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Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 7 || Fantasy Football 2025
00:59:58
In Episode 275 of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show, Dave Kluge and Alfredo Brown discuss players to target on the waiver wire after Week 6. Send your questions to fantasyshow@footballguys.com 🎥. SUBSCRIBE to the NEW YouTube page:...
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- [00:00]
A
Morning, Zoe.
- [00:01]
B
Got donuts. Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?
- [00:05]
A
Well, I dig the mattress and I.
- [00:08]
B
Want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me. So Dana. Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at t mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
- [00:24]
A
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
- [00:31]
B
Nice. Je free.
- [00:32]
A
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?
- [00:42]
B
Dude, my work here is done. The 24 month bill credit on experience.
- [00:45]
A
Beyond for well qualified customers + tax.
- [00:47]
B
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 Data 182025 Visit T mobile.com show, show, show, show, Show, Show, Show.
- [01:04]
A
By the time I wake up on Tuesday mornings, like my whole body is in so much pain because I don't have any time to work out on Sundays or Mondays. And just like hunched over a computer like taking notes, writing articles, doing shows, like, I feel like I just like turn into like a little shrimp by Monday night.
- [01:20]
B
Yeah, that's exactly how like to this morning to counteract all of it. Like, everything I did at the gym today was all about like posture. It was like, it was scapula, it was deltoids. I'm using fun words so that people know I know what I'm talking about. Instead of saying back and shoulders, like, dude, I'm just lifting just to go like grab my water. And my, my arms are just shaking right now. Yeah, imagine imagine us being on an NFL injury report like Juwan Jennings where he's like, I got five broken ribs, low ankle sprain, high ankle sprain. And I'm just like, hey, you know what I did? I lifted this morning and I can't even touch my keyboard.
- [01:58]
A
My neck hurts. Well, I think do like I feel like I have decent posture when I'm like working from my desk. But then when I have to go into my basement and I sit at my couch, like I have a table that I could set up like a little like movable table in front of My couch, but it's like really low and I'm sitting in a soft couch. So that's what I really do like to just like slowly hunching over and before I realize that I'm like, my neck hurts. And then I like have that moment of realization where I'm like, my head is like two feet in front of my body right now and I just like, I look like a gremlin down there just trying to work on my computer.
- [02:28]
B
I think the dumbest thing for me when it comes to working on my computer and the posture is that I have a standing desk and I think I use it about 1% of the time. And then I have two monitors that are attached to my laptop that are big and they have me looking up and instead I'll look down at the small screen laptop and look down and hunch over. It's just like, it's the worst thing. I'm gonna look horrible when I'm old.
- [02:49]
A
I did the standing desk thing for a while, but I also wore Clarks, you know, like the, the chukka boots. They've got like a little bit of an elevated heel. And it actually made my posture worse because I was just standing in boots for like two years. And then aren't that like, aren't those.
- [03:03]
B
Just not only boots, like, they're just like old people orthopedic shoes?
- [03:07]
A
Not even that. I mean they're, they're just, they've got the, the elevated heel maybe like an inch or so. So then what I had to do and people hated me at the office for. But I'd come into the office, I'd kick my boots off and I would just stand there in my socks and work standing off of my desk. And I gotta say, after doing that for like a year help my posture.
- [03:21]
B
So you can't be one of those people that takes off your shoes in public places?
- [03:25]
A
No, I mean I kept the.
- [03:26]
B
Do you take your shoes off on airplanes?
- [03:28]
A
Oh goodness, no. No, that's okay. Okay.
- [03:31]
B
Oh my God. Can I tell you what happened? This, this is, this is, this is an entertaining story for a cold open wife and I coming back from Canada this past weekend. There is a guy who, he looks like, he's maybe late 50s, early 60s, very like Americana hippie. Like I. I don't even know how else to describe it. He's wearing a tank, a cut off sleeve shirt, cut off jeans and a bandana.
- [04:03]
A
On the plane might have a guy.
- [04:04]
B
Yeah, sure, why not? He takes off his shoes, unbuttons his pants and he's sitting on the window seat. My wife is middle. I'm aisle. And he's like, I gotta go to the bathroom. Excuse me one second. So me and my wife are both trying to get up. He's like, oh, no, don't worry. He stands up on his chair and just walks over us, his crotch in my face, pants unzipped, shoes off, as he's standing on the armrest, spider manning across us, and then has the audacity to. But as he's buttoning up his pants, look my wife dead in the eyes and say, hey, can you pass me my shoes?
- [04:47]
A
My wife was not touching a stranger's shoes.
- [04:50]
B
My wife was like, absolutely not. He's like, wait, Seriously? We're like, no, just let us get up. You can go get your shoes. Everyone around us was just watching this in disbelief.
- [05:01]
A
Yeah, that. That's. Absolutely. I've seen some of the worst stuff maybe ever on an airplane. I sat next to a guy once who had three packets of mayonnaise and was just eating them without anything. Just like opening the packets of mayonnaise and just sucking mayonnaise out of the packets. And I was sitting next to this guy and I was like, I. I might actually puke on this guy. Like, this is. It was like a red eye, like 4:30am flight. I'm just watching this guy suck down raw mayonnaise. Yeah. People like, you get exposed to people. Airports and DMV are like the. You get exposed to people that you wouldn't otherwise see in your everyday life.
- [05:34]
B
The airport's gotta be the worst one. Welcome into the Football Guys Fantasy football show. I'm Alfredo Brown, joined as always by David Kluge. We're talking about the Week 7 waiver wire pickups. We're doing a slightly different format for you guys this week. We're going to talk about 14 players that are available in at least 50% of leagues. Some of the obvious names, but then some of the not so obvious names that should be available in roughly 99% of leagues. So if you're in that 1% that the players aren't available, I guess let us know in the comments and get mad at us. For sure. But what we're going to do is we're going to take these players and we're going to rank them, we're going to put them in tiers and discuss how much fab you should be putting on them, what the expectations are going to be going forward without getting a little too crazy. And Dave, let's open this up. With tier number one, where we've got Kamani Vidal and Tajie Spears. And I actually think that a lot of people might put Kamani Vidal in his own tier by himself. But you and I were talking before the show that we actually think Taji Spears might be the better pickup over Vidal, which kind of, I mean, I think going by consensus, that just almost feels wrong. But I think you and I both have a pretty good reasoning as to why.
- [06:48]
A
Well, I think there's two things here. One, you know, Kamani Vidal is going to be relatively short term. Like, if you're picking him up, you're hoping that you can get another three weeks out of him. With the reports about Omarion Hampton, we don't know when he's coming back. Like, it might be week 12, it might be even later than that. So I think that's kind of the. The downside with Kamani Bidal is that you're probably not going to have him for the fantasy playoffs. But additionally, like I always do with these, like, buzzy breakout players, I'm like, I'm gonna go watch the film because, like, we didn't get a lot from Kamani Vidal his rookie season. Like, he was inactive for a bunch of games, dealt with some injuries. So I go back and I watch the film and there isn't a single takeaway. Besides, the Miami run defense is awful. I mean, like, all of these big breakaway runs for Kamani Vidal were just in massive holes. Like I article this morning, like you could back an 18 wheeler up into the holes that he was running through. So I don't really have a takeaway on Kamani Vidal, like, if he played the Dolphins every single week. Yeah, this guy's like a rest of season RB1. But I, I still feel like we didn't see enough from last week that I'm ready to like, put a big stamp on it. Absolutely worth a pickup. And, you know, he could be this guy that just shoulders the workload for the next couple of weeks. But I think what we saw last week against Miami is probably going to.
- [07:54]
B
Be his best game to, to add to Vidal here. I mean, he's available in 55 of sleeper league, so I mean, he still, A lot of people went and picked him up last week. Not everyone was totally sold. A lot of the reports that Haskins was going to be ahead of him. Obviously, the big game, he got the big workload, easy opponent. Right. You mentioned the Amarian Hampton thing and like, this went from like, oh, it's not a serious injury to oh, let's put him on IR to, oh, it's probably going to be longer than the IR stint and right now we're looking at potentially six to eight weeks. So he could be out like potentially all the way until week 13. Remember, this is all specul, right? Like we don't know. We're not in the, in the medical building for the Chargers. We don't know these things. But if he's out until week 13, we're talking about like getting him back potentially for the fantasy playoffs. But I think what that does do is that would limit how valuable Vidal is going forward. The Chargers have a week 12 bye. They get Indy this week who's allowing the 8th fewest points to running backs. So we could get a harsh dose of reality for Kamani Vidal here. I, I think you kind of have to see him as like a low end RB2 maybe flex that's very, very matchup based. Is this going to be something where he's going against a bad run defense or is it going to be something where there could be a shootout where Justin Herbert's going to be dumping off to the running back a lot and a lot of pass attempts? I also don't think it can be overstated enough. Quentin Johnston not being in this game just does shift the dynamic of the way that the ball moves around in the offense. So I think you can add him if you really need a running back. And I think for everybody he's going to be the number one ad. But I would temper expectations. Like, I'm not saying he's a bad pickup. I'm just saying he's not. He's probably not the guy that saves your season. So I wouldn't go overboard here.
- [09:32]
A
Right. And don't hear what we're not saying. Like, he's our number one pickup of the week. Like, we're saying that he's the best pickup available, but he is not a. Like I'm dumping 100% of my fab on this guy. I think what we saw last year.
- [09:41]
B
You know, he's no Trey Benson.
- [09:43]
A
You know what I'm saying, Right. Woody Marks even, like, you know, he's not one of those types of guys. But I think that's like the major thing. Like people are going to see 138 yards and a touchdown and like that box score looks very similar to an Omarion Hampton box score. You're not getting Omarion Hampton on the waiver wire. You're getting a day three pick who didn't do much as a rookie A little bit undersized. I think there could still be some boom games here just because he's going to get the volume and the offense is good. But I think that what we saw last week was probably the peak.
- [10:13]
B
So the other guy that we were talking about here is Taje Spears. And I mean, this is. I think there's some context that we have to put because it's a little bit different. Tasha Spears is a guy that we, we already know we've seen him a lot more in the NFL. We know he's a much higher drafted prospect. He, he's got a better track record of being productive in the NFL. What we haven't seen truly is him on his own. I don't know that we're going to get that. I mean, we could see the Titans totally clean house after firing Ryan Callahan and they could be, you know, shipping off Calvin Ridley, they could ship off Tony Pollard. There's a lot of things that could happen here. But what we already started to see was sort of a swinging of the pendulum where Tajik Spears, in his first week back off of injury, gets 59 of the running back snaps. The offensive coordinator for the Titans has already said there's going to be an increased workload coming. So if he's already in a 6040 split in favor of him and the workload could increase, I mean, that's great. He's getting six yards per carry on the ground, ran 22 routes, four targets on that Titans, we know they're going to be trailing a lot. Man, they got the fourth toughest strength of schedule for fantasy running backs. And I don't know that Tony Pollard all of a sudden just bounces back and starts running the ball better. This offensive line was supposed to be better, but I mean, we're watching. Nothing's really happening for Tony Pollard. Cam Ward's getting sacked constantly. This is a team that's just going to be trailing. So I mean, Tajie Spears could be sort of a, let's call him Alvin Camara Light, where he's going to be part of the rotation and get more of those valuable touches in the passing game.
- [11:43]
A
And I almost wonder if there could be a little bit more here. And I think that's why we have him in the same tier as Kamani Vidal, because one like Kamani Vidal is just kind of the beneficiary of the Omarion Hampton injury or Taji Spears. I think the hope with him is that he can just steal this backfield on his own accord and you aren't sitting there like waiting for this ticking time bomb to go off and return and then, you know, he's like worthless. I think now with Brian Callahan out of the picture, there was some like, trust and maybe some sort of like, you know, a feeling of gratitude that, that Brian Callahan had. For Tony Pollard, like, first time head coach, this was like the first big free agent signing they had. They really wrote him hard last year and he was great last year. Like, Tony Pollard was really good this year. We've seen a lot of these hefty workloads that running backs got last year, really impacting them now in 2025. And I think Tony Pollard was one of those guys. I mean, he was getting like a 95% opportunity share to start the season and was hardly returning. RB3 value. Like the touches were there, but it was just so inefficient. Then you look at last week when it was kind of close to a 50, 50 split. Tony Pollard 3.3 yards per touch. Tajie Spears 5.6 yards per touch. Taj Spears broke three tackles. Tony Pollard broke zero. Tajie Spears logged a breakaway run. Tony Pollard had zero. Tajie Spears generated twice as many yards after contact per attempt. It just looks like he's got juice right now. And we've talked about Tajie Spears a lot. We're both big fans of this guy. You know, he came in in a very good running back class with Jameer Gibbs and Bijan Robinson and Kendra Miller and he fell a little bit because of the injury concerns. But there were talks about him like if he was health would have been a middle to late first round pick. Like he is that talented. Injuries have obviously bled into his NFL career, so maybe pushing him down the the draft board a bit made sense. But this guy's got a lot of juice. And I wonder now with a new coaching staff and a fresh set of eyes, if they're just going to look at this situation and be like, what were we doing giving all these touches to Tony Pollard? Like, let's get Taj Spears, this young, talented running back, more touches.
- [13:33]
B
I mean, I think that's kind of what has to happen, right? Like, you get a new coach infused in there, they're going to make some sweeping changes. They're going to do whatever they can to try to keep their job. Now remember the new coach though, the new coach is Mike McCoy, who, like, if you mentioned in the cold open that there was a dude on your airplane just eating mayonnaise straight out of the packets. If there was A head coach that ever represented eating mayonnaise straight out of the packets. It's Mike McCoy like so we could just get Tony Pollard getting slammed into the backs of the centering guard 15 times a game and, and not much else like it. The track record's not great, but I will say we do tend to see changes when someone else comes in as the head coach. And so like that is something we can kind of hang our hat on once again, both these guys in the top tier for us in the waiver wire, but it's not a unload the clip type of week on the waiver wire. I actually think that the second tier that we're going to go to now has some of the more interesting names because I think not only do they give you the season long value, which honestly these guys should have been rostered and for the most part they are, but they give you season long value at the, the single positions, the premium positions, the ones positions, whatever you want to call them. So in Tier 2 we've got Harold Fannin, tight end for the Cleveland Browns, Jackson Dart, quarterback for the New York Giants, and then Bam Knight, running back for the Arizona Cardinals. And I'll say one of these things is not like the other. Like I will, Bam Knight is probably not the season long guy that gives you that much value, but I think there are enough people that are desperate for running backs that if you miss out on Kamani Vidal, you're missing out on Taji Spears. Bam night can give you a week or two here. Maybe it's most likely just a week, but let's talk about Harold Fanon first. Okay, Dave. Harold fannin, available in 50 of sleeper league. So yes, I can, I can hear the ghosts of all the listeners right now screaming he's not available.
- [15:23]
A
I picked him up after week one and started him every week, which I did in a league where I drafted Colson Loveland, right.
- [15:29]
B
And like, and I get it. But for those of you who are like sitting on the fence and wondering, do I need to pick up Harold Fannin? I've had tight end issues. I've had guys that are injured. Fanon and a Joku, like this has been a thing for the Cleveland Browns where they are getting so much of the like such a big piece of the pie in this offense. 33% of the targets from Dylan Gabriel are going to tight ends across his first two starts here. Like it's, it's big Reports are that the knee injury for Najoku isn't serious. But like remember we also Heard that the injury for Amarian Hampton wasn't serious, and injuries for a bunch of guys so far this season haven't been serious, and then they end up on ir. So I also don't think this is something strictly where it's like, oh, Najoku's out. Fannin's value goes up.
- [16:13]
A
Even with.
- [16:14]
B
Yeah, even with Najoku in like, Fannin is a super valuable tight end to have because the usage hasn't been that of a tight end. The Browns use a lot of 12 personnel, which is two tight end sets more than really anyone in the league. It's one of the highest rates in the NFL. Fannin's taking a lot of snaps out of the slot. He's running out of the backfield. He's out wide. Like, there is a lot here where Harold Fannin is very valuable. And Dave, I think you kind of have to value him as a top 12 tight end, like in that area every week. Maybe in a bad matchup, you. You think differently. But I think we're looking at a top 12 tight end probably throughout the rest of the season here.
- [16:50]
A
Yeah, I've got him as my tight end 12 in my updated rest of season ranking. So right there, it's a good hedge to make.
- [16:57]
B
Right.
- [16:57]
A
And he's been hanging right there. He was like tight end 15 a couple of weeks ago, then tight end 14 has just been like slowly, incrementally moving his way up. And now I'm viewing him as a tight end one, and he's talked about the 33 target share. This is crazy to me. Like, I looked Dylan Gabriel with tight ends. Over the last two weeks, David Najoku and Harold Fannin have combined for 20 receptions, 189 yards and two touchdowns. All of the Browns receivers combined 16 receptions, 153 yards and zero touchdowns. So Harold Fannin and David Najoku. And this is David Najoku missing over half of one of these games, have combined for more than all of the wide receivers together. I mean, for whatever reason, this is just how they want to run this offense. And we saw, like, both tight ends were pretty involved when Flacco was there, but they have really ramped up their usage with Dylan Gabriel. Talk about the 12 personnel. We're just seeing like a huge shift in the NFL as a whole. Like, last year, there wasn't a single team that ran 12 personnel at more than 35%. This year, there are seven teams that are above 35% and a handful that are above 45%. And if you watch this Cleveland Steelers game, I mean this was just like as tight endy as it can get. You've got Arthur smith running like 13 personnel with three tight ends. You got the, the tight ends being the focal point of the Steelers game or of the, of the Cleveland Browns game plan. I don't think this is going to change. Like, Harold Fannin has just immediately since week one looked good. We know he's kind of this hybrid player. He's not a traditional inline tight end. So whether Najoku is out there or not, I think Fannin is going to be fine. He's more than just a streamer at this point. I think he's one of those guys that you can just rely on weekly as a plug and play tight end one.
- [18:28]
B
Yeah, I think there's going to be two players from this Browns offense that you could just keep playing every single week and it's going to be Harold Fannin and Quinchon Judkins.
- [18:35]
A
Right?
- [18:35]
B
And that's about it. Like, I don't trust David Joku. Don't trust Jerry Judy. Isaiah Bond is a fun story, but I just don't think it's happening yet.
- [18:43]
A
So if he just caught that ball instead of doing it off his helmet, he'd be so happy. He would be so excited if Isaiah Bond got the end.
- [18:50]
B
You're right.
- [18:51]
A
You're.
- [18:51]
B
You're right, you're right. I would totally let that just wash over me because I'm a big Isaiah Bond. Stan.
- [18:57]
A
It is ridiculous though to see him just wide open ethical line and just like, just right like.
- [19:01]
B
What are you doing? You're running a slant at the goal line. Where are you looking, sir? We know Dylan Gabriel doesn't wait long. Anyways. Anyways, let's go to the next guy on here. It's Jackson Dart, quarterback for the New York giants. Available in 54 of leagues. Once again, I know probably not available in your league. Leave a comment, be angry. He's been the quarterback six over the last three weeks, his first three starts of his career. Quarterback six in fantasy in each of his three starts. This is a fun stat. I found Jackson Dart has completed 65% of his passes, accounted for multiple touchdowns, rushed for 50 plus yards and held a double digit lead in each of these three games. The only other NFL QB to do that in three straight starts at any point in their career was Lamar Jackson during the 2019 MVP season. That is a really, really fun stat. What does it mean for fantasy? Probably not anything, but it's showing us that Jackson Dart is doing something that is relatively unprecedented as a rookie and it means that we do need to take notice of it. Like, this isn't just, I think the words that we had used initially was it's kind of like a Tim Tebow spam effect where you, like, you just, you know he's gonna run so you can kind of just keep starting him. In that Eagles game, he looked good. Like he looked like a legitimate NFL quarterback making good reads. I will say this though, there could be a harsh awakening coming soon. It's got, he's got one of the toughest fantasy schedules over the next three weeks. So I think this is going to, like, this is going to test his metal. This is going to, this is going to show. Has he just had a few, couple of good weeks? Is he going to be just a running based quarterback? What does it mean for fantasy? Ian Harditz put this out earlier. Dart leads all quarterbacks in both scramble rate and designed rush rate this season. So if there's one thing we know, whether he's going to be a good passer or not, whether he's going against a tough schedule or not, Jackson Dart is going to run the football. And that is just incredibly valuable for fantasy no matter what.
- [20:56]
A
And I think that's just, it's as simple as that. Sometimes, like this guy is basically giving you like almost an average of 10 points per game just on the ground, where he's giving you 50 rushing yards per game, scores a rushing touchdown every now and then as well. And like, that's what really elevates his floor and ceiling. But we've also seen like the, the passing has expanded a little bit every single week. In week one, not a single pass attempt went more than 20 yards downfield. In week two, he started throwing a lot downfield and they were all incomplete and intercepted. Finally connected on his first deep shot last week. So we're starting to see it, you know, slow down for him. The playbook and the field are starting to open up a little bit. And you talk about it like the schedule is brutal, but yeah, it's not like he said, a cake schedule so far, like Philadelphia, New Orleans and the Chargers. Those are three pretty good defenses. And he has steadily improved in each of those games. So it does feel like it's only a matter of time before like he gets figured out or shut down or whatever it is. But like, sometimes you just got to ride the hot hand. And like, I remember, I'm not even gonna say it, but I, I remember a lot of rookies coming in really hot and people being like, oh, they're just gonna fall apart. And sometimes it happens, and sometimes they just end up giving you elite finishes. I mean, what we're seeing right now from Jackson Dart early in his career, it does feel very reminiscent of early career Josh Allen, where there are some inaccuracy issues here and there. But Brian Dable is just saying, like, hey, man, you've got legs. Let's go out there and get you comfortable running the ball, get you in them. And that's working really well in fantasy.
- [22:19]
B
Yeah, I mean, the vibes are not better for any team in football right now than maybe the New York Giants. I mean, there's plenty of teams that are. There's plenty of teams that are playing well, but a team like this where you've got these young superstars. Yeah, you have the injury to Malik Neighbors, but I mean, they've overcome injury pretty well, like to. To so many players. It's just. It's. It's insane. The vibes are great.
- [22:42]
A
I mean, they're all the way down to like little Jordan Humphrey now as their wide receiver too. And, like, he's still making it work. Like, it's. It's kind of spectacular what's happening in New York right now. Yeah.
- [22:51]
B
Make sure you enunciate the lil. It's not. Just in case it's not little. All right, next guy, final guy in this tier is Bam Knight, who we alluded to earlier. He's available in 82 of leagues. And this is probably, I would say, out of these top five guys, we've said he's probably the most actionable one because he's likely available in your leagues. Being available in 82. We get the whole thing where Adam and the only reason it's 82, because Adam Schefter, prior to Sunday's game, says Bam Knight is going to be the starter. And then what happens? Michael Carter comes out, takes every snap of the first drive. Then we get an Amari D. Mercado snap on passing downs. And then finally, eventually, when the Cardinals are down at the one yard line, they're like, here you go, Bam Knight. And the day salvaged by a touchdown there. Eventually we start to get more usage out of Bam Knight. Then Amari D. Mercado gets hurt. And then we kind of see what this backfield turns into. It turns into a split of Bam Knight doing the early down stuff, Michael Carter doing the passing down stuff. And one of the big things that happened for Carter was he missed a block on a passing down that led to Just an awful play. I can't remember if. Pardon me here. I can't remember if it was a sack or an interception here, but it was in a pivotal moment of the game, and we ended up seeing a lot more Bam night throughout the rest of this game. I will say this. It seems sexy. Go, go, Dave. What were you gonna say?
- [24:08]
A
Oh, no, I'll wait for you. I'll wait for you.
- [24:11]
B
What? I was gonna say, like, it might seem sexy to pick up Bam Knight because you're saying, okay, cool. He's gonna get the majority of the touches here in this backfield. They've got Green Bay this next week. That's a tough matchup. Then they've got a bye week. And then it looks like Trey Benson could be back for Week 9 against Dallas. And so I know that we want to run out and just like, hey, give me a running back to start this week. But it's going to be one of these guys who. He's probably a running back. 3. Who's touchdown dependent. Matchup dependent. The matchup's not great. What happens when Kyler returns? What's the dynamic of this offense? I. I don't know, man. Like it. I get it. He's probably one of the top waiver wire ads out there, but I don't see him being worth it.
- [24:55]
A
Yeah. And I think this backfield just says, like, all the makings of a potential headache. Like you said, like, we don't know who the starter is. And then touches get split kind of 50, 50. I think this is really going to be like, who falls in the end zone on any given week? Like, if Bam Knight does, you're feeling good about it, and if Michael Carter does, you're feeling good about it. I don't think there's going to be enough offensive production here for, like, both of these guys to be fantasy relevant. So I think they're both just like kind of desperation flex plays and. Yeah, you know, you talk about it. Trey Benson is coming back soon, too, and I think that's what gets lost in all of this. Like, we're not getting those same reports. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like he's going to be back week 10. You know, I did some digging this morning, and it doesn't sound like he's gonna miss any more time than his IR stint. So, you know, if he's back in week 10, like, here we are coming up on week seven, week eight, then we got the buy a week, and then, you know, so what you're getting two games where you're like hoping that Bam Knight can fall into the end zone. I don't think that he's going to run away with this job and take, you know, even 75 of the opportunities. I think it's going to be very much so. A 50, 50 split. So I don't want to say don't pick him up because every team is different and you might really be hurting right now. Maybe you're the guy who drafted Chase Brown and you don't want to start him anymore. Maybe you drafted Omarion Hampton and he's hurt. Maybe drafted Trey Benson or picked him up off of waivers and he's hurt. Like desperation can.
- [26:06]
B
You're having a rough seat.
- [26:08]
A
Yeah, I mean, like desperation might necessitate that you need to pick this guy up and put him in your lineup. But I like to think that if you're looking at an RB2 or a Flex play, you could probably do better than Bam Knight.
- [26:21]
B
I would assume. I would assume. Right. Like maybe somewhere on your bench there's someone that's already there. Like for example, if we're going into next week, would you rather have a Sean Tucker or Bam Knight or is it a wash?
- [26:36]
A
I mean, same, same, but different. I mean, right. And it's going to get a little bigger slice of the pie. But I think the, the Tampa Bay pie is a lot bigger. So I think it kind of. They're going to be really close to.
- [26:45]
B
My rankings and I think that says everything. Like, we're not even talking about Sean Tucker on this because, because of like his relevance in the waiver wire right now. But that kind of tells you where the guy who's the number three running back on the waiver wire this week and probably most likely to be available in your league, where he stands compared to other guys. So all this to say, long story short, TLDR is just don't go spending a ton of money like this is going to be a one week rental in the week. Might not be that great.
- [27:12]
A
I do want to say I was gonna force the Shark start.
- [27:16]
B
He said it. He said it. He said the thing.
- [27:19]
A
I'm in a 14, 14 team league and had to really desperately start Sean Tucker this week and seeing him fall into the end zone for 8.5 PPR points, that was just what I needed to squeak out a win over John Daigle. So that, that felt good. You know, when you can get one of those guys, pick him up off waivers, play him in his RB2 and get a touchdown. It wasn't pretty, but it'll Work.
- [27:42]
B
No, it was definitely almost a Shark. Good thing it was a start because.
- [27:45]
A
He, he scored that very much. Could have been a shot of the week.
- [27:48]
B
Yeah. Short of the week. Let's go to the third tier here. Third tier. These are some fun names. Jalen Coker, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. Arande Gads in the second, tight end for the Los Angeles Chargers. And Keisha Booty, wide receiver for the New England Patriots. Dave, let's start with Jalen Coker. We have him ranked highest amongst this group. He's available at 83 of leagues. Next week he's going up against the Jets. Now the jets are absolutely in shambles. One thing that they do have is Sauce Gardner, but Sauce Gardner is likely to be shadowing Tetero and McMillan. So in his first game back, could we actually see something good here with Jalen Coker? Xavier Leggette has looked pretty bad and he's had some pretty egregious drops and just moments where it's just, it's just not, it's not coming together for. It's not. He doesn't say.
- [28:37]
A
Every time he catches the ball this year, he runs backwards. It is so weird. Like, he is such a.
- [28:41]
B
Did you see like the kind of like pitch that he did? Like it was.
- [28:44]
A
Yeah, I couldn't even tell if it.
- [28:46]
B
Was a pitch or if it was like just a. Didn't catch it.
- [28:49]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [28:50]
B
That's how bad it was.
- [28:51]
A
Yeah. It's been. Been a messy year for Legat.
- [28:53]
B
I feel bad for him, but I. We've talked about this with Tedro and McMillan and the Panthers wide receiver room as a whole third easiest strength of schedule for a fantasy wide receiver over the rest of the season, and then the easiest strength of schedule for fantasy wide receivers in the fantasy playoffs. So I think Jalen Coker is not only a good pickup for this week against the jets, but it's a good pickup for the rest of the season. Now, in reality, he's probably like a wide receiver three wide receiver four for your fantasy team. And like in the best case of scenarios, I don't think he's running around as like a wide receiver too, that you need to plug in every week. But deeper leagues that you have three wide receivers in the starting lineup, two flexes, I think you can play them.
- [29:33]
A
Yeah. And, and this week I might temper expectations a little bit just because this has been a long term injury. Like he missed six weeks. He also missed a bunch of preseason time as well. Typically when guys miss this much time, we don't see him like jump right back into action as like a full time player. So there might be a ramp up here which stinks because like you talk about, this should be a smash spot with Sauce gardner shadowing Tettero McMillan. I just don't know if I'm got enough confidence to put him in my lineup yet. But I think that when you look at this receiver room as a whole, like they've really been patchworking that wide receiver three spot all year. It's been a little bit of Hunter Renfro, a little bit of Bryson Tremaine, like they're getting whoever they can out there and and I think what they want when everything is healthy is to have Tettero McMillan at the X, Xavier Leggette at flanker and then Jalen Coker playing as that big slot. And that's where he was really, really successful last year. So we might see Hunter Renfro rotating in here and there. But my expect is that once Jalen Coker is healthy he is going to be a full time player and he's going to be on the field a lot. We saw him making big plays at Holy Cross, we saw him making big plays last year as well. So yeah, I'm kind of looking at this guy as a, a priority pickup in deep leagues because I think that once he's fully ramped up, he's going to be a plug and play flex wide receiver three type of guy.
- [30:45]
B
I will say pay attention to the reports this week of like what gets said by the coaches, how the practices go because the jets are very beatable from the slot. They're missing Michael Carter, the second in their secondary. It's just, it's not pretty there. So if, if there is any kind of glimmer of hope for this week and you need a desperation start, Coker could be there. Other guy ronda Gadsden, the second tight end for Los Angeles Chargers. He's available in 96 of leagues. I don't want to hear that he's not available. Guys like for the most part he should be available. If you're in the elite of elite that 4% God bless you. Let us know in the comments. But Aradi Gadsden, this has been a role that continues to grow every single week. You got a 75% snapshare this week, 82% route share and a near 22% target share. I know that there's the context that Quentin Johnston was not in this game, but Trey Harris was and he took over that role. Will Disley was Back and active and it looks like a ronde Gadsden.
- [31:41]
A
So is Tyler Conklin.
- [31:42]
B
Yeah, it's ironic. Has taken over this tight end role and it seems like he's not losing it either because even after he makes the catch early in the game and fumbles, they just kept going back to him over and over and over. They're targeting him in the end zone. This looks like a role that could be his in a pretty bad tight end landscape. Fifth easiest schedule for a tight end over the next five weeks. So it could be a guy that you can stream here, you know, over the next few weeks.
- [32:10]
A
Yeah, I think that there's a, you know, he's a good athlete and we know this guy was receiver at Syracuse that transferred to tight end a couple of years ago. You know, dad was an NFL receiver as well. I think it was very smart of him to kind of get ahead of making that transition rather than having to do it at the NFL. And it seems like it would was the right choice because here he is just a few weeks into the season already getting near a full time role. And even when you look at that snap rate, you know, 75%, it's. You're wondering when he comes off the field. The Chargers are the only team that run a lot of plays without a single tight end out there. Like almost 20% of their plays, they don't even have a tight end on the field. No other team is doing that at a higher than a 1% rate. So the Chargers are really playing a different brand of football than a lot of other teams out there. But Gadsden, even when he is on the field, he's not playing like a traditional tight end. He's often in the slot or out wide. And he's one of those big bodied guys. And it seems like those of the receivers that this Charger staff really likes. You look at Quentin Johnson and Trey Harris and they brought Mike Williams back this offseason before he retired. Now they've got around a Gadson out there. They want these big targets that can work outside and that's what Gadson does really well. So I think he's worth a pickup in deep leagues. I don't know if I'm at the point where I'm like willing to stream him yet. I'd like to see one more game, kind of see how his workload looks when Quentin Johnston is back in the mix. But a young, talented guy on a good offense whose opportunity is rising, like that's exactly what you want to see in guys that you're picking up off of waivers.
- [33:29]
B
Yeah, I think he's probably going to be in that like tight end 15, 16 range on a weekly basis where like you're not saying he's an absolute start, but you're saying if I have a guy that's out, I'm probably going for the upside of a Ronde Gadsden over a like a Theo Johnson or some of these other guys. Because we are seeing that there's volume there. We are seeing that there's run after catchability and it's just a good offense.
- [33:54]
A
Right.
- [33:54]
B
Like it's a good offense with Justin Herman Herbert. So that's, that's the big thing there. Next guy on here, Keisha Booty, wide receiver for the New England patriots. Available in 89 of leagues. It's Groundhog's day, man. Dave, like we're talking about a lot of the same people that we talked about in week two.
- [34:09]
A
Snap, snip, snap.
- [34:10]
B
Yeah, we're talking about a lot of people we've talked about in week three.
- [34:12]
A
Pick this guy up. I dropped it. Picked him up, dropped him. And now we're picking him up again going into week seven.
- [34:17]
B
Yeah. And like this is, I mean, obviously approach with caution, but there are some things that can get you excited about what. But you know, I really wanted to say there's some things that can get you excited about booty. And I really held myself back, but then I said it out loud so I didn't really hold myself back. This is just my way of being able to say it.
- [34:35]
A
We've been very mature with the lack of booty jokes for how much we've talked about him this year. I want to give us a little bit of credit. We really could have gone off the rails.
- [34:42]
B
I don't like, I want us to do it more. We need more booty in our life. So I know you mentioned before, like we, we've talked about this. There's the injury that he's had where he didn't quite might look like himself. It wasn't really reported that he was missing time throughout those games. He wasn't a big focal point of the offense. But then we've seen different players have different moments to shine in this Patriots offense. It was Hunter Henry, then it was Stefan Diggs. We got the big play from Demario Douglas this past week.
- [35:10]
A
Like, okay, when I was out, he.
- [35:12]
B
Pulls me back in the the New England Patriots, like Reddit boards are hilarious. Someone said pop Douglas looking like Prime Tyreek Hill. It's like, all right, Relax, relax. We could chill. I don't think that New England has a set wide receiver, one or a set leading receiver each week. And I think that's just going to be the thing to consider going forward. Keisha Booty, though, we do see that he has these ability for these blow up games and that sort of thing if it's deep league and you're saying like, man, this is one of those weeks where I'm projected to lose by a lot. Keisha Booty becomes a guy that you can throw in your lineup because he can have a blow up 20 point game because what we're seeing is third in the NFL in yards per target. He's getting these big plays and big touchdowns. Dave, he's got more yards and touchdowns, both those stats, than Jameson Williams, A.J. brown, Jerry Judy and T. Higgins. Some of those guys are having really bad years. But those are like, those are names.
- [36:10]
A
Those are names, guys every week for the most part.
- [36:12]
B
Right. And so like that's the thing. It's like you can kind of look at this the same way as, yeah, he's not going to be a surefire start every week, but can he give you that upside down? If I'm in a three wide receiver league, if I'm in a non PPR league, a half ppr, like whatever. Yeah, you need that. You need those big playability. And Keisha Booty's a guy like, I think you can go out and spend a couple bucks on your waiver wire.
- [36:30]
A
Yeah, I think this is one of those where it's just going to be like a really tough to predict Patriots room. You talk about it like everybody's had their moments. Like, you know, it was just a couple of weeks ago that we were like Hunter Henry, like rest of season top 10 tight or top 5 tight end because like he was coming off this like 90 yard, two touchdown game and then had another big game the week after where he scored again. And then he's been an afterthought for the last two weeks and like Stefan Dix, like back to back huge games, like I was talking about it last week, like Stefan Diggs is back then he's just completely out of the game plan. And you know, you look at this staff in New England and Mike Rabel used to play for Bill Belichick. Josh McDaniels spent, you know, the, the majority of his career under the tutelage of Bill Belichick. And outside of like the, the handful of times that like, you know, Randy Moss would show up in New England for A couple of years. This is always the Patriots Mo. It was like everybody eats. They're going to spread the ball around. Like if you're on the field, you've always got the opportunity to get the ball. And that's why you get, get best play from these receivers because they're always on their toes. Think of the ball that can come their way. But it does make it really frustrating in fantasy. Like I remember years where Tom Brady was throwing for 4,000plus yards and 30plus touchdowns and there wasn't a viable starter in fantasy. It kind of feels like that's where we are with, with the Patriots right now. That being said, you know, Diggs is obviously the, the best. Like, if we're looking just at profile and talent, Diggs is the best. But we know he's old and he's coming off the injury. If you're looking for like the young guy with a good profile that had good college production, good athleticism, all that stuff. Keisha Booty is maybe the best in this class. You know, fell because of some off the field issues, but we know he's a good talent. Like this guy was in conversations with Jackson, Smith, Najigba as being the top receiver in his class. So that's why we've seen these like little flashes here and there and we keep getting allured by him. But it's just consistency has been the struggle with Booty's entire career.
- [38:17]
B
God, it's so fun to say it. All right, let's go to the next tier here. This is tier number four, where we've got Bershard Smith, running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. Jordan Whittington, wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. And this one, I think there needs to be an asterisk on this. And I know I'm, I'm higher on him than you are, but a report came out this morning. I'm talking about Luther Burden, wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. Who's available.
- [38:39]
A
I would have bumped him up a little bit after, you know, I didn't have time to adjust my rankings with DJ Moore out. Yeah, I'll bump him up a little bit.
- [38:45]
B
Yeah, that's why I said, like, there needs to be an asterisk here because I'm pretty sure, like, if we got word DJ Moore is out next week or out for any number of games, I think Luther Burden is probably in that, like tier two where we have like fan and dart and Bam Knight, maybe somewhere in that area or top of tier three, whichever. Why don't we Start with him. Let's start with Luther Burden because we're, we're talking about it right now. If you're not familiar with the report that I'm talking about here with DJ Moore, there's a report that came out this morning that DJ Moore left the stadium last night in an ambulance and is staying overnight in a hospital for precautionary reasons. Now, by the time this episode comes out, whether it's an audio or video, we may have gotten report that it's nothing. We may have gotten report that he may have to miss time. Typically, and I don't want to speculate here, but, Dave, typically when we see like a player leave in the ambulance and have to stay in hospital overnight, you get worried about things like kidneys and stuff like that and what kind of internal issues they might have have. That doesn't seem like something you come back from very easily. But once again, it could also be nothing. I'll say this. It wasn't a uber productive game from any Bears receiver or even Luther Burden.
- [39:55]
A
But should have been that he. Oh, that penalty. Oh, like the Bears still pulled out the win, but Luther Burden, man, like, that would have been, you know, a career highlight. Real catch, like, to pull that off over a ticky tack penalty. Like I was, I was tossing and turning last night because of that one.
- [40:11]
B
It's. This is the biggest workload of the season for him. He was the Bears leading wide receiver last night. Not receiver, but wide receiver. And it's. I mean, we're seeing a role start to get carved out for him, and they're, they're using them in different ways. I think he's one of these guys. Like, I've had him stashed on so many leagues throughout the season, just like Jaden Blue. Like, I can't give up on these guys. And it does feel like it is coming to fruition. We've got that post buy rookie bump that's coming in. If, if there is anything going on with DJ Moore, Luther Burden becomes a really valuable waiver wire. Stash.
- [40:42]
A
Yeah. And. And no idea what's happening with DJ Moore. You know, prayers up open that.
- [40:46]
B
I'll look right now as we're talking.
- [40:48]
A
I, I was looking while you were talking and I couldn't find anything about it besides a lot of, you know, what you said, speculation that it's like a kidney or a spleen or an appendix or, you know, something like that, because you also saw it during the game. He pulled himself off the field multiple times and it was weird. Like, normally When a player is injured, you know, they're getting their ankle taped up or they're getting their wrist looked at or like there's a specific injury that they're. And he was just like grimacing in pain and like, you could see, like the trainers were just like rubbing his back. Like, you know, is everything okay? It was. Something is clearly going on there, but still just absolute dog like out there throwing the lead block for DeAndre Swift on the game ceiling run, like, and then going to the hospital in an ambulance 15 minutes later. Like, you know, love to see that from DJ Moore. Luther Burton, I do still think that, you know, the, the same concerns that I had about him all season, I still do have a little bit, I think he's a little bit reliant on scheme touches. You know, they're gonna have to get him on jet sweeps and rounds and screens and things like that. But the good news for him is that's a lot of what DJ Moore was getting as well. Like, DJ Moore wasn't doing a lot of just like beating one on one man coverage. Like, he was getting a lot of those scheme touches. So if those go Luther Burden's way, we know he's got the athleticism to make it happen. Absolutely worth a pickup. Not even in your deep leagues, like, even in your shallower leagues. If D.J. moore, God forbid, does have to miss, you know, a month or two or anything like that, Luther Burton becomes a full time player in this offense.
- [42:06]
B
Yeah, I cannot find anything on DJ Moore.
- [42:09]
A
Just a lot of the speculation.
- [42:10]
B
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we'll have, we'll have a statement released later today or something from the team.
- [42:16]
A
I want to say NFL players are different though. I, I was trying to remember who, but I remember like two years ago somebody having to get their appendix removed and being like, oh, this guy's probably gonna miss like a couple of months. He was back at practice like three days later. Like, these, these are crazy.
- [42:28]
B
I promise you, I get my appendix removed, I will not be on the next, next show.
- [42:33]
A
Yeah, actually I got my appendix removed about two days or, sorry, two weeks before high school football practice started. First day of practice, took a helmet right into my incision, busted all the stitches and I had to go right back to the hospital. So that's why, like, when I see NFL players returning like days later just blows my mind because I was not able to do that weeks later.
- [42:55]
B
Let us know. Dave Kluge in the comments. Warrior or idiot? A bit of both. You're the Cam. Scatter Boo. Of the Chicago area.
- [43:04]
A
I want to say like usually appendix scars, there's like very minimal scarring. It's like not an intrusive injury, but after having mine blasted open two weeks after surgery, I've got a gnarly scar from that one. Kind of, kind of regret that choice as a 14 year old.
- [43:20]
B
14 year olds are known, especially 14 year old boys. They're known for making very sound decisions with their bodies, their mental health. This is what they do.
- [43:28]
A
Yeah.
- [43:30]
B
Other guys in this tier, Brashard Smith, not much to say here. He's basically just become a receiving back only, which we kind of knew this. He's a converted wide receiver. He played running back at Miami. One rush attempt over the last two games here, Dave, three receptions in three consecutive games though. So it's looking like that receiving role is growing. I think my only worry here is Rasheed Rice comes back. So what happens when all the short area stuff is removed or the gimmicky stuff with Smith is removed and we're looking at screens for Rasheed Rice? I think where, where you're holding on to Burchard Smith is with the thought process that the Chiefs don't trade for anyone and he's a handcuff running back in this situation. Like I think that's all you're doing is you're stashing them in a deep bench.
- [44:13]
A
This is also like the Chiefs are, are a lot better this year than they've been in years past. Like they've got their mojo back. I don't know how or where they found it, but like this is like there's explosives again. Like it's a high volume passing offense. And I almost wonder like when Rashi Rice comes back, if it just elevates everybo buddies so much that you've got Xavier Worthy working deep, you've got Rashi Rice working deep as well because we did see that change, I mean, very shortly last year. But like coming into year two, Rashid Rice was running a lot more downfield routes. So he can do the intermediate stuff, he can do the deep stuff. Xavier Worthy also kind of has both of those. Historically, what we've seen in these Andy Reid offenses post Tyreek Hill is you're either the guy running routes 25 yards downfield or you're the guy running routes 3 yards downfield. And there weren't a lot of guys that can do both. I think Rashi Rice and Xavier Worthy both kind of do have that elasticity. So overall I'm just like excited for Rice's return and what it means for this offense and if these guys both start clicking, like living up to be the wide receivers that we hope that they would be, there's going to be a lot of room underneath for Burchard Smith. It could get Isaiah Pacheco back on track as well. So, yeah, definitely worth a stash. I just get really. This is like my blind spot in analysis. I love these wide receivers that convert into running backs. They never pan out. Like Antonio Gibson. It didn't work out. You know, who's the other guy that I'm thinking of? You know, they. They never work out, but maybe this time it could work out.
- [45:35]
B
Did it work for those people? I mean, sometimes it does. Like, Tony Pollard was the same thing. Tyrone Tracy.
- [45:42]
A
Tracy. He is flashing. You know who I was. Actually, I brought this up to Jeff Bell the other day. Char Kantrick West. Do you remember that name?
- [45:51]
B
God, yeah. Charizard West. That's what I used to call him. Yeah. Yep.
- [45:54]
A
And Dexter McCluster, another guy like Andy Reid has had these kind of hybrid players that he has found success with over the years. So much of their value came from the split designations where you could put them in your running back or your wide receiver spot. Unfortunately, we're not getting that with Prashard Smith, but we have seen these hybrid players kind of find success with Andy Reid in the past.
- [46:14]
B
Yeah, I. I mean, if there's. You're going to make a bet on any team, it's the Chiefs to just be good at football. Right, Right. So next final player in this tier is Jordan Whittington, who listen to Nakua, is going to miss any time game. It's one game basically that we're looking at. It's a London game against Jacksonville, which, duh, home game for Jacksonville in London. That's basically where they play all their home games nowadays. After the Jacksonville game in London, there's a bye week. So we're expecting Pukinakua to be back. But I'm looking at it right now, Dave, like Jordan Whittington, when he's gotten the opportunity, he's typically productive in like a wide receiver receiver three type of value for you in that one week. Now could he give you the wide receiver three value this week? Devonte Adams is still out there. Like he could. I probably lean somewhere in that. Wide receiver three, wide receiver four value, one week. It's a rental. I kind of look at this as almost like the bam night of the wide receivers where just go and spend a couple of bucks, hope that no one else is really bidding on him. And if you're desperate for a wide receiver start, start. Like this is. This is your guy.
- [47:26]
A
Yeah. And you know on this show we're gonna like, you know, we're focused on redraft audiences and like to the general public. Like personally in my dynasty leagues, like deep dynasty leagues, I am so excited to get to put Jordan Whittington in my lineup. Like, you know, I've got this guy stashed in a bunch. And this is what we talked about in the preseason. I remember having a conversation with Jordan Whittington saying like this is a very, very rare wide receiver handcuff. Like we don't see this often, but in the one game last year that Bukanakua missed, we saw Jordan Whittington like in that first game before he got hurt, his, he went from being like a 15 snapshare player to like an 80% snapshare player. Like just immediately they will plug him into that Pukinakua role. Now he can't do half of what Puka Nakua can do. Like he's not going to be beating guys in man coverage 20, 30 yards downfield. He doesn't have that route running ability. But when it comes to those short shallow crossers and the end arounds and the jet sweeps and the screens and the slants, they're going to draw things up for him. Because frankly at this point, like Jordan Whittington was a former high school running back. You can do a lot more after the catch than Devonte Adams can. And they're gonna ask Devonte Adams to win those routes downfield. And I think Jordan Whittington is just gonna get a lot of manufactured touches. So definitely like a break glass in case of emergency. Like if you're starting Jordan Whittington in a London game, you know, you probably don't want to do that and you're like start seven player redraft leagues. But I think that there is some kind of sneaky upside here for desperate managers.
- [48:47]
B
Yeah, it's. Listen, 92 of the snaps last week, four targets, three receptions. It just didn't have quite the yardage that we normally see. He's a big yards after catch guy like you mentioned because of his history as a running back and that just didn't happen. But going up, this was, this could have been a blow up game for any one of the rams receivers. And as a passing game, it just really wasn't like it was a little uncharacteristic. Yeah, it was weird. Like I Had Matthew Stafford over one and a half touchdowns. It's one of my problems. Props because like why not? He's been over that every single week. Going against the Raven secondary that's just getting torched and it just didn't happen. So it was an off week. Jaguars do have pretty bad secondary. Not saying Jordan Whittington star player this week, but serviceable if you need that. Like wide receiver four I think.
- [49:34]
A
Speaking of the Jacksonville secondary, did you see the the Seahawks social media post after the Seahawks beat Jacksonville last week? It was so good. It was Jackson Smith Najigba standing in front of a sign that said welcome to Jacksonville and he spray painted over Jackson with J A X O N Jacksonville. Oh, that was good. That was good.
- [49:54]
B
It was great. Who did the Jaguars trade for? Was it Greg Newsome I think that they traded for and his first play on the field gets torched for a touchdown. Like it was just like could you. Like what is that? Like as the gm, you're like finally we fix our cornerback problem. First play in homie gets torched. It just. God.
- [50:17]
A
You know, we talked about it briefly yesterday. I moved him up to my rest of season wide receiver 1 because of this Pukinakua injury and I was like, feels kind of crazy to do it. And then Bob Henry reached out to me this morning and he has a rest of season projections and he goes, hey man, just want to let you know I'm riding with you Jason. Wide receiver 1 why not? Like he has been unbelievable.
- [50:33]
B
Yeah, why not? Why? Drake London is another guy who's very off topic but holy smokes if this.
- [50:39]
A
Keeps going, man, that touchdown like the, the not touchdown yesterday was so infuriating too.
- [50:44]
B
There's so many of those this year for Drake London and feels like there's been at least three of them.
- [50:48]
A
Yep.
- [50:49]
B
All right, last final tier here.
- [50:52]
A
We're just going to call this for the first time and I just laughed out loud at seeing what this tier is.
- [50:58]
B
We're just going to call this the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because the final tier here is just Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass catchers. He's not even on the graphic, but sure, let's just throw in Cameron Johnson as well.
- [51:09]
A
Yeah, just wrote it in the Google Doc.
- [51:12]
B
Like let's just throw them in there as well. So. So it's Sterling shepherd available in 77% of leagues, Tess Johnson available in 96% of leagues, Kate Otten available in 88% of leagues and Cameron Johnson's available in 100% of leagues. When I last checked, might be 99% depending on when people's waivers run. But yeah, listen, if we're looking at who could step up in this Bucks offense, Dave, I think you and I are naturally going to gravitate towards Kate Otten and Sterling shepherd being those guys. Like, Kate Otten has been a guy that's stepping stepped up in the past. Sterling Shepard has a history with Baker in Oklahoma. He's been sort of a target monster in. In previous lives in the NFL. We didn't see that big performance from him this past week. We did, however, see a couple of big plays from both of the Johnsons. Tez Johnson, Cameron Johnson. Dave, don't put Devin Culp in the damn show sheet. Like, stop. We've gone too far. We've gone way too far, dude.
- [52:09]
A
I have have. Baker Mayfield has my utmost trust in turning anybody into a fantasy relevant player at this point.
- [52:16]
B
Who's the last? I'm gonna go find the last guy on the roster. You talk. Go, go, go talk about Devon C for three minutes while I find the last guy on the Bucks roster.
- [52:26]
A
I check to see if they even have any other active wide receivers. They don't. It is literally Sterling Shepard, Taz Johnson and Cameron Johnson are the only active receivers they have. A Booka is hurt, Evans is hurt. Godwins is hurt. McMillan is still on IR. Like, they have absolutely.
- [52:39]
B
Ryan Miller.
- [52:40]
A
Ryan Miller, there you go.
- [52:42]
B
That's a creative player. That's totally a creative player. That's not even a real guy.
- [52:46]
A
Former tight end, I believe that converted to wide receiver and has done like nothing. I mean, I thought Cameron Johnson is like a creative player. Like, when I saw that first touchdown, I saw Johnson on the back of the jersey. I was like, dang, Tess. Johnson grew like a foot since, right? And then I was like, okay, Johnson. Like, I'm pretty plugged in and I don't even know who that is. Give me.
- [53:03]
B
Give me some co key for in this. That sounds like a, like a dip brand. Like, I know who he is. It's just these are not real people, though.
- [53:12]
A
I guess I'm going with Kate Otten is probably like the preferred guy because we saw like there was a month last year when everybody was out that it was just like Kate Otten was just like a plug and play, like high end, tight end one. And I think he's probably the best available here. Tez Johnson is definitely the fun pick.
- [53:27]
B
I think he's the funnest one.
- [53:29]
A
Yeah, I mean, mean, did you see the video of like, MVP chants were for him so he saw. I saw where he, like, told the story in the locker room. But did you see they actually had him miked up on the sideline?
- [53:40]
B
Yeah.
- [53:40]
A
The conversation with him and Sterling Shepard is like, one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
- [53:45]
B
People die laughing at him for.
- [53:47]
A
For those that aren't aware, Tez Johnson caught that huge touchdown. After he catches the touchdown, the crowd erupts into MVP chance. He loses his mind and does, like a handspring, like, backflip twist. And then he goes to the sidelines and he goes, I can't believe they're chanting MVP for. For me. Like, I haven't done much already this year. And Sterling Shepard was like, dude, they were talking about Baker Mayfield. And then the entire wide receiver group just rips him up. It was funny, funny stuff.
- [54:11]
B
But as the kids would say, he's got aura. Like, he's got aura to be thinking. Thinking that way about himself.
- [54:18]
A
But do you kind of get some, like, Jalen McMillan vibes from Tez Johnson? A little bit like the rookie that, like, catches the big touchdown and is like, oh, I can't do that again. And like, we said that about we like you, I and everybody in the family. Yeah. It felt like for like a month, we were just like, oh, Jalen McMillan can't keep doing this. And then eventually he just, like, kept doing it. We're like, all right, Jalen McMillan, like, fired him up as a high end wide receiver, too. I'm not quite there with Tez Johnson yet, but I am there with Baker Mayfield and him just turning anybody into a fantasy relevant guy. So we see Tez Johnson has speed that nobody else in this wide receiver room doesn't. It wouldn't surprise me if he just, like, keeps hauling in big touchdowns.
- [54:54]
B
Listen, the easy comp to make for Tez Johnson when he was coming out of Oregon was Tank Dell, because he's not the biggest guy. He's. He's more quick than fast. He doesn't have good time speed. I think he ended up running a 4 or 5, like a high 4 or 5. But his agility drills were good. He was a kick returner at Oregon. Big time deep threat at Oregon. He won in so many different ways, but he's just a phenomenal route runner. And so if this is something where it's like, hey, maybe, man, we've got to force targets to some of these guys. If there's a guy that I think can get open and then create really well after the catch, Sterling Shepherd's gonna get his and he's gonna get open. Kate Otten, same thing. Tez Johnson is the guy though that I think could actually have a blow up game because he can not only get open but then create after the catch. And that's the kind, like to me he's sort of a Luther Burden light, quite literally about 40 pounds lighter. So yeah, like I, I think he's the funnest pick out of these three. I think the safest is probably Kate Otten. To go start at your tight end spot. You're going to get probably six targets and four receptions for Sterling shepherd, but you could have the K Sean Booty Type 3 catches for 85 yards on a touchdown with Tess Johnson.
- [56:01]
A
Yeah, so I think that's where I'm at. You know, it depends what you're looking for. Like if you've got a really good team and you're just like desperate for a flex play that can give you a moderate floor, I think Kate Ottner, Sterling Shepherd's the guy. But like, you know, if you're sitting here through week six at two and four and your team is decimated by injuries and you just like want to have fun and spoil somebody else's matches up, throw Tess Johnson in the flex.
- [56:21]
B
Why not just have some fun, man? Have some fun. For the love of God. It's fantasy football. People have fun.
- [56:27]
A
Also, Mike Evans could potentially return this week. If Mike Evans is.
- [56:32]
B
What does that mean for Devin Culp?
- [56:34]
A
Well, I wonder, does that change anything for you? Because like right now we're talking about like just all of these guys having some appeal. I do wonder if like Mike Evans is back then. I think that does benefit Tess Johnson even more because then you have defenses focused on a wide receiver, one which can allow Tez Johnson to do what he does, like get behind defenses, get the big play play. So I almost wonder like, if there's no Mike Evans, I might prefer Sterling Shepard. And if there is Mike Evans, that's when I might lean towards Tez Johnson.
- [57:01]
B
Yeah, there's. I'm reading the report right now. There's optimism that he will practice this week. We'll see.
- [57:07]
A
Godwin and Abuka already not, not cleared out, but they said that they're like basically out. That is, that's concerning, man. I mean, like, I, I don't know when it's going. Like this team has just, just been decimated by injuries for a year and a half and it doesn't seem to matter. Like they keep winning. Baker Mayfield keeps doing spectacular things. There's something special happening In Tampa Bay.
- [57:27]
B
I mean, if you're the Bucks, why would you rush back Mike Evans? Right now? You've got a bye week in week nine. I know you've got the. You've got this game against Detroit, but they're what, they're five and one right now. The Bucks, like, they. They just. They keep winning. I mean, it sounds wonderful.
- [57:43]
A
Winner of this game, like, could be the first round by, like, who gets the one seed? Like, like, you know, these two teams are maybe the two best teams in the nfc.
- [57:52]
B
Yeah. Potentially. Like, looking at it right now, it feels like that. I feel like I'm missing someone from that. I mean, Eagles were there, but that was just a rough game recently. But, yeah, I don't see why you don't let these guys just wait it out through the bye week and week nine, come back week 10, because that's when you got your really tough stretch of games. New England, Buffalo, the Rams, Arizona, New Orleans, whatever. But then you got Atlanta, Carolina. Oh, I can't wait for that. Week 17, Miami. Tampa Bay versus Miami. It's going to be just beautiful. Dave. I think that's gonna be it for us, man. We went through.
- [58:20]
A
Before we sign off, I got a quick question for you, because this is totally not waiver related, but I shared something on Twitter yesterday, and the poll results blew my mind. So I'm gonna ask you this question. Rico Dowdle or Amarian Hampton? Who would you rather have for the rest of the season?
- [58:36]
B
This is such a trap question, man, because, like, we don't. We don't know what rest of season means for Omari and Hampton. Hampton.
- [58:42]
A
I'll just blow the surprise.
- [58:44]
B
Yeah.
- [58:44]
A
Twitter prefers Rico right now.
- [58:47]
B
Yeah, I assume.
- [58:47]
A
So if you've got Rico Dowdle and you could flip him for Omarion Hampton, like, if you've got a good enough record that, like, you feel like you're already going to make the playoffs. That's crazy to me that. That. That people would prefer Rico Doddle over Omarion Hampton. So, you know, I just did this heat check yesterday on Twitter. Thought people were gonna, like, laugh at the question, and then I was just blown away by the results.
- [59:06]
B
Yeah, I mean, in a vacuum, right? Like, it feels silly, but I also think there's something like the bird in the hand versus two in the bush or whatever the hell the. The saying, you got it, but, like, you got it. Yeah, sure. Why not? I. Why would you be holding birds anyways? Rico Dowdle, like, what he's doing has been so unprecedented. Sure. Could he end up in A split. Yeah. But could he also just keep being a stud RB1 the rest of the season? Sure. Amari and Hampton, we know he's good, but is he going to be healthy enough to come back? Like, they keep just trying to change in the timeline. So it's like, like, I get it. It all depends on how risk averse you are. I do think that the people that are more ingrained in the fantasy zeitgeist than culture are willing to be like, give me the risk. I want the upside. But I do think a lot of like in general, a lot of fantasy managers, like, just give me whatever's safest. I need to keep winning now. I'll figure that let that that'll be future Alfredo's problem. I need to win the next couple weeks. And so like it's not that surprising. It's not that surprising. Poll results. Well, David, we went through it was supposed to be 14 players. Then you added Cameron Johnson and Devin Culp. So let's call it 16 players added here to the waiver wireless.
- [60:13]
A
I hope people realize this is tongue in cheek. Like, don't, don't pick up Devin Culp and put him in your lineup. And Cameron Johnson.
- [60:19]
B
Send us your screenshots. Send us your screenshots to. I don't remember what's our email fantasy show@football guys.com where you picked up Devin King Culp in your leagues. We're going to be back again tomorrow with our trade targets episode and then Thursday we are going to have our tiers where we're going to be ranking players for week seven. Dave and I will be back tomorrow. Like I mentioned, I want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through. For myself and Dave, we'll see you next time. Adios.