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C
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Launch Pad. I'm your host, Dave Kluge, as always, joined by a great football guy staffer and today I've got my good friend Mung Song joining us. Meng is a host of the Fantasy Football Addicts podcast with his friend Los. You can also find him over here at Football Guys, writing spotlights for us and regularly contributing to our roundtable articles. Mung was one of the first people I connected with in this space and we used to work together on the Smash Accept podcast back in the 2019 and 2020 season. So really fun that we're able to link up here 25 and talk about some Week 10 matchups. As always, this podcast would not be possible without you taking the time to listen. So thank you for doing that and let's dive in. Mung Song, how are you doing today?
- [01:49]
D
Great. Good to see you, Dave, as always. As always.
- [01:52]
C
Yeah, you know, I I've told the story a few times, but Mung, you're the one that kind of got me into podcasting. I mean this was like back in 2019 or 2020. I'd never done a pod and joined with you and Mike and John and the crew over at Smash Accept. Still got the T shirt. You know, rep it on a a handful of shows here and there, but here we are five years later, you know, working together over at football guys. Happy to have you a part of the team. But as always, what we do on this show is we talk about some upcoming matchups. And Monk, you're from Chicago, I'm from Chicago. So of course we're going to start with Bears at Chicago. And question I have for you. It looks like DeAndre Swift is going to be active. So I think this is the big question everybody has right now. What are your expectations for Kyle Manungai? Assuming, well, not assuming. We know that DeAndre Swift will be active in this game.
- [02:41]
D
Yeah, it's kind of crazy. I know we were reminiscing before we started recording about how our paths could have crossed many times in Chicago. And luckily now a few years later, we're, we're together at football guys. And more importantly, the Bears finally seem to be on a somewhat upwards trajectory, hopefully. I say somewhat because the defense obviously still has a lot of holes. But yeah, I mean, to your question, I think both should play right now and as is, I'm probably projecting the Bears backfield to be a closer split on the ground than what we saw prior to Swift's calf injury. Right. I, I could actually see this being somewhat akin to how the Rams backfield has evolved this season where Blake Corum has eaten into Kyron's carries a little bit, but Kyron's still getting more work overall as well as the receiving usage. So I would still rank swift ahead in RB2 territory, obviously. But Manungai, excuse me, has some flex potential here. I know our own football guys, Matt Patanti, who does our offensive line rankings, he has Chicago ranked as a top five run blocking unit this season.
- [03:52]
C
And last week I never thought I'd see the Bears offensive line ranked top five in anything.
- [03:58]
D
Yeah. And I mean this is, and this is the perfect week, right. Because much like the Bengals last week, the Giants also bottom five and run defense. So again, a little bit riskier from an unguy with Swift back, but he still has upside here, especially if he does get a goal line carry or two.
- [04:15]
C
Yeah. And you know, we can just look back at the 2022 Detroit Lions to kind of see what DeAndre Swift did in a similar role where he was playing with Jamal Williams. And I think what Jamal Williams was doing in that offense very similar to what we could expect from Kyle Menungai. And even though Jamal Williams was getting the touchdowns and ended up being a league winner that year, I think what people forget is that DeAndre Swift was still in RB2 on a per game basis, seeing between 40 and 60% of the snaps on a weekly basis. So I've expected a split backfield as well. I've seen a lot of people, you know, just wheels up for Kyle Manon guy. It's his job now. He's not giving it back. I'm not quite there. I think that we're going to see Manungai's role grow a little bit. But I still expect DeAndre Swift to be the the RB one here, for lack of a better term. And I think what people don't realize too is that like in the three games out of the buy, I think that's when we really saw the offensive line start to look a little bit better. And in those three games, DeAndre Swift scored a touchdown every single week. He averaged 128 scrimmage yards per game. So it's not like this is a bad running back that they need to find a replacement for. DeAndre Swift was playing really well. Now you've got Kyle Menungai, who's also playing really well. That's just a good problem to have. You have two good running backs right now. I expect them both to be involved. I want to talk about Roma Dunes A though before the buy. I mean this guy again throwing the term league winner around here, Roman Dunes, they felt like a league winner. A guy that you drafted in the middle of the late round of your draft was giving us top five wide receiver production. Since the buy it has not been nearly as good, has been held out of the end zone. And then of course last week we see the zero catches on three targets. So is it time to panic about Roma dudes? A.
- [05:46]
D
Not at all. I don't think panic is warranted to your point. Clearly touchdown regression hit in a big way, right? Because prior to the buy in those first four games a Dunes, they had what, five touchdowns, right? And he hasn't scored once in the four games since their buy. But if you really look at each individual game though, it's really not a usage concern because in those two wins over Washington, New Orleans, both pretty close games, the Bears were ahead, right? So they didn't need to pass much. Caleb Williams attempted under 30 passes in each of those wins. And then we weren't worried about a dunesday after he had a nice seven catches for 114 yards against Baltimore. And then this past week, obviously the nothing burger hurts. But I do want to raise a point here where I hear a lot of talk about how awful the Bengals defense has been and that's certainly true. Right we saw the shootout last week but the lone bright spot for Cincinnati on defense has been D.J. turner because he's the sophomore cornerback out of Michigan and PFF actually hasn't graded I think top five among quarterbacks right now. He's been excellent in shadow coverage. I know these stat lines might not sound that bad but he limited Justin Jefferson to five catches for 75 yards and DK Metcalf to three catches for 50 yards. And those are not easy wide receivers to single up in coverage. So I don't think it's quite all on a dunesay. But it's also worth noting too he might not have been 100 last week. Entered that game with an ankle slash heel injury. So overall I think there's a lot of factors in these four weeks since the buy and I'd expect a bounce back game this week against the Giants here assuming he's healthy. This should not be another nothing burger. Not even close.
- [07:39]
C
And you talk about the you know the it's been kind of fluky since the buy and like it feels a little bit weird. There have also been so many like near misses like we saw that touchdown that got back for kind of a a tick attack penalty in Washington and then he had the dropped touchdown pass last week were not a perfect throw but it like it hit him on the hip. He should have caught the ball and he didn't. He also had the drop pass on the trick play from Cole Comet. He had the drop pass a couple of weeks ago. Now there's nothing that I've seen from Roma dunes a last year or this year or through his entire college career that makes me think he is going to continue struggling with drops. Drops are fluky. They happen to the best wide receivers out there. We see CD Lamb dropping balls in pivotal moments. It doesn't mean he's a bad wide receiver. Drafts drops are just fluky and they're hitting him right now. I don't expect that maintain. So like had he caught that touchdown last week there'd be no concern because he'd be giving you double digit fantasy points and that would be it. So I'm with you as well. Not panicking about Roma dunes A but.
- [08:30]
D
I want to yeah I mean I was gonna say we always say right every season is really three or four mini seasons because each stretch of three or four games there can be a lot of swings because football is a high variance game. So again it's really been about the touchdowns and or lack thereof. But I expect again him to rebound. So yeah, definitely no panic.
- [08:50]
C
So I want to stick with this game and I want to talk about the Giants. There's a lot of excitement for Tyrone Tracy when Cam Scaboo went down because we saw last year Tyrone Tracy was giving us RB2 value. But what we saw last week in the Giants game is that Devin Singletary was heavily involved and we got an RB36 finish from Tyrone Tracy. So my question for you Mung is is there going to be enough volume going around for Tyrone Tracy to maintain relevancy in fantasy football?
- [09:18]
D
Yeah, I guess it depends on your definition of relevancy, right? I. I would say yes, but it's probably going to be a somewhat bumpy ride each week more as a PPR flex. We did see Singletary play a few more snaps than Tracy against the Niners last week. Singletary more importantly got all five of the snaps inside the 10 yard line. So that's certainly not something you want to see if you've been starting Tyrone Tracy. Obviously that's not a great sign. But there's still reason for optimism, right? Because as a rookie last year we saw Tracy gradually overtake Singletary as the starter as the season progressed and it's probably still going to be a messy committee. But over the second half of last year we saw Tracy consistently get more work and get more double digit PPR fantasy finishes. So again I Singletary is that reliable veteran back. But I think as the Giants continue with Scatter Boo done for the season with neighbors out for the year, they need playmakers at the end of the day. And I do think Tracy is the more explosive playmaker even if they want the consistency that Devon Singletary can bring.
- [10:31]
C
Yeah, he absolutely is. And like there's a metric out there that makes you think that Devin Singletary is better than Tyrone Tracy. But I kind of looked at through last year with rose colored glasses. Maybe like you look at the end of season finish for Tyrone Tracy and it seems good. But then when you actually look through the entire game log it's like that was right. We never really knew when we could start Tyrone Tracy and it felt like when we did he'd end up, you know, seating work to Devin Singletary and when we wouldn't start him then he'd have a big game and like I it was a lot more frustrating than I think people remember. And that I think that just goes down to Brian Dable and Devin Singletary having that connection all the way back from when he was drafted in Buffalo. So I, I'm with You, I mean, I still think that Tyrone Tracy is the better running back. He's one of the few players on this offense that can provide explosive plays. I expect his role to grow, but maybe it was just me overcorrecting a little bit because of how much I was touting Tyrone Tracy last week. That starting to have a little bit of fear now going into week 10. But last question I have on this game, I think we know by now that Wandale Robinson is going to kind of work as that wide receiver one in this offense. But last week we kind of saw a little bit of a change in who the wide receiver two is. So in this matchup, would you prefer Darius Slayton or Ray? Ray. I'm sorry? Ray. Ray McLeod. You know, for those people that are set in their dynasty lineups and like really deep reaching deep into the rosters, who would you prefer between Slayton and McLeod?
- [11:47]
D
It's Slayton for me. We know what rarity McLeod is, right? He's a good player who can contribute here and there, but he's a role player. Whereas we've actually seen Darius Slayton have stretches of success as that number one outside wide receiver for the Giants just a couple short years ago with Daniel Jones, right. Especially that end of season run into the playoffs where they upset the Vikings. And then let's not forget, right, we talked about Roma Dunes they having some touchdowns called back by penalties. Slayton had a long, what, 50 plus yard touchdown called back against the Eagles with a pretty questionable OPI penalty there. I actually think that Slayton could be an upside wide receiver three or flex option rest of season. Certainly like him in this matchup against that Bear secondary. I would compare him somewhat to an Alec Pierce type, right. You're hoping for that long play, but probably, you know, four or five catches for 50 yards at least every week.
- [12:44]
C
Yeah, I think you make a good point too. And I think another big thing that people don't really think about is if you look Jackson Dart through his first couple of games, he wasn't pushing the ball downfield whatsoever. Like didn't have a single attempt more than 20 plus yards downfield in his first start, had two in his second start, three in his third start. It seems like now the field is starting to open up for him and he's a little bit more comfortable attacking every level. So it's easy to look at the splits that Darius Slayton has had with Jackson Dart as a whole and say that it's not great. But if you look at the trend and how Jackson Dart's developing over this month and a half that he's been starting. He's starting to take more shots downfield, and I think that's where Darius Slayton come come into play. So I like that call out a lot. Let's talk about the Jaguars at the Texans, and I know Jacoby Myers. It has been a very frustrating season right now. A lot of people who roster Jacobe Myers are excited about this trade. So are you starting him this week, or do you think fantasy managers might want to give it a week to kind of see how this plays out first?
- [13:38]
D
Do we really have to talk about the AFC South?
- [13:42]
C
There's fantasy gold on every team. Unfortunately.
- [13:45]
D
It, it feels like the, the AFC south should be where NFL teams get relegated to if they, if they perform poorly every season. But yeah, Jacoby Myers probably just a desperation wide receiver. Four this week. Right now, the Texans one of the best defenses in the league right now. Bottom five and adjusted fantasy points allowed to opposing wide receivers. So just not a great matchup. On top of that, I would not expect much chemistry yet with Trevor Lawrence for Myers. Right. He just flew all the way from the west coast to Florida, then probably barely unpacked some of his stuff before he had to get back on a flight all the way back west to Texas. So going forward, I think Myers can be a PPR guy. You know, we've seen him make plays and be a reliable outlet receiver in the past. But this week, I would not, I would hopefully assume you have better options than Myers.
- [14:45]
C
And, you know, some of these questions might feel a little bit rhetorical, Mung, because you and I, you know, we. We spent a lot of time digging through the data and looking into all this stuff, but I know there's a lot of just, like, excitement that, like, Jacoby Myers is free from Las Vegas right now. I'm with you as well. Looking in my rankings right now, I have Jacoby Myers in the same tier as Rashad Bateman, Michael Wilson, Keon Coleman and Jalen Coker, which all of those guys, you're just, like, praying they can get into the end zone because those aren't really guys that you feel good starting. So I'm with you as well. But I think it's an important question to ask just in case somebody out there is, you know, just frothing to get Jacoby Myers in their lineup. Let's have the same question, though. Parker Washington, is he startable this week?
- [15:27]
D
Yeah, as a flex, I think, especially ppr.
- [15:30]
C
Right.
- [15:30]
D
He's kind of the last man standing Right now, Travis Hunter already on ir. Ryan Thomas probably isn't going to play with the quote unquote low grade high ankle sprain. Even those less serious high ankle sprains still limit wide receivers. Just the ceiling isn't super high with Parker Washington. Right. Like I, I played him in some DFS lineups last week. I liked him there against Vegas. But against Houston, again, just that defense has been so good, very elite. Hasn't allowed more than 50 receiving yards to any wide receiver since Jackson, Smith and Jigba back in week seven. So again, one of these guys where you're hoping for like five catches for 50 yards, hopefully getting to close to double digit PPR points, something like that would certainly prefer other guys who we just talked about like a Darius Slayton against the Bears, right?
- [16:24]
C
Yeah. And that's where I've got them too. Kind of in that wide receiver three flex range. I will, you know, push back a little bit on the lack of ceiling. I think that there could be a ceiling here just because of the first thing you said. The last man standing, like Diamond Brown is still in concussion protocol. We're hoping he can clear by Sunday. But you know, this offense is just so banged up right now. The ball has to go somewhere. Brent or Hunter Long is dealing with an injury as well. So like you look at all of these pieces there, I wonder, like it might not be pretty, but I think that he might be able to volume his way into like an 8, 9 catch day. And if he falls into the end zone, then all of a sudden you're getting top 12, top 15 upside. So like not a guy that I'm so super excited about putting in my lineups by any means. I've got them ranked as a wide receiver three, but you know, the volume's got to go somewhere. I think the fear here would be that Derek Stingley Jr. Just kind of glues himself to Parker Washington. But he has been pretty, you know, much sticking to the outside and we're going to see Parker Washington playing out of the slot a lot where he could get some good matchups. So not super excited about starting him, but you know, I think there is some potential upside if you are faced with that decision now sticking here in this game. I do want to talk about Nico Collins because we saw Nico Collins's huge breakout game three years ago when the Houston Texans drafted C.J. stroud. Before that year, it was all the underlying metrics that we loved about Neo Collins, but he couldn't hit that ceiling with Davis Mills. So how does your outlook now change for Nico Collins knowing that we're getting a Davis Mills start.
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D
Is it weird to say? Not that much, no, no, not at all.
- [17:53]
C
I mean this is a different Davis Mills like he's been, he's a more mature like he spent two and a half years on the bench. Like that helps these quarterbacks develop.
- [18:00]
D
So yeah, yeah, I mean mature isn't necessarily equate to good, but maybe not as big of a downgrade for the wide receivers or at least Collins because he was happy to target Collins early and often against Denver last week. 11 targets, right? 7 catches for 7035 yards. Now granted that was with Pat's retain out, but I don't know it matters that much because the Jaguars don't have a certain level cornerback to begin with. So not a matchup you're concerned with. Now Trayvon Walker should play here unless he punches somebody again. So maybe the pass rush gets the Mills. But again, right. Not that different of a matchup against a good Broncos defense last week where we may not expect a ton of points scored in this game. But I do think Collins is still a high floor wide receiver too who should see plenty of volume.
- [18:57]
C
And you know, I asked you a question being intentionally misleading because like obviously you know the Davis Mills isn't the quarterback that he was a few years ago, but I also don't think Nico Collins is the receiver he was a few years ago. Like this was a big bodied, raw, athletic receiver who came into the league and it did take him some time to kind of polish up some of the technical aspects to his play. So I think that now he is just just a much better receiver than he was back in 2022 when he was playing with Davis Mills. So even if Davis Mills hasn't taken this huge step forward, I think that Nico Collins is still good enough that you're starting him as a wide receiver. One Again, some of these questions are a little bit rhetorical but you know, worth having the discussion just for people out there who might be tilting a little bit. Now this question probably is a little bit tougher if your rankings are anything like mine because I've got them close together. Nick Chubb or Woody Marks, who do you prefer this week? It's worth noting we're recording on Thursday. Nick Chubb did return to practice today in a limited fashion after not practicing yester yesterday. So it seems like he is going to play. But between the two, Chub and Marks, who do you prefer?
- [19:55]
D
Mung well, can I first say that it it's still Pretty amusing to me that the Texans top running backs are named Woody and Chubb. I mean, come on. That's just right.
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C
It is too good. The jokes write themselves sometimes.
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D
Yeah, it's like the Matrix, right? They just put these pieces together. I was looking into this game and I will say I'm pretty surprised that as of Thursday, Jacksonville is still favored by a point and a half in most books, even on the road. Maybe that's Davis Mills hate.
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C
Right?
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D
We just talked about Mills, who's matured a little bit, but still not great.
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C
Just last week, Texans were favorites over Denver. Like, it's been really weird how Vegas looks at Houston through a different light every single week. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I remember last week kind of being surprised that they were favorites and now they're underdogs.
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D
Like.
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C
Like Vegas can't make up their mind what to do with Texans.
- [20:48]
D
No, I. I think it makes sense. Right. It's really that. That defense carrying them because the offensive line is really struggling. But again, I think this is a Mills factor. But I don't know that we should be that much more confident in Trevor Lawrence against this defense on the road without his top two wide receivers here. Right. The Jacoby Myers trade may be a desperation move. I don't think they make that kind of a move if Thomas and Hunter are both healthy here. So assuming a fairly neutral game script, I would lean marks here. He did see three red zone touches last week to just one for Chubb. It's just gross in general. Right? A bottom five offensive line. We still have Daria, Goomba, Wally mixing in here and there for passing downs. This is a dart throw. I'd rather play many other running backs this week than either Texans running back. But yeah, lean marks here a little bit.
- [21:43]
C
Yeah, that's right, man. I got marks as kind of a low end RB3. Chubb is a high end RB4. That's what we're talking about. Like there are multiple teams on by this week and like I can't even get either of these guys inside my top 30s. So that just kind of speaks to how I feel about both of them. I'd give the slight edge to Marks as well, but it is definitely close. Another game I want to talk about Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings. Mark Andrews, is he back to being a plug and play tight end one with Lamar Jackson back?
- [22:11]
D
I would not say plug and play. Right. The two touchdowns really carried him last week because those were the only two catches he had on just three targets. 50 of the snaps last week against the Dolphins. Not a great look for Andrews here where the usage just isn't where we want it to be. I understand that Sam laporta and Arande Gatson both gashed this Viking secondary the last couple weeks, but that's not who Andrews is. He doesn't have that run after the catch juice anymore. At this point I would say he's still more of an upside tight end two here for me than a plug and play Titan one. You're hoping for a touchdown because the volume hasn't been there.
- [22:55]
C
Yeah, and I think, you know, just to go back to like when you and I first connected in this industry, I remember you and I were like the Mark Andrews and Lamar Jackson guys. Like before, it was cool to like Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews. You and I were all over that. But yeah, I think he's just at that point now where, like you said, he doesn't have to run after the catch juice anymore. Like you're hoping that he can just catch the ball and fall over to the end zone because it seems like that's the only way that he's producing in fantasy. So I've talked about it a lot on shows and articles this week, but I'm sorry this year, but tight end is actually deep. And I know we like always look in the preseason saying like tight end is going to be deep, but this year it actually is because we see so many teams playing out of 12 personnel well and leaning on tight ends in the short areas of the field that even though Mark Andrews has been looking better, I guess you can say because he's scoring touchdowns, the usage just hasn't really been there for him. So like Harold Fannin, if he's able to practice, I prefer him. Hunter Henry, Juwan Johnson, Dalton Schultz. There's just a lot of better options out there if you're streaming tight end guys who are actually getting volume as opposed to Andrews who has become very touchdown dependent at this point in his career. Same question with Rashad Bateman. Are we feeling good about getting him in lineups now that Lamar Jackson is back?
- [24:06]
D
No. It's hard to feel great about any Ravens piece of the passing attack right outside of maybe Zay Flowers. Just we've seen this, right? Rashad Bateman has these big plays for touchdowns, but that 30 yard touchdown could easily go to DeAndre Hopkins or even Tylen Wallace. It's really hard to feel confident.
- [24:27]
C
Walker, right?
- [24:28]
D
Yeah, they're pretty much mix and match. They Lamar doesn't care who it is running that route on that particular snap, he's just going for whether or not they're open. And it's similar to the packers wide receivers where the ball is spread around and that means they have high upside in a usually good offense. Other than what we saw from Green Bay last week expected, we expect Baltimore to be a good offense again this week. But again, does Lamar Jackson run in two touchdowns, does Derek Henry run in two touchdowns, to Zay Flowers catch two touchdowns, or does Rashad Bateman? It's really dark throw, boom, bust, wide receiver four. Somewhere in that range, I would probably have him similar to guys we talked about like Jacoby Myers, which I kind.
- [25:17]
C
Of showed my cards earlier when we were talking about Jacoby Myers, that I said I've got him in the same tier as Rashad Bateman, which. Yeah, I know. And again, this is why we have these conversations, because people see the two touchdowns to Mark Andrews last week, they see the touchdown to Rashad Bateman and they say, like, I want to get these guys in my lineup. I think it's our job here, Mong, to try to ground some of the hype a little bit and say, no, like the, the volume just hasn't really been there to sustain this. Like, you're hoping for big touchdowns and efficiency, which does happen in this Ravens offense, but they're just better options. Guys who are going to pour pull more volume than Rashad Bateman. And speaking of low volume offenses that are reliant on ultra efficiency, we've seen three full games from JJ McCarthy now and he hasn't attempted more than 25 passes in either of them. So definitely not saying that you should bench Justin Jefferson. I mean, it's Justin Jefferson. You're still playing him on a weekly basis. But when we're starting to look at TJ Hawkinson, Jordan Addison, are these guys that you might think about benching this week?
- [26:14]
D
Thinking about. Yeah, sorry. My add is kicking in. Have you ever thought like, for a quarterback playing a, like purple on purple team, where the jerseys are very similar colors, does that contribute more to like potential interceptions? I wonder if I do wonder that football guys, stat guys would be able to run something like that. Although there's probably not a metric for.
- [26:37]
C
You have to look at the jerseys too, make sure they're not in like the white jerseys, you know, get like the, the purple. But. But yeah, especially for a team that's like playing, you know, at home and the jersey or like the team coming to visit them is wearing the purple. I could see that being a little bit confusing. I mean, even watching the packers game the other day when they were on Red zone, they've got those weird. You know, they were wearing like the throwbacks yesterday. Every time they cut to that game, I thought it was the Bears because they're wearing like, it looks like a retro Bears jersey. Yeah, some of these jerseys do get a little bit confusing and I'm sure that plays a little bit of a factor here.
- [27:08]
D
Yeah, sorry. Sorry for the. The side note. Just something that randomly popped in. But yeah, look, it's weird because the Vikings were such a great offense with Sam Darnold last year and Jason McCarthy's been great in his two starts, his two fully healthy starts where he finished the game too. But overall, The Vikings just a 1% pass rate over expectation this season. Slightly above average in the league. I don't see that changing a ton, especially with both of their starting tackles back healthy last week. This is a team where I think Kevin O' Connell expects JJ McCarthy to develop and become a very good franchise quarterback. And I like McCarthy a lot for Dynasty, but this should be a balanced offense to continue taking some of that pressure off McCarthy in his first year as a starter, especially one where he's missed significant time already due to injury. So even if they're playing from behind, I think we're still going to see a lot of Jordan Mason this week. And if they're playing ahead, I think we see even more Jordan Mason this week. So in general, Addison and Hawkinson, they'll have their big games, but we probably have to pick and choose the spots a little bit more based on either defensive matchup or based on game script, where I think this is probably, is probably not gonna be a super pass heavy game script this week.
- [28:34]
C
So let's talk about the running backs a little bit because it definitely seemed like Aaron Jones was going to miss some time, but then he returned to practice today and he said that he expects to play. Now we hear this overly optimistic approach from running backs often where they say, yeah, ready to play. And then Sunday comes around and the coach says, no, you're not ready to play, you're inactive. But let's just for the sake of discussion, say that Aaron Jones isn't playing in this matchup. Where are you ranking Jordan Mason? Like, does he fall right back into that RB3 range for you?
- [29:02]
D
Yeah, probably even sneaks into RB2 range as a volume play if Jones is out. I will say, even if Jones is active, I don't know that with a shoulder injury they're going to be pounding him in between the tackles on those inside runs up the gut. That should still be Mason, especially near the goal line. So again, Mason I think is startable even with Jones active. And definitely if Jones is out, I would see like 15, 16 carries for 60 yards and hopefully a touchdown against the Baltimore front seven. That's been pretty banged up. So, yeah, I like Joe, or excuse me, I like Mason either way this week.
- [29:45]
C
Interesting, because you do make like it is a good matchup. You know, the Ravens are going to hang some points on them and push them in a position where they got to move down the field. Front seven is banged up as you mentioned, but I've just been so frustrated with Jordan Mason. Like we saw that one huge game in the first week without Aaron Jones and since then all of the efficiency metrics have been terrible. He hasn't had a game over 70 rushing yards. He hasn't scored touchdowns. So I'm getting a little bit frustrated with Jordan Mason here. So maybe this is what I need. Bung. Is somebody level headed to talk to me and say, hey, this is going to be okay. This actually is a good matchup for him because I have just taken the approach. I mean, we talked about it on yesterday. We did a show with Alfredo Brown. We did our sabotage drop episode and Alfredo talked about just dropping Jordan Mason flat out and letting somebody else deal with him. I dropped him down quite a bit in my rest of season rankings after seeing how he was just phased out of the game last week. But you think that this is one where he should still maintain a pretty big workload. And I think you make a good point about Aaron Jones. Even if he is active, they might just be using him kind of on swing routes and getting him out in space and not giving him any of the actual rushing work.
- [30:47]
D
Well, two notes, right? One, I will say I'm biased because I've been a fan of Mason since his Niners days. So I have been hoping that we would get to see more of him so that wish has been fulfilled.
- [30:59]
C
Just being able to recognize your biases makes you better than 99 of fantasy football players.
- [31:04]
D
Yeah, I wrote, I wrote a lovely article about Jerick McKinnon back in the day when he finally united with Kyle Shanahan. And definitely, definitely a blind spot didn't work out quite as well as I, I would have hoped there. But yeah, look, Mason is a pounder, right? And to do that, he needs good offensive line play. So with Christian Daresaw and Brian o' Neill out the last few weeks getting both starting tackles Back is huge for this Vikings offensive line, both for Mason and McCarthy in general. I would say that I. All due respect, Alfredo, I definitely would not drop Mason. But again, with teams on by, I think that's always a conversation dependent on your roster and your. Your win loss record and all that where we won't get too deep into details because that's very team level dependent.
- [31:55]
C
Right.
- [31:55]
D
But from a pure game perspective this week I am a little another one where I'm a little bit surprised that the road team is favored by so much. I think Baltimore's favored by over a touchdown here and I could see the Vikings stealing this game or at the very least keeping it pretty close. So I don't think this is going to be a game script where it's a lot of McCarthy in the second half. I think we see Ma and Pretty involved throughout this game and it is.
- [32:22]
C
Funny the just the, the rhetoric, the narrative we see around J.J. mcCarthy right now. I've been frankly pretty impressed with what I've seen from this kid in his first three games, like winning a game in Detroit, winning a game in Chicago. And you've got so many people out here that just want to like write him off for dead already because he had that one game that he had to play through an injury in it against Atlanta and didn't look good in that one game. And I don't. Right. Was that a primetime game that came against Atlanta?
- [32:47]
D
I think it was. I think it was maybe Sunday night because McCarthy, they were saying his first two starts ever were both prime time games.
- [32:56]
C
And I think that's why these island games get so overanalyzed where I think that he looked, you know, didn't look great against the Bears, but look at what he needed to and then made a big time throw like, you know, scored on the first two drives and then a big time throw to Jalen Naylor to seal the game last week. Like, I've liked what I've seen from McCarthy, but I do think it's kind of weird that people are just talking about him like, you know, he's not ready, he's going to be a bus. People are so quick to want to make these declarative statements on young players. I'm willing to give him a little bit more time and I've been kind of impressed with what I've seen in two of the three games so far.
- [33:25]
D
Well, it's weird too because I don't know where the rumors came from that this was like a soft benching for him because I looked for a couple hours throughout the last few weeks and I couldn't find any definitive quote or anything from Kevin o' Connell or anything from the Vikings that said they were concerned about him. It was all just the ankle. And I, I don't get it. I don't know if that's just a narrative that people ran with. But Yeah, I like McCarthy a lot long term in Dynasty. And I like him this week too. Against a Ravens defense, that's still pretty hurt.
- [34:01]
C
You want to talk about biases, There isn't a quarterback I drafted more in best ball than JJ McCarthy this year just because it's a young rushing guy and he's got, you know, good pieces around him. I still want to see him hit that high end range of outcome and I think they need to start passing a little bit more for that to happen. But last week, you know, the rushing efficiency wasn't there, but still had 12 rushing attempts. Like he's getting out there and he's running the ball a lot. I feel like it's only a matter of time before we see one of these big boom games from McCarthy and that could come this week against the Ravens. So fingers crossed. Let's talk about another game here though. Cardinals at Seahawks. Marvin Harrison Jr. How high is his ceiling without Jacoby Brissette, which not just for this game, we're getting for at least the next four weeks.
- [34:42]
D
So speaking of soft benchings, I think.
- [34:46]
C
That was a hard benching.
- [34:48]
D
Yeah, this, this is a weird. This is hard to say because I don't know how to project the Cardinals rest of season. It's one of those situation that's really murky to me because certainly I think we know that Marvin Harrison Jr. And, and Trey McBrides for that matter, both of their ceilings are higher with Jacoby Brissette because Kyler Murray just hasn't been a great passer. You know, I talked about it on our other podcast where I think everyone kept Talking about Trey McBride with the touchdown regression getting better this year, but I never really bought into that because of Kyler Murray's height and just seeing over the offensive lineman near the goal line. I thought that was always something that was holding McBride back despite the target volume he was getting. But back to Harrison. Sorry, I'm. I'm rambling again. I don't know that we're not gonna see Kyler Murray again this year because he's on ir so out four games minimum with the foot injury. But this week specifically, I don't love Harrison against Devin Witherspoon. And a top five Seahawks secondary. Then again, the next few weeks they get get the Niners, the Jaguars and the Bucks on deck here. So better matchups on the horizon. But then this IR stint for Kyler, right? If Jacoby Brissette goes one in three against tough matchups against Seattle, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay these next four weeks, that probably means we get Kyler back for the last few games of the season. So from a long term fantasy playoffs perspective, I think that impacts a lot, depending on whether you're thinking about buying or selling Harrison or McBride.
- [36:38]
C
That's a really good point and I've even thought that far. But yeah, I mean like a lot of leagues are going to have trade deadlines that have already passed or coming next week. But would you be saying like, let's say hypothetically, you know, Arizona loses this game, but Trey McBride has a big game. I mean, you'd be trying to sell Trey McBride then perhaps.
- [36:57]
D
That's really record dependent, right? Are you just trying to get to the playoffs or are you already, you know, 7 and 2, 8 and 1? I will say if you're looking ahead already to the fantasy playoffs where you're not necessarily 100 locked in, but you're pretty sure that you're gonna make it to the playoffs. The fantasy schedule, weeks 15 through 17 for Marvin Harrison is brutal. He's gonna face Houston in week 15. Atlanta and A.J. terrell probably shadowing or at least seeing a lot of Harrison in week 16. And then we just talked about Cincinnati in week 17, where on paper that looks like a great matchup. But then quietly, DJ Turner's been very good, right?
- [37:42]
C
Yeah, that's a really good point. I wasn't even looking ahead at like every single player's fantasy matchup yet. I haven't drafted a ton of Barbin Harrison this year, so I hadn't really looked into it. But. But you make a good point. Yeah, that's three tough quarterback battles in three straight weeks that he'll have to deal with there. Let's stick with the Cardinals though. I have one more question about this matchup regarding the Cardinals. Anyone in the backfield that you'd feel good starting this week?
- [38:05]
D
Feel good? Yeah.
- [38:07]
C
I was very careful with the wording of this question.
- [38:10]
D
No, I think this is one of those where, you know, you feel good when you're trying to pick the queen out of three face down cards from a street hustler in New York. But that doesn't mean that you're gonna get the money. It's probably D. Mercado right. He looked good enough to keep his starting role after that win over Dallas, but who really knows? This feels like a Jonathan Gannon. If he has cereal on Sunday morning, it's going to be Demercado. If he has oatmeal, it's gonna be back to bam night. And if he has grits, it'll be Michael Carter getting another shot. But. But yeah, I mean, all we can do is give our best guess. And again, Demercado led the backfield in the win, so rational coaching would suggest that it's probably him as the best option. But PPR flex territory, right? You're hoping for a touchdown, really?
- [39:01]
C
Yeah. You want to talk about a sabotage drop? I think any of these Cardinals running backs are just droppable. Let somebody else in your league deal with it. Hopefully they put them in their lineup and get two points because we know what's going to happen. Trey Benson is going to return next week, two weeks from now, and he's going to immediately take 70%. So at best, you're like hoping that you can get some play out of one of these guys over the next week or two, but you don't even know who that guy is going to be. So this is one where I'm okay just kind of cutting bait from any Cardinals running back and letting it be somebody else's headache.
- [39:28]
D
Crazy thing, too. I don't, I don't know if Trey Benson's just like guaranteed the job. Right. If DeMarcusado has another good game this week. I'm not saying I, I would still take Benson over the rest as of right now, but I don't think think it's a guarantee that Benson is going to walk back into a workhorse role.
- [39:46]
C
Yeah. And I mean, that's certainly a possibility because he wasn't even a workhorse before. Like, that's what we were hoping. Like, we thought that he was just going to be James Connor 2.0, and then we were like, why is Amari Damarcato out there? Like, you know, it was very frustrating at first, so I think probably 60, 70 is like kind of what we could expect for Trey Benson. But there also might be like a ramp up coming back from the injury. So there's just so much to take away from here. But let's stick with this game. And I want to talk about the Seahawks and not even this game. This is going to be more of a rest of season question. Rashid Shahid, Cooper cup or Tori Horton? Who would you prefer over the rest of the season?
- [40:22]
D
Hands Down Rashid Shahid. I think this is the first softball of the podcast, Dave, so I appreciate that. I to me it's super clear and I don't know if this is overconfident because I think just from my eyes that Cooper Cups looks super old. He's just on his last legs running through mud, quicksand, whatever you want to call it. And then Tori Horton. He's kind of been a dynasty darling. I feel like where people were really hyping him up and he's shown some flashes but at the end of the day he was a fifth round draft pick, college career, was kind of mid. He can contribute to the Seahawks team, but he's probably more of a, a DJ Shark than a Cortland Sutton type based on his build and his athleticism. And at the end of the day I think I was just a huge doubter of Sam Darnold. I'm. I'm a Darnold hater and same I.
- [41:18]
C
I was too, but no, no longer. But I definitely was going into the year.
- [41:22]
D
Yeah, and look he's, he's been great so I'll give credit where it's due.
- [41:25]
C
I thought he's drafting Jalen Milroe. That should tell you how I felt about Sam Darnold this year.
- [41:29]
D
I drafted a lot of Jalen Milroe, Dave. Sometimes I feel like we're, we're the same person because I have, I have some Milro on some deep best ball rosters where I took three QBs late. But yeah, he looks great. Kevin O' Connell. I thought he was the one who really resurrected Darnold, but it seems like Darnold has actually been playing better. He's been great with Clint Kubiak who was the offensive coordinator for the Saints last year, probably the guy who advocated trading for Shahid. And I was looking back at last season prior to tearing his meniscus in week six, Shahid was the wide receiver 24 in PPR points per game on an awful Saints offense. So I'm excited to see what he can do. With Sam Darnold playing better with Jackson, Smith and Jigga taking away coverage downfield, Shahid is a huge buy. If anyone in your league redraft or dynasty doesn't buy his resurgence with Seattle after a pretty slow start with New Orleans.
- [42:33]
C
And you know, you talk about it being the wide receiver 24 through the first five weeks of the season. That also came with one weird game where he got blanked in just a very low scoring game against the Eagles where he didn't have a single catch. But in the four other games he had 70 plus yards in every single game. He scored a touchdown in three of those four games as well. So this is something I talked about with Sigmund Bloom on the couch a couple of days ago. Clint Kubiak knows the player that Rashid Shahid is and he is going to scheme up opportunities to get him to get those big plays downfield. So again, in lockstep with you on this one. And it, it really sucks because I like Tori Horton and I saw Tori Horton, his role growing, he was making big plays, he was stepping up in big bone and moments. I like to see that. But Rashid Shahid is just a better player right now. And then also like you know, Tori Horton was drafted with a round, was it round five? Around six? I can't remember. But whatever it was, they gave up more to bring in Rashid Shahid than they used to draft Tori Horton. So obviously they have big plans for him here.
- [43:30]
D
I'm completely with you on Shahid and Shahid too. Just a perfect fit for what they need right now because Sam Darnold surprisingly leads all quarterbacks in deep ball completion rate so far this year and he's number two in area air yards per attempt. So Shahid's skill set, Chef's kiss.
- [43:50]
C
And it is, it's just, it's a perfect fit. It fits exactly what they want to do. They've got this great duo of running backs that have a complimentary skill set. AJ Barner and Elijah Royo. They bring different things in the receiving game. They could also both get it done as blockers. And then you've got Jackson Smith, Najigba, the do it all guy, Cooper Cup. You don't know if he's going to be blocking you or running around across your face. Like they just have a little bit of everything and it makes for such a fun offense here. But back to those running backs, that complimentary duo that works so well in real life. Football has been maddening in fantasy football. So what would you say that fantasy managers who are rostering Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet should do with them going forward?
- [44:30]
D
Depends on their beliefs. Do you light incense when you need something? Do you sacrifice a small animal? Fantasy wise, that's all you can really do is just hold, right? You're, you're hoping for not hoping for injury, but you're holding with the contingent upside of the other running back getting hurt here. But ideally those guys are on your bench most weeks depending on your other options. It's ugly. I would probably if you had both for some reason, which I'm not an advocate of in terms of draft strategy, but if you did, it's probably Charbonnet with more goal line work right now, punching in touchdowns you're hoping for. But yeah, it's rough. A lot of backfields are split, and even the ones that have a single running back, some of them are underperforming. So it, it's. It's been, I want to say, easier at tight end than running back so far this year.
- [45:28]
C
And, and you know, I'll, I'll push it a little further. You say to hold. I'm trying to buy right now. And I know that sounds crazy to like go out and buy Zach Charbonnet or Kenneth Walker right now, but I think either of them, like, you're never hoping for an injury, but like, for lack of a better term in fantasy, if you're drafting or trading for Zach Charbonnet or Kenneth Walker, you're kind of drafting them with the expectation that if one goes down, I'm getting an RB one. And I don't think that you're trying to flex these guys on a weekly. So if I've got a team where I've got a sound roster and I've got starting spots filled everywhere and I'm just looking to add bench depth, I think the guys who have been rostering Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet are so frustrated at this point in the season that they'll sell them away for a wide receiver three or another injury away running back. And I think that the upside is so high here that I haven't successfully done it. But shockingly, I was rejected yesterday. I offered Brian Thomas Jr. For Zach Charbonnet in a league and it got rejected, which may have just saved me from myself, but like, I'm still going out here trying to buy Charbonnet. Like, I'm a believer in Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker and, and I think, think probably needs, you know, an injury to the other for the other to hit the full end range of outcomes, but I think there's so much upside here that either of these guys can be league winners.
- [46:41]
D
Sorry, I think I, I think you cut out there for a second. Did you say you tried to send Brian Thomas Jr. For Charbonnet?
- [46:48]
C
Yeah, talked about it in the cold open with Alfredo Brown today. So this is a home league trade and this was basically my. Like, I haven't been able to complete a trade in my home league this year. And, and, and you might deal with something similar among you know, it seems like anytime I send a trade offer to somebody, the immediate reaction is just like, what does he know that I don't? And I can't get any trades done. So yesterday I just said, let's see if, like, am I really just radioactive when it comes to trading? And I wanted to get. I mean, this team is beyond loaded. Like, Brian Thomas Jr. Is never sniffing my starting lineup. So I sent trade offers out for Zach Charbonnet, Jacori, Crosky, Merritt. I'm trying to remember the other J.K. dobbins. I just kind of, like, took the shotgun approach, like Brian Thomas Jr. For everybody's RB3, and they all got rejected. And that was just what I needed to hear to say, okay, I'm never even trying to trade in this league again, because it clearly is just going to be impossible. So, yeah, I'm not. I'm not recommending that you go out and trade Brian Thomas Jr. For Zach Sharpened. That's just, you know, a little home league thing that I was.
- [47:45]
D
I was gonna say I'll actually go the other way. Going back to a guy we talked about earlier where, again, I'm clearly biased, but I would rather have Jordan Mason than either of the Seahawks running backs rest of season because we've seen Kenneth Walker be nicked up with various injuries over the last couple years. But I think that's one of the reasons why they're using Chardonnay so much, is to help maintain Walker's workload. Whereas, on the other hand, Aaron Jones just is constantly banged up, too, and he's going to be, I think, 31 next month. Month. I would rather bet on Jones potentially missing time down the stretch and Mason again becoming this clear lead back, at least on the ground late in the year, than on either of these guys.
- [48:31]
C
Maybe we're just having an argument of biases right now because that would be much preferably there. I mean, we saw Jordan Mason. We. We saw what it would look like. Like, we saw Aaron Jones hit ir. That was the best possible scenario. And outside of the one week he was turning an RB3 value where I think, you know, that if Kenneth Walker has to miss any time, Zach Charbonnet we saw last year is going to.
- [48:49]
D
Be like a top five with Carson Wentz and both tackles hurt right, at various points. If we have a healthy McCarthy and a healthy offensive line, I think, again, knock on wood. I'm. I'm biased. I love Jordan Mason. I think Jordan Mason can be really good.
- [49:03]
C
You know what, Monk? You're a good salesman. Because when you were talking about Mason earlier, I opened up my rankings and I moved Mason up like four spots in my weekly rankings. So you're, you're selling me on it a little bit, like I'm not fully there yet. But you're mixing at some very compelling.
- [49:16]
D
I haven't looked at dfs. I haven't looked at DFS salaries yet for this week. But if Jones is in, that makes me want to play Mason Moore because I feel like people are going to be off Mason.
- [49:26]
C
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- [50:00]
D
Have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
- [50:14]
C
Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
- [50:17]
D
Cut the camera. They see us.
- [50:18]
C
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates excludes Massachusetts. We got two more games I want to talk about here among Rams at 49ers. Always a fun matchup when these two teams get to see each other. Matthew Stafford, are you putting him Inside the top 12 this week in your rankings?
- [50:38]
D
Oh, yeah. Not to toot my own horn, but Stafford's one of three or four quarterbacks I put a little bit of money sprinkled a little bit on MVP odds preseason, and you've been a staffer guy.
- [50:49]
C
As long as I've known you. You have always been a big Matthew Stafford fan and it has worked out for you more often than it hasn't.
- [50:55]
D
Well, nothing's changed. He's the same quarterback. But the difference is this year their offensive line is much better.
- [51:02]
C
Right.
- [51:02]
D
A top 10 pass blocking unit now and then they replaced Cooper cup, who, like I said, was already looking slow last year with Devonte Adams, who looks like he has more juice even at his age. And as of right now, Stafford's, I think, fourth in MVP odds, third in adjusted net yards per pass attempt, and he leads all quarterbacks with 21 passing touchdowns, just two interceptions. So this is a very, very good Rams offense right now. Hopefully, knock on wood, Puka Nakua can stay healthy because he keeps getting nicked up here and there. But in general, I, I think Stafford's top 12 this week. He could be top 12 rest of season. The Niners defense this week particularly, they've allowed a top 12 fantasy finish. Two opposing quarterbacks in three of their last four games without Fred Warner here. And then everyone is talking about the love for Daniel Jones, right? The new nicknamed Indiana Jones. Everybody loves him on the Colts with this resurgence in 2025. But Matthew Stafford quietly tied with Daniel Jones as the QB8 in fantasy points per game so far this year.
- [52:11]
C
Yeah, and I think the fear is that there isn't a floor with Matthew Jones or I'm sorry, with Matthew Stafford because he doesn't rush a lot. And that's where you get like, you get the warm and fuzzies with those quarterbacks that rush because you know you're getting like a guaranteed five point floor from their 50 yards of rushing every game. You're not getting that with Stafford. So when he doesn't have the games where he's thrown for four touchdowns, it does set up for a dangerous floor. But also, especially in six point passing touchdown leagues, he's giving you a higher ceiling than almost any other quarterback out there. So I'm with you as well. You know, sure, old doesn't rush all the red flags that we hate, but he's one of the best quarterbacks in football and he's thrown to two of the best wide receivers in football. And sometimes it really is just that simple.
- [52:50]
D
Yeah, they, people forget they almost beat the Eagles in that snowstorm game in the playoffs. And I think they're, they're a legit contender this year with the NFC pretty wide open.
- [52:59]
C
They've been contenders for the last few years and they always kind of sputter out in the playoffs. But yeah, just, you know, the, the nfc like you said, wide open this year. This is a, this might be like a selfish question for me to ask because I am thinking about benching George Kittle in a few leagues this week where I have him. So. So Mong, what would you have to say to people who are thinking about benching George Kittle this week?
- [53:22]
D
Just don't. No, like with your Brian Thomas trade offer. Just don't. I just don't see most redraft teams with better options than Kittle if you can.
- [53:35]
C
I tell you why I think a lot do.
- [53:37]
D
Okay.
- [53:39]
C
Because George Kittle got hurt in week one. And what happened after he got hurt? A lot of people went to the waiver wire and they picked up Jake Ferguson and a Rodney Gadson or Dalton Kincaid or Dallas Goddard. There were so many guys that went undrafted in league, so I think a lot of Kittle managers and Bauer managers for that part, do have good second options just because the injuries happened in week one.
- [54:02]
D
I'll give you Gadson. I would consider starting him over Kittle this week.
- [54:07]
C
I will say he's the only. I have Gadson and Kincaid. Of all the names that I mentioned, those are the only two I have ahead of Kittle.
- [54:13]
D
Okay. But I think a lot of teams who had Kittle and Bowers and lost those guys, if they had Gadsden, great, definitely an option this week over Kittle. But I think a lot of people who are maybe nervous about Kittle are managers who are rostering Colson Loveland after last week or Hunter Henry who has been good, has his, has his games, but not someone I would bench Kittle for in general. Even with Mac Jones, maybe we see Brock Purdy. Kittle still has a pretty decent floor and a high ceiling. Everyone's worried about that Atlanta game, but they've been lights out against tight ends. I'm a little worried about Tyler Warren this week for that same reason. Other than that Kittle is still the same guy. He doesn't look any slower. They're using him as a blocker a lot too, with some offensive line issues, but there's just not many tight ends who have a higher floor or ceiling than Kittle on the same fantasy roster. Again, it's just I, I can't do it. Maybe there are certain matchups that I like better, but Kittle is just such a solid player and critical to this offense where I could not bench him outside of maybe gas.
- [55:34]
C
Yeah, and, and that's right, like I said, Gatson, King, Cade and then of course, you know, the, the big guys, Brock Bowers, Straight McBride, Tyler Warren. But I have been getting questions where people are saying like should I bench George Kittle for Colson Loveland? Should I bench George Kittle for Kyle Pitts? And I'm not there yet. And that's why I think it's good to have these conversations to help people out who might be posed with those same questions. I think the reality is here the Kittle goes from being a top two tight end to a top six tight end, but a top six tight end, top two tight end. Like there's still guys that you're getting into your roster every single week. I think even if you do have gads in, look at who you're flexing because tight end is so deep this year and there are so many guys that are, you know, just central parts of their passing attack that you could flex Kittle or Gats in and you know, push whoever it is, you know, the, the Parker Washington or the guy that you had in your flex spot down to your bench for one of these tight ends. I think that's really what the, the answer might be here. Last question I have on this game and I want to try to make this like actionable for the listeners. So Juwan Jennings, I think he's kind of at that cusp where some teams are benching in, some are starting him. So who are some wide receivers that you would feel confident starting Juwan Jennings ahead of this week?
- [56:42]
D
Confident over Malik neighbors, Travis Hunter, anyone who's out. Confidence levels low. Right. But yeah, a fairly decent floor now that he's getting healthier. What do you what he's. He's. He was playing through three different injuries. I think with calf now it's only down to two. Yeah.
- [56:59]
C
Now, now it's just the ankle and shoulder. Yeah, the calf is now off the injury report. So we got one of the three injuries is now gone.
- [57:06]
D
Yeah, he's a good player but I was an advocate for drafting Pierce all over him straight up in the preseason. We know which innings is. He's gonna have a couple massive games here and there. I think everyone really loved him after that like 150 yard, three touchdown game last year. But outside of that he's been just again a role player on a very good offense. I would say a few popular names maybe that I would start Jennings over this week. If people are in love with Alec Pierce, he's likely to see a lot of A.J. terrell this week. So I would actually go with Jennings over Pierce. Keenan Allen, his usage has fallen off in recent weeks. Tough matchup against the Steelers. Probably going to see a lot of Joey Port Jr. This week. And then we touched on Parker Washington too.
- [57:56]
C
Right.
- [57:56]
D
If people are seeing that was it 17, 18 PPR points last week. Again, tough matchup this week against the Texans even if he's in the slot. Jaylen Petrie has been very good in the slot this year, so I wouldn't necessarily love going back to the Parker Washington. Well, so. So overall Jennings probably still a high end wide receiver. 3 For me this week over a lot of the other guys that we've talked about earlier.
- [58:24]
C
Let me pose one name and we didn't talk about the Lions today, but Juwan Jennings or Jameson Williams, who would you prefer? A risk tolerance question than anything else. Probably. Right. Like do you want the, the floor of Jennings or the ceiling of Jameson?
- [58:41]
D
I don't know that the ceiling of Jennings is that much lower though, because this is a game where the Rams are probably a little pissed off after they lost what should have been a pretty clear win in that first matchup on Thursday night a few weeks back. I do think that the ceiling is still fairly high for Jennings. And the floor is probably higher than Jameson, right?
- [59:09]
C
Yeah, I think the floor is definitely higher. I, I still. Man, I'm a sucker Again. We talked about biases a lot on this show. Like I'm still putting Jameson Williams in my lineup every week. Like this is the week he goes for 180 yards and two touchdowns and hasn't come anywhere near that yet. But maybe one of these days. All right, last game I want to talk about here, and this is probably the game of the week. Eagles facing the packers in Green Bay. This should be a fun one that. You know, I, I've asked a lot of people this question over the last couple of weeks and nobody can give me a good answer. Why isn't Tank Bigsby rostered in 100 of fantasy leagues?
- [59:42]
D
In this economy with four teams on by, I, I get it. It's a lot of injuries right now and I just. Every upside handcuff seems like a must roster. But at the end of the day, you know, shallower bench leagues, there's a lot of guys you just can't fit, especially if you have what, one or two league mates who are relatively inactive. So some guys are just stuck on their benches. Overall, I would say Bigsby is not a must roster for me either because one, Saquon's groin injury doesn't sound too serious. He practiced in full today, so he's probably gonna, gonna play two. This offensive line hasn't been great with Barkley either. And Bigsby's what, 100 yard performance in 10 carries came in a blowout over a bottom five Giants run defense. Which is why we, we like Manungai at the top of the show. So worst case scenario, if we were to say that Saquon misses time down the stretch, even then, given the issues that Philadelphia's had with their offensive line this season, I would see Bigsby, Morris and RB2 not some kind of league winner regardless of Barkley missing time.
- [61:07]
C
I. Interesting because I, I do think that like, if Barkley had to miss anytime, I think Tank Bigsby would be a guy that like we'd be looking at as a weekly top 10 Guy Barkley, he's still like the offensive line hasn't been quite as good as last year, but I, I still see Barkley regularly getting into the second level. I think he just doesn't have that breakaway speed. I don't know if it's last year's workload or age or what it is, but we're just not seeing him crack through that second level like we saw Bigsby doing last week. Of course, last week.
- [61:36]
D
Maybe.
- [61:36]
C
I mean, he's younger. I think that's the main thing he's got going for him. His legs are a little bit fresher right now. We saw the breakaway runs last week, but we also saw the breakaway runs from Saquon last week. So I let me take Bigsby proponent. You know, I would recommend drafting him if you or picking him up if you've got the space and he's on your waiver wire. But again, Mong, you make some really good points here that I'm not just going to completely dismiss. Another question I have about this game.
- [61:59]
D
Below by Jordan Mason line.
- [62:03]
C
Fair. All right, I've got Biggsby, I think like three spots ahead of Jordan Mason in my rest of season rankings, but close enough. Dale Scott, is he actually a tight end one or are we just blinded by touchdown rounds?
- [62:16]
D
I. I don't know. That's a really good question because as fantasy analysts we make our best guesses. But it's tough to evaluate when there's a lot of moving pieces because Goddard's gotten a ton of these shovel passes near the goal line. Kind of the, the little cheat play. Right. That Mahomes would run to Kelsey sometimes. But it depends on what version of the Eagles offense we see coming out of the buy this week. Again, we just talked about how there have been some struggles with the offensive line. So one, it depends. Do they get Saquon and the Tush push back into like a near 100 play? Because if that happens, then they're not going to give these little shovel passes anymore to Goddard. 2. A.J. brown missed a lot of time with with multiple hamstring injuries the first half of the season, but he's expected back this week. So if he's healthy rest of season, do we see the target volume that we want for Goddard or in the red zone? Either with Brown being a good red zone target as of now, I would say Goddard's probably a back end Titan one rest of season where we're losing some tight ends with Tucker Kraft is now out for the year and then even if he does have Fewer touchdowns than the pace we've seen him on. This is still a pretty good offense that we expect touchdowns to be scored in general. So I guess that's a cop out answer for maybe.
- [63:52]
C
And, and that's totally fine. Like you could have that answer. I don't think that there is like a huge difference between like the tight end 7 and the tight end 2:25. And I think that Dallas Goddard is somewhere in there. And if you want to say he's at the top of that list or at the bottom of that list, I can't really push back all that far. I mean I will say Dallas Goddard, it has been very touchdown dependent this year. He is averaging fewer receiving yards per game than he has since his second year in the league where he was playing with a prime Zach Ertz coming off a thousand yard season. So I mean like this is like the worst we have seen Dallas Goddard performing in the post Ertz era. He's just scoring so many touchdowns that I don't think people have really noticed it. So again, I think this is kind of our job as fantasy analysts is to look like beyond just the raw numbers and say like hey, this Dallas got it right now. Like he is really being propped up by a lot of touchdowns and where a lot of people are saying, you know, yeah, he's a top three tight end on the year and scoring. The underlying metrics don't really look like that of a top three tight end. So let's talk about the packers real quickly before we wrap up here. Christian Watson or Matthew golden, who do you prefer rest of season?
- [64:52]
D
It's not Golden. Oh yeah, yeah.
- [64:56]
C
I think Mike, Matthew golden might be one of those, those guys to just move on from in shallow.
- [65:00]
D
I dropped him in multiple leagues. I think we need to stop trying to make fetch happen, stop trying to make Matthew golden happen because I thought he was going to be a potential league winner after Jane Reed got hurt early in the year. But even from that point on, he's played over 70% of the snaps in just 2, 6 games. You see more than four targets in just two of the six games since Reed went out. And in contrast, right Christian Watson immediately a big factor in that first game back in the win over the Steelers. Now Golden's dealing with a shoulder injury. Maybe he still plays this week, but it's just not good signs in terms of usage that the packers feel like they have confidence in him because right now I think they prefer dubs and Watson. Even though they spent that first round draft pick on Golden. Which was questioned by a lot of people given his profile coming out. But we thought given his draft capital, there was just every opportunity for him to become that guy, and he just hasn't.
- [66:04]
C
I'm so mad at myself for changing my stance. Like, there were a few guys that I had, like, you know, a. A very strong opinion on before the draft, and then I changed my opinion after the draft. Not just the draft, but the combine, all that sort of stuff. Matthew golden, like, when I watched the film, when I looked at the numbers, I was like, there's nothing that excites me here. This guy had like, four good games at the end of the season when Isaiah Bond got hurt. And then of course, he comes out and he smokes the combine. Then he gets first round draft capital on the team that's desperate for a wide receiver one. And I warmed up to Matthew golden. But, like, I didn't like the film. I didn't like the. There was nothing about his profile before the combine that made me like Matthew Golden. And then on the opposite end of the token, like, I remember watching Cam Scatter Boo and just like, drooling like, this is one of the most fun players I've ever watched. He's gonna be so much fun. And then a bad combine falls to day three, lands on a team with Tyrone Tracy, and I moved off of Cam Scatter Boo. So this is just a note to myself and a note to the listeners. If you hear me saying something in February and then I change my tune come July, just. Just remind me of what I said in February, because I don't like when I change because of draft capital and things of that nature. And I'm with you. Matthew golden, he just has not looked good this year. Like, they've tried, like, they were giving him ample opportunities, giving him deep shots, giving the ball near the line of scrimmage, and he was just very ineffective with them. So completely with you, Christian Watson going forward, rest of season. Last question. I have here Tucker Kraft, just a devastating blow out for the season with the acl. Do you think Luke Musgrave will find a path to fantasy relevance with Kraft out?
- [67:31]
D
Tucker Kraft is my single highest rostered player in best ball. So this one. This one hurts.
- [67:37]
C
It hurts so bad because it was a good process pick. Like, we saw it. Like, it was the right choice. Like, there was so much polarizing. I feel like it was. Rashi Rice going into last year was the same thing. Like, one of the most polarizing players in drafts, and you made the right choice and you saw it and you got to taste the success and then out for the year.
- [67:56]
D
So that's where the cookie crumbles sometimes, right? Yeah. I think I had Craft rank as my tight end seven or six even over guys like Kelsey Goddard, all those. It is what it is at this point, right. Luke Musgrave was drafted ahead of Craft in a lot of rookie drafts, right. Because he was drafted I think slightly earlier in the NFL draft as well. It's. If I recall correctly, it's very similar to the Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst situation where Hurst was supposed to be the guy but then it just didn't work out. Where I kind of think the ship has sailed where if Musgrave were good, we would at least see more usage. Right? Whether it's more than two tight end sets or something.
- [68:42]
C
So, so hurt though. I mean like got hurt in preseason his rookie year, got hurt again in his rookie season, got hurt again last year. So that's why I've been like, Tucker Craft happened and like you know, just, just the breakout was there and I, I look at it like very similar to Michael Mayer. Like Michael Mayer like dealt with some injuries as rookie season, didn't have a great year. And then Brock Bowers came to the picture. We never saw it happen and now we finally see it like halfway through Michael Mayer's third year. Like last week was the first time that we saw him able to like finally cohabitate alongside Brock Bauer. So I'm not ready to completely give up on Luke Musgrave yet. I, I really like the prospect.
- [69:15]
D
When he was coming in, I liked him too. It's just weird because again the injuries have somewhat taken a toll. But Musgrave has good speed, right. So in theory he should be able to replicate some of the yards after catch stuff that Craft is in. It has been able to do. But Kraft was so good because he would break some tackles too and then break those long touchdowns. Whereas Musgrave feels more like a Noah Fant type speed where it's, it's there but I don't know if he applies it like correctly almost. I don't know how to describe it perfectly.
- [69:50]
C
Micasicki, he reminds me very much of an early career Micasicki where like, like he's a good polished route runner but he just like doesn't have that tenacity. Like that's, that's what Tucker Kraft had. Like he would run through your face and you'd be feeling it for the next four days after. Luke Musgrave isn't that type of guy.
- [70:06]
D
Yeah. To. To use common nomenclature, I don't know if Musgrave has that dog, you know, There you go. Yeah. Yeah, we try to stay analytical on these shows, but, like, you know, that matters. Right?
- [70:17]
C
Right.
- [70:17]
D
And yeah, in theory, he still can be somewhat relevant. Right. Because as we talked about ad nauseam, Green Bay just doesn't have a true number one wide receiver. So maybe that does open up more opportunities for the tight end, whoever that might be, versus other teams who have true number ones or even number twos. But, yeah, in deep leagues, I added him here and there. But I'll tell you this much, I didn't bid more than five fab dollars dollars. So I. I think that's the best way to sum up how I feel about Musgrave's rest of season projections.
- [70:53]
C
So I'll say I. I won a ton of Luke Musgrave bids in these NFFC leagues where they're 20 bench spots, you know, deep rosters, and you have a thousand dollars fab. And I put the same bid across the board. 41 bucks, and I won Luke Musgrave in almost every single league. And most of those were leagues where I lost Tuck Craft in because he was my most drafted tight end this year. So, you know, hopeful that we can get something there. But moment of silence for Tucker Craft.
- [71:17]
D
There's a lot of smart people in those leagues. So again, I think this is kind of a barometer of how most feel.
- [71:23]
C
About Musgrave, But I also feel like at this point, most people are pretty. Feeling pretty good about their tight end situation because, like I said, like, when you're looking at tight ends, you can get like, 20 deep and you feel like you're still in starter territory. So I think there wasn't a lot of demand for Luke Musgrave because people are already setting their lineups and saying, like, why do I need Luke Musgrave? I've got Mason Taylor and Theo Johnson and Zach Ertz, and, like, you know, is Luke Musgrave that much better than them? And I don't think he is, but I think, you know, he can still kind of sneak in for between here and the end of the season. Like, maybe you're getting top 12 production and finding that at this point in the year is. Is a nice thing to find on the waiver wire. Well, bung, it was a great job. You know, always have a fun time chatting with you. We've done it a lot over the years, and you are, you know, you. You view the game in a unique way. Like, you've Got the analytical backing, but you also just understand football through and through, the history of it, the game, you know, all that sort of fun stuff. Before we wrap up here though, I have the same question that I have for every guest who comes on this show. This could be football related or otherwise. What is a hill you are willing to die on?
- [72:25]
D
Well, I'll give you, I'll give you one of each, I guess. Non football related first. Real quick, as a, as a someone who nerds out about grammar, sometimes the Oxford comma, we gotta use it.
- [72:36]
C
Yes, thank you.
- [72:37]
D
Yes, I know the AP style guide no longer requires it, but it just eliminates so much potential confusion. It looks weird when it's not there. Not a huge deal, just something I, I like to annoy my wife with grammar stuff sometimes. So now I get to annoy the podcast listeners instead for a brief moment.
- [72:56]
C
But I, I still remember like being in fourth grade and our teachers just saying, like, you know, it's up to you. And I was just like, what do you mean? No, that's, that's not how grammar works. Like, we need rules. Like, what do you mean? It's just like, we can or we can't. I have. Oh, it's always driven me nuts. I. And I know you kind of have to like dig into one side one camp or the other, but yeah, I'm very much so an Oxford comic user.
- [73:17]
D
Well, it's, it's just weird too, because I think the AP style guide, when they said it's no longer needed, the reasoning was it would like, like shorten like manuscripts and stuff. And I was like, is it really gonna shorten stuff that much? Few commas here and there and I don't know, nobody wants to hear this. So let's move on to the football related hill that I will die on. Because no, I guarantee you, 1% of our listeners cares about the last 30 seconds that just happened. Yeah, maybe this is just me deeping and, or digging a deeper hole and, you know, doubling down on my preseason take, but I still think Ricky Piersall can be a league winner when he's back from the PCL spring in Week 1 with a healthy Brock Purdy, Piersol led the team in receiving with four catches for 108 yards against what we now know is a, a pretty elite Seahawks defense. Over the next two games, even though it was Mac Jones under center, Pearsall was the PPR wide receiver 16 weeks one through three. Even with zero touchdowns over that span, we saw Brock Bowers come back from the PCL spraying this past week and the Raiders offense just looks night and day. Granted it's been one game but it they're so such a different offense with Brock Bowers on the field. And I think we can see that this 49ers offense can still be extremely dangerous once we get hopefully Pearson Purdy back healthy soon here. It's also worth mentioning I talked about Marvin Harrison having an awful fantasy playoff schedule. In contrast the 49ers. Here's their playoff schedule. Week 15 Tennessee at home Titans have been awful defensively. Week 16 at Indy but in a dome. And the Colts just traded for Sauce Gardener but their secondary has still been very leaky. And then week 17 at home against the Bears defense that's been just absolutely destroyed by injuries and wasn't that great to begin with. So just a recipe for shootouts galore in the fantasy playoffs here. And I think think some people may be a little worried about Brandon IU coming back at some point. I would maintain that oh no, everyone healthy. It's, it's still Pierce all as the number one guy here.
- [75:45]
C
And and the, the stuff about iuk it just came out today that like he tore all three ligaments in his knee which wasn't initially reported. Like they're say from, from what the the Twitter doctors are saying like best case scenario is that he's back like week 14 or 15 and then has a ramp up and like can maybe kind of be relevant if they have a playoff push. So yeah I'm with you and, and Ricky Pierce hall right now still sixth in the league in receiving yards per game. Jackson Smith, the Jigba, Pukinakua, Jamar Chase, George Pickens, Drake London and then Ricky Pearsall. You talk about that playoff schedule among you and I do have a lot of the same guys that we, we put our hard earned American dollars on. Got a lot of Ricky Pearsall and a lot of best ball drafts. If he ends up being that league winning type on the stretch, we're gonna have some fun in Vegas in January, I can tell you that much.
- [76:32]
D
And you know him producing in those first few games. That was with Bosa and Warner healthy. Now this Niners defense is giving up a ton of points so it really is going to be shootouts. Not just saying that.
- [76:44]
C
Well Mong always appreciate time get to spend with you before we sign off here. Let everyone know where they can find you on social media, all that good stuff where they can find your writing, podcasts, everything you're doing these days.
- [76:54]
D
Yeah, it's always great thanks for having me on. I I could talk to you for hours about football. I'm sure we will have many more discussions here. Looking forward to see you in person. Hopefully soon. But yeah, you guys can find me on X at ffamong and that's M.
- [77:11]
C
E N G and yeah, might even see each other before Vegas. I don't know if I told you I'll be back in Chicago for Week 18. Lions coming to Chicago to play the Bears. I'm hoping there will be some playoff implications for this game and we're not going to see Tyson Bajan out there playing against, you know, the, the, the Lions B squad. But I'll hit you up with him in Chicago and we can, we can get a drink or something before the game. But as always want to thank everybody for taking the time or two. Yeah, I want to thank everybody for taking the time to tune in today. Do this every single week with the new football guy staffer. I will be back next week with Victoria Geary. Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in and I will see you next week.
- [77:52]
D
Foreign.
- [78:00]
B
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D
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B
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