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FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast
Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire: Must-Have Players to Add to Your Roster (Ep. 1740)
00:45:57
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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the fantasy football podcast. It is me, Joey P, Joe P. Zappia. And it's time to look ahead to the waiver wire for Week 5 in the NFL. To help us get the names on the rosters, we need dbro, Derrick Brown, the king of bros, My Patty kids, Pat, Fitz, Morris. The boys are here. We got a lot of injuries, as always, to talk about, which means paths to opportunities for new players. And we're going to tell you who to pick up, who to avoid, and who to drop right here in the show. Before we do, just a quick shout out to our audience too. We love having everybody here with us every single day. If you haven't already subscribe to the YouTube channel, drop your comments below because then you can win some cool stuff. And today we're giving away cool stuff. I hope I say this right. I'm going back and forth. Mr. Mayweather, I. Is it Dzel or Diesel? I don't know, but I'm just going to call you Mr. Merriweather or Mayweather. I should say Mayweather. You are the winner of the fantasy football championship belt. It feels like a Mayweather should have a belt too. It just feels right to me. So, Diesel or Diesel? Again, not sure which one it is. Get in touch with us@mailbagantasypros.com with your mailing address, a screenshot of your YouTube account while you're logged in, and once we confirm that, we'll get that prize sent out to you right away. Mr. Mayweather. It's your belt now. And when one giveaway goes away, another takes its place this week. Ah. The infamous prize is the golden toilet trophy. That's right. Courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware. This is your moment, everybody. The shining gold toilet is the ultimate symbol of failure. That's right, failure. Designed to immortalize the last place finisher in your league. This is a great, hilarious but bold statement for the loser in your league. So get it today. How do you get it? Well, you get it by entering the contest, by liking this video subscribing to the YouTube channel, dropping your comments below and ring the bell till it goes ding so you don't miss a piece of content on the channel. And we can let you know if you're like Mr. Mayweather winning one of our latest giveaways from Trophy Smack. All right gentlemen, let's start with the waiver wire ad of the week. And this one is pretty easy here because it's Woody Marks. He is rostered in 29% of leagues in Yahoo, 37 in sleeper. He, he was a guy we talked about last week. Why? Because we wanted to get ahead of the curve. Why? Because we all feared this was going to happen. I talked about on the TV show on Sunday, Pat, I said, you know, let's add this guy today, this morning for free just in case. And my goodness, just in case certainly did happen because it looked like that backfield now has officially gone his way. And if you look at the numbers for him too certainly I think encouraging going forward. And Woody Marks help lead that Houston Texans team to their first victory of the season. They were winless up until yesterday. 17 carries for 69 and a touchdown. Then four receptions on five targets for a touchdown. So Pat, let's talk about it. How aggressive should we be when it comes to Woody Marks and what does it look like the rest of the season in that backfield for the Texans?
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Pretty aggressive. Like I think maybe up to half of your budget is warranted if you need help. And like we, we'd like for Marks to turn out to be a running back two level contributor. But even if he gives us flex value instead of RB2 value, that's pretty valuable heading into the bye weeks. And we have reached the bi weeks four teams off in week five. I think what's encouraging too about Marks is that he played 56% of the offensive snaps out snapped Nick Chubb 40 to 30, had more carries than Chubb 17 to 13, ran more routes 16 to nine. And maybe we would have expected that in a game where the, the script was negative for the Texans where they were trailing and they needed Marks as a pass catcher. But like this was obviously positive all the way in a 26 nothing win. And I think maybe it's just the Texans looking for a little more juice in their running back. Like when you have a bad offensive line, it is good to have a creator at running back who can make people miss. And I think that's why Joe Mixon was able to produce last year. Running behind this bad Texans line like Chubb continues to have a role going forward I think. But this is a two man, backfield now. And it's possible that Marks is 1A going forward and Chubb is 1B.
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Now, Pat mentioned the bye weeks here. So Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, in case you're just kind of, you know, waking from your slumber from week four for one reason or another, you stayed up to watch the, the very late overtime game that ended in a tie between the Cowboys and the Packers. Again, those four teams are on by this week, plus the Houston Texans next week. Get a Baltimore defense that's been terrible this year. So there we know they're beatable. Then also on top of that they're dealing with injuries and debro after that, you do have a buy for Woody Marks. Then Seattle, San Fran, Denver. So again, some tricky matchups ahead. So let's talk about those matchups. Let's talk about the immediate Baltimore Ravens matchup upcoming as well. When it comes to Woody Marks, what you saw Sunday, what'd you like and how you want to approach him this week on the waiver wire.
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D
I mean, Pat was firing on all cylinders, man. He is. I, I, I think that the spend on him starts at like 40, 45% and goes up to 60, 65. Like I think he's the clear leader of the backfield moving forward. And everything Pack had brought up like this is a game that was in positive script. So it wasn't like they were trailing. And you talked about the matchups, Joe. Like Baltimore gives up a crap ton of production. They've done this over the last two to three years to running backs in the passing game. So we have lots of questions on the Houston wide receivers. I don't have any questions about Woody Marks catching passes in that matchup. And again, like Pat brought up, he led the team in everything. Medium full snaps, routes, targets, carries, everything, everything. And the, the schedule is another thing to highlight here, Joe. If he's the leader of the Texans backfield, which everybody should clearly believe that moving forward, Nick Chub, like I Nick Chubb in his prime was a monster. Unfortunately, injuries have robbed him of that juice and he's just not the same player. So can he be a stable veteran? Can he soak up some volume?
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Sure.
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He's not playing in the passing game. He's not going to lead this backfield moving forward. And after Denver, the schedule really, really opens up for Woody Marks. They get Jacksonville. Okay, so, so matchup after that, you could run on all the rest of these two. Tennessee, Buffalo, Indy, every single one of those teams you can run on. So Woody Marks, if he keeps this 60% snap share in the backfield. RB2 moving forward, probably top 15 back moving forward, considering the role.
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A
Well, look, if he keeps it up in that passing game, you can't expect him to score two touchdowns every week. I don't know if you can count on the Texans to score two touchdowns every week, but it was certainly a breath of fresh air for that backfield for the Houston Texans. And again, this is why you watch the show. This is why you hang out with us. Because we were talking about this scenario last week. Last Monday we discussed it at length. Him and Burchard Smith, right? Two guys. We said, hey, let's get ahead of the curve. Pick these guys up for a buck. It costs you nothing. Stash them at the end of the bench. Bye weeks are coming up anyway. You need depth at some of these positions and look at where we are. So being ahead of the curve in waiver wire is more important than being reactive. Be proactive as much as you can. Now, one player too, that was tough to be proactive on because of the timing of the scenario was Kenneth Gainwell. So let's switch gears and talk about Gainwell for a second, who with the late news of Jalen Warren not being able to play, Kenneth Gainwell ended up stepping up and having a very good game, too. He had 19 carries for 99 yards against the Vikings. He had not one but two touchdowns. He also caught six of his six targets for 35 yards. Now, Debro, I don't know what this means going forward, especially because you've got Pittsburgh on a buy this week. So this is tricky here when it comes to Kenneth Gainwell, what do think you do? We want to just add him and sneak him through the buy. By the time we get back from the buy, is Jalen Warren somebody that is back and healthy and okay, It's a lot of questions. So this is a more complicated ad this week with Gainwell because he can't help you, especially if you're missing players on buy. So when you're starting to look at this grouping right now and you're looking at Kenneth Gainwell, how do you approach him in week five from a fab budget standpoint and also from, you know, the standpoint of still not knowing exactly what, what this split is or how it's going to look like the rest of the season?
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D
He's a guy that I'm probably not going to get in a lot of leagues because I'm not going to pay up for him. With the buy coming up, Jalen Warren, we got the reports earlier that he was expected to play. So it's kind of like, okay, he was close to playing. So now with the bye week, I think he comes out of the bye week healthy or, or at least that's my takeaway from this. So gainwell like 6 to 8%. But I, I think the bigger takeaway is whether Jalen Warren is healthy or not. Kenneth Gainwell is the clear handcuff. You can go ahead and drop Caleb Johnson. That hurts me to even say, but he's in the doghouse. Mike Tomlin does not want to play the rookie Gainwell whether he's going to be the starter coming out of the buy because Jalen Warren still hurt or not. He is the clear backup and handcuffed all in that backfield.
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Look, I don't know. I mean, Pat, we have eyes too. I mean, Kenneth Gainwell looks good. Like, he just looks. To me, he looks better than Jalen Warren has in this offense. And that's just, that's my take. I know some people might not agree. He's already rostered in almost 50 of leagues, 43 on sleepers. So we know he is already not widely available. But in leagues that are more shallow, where he is, is he somebody you just kind of, well, you let this one performance go and you keep waiting and seeing Pat. Or do you stash him for cheap during the bye week where people might say, oh, he doesn't help me. I don't want him. Just to hedge your bets a little bit.
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Yeah, I don't mind the idea of picking them up, Joe. And we had kind of seen things trending towards Warren a little bit in the backfield. Like, Gainwall had been losing snapshare to Warren, but now maybe Gainwell makes it closer to a 50, 50 backfield. Maybe it's 60, 40 Warren going forward after, you know, a really impressive performance by Gainwell against a good Minnesota defense. And what's nice for the Steelers is that they can basically use Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell interchangeably. They can be early down guys, they can be passing down guys, you know, so, like they can be confident that Gainwell can give them something very close to the level of production Warren gives them. And I, I do think Gainwell's going to continue to get a decent amount of work. And yeah, this is probably bad news for anyone hoping that Caleb Johnson might start to carve out a bigger role as the season progressed. At least he did get on the field yesterday. Like, it wasn't. I wondered if maybe it was going to be Trey Sermon playing ahead of Caleb, unfortunately, it was not. And you know, Mike Tomlin felt good enough about Caleb to give him half a dozen carries or whatever it was. But yeah, this is a Warren Gainwell backfield. And hey, like if a 40% workload share running back, like there's value to that in a lot of leagues.
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Yeah. Especially in bye weeks. Right. Especially, you know, PPR leagues. Kenneth Gain was a guy that can help you out. Just not this week. Just not this week. Okay, let's talk about some more running backs here. Just want to once again pop Blake Quorum 30 rostered. I think that should be a little higher, to be honest with you. He is clearly the next man up in that Rams offense. So again, we're not going to talk too much about Blake Corum today. We've already talked about him a lot on some other shows. I would think it would be higher by now. It's not. It should be. So again, get ahead of the curve, not behind it. Rashard Smith, a 6% roster. Now, like, I know that Pacheco had some moments. I gotta tell you, dbro, like I still say, it's very clear who looks more explosive between the two of them. It's still Smith for me.
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D
Yes. And people need this. This, this could be the next Woody Marks. That's the way I want to frame this.
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This could be the next week as both of these guys is the same thing and Mark's got the opportunity right away. Smith, again, not a lot of opportunity, but when he gets the ball, you could see the explosiveness there.
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D
If Kansas City. Eventually one or two things has to happen for Kansas City. They're not going to keep for the rest of the season trotting out Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco. Either Bashard Smith is going to get more work in this backfield or they can need to trade for a running back because Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco are not it. They're just not it. So go add Burchard Smith like he's the guy. Like, instead of like paying up for Kenneth Gainwell this week, I want to sit here and take a flyer on Burchard Smith. 26% of the snaps, 24% route. She got seven touches and 36 total yards. He plays in the passing game. We know that. We see that he just needs to earn more. The early down opportunity. And as long as Kareem Hunt gets three yards in a cloud of dust and Isaiah Pacheco, they do not want to use him. The likelihood of Burchard Smith earning more work moving forward, keeps growing and growing.
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Pat, I want to talk to you for a second about Xavier Scott, who I don't think any of us had on our bingo card when we woke up on Sunday morning. Know where this performance came from. He didn't do much in terms of carries, just two carries for 1 yard. But he did have eight targets from Carson Wentz, six receptions, one of which for a touchdown. So the question is, is this the way this backfield is going to look? Where that passing work out of the backfield is not going to go to Jordan Mason at all. It's going to go to Scott potentially. Is this the Wentz checkdown target of choice here or is this a weird game plan one off against the Steelers? Because right now, again, this guy's a free square. He's rostered in just 3% of leagues. What do you think?
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I think it was a weird one off Joe. I kind of think he's fool's gold. Like he got some snaps with the Vikings in chase mode, wound up with 6 for 43 and a touchdown receiving, got a 16 yard touchdown catch late in the game that sort of prettied up his numbers. I just, I don't think he's really playable right now. And then Aaron Jones should be back in a few short weeks, which would pretty much kneecap Xavier Scott entirely as far as fantasy value. So I don't think you chase this like he's a converted wide receiver. So not surprising that he had some passing game utility in a game like that with the super catch up mode script for the Vikings.
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Speaking of kneecaps, we're going to get to the injury of Malik Neighbors and all the wide receivers because there's a lot of those guys out there. Before we do, quick question for you, Patrick. Tank Bigsby, Brian Robinson, two guys I know people have been holding on to. Now we're in bye weeks if you need to. Would you be dropping either of these two running backs? I know, like the sexy handcuffs, like, oh, something happens to McCaffrey or something happens to Saquon. Is this the time where you regret dropping these guys potentially, or is this a time where you have no choice and you need to go pick up some of the guys who are producing?
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C
I mean maybe you've got no choice and you don't have anyone in a lineup spot if you don't cut someone like this. But that's. That can happen in leagues with shallow benches. But I don't want to cut Brian Robinson if I can help it. We know he's one of the most valuable handcuffs in the game behind a notoriously fragile running back. So don't want to cut him if I can help it. I'm okay with cutting Tank, but I'm curious what you guys think about the Eagles backfield and what it would look like if anything happened to Saquon. Like they have Will Shipley, Tank Bigsby, and AJ Dillon, who actually had a good looking run for first down on Sunday. Like, it would probably be some sort of committee with these guys. Right. Like, there's no clear handcuff anymore to. To Saquon.
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D
I agree. I think it would be a total mess. I think you'd have Shipley working in both areas of the field, probably A.J. dillon in the red zone. It would just. I mean, maybe Tank is working in there. Like, literally. It's one of those situations where if you want to, like, go after a backfield, go after ones with clear handcuffs, like Blake Corum, not Philly.
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Right. Yeah. And also the aforementioned Brian Robinson. Right. So again, I think these are important questions when we talk about who drop in some of these scenarios too, because that can be equally daunting moments where you really got to make the good decisions because you don't want it to turn around and bite you in the rear end at some point just a week later. Now today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. And it's Monday. You know what that means. Week four concludes with an exciting double header to the New York jets vs. The Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals against the Denver Broncos. You can also check out the streak from Hard Rock Bet stats hub, and you can find live odds and bet that one right on the hard rock bet Apple. Devon Achan. He was number 10 in the fantasy pros consensus running back rankings last week. And if you want to bet on him to score a touchdown, Achan has done that in six straight home games. He stats like that right there at your fingertips on the app. So go to Hard Rock bet. Bet five bucks. If your first bet of $5 wins, you get all your winnings and 150 in bonus bets. That's right. Plus tonight on Hard Rock Bet, you can also get a Monday night parlay boost for the games. Love the parlay boost. Can't get enough of it. Boost your parlays today so it pays extra winnings. And there's new promos every single day at Hard Rock Bet. If you're listening to this, just open up the app right now. Check out what you've got here before the day is done. Before the week is out. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets. Not a cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in Florida offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC and other states. Must be 21 and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida? Call 1888. Admit it. In Indiana, if you or somebody you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia this.
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A
Let's talk wide receivers because between Terry McLaurin, Mike Evans, CD Lamb, and now Malik Neighbors. Man, it's getting rough in them wide receiver streets, boys. It's just getting rough out there. It's getting dark out early, so we gotta find out some guys that can help us. Let's start here once again talking about your boy Troy Franklin. Let's start there. Dbro, tell me about Troy Franklin. Rostered in 45 of leagues here. You know, if he's still floating around and you have the roster space, you could even pick it up today before the games tonight. If he's floating out there in your league. Why is Troy Franklin interesting to you once again?
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D
Well, Sun's getting low, Joe. Wide receivers are dropping like flies. Injuries are piling up, bye weeks are here. It's all kind of coalescing into dogs.
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And cats living together. It's mass hysteria.
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D
It's insanity, man. But Troy Franklin is the guy that I want to lead the conversation with because if he is still out there in your leagues, if you can get him tossed in cheap into a trade, please do so. I mean he is the clear wide receiver too in this Denver passing attack. Bonix has not played great up to this point, but if he can find his legs in 2025, I think better days are ahead for Troy Franklin and it's really the schedule, Joe. It's not only the fact that he's a full time wide receiver, he's got a 20% target share. He's the clear number two guy behind Sutton. But the upcoming schedule looks really good. Yeah, they get Philly upcoming, but after that the jets, their number two corner has been terrible sauce. Gardner is probably going to be on Cortland Sutton. They get the Giants. Yes sir. The Cowboys, Texans, Vegas twice, Kansas City and Washington six of the nose. Those nine matchups I just laid out are all really good ones where Franklin could be a strong flex or a wide receiver.
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3. Let's talk about Jalen Coker, Pat, as well. Coker, a guy who is looking to come off the IR sooner than later here. We've got an opportunity here. Is 14% rostered. If he does come off the IR this week, I believe he's possible, correct me if I'm wrong, is it this week he can come off or next week it's one of the two of them. It's getting soon.
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I think it's this week but he's week to week.
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It's this week, Pat. It is this week, right?
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Yeah, I believe so.
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And this week if he does, he does have the Miami Dolphins. Now whether or not he comes, gets activated and plays, that's, you know, neither here nor there. We're talking about adding assets to our team. So is Jalen Coker a guy in this Panthers offense that you have any thoughts or designs on a 14% roster?
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C
Yeah, I mean DBRO pretty much sold me on him last year and not a lot of draft pedigree as a former undrafted free agent from I think Holy, Holy Cross. Holy Cross, yeah, so. But he was pretty impressive last year and being able to earn some targets for the Panthers and they desperately need another pass catcher. Like they've, they've just, they've done Bryce Young so dirty with the lack of pass catching talent they've given him. Like, compare that to, you know, dropping J.J. mcCarthy into a situation where he's already got Justin Jefferson and T.J. hawkinson. And then like when Jordan Addison was suspended this year, they went out and got Adam Thielen and I know he didn't do much for them, but like they were making the effort to surround their quarterback with pass catching talent. So right now it's only Teterom McMillan. It's the really only viable pass catcher for Bryce Young. And Jalen Coker, I think, is instantly going to be the number two target in an offense that's going to be in a lot of past friendly game scripts. We know the Panthers aren't going to be leading in all that many games this year. So I do think Jalen Coker has value and I think he's worth. You know what, maybe if you're hurting a receiver, I could see going up to like 10% on him.
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A
Yep. Okay. Wow. That, that. Okay. I think you can get him for less, though. Especially if you can.
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D
You can.
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A
That's.
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C
That's more the, the desperation level.
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Well, you know what happens, Pat, and this is going to sound, you know, really kind of, I don't know, fantasy 101, but it doesn't make it wrong. You know, when you're looking at free agents and you're sorting guys and you're looking through stats and stuff like that, Coker's not going to pop up at all. Right. He's just not. He's going to be forgotten.
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C
Out of sight, out of mind.
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A
Pat's point, I'm going to take the counter of I think you could sneak this guy in for a 0 bid or a $1 bid or something like that. You probably can because he's just not going to propagate and people, he's not on people's minds. Unless you're in a really sharp league, that's different. But if you're in a casual normie league, I think Coker, you could probably slipped in there for a buck and then the bi weeks come out. Now you have somebody else who can help you potentially. Let's talk about Romeo Dobbs wearing the Guardian helmet with the hat trick. That's my favorite moment of the week, I gotta say. That was kind of fun. So Romeo Dobbs had a huge performance last night in Sunday Night football. He is 44 roster. The problem is it was a huge performance. It's hard to chase it. And he doesn't play this week. So, Pat, walk us through here. Romeo Dobbs. I know you've had your questions and concerns about him. Certainly a great performance last night. Can't take anything away, but it does make it complicated. It's that Gainwell situation, right, we were just discussing at the running back room. Now we're bringing it to the wide receiver meeting room here and we've got to figure out how do we approach Dobbs because I'm sure some people will chase last week, but then some people will just have a complete pause in some other leagues going, well, why am I picking this guy up? He doesn't help me at all this week. Where do you fall when it comes to Romeo Dobbs in that conversation?
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C
Yeah, I mean it's not only does he not play this week, but you know, Debro and I have talked about this a lot on Sunday nights when we're putting together the waiver article and how just sort of the packers sort of like to rotate wide receivers and they don't like to throw unless they're absolutely forced into it at a high rate. And Romeo Dobbs, I guess he's the one receiver in the packers wide receiver receiver core with sort of predictable usage and generally does run the most routes but he doesn't really earn a high percentage of targets on those routes like his target count so far this season, 4, 5, 2 and 8. And you would think the absence of Jaden Reed would maybe bring some more consistency to those target counts. But like he had the two target game when Reed was out and that was in the loss to the Cleveland Browns when the packers were not in in a positive game script. So it's not like a run heavy game script was to blame there. So yeah, I just Dobbs is going to be really hit and miss and really frustrating and for that reason I think he's just like a low level investment at best.
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A
D Ro, I want your take on Dobbs too because I think this is going to be a very polarizing waiver ad this week. Some people are going to love it and chase it and overpay. Some people are going to underappreciate it maybe and not give it the credence it deserves to. Look, Jaden Reed's going to be out for a while with that collarbone issue and as long as Matthew golden keeps hitting the circle button and keeps spinning around, he might not be long for this league either. Don't, don't do that, Matthew. Don't do that on punt returns. Not a good idea. Doesn't. No, not a good look anyway. Romeo Dobs D Ro your thoughts, man?
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D
I mean, a lot of what Fitzy already kind of laid out here. He's just so frustrating, man. Like, how do you feel comfortable ever putting him in your flex spot?
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A
And it's, I guess whenever you play the Cowboy, I mean, I guess, man, like, he has. Aren't they D, bro. To fancy, good to. Who are the Cowboys playing this week? Okay, let me put all the chips in.
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D
You're not wrong, Joe. Like, almost like, why don't we just walk down the Cowboys schedule and say, what miscellaneous wide receiver could pop off this week versus the Cowboys? Because they can't stop anybody, man. And with Dobbs, it's like, I mean, the other thing about the context of that game, 40 to 40, we got overtime, we got the tie and all that kind of stuff. Like in regulation, does he still go that. Like, it's tough to just believe in it, man, because, like, the way that we keep framing this Green Bay packers passing attack is okay. We're. We're playing Russian roulette for which player this week goes off for Green Bay? Because usually it's just love Jacobs and one pass catcher.
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A
Who's it gonna be?
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D
Maybe it's Tucker Kraft week. Maybe it's Matthew golden week.
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A
Oh, no, no, no, no. It's not Matthew golden week.
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D
It's Romeo Dobbs week.
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Oh, no, no, no.
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D
It's Savion Williams weekend.
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A
That's the problem that I have with DOBBS.
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D
So, like 5 to 7% of your budget, fine. If you need a wide receiver, that's fine. But unfortunately, coming off the three tutty game and stuff, it's probably not going to get you Romeo Dobbs.
- [27:20]
A
No, probably not. All right, let's talk about Jaden Higgins, too. I want to discuss him because he only had one catch, but it was a big one for a touchdown. And I still like the talent. I think this is a player that if you're off to like a 40 start in your league, that you just want to have you have them on your bench. Just wait and see. It felt like yesterday to me, the Houston Texans said, all right, enough is enough. You know, let's get Woody Marks playing. Let's start to, you know, where's Jaden Higgins? Get him on the field. Let's go. Let's, let's, let's get you out there in a big spot. This is what you need to start doing here. And I think the Texans, look, they've dug themselves into a tremendous hole. Dee, bro, I don't think they can pull themselves out of it necessarily altogether, but they can certainly play better football. And Jaden Higgins, I still believe in the talent that if we're sitting here in week 10, I feel like I want him on my roster. And I feel like once again, this one catch for a touchdown isn't going to move the needle and fab budget. But I still want to put him back on my roster. I just still believe in the talent. Where are you at with Higgins?
- [28:18]
D
Oh, I fully believe in the talent. Talent's not the problem. Talent's not the problem for Jaden Higgins. Jalen, all talent. No, that's not the issue. It's Nick Kaylee. It's his coaching staff. It's the buffoonery and the idiocy that's coming out of Houston. It's been the defensive play calling, it's been the offensive play calling. Like I don't know what the heck they're doing. You want C.J. stroud to succeed, except you're playing Xavier freaking Hutchinson. You're playing Justin Watson this week. Jaden Higgins, he looks good every time he steps on the freaking field, and yet he's fourth in wide receiver snaps. He plays 43% of the snaps. You want to set your quarterback up for success, you draft these guys in the NFL draft to do so, and then you don't play them. I, I, I can't make any sense out of this. Yes, I want to roster Jay and Higgins. If you have the space, if you're 30 and you can do that, please do. Because talent in the cream rises at the top. But in Houston, I, I can't make sense out of all their idiotic moves that they continue to make. And yes, they deserve and should wear the 1 in 3 record because they deserve every single bit of it right now.
- [29:23]
A
All right, over. That's good rant, though. Solid, solid rant, I gotta say. Let's talk about Darius Slayton here because Pat Slayton is a player that I think we all know what he is at this stage of his career. I, he is not replacing on your roster, Malik Davers. Okay? He's just not going to do that. Just the way, you know, we said, oh, we like Jalen Tolbert this week. He's not replacing CD Lamb, but there's going to be more opportunity for Darius Slate in the weeks to come. However, despite all the good vibes in New York, I do want to point out Jackson Dart was fun. Jackson Dark and Ron and Jackson Dart can even win you a game in a huge upset where you have an Owen 3 team beating a 3, 0 team. Shocking. But Jackson Dart I don't think is also thrown for 300 yards anytime soon in the game. And I think they're very careful getting Cam scatterable 25 carries. Of how they're going to run this offense, it's just gonna limit Darius Slayton, I'm sure, to a certain degree. However, with bi weeks upon us, looking at his roster percentage right now, obviously he's just 5% rostered. That's going to go up significantly this week. He is not again a replacement for Neighbors. But what sort of opportunity do you think he can have in this Giants offense with Dart under center in the weeks ahead?
- [30:30]
C
I wouldn't mind having him in a best ball league, Joe managed league, not so much because there are going to be more targets. In the absence of Malik Neighbors, that void has to be filled and I think Darius Slayton is going to be one of the guys who fills it. He does his best work downfield. So there are going to be some big plays. I don't think they're going to be frequent enough where you can confidently start Slayton at any time. And just like I do think there's reason to question whether Slayton is actually good. He's averaged 1.33 yards per route run for his career. That's not a very good number. He was at 1.08 yards per outrun last year and he's at 0.77 yards per outrun this year. So far he's playing with a rookie quarterback. So this is probably not going to be a guy I'm bidding on this week. But everything is textural as far as the waiver wire. And if you're in a 14 or 16 team league and you need help at receiver, he's. He's a viable possible solution, I guess.
- [31:34]
A
Well, let's talk about him and Jalen Tolbert for a second because Tolbert last night six targets four catches for 61 yards. Darius Slayton also had three three catches for 44. So kind of, you know, in that same neighborhood, you know, looking at 10 point PPR guys kind of feeling at some point, you know, CD Lam comes back and Tolbert disappears. That's not going to be the case with the Giants scenario too. Neighbors is done for the year. Debro. So let's say you're in a league where you're not bidding on players, where it's just rolling free agent waiver wires. Would you rather have Slayton or Tolbert for the weeks ahead?
- [32:07]
D
I want Slayton and something that kind of eluded my consciousness last night when we were writing up the waiver wire article. I forgot last year Malik Neighbors did miss the two games. In those two games, Darius Slayton was the unquestioned wide receiver. One that dude had a 29 target share in those two games. He had a 36.5% first read share. So this is not a replacement from Elite Neighbors. He got a crap ton of volume though. And so with that could be the case again this year because we know who Wanda Robinson is and who he isn't and Jalen Tolbert last year and last night in that game, a lot of that came on the broken play, the big catch down the sideline. So again giving context, it's Slayton easily by a mile for me.
- [32:48]
A
Joe all right, let's talk about another wide receiver boys, because this one here is a free square. He's rostering just 3% of leagues now. I've got him in a couple dynasty leagues when he signed late with the Browns because he is an extraordinary talent. This guy was arguably the better of the two receivers of Texas last year on that team that went pretty darn far. Let's talk about Isaiah Bond because now that Cedric Tillman is going to be out with a hamstring injury again, we don't know how long as of recording this. We're still waiting for updates on that, but typically we're thinking a couple weeks here. That's normally unless something is even worse. Now Bond did step in there and did step up in this situation. He had six targets, he caught three of them for 58 yards. Dbro Isaiah Bond is an explosive player. He's got incredible speed, he's got talent. We know that if opportunity arises here, it's really intriguing. However, at some point we are pivoting away from Joe Flacco. I believe we're the Cleveland Browns and we're going to look at other quarterbacks. I think you have to factor that in when we start to have that discussion about Bond. So factor that into the fab here when we're talking about him for week five.
- [33:53]
D
I just want to take a flyer on him. So it's like a 1 to 2%. Like he's the guy that I've like try to sneak him through waivers because to your point, I think a quarterback change is eventually going to come. Like Joe Flacco, that magic for Cleveland is is gone. And this entire passing tack has been you can't play anybody. It's bas who are we starting from Cleveland? On the weekly basis it's Quinn Sean Judkins and who else? Harold Fannin has looked like this year's Isaiah, likely David. And Joku looks like he's basically non existent. Jerry Judy has been a nothing burger. So part of it is buying into this offense, but the other part is like better days could be ahead if we get better quarterback play at least like, like somewhat competent quarterback play. You're probably gonna see Dylan Gabriel before you see Shador Sanders. And so, I mean, it's a guy to try to sneak through. Nobody that I'm going to prioritize on waivers. But I think that especially in deep leagues with bi weeks upcoming, he does have relevance.
- [34:46]
A
Pat, where do you stand on this one? On Isaiah Bond?
- [34:49]
C
Yeah, if you want to make a small bet on the talent, I guess. But to Debra's point, like Joe Flacco in recent years, he has been a rainmaker for his pass catchers. We remember that spectacular run he had late in 2023 where David Najoku was like, you know, putting up like wide receiver one type numbers at the tight end position. And like I thought things were going to be good for Jerry Judy. Like there's no pass catcher you can reliably play right now. Like Joe Flacco. Not a rainmaker anymore. Drought conditions along the shores of Lake Erie. You know, Joe is. Joe is pretty dusty these days.
- [35:28]
A
Hey, easy, easy, easy. I for the league of Joes. You know, we don't like when you say those kind of things.
- [35:35]
D
You're such a word, Smith. Yeah, this is wonderfully said.
- [35:38]
A
All right, let's. Let's do a victory lap for Pat Fitz. Boris here for a second because he told everybody, don't waste your money on Trey Tucker. And if you did. Yeah, well, he got two catches on two targets for 13 yards. He did not have one touchdown, two touchdowns or three touchdowns. So Pat, for those people who spent or bid or ended up with him, would you drop him this week?
- [35:57]
C
Yes.
- [35:58]
A
Okay. D row. I don't have to ask you. I know the answer. Taekwond Thornton. Look, Xavier Worthy came back and I think played more and played better than any of us could have possibly hoped for. Taekwond Thornton still did have a touchdown, but dbro, is that kind of a tenuous situation there with Worthy back and then Rice kind of back in a few weeks now just waiting to. To return. Would you drop Taekwond Thornton if you needed to, to, you know, let's say obviously for Woody Marks, but let's say some of these other guys that we've discussed here, guys like Romeo. Do guys like Coker Franklin, would you drop Tyquan Thornton for any of those guys?
- [36:34]
D
I would drop him for any of those guys. Darius Slayton, any of the guys we've already mentioned because the Kansas City Chiefs dropped Taekwond Thornton to fourth in wide receiver snaps this week with JuJu leading the way, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown. And guess what? Right over the horizon, we can all see Rasheed Rice.
- [36:51]
A
There he goes. He's coming back.
- [36:53]
D
So, yeah, Taekwond is going back to the bench.
- [36:56]
A
Yeah, drop him. Let's take a quick break in the action to tell you about Stitch Fix. Look, not everybody wants to go shopping, especially this time of year, on the weekends you got football on all weekend. You don't want to waste your time in stores or you really don't want to necessarily have to waste time spending money on shirts that don't fit, that you have to go return that you bought online. It's a pain in the rear end. So instead you just take a quick style quiz over at Stitch Fix. You share your size, your vibe, your budget, and boom, just like that, you're matched with an actual human being, a stylist who's going to handle the rest for you. They send you a fixed box with clothes that actually fit you and make sense for your life. Can you believe it? Work, weekends, going out, whatever, date nights. It saves you time. You look great and you don't even have to think about it. So it's no risk at all. In fact, it's all just style points, baby. It's all in the comfort of your own home, too. Can you believe that? Keep what works. Send back the rest. Free shipping and returns always. And no subscription is required. Plus you get a free try on for your first fix. So get started today at stitch fix.com fantasypros to get $20 off your first order and they'll waive your styling fee. Again, that stitch fix.com fantasyprose and now back to the action. All right, let's get to the streamers here. Let's talk about the quarterbacks and you know, between the Lamar Jackson injury, Jaden Daniels elf, and then on top of which, all the bye weeks, you got to find some quarterbacks this week, Pat. So who is the first guy for you out of the gate that you want to roster for Week 5?
- [38:25]
C
Sam Darnold versus the Buccaneers. He had 5.4 fantasy points against the 49ers in Week 1, but since then, Darnold has averaged 16.9 fantasy points with at least 16.1 in all three games. He's basically been a top 15 fantasy QB since that dry Week 1. And Darnold's playing well. Like, the only drawback with him is that he's only averaging 25 pass attempts per game because it seems like Clint Kubiak wants to go run heavy with the Seattle offense. But Darnold might need to throw more this week because he's up against the Buccaneers, whose defense is usually pretty tough against the run under Todd Bowles.
- [39:02]
A
All right, let's take a look at the streaming QB for Derek Brown in week five. Who do you got?
- [39:08]
D
Big surprise, baby. Jackson dart. I like fantasy too.
- [39:12]
A
On the look, if you, if you need the waiver wire, you know you want to hear some more voices or want it in the short concise thing. On top of it, Jake Seeley, same thing. He's like, hey, single leagues, single QB leagues. Jackson dark this week, dude.
- [39:23]
D
QB 9 for the week. And this is with Wanda Robinson dropping a touchdown in the end zone. So it could have been even better, folks. And the rushing is there and the rushing carry the day, but the rushing's not going anywhere. And so now they get the Saints. Yes, sir, please.
- [39:39]
A
All right, so D Bro's got the Jackson Dart level. The rushing equity is there. That's. That's a good thing. Let's talk about tight end D Bro, who do you have a tight end to stream this week, man?
- [39:47]
D
And people, look, Tucker Kraft is gonna be out. If you were starting Kyle Pitts, he's gonna be out because of the bi weeks. Dalton Schultz against the Baltimore Ravens. I'm not telling you that's going to be pretty. But look, he's been a good source of PPR goodness over the last two games. He's been basically like in that eight point range, you had a touchdown. On top of that, he's going to be a tight end. One I think that comes could definitely happen this week going against the Ravens who've allowed the fourth most receiving yards and the seven most fantasy points per game to tight ends.
- [40:16]
A
All right, Pat, Fitz, Morris, give me a tight end for week five to stream.
- [40:19]
C
I like dbro's Schultz call more than this one. But like Theo Johnson maybe is possibly playable against the Saints who aren't like, aren't that bad a matchup for tight ends and maybe Theo season increase in targets with Malik neighbors out.
- [40:34]
A
Yeah, well, that Saints game got real dicey, didn't it? For a second there I was watching that going, oh boy, baby. Like, this is getting real uncomfortable.
- [40:43]
C
Survivor pools would have been up in arms.
- [40:47]
A
I'm out of mind because the 49ers can't beat the fricking Jacksonville Jaguars in their own building. You frauds. You fraudy Niners. Get out of my.
- [40:58]
D
Somewhere Welsh is hurting. Somewhere Welsh is hurting. Things are stinging. And he's.
- [41:02]
A
Believe me, at 2:00pm Eastern, I'm gonna hurt Welsh out of bounds. I've got a lot of barbs ready for him about the Friday night Ers kicking me out of that survivor pool. What a joke. All right, I digress. Let's get to your streaming defense of the week, Pat, what do you have?
- [41:18]
C
Cleveland. The Browns are terrific on defense. They face the Vikings in London. Carson Wentz has been sacked nine times in his two starts for Minnesota, and he threw two interceptions against the Steelers on Sunday. Really should have been three. So, yeah, the Browns against Carson Wentz.
- [41:34]
A
Yeah, you're. Oh, my favorite bet of that game was the Carson Wentz interception. Cashed.
- [41:39]
C
Love it.
- [41:39]
A
Can't get enough of that one. I mean, that's just money in the bank, right? You know you're gonna get turnovers there. Great call. I love the Cleveland one here. Fitzy, dbro, give me a streaming defense for week five.
- [41:48]
D
Speaking of turnovers and sacks, Cam Ward is a pretty good source for both of those right now. Let's stream the Arizona Cardinals.
- [41:54]
A
What'd you think of the Cam Ward post press conference there yesterday? Kind of calling himself out, calling everybody. I kind of like it. Like, he's not wrong. He ain't wrong. He's not wrong. Tell me where I'm telling lies. That coaching change could happen very quickly because the defense.
- [42:09]
D
Gone right.
- [42:10]
A
Defense of the Titans, it's not bad. Like, it's not that they're losing because they get pieces. You can't move ball on offense at all. All right, so, dbro, you got your streaming defense in, right? We're good on you. Okay. Yeah. So give me a kicker now as that's Spencer.
- [42:25]
D
Yeah, he's kicker 1 in fantasy points per game. He's had double digits in every single game. The fact that he's still out there, people correct this.
- [42:32]
A
Go ahead. Okay. All right, Pat, how about a kicker for you?
- [42:35]
C
Oh, we were just picking on the Tennessee Titans. Let's continue to do so. Chad Ryland of the Arizona Cardinals. I mean, the Titans are giving up 30 points a game, so pretty pretty fertile situation for any kicker.
- [42:47]
A
I was so disappointed in the ugliness of the Arizona Cardinal uniforms on Thursday Night Football. I just want to point that out.
- [42:52]
D
Oh, they were so it looked like some, like, peewee uniforms.
- [42:56]
A
Like, they all kept saying, like, they look like tortillas. Which is a fact. That's true. They kind of did have a tortilla quality. But what was the point? Was that, like, supposed to be like the egg of the cardinal? Is that what it was like, spotted?
- [43:05]
D
Like, what was it? No clue.
- [43:06]
A
Today.
- [43:07]
D
I thought the helmets were horrible looking too. They just were generic. It looked like.
- [43:11]
A
But how many people go through this process right, where you're like, where it's.
- [43:16]
D
Bedded, where people, like, exchange hands.
- [43:19]
A
Designs we've come up with and it's.
- [43:22]
D
Like somebody would you walk away with.
- [43:23]
A
Yeah. Everyone went, yes. The. The tortillas. That's the one. That's the winner. Terrible. All right. For. I'm sorry. I'm so mad about that. We all got our kickers in, right? We gotta get the kickers. Okay, Good. All right. Don't miss out on waiver central. Fantasybros.com myplaybook Download the fans Bros app today so it can help suggest specific waiver claims for your team. Again, you can sync your leagues for free with the fantasy pros app today. You can set all your lineups from the fantasy pros app. It's terrific. It's a time saver. It's a lifesaver. Use it. Just one of the many perks of the tools. And again, waiver central is another one. So for those of you still playing without the free agent budget, let's talk about the top waiver claims of the week. Dbro, why don't you kick us off with your one through five.
- [44:06]
D
Woody Marks is leading the way. I think he's going to be the head of every single waiver wire or column for this week, including ours. Troy Franklin's number two. Jamin Coker, three. Jackson Dart, four. And Titan is gross. So Dalton Schultz, he makes the list of five.
- [44:20]
A
Fitzy, you got one. You kind of slip it in there in some shallow leagues I like at number two. So obviously Marks is one for you. You can walk us through. But then let's. Let's go through your list. Fitzy. Yeah.
- [44:28]
C
Woody Marks is one. And then Tajai Spears, who is still unrostered and eligible to come off injured reserve. And we just have not seen a lot of juice out of Tony Pollard. We heard Brian Callahan talk all offseason about wanting to use Taije Spears more and make it more of a one, two punch at running back. So maybe we get that. Jalen Coker, number three. I think he's a really good pickup. Kyle Menangai. Speaking of needing more juice in the backfield, like I just don't think DeAndre Swift is good. And I wonder when we start to see a major uptick for Kyle Manon Guy. I really think it's coming in. Maybe we get it. Like we've seen wasn't he in that triumvirate conversation again?
- [45:06]
A
Was Marks, Rashard Smith and Banan Guy.
- [45:08]
D
Yeah.
- [45:08]
A
Let's get ahead of backfields last week in week four. Right. Go back and watch the show. The receipts are there. As we're trying to do. Maybe.
- [45:14]
C
Maybe we get the usage change coming out of the buy for the bears in week six.
- [45:19]
D
That schedule looks good. Fitzy, Fitzy.
- [45:21]
A
That touchdown from DeAndre Swift that definitely, I think, you know is going to shade people's thoughts of Swift in a light that shouldn't be. It should not be. Let's see. Common.
- [45:35]
C
That was the definition of touchdown deodorant for that DeAndre Swift performance yesterday. So and then at number five, like you could make a case for Jackson Dart for sure with the rushing potential he has. But right now, like I think if you're looking for floor as a pickup at quarterback, I like Sam Darnold a little more.
- [45:52]
A
Okay, so those are five really good picks. I'm glad you mentioned Mananga again. I feel like we talk about every week. So I didn't talk about him at the top but it's another one too. Coming out of the buy again, they'll give you still out there. He is going to be available for you to pick up very easily because people aren't going to chase him. This is a perfect week to just kind of stash him at the back end of your roster. Or if somebody drops him right this week, pay attention because somebody might have him drop them. Say, oh I can't use him this week. I got by week problems. Pay attention to Manon Guy. Gentlemen, take a guess of the Taji Spears roster percentage on sleeper app. Good. Don't look, don't look. We're all playing fair here. What do you think it might be Pat Debro, what do you think? 39% 39 says Patrick Derek Brown.
- [46:35]
D
I'm going to go low 14.
- [46:38]
A
35%. Pat, you were over but wow, 35% so that I'm surprisedly available in leagues where people are paying attention. So keep that in mind for Spears too. You might not realize he's out there. It's kind of like that coker syndrome, right? He's got no stats to sort. So up there for the LAZIES and that's why you use the tools, baby. That's why we're here. Don't forget the waiver stream is also here. So we'll pick up the pieces for Monday Night Football, Derek Brown and I. Tomorrow, 3pm Eastern. Set your calendars, ring the bell till it goes ding. Drop your comments below. We'll be here and we will be taking your questions for more waiver wire action on Tuesday right here on The Fantasy Pros YouTube channel live. Subscribe. Trying to get 300, 000 this year when we could do it with your help. That'll do for us, but the story of the game goes on. For Pat Fitzboris and dbro, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
- [47:25]
D
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok Antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros.
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D
App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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A
This is an iHeart podcast.