Week 7 Matchup Previews with Julia Papworth

Summary

Footballguys Fantasy Football Show

Episode: Week 7 Matchup Previews with Julia Papworth
Date: October 17, 2025
Hosts: Dave Kluge, Alfredo Brown
Guest: Julia Papworth

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Episode Overview

Dave Kluge welcomes Footballguys and Fantasy Footballers writer Julia Papworth to break down six key NFL games for Week 7. The discussion is packed with actionable fantasy football advice, deep-dive player analysis, roster moves, and the ever-present laughs the Launch Pad is known for. The conversation covers player trends, trade targets, injury updates, usage changes, and rest-of-season outlooks for both stars and sleepers—plus memorable personal stories and philosophy about being flexible in both fantasy and life.

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Key Matchup Previews & Fantasy Insights

New Orleans Saints @ Chicago Bears

Segment Start: [02:09]

• Alvin Kamara – Start, Sit, or Trade?

  • Kamara’s output has been disappointing. Volume keeps him in fantasy lineups, especially as running backs across the league drop like flies.
  • Julia: "If you have him, you have to start him because you probably ended up paying so much to get him." [02:29]
  • Kamara stated he’d rather retire (“sit on the beach drinking pina coladas”) than accept a trade.
  • Kendre Miller is a player to watch long term; deserves more opportunity as Kamara ages.

• Chris Olave – Regression or Offense Problem?

  • Only 2 TDs on his last 108 targets—volume is there, not the red zone luck.
  • Julia: "He only has one game with less than 10 targets…do I think there's a strong chance for positive regression? Yes, I think there is." [05:56]
  • Advice: Always start Olave in PPR; targets are king.

• Colston Loveland & Chicago TE Situation

  • Loveland is trending up, out-snapped Cole Kmet last week. But Julia wants to see one more week before trusting him:
    • “I’m not starting him yet... Because right now, he's literally a touchdown or bust.” [09:54]
  • Loveland could be a strong stash, especially if DJ Moore misses time.

• Caleb Williams ROS (Rest of Season) Ranking

  • Debate over where Caleb fits among fantasy QBs going forward. Both Dave and Julia now have him in the QB8-QB12 range, mirroring trends seen with young QBs in rebuilds.

Notable Quote:

• Julia: “Every time I watch him (Caleb Williams) it's like he's almost there… you’re six inches short on that throw, or you just miss that one tackle, and it's frustrating ‘cause you know the talent's there.” [12:52]

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Las Vegas Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs

Segment Start: [14:38]

• Trey Tucker – Breakout or Fluke?

  • Recent big game might be more than a fluke. Target usage and route profile evolving, similar to how Pete Carroll’s WRs developed (first deep threats, then more complete routes).
  • Jacoby Myers trade rumors open a path for more targets.
  • Dave: “I'm very intrigued for Trey Tucker as somebody who just a month ago was completely writing him off as a fluke.” [18:08]
  • Still, QB situation (Geno Smith struggles) clouds things.

• Michael Mayer as Streamer TE

  • "If you have a chance of scoring a touchdown, that puts you in the streamer discussion." [20:22]
  • Both hosts would consider starting Mayer over players like Evan Engram or AJ Barner this week. “He's a guy that plays football for the tight end position—and that might be what you need right now.” [22:01]

• KC WRs – Rashi Rice’s Return

  • Rice, Hollywood Brown, and Xavier Worthy could finally be active together, condensing targets among a true trio.
  • Travis Kelce and fringe WRs (e.g., JuJu Smith-Schuster) likely see lower target shares as a result.
  • Julia: “They can all work different parts of the field… hopefully this will allow the running game to get going.” [22:57]

• KC RBs – Pacheco vs. Kareem Hunt vs. Rashard Smith

  • Julia: “I think you have to say Pacheco... Pacheco is the better football player… we will learn a lot in this game.” [26:01]
  • Dave notes Pacheco looked a bit better last week, but questions remain about the backfield's ceiling.

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Philadelphia Eagles @ Minnesota Vikings

Segment Start: [27:50]

• Saquon Barkley: Buy, Sell, or Hold?

  • Neither host is high on Saquon's rest-of-season value, but trade options are slim due to plummeting value.
  • Julia: “If you have him, you’re starting him... there’s so much volume there. I don’t know what's going on with the Eagles. I really don't.” [28:27]

• Eagles Offensive Identity Crisis

  • Jalen Hurts’ vibes are an issue when losing; coaching staff and team camaraderie in question after two straight losses.
  • Dallas Goedert and Devonta Smith become more uncertain as starts, but top players remain in lineups.

• Will Shipley vs. AJ Dillon – Next Man Up?

  • Former "injury-away" darling Shipley has lost ground; Dillon now appears as the clear handcuff.
  • Julia: “It seems like nothing the Eagles are doing is making sense at this point… massive quads…” [32:38]
  • O-line discussion prompted by Jason Kelce's training video story—fun moment.

• Jordan Mason as Vikings RB

  • Julia: “I think Jordan Mason is going to smash this week... [The Eagles] have allowed running backs to run for a first down or a touchdown on almost 30% of their attempts. That's the second highest in the league.” [34:55]
  • Concerns about Vikings passing usage linger as J.J. McCarthy might not yet be healthy.

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New York Giants @ Denver Broncos

Segment Start: [39:20]

• Cam Skattebo: ROS RB Ranking?

  • Both hosts rank Skattebo as a mid RB1 (12–15 overall) going forward.
  • Dave: “He’s just so good, and he is completely a joy… the identity of this team just changed…” [41:15]
  • Skattebo and Jackson Dart’s chemistry credited for revitalizing New York’s offensive energy.

• Jackson Dart vs. Denver:

  • Great at home; on the road is a different story. Denver excels against mobile QBs (allowing only 46 rushing yards to the position all year).
  • Julia: "Denver’s done really, really good work defending mobile quarterbacks…‘if they do well against Denver…we all have to be all in on the Giants’” [44:53]

• Denver RBs: J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Javonte Williams

  • It's a mess, but J.K. Dobbins is the only one the hosts would regularly start.

• Courtland Sutton: Consistency Concerns

  • Down weeks blamed on weird game scripts (e.g., travel to Europe).
  • Julia: “We were to circle back again to the Chris Olave thing, right? Courtland Sutton is going to get targets. You just have to hope that sometimes he starts to score.” [49:25]

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Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals

Segment Start: [50:30]

• Tucker Kraft – Panic Level?

  • Not worried; talented, athletic, and still trusted in the offense.
  • Both hosts prefer him over many other TEs; Arizona generous to TEs.

• Emmanuel Wilson – The Forgotten RB Stash

  • Only 3% rostered despite clear RB2 role and upside if Jacobs misses time.
  • Julia: “If you really want to think about the combination of the running back with a huge usage on a team that has offensive firepower, like those two things should be the backup you have.” [53:16]

• Arizona QB Dilemma: Jacoby Brissett vs. Kyler Murray

  • Julia’s preference for “normalcy” with Brissett: “It opens up the playbook a little bit more. Everything felt a little more normal.” [56:23]
  • Contract situation dictates Kyler stays, even if he isn’t the right fit.

• Backfield: Michael Carter vs. Bam Knight

  • Michael Carter the preferred option for his pass-catching ability, especially against a Packers defense soft to RB pass volume.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Detroit Lions

Segment Start: [62:11]

• Buccaneers WR Rankings (Week 7)

  • Mike Evans: Strong play if healthy, but could be limited for injury management.
  • Tez Johnson: Upside play; “the fun one.”
  • Sterling Shepard: Safe.
  • Cameron Johnson: Only if desperate.
  • Cade Otton: "The forgotten man"; great for TE premium/DFS.
  • Julia: "If you're starting any of these guys, you just have faith in Baker, and you have to…" [66:14]
  • Fun side stories about Tez Johnson’s background and celebratory gymnastics.

• Rachaad White’s Emerging Role

  • Two strong finishes (RB10 and RB7 recently), but speculation Bucky Irving will eat into his massive workload once he returns from injury.

• Detroit Lions – Jameson Williams Conundrum

  • Once a breakout darling, now a headache to start or hold.
  • Julia: “If you are trying to be kind to your mental health, I feel like you can drop Jameson Williams if you want to not go through this every single week.” [70:23]

• David Montgomery’s Involvement

  • Dan Campbell’s coach-speak is reliably truthful. Expect Montgomery to return to a 50/50-ish touch split with Gibbs soon.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fantasy Analysis:

  • "You chase volume and the volume is there. Sometimes it’s just that simple." – Dave [07:05]

• On Changing Opinions:

  • “It’s never too late to pivot. It’s OK to change and say, you know what, maybe I was wrong on this guy. We’re wrong more times than we’re right sometimes.” – Julia [74:45]

• Personal Philosophy:

  • Julia on career change and life pivots: “I had always talked about it, and … five years later I’m… on the verge of being able to do this as my life, which is amazing. The older you get, the scarier it is to pivot, but you’re never too old to do it right.” [75:23]

• On Dry Cleaning:

  • “Dry cleaning is a scam. That is my hill I’m willing to die on.” – Julia [73:25]

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Timestamped Summary Table

| Time | Topic Highlight | |------|----------------| | 02:09 | Saints @ Bears: Kamara, Olave, Chicago TEs, Caleb Williams ROS QBs | | 14:38 | Raiders @ Chiefs: Trey Tucker, Michael Mayer, Rashi Rice, KC RBs | | 27:50 | Eagles @ Vikings: Saquon Barkley, Eagles offense, Shipley/Dillon, Jordan Mason | | 39:20 | Giants @ Broncos: Skattebo ranking, Jackson Dart, Denver RBs, Sutton | | 50:30 | Packers @ Cardinals: Tucker Kraft, Emmanuel Wilson, ARI QB, RB committee | | 62:11 | Bucs @ Lions: TB WRs, Rachaad White, Bucky Irving, Jameson Williams, Montgomery |

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Final Segment: Hill to Die On

[73:25]

• Julia’s serious answer: "It’s never too late to pivot"—in football, life, or otherwise; be willing to change takes or directions as new information comes in.

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Where to Find Julia

• X/Twitter: @JuliaPapworth
• Fantasy Footballers (content editor/writer)
• Footballguys (“Beat the Waiver Wire” weekly article—highly recommended!)

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In Summary

This episode delivers deep and thoughtful fantasy advice across all skill positions and a diverse range of matchups—with practical start/sit calls, rest-of-season stashes, handcuff strategy, and a hefty dose of real-world wisdom.
Don’t miss Julia’s “Beat the Waiver Wire” article for an edge on pickups—her calls have been out front all season.

Transcript

[Julia Papworth]

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[Dave Kluge]

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[Julia Papworth]

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[Dave Kluge]

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[Julia Papworth]

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[Dave Kluge]

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Launch Pad. I'm your host, Dave Kluge. As always, joined in season by one of our great football Guy staffers. And today I've got Julia Papworth here. Julia writes our Beat the Waiver Wire article every single week, which is a great resource. We've got it linked in the podcast description for you to check out. In addition to that, she's also a content editor for the Fantasy footballers and she's a writer at Morning chalk up, a CrossFit company. Julia is one of our newer staffers here. Joined the staff last year but has been doing great work. And today we are going to talk about a handful of matchups in week seven. Julia is a Cardinals fan, so of course we're going to talk about that game. As always, the show would not be possible without you taking the time to listen. So thank you so much much for tuning in. Now let's dive in. Julia Papworth, welcome to the show. How you doing today?

[Julia Papworth]

Hi, Dave. I'm good. How are you?

[Dave Kluge]

I am doing very good. It is a Thursday afternoon. We're getting ready for Thursday Night Football over here in just a little bit. But before we do that, as always, record the launch pad here with one of my favorite guests from football. Guys, what we're going to do, as always, go through six games that of piqued my interest a little bit. We'll talk about some of the interesting players in each of these matchups. And the first one I want to talk about here. I didn't even do this on purpose. Just New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears. Yeah, we're starting with my Chicago Bears. I'm sorry, everybody but weird.

[Julia Papworth]

So weird.

[Dave Kluge]

We'll actually, we'll actually start with the Saints, though. Not. Not the Bears. And I want to start with Alvin Camara because right now he's kind of been giving us low end RB2 value, and he's had some weeks where he hasn't even hit that mark. So what do you want to tell fantasy managers who are rostering Alvin Camara? Are you benching him? He's starting him. What should fantasy managers do this week?

[Julia Papworth]

Well, it's tough. I feel like. I feel like if you have him, you have to start him because you probably ended up paying so much to get him. I mean, look, I would say to you, too, you want to maybe try to trade him. But then just literally 10 minutes ago, a tweet came through saying, didn't he say, like, if anyone tries to trade me, I'm just going to be like, sitting in on the beach drinking margarita. Did you see this?

[Dave Kluge]

I did not see that. But that sounds very.

[Julia Papworth]

Where he was like, it was kind of like, yeah, yeah, you want to trade me? I'm gonna. I'm just gonna say no. But look, he's. It's tough because we're not getting that good extra pass catching bump that we sort of all drafted Alvin Camara for. Right. We're not getting it. I mean, he's out there, but he's just not doing as well. And he doesn't really have great matchups coming up. But I think you still have to keep him because like you said, he's like, he's not going to get traded now. I don't think. Or allegedly he doesn't want to. I think he does want to stay with the Saints. I don't think he necessarily wants to leave. And you're going to get. He's going to be out there and he's going to be running. You're going to get volume. And it seems like every week we're losing five to six running backs. So, you know, we're over here talking about Bam Knight and Michael Carter, which.

[Dave Kluge]

We will later in the show.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, exactly. But you're starting Alvin Camara. I think you have to. I think you have to. You don't have to watch the game. You can close your eyes, but, like, I think you have to start them.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, and I think too, like, this is a game script that should favor Chicago, their favorites in this game. And those type of game scripts usually do lend to big games for Alvin Camaro, where he gets to catch passes late in the game. Also a very bad Chicago Defense. So I've seen a lot of like weird start sick questions where people are asking like lumping Alvin Camara in with guys that he should not be lumped in with. And I just wanted to talk about it a little bit because I also think that he deserves to be started, you know, top 20 and expected points per game. We know he's a good player and I, I did find that, yeah, they said that basically he's going to retire if he's traded. It was a pina coladas, not margaritas.

[Julia Papworth]

That's what it was. I had the wrong beverage. I had the wrong beverage. I mean, I wish, I wish they would train him. I think you and I both like Kendra Miller. I liked him a lot coming out of college and I feel like, yeah, that organization, I don't know what he did to that coach's family or whatever. Like they did not want him out there at all. And now we're actually like getting to see what he can do and he's a great running back and so I would like to see, get more chances. I think he still will because even if Camara doesn't get traded, he's getting older and that's the thing. But yeah, I wanted to see more Kendra Miller. Hopefully we'll see some more.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And, and I gotta say, like, I kind of get where Alvin Camara is coming from. Like, he's only got a couple years left in his career and like he has really been just like a beacon for that city. Like he has really like just embraced New Orleans, New Orleans has embraced him. Like, I wouldn't want to go somewhere for the last, you know, half a year, year and a half of my contract. So I, I kind of get where he's coming from. Like, you know, being with that same team for your entire career is always a cool thing that not a lot of players are afforded the ability to do. But I want to stick down in New Orleans and I want to talk about Chris Olave. I pulled this up the other day and this is just a mind blowing stat. Over the last 108 targets Chris Lave has pulled, he has scored just two touchdowns. So you know, the obvious thing is to scream like, positive regression. It's going to come. He's going to have a five touchdown game on Sunday. But it's also the Saints. So is this like a case of, you know, possible positive regression or is this just him being a victim of a bad offense?

[Julia Papworth]

I mean, yeah, I think both of those statements can be true. Do I think there is a Strong chance for positive regression in him getting a touchdown. Yes, I think there is. He is getting the target. So I like to think at some point one of them will be in the end zone. He only has one game with less than 10 targets. And I mean, I. When I was reading about that, I was like, well, how much is a Spencer Rattler target actually worth here? $10. Like, I don't know if it's really worth it, but, like, Rattler isn't as bad as we think he is, which is crazy. He has a higher completion rate right now. Better than like, Kyler, Jalen hurt, Justin Herbert. Like, it's kind of insane. He's chucking it so many times a game. So look again. Are you going to bench him? Like, who do you have that's better? I think if you're playing for volume, I think it's a great. It's a great shot. You're always starting them in PPR like you always are. You just are. And I think if you're still playing in the 90s and a standard league, maybe you don't want to. But yeah, he's got a huge target share. He's got like the fourth highest target share behind like, Garrett Wilson, Jason and Drake London. It's like over 32%. I can't. I don't think I can leave that guy on the bench.

[Dave Kluge]

And that's where I am, too. And, you know, like, we are so reactive to the fantasy output and we just see that, like, the touchdowns haven't been there, the fantasy production hasn't been there. But, like, no matter how many times we talk about it, like, it just needs. Needs to be repeated over and over again. You chase volume and the volume is there. Like you said, 32.3 target share. Fourth best in the league. And just last week there was a play that Spencer Rattler dropped into a bucket that hit Chris Olave in the hands in the end zone and he dropped it. So, like, has he. Does he catch that ball? And there's no concern about Chris Olave, everybody's right.

[Julia Papworth]

We're having a completely different conversation. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

Exactly. So a lot of these are maybe, like, obvious, but I do think when you see an offense that's struggling and the production hasn't been there for Alvin Camara and it hasn't been there for Chris Lobby. I think it does, you know, need a reminder every now and then that you still want to start these guys because they're talented players getting opportunities, and sometimes it's just that simple. Speaking of Talented players getting opportunities. Colson Loveland, I think he might be starting to take over a little bit for Colcomet. Last week we saw him with more routes, more targets, more receptions, more yards. So is this like immediate? Like it's here we're putting Colston Loveland in our fantasy lineups or do you still think fantasy managers should wait and see a little bit?

[Julia Papworth]

I'm so happy that he got a bump. Like I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago, I'm doing that beat the waiver wire piece for football. For football guys. And I put Colson level in on there. We see this bump for these for sure. You know, these rookies, these wide receivers, tight ends, anything once you come out of by and as the season progresses, they're always doing better. And it was really nice to see him come back in and get a higher target share than commit. I also think that having DJ Moore. Do we know if he's out for sure. His groin.

[Dave Kluge]

We don't. He's been. He was limited at practice today on Thursday, so practice Wednesday? Yeah. Like we don't really know. I don't know if a groin injury. I think it might have been like in the groin region and they didn't want to specify exactly what it was. I don't know if I can say this on football, guys. I think he took a nutshot is I think what happened and I think.

[Julia Papworth]

Sorry, Joe.

[Dave Kluge]

So I think he's going to be okay back at practice as of Thursday. Sounds like he should be out there.

[Julia Papworth]

Well, if he isn't, I think that's an even better chance for Loveland to step up. But I think. Look, I think there was all that chatter too about DJ Moore maybe not meshing and fitting in with how they want to make this team. Be he was chat. There was chatter about him about possibly being traded. There was a lot of talk there. I think that the organization wants to have more from Colson Loveland. I think there was the early injury that kind of made them do a quick pivot. I think they would have got him involved a little bit earlier, but it was his. Was his shoulder. I don't remember what it was. You're a Bears guy.

[Dave Kluge]

He had a shoulder surgery right at the end of the college season. Yep.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's like maybe that was part of it as well. I'm not starting him yet. I would like to see like one more game to look at usage and stuff like that. Because right now he's literally a touchdown or bust. You're not guaranteed. You're not guaranteed the targets. You're guaranteed with Chris Lave. Right? So I think. I think you hold him for sure. And I hope you picked him up before. Before he started, you know, getting big here.

[Dave Kluge]

And, you know, I just want to shout out, I was waiting for you to bring it up at some point. You're doing this beat the waiver wire article. For anybody who isn't checking this out, be sure to check it out. Julia, you're doing this every single week, and it has been one of our best performing articles at football, guys, this year, just consistently ahead of the curve. Alfredo and I have talked about it so much this year that the waiver wire is just barren on a weekly basis. And you are out here, like, two weeks before the Woody Marks breakout, telling everyone to pick Woody Marks up. Like, before Miles Sanders Sanders is declared out for the season. You're telling everyone to pick up Jaden Blue. You're ahead on Jackson Dart. You were ahead on Luther Burden and Ronda Gadson. I saw you talked about three weeks ago in this article. So everybody definitely check this article out. You know, we're talking about the guys that you should pick up after they have big games. Julia's telling you to pick these guys up before they have their big games, and everybody's fighting for them. So an awesome article. Keep doing what you're doing, Julia.

[Julia Papworth]

Thanks, Dave. That. That. That one's really fun. Like, it's fun to, like, dig deep and almost, like, start to bring in a little more of, like, personality from organizations and like, try to think through those sorts of thoughts. That's a. That's a fun part of it because it's not just. It's not just numbers and stuff in this game we play. So.

[Dave Kluge]

Yep. And I go back and I look like every single time we're talking about somebody on the waiver wire, I just look and I see that you talked about him two, three weeks ago and just frequently ahead of the curves.

[Julia Papworth]

So what was it a couple weeks ago? Like, all of my guys had touchdowns. I was. We were texting and I was like, oh, yeah, touchdown. Oh, yeah, touchdown. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

It's a good feeling. It's a. You're doing great work on that one. I recommend everybody listening here checks it out in the. The podcast. I will. In the podcast information, I will have a link to this week's article. But one more question here, Julia, about this game. What quarterbacks would you prefer over Caleb Williams over the rest of the season?

[Julia Papworth]

I don't know if this is where we're going to disagree because I don't know, I mean you love your Caleb Williams and look, I too love Caleb Williams, but Josh Allen, Lamar Mahomes, Jane Daniels, Jalen Hurts Baker, Dak Prescott, he and I almost would put Drake May above him because I think Drake May has had his coming out party. I've been big on him. I was getting him anywhere I could coming into the season. He is falling for me around the Jordan love Daniel Jones sort of situation. So that's like QB10, QB12ish. He's. Every time I watch him it's like he's almost there. There's like that half step where you're like, oh, you're six inches short on that throw or you just that one tackle and it's frustrating because you know the talents there. I'm listening to this great book. Have you seen this new book called Quarterback?

[Dave Kluge]

I haven't no.

[Julia Papworth]

I'll look up the author, but it recently came out. Stefania Bell posted something about it and I was like, I have to read that. And I'm listening to it, which is great. And the narrator is fantastic. And so it's like all of these stor about great quarterbacks kind of interwoven and stuff like that. And he's talking a little bit about Peyton Manning, but then he starts interweaving the USC pro day, right. And like Caleb Williams and his relationship with his father and all this sort of stuff and it's, it's got to be such a thing to be. He was touted as like the next great American hero. Like that's what it was.

[Dave Kluge]

And generational thrown around very often, right?

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, exactly. And I think like we all came into it expecting absolute perfection. So it's like when you don't have that like he's a good quarterback, he's a good quarterback. He's getting better. They are rebuilding the team, he's got the weapons and I think he will continue to be better. We might not see the, we're not going to see the best this year. We're not, we're not at all. But I think like the Dynasty leagues where I had him and got real nervous last year, I feel a lot better this year, I'll tell you that much. That's how I feel. I feel a lot better.

[Dave Kluge]

And I'll say I agree with you. You know, I do my rest of season rankings. I've got Drake May ahead of him, Baker Mayfield, Daniel Jones, a lot of the guys you mentioned, I think where I'd kind of split Some hairs like I prefer Caleb Williams to Dak Prescott right now even though Dak Prescott is outperforming him on a per game basis. But I've got. And I don't even.

[Julia Papworth]

Is this a George Pickens thing? Is it a George Pickens thing?

[Dave Kluge]

No, it's not. We'll lay off the George Pickens for today. But I've got Caleb Williams in the same tier as Daniel Jones, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert and Jackson Dart. I mean we can't ignore what he has point. It seems like his play style is just like made for fantasy football. So I'm with you QB 8 to 10 rest of your. Yeah, he is fun and we'll, we'll definitely talk about him.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

To discuss about that team. Let's move on to another, another game. Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs. Simple question here. I, I don't know why I'm so like infatuated with Trey Tucker. I, I just wrote off what he had done through his first like two years and then even when he goes for 145 yards and three touchdowns, I wrote it off. And then earlier this an in depth film study and now I have thoughts about Trey Tucker and I want to get yours. So is Trey Tucker legit?

[Julia Papworth]

The man has thoughts. Look, I don't think it was bad to write him off after that big, after that big game because I mean how many targets did he even have that game? I don't think it was many. And it was like those two big. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

And then the next week he had 13 scoreless yards the week after. So like it, it felt like a fluke.

[Julia Papworth]

Totally. Totally felt like a fluke. I think there, there's a lot of moving parts here. So first of all, this is another trade situation. Like Jacoby Myers who today said that he has knee. A knee and toe. I'm doing the, that little. The fake. Yeah. Knees and toes injury. So I think, look, he said he was on that wide receiver group chat that you referenced earlier in the season. All on the wide receiver group chat where he's saying hey, I'm looking for a trade. Anybody else down. So I think he definitely wants to leave. So I think they are trying to deal him. I think he would be great over in Pittsburgh. But I think I said that earlier today.

[Dave Kluge]

I said that's like I was on Harris football earlier today and I said that exact thing. It is such a good. Sorry.

[Julia Papworth]

Him and Alan Lazard are going to be sharing a room. Literally. One of them's cooking the other one's doing the dishes. That's how, that's how it's going to be. You know that. I think they, I think the team is now very pleased with what they've seen from Trey Tucker and, and I think the usage will continue to go up. I think the issue is maybe not him, it's Geno Smith. Like I was so hopeful, I was so hopeful for Geno Smith to have another solid year. But like he's got the most interceptions in the league, what, 10 of them. He's been sacked 18 times. That's the third highest in the league. I have so many questions about the Raiders offense in general. So I think it's not a question of should we invest in Trey Tucker. I think if you have Trey Tucker and like I am, I'm starting him, like, I think that's okay to do. It's more of like, is the ball gonna get intercepted on the way to trade Tucker? Like if it gets to him, he'll catch it and he's gonna run, but is it gonna get to him? Right?

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And I think that you're spot on talking about the trade. I think that's like the best case scenario. The out is that Jacoby Myers is gone, Brock Bowers stays injured, you know, for X amount of time and Trey Tucker ends up being that wide receiver one. And even if Brock Bowers comes back, I think Trey Tucker, there could still be volume there. But what I noticed is there was just a big change in his usage. And then I kind of drew this parallel to some other Pete Carroll receivers. And if you look at Trey Tucker through his first two years in the league, Tyler Lockett, Doug Baldwin is another guy who like the first couple years, yeah, yeah. All these guys did was just like ride the rail, play outside, run these deep nine routes and nothing else. And then we saw like as their career progressed, we start seeing some different usage. We see the in breaking routes, we see the slants, we see the screens, we see the yard after the catch abilities. And when I look at Trey Tucker, you know, first game of the season, his average target depth was 21 yards downfield. And then like in that huge blow up game that he had for 14 yards downfield. And then we see against Chicago, his average target actually came behind the line of scrimmage. And then last week his average target came 2.6 yards downfield. So now we're starting to see him kind of play in these short and intermediate areas of the field. And he's a smaller guy, but he is like a short, stout guy. He's got that physique in the frame where he can create after the catch.

[Julia Papworth]

So just like us, Dave. Just like us.

[Dave Kluge]

Just short and stout. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure this guy, he can probably clean and jerk 1.5 times his body weight if he wanted to. Like, he's. He's built. He's a big guy. But I. I think that what we're seeing is a very typical progression that we have seen from wide receivers under Pete Carroll, where you start off as just kind of this burner, and then over time, you start doing more. You start creating after the catch. So I am very intrigued for Trey Tucker as somebody who just a month ago was completely writing him off as a fluke.

[Julia Papworth]

There's a lot of interesting people on the Raiders, if you think about the future, Right. Like, I was a best boy, big fan of Jack Bash, and now they're starting to use him a little bit more, which I like. Was it John Tay Thornton? Like, love him as well? I'm happy, like.

[Dave Kluge]

23 years old.

[Julia Papworth]

I loved him coming out of Notre Dame. I was like, what's going on? He's never gonna play now with Rock Bowers there, so. But then you're like, I need Pete Carroll to stay alive for, like, five more years so he can coach that team. But. And also, like, where are you going from, Gino? Like, do they. Who. Who's their backup? Do they still have. They still have mustache, man. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

[Dave Kluge]

They might have swapped him out. I'm trying to pull it up right now. I'm, you know, sitting here filibustering as I'm Googling. I think they got away. Kenny Pickett. Yeah, they have Kenny Pickett. That's right. Aiden o' Connell is on season ending ir. So Pickett would be the second option. I think I might prefer.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, I mean, look, they. They need some. They need someone there. And whether that's, like, in the future, in the draft or something like that, because all those guys are so young. They're so young. And then you ask Genty, like. Like, there's such promise for that team. And I think in about maybe two or three years, we'll start to see it. Just, like, these teams take time to rebuild, and I think it's difficult. Like, when fans look at these teams, they want an immediate turnaround. And I always think of, like, Detroit Lions, right? Like, when that coaching change happened, that first year, they won, like, one game, right? Didn't they win, like, one game?

[Dave Kluge]

Lost their first 10?

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah. And it's like he got that turnaround in what, three years and that's exactly how long it should take with a franchise. Like, if it's good and you hire the right people and you draft the right people, it's not overnight.

[Dave Kluge]

Let's stay talking about the Raiders and we mentioned his name. Michael Mayer found the end zone last week. We love to see that. Doesn't sound like Brock Bowers is going to play. So are you looking at Michael Mayer this week as a streamer option? I mean, it has just been a crapshoot at tight end so far. I feel like, you know, if you've got a chance of scoring a touchdown, that puts you in the streamer discussion. So let's try to make it like a little bit actionable here. Like if you are starting him or who are some guys, you might even think about putting him in your lineup.

[Julia Papworth]

Ahead of that is a great question. Look, it's been really difficult in the tight end streets. It's been tough. I am a George Kittle owner pretty much everywhere and so, yeah, that was, that was a wonderful ride.

[Dave Kluge]

I don't care if he comes back and they say he's gonna be on a 20 snap around. I'm putting him in my lineup just for the ride.

[Julia Papworth]

You have to. Let's see who am I putting him in over. Like, throw some names out there.

[Dave Kluge]

Like, how about, you know what, let's do it. Evan Ingram. Like, he has, you know, been kind of involved, but he's like a 50 snapshare player like Evan Ingram or Michael Mayer.

[Julia Papworth]

Who are they playing this week?

[Dave Kluge]

They're playing the Giants at home.

[Julia Papworth]

I would probably do Michael Mayer. I could do Michael Meyer.

[Dave Kluge]

I think I would do. I've got Michael Mayor out of everything there. AJ Barner has been hot for the Seahawks the last couple of weeks.

[Julia Papworth]

No, I don't love that matchup for Sam Darnold. That Houston defense is actually pretty good. So I, yeah, I would say Michael Mayer there.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. So I've got him again, like just that cluster from like tight end 8 to tight end 18 that we say is always kind of like the same guy. I think what I'm getting at is like if you are feeling like you don't have a guy to play this weekend, Michael Mayer, he's available and he might score a touchdown again. He's a guy.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, he's a guy that plays football for the tight end position and that might be what you need right now.

[Dave Kluge]

So let's talk about the Kansas City Chiefs. And this is really, you Know, we talk about both of these teams and, like, have to find some talking points with the Raiders, but I think what people are really excited about is Rashi Rice here. So obviously we expect Rashi Rice to come in and do exactly what he's done for the last couple of years, which is pull, like 10 targets per game. But if he's doing that, it's. It's got to come at the expense of somebody. So who do you think ends up being, like, most negatively impacted by the return of Rashi Rice?

[Julia Papworth]

I think a couple people. Well, I think Travis Kelsey, although, like, he's been averaging six targets a game, he's been doing less with them than we're used to, but I think he's going to lose a little bit of target share. You're. And you're not going to see those, like, big long throws to Juju or. Or, you know, a random like Noah Gray or something like that. Those are going to go away. I am. I'm really interested because was it Rice, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy? They've never played a game altogether.

[Dave Kluge]

Right.

[Julia Papworth]

They potentially. They can all work different parts of the field, which I think should be super interesting. And I think that hopefully this will allow the running game to get going because they cannot continue with Patrick Mahomes being the. Having all those yards on the ground. He cannot be their highest rusher. We cannot finish the year and have Patrick Mahomes be their highest rusher. That man will die. But I think they have to have the downfield threat, like, out there for them to really start utilizing Pacheco and Cream hunt and stuff like that. So I think, yeah, Kelsey, Juju, those random people, we're gonna lose. Lose some targets. Oh, yeah. That was a fun ride. That was two. Two days.

[Dave Kluge]

It was.

[Julia Papworth]

I was amazing.

[Dave Kluge]

Never forget a couple of weeks out of Taekwond. You're right. That everything just gets very condensed now to this trio that, like, we were so excited about last year. Coming into the year, we're like, wow, like Xavier Worthy, Marquis Brown, Rashi Rice, like, this is one of best trios in the league, and now they're finally all healthy together. So I think you're right. We're just not going to see this kind of rotation with the Taekwond Thorntons and those guys coming in and out of the field. I think it's just going to be those three are going to be on the field, and I think that they're all, you know, guys, you can make an argument to still flex Marquis Brown.

[Julia Papworth]

Even with Rice That I was going to ask you that. So is that, is that going to be a thing where we go, oh, darn, like, look at this. We don't know who's going to get a touchdown. Right? You're going to want, if you have one of those guys on your team, you're going to want to start them because the chance of them getting, you know, going for 150 yards and two touchdowns is always there. Or it could be a Xavier worthy game and you have Hollywood Brown and it's Xavier worthy, getting all the targets. But. So I feel like you're almost stuck in a way if you have one of those players, you're going to have to start them. You're not, you're not going to be okay benching them unless you have a better option.

[Dave Kluge]

And I could put the exact numbers to it. Right now I've got Rashi Rice as my wide receiver 10. And like, truth be told, that kind of feels too low. Like I, I can make a case to put him ahead of Justin Jefferson and Nico Collins and CD Lamb coming back from injury. So, so like he's like a top seven to top ten guy. I've got Xavier Worthy as wide receiver 19. So kind of like a middling wide receiver too. And then Marcus Brown, 48.

[Julia Papworth]

Oh, okay.

[Dave Kluge]

A little bit lower. Yeah, 48. So it's kind of like, you know, a flex play, a desperation play. I think what you're hoping for with Hollywood is that he can score a touchdown. I, I think what we're gonna see is, I don't want to say the Rams because the Rams don't have anybody worth anything outside of Puka and Devonte Adams. But I think like where those guys are combining for like 65 of the targets. I expect Rice and Worthy to be kind of similar there. We're just like so much of the work is going to go to them and then you're hoping Travis, Kelsey, Marquis Brown, whoever else can fall into the end zone. But I do want to talk about the running backs here too because it has been so disappointing this year. Like you just don't really know who to start on a weekly basis. Like you said right Now, Patrick Mahomes, RB1 on the team, that's not what they want to see for their half a billion dollar quarterback. Like we, we need somebody to step up here. So between the three, Isaiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, Rashard Smith, I'm going to ask you, who do you prefer this week but also who do you prefer rest of season and if they're the same guy, that's. That's totally okay, too.

[Julia Papworth]

I think you have to say Pacheco, like Kareem Hunt is. You know, he's getting a lot of goal line touches and stuff like that. But as much as I like Kareem Hunt, he's older. He is older. Like, that's just the thing. Like, Pacheco is the better football player. I don't know why he's been having problems. Like I said, I hope that having Rashee Rice back will open it up for him to get out there, because once he gets through that first level, like. Like, the man has that. Like, you know, that running, like that angry run that he has where it's just aggressive and. And, like, you can hear it in your head when he goes. But, like, they're getting him out for more snaps. Like, he played more snaps last week than the week before. He's not necessarily getting more touches. But I think that we will learn a lot in this game. We will learn a lot in this game. Yeah, I think they just. They got to hold on to Cream Hunt. He's. He's good. He's gonna vulture a couple touchdowns. You're gonna get angry at some point, you know, if Pacheco gets down at the two, you know, they're gonna give it to Cream Hunt. But that's the life we live.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And I'm going with Pacheco as well. It did seem like last week he looked a little bit better than he's looked the rest of the season. Still didn't look great, unfortunately. And, I mean, this is often the life of round seven running back is that, like, you look good for a year or two, and then, you know, we get into, like, year three, year four, and we're like, oh, yeah, that's. That's right. That's why you fell to round seven, because, you know, you do have some. Some warts in your game, and I think those are starting to rear their head a little bit. But let's move on to another game. And this is one where I feel like, like, the two teams that we expect to be good, but I feel like we don't really know what they are yet. The Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings. And let's talk, you know, rather than just this week and just this matchup, we'll talk kind of big picture. Saquon Barkley here, because we know, you know, you know, this guy was drafted top three, top five in almost every single fantasy draft this year, has not returned that sort of value. So what are you doing here? Are you buying? Are you selling? Are you holding? What should we be doing with Saquon Barkley?

[Julia Papworth]

I tried to move him in every Dynasty league that I had him in the off season, but the problem is he was not of that. He had value. But you kind of have to wait till he has one of those good, big explosion games. Right? But he hasn't had one of those yet. So obviously different in Redraft than different in Dynasty. Right. Like, in one of my leagues, somebody just traded him for Tajie Spears. A 2026 first and a 2027 second. Do I think he may have been able to get a little bit more? Yeah, but also, like, it's done. You're out.

[Dave Kluge]

Better to get that now than nothing a year from now.

[Julia Papworth]

Like, I get it and I don't. Look, I was not as. Like, I was not as high on him coming in. I knew there would be some regression. Like, there was that statistic of. Of any running back who's had that many carries. They never repeat. Right. And. And it's weird because I heard you talking about this on a show, too. Like, he doesn't look bad, but he looks. There's just something different. It's like, you can't put your finger on it. He's not good. Like you said, he's not getting through that first level. He's not getting any of those breakaway runs. It's. He doesn't have 100 yards from scrimmage yet in the game this season, which is obscene, I think. Again, like, you're not trading him now because you're not going to get the value that you need from him in Redraft because, you know, like, he has not that game. And if you have him, you're starting. And that's the thing, again, like. Like, there's so much volume there. I don't know what's going on with the Eagles. I really don't. Like, the. The shots they had of those guys on the sideline during that Giants game was just odd.

[Dave Kluge]

Like, it feels like Darius Smith just, like, retiring in the middle of the season. I was like, this. The reigning super bowl champs. They're winning games. They've got, like, some of the best players in NFL history on their team and, like, just atrocious vibes. It's so. So bizarre.

[Julia Papworth]

It's. It's weird. And it's like someone else was talking about it where it's like, jalen Hurts is super cool when he's just walking around real calm, and they're Winning. But when he's walking around like that, looking like he doesn't have a care in the world, it just feels different when they're not winning. I don't know. They have to figure something out. They have to.

[Dave Kluge]

That's how it is. That's how it is with everybody. You. You heard the Baker Mayfield thing recently, right, where he's like, you know, I was an immature punk when I was younger, and now I'm moxie and I'm a dog and all this sort of stuff.

[Julia Papworth]

Stuff.

[Dave Kluge]

And it's the same thing with Mike McDaniel. Like, when Miami was doing cool things and winning games, everyone's like, oh, he's so quirky and unique. We love this guy. Now they're like, get this dork off my team. Like, it's like the. The tone drastically changes when you're winning or you're losing, and all it took was two games. Like, the Eagles haven't lost in, like, over a full calendar year, and then they lose two games, and now everybody's just, like, sick of Jalen Hurts all of a sudden. It is weird. Just like, oh, they're gonna be on Philadelphia.

[Julia Papworth]

They should be angry for this game. If they are not angry and don't play angry, then there's so many more questions. Right? Because, like, if they come together as a team and really just go out there and. And stick it to the Vikings and like, that defense and stuff like that, I mean, it like, is just. Is Jalen Carter playing?

[Dave Kluge]

I believe so. Practice today? Yeah. I mean, they've been pretty banged up. I think he was back at practice. Pulling up their injury report right now.

[Julia Papworth]

The Quinon Mitchell one is a big one, too. If he's out.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. Jordan Davis practicing in full, and Jalen Carter practiced in full yesterday and then dropped to a limited participation today. So never like, that midweek downgrade.

[Julia Papworth]

I don't like that.

[Dave Kluge]

I usually. I. I. Jeff and I dive deep into the. The injury reports on Friday morning, and then Friday afternoon. We get a clearer picture. But I'd imagine that Jalen Carter will be back for this one. One.

[Julia Papworth]

Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's going on there. I don't like when you have Dallas Goddard being, like, your guy. When you have Devonta Smith and A.J. brown and Saquon Barkley. Like, as a Dallas Goddard owner, I wasn't sad, but it's confusing. Like, you're used. Your guys use the guys. You're paying all the money to another.

[Dave Kluge]

Thing I want to talk about here, and I don't think we need to talk about because, like, still starting. A.J. brown, DeVonta Smith, we've talked so much like he's a flex play that you just kind of have to like, like swallow your medicine and deal with it. Dallas Goddard, we know what he is at this point. I think the other interesting thing here though is like, it seemed like in the off season there were talks about AJ Dillon potentially getting cut. And in week one, we saw Will Shipley was very clearly the rbd. Like he was coming in for full drives and then broke his ribs. He's now been back for a couple of weeks, but Will Shipley is just not a part of the game plan whatsoever. We're seeing AJ Dillon come in here getting some change of pace touches. So a lot of people drafted Will Shipley as that injury away guy. I'm wondering now, should we change our perception? Is AJ Dillon the injury away guy to stash now or is it still Shipley just, you know, for seeing Saquon Barkley struggle? We know getting up there in age with last year's workload, we want to have that handcuff running back, but who is it?

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, that's a tough one because I was, I was a big fan of Will Shipley too, and I was like, great, he's going to get out there. They're going to use him. I think. I think it has to be AJ Dillon then. Like, it seems like nothing that the Eagles are doing is making any sense at this point. So, I mean, you know, maybe they're. They're super big fans of AJ Dylan's massive quads and they're like, we might not have to touch push as much if we just have him there or they're going to use him to help the tush push. I don't know. I. But then it's like you could have their. His backup, but what is he getting for you now at this point? Right. Like last year, that was a different story. I don't know.

[Dave Kluge]

Who do you think could squat more, Saquon Barkley or AJ Dillon, who's hit more in the squat rack? His.

[Julia Papworth]

His quads are massive. Also, I feel like he's a little shorter, so he's got that smaller range of motion. So it might be a little bit. Oh, did you see Jason Kelsey? Speaking of that, did you see the Jason Kelsey video of him squatted trying to squat 500?

[Dave Kluge]

He was out of retirement, I assume.

[Julia Papworth]

Right out of retirement. So there was. Yeah, there was a Whole thing. I think he might. He was either with a buddy or. Or someone with the strength and conditioning, and he was saying that, like, once a month he would. When he was playing, he would squat 500. Because it was just, like, mental thing, right?

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Julia Papworth]

So then they put on. He. The guy was like, let's see what we're doing. And he's, like, warming up, Warming up. And he gets to. I think he gets to, like, 490 or something like that. And then they go to put on. They were going to put on 500 or. No, he's at 495. And they go to put the two and a half on. And he goes, I ain't putting two and a halfs on. Nobody should put two and a halfs on. That's nothing. Those are. Those are dumb weights. Those are dumb weights. We're going 505. And then he failed.

[Dave Kluge]

Way to go.

[Julia Papworth]

I know.

[Dave Kluge]

Good for him.

[Julia Papworth]

I know.

[Dave Kluge]

And I think he's probably like. Like £60 less now than his playing weight, too. So, like, it's a lot harder when you lose some weight. Like, you don't have that mass. Moving mass. It's a little bit tougher to do, so. Good on him. That's awesome.

[Julia Papworth]

Good on him. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

All right, well, let's stick with this game. And I want to talk about the Minnesota Vikings. You know, Jordan Mason, we knew he was going to smash a couple of weeks ago, right. He had the Cincinnati Bengals, and he did exactly what we expected. But in the games against the Steelers and the Browns, tougher defenses, the results weren't quite as great. So now he's going up against Philadelphia. This is probably the last week that we have no Aaron Jones. I don't know if you should bench him, but, like, what are we doing with Jordan Mason? I feel like we have to change our expectations from what they were when Aaron Jones first went down.

[Julia Papworth]

I think Jordan Mason is going to smash this week. I think he's going to be like that. That Eagles defense is not the Eagles defense last year. It really isn't. They've been. They've been letting a lot go by. I found a stat that said they. They've allowed running backs to run for a first down or a touchdown on almost 30 of their attempts. And that's the second highest. That's the second highest in the league. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And so. And that's. Yeah. I think Mason's gonna crush it. I really think he is. So also, like, that brings us into the JJ McCarthy conversation. Like, what are we, like Are how much is this team gonna throw? Are we going to be utilizing Jordan Mason more? Because we're sort of bringing J.J. mcCarthy in. Is he even going to play? Like, he hasn't been practicing in, what, like, 30 days a month? Like, are you gonna have a rookie?

[Dave Kluge]

He's practicing in a limited fashion this week. And, yeah, that's always such a tricky thing because, like, I was just talking. I forget I was talking with somebody about this, but, like, practicing in a limited fashion, that could mean that you took one rep and said, like, nope, I'm in too much pain. I need to go to the locker room. It could also mean that you took one rep off. Right. So, I mean, like, limited participation doesn't really mean much. I was totally calling BS on the early reports that, like, this ankle injury was actually a benching, but now that it's been like, a full month and he's back at practice and we still don't know who's going to start, I am wondering if this might have been like a. Hey, let's just, you know, pull back kind of like last year with Bryce Young, remember? Like, let's. Let's get Bryce Young.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

On the bench for a month or so, Kind of let the offense take shape, and then we can insert him back in there. I wonder if that's going to be the case, But I'm at the point now, like, where I've got my rankings for this week. I'm ranking it as if JJ McCarthy will not be playing this week.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, I think that's wise. I think we would have heard a little bit more leading into it. It's tough because I trust Kevin o'. Connell. Like, I do think he is excellent with quarterbacks. And I think that J.J. mcCarthy seems to be a very competent individual, not just a football player. Like, he seems very. He seems smart. He seems worldly. He seems like someone who would understand the concept of taking time, taking a step back, like, all that sort of stuff. So I think if that's happening, they're both okay with it. But, like, how long do you do that for? And at where's the point where you go, nope, not gonna work. Like, at some point you have to try it again. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. Carson Wentz has been better for Justin Jefferson, which is nice. Yeah, we like that. Big fan. But, yeah, it's. And it's tough. They're in a tough division to sort of be like, we're going to play around a little bit. Like, yeah, I don't know. It's a. It's a confusing team that seemed. This is a game with two confusing teams that seemed to be so clear last year. Like. Like, as we started conversation off, we knew who they were last year and we thought we knew they were coming in.

[Dave Kluge]

Jeff and I talk about clean and dirty offenses all the time. And when we were doing projections, these were the two next to the Rams. They were the cleanest offenses in football. Like, you know exactly who the touches are going to. And then the season starts and we're like, wait, why is it Dallas Goddard and Jalen Naylor and Jordan Mason and Xavier Scott, is that even a real person? What's he doing on the field? And he's catching touchdowns. Like, it's been just bizarre for both of these teams. And I want to go back real quickly. You talked about Jordan Mason. Smash matchup. That's something that I think is floating under the radar for a lot of people. The Eagles 8th in points allowed, 8th worst in points allowed and yards allowed, running backs. So, yeah, you're onto something there. Like this team is very beatable against Cam Scatter.

[Julia Papworth]

Boo. Let's just remember that last week that.

[Dave Kluge]

Will definitely skew the numbers a little bit. And again, the second tease of the show, we will get to the New York Giants and we're going to get to them right now. Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Julia Papworth]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Dave Kluge]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me. So. Dana.

[Julia Papworth]

Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Dave Kluge]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Julia Papworth]

Nice. Jeffrey, you heard them.

[Dave Kluge]

T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition. So what are we having for lunch?

[Julia Papworth]

Dude, my work here is done.

[Dave Kluge]

The 24 month bill credits on experience beyond for well qualified customers + tax and 35 device connection charge credits ended balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 and new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto paypal taxes and fees required. Best mobile Network in the US based on analysis by Ooklab Speed Test Intelligence data 1H 2025@t mobile.com New York Giants @ Denver Broncos. So we're gonna play the same game that we played with Caleb Williams. Name all of the running backs that you would prefer over Cam Scaboo for the rest of the season.

[Julia Papworth]

Personally, as a human zero, I love him so much. Just to be clear, I did go to Arizona State, so he is. We are of the same alma mater, so there's that. Okay. But football prowess. Gibbs. Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor's having a year. Hn Josh Jacobs, James Cook. Javante. Oh, yes. Forgot about him. Yeah. Chris McCaffrey, Bruce Hall. I guess Saquon. God, what a world do we live in? Where I go? I guess Saquon. I guess Derek Henry. I'm putting him. He's near Ashton Genty because Ashton Genti, you have the questions about the offense. Like, he's got the talent, but they're not really getting it to him as much. I'd say around Jalen Warren. That one. I put him there because you don't know what Arthur Smith's gonna do, what running back he's gonna fall in love with and what's gonna happen there. Probably around Bucky Irving, who's still fighting a little bit of an injury. So I'd say probably between like 12 and 15, kind of like. Yeah, I'd say between 12 and 15. As long as he doesn't expect not to be higher.

[Dave Kluge]

I didn't expect.

[Julia Papworth]

You're higher.

[Dave Kluge]

I've got him as my RB13. Rest of season, I've got him ahead of.

[Julia Papworth]

I said. I said 12 to 15. So that. There we go.

[Dave Kluge]

The players you name that. I would prefer Cam Scatter Boo ahead of. I've got Cam ahead of Derek Henry. I've got ahead of Bucky Irving or injury related. You know, he's. He's.

[Julia Papworth]

Yes.

[Dave Kluge]

First in time right now. Camp Scatter Boo's healthy. He's not. And I prefer him ahead of Breeze Hall. So a handful of names that you listed there. I mean, like, this is one of those things that I feel like it is just cats out of the bag. Like, you can't. And I won't make the dumb joke that I've made a handful of times because it has never landed once. Have you heard this one? I. I've been trying to get scats out of the bag and it just hasn't stuck. So I'm done. Yeah. So toothpaste is out of the tube in. In regards to Cam Scatter Boo. But dude, he's just so good. And he is completely a joy. He is. And like, I don't know if it's Cam Scatteraboo or Jackson Dart that, like, we. We want to give the onus to for, like, changing the identity of this team, I think it's both of them together. Like, just the way, like, rubbing heads together. Like, like dogs at a dog park in the post game press conference. Like, they're just two weirdos. Like, they're freaks. Match each other. Like, it is just. It's crazy.

[Julia Papworth]

Matches each other's crazy. They're crazy. Each other's. There was a moment when I was watching that game where I was like, I said to my husband, I go, I literally feel like I see the moment where the fans and the identity of this team just changed. Like when, like, he came off the field and Dable was, like, touching him and.

[Dave Kluge]

And.

[Julia Papworth]

And like a proud father. Oh, my.

[Dave Kluge]

They're all. Same weird wavelength. All three of those guys.

[Julia Papworth]

Yes. And then, like, all the defensive line was, like, screaming and cheering. And it was like all of a sudden, this team that had been so, like, segmented, all of a sudden they were like, oh, this is what it's like to be a team. And even if we lose, this is what it's like to be a team, which is just joyous for New York and them. And it's like. And also, he's just good. He's just talented. Like, I mean, I worry about. I love Jackson Dart. I do worry about him not sliding. I think he needs to learn how to do that because otherwise defensive defenses are going to go cool. I know exactly where to hit this quarterback he's got. When the pocket collapses, he's going to run and he ain't going to slide. So I think his head is a little more tender than Scatter Boo. Scouts just hit it so many times. My favorite is that, yes, I love it so much.

[Dave Kluge]

Walking, like, into the tunnel at asu.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, I love him so much. And I. And again, you know, Homer, whatever. Like, I was big on him from the beginning. Like, I. And I think we had a conversation maybe like, in, like, draft time when I was like, I don't think Tyrone Tracy. Tyrone Tracy is nothing. And, like, I was like, it's gonna take four weeks. It may be that.

[Dave Kluge]

And I. Yeah, I'm so mad at myself, like, going back to, like, the. The prospecting thing, because I remember, like, it was such a joy to watch Cam Scatter Boo ASU film. I was like, I love this guy. He is going to be so much fun. And then he goes to the combine and he opts out of the strength testing. And the speed testing, I was like, well, that's kind of weird. Like, we want to see him do that. And he didn't. Then he weighed in shorter and lighter than expected, and then he runs a 40 at his pro day. And I can't remember it off the top of my head, but it was something. It was like 4, 6, 5 or something. So I'm just like, all right, this guy, like, fun college story, but he's slow, he's unathletic, he's small. Like, it's just not going to work out. And, like, I wish I just stuck with my initial evaluation, which is like, this dude is a wrecking ball. And, like, it translated to the NFL, like, almost. What was it, his second or third touch in the NFL when he caught that pass out in the flat? Trucks through one defender, trucks through a second defender. And I was like, okay. Like, all the concerns I had about him were silly. Like, this dude is just an absolute dog. That being said, this is a tough matchup. And. And we said that last week, to be fair. Like we said, going up against Philadelphia is a tough matchup, and they made us all look foolish. But what we've seen from Jackson Dart is that he's 2. 0 at home and 10 on the road. So any concern about him now going on the road, but not just going on the road. Going on the road against a very tough Denver defense.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, I. I am quite concerned. Denver's done really, really good work defending mobile quarterbacks. Like, if you look at the numbers. Yeah. Held Daniel Jones, 2 yards, Justin Herbert, 6 yards. Jalen Hurts, 3 yards, Justin Fields, 31 yards. Like, that's the problem. Like, Dart will scramble, and it does. If. Look, look, if they do well against Denver, then I feel like we all have to be all in on the Giants at this point, right? Like, the spread is really huge, isn't it? It's like, what is it? Oh, Denver by seven. It's just. It's 40. 40.5. I don't know if that line's moved, but, yeah, it's gonna.

[Dave Kluge]

Scoring game. That is not.

[Julia Papworth]

It's gonna be. It's gonna be a gross one. It's gonna be a gross one. It's gonna be a lot of running if Jackson Dart knows what is right for him. And this is a great test of maturity, right? Like. Like. Like, he should be handing that ball off pretty much all the time. Maybe if you are patient and you see something good and you can throw there on a short pass, but don't try to be the hero, because they will. That defense will take advantage of it, and you just got to grind it out. He might just have to grind out a win or. Or attempt to grind out a win. They're not always as pretty as. As that Eagles game.

[Dave Kluge]

And good call on Denver shutting down mobile quarterbacks. You know, I'd looked at the overall numbers, but I did not really take that into consideration. They've allowed 46 rushing yards to quarterbacks this year, and like you said, they faced a lot of mobile quarterbacks. That's fourth best in the league. And it seems like they face a mobile quarterback every single week. You almost have to wonder if, like, all of the training camp, all the reps that they're taking against Bo Nix kind of prepares them to shut down these mobile quarterbacks in season. So, I mean, Julia, that's. That. That's a great poll right there. Denver hasn't allowed as many rushing yards over the last six games as Jackson Dart is averaging per game. So what happens when an immovable force meets an unmovable object? I guess that's what we're gonna see this weekend and we're gonna find out. But want to talk about the Broncos a little bit as well. What are we doing with these running backs? This is an earnest question because I don't know.

[Julia Papworth]

I mean, I want RJ Harvey to be a thing. We all want him to be a thing, bro. We do. Look, you can start. J.K. dobbins. I think you can. That man just doesn't seem to age. How old is he now? He feels old. Maybe he's not.

[Dave Kluge]

No, he's only, like, 26. I want to say he feels old.

[Julia Papworth]

Feels 110.

[Dave Kluge]

He is 26 years old.

[Julia Papworth]

You know what. What it is is because he's always been around Gus Edwards, because I feel like it's like, you think that. That. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

So J.K. dobbins.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

J.K. dobbins and Javante Williams suffer from the same exact thing. Javante Williams, 25 years old. Another guy who feels like he's, like, 30. These guys got drafted so young. Williams was 20 years old when he was drafted. He turned 21, like, a couple of days after the. But he came into the league super young. Jakey Dobbins came into the league super young. And then we have these years where they completely missed due to injury. So it's kind of out of sight, out of mind. So I think, like, the. The combination of getting drafted young, missing years to injuries, multiple injuries, we just kind of tell ourselves, like, oh, it's these Old dusty running backs when the reality is J.K. dobbins and Javante Williams are both like in their athletic prime right now.

[Julia Papworth]

That's crazy. Well, yeah, I mean, look, I'm still starting J.K. dobbins, like. And look, I love R.J. harvey. He's going to be touchdown dependent. R.J. harvey, like, you don't want. Want to start him. You don't. I mean, you might have to some places. Like, look, it's two teams on a buy this week. Next. Next week is bipocalypse. And. And we're. We're just taking what we're given at this point. Right? Like I said, with the running backs we got, we're losing, you know, two to four every week. But yeah, I just think heads are literally. They're losing limbs. Just a flesh wound. That's what it is. Every. Every week. Yeah, I just think it'll be a gross game. I think it will. You know, this could easily be like a 1412 game. I mean, or you could have Denver, you could have Denver run away with it and then RJ Harvey does get that touchdown because they have garbage time, right? So you can. Those are two stories that you could tell yourself, I think, with this, with this, with this matchup. And neither of them is necessarily great.

[Dave Kluge]

So, yeah, I think that's kind of where it is. Like, you got to put these guys in your lineup. You know, it's going to be near a split, but could just end up getting really ugly. I want to talk about Courtland Sutton, though, because if you look at his overall volume and production, it's been great. He's the wide receiver, 14 in fantasy right now, but 1.1 points last week. He had 2.2 points a few weeks ago. Like, you're just starting him, right? Or is there reason to be concerned that he just gets shut down occasionally? Is this a Sean Payton thing? Is this Cortland Sutton thing? Is it a sauce gardener thing? Like, what's happening?

[Julia Papworth]

I don't know. I think last week was just weird. Last week was a weird game. You have to throw out. It seems like every time we send two teams to Europe, something odd happens. I don't know if it's the time change. I don't know if they're flying in coach. I don't know what's happening, but it was an odd game and I think you have to throw it out. Cortland Sutton is consistent. We were to circle back again to the Chris Olave thing, right? Cortland Sutton is going to get targets. You know he's going to. And you just have to hope that sometimes he starts to score. That's the thing. Like unless you have a better option, you're starting him unless you have a better option.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And I don't think many people do because like this guy is still a wide receiver too. And I think, I think again, this kind of goes back to the, the Chris Alave and the Alan Camara. Like some of these guys coming off down weeks, the production hasn't been there, but we chase the usage and we know that Cortland Sutton can have a game where he can go for 150 yards and two touchdowns and make these circus catches and do that. And in a game where they are favorites here playing at home, I expect them to get Cortland Sutton back on track in this one. Let's go to the next game. Green Bay packers at Arizona Cardinals. Any concern about Tucker Craft, who saw two targets last week?

[Julia Papworth]

I'm not concerned about Tucker Croft. I think Tucker Craft is fine. I think that you are always gonna. The packers spread it around. They just have so much talent. They have more talent coming back. You got Christian Watson, should be, I don't know. Did they say he was going to play this week? Like they got other people coming back?

[Dave Kluge]

I don't, I don't think Christian Watson's coming back yet. His 21 day practice window's open, but I think it's still going to be another week or two.

[Julia Papworth]

I got some blurb. I don't know, it was one of those things that popped up on my phone and I saw his name but then I was like busy and I was like, oh God, it's something. But I think, yes, you're gonna have games for all pass catchers. Right where up. It wasn't, it wasn't his week. It wasn't his week and that's going to happen. And we said it before, it's so tough with tight ends. It's so tough. But they, they love Tucker Craft. They have faith in Tucker Craft. He is athletic. He's going to fight for those touchdowns. I'm not taking him out. Like, I don't know what your better option is. Your better option would be Trey McBride, my Tray McBride, Tyler Warren. I would have said George Kittle, but he was injured. I don't even know if I would say Sam LaPorta. Like, I don't even know who is necessarily, you know, head and shoulders above Tucker Craft as an option. So he's on a great offense with a great quarterback.

[Dave Kluge]

That's where I'm at as well. And like I don't know if there's a more fun tight end to watch right now. Like he reminds me of a young George Kittle. Like George Kittle's still getting it done, but he's much more a technician in his craft nowadays and you know, well rounded, versatile, understands how to find the soft spots and zones. What Tucker Craft did last week, like just going airborne for the five yard line and just like head first. Just like, you know, take the wheel. Like I'm, I'm into the end zone wrecking ball. Yeah, he absolutely did.

[Julia Papworth]

And Arizona gives up to, gives a fair amount up to the tight ends, I think. So they're pretty please have. Yeah, they always have. And like I think our defense is just we are hanging and I'm biased. I say we, they are my team. I will still own that. They're my team. We're just held together with scotch tape, bubble wrap and faith. At this point, I don't know what's going on.

[Dave Kluge]

Second most points or second most yards allowed to tight ends. The Arizona Cardinals and this is also a matchup where Zay Jones hasn't practiced. Marvin Harrison Jr. Looking like he is probably gonna miss this game. Greg Dortch is dealing with an injury like the whole team is beat up. This could just be one where they just like, like spam 20 targets to Trey McBride. So yeah, I mean Trey McBride.

[Julia Papworth]

So I have, I have him in my guillotine league and I need a lot of help this week. A lot of help.

[Dave Kluge]

I think he is the very obvious tight end one on the week and yeah, I don't think you can really go wrong there. But sticking with the Green Bay packers. Before we talk about the Cardinals, Emmanuel Wilson seems like he is the clear RB2 in this offense. We haven't seen any Chris Brooks for the last couple of weeks and we talk all the time about like stashing these guys contingent upside if the RB1 goes down. Why is Emmanuel Wilson only rostered in 3% of leagues?

[Julia Papworth]

I have no clue. When I read this in the show sheet, I didn't realize it was that small of amount. And I literally wrote in capital letters, dude, who knows? I don't get it. Because if, if you really want to think about the combination of the running running back with a huge usage on a team that has offensive firepower, like those two things should be the backup that you have. I, I, I, I don't understand it. I, I don't understand whatsoever.

[Dave Kluge]

Every backup is stashed in A league like you, you can't find these guys anymore. Like it used to always be like the, the starter would go down and then everybody is bidding or using their waiver priority on picking up that RB2. And fantasy managers have gotten savvy over the years and they draft these RB2s now. They're not wasting draft picks on the wide receiver sevens and tight end threes in drafts. Everybody knows to stash these injury way back backs. But for some reason like it just hasn't clicked yet that Emmanuel Wilson is this guy. And like in the little taste that we've seen of Emmanuel Wilson one, he's looked fantastic. And dude, you talk about it like this is a very good offense with a good offensive line and they want to establish the run if Josh Jacobs misses any time. Like Emmanuel Wilson's Probably a top 10 top 12 running back going into that next week but for whatever reason he's still available in 97 of leagues. So if you're listening to the show, that's insane. Go over to your baseball lap, pick up Emmanuel Wilson and then come back while we talk about the Arizona.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah. And then I wonder like, I wonder what the last thing with the manual Wilson is. I wonder too, as the year starts to progress, are they going to start to slowly pull Josh Jacobs back a little bit to save him for playoff time? I mean he's, he's running hard. So that's just the last, the last tidbit in there when I'm thinking about picking.

[Dave Kluge]

They might and that would be great because then we can even start looking at him as a potential old flex play when we're getting like deep bye weeks and whatnot. But either way, even if he doesn't, just the contingent upside alone. And I will say like Josh Jacobs is a workhorse who never misses time. Like this dude just plays through injury, knock on wood. Absolutely. Maybe that's why. It's just like because Josh Jacobs is always healthy. Like we just don't expect it to happen. But everyone's healthy until they're not good stash.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

Arizona Cardinals I'm sorry to ask you this question. As a fan, would you rather see Jacoby Brissette or Kyler Murray at quarterback?

[Julia Papworth]

Oh my God, David. I just.

[Dave Kluge]

This was mean spirited. I'm sorry, I should have asked you.

[Julia Papworth]

This question but I know like I'm working through it. I'm working through it. I've almost gotten through that day. Mercado drop. But yeah, so I think Jacoby Brissette, I think I whispered that I look I love Kyler. I love him. I love him. But there's something. There's something that's not working. There's. It was nice to see with Brissette out there, like, it was nice to see a little more. There were more options, right. Like, he took more snaps under center. Like, Kyler is in shotgun all the time. All the time. And that's the only way that is eliminating the line.

[Dave Kluge]

And that's not a joke, genuinely. Like, he cannot see the defense from under center.

[Julia Papworth]

I know, I know.

[Dave Kluge]

It's.

[Julia Papworth]

And I'm a short person. Just. You bring a step stool over and that's what you got to do. But he just can't do it. Yeah. So I think that it opens up the playbook a little bit more. It. It felt. Everything felt a little more normal. I don't know how else to say it, but it felt a little more run of the mill watching that offense like it did.

[Dave Kluge]

Receivers were running their routes and they were getting hit on their route line. Like, that's just. You see so much backyard ball with Kyler and it's fun and it's exciting and there's highlights and he, you know, every few weeks makes this play where we're just like, nobody else in the league can do this. But then we also see the plays where he just like, is doing too much. And sometimes you just need a guy who can just hit his drop back, get the ball to the receivers, because there's a lot of talent in Arizona and Kyler just isn't really getting the ball to him.

[Julia Papworth]

What do you do with him, though? That's the thing. Like, I thought about it and I'm like, let's say. Let's say they burn it to the ground, right? We need new ownership. We need everything. But let's say they burn that franchise to the ground. If you try to trade Kyler, you're where, where are you trading him to? No one's. I mean, I. I don't even know if he'd be a starting quarterback at that point. And then you're gonna. You're going to try to get someone in draft. You'd have to draft them. What are you going to bring in? Like, I don't know how they would attack this rebuild. And the James Connor injury makes it even more complicated, Right? Like, they signed him for two years, right. So he's at least got another one. He was. He is still that leader in the clubhouse. And I don't know. I don't. I think they're stuck and they don't know their identity. This is another team that doesn't know their identity, and they don't know where they want their identity to be. Like. Like, I don't know. It hurts.

[Dave Kluge]

They can't move on from him after this year. If they cut Kyler after this year, $100 million in dead cap, which is just astronomical after next year. That's when things. We have seen teams like, take this before. I think back to, like, Matt Ryan, I think back to Aaron Rodgers with the packers. And we. We've seen teams, you know, even the Broncos with Russell Wilson, I want to say they took. I want to say 60 million or something like that, and they could cut Kyler next year for 57 million, which is a lot of money. But more likely than not, they've got an out built into the contract basically after 2026, where they can move on for about 7 million in dead cap, which is really just a drop in the bucket. But when you got a guy that's been with the team for that long and like, you know, has, for better or worse, like, you know, it seems like the guys in the locker room like him, and. And that could end up being a problem because then you don't want to sit him on the bench. So. So I think this might just be like, they got to see it out through the end of 2026, but definitely not feeling good right now. And I know there are a lot of people questioning that contract at the time. And I was one of the supporters of the contract. I was like, you know, Kyler Murray can do things that no other quarterback can do, but he can't do the things that a lot of other quarterbacks can do, unfortunately.

[Julia Papworth]

I mean, Jonathan Gannon, they did well in the draft, like beefing up the defense. And. And that is Gannon's thing. I mean, if. If they know what's good for them, they should just. Just everything is lineman, everything is offensive line coming up like in this next one. I. I don't know how good this class is in that. I have yet to really dig into that, but I know it's a class that doesn't have tons of great skill position players coming out. So I'm wondering if it is a more. You know, I don't want to say Bo, you know, the boring positions. My husband was an offensive lineman. I hope he doesn't listen to this. But that's where you have to be. That's what you have to build up then, right? Because you got a young wide receiver, you got a young tight End great. Yeah, you draft a running back, but maybe you take a couple shots, maybe you trade or whatever. You have to build up any sort of protection for him because you're right. Like when he does, when he is protected, he can do amazing things. The problem is he's just not protected enough.

[Dave Kluge]

So let's talk about the running backs here. Last week was so weird. Like, we saw, they said Bam Knight was going to be the starter, Michael Carter was the starter, and then even though Michael Carter was the starter, he saw more touches, but Bam Knight got in the end zone. This, to me, has all of the makings of just a headache that we're going to see. Split touches. Feels like whoever we start is going to do nothing and whoever we bench is going to go off. Like, I've played fantasy football long enough to know how this goes. But we also need to give some advice because there's a lot of people that picked up Michael Carter and picked up Bam Night and aren't sure what to do this week. So do you have any sort of read as to, like, who the preferred back is this week in this matchup?

[Julia Papworth]

I think they wanted it to be Michael Carter last week, but Democrato went down really early. I think he. It was like, it was, it was early. It was like five snaps or something like that. And so I think they had to pivot. Arizona really likes to have split up their running backs where it's like, here is our past catching running back. Here is our third down run. They, they love labels. We just love to. Love to do that. We don't want to mess. Mess things up. And so Carter is going to be a little more the pass catching running back. So I, I think I would go with him. Green Bay is pretty good against the run, but they are. Where you can get them is pass catching with running backs. They're not as good on that. So I think we will see a little more work to Michael Carter if, if we know what we're doing. I don't know. There's no guarantee, but they should target him a little bit more than Bam Knight. It becomes that thing. It becomes that office thing where Pam holds up the thing and she's like, it's the same picture. Like, do you really want to start either one? I, I have to start both of them places, like in different leagues, like.

[Dave Kluge]

I have when I were in like, sicko dynasty leagues. No, like, it's so easy to get on a show and be like, oh, you know, Breeze hall is coming off a bad game. You should bench Him. But then you play in leagues like we do, and it's like Westbrook Aquina is looking pretty good in that flex spot.

[Julia Papworth]

It's bad. There's some. There's some of my leagues where I look at it and I'm like, I literally cannot not fill a whole starting lineup because buys and injuries. Right. Like, the injuries are just. It's. It's killing me. But yeah. So I would say I'd lean a little bit more Michael Carter, if you're trying to decide between both of them.

[Dave Kluge]

So let's move on to the final game. I want to talk about, and this is my opinion. Yeah, probably the game of the week. Monday Night Football, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Detroit Lions and Buccaneers are a little banged up, but I'm at the point that I don't even care. Like, you could throw Baker Mayfield out there with a bunch of back boys and he's still going to somehow throw for 350 yards and three touchdowns. Like it does not matter. Better. But I want to talk about them. Let's. Let's rank the Tampa Bay wide receivers this week in order of preference because it seems like Mike Evans might be out there. But then we're also looking at Tez Johnson and Cameron Johnson and Sterling Shepard and let's even throw Kate Otten in the discussion as well. How would you rank these guys in order, how you'd prefer them this week?

[Julia Papworth]

That's what I was gonna say. First of all, I am auditioning other fan bases because of the Arizona Cardinals. And my number one choice right now is the Tampa Bay pick, Bucks. Joey Wright said he would. He would welcome me in with open arms. So I'm definitely thinking about that. Yeah, I was going to answer you.

[Dave Kluge]

You don't want on this Bears ride.

[Julia Papworth]

I promise you, if you think it's.

[Dave Kluge]

Bad being a Cardinals fan, it gets worse.

[Julia Papworth]

I have a Devin Hester jersey from like many, many years back, so I was. I was a little bit of a Chicago fan. But that was a fun game.

[Dave Kluge]

I don't know how you.

[Julia Papworth]

It was a fun. That was a fun ride. Yeah. I think Kate Otten is the forgotten man here. Like, I'm plugging him in. In a lot of places. He is a security blanket. He is a decent T. He can run 27,000 routes and not get tired because that's all he does every game is just run. I think if Mike Evans plays, you'll see some end zone targets. 100%. Like, he's not going to be out there. Tons. Like last time he was Injured and came back. They definitely worked him in slowly. They will do that because otherwise you're literally not going to have enough bodies. Otherwise, I'd say Sterling shepherd and then Tez Johnson. I think I love Tess Johnson so much. I loved him coming out of college. He's such a good story. Such a good story.

[Dave Kluge]

He's another guy, like, I'm so bad about. I watched him on film and I was like, this dude is a blast. And then he ended up with a second percentile size, adjusted, speed score.

[Julia Papworth]

Well, he. We basically weigh the same amount, Dave. Like, we're basically the same size. Yeah. And he was. I don't know if he was fully adopted, but he lived with Bonex's family. He's the. He's the guy that was other. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think. I think they fully adopted him. I believe the whole family did. So they were super close. Yeah. It's a great story.

[Dave Kluge]

You know, you do a good job of finding, like, the stories behind, like, somehow I. I wasn't aware of that one.

[Julia Papworth]

And.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, I just looked it up. Like, they are adopted brothers.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah. It's really sweet. It's really sweet.

[Dave Kluge]

No idea. Did you see the thing Tess Johnson, I mean, I'm sure you saw it. Oh, that MVP forum.

[Julia Papworth]

Oh.

[Dave Kluge]

Oh, my gosh. And did you see, like, the mic'd up moment on the sideline? Because what came out first was him telling the story in the locker room, which was, like, adorable. But then you actually see him telling Sterling Shepard, like, dude, they're chanting MVP for me. And, like, Sterling Shepard just roast him. And then pulls Chris Godwin and they're all laughing at him. I. Yeah, I've become a big Johnson fan.

[Julia Papworth]

He's a sweet boy. Also, are all of these wide receiver and running backs, I guess are all of these players taking, like, gymnastics in college now? Now, is that a thing? Like, he did. What did he do? He didn't just do, like. Like a little.

[Dave Kluge]

I was like, no, that was like a round off into, like, a front handspring and.

[Julia Papworth]

Yes. Stuck.

[Dave Kluge]

It, like, stuck. Yeah, it was crazy.

[Julia Papworth]

100. Also, I'm more nervous about Cam Scatter Boo doing those things and landing weird than I am him landing a weird tackle. But back to the Bucks. Yeah. So I think that would. If you're starting any of these guys, you just have faith in Baker, like, and you have to, like, it's it 53.5 over, under. I think it may have even gone up. Detroit's favored by four and a half. I think this should. This should be an insanely high powered game. It's in, it's in a dome. We know how Jared Goff is in a dome. It should be back and forth, back and forth, lots of offense. Fingers crossed that we're not wrong. So I think if you have to start a Tampa Bay pass catcher, it's okay. It's even okay if you have to start Cameron Johnson. But he would be the last. Last. He would be the last choice in that list.

[Dave Kluge]

And that, that's where I'm at too. And I think people are going to see like the Cameron Johnson route run data from last week and get excited about him. I do have him last as well. Assuming Mike Evans is going to be back because they were playing the same role like Cameron Johnson was playing that X receiver role. Even if Mike, I don't. Mike Evans is a guy that I'm cautious to start this week. Like I've got him ranked right now as if he's going to play, but I still have him outside my top 30 because we have seen them, like you said, like they'll rush him out on the field. I've said it a few times this week. I think the winner of this, this game could literally be like, this could be the deciding factor for who gets the 1 seed in the NFC. So they want to do whatever they can to win this game. And we've seen them put Mike Evans out there as kind of a decoy. So I think if Mike Evans is out there, I think Tess Johnson is the fun play. Like he's the guy who. There's going to be gravity pulling in Mike Evans way and we could see Tez Johnson do exactly what he did last week. So all of these guys are, you know, risky starts for sure. Tess Johnson is the fun play play. Sterling Shepard is the safe play. Cameron Johnson's the one. Like if you're really, really desperate, need to get there. But Kate Otten, the DFS start throwing.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you say? You have Kate on? Yeah. Where do you have him?

[Dave Kluge]

Tight end eight. I believe I'm pulling up. Yeah, I've got him. Tight end 8. So I've got him ahead of Travis Kelsey, ahead of Harold Fanning, Darren Waller, Mason Taylor, Zach Ertz. I mean it's, it's a smash spot for him, especially if he ends up taking that slot roll like we've seen him do in the past. Past. So want to stick with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Rashad White has looked fantastic. He was the RB10 last week. He was the RB7 two weeks ago. Do you think now that when Bucky Irving returns, we might see more of a split backfield? Because I was looking the other day, Bucky Irving was on pace to have 50 more touches per game than he had last year. And you can't help but wonder if that led to that injury. You know, he's a smaller back and they were giving him a lot of workload. Now they see Rashad White looking good. I wonder if we. Do you see some of that workload shaved away from Bucky Irving?

[Julia Papworth]

I think you have to, too, because just with all the other injuries on other positions as well, if they have to play more smart, that they just have to. And I. I think they've always wanted it to be more like the Montgomery Gibbs sort of relationship too. So this gives them a great chance to just go there and even it out, spread it out. So I think they're gonna. I definitely think they will because they're both good. They're both great. They should be. Should both be out there.

[Dave Kluge]

You know, that's a good point too. Wanted to be, like, cautious of injuries after how this has gone so far. So, yeah, I think you're definitely onto something there. And then let's talk about the Detroit Lions. And the first guy I want to talk about here is Jameson Williams. It's killing me. This guy was the per game wide receiver 19 last year. Like all of there, there were so many good reports from. From the media, from joint practices, from beat reporters, from coaches. Like, everybody was gushing about Jameson Williams. He's the per game wide receiver 43 this year. Seemed like last week we saw like the first drive. It was like, this is it. Jameson Williams breakout game is here.

[Julia Papworth]

Did nothing, but it was not it.

[Dave Kluge]

I know. I talked with Chris Harris about this today and. And what really concerns me is that we see Jameson Williams in these, like, scripted early game plays, getting usage, and then once they're out of the scripted part of the game plan, then he's just evaporated. And like, that is worrisome to me. So, like, what are we doing with Jameson Williams? We can talk about this week. Starting and sitting or long term, like buying, selling, or holding.

[Julia Papworth]

I mean, I have so much Jameson Williams. I have so much Jameson Williams. Yeah, I was so big on it.

[Dave Kluge]

Guy who had Jason Williams as my guy, like, you know. Yeah, yeah. Not happy with what I'm seeing.

[Julia Papworth]

So if you have. Okay, if you have Jameson Williams, you're really only happy with the one week where he had the over 100 yards. Right. And then Maybe last week because he ended up getting a touchdown. The problem is this. If you have Jameson Williams on your roster now, you're at the point where you're like, I can't start him. I can't start him. I'm too scared to start him. But if I don't start him, that means he's going to have two touchdowns. But if I start him, he's never going to play. Like, this is the problem. So if you are trying to be kind to your mental health, I feel like you can drop Jameson Williams if you want to. Not go through this every single week and, and lose a roster spot because you're never going to start him. He's sitting on my. He's sitting on my bench. I need to take my own sabotage.

[Dave Kluge]

Drop.

[Julia Papworth]

I'm just take him, drop him and have somebody else have that problem. Because, yes, you might get beat by Jameson Williams on a day he has 150 yards and two touchdowns. 100. But you're only going to play the guy that has Jameson Williams two times in a year, probably, right? Unless he just keeps getting dropped and picked up. So I think that there is. I think it's. There are some players you just have to do it for. And, and it's like in Dynasty where you're like, no, I can't drop that guy. No, I can't just drop it. You'll feel better. I dropped Kyler in a league and I felt great. And I.

[Dave Kluge]

Every week when I'm running waivers in my redraft leagues, I'm like, why do I still have Travis Hunter on my teams? Like.

[Julia Papworth]

This. This is the thing. Because you believe. Because there was a moment where you believed. I have what. We'll talk about a little bit of that at the end. But, like, it's tough. It's tough.

[Dave Kluge]

One more question on this game. We got reports from Dan Campbell this week that he wants David Montgomery to be more involved going forward. Because we've seen a couple games where there's just been like, no David Montgomery this year, which last year was like a 50, 50 split every single game. So this is what Dan Campbell's saying. Do you believe it?

[Julia Papworth]

I actually went on Coach Speak Index, our friends over at Coach Speak Index, because I was like, how reliable is Dan Campbell actually? Pretty reliable. Pretty reliable with what he's saying. Also, you guys talked about it a little bit last week or a few shows ago. He is somebody who values the. The quality of the man that plays for him. And you saw it when, when Montgomery's sister was There and you saw how much he got him involved and how important that was. And I think that, number one, he's a great coach. Number one, he values men. So having Montgomery play more is only more valuable to the team. Right. Same thing that we were just talking about with Shot White. So it would make more sense to get him involved. And also I think he really respects him and respects like how he is as a teammate. So I think they will start to do that. It's not the best week to start to do it. The Bucks are pretty good against the run, but same thing, they are vulnerable to pass catches, running backs as well. So same situation as the other game. So we might see that. I don't know if that means there's going to be more Gibbs catching or Montgomery. I'd love another have him throw another touchdown. I love that. That's fun.

[Dave Kluge]

You talk about Coach Peak Index. I was on a show with Greg. I was on his show this offseason and we were talking about Dan Campbell and he said he is like the most truthful coach in the NFL. Like, even if it is to like his demise, he doesn't care. Like he will look a head coach in the eyes and be like, you know, we're running like halfback dive to the left and he's going to do it. Like he's going to tell you exactly what he's going to do and then he's going to run the ball down your throat and do it anyway. So I, I tend to believe him too. Like if he says David Montgomery is going to be more involved, David Montgomery is probably going to be more involved. So always, you know, huge fan of Coach Speak Index Greg Branos doing great work over there. Definitely.

[Julia Papworth]

Oh my God, it's amazing. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

So last question I got for you here, Julia, wrap up every single show with the same question here. This can be football related or otherwise. What is a hill that you are willing to die on?

[Julia Papworth]

I was thinking about this and I was like, should I be funny and say my funny answer or should I do something like deep and whatever. My funny answer, a hill I'm willing to die on is that dry cleaning is a scam. That is my hill I'm willing to die on for my funny answer. That's all.

[Dave Kluge]

But to go, I, I went last time I went to a dry cleaner, dropped my jacket off there, went to pick it up three days later and they told me that it was just lost and they had no excuse. They were just like, it's gone. So I went back in like, multiple times. Times. It got to the point they gave me a check for 250 to go buy a new jacket. And then I went back, like, a month later to pick something up, and I saw my jacket was just hanging on a rack with nothing. Like, no sticker, no bag, nothing. And I was just like, that's my jacket. And they were just like, oh, sorry. And they just gave it to me. Like, no ticket, nothing. It was one of the craziest, weirdest things. Like, they were apologetic for it, but said they lost my jacket, gave me money for a new one. And then I found my jacket inside the dry cleaner. So tell me about a scale AM.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, tell me that when you put your hand in the pocket of your jacket, you found, like, a toothpick, a ticket stub to, like, a no Doubt concert in, like, a cigarette butt or something.

[Dave Kluge]

It's a cool jacket. It's like a plaid jacket with, like, a. Like a magenta liner. So, you know, you give. You give a. A sport car to the valet and they take it for a spin. My dry cleaner might have been like, right, yeah, I can look okay in this jacket tonight? Yeah. Yeah.

[Julia Papworth]

Oh, my God. So that's my funny answer, but I would say, like, my serious answer, which is I would say with, like, my personal life and with football, is that it's never too late to pivot. So, like, talking about us with Jameson Williams, first of all, football, football wise, it's never too late to change your point of view on something, on someone. We get so attached to these guys and. And especially us. Like, we're doing rookie profiles where we're in it, we're seeing all this, and we just. We just love a person, right? We love a player. And sometimes it just doesn't work out. Sometimes it just doesn't. If we knew it would work out, then why are we playing this game, right? Like, there's always that. That little. There's the luck, there's the this, there's the that. So it's okay to change and say, you know what? Maybe I was wrong on this guy. Maybe there. You know, maybe we're dropping this guy and you get new information. It's okay to change takes. I think anyone who is married to a take, like, that's not healthy either. Like, you want to admit that you're wrong because we're. We're often. We're. We're wrong more times than we're right sometimes. And I think about, like, in everyday life, like, I. I had always been a football fan, and I had always talked about it, and I had friends who said they were like, you should do this as a job. You should do this as a job. And, like, I'm not old, but I'm not young. And so, you know, you kind of feel like you get settled in your career and your life, and you're like, well, this is my life. This is, you know, this is what I do, you know? And then I, like, because I work for the fantasy footballers, too, and I had. They were looking for writers, and I told my friend, one of my best friends, I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I should do this. And she's like, what's the worst thing that could happen? What? They say no to you, and then you just keep going. And I was like, okay. So I applied, and then, you know, five years later, I'm, you know, you know, on the verge of being able to do this as, like, my life, which is amazing. And it's scary to change. Like, the older you get, the scarier it is to pivot it. It's so scary. But I think you're never too old to do it right.

[Dave Kluge]

And you say it, it's anything like, you know, I. I moved across the country a few years ago, like, left my entire social circle and friends and families and everything, and it was, like, terrifying. And we got here, and, like, the immediate is, like, did we make a mistake? And, like, no, you settle in, and it was awesome. And it was, like, the best choice of my wife and I ever made. And, you know, bringing it back to football, that's something like, Jeff Bell and I, we take a lot of pride in on the Dynasty show is, like, we say it all the time. To stay anchored to a take on a player when the market is changing, their valuation of the player is just silly because, like, if you love a player and then everybody else starts to like that player, and then the market starts to like that player more than you like that player, it would be silly to say you still like that player, because at that point, like, the market has passed up your love for that player. So I love that, you know, just pivoting, constantly trying to reassess where you're at in life, you know, going after it when. When you want to love that one. Julia. Well, before we sign off here, I know you said you write for the footballers, you write for us at football guys as well. You've got a social media following. Let everyone know where they can find you on social media, where they can find all your Written content, all that good stuff.

[Julia Papworth]

Yeah, you can find me on Twitter or X or whatever we're calling it nowadays at Julia Papworth. I'm on pretty much all the social media posting fun videos of me walking on my hands or something on the same handle there. And yeah, I'm writing and content editor over at Fantasy Footballers. And then all my other written stuff is with you guys at Football Guys, which I love to do. Love being part of you, your organization. I had so much fun meeting everyone in Vegas when we went for the, for the retreat last year. That was so much fun.

[Dave Kluge]

It is, it is such an awesome group of people. And like, I know, you know, we talk about it like that. That weekend is always so much fun. We all get to get together and hang out and watch football and like, you know, being a remote company, it's different. Like you don't get that time. Joe Bryant and I were just talking about this earlier, earlier today. Like, you know, when you're in an office, you're walking past people, you have that quick like, hey, you catch that Bears game last night? Like those little things. And we don't really get that in a remote office. So like when we do get together, it is just so much fun. Whether it's in Ohio for the Fantasy Football Expo or in Vegas for wild card weekend or whatever it may be. We do really cherish those dimes. And Julie, we love having you a part of this team. Really, really enjoy having you here. It's been great. And everybody check out the Beat the waiver wire article. You know, don't, don't even waste your time listening to the waiver wire stuff that Alfredo and I are doing. Just read Julia's article and be two weeks ahead of the curve on everybody else. But want to thank everybody so much for tuning in. I'll be back next week as always with a really fun football guys guest. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll see you next week.

[Julia Papworth]

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