Crazy Trades + Week 7 Start/Sit, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/15

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary

Episode: Crazy Trades + Week 7 Start/Sit, TNF Preview
Date: October 15, 2025
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike “The Fantasy Hitman” Wright

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode centers on navigating mid-season fantasy football chaos: evaluating "crazy" trades, making tough backup and start/sit decisions heading into Week 7, previewing Thursday Night Football (Steelers vs. Bengals), and addressing listener mail on trading strategies, injury fallout, waiver wire moves, and rest-of-season outlooks. The trio brings high energy, sharp analysis, and their signature wit to help listeners win their leagues in style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Chopped League & "The Brock Bowers Curse" [01:17 - 03:00]

• The hosts share their ongoing troubles in a guillotine-style league where picking up Brock Bowers has “cursed” several managers, quickly leading to their elimination after placing high FAAB bids.
• Andy: “I wanted to be integrous and put a claim in on him…$31, and I got him. We'll see if you survive.” [02:41]
• Good reminder to pay attention to waiver wire drops, not just pickups.

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Backup Options & Waiver Strategy [05:06 - 12:50]

Most Dropped Players – Do We Care?

• Rapid-fire “care/don’t care” assignments for recent drops (e.g., Matthew Stafford, Hassan Haskins, Michael Carter, Darius Slayton, Taewon Thornton, Calvin Ridley).
  • Jason: “It's too early on Haskins.”
  • Mike: “Ridley has been stinky doo doo, but I’m optimistic about what’s going on with Jackson.”
• Key advice: Watch for dropped, “boring” but useful assets, especially after waivers run, as managers make room for temporary solutions.

Backup Options to Pivot to if Waivers Were Unkind:

• Dalton Kincaid (Bills, TE):
  • A surprise drop in many leagues due to injury and bye, but a top-5 tight end on a good offense with a soft schedule.
  • Jason: “He leads the Bills in targets per route run and has two red zone TDs… I would still scoop up Dalton Kincaid.”
• Christian Kirk (Texans, WR):
  • Healthy, seeing more usage, and likely to exceed platform projections, especially in double-flex formats.
  • Mike: “It’s not exciting, but I think he’s an actual option, especially in deeper leagues.”
• Alec Iomanor (Jaguars, WR):
  • Rostered in <50% of leagues; expected to see a volume boost with Calvin Ridley injured and a favorable schedule ahead.
  • Andy: “He could get the interim coach bump… next two weeks are juicy for WR spot starts.”

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News and Notes: Key Injury & Status Updates [12:59 - 17:36]

• DJ Moore: Hospitalized with groin injury; status uncertain.
• Puka Nacua: In serious doubt for this week; likely sitting with a bye looming.
• Emeka Egbuka: Hamstring could keep him out until after Monday night; listeners discouraged from risky "wait and see."
• CeeDee Lamb: Chance to return in Week 7, but not a certainty.
• David Njoku: Not expected to practice.
• Rico Dowdle & Chuba Hubbard (Panthers RBs): Both will get touches; unclear usage split.
• Anthony Richardson (Colts QB): On IR; team signs Brett Rypien.
• Humor: The hosts riff on "Brett Rypien farts" (Jason: “Any chance to get a Brett Rippin’ Farts in here, you gotta take it.” [17:01])

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Thursday Night Football Preview - Steelers vs. Bengals [18:00 - 26:47]

• Setting: "The Geriatric Icy Hot Bowl" – a battle of veteran QBs.
• Fantasy Angles:
  • Steelers: Hot streak (4-1), great rest-of-season schedule for all skill positions; heavy favorites.
  • Key Playables:
    • Aaron Rodgers: Steady; “not amazing but getting it done.”
    • Joe Flacco (Bengals): Debut provided hope for Jamar Chase and T. Higgins.
  • Running Backs:
    • Chase Brown: Slight hope based on volume, but modest output (RB20 last week, 7.9 pts). Weighing starts vs. players like Etienne or Stevenson.
    • Kenneth Walker: Still the higher-upside play despite volatility.
    • Caleb Johnson: Jason makes a bet on a surprise “breakout”; co-hosts incredulous (“Do not listen to anything Jason is saying right now.” – Mike [23:41])
  • Jalen Warren (Steelers RB): Backfield leader, “should be a very good play.”
  • DK Metcalf: Emergence continues; “Top 10 weeks in a row.”
  • Schedule Watch: All major Steelers skill positions enjoy a favorable stretch.

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Mailbag: Trade Triage, RB/WR Valuation, and Overthinking Moves [28:15 - 54:41]

• Big Trade Questions:
  • Saquon Barkley for Rashee Rice?
    • Hosts (consensus): Too steep; “You’re not getting value.” Unless you get another solid RB in the deal.
    • Quote: “Saquon is worth a lot more than Rashee Rice… depth can evaporate fast. A disproportionate trade doesn’t help you win.” – Andy [30:08]
  • Rice vs. Emeka Egbuka ROS?
    • Mike: “Because he’s healthy, I’ll take Rice.”
    • Jason: “Rice is my rest of season WR10.”
  • Dowdle for Derrick Henry?
    • Immediate “yes.” Rico’s elite run likely to end soon.
    • Quote: “Do that trade, Derrick Henry… This is a temporary elite Rico Dowdle.” – Andy [39:12]
  • Dowdle for J.K. Dobbins?
    • More hesitation; most hosts still slightly prefer waiting on Rico.
  • Dowdle for Scatterboo?
    • Hosts prefer Scatterboo, emphasizing trade value peak for Rico.
• Overthinking Trades:
  • Jason recounts declining a deal (Saquon Barkley and two 2nd-round picks for struggling Austin Ekeler) and living to regret it; reminder to sometimes “just pull the trigger” and accept losses.
    • “You won’t win every trade. Eventually you’ll make one and think: holy crap, that was stupid.” – Mike [48:31]
• Rest of Season Stashes:
  • Trey Benson (RB): Decent stash, potential late-season value.
  • Woody Marks: “Not an afterthought;" could see a rookie bye-week bump.
• Rest-of-Season RBs/WRs:
  • Jalen Warren vs. DeAndre Swift: Slight preference for Warren due to steadier role and schedule.
  • George Pickens (WR): Still a great play even if his hot streak dips with CeeDee Lamb returning; both could be top-12 WRs.
  • Chris Olave or Bill in the flex? Bill, due to matchup-based confidence.
  • Jonathan Taylor for Justin Jefferson + Derrick Henry? Very fair trade; depends on team needs.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jason (on Dalton Kincaid):
  “He currently leads the Bills and targets per route run, yards per route run... I would still scoop up Dalton Kincaid. I’ve got to find the answer or answers." [09:07]

• Mike (on trade philosophy):
  “You have to be willing to lose trades. You will not win every single one…eventually you’ll make a trade and think holy crap, that was the stupidest thing I could have done.” [48:31]

• Andy (on Rashee Rice’s value):
  “To me, Saquon is worth a lot more than Rashee Rice.” [30:08]

• Jason (on regretting trades):
  "Me and my co-manager...dug as deep as we could possibly dig, gave it most information overload we could and decided we didn't want to go for the [Saquon] trade...from that point on, not only was Saquon better, but [Ekeler] fell apart.” [46:01]

• Jason (humor):
  "Any chance to get a Brett Rippin’ Farts in here, you gotta take it." [17:01]

• Mike (trade offer on Rico Dowdle):
  “What did you eat the night before to get that feeling in your gut?” [38:31]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Brock Bowers Chopped League Curse: 01:17 - 03:15
• Backup Options - Who Was Dropped/Who to Add: 05:06 - 12:50
• Injury/News Roundup: 12:59 - 17:36
• TNF Preview & Start/Sit Decisions: 18:00 - 26:47
• Mailbag & Key Trade Debates: 28:08 - 54:41
• "Overthinking Trades" Anecdotes: 45:06 - 49:19
• Rest of Season Stash/Start/Sit Questions: 49:22 - 54:41
• Show Wrap-Up, Fun Banter (Split-Screen Football Watching): 54:41 - End

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Conclusion

This episode offers sharp perspective on hitting the midseason reset in fantasy football, recognizing when to hold, when to trade, and how to capitalize on both value swings and the unpredictable nature of the NFL. With a blend of savvy football sense and relatable “we’ve-all-been-there” moments, Andy, Jason, and Mike deliver a show that prepares listeners for the rollercoaster weeks ahead.

Pro tip: Keep an eye on your waiver wire post-waivers, sell at value peaks, and don’t get paralyzed by over-analysis—sometimes you need to take (calculated) swings to win.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Thursday Night Football is on and it's only on Prime Video. Join Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet and Kaylee Hartung this Thursday as the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Steelers and Bengals Thursday at 7pm Eastern, only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details.

[Jason Moore]

Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich. They're the perfect grab and go for all of life's moments with unbeatably soft bread and a variety of flavors like peanut butter and grape jelly, peanut butter and strawberry jam, peanut butter and raspberry spread and more. No mess, no prep. Just thaw and eat. Get them in the freezer aisle. Today the Fantasy Footballer Studio is sponsored by Walmart, Foreign to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in. It's a Wednesday episode, October 15th. Mike the fantasy hitman, right is here. Jason Moore to my right. I'm Andy Holloway and we have another great episode for you. The waivers just ran in all of our leagues and the cursed Brock Bowers. So for those that have not followed along with we are in a chopped league, a guillotine style league and whoever has picked up Brock Bowers has quickly been the loser of the league and caught cut and chopped from the league.

[Jason Moore]

If you drafted him, you were chopped.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

If you picked him up off of.

[Andy Holloway]

Waivers for $501, you were chopped.

[Jason Moore]

That would be if you picked up the him again off of waivers for then after 501 it was like 230.

[Andy Holloway]

217.

[Jason Moore]

217. Chop.

[Andy Holloway]

Chopped.

[Jason Moore]

He's back on waivers. What do you go for, Jer? $31.

[Andy Holloway]

And who do you go to?

[Jason Moore]

And this is guys, he was a thousand dollar fab budget league.

[Andy Holloway]

So I wanted to be integrous and.

[Jason Moore]

Put a claim in on him because.

[Andy Holloway]

I felt like I had to. So I went as low as I thought I could do, which was $31 and I got him. Wow. So we'll see if you survive. If you can break the curse. You get in chop, you in trouble. What do we got today? We got backup options on this show. We've got NFL News to talk about, a Thursday night preview and then a ton of mailbag questions. So excited to get into it. A reminder, jointhefoot.com head over there, the current Megalobol leader Oh, if you join the Megalobol it is the blue team. Oh, there's a new, a new leader in town.

[Mike Wright]

Leader.

[Andy Holloway]

The blue team has got 937 points and is first out of a 20,000 plus pool of players.

[Mike Wright]

So hope you don't have a Buka or Puka.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, they probably do not going to hold first. Probably do with 937 but yeah, congrats on being in first AD. Well, we'll see. I mean Puka has not been ruled out and Ebuka is likely to miss a week. No, I told, I told you this the day that like I know Sean McVeigh is probably a big liar and he'll probably miss six weeks but they said he physically felt really good the next day after and that they would monitor and he's not been ruled out. We, he's just in serious doubt.

[Jason Moore]

Serious doubt.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Would you like to place a wager?

[Jason Moore]

We usually we talk about how high ankle sprains are. Oftentimes you miss three games. That's like the most common. If you don't. Oftentimes you miss zero. Like it's zero or three games usually. I wonder if it will be any different with the travel and them kind of having to know what's going on ahead of time because this is the overseas game. I don't know if that factors in or not, but it feels like some weeks they rule people out really early on those, those London games when they're traveling.

[Mike Wright]

Now the. This is an actual question because it sounds silly but it's like flying with that injury. Is there any sort of.

[Jason Moore]

I wouldn't imagine not risk. But you know, I know what you're saying because altitude.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. It's like you get all swollen, all.

[Jason Moore]

Those type of things. I don't know if that would affect an ankle. I wouldn't think so. But not a doctor.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's go ahead and jump into some backup options.

[Jason Moore]

Backup options presented by Progressive Insurance.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. We always say and it's important every single week but check out who was dropped today on the waiver wire. A lot of players making injury moves trying to adjust for, you know, kind of spot start situations and they might drop a long term valuable player. The most dropped players on sleeper in the last 24 hours. I'm going to ask you real quick, do you care?

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

It was a one week wonder but Matthew Stafford.

[Mike Wright]

Do you care? I do not.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Hassan Haskins?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Too early.

[Andy Holloway]

Michael Carter.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Chris Rodriguez and Jaden Blue.

[Jason Moore]

Nope.

[Mike Wright]

No to Rodriguez. Blue is Just stash, but you can drop them.

[Andy Holloway]

Ryan Flournoy?

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Jason Moore]

Don't care.

[Andy Holloway]

Taekwond Thornton.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

Keon Coleman?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Juan Jenny.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Malik Washington.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Darius Slayton.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Calvin.

[Mike Wright]

I do.

[Jason Moore]

I want to have him healthy before I need to roster him.

[Mike Wright]

How? Like, how far away is the healthy? That's the part I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

We don't know. But my point is, I'm not sure that I want to play him his first week back, because, like, what if he's a little limited or whatever?

[Mike Wright]

I would like him on my roster.

[Jason Moore]

To me, he is Calvin Ridley, who you're about to say you don't care about.

[Mike Wright]

But Ridley has been stinky doo doo. And the. I don't know. I'm optimistic about what's going on with Jackson. Darting the Giants.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Tonjas?

[Mike Wright]

Nope. Because Georgie Porgy, our hero George, reportedly should be playing this weekend.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Mason Taylor.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. What are you doing? I mean, no crap. All right. Also, social media people. How dare you?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, how dare you. Blast.

[Mike Wright]

I saw this.

[Jason Moore]

What happened?

[Andy Holloway]

Our show.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know what happened. Fill us in.

[Mike Wright]

So the falcon.

[Jason Moore]

Falcon's face flying a little too close to the sun.

[Mike Wright]

He, like.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, he knows he did something.

[Mike Wright]

He puts out fun graphics with quotes, like, hot quotes that come from the show. And you know how I, like, intentionally whispered. Oh, yeah. About Mason Taylor being my number one tight end pickup of the week?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

We put it in, like, bold block, all capital letters.

[Jason Moore]

I see your face and I see this quote. Mason Taylor is my number one tight end waiver pickup of the week. He is now the number one receiving option and is good candidate for 10 targets. Mike the fantasy man.

[Andy Holloway]

Right? I'm going to be honest. I don't think that's your quote.

[Mike Wright]

No, I did not say second half.

[Andy Holloway]

The second half was just made up.

[Jason Moore]

The second half was.

[Mike Wright]

No, I know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So you. Not only did you whisper it, but you didn't even say it?

[Mike Wright]

I guess he didn't put it in quotation marks. So it's not technically quotes on the graphic. Oh, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, those are.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, they're in the backyard.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

They're tasty. Wow. Well, either way.

[Mike Wright]

Either way.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he did not say that, man. I said the second part.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You. You put them together? Yeah. It's funny, Mike. I didn't know which one you're talking about, but I saw this and I almost messaged him and was like, this was not the quot.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I have a message. Pack your things.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, why don't you leave right there.

[Mike Wright]

How dare you do that to me, Even though I said most of it.

[Andy Holloway]

You should go to the bathroom right now. Dawson Knox, do you care? No. Juwan Johnson?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Mark Andrews?

[Mike Wright]

Nope. No.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about if you didn't get the waiver ads that you wanted, what are some backup options that you could pick up, spot start. Maybe they're. Maybe it's not in that category, but somebody that you should pick up.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Here's someone that's totally not in that category. It's Dalton Kincaid, who when I was looking at the most dropped list, I was shocked to see he was one of the most dropped players. Now it makes sense because you have a combination of he didn't play football last week and then he was on by. So people have.

[Mike Wright]

He's on by this week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's on by after not, you know, playing. So. And people don't assume that the Dalton Kincaid thing will stick necessarily.

[Mike Wright]

However it feels fraudulent.

[Jason Moore]

We. It does a little bit because it was very touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

Because he's playing half the snaps.

[Jason Moore]

Touchdown heavy half the snaps. But you can't argue a few things. First thing you cannot argue against is that he is a top five tight end right now and has been good most of the weeks of the season.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, Correct.

[Jason Moore]

Can't argue that he's on a really good offense that just struggled without him and it looked like they really needed him.

[Mike Wright]

And.

[Jason Moore]

And you can't argue with the fact that the rest of season they have the fourth easiest schedule as of this moment for tight ends in fantasy, there's.

[Mike Wright]

Really three negative, negative matchups coming up for them. I mean, it's a good.

[Jason Moore]

He currently leads the Bills and targets per route run, yards per route run. Already has two red zone touchdowns on the season, which is great because they didn't used to like, they haven't really involved him in years prior in that area. So Dalton Kincaid to me is like, I keep bringing up these tight ends every week because I'm living that life. I'm living that like a lot are. Yeah. And so I am one of you. And we need to find our solution. I'm hoping it's Darren Waller. If it's not. And I saw Dalton Kincaid out there, like I just traded for Darren Waller in our league of records. I would still scoop up Dalton Kincaid. I've got to find the answer or answers.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Or yeah. Two players you could platoon with better matchups. Mike, your backup option.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going with Christian Kirk of the Houston Texans. Ladies and gentlemen, remember, Christian Kirk plays football for the Houston Texans. It's been strange because the first two weeks he was hurt, and then his first two weeks back acclimating, nothing really special. 3 for 25. 3 for 20. But then in that blowout game against Baltimore, you know, a couple of weeks ago, because the Texans were just on their buy 4 for 64. This isn't like, I'm so excited to play Christian Kirk, but it's. I think he is a. An actual option for a flex or probably a double flex. And against Seattle, I don't. I don't hate it. I don't hate Stroud this week. And I. And I don't mind if you're really hurting from injuries or bye week and you're like, you're just scrambling. Looking at, you know, sorting your waivers by projections, I think that Kirk will outproduce what the platforms are expecting and we.

[Andy Holloway]

We may need to adjust. Like right now, I know we brought Seattle up yesterday in the waiver show is, you know, maybe this defense is a good situation at home, and it is probably okay, but we're coming off of, you know, two games where the Texans scored 26 and 44 points, whereas the previous three losses they had scored like 9, 19, and 10. They might be figuring some stuff out on the offensive side of the football and so something to monitor because you'd want a piece of that if they did. In that same double flex flex category. Calvin Ridley's hurt, and so it's a good chance to bring up Ella IO Manor once again, maybe even epic aisle Manor if the week goes well. Rostered in under 50% of leagues, very good player. I think he's the best wide receiver that they have. Now, you don't have a lot of other things working for you, but we did talk about the interim coach bump. You know, play calling is going to be a little bit different. You're going to have no Calvin Ridley. So the primary target for the entire game for Cam Ward will be Alec Iomanner. And Ridley had a pretty good game before the injury. So the next two weeks are really juicy for wide receivers. They play New England, who's 28th against wideouts, and Indianapolis 31st against whiteouts. So spot start Alec IO Manor. I think those are, you know, potential matchups. So that was backup options. Sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote [e-mail] let's talk news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league presented by Progressive Insurance.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so we have an official report from DJ Moore.

[Jason Moore]

It's more like that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Really?

[Andy Holloway]

It's a groin injury.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. So he was.

[Andy Holloway]

He was hospitalized with a groin injury.

[Jason Moore]

He was hospitalized for a groin injury. Precautionary or whatever. They didn't travel. He didn't travel with the team. And we didn't know. We didn't know what, like, you know, he played 94% of the snaps. There was uncertainty as to why he went to the hospital. The only thing we know is a groin injury now.

[Mike Wright]

We don't be reported.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. And I don't know on this one, is that like the, you know, like the groin muscle or is that what. You know.

[Andy Holloway]

Right, right, right.

[Jason Moore]

Is that what these are all about?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, that's.

[Jason Moore]

I go to the hospital for that, make sure I'm okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Puka Nakua. Latest report, Ian Rappaport said in serious doubt for this week's game against the Jags because they have the bi week next week. So that would probably be the smartest, honestly, for a.

[Mike Wright]

For an injury to be timed up that you have a game and then the bye week. If you have Puka, that's a. That's about as good as it gets.

[Andy Holloway]

We have update updated news on Emika Egg Big Boo.

[Jason Moore]

The Buccaneers never stops being funny to me. Like, usually jokes just get played out, but every time he says it, it's just so dumb.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Amika Egg Big Boo has a boo boo. And the hamstring injury likely to keep him out of the Monday night game. You really cannot ride dirty on that one.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Cannot go into Monday night without a battle plan. And it would.

[Jason Moore]

Tez Johnson or Cameron Johnson. Would you be fine waiting and playing them? Like I would.

[Andy Holloway]

I would not really bank. I'd consider a mecca out today. Yeah, that's how I would be.

[Jason Moore]

Low odds. So if you had someone like Jordan Addison.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would say Jordan Addison, you would play.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm a little bit like, I want to be excited about Tez. Like, he played 72% of snaps, had the big touchdown catch. I want to be excited about somebody there. But like, Mike Evans could be back. Right, Right. That's the latest report that we have, is that Mike Evans could give it a go. Like, it's. There's a chance that all those names on Tampa Bay are not going to do much. Kate Otten, we still bet against Baker.

[Jason Moore]

Andy, you just do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, CD Lamb.

[Mike Wright]

I won't, but I will bet against these other guys.

[Andy Holloway]

CD Lamb has a chance to be back in week seven.

[Jason Moore]

Please, please.

[Andy Holloway]

If he's healthy, let's Come back and play. David Najoku not expected to practice. We had talked about Harold Fannin and then the Panthers. A report this morning from Jeremy Fowler on ESPN saying that Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard will both get touches regardless of who gets the first snap.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, Yeah. I mean, this is where you guys were bullish. Like you can't take Rico out of your lineup, you know, with what he's been doing. But the way that I look at this is the first week back for two. But I feel like you can't play either of them if you play.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know how far off Chuba would have been from these numbers against those defenses, to be honest with you. I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

He would have had very good games, but I don't think he would have done that.

[Andy Holloway]

And Dallas were Obviously the attempts 23 and 30. Yeah, I think both guys are going to be startable. I actually believe that. But it's possible. It would be nice if you could watch and see. Yeah. But I have learned that benching Rico has been costly in a lot of ways. All right, that was news and notes. There's one more.

[Jason Moore]

There is one more piece of news.

[Andy Holloway]

I missed it.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, well, the Colts, because they put Anthony Richardson, you know, on IR with his eye injury.

[Andy Holloway]

They are. I got you. I hear what you were doing. You made that joke.

[Jason Moore]

They signed Brett Rippen farts. So now we're done with the news. I just had to get, I mean, any chance to get a Brett ripping farts in here. You gotta take it.

[Andy Holloway]

It wasn't. It was.

[Jason Moore]

It was the fart.

[Andy Holloway]

It was the.

[Mike Wright]

It was really explosive.

[Jason Moore]

It was so like a child.

[Andy Holloway]

It's like you ran into a room, said Brett Rippin farts and then ran out of the room, you know, just cackling. Oh, man, that was. That was pretty good.

[Jason Moore]

Footy award winner.

[Andy Holloway]

That was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote Today at progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third party insurers not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits and conditions. We're moving on.

[Jason Moore]

Thursday night breakdown.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you making the sound of the quarterbacks here at Thursday let's play football. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who are 4 and 1 and cruising along, take on the 2 and 4 Cincinnati Bengals. That's right, the geriatric Icy hot bowl they have.

[Mike Wright]

Both teams have officially asked the NFL to move the game time from 8:15.

[Andy Holloway]

Eastern up to 1:15pm oh, my gosh. So that way they can make the 4pm dinner dinner. Time. Look, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco in this game will be the second oldest quarterback matchup of the second of all time.

[Mike Wright]

How is it not the oldest?

[Jason Moore]

Brady has to be in the first.

[Andy Holloway]

Brady played forever, but he played against Breeze in 2020. Roger says, I think it's great for all the old guys, but you look at this division, the Bengals, Ravens and Browns have combined to lose 11 consecutive games, while the Steelers have won their last three. They're the number two seed in the AFC. Do you know the number one seed is?

[Jason Moore]

I do, yeah. It's crazy.

[Andy Holloway]

Indianapolis Colts are the number one seed as Tampa is in the NFC.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So Aaron Rodgers completing almost 70% of his passes, his highest total since 2021. Aaron Rodgers getting it done. Right. It's not been amazing, but 4 and 1. Got to give him credit. Joe Flacco made his debut for Cincinnati.

[Mike Wright]

And he gave us hope.

[Andy Holloway]

And so, you know, I said, look, you have hope. That's exactly what you brought up. You have hope for Jamar Chase. We saw it in game one. T. Higgins.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know T. Higgins.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know what's going on.

[Jason Moore]

I do have a little bit of hope for T. Higgins. T. Higgins had eight targets last week, 65 yards, and that was in a tough matchup. So that, like, to me, it wasn't a dreadful disappearing act the way he was with Jake Browning. So I. There's hope there. I'm not saying, like, you have to.

[Mike Wright]

Season high in yardage.

[Jason Moore]

I'm not saying you have to start T. Higgins, but I think you can start T. Higgins. And I certainly have hope that Joe Flacco can make him relevant.

[Andy Holloway]

Where are you with Chase Brown? The schedule should lighten up for him in the second half of the season. He was the RB20 last week, but only scored 7.9 fantasy points. It was a rough week. Like, are you playing Chase Brown on Thursday night, getting that advanced intel on your roster? Are you playing somebody like Travis Etienne?

[Jason Moore]

I would play the Rams, yeah. I would play etn.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Ramondre against Tennessee?

[Mike Wright]

With that match, I'll play Chase Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

I know you're contractually obligated to do that.

[Jason Moore]

Has been so bad. The matchup is good. Yeah. I think I go Chase Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Ken Bone Walker? The Invisible Kin? Bone Walker.

[Jason Moore]

I would still roll with Ken Bone because Seattle. I feel like most of the people you're naming don't really have a really high ceiling, an upside. You know, obviously, we saw this last week, how low the floor can be with Kenneth Walker. But we still know he can have a huge, massive game. He can, you know, have a breakaway touchdown like we're going to see in this game.

[Mike Wright]

Caleb Johnson, a breakaway five yard run.

[Jason Moore]

That's true. He could.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason just sold Caleb Johnson in our league of record. No, it went through 30 fab. What?

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Jason Moore]

That's. Look, this is. This is crazy timing. I also just made a bet on a Caleb Johnson anytime touchdown. That's what I was doing.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what you were doing.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I was doing on my phone because it's coming. This is breakouts this week, but I can't believe I got 30 fab. I made that as a joke offer.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Jason Moore]

I made it as a joke offer and then I was like, I'm going to have to retract that when he breaks out tonight or tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he's not on your team, I guess, so. What are you talking about?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. What.

[Andy Holloway]

Why do you think he's going to break out?

[Jason Moore]

Just because the Bengals defense is so bad. A big breakout from the bench.

[Andy Holloway]

Like if he is.

[Jason Moore]

He had as many carries as Kenneth. As Kenneth Gainwell last week, so.

[Mike Wright]

Which is six.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no, I. Look, you're.

[Andy Holloway]

That's your touchdown guarantee. Jason, you just made a bet.

[Jason Moore]

Touchdown guarantee. This is my touchdown guarantee.

[Mike Wright]

He had as many.

[Jason Moore]

I don't have carries.

[Mike Wright]

As Kenneth Gainwell. Yeah, six.

[Jason Moore]

How many carries do you need to have a breakaway against the Bengals? 3?

[Andy Holloway]

4? I don't know, Mike. You and I are.

[Mike Wright]

What is happening.

[Andy Holloway]

You and I are. We're over here and he's way over there.

[Mike Wright]

The matchups. The matchup is great. I totally agree with that. That's why I'm very excited for Jalen Warren, who. And I'm on the side. I'm on the side of the snaps. And the opportunities for Warren were more of a product of. He's. That's his first week back and he will. The work will start going up.

[Jason Moore]

That is.

[Mike Wright]

You're a crazy man.

[Andy Holloway]

That's bold.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that is bold.

[Andy Holloway]

And I don't even want to ask how much you bet.

[Jason Moore]

My standard. My standard issue.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Jason Moore]

Your unit. My unit.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, just want to burn money every week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I.

[Andy Holloway]

You just bet. Hold on. You didn't have to do that on Caleb Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

The odds are good at this point.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, of course the odds are bad.

[Jason Moore]

Plus 900.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Your odds in the book, you're saying.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

There's odds that Caleb Johnson gets zero opportunity. Yeah, that could happen.

[Jason Moore]

Probably higher odds, to be honest. Look, all jokes aside, Caleb Johnson, my. I do see a world where he has a good game. But this is not advice that you're giving. This is not prescriptive. He's not playing enough football.

[Mike Wright]

I advise do not listen to anything Jason is saying right now.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's fine. Point in fact, I may. So in our league of record, in our league of records, someone out there in our league said, is anyone willing to sell a running back for Fab?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So I made a joke bid because I'm looking every time waivers are going through, I'm like, why am I still rostering Caleb Johnson? You know, and then I. And I was like, okay, I made him a joke offer of I'll give you Caleb Johnson for 30 Fab.

[Andy Holloway]

And you got it.

[Jason Moore]

It went through. I mean, so obviously I'm not super bullish here on, you know, the breakup.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't think you'd be talking about him this much today.

[Jason Moore]

I didn't. I knew I was going to say that. I saw a touchdown coming for him in this and you had to get.

[Andy Holloway]

On your phone just like right now to get those. Great odds.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Because after I, you know, let everybody know.

[Mike Wright]

It'll go to 890.

[Andy Holloway]

Since we're alive.

[Mike Wright]

Jalen Warren should be a very good play. I.

[Andy Holloway]

Things are looking up for Metcalf too, by the way. I mean, he is now the wide receiver 162 Top 10 weeks in a row. You like to see it. You know, he's going to get his opportunities.

[Mike Wright]

And I. I mentioned this a little bit. Hey, check out today's dynasty pod. We did a redraft of the rookies that was really fun and extremely difficult to try and organize the very disappointing seasons from rookies who are supposed to be great. The Pittsburgh Steelers schedules for all three of the top skill positions, quarterback, running back and wide receiver, are among the best rest of season that you could possibly get.

[Andy Holloway]

They're going to cruise to this division, aren't they?

[Mike Wright]

They are going to. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. It's never going to stop for Tomlin and Jason. You're going to be wrong about Rogers being their demise.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that was.

[Andy Holloway]

This division turned upside down early.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's a good matchup for basically all your Steelers. Start, start. Steelers against the Bengals is Trey Henderson.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think I've mentioned it. Pittsburgh's five and a half point favorites. The over under is 43 and a half.

[Mike Wright]

Hendrickson. Yeah, I think he's okay because it was like a back issue, but I'm guessing. Oh, he did not practice, but at least the reports I was hearing where it wasn't a serious injury. But David, if he's out, oh man, even better.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean for us you can get a maybe I'll take a look and see what the latest update is on Hendrickson. We'll take a break. We'll jump into some mailbag. Thursday Night Football is on and it's only on Prime Video. Join Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet and Kaylee Hartung this Thursday as the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with Football's Best Party TNF tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Steelers and Bengals Thursday at 7pm Eastern only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details.

[Mike Wright]

Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Indeed. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy job? Just use Indeed. With Indeed sponsored jobs, there are no monthly subscriptions, no long term contracts, and you only pay for results. Join the 3.5 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. We this might surprise you because I know we do a goofy podcast, but we, we run a business and we, we understand getting qualified people into jobs to help you out, help grow your business. It's important and you have to find the right people and it can be incredibly difficult. And that's what indeed. That's the problem that they're here to solve. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com footballers just go to Indeed.com footballers right now and support our show by saying you heard about it on Indeed on this podcast and indeed.com footballers terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, if you have a question for the show, we'd love to answer them. Go to the website thefantasyfootballers.com, click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline 302464, TFFB. We've got a handful of voicemail questions in there today. We're going to dig in, see if we can get you ready. It's a lot of excitement around the return of Rashi Rice this week. Let's jump into a voicemail. Oh, am I A big old idiot.

[Jason Moore]

If I trade Saquon for Rashee Rice.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, I'm pretty solid at running back. Receivers are lacking, so trying to see if that's a smart move or if that's going to screw me. Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

Right into the question, am I a big old idiot? No. Hey, this is Frank from no.

[Jason Moore]

Am I a big old idiot if I loved it. Wonderful question.

[Mike Wright]

Also. What was the question?

[Andy Holloway]

It was Saquon.

[Jason Moore]

All everyone heard is, am I a big old idiot? Yeah. Are you an idiot if you trade Saquon Barkley for Rush E. Rice?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, okay.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's answer at the same time for the fun of it.

[Jason Moore]

For the same.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a yes. No.

[Jason Moore]

Idiot.

[Mike Wright]

Are you a big old idiot?

[Andy Holloway]

Are you a big old idiot?

[Mike Wright]

Ray Barkley for Rasheed Rice?

[Andy Holloway]

Ready? Three, two, one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And I'm more with you. I heard the reluctance and because I do see a world where Rushy Rice is like a top five wide receiver rest of season, and if that happens, then it turns out you weren't a big old idiot. If you trade a top five running back for a top five wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

He's not a top five running.

[Jason Moore]

No. I know he's been very disappointing so far. Saquon. But if you're just playing probabilities and odds, the Eagles team is good. Their offensive line is still good and it's going to be better. Their guard isn't going to be out. Their defense is going to be better. Carter isn't going to be out like the way we saw this last week. And so brighter days are probably.

[Andy Holloway]

If you want to make this trade because you want to go get Rice, that's fine. You need to get the right value, though. To me, sake one is worth a lot more than Rashi Rice in a league. So making that trade straight up, you're not getting the value I think that you need. And you need to remember that, like, players get hurt all the time. You might feel really good at running back right now, but a disproportionate value trade doesn't help you win. That depth situation hits, I think.

[Jason Moore]

So what if you could get Rice and a backup running back?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, if you told me. Trying to think of a good category, like, of a backup running back. What if it was Rice and Ramon Dre?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. Something like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Where it's like, I'm on the fence.

[Mike Wright]

Because then I get to cut Ramondre. That's fun.

[Jason Moore]

Tony Pollard.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, that's more palatable.

[Mike Wright]

What's really difficult about this is Just does Rice go right back into dominating. And then you combine that with how hot the Chiefs are playing. Like Mahomes is. Mahomes is back.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me.

[Mike Wright]

So you know what I mean of.

[Andy Holloway]

Like, let's talk about Rice for a second.

[Mike Wright]

If the Chiefs were still playing bad and you're like, oh, Rasheed, Rice has to be the savior. Is. No, it's. No. The Chiefs are cooking right now and Rice could just jump in and be their number one guy.

[Andy Holloway]

So let's just give a lay of the land here in Kansas City because to me, this is selling low on Saquon and buying high on Rice. That is what it is.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Andy Holloway]

Because Rice is now this mythical.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

That is here to save your season. When Rashi Rice last played for this team, he played four games. One, he got hurt in the three, he didn't get hurt in. He was. He had seven receptions for 103 yards, five for 75 and 12 for 110. He was off to a.

[Mike Wright]

He was awesome.

[Andy Holloway]

He was off to a great start. Wide receiver, 16, 18 and three. We also, like Hollywood Brown is a part of the offense now, right. Xavier Worthy is a part of the offense now. Right. Juju Smith Schuster is a part of the offense. Travis Kelsey is a part of the offense. Rice will be very good, but I think it is well within our rights to debate whether he's top 7 or top 20 or 25. Yeah, I think that that is more the range that is in debate. And we cannot trade for him as he. If. As if he's a top five back value wise before he comes back. Sorry, wide receiver. So, yeah, that's the. That's the risk. Like if I had Rashi Rice, I would look to trade him right now.

[Jason Moore]

If you could get value for trading him as if he's a top five wide receiver. Yeah. I mean, because there's no guarantee right now. It's hype and lore and hope. It's not what we know for sure. So if you can capitalize on that, that's great. Do it.

[Andy Holloway]

That's where I'm at. I mean, Rice should be very good. But is that good top five or is that good top 20? And that's a big difference in trade value and we just don't. I feel like everybody's trading him at top five right now. All right. Speaking of which, the follow up question by Ben over on X, Is Rashi a plug and play right now?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Or do you need to make sure he's healthy or ready to go for Fantasy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

He is plug and play.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. If you held on to him and you made it through, then he is going right into my lineup.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I'm looking at our rest of season rankings and we actually don't have Saquon and Rice very far apart. Yeah, I'm in the cumulative multi positional.

[Mike Wright]

I am very bullish on Rice.

[Andy Holloway]

So what number in that range that I gave.

[Mike Wright]

Are you like is he more five or more 20?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, like where do you. What do you actually think he'd be rest of season?

[Mike Wright]

I think he'll be a wide receiver one rest of season.

[Andy Holloway]

I think you have him as I have him at 13 in all positions.

[Mike Wright]

I tell you, I'm very in.

[Jason Moore]

I have Rushy Rice as my rest of season wide receiver 10.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Yeah. I mean maybe that trade's not wild.

[Mike Wright]

No, it's definitely not wild. It's just. It's.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe you're just a regular idiot, not a big old one.

[Mike Wright]

It's hard to trade a running back of who could do that. Yeah, it's a. It's. It's a bet on so many different options.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of which. What's up, ballers? It's Trevor from Oklahoma. Got a quick question. Would you trade a Mecca Ibuka for Saquon Barkley? Straight up 10 man PPR.

[Mike Wright]

Love the show, guys. Thanks, man.

[Jason Moore]

This is so fascinating because then the next question inevitably becomes Igbuka or rushing Rice, Right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it does.

[Jason Moore]

And then it might be one of those triangles where this team beats that team, but this team beats that team.

[Mike Wright]

The algebra doesn't add up.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I would trade a Buka for a sake one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I'm worried about the injury, honestly. I mean, if you hamstring. How long has Mike Evans been out?

[Jason Moore]

They did come out and say that it was not as serious as Mike Evans. Obviously with Evans, they put him right on the IR and there's different grades of hamstring. So I don't think that it's apples.

[Mike Wright]

No, Evans didn't go ir. I don't think.

[Jason Moore]

Pretty sure he did. Did he not?

[Mike Wright]

No, he's just. He has missed three weeks. If he misses this week, they should have put him on the ir. But I mean you're talking to. I would. I would say at least two weeks. And then. So that's week seven against Detroit or that. I guess that doesn't matter for a buca. But if he misses the next two, then week nine is their bye week. So you're probably without a Buca at least until week 10 against New England.

[Andy Holloway]

It does seem like that's at least very possible to happen.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And if that is possible, like, if that does happen, there's no question it's a worthwhile trade.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Abuka or Roger Rice, rest of the season, who would you rather have on your roster?

[Mike Wright]

Because he's healthy, I'll take Rice.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think so. I think I would trade Abuka for Rice. With the injury and with the unknown, like we've talked about, Abuka is awesome.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, what if Abuka misses one week, though? Because both guys have a bi week coming up. Right?

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Both teams still are going to miss. You're going to miss them for one. So we can throw the bi weeks out. So then you're talking about if it's one game for a buck. Are you still on that same page? If I told you he's coming back.

[Jason Moore]

Next week, man, it's really, really tough. I know you are. He's my guy. I love him. I believe in him as a player. But it has coincided with Evans missing three weeks, which just gives me that little pause of like, he was great the first couple of weeks with Mike Evans. So I don't think it's going to go away. It's just a matter of does it stay as hot as it's been really tough and Mecca Abuka or Rushy Rice? I mean, I know my rest of season rankings have a buca higher.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah. I think. I still think I like a buck a little bit more. Here's an Instagram question. It's a good one. Is Woody Marks an afterthought? What is his outlook coming out of the buy?

[Mike Wright]

No, he's definitely not an afterthought at all. The, you know, we are in now the season of the rookie bye week bump. It is very common for rookies to be acclimating into the NFL. They go into the bye week, they start retooling things of like, okay, you ready?

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Now you're more integrated into the offense. So it would. He is not an afterthought. It wouldn't be surprising for him to have even more work out of the bi week, but it's not a guarantee.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. I think, I think he's still. You're still watching him closely.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And what happens in that offense?

[Mike Wright]

Because I understand not starting him after it felt like a debacle.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The last time we saw them, he had more snaps than Nick Chubb, 39% to 34%. However, Chubb had 33% of the rushing volume versus 21% marks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that was the game they were killing the opponent.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

That made a big difference because the week before, you know, they also won but Marks had so much work. So you know, keep them on your.

[Mike Wright]

Bench and it's like Woody Marks profile is more of like I want some pass catching here. So when you're dominating the Baltimore Ravens you don't need to do that.

[Andy Holloway]

Something to watch. Let's go to another voicemail. What's up ballers? My name is Zeb from North Carolina. Crazy enough had a guy in my league actually offer Derek Henry for Rico Dowdle straight up. In a normal world I thought that.

[Jason Moore]

Would be a no brainer.

[Andy Holloway]

But my gut has me wanting to hold on to Rico. Am I crazy for doing that? Big fan. Thank you all.

[Mike Wright]

What did you eat the night before to get that feeling in your gut? I get it. The two weeks of Rico are magic. But it was, it was the perfect scenario if he's the only guy. It's. I mean it's pretty much the two best matchups for fantasy running backs on top of the. Not that guys don't you know they're not amped up to play on Sunday but I promise Rico Dowdle was just that whole week getting ready for Dallas of the team that he's like I gave you 1000 yards last year and you, you, you do that to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Tossed me.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You just are like thank you. You're like no, I'm going to destroy you.

[Andy Holloway]

Do that trade Derek Henry. I mean I traded Rico Dowdle before last week to the opponent I was playing knowing it was going to be the end of me to get. I like got Jaden Daniels and we're a keeper league and Derek Henry and I just couldn't say no to it because this is a temporary elite Rico Dowdle. He may be an okay Rico Dowdle but the elite period for Rico Dowdle is very limited.

[Jason Moore]

I also think Derek Henry is a is a great trade for.

[Mike Wright]

I think so too.

[Jason Moore]

He had such a bad public displays like after, after the great week one, after the great week one it was fumble, fumble, fumble, lose the game, lose the game, lose Lamar Jackson. You're losing games. That's not Derek Henry. That's not where he's good. That's not where he wins. He's so much better in victories. Now you're going to the bi week. You're going to get Lamar Jackson back. And then you also had kind of the proof of last week. He had 120 rushing yards. Yeah, he looked great. So Derek Henry is not toast.

[Mike Wright]

He's not washed the Rico. One of the Rico games. Miami, Derek Henry, three weeks. Miami, like it's. He's going to destroy.

[Andy Holloway]

Carolina has the second hardest rest of season schedule for running backs.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're going to take Rico, you're going to split his work.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And you're going to give him the worst schedule.

[Mike Wright]

Hopefully you got him.

[Andy Holloway]

And then you're going to say, let's like, Rico can't be looked at as a rest of season top 10 back.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like you should. Based on this question, we should be. If you have Rico, you should be offering guys, shop them and see if you can get, you know, Jaden Daniels, Judkins.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You know, see what you can get. See if there's something that's more permanent.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he's been number one two straight weeks. Yeah, number one.

[Mike Wright]

We do have a follow up. Would you Trade Dowdle for J.K. dobbins?

[Andy Holloway]

That one's a little bit harder for me.

[Jason Moore]

I think I personally would.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Dobbins. I think that one I actually wouldn't do if it were me. Just because I The. The possibility of Dowdle. There still exists the possibility that he gets more work than we're thinking. So I think the only. I think Dobbins feels like it can go the other direction.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I was going to say. The only hesitation I have is. Is in the RJ Harvey.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

When I say quinch on Judkins, it's like that's the rookie. He should get more and more work.

[Andy Holloway]

That one I would do for sure.

[Jason Moore]

Judd Dobbins I still believe is better. Here, how about this name? What about Scatterboo?

[Mike Wright]

Doubt I'll force Scatterboo.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think I'd rather have scattered.

[Mike Wright]

I'd take Scatter.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, me too.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a good name. Yeah. This is the cash in time, probably for Rico.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, it's double cash. If you have to play him and then you get to trade him, that's great.

[Andy Holloway]

I did the second part. I didn't do the first part, the playing him part. We'll take a break. We'll answer more questions. What's up, Foot Clan? You know the feeling when your fantasy lineup needs a miracle. Maybe you got that big injury. I wish that I could just plug in a backup and keep things rolling. With Progressive, you get a winning combo, quality coverage you can count on, all in one place. With a playbook full of customized options for your home and auto so you can have peace of mind that you're covered. No matter what life throws your way, don't get caught without a great backup. Switch to Progressive Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third party insurers. Not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits and conditions. What's up Foot Clan? This episode is brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. Watch every game, every Sunday all in one place. And now get NFL Sunday Ticket month to month and Cancel anytime at YouTube. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games excludes digital only games. Base plan required. Renews every month during the 2025 regular season. Only your membership for the following month can be canceled anytime before your renewal date. Terms, restrictions and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded. No refund. Oh, we have a new quote from Mike. Hold on. I was wrong about Mason Taylor. He has the dog in him and he is my favorite player to watch. I may even buy his jersey. Mike attributed to Mike Wright. A totally real quote. Some new graphics, like the hearts on the graphic. Yeah, we should get that up on the screen. Yeah, tweet that out, send that over to Al and we'll get that up on the screen because that's super real. All right, rest of season. Question from Instagram. Jalen Warren or DeAndre Swift?

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to stick with Warren.

[Jason Moore]

Warren has been so good. They gave him the money. I still obviously am a believer in Caleb Johnson as a second half, maybe gets involved, gets fewer mistakes on the field. But Warren's been so good. I will say that I believe the rest of season schedule for Swift is pretty good. And it looked coming out of the buy, I put them near each other.

[Mike Wright]

Do you feel like Warren, do you feel like they figured something out?

[Jason Moore]

Because the way they were using him, using his speed versus his vision, I think was really good. You know, I'm hopeful that they figured.

[Mike Wright]

That out because the first four weeks of the season Swift was running at 3.3 a carry and then he explodes for 14 for 108. And I mean we pointed out they were using him different. They were doing some more creative things to utilize the speed. It's just. Do you buy that as real?

[Andy Holloway]

No. Goodness. Goodness, no. Heavens, no. Not one week, not one week of like I'm still fine if you pick him because he's going to have boom games and he's the primary back and there's not a competition and you might see, you know, you get Gainwell worked in and Caleb Johnson worked in and I don't. But you talked about the schedule for Pittsburgh too, so I think I love Jalen more and more.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, there's my quote. Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's up on the screen. I was wrong about Mason Taylor. He has the dog. Oh, yeah. You put a bunch of hearts up there, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

That's how you know it's real.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah. Look at that. That's great. Yeah, we're just doing whatever we want on social media now.

[Mike Wright]

What are we doing?

[Andy Holloway]

We're really leaning into the alternative news. All right, this is a great question from Instagram, a trade question which a lot of these have been Mike writing. And have you ever out thought yourself in a stupid trade?

[Mike Wright]

Of course. Over. Of course.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Oh yeah. I have the most famous one of all time. Of all time. Me and my co manager, we sat down, we got this offer. Yeah, yeah, we got this offer. This was a two and a half a year and a half ago. So going into last the. At the end of the season before last, and it's also known as the.

[Andy Holloway]

Eventual Andy Holloway championship year, yes, it.

[Jason Moore]

Is hard to even fathom that I wouldn't take this trade, but in the moment it was a reasonable and rational thing to do. So second round picks are the highest thing we could trade in our keeper league. And Andy offered me a pitiful Saquon Barkley at the time and the Giants, he wasn't doing well. Is all right. And two second round picks.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my gosh, I thought it was just one.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

And two second round picks. That is an offer of offers for a dominant.

[Mike Wright]

Resurging.

[Jason Moore]

Resurging Austin Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's the thing is it wasn't a dominant, it was a what happened to Austin Eckler? And then we got a couple of games and it was, oh, he back.

[Jason Moore]

He looked so good. And we overthought that. We went down week by week through the schedule together, looking at every single matchup for everybody and who our opponents were like we're looking at. Well, I played this guy this week and I've got Barkley in this matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Jason Moore]

So we dug as deep as we could possibly dig, gave it the most information overload we could and decided we wanted to go for the championship that year. And because I think that would have been my back to back. And instead we sacrificed a great trade offer. And from that freaking point on, not only was Saquon better that season and Austin Eckler basically dead from then on out, wasn't even a worthy keeper by the end of the season. But then Saquon goes outside with the Eagles, and I would have had two first. Like, I would have. I would have had the championship that you had the following year had we made that trade. Oh, that's upsetting. So, yeah, I've got one. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Alice sitting here saying, you can find the right stats to talk yourself into any trade if you try hard enough. I like that quote. If you torture the data long enough, it'll tell you whatever you want. I mean, yeah, sometimes. Sometimes you can overthink it. We've all done it many times. Sometimes you don't feel like maybe this is one of the reasons that trades get done for me a little bit more than Jason maybe is sometimes you just got to pull the trigger.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

They go away. Sometimes you just gotta. You gotta rip it.

[Mike Wright]

You have to be willing to lose trades.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, it's because you can't.

[Mike Wright]

You will not win every single one of your trades. It's not possible.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You can run really hot sometimes and feel like you're invincible, but eventually you will make a trade and you'll be like, holy crap, that was the stupidest thing I possibly could have done.

[Jason Moore]

I'm aiming at a target with a rifle, and I'm wanting to destroy that target right in that bullseye. And he's shooting at that same target with a shotgun, and he's got a lot more bullets to hit the target. And so he. He hits the target more often than I do.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I miss it sometimes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And so.

[Andy Holloway]

But also, that one's a great. I mean, there's a great.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's a great.

[Andy Holloway]

We have tons of stories like that where we. We look back and we regret and we pull the trigger early or overthink it or don't say yes to deals. And, I mean, it happens. We don't know the future, nor do we pretend to.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

We know the past and we know the future.

[Mike Wright]

Schedule and do your best with the trends and the stats.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. YouTube question from Thomas. Do you think Trey Benson is an important stash? Is he going to be their workhorse when he comes back? I have. I've thought about this a little bit. What do you think?

[Mike Wright]

I won't call him a very important stash, but. But a decently important one. I think when he comes back, he will be the guy. And I think he's. I think he's good.

[Jason Moore]

I think he is significantly better than whatever else is on the roster. He will have a lot of fantasy value at the end of the season. That's. That's my Belief in him. Will he be a league winning workhorse back? I doubt it.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, Chris Olave or Bill in a flex spot this week? Olave against Chicago. Bill at Dallas. This is from Lou on Instagram.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. Probably Bill.

[Jason Moore]

Bill against Dallas.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You know what?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

We said last week it's going to be a make or break.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say again, it was Bill against Chicago, which, I mean the, his yards per attempt and everything was great. He, he, he had the fumble, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

So I mean, you have a minus two and then Jaden hit like really good throw. Well, the broken play to Luke McCaffrey and then. And then some really just tremendous touchdown throws. That takes that away from him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And he underperformed the matchup. He's at home. Chicago gives up 25 points a game to running backs. He got all the running back work. He didn't get close to 25.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going.

[Andy Holloway]

But, but it was, it's still the right call there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Instagram. Question from Freddie. I was offered Derek Henry and Justin Jefferson take it for Jonathan Taylor. Oh, do I keep rolling with JT or take the two for one? We just talked about the schedule for Henry. We talked about Henry quite a bit. Rest of the season.

[Jason Moore]

This is a really. I think it's a very fair trade and I would take the Justin Jefferson, Derek Henry side I.

[Andy Holloway]

If I felt pretty good at running. This is why everything's contextual, obviously. But if I felt good at wide receiver right now, like pretty decent, I'm not doing that trade.

[Jason Moore]

Jonathan Taylor is a true difference maker at a position where he can go and, you know, on a bad week, score 20 and on a good week, score 35. Those guys, you know, you can usually count on one hand. So that's why I say it's fair trade. It's. It's worthwhile.

[Mike Wright]

What, what is in. I mean, we don't actually have this answer, but it's a question you got to think about, like, what's Minnesota going to do at quarterback? Because with Carson Wentz, it has been much, much better. I mean, you got back to back hundred yard weeks for Justin Jefferson. J.J. mcCarthy's the Future of the team. They need to get him reps. There's been some reports.

[Andy Holloway]

Days of practice.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, there's been some reports of even maybe when he's healthy, they might hold him back to try and work on some things like, you know, rhythm. Rhythm and timing. They talked about, or at least this court did.

[Andy Holloway]

If he misses 30 days, it's hard to Throw him right back in there without coming back and getting the practice reps in as a. Essentially a rookie, right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So I don't think Carson Wentz has been. He's been better for Jefferson.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, for sure. He's not necessarily better for.

[Andy Holloway]

But I do think the transition will happen at some point.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it'll go back to.

[Andy Holloway]

It'll go back to McCarthy. Last one here, Jacob. It's a good one. I've seen it a lot of places. Just got traded in our league. Should I consider trading George Pickens right now, this week since CD Is coming back from injury?

[Mike Wright]

Well, number one, the report was he has a chance to play, so it could be. It could be at least one more week without CD Lane.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what Pickens is on the year?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, he's.

[Jason Moore]

I assume he's wide receiver three.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man, he is. Yeah, he is running hot. He is.

[Andy Holloway]

11 targets. 9 targets. 9 targets, 11 targets.

[Mike Wright]

He is making himself so much money.

[Andy Holloway]

Touchdowns in five consecutive games and one of them with two touchdowns. So he has six on the year across the last five games.

[Mike Wright]

I think that pick is still going to be very, very good, though.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I do too.

[Mike Wright]

So this is not a.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just not.

[Mike Wright]

This is not a like, oh, it's not like Rico, where you're like, man, I. It's not going to be the. Anything close to this. Like Pickens could still be. Pickens can still be a top 12.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he could be top 10 still.

[Mike Wright]

The way that Dak is playing. That could support both CD Lamb and George Pickens is top 12 options.

[Andy Holloway]

What was the fantasy finish of Waddle and Tyreek during their super year? Because I feel like Waddle finished in the top seven. I think he was wide receiver seven. That'd be. That'd be a quick one to look at because I'm pretty sure Waddle was a wide receiver one.

[Jason Moore]

There are plenty.

[Mike Wright]

I was saying seven.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there are plenty of examples. Or like it's. It's not even unusual for a team to have two wide receiver ones. And it's very common for a team to have two wide receiver twos on a team, whether it's Chase and T. Higgins or, you know, there's. There's so many examples and it's happened in Dallas before. So yeah, both those guys can thrive. That defense.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyreek was the wide receiver to waddle. Wide receiver seven. Same year, 2022.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it happened when a quarterback runs.

[Jason Moore]

Hot and a defense runs terrible.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you. This is not. It's not weird or Uncommon.

[Andy Holloway]

You didn't want to go cold there. You didn't want to go the hot cold combo. You wanted to runs terrible. You wanted to. You felt like cold was like underselling. How bad Dallas is defense.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly.

[Andy Holloway]

Dallas's defense is really, really bad. All right. That was today's mailbag. Watch every game, Every Sunday with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. Visit YouTube.com fantasy footballers, local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games. Base plan required excludes digital only games. Commercial use excluded. No refunds. Before we close it out, Mike, I do need to ask you a question.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

Because we had the Monday night Football double header, which I think we're going to keep doing that or it's going to happen.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, now it's the. Now it's the back to back this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it? Oh, back. Yeah. Because now the East Coast 10pm game.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

I know you figured out how to split screen.

[Mike Wright]

I did.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm assuming yours is set up like ours on YouTube TV where you can go back and forth left and right for the sound.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Immediately when you put it up on split screen, you messaged us. You said you hated it. Now you eventually watched these games. Did it change your opinion at all?

[Mike Wright]

No, I hated it.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you still hated it.

[Mike Wright]

I hated it. I was not.

[Andy Holloway]

You're not add enough. Jason and I were like, every time the commercials hit, I got something else to watch.

[Jason Moore]

You want to know where I am when those Monday night football games are going to be? I am standing in front of my tv. It is wonderful.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you do that?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. I'm just standing there the whole time.

[Andy Holloway]

You get up from your TV tray.

[Mike Wright]

I finished my. My gourmet steak dinner.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, yeah. My wood vinyl TV tray at dinner for three hours. So yeah, when I. When I finish, I get up from my tv, I stand in front of it and I stand and I. I watch it like a dog looking out of a window.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like j. Just people watching Jason secretly watch games is entertaining to me frequently. Although frequently you don't have pants on.

[Jason Moore]

That's true. I'm at home.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, I'm either at home or selling. Monday or Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Often I'll go, forget about that apple cobbler.

[Jason Moore]

I'll go out to like a sports bar and watch.

[Andy Holloway]

Watch game.

[Jason Moore]

I couldn't Monday or Thursday.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I couldn't invest properly. And I like the entirety of the story where I jumped. And I mean, my focus was the Falcons game because I had. That's where my fantasy matchup was on the week. Me versus Papa Josh Bijan versus Drake London. And it was, I mean, it was back to back. You saw what was going on. And so by the time the Falcons game is done, all the setup for the, for the Washington game, like, I wasn't truly invested in it and I didn't like that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, fair enough. Mike. Different strokes.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

So you prefer the back to back. If West Coaster, you can live with that.

[Mike Wright]

If that's what I have to do, that's what I prefer.

[Andy Holloway]

But if you have two games on a Monday, you're going back to back versus just.

[Mike Wright]

But just do one. One Monday night is special.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I do feel like it makes both less special. Yes, that's. That is true. Because when, like when the Falcons Bills game started, it felt special.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And then as soon as the other game started and I'm kind of going back and forth, it was like, yeah, that's stupid. We got. Oh, I enjoy. I can enjoy the two, but one is better. It is, it is more impactful, more important.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, that argument goes to the amount of days a week that the games get played too, in some, in some respects where it's like we should.

[Jason Moore]

Not own the domains. Tuesday night Football. Wednesday night Football.

[Andy Holloway]

Saturday night Football.

[Jason Moore]

Saturday night Football. But we do because we had to.

[Mike Wright]

And Christmas football, man.

[Jason Moore]

And Christmas, Christmas football dot com.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't, I don't need Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And was it Covid that would push them into Tuesday? Sometimes they have one or two. Yeah, they'll just add it sometime. Tuesdays will become like International Football Day. Oh, well, I guess we have. I guess our jobs are secure. There's something to that. That'll do it for today's episode. Shout out to the deucers over there and do Sers Alley. Appreciate you guys holding it down today and we'll be back with all the matchups tomorrow. Don't miss it.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Football League Ballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on TwitterFFballers. Royal Caribbean is next level.

[Mike Wright]

On another level, go all in on.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

And just when you think it couldn't get any better, you'll stop at our award winning private island. Perfect day at CocoCay. This is the undisputed champion of vacations. Book [e-mail] Big time, best time all the time. Come seek the Royal Caribbean.