Week 11 Running Back and Wide Receiver Rankings and Sleepers || Fantasy Football 2025

Summary

Footballguys Fantasy Football Show

Episode: Week 11 Running Back and Wide Receiver Rankings and Sleepers
Date: November 13, 2025
Hosts: Alfredo Brown, Dave Kluge
Theme: Week 11 RB/WR Rankings, Analysis & Sleepers as Playoff Races Heat Up

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

This episode is a deep-dive into the Week 11 fantasy football landscape, specifically focusing on running back (RB) and wide receiver (WR) rankings, sleeper picks, tier breakdowns, injury updates, and strategic advice for the critical pre-playoff stretch. The hosts blend sharp insight with their trademark banter, making sense of a “weird week” full of cloudy injury situations and difficult lineup decisions. From must-start studs to risky flex plays, they assess every relevant “start/sit” scenario to help listeners optimize their rosters for a playoff push.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

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Intro: The Fantasy Football Life & Social Media Pressure

(Timestamps: 00:49–03:16)

• Hosts riff on the social realities of being a fantasy football analyst, from awkward social encounters to answering dynasty trade questions at weddings.
• Dave Kluge on life as a fantasy writer:

  “I can just sit off to the side and answer Dynasty trade questions for random guys…” (01:50)

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Injury News & Methodology: Setting the Week 11 Baseline

(03:16–04:36)

• Dave: Injury news is sparse heading into Week 11 — especially regarding key RBs Isaiah Pacheco, Trey Benson, and Bucky Irving.
• Players with no practice or clear-out projections are excluded from active rankings, but “trending” players are ranked as if they’ll play, with expectations adjusted (e.g., limited snap counts).

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RUNNING BACK RANKINGS & TIER BREAKDOWNS

Tier 1 (RB1–6): Must-Starts, No Debates Here

(04:36–04:57)

• Christian McCaffrey, Devon Achan, Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Josh Jacobs, James Cook
• "These are all auto starts every single week, regardless of opponent." (04:36–04:57, Alfredo)

Tier 2 (RB7–12): High-End RB1s, but Questions Loom

(05:42–07:24)

• Names: Ashton Ginty, Rico Dowdle, Javonte Williams, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Warren, Kyron Williams
• Dave highlights Kyron Williams: Despite a reduced snap share (due to Blake Corum), his explosiveness has returned, and he “just keeps producing”:

  "His production hasn't changed whatsoever… I'm just going to keep ranking him as if he is a backend RB1." (05:42–06:41)

• Alfredo flags Ashton Ginty as having “legit top three upside this week” due to volume and a favorable matchup vs Dallas.*

Tier 3 (RB13–20): RB2s/High-End Flexes, Rookies Emerging

(07:44–10:41)

• Names: Derek Henry, Chase Brown, Quinshon Judkins, Trevion Henderson, Aaron Jones, D’Andre Swift, Breece Hall, Travis Etienne
• Dave likes Trevion Henderson’s explosive potential vs. the Jets:

  "He is going to get the touches. This Jets defense is susceptible to big plays, so we're both ranking him as a high-end RB2." (07:58)

• Alfredo points out Aaron Jones’ “Vikings resurgence” and his historic success vs Chicago (over 18 PPR points/game in 13 career games vs Bears)*

Tier 4 (RB21–30): Questions Galore—Sleepers and Start/Sit Headaches

(11:40–17:14)

• Names include: Woody Marks, Kamani Vidal, Bucky Irving, David Montgomery, RJ Harvey, Tyrone Tracy, Zach Charbonnet, Ken Walker, Kareem Hunt, Trey Benson
• Bucky Irving and Trey Benson: Ranked as if “slightly limited” even if they play.
• Dave on RJ Harvey:

  "I do have a little bit of pause on this just because I expect [Tyler Badie] and [Jaleel McLaughlin] to be involved." (14:24)

• Alfredo likes Woody Marks but warns the Texans could "pull the rug out from under us."

Tier 5 & Beyond (RB31– RB41+): The Flex Zone & Deep Sleepers

(21:56–27:10)

• Chris Rodriguez Jr.: High-risk/high-reward vs Miami ("Fortune favors the bold," per Dave); could be “top 10 or finish outside top 40.” (22:45–24:38)
• Rashad White: Value depends on injury news for Bucky Irving/Sean Tucker involvement.
• Amari DiMercado: Would jump into flex territory if Trey Benson is out.

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SLEEPER & FLEX RUNNING BACKS: Quick Calls

• Kareem Hunt: Calculated risk if Pacheco sits; game-script dependent (20:14–21:05)
• Najee Harris/Jaylen Warren: Back-to-back ranking, “just start both and hope one goes off” (19:24–19:44)
• Tyjae Spears: “Easy flex,” especially versus a defense that allows lots of RB targets (26:36)

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WIDE RECEIVER RANKINGS & TIER BREAKDOWNS

Tier 1 (WR1–7): Clear Elites

(28:28–29:46)

• Jamar Chase, JSN, Puka Nacua, CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Drake London, Rashee Rice
• Dave gushing:

  “Drake London, I love you so much. He's been playing so well… happy to see Drake London, like, back firmly in that top five conversation.” (28:45–29:46)

Tier 2 (WR8–16): Injury Questions, Upside Swings

(30:11–31:31)

• Names: Justin Jefferson, Emeka Egbuka, Jaylen Waddle, Nico Collins, Davante Adams, Tee Higgins, Ladd McConkey, George Pickens, Rome Odunze
• Davante Adams: Set to play; hosts trust player’s own assessment.

  “If a player at this stage in his career says he's good to go, I'm just going to trust them...” (31:21)

Tier 3 (WR17–23): Squeaky-Wheel Games and Shifting Hierarchies

(31:31–34:34)

• Devonta Smith, Zay Flowers, AJ Brown, Jameson Williams, Jauan Jennings, Stefon Diggs, DK Metcalf
• AJ Brown: Both hosts expect a “squeaky wheel” bounceback; Dave:

  “I think we could see … a squeaky-wheel game incoming where they just pepper him with 15 targets. He goes off for 180 yards...” (33:03–33:48)

• Jameson Williams: Emerging as a reliable target—top 15 fantasy WR in every game with six-plus targets; “We’re both buying in.” (37:10–38:34)
• Stefon Diggs: Still highly efficient, just not an every-down player (snaps capped at ~60%), capping his ceiling.

Tier 4 (WR24–32): Changing of the Guard and Flex Volume Plays

(38:34–45:20)

• Quentin Johnston, Tet McMillan, Jordan Addison, Khalil Shakir, Wan’Dale Robinson, Deebo Samuel, Romeo Doubs, Troy Franklin, Courtland Sutton
• Troy Franklin: Outproducing Courtland Sutton, trending as Denver's de facto WR1 (“Can’t ignore four straight games of 8+ targets, four TDs in four games”—Alfredo)
• Quentin Johnston: No longer the clear alpha due to Ariknda Gadsden’s role and Joe Alt’s injury affecting deep shots; now purely a boom/bust WR3.

  "We just need to kind of change how we're viewing Quentin Johnson from the player we thought he was early." (45:21)

Tier 5 (WR33–37+): Deep Leagues, Desperate Flexes, & Aggressive Streamers

(49:58–54:20)

• Parker Washington: Clarification—never intended to be a top-3 WR in Footballguys rankings; website glitch noticed.*
• Trey Tucker/Xavier Worthy/Christian Watson: All described as “the exact same person”—boom/bust dart throws.
• Trey Tucker: Has theoretical ceiling but unclear if Pete Carroll/Geno trust him to lead;

  “I think he could be the team’s WR1 but I just don’t know if I trust Pete Carroll and Geno Smith to treat him like the WR1.” (51:43)

• Alfredo jokes:

  “Having Tyler Lockett as top receiver for the Raiders here is like my dad being excited that Matlock is back on TV.” (51:43–52:14)

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

On the unpredictability of running backs right now:

“We’re working with an incomplete puzzle right now. There are a lot of pieces that we haven’t really been able to put together yet.”
—Dave (12:48)

On the perpetual “hope” for boom/bust WRs:

“You’re hoping Zach Charbonnet scores a touchdown. You’re hoping Kenneth Walker rips off a big play. When they don’t, you feel like an idiot. When they do, haha, I did it.”
—Dave (19:24)

On classic football coach tendencies:

“I think it’s just an old-man thing. … Having Tyler Lockett as top receiver is like my dad being excited that Matlock is back on TV.”
—Alfredo (51:43–52:14)

On Jonathan Taylor managers complaining about his BYE:

“I feel nothing for any of you. It’s going to be week 12. It’s fantasy football season. I feel nothing at this point.”
—Alfredo (56:02)

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TIMESTAMP GUIDE TO IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

• 00:49–03:16: Life as a fantasy analyst, social interactions
• 03:16–04:36: Injury landscape and methodology for Week 11
• 04:36–11:40: RB tiers 1–3, key matchups, must-starts & pivotal RB2s
• 11:40–21:56: Deep RB tiers, upside picks, backfield battles, and injury pivots
• 21:56–27:10: Sleeper RBs, risky flexes, and deep-league stashes
• 28:28–31:31: WR tiers 1–2, elite plays, and injury optimism
• 31:31–38:34: WR tier 3, shakeups in Philly, and breakout WR2s
• 38:34–49:58: Tier 4–5 WRs, changing roles, Denver/Chargers/NYG analyses
• 49:58–55:00: Deep league/waiver options, website ranking snafus, Trey Tucker/Tez Johnson, humor
• 56:02–57:16: Closing words, Jonathan Taylor bye week pity/non-pity

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FINAL THOUGHTS & TAKEAWAYS

• Injury uncertainty is higher than usual for Week 11, especially among RBs; monitor practice reports right up to kickoff.
• Several rookies are either stepping into massive roles or on the brink of breaking out—Ashton Ginty, Trevion Henderson, RJ Harvey, Woody Marks and Troy Franklin stand out.
• Must-start WRs are clear, but the WR2/3 tiers offer upside if you're willing to lean into risk (Jameson Williams, Quentin Johnston, Troy Franklin…).
• Don’t buy into social media “league winner” hyperbole without context; consensus (and Footballguys) see RJ Harvey et al. as useful but not RB1 material.
• Deep-league plays and aggressive flexes are essential in a week ravaged by injuries and late-breaking news—fortune indeed “favors the bold.”
• The hosts balance stats, trends, and coach/dev tendencies, but remind listeners: have fun, take smart swings, and don’t get stuck on old name value.

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For a detailed snapshot of projected point ranges and specific matchup notes by player, check the Footballguys site (with Parker Washington ranking now fixed!), and tune in next week for post-Week 11 takeaways and Week 12 Waiver Wire picks.

Banter, breakdowns, and bold calls—you’re ready for the most pivotal week yet.

Transcript

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[A]

But I just think it's so funny in these, like, social settings is like, it depends, right? I'll have some people who, they find out what I do and they're like, oh, my God. Okay, I got to show you my team. They're going to talk to me about players and, and there's other people that'll do the, well, what do you do for a living? And I explain it to them. They go, there's. There's jobs for that. They pay people. Someone I spoke to yesterday was like, I didn't even know they had companies that did that. Just fantasy football. Is that. Am I saying that right? And I'm like, yep, oh, yeah, that's what they do. And then he'll just ask. He's like, well, who do you, who do you think's gonna take it all this year? It was the most ambiguous question. And I can just see their eyes glaze over as I started talking. I'm just like, you know what, let's wrap this up. It's probably just Patrick Mahomes in chief. Like, there you go, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They're like, oh, I know him. Yeah. Patrick. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

I will say I've noticed, like, the, the best way to, like, not get in depth conversations. Like some people, it opens up like they want to ask about it, but I just say sportswriter. And a lot of people just brush it off and don't really think. I don't get into, like, YouTubing and podcasting and all that. They're like, so what do you do for a living? And I'm like, I'm a sports writer. And some people are just like, oh, that's super cool. And then they want to hear more, and I'll talk to them. And a lot of other people are just like, oh, neat. And then that's the end of it. But I will say, like, the social anxiety I used to have in group settings is completely gone now. Like, the last, like, eight weddings I have been to. Like, I don't have to pretend like I know what I'm doing on a dance floor. I can just, like, sit off to the side and answer Dynasty trade questions for random guys who all.

[A]

You're not a guy.

[B]

No. Oh, my goodness, no. I mean, not. Not since I got sober. Let's just put it that way.

[A]

You know, little bad bunny doesn't get a little bachata, some merengue salsa. That should be a Kluge special. I want to see that. I want to see that. So actually, now I do. I really want to see that.

[B]

I mean, I can headbang in a metal show. And that's about it.

[A]

That's.

[B]

That's about the extent of my dancing is just, like, throwing my head violently back and forth on rhythm. I'll say, good.

[A]

So you could do the same thing as a toddler. Got it.

[B]

Yeah. It doesn't really work, though. When you're at, like, a wedding and they're playing Earth, Wind and Fire, and I'm just headbanging in the middle of the dance floor. It just doesn't work.

[A]

You're, like. And knocked up, and he's doing the dice thing too much. It's the only dance move he knows.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Foreign. It's week 11, and we are talking.

[B]

About the players you need to be.

[A]

Putting in your starting lineup. These sleepers at the running back and wide receiver position. So Dave Kluge and I, we're going to go through our rankings at both running back, wide receiver, go through them by tier, and we're going to tell you guys which players we think are the sleepers that you need to have a lineups this week. Dave, we're getting closer to those fantasy playoffs. And I know I keep mentioning it, man, but some of these. These starts and sits get a little bit harder, especially as the week goes on and you're waiting for injury reports to come out. You're just like, is this guy gonna play? Am I going for upside? It's so much just starts to weigh on you.

[B]

Yeah. And here we are recording on Thursday morning, and before we recorded, we're like, news on Isaiah Pacheco? No. News on Trey Benson? No. Like, there's still so many guys out there right now that like, we're hoping for news and it's just been a weird year. Like a lot of guys. Bucky Irving is another one, like, back at practice. We don't know if he's going to play or not. Like, we don't know what's going on with a lot of players right now. So we're going to do our best. But please, YouTubers, like, commenters, podcast reviewers, like, be nice to us. We're working with limited information this week. I don't know what's going on. It's a weird. Usually we have like 90% of the picture by Thursday and it feels like today we do not have that.

[A]

Well, what we are going to do though is if a player does seem to be trending towards playing or they have been at practice or we are going to rank them as if they are playing an active. For the players that have not been at practice, we have no news on them or they seem likely to be out. We're probably going to be excluding them from this just to kind of give everybody a baseline, right. So we can still talk about these players. So let's do this, Dave. Let's not waste any time. Let's hop into the running back rankings here. We'll start off with tier number one. As usual, we're not going to do much in these first two tiers. We'll talk more as we get down to tiers, you know, three, four, and we get into the the RB2 flex scenario. So tier one, this is running backs one through six. We've got Christian McCaffrey, Devon Achan, Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Josh Jacobs and James Cook in tier one there. These are all auto starts every single week, regardless of opponent. I don't think we need to go into it more. At Tier 2, we've got running backs 7 through 12, which still technically keeps them as RB1s in fantasy. We've got Ashton Ginty, Rico Dowdle, Javante Williams, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Warren and Kyron Williams. Dave, anyone from that second tier that stands out to you?

[B]

Kyron Williams is the one and I know we talked about him a little bit last year. There has been, you know, a split. Has been last week. Yes, we did talk about him last year. We are seeing a split over the last month or so where Blake Horam is getting like 30% of the touches, but it hasn't mattered. I think this is actually benefiting Kyron Williams. Like, this is a guy who used to be like an 8590 snapshare player and now I think him being a little bit more fresh. We're seeing some of the explosive plays again, we're seeing some more broken tackles. So it's kind of weird because we're seeing like the sliders on his snapshare going down, but his production hasn't changed whatsoever. So this is a tough matchup against Seattle and there's some concern about Blake Corum getting in the mix, but I think you and I are both doing the right thing by just like holding it down. Still ranking Kyron Williams as an RB one because it seems like no matter what the universe throws at him, like reasons that we shouldn't believe in Kyron Williams, he just keeps producing and I'm just going to keep ranking him as if he is a backend RB1.

[A]

The guy that we have at the top of this tier, Ashton Ginty I think has legit top three upside this week. I know it's been a slightly disappointing throughout the season, but ever since the bye week the volume has been there for Ashton Ginti. He's been getting used in more creative ways in the passing game. He's got a touchdown in each of his last two games. Then going up against the Dallas Cowboys, this should be a run funnel for him. And even if it ends up being some sort of a passing shootout, which is also very possible in a Cowboys Raiders matchup, Jinti's been getting used in the passing game more and more. Cowboys are allowing the third most fantasy points to running back. So not that anyone was thinking of not playing Ashton Ginty, but if you were, I don't know, had an embarrassment of riches at running back. Ginty's got some top three upside this week, not just top seven.

[B]

Last time he had a matchup this good against the Chicago Bears he went for 150 plus yards and three touchdowns. So I know it's been very boomer bust for Ashton Jinty. I think that's just, you know, you know, a part of being a part of this Raiders offense. Like the Raiders offense is very boomer bust. But this Dallas matchup, a get right game for any offense.

[A]

Let's go to tier number three. This is running backs 13 through 20. We've got Derek Henry, Chase Brown, Quinn, Sean Judkins, Trevion henderson, Aaron Jones, DeAndre Swift, Bree hall and Travis Etn. Dave, who do you want to talk about from here?

[B]

Trevion Henderson of course. Like we hope that he is going to have a big game tonight. We saw the big plays last week, like just explosive after explosive after Explosive and that's the type of player he is. Like if you look at his run chart, you see a lot of red where he's getting knocked in the backfield a lot. And then you also see the 69 yard touchdown, the 55 yard touchdown. That's just the type of player he is. Kind of to me, very reminiscent of a Ken Walker, a guy who isn't good at mitigating losses, but a guy who has explosive upside. And I think that's why he's such a good complimentary piece alongside Ramadre Stevenson. Without Ramadri Stevenson there though, he is going to get the touches. This jets defense is susceptible to big plays, so we're both ranking him as an, as a high end rbd. I do think that there is some shakiness here because like if he doesn't break off the big play, he's not going to get the fantasy production. But still an explosive player who's getting the work right now. I think you got to find a way to get him in your lineups.

[A]

Well, and you also have to wonder what happens if the Patriots get ahead in this game versus the jets and they're saying, you know what, we've got our weapon for the stretch down the line, right? Like the Patriots, they're not just competing to win this game, they are competing to win the AFC east and right now they're in the driver's seat. So what happens is they say let's keep Travan healthy and let's, let's take them out. These are game script things that happen, right? So we could have midway through the third quarter where we're looking at Terrell Jennings and Dearness Johnson finishing this game out. So yeah, we talked about this before. It could be Trevan Henderson though, that puts them ahead with some big time plays. So I think he's a start no matter what. It's just the matchup is too good, the opportunity is just too juicy to not have Treveon Henderson in your lineup right now. The other guy I want to take a look at here, Dave. I feel like I've been talking about him every week for the last three, four weeks here. But Aaron Jones going up against the Chicago Bears, I mean, he's really taken over this backfield. The Bears are, I wouldn't say bad against running backs. They're not quite middle of the road. They're about 19th in fantasy points allowed towards, excuse me, they're giving up. I mix that up. But whatever's the opposite of 19th versus running backs and fantasy points Allowed. And Aaron Jones, it's funny because it's not just what he's been doing here on the Vikings. And you can take this with a grain of salt throughout his career going up against Chicago, over 18 PPR points per game average in his last 13 games against Chicago. Just an interesting stat to look at here. It's something that stood out to me is like when he comes to play against the Bears, he just, he plays well, man. And we saw him have a nice output recently. Touchdown and 69 total yards back in week 10. And Chicago, they've allowed seven running backs to hit 13 plus PPR points this season. So Aaron Jones, I think, becomes an easy RB2. And it's kind of hard to look at him as anything else going forward.

[B]

Yeah. And I mean, he's been so efficient this year. I will say I think those career numbers are slightly inflated by just when Aaron Rodgers was just beating down the Bears every single time he would face them. But Aaron Jones, this blew my mind the other day. I was looking at yards per touch leaders, which is a combination of carries and receptions right now. Jonathan Taylor leading the league in yards per touch. No shock there. Bijan Robinson, number two in yards per touch. No shock there. Aaron Jones is number three in yards per touch, averaging over six yards per touch this year. That is just an elite clip and I know it's been on a small sample size here, but the Chicago defense, what they do is they give up big plays. They are hyper aggressive, they're going to throw these complex blitz packages at you and they're going to make a lot of sacks and turnovers, but they're also going to give up a lot of big plays. And that's what we've seen Aaron Jones do this year, is he is that big play play guy on the Vikings. So you and I are both pretty aggressive in our Aaron Jones rankings. I've got him as RB17, which, you know, high end RB2. Yeah, you're. You're getting him in your lineups this week.

[A]

Yeah, you've got him as your running back. 17. I've got him as my running back. 20. Yeah. RB2. I don't think there's anything else you got to think about there. Let's go down to the next tier. And this is going to be running backs 21 through 30. I think this is where the most questions come up for people. And at 21, we've got Woody Marks, 22, Kamani Vidal, 23, Bucky Irving. Remember we said we are treating this as if he is playing right now. He has been out at practice. We don't have an official announcement yet.

[B]

But we're treating, I think we're also ranking it as if he's playing but also he'll be slightly limited because I think a full go Bucky Irving with like no limitations, we'd be looking at him probably as a top 12, top 10 guy. But I think we are expecting if he does play this week there will be a little bit of a ramp up. So like you still want to start him, but I don't think he's like the Smash RV one that he was pre injury right now.

[A]

Right, right. I think that's kind of the best way to look at it. At 24 got David Montgomery, 25, RJ Harvey 26 Tyrone Tracy 27, Zach Charbonnet 28, Ken Walker 29, Kareem Hunt. And at 30 Trey Benson, another guy who we are treating as if he is playing. That one is very up in the air. We just don't have enough news on Trey Benson right now.

[B]

Yeah, they're calling him day to day. It's weird. Like they said Trey Benson is day to day but they also haven't opened his practice window which like when you open the practice window that gives you three weeks to evaluate the player before you have to activate him. So like I don't know what the hesitancy is in opening his 21 day practice window if they're calling him day to day. So this is one that like, you know, I said it at the top of the show. We're working with an incomplete puzzle right now. There are a lot of pieces that we haven't really been able to put together yet. If Trey Benson can't go, Mario De Mercado is probably the best guy of the bunch. But like DeMarcado, Donovan Knight, those are both kind of RB4s. I think Michael Carter is completely off the picture at this point. So it's tough to speculate too much on Arizona just because we don't know what is going to be happening there. I think the guy we need to talk about those. R.J. harvey, right?

[A]

Yep. Yeah. I mean we've got. There's a couple of guys from this list but I think RJ Harvey is going to be the most notable one to talk about because the people who drafted him and held on to him. You finally have your opportunity this week going up against Kansas City Chiefs are seventh versus running back. So is a tough matchup you would say for fantasy, but RJ Harvey also hasn't gotten his production in typical ways, he's been doing a lot of it through the air. The Chiefs have still allowed five running backs to score touchdowns in the last four games. We've just been seeing that RJ Harvey has been like a magnet to the end zone. Everything has been about getting him in space, Dave, and just getting him out as. I don't want to say a satellite back, because I think he's more than that. But being able to do that where they can get him in motion, get him behind a wall of blockers. It's been extremely efficient for RJ Harvey in the Broncos.

[B]

And this is one where, you know, I noticed one of the dissensions in our rankings was Tyler Bidet. Like, I am very aggressive on Tyler Bidet. This week, we're expecting J.K. dobbins not to play. Like, still waiting on information there as well. But this is one where, like, I know, trust me, like, I was. I'm not making this up. Like, if you go back and watch all the shows that we were doing in February, March, April, May, like, I was pounding the table for RJ Harvey. But you got to look at how Sean Payton deploys his running backs here. And I know a lot of people are just saying, J.K. dobbins is out of the picture. RJ Harvey is going to run away, be an RB1 for the rest of the season, league winner. Like, all those terms are getting thrown around, and I hate being the wet blanket here, but I do have a little bit of pause on this just because I expect Tyler Bidet to be involved. I expect Jahliel McLaughlin to be involved. Now, the interesting thing here is RJ Harvey is a very, very small back, and that's why we saw him kind of getting the secondary role behind J.K. dobbins. He is very, very small.

[A]

He's short.

[B]

Yeah, he's like an Ashton Ginty. Is. Is.

[A]

Yeah, he's over £200. He's. To me, he's, like, very reminiscent of Ray Rice where he's just a short, stocky dude.

[B]

100. And it's funny, you know, so much ado was made about RJ Harvey's size, and, like, he's almost identical. He's within. What is it, like, three eighths of an inch and like five pounds of Ashton Ginty. Like, the same guy. When you. When you look at. But then you look at the other healthy backs in Denver right now, Tyler Bidet is even smaller, Jalil McLaughlin is even smaller. So now we might see the roles flip a little bit where RJ Harvey kind of goes into that J.K. dobbins role, and then we see Jalil McLaughlin or Tyler Binet coming in on the passing downs. So I don't know exactly how this is going to shake out, but what I do know is that we've seen enough from Sean Payton that I don't think we could expect, like, 80% of the touches going RJ Harvey's way. There's going to be an annoying amount of the backs I mentioned and probably even some Adam Prentice in there, just because that's what Sean Payton does.

[A]

Yeah, sure. I mean, and that's very possible. I just, I. I want to lean into good players making big plays and getting opportunity here. And that's. That's sort of why I'm comfortable with having RJ Harvey as a starter. You and I have him ranked exactly the same. Running right. 25. We are right there on that cusp. I think, where I'm just like. I think a guy like Tyler Bidet becomes a calculated desperation risk if you really need it. Right. I don't think that anyone's going out. Yeah. And it works, though. It works because it's Sean Payton, man. Like, he'll do anything with these running backs. We. We never quite know, but I think.

[B]

This is one that just requires a little bit of context because we do have met RB25, and I just checked his consensus ranking. That's where he is in consensus rankings as well. And I think this is one of those things, like, if you're getting a lot of your content from Twitter, there is a lot of RJ Harvey, RB1 league winner. And, like, yeah, it's really easy to say that stuff on Twitter, but when you actually, like, sit down and do the work cells.

[A]

That's what it is.

[B]

It is. But, like, when you actually sit down and, like, are forced to put these guys in rankings, there's just no way you could get RJ Harvey inside your top 12.

[A]

I mean, you could, but not responsibly. No, exactly. You're not being very fiscally responsible. So there's another guy from this tier that I want to talk about, another rookie, and I think this is kind of like the wave of. Where the rookies seem like, like, they're really starting to take over now. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Because if the Texans do this again, where we think it's the Woody Marks breakout and they pull the rug out from under us again, I don't think Fantasy Manager is going to be able to trust Woody Marks at any point in this season. This is a good matchup. Titans are 28th against running backs. Running backs have hit 16 and a half PPR points in six of the last seven games versus Tennessee. Woody Marks has 12 and a half PPR points or more in three of his last four games. His snap share is going up. Everything looks to be perfect for Woody Marks. Dave, what is the percentage that anything could go wrong?

[B]

I mean, just because it's the Texans, like we saw this guy go for 152 touchdowns and like the breakout was here. We were so excited. We were like, just dump all your fab. Get this guy. Like you found the rookie breakout. Then they went back to Nick Chubb. Dude, Nick Chubb has been absolute dust this year. And I feel so bad saying that because it's Nick Job. Like, you know, he, he's gonna be a legitimate threat to like make the hall of Fame. He's had an illustrious career. One of the best college running backs I've ever seen. But Father Time came knocking for him and he suffered some really brutal injuries. Right now, like, they've got to let Woody Marks get the ball. Like, he just looks so much better out there. So yeah, like, we're both ranking him ahead of, you know, some of the sexy names that we were talking about. Like we've got him ahead of RJ Harvey and Kamani Vidal and Bucky Irving and some of these other. This should be the week, but again, it's the Texans, so I'm starting him. You know, I've got him inside my top 24 running backs, but there's obviously a little bit of risk just based on what we've seen this year.

[A]

Well, I got one more guy that I want to talk about from this tier. Do you have anyone else left from this tier? Number three, Dave.

[B]

No, I, I think we kind of know who most of these guys are at this point. I do think it's funny that we just kind of said, hey, Ken Walker, Zach Chardonnay. We're just going to put them back to back outside of our top 24. Figure it out. Yeah, start them both and hope that one of them, you know, you're hoping Zach Sharpity scores a touchdown. You're hoping Kenneth Walker rips off a big play. And when they don't, you feel like an idiot when they do. Haha. I did it.

[A]

Exactly. I will say there is one guy from here that I think you can plug into your lineup. But I've used this term earlier in the show. He's calculated risk Kareem Hunt going up against the Broncos. And if he's getting the opportunity, it's the Kansas City offense we saw last time. Week nine without Isaiah Pacheco. 55 total yards and a touchdown on just 13 touches. I think you probably get something similar. You probably end up with something similar. There's also a chance it could be even less touches.

[B]

Right.

[A]

We start to see more Burchard Smith out there. It all depends. Honestly, I think this is going to be a very game script dependent matchup for Kareem Hunt. If the Chiefs get ahead early, let's run the clock out. If they're, if it's a competitive game, which is the Broncos don't do anything normal. Right. Neither do the Chiefs. If it's a competitive game, who knows what we could see out of this backfield.

[B]

Yeah, I think you kind of nailed that one right there. I don't know what else there is to talk about. Like, we know Kareem Hunt gets the opportunity, but again, we're just kind of waiting to see what happens with Pacheco.

[A]

Yeah, we both have them ranked the exact Same running back, 29. If Pacheco is in, are you comfortable starting either of these guys? Like, they're already in RB3 flex territory, but I'm not as excited about either of them, if I'm going to be honest. If Pacheco's in, Yeah.

[B]

I think the problem is like, the goal line work has been getting split between Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco and then you've got Rashard Smith coming in and taking up an annoying amount of the passing down work. So, like, typically when we're looking at these ambiguous backfields, we at least know, like, hey, this guy's getting all the targets. This guy's getting all the goal line work. And you can't really draw those conclusions here. So, like, you're, you're, you're, you're hoping. Is it that you. Yeah.

[A]

Is it the sexy commander's backfield? Is that what we're saying? Because they're on the Chiefs, basically.

[B]

That is spot on. Yes. I think that is absolutely what we are looking at here. Yeah. Rashard Smith is the Jeremy McNichols and Jakory, Crosby, Merritt, Isaiah Pacheco, in this instance, I don't even know, like, Chris Rodriguez's Kareem Hunt. I think that's how we make these parallels. We're like, yeah, like, yeah, I think it's pretty, pretty spot on. We just move all of the Chiefs players up a little bit because we Expect more points from the Chiefs than the Commanders.

[A]

All right, let's go to the next tier here. This is going to be tier number five. This is running backs 31 through 41. A lot of names, so bear with us. Chris Rodriguez Jr. Taji Spears, Kyle Menungai, Tony Pollard, Tyler Algiers, Corey Crosky, Merritt, Rashad White, Jordan Mason, Amari Dibercato, Nick Chubb and Kenneth Gainwell did. There's some other names that got left off guys like Devin Singletary, Blake Corum, like they are just right there on the cusp. But the players that are here, I think a lot of them, their value is going to depend on if the incumbent is going to be back from injury or you know, how the splits end up going. Chris Rodriguez, for example, at the top of this tier. The report is that he should be good to go this week and he's got himself a juicy matchup against Miami.

[B]

Not just good to go, but they are also saying that like he is going to be in a featured role. If you look last week like the, we talked about this, I forget what episode but like the, the box score is very deceiving because you see Jacqui Groski Merit with 11 touches. You see Chris Rodriguez with six. You see Jeremy McNichols with six. But before Chris Rodriguez left the game with that shoulder injury, Corey Cross Cumara wasn't getting on the field. He got benched. They are, they want to run with Chris Rodriguez again. You know that, that Chiefs comp was really good and that's kind of what I'm looking at here. So like, I don't know how high I can move Chris Rodriguez, like I, I see that, you know, this is a very good matchup and that he should be the featured running back. But then when I'm looking at my rankings, Tajie Spears, Kenneth Walker, Tyrone tracy, Zach Chardonnay, R.J. harvey. I can't really move Chris Rodriguez ahead of those guys. So I think this is one where like fortune favors the bold. And if you put them in your lineup, you could end up getting what's a huge game against Miami. But this is just when I look at the guys with like high upside and low floors, I think Chris Rodriguez has the widest range of outcomes inside this year. Like he could be a top 10 guy. He could also finish outside of the top 40.

[A]

Well, we talked about these confusing teams that we don't know what they are. We don't know what Miami is. They go out and beat the Bills one week and they'll lose to anyone in. And they lost by, what, 30 points. The Cleveland Browns. Like, this Dolphins team doesn't make sense.

[B]

We talk about them being like a run funnel where like, every team for like a month straight was just rushing for like 200 yards. And then. Yeah, and then they face the Falcons and they just put the clamp on Bijan. So, like, I don't know what to make of this team. Like, it does feel like they've got a little bit of mojo right now, and they're feeling themselves and they're. They're playing decent football in two of their last three games. So I don't know what Dolphins team we're going to see. That's why, like, I think fortune favors the bold is the best way to put it. Like, if you're bold enough to put Chris Rodriguez in your lineup, I think you could get a lot of upside there. But also Chris Rodriguez.

[A]

You're hoping for a touchdown. Like, that's it. You know, you're not getting insane 18, 20 touches in a game. You're not getting four or five catches and some crazy PPR scam usage. Here you are hoping for a touchdown. You're hoping for the Kareem Hunt 13.

[B]

Which he did last week.

[A]

Five yards and a touchdown.

[B]

Hit a touchdown in the first quarter last week. I mean, like, it seemed like he was trending towards what could have been a big game. Also, did you see after he scored that touchdown, did you see him spike the football?

[A]

Oh, my gosh, no. Not chance. He bulleted. He bazooka that football. Barely above the head of a camera woman who was just like, yeah.

[B]

Like, I do not see her there. Like, I don't. Yeah.

[A]

Saw her life before her eyes. That was crazy.

[B]

We also forget. I forgot who. But there was another near miss. Did you see in the. The Sunday Night Football game after a sack, the Eagles player was celebrating, turned around with, like, the huge punch and. And a ref had to literally duck the punch. Like, had the ref not ducked, he'd have been knocked out cold on the field. Like, come on, players, like, a little bit better awareness out there on the field.

[A]

Dave out here just trying to stop people from being happy. Let them be happy.

[B]

I want to stop people from ending up in the hospital because they got dead. I don't think. Is there anybody else to talk about in this year? I think Rashad White is the one that kind of stands out here. Like, we've got him down. It's RB 37. That's obviously all about whether he plays.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

And if Bucky's out, we'll move him back inside our top 24. There was a frustrating split though over the last couple of weeks. Sean Tucker a little bit more involved. So I think where we were looking at like Rashad White was giving us top five production when he first got this role. There will be an annoying amount of Sean Tucker, but I still think that you're starting Rashad white is an RB2. If Bucky Irving isn't there.

[A]

Yeah, just two other guys. Just to kind of give the context on Amari di Mercado right now we've got him at running back 39. If Trey Benson is out, I would say he probably jumps up into the.

[B]

I'd say Chris Rodriguez.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say probably just ahead of Chris Rodriguez because of the past catching upside. So we'd probably have him around running back 30 where Trey Benson currently sits and the day of another guy who I know we've been talking about him so we won't make it like too much. But Taji Spears just it's an easy flex sleeper every single week because of his past catching upside even in this matchup. It's not a great matchup for running backs against Hous Houston, but they are allowing the 10th highest adjusted target share running back. So this is something where running backs who do catch passes can actually be productive for you. So just something to take note of if you got Taji spirit your roster.

[B]

I was like running backs coming off the Baidu, especially like late season buys, like they're just a little bit fresher, they got a little bit more juice. They're dealing with ailments from last week. So Tajie Spears, yeah, definitely a guy that like I'd feel good about him. Starting him in quite a few lineups this week is as an RB3 Flex. Introducing Family Freedom from T Mobile. We'll pay off four phones up to.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

Head on over to the wide receivers and the tiers we've got there and tier number one. This is wide receivers one through seven. We've got Jamar Chase, Jackson Smith, and Jigba Puka Nukua, CD Lamb, Amanro St Brown, Drake London and Rasheed Rice. Yeah, I'd say we know they're all really good at football.

[B]

Oh, Drake London, I love you so much. He's been playing so well these last few weeks. Like, it was crazy, the. The rhetoric that was going around Drake London when he was playing through that.

[A]

You can't play Drake London. Stop.

[B]

He was injured and. And, you know, we called that Alfredo, too. It was so weird. I didn't see anybody else talking about that. Like, he picked up that shoulder injury.

[A]

So weird. This year. Like, I know it hasn't been. It hasn't been very transparent reporting, I'll say that.

[B]

And just you and I kind of. We're like, we've seen Drake London be, like, an absolute stud for two years. Like, I don't believe that he just, like, fell off this cliff for no reason at all. Like, this has to be a shoulder injury. And there was that one play, I remember, where there was a ball that went over his head in the end zone and, like, we didn't see him reach up for the ball. And we're like, okay, something is wrong with Drake London. And then what happens? You know, A month later, he starts playing a little bit healthy, and now it's just like 150 yards at a touchdown every single week. Yes. Drake London again. We don't need to spend a ton of time in this tier, but I'm just happy to see Drake London, like, back firmly in that top five conversation.

[A]

Yeah. And I'll say this, too, is like, don't overthink it either. You might see someone say, well, he's got J.C. horn this week. It's like, remember, Drake London goes all over the lineup, man. He's going to be playing out of the spot a lot. He's going to be moving around the formation. Don't let the matchup thing bother you if you're. If you're taking a look at Drake London here.

[B]

Yeah. So these are all the must starts. I'm just happy that Trick London is back in mustard territory. When there was a shaky month there in the. At the top of the season.

[A]

Let's go to tier number two. This is wide receivers eight through 16. At eight, we've got Justin Jefferson, then Emeka Buka, Jalen Waddle, Nico Collins, devonte Adams, T. Higgins, Lad Bikonki, George Pickens, and Rome Adunze. Dave. Devonte Adams has been.

[B]

Please tell me you saw that clip, right? The one where he, like, he's trying to get off the line of scrimmage, his release, and he just takes like three stutter steps and then immediately just grabs his lower back of like. I've never felt more seen by an NFL player, like, instantly, like, can't even get out of his break. Like just three steps and then just. Oh. And grabs it as a lower back.

[A]

That's okay. That's what I wanted to talk about here because I know that earlier in the week.

[B]

Saying.

[A]

So I'm going to read the. The quote from Sean McVeigh here. He says he does expect Devonte to play. That's what he tells me. He's feeling good and I trust the man. He'll be ready. So, devonte active. We seem to both have some pretty good faith. It's. I think I just look at it this way. If a player at this stage in his career says he's good to go, I'm just going to trust them the same way Sean McVeigh does.

[B]

Yeah. And Devonte Adams, he's really good at playing through injuries. Like, we've seen this so much throughout his career. This is what he does. I don't have many concerns. If he says he's good to go, he's probably good to go.

[A]

Yeah. Trust him. All right, let's go down to tier number three. This is a smaller tier, actually. It's going to be wide receivers 17 through 23. It's just a little handful of players, but at 17, we've got Devontae Smith. There's a new hierarchy in Eagles land for the wide receivers there at 18. Zay Flowers, 19, A.J. brown, 20, Jameson Williams, 21. Juwan Jennings, 22. Steph Diggs and. And 23, D.K. metcalf. Dave, let's talk about these Eagles receivers, man. Let's just.

[B]

I'm an idiot. I'm a sucker. I'm still ranking AJ Brown ahead of devonte Smith. Squeaky wheel game incoming. Right. That's what you hope for.

[A]

Okay. I mean, we. I. Oddly enough, we have A.J. brown both ranked at wide receiver. What is it? 18. But I have him behind Devonte Smith. I do think there is some legitimacy to the squeaky wheel game because it's. It's like to the point where A.J. brown's really making a show of it. Like, how could you, as the Eagles, not respond to this in some way? Like, if you don't throw him the ball, you have. You run the risk of your offense and your team imploding based on just A.J. brown going. Absolutely. Banana sandwich.

[B]

I also think A.J. brown was right.

[A]

Sure. Yeah. Good players.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. So it's. I don't think anyone disagrees with him. Right. Get good players to football. I think where everyone is gonna have their complaints is how you go about it. Hopping on Twitch and playing Madden is probably not the best way to handle these, but.

[B]

Well, I'm not sure if you saw he. He went further into it yesterday after practice.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In the locker room and that. Like, I was listening to what he said and I was just like, not along. Like, he's spitting right now. Like, yeah, he's making some really, really good points that, like, the defense has been bailing out what has been a very bad offense. And he's like, you know, worked last year because our offense was humming. He's like. And we were getting these explosive plays. He's like, this isn't last year. He's like, we won a Super bowl last year, but this is a new year and our offense sucks. And he's kind of bright. Like, they need to get these excuses right. They need to get the ball to A.J. brown. I. I think we could see. And I don't want to go too much down narrative street here, but like a squeaky wheel game feels like it's incoming where they just like pepper him with 15 targets. He goes off for 180 yards and it's like, oh, yeah, we forgot the Eagles can do that.

[A]

He's. He's 100.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I'm gonna be the old fuddy duddy in this, dude. Go talk to your offensive coordinator. Talk to the passing game coordinator. Talk to the wide receivers coach. Talk to Jalen Hurts. Talk to your head coach. You have so many people on staff you can go to. This is like, men will do anything but go to therapy.

[B]

You're not wrong. You're just a. Sorry, Joe, I can't say it on the show, but Lebowski fans will know.

[A]

Way to. Way to stop yourself there, Dave. Stefan Diggs is in this tier as well. Going up against the Jets. No Sauce Gardner. I know it's a Thursday night game. We saw some excitement with Kyle Williams, but Still no K. Sean Booty Dave. Stefan Diggs, do you have you excited this week?

[B]

I mean, it's been the same thing. Like he's seen a limited snapshare. He is elite with his opportunities, but the opportunities just haven't been there. We're seeing that snapshare start to grow a little bit, but I don't know if excited the way you pose the question, like, are you excited about Stefan Diggs? I don't know if I'm excited. Like I'm starting as a wide receiver too, but I'd like to see him more of a ceiling.

[A]

Okay, well that's. So that's what I was getting at is like we both have him as a top 24 wide receiver this week. It's potentially juicy matchup with a secondary that does not have a lot of good players in it. And Drake May, who's playing very good football. That's why I pose it that way. You know, like there's, I, I don't know if there's that many wide receivers active right now where we look and say, huh, this has some real ceiling to this scenario.

[B]

Yeah. And I think like we were really excited. What was it going into week six when he was coming off back to back 100 yard games and since then it's been a little bit quiet. And I lied when I said his snapshare went up. I mean he's still floating at that like six every single week. I don't know why I thought his snapshot went up. I think there was just a little bit more volume last week. But no, he is still like, it's like 58 to 61 every single week. Which, you know, at my, my thought at first when I saw this like limited snapshare early in the season was like, yeah, he's still coming back from an acl. He's an older guy. Like they're gonna ramp that up. But they have not ramped it up like they, they are content just kind of using him as sort of a part time wide receiver. So that does put a cap on his ceiling. But when you look at the targets per route run, yards per route run, he's still up there with like jsn. And Puka is like one of the most effective, efficient wide receivers in football. It's just that 40% of the offensive snaps he's watching from the bench.

[A]

Yeah. And I'll say this too as well. For those of you trying to make some decisions for tonight in this Patriots game, there's no Austin Hooper either. So I know Austin Hooper. No. Ramandre Stevenson. No. K. Sean Booty. I would expect that the target tree in this offense gets a little bit more condensed to about three or four people. Hunter Henry, Steph Diggs, Trefon Henderson. We'll get a few other, a few other players in there mixed in, but I would say it's probably going to be most likely that, that group of three there. Dave, let's go to the next tier.

[B]

This is why we didn't mention Jameson Williams. And we're both like, we. We ranked Jameson Williams so much higher this week than we have for the like basically since week two. Do we know if Dan Campbell's calling plays this week? They said that they might go back. Like, he's been pretty tight lipped about it. And I want to say, like, first.

[A]

Of all, I think he proved his point. Yeah, I think that's what it was like. He showed what he wants in the offense. Give me more Montgomery, give me more Jameson. This is how we thrive.

[B]

All right? So, yeah, and, and I'm buying into it. I mean, Jameson Williams has scored in three of his last four games. We saw the huge blow up last week. I have a lot more confidence in starting him. I'd have more confidence if Dan Campbell was continuing to call plays. But like I said, hopefully he kind of like showed the blueprint, like, get the ball to Jameson Williams, get the ball to David Montgomery, and then everything else just works out even better. So. Hoping that's the case this week. But yeah, you and I, we're definitely buying what we're seeing from Jameson Williams and ranking him pretty aggressively this week as a wide receiver too.

[A]

My question is this. So in the last three games where Jameson has had at least six targets, he has been a top 15 fantasy wide receiver.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Do you think this is a game script against Philly where he's looking at six targets?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this could end up being a game where they have to throw the ball a little bit. That's what we said last year. Like he ever this offseason, he averaged 6.1 targets per game last year. Like, he doesn't need to be a 12 target per game player. Like, you know, if you take that 6.1 and you can get it up to like 6.8 targets per game, he becomes a wide receiver one. And that's what we're seeing is like him starting to average closer to seven targets per game. And like it doesn't sound like a huge difference, but one extra target per game from Jameson Williams is the difference. Between what he was last year, the wide receiver 18 and being a top 12 wide receiver. So fingers crossed. I'm hoping we could see that breakout. A lot of indoor games between now and the rest of the season. So. Yeah, Jameson Williams definitely eating the cheese there.

[A]

Yeah, same. We're both there, same spot. I've got Jameson as my wide receiver 23. You've got him as your wide receiver 20. So we both see him as a low end wide receiver too. This week. Let's go to the next tier and this is going to be wide receivers 24 through 32. And there's an interesting swap of teammates here that I do want to talk about. So at 24, we've got Quentin Johnston, 25, Teteroa McMillan 26 Jordan Addison 27, close here. 28 Wandale Robinson 29 Debo Samuel, 30 Romeo Dobbs. Once again, that is as if he is playing 31, Troy Franklin and a 32, Cortland Sutton. Oh, boy, talk about that, Dave, because Troy Franklin has been out producing Cortland Sutton as of lately. There is, by the way, someone pointed out that Alfredo realize he made an Oregon Ducks joke when he said if it walks like a dog and quacks like a duck, it's probably Troy Franklin. I did not. I did not.

[B]

That's good. That's good.

[A]

Good on. Good on you audience member for catching that. There's just the changing of the guard here. It feels like in Denver. David, just. And the numbers show that the film is showing that Bo Nix, when he gets in trouble, he is looking for Troy Franklin. And to quite honest, he's been in trouble a lot lately.

[B]

He has been. Yeah. I mean he just looks frantic out there. It's. I've seen so many trade offers in Dynasty recently, like people trying to dump their Bo Nick shares and I'm just like, I don't want to buy, like find somebody else. I don't. I don't want that.

[A]

I don't want your vcr.

[B]

Yeah, it does not look very good recently. And they're winning so, you know, good on them, but good defense, good run game. And Phoenix, like just has one drive every single game where he looks like a superstar. And then, you know, the, the rest of the game we don't really know what's going on there. But yeah, Troy Franklin, like five straight games that he has that, that Cortland Sutton is not out targeted. Troy Franklin, like, we're just seeing him kind of be the wide receiver one here. And they're different roles. Right? Like Troy Franklin is Getting a shorter a dot. He's catching the ball closer to the line of scrimmage. Coral. And Sutton is still that downfield guy, but the. The efficiency just hasn't really been there for either. So I'm going to wing to chase the volume. And right now the volume is going Troy Franklin's direction. So we don't feel great about either of these guys. Like, we're ranking them both as wide receiver threes. I think they're both kind of, you know, we're expecting 40 to 60 yards, and if they score a touchdown, great. And if they don't, you know, you're not getting a boom game. But yeah, they're both getting a decent enough volume that you can start them as wide receiver threes.

[A]

I think you also just get to a point where you can't ignore what is happening on the field. You can sit here and cry, regression, but four touchdowns in four games. Four straight games of eight plus targets. Like, you just. You. You can't ignore these things as they continue. And it's not like we're coming out of the buy where you say, okay, well, maybe they've had a chance to recalibrate. They have the buy the week after this, and maybe something changes then, or maybe it goes even further. The pendulum swings further towards Troy Franklin. But I also, like, I didn't even realize until last week watching the Broncos. They have a really good record for being such a terrible team. They are like, top of the record is the Seahawks.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's so much parody in the NFL this year. It's just. It's amazing. It's amazing.

[B]

I'll say, too. You know, I live out in Colorado. Broncos fans are furious at this wide receiver utilization. Like, I had some random guy at the dog park yesterday talking my ear off about how Cortland Sutton needs to get more involved and that, you know, Bo Nix is at his best when Cortland Sutton's the wide receiver one. What are they doing messing around with this Troy Franklin guy? So. So, you know, I don't. I don't know if Sean Payton's gonna be listening to the fans, but the fans really want to see Coral and Sutton more involved.

[A]

Yeah. Sean Payton, known advocate of the fans and the people. Sure. Sean Payton loves when other people tell him what to do. I'm sure he'll be listening.

[B]

The other guy I want to talk about in this tier real quickly is Quentin Johnston.

[A]

Yeah, it's.

[B]

It's tough after what we saw early in the year. There's so many factors that go into like why he's now a wide receiver three instead of the wide receiver one he felt like one. I think the emergence of Ronda Gadson, Ronnie Gadson's running a lot of the same routes that Quentin Johnson was running. And I hate to say it, but he's probably doing a better job catching the ball than Quentin Johnson was. But also on top of that, we talked about this briefly the other day. The, the, the intended air yards per pass attempt. There's just a huge chasm between when Joe Alt is on there and when Joe Alt isn't there. When Joe Walt isn't on the field. They can't afford to run these downfield plays the way they were early in the season. So we see a lot more dinking and dunking, which occasionally, you know, Quentin Johnson can make that play after the catch. But those big getting behind the defense for the big touchdowns, those opportunities aren't going to be as often as they were without Joe Alt. So I think you're still starting him as a wide receiver 3. But it does seem like there's a pretty hard cap on his ceiling now. Now.

[A]

Yeah, that's the thing is you're just going to keep looking at him as the boom bus guy, like he's going to be right in that same spot. Is. I honestly think looking at this tier, he, to me is there's no difference between what he is as our wide receiver 24 versus a Troy Franklin at wide receiver 31. There is very, there's very similar floor ceiling there. I think the difference is you lean there because if a Ronde Gadsden is out, I'm going to have Quentin Johnson higher and you just, you have Justin Herbert throwing the ball. That's like, that's, I think, going to always have that receiver ranked higher than someone on the Broncos, for example.

[B]

This feels so similar. Do you remember in 2022 when Mike Williams got off to like a blistering start and he was like a top three fantasy wide receiver? I'm looking right now, he was averaging almost 80 yards per game. He was scoring touchdowns like every other week. And we were like, it finally happened. Like, Mike Williams broke out, he's here. And then Keenan Allen took over and he went back to being a boomer bus guy. And like, I think that happens sometimes with these boomer bus guys is that they'll boom for the first couple of weeks of the season. And we think the breakout is here. And I was absolutely buying into it. But the reality is, like, I think Wynton Johnson is, you Know, maybe he's polished up a little bit from the player that he was through his first couple of years, but he is still a boom bus guy. And because we saw the boom through the first couple of weeks in the season when everybody was like, really, really paying attention, we're still holding onto that hope. But he's just, he's a wide receiver. 3. It is what it is.

[A]

You nailed it with the Arande Gadsden thing because what made Quentin Johnson so special was that out of the group of wide receivers, he was the only one that could really do the things that he does. And Trey Harris is another guy that's been coming up and he can do some similar things out on the field. But Aronde Gadson was a guy that just hit the ground running, and to do it at the tight end position made it even that much more unique where he was getting the better matchups against linebackers and by box safeties. And he was, he was able to do things that just meshed really well with what Justin Herbert wanted to do. And I think that has been the biggest detractor. It's not that Quentin Johnston got any worse, and it's not that they're trying to not use him as much. It's that someone else can do what you do and it's a little easier to get him the ball.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Yeah, that's just really what it comes down to. So.

[B]

And I think also the hamstring injury comes into play here because, like, I can't stop thinking about that Denver game where like, dude, he was beaten patan like a drum like no wide receiver has this year, and then got injured a couple weeks later and just hasn't been the same player since. So I don't know if this is just like, still, there's a lot that goes into it. Joe Alt, Aranda Gadson, you know, the, the, the hamstring injury, that there's a lot of factors in play here. But yeah, we just need to kind of change how we're viewing Quentin Johnson from the player we thought he was early.

[A]

The Chargers remain the most fun team to talk about in the NFL because you never know what you're going to get that every single.

[B]

Here's what I'll say. We're going, what, 40 receivers deep today and we're not even talking about Keenan Allen. So that, that, that, that, that tells you a lot about how much this Chargers wide receiver room has changed from the beginning of the season.

[A]

Yeah, Dave, some other wide receivers on here just to give kind of like Little quick snippets on Tedroa McMillan. We've got him ranked a little bit lower this week. A lot of that is just gonna be the matchup going against AJ Terrell. Going up against the Falcons defense or the. The secondary just, they do a great job of shutting down the pass. Bryce Young has been pretty inconsistent. Talking low floor here.

[B]

Not.

[A]

Not great.

[B]

Putting it nicely. Pretty inconsistent. Yeah.

[A]

That.

[B]

That's.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wabale Robinson is in this tier. We've got him at wide receiver 28. The announcement was made that Jackson Dart will be out this week and Jameson Jameson. Sheesh. You got me. Now I'm going saying Jameson Jameson. Jameson Williamson. James Winston will be the starter for the Giants. Normally, I would say this is a really good thing for Giants wide receiver. I had to take a really deep breath there, man. Felt good. Really fill up the lungs. I would normally say this is a good thing for Giants wide receivers, but Wandell Robinson is not really the type of wide receiver you see that coalesces well with. With James Winston. Like, could we get a Darius Slayton game? Sure. He's our wide receiver 38 on the week. Wandell, though, with the type of volume he's getting, we have him closer to wide receiver 30 on the week.

[B]

Yeah, and I think that's the problem. It's like, James Winston. I almost said James. James Winston. He is not the guy who's going to be throwing the ball to Wandell Robinson now. I think there is, like, one thing you can get kind of excited about. It's that we saw Wandell Robinson, like, in the last couple of games with Russell. Wilson was playing a vertical role, which makes a lot of sense because we saw him, he was a vertical receiver at Kentucky. Like, that's what I thought he was going to do in the NFL. And he has kind of fallen into this, like, weird, Xavier worthy type of dink and dunk role. I don't know if they're going to change that up. I mean, there's a lot changing right here. Right. Like, we've got a new head coach, a new play caller. We've got a new quarterback. I don't really know how this is going to shake out because we could see if one day Robinson is in that, just, you know, working at the line of scrimmage. He's probably not going to see many targets. If they're asking him to run vertical routes, he's going to see a ton of targets. And I think there's a lot of excitement for Jameis Winston as there should be. He's fun. We love him. Like, he is great at giving us sound bites. He's hilarious. I love Jameis Winston, but when he was throwing for 5,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, he had a prime Mike Evans and prime Chris Godwin. And then we saw, like, the handful of, like, really, really fun games when he was in New Orleans. He had Rashid G and he had Chris Alave, two amazing deep threats. When we saw last year or two years ago with Cleveland, you know, Jerry Judy, for. For what you want to knock against him, he's a good vertical downfield receiver. So, like, there's always been that guy. And. And he doesn't really have that, like, throw into Darius Slayton and Wondale Robinson and Theo Johnson. Like, no disrespect to them, but this is probably the worst group of pass catchers we've ever seen James Winston have to play with. So I'll be the wet blanket here. And, like, yeah, James Winston's fun, but I have pretty low expectations for this game.

[A]

I would say I've got a little bit of excitement for Darius Slayton. He's one of those that if I am desperate at wide receiver, I'm projected to lose about, like, 20 points. Anyways, I'm saying, you know what? Darius Slayton down there somewhere, and I'm.

[B]

Going to put him and Michael Wilson have been my two. Like, I'm desperate. I need somebody off the waiver.

[A]

Those are your. What the heck? Flexes. Shout out. Sagan Cecil, the audible.

[B]

Yep. Yeah. So, like, they're not fun. We know the. The floor is. Is a trap door that could be absolutely nothing. But Darius Slayton and Michael Wilson, they could at least be fun. They could have big weeks. But, yeah, that's your. Your desperation. Like, like, very, very desperate play.

[A]

There's nothing worse than being sad bad. At least just be fun bad. You know, enjoy it. It's fantasy football. All right, final tier here. This is going to be wide receivers 33 through 37. And to be honest, we could have gone, like, deeper into this. We probably could have gone to, like, wide receiver 43 if we really wanted to, but there was such a drop off in the way our rankings jumped from one receiver to the next. This felt like the appropriate cutoff point here. So at wide receiver 33, we've got Parker Washington, 34. It's Tez Johnson, 35, Trey Tucker, 36, Christian Watson, and 37, Xavier Worthy. And Dave, my question is, why is wide receivers 35 through 37 the exact same person?

[B]

Seriously? Yeah. I mean, I I think I have a little bit more faith in Trey Tucker, but also at the same time, like, these Tyler Lockett shenanigans, man. Like, this is insane.

[A]

Shenanigans.

[B]

What are they doing here? Like, they stein Tyler Lockett off the street and immediately leads the team in targets, receptions, and yards. Like. Like, you've got Brock Bowers, you've got Michael Mayer, you've got Trey Tucker. What are we doing here with Tyler Lockett? Like, I want to write that game off as a fluke, but then I also see Pete Carroll and Geno Smith, and I'm like, this might. Might just be the thing. And. And I talked about it, like, weeks and weeks ago. I had that, like, one week where I was just, like, randomly infatuated with Trey Tucker, and I was like, this guy's on, like, the Tyler Lockett career trajectory where he was a deep threat through his first couple of years. Now he's the chain mover, worked across the middle of the field, yards after the catch, all those sorts of fun things. And then what do they do? Like, they take the Tyler Lockett of their offense and they replace him with Tyler Lockett. At the same point, we. We see these, like, quotes coming out from Trey Tucker saying, like, you know, with Jacoby Myers out of the picture, I'm ready to step up as the team's wide receiver. 1 I think he's ready to step up as the wide receiver. 1 I think he could be the team's wide receiver. 1 I just don't know if I have faith in Pete Carroll and Geno Smith to treat him like the wide receiver.

[A]

One Can I say something mean here? I think. I think it's just an old man thing. I think Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, I think a lot of it is just you find that thing and you get enamored by it. And, like, Tyler being the top receiver for the Raiders here is like, my dad being excited that Matlock is back on tv. Like, that's what this is. And he's just like, have you seen it? And I'm like, no, I haven't watched network television in. In 15 years. Like, what are we talking about?

[B]

Airplane is back in the theaters. They're doing a re release of Airplane. That movie's so funny.

[A]

My dad hates those. Like, he hates. He hates those kind of comedies. He thinks they're so stupid. But, like, you give him a Yellowstone, he's in anything. Taylor Sheridan, he'll sit there and binge it for 14 hours. I feel like that's. Pete Carroll is the. My dad of NFL coaches. He's just like, you guys seen that Tyler Lockett's back? Yeah, it's pretty good. You should check it out. Let's get him eight targets this week.

[B]

Taylor has been trending down for three straight years. And like, again, for people who have been watching the show, like, long, long, long time. Like, I was the Tyler Lockett guy. Like, 20, 19, 20, 20, 20, 21, 20. Like, when everybody would just find reasons to write off Tyler Lockett. I was obsessed with this guy. Like, he was one of my favorite players. But Father Time came knocking for him a couple of years ago. Like, what are we doing trying to make him the wide receiver one now. The last guy I want to mention in this tier, though, and I don't know if you've got anything else you want to talk about, Alfredo. This is more just like housekeeping from the football guy standpoint. Parker Washington on Tuesday was ranked as our wide receiver three on footballguys.com rankings, and a lot of people were very upset about that. That was just a, an issue with our projection. Somebody typed in one wrong keystroke. Something happened, Everything went haywire. We've got that rectified now. Parker Washington was never our wide receiver three. That was up on the site for a couple of hours and some people got very, very upset about it. We are sorry. We apologize. Everything is fixed the way it should be right now. Do not start. Parker Washington ahead of Drake London.

[A]

You sure?

[B]

I mean, he looked like. Absolutely.

[A]

People in London would tell you Parker Washington is the best player in the NFL. Just gonna.

[B]

Yeah. And, and even like Parker Washington, what we saw last week was great. But I think another week of Jacoby Myers means that he is going to be a little bit more involved in as well, like starting him as a wide receiver 3. I think there should be some decent volume here. I think Parker Washington has looked good this year in that role as the after the catch across the middle of the field guy. But I also, I think there is a little bit of trepidation here that Jacoby Myers takes a bigger step forward and does push, you know, some of Parker Washington's volume away.

[A]

And I would say just pay attention, too, to the injury reports. Parker Washington was a DNP on Wednesday. Brian Thomas did practice. So I think we know what their roles are going to be. Right. Like, we're going to have Brian Thomas Jr. And Jacoby Myers on the outside. Jacoby Myers can play the slot. Parker Washington, that is exclusively his role. There's some upside here because the Chargers are not Great against slot wide receivers. But you also have to imagine if you've got Brian Thomas, you've got Jacoby Myers, you're probably not looking at another 29 target share game for Parker Washington. So I think it's just, you know, you can start him as a wide receiver three or flex. But. But have the context that you're probably not getting a crazy London game like you got last week.

[B]

Anyone else we want to talk about here? I think we got them all. Alfredo.

[A]

I. I think we got them all. Tez Johnson is another fun guy. Just, you know. Yeah, I'm. He's just a chill guy. You know that. Tez Johnson. Remember when that was like a funny meme for a moment? Just. I'm just a chill guy.

[B]

Yeah, that was a good one.

[A]

Okay, if you were in.

[B]

Oh, I, I think I just want to give like a. A little pep talk to the Jonathan Taylor managers out there. I have John.

[A]

They don't need it.

[B]

Well, he's on bias. That's fine. He's on by this week and I want to say, like, you know, I have a lot of lineups that I've said. I was a very heavy Jonathan Taylor drafter this year. Like my most drafted round two player. Unless I'm setting a lot of lineups this week, I'm like, how is this team even above.500? Like, he is able to cover up a lot of warts. And when you're setting, you know, your, your first place lineup without Jonathan Taylor this week, it's tough. He'll be back next week. Let's just, let's get through week 11 and then we can get it back in our lineups. It's not going to be fun for. For a lot of people out there who have really been writing Jonathan Taylor to the top of their league standings.

[A]

Oh, no. The fantasy teams with the really good record, really good player. Don't get them this week. I don't care. I dance on your grave. I hope you all lose this week in his bye week there.

[B]

Nothing feels better than taking Jonathan Taylor out of your lineup for Tyler Algier. Yeah. Yeah. That's where I'm actually at this week.

[A]

Yeah, you get what you get. We'll see you.

[B]

Tyler. Tyler Batty for Jonathan Taylor. That's. We're hurting out here. Yeah. You don't even think about running baddie. You know, he has changed the pronunciation. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is. He went by.

[A]

It was so. It was Tyler. I remember Tyler Beatty when he was at. When he was at Missouri. And then I heard Tyler Batty. And then when he's on the Broncos, it became bidet. And everyone's like, you mean the thing that shoots water up your butt? And he's like, yep. And it's spelled how you want to be called. You sure? Like you had an out. You were Tyler Beatty for.

[B]

Yeah, I mean if that was my spelling. And I was just able to like tell people, like, I definitely go with baddie. That's a cool last name, whatever he is. But yeah, starting him in a handful of leagues, you know, starting Michael Wilson in a handful of leagues. There's a, we're out here a lot of injuries and, and some good players on by this week, but we will persevere.

[A]

I feel nothing for any of you. It's going to be week 12. It's, it's the fantasy football season. I feel nothing at this point. But guys, we're gonna be back again. We'll be back again on Monday giving you our reaction and takeaways to week 11. And then we'll hop into the week 12 waiver wire as usual. We'll talk about the some playoff players to stash and then we're back again next Thursday for the week 12 starts and sleepers episode like we always do. We made it through another week, Dave. As always, I want to thank our audience for watching or listening to each episode all the way through. For myself, for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios.

[B]

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