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Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups || Fantasy Football 2025
01:01:54
In Episode 266 of the Footballguys Fantasy Football Show, Dave Kluge and Alfredo Brown discuss players to target on the waiver wire after Week 3. Send your questions to fantasyshow@footballguys.com 🎥. SUBSCRIBE to the NEW YouTube page:...
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A
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B
How's your coffee?
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C
It's good. You know, I actually want budget coffee. No, it's really, really good. The other day I went budget.
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B
How is budget coffee? Really good.
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C
That's what I'm surprised by. I went to Safeway and it's just like their store brand whole bean coffee. And it was a giant like a three pound bag for $11. And I'm like, you know what? This is just too good of a deal to pass on. And I brought it home and it's great coffee. Like, it's really, really good coffee. I think the trick is whole bean. When you get that ground coffee, there's, there's bugs and stuff ground up in there. Like it's disgusting. You're like half dirt, half cockroaches.
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B
It's fresh, it's freshly ground. When you get the whole bean.
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C
Well, yeah, and that's it. So I get this whole bean coffee and like, I'm saying it was like a budget brand. I was very skeptical of it. Like it was a gigantic, like comically large bag of coffee, but it was whole bean. And I was like, you know, it can't be that bad. And if it is bad, you know, I'll just toss the bag out and be out 11 bucks. But it is shockingly good coffee. Shout out. Shout out. Safeway.
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B
I just love that our cold opens are. Let's find the most mundane thing possible. Then let's talk about that as if it is something shocking, a revelation for the people at home.
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C
Well, I do want people to know. So here I'm looking at it right now. It is Safeway, which is, I don't know who owns Safeway. It's one of those big commercial brands. But it is the signature select breakfast blend on sale right now at Safeway.
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B
Don't have it for lunch. Don't, don't, don't screw around and have.
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C
It for any other time only breakfast light it's nutty. There's a little bit of citrus in it. It's a lot better than what I would have expected for, for, for $3 and $0.50 per pound.
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B
While we're at it, don't sleep on Costco socks either. Let's just, you know, let's keep just listing all the things.
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C
Foreign.
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B
Welcome into the football Guys fantasy football show. It's the week for waiver wire pickup show. Dave, I don't know what to say. It kind of feels like each week the waiver wire is pretty ugly, but there are a few players that might be available in certain leagues and I kind of want to get those out of the way first. First because there's guys that we say, hey, they don't meet our threshold, but if they are available and these are players that you can actually go and pick up, we need to have sort of a strategy for that. So Trey Benson, I know is going to be the big name that everyone is looking at who's he's rostered in way too many leagues for us to talk about. But if Trey Benson, Cardinals backup running back, is available in your league, what kind of fab are you dropping on him?
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C
I'm just picking him up for zero because I assume that all the rest of the league mates are asleep at the wheel if Trey Benson is, is available. But jokes aside, I mean like, yeah, you're dropping like 80, 90, maybe even 100 if you are really in running back trouble. I, I, I, I think, you know, Trey Benson, this doesn't come around often where you get a guy like on a run, first offense, a talented round two prospect with the opportunity. That's a guy that you really drop it all on. So I, I'd be shocked, you know, if you're in a league where Trey Benson's available. Let us know in the YouTube comments because I want to know what type of league that is. I, I imagine it's a pretty shallow one, but you talk about it like these first few weeks have been a little bit underwhelming and I feel like every same thing where like I check the waiver wire and I'm like, oh, I want this player. Then I go click add and then I have to see who I'm going to drop from my roster and I'm like, no, I don't want to drop any of these players. So it's been a very quiet first few weeks on the waiver wire so far.
- [04:01]
B
Yeah, I mean, it's probably a lot of shallow leagues, right? It's, it's eight or 10 team leagues. It's short benches. It's potentially leagues with no flex or one flex. Like, there's. There's no shame in these smaller leagues. It's just there's going to be people who don't have the bench to go and. And hold on to backup running backs. There's also like really fun, fun leagues that people are in. Trey Benson, I do think, Dave, you're right. It's going to be 80. It's 90% heck. If. If you're just. If you're going all in, just go all in, right? Like, go. Go for the 100 and make sure you go and get a starting running back because it's a player that if this was. If this was the situation before the season. Trey Benson is going in what round? Round.
- [04:38]
C
Round five? Yeah, I think probably round four. I mean, he's a really talented guy and he does have that annoying tendency that we talk about where he's a very east west mover. Like, doesn't get downhill. Qu as we'd like to see. But the opportunity is going to be there. And we know what this guy has is big play upside. Like, he can break one tackle and then it's off to the races. And I don't have it off the top of my head. I want to say he was like a 4. 4 guy. Alfredo, I don't know if you remember exactly, but a fast guy, like a size speed guy, a guy who made a lot of big plays when he was in college. So if the opportunity is there, I mean, I think that we're just looking at him as like a plug and play RB2 with weekly RB1 upside very similar to what we were getting from James Connor.
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B
Yeah, yeah. I just. I'm gonna leave it at that right there. There's nothing more to add to the Trey Benson talk. Go, go, go pick him up. Some other players that we've added in previous weeks that. Dave, I know you want to talk about one of these guys, so we'll go through them quick. But guys, we've added in previous weeks that we're not going to talk about too much today. Blake Corum, Alec IO Manor, Briton Strange, Kenneth Gainwell, Kendra Miller. These are all guys we have brought up before, so if they are available, you know, go and take a look at them on your waiver wire. But, Dave, I know you wanted to talk about Blake Corum here and how that role kind of keeps growing a little bit.
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C
Yeah, I'm going to be talking out of, like, both sides of my mouth here because like on one hand he looks so much better. He has just as many runs of 10 plus yards as Kyron Williams has. Kyron Williams has 55 rushing attempts. Blake Corum has 14. I mean, like this guy has broken tackles, generated yards after contact on all the things we want to see. I was trying to find like one metric that favored Kyron Williams this morning and I couldn't. Like, Blake Corum is handily outplaying him. All that being said, I don't think it really matters because this is Sean McVeigh we're talking about and he loves him some Kyron Williams. So pick up Blake Corum as a priority AD if he's available. Because I think what we've seen is that like if Kyron Williams goes down, Blake Oram is good enough to be an NFL running back and he can make the plays and he could score the touchdowns and break the tackles and do all the things that we want to see. But as long as Kyron Williams is healthy, we've done this song and dance enough over the last few years. He is going to get the, the bulk of the work in Los Angeles.
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B
Yeah, that's the thing. Man is like fantasy analysis so often turns into X player has Y stat and it is impressive because of Z. Right. And at the end of the day, sometimes just doesn't matter. Like Blake Corum can be better than Kyron Williams in every single stat and it won't matter. Kyron Williams got paid. Kyron Williams is the starting running back for the Rams. They are more comfortable with Kyron Williams getting the bulk of the carries. And then when they're in at, you know, in, in the red zone, Karen Williams is getting targeted on, on these passing plays and he's getting goal line carries and it's like, sure, are we going to have one week where maybe Blake Corum gets the lucky touchdown break? Sure. That's why he's like you said, a priority ad, a guy to have as a, as a backup, as a contingency handcuff running back, but not a guy that I think you need to go out and do a Trey Benson where you're putting, you know, tons and tons of fab on.
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C
A younger me would have said, like all of the analytics favor Blake or me. He's going to take Kyrad Williams job. But I've been doing this long enough that that's not how it happens. Like if the opportunity arises, he's going be really, really good. But that opportunity is not going to arise without an injury to Kyron Williams.
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B
This is called Growth, David. It's called Growth. Ella. Kyle Manor, another guy who like ended up having a good week. It's, it's a, there's a little bit of touchdown cologne going on there. But yeah, I mean there's, I'm sorry.
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C
I said, yeah, sure, but that's, that's important. We like touchdowns.
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B
Yeah, I mean there's not going to be many on the Tennessee Titans offense, so we'll take them where we can get them. The target rate looks good. Let's get into the players for this week that are a lot more readily available. There are some, some interesting names, some where I think like, man, it's a little fugazi. There's just like there's still some stuff that we're not quite there yet. And others that were like, this could be the breakout. And so first one I want to talk about is Luther Burden, Bears wide receiver. Now, I know a lot of this is just going to be predicated on the one big play that we got there, the flea flicker. But then we started to see a lot more usage and we started to see a lot more design targets as the game went on. So Dave, Luther burden, available in 75% of leagues, three catches, 101 yards last week and a touchdown. He was playing in two and four wide receiver sets a bit more out there. So we know he's got big play upside. Where are you at with Luther Burden?
- [08:49]
C
Yeah, I mean this is one that I think you do drop some fab on, but I think that there's also a lot more risk here than I think a lot of other analysts will lead you to believe. I mean, this is still a very crowded offense and you know, we are looking at a potential. There's been a lot of buzz in Chicago about a DJ more trade that would obviously clear the path for Luther, Luther Burton to really take off. But you know what? We saw that, that big touchdown, yeah, was great, but that was very much so a film room touchdown. And they even talked about that, that they knew that they can get them to bite and they knew that the, the, the safeties and the defensive backs were a liability there. So yeah, you know, we're going to get excited about that, but I don't think you'd expect a 65 yard flea flicker every single week. There still isn't a ton of usage like he played 21 snapshots, he ran eight routes. He was utilized heavily on those routes though. I mean, three targets, three receptions. I think what I like even more than the big 65 yard touchdown was the deep post that he ran. I mean it was nothing spectacular but just like a deep post into his own coverage. He settled down and caught the ball where he needed to. Then as he was catching the ball, like immediately situated his feet so he could turn up yards after the catch. And that's what he does so well is like the, the plays that he can make with the ball in his hand. So you know, Adunze is the clear wide receiver. 1. Now they got D.J. moore going in the second half a little bit. He's getting a lot of backfield usage. Deandre Swift, Colcomette Colson Loveland had three targets yesterday. Olamide Zakias is still taking a lot of slot snaps. So it's a very, very crowded offense. I don't think that I can advocate for picking, burn them up, burden up and starting him next week, but I think that we see this with rookies that they just kind of slowly develop and they get better as time goes on. A really good prospect ran a 44 at the combine last year. And, and if there's like one role that we have to put him into, I think a lot of people have said like the Brown type of role, but the usage that we're seeing is a lot more Jameson Williams esque. Yeah, like using that speed, getting him downfield, allowing him to create with the ball in his hand. So yeah, I mean I think you probably. It's hard saying fab because every league is so different. He's a guy like 15 to 25% I think. And, and you're stashing him and hoping that he can develop. But again, this one could be a little bit disappointing. And it seems like we say that about like every waiver wire pickup through these first few weeks.
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B
You know, this is one of those where I kind of, I look at this as like putting your waiver wire on, on layaway, where I don't think that you're starting him this week, I don't think you're starting next week, I don't think you're probably starting him for the next three, four, five weeks. But this is the guy that you pick up, you stash. And honestly, like the teams where I've had him, I haven't dropped him. Because you're just waiting for something like this to happen and the usage becomes more and more like this is the same thing. You mentioned Jameson Williams. It reminds me a lot of like Ricky Piersol when he was coming on last year and he started to get used in some gimmicky ways. And obviously it's different circumstances for him, but I think there is a thing where talent eventually just starts to win out and coaches say, how can we just get this guy on the field? Even if it's getting him the gimmicky touches at first, how can we grow that role? The DJ Moore thing was weird, dude. Like, it was weird seeing him lined up at running back so much, seeing him really not get target throughout the first half at all. Like, it just kind of came out of nowhere. Even the touchdown, like, felt sort of like weird, almost like an accident kind of thing.
- [11:56]
C
With wide open, like waving his hands in front of Caleb.
- [11:59]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it. It almost felt like it really was not on purpose. So I, I think there might be some truth to the DJ Moore trade rumors. If DJ Moore is traded, like, how more. How much more valuable does Luther Burden actually become?
- [12:13]
C
Oh, that's huge, because then he's not coming off the field. You know, then he gets some of those backfield touches as well. I mean, that would be a huge, huge change for him. That's the biggest thing inhibiting him right now is Olamide Zakias and DJ Moore both being ahead of him and both getting a healthy dose of slot snap. So, yeah, I think we'd probably need that or, you know, God forbid, an injury to like, really, really see Luther Burden take off. But again, you know, we talk about Amanra St Brown. I feel like there's so many parallels between the, the Bears and the Lions and the rookies and their utilization and stuff like that. And if you look at Amanda St. Brown's rookie season, he was flashing early, but he was also struggling to get on the field. And then DeAndre Swift got hurt, and then TJ Hawkinson got hurt, and then he averaged 20 points per game down the stretch. So these things do happen. We saw a lot of injuries this week. It's just the nature of the game. So, yeah, I mean, right now the, the path is looking narrow, but things can change so drastically in any given week.
- [13:10]
B
If we. And this is, this is so like, not stat or fact driven, but if we really want to play into narratives here and say, man, Bears offense really looked good this week. When they get Luther Burden more involved, like, that's a thread you could start to pull at a little bit more if you really want to.
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C
You also wonder, last year they had that, like, really bad loss against Washington that just caused their entire year to, like, tailspin. Maybe. This is me, like, being a little hopeful, a little Bit of copium here as a Bears fan, but like, I wonder if this was such like a good dominant win that it can have the inverse effect where it's like, hey, now we're feeling ourselves. Now we can go out and beat like good NFC teams. Maybe I'm just, you know, a little wind drunk the next morning, but hopefully this can turn their season around a bit. After two tough losses to start the year.
- [13:57]
B
Who's the next guy you want to talk about here? We can go any direction, wide receivers, running backs, titan, quarterback, whatever. You know, the next guy you would say is priority.
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C
I think there's a lot of good running back stashes, but Tory Horton is another guy I want to talk about. Very similarly to Luther Burden. Yeah, I mean three touchdowns in his last two games. Such a talented player and we've talked about it a bunch. He fell because of the medical concerns. He had this knee slash hamstring injury that he, there was a lot of mystery surrounding the injury, but he has looked good. You know, we saw the, the punt return touchdown. We saw the receiving touchdown that was followed off of a receiving touchdown last week as well. So 29.4 PPR points over the weeks and yeah, that's heavily skewed by a few touchdowns. But we just talked about this with Luther Burden. Like these guys flash early. We said it with Ayla Guy Menor too. Like these rookies that are scoring touchdowns early, that's going to earn them bigger roles. And I don't want to say it, but cup doesn't look great. Like he looks like a very old, often injured wide receiver right now. And this was kind of the hope is that like JSN would be the wide receiver one and that, you know, we, we had two hurdles for Tori Horton to clear. The first one being Marques Valdez scantling, which he did in the preseason. And now it looks like he might be able to clear Cooper too. So this is a low volume passing offense. You know, they run the ball a lot and they run the ball well. But Tori Horton could easily emerge as a secondary target in this offense.
- [15:16]
B
He could. And I mean it's something that we talked about in the preseason. I still wonder what that means for this offense because this was such a kind of just for like the same thing for the Bears too. These were weird game scripts for these teams. They got ahead early and I don't know that anything they did in these weeks is something that is sustainable going into future weeks. Now could we, could this be the, the, in the, the, the breakout for these young players, the Tory Hortons and Luther Burtons. Yeah, absolutely. It's hard to look at a guy who gets three catches on four targets and say that's the breakout. But when it's the second leading receiver on the team, when it is touchdowns and back to back weeks, when it is these things, you start to just pick up on these little breadcrumbs that are there. And I don't think you're saying go out and spend a butt ton on Tori Horton, but it's one of those guys that if you're, if you know your league mates are not gonna be spending on them, go and drop. How much would you be spending on Horton?
- [16:13]
C
You know, again, it's, it's so league dependent and I, I hate this cop out. But like I did a Reddit AMA last week and ever like so many questions because it was a Monday morning ama, people were asking about fab. It is so hard to give a fab recommendation because league depth and bench depth and team situations. I mean he's not a guy that I'm like you know, dumping a ton of money on, but I think in most leagues, if he's available, you know, 2 to 3%, if it's a really deep league, I can go up to like 10. So not like going completely over my skis here, but he's a talented player. And then you also talk about like yeah, the, the, the overall volume wasn't great, but Sam Darnold attempted 18 passes, right. Like there was not a lot of volume here at all. So even looking at that, like he still pulled near a 25 target share which is really, really good for a day three rookie in his third NFL game. So yeah, I, I think like 2, 3, 5% in your shallow leagues and 10% plus in your really deep leagues.
- [17:05]
B
A guy I want to talk about, Ollie Gordon, player that we talked about in the off season a lot and he sort of had his coming out party this past week going up against the Bills and the Dolphins seem, I know obviously the team lost their own three. The vibes are terrible around them, but the game looked different this last week and the offense looked a little different. And Mike McDaniel called a heck of a game. And this is an offense that doesn't seem like they can really rely on Tua Tango by Loa to have to run the passing game effectively and consistently. And I would not be surprised if we start to see an offense that needs to run the ball a lot more. And looking back at Ollie Gordon, I'm going To read this off for you guys, the week three snap rate, nearly 80% of the snaps, like, he was out there a ton. And nine carries, 38 yards, gets the red zone touchdown. We see that he was getting used early. This wasn't a thing where the game was out of reach or anything like that. Ollie Gordon was part of the game plan. Dave. I think we're looking at a guy who kind of sits in that same Blake Corum kind of area where it's, you know, you're probably not starting him, you're probably not spending all the fab on him, but he's a good player to have, especially given the history of Devon Hn and injuries.
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C
Yeah. And I think this offense does have a little bit of life in it. Like you said, they lost, but they looked good. You know, they held their own against the Buffalo Bills, and they were able to.
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B
Nothing like a moral victory when you're.
- [18:26]
C
03, you know, sometimes you need that. And Tyreek Hill looked okay. Jalen Waddle came on strong, especially in the fourth quarter here. So there were signs of life. But I think like this, this team, when we saw them at their best in 2023, yeah, tua taka Bailoa made some nice plays and Tyreek Hill was a wide receiver one. But the identity of this team was in the run game like it was Raheem Mostert and Devon Achan just pummeling defenses, which opened up the opportunities for the big plays. And Devon Achan is very good with the ball in his hands, but they haven't had that type of punishing defender or that punishing running back since. And that's exactly what Ali Gordon is. So I'm hoping that now this can kind of get them a little bit closer to that 2023 team that we saw. It's a big ask. Like, they've got a lot to change here, but definitely something that I'll be watching closely. And I think you hit it on that very similar to Blake Gorham. Like, you're not putting him in your lineups, but you're seeing a little bit here. And as more injuries pile up and bye weeks start hitting us, then all of a sudden those Blake Quorums and Ollie Gordons start looking like potential flex players.
- [19:26]
B
All right, give me your next guy who's someone else that you're prioritizing on the waiver wire.
- [19:30]
C
Let me go with one more receiver before we talk about some of the running backs here. Taekwond Thornton. And this was my. My sleeper of the week last week, and and it's weird that people haven't really seem to like catch on to what he's doing right now. But again, this, this stat that I've really been paying a lot of attention to this offseason I think is important. Team Air yard share like how much of a chunk of the team's air yards are you pulling? That tells me can you pull targets and can you pull valuable targets downfield? And the list hasn't changed that much after week three. We've got Malik neighbors atop the list with almost 60% of his team's air yards. That's ludicrous. Calvin Austin has moved up to number two, Jackson Smith and Jigba at number three, Tyree Kill at number four, Garrett Wilson at number five. And Tyquan Thornton is sixth in the NFL in teams air yard share at 50.6%. That means over half of the yards that Patrick Mahomes has pushed the ball downfield have gone to Taekwond Thornton. And I know we're looking at Xavier Worthy potentially coming back. Rashi Rice is going to be back at some point, but Tyquan Thornton has that deep role in this chief's offense. And we see two very clear cut roles for receivers in Kansas City. Either the the guy who catches the ball right at the line of scrimmage and tries to create after the catch, or you're the guy that runs deep downfield and tries to get those deep balls from Mahomes. Worthy has proven to be that guy that plays near the line of scrimmage. That's what Rashi Rice does as well. And right now we see juju Smith Schuster kind of operating in that role. Tyquan Thornton, there's not going to be a ton of target volume there, but this is a guy who any given week can go off for 60 yards and a touchdown. There are no other receivers right now in Kansas City and I think that he is the most valuable guy there until Xavier Worthy returns. So we're looking at a guy with 44 speed, a second round pick who never really found his footing in New England. I think he's worth a pickup and again like not going totally over my skis because he could just be banished to the shadow realm once Rashi Rice and Xavier Worthy are back up to speed in week seven. But still, I mean this is a guy that for the next few weeks you can rely on as kind of a desperation high ceiling flex player.
- [21:26]
B
Were you watching like combine highlights this morning? This is your third time referencing 44 speed on today's show.
- [21:35]
C
Nobody else right now on this team has that speed. I mean, Xavier Worthy, like we could or not Xavier Worthy, Hollywood.
- [21:40]
B
I'm pretty sure it's like four, two speed. Like, it's. It's. Taekwond Thornton was the fastest player from that draft class.
- [21:45]
C
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, he's. And yeah, I think it was 4 2, 4 2, 1. I want to say, I can't remember off the top of my head, but like just a blazing fast guy. And you know, Marquis Brown has the combine measurements, but he's picked up a lot of injuries throughout his career. I don't think he has that speed anymore. Taekwond Thornton, I think is the guy that we want to. Want to roster in Kansas City.
- [22:05]
B
Yeah, what's. So what worries me a little bit. And I like Tyquan Thornton. And watching the game, it's like it's kind of the more you see it, the more you start to believe it, you know, kind of thing. And I started to believe it with Taekwond Thor. And then I sit back and I go, well, what if he's the Blake Corum of wide receivers there in Kansas City? And all of a sudden when Xavier Worthy comes back, Taekwond Thornton is relegated. And what happens when Rashid Rice is out there and then Taekwond Thornton's target share really gets relegated? And it's like, I actually do think he might be better than Xavier Worthy at the Xavier Worthy role. Like, he might be the better guy for that. And there was. It's. It's pretty obvious that Patrick Mahomes is trusting him. He's doing the effort taekwondo down there somewhere like two, three, four times a game where he's just chucking it. And Taekwond Thornton made impressive catches. It's not like a broken coverage. Like he was going up near catch too. I honestly, like, I thought it was, man, in real time, it looked like a touchdown. He catches it and just slides into the end zone. And then Patrick Mahomes goes right back to him again. There's a trust there. And I know that's something like I've been talking about a little more on the show. There is the intangible of a quarterback just trusting a receiver. And right now it doesn't really seem like Patrick Mahomes can trust anyone on that offense. Like he's looking to run all the time. Taekwond Thornton, I think is a viable waiver wire pickup this week.
- [23:32]
C
And something we don't talk about a lot with these deep threats is ball tracking. Skills like we could see these guys that can get wide open deep downfield. But Xavier Worthy did that so many times last year, he would blow the top off the defense. Patrick Mahomes would put it downfield and he just couldn't catch it. And that's something that I think makes Tyreek Hill so good. Like it's not just Tyreek Hill's speed, it's also his speed and his ball tracking abilities. Like Tuo we know is a scattershot quarterback. It doesn't matter if he's putting it deep, left, right, short. Like Tyreek Hill is going to come down with that. And I see a lot of that in Taekwond Thornton's game. Like, he's a fast guy, he can get behind defenses, but then he's also able to adjust however the ball is thrown. So there's something here. Like we haven't seen a deep threat with ball tracking skills in Kansas City since Tyreek Hill. And like now we're seeing Patrick Mahomes starting to get his swagger back a little bit and pushing that ball downfield.
- [24:23]
B
You know, there's a guy that I feel like we have to. There's a couple, I mean, there's tons more players we're going to talk about. There's a guy I think we have to mention who I think is going to be someone that people spend a lot of their fab on. And I feel like we've seen this almost every week where there's a receiver who just comes out, has themselves a big game and then doesn't follow it up the next week. And it's been, you know, you get the Troy Franklins and you know, we've, we've been on the Wondale Ride before and like we've done some of these and Trey Tucker right now sort of. I know how it looks and it like we've seen three different shades of Trey Tucker. Dave, We've seen the guy who gets a touchdown in week one on three targets. Then we see the guy who gets eight targets but doesn't get the receptions. And then this week we see a guy who gets eight receptions on nine targets for three touchdowns and is for all intents and purposes the Fantasy Wide Receiver 1. This week we've seen so many different shades of this player. I ask myself all the time when looking at players like this, is, is this something that is sustainable? Do we think Trey Tucker continues to lead the team and targets like this on a weekly basis? Do we think that he continues to get touchdowns like this? Four touchdowns in two games, three weeks, whatever. I don't, I don't think so. Like, I think that's a reason. Like, being reasonable tells you no. Like, we're going to see more of these balls going to, to Brock Bowers. We're going to see Jacoby Myers, who has zero touchdowns in the year, get some of that regression. And I know, like, that's, that's kind of the fantasy analyst thing of just saying like touchdown regression and then it never actually happens. So, like, I know I'll probably be shouting that into the void for as long as I can. I just don't think that it is responsible to go out and spend a ton of fab on a guy like Trey Tucker, who just had himself the best week of his career. And I get it and I hope he does end up playing well. But for fantasy managers, I just don't think that is going to be the smart move to make this week.
- [26:11]
C
Yeah, I think the move with Trey Tucker is like you put in that hundred percent bid and you screenshot it and then you drop it in your fantasy group chat and say, who's going to be able to beat me on this one? And then you cancel your bid and like, hope somebody else really pays up for them because it's just such a dangerous game, chasing points.
- [26:27]
B
You're really well liked in your fantasy league.
- [26:29]
C
Oh, no, I'm. Yeah. I mean, I do a lot of. I play within the confines of the rules, but I get pretty close. You seem fun, but yeah, I mean, like chasing points, we know you don't want to do that. And he is the third option on this team. And it's very rare for a third option to be somebody that you can consistently rely upon. So, you know, good player, a fast player. But Brock Bowers is banged up. I think that also plays a big part in this Trey Tucker usage. I think once Brock Bowers is back to speed, you know, he'll be the primary target. Kobe Myers will be the number two. And I just. Trey Tucker, you know, those who got him in best ball drafts in round 18, congratulations, that's a huge spike week there. But I don't know if I'm ever in a place where I'm putting Trey Tucker in my lineup. I'm probably not feeling too good about my fantasy team.
- [27:14]
B
Right?
- [27:15]
C
Are we.
- [27:15]
B
Don't you think we're probably chasing points as well with Parker Washington? Is that. Or is that a guy that you think. Because I get it. There's been some good usage.
- [27:23]
C
I almost like Parker Washington more than Trey Tucker, as wild as that sounds, is that. Is that crazy? Like, do I need a heat check here?
- [27:29]
B
I like the player. I think you need a heat check. I like the player. I do. I'd like him a lot more if the Jaguars passing offense was an anemic and they didn't also have Diami Brown and Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter on the team as well.
- [27:42]
C
Yeah.
- [27:42]
B
And like, that's the thing, is, yes, this is a good week. It's 11 targets. It's also four catches on the 11 targets. Like, Trevor Lawrence just doesn't look good. I think we're actually reaching the point where we can start to call him a. I don't want to say it.
- [27:57]
C
Do it.
- [27:57]
B
I don't want to say the word. Do it.
- [27:59]
C
Drop it on socials, share it everywhere.
- [28:02]
B
I'm not gonna say the word. I'm not gonna say the word. But we could say he's disappointing. You know, it's like. It's like the parent. It's like, I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed. And you felt way worse. Yeah.
- [28:10]
C
Like, they felt a lot better with Trevor Lawrence on this when he was on his rookie contract, but now that he's on this, like, big mega deal, it's like, all right, dude, let's step up and play. Like the.
- [28:18]
B
It's the step brothers, and they show up in tuxedos to the interview. He's like, tuxedos are kind of messed up. It's like, now the Trevor Lawrence contract's kind of messed up.
- [28:27]
C
Yeah. So I think, like, the. The one thing that I kind of like about Parker Washington, this team has no identity right now. They don't know what they want to do. They don't know who their wide receiver one is. Like, it like, Liam Cohen right now looks like a toddler playing with that toy, trying to put, like, all of the shapes in the shapes, but he's putting them in the wrong holes, and it's just, like, not working. Like, it is terrible. We see all of these guys in roles that they shouldn't be in. Like, we saw Travis Hunter. Like, you and I talked about it. I was like, hopefully Liam co can look at the Week 2 tape self scout a little bit and put Travis Hunter back in a better role on offense. And what did he do? Played him even more on defense.
- [29:02]
B
I don't understand, like, I don't understand how you trade so much to go up and get a player. Talk about him playing wide receiver all off season, and then we get to the actual games and you're like, no, I'm not going to do it. Yeah, you can't make me.
- [29:18]
C
We've seen this, like, high value role. The guy playing out of the slot, the guy getting the short in breaking routes was Travis Hunter in week one, it was Brian Thomas Jr. In week two, it was Parker Washington in week three. So I wonder if there is just a lot of, like, experimenting right now to see kind of what is going to work. And that's why I'm mildly intrigued by Parker Washington, because I think he looked good in that role last week. And they might have said, like, hey, this guy's playing this role better than Travis Hunter and better than Ryan Thomas Jr. And they might keep him in there. That being said, like, you worry about, you know, the, the B word with Trevor Lawrence. I worry about the F word with Liam Cohen. That he might be a fraud. Yeah, Liam Cohen, a frown. But, you know, you look back at Tampa Bay, like, Dave Canales built that offense. Like, that was very much so Dave Canal's offense. He left Liam Cohen kind of steered the ship for a year and then becomes a head coach. But, like, Liam Cohen didn't have a ton to do with, like, building out that offense. And then you also talk about Shane Waldron there. Like, I jokingly tweeted the day that Shane Waldron signed with Jacksonville that like, oh, this is bad news for your Brian Thomas Jr shares. But, like, even I didn't think it was going to be this bad. Like, I, I might just. Liam Cohen is like Midas, except instead of things turning to gold, they just turn to poop when he touches them.
- [30:33]
B
Okay, I'm not ready to go there. I'm not ready to go there. That Liam Cohen is, is a fraud. The run game looks a lot better than it did last year. Year. This is, I mean, a lot of this is falling on Trevor Lawrence. And then there's just like the weird. So this was something that never even happened last year where Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas never really got on the same page. And I, like, I just think that is astounding to have this many snaps in the off season with the player and practices and still not be on the same page. And what we've seen throughout Trevor Lawrence's career is he kind of meshes with the guys that aren't the speedsters, the guys that do a lot of the underneath stuff. Like, he loves the, the Evan Ingrams now Brenton Strange. He loves the Christian Kirks now it's Parker Washington's. And you know, honestly, like, my hope Was that Travis Hunter could be that guy to do the same thing and win on a lot of those option routes like he did this past week in week three. And that's something that could benefit Trevor Lawrence. And so I'm not ready to say that Liam Cohen's a fraud. The Jags are still. They're two and one. This is a division where they're going to be extremely competitive in man. But like, but Trevor Lawrence, I'm a lot closer to calling him a fraud.
- [31:45]
C
He might be a fraud.
- [31:47]
B
He might be a fraud. It might, it might be froud time for him. Fraud. Watch 2025.
- [31:52]
C
Let's. Let's talk about a couple more running backs.
- [31:55]
B
Couple more running backs. Okay. By the way, some other names just to throw out there that are now like injury contingent at wide receiver. Sterling Shepard, Jalen Tolbert. Just interesting. Mike Evans might be out.
- [32:04]
C
Man. He's a dog. He's still got it.
- [32:08]
B
How many other words are we going to not pronounce correctly this week? Proud. Dog.
- [32:12]
C
Yeah. For the listeners that have been watching long term, just so you know, we do record this one like two hours than we normally record. So, like, my coffee's still hitting. I'm not 100% there, but we're getting there. Mid season four.
- [32:23]
B
We won't get there, but yeah. Sterling shepherd, this is at four targets in each of the first three games so far. He's. I, I, it, it hit me the other day when I was watching the Bucks. Sterling shepherd played with Baker at Oklahoma. Like, I forgot about that little.
- [32:38]
C
I forgot about that too. I thought you meant last year. I was like, yeah, of course.
- [32:42]
B
Yeah. No, like I forgot about this. They played together at Oklahoma, so there's a little bit of that connection there. And Mike Evans looking to be out anywhere from two to four weeks. I was seeing the IR is actually very likely for Evans considering it's the hamstring gauge, all the those things together. Chris Godwin is looking like he's coming back in week four. So that kind of dampens this a little bit. But Godwin's gonna need time to ramp up. I mean, it might. By the way, what a backfire on me, man. Trading away a Meg Buka because this is now like it's, it's. He's winning in different ways. And the, the.
- [33:18]
C
I traded him away in a dynasty league yesterday morning right before kickoff. I traded away a Buka and Drake May and in return, I got two first round picks. Two second round picks, Taylor and Jaden Higgins. So it's a team where like I'm already loaded. Like, I don't need. Like I, I have like four starting quarterbacks. I've got. Ibuka was on my bench because my wide receivers were so loaded. So I tried to like spread out a little bit and get some extra picks. But then see to Buko with like the, the catch that wasn't a catch, which very clearly was a catch. Like, I don't know if you know which one I'm talking about. Like, yeah, it was. That was one of the crazy. Like I can't. That should have just like cool factor alone counted as a catch. But for whatever reason that one was negated. He looks unbelievable. But now I do wonder what this offense is going to look like without Mike Evans because they really need him playing that X role. And now there's.
- [34:05]
B
They're gonna put a Buka in the.
- [34:06]
C
X role which is not great for his fantasy value. Like that is we want to see him in that slot role. And I think that Chris Godwin now plays in the slot role. We're gonna see a Buka move to the X role and then Sterling Shepard is flanker maybe. Like, I don't know, but like, I.
- [34:19]
B
Think Sterling Shepard takes the slot role and I think they're gonna put. I, I think we're just gonna be a rotation.
- [34:25]
C
Yeah, I think it's gonna be a rotation is what we're gonna see more than anything else. And that could push the ceiling down for Abuka just a tad.
- [34:33]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, good news.
- [34:36]
C
He just traded away a Buka.
- [34:38]
B
Now the good news is now you have all those picks and you could, I don't know, maybe even get a Mecca Buka type player in one of your upcoming rookie drafts. You know, maybe Jalen Tolbert's an interesting one. Like we didn't really see a big volume increase for him, but he was out there on the field a lot more. So if CD Lamb is going to be missing time, it's just a player to be cognizant of. Dave, let's go to the running backs because there are, I don't want to say these injury away guys, but like there are players that are getting on the field a bit more over the last few weeks and players that I think that we could really, we really need to be paying attention to. And one of them is Woody Marks. And it's not because he has done anything that is outstanding. He's been very average, but so is Nick Chubb. And what's been worse than average has just been the Houston Texans Offense, like, it has been really, really bad. And so it's weird for me to sit here and advocate for a guy who has been average in a bad offense and splitting time, but I think it's all about where everything could go. This Texans team looks really, really bad. I don't. They can't. I don't think they can handle just running the ball and, and letting their defense try to win games. They're getting behind in games and they're going to have to pass. And they really don't have anything outside of Nico Collins right now. Even despite draf these wide receivers and having these guys, they're not utilizing them. Woody Marks might actually just be the guy that they need in there at running back catching passes. That's what he was so good at coming out of usc. I think we could see a passing role grow for Woody Marks as the season goes on.
- [36:12]
C
Yeah, and he's got juice that Nick Chubb doesn't. And did you see the, the, the kind of debate going back and forth? Because Nick Chubb had that like late fourth quarter touchdown that he ran in. 25 yard touchdown against Tampa Bay. And did you see they asked Todd Bowles about that where they were just like, didn't seem like your defense was really trying all that hard. Did you let Nick Chubb score that touchdown? And he goes, no comment. We won the game. Yeah. So I think a lot of people saw that Nick Chubb stat line in week two and said, hey, Nick Chubb is back, man. You know, 43 yards at a touchdown, you take away the play that they let him score on and he had 11 carries for 18 scoreless yards. So Nick Chubb, I think that he, like, I'm so happy to see him out there. Like, it warms my heart to see Nick Chubb like still doing the things that he does, like punishing defenders. But my goodness, like when he gets any green in front of him, he just looks like a guy who has suffered multiple devastating knee injuries. Like, you can see his leg is stiff. Like when he has to decelerate. Like there isn't that like deceleration? Like it is like four to six steps to like slowly come to a stop. It's just, I'm happy he's back out there, but Woody Marks has juice that he does not. And I think it's only a matter of time before we see that role start to grow a bit.
- [37:29]
B
Nick Chubb right now is reminding me, Dave, have you seen Dumb and Dumber?
- [37:32]
C
Oh, a million times. Yeah.
- [37:34]
B
Okay. It's when Lloyd Christmas is asking the old lady to watch his stuff. He's like, huh? It's true what they say. The elderly, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can be useful members of society. That's Nick Chubb right now. Yeah, that's Nick Chubb. That's the way that the Texans are using him, man. Like, I think the bit, the thing that spoke bigger volumes to me was Damien Pierce being a healthy scratch. Like this is. And that's weird to me because, like, yeah, okay, we're. I'm wrong now that like Damian Pierce was going to get any type of run in this offense, but I think both these guys are better than Nick Chubb at this point. And so it's weird that neither of them are playing. But like Woody Marks being the kind of the last man standing here, I, I think that's a speculative ad that I'd want to make at the running back spot. And I don't think anyone is going to be putting money on this guy in, in the waiver wire. I think it's a, it's a 1% fab ad for you in leagues.
- [38:28]
C
Yeah. And I, I don't know, the Damian Pierce thing is so weird to me because, like, I did have some questions about him. We gotta remember after his rookie season, he was like a second round pick in Fantasy the year after. Like, he looked amazing that year and he didn't look amazing. He compiled a lot of stats. He was on pace for 1400 yards before he got hurt. And then he loses his job to Devin Singletary, doesn't play at all in year three, and then comes out in week 18 and rushes for 176 yards. And now he's a healthy scratch in like the worst running back room in the league. Like, it is such a weird career for Damian Pierce. But yeah, I think we've seen enough now that Woody Marks is the number two here. And I also looked, you know, I kind of look at how touches are split up every single week in backfields and I think that's like one of the most important things to kind of pay attention to. And we are seeing a trend. Week one, it was an 8515 split in favor of Nick Chubb. Week two, 80, 20 in favor of Nick Chubb. Last week, 6040 in favor of Nick Chubb. And you know, it was a close game too. Like, it's not like this was blown out at any point where they just let Woody Marks get run. Like, this is one of the closer games that they've played this year. And it was a 6040 split. So definitely not worth ignoring.
- [39:36]
B
Take a look at the Commander's backfield because this seems like one of those.
- [39:39]
C
That is we're coming off as the biggest haters. But like we need context with Jacori, Krosky, Marriott, like every single week like he does something and it's like. But the context.
- [39:53]
B
I'm trying to remember the touchdown that he had. Someone else was, wasn't someone else in at that moment. And they, they had the, the touchdown and then it was a penalty. Oh, Terry McLaurin had scored. Right.
- [40:05]
C
And they called it like just short upon review.
- [40:08]
B
Yeah, they called it just short upon review. They get the one. And like this could have been, once again not throwing shade. This could have been any single one of the running backs. Could have been Jeremy McNichols, Chris Rodriguez, Jecori Krusky, Merritt and Dave. I think it's the same thing with Nick Chubb where people might look at that touchdown and be like, see? Told you, Bill, Bill. And like we're not against it. He actually does look good at certain times out there on the field. He's got some juice. The problem is there's not consistency. He's a zero in the passing game for the most part.
- [40:40]
C
And then the commander starter. Yeah, this is the obvious starter here.
- [40:44]
B
It was so weird. Chris Rodriguez came out there, he gets like two full drives as the starter, as the guy. And then they're like, okay, now Crosby Merritt can get some touches and then all of a sudden we get the big Jeremy McNichols play. This is, is a quite literally a three headed backfield and it is going to be incredibly annoying to try to predict on a weekend week out basis.
- [41:08]
C
Yeah. So I think we're at the point now we're just like all three of these guys need to be rostered in every league. Corey Gross, Chris Rodriguez, Jeremy McNichols. And we know three is a crowd, like three headed backfields are a nightmare to deal with, but injuries happen and if one of these guys goes down, then we get a little bit of clarity, then it's a two headed backfield and then we feel a little bit better about starting both of those guys. But yeah, man, it's the, the JCM stuff. Like a one yard touchdown plunge when they're up 31 to 10 and now everybody is like, I told you, I told you, we're back. But the Chris Rodriguez thing, it also makes sense. And I want to explain to people because I saw so much confusion on Twitter yesterday, like, why is Chris Rodriguez the Starter. Well, it's very easy. Like they want to have a three headed backfield approach. But Chris Rodriguez is a zero on special teams. So that's why Jeremy McNichols would get the nod ahead of him. When Austin Eckler was healthy, he just couldn't have four active running backs on game day. So they need that RB3 to be a special team. Or now with Austin Eckler out of the picture, Jeremy McNichols still retaining his role on special teams. Now they have room to elevate Chris Rodriguez. So I think this is going to be what we see going forward is all three of these guys active. Chris Rodriguez probably getting the early game and a lot of the goal line work. Jeremy McNichols getting a lot of the receiving work and JCM kind of coming in later in the game getting mixed in here and there. I think it's going to be a little bit of a headache. But who's the one you'd prefer? I want to see if we have the same answer here. Like if of these three guys, who do you prefer? Rest of season.
- [42:33]
B
Rest of season. This is annoying.
- [42:36]
C
I know.
- [42:40]
B
My heart tells me that I'd. I, I actually do think it ends up being Chris Rodriguez at some point, but my head continues to tell me that the most explosive playmaker out of this backfield is Jakori, Crosby, Merritt. The problem is I don't think he is ever going to get a full workload whereas Chris Rodriguez is a guy. This sounds so weird out of context where I do think he could get a full workload. Like if one of these players goes down. I think that Chris Rodriguez is going into a game with 15 touches where I don't think that happens with McNichols and I don't think that happens with Jakori, Crosby, Merritt.
- [43:18]
C
That's where I think it just shows how like cloudy and murky this backfield is because like I think Nichols might have the highest ceiling of the bunch. Like this is a guy who he started or didn't start, but he played all 17 games for the Commanders last year. They like him a lot. I was digging deep this weekend on McNichols like before these games kicked off. Do you know his nickname in high school was McWeapon because of how good he is as a receiver. Like this is a running back, but.
- [43:42]
B
He does the worst McDonald's value menu ever.
- [43:46]
C
He does a lot of the things that Austin Eckler did. Like he is good between the tackles. Low center of gravity, can break tackles, but can Also catch the ball and I think he's got a little bit more long speed at this point in his career than Austin Eckler did as well. So we didn't see a ton of usage in week one. But you know, he looked good on that 60 yard touchdown. Like he was bottled up twice and was still able to break out.
- [44:07]
B
He got, he got, he got, he got snatched from behind. But, but it was, it was by the time he got to the goal line. But yeah, like.
- [44:16]
C
For, you know, three seconds like that that's gonna, it's, it's tough to rip off a run after that. But you know, he only had four carries and obviously a lot of his production was weighed by that 60 yard touchdown. But I, I think he's good and I think that he is a good receiver as well. That's, you know, you, we say it all the time like Shakuri Grosky. Merritt Zero in the receiving game. Chris Rodriguez A zero in the receiving game. So especially in PPR leagues, I think McNichols is the one that I'd actually put a few extra of my fab dollars on over Chris Rodriguez.
- [44:46]
B
I think none of it matters because they are all like, they're all fine and it's a three headed backfield. I think you just, you stash whoever's going to be cheapest or whoever you like the most. McNichols I think gives you the passing upside, I think Rodriguez gives you the goal line upside and Jakori Krosky, Merrick gives you the explosive play upside. Like each of them has their own flavor of thing and you could combine.
- [45:11]
C
These guys into one. We'd have Bijan Robinson 2.0.
- [45:14]
B
You'd have Brian Robinson. Wait, okay, so last guy. Actually two other guys here that I think become pretty relevant because of injuries. Taj Brooks and Amari Di Mercado, they, they've kind of been guys that have been buried as the third running backs on their team. But now with the injury to Samaji Purine, the injury to James Connor, these guys are sort of thrust into these RB2 roles here and we've seen DeMarcado be valuable for fantasy. We have discussed Taj Brooks as a guy to keep as a contingent stash. Dave, if you are looking at either of these guys, who would you prefer to throw that like $1 of fab on?
- [46:00]
C
Oh, you know the answer here, it's Taj.
- [46:01]
B
I know.
- [46:01]
C
I love this guy. I was such a big fan of.
- [46:03]
B
The prospect even after how bad the Bengals have been.
- [46:06]
C
The Bengals have been bad. But a lot of that badness has been Chase Brown to blame. And sure, like, yeah, you know, I watched the film. The offensive line is terrible. It doesn't matter how bad an offensive line is. If you are taking 10 rushing attempts and generating three total yards, that's bad. And Chase Brown has looked like there. I don't know if there's a, like a, A worst efficiency player in the league right now than Chase Brown. And like we saw it, you know, the game got blown out. But late in the game they turned the ball over to Taj Brooks and he looks formidable in his opportunities. And I know it's a very tough defense, a very bad offensive line. But some of the hope that we had for Jake Browning, where we were looking at those splits from 2023, no, Jake Browning looks bad. Like this is a bad, bad team.
- [46:53]
B
It's a bad team. I still don't think like this is a game that we can walk away from and say, okay, this is how the rest of the year is going to play out.
- [47:00]
C
No, of course not.
- [47:01]
B
And especially too like a player like Brooks coming in late to a game when it's so far out of reach. It's kind of the Nick Chubb Bucks thing where they're like, no comment. Like we're not really. I'm not saying that Chase Brown has been good. He has not been good by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think he is the problem on this offense. I think all of it is the problem. Problem right now. And I think it could be that the Bucks are out of. Not the Bucks. The. The Bengals are kind of just a big L right now. And I think it's offensive line, I think it's Browning. I think it's everything. It's going to take something. The Bengals do this every year where they suck for the first three weeks, sometimes even the first five weeks. And we talk about is Joe Burrow overrated? Are the Bengals done? Does Zach Taylor need to be fired? Now we throw in a Jake Browning switch at quarterback and things are a lot worse. I don't know if they recover from this. It may not be better. The offensive line we knew was bad, but the offensive line was bad last year and the offensive line has been bad for the last five years. This isn't anything new. I do think the Jake Browning thing is what is killing this offense. It's. It looks worse than it ever has.
- [48:07]
C
He's awful. And you look like there's no get right game on the schedule anytime soon. Broncos next Week, Lions the week after that, packers the week after that. I mean this could easily be four straight losses for the Bengals. And at that point, you know, it's at that point we're almost halfway through the season and they could have fallen quite a bit in the AFC North. So this is a. Yeah, I feel bad for Bengals fans. High expectations this year and I think they'll probably end up missing the playoffs.
- [48:35]
B
I will say this in fairness. The Bengals have faced three actually pretty good defenses. Minnesota Vikings defense is an absolute buzzsaw when they are all healthy over there. Cleveland Brown's defense, we have seen how good they are. They've shut down everyone. Chase Brown, Derrick Henry and now Josh Jacobs on all three weeks here. Jacksonville Jaguars have been surprisingly good on defense as well. Like strangely enough. So I think it's a bit of both.
- [49:02]
C
I think all seven.
- [49:03]
B
Yeah, I think all of these things can be true. I think they've had a tough go at it at the start here with tough opponents. I don't think it gets a whole lot easier. I think Jake Browning's not good. I think the offensive line could be bad. But I also think that this team might be better than what we've seen so far. So I don't know. I think Taj Brooks is fine. I think he's a stash. He's a stash. I think Amari Di Mercado is also a stash. The Cardinals have been like weirdly disappointing, but then also kind of entertaining to watch.
- [49:34]
C
I think what I like about Taj Brooks more than anything is he fits the mold of day three running backs that this Bengals team seems to like. They like the guys that handled huge workloads in college. That's exactly what Chase Brown did at Illinois. And if you look at what Taj Brooks did at Texas Tech over the last couple of years, 286 attempts last year, 290 attempts the year before. So there's not going to be anything that makes him fantasy relevant. Well, Chase Brown is healthy, but if Chase Brown goes down, there's not going to be a split. Like they're just going to give the whole workload to Taj Brooks the same way they gave the whole workload to Chase Brown last year. I want to throw one more name out there, Alfredo, for for a waiver wire pickup. And this is your super flex leagues only. But I think a lot of people just overlooked Carson Wentz because he was getting a one game spot start. There might be a little bit of credence to the fudging the ankle injury for JJ McCarthy because injury related or not. I don't know if you heard Kevin o' Connell's comments after the game, immediately said you're in another opportunity and this is a team that has.
- [50:32]
B
That's so weird to say. That is so weird to say after saying that your starting quarterback had an injury.
- [50:39]
C
Yeah.
- [50:39]
B
To say that the backup earned another opportunity is very, very strange language. And I really feel like that is a Kevin o'. Connell. I'm too honest for my own good type of thing where he kind of undid whatever the plan was. I, I'm putting the. Yeah, the tinfoil hat is kind of there after it was not there last week.
- [50:58]
C
I, I don't want to like cause too much concern yet, but like starting to get some Trey Lance vibes maybe with JJ McCarthy, like remember like heard all of his rookie season comes out in year two, kind of looks okay and then he gets hurt and then just Brock Purdy runs away with the job. Of course Carson Wentz is not Brock Birdie. We, we know this, but this is a team last year that like had super bowl hopes with Sam Darnold leading the team. And I don't know if we saw anything from Sam Darnold's career pre Minnesota that made us think that he was an MVP caliber quarterback. You can say the same exact thing about Carson Wentz. And I'm not saying that he looked like an MVP caliber quarterback last week, but with Christian Darasaw back, the entire offense looked better. He was moving it down the field. Jordan Mason was able to keep the offense.
- [51:43]
B
Playing the Bengals helps. Playing the Bengals defense helps a lot.
- [51:47]
C
It does. But still, like Carson Wentz, this might not be like just a two week thing. Like if they keep winning, I don't know if they're going to have this, you know, huge desire to go back to J.J. mcCarthy immediately.
- [52:00]
B
No, they probably won't. I mean, once again, we always talk about context, context, context. Isaiah Rogers, defensive back for the Vikings has two touchdowns.
- [52:09]
C
Unreal.
- [52:10]
B
I don't know the last time that happened, but the Vikings defense owned this game. They owned Jake Browning. They crushed it. I mean Carson Wentz really didn't have to do much. He had to just go out there and not screw up, which J.J. mcCarthy did a lot. I, well, I wonder if J.J. mcCarthy could have done that. But yeah, I mean it's, I'm not ready to say that like Carson Wentz is going to be the start of the rest of the season, but I do think that Kevin o' Connell saying Carson Wentz earned the opportunity to start again is incredibly damaging. Like, that is. That is just not something good. The words matter so much. And using that terminology when making that statement, I think matters so much. Going.
- [52:51]
C
Couldn't have just lied again and been like, oh, J.J. mcCarthy's game.
- [52:54]
B
We'll take it day by day.
- [52:55]
C
His ankle flared up during the game. You know, you could have done something. Like, you don't just say that Carson Wentz is winning the job.
- [53:02]
B
We're gonna take it day by day. That's it. We're gonna go back to the film. We're gonna check on JJ's recovery. We're gonna see how everything's going. We'll let you guys know. I don't have an answer for you. I mean, I think there's also a little bit of that high of coming off the big win they get Pittsburgh next week, another defense that's not looking good, and then they go up against Cleveland, and I don't think they're throwing JJ McCarthy out there for the Cleveland defense to just eat him alive. I think they're going to go into this buy and they're going to. I talked about this last week about Jordan Mason being a guy who's going to crush for the next two weeks and then have a tough schedule. It's Cleveland, the buy. Philly, the Chargers, Detroit, Detroit, the Vikings. The Vikings upcoming schedule is rough. I don't know if Carson Wentz is the answer or if he's the sacrificial lamb to go out there for slaughter for JJ McCarthy to come back in later and look better.
- [53:48]
C
But that's, I mean, like, you know, great context gets thrown out the window when you're talking, like, fans, especially, like fans of a team. And like, if they see, you know, yeah, it was against the Bengals and next week against the Steelers. But if Carson Wentz looks good over these next two weeks and then they put JJ McCarthy back out there on the road against Cleveland and he doesn't look good. I don't, you know, I don't know what the plan is. Like, do they want to just throw McCarthy to the wolves against Cleveland, who we've seen?
- [54:13]
B
That would be the dumbest thing they.
- [54:14]
C
Could do or do. They let Wentz go out there and, you know, they run the risk. Like, if he gets pummeled, then they make the easy decision to go back to J.J. mcCarthy. But if Carson Wentz goes on the road to Cleveland and pulls out a win, I don't know how you can go back to J.J. mcCarthy at that point. So it's going to be really interesting to say how Kevin o' Connell plays his cards here.
- [54:34]
B
Oh, the Vikings. All right. Last guy on here, Dave. Isaiah Likely. You interested? He's available in 74% of leagues. He should be coming back soon. We're recording this Monday morning Ravens play tonight. We have no idea how Mark Andrews is going to do, but how interested are you in Isaiah Likely?
- [54:53]
C
You know, I didn't have a ton of interest in him this off season because if you take away that one week one game where Mark Andrews was recovering from a car accident, there's Isaiah Likely wasn't that good last year. And I think people are so blinded by that week one prime time outing where he had this huge, huge game. But the reality is if you look at Isaiah Likely, his usage, his production, he was basically Noah Gray last year. But everybody remembers that week one game. So I think he's worth a pickup. Yeah. Pick him up. Sure. Stash him on your bed. I'm not clamoring Isaiah Likely.
- [55:25]
B
Let's clip that, Put it out. I think he's worth a pickup.
- [55:29]
C
Yeah, sure.
- [55:31]
B
Yeah. I mean, Mark Andrews has not looked like himself, but the Ravens offense has also looked a little bit different. Like Zay Flowers is dominating the touches. Derrick Henry has had himself a bad week going up against Cleveland, but Mark Andrews right now. Dave, two catches on four targets across two games. The schedule has not been easy for the Ravens, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and then they get KC and Houston. So these first five defenses are tough. Then they get the Rams the buy. Then it's Chicago, Miami, Minnesota. That's another tough defense. Cleveland again, like, it's just, it's not going to be easy for the Ravens this year. And so I wonder if they are just sort of. They're like the kid that just learned how to play a video game and they're just going to keep spamming the same move over and over and over. Let's get the ball to Zay Flowers, let's hand it off to Derek Henry and let's just keep doing that. Once again, I know this is not helpful to people as they likely speculative adult. I'm not dropping a bunch on them.
- [56:22]
C
Was it you? Somebody I talked to last week pointed out how hot the starts have been to Zay Flowers. Seasons over his career, like rookie year, year two, and then now again in year three, which it's kind of weird. Like he always does this. Like he averages double digit targets through the first like month of the season and then kind of falls off. So I'm not like panicking about it by any means, but I think we do see balance restored somewhat. And when I think about Mark Andrews and this is so dumb to do, record a show on a Monday morning that's going to come out Monday afternoon before Monday football. I could have egg all over my face. But Mark Andrews, you know, a really good defensive play last week away from having a touchdown and I don't think anybody would be panicking if he caught that touchdown. And I look at TJ Hawkinson who had a very similar start to Mark Andrews. So the first couple of weeks, you know, 15 scoreless yards in week one, 12 scoreless yards in week two, and then yesterday 49 yards and a touchdown and it's like, oh yeah, that's what TJ Hawkinson can do. And I almost wonder if Andrews does that tonight just has, you know, not, not a blow up game by any means, but 30, 40 yards and a score and then it's just like, okay, now we're not panicking about Andrews anymore. I'm hopeful that that happens and we'll see how this Monday night game plays out.
- [57:30]
B
Zay Flowers averaging eight plus targets per game over the first three weeks of the season throughout his career.
- [57:37]
C
Yeah.
- [57:39]
B
And right now he's currently sitting at 20 targets. So there's a, there's a small possibility this is the game where it all goes south, boys and girls.
- [57:49]
C
Good.
- [57:50]
B
But yeah, yeah, not exciting. Let's see, let's see. Because they flowers. I mean this guy also could just be, this could be the new median for him. This could be the new breakout for him. It's. That's one of those weird things where it's like, I think conventional wisdom and stats and all the tangibles tell you don't pay attention to stuff like that. And then you're just kind of like, yeah, but it keeps happening, happening. That's the intangible thing that like.
- [58:13]
C
Yep.
- [58:13]
B
It's hard not to notice that. Okay, let's run through some players to drop really quick. Obviously of course with the, with the injury unfortunately to Naji Harris, that that's a drop right there. Obviously means bigger things from Arian Hampton going forward. Probably a change in the chargers offense. Dave C.J. stroud. I think even in like super flex leagues people are done with CJ Stroud. I know I'm done with CJ Stroud. I had him and have him in Dynasty. Man, I long for those days where he was the QB one in Dynasty and now it's like not even a top 20 quarterback right now. Like Things just look really, really ugly for him.
- [58:51]
C
Yeah, I don't know if I could drop him in super flex like any quarterback with a pulse is worth rostering in.
- [58:57]
B
Super Mac Jones or C.J. stroud?
- [59:00]
C
C.J. stroud.
- [59:01]
B
Because he's going to start Carson Wentz or C.J. stroud, Stroud.
- [59:03]
C
C.J. stroud.
- [59:04]
B
Jake Browning or C.J.
- [59:05]
C
Stroud. C.J. stroud.
- [59:06]
B
Okay.
- [59:07]
C
I mean it's not pretty like, I mean I ideally like CJ Stroud is more of a QB3 in Super Flex now, but yeah, it's not. Not pretty.
- [59:15]
B
Horrendous. Horrendous. Evan Ingram, I know he didn't play this last week, but it's just first two weeks did not look good. Adam Thielen, where are you at? John Smith is another guy I think just droppable. You never know when you're going to be starting, starting these Steelers tight ends. Dylan Sampson I think is an interesting one because he had the 8 target week one Quinshon Judkins has taken over. But like you mentioned last week and like we continue to see, Jerome Ford is the passing down guy and Dylan Sampson might be just fondly remembered for the fantastic week one target ratio that was there and then we're just not seeing it anymore.
- [59:51]
C
Yeah, I think you can keep him stashed. But Quinton Judkins looks so good against a really good defense too. He's, he's the clear guy here. I mean it's going to be Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampson fighting for scraps. But I think that Jerome Ford is the much more valuable guy. But I think it's one of those, like if it's kind of very similar to Taj Brooks and Samajp Ryan, like where Samaj P. Ryan is kind of the Jerome Ford, like he's going to get touches regardless of what, what's going on with Chase Brown. But I think the contingent value lies with Dylan Sampson, that if Quinton Judkins were to miss some time, we'd see Dylan Sampson's role grow a ton. And I don't know if Jerome Ford's role would grow all that much.
- [60:29]
B
Would you rather have Dylan Sampson or Jeremy McNichols? McNichols Jeremy Dylan Sampson or Woody Marks?
- [60:37]
C
Woody Marks.
- [60:39]
B
Okay.
- [60:39]
C
Dylan Sampson was a huge faller in my rest of season rankings this year because we just saw he was just banished to almost no workload when Judkins informed her out there.
- [60:49]
B
So would you take Dylan Sampson over any of the running back ads we had this week, including Taj Brooks and.
- [60:54]
C
Amari D. Mercado Looking at my rest of season rankings right now. And no. So, yeah, very, very droppable.
- [61:01]
B
There it is, boys and girls. All right, I think that's gonna do it for us, man. Week four, waiver wire. We went through all of our speculative ads, players to stash the priority waiver wire ads, how much fab to put players to drop. This is a loaded show. But, you know, we've had three kind of crazy weeks of NFL football here. Look at us, dude. Dave, look at us. We are. What's the math? How. What percentage of the of the way are we through the season now? There's 18 weeks. There's three weeks.
- [61:28]
C
17 weeks. Well, 18 weeks, yeah, if you count.
- [61:30]
B
Someone's gonna let us know. Wait, I'm gonna do math here. I'm gonna do math to finish the show. There we go. We are 16, 16.6% repeating all the way through the season right now. Here we go, boys and girls. Yep. All right. Well, as always, I want to thank everybody for watching and listening all the way through. Dave and I will be back on Wednesday for the Wednesday a flex show that we do. We're going to give you our observations and takeaways from the previous week and how it can help you going into week four. And then of course, we'll be back for these start sits and sleepers episode coming up later on in the week. Dave, I need to get out of here and go get some water because my throat is dying. But yeah, as always, thanking everybody for watching and listening all the way through. For myself, for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios.
- [62:22]
D
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