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Players To Target On The Week 9 Waiver Wire || Fantasy Football 2025
00:42:54
In Episode 283 of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show, Dave Kluge and Alfredo Brown discuss players to target on the waiver wire after Week 8. Send your questions to fantasyshow@footballguys.com 🎥. SUBSCRIBE to the NEW YouTube page: https://www.yo...
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- [00:00]
Alfredo Brown
Morning, Zoe. Got donuts. Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage? Well, I dig the mattress and I.
- [00:08]
Dave Kluge
Want to be in a T mobile.
- [00:09]
Alfredo Brown
Commercial like you teach me.
- [00:11]
Dave Kluge
So Dana. Oh no, I'm not really prepared.
- [00:15]
Alfredo Brown
I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful.
- [00:21]
Dave Kluge
Iphone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system. Wow, impressive.
- [00:25]
Alfredo Brown
Let me try.
- [00:26]
Dave Kluge
T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network. Nice.
- [00:32]
Alfredo Brown
Je free.
- [00:32]
Dave Kluge
You heard them. T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition. So what are we having for lunch? Dude, my work here is done.
- [00:44]
Alfredo Brown
The 24 month bill credit on experience beyond for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge credit send and balance due. If you pay off earlier, Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 A new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oklahoma Speed Test Intelligence.
- [00:58]
Dave Kluge
Data 182025 Visit T mobile.com AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik agent cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI transformation@rubrik.com that's R U B R-I K.com so you got any plans for Halloween? Yes, going to see Begonia in theaters. So.
- [01:37]
Alfredo Brown
Bless you. That's the mo.
- [01:41]
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
- [01:42]
Alfredo Brown
Red hair movie, right? Well, no hair actually in the movie.
- [01:45]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, yeah, she's bald in this one. It's the new Yorgos movie. I don't know if you're a fan. Yeah, I always, I always get Emma Stone and Emma Watson confused. Emma Stone though. Yeah, Emma Stone. Yeah. Going to see that. You know it's tough. Like we, we wanted to go to a concert. There was like a fun show that we wanted to go to, but it started at 8pm and I feel like obligated to the trick or treaters here. Like we live in a very family friendly neighborhood. Like I don't want to be the guy who's not home at 7:30pm so.
- [02:13]
Alfredo Brown
We want you get your house egged.
- [02:16]
Dave Kluge
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we want to be home, we want to give candy out to the kids and then at 9pm we're going to start a pot of coffee and go to a 10:15pm movie on a Friday. There's a 90 chance I'm falling asleep before this movie's halfway over.
- [02:32]
Alfredo Brown
At last time I tried to go to a late movie. I just did not enjoy it. Did not enjoy it at all. I was bored out of my mind.
- [02:41]
Dave Kluge
Every time you see a movie is like 11am on a Saturday.
- [02:44]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. Yes, yes, old man. But no, it's the best because there's no one there. You go and you get some breakfast, then you, you go to the movie theater and then you've got the rest of the day. Like you're out of there by like two o', clock, whatever time. And then you're just like, cool. What am I gonna do with the rest of my. It's just a beautiful way to start the day.
- [03:03]
Dave Kluge
My wife and I, we do that a lot also. Tickets are like $7, like if you go to like the early matinee show. So we've been doing that a lot. Last time we went to see a movie. Well, it wasn't last time. Last time it was a pretty crowded theater. We saw one battle after another right after it came out. Yes. But when I went to see Friendship had the theater completely to myself. Like I'm just sitting in a completely empty theater. Good way to watch a movie. Yeah, it's beautiful.
- [03:28]
Alfredo Brown
It's beautiful.
- [03:29]
Dave Kluge
Thing with it, the only problem with me and. And something we've talked about in many a cold open is early morning bubble guts throwing some coffee in there, trying to make a movie. That could be the problem. And we're back.
- [03:41]
Alfredo Brown
We're back. We were doing so good. We were doing. Everything was just like, wow, this is wholesome conversation. By the way. Here's some poop.
- [03:48]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. I mean, just drinking a coffee, like breakfast coffee and a movie is just. It's a recipe for disaster. I'm excited for Begonia, though. I've heard nothing but very good things. And God bless you. Do you like Giorgos's movies? They're weird. Poor Things was like his most accessible. But I've been diving into his other stuff. Killing a pig here. Have you seen or heard of it? Nope. It's a good October spooky season movie. If you're looking for something that it'll just like. It's not. It's not like gore like slasher type. It is like you want to peel your skin off. You're so uncomfortable by the end of it. It is killing of a single beer. If you're looking for something really, really unsettling.
- [04:30]
Alfredo Brown
I'm fully unaware of who this person is or his films.
- [04:33]
Dave Kluge
Poor things. You haven't seen poor things.
- [04:35]
Alfredo Brown
I know of it. No, I didn't see it.
- [04:38]
Dave Kluge
Dude, you got to dive into some Yorgos movies. The lobster is also great. Yeah, Yorgos. He's Yorgos. Lanthimos makes him some very.
- [04:49]
Alfredo Brown
Well, you make them sound so fun. You gotta see him. The lobster. Yes. Just. You're just saying words at me and then just exclaiming emotions after.
- [05:00]
Dave Kluge
So there's different types of movies. I like movies that, like, challenge me and, like, I wake up the next day and I'm still thinking about them and, like, they make me feel weird and make me, like, view the world through a different lens. Those are the types of movies I like. And Yorgos, he. He's batting about a thousand. He does that with all of his movies.
- [05:17]
Alfredo Brown
Got it.
- [05:18]
Dave Kluge
Okay.
- [05:18]
Alfredo Brown
So you, you just want to be uncomfortable. You want to be uncomfortable and be like, am I real? Is this all a dream?
- [05:25]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Is that.
- [05:26]
Alfredo Brown
Is that where we're at? Got it.
- [05:27]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [05:29]
Alfredo Brown
I mostly go for fun, but. Cool.
- [05:32]
Dave Kluge
You're not going to have fun in a Yorgos movie. I can promise you that.
- [05:36]
Alfredo Brown
Sign me up. Here's my $13AMC hot dog. It's the Week 9 waiver wire show here on the football guys Fantasy football show. I'm Alfredo Brown, joined as always by Dave Kluge. And this is a big one. We've got sort of the gem of the waiver wire. But then there are a lot of underrated players you guys got to be looking at out there on the waiver wire. Some injury away running backs and players to stash for later. And we're adding in a new segment here. We're going to be talking about quarterbacks and defenses to stream here in week nine. Dave Kluge. This is a big one. And we're going to kick this off with our number one player, Tyrone Tracy, who is available in 66% of fantasy leagues, which is utterly shocking. Yeah, yeah. Guys, please comment that down below. It helps the algorithm. Let us know he's not available in your league, but in the 66% that he is available in, what should fantasy managers be doing?
- [06:42]
Dave Kluge
Dump everything you got. If you've got the number one waiver priority, if you've got $85 in fab remaining, I mean, this is like we saw last year in a very bad New York Giants offense. He was still giving us RB2 value on a consistent basis. Now we're looking at just an improved offense as a whole camp. Scatter Boo out of the picture. We know what it's going to be like. We saw this exact backfield last year where Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary were competing for touches. Tyrone tracy was getting 80% of the touches. He was getting all of the passing down work. We know the ceiling is so high here. You know, I do my rest of season rankings which I publish on Tuesday mornings and I've got Tyrone tracy as my RB19 rest of season. I mean, I'm looking at him at a middling RB2. This is a guy that if he is available on waivers, you can theoretically pick him up and put him in your lineup every week between now and the end of the season.
- [07:28]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I mean there's no reason to not have him in your lineup every single week when we're seeing what Cam Scatter Boo is doing. And obviously not the same players, but touchdown upside like that. Receiving upside like that. Jackson Dart has the offense moving. I, I wouldn't, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to have Tyrone Tracy in your starting lineup. The offensive line looks better too, man. Like Andrew Thomas is back like this. This whole offensive line looks good. The Giants offense is throwing to the running backs more. Like it was surprising to see how many of these targets Cam Scatter Boo was getting on a weekly. And so now, I mean, we don't want to just say it's going to all transfer over to Tyrone Tracy because there's going to be some Devin Singletary and that's more of like a deeper league AD who we're not going to talk about him today, but that's another one. If, if Tracy's gone, a bunch of these other running backs to talk about are gone. Like Devin Singletary becomes a guy. But yeah, this is, this is a priority pickup this week.
- [08:16]
Dave Kluge
Eric. Eric Gray is inching towards a return due. They're saying he should be back in the next few weeks. I think Eric Gray more likely than not probably just takes over Devin Singletary's role. I mean, Tyrone Tracy, this is a guy we talked about a lot in the off season, like off the charts, size adjusted speed. He was a converted wide receiver, so we know can catch passes. And this isn't just like a hope and a wish that we think might come to fruition. Like we just saw it last year. Like this guy was a plug and play RB2 over the second half of the season. And now the Giants offense as a whole is just better. It seems like every week when we do this waiver wire show, we're like. And we're going to talk about waivers and there's nobody. Thanks for sticking around. Like, we, we finally have a guy here who I don't want to throw around the term league winner, but, like, it's not often that you can find a guy on the waiver wire that is just a plug and play option for the rest of the year.
- [09:03]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, too late. You already said league winner. You did it. It's been recorded. It's in the transcript.
- [09:07]
Dave Kluge
Crop, crop it, share it, socials, do what you got to do.
- [09:10]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I'm editing this video today, so you bet your bottom I will. I almost said a different word. All right, Dave, let's go down to the second tier here where we've got two injury away running backs and two guys that I think it's different situations but kind of similar here. Okay, so we've got Tank Bigsby and Ollie Gordon. Let's talk about Tank Bigsby first. He's available in 91% of leagues. Dave, he's your number two wave wire pickup for me. He's the number three. This is a stash play though, because the Eagles are going to be on by Saquon. Barkley comes up with a groin injury. He says he could have returned to the game, but we know that players say a lot of things. So what's your, what's your, your take on this one? How are you approaching this way for wire ad with Bigsby?
- [09:56]
Dave Kluge
This is just an injury away Stash, but I don't know if there's an injury away Stash that has more upside than Tank Bigsby does right now. Like we've seen, this is a good Eagles offensive line. We've seen what guys can do even in spot starts here. And it's been very mercurial this year. Like it was Will Shipley to start the year and then he cracked a rib in week one and then we saw AJ Dillon kind of coming in. AJ Dillon has now been a healthy scratch for back to back weeks. We saw Tank Bigsby get his first offensive touch two weeks ago, just an 11 yard carry. I don't understand what the Eagles did here. Like they traded multiple, multiple draft picks to just take Tank Bigsby and just turn him into a special teams player. But then we see last week, like he comes out, gets more opportunities and I've always thought Tank Bigsby is a good running back. I don't really understand what happened, what transpired during his time in Jacksonville, but it clearly didn't work out there. But now we see, you know, the speed, the elusiveness, the tackle breaking abilities, those were all on display last week. This is purely a stash. Like I don't think there's going to be any sort of standalone flex appeal for Tank Bigsby, but if Saquon Barkley does have to miss any time with, whether it be due to this groin injury or something else later in the year, Tank Bigsby would be a guy that you can look at as like a plug and play top 10, top 12 player.
- [11:06]
Alfredo Brown
I will say this for Tank Bigsby, with his performance last week against the Giants. This is something that Tank Bigsby has always been good at and has always done since coming out of Auburn, which is try to bounce runs outside. And that was one of the things on his scouting report that's like he's going to get caught doing that in the NFL because he doesn't have the elite speed. But now when you're on an elite offense and you've got space where you can do things like this and reminder, this was without A.J. brown, then, yeah, we're talking about a few more of these big plays. And this is also something that the Giants have struggled with all years. Being able to set the edge. Allowing big plays in the outside to running backs is something we talked about in like week one or week two with Jacori Crosky Merit where he was going out and making big plays. So it's been something. Yes, the Giants defense has been better. I don't want to go like full unload the clip on a guy like Bigsby because of the like. But like I don't even want to go like double digits in my way. Waiver wire, fab. Here is, this is more of like a if it happens, it happens. This is sort of a passive waiver wire bid if I'm making one.
- [12:02]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. It's so hard to talk about like exactly how much you should spend on Fab in different leagues because like, you know, I'm in a ten team league with five bench spots in there. I'm probably putting like two or three bucks on Tank Bigsby and hoping that I can get him because like it's going to be a non stop churn on the bench and there's always players that pop up on the waiver wire. But if I'm in a team where I'm starting 10 players on a weekly basis and I've got 10 bench spots, then I might be thinking about, you know, like 25, 30 bucks on tank Bigsby. It all depends on how deep your league is but in those deeper leagues, you know, he was a guy who is available in a ton of leagues right now and is the RB2 on the Eagles. I think there's a lot of value there. I mean like Will Shipley was a guy that I was drafting all offseason and now I'm looking at Tank Bigsby in that role. Like that's a guy that I want on my team even if it doesn't turn out to be anything between now and the end of the year.
- [12:49]
Alfredo Brown
The other guy in this tier is Ollie Gordon, the second who backup running back for the Miami Dolphins rookie. He's been one of these guys that we've been telling you to stash throughout the entire year. He was a good late round pickup. Hasn't always had something come to fruition here fantasy wise, but once again, just like a lot of these other running backs we're going to talk about, he is the injury away guy. I'm gonna say this, he's my number two waiver wire stash this weekend. It's because of the way that the Dolphins have sort of changed the way that their offense is working now. Dave, going back and looking at it here, I'll read this off to you. Throughout the season they're at 40% run play percentage which 39 technically that would put them in the bottom five in the league. However, over the last three weeks that percentage has gone up to 45%. And in this previous game, which different game script going up against the Atlanta Falcons where somehow they were winning Miami Dolphins 57% rushing play percentage which is totally different than what we have seen. But that's because the team has been changing week by week. We had T Tyreek Hill get injured, we get Darren Waller get injured. Tuata by Loa throws six interceptions over the course of two weeks. Is a team that maybe they're having to evolve their offensive game plan a bit and try to control the clock a bit more, try to control the ball a little bit more and see what they can do with the ball in Devon Achan's hands and Ollie Gordon's hands. This was not something where he got late touches because they were winning in the game. He was used early and often. Actually late in the game. Jalen Wright came in and got like 10 touches when the game was totally out of reach because they wanted to keep Ali Gordon healthy. So to me that signals a guy who is not only a player with contingent upside, but a player who has standalone value right now going forward next few weeks Baltimore, Buffalo, Washington. Then they have the buy New Orleans, New York, jets, five very beatable run defenses there.
- [14:42]
Dave Kluge
And to me this seems like Mike McDaniel just going back to his roots like we saw during the early time of, you know, when he was head coaching the Dolphins. Yeah, of course there were the explosive plays with Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle and things like that, but it was all anchored around the run game where they had Rahee Mostert plunging in for 20 plus touchdowns and Devon Hn with these big plays. And that's where Mike McDaniel kind of got his start in the NFL. Like I remember when he was the run game coordinator for San Francisco and you know, he was doing these little tiny wrinkles, you know, throwing the ball back to the running back instead of handing it off to try to like keep defenses on their toes and you know, these really fun blocking schemes where they were getting running backs out wide where they could rip off these big chunk plays. Like that's where Mike McDaniel is at his best. So to see over the last two years them kind of lean into this like, hey, we're going to be this dink and dunk offense that just throws the ball non stop, that doesn't really feel like who Mike McDaniel is. So I like to see them kind of getting back on track, you know, just they've got a decent offensive line. I mean, it's not great, but we see that when they do commit to the run, you know, they can plow some lanes out there and make it easy for the running back. So I want to see them continue going this route. And I think that having a guy like Ali Gordon, that early down guy who can run between the tackles, that just keeps, keeps Devon Hn a little bit fresher. Where we can see him revert to some of that efficiency from two years ago, that made us like him so much. So I think this is what the Dolphins should have been doing all along. And Ali Gordon, I don't know if he's a guy that I'm like willing to put in my flex spot just yet, but definitely worth a stash. And if we see this go back to the offense that we saw two years ago, then all of a sudden got. Ali Gordon is not only a guy with contingent upside, but a guy that also has some standalone value.
- [16:17]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, what I want to do is I want to stash him, see how everything goes this week against Baltimore, because Thursday Night Football game is going to be on prime time. Everyone go watch that obviously, but Baltimore has Been a defense that just hasn't quite made sense this year. Early in the season they were terrible and over the last few weeks they've gotten a lot better. But this also has the chance to be a high scoring game. Dolphins, Ravens, Lamar Jackson to like it can blow up so I'll be curious to see that one. Let's go down to tier number three where we've got a few more of these stash running backs and a wide receiver. So in this tier, tier number three, we've got Isaiah Davis, running back for the New York jets and Troy Franklin, wide receiver for the Denver Broncos and Dylan Sampson, running back for the Cleveland Browns. Dave, we're sort of in lockstep but like there we're just off by a couple ranks here in these so like nothing too big I would say here. Let's start with Isaiah Davis, who is available in 68% of sleeper leagues. He is the backup running back for the New York Jets. Braylon Allen is out on ir. Lots of Breeze hall trade rumors. Let's just say this, we kind of know what the value is now with Isaiah Davis who like quietly had a 100 plus scrimmage yard game. But if Bree hall is traded, let's say Kansas City Chiefs, something like that, whatever. Let's not go down that rabbit hole. If Breeze hall is traded, how do you value value Isaiah Davis rest of season?
- [17:36]
Dave Kluge
Oh, he'd be like a, a back end RB too. I think there are some concerns about the jets as a whole, but the volume would be there because they just don't have anybody else and that, that's why I think Breeze hall probably doesn't get traded. I know there's some rumors swirling but like they don't have any depth right now besides Breeze hall. And if they do trade him, they' going to the waiver wire and looking at a Gus Edwards or Jamal Williams or something like that. So I think they might stand pat. But either way, like we saw last week, season high in carries, targets, scrimmage yards. Like Isaiah Davis is starting to carve out a role for himself and that was a very high scoring game. We're not going to see them hanging 39 points every single week. But Isaiah Davis has been steadily growing his role. Just 23, three years old, this guy's great size, adjusted speed. We know he's got the pass catching chops as well. That's why, you know, early in the year I was fading Isaiah Davis a little bit because I was like he does all the things Bree Hald does. Breeze Hall Just does them better. And that's why I thought Braylon Allen made for like the better complimentary back. But with him out of the picture now, you know, they can just sit Breeze hall for entire drives and let Isaiah Davis go out there. And you know, he's not quite the same talent level as Breeze hall, but he can do a lot of the same things. So this is one where, you know, it feels very similar to Ollie Gordon, where I don't know if there's any flex appeal yet. Like, I'm not like hoping to get him in my Week 9 lineups, but picking him up, waiting to see how this kind of plays out. Best case scenario is you get some standalone value and then if that doesn't happen, if Breeze hall does get traded or injured or anything, then you're looking at an RB2 in spot starts.
- [19:02]
Alfredo Brown
I think this win may have killed. It's so weird because I'm trying to see both sides of it. I think the win may have killed any Breeze hall trade, but I also think that him having such a huge game increased his trade value. And if you're trying to be as objective as possible, you're saying, cool, we finally got a win against the Cincinnati Bengals, who have also been, you know, pretty downtrodden as well. Except for, you know, the excitement from Joe Flacco that defense hasn't been good, man. I don't know objectively if I'm the gm, I'm wanting to get some value for Breeze hall here. Like, I don't see the value of holding on to him then watching him leave at the end of the season, especially if we are last in the league right now. Just go.
- [19:44]
Dave Kluge
Because you are a smart man, Alfredo, but don't lie to me. I. I'd question if the. The. The jets front office is a Darren Moogie. Yeah. Yeah.
- [19:54]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. All right, let's take a look at the. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Woody. Woody Johnson. It's my favorite owner in the NFL. He keeps the jets bad. Let's go to the other two guys that are here. Troy Franklin, wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, available in 67 of leagues. And it's been a weird roller coaster where I think this is Troy Franklin's fifth time on the waiver wire show. If I'm being honest, that's just who the Broncos are. It's. You don't know who's going to be scoring. You don't know who's going to be getting the usage. Troy Franklin does appear to have taken that wide receiver to role in this Offense, it's just a matter of what does that mean? Is it going to be a run heavy game script? What kind of usage is Evan Ingram going to get? Is Cortland Sutton having the big game or is he going to disappear for a little bit? And so I don't even know that I would look at Troy Franklin as a wide receiver three for fantasy, I look at him probably more as a wide receiver four and even then I'm looking at a game that is going to be a little more matchup dependent where the Broncos will have to pass the ball some more.
- [20:54]
Dave Kluge
And even that I've got him like just outside a wide receiver 4. He's my wide receiver 51 in rest of season rankings where he's the wide receiver 38 in scoring because he scored two touchdowns last week. And like if you look at it, he's the clear wide receiver too. He's been top two in routes run every single game so far this year. It's either him or Cortland Sutton, but it just doesn't really matter that much. Like they spread the ball around so much. There's so much past volume going to the running backs here. Like you said, Evan Ingram, Marvin Minns, Pat Bryant is starting to break out now as well. Like there's just only one ball and there are so many mouths to feed in Denver that yeah, I think like as we're getting in the heat of bye weeks and there's a lot of injuries right now, Troy Franklin makes for a guy that you can flex if you're desperate. But like you never really feel good about Troy Franklin. And you know, talking about him now on the waiver wire show, I get it because he had a big week, but it does feel like we're kind of chasing points here. And then you get confident enough to put Franklin in your lineup next week and then he probably has one of his like three catches for 38 yard games and you're just like, oh yeah, that's right. That's what Troy Franklin does. So there is upside here and there is an opportunity here, but it's just really hard to rely on anybody in this Broncos offense.
- [22:00]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I mean the usage is increasing, but still just a 77% route participation. Like he's not quite a full time player there. Like you mentioned, there are other guys that are coming up as well. It's also just been the touchdown variants, man. Like he's just been catching touchdowns. He's been buoyed by that. And it, it feels a like just because the years are getting Mixed up like second or third year Jameson Williams, where you're like, ah, big, big game, big game. Four catches, 98 yards, two touchdowns. Pick him up, start him next week. He's got the boom bust upside, but then it becomes more bust than. Than not. And it's just that that's. It's. I know that in the preseason we talk about that if, like, draft these guys because if they, if they do boom throughout the season, they're great to have. The tough part is, is like, now you have to be really studying the matchups. And like, does this work for Troy Franklin? So have that in mind. Going to be putting your waiver wire fab on him.
- [22:50]
Dave Kluge
And I did study the matchups last week, and Marvin Mims looked like a smash spot, a giant over under a Cowboys team that's susceptible to big plays out of the slot. And Marvin Mims did nothing last week. So even when you are grinding matchups and trying to find every edge you possibly can, it still goes haywire every now and then.
- [23:09]
Alfredo Brown
Look at that. Nothing matters.
- [23:12]
Dave Kluge
You know, you say nothing matters, but like I did in my article this morning, you know, I do the. The rest of season rankings every Tuesday running. I kind of talked last year about, like, what we saw through the first eight weeks and then what we saw through the second eight weeks. And like, it does feel like at this point, you know, I know a lot of people want to, like, just kind of kick it into cruise control and be like, all right, we know who the good teams are, we know who the good players are. But, like, the reality is it couldn't be further from the truth. Like, through week eight last year, it was Nico Collins and A.J. brown as the wide receiver. One and two. Like, Jamar Chase was a bust through the first half of the season, and then we saw what happened over the second half last week or last year. Through the first eight weeks, it was Derrick Henry and Joe Mixon as the RB1 and RB2, both of who had very bad second halves of the season. So there's still a lot of football left. I know. Like, it might feel like that time where it's just like, we, we know what's going on here. Let's just set our lineups. You know, we know who the starters are, but there's still so much happening and so much changing on a weekly basis.
- [24:07]
Alfredo Brown
We see this all the time. Teams and players get hot as the season goes on, as the games matter a bit more. That's what changes fantasy football. All those examples you just gave perfect reasonings. As to why to stay in it. Keep studying the matchups, keep looking at the waiver wire.
- [24:23]
Dave Kluge
One more, one more example. Johnny Smith last year through the first eight weeks was the tight end, 28. You know what he did over the second half of the season, Alfredo, he was the top scoring tight end. So like all of these guys that we're talking about, like, yeah, you know, off the fantasy radar. That doesn't mean that like, just because they're off the fantasy radar now doesn't mean they can't be like top scoring in their position over the second half of the season. So still a lot of of season left. I'll get off my soapbox and we can.
- [24:46]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I was about to say no more soapboxing. No more soapboxing. Last guy in this tier, Dylan Sampson, running back for the Cleveland Browns and like I mentioned, he's available in 89 of leagues. To me this is very similar to Isaiah Davis, to Tank Bigsby, to Ollie Gordon. It just, it really all depends what we see. So this is a guide in Dylan Sampson who he's kind of got a little bit of each of the players. We were just talking about where Jerome Ford has been a player that has talked about that may get traded. So that would open things up more. Quinshon Judkins is a player who currently has an injury to his AC joint and shoulder. And then the Browns are on by like he just takes a little sprinkle of all the running backs we've talked about and just it all becomes encompassed into one Dylan Sampson story here because he was the guy who became the running back, the lead running back for the Browns when Quintean Judkins left. We already know he's got the pass catching upside. Dylan Gabriel, not exactly a deep thrower here. So Dave, I, I don't think he's anything more than a stash. Yeah, but it's just like we said with other injuries, even though it's an AC joint sprain, running backs, they tend to use those shoulders quite a bit. So I, I'd be curious. Even if he does come back, there is potential he comes back for that game after the buy against Tennessee and, and potentially even leaves mid game.
- [26:07]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, a lot of times it does seem like with these AC joints for running backs, we'll see them playing that harness that just kind of like keeps their like range of motion a little bit. And I, I guess that with the buy we'll probably see Judkins come back the week after. And that's why I'm not like yeah, and I'm not crazy about Dylan Sampson just maybe anchoring myself to like my pre draft analysis a little bit. I just don't think he's that good of a running back and I think that. But yeah, I think we got.
- [26:32]
Alfredo Brown
But he's a pass catcher.
- [26:34]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And, and, and even that, I think that we got blinded a little bit early because Joe Flacco is checking down so much to the running back. So like we see that 8 target game in week one and got really excited about that. I think if there was a missed game from Quinshon Judkins, we'd probably see a split between Ford and Sampson. So I get it. You know, the, the opportunity could be here, but he's a guy that like, you know, when I'm making my waiver claims, he's going to be like fifth or sixth in my waiver claims list and like prob dollars on him and just like if I end up with him, cool. But like not a guy that I'm aggressively going out for this week. AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails and rewind mistakes so you can unleash niche agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI transformation@rubrik.com that's R U V R I K.com hey guys. Finding the perfect gift for the food.
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Alfredo Brown
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Dave Kluge
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Alfredo Brown
Just go to goldbelly.com and for a.
- [28:01]
Dave Kluge
Limited time, get 20% off your first order with promo code gift. That's promo code gift.
- [28:07]
Alfredo Brown
All right, let's go to the next tier here where we've got two wide receivers that are essentially carbon copies of each other.
- [28:12]
Dave Kluge
Seriously?
- [28:13]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. I've heard the name pronounced both ways. I've heard Shamir and I've heard Chimeray. So DK wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans, available in 81% of leagues. Dave, the other guy. Christian Watson, wide receiver for the Green Bay packers, available in 85% of leagues. So both of these guys very similar. I would say that I prefer the offense and situation of the Green Bay packers to that of The Tennessee Titans. I prefer the track record of Christian Watson to that of Shamir dk. But I think there's also some excitement about a rookie who has not seen health or injury issues like Christian Watson has, and a team in the Tennessee Titans that will have to throw no matter what because they are always going to be behind. So if you're looking at either of these players, let's say you've got, you can make one, bid a couple bucks here and your waiver wire and it's one of these players. Who do you prefer?
- [29:12]
Dave Kluge
You know, when I did this yesterday, I said I prefer DK over Watson. But then actually like, like, you know, by the time I finalize my rest of season rankings, I actually do prefer Christian Watson. Once I went back and kind of, you know, watched what both of them are doing and DK has been pretty good over the last few weeks. Like we saw him really show that speed on that big touchdown catch two weeks ago. We're seeing the opportunity grow for him. But at the end of the day, Christian Watson, we're looking at a second round pick here on a much better offense and a team that's desperate for a vertical threat. So I have Watson ahead of dk. I mean, I, dude, Watson was a huge whiff on me. I don't think I drafted him like the hundreds of best ball rosters I drafted this off.
- [29:49]
Alfredo Brown
I don't think that we, we even knew that he would be available for this season. I think most people expect him to be out for the whole season and.
- [29:55]
Dave Kluge
I heard some of those reports in the preseason and I was just like, nah, like that's not going to happen. And at the time, you know, also when you're looking at projections, Romeo Dubs is there, Jaden Reed is there. Tucker Kraft is there. Matthew golden is there. Well, now Jaden Reed is hurt. Matthew Goldman isn't really taking that step forward. So now the opportunity is there for the taking for Christian Watson and he looks, looked great, like he looked really, really good in this first game back, played over 50 of the snaps. I think his role is only going to grow here. So, yeah, I prefer Christian Watson ahead of Jamir dk. And even, you know, earlier when we were talking about Dylan Sampson, like, I, I think I'd go Christian Watson over Dylan Sampson right now too.
- [30:30]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I think as we're talking about this, I know what the graphic's gonna say and I know the order we did this in, but that's why I love these shows is like we're not sticking to Whatever it was pre show, we can actually talk these things out out. I think with the potential of the Green Bay packers offense and with Christian Watson, the store, like these are the boom bus games. I see Christian Watson the same as I would Troy Franklin and that's a better offense. So, like, why would I not want to have Christian Watson, who's available 85 of leagues like I mentioned, in that tier three. Right. As like the number four waiver wire pickup for us this week?
- [31:03]
Dave Kluge
I mean, I know, I know we have to send our like stuff off to the, the graphic designers so we can get the show.
- [31:08]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, like, it's already there. It's already there. Like we're, we're cooked for this episode, so that's fine.
- [31:11]
Dave Kluge
But again, like I did when I finished my rest of season rankings, which I do after Monday night, I have Christian Watson one spot ahead of Troy Franklin because I see him as very similar players and I just have a little bit more faith in them consolidating the targets in Green Bay than I do in Denver. But even that, like very similar offenses where there are a lot of mouths to feed. We know there's going to be explosive plays here. And you know, I just. Christian Watson is a better player. We've seen sustained success in production from him throughout his NFL career. That's not something we've seen from Troy Franklin. So, yeah, Watson's one of those guys that like a huge mover of everybody that moved up and down in my rankings from last week. Nobody moved up more than Christian Watson. I've got him inside my top 50 rest of season and Watson's gonna be.
- [31:53]
Alfredo Brown
One of those guys that's going to be readily available. There's been zero hype about him throughout the season. Even when he was coming back, everyone's like, oh, Christian Watson's coming back. I'm sure he'll get 10% of the snaps and nothing of any significance. And there we go. I will say there'll probably be some more competitive bids because this was a prime time game and everyone in your league saw it and it's a familiar name. So if you want them be prepared, you might have to bid a little higher than you expect. Dave, let's go down to the. You know what? Yeah, let's go down to the next tier here where we've got. This is the last tier and this is where we've got Jaden Higgins, Jalen Noel and Colston Loveland. All rookies, rookie pass catchers. Dave. The Texans wide receivers. I'm interested in this I have Jalen Noel ranked ahead of Higgins. You have Higgins ranked ahead of Noel. I think that both of these guys are in similar scenarios where when the veteran comes back they could get relegated. But I also think that with the way this Texans offense was able to play last week, it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. I think there's more role available for Jalen Noel than there is Jaden Higgins at this point. But you can keep playing devil's advocate Jaden Higgins. Higher draft capital guy they invested in could play well and complement Nico Collins nicely. So who do you prefer in this situation?
- [33:13]
Dave Kluge
You know, I prefer like pure talent and like pre draft evaluation. I prefer Jaylen old to Jaden Higgins. But we saw two weeks ago when Nico Collins left in the middle of the game, Noel stepped up as the wide receiver one. But we see this often that like mid game injuries kind of of put teams into like scrambling mode where they're just like doing whatever they can to keep their head above water. And I think that's where Jalen Knowles stepped up with a week to game plan. They did kind of build around Jaden Higgins to be the wide receiver one in this offense. He had eight targets, he ran the most routes. And I think when you look at what Nico Collins can do, Jaden Higgins is such a similar player that you can just drop Jaden Higgins right into that X role. So this is tough for me. I mean like technically I put Jaden Higgins ahead of Jalen Noel, but I think the that once Nico Collins is back into the discussion, then I could see Jaylen Noel being more of the complimentary guy to Nico Collins. He can be that Tank Dell type of player that can get deep downfield play out of the slot, make the big plays, make plays after the catch. So I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here. I like both of these receivers. I'll give the very slight edge to Jaden Higgins, especially if Nico Collins has to miss any more time. But I think like if we're looking through the fantasy playoffs in this imaginative scenario where Nico Collins is healthy, I think Jalen Nol is actually the guy would prefer late in the year.
- [34:27]
Alfredo Brown
Yes, Jaylen Knowles, the guy that I like a little bit more because there's and this is very narrative because of the similarities to Tank Dell, a guy who can play out of the slot, very explosive playmaker route, good route runner, can do a lot of the same things that Tank Dell did, maybe not at the exact same level, but can do a lot of the Same things and create explosive plays even when he needs to downfield. Because we saw that this past week. Actually low key, kind of. Christian Kirk might actually end up being a trade candidate because of what we've seen with this wide receiver room and guys being able to step up, there may be teams out there that are looking for a veteran receiver. And it's easy to just be like, yeah, we'll take Christian Kirk, throw him in the slot, put him in the Z. Whatever, whatever we need. Where? Texans. I'm just going to say it again. Once you find success doing that one thing, you sort of keep, keep doing that one thing because you need to get some wins. That's what we just talked about, Dave. Like the first eight weeks is not the final eight weeks and this could be a very different Texans team going forward. I think these, these, both these receivers have earned more snaps. Regardless of when Christian Kirk comes back, Nico Collins obviously is going to be doing his thing. Right. Like, that's. That. None of that is changing. But yeah, I think I'm with you. You said you prefer Jalen Noel later in the season, correct?
- [35:41]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And I think if you're looking for like, immediate production, if Nico Collins has to miss another game, I think Jaden Higgins would be the guy. But I think, I think for Higgins.
- [35:48]
Alfredo Brown
You'Re hoping for t touchdown upside, Right?
- [35:50]
Dave Kluge
Right. And I do think, like, if we saw it eight targets last week, like if Nico Collins isn't there, he's going to play the X role and he's going to get a lot of targets. But I think that when Nico Collins is there, then he kind of becomes this rotational guy where Jaylen Noel can be on the field for like the majority of snaps alongside Nico Collins. You talk about the Tank Dell comp. I think that's kind of a good one. But I, I love like, of all the comps that we do throughout the spring, I came up with a golden tape comp comp for Jaylen Noel. And I just love that one. Like, just a small guy that somehow still comes down with these like, absurd, acrobatic contested catches downfield. He is just so tenacious after the catch. Big, big fan of Jalen Nolan. Would love to see what he can do with an expanded role.
- [36:31]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, him with, I mean, I'm looking at it right now. He hasn't had the best route participation, Dave, But I mean, nine receptions, 140 yards on 13 targets. It's just, it's been fantastic. He's efficient when he's out there on the field. They are using him. They are very intentional with it. It's not one of these things. Oh well, let's just fit you into whatever role we have. The Texans have been more intentional with it. Last guy on this list, Colston Loveland. And I'm going to defer to you on this one a bit more because we've got the Cole Comet injury. The Bears passing offense has been a little wonky lately and it's hard to know what to expect going forward. But Colson Loveland, his role is growing. He's available in 75% of leagues here. He is the last player on our waiver wireless that we are interested in. But tight end is ugly. There could be some breakout potential here. Dave, where do you stand with Colson Loveland?
- [37:23]
Dave Kluge
I mean he's worth a pickup right? We, we see the role growing and that's what we want to see. 81 of the snaps last week was the best he's seen so far in his young career. Five targets, 38 yards, you know nothing to write home about but both best of his career so far and more than anything I think he just pass the eye test like this is such a fluid athlete. He is a big bodied guy who just like effortlessly can catch balls and you know we when he was drafted he was drafted coming off of a shoulder injury that he was still recovering from and clearly had lost some mass. Didn't look like the player he was in college. Missed the missed all of OTAs, missed the beginning of training camp. So it's kind of a slow acclimation like getting him up to speed but was making a ton of eye popping plays throughout training camp. And then he picks up another injury in season and misses some time. You know comes back from the buy. Still limited there. So it's been frustrating so far as the injuries are just kind of piling up but healthy now he's been practicing in full last week had his career best game last week as well. So this is one where like not putting him anywhere near my starting lineups now but some actionable.
- [38:28]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah this week I might be though going up against Cincy who has been just abominable against the tight end.
- [38:35]
Dave Kluge
Yeah and and a lot of that's that that Steelers game where they just got eaten alive by like 13 personnel that entire game.
- [38:41]
Alfredo Brown
But yeah you're himself a touchdown.
- [38:44]
Dave Kluge
Yeah here's here's some players that I would drop for Colson level and like looking at my rest of season rankings this might sound crazy but like I dropped TJ Hawkinson to pick up Colson Loveland, I dropped Taysom Hill, who, you know, I was probably a little bit higher on him than most, but Juwan Johnson, Dalton Schultz, Johnny Smith, like, I prefer Colson Loveland ahead of all those guys at this point.
- [39:06]
Alfredo Brown
Well, Luther Burden's dealing with a concussion as well. Well, so like, that's another, you know, how many players need to be out until we, we start saying, okay, yeah, Levin's a streamable tight end. I think that's why I wanted to have him on the list. You have the matchup, you got the injuries. Yeah.
- [39:20]
Dave Kluge
Can we just talk about, like, how awesome this rookie class has been for tight ends too? Like Ronde Gadson out here has just been absolutely on fire over the last three weeks, averaging over 100 yards per game. We got, you know, Tyler Warren has just been like a set and forget tight end one all year. Mason Taylor is emerging, you know, almost. We've seen some, some flashes from Elijah Arroyo as well. Colson Loveland starting to put it together. Like, this is a fun rookie tight end class. I'm excited.
- [39:51]
Alfredo Brown
Well, there you have it. We, we went through our top waiver wire pickups at the running back, wide receiver, tight end position. Let's take a look at some quarterbacks to stream, some defenses to stream. Dave, let's start with the quarterbacks. Three guys I'm going to list here with the availability and their opponents opponent. Sam Darnold going up against the Washington Commanders. Trevor Lawrence against the Las Vegas Raiders. Tuatanga Baila versus the Baltimore Ravens. Darnold's available in 58 of leagues. Lawrence 68 to a 78. So I got them there in order. Is there a guy here that you prefer the most out of the three that you feel like you can trust if you are in a bind this week at quarterback?
- [40:27]
Dave Kluge
Sam Darnold for sure. You know, this is a game where we're expecting Jaden Daniels to be back. So with Jaden Daniels back, you know, that's going to force the. You know, I don't want to say force, but we, we imagine that the commanders are probably going to put up some points in this game, which will mean that they won't be able to lean on the run like they have in weeks past. And the couple of times that we've seen Seattle have to kind of open up the playbook and let Sam Darnold throw the ball. He is smashed. And this seems like it could be one of those game scripts here. So I'm going with Sam Darnold over those guys.
- [40:58]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I'm going to go the same and I think that's the order I would have them into is Darnold, Lawrence, Tua. I think there's probably maybe the highest upside with Tua going up against Baltimore and what could be a shootout. But the Baltimore Ravens defense has been much better over the last three weeks, their fifth against fantasy quarterbacks and points allowed. Whereas going up against Washington they've just been kind of a good fantasy point funnel throughout the year. Sam Darnold has looked great especially coming off a buy. Let's, let's go like that's, that's what I want to see for the For Seahawks here DST Defense special teams to stream Dave 3 teams here. Rams going up against New Orleans Saints, Chargers against Tennessee Titans and Jaguars going up against the Raiders. Rams are the I want to say they're the most interesting to me because I think they're the best defense on this list and they're going up against what's likely to be Tyler Shucker Ducks first NFL start. Saints have already been allowing the most fantasy points to opposing fantasy defenses. So that what I think, I think that would be my preference. I know it's your preference but what order would you put these three in? Rams, Chargers, Jaguars as streamable defenses.
- [42:10]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I mean these are all great matchups and I'll probably put in bids on on all these if they're available. But the, the Jaguars have just been a turnover machine this year and they got dropped last week because they were on buying a ton of leagues. So I think that that makes them readily available percent of leagues.
- [42:25]
Alfredo Brown
It's crazy.
- [42:26]
Dave Kluge
And they're just like averaging over a turnover per game and you look at them going up against Geno Smith who has been a turnover machine as well, like this could just be one of those huge, huge blow up spots for defense and special teams here. But yeah, the Rams like they are just a good defense getting to go up against a guy getting his first NFL start. As you said, like that's a really juicy matchup as well. So I'd go Rams, Jaguars, Chargers but I mean just flip flopping the Chargers and the Jaguars from the order that you have them. But I think the Rams are definitely the one that you're trying to get here.
- [42:58]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I mean I, I, I'll stick with the Rams and the Chargers. I just still Tennessee is still just a sack machine for, for defenses. Right. Like Cam Ward's just been sitting there letting the pressure get to him. Jaguars though I think is a really, really fun defensive stream because I think In a lot of leagues, people looking for defenses. These top two won't be available. Jaguars, I think, become a very interesting one going up against the Raiders this week.
- [43:22]
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
- [43:22]
Alfredo Brown
Well, Dave, this is a good week.
- [43:24]
Dave Kluge
This is a good week for waivers. I know they're like, you know, there have been a few weeks where, like, I sit down on Tuesday night and I start perusing the waiver wire, and I'm like, all right, we're running it back next week with the same team. This is a week where, like, I am gonna have to sit down for a couple of hours tonight and, like, go through all the waivers in all my leagues because there are a lot of good players worth picking up. So I know last week, we kind of jokingly, at the end of the show, we said, hey, if you made it this far, tell us how bad the show sucks. And a lot of people took that literally and told us that they should.
- [43:51]
Alfredo Brown
By the way, not the show. The waiver ad, man.
- [43:54]
Dave Kluge
The Weaver episode. Yeah. But what we got was just a lot of, like, wow, this show sucks. So do us a favor. If you made it this far, if you're. You're at the minute mark of the show, tell us how awesome this show is. Yeah, we love this show.
- [44:05]
Alfredo Brown
It's great. This show is great. Thank you so much.
- [44:08]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, those YouTube comments, I kind of forgot that I did that, like, tongue in cheek all day action at the end of the show. And you and I, like, later that afternoon were like, what did we do wrong?
- [44:16]
Alfredo Brown
I saw the first comment. I saw the first comment, and someone was like, this show sucks. And I was just. Just like, you mean the waivers, right?
- [44:23]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Yeah, right. I could have forgotten about that. So. Yeah, we could. After. After beating us down last week, you guys could build us up a little bit and tell us how much you like the show. We. We can use it. We are very fragile.
- [44:32]
Alfredo Brown
I mean, we gave you guys 11 waiver ads here, six streamers. I think we went pretty good. We went in here for week nine. And, Dave, you and I will be back again tomorrow with the trade episode. And then on Thursday, we'll be going through our rankings, give you all of our top running backs and wide receivers that you guys should be looking at to start. And pay attention. Attention to those matchups because fantasy playoffs are getting closer, man. Closer and closer and closer. For most people, it's going to be week 15 is where those fantasy playoffs are. So we are. We're almost there, man. We're getting there. As always, I want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through. For myself. For Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios. Morning, Zoe.
- [45:24]
Dave Kluge
Got donuts.
- [45:25]
Alfredo Brown
Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage? Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you. Teach me. So.
- [45:34]
Dave Kluge
Dana. Oh, no, I'm not really prepared.
- [45:37]
Alfredo Brown
I couldn't possibly at T Mob. We'll get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them.
- [45:42]
Dave Kluge
It's designed to to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system. Wow. Impressive.
- [45:48]
Alfredo Brown
Let me try.
- [45:48]
Dave Kluge
T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network. Nice.
- [45:54]
Alfredo Brown
Jeffrey, you heard them.
- [45:56]
Dave Kluge
T Mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible trade in in any condition. So what are we having for lunch? Dude, my work here is done.
- [46:06]
Alfredo Brown
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Dave Kluge
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