Week 6 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls (Ep. 1763)

Summary

FantasyPros Fantasy Football Podcast

Episode: Week 6 Lineup Advice: Starts, Sits, Player Debates, and TD Calls (Ep. 1763)
Date: October 9, 2025
Hosts: Seth Wilcock, Jake Seeley, Pat Fitzmorris

Episode Overview

This Week 6 episode dives into start/sit advice, deep player debates, and touchdown calls aimed to help fantasy football managers perfect their lineups. Hosts Seth Wilcock, Jake Seeley, and Pat Fitzmorris breakdown key matchups, evaluate trending waiver pickups, make their "flag plant" start-of-the-week picks, and engage in rapid-fire debates at every position—all with their signature banter and analytical insight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Waiver Wire Start/Sit Decisions

Michael Carter (Arizona Cardinals, RB)

• Ranking: Both Jake and Pat have Carter at RB23 this week.
• Jake: “I have him in front of DeAndre Swift and Jalen Warren… even in front of Chase Brown at this point because Chase Brown in that offense has been miserable.” [04:14]
• Analysis: Both see Carter as a strong RB2/flex, citing his workload (23 touches last week) and neutral matchup against the Colts.
• Pat: “He had a 57% snap share and it’s really hard to see the Cardinals boosting Amari Dmercado usage after his goal line theatrics last week.” [05:10]

Hassan Haskins (Chargers, RB)

• Pat: Ranked as RB31 (“mid-range RB3”). Safest bet in the backfield, likely to be used at the goal line but with little pass-catching upside. “It is guesswork with Kamani Vidal and the Chargers brought in Nahim Hines, a pass catcher. So there are some wild cards here.” [06:36]
• Jake: Leaned Vidal initially for pass-catching, but Hines signing indicates Haskins may get goal line work. “I still only have him at 32... we’re all kind of saying avoid if possible.” [07:47]

Kendrick Bourne (49ers, WR)

• Jake: Not expecting another 100+ yards but sees him as a “solid WR3 if Jennings and Pearsall are both out because it’s clearly Mac Jones’ favorite target.” [09:25]
• Pat: If both Jennings and Pearsall are out, Bourne ~WR30 and a start. If only one returns, a flexible option in deeper leagues. [10:31]

Mason Taylor (Jets, TE)

• Pat: Ranked TE15, citing low upside in a poor matchup (Broncos defense has limited TEs). “He pretty much has become the number two passing option in the Jets offense behind Garrett Wilson. But targets from Justin Fields aren’t quite as valuable...” [11:37]
• Jake: Slightly lower on Taylor (TE16), preferring Theo Johnson, Tonjes, even Njoku. “If that’s the case, everybody struggles, including Mason Taylor. So I’m a little bit more concerned than he is.” [12:38]

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2. Flag Plant Players (Starts of the Week)

Pat: Caleb Williams (Bears, QB)

• “He’s averaging 21 fantasy points per game, which puts him QB6 in that category… it’s a little easier to throw on the Commanders than it is to run on them.” [19:09]

Jake: Troy Franklin (Broncos, WR)

• “Jets allow the second most yards per route run to WRs out wide. That’s a good thing for Troy Franklin... it’s the number two wide receiver that has really destroyed the Jets...” [21:01]
• Franklin’s upcoming schedule (Jets, Giants, Cowboys) makes him a strong multi-week play.

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3. Start/Sit Debates

Running Back Debates

• Tony Pollard (Titans) vs. Chase Brown (Bengals)

  • Pat: “Pollard. He is the better matchup. The Raiders have allowed the 10th most fantasy points to running backs.” [22:53]
  • Jake: “The floor is with Tony Pollard, but... I actually have Chase Brown a few spots higher. I just think he's still getting all the volume.” [23:39]

• Jalen Warren (Steelers) vs. Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots)

  • Both lean Warren, wary of Stevenson’s fumble issues. “Stevenson might be one fumble away from a benching...” (Pat) [26:35]
  • Both see Warren as safer despite tougher matchup (Cleveland).

Wide Receiver Debates

• Jacoby Myers (Raiders) vs. Zay Flowers (Ravens)

  • Pat: Leans Myers; skeptical of Flowers with backup QB.
  • Jake: Slight edge to Flowers for higher ceiling; “The Titans... are actually a worse matchup than the Rams are... Cooper Rush is going to go to Zay Flowers.” [30:10]

• Calvin Ridley (Titans) vs. Wan’Dale Robinson (Giants)

  • Jake: Slightly prefers Wan’Dale for volume but doesn’t feel strongly. [32:23]
  • Pat: Sides Ridley, citing soft matchup vs. Raiders (“Ridley does have a pretty soft matchup... Given Giants’ depleted WR corps, I still worry about Jackson Dart and facing the Eagles’ defense.”) [33:45]

Honorable Mention Debates (Rapid Fire)

• Kareem Hunt vs. Zach Charbonnet: Split decisions. Jake: Hunt (more goal line work); Pat: Charbonnet (softer matchup, Seattle's run-heavy tendencies). [37:33]
• Jameson Williams vs. Tee Higgins: Split. Pat prefers Williams’ big-play upside and Goff’s reliability; Jake would lean slightly Higgins for volume (if forced to play either). [38:47]
• DeAndre Swift vs. Brian Thomas Jr.: Both close, but Jake prefers Swift for floor, Pat sees upside in Brian Thomas Jr., skeptical of Swift’s effectiveness. [41:42]
• David Montgomery vs. DJ Moore: Both favor Monty due to DJ Moore’s diminished involvement. [44:46]
• Matthew Golden vs. Travion Henderson: Both lean Henderson; Golden’s role still too volatile. [46:08]
• Kenneth Gainwell vs. Travis Hunter: Both prefer Gainwell for secure touches. [48:54]
• Sam Darnold vs. Bryce Young (QB): Both opt for Darnold as the reliable option. [51:17]
• David Njoku vs. Kyle Pitts (TE): Both prefer Njoku, but admit it’s a coin flip. “Very slightly in toward David Njoku.” (Pat) [55:03]

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4. Touchdown Calls

Running Back: J.K. Dobbins (Pat)

• “He’s had a touchdown in four of the Broncos’ first five games... Dobbins keeps the touchdown mojo rolling this week against the Jets.” [58:31]

Wide Receiver: Puka Nacua (Seth)

• “The Ravens have arguably the worst secondary I've ever seen in some time... Puka has at least 10 receptions in four out of five games.” [58:45]

Tight End: Tucker Kraft (Jake)

• “He’s been, arguably, the best play this week at tight end... Play the matchup!” [59:15]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jake on Pod List Controversy:
  “Every time I do a list, they assume like I'm consuming that entire list every single day... I'm not sitting there eating 25 bags of candy when I made this list.” [01:10]

• Pat on RB Fumble Risk:
  “If you are a Rhamondre Stevenson stakeholder, this fumbling problem is terrifying... three fumbles in three games.” [26:35]

• Jake on Buying Low on Calvin Ridley:
  “I was buying low on Calvin Ridley. I was like he's had one of the toughest schedules opening the gate...” [32:23]

• Pat on DJ Moore:
  “D.J. moore just isn't very involved. His target counts… 5-6-5-5. Roma Dunes is the alpha receiver in Chicago now. Like it took me a little while to accept that, but I now accept it.” [44:46]

• Jake on TE Usage:
  “If this was two weeks in a row of seeing that usage for Njoku over Fannin with Dylan Gabriel, I would say Njoku, but I can't yet...” [53:56]

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Segment Timestamps

• Waiver Wire Start/Sits: [04:14 - 14:28]
• Flag Plant Players: [18:56 - 22:12]
• RB/WR Debates: [22:12 - 47:25]
• Rapid Fire Flex Debates: [47:25 - 50:59]
• Quarterback & Tight End Debates: [51:17 - 56:00]
• Touchdown Calls: [58:04 - 60:34]

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Tone & Banter

The hosts maintain a light-hearted and occasionally irreverent tone, mixing pop culture (Halloween candy, sodas, Tim Allen TV tangents) with hard-hitting, analytics-driven fantasy advice. The rapport between Jake and Pat, in particular, provides both expert disagreement and a sense of friendly competition that underscores their deep knowledge and makes the episode highly engaging.

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Summary for Non-listeners

If you missed this episode, you missed a blend of actionable advice and entertaining banter from three of the sharpest minds in fantasy football. Whether you need a tiebreaker for your RB2 or want to find a sneaky start at TE, this week’s show covers it all. Don’t forget to check out their TD contest, and remember: it’s not just about who you draft—it’s about who you start.

For complete rankings and start/sit tools, visit fantasypros.com/rankings and make sure to join their discord for more weekly contests.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[Pat Fitzmorris]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Seth Wilcock]

All right, and welcome into the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. It's the week six start Sit episode where we'll help you set your lineups to perfection. Because let's face it, you can have the most loaded fancy team known to man. But it doesn't matter if you're not making the right start sit decisions. I'm your host, Seth Wilcock, joined by a couple of the best rankers in the business and including a man who has a pretty impressive Google knowledge panel in a graphic T shirt collection that put many to shame. He's the athletics Jake Seeley. Jake, great to be rocking and rolling with you today. How are you? As week six approaches, my friend, I'm doing great.

[Jake Seeley]

Although everybody in the comments this week because I ranked my top 10 favorite sodas thinks I'm going to die tomorrow. Because they think every time, every time I do a list, they assume like I'm consuming that entire list every single day. Like when I did my Halloween candy rankings, they're like, man, you have diabetes. I'm like, I'm not sitting there eating 25 bags of candy when I made this list.

[Seth Wilcock]

What's the one on one of sodas.

[Jake Seeley]

Then Tell me that for me it's gonna be that. A lot of people don't agree. Most of my sodas are zeros, to be fair. So I don't even have the sugar. But PIB0. I'm a Mr. Pibb guy. We actually went to the movies yesterday and I was super excited because you can only find them in those giant red machines. Now I forget what they're called and I spent the $7 at the movies just to get PIB0.

[Seth Wilcock]

All right, well, good to hear. And also back with us in action is maybe the Internet's most tolerable Green Bay packers fan, Pat Fitzmorris. Fitzhug, how are you today? And what is your 101 of sodas as well?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Doing great. While most tolerable or only tolerable? And I can't say the word tolerable today. Apparently 101 is. So I'm just kind of a diet Coke guy. But I'd like a good diet pib, diet root beer, something like that. What do you guys bark 0 if.

[Jake Seeley]

You can find that. It's so good.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Let me ask you guys what is the one on one of Halloween candy? So since we're in October.

[Seth Wilcock]

Oh, you're gonna probably Kit Kat, right? Kit Kat.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I like a bite sized Kit Kat. That's probably really.

[Jake Seeley]

I think that's one of the most overrated. Cause it doesn't. Here's why I always get pushback on this is like you're never satiated. I know it's candy. You're not supposed to get full from it. But like you can 17 KitKats and be like did I eat anything?

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah.

[Jake Seeley]

My 101 used to be the holiday shaped Reese's peanut butter cups. Cause they're better than the regular cups.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

All of them.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yep.

[Seth Wilcock]

Agreed.

[Jake Seeley]

And then about seven, eight years ago, there's the magic candy that everybod should try is the Nerds Gummy Clusters that took the 1 1. I was on it before Mina Kime. She stole it from me. You can check back the Paul Sporer and look at the date for the tweet. But yes, the Nerds Gummy Clusters all time best.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, well maybe a potential new sponsor to the program in future years since we have the one of the originators of running that candy. Today's program does look like this folks. Start sits with this week's popular waiver ads, our flag plant players and then all the start sit debates you can handle. Quick, quick shout out to everyone who's riding with us on The Fantasy Pros YouTube channel or the audio feed. Thank you so much for all the support so far this season. Please do us a quick favor and give this video a thumbs up if you enjoy this type of content and make sure you're subscribing to the channel if you're new. Also be sure to head over to the Fantasy Pros website fantasypros.com rankings. You can get our full weekly and rest of season consensus rankings there. And gentlemen, let's jump into if we're starting or sitting these popular waiver wire ads. And let's start with Michael Carter of The Arizona Cardinals RB26 in ECR, now rostered in over 60% of ESPN leagues after scoring 18.3 fantasy points on 23 touches last week. Jake, is it a full send on Michael Carter for you this week against the Indianapolis Colts not a full send.

[Jake Seeley]

But I think there's a good chance they can start him. I'm a little bit above consensus. I have him at 23. I have him in front of DeAndre Swift and Jalen Warren just behind him and even in front of Chase Brown at this point because Chase Brown in that offense has been miserable. No matter the fact that Joe Flacco being there. The Warren situation comes to the fact that what's the split going to be? I know he was the most valuable one, but are they going to ease him back in because of what a Kenneth Gainwell did before the buy against a very tough defense? Is he going to be back in the lead? There's a question there. DeAndre Swift has been volume reliant and he gets the Commanders, which isn't a miserable matchup. But what if they come out of the buy and they're like, hey, let's finally give Kyle Menangai more touches so it comes down to a volume standpoint. The Colts aren't the best matchup, but he's in the conversation for me. Fitz with like Scatterboo Montgomery, Kenneth Walker, kind of those kind of situations where I like the talent better, but I know the workload of Michael Carter.

[Seth Wilcock]

Fitz, do you feel very similarly about Carter? Where's he at in your rankings?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I also have him 23. I got him behind a lot of the guys Jake just mentioned, but I still, I do think he's kind of got that similar profile. Like you said, it's at 23 touches. Last week he had a 57% snapshare and it's really hard to see the Cardinals boosting Amari Dmerca usage after his goal line theatrics last week. So you know, ideally we won't see Carter lose any goal line touches to Bam Knight again, but I do think the overall touch outlook is pretty good and the Colts are like an above average run defense maybe, but kind of a neutral matchup. I'm not too worried about it.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, I just love guaranteed touches. I love running back volume. I went and sold my soul after week one and thought Dylan Sampson might be a guy to continue to get work. So I I've been down this road before but Michael Carter, it looks like he will be the guy in Arizona. Some confidence from Jake and Fitz for him. Also we have Hassan Haskins here of the Chargers RB44 in ECR rankings but that has been moving up consistently throughout the week. I think he's getting closer to that RB3 range. He's a 20, 22, 4th rounder out of Michigan. He gets another shot to make his former coach proud this week in a great matchup against the Dolphins. So Pat, in what scenario would you be firing up Haskins this week?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Oh boy. Shout out to whoever has the deed to your soul, Seth, for that Sampson trade.

[Seth Wilcock]

It's my brother. It's my own brother.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Oh no. So I've got Haskins ranked as like a mid range RB3 this week, running back 31. And I do think Haskins is probably the safest bet to offer some fantasy value in the Charger backfield because he's the only Chargers running back left who was on the opening day roster. He had 1300 yards and 20 touchdown runs in his final college season at Michigan playing for Jim Harbaugh. It's kind of a plotter and doesn't have much catch pass catching potential. But I think it's a safe bet that Haskins is going to be the Chargers goal line back. So there's at least some, you know, sunniness to his touchdown outlook. But I do have no idea what this backfield is going to look like. It is guesswork with Kamani Vidal and the Chargers brought in Nahim Hines, a pass catcher. They brought in Amar Johnson who was on the packers for a while and looked pretty good in the preseason. So there are some wild cards here and I just no inkling what the Chargers are going to do or how they're going to deploy their backs this week.

[Seth Wilcock]

Jake, it's a scenario where like if this was Najee Harris, he would probably be What, a top 15, top 20 running back. But we do have Haskins and a committee here. So what is your approach to him this week?

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, initially I had Vidal over Haskins because last year they gave it all more touches with Haskins when they were kind of forced to in that situation. So it's like, hey, you know what, being what Fitz just said. Also, it's a very low bar to say this because of Haskins, but Vidal has more passing game upside than Haskins because Haskins basically has like none. So that's why I was leaning towards Vidal. But what I'm glad Fitz brought up, as I brought it up on my podcast yesterday with Ian Harditz, is that the signing of Naim Hines, which Naim Hines, who does he probably compliment if he's going to be the pass catching option, is what Fitz says is likely Haskins and we're probably looking at a Michael Carter and DaMarcato type of situation for them. That being said, I still only have him at 32. I have him barely in front of a Dole. I have him down with like I hope that Travian Henderson is starting to see more of an uptick and it's a good matchup. And of course the injury to Antonio Gibson but like in the Pacheco Range behind Tony Pollard, even with Tajie Spears, it's not a spot where I want to start him. But I would lean Haskins over Vidal just because and maybe as Fitz says it's okay for us to say we're trying to do our best to read through the tea leaves. The Hines made me the hind signing made me change my opinion. It still could end up being Vidal and that's why I think we're all kind of saying avoid if possible.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, what about Kendrick Bourne here, wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers. Wide receiver 41, currently in ECR. This is a veteran who had a huge performance last Thursday night. This time he gets Tampa Bay, Brock Purdy, Ricky Piersoll, Juwan Jennings, all DMPs on Wednesday. Mac Jones Limited as well. So Jake, with that being said, do you think Kendrick Bourne is in for another blow up spot here?

[Jake Seeley]

First third 100 yard game since 2022 since the last time that he had one and now he's got two to his record. I bring that up to say like that's I don't think anybody should expect another hundred yard gain. Although it really comes down to it's going to crazy to say Mac Jones if Mac Jones is fine because as you said he was limited too. It sounds like he should be if Jennings and Pearson are both out. I had I start with players in my rankings and then take them out as we find they're not playing. So I had Jennings and Pearsall both in. Ed Jennings at 30 sandwiched between Wandell Robinson and Chris Olave. I could probably see just slotting Kendrick Bourne in right there because that's in front of T. Higgins. Okay, cool with Joe Flacco, but he's got the Packers Calvin Ridley. Like it's great to see Calvin Ridley finally show up, but I think that Bourne is in the Ridley conversation. Like I'm not going to put Kendrick Bourne inside the top 20. I think he's going to repeat last week, but I think he's a solid wires here. 3 if Jennings and Pearsall is both out because it's clearly Mac Jones favorite target.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah Mac Jones, Kendrick Bourne, this might be the San Francisco 49ers team that Kyle Shanahan always wanted. Pat so where are you at on Bourne this week?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, I think Mr. Sealey framed it pretty effectively in the same way. I'm going to handle the rankings basically like I will have Bourne right around wide receiver 30. If Jennings and Pearsall are both out green light for Bourne, then you're playing him. If one of Jennings or Pearsall plays, and I think Jennings is probably more likely than Pearsall based on the reporting so far. Yellow light for Bourne, maybe in bigger leagues you, you're forced to use him. Okay, flex option. But if Jennings and Pearsall were to both play red light for Bourne, then you're sitting him and you know, as of our last practice information before this show, which was Wednesday, neither Jennings nor Pearsall were practicing.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, let's go to the tight end position with Mason Taylor of the New York jets. Tight end 12, currently in ECR. This is a rookie out of LSU, son of NFL hall of Famer Jason Taylor, coming off a three game stretch where he saw 25 total targets, now gets a Denver Broncos team in MetLife Stadium. Pat, what's your confidence on Mason Taylor this week?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Like not super high. I've got him. Tight end 12. I'd be more enthusiastic of the matchup were better. The Broncos have one of the top defenses in the league. They have a lot of the eighth fewest fantasy points to tight ends. I'd also feel better if Taylor had a different quarterback, quite honestly. He has 14 catches and 19 targets over his last two games. And he pretty much has become the number two passing option in the jets offense behind Garrett Wilson. But targets from Justin Fields aren't quite as valuable as targets from higher quality passers. Like Taylor's averaging 6.3 yards per target and. Excuse me, 6.3 yards per catch and 8.8 actually I don't know if that's right. Sorry. I think it's 6, 6.3 yards per target, which is just sort of. Okay.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah. Jake, how do you feel about Mason Taylor? It's a world where there's not a lot of reliable pass catchers at the tight end position right now. We have seen the volume, but as Pat said, you know, not all volume is great volume.

[Jake Seeley]

And honestly, if we would have ended that game with 10% of the game still left to play. Justin Field, Mason Taylor, Garrett Wilson, all would have had miserable days. Like that's just the fact of like that last 10% of the game made all the difference for all of them. And I think that's the biggest point you bring up with Fitz too Is that what he's saying is it's Justin Fields is the quarterback. Like if it goes bad, it goes really bad. Like, I'm not even talking about the game he got injured. But going against the Broncos, this could be one of those weeks where Justin Fields throws 140 yards and zero touchdowns. If that's the case, everybody struggles, including Mason Taylor. So I'm a little bit more concerned than he is. I'm at 16. Like I'm behind Theo Johnson, Tonjes, even in Joku. Now the fact that Dylan Grayboro looked at him so much. No, I have Fannin further down the problem. Like Fannin was looking like he was going to be the better option and then they made the quarterback switch and maybe it was just a one week thing, but I brought this up earlier and I don't remember if I talked about Joe on the waiver show, but the fact that Fannin's snap percentage dropped all the way to 40% and I don't know if that's because it's Gabriel's at quarterback and they trust in Joku more in the blocking game, which obviously you still want him running routes, but he also wasn't running as many routes because he wasn't on the field as much. Maybe it's a one week thing, but I want to see Fannin get his tick back up before I put him back in my lineup at tight end. I have him one spot behind Taylor, just to be clear. But you know, Tanja, Zenjoku, Ertz, even coming off the zero, those are names I would start in front of Mason Taylor, but he's in the same tier of player if you really still want to use him.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, I got to correct myself, Seth. I've got, I've got Mason Taylor ranked 15th.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Jake mentioned that when he mentioned that he's got Theo Johnson, right? I'm like, wait, I thought I had Theo Johnson ranked ahead of Taylor. I do. Like I've got Darren Waller, Zach Ertz and Theo Johnson is the three guys ranked immediately above Taylor and Fan and directly below.

[Seth Wilcock]

Tight end is such a fun position. We have these, you know, rookies, young promising players like Theo Johnson, Mason Taylor, then like the old Wiley vets and Zach Ertz and. And Darren Waller still out there running up people. So great to see that. Before we keep it moving, I would like to shout out our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. The Hard Rock Bet sportsbook app is clean, easy to use and also packed with trends, insights and odds. So you can make any day, game day, the bright lights of the big App will set the stage for Week 6 Eagles vs Giants. Check out these streaks from the Hard Rock Bet stats hub right here in the app. Fantasy Pros has Jalen Hurts as our consensus second ranked quarterback this week. He's thrown for 250 plus yards following a loss in four straight outings. His over is just 195.5 yards. In the Hard Rock Bet app, we give Saquon Barkley an A grade. He's reached the end zone in five straight road games. I'm down on that anytime TD already. You can find odds for streaks just like this on the Hard Rock Bet Apple. If you still haven't placed your first bet on Hard Rock Bet yet, don't worry, it's not too late. Just place your first five dollar bet and if it wins, you're going to score yourself $150 in bonus bets on top of your payout. Plus tonight on the Hard Rock Bet app, you can get a Thursday night parlay boost to boost your parlay so it gets extra winnings. And if you want new promos, they have them every single day. So if you're listening to this later on, just open up the app and check out what they've got. Run it, don't walk and download the Hard Rock Bet app today to 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 1-809 with it gambling department call 1-800- GAMBLER in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey. Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia if you're an inventory.

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[Seth Wilcock]

All right gentlemen, we're talking flag plant players, our starts of the week. And Fitz, I'm sending to you who I don't know if all of a sudden because you live near Chicago, you're having a little bias towards the Bears, but that's where you're heading with your start of the week.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, Caleb Williams. I think we all hold Ben Johnson in pretty high regard as a play caller. He's one of the sharpest offensive minds in the game. Johnson is coming off a bye week, so he's had two weeks to cook up a game plan for this one and script his first 12 to 15 plays for Caleb. And Caleb has become a fantasy quarterback. One, he's averaging 21 fantasy points per game, which puts him QB6 in that category. 231 1/2 passing yards a game, which is about 25 more than he was averaging last year. 27 1/2 rushing yards a game, eight touchdown passes. Pretty good this year so far. Caleb Johnson has been. And it's a little easier to throw on the commanders than it is to run on them. They are fifth against the run in DVOA and 18th against the pass.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, a lot of motivation there for that Chicago team that let that game slip away and kind of crater their.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Season so they could exercise some demons from the Tyreek Stevenson game for sure.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, absolutely. How do you guys feel about the double header Monday night thing? I know it's usually like a week one and two thing, but now we're seeing it all the way into week six. Do you like the two games? Is it too much for you guys?

[Jake Seeley]

No.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Big thumbs up overlap.

[Jake Seeley]

Oh, see, I prefer. I prefer the overlap because I don't want the 10 o' clock start. Like I'm.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, I went to bed in the.

[Jake Seeley]

Fourth quarter of the Raiders game. Like I had to get up the next morning.

[Seth Wilcock]

Fitz, you have the kids out of the house though, so you can do. You can put another TV above your other tv. That's what I have going on right now. That's true.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

So, yeah, I mean, I just, I don't like the overlapping game so much tonight. I'd love to just dial into one game.

[Seth Wilcock]

I understand it is a lot. I can certainly get behind that. And Jake, for your start of the week, your flag plant, you're going to New York. But one of the opposing players this week.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah. And actually for the game, going to London because that's where they're playing this week.

[Seth Wilcock]

Thank you. Yes.

[Jake Seeley]

Looking at Troy Franklin, and not just for this week, for a couple of weeks here. But the biggest part about this is this is in the column over the Athletic, I said the jets allow the second most yards per out run to wide receivers out wide. Which that's a good thing for Troy Flanken. On top of it, it's the number two wide receiver that has really destroyed the jets because as we just saw last week, why Ryan Flournoy was a thing is because Sauce Gardner, of course, was not on him. He was spending his days with Garrett Wilson and that changed things. Or not Garrett Wilson, sorry, George Pickens. And that changed things that Pickens saved his day with the touchdown Late, but you're looking at the number twos this entire year. Against the Jets, Franklin has been running as the two. Despite the fact that Marvin Mims still scores touchdowns, he's still only out there 40, 50% of the time. Franklin is the true two and I think this is the week where it's finally going to pay off. You know, Franklin had that one big game and he's been kind of outside of that, but I think that that game this week against the jets and then oh, by the way, who does he follow it up with? The Giants and the Cowboys. You're about to get the best three game stretch for Franklin and obviously Cortland Sutton. If you're hoping that Bo Nix makes the turnaround, if you want to buy a low on the quarterback, just to throw that out there, it's the best three game stretch you can find for wide receivers right now. And that being Bo Nix. Is this with the jets and then the Giants and Dallas Cowboys?

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, might be a sneaky play in DFS lineups. Also potentially some prop bets that you can target Troy Franklin in as well. So like that call from you, Jake, let's get into our start sit debates and I want to start at the running back position with a battle of probably the two most mid running backs this season so far. Tony Pollard of the Titans, Chase Brown of the Bengals. Pollard RB27 in ECR averaging 11.3 points per game on the road to face the Raiders. Brown RB28 and ECR averaging just under 10 points per game. And now gets Joe Flacco under center for a trip to Lambeau. So Pat, I know you have some stakes in one of these games. Who would you prefer to start this week, Pollard or Chase Brown?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Pollard. He is the better matchup. The Raiders have allowed the 10th most fantasy points to running backs. The packers have allowed the fourth fewest to running backs and I think Pollard has a slightly better offensive line. Maybe more than slightly. The Bengals rank dead last in the league in the run blocking metric. Adjusted line yards and PFF gives the Bengals the worst run blocking grade in the league. Whereas the Titans are sort of middle of the pack in both adjusted line yards and PFF run blocking grade. So Chase Brown is averaging two and a half yards per carry. I'm Team Pollard here.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. Jake, are you also with Tony Pollard? I have him in a ton of leagues. I thought this was going to be potentially a great spot for him, especially early in the season.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

No.

[Seth Wilcock]

Tajie Spears starting out hasn't looked that way so far though.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, I think this is going to come down to maybe it's a bias here. And I hate Tony Pollard just because I reeled against people drafting him this year. Because as Fitz will remember, we did some of these shows and I was like, he was RB24 in points per game with all of the touches last year until late in the season. And then Tajie Spears came in and he was even worse. And that's what it was this year. He wasn't even RB24 before Spears came back. He was RB28 in points per game before Spears came back. And I just. That's where I go with Tony Pollard. If you want to start him, let me say this 100% the floor is with Tony Pollard, but when it comes to this range, I actually have Chase Brown a few spots higher. I don't think it's a Joe Flacco effect. I just think it's. He's still getting all the volume. And maybe the packers, yes, are the more worrisome defense, but maybe they get a spark going by Flacco. Maybe the offense just does a few things better. I don't think that Flacco's played any better than Jake Browning this year. To be clear. Like you can go watch. He hasn't looked better than Browning Browning. So it could be the same offense, but just because I think the higher ceilings with Chase Brown, I have him two spots in front of Tony Pollard. But if you want to play the floor, It like you said, 100. The floor is with Tony Pollard still.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, let's get some more running backs and let's target some overlooked starters for their own team. Jalen Warren of the Steelers from Andre Stevenson of the Patriots. Warren back healthy as the ECR RB23, averaging almost 15 points per game. He's going up against the Browns in Akashire Stadium down there on the North Shore. And then Stevenson ECR RB 2910.1 fantasy points per game at New Orleans. This guy keeps fumbling, but it doesn't matter here. Jake, he just continues to get the work from Mike Frable and company.

[Jake Seeley]

I mean, love something as much as Mike Frable loves Ramandre Stevenson. I mean, Trevor and Henderson got a little bit more work last week. He was getting some of the touches. It just wasn't as effective as Stevenson in that game. Despite what we see from Henderson as the abilities we would think that it be could should be there. It's going to come and I would be patient with Henderson. And if it wasn't for the matchups, this would be a huge back like I would have Jalen Warren way ahead of Stevenson, but because the matchup he's gets Cleveland again. I brought up earlier the first game back for Warren and it's been the bye week and Kenneth Gamwell looked really good against the Vikings. So I think that I would still lean slightly Warren because we're talking about two split backfields and I'm going to take the talent I believe in more even though it's the tougher matchup. But if you want to argue Stevenson, I'm not going to hate you for it. And this is another one. I have Warren at 25 and Stevenson at 27. I'm just going to go with the running back that's look better overall even though the fact that Stevenson just continues to churn out stuff because he can't Frable loves him. That's what I keep going back to.

[Seth Wilcock]

Pat, what do you think here on these two RBs?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I'm pretty much right with Jake on this one. Like I have Warren ranked one spot higher and I'm not at all sure that's the right call. The profiles are pretty similar. Warren and Stevenson are both the one A guys in unpredictable backfield. They both add a little bit of value as pass catchers. Like we probably don't give Ramon Dre enough credit as a pass catcher.

[Jake Seeley]

No.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

But he has 13 receptions already. He's on a 40 catch pace. And Ramon Ray does have the much softer matchup this week against the Saints versus, you know, Jalen Warren getting the Browns one of the best run defenses in the league. But if you are a Ramon Ray Stevenson stakeholder, this fumbling problem is terrifying. Like he lost another one last week. He's lost three in the last three games. He fumbled seven times last season, lost three of them.

[Jake Seeley]

Okay, and you've got 18 more and then Henderson's getting his.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

That's true. I mean we keep waiting for him to get thrown into fumble jail and it hasn't happened. And man, especially with the guy's talent as as Travion Henderson behind him like Stevenson and we keep saying it and it doesn't happen, but Stevenson might be one fumble away from a benching or at the very least a greatly diminished role. And I don't know, maybe this season ending injury to Antonio Gibson gives Stevenson like a little bit more protection. But man, three fumbles in three games. Like ultimately I have to go with Warren here simply because he doesn't have the sword of Damocles hanging over his head the way Ramon Dre does.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, it's a good point. I'm really looking, I'm really looking forward to that Steelers game, man. Like I know Steelers Brown. It's not like a sexy matchup or anything, but being from this side of the state, it is one that everyone gets up for because you're usually either a Browns or a Steelers fan and everyone meets together down there on the shore. So looking forward to that one greatly there on one o' clock on Sunday. Let's go to the wide receiver position. Jacoby Myers against Zay Flowers is the first debate. Jacoby's early season target volume looked really strong, starting to slowly slip away though, leaving him as the ECR wide receiver 26, averaging 10.6 points per game. He's going up against the Titans. And then Zay Flower, he, he has only had one game under 70 receiving yards this season. Even last week with Cooper Rush at quarterback. Flowers currently the ECR wide receiver 28 after being limited this week though in practice, averaging 14.6 points per game. So Pat, do you have an early lean between these two wide receivers?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I do and it's toward Myers and yeah, I know and it's like spend trending downward 30 and 32 receiving yards his last two games. He was actually my flag plant on the show last week and I was trying to plant that flag in granite apparently. I just, I figured he was going to have a big day with Brock Bowers out and he had four catches for 32 yards on six targets against the calls. Albert O had had as many targets as Jacoby Myers did for the Raiders. So I mean, I would have to imagine Jacoby Myers was a little busier this week against the Titans. I just, I don't want to invest in the Baltimore passing game if I can help it. Assuming Lamar Jackson remains out for one more week and then comes back after the Ravens buy. Flowers had five targets last week and to his credit he caught all of them for 72 yards. But man, I just, I don't want to bet on a repeat of that with Cooper Rush at quarterback for the Ravens. And plus I think Zay Flowers is dealing with a shoulder issue right now. So I'm, I'm just taking Myers here.

[Seth Wilcock]

Alberto insert like the Obi Wan Kenobi gif. I haven't heard that name in a long, long time. Jake, where do you lean on Flowers versus Myers? Because as, as Fitz points out, Flowers really made the most of his opportunity. One of those catches being just an absolute long gainer that almost went for a touchdown.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, it's A cr. I'm wearing purple. That's where it's going to go. This is from somebody that this is another play I railed against. Like I was like, I do not want Zay Flowers where he was going in drafts and people know that.

[Seth Wilcock]

I remember that.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jake Seeley]

Wide receiver. This is what Zay Flowers does. And regardless of the quarterback is he has those huge games but then he disappears. He's DeSean Jackson from the years. He's Devontae Smith right now, which is great as a wide receiver three. I just didn't want him as a two. And the Titans I think are overlooked on look, they're not a great defense, but they're actually a worse matchup than the Rams are. This is a team that's only given up four double digit scores to wide receivers. One being including a rushing touchdown for Puka Nukua and that being Nukua and Adams are two of those four double digit scores. Mostly because this is also cause and effect. Like the Titans don't need to be passed on a ton so far this year. So it's like do they need to pass a ton? It's the Ravens. Will they lean on Derek Henry? Which as you just said, do they throw a lot? Because Cooper Rush, they don't want them to throw a lot. But those five receptions were 25% of the team's targets. Like Cooper Rush is going to go to Zay Flowers, it looks like the most often and that's why I give him the slight edge. I think both of these are risky at this point, but I think the higher ceilings with Zay Flowers just because Jacoby Myers has been nothing like. And part of that is, you know, Geno Smith. But you look at these game logs, he's back to not scoring touchdowns. But worse than that, he's not even getting yards. What's his league high this year is 90. And I think most of the other games are like 50, 60 or even 40. I just, it just feels as you brought up at the beginning, at the point is that Jacoby Myers just doesn't seem to be clicking with Geno Smith.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, it's disappointing. I was expecting some bigger things from Myers. Let's get to one more wide receiver debate here. Calvin Ridley of the Titans against Wanda Robinson of the Giants. I've been telling everyone for a couple weeks to go buy Calvin Ridley dirt cheap. I actually got pranked in my home league last week. I had a trade lined up for Ridley. I was trading Dallas Goddard and the guy's like, yeah, let's do it. And then he just never accepted the trade and he's like, ah, pranked you. And I was like, all right, that was cool. But either way, he went off last week. Five receptions, 131 yards. Would have won my match if I would have had him in the lineup. He's back up to ECR. Wide receiver 30 coming in. Now averaging 8.4 fantasy points per game, he is set to take on the Raiders. Wanda Robinson. He goes off tonight against the Eagles on Thursday night football. Wide receiver 29 in ECR largely due to him being the last man standing, but he hasn't cracked double digit PPR points since week two.

[Jake Seeley]

Jake no he hasn't. This almost feels very similar to the last discussion we're having is that Wanda Robinson is Jacoby Myers and you know, Calvin Ridley is Zay Flowers. We just need the Spider man gifts pointing at each other. And in this case it might sound stupid because now I'm going the opposite direction. I'm going to go Wandell just because the volume and the fact that Jackson Dart and this team, including Brian Dable, is taking more shots for Wandell downfield. Of course him being the primary option could just get completely bottled up because the Eagles might say, well, who else are you going to throw to? Jalen Hilat? Okay, cool. Bo Collins, who by the way as a rookie did himself no favors watching the interception happen in front of him last week. Like the options on this team are very few and far between. Why Theo Johnson and you saw a lot of two tight end sets last. But the problem with Ridley is that I with you, I was buying low on Calvin Ridley. I was like he's had one of the toughest schedules opening the gate and the connection hasn't been there with Cam Ward. But what do the Raiders do? They get after the quarterback and I just, I want Cam Ward to start clicking in the NFL like we saw glimpses of it, as you said last week. But against the Raiders, I'm just really concerned that we see that first three games of Cam Ward, which means just everybody suffers and nobody has a good game, including IU Manor. So I have Kevin Ridley at 34 of Wandell at 29. But similar. I'll echo something Fitz said earlier in the show. I don't feel great about both.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, Ridley or Robinson for you, Pat.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I agree with Jake. I don't feel good about both or either. And like Wandale, so he was kind of working real early in the season as a downfield guy with Russell Wilson. It was like a weird turnabout for him since he's normally the 3 yard average depth of target guy with Jackson Dart. Not so much like I I still think Russell Wilson is probably a better deep ball thrower than Jackson Darts. I've Ridley ranked higher this week and it's not just based on the 131 yard day Ridley had last week. I realized Ridley's season had been kind of a disaster up until week five. Like 30 or fewer receiving yards in three of his first four games, a 41.6% catch rate. A major problem with drops early on. Like a frustrating number of drops through the first month of the season. But Ridley does have a pretty soft matchup against a Raiders defense that's given up the third most receiving yards and fourth most fantasy points to wide receivers. And I know Wandale is basically the last man standing among the Giants receivers like Malik Neighbors out for the year, Darius Slayton, hamstring injury Top three healthy receivers for the Giants against the Eagles are going to be Wandale, Jalen Hyatts, who hasn't done anything in the NFL yet, and Bo Collins. I think the only other receiver they currently have on the roster is Gunner Olchevsky. So it's basically Wondale and the two tight ends, Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger. I just, I don't have any faith in Jackson Dart and the Giants passing game against the good Eagles defense. And Wanda is probably going to get a lot of facetime with Cooper De Jean, who's excellent. So it's a really tough matchup. I want Ridley here.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. My favorite bet of the night, Bo Collins over one and a half receptions. It's going off right around like minus 1:30. It's a DJ bet. But, but I did like Bo Collins last year at Notre Dame. He made some splash plays.

[Jake Seeley]

So hopefully plays you might go the opposite direction. You take under one catch for like 30 yards and then go over in the yards.

[Seth Wilcock]

I thought about that. I even thought about parlaying them together, but I was like, I don't know. I don't know how we'll feel about it. Last man standing. Isn't that like a new Tim Allen TV show or something? Any good? Have you seen that?

[Jake Seeley]

Which is that. That's the one before, the one that he's on now. Yeah, I watched the first couple seasons. It was. It was ok. You like Tim Allen? Like he's got a new car. One that we watched a few episodes and like this just is. This is rough.

[Seth Wilcock]

I miss what was home improvement back in the day. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jake Seeley]

Before the oldest kid ended up in jail or whatever. It was one of those. One of those kids ended up in a lot of legal trouble.

[Seth Wilcock]

Added to the list. Pat, you Tim Allen guy?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Not really. Honestly, I was not. I was not a home improvement guy.

[Seth Wilcock]

The Santa Claus. The kids like the Santa Claus at all.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I don't think they ever saw it. Wow, I missed that one. Yeah.

[Jake Seeley]

Do you hate Toy Story 2?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I'm good with Toy Story.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, guys, make sure you're saying goodbye to Start Sit dilemmas with the Fantasy Pro Start Sit Assistant. Within seconds, you know exactly who to play for optimum results every single week. Leveraging insights for numerous experts, the Start Sit Assistant aligns your lineup decisions with the top minds in fantasy football, giving you a competitive edge against your league mates. Maximize your lineup's potential with just a few clicks. Head to fantasypros.com myplaybook or download the FP app and make smarter decisions today. Let's get some rapid fire Start Sit decisions. And let's start at running back with Kareem Hunt, ECR running back 32 against Detroit. And then also Zach Charbonnet who is going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars currently RB31. Jake, do you have a lean here between Hunt and Charbonnet?

[Jake Seeley]

Barely. Hunt, just because similar to Charbonnet is getting the goal line work. But it's the consistency of that goal line work where it could be Kenneth Walker, he has been sprinkled in more seemingly so than Pacheco has. And then also if I'm going to go for the shootout type of a game where hopefully that helps things. Detroit, Kansas City over Jacksonville, Seattle.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. Pat, are you also rolling with Cream Hunt in this one?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I'm gonna go with Sharbs.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. It.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

It's.

[Jake Seeley]

We're gonna agree on one of these.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

It's really close. I mean, the profiles are similar. They're both touchdown dependent committee backs who basically get much of their fantasy value from being their team's respective goal line guys. They're both averaging about eight and a half fantasy points a game and half point ppr. I'm taking Charbonnet because his matchup against the Jaguars is maybe a little softer than Hunt's matchup against the Lions. And because the Seahawks are the run heaviest team in the league, they're running the ball on half of their offensive snaps.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. All right, let's go to wide receiver Jameson Williams, ECR wide receiver, 34 going up against Kansas City in that same matchup. Or T. Higgins against Pat's Green bay Packers. Wide receiver, 36 in ECR Pat, where are you going here between Williams and Higgins?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Jamo I just trust Jared Goff a lot more than I trust Joe Flacco. And the over under on golf's passing yardage at hard rock bat 238.5 yards. Flacco is at 210.5 and I would contend that's a pretty optimistic over under number for Flacco. So I know Jameson Williams output has been disappointing, just 11 catches in his first five games but he is averaging 20.3 yards per catch and 10.6 yards per target. So this is a guy who doesn't necessarily need heavy target volume to have a substantial impact because of his big play potential.

[Seth Wilcock]

Jake I said it this week earlier on a program that I would be inclined to take this opportunity to move T. Higgins if there's any sort of buzz going around him or Jamar Chase in their league because Pat, you kind of said it last week like I just don't know if this line can hold up to help a 40 year old Joe Flacco have enough time to get T. Higgins down the field who's top 20 in ADOT right now and this Green Bay packers secondary Jake been a lot better than I think everyone thought they would be after moving off Jair Alexander in the off season.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, I don't think either matchup is honestly great. You look at what the Chiefs have done this year and they've really locked down wide receivers in general and the one area where they seem to give up some is more the slot or at least short to intermediate field area. So that's why, I mean this is one where I don't want to start either. I really don't. And the only reason I give a slight lean to T. Higgins and that's why I laughed before because we're disagreeing again is I actually think Jameson Williams is a terrific buy low. I mentioned that to quite a few people because everything that Fitz said and he's actually still he's one of the top five in the league in air yards per target. Like it's their downfield opportunities, everything is still there for him. It's just not clicking as Fitz said. But I don't know if it clicks this week against the Chiefs. And yeah there's the shootout potential and this isn't like the Jared Goff is outdoors like we've seen Jared Goff that's four years ago. Jared Goff that's not a thing anymore. But it just comes down to okay, Joe Flacco's looked I said it earlier he hasn't looked much better than Jake Browning, if better at all. The one area where he is better than Jake Browning is on target throws. But maybe we get to the point where the like the defense is not going to stop the packers. So maybe we get to a situation where Flacco has to throw 40 times and that that just clicks for T. Higgins where it's going to be volume of targets that I'm playing Higgins over volume of targets for Jameson Williams. It's a very slim margin. I really don't want to start either this week, but that's why I don't I disagree with Fitz, but it's not like I'm like oh my God Fitz, you're completely wrong. Like I don't love either one of.

[Seth Wilcock]

Them this week we are a house divided today. I like it. Let's go to some flex debates here. DeAndre Swift, ECR running back 21 against Washington BTJ Brian Thomas Jr. Wide receiver 22 against Seattle Jake, do you have a lead here between someone in BTJ that's been relatively disappointing this season and Swift who just continues to be Steady Eddie right there in Chicago?

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, I have Swift two spots in front of Brian Thomas, so there's how big my lean is.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay.

[Jake Seeley]

But I do, I do like Brian Thomas if you're shooting for stealing because watching that game last week I wonder if the the wrist issue has been a thing and it's getting healthier that with Brian Thomas and Trevor Lawrence looked better than any of the games before that. He still it's not Brian Thomas from last year, let's be clear. But also the Seahawks defense is losing a lot of pieces right now similar to the Cardinals. Like this isn't the Seahawks defense of the first two weeks where you're like oh my gosh, this is something to worry about. They've lost quite a few pieces especially in the secondary which is that's why if I'm going ceiling is Brian Thomas and also because I do think this is we've seen this before coming out of the bye, the rookie running back gets more opportunities. Finally we're all hoping from a non guy because Swift has basically just been volume reliant. On the flip side, if Swift comes out in this game and out of the buy gets another 18 plus touches and maybe actually looks good in this matchup against the Commanders, you might have just missed your buy low window. I'm not saying like go get Swift but nobody wants them. Like you can buy Swift for like bottom basement RB3 cost because nobody wants them, even the people who have them.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, probably a pack of cigarettes and a cheap sixer would get done there. Pat, do you have a lead here between Swift and bt?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, I mean technically I'm on the opposite side of Jake again with btj, but not really based on some of the things Jake is saying. Like, I I know it hasn't been a dream start for BTJ, but he did have 80 yards last week against the Chiefs. And even though he hasn't totally clicked with Trevor Lawrence like we know Brian Thomas Jr. Is good, like, I just refuse to believe a 1200 yard 10 touchdown rookie season was a complete mirage. Meanwhile, you've got DeAndre Swift averaging negative 0.39 rushing yards over expected per carry according to NFL Next Gen stats. That's ninth worst among qualifying running backs. And last season he was at negative 0.69 yards rushing yards over expected per carry worst in the league. And I don't love the rushing yards over expected per carry stat because it's like it's impossible to calculate all the variables that weigh into what's truly expected on any single carry. But when you rank so poorly over a sample of 20 plus games, not good. And I do wonder and Jake brought this up if the Bears maybe start to get rookie Kyle Menon guy a little more involved coming out of the bi week because their running game has not been effective at all. With Swift as the lead guy?

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, absolutely. And Manon Guy, another former Rutgers running back like Isaiah Pacheco, Day three product. But at the same time he did lead the Big Ten in rushing in 2023, second in 2024. So he can handle volume, he can handle a workload. We'll see if he gets it. This is kind of your warning shot to maybe go see if he's still out there on your waiver wire on your free agency to add him for free. Let's get to a couple more flex debates, starting with old steady Dave Montgomery, ECR running back 26 against the Kansas City Chiefs and then D.J. moore, wide receiver 30 at Washington. Fitz, do you have a lead between Monty and DJ Moore this week?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I'll go with Monty. I know the Chiefs are generally a tough matchup for running backs, although maybe not so much this year. Like they're middle of the pack and fantasy points allowed to running backs. D.J. moore just isn't very involved. His target counts in his first four games. 5655 Roma Dunes is the alpha receiver in Chicago now. Like it took me a little while to accept that, but I now accept.

[Seth Wilcock]

It Jake, what about you?

[Jake Seeley]

We agree and it's actually a pretty large gap. I have David Montgomery firmly in front of DJ Moore. I don't know that DJ Moore is even startable right now. We're talking about why was she for 44 in fantasy points per game, one touchdown this season. Look at his yardage per game. It's about in the 40 range. It's just been miserable so far. Like more fantasy points per game Tory Horton Marquez or Marquis Brown Keon Coleman and his up and down like is Chris Olavi has a full point per game more Chris Olavi who's basically out there just getting receptions with no yards has more points per game by a full point than DJ Moore. So this is a large gap for me. We finally agree.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, another debate for you at the flex position. Matthew Golden, ECR wide receiver 37 against Cincinnati Trayvon Henderson RB30 at New Orleans Jake, you already touched on this that maybe, just maybe we see a little bit more Henderson with the Antonio Gibson out for the season news.

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah so and that's why I'm going to go with Henderson also because of the fact I I would love golden be a thing. You know I was somebody that was on the team like hey there's a chance that they finally have a number one option that they tried out there 75, 80% of the time on their routes instead of 65% for everybody because they just have a bunch of wide receiver twos as Pat well knows. But the problem is is they did do that finally because of the injury to Jaden Reed. The problem was it was Romeo Dobbs and Romeo Dobbs is out there as the one. Golden was the two for two weeks but the other two weeks because this is what the packers do. Wicks was and Wix was the one that was ahead of them right before the buy. And I'm not saying it can't go right back to golden, but that's the issue is we never know what the Packe they treat their number two, three, four, five wide receivers just like Sean Payton treats his running backs. You never know any given week. So I would love it to be Golden. I would love him to be the answer. I do have a lot of golden shares but I'm going to go travion Henderson until we see more like golden needs the number two role secured before I start starting him consistently.

[Seth Wilcock]

And while I don't think we see him out on the field this week or maybe even next week, Pat, it looks like Christian Watson also getting back out on the practice field right now. So so does that change your future evaluation of Matthew golden and where are you heading here in Week six with golden versus Henderson?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah, I don't think Watson plays this week Seth, but he is. It does seem like he'll get back maybe before the end of October. I don't know that it fundamentally changes my take on Golden's restitution value just because I'm not very bullish. Like we're not getting consistent usage and that's why Jake and I have two in a row here agreeing with Travion Henderson here. Just the lack of commitment to Henderson has been annoying but we are possibly one Ramond Ray Stevenson fumble away from a Henderson backfield takeover. I don't know about that but Gibson out of the picture after tearing his ACL and the Patriots had this soft matchup against the Saints. Like golden is just big player bust. He had his most involved game of the season right before the packers went on by five catches for 58 yards against the Cowboys on a season high six target. But golden only played 59% of the offensive snaps in that game and the packers didn't have Jaden Reed and yet golden has played less than 60% of the offensive snaps in all but one game this season. So the usage out for outlook for both of these guys is pretty murky. But I'll take Henderson here.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, one more flex debate. Kenneth Gainwell RB 33 against Cleveland and Travis Hunter wide receiver 49 against against Seattle. I'm going to keep pushing the Travis Hunter by low narrative here on the FP channel. Like this is a guy getting a little bit more involved. It's still sketchy at times but did run his first route in a two wide receiver set on Monday night.

[Jake Seeley]

Jake yeah we heard it too like oh there's going to get more downfield threats. He just had his best game for wires here. 48 we all want it to happen. I know everybody who drafted him as their second or even third wide receiver or like just this is the worst thing in the world right now but I just why the Jaguars have to do it. Like they just have production across the board and mostly out of the backfield. We all want it. We see the game last week proved the upside of what Hunter is and we all went into this think like oh the Jaguars are telling us they're going to treat him 95% of the time as a wide receiver. Well even as the 95% you just brought it up. It was the first time we really saw him in 2 wide and not only 3 wide and not only out of the slot. So I would love for it to happen, but until we actually see it, we can talk all we want, coaches. That being, I want to see it on the field. And in that case, I'm not going with Hunter. I'm going with Gainwell. I just bring it up before in the show. Gainwell look great against the Vikings. Even if that backfield is a 5050 split, at least I know I'm getting 10, 12, maybe even 14 touches from Gainwell. You're not even going to get half that in targets for Travis Hunter. So that's the issue.

[Seth Wilcock]

Did you not learn anything from the Santa Claus, Jake? You don't always have to see it to believe it. Right. So I'm here with Travis Hunter. What about you?

[Jake Seeley]

The reference.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Oh, so yeah, we're gonna gang up on you here. Yeah, sorry, I have to go. With Gainwell like you, you have to figure he's gonna get at least a 30 or 40% snapshare after how well he played against the Vikings in Ireland a couple of weeks ago when Warren was out. And I know the matchup against Cleveland is tough, but 30 or 40% at minimum of the backfield touches with a team like the Steelers that runs so much of the offense through its running back. Not bad. And Travis Hunter hit a 67.2% Snapchat in his last game and I wonder if that is the peak for him. It just Diami Brown back now for the Jaguars. Hunter has seen two, five and three targets in his last three games. And I know the Seattle secondary is banged up. It's still not an easy matchup. I'm just. No thanks.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. All right, let's go to the quarterback position here where we have Mr. Consistent Sam Darnold, ECR QBc 16 against Jacksonville, and then Bryce Young, quarterback, 19 in the rankings in the holy grail matchup that is the Dallas Cowboys. Pat, do you have a lean here between Darnold and Young?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I'm going with Darnold. He's been excellent this year, leading the league in yards per pass attempt at 9.3 yards.

[Seth Wilcock]

Wow.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

He has nine, nine touchdown passes. The only drawback with Darnold is that the Seahawks have been the run heaviest team in the league and he's only averaging 26.8 pass attempts per game. But on the other hand, that run heaviness boosts the effectiveness of play action. Makes Darnold more efficient. So I can live with the lower passing volume. Man, I am trying to stay patient with Bryce Young. Seth, like from a dynasty standpoint. But I am starting to wonder if he is destined to be a backup quarterback. Like, he is averaging 5.5 yards per attempt this season, which is terrible. And in fairness, I know Ted Auroa McMillan is really the only credible pass catcher he has right now. And maybe it would help if. If Jalen Coker comes off IR this week. But like, even in a great matchup against the Cowboys, I just, I can't play Young over Darnold.

[Seth Wilcock]

I think a lot of people owe Sam Darnold an apology. You know, everyone was off JSN this offseason. Everyone was off Darnold and really most of these Seattle pass catchers. But he's been really good. Jake. So do you lean Darnold here over Young as well?

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah. So first, let me rectify one thing. I was not off jsn. I was called way high on jsn.

[Seth Wilcock]

I appreciate it.

[Jake Seeley]

Clear. I wasn't that high on Sam Darnold, though. I didn't even have him inside my top 20 right now. He's inside. He's like QB, I think 15 or 16 in points per game somewhere around there. But that's a very large group. But all that being said, I have Sam Darnold at 17, I have Bryce Young at 20. Even going against the Cowboys, like, I. This is it. Stop the presses here. We're just on a roll of agreement between Fitz and I here. It comes down to the Jaguars matchup isn't that much worse than, or I guess worse for quarterbacks, better in general, whichever way you want to skew that. But it's not like, you know, the Jaguars are fearsome right now and, you know, everybody wants to start their players against the Cowboys and maybe it finally clicks for Bryce Young. But to be fair, I agree with Fitz. We have not seen last season's late season Bryce Young. This is early season. The first half of last season, Bryce Young, and we haven't seen, we've seen maybe three throws. I can count probably on one hand of the course of the first couple weeks that I've been like, oh, oh, there's a glimmer for Bryce Young. And then the other 90% of the game, I'm like, well, there's the old Bryce Young. So I'm going with Sam Darnold.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, okay.

[Jake Seeley]

All right.

[Seth Wilcock]

I'm looking forward to that Jacksonville Seattle matchup. I think that'll be a really fun one.

[Jake Seeley]

Said no one else.

[Seth Wilcock]

Let's go to tight end here. Dave Nijoku, ECR tight end, 10 against Pittsburgh and then Kyle Pitts, tight end 13 against Buffalo. Jake, do you have a lead here between two former first round picks at the tight end position?

[Jake Seeley]

Man, if this was two weeks in a row of seeing that usage for Njoku over Fannin with Dylan Gabriel, I would say Njoku, but I can't yet. Pittsburgh decent. Pittsburgh also had essentially two weeks to prepare. They knew Dylan Gabriel was starting at quarterback at this point, which is Pittsburgh against a rookie quarterback in Pittsburgh against a divisional opponent. The problem is I hate this matchup for Kyle Pitts. This is one of the worst matchups you can find for tight ends. They have shut down and it's not like they, they face like the, you know, the Hell's Bells or Hell's Bells. That's what's making things up. Murderers row. I don't know where I was going with that. Murders row tight ends. But you know Kyle Pitts, I'll give him credit for what the Falcons are doing this year. It's not like Kyle Pitts is a better separator. He's still not going to separate. He's. They're using like a power forward. They're throwing him into coverage and if you watch he kind of rolls off corners, rolls off defenders. He breaks off and it's not like he's a great route runner but they're using his strength. But it's the Bills and I'm super concerned about it. All that being said, I have up picked Pitts still at 11, but I have in Joku at 13. I just. It would be such a bigger gap if it wasn't for the Bills matchup.

[Seth Wilcock]

Yeah, Pat, so we have Najoku vs Pitts.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Which end are you on, man? I think this one is a coin flip, like a true coin flip. I, I have Najoku ranked one spot higher and if you force me to make a call, I would probably take Najoku. Okay, the streak is over. Jake, I'm sorry but like Nijoku at his best game of the season in Dylan Gabriel's first start for the Browns, six catches, 67 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. Dylan Gabriel targeted his tight ends 13 times last week and his wide receivers 10 times. So the rookie leaning on the tight ends. I just. Jake kind of referenced this. I don't know if the Nijoku usage is going to be sticky or not. Like good sign that he was so heavily involved in Gabriel's first start, but does it happen again? I have no idea. And Pitts has been solid like at least four catches in every game. But he does have the tough matchup. This one is really close. Very, very slightly in toward David Najoku.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, well, they did shoot the. The Dark Knight in Pittsburgh at one point in time, but I don't even think. Was the Joker even in that movie. I don't know if he was at that point. I think that might have been Bane.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Did they shoot some of the Dark Knight in Pittsburgh? Because it was. I actually watched by when I was working in downtown Chicago. I like, actually.

[Seth Wilcock]

Oh, they also shot it there.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yes.

[Jake Seeley]

No, the Heinz Ward blowing up stadium. Yeah, that was Bane, by the way.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, I think they did shoot some of it in Pittsburgh, so maybe they did shoot some of it in Chicago as well. Interesting.

[Jake Seeley]

I will not. By the way. Speaking of which, I will never do a podcast in Batman voice for the entire thing ever again. I did it that year and I couldn't Talk for like 24 hours because it was the worst day. Oh, I hate to do this special shout out to go. Listen. My last podcast I did with Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Darkwing Duck. It was the best podcast I've ever had in my life because it was Darkwing Duck. That's. I just want to throw that out there as a random plug for myself. I was giddy the whole time, as you can tell. Like, now I'm, like, talking about it.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

That is awesome. Just for the record. So the original Dark Knight, I think was Chicago. Seth. Dark Knight Rises. Pittsburgh.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, okay, gotcha.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

That was the main one.

[Jake Seeley]

Where was Dark Knight Return? If you can get like that?

[Seth Wilcock]

I. I think. No, I think Dark Knight Returns is Pittsburgh. Right? I think that was the third one. Right?

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Maybe that was it.

[Seth Wilcock]

Oh, look at the filming locations. Yeah, Jake, this is in your wheelhouse. You're supposed to be the, I don't know, filming locations. All right, we'll try to figure it out for you at some point. But first we're gonna get into our TD contest. But I did want to remind everyone that you can join our free touchdown calls contest test in the Fantasy Pros discord community. Each week, pick four players that you think will score with bonus flex worth double weekly winners. You get a $25 fantasy pros, a gift card and the season champ. You're going to take home a signed Bijan Robinson Atlanta Falcons jersey. Play now by going to fantasypros.com chat and heading to the touchdown calls channel. And Fitz, we're going to start it with you at the running back position. Who do you think finds Pay dirt on the ground.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

Yeah. I just want to say my flag plant last week was a total bust with Jacoby Myers, but Jake and I crushed it on our TD calls. I broke a season long slump with the tight end position getting Darren Waller. And Jake, who did you have on the touchdown call last week?

[Jake Seeley]

For last week it was Garrett Wilson. And what was the other one? I doubled, I hit two. Now I got to go back and look, look, you give yours, I'm gonna go back and find it.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

All right, so mine this week at Running back, it's J.K. dobbins. He's had a touchdown in four of the Broncos first five games. I think Dobbins keeps the touchdown mojo rolling this week against the jets whose run defense is not very good.

[Seth Wilcock]

Okay, for wide receiver, I'll take Puka Nakua, the low hanging fruit here. The Ravens have arguably the worst secondary I've ever seen in some time, which as a Steelers fan, pretty happy about it. They've allowed 30 wide receiver receptions in the past two weeks alone. Seven receiving touchdowns. Two wide receivers in that span as well. Puka has at least 10 receptions in four out of five games with a low of eight. And so I think he's going to once again find pay dirt. Jake, what about you here with the tight end position and did you find those calls from last week as well?

[Jake Seeley]

Yeah, so I didn't. I still haven't found it. But it was Garrett Wilson was the main one. I forgot I threw another bonus one and then I tweeted Fitz. Oh she. It was the flag plant was the. She was the flag pant and the touchdown. I threw him as a double down on that one. But you speak of low hanging fruit. Well, I'm going to try and keep the role going at tight end. That fit started because I'm just going to go with his boy and Tucker Kraft, play the matchup, play the tight end. Arguably the best play this week at tight end as he's been. So hopefully the low hanging fruit pays off and doesn't jinx the tight end position. But yeah, by the way, so the second one. So Chicago was the middle one with the Joker and then Pittsburgh was obviously being talking about. And I'm also an idiot because I said the Dark Knight rises or Returns and that's actually the comic book. The first one was Batman Begins cause I'm an idiot so I can't even think of that. So that's a completely different filming location.

[Seth Wilcock]

I was about to say I think it was before I could drive, but I remember my parents always complaining about going into Pittsburgh around that time.

[Jake Seeley]

That was the third movie, the first two. The first two are both Chicago and other locations as well. But the first two were both and then the third was Pittsburgh. But yes, the Dark Knight Returns is a comic book. Actually, I shouldn't know that. That's why it's in my I just got out of Amazon prime deal. Look, there you go. Amazon prime deal. Just it's just because I didn't have it. So there you go.

[Seth Wilcock]

Well, maybe I think DC could use all the promotion they could get, so maybe they're hurting for money sponsor for the program there as well. Guys, guys, don't forget you can dominate your fancy football league with Fancy Pros Premium now available for free. Six months on the house when you deposit and place your first wager at any of our partner sportsbooks, including, yes, Hard Rock Bet. The easiest free way to get full access to our top fancy tools is this deal right here. Go to fancyprose.com premium to get yourself started. Gentlemen, great stuff today. Love all the the side tangents, the debates, the Start six that is going to do it for us on this episode of the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. Comment down below your favorite start sit calls. And while you're here, make sure you're smashing that like button and subscribing to the channel if you're new. For Jake Seeley and Pat Fitzmores, I'm Seth Wilcock. Take care y'.

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[Pat Fitzmorris]

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[Jake Seeley]

This is a real good story about Bronx and his dad Ryan. Real United Airlines customers.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

We were returning home and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Captain Andrew.

[Jake Seeley]

I got to sit in the driver's seat.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

I grew up in an aviation family, and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age.

[Jake Seeley]

That's Andrew, a real United pilot.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain.

[Jake Seeley]

Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever.

[Pat Fitzmorris]

That's how good leads the way.

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[Pat Fitzmorris]

This is an iHeart podcast.