
In Episode 270 of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show, Dave Kluge and Alfredo Brown discuss some of the biggest storylines around the NFL coming out of Week 4 and add context and actionable advice to them. Send your questions to...
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Welcome.
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Into the football guys fantasy football show. It's the Week 6 Flex Show. We're talking about players that are either on the precipice of breaking out, they've already done it. Maybe you got to buy, sell, hold what are you doing in fantasy football. But Dave Kluge and I are going to talk about 10 different players that have some really good storylines going on. Maybe something that people aren't seeing just yet. Dave, I know you've got some interesting ones here.
B
Here.
A
Why don't you kick us off with your top storyline that you want to be following going into week six?
B
I want to talk about Michael Carter because I think this is more than just like a. Well, I mean he is very much so just kind of like a an injury away guy who's getting the opportunity. But it's coming at such a good time during bye weeks right now. And I know there's a lot of injury away running backs that don't live up to the hype. And you know we talked about Kamani Vidal and Hassan Haskins not being fully bought in with those guys. But Michael Carter looks like the real deer, real deal. I mean he was the clear workhorse in this first game that he played. 39 snaps, 18 carries, five targets. That is great opportunities. Amari, Dan Mercado, Bam Knight. They combined for 30 snaps, seven card, seven carries and one target. So less combined than Michael Carter got on his own. And we know.
A
Is this something where you think. Is this something where you think that Carter is going to eat into Benson's workload when he comes back?
B
I don't. But they're saying Benson is probably going to miss a little bit more time than the four weeks from ir. So one game missed already, three more missed, and then maybe another one or two after that. So, I mean, you're looking at a guy that I think you could plug in week in and week out as a high end RB2 here. The Cardinals are 11th in rushing this year. We know this is what they want to do. They want to rush the ball as much as they can. And I got to be totally honest, like I wasn't super impressed with the film. Like I dove in and I wanted to see things that really got me excited about Carter. And it, it's really not there. Like he's a little bit undersized. He's got some decent like short area movements. He's quick, not fast.
A
You hear that about same guy he's always been like, this isn't a brand new player. He's been in the league for years now.
B
Right. And I think what it really is though is that Demercado, I think he's done like after that fumble, like I could see it going both ways. Like I could see Jonathan Gannon saying like, okay, I handled the situation terribly, let's give him some extra run. But I think the more likely situation is that he's not going to get many touches.
A
Bam.
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Knight does everything Michael Carter does, but just like worse. Like he's a little bit bigger, a little bit slower, not quite as quick. So you know, you look at some of these matchups coming up, the next two weeks are going to be pretty tough. But they got the Cowboys three weeks from now. They got the Seahawks four weeks from now. Those are both top 10 in fantasy points allowed to running backs. So if you can wait, like just, you know, these next two weeks, I think you're going to be looking at kind of low end RB2 production. But I really like what he's got coming up over the next few weeks and that's when injuries bye weeks are really starting to hit us hard. So Michael Carter is one of those guys I think a lot of people are trying to sell high on right now. And I'm just holding him looking at kind of a free plug and play RB2 for the next month and a half.
A
Yeah, we've been wondering when are we Going to get the, the, the waiver wire ad that's like the big player for the rest of the season and maybe we don't get those or maybe we kind of already missed those. Like some of them were Quinton Johnson, depending on how you, you drafted your teams. Right. But I, I think this year what we're seeing one, we're seeing a lot of injuries. We're seeing a lot of injuries to high profile players and what we're finding is that a lot of the waiver wire picks so far have been guys that are going to be helpful in pockets 3 to 4 game windows. Not necessarily something where it's going to be all the way through the rest of the season. It's also still early so we don't quite know where you know everything, how everything's going to shake out. But yeah, Michael Carter, I mean he looks like the real deal. And when I say that I mean like you, it looks like you are going to get what you spent for him in your waiver wire. Right. You're going to get your worth.
B
The volume is going to be there and you know, yeah, you flash back a week ago when like all of this first happened in Trey Benson hit the, the ir, all the talk was like who's it going to be? Michael Carter? DeMarcado Bam Knight. And I think we saw enough from last week to know that it is very clearly going to be Michael Carter going forward.
A
Yeah, no, agreed there 100. Okay. Well what I want to take a look at and talk about is rookies coming out of bye weeks. And I think this is really important for people to pay attention to. It's one of these things that has kind of become like the ongoing whatever the opposite of a curse is like. It's just like one of those things. Just a. Sure, why not? Yeah, it's. But it's. Well, not really. It's one of those things that's like just been talked about every single year that like oh, keep an eye on the rookies coming out of the buys. But, but you never quite know who. So this year I want to take a look at specifically right now going into week six is Matthew golden and Luther Burden coming out of their bye weeks for Matthew golden specifically first two weeks, only two targets per game. Weeks three through four, averaging five targets per game. So we already started to see that uptick. But going forward he's got the second easiest schedule for a fantasy wide receiver over the next three weeks. And like I said, pockets, those pockets are going to matter. Same thing for Luther Burden here, the target share has nearly doubled in each of the first three weeks. Week four wasn't as great. That was kind of a wonky game itself. And then the Bears second easiest schedule for a fantasy wide receiver over the next four weeks. So once again we're back into playing in those pockets and golden and Burden have an opportunity here coming out of the buy where there's potentially more opportunity from the coaching staff. Good, good matchup for them fantasy wise. And I wanted to go back and say, okay, well why has this become the thing right where like fantasy analysts were saying, you know, rookies get the uptick after the buy? I just went back to last year, took a look at it just to name some players. Brian Thomas Jr. Went from 5.9 targets per game to 12.3 targets per game after their buy. Granted, there's context there. There's Mac Jones starting, there's a little bit of change, but it's not just him. Roma Dunes, they went from 4.8 to 6 1/2 targets. Brock Bowers 8 1/2 to over 10 targets. Bucky Irving went from 12 opportunities to 19 opportunities. And that's with Rashad White healthy. Tyrone tracy, same thing, 13 opportunities to 16 and a half opportunities. So those six players that I just or five players that I just listed, rookies from last year that saw massive opportunity share changes right after the bye week. Now granted it might not happen in this exact week, but over the next three to four weeks we could see a real change for these two wide receivers.
B
Yeah, I think golden is the one that I'm probably most excited about just because typically when we see these big post bi week blow ups like there are signs of life beforehand and then they get a chance to kind of open up the playbook a little bit more for these rookies. And we've seen that from golden outside of that trick play, you know, the, the big throw and catch to Luther Burden a few weeks back. Haven't seen a whole lot of life there. I'm still kind of in the camp that for Burden to break out we're going to need either a DJ Moore trade or no Lama Desiccias injury. And I think for Colson Loveland to break out, we're going to need to see something happen to Cole Comet. But I think golden is the one that really does have the opportunity here and we're starting to show signs of life even before the buy, which gets me excited.
A
Yeah, I'm still just going to say like I think it would be just absolute Malpractice for the Bears to keep Luther Burden and Colston Loveland sidelined throughout the year. Granted, the, the Loveland commit thing is a little bit different, but for Burden, I mean, Zakia, he's fine. Like, he's been fine. He's been a fine slot player throughout his career. This isn't. It shouldn't be comparable for a guy who has a first round talent that you drafted early in the second round. You were excited because he has first round talent and you're like, nah, we're just not going to use him through the rest of the years like that. I do want to see that change there. Listen, everything's possible with these coaches, right? Like, sometimes we just don't see that. But I think it'd be a horrible malpractice for them not to do that going forward.
B
Yeah, I mean, it would be, but we've seen that before from this, this front office as well. I think the problem with Burden, from what I've been hearing, you know, just like paying attention to the Chicago beat a little bit closer than other teams, is that like just mentally he's not there. That it's like a very complex role that they ask these slot players to play and that's why they can draw up these plays every once in a while where they say, like, hey, just go there, run a post route, you don't have to do anything else. Or hey, we're going to run this trick play. You just got to get behind the defender and we'll get the ball to you. And he can do that. But I think asking him to be a full time player where he has to run the choice routes and there's a lot of pre snap motion. I think he just hasn't mentally wrapped his mind around that part of the game yet. So we know he's a great athlete, but I will say, like, I'm 100% with you with Matthew golden, but Luther Burden, I think that he's probably more likely to just be shelved and, and looked at as like that 20, 26 guy that we can get excited about.
A
All right, Dave, give us your next player you want to talk about.
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All right. I don't even know how like actionable this one is, but I'm just going to say it with my chest. I think Travis Hunter is a better wide receiver than Ryan Thomas. Btj, you know, first round pick, big and fast, but he's kind of proven himself to be a little bit of a one trick pony throughout his early NFL career. So far last year, so much of his production came late in the year when Evan Ingram was out, Christian Kirk was out, Trevor Lawrence was out, and we just had Mack Jones out there just like throwing YOLO balls to him. And I think that's really where we got a little bit over our skis just expecting that like he broke out and that's it. But this is such a different offense. Liam Cohen asks his receivers to do so much more and I think he's struggling like we see him. He doesn't really have the skill set to catch balls through traffic. Like, he's not a guy who is going to do a lot of the receiver things. Doesn't have really good after the catch abilities unless he's catching the ball in a straight line. Like he's not a guy that you want running these little short routes and making plays after the catch. And he just doesn't really have that quickness to run the underneath routes either. So he's kind of pigeonholed into this role that isn't really all that valuable in fantasy football. And additionally, we're seeing that Liam Cohen just really wants to spread the ball out a lot. We're seeing Diamond Brown getting involved, we're seeing Parker Washington getting involved. Brenton Strange before his injury, he was very involved as well. And then I look at Travis Hunter and he is just unbelievable. Like you just get the ball to him and let magic happen. I don't know if you heard what Eli Manning was saying that like he didn't even practice with the offense when he was at Colorado, that they would just only have him practice on defense. And then an offense, they would say like, hey, just go out there, run this route. We'll get the ball to you. Go do something special. We saw that like crazy airborne catch deep downfield in the game a couple nights ago. Brian Thomas Jr. Just can't do those things. So I think that he is kind of in this role player role now where they're going to keep him outside. You know, he's going to stretch the field and I think that gives him a high weekly ceiling. But I think people that were hoping that he would be this guy who would just build off of a good rookie season, I think you just have to set yourself up to, to change that perspective a little bit. And I think he's more of like a low end boomer bust wide receiver too, than he is this bona fide wide receiver, one we hoped he'd be.
A
Yeah, I mean it's. There's a lot to unpack there. Like first, yeah, Travis Hunter I mean, he was the better wide receiver prospect than Brian Thomas Jr. And there's really only one year separating them. And right now I think the bigger thing to note here is not necessarily that one is better than the other because I think they're just used in different ways. Like you could make the argument that Travis Hunter is just a screen merchant, right. And that he doesn't really know the nuances of route running and how to play the position, but he's good at getting open, whereas Brian Thomas is doing things a little bit differently on his end. What I think right now, more so than anything, is that the Jaguars offense is stunting both of these guys from a wide receiver standpoint and like just actually getting better at the position. This is a team that has really committed. I mean, not in a bad way, but they've committed to the run and they've committed to Travis ETN and they've committed to getting the ball to Brenton Strange and, and getting other wide receivers involved. And it's one of those things where we get frustrated as fantasy managers because we're not seeing the success we want, but there's also just an involvement of so many other players and the team winning. So it's like, yeah, it's one of those things where it's probably better for actual football than it is for fantasy. I, I, the, I guess the actual advice here for these guys would just be I don't think you can buy sell at all with either of them. I think you just have to hold on.
B
And I think you could buy Brian Thomas Jr. At this point because I think people are panicking. I mean, he's coming off his best game of the season, but it was still just an 80 yard game. And I think a lot of people are going to look at that as like his new ceiling. I still think there will be better days ahead. So, you know, if I'm like trying to, I'm not like desperately going out trying to trade for Brian Thom Jr. Wherever I can, I don't think that he's going to hit this, you know, top 10 ceiling like he had last year. When I'm looking at some of the other, you know, maybe over performing guys right now. If I can flip them for a Brian Thomas Jr. Like let me ask you, Debo Samuel or Brian Thomas Jr. Who would you prefer rest of season?
A
Brian Thomas Jr.
B
Exactly. And I think right now like Debo Samuels, the wide receiver, seven in fantasy. And I think a lot of people would be willing to just say I'm done with Brian Thomas Jr. Get him off my team. And then take a guy like Debo Samuel, Keenan Allen, or Brian Thomas Jr. Who would you prefer before, between those two?
A
Oh, that's. That one's a little bit closer. I still think I go Brian Thomas.
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Jr. And I think these are very realistic trades that you can make right now. Michael Pittman, I don't know if Jameson Williams, I don't know if anyone do that, but I think, like, Michael Pittman is another guy that you might be able to float out there for Brian Thomas Jr. So I think there's a little bit of a buy window here. But you're not buying him to be a wide receiver one. You're buying him with a change in perspective that he's a guy that you can plug in as your wide receiver, too, or your flex and gives you a high weekly ceiling. He's kind of like a. Just a glorified Jameson Williams, I think.
A
Yeah, I mean, it's just. It's having the perspective, understanding what you're buying. You're buying off the dollar menu. It's not going to be a big meal that fills you up, but, you know, you're only spending a dollar, so you're getting a little. You're getting a snack. That's. That's what Brian Thomas Jr. Is. Okay, I'm gonna talk about another receiver, actually. Another rookie, interestingly enough, and It's a Tedro McMillan. He's got to be due for some touchdown regression. And it's. It's kind of. Dave, it's just weird to me seeing what we're seeing because he's got the most targets in the NFL without a touchdown. He's actually seventh amongst wide receivers and targets right now. And I started to look at all the names that were leading the NFL and targets the wide receiver spot. And Amongst the top eight, six of them are in the top 15 as fantasy wide receivers. Pretty much everyone within that range is producing at a very high level. The only other guy in there in the top eight in terms of targets that isn't producing is a little bit closer to Tedro and McMillan is Chris Olave. And at least even he has a touchdown. So he's a little bit higher in terms of fantasy ranking at the moment for finishes. But, I mean, we're seeing volume matters, and that's. That's what's helping all those guys be relevant in fantasy. But touchdowns matter, too, and that's something that we do need to see from the Panthers offense, from Teow and McMillan. We're not really Seeing Bryce Young throw the ball a whole lot when they get into the red zone. But we have been seeing, like a lot more big plays from this Carolina Panthers offense. They've been a really weird kind of wonky team. I don't think we quite know what their identity is yet, but we do know that they're going to continue to target Tetaroa McMillan. It's weird. We haven't seen a ratio like this of incredible amount of targets to no touchdowns. Haven't seen a ratio this bad since Deontay Johnson in 2022. You remember that? And Deontay, he finished as the wide receiver 29 in fantasy. That's not great. That's not what you want. It was one of those things where we were just begging for a touchdown every single week. That's also very unprecedented that a player could get that many targets, not get a touchdown. To me, like, I look at it and I say that's worst case scenario for Deontay Johnson or, excuse me, for Tedro McMillan, that is worst case scenario. Right now, he's wide receiver 25. There are a lot of people who bought into him early in their fantasy drafts and they are disappointed because they have the wide receiver 25 on their team. And maybe they're not looking at the targets, maybe they're not looking at the Panthers offense, maybe they're not looking at the schedule. Coming up ahead, the third easiest remaining strength of schedule for wide receivers for the rest of the season, especially those final five weeks of the season. It's the best stretch for any wide receiver. And that's when it's going to matter most for you. You're going to be getting Tedro McMillan his best part of the year and your most necessary part of the year in the fantasy playoffs. So I love this. I still want to go out and buy Teo McMillan if I can.
B
Yeah. And this is one. It's not just the targets either. It's also the receiving yards. Like, these aren't just empty targets that are like, completely off target. Like, he's catching balls and he's getting them deep downfield. He's 15th in the league in receiving yards. The only guy with more receiving yards in him that doesn't have a touchdown right now is Stefan Diggs, who's also, you know, we're, we're expecting some positive regression to go his way. Yeah, you look at all the other guys with like, similar receiving yardage to Teo McMillan. George Pickens within six yards of Teterow McMillan. He scored five touchdowns. Devonte Adams within six yards of Tetarola McMillan. He scored three touchdowns. You look at Nico Collins who is within 30 yards of Tetero McMillan, he's got three touchdowns like everybody else is getting in the end zone except for McMillan. And with them playing up against Dallas this week, that is one of the worst offense or one of the worst pass defenses in the league. Granted, they did look a little bit better last week, but still not like looking at them as this scary offense by any means. This does feel like the week that McMillan finally gets in the end zone. And we've seen end zone shots too. Like they've been drawing up fades to him. They've been trying to get him a touchdown. It just hasn't happened so far, but it, it will eventually.
A
All right, let's go to the next one on here. Dave, what do you got for me?
B
Darren Waller is a tight end one over the rest of the season. Okay, this is a crazy stat right now and granted it's a two week sample size, but Darren Waller is scoring just as many fantasy points per game as Jackson, Smith, Najigba. Just to like put into perspective how good he has been fantasy wise over the last couple of weeks. Five targets in week five and every single one is exactly what I want to see from a guy who's going to be very good in fantasy. Two deep posts. Love deep posts for tight ends. You know, when those guys can get down the seam, use that size to get up over safety. We saw that twice and he connected on both of them. Two big plays we saw screen, which is awesome. Darren Waller, a very big guy, a good athlete, he can create after the catch. Didn't do much on this one, but keep drawing screens up for him and it'll only be a matter of time. He got a nice slant through traffic, which is something that we know Darren Waller can do as well. Like not shying away from traffic. Can still use those strong hands. And then of course a goal line touchdown. And then we saw two touchdowns of the week before as well. So this guy's getting premier usage. Like there aren't many tight ends that are getting treated like this in the NFL right now. And especially with Tyree Kill out of the picture, we know what's going to happen with this offense. There wasn't really much of a change for Malik Washington. He was still in the same role he has always been. We saw a little uptick in usage for Jalen Waddle, but all of the targets in this offense are going to Jalen Waddle. Devon Achan And Darren Waller and right now, Darren Waller, I don't want to say that he's like stepping into the Tyree Kill role because that is just ridiculous. They are such different players. But there is a huge vacated role right now without their wide receiver one and Darren Waller right now with some time off, he looks healthy, he looks fast, he looks spry and he's out here running a lot of these downfield routes that were going to Tyreek Hill earlier. So a mix of downfield routes and goal line usage. I don't know many other tight ends that are getting that in this, this year.
A
Yeah, I mentioned this a little bit last week talking about like who, who to start and it was Darren Waller at the tight end spot that he can be a streamer each week. And I think you're right. I think he's elevated from just being a streamer to just being a legit starter. And it's all of it has to do with just the targets that are vacant there in that offense. This is a team, the Miami Dolphins, that are passing the ball, we kind of knew they were going to pass, but like we didn't know how much they were going to keep passing once Tyreek Hill was out of the picture. And turns out they're just going to keep passing like they still remain one of the most pass heavy teams in the NFL. So Dar Waller, I think last week when I talked about him, I mentioned, you know, him going into the John new Smith role. And what's kind of cool is that this has evolved into something very different because he's not John who Smith. Like yeah, sure, they're both athletic, but.
B
Darren Waller, John who smith wasn't running 25 yard post routes. Like I don't think I saw John who Smith do that once last year.
A
Exactly. And there, there's still a line from an interview that Tua said where it sticks out to me where he's just like, I've never been able to throw a ball up towards the field goal post and someone come down with it it and like that's, that's the level of confidence that he has in Darren Waller here where whether the ball is downfield, whether it's in the red zone, no matter where it is, he's going to try to put it up for him. And like that's one of those intangible things that I think just does need to be focused on with Darren Waller.
B
Yeah, I'm trying to think throughout Tua's entire career if he has ever had a guy like that. Yeah, and like Nick Wexbrook, Kenne is the closest I can think of. I mean, was there an overlap?
A
I can't remember if there was an overlap with. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. I think there was like, one year with Kosicki and it was when they just stopped using him as tight end, like, altogether. He was like the third one that was supposed to be the year that he breaks out as a, as a slot receiver, and it just didn't happen. He was getting used on the screens and stuff like that.
B
So, again, trying to put, like an actionable spin on this. This is a wild question, and I can't believe I'm asking it, but who would you prefer for the rest of the season? Darren Waller or Travis Kelsey?
A
Said Darren Waller or Travis Kelsey? Darren Waller. I mean, I think we've seen what Travis Kelsey is and honestly, just a bonus player. If you have Travis Kelce, use the, the Taylor Swift album, whatever hype that's going on right now and sell Travis Kelce. Because when Rasheed Rice gets back into that lineup, like, I hate to say it, but based off of all the numbers from last year, it is over for Kelsey.
B
Yeah. And I'm not even going to throw out, like, Mark Andrews, TJ Hawkinson, Dallas Goddard, because I think that Darren Waller is clearly ahead of those guys. I mean, this is much more of an indictment on, like, how bad the tight end market is as a whole right now. But, like, you know, the big guys up top, Trey McBay, Trey McBride, Tyler Warren, Jake Ferguson, Tucker Kraft, Brock Bowers, George Kittle, Dalton Kincaid, like, those guys I want to hold on to. But outside of that, like, I've got Darren Waller in the same tier as Sam Laporta, Hunter Henry, Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelsey, Dallas Goddard. I think we've seen enough at this point that, like, he's just somebody that you're plugging in weekend and week out until we have a reason not to.
A
Yeah, I, I couldn't agree more there, man. All right, let's go to the next player on here. And I don't know what it is about my, my list of takeaways here, but I'm, I'm getting the rookie fever. And I think it's like, once you start to see it, you start to believe it. And it's nice when some of these things start to pay off, but I think Jecori Crosky Merit is about to blow up. And I remember saying, hey, we need to pump the brakes on the hype in preseason. And then Even after, you know, a couple of big plays, it's like, well, you know, he's really only doing one or two things here. But it's become consistent and now it's become a thing where without Austin Eichler in the picture, the role of the, the commander's running back has just evolved.
B
It's changed.
A
And I think we were all worried there was going to be a three headed attack and there was until someone broke free from the pack there and it's Ben Jakori, Koski Merritt who has broken free. He leads the NFL in yards per carry leads and yards over expectation per carry and rushing success rate. Like he just, he is looking like an explosive play machine. Very similar. I think we've said this before, very similar. Like Ken Walker who can make those explosive plays. But he's not getting as many of the negative plays here because the Commanders have a really good revamp offensive line going into this season. And mind you, he was doing all this or like we, we kind of had a delay in the coming out party for Bill because you lose Jaden Daniels, you have Mark Smariota in there at starting quarterback. All of a sudden, first week of Jane Daniels back, we're looking at a very different player, very different team. Last week, 16 touches on just 47% of the snaps. 70% of the backfield touches went to Jakori, Crosky, Merritt, Chris Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols. We keep seeing their roles decrease every week. When you go and look at their sn, their opportunity share, everything just continues to go down every single week. And this is, I keep referencing strength of schedule because now we have some information on these teams. We kind of know more or less who we're going up against. Jaqui Crosby, Merit and the Commanders have the easiest remaining strength of schedule for any running back in fantasy. With the return of Jaden Daniels. This is an offense that should have more scoring opportunities. So it shouldn't just be big plays for Bill, it should actually be some touchdowns as well.
B
Well and you know we talked so much a few years back about like the, the too high shell coverage and how that was just like changing the NFL and defenses are still doing that. We see this constant push pull between offenses and defenses trying to, you know, throw a counter punch to whatever they're throwing at you. And, and what happened a few years back is, you know, we saw these big explosive plays coming from Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and Joe Burrow and defenses said we got to stop these big plays because they're just Absolutely killing us. So now defenses are playing in a lot more dime packages and now we're seeing NFL teams, we talk earlier in the year, start to lean heavier on 12 personnel and 13 personnel. These jumbo packages where they're going to say, hey, if you're going to throw six cornerbacks out here, we're just going to run the ball down your throat and you're not going to be able to stop us. But now, coupled with that with these jumbo packages is also you get these mobile quarterbacks with a running back and it opens up more opportunities for them because you've got quarterbacks that are trying to stop the run and you've got two running threats out there in Jaden Daniels and Jacori Crosby Merit. And we kind of saw the blueprint last year. Like Saquon Barkley had a career year playing alongside Jalen Hurts, we saw Derek Henry have a career year playing alongside Lamar Jackson. And it's just so hard for defenses sitting in these nickel and dime packages to be able to combat this sort of run game. So I, I was looking at this a lot this week because it's something kind of piqued my interest. But same thing with Breeze Hall. Like his three best games this year have come when Justin Fields was on the field and it's just so hard for defenses to have to account for two rushing threats coming out of the backfield. So now that I think Jaden Daniels is out there, he clear he wasn't 100 last year coming back or last week coming back from that knee sprain. But I think when you've got the threat of Jaden Daniels as a rusher and then you've also got your Corey Crosky Merritt out there who we know, like, we can nitpick the little things that he does wrong, but he's explosive and if he gets an opportunity, he's going to be able to take it. I think this is just going to be a nightmare for defenses and Jacori Crosby Merritt works much better alongside than a Jaden Daniels or Jeremy McNichols does. Or I'm sorry, alongside Jaden Daniels Rodriguez or Jeremy McNichols would.
A
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, it's because he kind of fits that mold. Like, Jaden Daniels is not really a dump off kind of guy. So, like, even though they had Austin Eckler and they could use him that way, like it kind of meshes well with the skill set of Jakori Crosky. Merit is that he doesn't need to be A guy that's working passing downs and sure he's not the big bruiser like Chris Rodriguez, but for the most part we've seen that this offense, like Dan Quinn has said it, that they're a unique offense that doesn't really even require a bruising running back. Like they could do a lot of very interesting things on third and short, on fourth and short where they can get the ball into Corey Cross camera tans or Jane Daniels hands. And so I think we're going to continue to see more of Bill as we keep going on here.
B
And this is much more of a Cliff Kingsbury offense than it is a Dan Quinn offense. We know that he wants to spread it out, he wants this air raid attack. But then when you could throw some like speed option elements into the air raid attack system that they built out there, it's just so tough. And like I feel like now they have the perfect personnel. It seems like Debo Samuel was kind of the guy that put a bow on this offense because they had all of these good downfield receivers in Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown and what we're seeing from Luke McCaffrey now, but they haven't had that guy that can work in the short to intermediate areas of the field. So now you've got Jaden Daniels and Jakory Crosby, Merritt in the backfield, Debo Samuel working underneath, and then you've still got the threats deep downfield as well. I mean this offense can just attack you on every levels. And like you said, you don't need a Chris Rodriguez in there picking up 1.7 yards per carry. Like that just isn't a part of this offense. Like they are focused on getting explosive plays as much as they can. Can. Yeah.
A
All right, let's go to the next one on here, Dave.
B
Stefan Diggs is back. Just gonna simply put it that way. I mean, to be honest, like I, I thought it was crazy that he was even practicing in training camp and when they said he was ready for week one, like this guy tore his ACL mid season last year at almost 31 years old, I did not think that we'd be seeing him until some point later in this year. So I'm okay. Just kind of taking these first three weeks that we saw and just throwing out the window and saying like he was shaking the rust off because his 17 game pace during those first couple of weeks, it was terrible. Like he was facing for 635 yards. I was very much so watching him. He looked like he was just like Limping around, struggling to separate, didn't have the quickness. And then over the last two weeks, we have just seen him really come out looking like a much, much better player. You know, extrapolating two games is a dangerous thing, but pacing for 2100 yards over the last two weeks, yeah, but he has been the very clear focal point of this offense. We haven't seen much from Hunter Henry, Henry K, Sean Booty, Demario Douglas, Mack Hollins. You know, they're all decent role players. But this is very similar to the narrative that we saw for a young Josh Allen where he had all of these guys, you know, Cole Beasley and John Brown and whoever else, and he was able to kind of make it work with them. But then once he got his guy, Stefan Diggs, a bonafide wide receiver, one that he can look to, to bail him out, it just really helped elevate his game. And we saw Drake May looking his way late in the game, putting the ball on him deep downfield, having that guy that he has a lot of trust in, you know, week five, we saw a little bit different usage. Like week four, his Stefan Diggs, like his first good game. It was a lot of in breaking routes that are getting the ball across the middle of the field. Week five we saw Drake May rolling out of the pocket and thrown outside the numbers. And Stefan Diggs did that as well. So I love to see this type of versatility because they can game plan form with different ways. But really what it is is Drake May is just good. Like this was his worst fantasy performance of the week or of the year. But I think that going into Buffalo getting a win, you know, this team's confidence is going to be through the roof. They've got Stefan Diggs, the bonafide wide receiver, one they've really needed. And I'm looking at him as like a top 15 guy going forward. Of course, you know, he's 31, coming off an ACL tear, we could see this turn into a pumpkin, but I don't think that we should expect that. Like, right now, he just looks like Stefan Diggs of old and has no competition for targets.
A
Yeah, the. The Drake May laser on the run was an absolutely insane throw to make. And it's something like we've kind of always known that he has in his back pocket. We're just waiting for that to mature out there on the field when it comes to Stefan Diggs. Dave, something that I know, like we had, we had been up and down. I know, like specifically you really liked him. And then when you, you saw the reports about him in camp when, when things weren't looking as good, kind of soured and now we're back in and do you worry that this is something where he's got a little bit of juice now, but as the season goes on, it's not going to be there because he's still only playing about 50% of the snaps. Like he's really not getting to a high snap share, but he's getting a very good target per route run rate, which is something obviously all these things need to be put into context. Do you get worried about that going forward?
B
A little bit. But I think that he kind of got that out of him already. I know you've suffered injuries, Alfredo, as have I. And it is kind of common to have this, like, you feel really, really good coming out of an injury and then you have that kind of like downslip where it's like, wait, this hurts, this is achy, this is getting stiff. And I think that's what happened with Stefan Diggs because like the first three days of training camp, he was just torching dudes left and right. And I was like, this is unbelievable. And then like week two, week three, week four, we saw him looking a little bit stiffer and that's kind of how he looked early in the season. But I think he has shaken that off. And then, you know, you talk about the target rate. He's pulling a target on over 30% of the routes that he's running. That's the fourth highest in the league. So like, even if he is a part time year, he's still giving you Wide Receiver 2 production. And if that blows up into a full time role where he's playing 80 to 90% of the snaps and maintaining that same target rate, my goodness. I mean, this guy could end up having a career year from here on out.
A
Yeah, I mean, listen, anything's possible here. I think there's maybe the smallest bit of the intangible revenge game effect that we saw last week against the Bills, but 100.
B
He is a he.
A
If there's one person that I expect to be that petty, it would be Stefan Diggs going into that game. But I mean, the schedule does get a little bit easier as the season goes on. I mean, New Orleans this week, so like the Patriots may not have to throw all that much, but the Saints have been scrappy and stayed in game, so we'll see. All right, next up on here, I, I kind of hate that I'm still doing this, but I'm just going to say it. Especially after the trade this week, there's still a very small glimmer of hope for Chase Brown. Maybe not the same hope that we had for him at the beginning of the season where we wanted him to be be a top five running back or even an RB one, but I think he can actually still be a semi consistent RB2 for you going forward. Right now he's the running back 32 in fantasy. Prior to last week he was averaging just barely over three targets per game. Like we were not seeing the passing game usage that we wanted to or that we thought we would end up seeing. Now the Bengals trade for Joe Flacco who's going to come in and we've seen him do this in the past in his career where he will target the running backs plenty of but especially this season on the Browns or yeah, on the Browns who had a bad offensive line, he was targeting the running backs eight and a half targets per game, nearly nine targets per game with the Browns. Guess what, he goes to the Bengals who have an equally as awful offensive line. So what we're going to see a bit more here is going to be yeah, Joe Flacco is not afraid to throw it deep. So you know what, you've got a little bit of of life left here for Jamar Chase and for T. Higgins who gets a little bit of a revitalization there as well. But I do think Chase Brown is a guy that we can consider here as being someone who's not totally dead yet for fantasy football. Just looking at what they've done so far, Brown has had one of the hardest schedules for a fantasy running back going through. It's him, Devon Achan and Ashton Jinty. The big difference between him and those other guys is that one Devon Achan and the Dolphins have been able to score touchdowns. Achan's had three receiving touchdowns on the ground. He's actually been very inconsistent. He's not scoring on the ground Brown, but everything for him has been getting five and a half receptions per game and being able to score through the air. And then for Genti he gets the big blow up game of three touchdowns in week four and he's getting a lot more of the opportunity than we do see for Chase Brown. So I, I, I kind of see this where it forks in the road where if Joe Burrow is still a quarterback for this team, this player Chase Brown is not giving us such poor production like we've gotten so far. I'm not saying Joe Flacco Coming in changes everything for this team. I think it just gives them a little more hope where we might be able to at least see some concern. Consistency, someone that can run an offense, especially a quarterback that is not trying to run all the time, that's something Jake Browning was always willing to do, was try to run as often as he could. Joe Flacco is going to be a check down guy or try to get the ball out quick in this offense. So I still think there's some hope here for Chase Brown.
B
Yeah, I did a deep dive on Joe Flacco because I think like the immediate gut reaction was like, oh, old quarterback before behind a bad offensive line. Right. This is terrible for everybody. Like Joe Flacco is very immobile at this point in his career and he was playing behind a terrible offensive line in Cleveland and was still below league average in sacrate. And what we saw. Week one, Dylan Sampson gets eight targets. In week two, Jerome Ford gets six targets. So I am completely with you here. I've been trying to buy Chase Brown, also trying to buy Jamar Chase. T. Higgins is the one I'm a little bit nervous about, but we won't get into all that. But, but Chase Brown. Yeah. Like all of the talk this off season was that he was working with wide receiver coaches, that he wanted to get better as a pass catcher. That was like the one thing in his that he really wanted to shore up and that's what Joe Flacco is going to do. He's not going to be sliding around, running outside the pocket, trying to make plays with his legs. He's going to look at Jamar Chase and if Jamar Chase is covered, he's going to look to Chase Brown and throw it to him in the flat. So I think this is going to be one of those ugly type of PPR scam seasons because I think behind this offensive line we've seen Chase Brown can't get anything going as a running back. But I don't think it's crazy to think that he's kind of in like Alvin Camara last year. I think that's like a good comp for the type of role that we can see where it's going to be ugly. But he's going to be getting like six to seven targets per game, another dozen rushes on the ground per game and that alone is going to be pretty viable in fantasy.
A
Yeah, man, I, I just, I don't think that the Bengals are totally dead yet. And we kind of do this every year. We get really worried about The Bengals, especially the first few weeks, this is different. This is with no Joe Burrow. I think just the change from Browning to Flacco, which honestly might even happen this week, should be better for fantasy. Now, will it reap new benefits for the Bengals in the real NFL? I don't know. Like, I don't actually know the team will be better, but I do think that there are going to be more completed passes to these, to these players going forward with Flacco.
B
Yeah. And I'm looking like I don't know who I would trade for Chase Brown right now. And I think, like, that's the issue. Like, I don't know who I can like, say. Like, oh, yeah, I'd give this guy up and bring Chase Brown in because I look at a lot of the running backs that I have ranked in similar spots and like, they're all risky players with upside as well. I think you have to kind of look at some other positions here. Like, Jameson Williams has been pretty disappointing so far. We haven't really seen the route tree grow the way that we had hoped. I think that's one thing.
A
Brown's probably part of a package. Brown is probably part of a package where you trade an over performer for like two starters because your team has been decimated with injuries.
B
Right. But the only guys I can really think of would be like Jameson Williams, Chris Olave, maybe if you can get Chase Brown. Like I tried sending some offers out and they were all rejected because. Because I think a lot of people are buying into the, you know, Joe Flacco is going to throw to the running backs a lot. But I think this is what we need to get Chase Brown back on track.
A
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. This is more of like a. Not necessarily buy, but to hold on to Chase Brown because I know that it's been one. If you drafted him, it's been impossible to trade him unless you were in a league with me where I was like happily trying to buy or stupidly whatever word we want to use there. All right, Dave, let's go to your last, last takeaway for week six.
B
I think Derrick Henry is a matchup based RB2 and I know this is like maybe I'm just the guy falling on the sword because this happens seemingly every year that Derrick Henry gets off to a slow start. Somebody says, hey, Derrick Henry, the end is here. And then he blows up over the second half of the season. So if that happens, you're welcome everyone. I'm the guy that's willing to take this one on the chin for y'. All. But he was the RB one in week one. Looked like Derrick Henry and everybody said like, oh, the guy's an alien. This is what he's does since then. In the four games that he's played, he is the RB35. And we all looked at week five. Is that like that was supposed to be the bounce back game? We've seen Derrick Henry feast against this Texans defense throughout his career. 15 carries for 33 yards. It's just not good. He has been held to 1.6 yards after contact per attempt or fewer in each of his last four games. And he hasn't broken one tackle in his last four games. He's seen a stacked box, eight plus defenders on over 16% of his carries series. That's the fifth highest rate in the league. He's average.
A
Is that on the season or is that just from last season?
B
On the season, yeah. Averaging 6.9 defenders in the box. That's the fifth highest rate in the league. And a lot of this does have to do with Lamar Jackson not being in the picture. But even before the Lamar Jackson injury, like Derek Henry was struggling outside of that week one performance. And to put this in like 6.9 defenders in the box, fifth highest rate in the league. Last year you saw 6.1 defenders in the box which was the 63rd highest rate in the league. So I think think that defenses are just changing how they're playing this team right now. Of course they're going to play them differently when it's Cooper Rush, but we even saw that early in the year with Lamar Jackson. Derrick Henry was just running all over teams last year and I think that there isn't really a big downfield deep threat outside of Zay Flowers. So I think that they're not playing this too high shell coverage on the the Ravens anymore. They're saying like we're just going to pull these guys down into the box, we're going to load heavy on them and we're not going to let Derrick Henry get behind us because that was the explosive play for the Ravens last year. So maybe we can see things get a little bit better when Lamar Jackson's back in the picture. But he's dealing with a leg injury right now. He could have a slow ramp up. He might not be the rusher that he was when he comes back. So this is another one of those like I don't think you should sell, I don't think you should buy. I think you're just looking at Derrick Henry as this guy that could end up being a little bit disappointing this year. He'll have his blow up games here and there, but you know those hoping that he would just maintain his reign as a top five running back. I'm looking at him more as like a back end RB2.
A
Now I think you can buy, but you can buy after this week because you're going to have the Ravens going up against the Rams who are phenomenal against running backs with Cooper Rush starting at quarterback. Then they have the buy. So you're going to have a Derek Henry manager who is so frustrated after a horrendous start. Then they go into a bye week. They're going to be very desperate to get someone to start in their running back spot. That's where I think you could buy Derrick Henry at potentially even this might sound crazy to say out loud like an RB3 price because you're going to have so many weeks of that kind of val. I mean Dave, looking at it, RB 60, RB 25, RB 43, RB 29 like you, there's, there's somewhere out there where you can buy Derrick Henry at an RB3 price. Especially with an if there's another bad game this week against the Rams, then you go into a buy. All of a sudden he comes out of that buy with Chicago, Miami, Minnesota, some some easy run defenses for him to carve up with hopefully Lamar Jackson back. So I think there's, there's a buy there, but it's also with the the understanding or the perspective that it's also going to be probably a window like this isn't a surefire excellent player for the rest of the season. You're going to have to find those spot starts like you said, where he's an a matchup dependent RB2.
B
So let me ask you PPR leaks since we just talked about Chase Brown. Chase Brown or Derrick Henry, who would you prefer between those two? Because my rankings prefer Derrick Henry. But I did those rest of season rankings before the Flacco trademark trade and now I'm kind of looking at them like I think I might want to buy Chase Brown and move off of Derrick Henry. Like that might be a trade that I'd be willing to make.
A
Yeah, they're not that far apart for me. I think I would still have Derrick Henry a little higher because I do think that that Ravens offense can get itself back on track a bit more once Lamar Jackson is in there. I think that like right now we're just as the Bengals offense is just trying to keep their head above Water. Whereas the, the Ravens offense is just simply under pressure, performing. So I'm willing to be a little bit heavier on Derek Henry, but it's not by much. I think it's only by about like five or six spots in the running back rankings.
B
And I, I think the tough thing too is like, it's Derek Henry and like you need to just keep putting him in your lineup. But like, I'm fading him pretty hard in this matchup against the Rams. I've got him. You know, we talked about Jacori Crosby merit earlier. I prefer Jacori Crosby merit this week. Rico Dowdle with a revenge game. I prefer him. I prefer Chase Brown. Like, I didn't think I'd be ranking Derrick Henry outside of the top 20, but that's where I've got him in my week six rankings.
A
Yeah, I'm, I'm pretty low on Derrick Henry as well. I don't have him in my top 20. All right, Dave. Last one that I want to hit up here. And this is more just like a wish casting than anything, but I use this term earlier. Malpractice. Just feels like it would be malpractice if Travyon Henderson is not a weekly RB2 at some point in this season. For fantasy managers, given the circumstances there in New England, like, it's just cr. What else needs to happen? I mean, Ramondre Stevenson is fumbling at just an insane rate, but then also just getting touchdowns at an insane rate. And I, I, I don't know. The last time we saw anything like this. I remember everyone was freaking out that Jameer Gibbs wasn't on the field enough. That's because David Montgomery looked excellent. I've never seen something like this, or at least I can't remember seeing something like this where the starting running running back did not look good and the highly drafted rookie running back with explosive playmaking ability was not put into the game.
B
And now we're seeing back one example and it was John Lewis getting touches over Derrick Henry in a Mike Rabel offense.
A
But was, but I mean, Derrick Henry wasn't the exploit. Like he was like the ground and pound guy. Like it was right? It was, was Dion Lewis playing well during that time? Like he was playing bad. Bad?
B
Yeah. I mean he wasn't playing great, but like Derrick Henry was a round two pick. And like I remember it took years of people just like unleash Derrick Henry and it literally took years for Variable to finally do it. So I think that's my concern here is that like Frable is just so stubborn dude. And like there was, there was a quote that came out yesterday or Mike Frable was saying like we need to get Radre Stevenson's fumbling under control because he's so important to what this offense is and what we want to do. And that, that I think is my concern. And yeah, it is kind of flip flops. Like, it feels like Travion Henderson is the Dion Lewis and Radre Stevenson is the der Derek Henry. But for whatever reason, like Frable just has this like weird commitment to veterans over young guys.
A
Yeah. Looking back to Dion Lewis. Hold on one sec. I'm trying to see. So we have.
B
It took Derek Henry three years to get his first thousand yard season because like they just kept giving the ball to Dion Lewis for some reason.
A
I'm seeing Derek Henry is a rookie for the Titans in 2016 and his second year is 2017. I'm however, not seeing. Am I going crazy? I am not seeing Dion Lewis on the Titans in 2016 and 2017. I'm seeing him on the New England Patriots.
B
Yeah. Who was it that he was splitting touches with his rookie season? I know it was later on because I don't think Frable. That was still the Mike, the Mike Malarkey years. But it was when Vrabel came in. I don't think it was his rookie season. I don't know the exact year off the top of my head. I was pulling this out because I, I vividly remember it. Yeah, 2018 was Rabe Bull's first year.
A
Yeah, 2018 with Dion Lewis and Dion Lewis. No, he wasn't rushing as well. He was in the threes and yards per attempt.
B
But that was still 20, 55 carries that year when Derrick Henry, like year three beast of a man. Derrick Henry, averaging five yards per carry was still seating like you know, 40 of his workload to Dion Lewis.
A
Yeah, but I mean like Derek Henry's still a thousand yard rusher. 12 touchdowns. Like I'm not saying that's going to be trivia on Henderson. I'm saying like something's gotta give within this backfield here.
B
Right?
A
Like I don't think that any coach in their sane mind can continue going forward with. Yeah, we gotta keep feeding Ramondre. This is what's going to win us games. And just absolutely not use Travyon. Even if they decide that Trevion needs to be the passing down guy. Cool. Like let him get that role because now with Antonio Gibson out for the season, workload should grow for both of these guys. Like last last week, Trevion Henderson had more targets, more yards per carry than Stevenson as well. Stevenson leads the NFL and fumbles. Like, and I, and I get it. You want to stick with your guys. You want to be positive. You want to give a little bit of that positive reinforcement. Like, hey, he'll get it together. We, we need him. He's important, right? Like, you're never gonna. I, at least I wouldn't assume that a coach is going to go out into the meeting, be like, yeah, that guy sucks. We're gonna bench him for sure.
B
Like, no, you're.
A
You're gonna be positive with that guy because you're going to need him at some point. If there's a Trevian Henderson injury, you need to rely on Ramondre Stevenson. So I get all that. But the way I look at it here, for fantasy Trevian Henderson, running back, 37 right now, in fantasy football, that's in PPR. If you're trading for him, like, this, to me, is the ultimate buy low. Like, I don't think there's anyone else in that range of player in terms of, like, where they are valued right now in fantasy that could have such a high ceiling like Trevion Henderson and where he's at currently.
B
Yeah, I, I'm with you. I mean, I mean, like, we, we know he's a good player. It's just been frustrating.
A
I'm not banging the table. But like, this, this is not like a 10 out of 10 buy, right?
B
And I think you buried the lead a little bit. Like Antonio Gibson, I think him being out of the picture is the big thing here because this was like a bizarre. Like, it was. They were splitting touches like, 33, 33, 33. Like, everybody was getting involved and, you know, three's a crowd. Two we can definitely manage. And like, you know, we look at like a Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet backfield, and that's one where we're just saying, hey, we're gonna fire both of these guys up because this is a team. Team that's going to score a lot and all of the touches are going to these two guys. And I think that's where we're at now with Ramadre Stevenson and Treveon Henderson. Antonio Gibson was the one that was really kind of just throwing a wrench in this entire backfield. And I think this is how we should kind of look at this backfield now. Like, Ramadre Stevenson is the Zach Charbonnet. Treveon Henderson is the Kenneth Walker. Rodri Stevenson is going to get a lot of the goal line Work. He's going to get a lot of the short down work, but you're going to see Treveon Henderson come in for those big plays and being able to do things like that. There was also a note that came out. I don't know if you saw this. The injury, the, the, the, the, the, the play that Antonio Gibson got injured on, there was a missed block from Trevion Henderson. So like, we've got two issues and it's like, as a coach, do you want the guy who's consistently missing blocks, which has been the big problem with Trivian Henderson, date back to training camp, or do you want the guy that's consistently coughing up the ball? It's a rhetorical question because I don't know the answer. You don't want either of those guys. Like, you want guys that can block and you want guys that hold on to the football and it's kind of like, you know, choosing your poison here. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's bad right now. The fumbles are bad, but that's who Padre Stevenson is. He had more fumbles than any running back last year do. But for whatever reason, the, the coaching staff there just really likes him.
A
It's such a strange thing for Trevan Henderson to be having these struggles with pass blocking in the NFL because this is something he did not struggle with in college at all.
B
In fact, he was one of the highest graded pass blockers.
A
Yeah.
B
Last year in college. And is now one of the lowest graded pass blockers in the NFL. And I get like, it's a very different game, but hopefully he can get that figured out sooner rather than later because like, that, that's a huge liability, especially when you've got a young quarterback that you're trying to develop. Like, you don't want unabated edge rushers just teeing off on him.
A
Yeah, it's. I, listen, I don't think that we're going to see Trevan Henderson finish the year as a running back 37, and I think it's kind of that simple. I don't think it's going to be lower either. I think it's going to be much higher. I think it's going to be a guy who is a weekly run running back to that you can plug into the offense. Especially now. Like, we don't know what's going to happen with the Patriots offense going forward. We don't. We, I mean, we kind of think it's going to be Stefon Diggs who's the lead target earner. But like, even that is still kind of up in the air. Either way, I'm just excited about the Patriots offense. I think they're actually pretty good despite all their running back struggles. So that's where I'm most intrigued.
B
Drake may big riser for me in my rest of season rankings. Despite the poor fantasy performance, this, this Patriots team is legit. I'm really excited. I think that Rabel is a good coach, they've got their quarterback. It seems like it's all starting to come together now. I'm excited to see what this team does over the second half.
A
Yeah, well Dave, that's going to do it for us, man. All the way through the week six or excuse me, the takeaways going into week six and the players that you can buy, sell or hold. I want to thank everybody for being so, so patient with us and being able to move your schedules around. I've been very, very sick this week, so we moved this episode here to a different day. I appreciate it so much and as always want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through. For myself, for Dave, for everyone here at Football. Guys, thank you so much for watching. We'll see you next time.
B
Adios.
C
Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like the this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.
Episode: New Takes Coming Out Of Week 5 || Fantasy Football 2025
Hosts: Alfredo Brown & Dave Kluge
Date: October 9, 2025
This episode of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show zeroes in on fresh perspectives and actionable insights coming out of Week 5 of the NFL season. Alfredo Brown and Dave Kluge dissect breakout candidates, under-the-radar performers, shifting depth charts, and how injuries and rookie developments are reshaping the fantasy football landscape. The conversation, both analytical and entertaining, is packed with specific player evaluations to help manage your rosters through bye weeks, injuries, and the ever-evolving NFL season.
Timestamp: [01:37–03:54]
Timestamp: [04:55–09:13]
Timestamp: [09:17–13:51]
Timestamp: [13:51–17:27]
Timestamp: [17:30–22:01]
Timestamp: [22:01–27:34]
Timestamp: [27:36–31:38]
Timestamp: [31:38–37:07]
Timestamp: [37:28–42:17]
Timestamp: [42:17–49:29]
“You’re buying off the dollar menu. It’s not going to be a big meal that fills you up, but you know, you’re only spending a dollar...That’s what Brian Thomas Jr. is.”
– Alfredo Brown, [13:51]
“I think a lot of people are trying to sell high on [Michael Carter] right now. And I'm just holding him looking at kind of a free plug and play RB2 for the next month and a half.”
– Dave Kluge, [03:47]
“I think Travis Hunter is a better wide receiver than Brian Thomas [Jr.]...he is just unbelievable. Like you just get the ball to him and let magic happen.”
– Dave Kluge, [09:17]
“He’s not Johnnu Smith. Darren Waller...Johnnu Smith wasn’t running 25-yard post routes.”
– Dave Kluge, [19:55]
“It would just be absolute malpractice for the Bears to keep Luther Burden...sidelined throughout the year.”
– Alfredo Brown, [07:44]
“Now they have the perfect personnel. It seems like Deebo Samuel was kind of the guy that put a bow on this offense.”
– Dave Kluge, [26:43]
This episode delivers a rapid-fire set of dynasty and seasonal takes, rich with data, team context, and rest-of-season strategy. Listeners come away with actionable moves for Week 6, key targets for buy-low trades, and a sharper lens on who to trust and hold during the most volatile stretch of the fantasy year.
Hosted by Alfredo Brown & Dave Kluge
Podcast: Footballguys Fantasy Football Show