Start or Sit (AFC): Woody Marks SZN! How About DK Metcalf? Deebo Samuel? Quinshon Judkins?  (11/13 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today — Start or Sit (AFC): Woody Marks SZN! How About DK Metcalf? Deebo Samuel? Quinshon Judkins?

Podcast Date: November 13, 2025
Hosts/Analysts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings
Topics: Week 11 AFC ‘Start or Sit’ – Deep dives on fantasy values, injury updates, game-by-game analysis, and debates on trending players such as Woody Marks, DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel, Quinshon Judkins, plus key rankings, starts, sits, and sleeper picks.

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on AFC "Start or Sit" recommendations for Week 11 of the NFL fantasy football season. The FFT crew breaks down eight key AFC games, providing their top starts, sits, and sleeper picks, evaluating recent performances, debating contentious fantasy assets, and analyzing the latest injury/news updates. Notably, they discuss the rise of Woody Marks, concerns with DK Metcalf, whether to trust Deebo Samuel, and frustrations with some prominent running backs and wide receivers.

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Top Start Recommendations

Jamey Eisenberg's Starts of the Week (00:59)

• Justin Herbert (Chargers @ Jaguars)

  • Had at least 22.8 points in four straight games prior to last week.
  • Jaguars have been "horrible against quarterbacks” (01:34).
  • "Love the setup for him" — Jamey (00:59)

• Woody Marks (Texans @ Titans)

  • Against the Titans was his best game; "taking more control of the backfield" with 80% snap share last week (00:59).
  • "If they went back to Nick Chubb...I’d be shocked” (01:49).

• Jauan Jennings (Cardinals vs. ? - Presumably Cardinals at Browns)

  • Cardinals struggle with No. 1 WRs; stepping up with Marvin Harrison Jr. out (00:59, 02:09).
  • “I think there’s an opportunity for Jennings to keep going as the, at least for now, the de facto alpha of this receiving core.” (02:09)

Heath Cummings' Starts of the Week (02:35)

• RJ Harvey (Broncos @ Chiefs)

  • Not a great matchup, but clear volume edge: 50 carries this season, next closest RBs just 3 (02:48).
  • “He's made splash plays. He's going to get the opportunity...Just start him.” (02:48)

• Joe Flacco (Browns @ Steelers)

  • Top streaming QB: “He’s going to throw the ball 40+ times...His start percentage still just 29%” (02:48).
  • Steelers “not that good,” especially when Flacco gets the ball out quickly.

• Khalil Shakir (Bills vs. Bucs)

  • Consistently 13-12 FFP, could spike to 20+ if he scores (02:48).
  • “He’s been a really steady 13-12 fantasy points. With no Dalton Kincaid, might see that target volume inch up.” (02:48)

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Key Players to Avoid

Heath's Sits (04:34)

• Baker Mayfield (Bucs @ Bills):

  • "Bills have not allowed [over] 16 fantasy points to a QB for eight straight weeks.” (04:34)
  • Less running, lower implied total than usual.

• Ken Walker (Seahawks @ Rams):

  • "Don’t start Ken Walker…or Zach Charbonnet. Don’t start a running back against the Rams." (05:30)

• Jordan Addison (Vikings vs. Bears):

  • Concerns about pass volume and target share with Justin Jefferson back (05:30).

Jamey’s Sits (06:56)

• Sam Darnold (49ers @ Rams):

  • Turnovers, inconsistent fantasy output despite sometimes strong play.
  • “I just don't expect him to have one of his more dominant games.” (07:00)

• Courtland Sutton (Broncos @ Chiefs):

  • Struggling recently, not expecting a reversal against a strong Chiefs D.

• Deebo Samuel (49ers @ Dolphins):

  • “You got lucky that he scored a touchdown last week...Three of four starts with Mariota have been under 29 yards.” (07:36)
  • Dolphins “keep wide receivers out of the end zone.”

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Major News and Notes (09:50-14:11)

• QB Injuries:
  • Lamar Jackson (knee) expected to play.
  • J.J. McCarthy (hand) expected to play.
  • Joe Flacco (shoulder), Davis Mills prepping to start for Texans.
• RBs:
  • Ramandre Stevenson OUT (Thursday).
  • Isaiah Pacheco, Rico Dowdle, Donovan Knight (monitor).
  • Chris Rodriguez (commanders) emerging as viable waiver RB.
• WRs:
  • A.J. Brown frustrated, not happy with usage ("If you got me in fantasy, get rid of me") (11:01).
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. OUT at least a week (appendicitis).
  • Michael Wilson is a waiver target.
• Other:
  • Sam Laporta (TE, Lions) missed practice (back).
  • Bengals D-linemen out; impacts run/pass game against them.

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Game-by-Game: "One Question" Analysis & Player Debates

Kansas City Chiefs @ Denver Broncos (14:59+)

• Patrick Mahomes:
  • Still a start despite tough matchups vs DEN recently; Denver missing key defenders this week (21:38).
• Chiefs RBs:
  • Kareem Hunt—“Touchdown or bust...he's 20-24 [RB] for me.” Jamie (23:38). Judkins > Hunt.
• Woody Marks vs. RJ Harvey:
  • Jamie: Marks. | Heath: Harvey (“they’re both starts, though.”) (06:19).
• Broncos WRs:
  • Jamie: Franklin. | Heath: Sutton. Both “number three” WRs. (28:35)

Washington Commanders @ Miami Dolphins (Spain Game)

• Commanders Players: Not confident in any, maybe Mariota as a streamer (15:29, 15:47).
• Dolphins:
  • Tua: Jamie high on him. Heath: “Streamer, could be a disaster but great matchup.” (35:40, 36:18)
  • Waddle/Achan – set-and-forget. Debo Samuel splits/debate (32:41-33:14).
  • Chris Rodriguez: Flex in standard, not a must-start (33:45).

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Buffalo Bills

• Baker Mayfield Debate:
  • Jamie more optimistic due to game script; Heath would SIT him (42:03).
• Bucs RBs:
  • Both Rashad White and Sean Tucker “are flexes at best.” Heath leans White in PPR, Tucker for big plays (43:46).

Cincinnati Bengals @ Pittsburgh Steelers (55:01+)

• Joe Flacco vs. Aaron Rodgers:
  • Both are starts, but Flacco slightly preferred (55:20).
  • Flacco “top 10ish QB this week,” but expectations should be tempered—“this feels like a 322 and 2" game (56:09).
• Chase Brown:
  • Involved, but only a back-end RB2 unless he pops in passing game (57:43).
• Steelers:
  • Jalen Warren: Love him as top-12 RB (55:23).
  • Calvin Austin: Sleepy PPR dart throw. Five or more targets in most games (60:15).
  • Pat Freiermuth: Good streamer, “great matchup” vs. Bengals (60:47).

Dallas Cowboys @ Las Vegas Raiders

• Dak Prescott: Top-five QB.
• Javonte Williams: Must start unless loaded at RB, despite lack of receiving (49:12).
• Raiders passing game: Gino Smith (if you have to), Brock Bowers a must start at TE, Trey Tucker & Tyler Lockett deep flyers (50:27).
• Ashton Jeanty: Both Heath and Jamie rank him above RJ Harvey and Woody Marks (53:19-53:32).

Chargers @ Jaguars

• Herbert: Jamie’s “start of the week.”
• Kamani Vidal: Start.
• Ladd McConkey: Clear #1 WR.
• Arande Gadsden: As a tight end, must start (62:20+).
• Chargers WRs: Quentin Johnston over Keenan Allen, both as WR3/flex (63:01).
• ETN: Jamie lowest on him (outside top 20), Heath confident must-start (64:20).

Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns

• Derrick Henry: Still a top-15 RB – “Not thinking about sitting him,” per Jamie (68:55).
• Quinshon Judkins: Trending down, but still RB2; concerns about offense but volume should still be there (71:50).
• Browns TE situation: Fanon over Njoku, Najoku only a stash now (73:04, 73:56).

Houston Texans @ Tennessee Titans

• Woody Marks: Trending lead back; some concern as Texans OC “won’t pre-determine elevated workload,” but beat writer says he’s the new leader (77:39-78:55).
• Texans starts: Schultz, Nico Collins, Woody Marks.
• Titans RBs: Tyjae Spears gets nod over Henry for PPR, but neither is a strong recommend (74:50).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Woody Marks’ backfield takeover:
  “If they went back to Nick Chubb...I’d be shocked” — Jamey (01:49)

• A.J. Brown’s Fantasy Value:
  "If you've got me in fantasy, get rid of me." — A.J. Brown via Twitch, paraphrased by Dave (11:01)

• On Debo Samuel’s Usage:
  “You got lucky that he scored a touchdown last week...Three of four starts with Mariota have been under 29 yards.” — Jamey (07:36)

• On Flacco’s Streaming Value:
  “He’s going to throw the ball 40+ times…and the Steelers defense isn’t that good, especially when Flacco gets the ball out in less than 2 1/2 seconds.” — Heath (02:48)

• Mayfield’s Recent Play:
  “He has not one single rush attempt in his last three games.” — Heath (04:34)

• On Zach Ertz:
  "He's in that group... you can see a path to success, but also potential pitfalls." — Jamie (31:34)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:59: Jamey’s start recommendations.
• 01:49: Woody Marks enthusiasm.
• 02:48: Heath’s favorite starts (Harvey, Flacco, Shakir).
• 04:34: Heath’s players to avoid (Mayfield, Walker, Addison).
• 06:56: Jamey’s sits (Darnold, Sutton, Deebo).
• 09:50-14:11: News & notes (injuries, depth chart changes, etc.)
• 14:59+: Game-by-game analysis and debates:
  • Chiefs @ Broncos (15:14, 21:38),
  • Washington @ Miami (15:29, 31:13+),
  • Tampa Bay @ Buffalo (38:36+),
  • Dallas @ Las Vegas (49:05+),
  • Bengals @ Steelers (55:01+),
  • Chargers @ Jaguars (62:03+),
  • Ravens @ Browns (68:55+),
  • Texans @ Titans (74:32+)
• 31:34: Zach Ertz streamer debate.
• 36:11: Tua debate.
• 42:03: Mayfield vs. Bills DST discussion.
• 53:19-53:32: Ashton Jeanty comparison.
• 60:47: Steelers TE streaming.
• 73:56: Fanon over Njoku as Browns’ TE1.
• 77:21: Summary of Woody Marks’ stats and risk.

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Summary of Advice and Insights

• Start recommendations focus on high-volume opportunities, favorable matchups, and shifting backfield usage.
• Sit recommendations are rooted in recent trends, tough matchups, and poor offensive outlooks.
• News and injury updates are integral to lineup decisions; monitor late-week reports.
• Debates highlight subtle differences in analysts’ rankings, giving listeners multiple perspectives.
• A recurring theme: volatility at RB2/flex, with names like Woody Marks, RJ Harvey, and Kareem Hunt under heavy scrutiny.
• Deep sleepers and desperation plays are covered for those seeking edges off the waiver wire.
• Listener questions integrated throughout to offer practical application of the discussed advice.

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Useful for Listeners

This episode is indispensable for AFC fantasy managers heading into Week 11, richly covering every significant AFC storyline, with reasoned debates on hot-button players. The unique FFT banter keeps the episode lively while delivering high-quality, actionable advice.

Transcript

[Heath]

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. Wanna play?

[Jamie]

Can you believe this?

[Heath]

No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Dave]

All right, good morning, everybody, and we welcome you. We're about to begin week 11 here. It's Thursday, November 13th. Get ready for jets and Patriots tonight. This is fantasy football Today presented by BET gm. Make it legendary. We've got eight games to get to today. We're gonna try Kansas City at Denver, Washington at Miami, Tampa Bay at Buffalo, Dallas at Las Vegas, Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, Chargers at Jacksonville, Ravens at Browns, Texans and Titans. It could be Woody Marks. Szn. All right, we got Jamie and Heath here. We're gonna get right into it with our start of the week. Jamie, who are some players you love this week?

[Jamie]

Justin Herbert is the start of the week. He, prior to last week had been very good. At least 22.8 points in four games in a row. Jaguars have obviously been struggling against opposing quarterbacks. They made Davis Mills like a hall of Famer last week, so love the setup for him. You mentioned Woody Marks. Love the setup for him as well. Last time he played the Titans was his best game, but he's obviously been taking slightly, each week a little bit more control of the backfill. Until we saw last week where he played 80 of the snaps. Hopefully that continues. And then I love what Joanne Jennings has done each of the last two weeks. We'll see if Ricky Pierce all returns this week, but the Cardinals really struggle with number one wide receivers, and I think Joanne Jennings has another big game.

[Dave]

All right, so it's Herbert at Jacksonville. He's the start of the week. Jacksonville's been horrible against quarterbacks. Woody Marks. That's the last game we're going to talk about at Tennessee. We've had some fake outs before with Woody Marks. Are you. You're more confident this week that it's. That he's here to stay?

[Jamie]

I. I would be shocked if they went back to Nick Chubb plotting his way through the middle of the field as opposed to, you know, trying to get some more explosiveness out of the back. And based on what Demiko Ryan said, it feels like the takeover has happened.

[Dave]

All right. And then Juwan Jenning was. Was the last one. Are you worried about pass volume in that game, though, with Marvin Harrison Jr. Out?

[Jamie]

Not necessarily. And. And it hasn't been on a ton of targets for Jennings recently. So if Purdy's back, I think that's even better for him because I think the connection is a little bit better between those two than it has been with at least historically for these two guys with Mac Jones. Not that Jones has been bad for him the last couple of games, but I just think there's an opportunity for Jennings to keep going as the, at least for now, the de facto alpha of this receiving core.

[Dave]

All right. Hey, Heath.

[Heath]

Hi, Adam.

[Dave]

All right. Good morning, sir. So you've got three players you love as well. RJ Harvey against the Chiefs, Joe Flacco against Pittsburgh, and Khalil Shakir is a staple. You love Khalil Shakir. He's got Tampa Bay this week.

[Heath]

Yeah, I think, listen, it's not a great matchup for RJ Harvey. There will be at least a little bit of a split, but he has 50 carries this season. Tyler Beatty and Julian McLaughlin have three. They don't have another big back to bring in and take away the carries that RJ Harvey doesn't normally get. So I do think we're going to see 15 plus touches. We were excited about this guy. He's made splash plays. He's going to get the opportunity to touch the ball 15 times. Just start him. I am starting Joe Flacco. That should surprise no one. But he is coming off of a buy. His start percentage still just 29%. He's a top 10 quarterback for me of all of the streaming quarterbacks that we love this week and there's a bunch of them, one less now with Marvin Harrison out. So we don't let Jacoby Brissette. Flaco is my favorite of that group. Get him in your starting lineup. He's going to throw the ball 40 plus times. And the Steelers defense isn't that good, especially when Flacco gets the ball out in less than 2 1/2 seconds, which he does on the Bengals. And then Khalil Shakir, he's been a really steady 1312 fantasy points. He's going to be close to 20 if he gets you a touchdown. And no Dalton Kincaid. So you might see that target volume inch up just a little bit.

[Dave]

There you go. All right, Sunday morning, we've got one more game in Europe, one more early game. So that means one more early show of Fantasy Football Today. 8:30-9:30am YouTube.com fantasy football today and then again from noon to 1. So we hope to see you there on Sunday today. Check out fantasy Football Today on CBS Sports Network at 1pm Dave, Jamie and Heath go through their rankings and their tiers. All right, players to Avoid. So Baker Mayfield. This is an interesting one. Mayfield coming off a huge game. Heath, you have Mayfield at Buffalo, Ken Walker at the Rams, and Jordan Addison against the Bears.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Heath]

And I think Baker Mayfield's probably the most controversial of those. I know we have some disagreements in the rankings. The Bills really miserable game last year, but for the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8th week in a row, they did not allow a quarterback to score more than 16 fantasy points. So they have given up a lot in the run game. I expect that Tampa Bay is going to try to establish the run in this game. Maybe you get a couple of fourth quarter touchdowns from Baker Mayfield, that makes it a good day. But I, I don't like what we've seen from him. Except for last week without the top two wide receivers most recently. And the strangest thing, he averaged four rush attempts per game for like the last three years average. Basically four rush attempts per game the first six weeks of this season. Does not have one single rush attempt in his last three games.

[Dave]

Wow.

[Heath]

They have an implied total of 21, which has to be one of their lowest of the season. So I am getting away from Baker Mayfield. I would start Joe Flacco over him. Ken Walker probably seems obvious. Don't start Ken Walker. Don't start Zach Charbonnet. Don't start running back against the Rams. Definitely don't start Ken Walker. And Jordan Addison. I worry about the pass volume. I worry about Justin Jefferson hogging all of the targets. I worry about J.J. mcCarthy throwing the ball within five yards of his wide receivers. Addison's had good success on downfield targets this year. McCarthy has not looked good throwing the ball deep.

[Dave]

All right, so Baker Mayfield, Ken Walker, Jordan Addison. Players to avoid for Heath. Heath likes RJ Harvey against the Chiefs. By the way, guys, I'll ask both of you. Woody Marks at Tennessee or RJ Harvey against the Chiefs?

[Jamie]

Marks for me.

[Heath]

I have Harvey.

[Dave]

All right.

[Heath]

They're both starts, though.

[Dave]

All right, that's a good one. And he likes Harvey Flacco and Shakir. Jamie likes Herbert, Woody Marks and Juwan Jennings. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you, Jamie, on one of these, on one of your sits. And the first one, Sam Darnold at the Rams. I'll just say this. The Rams have had a pretty easy quarterback schedule. They faced four good quarterbacks this year. If you count Mac Jones, three of them have had big games. They're so good against the run, Darnold's gonna have to throw. And therefore, whenever he Throws. He's great. So I like Sam Darnold. Jamie, tell me why I'm wrong.

[Jamie]

He certainly could have a good game. He's the one that probably makes me the most nervous of the quarterbacks I have assist this week. But also you look at how some of his games have unfolded, even some of his games where he's played well. He's got six turnovers in his last three games. And I think the Rams are going to get after him, make him uncomfortable. We know what that's been for him at times in his career. And so I just think Sam Darnold falls below the 20 point threshold this week. A lot of great quarterbacks, but I don't expect him to have one of his best games. He's been under 10 fan. He's been 10 fancy points or less than two of his last three. One of those they won. And so I just don't expect him to have one of his more dominant games. So we've seen throughout the the season like this is one of these guys. I think by the end of the year we look back and say he, he's been a great quarterback. His fantasy production hasn't always matched his play.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And so I just don't see a big game coming for Sam Darnold. In the case of Cortland Sutton, he's really been struggling the last month. I don't think that's going to change against the Chiefs, mostly because I don't think Bo Nicks is going to be better against the Chiefs, even though they're going to be at home. And in the case of Debo Samuel, you got lucky that he scored a touchdown last week. He's been 29 yards or less in three or four starts with Marcus Mariota. And the Dolphins, as we know, don't allow a lot of production to opposing quarterback to opposing wide receivers. So I don't expect Debo Samuel to have a great game this week also unless he finds the end zone. And that's one thing the Dolphins have done very well, is keep wide receivers out of the end zone.

[Dave]

And that's going to be a fun one to debate. So Jamie's three players to avoid were Sam Darnold, Cortland Sutton and Debo Samuel. Heath is a little more optimistic on Debo Samuel and that's a game we'll get to in a little bit. All right. It is time for football at BetMGM. Register with BetMGM to get instant access to the best variety of parlay selection features. No sweat and boost tokens Live betting options and much more. New players can receive up to 1500 dollars back in bonus bets with the bonus code fantasy if they don't win their first bet. You don't want to miss out on any of the hard hitting action at BetMGM. Place your money line, parlay bets and more today. Bet MGM. Make it legendary. All right, it's time for news and notes and we're going to find out that Heath jinxed a very good player yesterday with his calling him a buy low. Then he gave him appendicitis. Thank you, Heath. But news and notes at quarterback Lamar Jackson's got a knee issue. They say, you know, John Harbo says he should be good for the game. At Cleveland, J.J. mcCarthy has a bruised hand. They expect him to be okay. Brock Purdy is definitely making progress. But one thing Purdy did very well last year, he ran the ball a lot. Ran very effectively. Apparently he's going to have to deal with his toe injury all year. Not he's not going to be 100% percent. Excuse me. Joe Flacco missed practice. I guess that's not a shock, but he is dealing with a shoulder issue and Davis Mills is prepping to start according to KPRC2's Aaron Wilson, who had good reporting on this last week too. Ramandre Stevenson is out tonight. Terrell Jennings is questionable, so Trayvon Henderson or Woody Marks. Okay. Isaiah Pacheco, Ms. Pratt get the biggest news of quarterback. Yes. What?

[Jamie]

James.

[Dave]

Oh, we did that yesterday.

[Jamie]

We did. Yeah, that was on the air.

[Dave]

I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Jameis is starting for the Giants.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

Pacheco missed practice. Bucky Irving returned to practice. It doesn't seem like he's quite ready to play yet, but it's something worth monitoring. Let's see. Rico Dowdle missed practice. Not a surprise. He missed Wednesday's practice last week. Donovan Knight was actually listed as limited with an ankle injury. Jalen Warren. Wait, so that's Jalen Warren news. Okay. The Chris Rodriguez news. He was limited with a shoulder injury. I didn't mention this until almost an hour, almost the end of the show last week. But if you need a running back, he's 12 rostered. Chris Rodriguez, he played 17 snaps in the first half last week. And Corey Cross Gamer played four. Can't guarantee you that it's going to be like that again this week, but they did give him the job last week. He's at Miami and they've actually been good against the run lately, but for the season, not so much. All right. Jamie what do we make of this AJ Brown stuff? He goes on twitch and says he's not happy. If you got me on fantasy, get rid of me. Made light. Tried to make light of it yesterday, but things are not well in A.J. brown land.

[Jamie]

I mean, look, he's being honest. He's frustrated. So, you know, you don't always see this when a team is winning coming off a Super bowl season that, you know, somebody is continuing to be this vocal about how unhappy he is. And I, I, I mean, you know, Nick Sirianni said he's doing his job. We're going to continue to give him opportunities. I think you just have to understand who he is as a player right now for your fantasy roster, that it's not going to be a good return on investment. So you just treat him as a low end number two receiver. If you have other options, you sit him like I, I'm in 12 receiver league with a flex where I have, you know, I drafted a Mecca Buka mid round pick. It's easy to just sit AJ Brown because I have two other great play. I forget which league it is, but two other great players that, you know, Rashi Rice is one, I think. And it's just easy to get away from him, you know. So if you can sit him like, you got to treat Devonte Smith as the best Eagles receiver at this point. He's just been more productive. And so if you're Jalen hurts right now and you just continue to hear this over and over again, you know, like which play do I want to draw? You know, which, which, you know, receiver do I want to target first? It just, it's just frustrating. It's very, very frustrating.

[Dave]

David Dave pointed out to me that AJ Brown splits this year. Man versus zone are pretty dramatic. He's much, much better against man and pretty sure the Lions are a very heavy man team. So two of his next three matchups are against teams that play a lot of man coverage. Maybe that helps, but obviously it's been a pretty bad. He's a huge bust. I mean there's just no, he's not even top 40. I think he's wide receiver, 40 per game. All right, packers wide receivers. Matthew golden was limited. Romeo Dobbs is going to play at the giants. Marvin Harrison Jr. Is out at least one week with appendicitis. Did anybody pick up Michael Wilson?

[Heath]

No.

[Jamie]

Several leagues?

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah, I picked him up in our FFT league, but only for a dollar or two. I thought there'd be a little bit more demand last time Harrison missed the game. He left. He left early in the Colts game. Zay Jones had eight targets. Wilson had five. Greg Dorch caught a touchdown. McBride had a huge game.

[Jamie]

But that's another part of this, though. Is a Jones out, right?

[Dave]

He's out for the year. All right. Marvin Mims practiced in full. Parker Washington missed practice. Keep an eye on that. Ricky Piersol could play this week. K Shawn Booty out tonight. Devonte Adams is expected to play. Drake London missed practice with an illness. Calvin Ridley was limited. So I don't think we're going to be looking at any Texans receiver. Titans receivers against Houston this week. Darius Slayton missed practice. He's got. He had that hamstring injury. He came back, but he missed practice. On Wednesday. Denver signed Little. Jordan Humphrey, Josh Palmer. Practice and full clear skit was limited and Chris Godwin was limited. So Godwin and Bucky Irving returned to practice, but not in a way that makes us think they're playing this week. Not yet. Great news, though. Around A Gadsden practiced in full. Brenton Strange is back at practice. We'll see what happens there. Isaiah likely limited. Austin Hooper out tonight. Dalton Kincaid missed practice. And Sam Laporta. We'll keep an eye on laporta. He missed practice with a back injury. I will skip the offensive line news. The defensive news you need to know about Seattle, Cincinnati. Two defensive linemen, Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart, are doubtful. They're week to week.

[Jamie]

There goes that defense.

[Dave]

Yeah, Buffalo. Buffalo is a lot healthier this week than they were last week. They had two defensive backs miss last week's game at the Dolphins. Both of them were limited. I think that means they'll probably play. Christian Benford and Tehran Johnson were limited in practice. That is big for them. Marlon Humphrey, Baltimore cornerback, he is out this week and that's a couple injuries in the Giants, but whatever. All right, we're going to take a break. We got one question for each game as we dig into this AFC home game slate when we come back. All right, here we go. One question for each game. Kansas City at Denver. Heath is two questions for you. If the Chiefs lose, do you think they're going to miss the playoffs? And would you start Kareem Hunt or a Broncos wide receiver?

[Heath]

If the Chiefs lose, I think they'll have to settle for a wild card spot.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Heath]

And full ppr. I think I might start both Broncos wide receivers, half PPR and on. I would start Cream Hunt.

[Dave]

This could be a, you know, a great game, but not necessarily for fantasy. So Kareem Hunt versus Woody Marks. Who was the. Who is it? Woody Marks? Who was the other running back you guys said you loved earlier?

[Heath]

Harvey. Both of them over Hunt.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

That obviously assuming Pacheco's out, Jamie Washington is at Miami. This game is in Spain. Are you confident in starting any commanders players?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Isn't that weird against the Dolphins? I think they do.

[Jamie]

It's just Mariota is not a bad streamer just because of how he cobbles together his stats and what the Dolphins have given up. But like Chris Rodriguez is a flex. I think Debo's a flex starter and three receiver leagues are best. Ertz has not been great with Mariota, you know, so when we're, when we're celebrating, you know, a nine point game for him, there's just so many better tight ends at this point. So those guys are okay but must start. No.

[Dave]

Okay. It is a great matchup for Ertz. The Dolphins are horrible against tight ends. Debo Heath is a little higher on. So another teaser. We'll get to that game shortly. Tampa Bay is at Buffalo. Keep in mind the Bills allow the fewest fantasy points to tight ends and no tight end has more than five targets against the Bills. So Heath, are you more excited about Tez Johnson or Kate Otten still?

[Heath]

Kate Otten for me and the Bills being so good against tight ends makes me a little worried about how high we have button ranked. But they're kind of using him as a little bit of a security blanket when guys aren't open downfield. Tez is extremely exciting, but it's pretty much entirely touchdowns. He does not have a 60 yard game I don't think this year. And they've got an implied total of 21 and I think they're probably going to try to at least run the ball more. So I, I think you're starting to as the number three. But I'm not quite as excited as everybody else about Tess.

[Dave]

Okay. Yep. 42 to 59 yards in four or five straight games. Whatever. Five straight games for Tess Johnson. Dallas is at Las Vegas. So yeah, Jamie, it's kind of a similar question. Right. You're not that excited about Washington going up against Miami. Are you excited about anyone in Las Vegas in the passing game other than Brock Bauer? So that'd be Geno and the wide receivers.

[Jamie]

I mean, yeah, to a certain extent, you know, again, excited. I don't know if anybody can ever get excited about starting Geno Smith, but this is the one opportunity that you would be and I do think that plays itself into Some sleepers, but again, how much you want to trust these guys and Trey Tucker and Tyler Lockett, like, there's probably going to be a sit. You know, again, if you just. However you expect this game to go, I expect Dallas to put up points and. And the Raiders to be chasing. And so that should lend itself to Geno throwing and hopefully his receiving core steps up because almost everybody does against the Cowboys.

[Dave]

All right, Cincinnati's at Pittsburgh. Starter sit DK Metcalf.

[Heath]

Heath, I think you have to start him. I understand why people don't want to start him. It's not been good lately. The Bengals have actually been better against wide receivers than they have been against running backs and quarterbacks. But he's the clear number one wide receiver on a team that's expected to score a lot of points against the defense. That's very bad.

[Dave]

Just start him and hope that's DK Metcalf. Would you start DK Metcalf or Tez Johnson?

[Heath]

Be DK for me, Jamie Same DK.

[Dave]

Metcalf or the very safe Khalil Shakir?

[Heath]

I've got dk.

[Jamie]

I would take Metcalf, too.

[Dave]

All right, the Chargers are at the Jaguars. Jamie, how many wide receivers do you trust in this game?

[Jamie]

Trust one.

[Dave]

And that is McConkey.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Who's your second favorite wide receiver?

[Jamie]

Rhonda Gadsden. The second? Quentin Johnson. I don't trust any of the Jaguars.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Jamie]

Yeah. You know who.

[Dave]

What do we keep asking about? Parker Washington. Is he going to be the next Chameri dk? Well, Jamari dk. Who did he have that horrible game against? Was the Chargers. He had one catch for. For five yards or on three targets or one catch for three yards. I thought whatever it was. So we'll get it.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

All right. We'll talk more about Parker Washington. He was really good. Two weeks in a row. Baltimore at Cleveland.

[Jamie]

Really good as a stretch from last week.

[Dave]

That's true. Yeah, I forgot because we don't do punt return touchdown points because that'd be silly.

[Heath]

He was really good in my leagues.

[Dave]

Baltimore and Cleveland. All right, we got a lot of guys to rank here. Heath, rank, Derrick Henry, Quinn, Sean Judkins, Zay Flowers, and Jerry Judy.

[Heath]

Jerry Judy's last. I would start Henry over Judkins. I would start Flowers over Judkins. Henry Flowers, Judkins, Judy. Full ppr.

[Dave]

Oh, I don't even think I mentioned that. Brian Thomas Jr. Was limited in practice, by the way, so that could be another thing that clouds things up for Parker Washington. And for Brian Thomas. Okay, so you said Henry Flowers, Judkins, Judy.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Dave]

Jamie, how would you rank those four? Same way Henry Flowers judge. Yeah, Judkins has really been struggling the last four weeks. Have some good numbers on him. And then Houston at Tennessee. My question was, is it Woody Marks? Szn. I make fun of people who say scn. I don't think anybody says that anymore. I'll ask a different question.

[Heath]

No one says szn.

[Dave]

Well, I don't think anyone does the season thing anymore.

[Heath]

They say season.

[Dave]

That's because pretty much over though. But they don't type out scn. It's over, right?

[Heath]

No, I think people still do it.

[Dave]

No, they shouldn't. Are you going going right back to Nico Collins, like confidently 1 billion percent.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

It was a kind of a lucky game for him last week. I didn't even realize he caught a 54 yard Hail Mary at the end of the first half. It's kind of ridiculous. Then he caught like a 22 yard pass and double coverage or got crunched.

[Jamie]

Yeah, we hate when great players make great place.

[Dave]

Yeah, I just, I did not think Davis Mills played very well till the fourth quarter. Okay, Kansas City's at Denver. Here we go. Stat of the game. It's not really a great stat, but Patrick Mahomes, he was great against Denver twice in 2022, but three games since then he's been really bad all three games for fantasy. So starter sit Jamie.

[Jamie]

Patrick Mahomes, I'm still starting him. He's not ranked in the top five like he has been in recent weeks when he's been playing because he didn't play last week. But in the case of this matchup, they're down two of their defenders. At least that's the expectation. Patrick Surtan and Alex Engleton. And with Rashi Rice because he didn't have him in the two games last year or the one game last year didn't play in week 18. I think that Rice will still have success. Maybe not to his usual heights, but still have success. I think Travis Kelsey actually shows up in this game and if they can protect my homes, that's the biggest thing. You know, if as long as they can keep the pass rush off him enough time for him to make plays and then probably use his legs, I think he's good enough to still be a top 10 fancy quarterback.

[Heath]

And I do think they have Josh Simmons back. He had a full practice.

[Dave]

Yeah. Yeah, that helps.

[Heath]

And I, I just did a quick Twitter search and there's about 50 szn tweets in the last four minutes and.

[Dave]

Someone put in the chat. What szn ing do you put on your burgers? Adam?

[Heath]

You don't have to read the letters. It's. It's seasoning.

[Dave]

Yeah, but I have to tell the audience, like, what they wrote. You know, it's pretty.

[Heath]

Everybody knows. Everybody knows what season is. Sdn.

[Dave]

I actually just made burgers the other night. A lot of barbecue sauce. Just like smothered it in the. You know, the raw meat. It was good. Not. Not. Don't approve.

[Heath]

You shouldn't need it. Just make a good burger.

[Dave]

I can't.

[Heath]

I guess if you're baking it, you probably need some flavor.

[Dave]

I don't do that anymore. Flacco or Mahomes?

[Heath]

Moms.

[Jamie]

Moms.

[Dave]

Roger, no. If you're gonna go Mahomes over flag.

[Heath]

We'Re not starting any one of those borderline starters over Mahomes.

[Dave]

Jalen hurts or Mahomes.

[Heath]

Still Moms.

[Dave]

All right. Oh, how about Kareem Hunt? Why are you guys. How are we feeling about Kareem Hunt?

[Heath]

He's a. He's a. Like the Chiefs starting running back mostly. Has been all season. He's a flex that you hope scores a touchdown.

[Jamie]

Touchdown or bust. I like him better than the Seahawks guys, than the Bucks guys. Thank you. A non guy. I don't know. Trying to think guys in that range like, he's. He's 20, 24 for me.

[Dave]

What about Judkins or Hunt?

[Jamie]

Judkins.

[Heath]

Judkins easily. Like even against the Bills. Who. The Chief should have run the ball 35 times. He had 11 carries.

[Dave]

I will tell you why, though, right? They were obviously. They were losing. They were trailing 28, 13 going into the fourth quarter, and they only had the ball for 25 minutes and 15 seconds. So I'm not saying he's going to get 20 carries, but I think 11 was pretty game scripts. He got game scripted a little.

[Heath]

I just think like we're in week 11. Speaking of 11, and we've seen it all year long. Like there's just not going to be a running back that has a huge carry total for the Chiefs.

[Jamie]

Just. Just to add his point though, it. It's one game without Pacheco being there, though, and in that one game, they were chasing like you would expect. If the Broncos offense continues to perform like it has been, where they're terrible in the first three quarters and in the case of last week, they were terrible for four quarters. The Chiefs coming off a buy, I'm sure that they're you know, have a few different wrinkles, as Andy Reid often does. And they should. Hopefully. If you're, you know, banking on the chief's fantasy options, playing with the lead, that benefits cream.

[Dave]

Right. There are three and a half point favorite. I don't know. I'm 15 carries.

[Jamie]

I would, I would say that's a safe number. And if it's 14 and a half, I would take the over. 15 and a half. I'd probably take the under. Okay.

[Dave]

All right. It is a very good run defense, though.

[Heath]

I mean, and, and still I would say if it's 14 for 15 carries, you're still just praying for a touchdown.

[Jamie]

Yeah. I mean, there's nothing changing about how you should view him. Like, it's not like he's going to come out and be a four catch guy because they're not going to use him in that capacity and he's not going to get 25 carries unless they're just absolutely blowing them out. So. Right. You just have to understand what you're dealing with here. So when you start to compare him to some of those other running backs that are in crappy situations with bad matchups. Okay. No Pacheco. Most likely. Here's an opportunity for Hunt to kind of continue to do what he's done three of his last five games. He scored a touchdown. Yeah. So if he finds the end zone, you're good.

[Dave]

All right, Chiefs wide receivers, we're going to start Rashee Rice. Heath, you didn't like Jordan Addison very much. You start Addison or Xavier Worthy?

[Heath]

Addison.

[Dave]

Okay. It's really tough to trust Xavier Worthy coming off a six fantasy point game. He hasn't scored more than 10.6 in five games. And Travis Kelsey. Jamie, you said you like Kelsey. I'm fifth. Heath has him seventh. Dave has him ninth. You like him this week?

[Jamie]

I think he's a little bit lower now because Gaston's in, but he's in that range.

[Dave]

Okay. 12 points. PBR around there.

[Jamie]

What do you think?

[Heath]

Yeah, I think he had 20 in his only game against his defense last year. But Rashi Rice wasn't there.

[Dave]

Obviously played a great. He played the toughest matchup last week or two weeks ago. Last game, Kelsey had four catches for 66 yards. 12.6 fantasy point. Must have a two point conversion too at Buffalo. All right. Bo Nicks is a sit. I don't know that we have to get too deep into that. Let's talk about RJ Harvey. Who has more carries, RJ Harvey or Kareem Hunt?

[Jamie]

I would hope it's Harvey.

[Heath]

I have Harvey projected for the same number of carries as Cream hunt, which is 14.

[Dave]

Oh, okay. All right, 14. I like it. He's been running more routes on first and second down each of the last two weeks. They basically took Dobbins. Dobbins. That doesn't do that anymore. So. So he was already more involved in that capacity. But it's not like Dobbins was catching passes. He's not replacing that. And then let's talk about the matchup. So the Chiefs seventh fewest fantasy points, ladder running backs, but they do give up 4.4 yards per carry to running backs. So I. I don't really know how to approach this matchup. It's. They don't see a lot of rush attempts. Fourth fewest running back attempts they see per game. So that's been the issue. But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, is it a tough matchup he's for.

[Heath]

For Harvey, it's not one of the matchups. Like, I've talked about this a lot in the past. I don't know about this year, but there's usually like five maybe good matchups at most each week and five maybe bad matchups at most each week, according to the way that I look at it. And this is not one of those.

[Dave]

Okay, let's do either way. Some Harvey versus wide receivers. Harvey or Teteroa McMillan at Atlanta?

[Jamie]

Harvey.

[Dave]

Harvey or Metcalf against the Bengals.

[Jamie]

I'll take Metcalf.

[Heath]

I'm still gonna go Harvey.

[Dave]

Harvey or Higgins?

[Jamie]

Higgins.

[Heath]

I'll stick with Harvey.

[Dave]

Interesting. Okay, last one. Harvey or Harvey or Zay Flower?

[Jamie]

I'll take Harvey.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Dave]

All right, and then let's finish off. Which Denver wide receiver do you prefer?

[Jamie]

Jamie Franklin slightly.

[Heath]

Sutton slightly. But neither one's really a start.

[Jamie]

Yeah, both number three receivers. I also think just we gotta keep an eye on who's going to be the second Broncos running back. So if you want to get ahead of this, just in case Dobbins goes on IR and just in case Harvey's not the guy, I'm thinking it's going to be Tyler Bidet, but there's no confidence there. So I picked him up in a bunch of leagues just to stash him. Just in case. Like, we're. I'm with these. Look, I'm hopeful Harvey comes out and plays well. Like you said, this is not an easy matchup. And he's still a rookie running back that they've been clearly hesitant to give a lot of work. He's got one game with double digits Carries so far this season, and it was against Cincinnati when they're blowing them out. So if it's the split and if the other guy, again, could be bidet, could be. McLaughlin does do something. Like, you want to make sure you don't have to spend a lot of fab on that. So if you have an open roster about do something, it's a good call.

[Dave]

And I'm going to be deciding between Kamani Vidal and RJ Harvey, and I'm probably going to go with Vidal for the kind of more safe role. But Vidal has some really horrible games sometimes. You know, Every other. Yeah, every other. Right. So he's due. And the Jaguars do have a very good run defense. I haven't made that decision yet, but I just. We haven't really seen enough from RJ Harvey. He. He's had. He's got, like I said, terrible metrics. A lot of, like, really bad runs. He does have big play potential also. Sit down.

[Jamie]

I think the thing again, you hope for, if you game script this out a certain way, they're chasing points and he's clearly been someone that they like in the passing game.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's true. By the way, do you like Troy Franklin and Sutton better than Xavier Worthy?

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Okay. So again, they're. They're around 30th in the rankings. Both of those wide receivers. Chiefs DST is top seven starters at the Broncos DST this week. Guys.

[Jamie]

I think it comes down to, you know, what, what your team looks like, and do you want to stash them through their bye week? Look, it's not easy. You know, we know how the Chiefs play. Mahomes will take a sack or two, probably gets five sacks, but three of them are called back by penalty. And then there'll be a turnover or two, but that's minimal. Again, they're missing two key guys.

[Dave]

Yeah. They have Washington and Las Vegas coming out of the buy, though, so it's tempting to keep them. All right, Heath likes the Broncos dst. Jamie's. You can see a little hesitant. Let's go to Spain. Washington's at Miami. Stat of the game. The Dolphins have allowed 59 yards or a touchdown to a tight end in eight of 10 games. Anyone want to start Zach Ertz?

[Heath]

I. I don't think I'm not excited about starting Zach Ertz, but he is a top 12 tight end, so I think he's 12th for me. It has not been great with Marcus Mariota. This is a fantastic matchup. The tight end position. We've had so many guys Emerge, but it's. I don't actually really like it very much in the projections this week, but he's, he's a borderline starter.

[Jamie]

He's in that like, blob of guys where you can see a path to success, but you could also see just a little bit of potential pitfalls. And for Earth, for what it's worth, we saw it last week and maybe it's a sign of things to come. Ben Seneca touchdown.

[Dave]

Yeah, no.

[Jamie]

The receiving core is so bad right now.

[Dave]

It is really bad. One of the things that's really interesting. Let's talk about Debo Samuel here. He has, he has four targets of 10 or more air yards in his last four games. They on the good side. They're designing. I had two pop passes inside the five yard line for him. They got him open on a, on his touchdown last week. They're designing some easy things for him, but I mean he, he's not getting open and they're not throwing the ball. I don't even want to say downfield, But I mean 10 or more areas, I'm not even asking for 20 or more areas. They're just not giving him the ball anything other than these really simple screens and stupid stuff like that. So anyway, I've been mentioning this. Jamie's got Debo 34th, Dave 38th. Heath, why don't you make a case for him as you have him 25th.

[Heath]

Yeah, again, I don't have him as a start, so he's, he's a number three wide receiver. I do think the way that they scheme him and the touches they give him a light around the line of scrimmage are the types of things that, that you could have success against the Dolphins on. Like they, they've really struggled against tight ends, they've really struggled against running backs. Debo gets touches in that area of the field on occasion. He also gets rush attempts. I think this would be a good game to hand him the ball a couple of times. So I think there's a chance that he gets a short area target or two that turns into a big play. Not really hoping for a lot of downfield stuff.

[Jamie]

Here's his numbers. In four games with Mariota, week three against Las Vegas, three targets, two catches, 11 yards against Atlanta, six catches, 72 yards and a touchdown against Kansas City, six targets, three catches, 11 yards against Detroit, four targets, five targets, four catches, 29 yards and a touchdown. Like it's miserable.

[Dave]

Two of those games, McLaren did play, two of them he did not. But everything's just been so bad for this offense. How about Chris Rodriguez? How about a commander's running back? Jamie?

[Jamie]

I think Rodriguez is worth, you know, using as a flex, you know, more so in non and half ppr than PPR because they're not going to throw in the ball. But he has scored a touchdown each of the last two games. Like you said, he's been seemingly taking over this backfield. I guess they're probably frustrated with Jacquari Cross Gamer at this point and his lack of production. You know, that could certainly change in this game. I agree with you though. The Dolphins run defense has been better. You know, you even start with the Browns game where Judkins scored three touchdowns. It was, it was a grind. 23 carries or 24 carries for 84 yards. Like he didn't have a dominant game with all that work given what you expected from that matchup. Then they come back and they shut down Bijan Robinson. They did a very good job against James Cook last week. I might be missing a game in.

[Dave]

There, but Derrick Henry. So Derek Henry had a bad first half but then he had a huge second half. He ended up with a big game. I didn't score though.

[Jamie]

And that's, and that's a Lamar Jackson game on Thursday night too. So you know, it's hard to say like that's the, the norm. But they've been better. Especially you know, you go back to the Rico Dow game, like you know what, what they were looking like at the middle early part to the early middle part of the season like was absolutely atrocious. Like it was just a layup. And I don't think that's the case anymore. So I wouldn't surprise me if Rodriguez falls in the end zone, but I wouldn't say he's a must start guy by any stretch.

[Dave]

Okay. And then yeah, one other thing just to note about that is that they did trade Jalen Phillips. They have played one game without him but he's a good run defender so we'll see if that ends up making a difference. Heath, the Dolphins are pretty easy. Go ahead and talk about the Dolphins.

[Heath]

You start Achan, you start Waddle Tua is a in that massive group of quarterbacks. We don't normally start that. We might want to start this week.

[Dave]

Football Americano and Espada C.

[Heath]

Thanks for keeping that brief.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Heath]

And then I think two is a streamer that could be a disaster. But it's a great matchup. Washington's defense is in contention for the worst in the NFL over the last month.

[Dave]

So Just talk to me about the quarterbacks in around Tua and. And Mariota.

[Heath]

I would still start Mariota over Tua. I would start Flacco over Tua. I would start Rogers over Tua. I would start Tua over Bo Nicks, and I would start to over Baker Mayfield, but I'm alone in that one.

[Dave]

Mariota over Tua. That's interesting. Jamie, you're hot. You're five spots higher on Tua than Heath is.

[Jamie]

Again, he said it. The commanders have been absolutely atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. They're terrible. And they just lost another defender with Duron Payne not playing this game. Like, this is the type of game where tuition have success. And it's actually pretty cool for both these guys. First time that they're playing against each other, both from Hawaii. So we'll see how. How this, you know, plays into that narrative at all. And Tua has talked about that. He grew up idolizing Mariota, so I'm. I'm excited for Tua. You know, I picked him up in a bunch of leagues to see if. If this is going to be something. And. And then coming back from their buy, they get New Orleans and the Jets. Like, there's. There's some favorable matchups here for him. So he's not somebody you want to heavily invest in. Clearly. But if there's ever a game for him to play well in, Washington is miserable.

[Dave]

Yeah. And, yeah, they are. It's. It's insane. Okay, so Heath gave some names. I don't see anything in the chat here, but anyway, that's two Ed Mariota. Real quick on the chat. Debo or Christian Watson, ppr.

[Jamie]

Still Debo.

[Heath]

Debo.

[Dave]

Yeah, because remember, Dob Dobbs is back. Golden might play Debo or Zay Flowers.

[Jamie]

Say flowers.

[Dave]

Debo or Michael Wilson?

[Jamie]

Still Debo.

[Dave]

Debo Ertz or Fant? Ertz or Fanon. All right, let's go to our next game. First, let's go to commercial break. We'll be right back with Tampa Bay at Buffalo after this. What's good, y'?

[Jamie]

All?

[Dave]

It's Vaughn Miller, super bowl mvp, SAG master, and now your host of Free Reign. This is where NFL meets Real Talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the Game, from locker room stories to league wide headlines. You want football iq, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league. Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcast. Tampa Bay's a Buffalo. And Bill's secondary looking like it's getting healthier. That's good. The Bills, their last five games, they're 18th in points per game. They're ninth in yards per game. They're just struggling to put points on the board to the point where Sean McDermott had to defend his offensive coordinator, Joe Brady.

[Heath]

Maybe let your generational quarterback throw the ball a little more and you'll score more.

[Dave]

I. Yeah, right. They only have two games where they's really thrown a lot, and they were losses to know that win against Buffalo, crazy win. And the loss to Miami last week. All right, so the one was against Baltimore.

[Heath]

You said Buffalo. We won against Baltimore in week one.

[Dave]

That's what I meant. Yeah, they went against Baltimore.

[Jamie]

And I wasn't asking to make fun of me. I was asking because I generally forgot who it was. But you said Buffalo.

[Dave]

Yeah, it was the Buffalo. Baltimore game in Week one. Okay, so let's knock the Bills out real quick here. Start Josh Allen. Start James Cook. Any interest in Keon Coleman or Khalil Shakira? Is Kalil secure, but any interest in Keon Coleman?

[Jamie]

No, I think Keon Coleman's an interesting play. Josh Palmer actually is back, so just keep an eye on that. So they have another receiver to potentially lean on here. But you saw it last week, eight targets for Coleman. I wouldn't be surprised if without Kincaid there, he gets a few more opportunities, but he's in that, like, there. There's a few very good desperation plays this week that you can sort of point to. You brought up one on Tuesday. Calvin Austin.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Just a matchup against the Bengals. I actually like Malik Washington, scored touchdown to his last three games. Jaden Higgins, he's playing well of late. Tyler Lockett, great matchup against the, you know, Cowboys coming off a good game. And I think he. On Coleman's in that type of range. Michael Olson, you know, clearly picking him up because of, you know, Marvin Harrison. So if you're kind of just scouring the waiver wire and a lot of people drop Keon Coleman, wouldn't be. Wouldn't be awful to trust him this week. There's not. There, you know, he's 45th at best, but, like, right again, third receiver flex. I'm stuck. I wouldn't. I wouldn't be opposed to taking a flyer on him.

[Dave]

I would go with Wilson over. Over Coleman. Would you? Michael Wilson?

[Jamie]

Yes. But again, I mean, we're talking about, you know, replacement options that could play well.

[Dave]

Sure.

[Jamie]

Versus, you know, anything that's. Oh, My God, I got to start this guy.

[Dave]

And we're not going to start Dawson Knox, even though he does tend to score touchdowns when Kincaid's out.

[Jamie]

So he's in that group. Like for me, with, with Earth, I would start Earth over him. But you know, you start to look at friarmouth in his matchup, you look at Ertz in his matchup, you look at Knox and his opportunity here, you know, there's again, this, this position is so deep, it's surprising.

[Dave]

So I guess the question really is, are the Bucks going to hold up their end of the bargain? The Bills are five and a half point favorites. You know, obviously, Heath, with your ranking of Baker Mayfield, I wonder if you're thinking that they won't score that many points, but what kind of offensive output do you expect from Tampa Bay?

[Heath]

I generally start with the, the Vegas implied total. And then if I have a reason to believe otherwise, I will, but I don't really. So 20, 21 points for Tampa Bay. And the question is, can they. They've not been able to run the ball as well as they want to for a lot of games. The Bills are one of the best run defense matchups there is in the league. How much success can they have running and can they. When they get in the red zone, can they turn into touchdowns and not field goals?

[Dave]

My hearing sounds like someone's at a farm.

[Heath]

There's a. No, there's a bird outside my window. It would like to come in. It's trying to come in. I'm not going to let it.

[Dave]

Don't let it in. Don't let it in. All right, so Jamie, you make the support Baker Mayfield here because Heath is sitting Mayfield if possible.

[Jamie]

So I, I see the Bills scoring on the Bucks. I don't trust the Bucks run game unless Sean Tucker comes out and has a big game because Rashad White just isn't. Hasn't been that guy. And Baker and Heath is right about this. You know, his, his receiving core obviously has changed throughout the course season. When you were talking about it earlier in the one question first game. But if you look at what Baker's done against at the time, great matchups or good matchups. Atlanta, 28.6 points. Houston at Houston, 23.9 points. Against the Eagles, 22.9 points. At Seattle, 30.7 points. And I, I think New England, I know they're secondary and their past production not great, but I consider that a good defense, 28.9 points. So in tough matchups, he's come through. I think they're going to have to throw. I think this is going to be a high scoring game. It's the highest scoring game on the slate. So I'm expecting Baker to have to play well in this game and I think he will which is why I think there's going to be an uptick in targets for Tez Johnson. I think there'll be enough production from Kate Otten even in a tough matchup. And you know you mentioned this about Sam Darnold. Yes. The the Bills have done well against quarterbacks. Look at who they've faced.

[Dave]

Yeah, right. The Bills have any good quarterbacks struggled against the Bills?

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Dave]

Drake May.

[Jamie]

It's not a knock that their defense is good. It's great. But the the majority their number four and fewest fantasy points allowed Justin Fields to a twice Spencer Rattler, Michael Penix, Andy Dalton like that's going to build your resume in a pretty impressive way. Yeah.

[Dave]

But yeah, Drake May had a bad game and Mahomes.

[Jamie]

Yes. And for May he played very well. He just didn't get touchdowns.

[Dave]

Okay. One of the issues is that teams that have such a terrible run defense. Right. A lot of times that hides weaknesses in the past defense and guys run all over the Bills. They have they allow 5.36 yards per carrier running backs. So can can Sean Tucker Heath take advantage of that? Rashad White, like how do you feel about the Bucks running backs?

[Heath]

I don't think you have enough touches for either one of them to be really excited about them. So I would still start wide over Tucker. They're both flexes at best. I think Tucker is much more likely to to get going and like break a long run against this defense but I don't really want to start either one.

[Jamie]

They're both sits I think in in the case of how he views this game, correct me if wrong, if they're going to have success running the ball then you should buy into Sean Tucker to some extent because I don't think it's going to be White and if you think that they're going to be chasing points like I do, you probably buy into White a little bit more because he's going to be on the field. In my obvious past now situation now I agree with what he said. Don't start either one because it's too tricky. It's not like Sean Tucker's been that amazing that he's right. You know, guaranteed to play well. The wild card in all this is what if Bucky Irving comes back.

[Dave]

Yeah, we'll reassess but so And I would.

[Heath]

I would be more inclined to get excited about Sean Tucker because I do think he's a better rusher than Rashad White right now. But White still had more carries last week.

[Dave]

He had one, right? It was nine for Tucker and 10 for White. And White is just on the field more because he's on passing downs as well. So would you start Ken Walker over a Bucks running back?

[Jamie]

I would start White Walker Tucker, yeah.

[Dave]

Now, that's full ppr. What about, say, half ppr?

[Jamie]

White, Walker, Tucker.

[Heath]

Probably be Walker White Tucker then.

[Dave]

For me, we just did Game of Thrones with White Walker. And we almost did Breaking Bad with Walker White.

[Heath]

So who's Walker White?

[Dave]

Walter White.

[Heath]

Oh, it's not the same.

[Dave]

It's. I said almost. Tampa Bay wide receiver start a mecha Buka. Tez Johnson is 20th for Jamie and 36 for Heath. I think you're just seeing the difference in how these guys view the Bucks offense in this game. Jamie's expecting more from the passing game than. Than Heath is. And then Kate Otten. Yeah, I mean, you just going for it with him. He's been so good. And the Bills, have they faced any good tight ends?

[Jamie]

Kelsey.

[Dave]

What's that?

[Heath]

Kelsey?

[Dave]

Right. Mark Andrews, 1.5 fantasy points. Juwan Johnson, 5.8. Kyle Pitts, 4.8. Travis Kelsey, 4 catches, 66 yards on five targets. That's the most targets that any tight end has had against Buffalo. It's scary, but I can't get out and out of my lineup. He's just been so good going back to last year. Whenever Evans is out and he's top five or six. So we're saying to start Kate Otten. I probably won't put him in a DFS lineup. For what it's worth, I think that's it for this game.

[Jamie]

Oh, that's how you win if he does.

[Dave]

Well, I guess that's true. I'm not very good at dfs, so don't. Don't listen to me on that Buffalo dst. Heath likes.

[Jamie]

Hey, happy birthday. Joshua.

[Dave]

Not so much. We got a birthday. Hey, Josh. All right. Happy birthday, buddy. I'm gonna read some questions here. Brock Purdy or Baker Mayfield?

[Jamie]

Baker.

[Heath]

I would start either 49ers quarterback over Baker Mayfield.

[Dave]

So whoever starts Tez Johnson or DJ Moore, pick two. Khalil Shakir, George Pickens, Wandell Robinson.

[Jamie]

I would sit shick here.

[Heath]

So I. Pickens is the easy one here. It's between the other two, and I think I have them back to back. I've got one Deal. Just behind and I. Adam, do you think with Jameis starting, we should shift a little target share from Wandale to Darius Slayton? Because Jameis is just going to let it fly.

[Dave]

I was actually gonna say I'm kind of concerned about Slayton. I want to see if he practices today.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

When he came back, I don't know that he got. I got to see how many targets he got. But he got most of his production before the hamstring injury. One catch after the hamstring injury. So I'm not quite ready to. To make any shift towards Slayton. But I just think Winston just throws a ton. Right. He's not going to run nearly as much as Dart. He's going to throw more than Wilson. So we're sitting Shakir or.

[Jamie]

I'm sorry, I'm sitting one.

[Heath]

Deal.

[Jamie]

I think the upside for one right now is amazing. Like, remember the first game without Slayton?

[Dave]

No.

[Jamie]

It was like 7 for 95 at a touchdown.

[Dave]

Without neighbors. And Slayton, you're saying?

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Dave]

Tez or Tucker.

[Jamie]

Test. Yeah.

[Heath]

Chess.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Dave]

All right. Moving on to our next game. Dallas is at Las Vegas. Repeat stat of the game. Every quarterback or team quarterback has finished top 12 against the Dallas Cowboys in that particular week. New stat of the game. CD Lamb has kind of taken over the end zone, the red zone and end zone targets from George Pickens since he's come back. I don't know if that will stick, but George Pickens has one red zone and one end zone target since Lamb returned. It's been very good, though. Anyway, Dallas at Las Vegas real quick. Dak Prescott, easy start.

[Jamie]

Top five quarterback. Yep.

[Dave]

Javante Williams, not a bad run defense here. Not that bad of a defense. Yeah.

[Heath]

Must start.

[Dave]

He's the worst receiving back in the NFL. You realize that among 30, among 32 running backs, 20 more targets last or second to last in yards per target, yards per catch, yards per outrun, and yak. It's weird.

[Heath]

How has that impacted his fantasy production this season?

[Dave]

I mean, he had seven points last week. He had eight points four weeks ago. He's kind of touched.

[Jamie]

Unless your team is loaded, you're starting Javante.

[Dave]

I agree. Who's the best running back in this game? Start, pick, start. Lamb, Pickens start.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Solid. Number two receiver, nine targets each of his last two games.

[Dave]

All right, how about Ferguson? He has a 15 target share since Lamb return, but that's seven targets, one target, seven targets. Raiders are pretty good. Fifth best against tight end starters at Ferguson.

[Jamie]

Still a must start for me.

[Dave]

Starting them Gadsden or Ferguson?

[Jamie]

Gadstone, yes.

[Dave]

Otten or Ferguson?

[Jamie]

Ferguson.

[Heath]

For me it's Otten.

[Dave]

Okay, I'll leave it at that. Kittle or Kittle at Arizona or Ferguson?

[Jamie]

Kiddo? Kiddo.

[Dave]

All right, that's the Cowboys basically. Start to Cowboys. Jamie, what about the Raiders again?

[Jamie]

I think Gino is in the streaming conversation here. So, you know, hopefully he takes advantage of the Cowboys matchup. He's been good in half of his games with Brock Bowers on the field and that's not taking into account when Bowers was healthy when he wasn't. So last week Bowers was healthy, Gino did not play well. But I think you just the, the, the expectation should be that to whatever degree the Cowboys run defense got better because they added Quinn and Williams and they added Logan Wilson. Does that mean you're sitting Ash and Gentino? Does that mean it's going to be a top five week for Ashton? That still could be, but the. The chance of that got a little bit worse. So he is borderline number one, number two running back. But just call him. Must start Bowers, must start Gino. Questionable start. Depends on who you have. Again, for me, I would start Flacco, Rogers, Tua and Mariota ahead of him. Debatable between Brissette and him even without Harrison there. That's just the Geno concerns. But I think Gino deserves at least a benefit of the doubt that with his complement of weapons versus Brissette not having his in any event. And then Tucker and Lockett are flyers. I would still lean Tucker over. Lock it. But Lockett was a go to guy for the Raiders in the first game without Jacoby Myers. That can't be overlooked. So desperation play. I think he's not a bad as Gill just typed in the chat. Good dart throw.

[Dave]

Who? Trey Tucker.

[Jamie]

Lock it.

[Dave]

Oh, lock it.

[Jamie]

I would go Tucker over. Lock it.

[Dave]

But lock it.

[Jamie]

Lock it. Not a bad desperation flyer.

[Dave]

So I probably asked you this.

[Jamie]

I, I was hoping personally Jack Best Dante Thornton play better, get more involved. They went to the 34 year old wide receiver.

[Dave]

So I, I was gonna, I should probably ask you this but. Or 32, you're looking at your waiver wire. You got Michael Wilson out there. You got Trey Tucker, you got Calvin Austin. Let's say who's your favorite?

[Heath]

Tucker.

[Jamie]

I, I would think that that conversation should be Lockett more so than Tucker because A, Tucker's more rostered and B, I would give him a little bit more benefit of the doubt. All right.

[Dave]

But he's got seven Targets in his last two games?

[Jamie]

No, no, he has not played great, but his body of work at least with this team, has been better.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Dave]

By the way, so the Cowboys give up the most fantasy points to quarterbacks. If you look at the two matchups most similar to Dallas that Geno Smith has played, I would have to say it'd be Washington and Jacksonville.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Dave]

He scored 32 or more points in both of them. He also struggled against Chicago. He struggled against Tennessee. He's. He's not. He's only 21% rostered as of yesterday, so I know a lot of people aren't going to be starting him, but he could obviously have a big game. And then with the Heath with the defensive additions for the Cowboys, any hesitation to start Ashton Genti?

[Heath]

No, I'm starting Ashton Genti. He's in the top 14 discussion. Not even thinking about it.

[Jamie]

How about scenario for me that I could think of is Henderson and Rico Dow.

[Dave]

Okay, what about RJ Harvey or Woody Marks versus Genti?

[Heath]

Genti.

[Jamie]

I have jetty out of those guys.

[Dave]

Okay. And then what about that bum Brock Bowers from last week? Good with start. Okay, I got some chat questions here for this game. It is.

[Jamie]

And Corey brings up a good point. Raiders offensive line is a little bit of a mess.

[Dave]

It's true.

[Jamie]

So just keep that in mind.

[Dave]

Flacco or Daco?

[Heath]

Deck.

[Jamie]

Deck.

[Dave]

You have to say Daco. This is from last game. I'll do it anyway. Sean Tucker or Tyler Algier?

[Jamie]

Oh, that's close. I probably lean Tucker, but wouldn't surprise me about yours. Better just based on the touchdowns.

[Dave]

Ferguson or Goddard?

[Jamie]

Ferguson.

[Heath]

I've got about higher, I think. Yep.

[Dave]

Cowboys or Seahawks? DST Seahawks against the Rams.

[Jamie]

I go Cowboys. I think we're gonna get it a. A very emotional Cowboys team coming off what they dealt with. And this is take it out on the Raiders.

[Dave]

Henderson or Javante Williams? Trayvon Henderson or Javante?

[Jamie]

I like Henderson better.

[Heath]

It's still Javante for me.

[Dave]

And Trey Tucker or Jerry Judy?

[Jamie]

Tucker.

[Heath]

Tucker.

[Dave]

Okay. All right, that's it for that game. Let's go to Cincinnati at Pittsburgh. You know, Heath, do you feel like this game is going to play out similarly to the first one which was a bonanza?

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. It's 49 and a half over under. I'm starting both quarterbacks, I'm starting both running backs, I'm starting three wide receivers and probably one of the Steelers tight ends will be awesome.

[Dave]

All right. Yeah.

[Jamie]

So.

[Dave]

So how about this? Flacco or Rogers?

[Heath]

Flacco.

[Jamie]

Flacco.

[Dave]

Warren or Chase Brown?

[Heath]

Warren.

[Jamie]

Warren. Love Warren this week.

[Dave]

So, yeah, I mean, Warren was so good the first time against them, it was 16 carries, 127 yards, four catches, 31 yards. Also, they traded Logan Wilson and they've been sort of phasing Logan Wilson out in Cincinnati.

[Jamie]

That doesn't matter.

[Dave]

Well, I'll just give you this. That 4.8. They allow 4.8 yards per carry to running backs with Wilson on the field and 6.1 with him off the field. So phasing him out didn't really work in that regard. So why isn't Flacco higher? Guys, He's. He's been 28 or more fantasy points in three straight games, including against Pittsburgh. Jamie, you have him 11th, he have him 10th. Dave has him seventh. Heath, why isn't Flacco even higher?

[Heath]

I think just a little bit of a concern that he's going to come back to earth at some point and not be quite as elite as he clearly has been. And a little bit of concern that the last two weeks the Steelers have faced Daniel Jones and Justin Herbert and given up 15 fantasy points to each of them. The defense has looked better. This is a bad Bengals offensive line. Flacco's done a great job of getting the ball out quick, so it hasn't mattered as much. But we know that edge rush from Pittsburgh has been much better recently, and that could give Flacco trouble.

[Jamie]

And where were the last three games, Adam?

[Dave]

Were they all home? Oh, how about that? He scored 22.8 fantasy points in his only road game with Cincinnati. That was at Green Bay.

[Jamie]

I think that's kind of where he is. Like, I. He's. He's averaging 30 points per game. He's been absolutely fantastic. I think he's going to be a top 10ish quarterback this week. It's a great week for quarterbacks. So you should be starting him. As he said, 29. Right. That was the. The start. Like that. That's very low. And I'm sure that's because he's sitting on a lot of benches because people haven't set their lineups yet. But like, there's. There's huge upside, clearly. But I wouldn't go into this expecting 470 and four. Right. Like he had his last game. Like this feels like a 322 and two type game.

[Dave]

Okay. And Chase, by the way, Darius Slay in the concussion protocol for Pittsburgh, so that should help the Bengals pass a game. Chase Brown, he played 96 of the snaps last week. Was anybody tempted to put him as, you know, a top 12 guy?

[Jamie]

No, but it's. It coincides his. His recent stretch of fantasy production coincides with the Steelers game. He had 100 yard rushing that game. I certainly would not expect that. He had 14 targets. I'm not mistaken. Two games ago or two weeks ago when they played. I wouldn't expect that either. But like, he's going to be involved. Clearly. Smaj P. Right. Still dealing with a high ankle sprain.

[Dave]

Yeah. And when they played their last game against the bears. Yeah. 14 targets.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

For.

[Heath]

For whatever it's worth, the last we talked about the Steelers being better against quarterbacks recently, the last three running backs they face. Josh Jacobs, 2.5 yards per carry, Jonathan Taylor, 3.2. Kamani Vidal had a good week last week, but it was still just 3.8 yards per carry. They've been better against the run lately, too.

[Dave]

Yeah, he's.

[Jamie]

He's got to be involved in the passing game. He's got, like. That's the only way I think he's gonna have, you know, aside from maybe scoring two touchdowns, like, this feels like a 40 yard rushing game for him again.

[Dave]

Yeah. Well, with P. Ryan out, you know, he should definitely be on the field more in the passing game. P. Ryan wasn't getting a lot of targets. Start to march a start. T. Higgins, no offense. Desperation. He hasn't really been that bad, but he gets three to four targets per game. Pittsburgh stinks against tight ends, though. But they've been good against tight ends two straight games, too, and just, just.

[Jamie]

Well, part of that was Gatson getting hurt, too.

[Dave]

Yeah, but he had 13 yards on six targets. That's why I included that. But you're right.

[Jamie]

Fair. Another guy just in the desperation plays is. Is Yoshivas. You know, he's been a guy that Flacco's leaned on in two. Two games. Two games around.

[Dave]

I believe someone's confused. I did not say Darius Slayton was in concussion protocol. I said Darius Slay was in concussion protocol. Slay is the Steelers cornerback. He once was an Eagles cornerback and he matched up against Darius Slayton. All right. Aaron Rodgers is about 12th in the rankings. I think I have some Rogers questions in the chat we'll get to. Jalen Warren is top 12 in the rankings. DK Metcalf. You know, it's. Is it kind of blind faith at this point?

[Jamie]

Yes. And for what it's worth, the Bengals have been good against opposing number one receivers. But, you know, in any situation where you're expecting Rogers to probably be 35 plus pass attempts. Looking at this receiving core, I know they got four touchdowns from their tight ends in the last time these two teams met. And this team is absolutely brutal against tight ends. So should be good for friarmouth if you're looking for a streaming option. But you know, it is blind faith. It's. It's hope that, you know, Rogers can connect with Metcalf on a player too, where he finds the end zone. He just hasn't been good when he doesn't score.

[Dave]

And the stat I gave about Calvin Austin is that he's had five to seven targets in five of his six healthy games. There have been 11 wide receivers with five to seven targets against the Bengals and eight of them scored 12 and a half or more PPR fantasy points. So Austin, I guess he didn't play in that game. Was that the Roman Wilson game he didn't play against in the first matchup.

[Jamie]

He might have come back right after that.

[Dave]

Yes, but you know, look, it's, it's a sleeper. He's 26% rostered. Any interest in a Pittsburgh tight end? This is the best matchup.

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Dave]

Friarmouth.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I just said that Fryer is a great streamer for this week.

[Dave]

All right, over who?

[Jamie]

I would start him over Ertz, personally. I'd start him over Henry. It. Start him over Hawkinson. Okay, that's like, he's like 15th.

[Dave]

So, Heath, thoughts on Friarmouth?

[Heath]

I, I. If he is the most targeted Steelers tight end like he has been the last couple of weeks, then I think he could be a very good streamer. I think there's a risk every week that it's a different tight end that scores the touchdown.

[Dave]

Yeah, Jamie's got him one spot ahead of Colston. Loveland Heath does not. But that's kind of, yeah, good flyers in this game. All right. Chargers are at the Jaguars. So the only stat, you know, the kind of interesting stat is just to keep an eye on if Brenton strange plays. Travis ETN has had a 7.2% target share when Strange was healthy and an 11.7 target share when Strange was out. Big increase in target per route run rate too, so I don't know if that'll hold up. But it became much more of a factor in the passing game when Strange got hurt. Who do we like in this game? Heath. Jaguars and, and Chargers.

[Heath]

So I'm still starting Justin Herbert and his Jamie start of the week, so we obviously like him. Kamani Vidal's a start. Travis Etn's a start. Lad McConkey's a start. Arande Gadsden's a start. That's pretty much the like, I definitely want to start these guys list.

[Dave]

Ironic. Addison is a great start this week, right?

[Jamie]

Yes. Okay.

[Dave]

Yeah. A tight end has scored double digit fantasy points in six straight games in PPR against the Jaguars. They really stay are just so bad against the pass. So what we saw last week was Justin Herbert against the Steelers. 63.6% of his throws were in under two and a half seconds, which was by far his season high. Heath, we've talked about they're a different offense without Joe Alt, but now here comes this horrible defense in this great matchup. I know you just talked about Herbert. You guys are starting him very confidently. But what about Quentin Johnston and, and Keenan Allen?

[Heath]

I don't think you can have either, any confidence in either one of those guys on a weekly basis. It seems like, like what we've said is one of these guys is going to lose every week. And what it seems to have narrowed down to is Keenan Allen or Quentin Johnston or both are going to lose each week because Lad McConkey's resumed his place as the number one wide receiver or Ronde Gadsden is awesome as a tight end. And so I, I've got Quentin Johnson over Keenan Allen. Neither one of them is a top 24 wide receiver. They're both number threes.

[Dave]

You agree? Jamie, your thoughts on.

[Jamie]

Yeah, you can't trust Keenan out at this point. Like. No, it's. I, I think the targets that Quentin Johnston got last week are, are something to keep an eye on. Part of that again is with Gaston leaving the game. So how much does Gaston's return impact Johnson again? But the secondary is just so bad. It's so bad, you know, so there's going to be some shots down the field for Johnston. Hopefully he delivers. But really it's, you know, the, the pecking order has kind of been established. McConkey is the 1, Gaston's the 2, Johnson's the 3, Allen's the 4.

[Dave]

Starter. Sit. Travis etn, Heath.

[Heath]

Oh, must start. I, yeah, I don't, I don't. If Britain Strange is back, then maybe I lower him a little bit, but I don't even think about it. With Travis ETN.

[Dave]

You got him eighth. Jamie, I think you have him 21st. Is that right?

[Jamie]

I don't love the matchup.

[Dave]

It's weird. They've gone back to being pretty bad against the run, but they are just a good defense. 4.9 yards per carry allowed to running backs. Tennessee at running backs average 4.8. Pittsburgh running backs average 4.6. So why. Yeah, you're pretty low. I mean this is, this is a huge discrepancy between the two of you. Travis Etien 8th.

[Jamie]

I mean, look, you're starting him. I, I like Woody Marks better. I like Travion Henderson better. I don't know like any other non obvious guys.

[Dave]

But how about like Wanda Robinson or etn?

[Jamie]

I, I would most likely start etn. I most likely start both if I could. But yeah, you know, ETN certainly has a higher ceiling.

[Dave]

Casey says, come on Jamie, get on the ETN train. You're not there. ETN season, ETN scn. Yeah, I don't know if there's a T train in Manhattan. There's definitely an E and an N. Okay, so there's different viewpoints there. Your approach, Jamie, on the Jaguars wide.

[Jamie]

Receivers, I would like to not approach them. It. I mean you can't trust your Kobe Myers at this point. Brian Thomas Jr. Would be the one. I would rank the highest if he plays. But clearly he's not 100. And you're talking about a Chargers team that's just been fantastic against opposing passing games. So at best, Washington's the number three receiver. But to me he's more of a, a number four.

[Dave]

Okay. Yeah. Last week Metcalf was terrible. Calvin Austin was terrible. Roman Wilson caught the late touchdown. Again, the Chargers, they don't usually shut down good receivers. I think you could argue Jordan Addison, DK Metcalf are the best examples. But what are we talking about?

[Heath]

Can you argue that Parker Washington's a good receiver? Okay.

[Jamie]

Three straight games with seven targets or more. So he's going to be the guy most likely that Lawrence leans on. I think even if Brenton Strange returns, this is still the target leader and most likely chasing points if you play out the narrative. So he's not awful. But again, like how much confidence can you have if he doesn't score? And he had. What do you have three catches last week on seven targets?

[Dave]

Parker Washington. Yeah. Who, who do you like better, ETN or Kamani Vidal?

[Heath]

Etn.

[Jamie]

For me, I should probably have ETN ranked ahead of him. So I'll move ETN up a few spots.

[Dave]

All right. Because the Jaguars are pretty good against running backs and. All right, Videl, man. Seven and a half points or 22.8? Seven and a half, 19.73, 17.8.

[Heath]

That pattern's pretty easy to see.

[Dave]

Like who are. Okay, like who are some wide receiver? Tez Johnson or Kamani Vidal? DK Metcalf or Kamani Vidal?

[Jamie]

Same sentence.

[Heath]

I'll go dk.

[Dave]

Here's one. Chase Brown or Kamani Vidal?

[Jamie]

Brown. Yep.

[Dave]

Teteroa McMillan or Kamani Vidal?

[Jamie]

I'll go Vidal.

[Heath]

I have them very, very close. I'm gonna go Ted Roa.

[Dave]

Vidal or Hunter Henry or Derrick Henry?

[Jamie]

Pardon me?

[Dave]

And it says non ppr.

[Jamie]

Henry.

[Heath]

Henry. Even harder.

[Dave]

Keenan Allen, Michael Wilson or Tyler Lockett?

[Jamie]

Right now I have Alan still ranked ahead of these guys, but I don't think I adjusted Allen when I put Gaston back in the rankings. So I may go Wilson or Allen.

[Heath]

It'll still be Allen for me.

[Dave]

Gadsden or Odunze.

[Jamie]

Why would you sit either one? I don't care what size your league is.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'd probably go. I'd probably go a dunze.

[Jamie]

I'd go wrong.

[Dave]

Okay, let's go to our next game. By the way, start the Chargers dst. We got two games left, and I think they're pretty easy. We got Baltimore at Cleveland, but, well, why are we so confident in starting Derrick Henry, who has been pretty disappointing in most of the season? And the Browns, obviously, you know, they usually have a pretty good run defense. Been a little bit leaky lately, but I guess talk about the easy ones or Lamar Jackson's easy. You're not going to start. Okay, forget it. Let me focus here. Let's talk about the running backs. Jamie, let's talk about the running backs. Your confidence level in Derrick Henry and your confidence level in Quinchon Jenkins.

[Jamie]

I know last week was not the best example of this, but anytime Lamar Jackson is healthy, I'm going to feel very confident, Derek Henry, that they're going to move the ball and give him opportunities to score if he had scored the touchdown instead of Justice Hill last week. I don't think anybody's concerned in any way, shape or form about Derek Henry because of what he did against the Dolphins the previous game. Same thing. So he's at worst a top 15 running back almost on a weekly basis. So I'm starting him. I'm not even thinking about it. I'm starting Lamar Jackson, not even thinking about it. Zay Flowers is just going to be one of those frustrating low end number two receivers that if he doesn't score, you're going to say, why did I start him? And if he scores, you're gonna be like, wow, look, I told you he was going to be awesome. So I think you just start him by default. And Mark Andrews just seemingly is scoring every time. Lamar Jackson's on the field now, so I'm going to start him as a low end, number one tight end. So I'd start him ahead of Kyle Pitts this week. I would start him ahead of that group of tight ends that we talked about over Najoku. Those, those caliber of players. The only, the only Browns player at this point for me. I'm sorry, you wanted running backs.

[Dave]

No, that's okay. This is fine. I mean, would you, would you start fanning over Andrews?

[Jamie]

I wouldn't. PPR.

[Heath]

One note, it's too early to be adjusting rankings for wind, but if the forecast holds, Kevin Roth has this as the worst weather risk of the weekend. Expecting 20 mile an hour winds with gusts of 30 to 35. We know how Cleveland gets, so check in on Sunday morning. There could be a downgrade for Zay Flowers.

[Dave]

I just got to say Cleveland's run defense hasn't been quite as good lately. However, it's actually been kind of bad lately. So that's gives you optimism. The first time Derrick Henry played CLEVELAND he scored 2.3 fantasy points and that was with Lamar Jackson, you know, when he, when he played Houston. Another great run defense. He had 15 carries for 33 yards on a touchdown. He did have a big game against the Rams. Another good run defense, but it's a guy who doesn't catch passes who is going up against in theory a tough matchup. So I think just he's 14th or 15th for, for everyone. So he, we like Derrick Henry because he's Derrick Henry and they should score points but we don't like him top five or anything like that. So just keep that in mind.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Dave]

And then. All right. Judkins, first four games of the year for Judkins he averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Last four games he's averaging 3.1 yards per carry. And his yards before contact have been horrible all year. In the good sample size and the bad sample size. He's got one of the lowest yards before contact per carry of any running backs of any running back in the NFL. So the line has not been good this year. If you look at ratings and stuff like that anyway, Heath, Judkins or Vidal.

[Heath]

I would still go Judkins. I think it's encouraging that he has three targets in each of his last two games. I think he's still like, especially if the wind's bad, they're going to give him a bunch of rush attempts. I don't think Baltimore scores a huge amount of points in this game against the Cleveland defense. So he's still like, I understand if you have some anxiety about starting Judkins, but he's still a pretty solid RB2 for me. I would start, obviously, Dowdle Henderson and Harvey over him.

[Jamie]

Okay. I think it's. It's one thing to keep an eye on with the Browns is if Dylan Gabriel struggles. Narrator. He may struggle. We may get a quarterback change.

[Dave]

Yeah. All right.

[Heath]

Can you imagine the outrage if it's a 30 mile an hour wind game and that's when they give Shador his chance.

[Jamie]

What if he went again?

[Dave]

Gabriel just had his best fantasy game by far and they're talking about bench again. But I know he didn't play that well. I guess you're not interested in Jerry Judy. What's that?

[Jamie]

They lost to the Jets.

[Dave]

Yeah, they did, but that was really their special teams. Jerry Judy's not in the top 40. Maybe worth a stash. All right, Heath, let's talk about the Cleveland tight ends. Your level of confidence in both of them.

[Heath]

You know, I think it was a disappointing game for Harold Fannin last week, but he still had a 21% target share. You talked about it. Dave Najoku's route participation was down around 50%. It looks. Unless it changes, and it's gone back and forth a couple times this year, but it looks like they've settled on Fanon as their tight end one Joku as their second tight end when they play two of them. I'm starting Fanon as a low end starter over really not over Otten or Schultz, but over the rest of the Streamers, over Zach Ertz, over Mark Andrews, over guys like that. Njoku more of a low end number two for me. I understand if you want to keep them on the roster in case the usage flips again, but Fanon pretty easily over Najoku for me.

[Jamie]

There's only one other guy that I would consider starting over him, and it's Theo Johnson just with Jameis.

[Dave]

Over who? Fanon or Najoka or Fan?

[Jamie]

Definitely over Najoku.

[Dave]

Yeah, I. I have a Najoku in one league. I picked up Fan Theo Johnson yesterday and I just changed the lineup. But I don't want Najoku. I don't want anything to do with Najoku right now. It's two. Two games in a row with a route participation rate under 60 for Najoku.

[Jamie]

I think the only reason worth holding on to him honestly is Fan in second week in a row is popped up with a hamstring injury.

[Dave]

Okay. Yeah, I look, the route participation could Go up and down. That's it. Wouldn't be a surprise if it's back up. But still, we're not talking about like a high end player. And the Ravens DST is a must start. All right, we got one game left. You want to save it for tomorrow or knock it out?

[Jamie]

Knock it out.

[Dave]

Let's do it. Houston's at Tennessee. What you wanted to save Nico Collins. Five end zone, five end zone targets last week didn't catch a single one of them. Start any Titans?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Which if you had to choose a Titans running back, who would it be?

[Jamie]

Spears. Okay.

[Heath]

No.

[Dave]

Spears or Ken Walker?

[Jamie]

Spears.

[Heath]

I'd go Walker over the Titans.

[Dave]

Spears or Kyle Menangai?

[Jamie]

Spears. This is pbr.

[Dave]

How do you feel about the Texans offense? Who are you starting?

[Heath]

Schultz and Nico and Woody.

[Jamie]

Agreed.

[Dave]

So big. Like everybody that matters. Davis Mills.

[Jamie]

No, I think he's a good super flex or two quarterback option. But, but again, great week for quarterbacks.

[Dave]

Geno Smith or Davis Mills?

[Heath]

Gino, I've got Davis just a little bit higher right now. I would start Davis Mills over Bo Nicks.

[Dave]

Okay, Davis Mills. First three quarters, 188 yards, no touchdowns. SEC fourth quarter, 104 yards, two touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. Tennessee's been just horrible against everyone lately. I mean their, their defense has just stopped it horrible. Really struggled. So then I think we just get into Woody Marks some. I didn't see this. Someone said in the chat there was a report about Woody Marks not getting an increased workload. Did you see anything like that?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Oh, right here. Did you see the report of Texans offensive coordinator saying he won't elevate Woody Marks's workload? What the heck.

[Jamie]

Should we, I'll see if I find.

[Heath]

So I think like what, what we're hoping is that this is something new because it was the 80 snapshare, by far a season high. It's a third time this year that he's played more than half of the snaps. The first time was against the Titans, the last time they played them. And he was Absolutely incredible. Scored two touchdowns, had 119 yards. The next week he played 38 of the snaps and had seven touches. The week after that, very good game against Seattle because he caught a touchdown, had 13 touches, played 63 of the snaps. The very next week he played 40 of the snaps.

[Dave]

And the very next week, Nick Chubb had 17 carries.

[Heath]

So I, I, I'm starting Woody Marks. He's a top 24 guy. But I do think there's at least like they've came out and said that they didn't really think he was a feature back earlier in the year. And I'm I hope that opinion changed last week.

[Dave]

It's an elite matchup, Tennessee's fifth worst against running backs, 4.92 yards per carry to running backs, second fewest receiving yards per game to running backs. That's one thing they've been good at and they have actually been a little bit better against the run lately. Not always, but a little bit better.

[Jamie]

But this is from matchup Sam Warren of the Houston Chronicle, who posted this an hour ago. Here is the the headline how rookie Woody Marks is taking the Lead role in Houston Texans backfield the Houston Texas this is the lead sentence. The Houston Texans appeared to have a new lead back Sunday.

[Dave]

Okay, well, I thought what was really interesting was that he got all the goal line work too. I mean, they just clearly favored Woody Marks.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I'm trying to see if there's anything in here from any coaches, so.

[Dave]

I'm gonna wrap up the show while you do that.

[Jamie]

Office coordinator Nick Kaylee said the uptick was more spontaneous than predetermined. You go into a game and you sit there and you try to have balance in a variety of ways for all the right reasons, kelly said. Sometimes you get into a rhythm and he played well and he was playing well down the stretch. Here's Kelly again. It's hard to say how every game's going to go. Sometimes it doesn't go the way you want it. But he did a great job. I thought he played consistent throughout the game and happy as happy his performance for sure. He's gotten better every single week, not just as a runner. He'll put his face on guys and be physical. That's a big part of what we ask those guys to do. So it's just a complete package and continuing to get better and learning from things as we go.

[Dave]

Okay. All right. There's a little bit of risk, I guess, but yeah, this could be a good week for him. And start the Texans DST of all the matchups of all of any position, I think Texans like it's the best DST basically against the best matchup. So there you go. That's it for fantasy football today. If you want more CBS Sports Network, 1pm Eastern. Dave, Jamie and Heath are going to be rocking and rolling there and we'll talk to you tomorrow with the NFC home games.

[Jamie]

Thanks a lot.

[Dave]

Paramount Podcasts it's football season and you gotta keep up with the action. Listen in to pushing the pile part of CBS Sports Podcast Network with Mike Renner, Kyle Long and now me, JP.

[Jamie]

Acosta for smart analysis of everything between the lines.

[Dave]

With four episodes a week, Sunday night recaps, film recovery review, power tiers and weekly previews. You will know Ball Stick with us until one team lists the Lombardi Download and follow pushing the pile on Apple podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found.