die, shouldn't you be dead right now? Here you are monologuing.

[Connor]

I was hoping we would go a full preseason without talking about him so his ADP would go down. But we talked about him today, so.

[Matthew Berry]

I'm going to take. Who do we talk about? DeAndre Swift.

[Connor]

DeAndre Swift.

[Matthew Berry]

DeAndre Swift. Oh, there you go.

[Jay]

All right.

[Connor]

Everyone roasted me last year for going running back heavy. I'll get my quarterbacks eventually. I drafted Joe Burrow last year and he was terrible. I don't even know who my second quarterback was, but I had.

[Matthew Berry]

No, no, wait.

[Connor]

I had.

[Matthew Berry]

Trevor Lawrence was my first. All right, I'm getting the gang back together. Last year on my championship winning tee, Jaden Daniels. Jaden. Daniel. Listen, all I know is. All I know is only one guy in this room gets to wear this sticker, and it's effing me. Jaden Daniels was one of my quarterbacks last year when I won the championship for the second time in a row. And my running back was Derrick Henry. King Henry, you too. So, King Henry, come on back. My ride or die was Bucky Irving. And boy, will I be dead if he's not good, because I have him in every league. The plane, the. The pilot has ominously come on the.

[Jay]

PA like we have a fuel imbalance.

[Matthew Berry]

But I'm taking Bucky Irving.

[Jay]

Yeah, I'm gonna take Dak. We're gonna stack up Ceedee. Watch him throw the ball 44 times a game.

[Matthew Berry]

Very few know that I was born.

[Jay]

And raised in Washington, D.C. so I'm.

[Connor]

Very conflicted in making this pick. And if he fails miserably, I'll still.

[Jay]

Be somewhat happy because it's a Cowboys quarterback.

[Connor]

I'm going to take Dak Prescott.

[Matthew Berry]

You know, it's going to be great. No super awkward preamble before taking a guy. That was taken three rounds ago. Considering Lamar Jackson, I'm worried about the offensive line, but at this point, Bijon Robinson is too much of a value for me to pass up.

[Jay]

All right, I'll just keep stacking.

[Connor]

Wide receiver.

[Jay]

I'll take Garrett Wilson.

[Matthew Berry]

Garrett Wilson's also taken. I can't see these guys. Garrett Wilson's also taken. Make sure you're back in.

[Connor]

Oh, man. You can tell it takes us nine hours to complete a draft.

[Matthew Berry]

So that was Adam. That was our producer Adam. And so he's got to change his name after that. Yeah, exactly. The guy. And anyone's curious in terms of like sort of who was who. Obviously you recognize Denny Carter, Pat Doherty and Lawrence Jackson. And hopefully the three of us. The Jaguars jersey. That was producer Steven. And the baseball hat asking me whether I should be dead or not. That is backup producer Pete. And the guy in the Patriots jersey who thought he had Joe Burrow at quarterback last year but wasn't Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence. That was stupid Dev. Emmy award winning stupid Dev. By the way, Emmy award winning stupid.

[Jay]

Deviant is Chad Ochocinko. Chad Johnson.

[Matthew Berry]

He didn't get any love in that though.

[Connor]

He was in that.

[Matthew Berry]

Was he?

[Connor]

He took Dak.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. Oh no. But. Right. He didn't. They didn't get a. We didn't get a clip of him talking. Yeah we did.

[Connor]

He was in there. Sometimes you don't pay attention. I know, it's crazy.

[Matthew Berry]

I don't really. No. I just. I was looking at my rundown anyway. Yes. OO Cinco jersey. That's producer Damien. All right.

[Jay]

By the way.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor]

We have to give, you know, show some love to both Mackenzie and Kelsey. They drink for free because they. They stayed for the whole draft. Not in the week.

[Jay]

Those poor girls.

[Connor]

Not in the leak.

[Matthew Berry]

You do.

[Connor]

They filmed all that content. They're not even drafted. They have to sit through the entire thing.

[Matthew Berry]

The whole thing. They do social media for us here at NBC. So anyway they're great and they drink for free as well. Congratulations and thank you to Mackenzie and Kelsey.

[Connor]

Paul815 on YouTube said League of assholes. More like League of idiots.

[Matthew Berry]

Fair. Also fair. Maybe we change the name.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Matthew Berry]

I don't know.

[Connor]

We might just stay. Alright, let's go through the teams. We'd have plenty of people in the chat wondering what does this draft actually look like?

[Matthew Berry]

It's a 12 team PPR Super Flex League. That's what it is. Yes.

[Connor]

Absolute disaster.

[Matthew Berry]

Here's my team. In order that I drafted. Of course I went Jayden Daniels. Lot of familiar faces. Right. So Jaden Daniels. Actually it's not in the order.

[Connor]

It's not.

[Matthew Berry]

It's not in the order I drafted it. Sorry.

[Connor]

That was good.

[Jay]

My whole laws.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. I should pay attention with the appreciation.

[Connor]

What running back on the Bears did you get Matthew?

[Matthew Berry]

So.

[Connor]

Manangay.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes. We made it Kamanongai. So anyway, among players that I had on my championship winning team last year, Jaden Daniels, Mike Evans, Derrick Henry as well. So my quarterbacks are Daniels And Josh Drake may need him a lot at running back. Derrick Henry, Chase Brown feel really good about that. Of course I got Jakory Crosky, Merritt and some upside there in Manangai as you mentioned and Jaden Blue Manon guy. So I feel good about the. About my running backs, my wide receivers, Mike Evans, Cortland Sutton, Josh Downs. Boy, Josh Downs needs to work. I have a lot of Josh Downs. I have a lot of Cortland Sutton this year and a lot of Josh Downs. Also Darnell Mooney, Marvin Mims late and Pop Douglas was my last pick. Laporta my only tight end. I went with a one tight end strategy. So we'll see what happens.

[Connor]

How about the chubby leather dad?

[Matthew Berry]

I feel like. And you guys, by the way, you guys can weigh in on the chat and everything like that, but I feel like the reaction from everyone was honestly annoyance because they felt like I had a good team. They had to admit I have a good team.

[Jay]

I think everyone's just sick of you talking.

[Matthew Berry]

I'm sure not too.

[Jay]

What's going on with the monologue?

[Connor]

For context, we have two microphones during this draft, right. And they're clip on mics so you probably didn't even notice them. One gets passed around for whoever's drafting. Right. Makes sense. You're making a pick, you're reacting, you might say something funny. The other microphone stays on Matthew for all nine hours of the draft.

[Matthew Berry]

So that's the one. I kept giving speeches. I felt pressure to talk. Felt pressure to talk. You didn't have to. By the way, the other reason that Mackenzie and Kelsey drink for free is that that I didn't realize the bike was on me. And so I'm eating pizza through the first like two rounds like so I'm sure there's like a lot of stuff they couldn't use cuz all they hear is me like chewing away, chomping away like a. Like a. The grazing beast that I am. So it's just every pick. Yeah.

[Jay]

Back when I was a boy in College Station. That's why I'm taking Chase Brown Othello over here.

[Matthew Berry]

That's fine. I like my team. Screw you guys.

[Connor]

Solid team. What about you, Jay?

[Matthew Berry]

What about Jay?

[Connor]

I don't even remember.

[Matthew Berry]

Chubby Leather Daddies is a fantastic team name. Yes.

[Jay]

Yeah, the Chubby Leather Daddies. Hopefully they put up some chubby victories. Very happy. Yes, very happy. With my first three rounds to get Jalen Hurts falling to pick five because Lawrence took Jameer Gibbs before him and then Monroe St Brown just a very high floor. I was very happy as well to get Brock Bowers in the third round. Not that high on Brock Bowers this year, but he's going to fall to the third round. Have to take him there. Went into the draft aiming to get a stack of Seahawks running backs. Ended up with a stack of Seahawks wide receivers instead with JSN and Cooper Cup. But the Tigers have to go there somewhere. Justin Herbert was QB2. He ended up falling to like QB19 20. But I just think I get that they're going to run the ball, but it's Justin Herbert. I just think when you're a top six, top seven quarterback on talent, you cannot fall that far. And then on the bench just some again we talked about Quinte on Judkins as a swing. Daniel Jones like is a Q BE3 you can slot in if Hertz or Herbert get hurt or for a couple of bye weeks. Hollywood Brown I think is going to be viable in the first six weeks of the season in particular. And then Naji Harris, that was more of a content pick. And then Kendra Miller who I do think if Al goes down like he is going to be, I think they're going to run the ball. A lot of New Orleans, a solid offensive line. I think he's got some explosiveness as well. So some. Some upside swings.

[Matthew Berry]

So I think, I think for a team that waited on running back which your wide receivers are ridiculous, like you know having, you know, JSN as you know Amanra and JSN and I think Kupp is great. Like you're two tight ends as well. Like you have Bowers and then you also have Tucker Kraft. So I think you have a trade piece there assuming Kraft pops the way we all think he does. So for a team that waited on running back the way you did, I thought you landed two good ones in Pollard and Warren. You just don't have a ton of running back depth behind them. So you really need those two guys to work and they're both on the lower tier of kind of running backs you'd want. But again, I think, I mean Hertz and Herbert are great. Browers is a superstar. The wide receivers are sick. Like I think it's just that I think it's a running back depth is my one question.

[Jay]

We're going to talk about devs them and his all in running back strategy was kind of derailed the draft a little bit for everyone. I'd say that just being in the draft at the time, like you don't want to reach for, like, position. Because you don't have that position, Phil. Just take the better player. Like, I just don't want to take like. Like I was like, oh, yeah. I was like, I wanted to take.

[Matthew Berry]

I had a choice between this is Brock stupid Devs.

[Jay]

Team Dev basically just loaded up running back. So he took Bajan Robinson as his first book. Then Devin Achan, Kamara, Kenneth Walker, Chuba Hubbard.

[Connor]

So basically, I think five of six.

[Jay]

Picks for running backs, which is the draft.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Didn't totally stop there. Still took Tyler Algier on his bench. And so that when someone just goes in with like an outlier, aggressive strategy, it kind of just warps everything. But at the same time, like, I just think that for the most part, it's like the NFL team's drafting. Just take the best player available.

[Matthew Berry]

I know. The weird thing is I don't hate his team. No.

[Connor]

This worked for him last year.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. He, you know, he needs those wide receivers too. You know, he doesn't have a lot of similar to you, but like, in theory, one of those running backs he could trade. And this is what we always talk about when you're in a draft. Like, don't freak out if you're like, you're on the end of a run. Just draft another player if you have it. Because again, like, if Tucker Kraft pops, then Jay can trade Bowers for a superstar.

[Connor]

Right?

[Matthew Berry]

Right. Or right. And Dev could certainly trade Ken Walker or one of his running backs to fortify his wide receiver position.

[Connor]

As Kjema points out, Dev hoarded the running backs.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes, he did.

[Connor]

I'll show you. So I had to react to that in this trip. I had the last pick thanks to Todd Zeal. Thanks, Todd.

[Matthew Berry]

Thank you, Todd Zeal. Emmy award winning Todd Zeal. Put some respect on his name.

[Connor]

Emmy award winning Todd Zeal. Fortunately for me, I still was able to get Saquon Barkley with the last pick of the first round. So I got a hero running back and then I took Mahomes. I'm a big believer in Mahomes this year and it is super flex. So I had to add that quarterback before the dreadfully long, long wait. And with Dev taking all those running backs, I just drafted back fields guys. I have Barkley with Will Shipley behind them. I have Kyron Williams with Blake Corum behind them. So if one of my two hero backs get hurt, I have some kind of handcuff situation. But then, you know, I kind of just went all over the board. Jordan Love and Mahomes. I feel good about them. As my two quarterbacks, I'm a big believer in Travis Hunter. He's my wide receiver too, which might scare some people, but I like the upside. And then hopefully Ricky Pearsall and Roma Dunes have breakout years. I need T. Higgins to stay.

[Matthew Berry]

I have a ton of Piers hall this year. News though, by the way, Juwan Jennings back at practice for the 49ers, looks like he's going to practice. Seems happy. So whether it was injury or contract, whatever kept him out is now done. And Jennings, I think one of the bigger, you know, bargains on draft day for people that took a chance because he dropped a ton, I'm hoping, I'm hoping it works out as well. Shout out to backup producer Pete and Fried Collie Power, one of the best names in the league. I also liked his team as well.

[Connor]

Thursday night, the NFL season kicks off with the historic rivalry as the Eagles the Eagles host the Cowboys. NFL kickoff presented by YouTube TV Thursday, 7pm Eastern Time on NBC. And Peacock last Call is coming up next. We got our best bets for MVP.

[Matthew Berry]

For 140 years, MultiCare has been in Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with.

[Jay]

Local communities and expanding access to care.

[Matthew Berry]

Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@ multicare.org Labor Day savings are happening right now at the Home Depot. So what are you working on?

[Jay]

Prep for fall with our wide selection.

[Matthew Berry]

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[Jay]

Season long, shop Labor Day Savings now through September 3rd only at the Home Depot.

[Matthew Berry]

See select stores for details.

[Connor]

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[Jay]

The crown is yours.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Last call. Most valuable player here. No surprises at the top. Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and then Josh Allen. What do you like on the sport, Jay?

[Matthew Berry]

Two of the three of them Fantasy life investors.

[Jay]

There you go. I'm taking Patrick Mahomes at plus 700. He's only won MVP once in the past six years. That doesn't sit right with me. For a guy I think could go down as the greatest quarterback of all time, he has better weapons this year. Better O line. I think Mahomes is the best bet on the board at seventh one.

[Connor]

I'm joining you with that one as well. I think he gets back to the near 40 passing touchdowns form that he's been missing the last two years. Matthew, what do you think?

[Matthew Berry]

I've said, I've said he's going score shirt, but give me Jaden Daniels 850. Come on. The fact of the matter is the Eagles are so dominant, if Jaden Daniels manages to win the division, which is certainly within the realm of possibility, they're going to have eight primetime games this year. So a lot of people are going to see him. If he plays well, I think he's got a shot. It's closing time. You don't have to go home, so you can't stay here. For Jay, for Connor, I'm Matthew Berry. We'll see you tomorrow. Peace out. Labor Day Savings are happening right now at the Home Depot. So what are you working on?

[Jay]

Prep for fall with our wide selection.

[Matthew Berry]

Of cordless power tools that make it easy to clear your lawn starting at $79. And once the leaves are clear, keep.

[Jay]

Your yard looking fresh with colorful mums that bloom all season long. Shop Labor Day Savings now through September 3rd only at the Home Depot.

[Matthew Berry]

See select stores for details.