The Extra Point: Useful Advanced Stats, Trade Proposals, and Tough Sit/Start Decisions (Ep. 1721)

Summary

FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode: The Extra Point: Useful Advanced Stats, Trade Proposals, and Tough Sit/Start Decisions (Ep. 1721)
Date: September 20, 2025
Hosts: Chris Welsh, Pat Fitzmaurice (subbing for Andrew Erickson)

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Brief Overview

This episode of the FantasyPros "Extra Point" live Discord show dives deep into audience-driven questions focused on tough start/sit dilemmas, advanced stats for actionable player analysis, and trade strategies. Hosts Chris Welsh and Pat Fitzmaurice field a barrage of live listener queries covering rest-of-season player outlooks, advanced data breakdowns, and situational advice for winning in various league formats.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Discord Community and Show Format

• The episode is driven entirely by live listener/caller questions.
• Pat Fitzmaurice subs in for Andrew Erickson, bringing his signature analysis and advanced stats focus.
• Active encouragement for listeners to join the FantasyPros Discord community for more real-time expert access.
  [02:00]

2. Trade and Start/Sit Advice

Wide Receiver Dilemmas

• Metcalf vs. Higgins (with Jake Browning at QB):

  • Pat leans Metcalf over Higgins this week due to matchup concerns and Jake Browning’s limitations.
    “I would start Metcalf there and I think I would also start London, AJ Brown and Ladd.” — Pat [04:07]
  • The Vikings’ defense is anticipated to scheme heavily against Browning, increasing risk for Bengals’ WRs.

• Bench Considerations for Josh Downs, Troy Franklin, Elijiah Io Manor:

  • Pat prefers holding Franklin and Io Manor over Downs due to capped upside and usage.
    “Downs...I just don’t think there is huge upside...I just don’t see when you’re ever going to feel good about starting him.” — Pat [18:09]

Running Back Start/Sit and Trade Targets

• Trayvon Henderson vs. Cam Scatteboo:

  • Both hosts lean Trayvon for higher upside and great matchup versus the struggling Steelers run D.
    “I just think it’s a better spot for Henderson.” — Pat [06:34]

• Bill Krosky Merritt vs. Quinshon Judkins (PPR):

  • Both agree Judkins is the more dynamic playmaker, especially after discussing touch share and high missed tackle rates, despite a tough matchup.
  • Pat highlights that Judkins offers more in full PPR because of receiving involvement compared to Krosky Merritt. “Format favors Quinshon a little bit, man. I’d probably take Quinshon.” — Pat [12:46]
  • Emphasis on looking for hidden upside, paths to increased usage, and monitoring injury reports.

General Roster Building

• 10 vs. 12 Team Lineup Grades:

  • Pat assigns a C grade for a sample 10-team roster anchored by Jared Goff, Etienne, Lamb, and Zay Flowers, advising patience and waiver wire aggression for improvement.
    [09:03–09:22]

• Running Back Room (Chase Brown, Pollard, Warren, etc.):

  • Commends the listener’s depth and recommends exploring 2-for-1 deals to consolidate if possible. “Maybe if there’s anyone who’s really grossly thin at RB you could approach with a two-for-one.” — Pat [24:11]

3. Advanced Stats in Practice

Identifying Stud vs. Fluke Performances

• Both hosts emphasize first-read share, air yard share, target percentage, snap rate, and broken tackles as the most actionable advanced stats—especially early in the season when sample sizes are small.

  • Chris: “I get pretty hyper-focused right now on first read...target percentage...air yard shares...snap rate, broken tackles, etc.” [37:43]
  • Pat: “If you look at the usage stats, you almost don’t need to look at the surface stats to see who you should be playing.” — Pat [39:03]

• Example: Rome Odunze’s breakout supported by top-6 air yard share, healthy target percentages, high design percentage, and consistent first-reads.

  • “He is sixth in air yard share...28% target share...33% first read share...these are things that make us really like buy into this stuff.” — Chris [40:27]

Volatility Context

• Acknowledgement that elite players (e.g., Jamar Chase, Cortland Sutton) have boom/bust stretches and season-long stats disguise weekly inconsistency.
  • “It’s all over the place, even for the great players…fantasy football is crazy, man.” — Pat [40:27]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Advanced Usage Stats:

  • “Who’s just doing calisthenics and who’s actually drawing throws…those are things that make us really like buy into this stuff.” — Pat [39:04]; Chris [43:01]

• On Wide Receiver Priority:

  • “I’d like to ride the wave with those two youngsters [Franklin and Io Manor]...I just think the upside for Downs is really capped.” — Pat [20:00]

• On Judkins vs. Krosky Merritt:

  • "Judkins looks like the best...five missed tackles forced on 10 carries, he looks great, but it’s not a great matchup." — Pat [12:46]

• On Rome Odunze’s Breakout:

  • "He is sixth in air yard share in the NFL right now, 46.4%. Absolutely ridiculous." — Chris [40:27]

• On Trade Value and RB Consolidation:

  • “Maybe if there’s anyone who’s really grossly thin at running back...approach someone with a two-for-one trade.” — Pat [24:11]

• On Start/Sit with Marginal WRs:

  • “If the Browns just let Joe Flacco drop back 45 times against Micah Parsons...that’s just a recipe for disaster…I’m feeling it with Quinshon.” — Pat [12:46]

• On Volatility of Studs:

  • “In the offseason, we look at last year’s stats and think production is going to be consistent…no, it’s all over the place.” — Pat [40:27]

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Important Timestamps

• Pat joins & Discord show explained: [00:35–02:30]
• First RB/WR question (Metcalf vs Higgins, etc.): [03:03–05:10]
• Henderson vs. Scatteboo RB2 debate: [05:57–07:19]
• Judkins vs. Krosky Merritt RB2 debate: [10:13–13:56]
• Advanced Stats on WRs (Odunze example): [37:21–43:52]
• Roster review & trade approach deep dive: [46:51–48:53]
• Lightning round & last trade/sit/start queries: [55:02–66:15]

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Flow & Tone

The episode is welcoming and rapid-fire, with a blend of data-rich analysis and lively interaction with listeners. Both hosts are approachable, joke freely, and balance theory questions (“are advanced stats actionable yet?”) with nuts-and-bolts lineup fixes.

Pat Fitzmaurice embodies his reputation for pragmatic, evidence-based ranking (often referencing snap share, targets, rest-of-season ranking), while Welsh pushes narrative elements (like coaching changes and quarterback shifts) with an emphasis on maximizing weekly upside and flexibility.

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Quick Takeaways for Non-Listeners

• The episode is a dynamic, question-driven masterclass in lineup construction and trade negotiation, with plenty of actionable advanced stats/analytics talk.
• There’s deep-dive discussion on why certain advanced metrics (first-read %, air yards, target share) predict future success—and when NOT to overreact early.
• Aggressive, but context-sensitive, trade recommendations abound: look for two-for-one RB trades if you're deep, and have patience with volatile WRs whose usage metrics are strong.
• When in doubt, favor players with high snap rates, strong first-read shares, and growing roles—even if their box scores are uneven early.

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Final Recommendation

Join the FantasyPros Discord, catch these Q&A sessions live, and tune in for advanced and actionable fantasy advice that isn’t afraid to blend numbers with nuanced context. For lineup splits and trade talks, Pat and Chris strike a perfect balance between caution and high-upside aggression—ideal for managers seeking a championship edge.

Transcript

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

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[Chris Welsh]

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[Chris Welsh]

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[Chris Welsh]

What'S up, friends? And welcome in to Fantasy Pros, the fantasy football podcast, the live Discord show. This is the Extra Point. I am Chris Welsh, not joined by Andrew Erickson. This week, Andrew had to take care of some stuff. So when Andrew's out, I don't want to say we hit the upgrade button because Andrew's my boy, but I don't think you guys are going to be disappointed when Pat Fitz Morris is in the house. We got Pat in here. Fitzy is going to be joining me for the Extra point, answering your questions. The show you guys produce, Fitzy, I don't think we've done a Discord show together. So what's up? But the Discord community is absolutely used to you because you are definitely one of our regulars that jump on these Discord pods.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yes, sir. Love these Discord shows, Welsh. And you know, seriously, you got to admit, I'm a downgrade.

[Chris Welsh]

No, no, you guys are this great combination. I mean, I would continuously say this like the rank show that we do. I'm honored to be in like my third year, I think hosting it. I was kind of like pseudo the very first time and then I was full time last year. This is the best iteration of it. You and Ericsson are an incredibly great combination to have. So, like there literally couldn't be somebody better. If Ericsson can't make this show, which is definitely. This has become our show is. It's great to have you in here, but you can catch more of fits on Discord. As I'm alluding to when you come and join the Discord community, which you should do fantasyprose.com chat, you can chat with other fans and you can get access to exclusive AMAs like this that show up as shows on the podcast. Little schedule for you. Boggs and Fitzy, 5pm Eastern every Tuesday. This keeps saying through the end of August. I don't think you. They need to update this. I thought I looked at this correctly. It's not. But. But Boggs and Fitzy jump in on some Tuesdays. Worm and Fitz on the first Tuesday of each month at 5pm Eastern as well. And this show, 2pm Eastern on Thursdays. It's Welsh and Erickson. Except it's Fitzy today. We got a regular show in here. You want to check out the full schedule. You want to learn about the community, want to get in the rooms, go to fantasypros.com chat. Sign up today. Hang out in there. Lots of ways to be involved in fantasy. Whether it is live streams, whether it's our videos, whether it's YouTube, Twitch. Here on Discord, you can join up for free with a Fantasy Pros free account or you can get access to premium if you would like. Okie doke. Fitz, are you ready to just jump into the gauntlet? Our people are here. They've got their questions, they've got their hand raised and they're going to be talking like it's old school radio. Are you ready?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Lot of people with questions. Let's get to them.

[Chris Welsh]

Welsh Week three starts now. Nick Lowry. Nick is first up on the show this week. What's up, Nick?

[Caller/Listener]

Doing well, guys.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

How are you?

[Chris Welsh]

We're doing good, brother. What you got? Sure.

[Caller/Listener]

I have two questions. One is for my RB2 slot on.

[Chris Welsh]

My very rookie heavy team. So I'm between Henderson and Scatterbow there. And then the second question I've got In my dynasty, one, I gotta start four receivers in PPR and the options are A.J. brown, London Higgins, Makoni Igbuka, who I know is questionable right now, and Metcalf. Okay, so you mean how many of.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Those receivers do we need?

[Chris Welsh]

Four.

[Caller/Listener]

Four.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

So I think at this point you gotta probably bench a Buka until you hear otherwise, don't you think?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I think so.

[Chris Welsh]

And then Metcalf is, I think, at the bottom. Well, I think he said Higgins. Higgins vs. Metcalf I think is kind of debatable. I'm a Higgins guy, but I'm. I wonder if you're not.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I'm not this week. I think he's going to be fine with Jake Browning. He was like wide receiver 25 in fantasy points per game when they played five games together at the end of the 2023 season. I'm a little terrified by the spot, though. Like, I just don't think the vikings are playing two bad games in a row at U.S. bank Stadium. And I have a feeling Brian Flores is going to have something extra special cooked up for Jake Browning in his first start of 2025. So, yeah, I would start Metcalf there and I think I would also start London, AJ Brown and Ladd.

[Chris Welsh]

What's that? Is that little something called Blitz? Blitz, Blitz. Lots of blitz. A little Bit more blitz.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, a whole lot of that. I think. It's just, you know, I really do think the Vikings are going to be breathing fire in that game. And I got to imagine the Bengals are not in the best of head spaces after losing their star quarterback for the season. They have to know they're not getting to the promised land this year with no Joe Burrow. So that's got to be a tough thing for them to deal with. And then this, this tough road matchup, like, I don't, I don't feel good about this game for the Bengals.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I've been a little bit more narrative based. I'm fine with going Metcalf, but I do kind of think, like, with a. An inexperienced quarterback like this, one of the things you do. He was so heavy on Jamar Chase early on. I think you take Jamar Chase out and that leaves opportunities for T. Higgins, who he hit with with a touchdown. So that's why I kind of like him. You got really great options. If you're, if you got a little bit of fear, take out Higgins. And then obviously, like, you know, Igbuka is injured right now, so we'll come back to that. The other question is a really good one. It is running back, wide receiver, or it was the two running backs, Cam Scatter Boo versus Travion Henderson. And I think that's a pretty good debate in general. I believe the consensus ranks I'm pulling up right now is in favor of. I don't realize this. It's a favor of Trayvon by one spot at 34. Cam scatter booze at 35. We have the. This is really interesting if you guys haven't seen this, but we've got the bust and upside ratings next to our ranks [e-mail] rankings. And this is, you know, like an aggregated piece here that also shows Trayvon not only has a 4 out of 5 upside, it's a 5 out of 5 bust potential. So what that might be telling you when they're right next to each other is Cam might be safer even though it's not a great matchup because he got usage. Trayvon has so much upside because the Steelers absolutely get burned by big plays and Trayvon can do that, but he doesn't get volume. If you're picking one. Trayvon or Cam, where are you going?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I'm going Travis Trayvon. Excuse me, Raveon Henderson. I just. It's a really tough matchup for Scatterboo. I wish he. I wish he had an easier matchup because this is the backfield takeover we were waiting for and we didn't have to wait long, but the Chiefs are just so consistently outstanding against the run. And meanwhile, Pittsburgh has gotten clocked by both of the two best runners from the 2022 draft class. First Breeze hall and then Kenneth Walker, both running roughshod over the Steelers run defense. The once vaunted Steelers run defense not looking really good. So I, I just think it's a better spot for Henderson.

[Chris Welsh]

I'm down with Henderson as well. I don't think the upside is great enough with Cam to care about any floor. If you're playing upside with both, you would go with Trayvon, so. Good question. Divyard or Aaron? What's up, dude? What? As soon as you get up on the stage, what is question number two for the show? What's up, Aaron? Are you there? This is your mother. All right, Aaron, get your audio fixed and you can raise your hand and I will bring you right back up. We move on to Pips premium member of the Fantasy Pros Discord. What's up, Pips?

[Caller/Listener]

What's up, guys?

[Chris Welsh]

What's up? What you got? Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, we got you.

[Caller/Listener]

Okay. So how's my team looking? So my QB is Jared Goff, RB1 is Bucky Irving, RB2 is Travis Etienne Jr. Wide receiver 1 is CD Lamb, wide receiver 2 is BTJ. My tight end, Zach Ertz, I got him off the waiver list. On my flex. I have Z flowers and my DST is the Seahawks.

[Chris Welsh]

So you want like a grade?

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, that and like if I. Some suggestions for trades if I need to make any.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, I mean, that's a whole nother show, brother. On suggestions for trades on that. Like, I think from a roster construction standpoint it looks pretty good. Probably should have asked if that was like a 10 or a 12 team. I'm assuming that's like a 12 team. Ertz is the only like, maybe question mark. If you had like Zay Flowers is like a flex. Those are. It's a good like starting lineup in general. He said 10 teams. So Fitzy, is there anything you want to throw out, like as an adjustment in a 10 team league based off of what Pips had?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

No, I mean I don't, I don't dislike it now. I would have given it a B and a 12 team or maybe like a C in a 10 teamer. Not bad. Like I stay the course with BTJ. Like I do think things are going to get better and hopefully ETN continues to maintain the value he's had through two weeks.

[Chris Welsh]

You know, I'm a little bit worried about BTJ this week, but not much you can do about it. Yeah, I might also suggest, like, you could be a little bit more aggressive on the waiver wire to see if you hit trade wise. Like, it's a. It's a. It's a horrible time for. For like trading btj. So is that. And by the way, do we need to get this up here? Is this Terrell? I'm going to. We're going to jump the line here. The hell is Terrell doing in here? What are you doing? I saw. I saw a really rel. I saw a hand raise and then I saw a little. Oh, first time, long time. No big deal. Just betting pros own trail. Furman, what's up? What's up, dude?

[Caller/Listener]

Nothing much, man. Nothing much came through. Saw y' all was going. I was actually looking at my own lineup and I was like, oh, what should I do? And I was like, I wonder if anybody's on right now. Sure. Of course. Welsh and Pat are on right now.

[Chris Welsh]

We here for you. All right. So what's the. What do you got?

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, yeah, I got a full PPR league. I'm. I need a RB2. I'm looking at either Bill Cross Mayor against the Raiders or Quin Sean Jenkins against the Packers. I will say I do have Dylan Sampson as well. That is an option.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so before we answer that though, I have two questions for you on the betting side. If Bill Crosky rushing yard pro. I have not. I've looked at some of them. I don't think they're all posted. IF bill is 40.5 over under on rushing yards and if Judkins has a total yard marker of 40.5 over under for both of those for you, I.

[Caller/Listener]

Think I would feel I. It. I would definitely play Jenkins. I just think he's going to get so much work, man. He was on the field for 20 snaps and he got. And he got the ball. 13 of them. Yeah, yeah. Tough matchup. But like, what. What if he pops? Like, he. I don't know. So that's why I feel like my concern is that. But I do. I. I feel a lot better about Judkins on just pure rushing yards. I think the Bill Cross key merit is also the passing game work that he could get as well.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay. So that's interesting. So I'm going to throw this to you, Pat. I put a point out, a scenario to Bogman. Don't be surprised. This week when Bill Crosky's usage doesn't jump to the level that everybody thinks because Jeremy. Jeremy McNichols just becomes Austin Eckler. That's the thing that I don't think enough of us are accounting for. That I am worried about. So in the passing game, I think if they drop just as a betting thing, by the way, if they drop any like 1.5 receptions on Jeremy McNichols, count it for me because I think he will just jump into that Echler role. But that's where my worry is, that then Pat, you go over to the junkin side. There is no question Judkins looks like the best. Jerome Ford, Bye. Bye. Peace out. Dylan Sampson, great in the passing game. Judkins, five missed tackles forced out of 10 carries. He looks great, but it's just not a great matchup against your Green Bay Packers. So, Pat, if you're picking between these in fantasy, I don't think there is a clear answer. I think the talent is in favor of Judkins, but it is a horrifically bad matchup and there's a lot we just kind of don't know about Bill Crosby. And the last thing I'm going to point out, 41.5, is the rushing yard prop for Judkins, which I'm actually surprised about. I kind of thought that might be the full marker. And then I'm. We're just doing Vegas here, so bear with me for one second. We do not have Bill Crosky, so.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

We take it to you, Pat, and Crosby. Merritt doesn't have the easiest matchup himself. The Raiders have actually been pretty good. They've allowed, I think just 97 rushing yards to running backs through the first two games and 3.3 yards per carry. So the run has been pretty tough. Right now I've got Jakory Crosby, merits slightly ahead in half point PPR rankings and in full point ppr. I consider it almost like a dead heat. And I know this doesn't really help you, Terrell, but like we saw Judkins get three catches in his first NFL game. Three catches. Bill is still looking for his first NFL reception. So I think the format favors Quinn Shawn a little bit, man. Yeah, I mean, I'd probably take quinch, like if the Browns just let Joe flacco drop back 45 times against Micah Parsons and company. Like that just seems like a recipe for disaster. Like they have to at least make an earnest attempt to run the ball. So I'm. I'm kind of feeling it with Quinn Shawn Here over Bill.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, the one thing I throw out, too is I do think there's just as a little aside, if you've got Daniels who does play, you would imagine they're going to not want him to run. If they don't have him playing, you got to imagine they're going to want to run and not, like, run with running backs and not throw the ball a bunch. So there is some rushing equity. I think that's in favor of Bill Krosky, Merritt in a better matchup. But Judkins is the playmaker. And then I think a side caveat is if we know a suspension is coming, why not just use the absolute living hell out of Judkins, like right now? Like, because if he's going to be out for a couple of weeks, like, get him going. I think Judkins is the upside play. I think Bill is the safety play. That's how I would personally approach it. So, you know, all of our fantasy teams were trying to figure that out. By the way, where can we find you this weekend, Mr. Trail? Furman, what you got going on over at Betting Pros this weekend?

[Caller/Listener]

Oh, well, we've got a lot going on this weekend. I'm actually going to make sure that I'm locked in college football. We. We've got a card. We've got a card. What's. What do I want to give out here? Let me see.

[Chris Welsh]

You're going to give a play. You're going to give a play. We got the college football show with plays. All right.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna give. Look, I've been Matt rule in his third season at Temple, 10 plus games, third season at Baylor, one nine straight was ranked, I think, like top 10 in the nation. 10 plus games, win one. He's in his third season at Nebraska right now. He's going up against the top 25 team that I'm telling you is not a top team. I'm not a believer in Michigan. I think that the program has no idea what they're doing. They just fired the coach. It's a talented quarterback, but young quarterback on the road. So Nebraska, I think, is going to win out. Right?

[Chris Welsh]

Ooh.

[Caller/Listener]

All right.

[Chris Welsh]

There you go. That's good. Are you on. Are you doing any of the. I don't know. Are you on the Sunday shows at all? Are you doing anything on bp?

[Caller/Listener]

I don't think I'm on the BP schedule. Let me go. Well, shoot. Let me go check. Oh, shirt. Make sure nobody's listening to this. Let me go check the schedule. Make sure I'm not on the clock this weekend. But either way, you know, my hat, I, I, I find a home wherever. So you'll find me on the fantasy pro side, the betting pro side all season.

[Chris Welsh]

That's right. Keep doing it. Trail Furman, our dude. We appreciate you, brother. Appreciate you hanging out with us as well. And go check him out. If you're doing some college betting, you got some. Some big betting for the NFL questions. Terrell has got you covered. Love having Terrell in here. That's fun. That's fun. I like that, dude. Nebraska, straight up. You got, you got, like, you got the conus for that bet.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Fitz, they have a really nice quarterback. And Riola. Yeah, like, I'm, I'm on board.

[Chris Welsh]

You mean Mahomes 2.0.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

2.0, that's right.

[Chris Welsh]

All right, we keep going back down List. Thank you. To Trill. Aaron's back. Let's see if Aaron's got all his stuff fixed. What's up? Oh, no. It's strike two. This is disappointing. Javier, go into the settings and do the double check. I'm very disappointed. This is. That's one of our regulars. It's one of our regulars. Get that fixed, baby. All right, next up is perception. Perception in the house. What's up? Unmute.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Hey, guys. Thanks for getting me on here.

[Chris Welsh]

Absolutely, dude.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I've got a question about which I have three wide receivers, but I can only keep two of them on my bench. And I want to know who you'd keep going forward.

[Caller/Listener]

This is for full ppr.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

We got Josh Downs, Troy Franklin, and Ellic IO Manor.

[Chris Welsh]

So you can only keep one of these on your bench?

[Caller/Listener]

No, I can.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I can keep two. I Currently I have Downs and Franklin, but I o. Manor is just sitting on waivers, and I could pick him.

[Caller/Listener]

Up if I wanted to, but I.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Don'T really want to drop anyone else besides maybe those first two receivers. So I can keep two of the three.

[Chris Welsh]

What do you think? Fitz is a great question. Downs does not get the workload that we kind of expected under Daniel Jones. Iron minor. Looks like he could be the number one on that team. And I think if Troy Franklin does this again, we might be looking. We legitimately might be looking at such a. I don't want to get dramatic about it, but a massively sneaky wide receiver this year and how they're using Troy Franklin. But what is the great Pat Fitzmaurice say?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I've got all these guys within about, like, five or six spots of each other. My rest of Season rankings Welsh. I would make a case at Downs should be the drop here because I just don't think there is huge upside. This guy's not in a prolific touchdown scorer through his career at all. I think he's got something like what seven career touchdowns in like 40 some career games. I think the arrival of Tyler Warren just really kneecaps. Oh and for the record seven touchdowns, 33 games. Sorry. Like I think Tyler Warren really just guts the value of Josh Downs. Like he is going to get a lot of those short and intermediate targets that Josh Downs was getting before. Plus Michael Pittman healthy after playing with a broken back last year. He's like the you know the, he's more the medium range guy. Alec Pierce is the designated lid lifter and you know like crazy talent with Adnai Mitchell who's like the fourth receiver and I just don't think there's much upside for Downs like he'll have his, his games where he you know pops off a big gain. I just think like in a managed league as opposed to like best ball. I just don't see when you're ever going to feel good about starting him. Whereas I am. Manor has one less target than Calvin Ridley right now. He's one off the team target lead Franklin. I mean I don't expect Frank Cortland Sutton to have many more one catch games but like we have seen Troy Franklin draw a lot of targets right now. I'd kind of like to ride the wave with those two rookies. Excuse me, Franklin's not a rookie but those two youngsters and yeah and just see where they go because I think the upside for Downs is really capped.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I agree with you. I mean in full PPR like yeah maybe you know like you can make the case for Downs but my problem would be is like how Franklin is used. I think he's in a good spot to catch anywhere from three to five per week. Three on a bad low five, six on a high. I mean what eight this past week targets then an iron minor outside of also the target share looking like a true number two. He's a big air yard guy and I think there's just better upside. So I'm totally fine getting rid of downs for Alec and Franklin. Very aggressive on Franklin this week where I was given the opportunity to so very good question. All right Cam, Cam's next up in the house. Premium member of fantasy pros Discord. Again you don't have to have a premium membership to come and hang out in these rooms but it gets you access to everything. Someone had asked that earlier. Unmute Cam and hit us with your question.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, y', all, I was wondering what you guys think about my running backs. I have Chase Brown, Javante Williams. Why am I blanking on the rest? Jalen, Warren, T. Pollard, and I just picked up Bay Shaw too in the other day. Yeah, just curious what you guys think, like, rest the season 1212 or 1012 team 12.

[Chris Welsh]

Half PPR. Full.

[Caller/Listener]

Full.

[Chris Welsh]

Perfect. All right, so a lot of good depth, maybe lacking like high firepower. Yeah, yeah. High upside. Like, I'm still very baffled in the whole Chase Brown stuff. Whereas, like, I mean, you. You can't tell me there was another more buzzy running back leading into the season who's kind of fading. And I think the prospects look a little bit worrisome now, but you have a lot of decisions. Sometimes that depth thing, the problem can be fits is like when you don't have the definitives and then you're trying to make like the choices and you end up making the wrong choices. But Javante still in like a really, really good spot. What do you think about this running back situation? How do you view it for rest of season? And if there's something negative, is there a move that you would want to make getting off of somebody going to target something? What do you think?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, I mean, kind of what you said, Welsh. Like, I like Cam's depth here at running back. Like four. Four people you could play any week pretty much because of the workload with, you know, Chase Brown, Pollard, Warren and Javante. And then Tootin could come on and certainly would be immensely valuable if anything happened to etn. So I like this. I think you're just kind of playing matchups. I still think Chase Brown is the anchor. Hopefully the efficiency starts to come up because Chase Brown is averaging 2.4 yards per carry right now. But Chase Brown has also had 37 carries and four catches with six targets so far. Like, that's the same usage we were getting late last season when he was absolutely smashing. So, you know, Javante has looked better than I thought he was going to look. And maybe the Dallas offense has two. That's good. Pollard has had, I think, 38 carries. Not getting used in the passing game as much as you like. That looks good for at least another couple of weeks until Tajie Spears comes off IR and maybe that changes the balance of power. And Jalen Warren, I mean, I think he's got 25 carries and getting heavy usage in the passing game. And Aaron Rodgers was just saying that he needs to throw the ball to Jalen Warren more often. So I think you're just kind of mixing and matching every week. And so I would recommend looking at Fantasy Pro zcr if you want to look at the Pat Fitzmaurice Weekly rankings, you know, to figure out who you should be going with every week. But like, I think this is workable and maybe, maybe if there's anyone who's like really grossly thin at running back in your league and has like one good one, you could approach someone with the idea of a two for one trade.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, and I might look at Pollard too, with Spears coming back. Other context for this week Cam, four of your running backs rank inside the ECR top 24, so if that makes you feel good. So from a depth perspective, you are at least rocking one of them. Chase Brown ranks as a RB1. The other three are all RB2s. So you can mix and match. You can put it flex, maybe you can take advantage. Like I said, maybe Pollard is someone I might target moving off of with Spears coming back. Tutin is a really great player to hold on to in case something happens. And the other thing that you can do is you can sync your league instantly with My Playbook and you can get customized advice on how to manage your team throughout the season. Not just Cam, but any of you. You can see your league's top available players, power rankings and more. And for free, you can check the Are they playing tool each week to get the latest game day availability odds on all injured players. And if you are premium, you can unlock all kinds of helpful waiver trade lineup and league analysis tools. You can even auto start your team's optimal lineups each week with autopilot. So just go and sync your league dominate every week of the season with my [e-mail] myplaybook that's fantasypros.com myplaybook. Or you can use the Fantasy Pros app, sync it up and you can have some of these questions. It's like having Pat or Erickson by your side with a lot of free stuff that's involved. And if you want to go premium, they'll literally help you work out trades, waiver wire plans and stuff like that. So if you can't catch the live show here or you miss some podcasts, my Playbook has got you covered. All right, let's just jump back into it. Rico, Rico's in the house. What's up Rico? I think these typically come in muted when people get added, so make sure Everybody, you gotta, like, unmute yourself. Oh, no, Rico, unmute. Going once, going twice. You sold. Sorry, Rico. Re. Raise your hand. We'll get you back up. You unfortunately sold the bag. I feel bad. Feel bad when you sell the bag, but we'll get you back up if you can figure that out. Matt, what's up? Matt, Please don't sell. Matt, it's all on you. It's a very important moment in the show. There we go.

[Caller/Listener]

You guys got me.

[Chris Welsh]

Boom. Winner, winner. What's up, brother?

[Caller/Listener]

I've never really used this board on.

[Chris Welsh]

Mobile, so I was like, how do I unmute? Yeah, I know. It's all good. We had that. Sometimes Erickson and I will do the video for this, so if anyone ever hangs out in discord, like, you can see us so we can hang out. And I did the other day. I was like. I was like an old man. I'm like, how the hell do I turn this thing on? There's literally a button at the bottom that says turn on camera. So I get it. What. What do you got for us for fantasy?

[Caller/Listener]

I got two quick ones. Would you start Garrett Wilson or Ted McMillan in your Flex this week?

[Chris Welsh]

Okay.

[Caller/Listener]

Second of all, I have Devonta Smith, and I sent out a trade for Terry McLaurin. The Terry McLaurin owner, one for one. And they accepted it. I'm not really sure. I kind of just threw it out there. I feel like I got the better end of it because I'm not a big fan of the Eagles pass game, but, I mean, Washington with Daniels, you know, I'm not really sure what's going to happen with that.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. Okay, so let's talk about. Great questions, man. What. Let's. Let's work our way backwards then. What do you think about Smith versus McLaren? My instant reaction to say it's. It's pretty linear. Like, it's about the same. I agree. I also have not loved the passing game aspects of the Eagles, but I also don't love McLaurin and how most of his meat is from the high end, like deep ball game. And with Daniels, that's a little bit lacking. Deebo is taking up a lot of the short stuff. I kind of look at this as like a linear move, but what do you think, Pat?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

With Daniels, it's lacking. What about with Cliff Kingsbury? It's lacking. Welsh.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Patented Cliff Kingsbury horizontal passing game. I, I still. I. I do think this was, yeah, pretty close to an even deal. But I do have Terry McLaren ranked wide receiver, 21 in my rest of season rankings and Devonte Smith at wide receiver 24.

[Chris Welsh]

There you go. And winner.

[Caller/Listener]

Winner.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, so I think things are going to get a little better for the Eagles passing game, although I don't know, things haven't looked real exciting under Kevin Patolo so far. I'm kind of telling because DeVontae Smith1 usually has good games when Dallas Goddard didn't play usually crushes the Chiefs again 390 yards in four career games against the Chiefs going into last week and only had like 51 yards or something like that. So yeah, I feel good about that trade. And then as far as Teterom McMillan versus Garrett Wilson, man, if you gotta leave one of these guys on the bench, talk about first world problems. I've got Garrett Wilson ranked two spots higher than McMillan. Falcons are kind of a tough matchup, man, their defense has looked fantastic so far and their run defense was always kind of sneaky good, but their pasty actually looked great too. I mean I know JJ McCarthy kind of made them look great last week, but much improved. They have, they have a pass rush now so I just, I prefer Garrett Wilson. I don't think there's much of a drop off from Justin Fields to Tyrod Taylor in terms of passing and in fact I think like Tyrod's last two starts in the NFL have been like at least 270 passing yards or whatever and he came in last week and looked fine through a couple of touchdown passes. So yeah, I would roll with Garrett Wilson.

[Chris Welsh]

A little bit worried about the backup quarterback in there, but Wilson ranks higher in ECR 13 versus Tetaroa at 19. Yeah, defensively also the matchup.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, Bucks sort of have a pass funnel defense too. It's really hard to run on Tampa, so I wouldn't be surprised if I ride kind of aired it out this week.

[Chris Welsh]

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[Caller/Listener]

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[Chris Welsh]

Hey, what's up? It's Mario Lopez. Back to school is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming and kids may feel isolated, a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit. Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect. Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions. Whether you're a parent, teacher, coach or neighbor, check in, ask questions, stay connected. Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to [e-mail] blue campaign. Yep, and I will also, for future reference, probably shy away from using the term meet when explaining anybody's usage. Just for everybody. Just for all future usage. So if anybody of you are thinking that I thought it as I said it as well. All right, where were we? Let's try Rico again. Rico, can you. Don't sell twice. Aaron's got twice. Unmute, Rico, please. It's very disappointing week. It's a very disappointing week. Two strikes going once, going twice. Rico. He sold Rico. I just, you know, pour one out for Rico. All right, skim milk. What's up? Skin versus hole. Let's hold this question, guys. What's up, dude?

[Caller/Listener]

All right, so this is gonna be kind of a crazy question. I. I'm full PPR 18 team league right now. So I guess my question to start is what do you guys think of the QB issue that I got going on?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I. Justin Fields, he, you know, concussed.

[Caller/Listener]

I managed to pick up Lawrence as a.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

As a backup qb, but I don't.

[Caller/Listener]

Know, like, maybe there's. I'm just kind of looking at what's available. There's Tyrod Taylor, Carson Wentz. Do you guys think Trevor Lawrence probably the best bet right now or should.

[Chris Welsh]

I have somebody else? Yeah, I think I have my brain fried. So you have Trevor Lawrence and you're looking at like these kind of crappier options if. If we're worried about Trevor Lawren. Is there any. There isn't like a Mac Jones or anything sitting out there, is there?

[Caller/Listener]

No, no, unfortunately, there's. Yeah, Mariota. There's nobody else, I think.

[Chris Welsh]

No, no, no, I'm not. Lawrence is ranked 16 this week. I don't think it's like the particularly best matchup in the world, but the. The. The garbage quarterbacks that are taking over. I think you could argue Carson Wentz is in a really interesting situation simply because it's against Cincinnati's defense. That stinks. You do have Jefferson. You've got those guys. But there's so many big questions and he's new to the team. Browning is in. I don't think a great matchup, though. He obviously has good pieces. So if you're just battling all those guys, nothing is going to shine me away from Lawrence, regardless of my worry of, like, Brian Thomas and stuff. He still has weapons. But Fitzy, you tell me otherwise if you like. Like one of those dudes.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, I mean, I've actually got Tyrod Taylor ranked two spots ahead of Trevor Lawrence this week just because of that. The factor of the pass funnel. Buccaneers defense Tyrod having, I think he's a pretty good backup and he offers some rushing upside. But then again, like I. Two spots is pretty negligible in the rankings. Don't love the matchup for Trevor Lawrence. Obviously, the Texans can just unleash hellfire off the edges with Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter. And, you know, having Stingley Jr. In the secondary, it's a really good defense. Trevor Lawrence not clicking with Brian Thomas Jr. Travis Hunter is just catching balls around the line of scrimmage and not really doing much after the catch. So I'm not real excited about the Jags passing game. Have a hunch that Tyrod's gonna have a better week, but it's pretty close there. And if you want to just roll with Trevor Lawrence rather than go into the trouble of picking up someone else, I think that's fine.

[Caller/Listener]

Thank you, guys. I. I got one more for you. It's a kicker question, so it's gonna be quick. But Lutz and Little, last last week.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I asked about let's and Little and I got completely destroyed.

[Caller/Listener]

But what are you guys thinking this week?

[Chris Welsh]

Little. Oh, whoops.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Sorry.

[Chris Welsh]

I got job. Whoops. Oh, no. The kick went right. I got you out. Sorry, I. Kicker questions. That's all. That's all you, Fitzy. We. I think we went to the consensus last time. Little is ranked higher. They're going up against Houston, they could struggle. And who the hell was the other one? Lutz, Denver. I think this is easy. Little.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I have a little. Ranked a little a little higher.

[Chris Welsh]

I don't rank kicker. I'm not. Not that I'm not trying to pull a cellie in here, but I'm good. I'm completely good. I'm not ranking those guys. The almighty Eric. This is a big. This is a big boost here. Eric, what's up? Oh, even unmuted. But there's no man what's in the air today for week three. Not as almighty as we were being sold. Go check your mic, Eric, and then come back. You guys can all do that. By the way, there's a nice little setting in there, user settings. And it can confirm if everything's working. But re. Raise your hand and get you right back in. Just you at least did unmute, which I appreciate. Let's go to dead years. What's up? So this year I've noticed or like I feel like we have a lot.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

More players that are going true stud and dud week to week.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, like two points one week, 13, 16, 20.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

The other week we got Calvin Austin, Troy Flank, Franklin, Derek Henry, Hollywood Brown. What kind of deeper stat sets are you looking at to help differentiate between.

[Chris Welsh]

Like, what's the fluke and what's real? It's a pretty big like theory question. I would. I mean, Fitz, you're much better to speak at this just to say, like, I think the most important thing maybe to start with just for a second is it is very small sample size. So what is real and what is fluke, I think is very, very speculative fantasy points data, I think is like a huge help. I know Fitzy really loves like some FTN stuff. With epa, I would say, like, I get pretty hyper focused right now on first read. If we're looking at wide receivers, I'm looking at like first read. I'm looking at target percentage. I'm looking at air yard shares. As far as running backs go. I'm paying attention to snaps. I'm looking at broken tackles. I'm looking at like it's essentially it's efficiency. Whether the usage is like Ken Walker's like a good prime example of that. I don't know if I'm doing a really great job at selling it. I think at the end of the day it's really difficult because it's small sample sizes. Fitz, you're much better than me here. To expand on that kind of theory question about trying to decipher these, like Ups and downs, especially of elite players and whatnot.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

No, I think you did a great job with it, Welsh. We're looking at the usage stats, snaps, targets, air yards, routes, run, targets per route run.

[Chris Welsh]

Yes.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Who's just, who's just doing calisthenics and who's actually drawing throws, you know, so I think all of those things, everything that if you look at the usage stats, you almost don't need to look at the surface stats to see who you should be playing, you know, because someone can pop on. Like, if you look at the surface stats, you would think DeAndre Hopkins is like a viable play this week. He ran seven routes last week. You know, like, yes, he, he scored a touchdown and he's scored a couple of touchdowns. But like, you got to go with the guys who are getting used a lot. And just, just to what something Skim Milk said about like seeing like we're getting like these volatile weekly. Some guy smashes 1. Cortland Sutton, perfect example. Like first week, typical Cortland Sutton, nine targets, six catches for like 68 yards or something like that. And a touchdown, one catch for six yards last week. But in the off season it just seems like we look at the season long stats from the year before and we, I don't know, we get it in our heads that we think like production is going to be consistent during the season. No, it's all over the place, even for the great players. I mean, everyone was Drafting Jamar Chase 101 or 102 in the off season and he fires out with a 20 yard game in week one. Yeah, fantasy football is crazy, man.

[Chris Welsh]

I'll throw another little thing. I know this isn't like quite because I think you were maybe being a little bit more hyper focused on like, hey, you know, these guys that we really like and then they stink and then they're good for one week. And what. I know that like there was a little bit of a focus there, but like, let me turn it a little bit. I think a lot of people are asking questions about Roma Dunes. You know, it's, it's been a couple good weeks. You've got he's theory number two versus a number one. D.J. moore was drafted higher. So you might be like, all right, so what would you do to, to try to figure out if you believe that Roma Dunes real and, or could be better than DJ Moore? What would be the process or maybe. Why do people like him? I have him at 12 this week. I really like Roma Dunes. So why. Okay, this is all according to fantasy Points data. He is sixth in air yard share in the NFL right now. 46.4%. Absolutely ridiculous. He has 260 air yards. Ridiculous. Moving forward. A 28% target share. It's a great target share so far. Obviously those things are going to level out. Almost 13 yards per reception out there while having a decent yak. But then here's the other two that I would really start to focus on as well. A 10% design percentage. So they're designing plays for him and he is up there with I just went away from it. I believe it's a 33%. Where the hell did it go? Yeah, 33% first read share. So this is a wide receiver that is seeing an uptick in touchdowns. He's getting first read at over 30% for his team. He is a top air yard guy in general. He is closing in on a 30% target percentage on an offense that is having to throw the ball a little bit more. So those are some things that would help us start to determine like reality of a player being able to maybe in this case be a lower level player. Can he hold this production? I would tend to start to say like yes. I think based on what this is, this tells me like Roma Dunes is taking the next level. That's only one version I think of a breakdown of what you were getting at. Are you with. Are you kind of with that one? Fitzy? Like the same thing could be said like Franklin and Iron Minor by the way, both over 40% air yard share. They're both over 20% target percentage. They both also are average around 25% first read. So it's like do we like those guys? Well so far it is a small sample size but those guys are seeing like high level first ready. They're seeing like high level stretching the field. They're getting targets. Like those are things that make us really like buy into this stuff.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

And the indicators have been really good On Odunsay as you mentioned, Welsh, the only slight hesitation I have with him is that it wouldn't shock me if he led the Bears in targets this year. But I would be a little shocked if he continued to out targets DJ Moore by a 2 to 1 margin. That's the only thing I'm thinking might normalize a little bit. Although in fairness Caleb and DJ Moore have just never been on the same page and DJ Moore's body language all last season was just awful. Something is not right there. So maybe it does continue to be like this. But yeah, and it's a great spot for O'Dunes. They. I mean, the Cowboys best cornerback, Daron Bland, is out this week. That came as an over under a 49 and a half. That should be a complete track mate.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, so that was kind of fun. That was a really good question. Kind of lets us just like have a little bit of that, like, openness to tell you some of the process. There's lots of guys, but I know this didn't quite, like I said, cover the inefficiency. Like Brian Thomas might be like a prime example of like, you know. Well, I mean, really the first two weeks have been a disappointment, but that, that's, I think in where we are looking to kind of decipher consistency. But also two weeks, it's. It's really difficult too. Like, I was ready to be like, Ken Walker stinks after week one and week two. He looked, he looked great and he barely had any snaps. So it's like, well, you look at efficiency of week two and then you give me more snaps.

[Caller/Listener]

We're.

[Chris Welsh]

We're back. We're back with Ken Walker. So there you go.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

And by the way, well, Skim Milk also had a real quick question he forgot. He says he has both Pollard and Taije Spears. Should he be looking to trade one of them for another good player? Would it be worth having both of them? I wouldn't be surprised if that turned into something like a split backfield. And it might not be the most valuable split backfield because Cam Ward is not throwing to Tony Pollard right now. He might be one of those mobile quarterbacks who tends not to check down to his running backs very often. And the Tex Titans offense just is not going to be high octane. I don't think there's a lot of touchdown equity there, so I could be messy. I'm not opposed to trying to move one or both of those guys.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I don't think Spears has any value right now, but I kind of alluded in I think Cam's question. I'm open to moving off of Pollard because of Spears coming up here in the very near future. Fun times. We've still got some more here on Discord, but want to remind you guys, it's not just on the podcast, not just on YouTube, not just on Discord. Also on Twitch. Yes, we've got a whole set of offerings for you guys. Twitch TV fantasypros Mondays, 2pm Eastern. Come and check out me, Bogman and Joe Pizzapia for out of bounds. Do some games break down the previous week? It's kind of like it's a It's a good table setter for the week that's coming ahead in just all fantasy football talk. Me and Bogman have been doing two hour streams on Tuesdays at 12pm Eastern. We did a full hour of questions and then we did a full hour of questions while playing Madden and we actually played the Lions and Ravens game that is coming up this week with that is on Tuesdays at 12pm Eastern. More you bet Seth and Dbro Thursdays at 1pm Eastern and Fridays at 2pm Eastern. And we've got two offerings for you on Sunday where we've got the fantasy football Q and A on Sunday at noon Eastern and then the recap at 7:30pm Eastern. I just gave you the schedule. Go and check it out for yourself. Twitch TV fantasypros give a follow. You'll be notified when we go live. And there's just a bunch of fun stuff, fun community there. So go and check it out. We literally give you all the different ways to be able to contribute, consume and be a part. So go and do that today. All right, some more questions here. We're in the final throws of like the last 15 minutes so it's not a lightning round but to get through all the questions we'll want to we'll be a little bit quicker. Bear is up. Premium member the Bear. What's up dude?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

What's going on guys? I have a I popped my team into the chat before so you can.

[Caller/Listener]

See make it a little easier.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I got a trade question slash how do I upgrade at running back question. You guys could find that in there, but I got offered in Joku and Travion henderson for Kraft McNichols kind of hurting that running back. I was trying to see what you thought of that.

[Chris Welsh]

So it's kind of just Trayvon Craft that's essentially like that.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I got a bunch of receivers if you think it's maybe makes more sense to try to shop one of them.

[Chris Welsh]

So you get in Joko and Travion and then or you yeah you got offered those guys to move off of craft. Or you're saying which of these receivers would you potentially go and move off of? And you have looks like Nico Collins, Drake London, Mike Evans. Those are kind of your starters on the bench. You've got Tetaroa, Ricky Pierasol. You definitely have some depth here. So I think the real question Fitzy is would you trade top three tight end in the NFL with that roster construction and depth to get what I think is at best an elite RB2 or do you Think he'd be better set taking one of those wide receivers and shooting a little bit higher?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I would be. I would prefer to try to trade one of the wide receivers. Bear. I just like that trade. Yeah. Right now I'm just feeling like Henderson is better in best ball than a managed league. I think the production is going to be in fits and spurts this week and it's going to be real hard to know when to start him and when to sit him and might be.

[Chris Welsh]

Better in six weeks. We might. This might be completely different, but that is highly speculative to one of the better tight ends in the league.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

And it's a little concerning that Trey Henderson was supposed to be such a good pass blocker and he's been kind of a train wreck in that area.

[Caller/Listener]

Sure.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

So, yeah.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. So I don't think we love it. Maybe go take Tet or Pierasol, see what you can get. See if there's a little bit better of a version of a running back that's floating out there. Mighty Mighty's in the house. What's up?

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, can you hear me?

[Chris Welsh]

We got you.

[Caller/Listener]

All right, so I have a question about flex start. I need to start three in this full ppr and I'm looking at Pearsall Diggs, Keon Coleman and jcm.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, so we gotta bench one of those. And did you say it's full ppr?

[Caller/Listener]

Full ppr. And interestingly, when I look at the expert consensus rankings, JCM is actually the top out of all that. Diggs is at the bottom, actually, even beneath Nick Chubb, who I have marinating on my bench as well.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, I love that you added that because I. I was going to throw out that as. And you know, if you were listening earlier, you probably would expect that. I think we're both going to lean and especially in a full PPR away from Bill Crosby Merit. So that is a fascinating note that I guess if you're looking at the overall, because positionally, I'm not 100% sure I would have to say it's Bill, especially with those wide receivers. I don't know if Diggs gets people super excited anymore. I think he's starting to get his connection rolling a little bit. Keon Coleman still off the top in solid matchups like this one, I think can have big plays. I just really love the upside of Coleman this week. I am. I'm still down to roll Diggs out there. Maybe there's better touchdown equity with Bill. But I have expressed. I have some worries that Jeremy McNichols becomes Echler this week. So yeah I am. I'm sitting Bill, what do you think?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Fitz, I'm with you. I don't think the Echler injury does anything to improve Bill's pass catching profile. Two targets, no catches so far. So I too would start all of those wide receivers and you know Diggs has been at least a little bit involved and the Steelers are not going to have Joey Porter Jr. I believe this week. So and so far Mays look good. The only bad thing for Diggs is that it seems like May is very willing to just throw to whoever's open.

[Chris Welsh]

Totally.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

So he is not going to hyper target any one person. But Diggs has been getting targets.

[Chris Welsh]

He's been the consistent one who's not out there and may prove that after like booty looked amazing, like Moody looked great. It was seven first reads all this and then the next week it was like nope, we'll just do one. So you're right, he goes everywhere. But Digg seems to keep bouncing around. He keeps still appearing.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

So yeah so I agree.

[Chris Welsh]

Welsh all the wide receivers, our boy almighty Eric. I just had to do this real quick because he acknowledged he said pros I sold earlier but he did have a question so we saw some hands raised. We're going to do those but I just want to do this he said. Thoughts on Mason rest of season Thinking of trading half PPR. He's got Bowers McLaren oh, it's Bowers, McLaren and Mason to get May, Tyler Warren, Keon Coleman and Breece Hall. What do you think about that? I don't like that at all. You're trading one of the best tight ends. I don't think Aaron Jones has to come back super healthy. Mason might have way better upside than you're imagining and McLaren way over. I like that you're getting Tyler Warren in there, but no, I think I'm.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Holding that trade and I like Mason a lot. This I've got Mason ranked RB7 this week. Welsh. He is the only game in town for the Vikings for the next four weeks and this is a team that has every reason to try to hide its quarterbacks in the offensive game plan. So and I think that might continue even when Aaron Jones comes back. Like this team is not going to get good quarterbacking this year it appears. So I think the running game is going to be important and Jordan Mason is going to be a big part of that. So yeah, I don't like that trade either.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, I got Mason at nine this week so I'm down with that JQ. JQ's up. What's up?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

How's it going?

[Chris Welsh]

Can you guys hear me? What up, dude? Yes, you don't. But you do owe me $10 though, now, remember? I know.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I saw that.

[Chris Welsh]

I was like.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I was like, only I have to pay you. What's going on here?

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. JQ in the chat was like, we have to pay for this. And I meant to say, no, we do not. And I said. I said no or whatever. I said. But I was like, you do now. And then we realized that I was forcing him to pay us. But you do not have to pay. You just get to be on the show. What's up, dude?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Oh, that's awesome. All right. So I'm really struggling to figure out who to start at RB2 this week and who to flex. So I'll throw some names at you.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I have Devonte Williams, DeAndre Swift, Mecca, Buka Quinn, shot Judkins, pick, Gins, and Mason on the bench.

[Chris Welsh]

Mason's on the bench. Oh, Jordan, Mason's your starter. He's your number two.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Number two. Okay.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, yeah. Me and Fitzy are both top ten on Mason, so that's an easy one. The flex, though, is not as easy because I really like musicians this week. Yeah.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

TPR or half. It's full ppr. Full ppr.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, my God. Yeah. If A Mecca was like, if he was not hurt, I think probably would have gone to him. But now I'm moving away. You said you had Javante in there too, right? Yeah, I gotta do Javante. I want to do jq. There's great questions. I want to say Pickens in there. I got to go. Javante. I like the matchup too.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

It's really close. And, man, Pickens against Bears defense that doesn't have its two best. I know Dalen Johnson and Color Gordon both out and they just got firebombed by the Lions for 52 points, man.

[Chris Welsh]

But on the other end, though, Pickens goes and gets a 40 yard catch. Javante is going to pound that sucker in. And Javante also catches balls out of the backfield. Like, it's tough.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, it's one of those where I think if I'm favorite or it's pretty close in this, I'm going for the safer floor with Givante. But, like, if I'm an underdog to one of the better teams in the league and need to throw a haymaker, I think I'm probably playing Pickens over Javante just because I feel like this could be an 8 for 150 type of game for Pickens.

[Chris Welsh]

I don't hate it. I mean, too many.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I'm not saying, I'm not saying it will be, but like, that sort of outcome is potentially in play for Pickens. I just, you know, the safer play, Javante, the swing for the fences is. Is picking so that I think that's really close. But you got to play me.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah. And I think the thing you can feel good about is like we both went to Pickens and then we were both talking about Javante. Like we're not going to other guys at this point. Like, we both. As soon as you said Mason, we're like, that's your running back. You're starting. But then it's at least we're in the consensus of those players. You have great opt. So good on you. All right, let's do a little bit of lightning. I don't want to, like, force anybody to go nuts, but we'll try to answer quick and then you guys try to get your quotes so we can get these last couple in here. Sammy. Aces in the house. What's up, Sammy? Sammy, Sammy, come on down or up, however you want to view that. Sammy. You got me now.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

You got me now.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

All right.

[Chris Welsh]

How worried are we about London? Is this just going to turn into a running game with that, that layout? I can move my guy around and maybe throw in like Tet or Hampton.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Instead or do I just stick with London?

[Chris Welsh]

Stick with London. Hampton's a bad spot. Don't like Hampton at all. Don't particularly love Tet. I'm. I'm rolling out London. Maybe I close my eyes and, like, don't watch a whole bunch, but I'm rolling him out.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

He had 15, 15 targets in week one, only four targets in week two because they were trucking the Vikings and could afford to just keep it on the ground. And the running game was working great. So no fears about London. I think he's, you know, a top six or seven receiver. No issues.

[Chris Welsh]

If you had better options, maybe I might have liked Bent, but those weren't the options that make me feel any better. So I'm going to go London. Pretty easy there.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Why?

[Chris Welsh]

Gamer Premium member of Fantasy Pros Discord. Come on down. Only got a couple more. What's up, white gamer?

[Caller/Listener]

Hello, you guys. You guys hear me?

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, man. What you got?

[Caller/Listener]

All right, cool questions. I'm in one league and my QB right now. Situation is Caleb Williams and Michael Penix. Now, I was going back and forth with a guy that Has Lamar Jackson who he shouldn't have taken. His team is just bad, bad. And I was offering him a second round pick for next year for Lamar. That's one question.

[Chris Welsh]

My next one is easy answer. Yep. Okay, next question.

[Caller/Listener]

My next question is in this league. 02 now, wide receivers are Jamar Chase Ridley, Tyreek Hill and I was wondering Inflex. I have Krosky merit in there and I was wondering if I should bench him. Like if I should bench them for either maybe Chub or put in Sutton in there or even look for a trade because right now Loveland is my tight end.

[Chris Welsh]

I mean I'd definitely try to upgrade a tight end. I would play both of those guys over Bill Crosby, specifically Sutton and Sutton. Yeah, we don't need Fitz take on here. I'm going to speak for Fitz. Yes. Trade a second round pick for Lamar Jackson. So.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yes. And get a. And get a different tight end than Loveland.

[Chris Welsh]

Definitely get a different tight end. 0 and by the way, I love Caleb this week. I got Caleb high. I think he's going to. I mean 450 from the Giants on the Cowboys. So I like Caleb this week as a starter, but yes. Go get that pick. All right, last two. It's dev sub to. Dev's everywhere. By the way, Dev is a mainstay YouTube. He's there. Twitch. He's there. Discord. He's there. A + fantasy pros listener. What's up dude? How you doing?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah, I work from home so I.

[Caller/Listener]

Can do it all.

[Chris Welsh]

Hell yeah. You. You and me both, brother. All right. What you got?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

I put my team in the chat.

[Chris Welsh]

So you can take a quick look. I've been wanting to go after Sutton.

[Caller/Listener]

In this league since draft and I missed out on him and the Sutton owners.

[Chris Welsh]

02.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

It's a super flex, full PPR league.

[Chris Welsh]

I was thinking maybe I can offer.

[Caller/Listener]

Pierce all for him.

[Chris Welsh]

I'm not sure what the correct pricing.

[Caller/Listener]

Is for for Sutton right now. So what do you guys think?

[Chris Welsh]

I think you got to check in with him on his bench. I saw the guy. He's like one of the stars of the show. Pollard. I might throw Pollard out there as a starting running back. Who I think for you is he's going to lose that role in the near future and you have some depth because he's got Chuba as a flex. So I think that's the move. You could check on Pierasol. I think Sutton's going to be valued over your other wide receivers in Ridley and Pierasol so I can't sit here and tell you, if you offered golden and Ridley, could you get it done? I feel like Pollard might start it. Just start the conversation. I think that's a general range. I don't know if I'd want to bend on. I wouldn't bend on giving like a Hubbard, but I'd be fine giving up a Rickey or a Ridley or a Pollard or if I had to sweeten golden into one of those, I'd probably do that. What do you think about that, Fitz?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Yeah. And Dev, I don't really like those challenge trades where you're trading someone at one position for someone else at the same position straight up. And I don't know. I mean, I think Sutton's better, more valuable than Piersol, and probably most people see it that way. So I would, you know, talk to them for sure, see what they need. Like, that is always the key to getting any deal done is scratch the other person's itch, you know, and if they need a running back. I love your Pollard for Sutton suggestion, Walsh. I think that's really fair and doable.

[Chris Welsh]

And maybe the guy's like, oh, well, you know, and then he's like, maybe give me Golden. And then it's like, golden and Pollard, like, there you go. Now you got Ricky Piersol and Sutton as like, bench wide. You're stacked. You're absolutely stacked if you end up doing that. So I would be comfortable by weeks. Yeah, baby. All right, last one, Sam G in the house. Sam, you're closing out the show. What do you got, dude? Oh, no. I see a mute, though. We cannot. Cannot end on a. On a sold bag, Please. Sam, hit the unmute button.

[Caller/Listener]

He sold.

[Chris Welsh]

I'm so sorry, Sam, but someone else has stepped up. Oh, wait, Sam is back. Hold on. We're gonna give Sam a chance. This is chance number two. The second chances have not worked well on this show.

[Caller/Listener]

You guys hear me? You guys hear me?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Win. Yeah.

[Chris Welsh]

Touchdown.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

That's when I was about to make some joke about this emblematic of the Chicago Bears.

[Chris Welsh]

You know what? Bears come back, win now. Bears come back, win now. You got it.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah. I haven't been wanting to talk to about anybody about football. I've been doing good in fantasy, and I haven't been on here, and I haven't had questions to ask. But I got a trade, so I gotta ask.

[Chris Welsh]

Let's do it.

[Caller/Listener]

So I have Carson Wentz. I got him off the waiver wire. This is a super flex, super, super deep league. There's never anything on waiver. Wire. So he's a little bit valuable for the next two weeks. I have. I was offered. Who was I offered? I have Scatterboo and I was offered Tyrone Tracy Jr. I think that's kind of good because I'm not going to start Wentz regardless. But I try to. I wanted to squeeze a little bit more out of him, see what I can do. He had Judkins and he. He also has Rice. I don't know if I should just accept or go for one of those two guys.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, wait. So hold on. So he offered Scatter Boo for your wins? Correct.

[Caller/Listener]

He offered.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Oh, he offered Tracy.

[Chris Welsh]

Oh, he offered Tracy for wins. And then you're looking at the other two guys and you're wondering if you should look at them.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, there's Judkins, which I also have Samson, so I'm kind of in a good position. I have both those backfields. And then there's also Rashi Rice, which I kind of. He doesn't have like, that's like his last receiver. He has a few more over that. So I like. He has like, Glad McConkey, Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Calvin Ridley. So I don't think he's ever gonna salt, you know, even start Rushy Rice.

[Chris Welsh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Gotcha, Gotcha. I just needed to get fully up to speed. Fits. I think getting Rice is a no brainer. I don't think he does it. I do that in a heartbeat. That's the one I want. Number one. Number two and probably two B or one B is Judkins. I don't think he does it. I have almost no interest in Tracy. So that's the. That's where I stand on this. I don't think. I think I play hardball and I pass on Tracy at any cost for two weeks of a super flex. And if he would do either of the others, I'm doing a celebration dance after by trading wins for either one of those guys. But I unfortunately do not think they will do it.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Completely agree with your take. And I would maybe try to layer the deal and add something to get Rasheed Rice like Wentz, plus a little trinket.

[Chris Welsh]

How about this? How about. What if I did this for you? What if I said Wentz and Cam Scatterboo and now he has the Giants running backs and you get Rashee Rice. Is that too much? I don't think it's too much. It's a horrible matchup for Cam this week.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

That is in the ballpark for sure. It's just. Yeah, I Mean, like, I think Cam could be a legit, like, lead running back after this week when you don't want to play in this tough matchup. But, like, it's pretty close to fair.

[Chris Welsh]

Rasheed would be pretty good when he comes back. I don't know if I do that trade Judkins, but I'm talking that that was my version of offering for Rasheed Rice. I don't know if I do that for Judkins because Judkins is going to get suspended to some capacity this season.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Why? You think so? Yeah, he wasn't charged with anything.

[Chris Welsh]

Well, I mean, we've. We've had. I mean, maybe I'm just reading too much into the reports. The reports have said that they're like, the NFL is still going through this. They want to make an example. Maybe that's just a bunch of, like, bull crap, and that's not real.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

But, like, I know. I know Drew Davenport in our. Our industry, who is a lawyer, and he. I think Drew believes there will be no suspension. We'll see. I could be wrong about that.

[Chris Welsh]

So then do you hate that? Doing that for Judkins? Chuckins.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

What do you mean when, like, yeah.

[Chris Welsh]

Winston and Cam scatter Boo for Judkins?

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Oh, no, no, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

No, I. I would. I mean, I would almost rather have Scatter Boo than judging straight up. Yeah, it's close.

[Chris Welsh]

It's close.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

But maybe the. Maybe the right. Like, Rice is probably going to be more valuable than Scatterboo, and Wentz has a very limited window of value. So I. I kind of like your idea.

[Chris Welsh]

Okay, well, those are some ways to explore it. Always fun. We're not good at lightning round because we just like to talk football. That's what Fitzy and I know. We like to talk, but it's okay. We like to talk theory. We'll go a little bit longer because I think it's important to do this type of stuff, and that's why we are here for you. And hopefully you guys listening on the podcast, take a moment out and come and join us. Come and join us on the Discords. We're here for the extra point 2pm Eastern every Thursday. Fitzy does a couple others as well throughout the week on Tuesdays. You can find the full schedule when you join up fantasypros.com chat. You can, I think, as I've been told, you just have to have, like, a free fantasy pros account and you can hook it up and be in here. There are premium things and if you want to do that then you can upgrade the premium and have premium discord and like have all the stuff. But if not, you can at least come and hang out. You can be a part of the show. You'll get the show a day before it airs. Probably won't do it today, but Erickson and I, we stick around for like a little bit extra after. It's a bunch of cool reasons to do it. So check it out today and everything else in between. Make sure you're on the YouTube this week. The twitch. You're subscribed on the podcast and we all got to give a big shout out. And thanks to Fitzy for stepping in and doing the show with us. My man.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

It was fun. Thanks for having me Welsh. Always great to talk to the people.

[Chris Welsh]

Fitz is getting a lot of me this week. We had the three ranked shows and more of this. That's that you're on the Erickson duty. Erickson can't get away from me during the week and now Fitzy can't. Well thank you to all of you guys. You guys killed it in the questions. Thank you to all the lives. We'll try to come back and even into the chat and answer some questions. That is going to do it. For the extra point, I'm Chris Welsh for Pat Fitzmaurice and all you awesome people. Good luck in week three and we'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football podcast.

[Caller/Listener]

If you love the show, the best.

[Chris Welsh]

Free way to support us is by.

[Caller/Listener]

Leaving a positive review on apple [e-mail].

[Chris Welsh]

Review or on Spotify Spotify.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Follow us on X Instagram and tick.

[Caller/Listener]

Tock at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to.

[Chris Welsh]

Our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros.

[Pat Fitzmaurice]

Time.

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[Pat Fitzmaurice]

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[Chris Welsh]

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[Pat Fitzmaurice]

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[Chris Welsh]

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[Caller/Listener]

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[Chris Welsh]

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[Pat Fitzmaurice]

This is an I Heart podcast.