Week 8 Running Back and Wide Receiver Rankings || Fantasy Football 2025

Summary

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Footballguys Fantasy Football Show

Episode: Week 8 Running Back and Wide Receiver Rankings || Fantasy Football 2025

Hosts: Dave Kluge & Jeff Bell
Date: October 23, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers an in-depth review of Week 8 running back and wide receiver rankings for fantasy football, as hosts Dave Kluge and Jeff Bell break down more than 70 players by tier. Emphasis is placed on analytics, injury updates, role shifts, and actionable advice to help fantasy managers set winning lineups during a heavy bye week. The discussion is lively and honest, mixing expert analysis with playful banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Personal Anecdotes and Light Banter

• The episode opens with a relaxed discussion about gyms, barbershops, and home haircuts, creating an approachable and friendly tone.
• Notable quote:
  “You invest in some good hats for a minute, and then, you know, once you got it, you got it.” – Jeff Bell (05:00)
• Dave reflects on childhood haircut trauma, giving a glimpse into the hosts’ personalities.

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Running Back Rankings & Analysis

Tier 1 (RB1-5) Set-and-Forget

Players: Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Bijan Robinson, Josh Jacobs, Devon Achane

• Both hosts agree: these RBs are automatic starts every week.
  “There’s hardly any dissension here...this is the top five. Just set it and forget.” – Dave Kluge (07:00)

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Tier 2 (RB6-11) Value and Matchups

Players: Javonte Williams, James Cook, Derrick Henry, Quinshon Judkins, Saquon Barkley, Rachaad White

• Javonte Williams:
  Dave advocates for Williams as a buy, highlighting resurgence after injury and dominance in efficiency metrics, countering public skepticism.
  “I’d move mountains to trade for him if you can. I’m looking at him in the same respect as Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry…” (08:33)

• Quinshon Judkins:
  Jeff is cautious due to matchup vs. NE, seeing last week’s 3 TD game as deceptive.
  “You have so much hype coming off of that...I’m actually worried this might be one of those, like, disappointing starts.” (09:39)
  Dave prioritizes Judkins’ workload, calling him “a plug and play RB1.” (09:57)

• Saquon Barkley:
  Both acknowledge Barkley is now more matchup-dependent and lacks last year's explosiveness.
  “He clearly just isn’t the player he was previously...now we’re seeing Will Shipley healthy, Tank Bigsby involved.” – Dave (12:00)
  Dave suggests trading Barkley for hotter names like Javonte Williams or James Cook before Barkley’s name value drops. (13:43)

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Tier 3 (RB12-20) Trade Considerations, Usage Shifts

Notables: Breece Hall, Cam Skattebo, Rico Dowdle, Alvin Kamara

• Breece Hall:
  Stability in workload regardless of game script, with an expected boost if Garrett Wilson sits.
  “He is pretty game script proof at this point.” – Dave (16:53)

• Rico Dowdle:
  Outperforming Chuba Hubbard and trending toward greater touch share.
  “By end of year it’s going to be like a 70/30, 80/20 split in Dowdle’s favor because he’s just the clear better back.” – Dave (18:45)

• Alvin Kamara:
  Split valuation: Dave is more optimistic with Kendre Miller injured; Jeff sees Kamara as low-end RB2/3, citing loss of goal-line work and limited rushing efficiency.
  “I think there’s kind of this feeling that Alvin Kamara, I don’t want to say washed, but...people haven’t felt good about Alvin Kamara in their lineups.” – Dave (23:52)

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Tiers 4 & 5 (RB21-37) Start-or-Sit Headaches & Deep League Options

• Frequent mention of volatile roles, injury fill-ins, and risky options (e.g., Isaiah Pacheco, Kamani Vidal, Tyler Allgeier).
• Dissection of “why is Travion Henderson not earning more snaps?” (28:44–30:45)
• Cautious optimism for upside dart throws like Tyrone Tracy vs. the Eagles.
  “In this tier ... the number one thing you’re looking for ... is upside. I think there’s a lot with Tyrone Tracy this week.” – Dave (38:16)

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Wide Receiver Rankings & Analysis

Tier 1 (WR1-5) Elite Starts

Players: Jamar Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Rashee Rice, Justin Jefferson

• Clear auto-starts, but hosts note London’s volatility due to Falcons’ unpredictable offense and potential for game script to reduce targets.
  “That’s my only small fear, Drake London gets schemed out… or he blows up.” – Jeff (40:16)
• Lively breakdown of teams (like the Dolphins) who create “fake NFL games” with blowouts and unpredictable stats. (40:35)

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Tier 2 (WR6-12) High-end WR1s/2s & Standout Notes

Players: Rome Odunze, AJ Brown, Courtland Sutton, Emeka Egbuka, Nico Collins (if healthy), DK Metcalf, Chris Olave

• Courtland Sutton’s volatile production is noted, with Jeff saying, “He is one of these guys that are completely interchangeable from where I have him at WR7 ... to WR14, and it would make no difference.” (43:34)
• Consensus: This tier and the next could be smushed; after the elite 12, everyone is in the same “boom/bust” pool.

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Tier 3 (WR13-20) The Infinite Sadness/Deep Starts

Notables: Ladd McConkey, Tetairoa McMillan, Zay Flowers, Quentin Johnston, George Pickens, Jalen Waddle, Michael Pittman Jr, Keenan Allen

• Chargers WRs (Johnston, Allen, McConkey) are all ranked together due to Herbert’s elevated passing volume—“good offenses make for good fantasy points.” (48:36)
• Tetairoa McMillan: Hosts trust Andy Dalton to improve consistency and aren’t overreacting to a tough Week 7 matchup. (49:53; 50:32)

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Tier 4 (WR21-28) The Real “Flex” Tier

Players: Devonta Smith, Stefon Diggs, T. Higgins, Xavier Worthy, Romeo Doubs, Jordan Addison, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jauan Jennings

• Xavier Worthy:
  Both concerned about his diminishing role post-Rashee Rice’s return, expecting a move to a lower-floor option.
  “I do wonder if...now we might be looking at Xavier Worthy as a totally boom/bust low-end WR3.” – Dave (61:52) “I’ve got Xavier Worthy as my WR29...tells you everything you need to know.” – Jeff (61:58)

• Romeo Doubs:
  Rapid improvement is being noticed. “He is developing into a WR1 right before our eyes.” – Dave (62:15)
  Still available in too many leagues, should be picked up and started.

• Tee Higgins:
  Redeemer with Flacco at QB; both expect WR2 production.
  “Don’t be surprised if we get a potential T. Higgins 10-target game like we did last week.” – Jeff (64:16)

• Jauan Jennings:
  Intriguing for the 49ers. If healthy, could leapfrog competitors with a WR1 ceiling in the right game script, though concerns about a tough matchup remain. (66:27)

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Tier 5 (WR29-37) Deep Dives and “Pray for a Flex”

Notables: Khalil Shakir, Matthew Golden, Deebo Samuel, DJ Moore, Rashid Shaheed, Kendrick Bourne, Keon Coleman, Tez Johnson, Josh Downs

• Deebo Samuel:
  If healthy and with a full practice, could rise to WR2 range. While injured, only a risky WR3.
  “So much of what he does is...brute athleticism...when he’s limited it takes that ability from him.” – Dave (70:46)

• Keon Coleman:
  Being underused, stuck in a limited route tree, and facing a tough matchup; optimism is very low.
  “Keon Coleman just runs one route...there’s just no creative usage there.” – Dave relaying Jeff’s Bills fan frustration (73:07)

• Tez Johnson:
  High-upside, “fun” waiver play who should be started as a WR3/flex, particularly with Evans and Godwin out for the Bucs.
  “If you spend money on the guy on your waiver wire...this is why you did it.” – Jeff (77:23)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I’m almost at the point where I want to filter out the international games from these samples because those get so wonky every single time.” – Dave Kluge (33:09)
• “George Pickens is just that Babadook meme... Why can’t you be normal?” – Jeff Bell (54:54)
• “If you can trade Saquon Barkley for Javonte Williams, that’s a move that I would make right now and I wouldn’t think twice about it.” – Dave Kluge (13:43)
• On the bye week dilemma: “We could have smashed [tiers] together… once you get outside that top 12… everybody after that has been pretty boom or bust this year.” – Dave (44:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 06:13 – Start of Week 8 ranking discussion
• 07:55 – Javonte Williams deep dive
• 09:11 – Quinshon Judkins discussion
• 10:34 – Saquon Barkley concerns, “name value” trade suggestions
• 14:24 – Tier 3 RBs: Breece Hall, Dowdle, Kamara
• 19:48 – Usage breakdown: Swift, Dobbins, Warren, J. Merritt
• 23:02 – Kamara rest-of-season outlook
• 25:13 – Tier 4 RBs: Start/sit debates (Pacheco, Mason, Stevenson)
• 34:03 – Houston backfield confusion: Woody Marks vs. Nick Chubb
• 39:33 – Wide receiver rankings begin
• 40:16 – Drake London volatility discussion
• 43:34 – Sutton’s risk as a WR1, discussion of “infinite sadness” tiers
• 45:42 – Chargers WR trio and Herbert
• 49:53 – McMillan & Dalton, trust post-slow week
• 54:54 – George Pickens: “Babadook” meme moment
• 57:28 – Tier 4 WRs: Xavier Worthy’s role change and risk
• 62:15 – Romeo Doubs as a breakout; roster him!
• 66:27 – Jauan Jennings’ upside and risk
• 70:46 – Deebo Samuel, injury and usage concern
• 77:23 – Tez Johnson as a priority deep flex/start

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Summary Takeaways

• Set your elite RBs and WRs with confidence, but be prepared to pivot on names like Saquon Barkley or Drake London based on matchup and team mentality.
• Buy into upward trends for breakouts like Javonte Williams and Romeo Doubs, and consider downgrading formerly elite names who are losing touches or efficiency.
• With bye weeks and injuries, the difference between WR13 and WR28 is paper thin—be aggressive with upside in your flex.
• Don’t chase last week’s stat lines blindly—consider role, offensive trends, and upcoming matchups.
• For deep leaguers: chase upside with players like Tez Johnson and keep monitoring depth chart movement due to injuries (Kamara, Jennings, Tracy).

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This episode is a crucial listen for fantasy managers seeking nuanced, up-to-the-minute advice on running back and wide receiver options, especially in a bye-heavy week. The hosts’ open debate style and willingness to question each other’s rankings offer transparency, actionable recommendations, and some much-needed fantasy humor.

Transcript

[Jeff]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Zoe]

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

[Jeff]

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

[Zoe]

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[Jeff]

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

[Jeff Bell]

Nice.

[Zoe]

Je free.

[Dave Kluge]

You heard them. T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff]

So what are we having for lunch?

[Zoe]

Dude, my work here is done.

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[Jeff Bell]

Have I told you yet that my gym has a movie theater in it?

[Dave Kluge]

No, that doesn't. So I'm interested. Yeah, let's hear it.

[Jeff Bell]

It's like the gym is eos. Eos and it's called Movios. And what they do is they set up like a room that is just a straight up movie theater. Full sound system, large screen and it's got like eight treadmills, eight bikes, eight stair climbers, the whole thing. And you just go in there and it's totally dark, sound blasting and you're just, you're just lost in a movie. I went in there, did some cardio this morning, watched about 30 minutes of Avengers.

[Dave Kluge]

Movies. Or is it just they have scre.

[Jeff Bell]

That's the funny thing is they, they, they do have a movie schedule, but it's always just off. And it's not like it's off by like a day or two. It's just. Yes, it's all the same movies for the month. But it's never right. Like Avengers was five days ago. You just never know.

[Dave Kluge]

That's fun. That's better than the ESPN news and Fox Sports. That is like the only thing that's on my TVs at my gym.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, this will keep me going 30 minutes. And I was like, oh, okay, I guess we gotta go. Gotta go home. Gotta go do some work.

[Dave Kluge]

The funny thing about my gym is, like, I can go to the gym while there is like a big game on. Like, there could be like a playoff baseball game on. And you go on and it's like international tennis on one TV and like cricket on the other tv. It's like, there's always sports on, but it's like never the sports that you care about. Like, I'm convinced if I went there on a Sunday, there wouldn't be a single football game on. They'd be like, here, badminton. Hope you like badminton. That's what we're watching today.

[Jeff Bell]

I feel like that's such a funny thing to like, just find out because all gyms have basically the same few things on tv. The one that used to be in my old neighborhood, like, they were just playing CW and TBS and tnt. Like, they would just have episodes of Supernatural playing. Every time you're. You're there just like lifting, it's like, oh, you. I've watched a whole circle season of this over the last month. Amazing.

[Dave Kluge]

Thanks. You still have the, the barber shop that I used to go to in Chicago, they would just play Sopranos all the time. That was it. They just had like the Sopranos. It was like this super old school barber shop. They would have a.

[Jeff Bell]

They always have the one TV in the back, right? You got the one TV in the back. There's like a PlayStation.

[Dave Kluge]

This wasn't even in the back. It was just one room. Like the waiting room and the chairs were all in the same spot. They had a little cooler that you can grab a beer from. It was always stocked with PDR and show up early and just like hang out, drink a beer, watch Sopranos. It. It was great.

[Jeff Bell]

That's so my, my barber shop that I go, well, I say barber, whatever, but like the, the stylist place that I go to. It's. He's, he's a stylist. Like, it's, he does men and women's hair. It's just like the ultimate hangout spot. He's got these arcade games lined up on the side that are like all custom built. Then he's got the pool table, the fridge Full of beer, like you said. And then for me and my wife, he treats us like extra special because he knows we're driving far. He picks up lunch for the whole staff, and he gets an extra serving of it for me and Gabby when we go together. And he's like, I. I want to make the trip worth it for you guys. Here's some lunch. Enjoy. It's always just fire. It's just perfect. Like, I'll. I'll never, ever go anywhere else. I'll make the hour and a half trip to go see him for a haircut.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, I. I started doing the. The cutting my own hair a while back, and. Tough learning curve, but. But pretty nice once you get it figured out, you know, Saves me some money and. And. And. And a couple trips a month.

[Jeff Bell]

You invest in some good hats for a minute, and then, you know, once you got it, you got it.

[Dave Kluge]

That is true. Yeah. You got about three years where you're. You're hiding a lot of bad haircuts under hats. But once you get through that three years, if you make it out the other side, it's great.

[Jeff Bell]

I like Gabby give me a haircut during quarantine.

[Dave Kluge]

Wow. Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

Thank God I was married. Just not cute. Not at all. It's like the haircuts my mom used to give me where she just like, okay, we're gonna do a four on the top, a three in the middle, and a two at the bottom. And you just.

[Dave Kluge]

You just.

[Jeff Bell]

Your head looks very phallic at that point. It's just not a good look for people.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, my mom did that once, and, like, somehow she was holding the clippers backwards, like, she just had them the wrong way. And instead of cutting my hair, it just, like, out one by one. And I remember I'm crying, like, four or five years old, like, crying in a chair. And she's like, you never cry when Sam does this. And I'm just like, well, Sam doesn't hurt me. Like, I don't know what's happening right now.

[Jeff Bell]

Now we're unraveling. Now we're unraveling why Dave cuts his own hair. Now we know the mask is that it saves money. The truth is there's some trauma behind it.

[Dave Kluge]

Probably.

[Jeff Bell]

Week eight is here, and we're taking a look at the top running backs and wide receivers. Helping you guys out. Let you know who you need to be starting this week. So Dave Kluge and I are going to go through our top running back and wide receiver rankings. We're going to break these down into Tiers, Dave, for each of these positions, we have the top 37 players ranked. Who knows? We do this all the time where we might talk about a few extra ones. So we're going to give you guys at least 70 players here that we're going to be talking about. So this is a long video. Strap in, get ready for this episode. Dave, why don't we start off with the running backs and I think you and I can do the same thing we did last week. Super simple. Tier one of the running backs. Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Bijan Robinson, Josh Jacobs, Devoni Chan. There's no analysis needed. Everyone knows start these guys.

[Dave Kluge]

Yep. Yeah, I'm looking at super simple. We have. Our rankings are almost identical too. Like there's hardly any dissension here. Like this is the top five. We got. You guys flip flopped here and there, but yeah, this is, this is the top five. Just set it and forget.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, it's an easy one. For that, let's go down to the next tier where we could talk a little bit more about these guys. At 6 we've got Javante Williams, 7 James Cook, 8 Derrick Henry, 9 Quinshon Judkins, 10 Saquon Barkley and 11, Rashad White. Now, Dave, I will say something here about Javante Williams. I think some people will might have questions. He's going up against the Browns defense here and this is, you know, it's. Excuse me, not the Browns defense. I, I definitely wrote the wrong notes here. Denver defense. Thank you. It is a tough defense, at least when you look at the full season. But as of recent, they have not been as tough against running back. So this is still a very just easy smash start spot for Javante.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, and I also think that Javante is just at the point that you're setting and forgetting him. Like we could probably push him up into that elite tier if we want to. He's the RB5 on the season right now. Now, with Miles Sanders out of the picture, we, I, I'm not especially concerned about Jaden Blue. You know, he might come in for two, three, four touches here and there, but this is very clearly Javante Williams backfield. And I don't know if like as a collective people have reshaped their perspective on Javante Williams, who he is and what he's doing this year. I think there is still kind of this idea that he is like, you know, this inefficient back who's just kind of this dead zone guy that's getting the work that could not be further from the truth, every single one of his efficiency metrics that I care about, yards after contact per attempt, pretty broken. Tackle rate, missed tackles, forced breakaway, run rate, they are all either better or at where they were pre injury. And we got to remember this guy coming into the league was one of the best running backs in football. Like we were talking about him as the number two overall dynasty running back. And then after that knee injury, his efficiency just plummeted and we kind of reshaped how we think about him. But he has been killing it. Right now he's the lead back in one of the league's best offenses, this guy. You know, I'd move mountains to trade for him if you can. I'm looking at him in the same respect that I'm looking at Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and these other. Other guys that we've just been thinking about as set. And forget running backs.

[Jeff Bell]

Quinch on Judkins is a guy in this tier that we have as our consensus running back. 9. Dave, you have him as your running back. 7. I have him as my running back. 12. We both like him as an RB1 this week. I'm a little more cautious because I think there's a lot of hype coming off of this Dolphins game. Three touchdowns, but it wasn't a particularly efficient game for him. Even there, he has the one long run and outside of that, it actually wasn't very good.

[Dave Kluge]

The three touchdowns, which really.

[Jeff Bell]

Right.

[Dave Kluge]

Like, that's what I started with.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's. You have so much hype coming off of that. You go up against New England, who over the last four weeks has been the absolute best defense against fantasy running backs. I'm actually worried this might be one of those, like, disappointing starts. Like you still start him, but it might be a little more disappointing than you think.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, and I think that the, the volume is going to be there. I mean, this is another talented running back who is getting the workhorse role here. And I know it's not the best matchup, but I'm still not trying to overthink it here. I mean, I don't know many people that are sitting Quinton Judkins this week. I think that, you know, whether he's RB7 in rankings or RB12 in rankings, like, we're still looking at him as a plug and play RB1. And I know, like last week wasn't great, but this is still just a young, talented guy. The offensive line in Cleveland has looked a little bit better over the last handful of games than what we saw early in the year. And we just know the volume is going to be there. All it takes is breaking off one big run or getting in the end zone a couple of times like he did last week.

[Jeff Bell]

The other guy in this tier that I think is just starting to raise a lot of eyebrows as to what's the value of this player going forward. How do I need to treat him as a starter? Because Saquon Barkley was the guy that was a lot of people's number one overall draft pick or number two, three, whatever. But now we're at the point where it's like I don't even know if week in, week out he's going to be an RB1. He's our consensus running back 10. Right now I have him at running back 10. Dave, you have met running back nine. Surprisingly not as easy matchup as we might have thought with the New York Giants. Looking back at last matchup against the Giants, we only got 12 carries, 58 yards, two receptions for Saquon Barkley. It wasn't the outing that we thought or at least what we've had previously for him. It just seems like there's this kind of perfect storm of him not getting the volume we want to see and the lack of big plays that you've mentioned before.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, it's been really frustrating. I talked about it last week that he is. Last year he was averaging a breakaway run 20 plus yards once in every 22 carries and he was averaging about 22 carries per game. So it was like once a game he was ripping off a 20 plus yarder and a lot of those. We remember going for 50, 60, 70 yards last year. This year he's had over 100 carries and hasn't logged a single breakaway run yet. I don't know if it's because he was on the Madden cover. I don't know if it's because he had, you know, 600. Whatever touches it was last year. I mean, whatever it was, he clearly just isn't the player he was previously. And now we're seeing Will Shipley healthy. We're seeing Tank Bigsby finally involved in the offense as well. You're still starting Saquon Barkley, but I think people hoping that he would maintain what he did last year, it's not going to happen. He's kind of at that fringe, low end RB1, high end, RB2. But the upside is still there, especially against the Giants here. You know he's going to be a little bit more motivated in this game than he probably would be in the other games that he'll be playing against other opponents. So I still think you're starting him because the upside is that he could still punch in three touchdowns on any given week. But I think if you're hoping that he's going to, you know, do what he did last year, we've seen enough through the first month and a half of the season. That's just not going to happen.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I mean, we would have thought that right. Two weeks ago, Saquon against the Giants and he gives you 6.7 half PPR points and it just disappointing.

[Dave Kluge]

And that was in New York too. Or, you know, he's probably a little bit more comfortable. Like that's where we really feel. Exactly. Yeah. So it's, it's been frustrating, but again like frustrating because he's not living up to his draft day potential. Like you probably spent a top five pick on him, but it's not bad enough that you're thinking about benching him. Like, the volume is still there. It's still Saquon Barkley. This is still a high scoring Eagles offense. You're still putting them in your lineup.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah. Is it weird to say though, I mean, you're still starting him, but is it weird to actually consider Saquon to be sort of matchup dependent in a way? Because you can sort of see like. So what I mean by that is in a game like this where the game script, the Giants have proven that they can go out there and score points when they're in these games. Even in what we thought was going to be a slog with them versus the Broncos, we get a high scoring game. This was also one of the first times that we saw the Eagles against the Giants go out and just pass the ball a ton. I think you get worried that we just continue seeing a lot of this passing volume for this Eagles. They look different as an offense. It's not the same thing. I think we're hoping for some better passing volume for Saquon.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. Last week was Jalen hurts. He had the most passing yards in a game that he's had since the 2022 season. Like, just a completely different look for the Eagles week. But again, it's Saquon Barkley. It's the Eagles offense. I feel like you got to put him in your lineup. But like, if we're talking bigger picture here, like, you know, looking for some trades and whatnot, I moved Javante Williams ahead of Saquon Barkley in my rest of season rankings. Like, if you can trade Saquon Barkley for Javante Williams. That's a move that I would make at this point, and I wouldn't think twice about it. If you could move, you know, Saquon Barkley for James Cook, Josh Jacobs. There's a handful of players that I think you might be able to pivot off of Saquon Barkley because of the name value and get guys who are just performing better right now go down.

[Jeff Bell]

To the next tier. So tier number three is gonna be running backs 12 through 20. At 12, Breeze Hall, 13 Cam Scatterboo, 14 Rico Dowdle, 15 DeAndre Swift, 16 J.K. dobbins, 17 Jalen Warren, 18 Jakori Kroski Merritt 19, Chase Brown. And at 20, Alvin Camara. Dave, let's start with Breeze hall because he's been a guy that has been talked about a lot as a potential trade prospect in the NFL, a trade prospect in fantasy football. And the jets, we. We just. Okay, they're the Jets. We don't even know who's gonna start this week because Aaron Glenn wants to keep his competitive advantage against the Bengals. Tyrod Taylor, though, does look like he has an injury, so we might get some more Justin Fields.

[Dave Kluge]

And Jaren Glenn did come out, and it sounds like he's kind of like, backing up Justin Fields now, where, like, he was very. I don't. I don't know the right word. I don't know. Did you see the clip where, like, they asked him about Woody Johnson's comments and he was kind of like, well, that's my decision to make. He's like, that's not Woody Johnson's decision to make. And, like, I still have faith in Justin. So it does seem like Aaron Glenn is leaning towards Justin Fields a little bit more than, you know, the. The immediate reaction was like, Woody Johnson said this Justin Fields career is over. And Aaron Glenn's kind of saying, like, no, like, we still think Justin's the guy.

[Jeff Bell]

The vibes could not be worse.

[Dave Kluge]

Like, I know it sucks, dude, because I like Justin Fields, I like Aaron Glenn, but this is just a disaster happening.

[Jeff Bell]

Like, they don't all work in the same office, right? They can't just have, like a simple, sit down Woody Johnson. I mean, the comments from Woody Johnson is just, if our quarterback could complete a pass, it would look a lot better.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

Holy smokes, man. Like, that's.

[Dave Kluge]

Then you also had Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields both did the like, ooh, like, I'm hearing about this for the first time. Let me give my off the cuff Comment like bs like, come on, there's no way you didn't hear about this before your press conference.

[Jeff Bell]

And honestly a couple of weeks ago we would have said this is the remedy. This could, this could solve everything going up against the Bengals. But the Bengals have actually been. It actually still might solve things for Breeze hall because, you know, for fantasy football, because the Bengals defense, not great. They've been playing better but still not great, especially the interior run defense. But now that the Bengals are scoring points, game script could be very different here and jets might have to pass the ball a lot more than they usually want to. Breece hall if Garrett Will Wilson is out, which we're not sure as of yet. But yeah, I mean Breeze hall could become a heavy target earner in this game.

[Dave Kluge]

And that's what we've seen is Justin Fields is much more willing to check down now than he was earlier in his career. So I think regardless of the game script, like if they're up, which I don't expect, you know, we're probably going to see a lot of carries going Breeze Hall's way and if they're down then we're going to see a lot of targets going Breeze Hall's way. So he is pretty game script proof at this point. And what I will say as well, I know there's like a lot of buzz about Justin Fields right now. If he is named the starter, I think people are going to be like scared of Justin Fields for whatever reason. I'm going to rank him as a QB one like you said, like this Cincinnati defense can hang points and this might be one of those situations where like Justin Fields, like he does so often goes into the third quarter with you know, three, four fantasy points and then finishes with 30. Like this does feel like a garbage time opportunity for Justin Fields. So I know there's a lot of concerns right now, but at the end of the day, Justin Fields still runs the ball a lot. This is a game script that could work in his favor. I know we're talking about running backs and wide receivers today, but Justin Fields, if he's named the starter, I'll have him inside my top 12 this week.

[Jeff Bell]

Rico Dowdle is another name that's in this tier that I want to talk about because this was there was a lot of confusion last week going in like who's going to be the starter, who's going to get the majority of the carries for the Panthers. Turns out it's still Rico. He looks like he is the very definitive one. A like one a is just kind of the loose term I'm going to use here. But going up against the Bills, this is a good matchup for him. It really all depends because so many of the yards that the Bills have given up have been on two monster performances. One to be John Robinson, one to Derrick Henry, and then everything else has kind of just been a little meh. You get a divine a Chan receiving PPR scam in there. But other than that, like, yeah, the Bill's defense is beatable, their run defense is beatable, but teams haven't been able to just slow the game down and run against the Bills. They're always having to pass. So if Rico can stay involved in the passing game, I, I think there's a chance for a blow up game here.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And it feels like last week Chuba Hubbard's usage was a little bit like ceremonious. Like, yeah, you know, you're a team captain, we don't want to like take your spot from you. But like whether you're looking at the advanced efficiency metrics, whether you're just looking at like the raw yards per touch, whether you're watching the film, or even if you're just like not a film grinder and you were just watching the game on tv, Rico Dowdle is clearly just a much, much better running back right now. And maybe that is because Chuba Hubbard is coming back from his injury. But like Chuba Hubbard, you know, this is just the life of a day three running back. Like if you're thrust into a role with a lot of volume, you can be productive. And we saw that last year. You know, it was a tough year. And Chuba Hubbard was able to grind out yards behind this offensive line. But Rico Doddle just adds a dynamic element to this offense that we haven't seen from Chuba Hubbard throughout his entire career. So I think that we're going to see that. You know, last week it was like a 55, 45 split. Probably more of like a 60, 40 this week. And my guess is by the end of the year it's going to be like a 70, 30, 80, 20 split in Dowdle's favor because he's just the clear better back.

[Jeff Bell]

Really quick on a couple of running backs here before because I really want to talk about Jakori Crosky, Merritt, Chase Brown and Alvin Kamara because these are some guys that, you know, arrows have been pointing in all different directions, but really quick. DeAndre Swift against the Ravens, it's a blitz heavy defense. You can see a lot of check Downs for Swift here. J.K. dobbins to run funnel against the Cowboys. That's easy. Jalen Warren is just getting the volume we love to see and he still gets involved in the passing game. So that works against the, the Packers. But Dave J. Crosky Merit here. This is the one. You have him ranked quite a bit higher than I do. Just double checking here. Yeah, you've got him at running back 13. I've got him at running back 22. So what keeps you higher on Jakori Crosby? Merit, Because I'm looking at this game. There's the limited passing role. You've got Marcus Mariota going up against the Chiefs. I'm, I'm, I'm a little worried that he gets, he gets written out due to the game script here, here.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, full disclosure, that was just an oversight on my part. I forgot that Marcus Mariota was starting. You know, I did these rankings. Oh, this is awkward in the week. Yeah, yeah. So sorry about that. I did these rankings earlier in the week thinking that maybe Jaden Daniels would be able to play. Did a, you know, last pass late last night with Marcus Mariota in at quarterback and still, you know, I've got him at wider or running back 18, so I'm still looking at him as an RB2, somebody that you want to get in your lineups. But yeah, tempering expectations a little bit. You know, we've seen Jacques Gibbert's best games have come when he's playing alongside a healthy Jaden Daniels with Marcus Mariota out there. Tempering expectations a little bit, but still a volume based rbd.

[Jeff Bell]

Okay. Yeah, so that's about where I have him. Then Chase Brown, I think becomes probably the most interesting running back to talk about in this whole tier. Because going up against the Jets, I mean, this could actually be one of these game scripts where the Bengals get ahead early and just try to run out the clock. But we saw how easy they were able to score last week against the Steelers. A better defense. I mean, if we get a positive game script here for Chase Brown, we could finally be looking at a season height in carries, potentially goal line chances. All the things that we have wanted for Chase Brown. We started to see some of the explosive runs last week. Is there a small chance Chase Brown actually finishes as an RB1 this week?

[Dave Kluge]

RB1? I think that's pretty tough to get, get there just because now we're seeing Smash ap Ryan is a little bit involved. You know, he's going to get 30 to 40% of the touches and that was my big concern early in the off season with Chase Brown is like, you know, I just did like some very rudimentary math where I'm like, okay, chase Brown on 96 of the opportunities was averaging like 18 points per game. If we cut that down to 70 of the opportunities, then all of a sudden that pushes him like outside of RB2 status. I think that's kind of where we are now. I think there's going to be enough volume and enough pass catching that he's still going to be a guy that you can look at as an rb. But I think that that's ceiling that we had hoped for, that he'd be a top five guy or an RB10. I think that's gone at this point. And he will have those weeks where he scores twice or he's got the game breaking athleticism where he can rip off an 80 yard play and when he does that, he can kind of squeak in as an RB1. But I don't think that's ever the expectation. If he ever finishes an RB one, it's going to be because Variance broke in his direction. He had a big player, he had a couple scores.

[Jeff Bell]

Let's go down to the next tier here. This is going to be tier number four.

[Dave Kluge]

I want to Alvin Camaro real quickly. We did kind of gloss over him. He's a guy that I'm, I don't want to say like aggressive on, but you know, there were a lot of concerns with Alvin Camara over the last few weeks and I think with Kendra Miller out for the year now we're going to be looking at a different Alvin Camara. I don't think Devin Neal is going to be that involved. You know, we talked about him on the waiver show as an injury away guy to Stash, but they haven't had any faith in Devin Neal. Like he wasn't even getting on the field when Kendra Miller was healthy. I don't think that we're going to see him just step in and do what Kendra Miller was doing. You know, getting 30, 40% of the backfield touches. So I think there's kind of this feeling that Alvin Camara, I don't want to say washed, but like people haven't felt good about Alvin Camara in their lineups. This is a week, you know, we've seen him have some huge weeks over his career against Tampa Bay. This is one where I do feel a little bit better about Alvin Camara than I have over the last month.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I'm, I'm sort of the other way, it's. He's sort of just like the PPR scam where it's like we've got him at running back 20 and that's on like a lot of bye weeks. You know, we're probably looking at him as a, a fringe RB2, RB3 rest of the way. I mean, not that I don't want to say, like we have seen what the Saints are going to do, but the fact that Taysom Hill is back to getting goal line work. Devin Neal was actually throwing in some really nice pass blocking reps last week where there's times where even in a passing situation, what if Camara comes off the field? Like, it's just, I, I don't, I don't have a lot of faith right now that Camara is running the ball well enough or going to get the goal line opportunities and the passing game is still there, but I don't know that it's enough. Like I'm still starting him, if that makes sense. Right. Like he's always going to be that fringe RB2, RB3 guy.

[Dave Kluge]

For me, I think the saving grace here is Tampa Bay has given up more receiving yards to running backs than any other team in the NFL. So I think that's the hope here is that this game script will work in favor where they have to pass the ball a lot. And I still think Alvin Camara, you know, even if Devin Neal had some, some nice pass blocking reps, I think if they want a guy out there catching the ball in passing down situations, it's probably still going to be Alvin Camaro. So, you know, I'm still looking at him as an RB2, but feeling a little bit warmer about Alvin Camara than I have.

[Jeff Bell]

The, the Saints Bucks game is like a sneaky, ugly game, I think.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

With no Mike Evans, potentially no Chris Godwin.

[Dave Kluge]

It could still hurt. I mean like he's playing, which is awesome, but like Buka clearly wasn't himself last week.

[Jeff Bell]

No, no. It could get one of those like ugly games. Low scoring, surprisingly. Okay, let's go down into tier four. This is running backs 21 through 27. Isaiah Pacheco is at running back 21 at 22. We've got Jordan Mason, 23, Ramandre Stevenson, 24, Kamani Vidal, 25, Tony Pollard, 26 Tashi Spears, and 27 Woody Marks. Dave, Isaiah Pacheco is probably one of the guys that's gonna have the most start sit questions. I think actually the next three or four of these guys, it's Isaiah Pacheco. Jordan Mason, Ramondre Stevenson and Kamani Vidal. We have them ranked in that exact order. Is there a guy out of those four that sticks out to you as man if I have him on this? Actually, why don't you put them. What's, what's. You have your rankings here. What would be your ranking if you had all four of these players on your team and you need to pick. Pick two to be in your starting lineup?

[Dave Kluge]

That's the exact order I have them in and I don't even have anybody else there. Like it's for me in my. Oh, you.

[Jeff Bell]

Actually, I'm looking. You have them sequentially in that order. Like there's no gaps, nothing.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, Pacheco, Mason, Stevenson, Vidal is how I prefer it and I don't feel good about any of these guys. Like this is where we hit that tier where there's like a big fall off and I know there's going to be a lot of start sick questions about these guys. And you might be looking at wide receivers over some of these guys in your flex spot if you've got two good running backs. But Isaiah Pacheco, we've started to see him look a little bit like his older self, Kareem Hunt. We don't know exactly what's going on with him, but he picked up that injury last week, came back in the game and then immediately left the game. So we don't know if he's at 100. I do have some concerns about Rashard Smith there, but this does feel like a Jaden Daniels list team. Gives them an opportunity to lean on the run a little bit, get Isaiah Pacheco going. So I think that makes sense there. Jordan Mason, this is a tough matchup and we haven't really seen him look quite as good as he did. I'm trying to remember who that first game was, the first game without Aaron Jones. I remember it was a smash matchup. Maybe it was even Miami, I can't remember. But he had that one game where he just feasted and like that's what we expected. And since then Jordan Mason has been Cincy.

[Jeff Bell]

I'm pretty sure it was Cincy that he played.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, that's right. And he smashed and we expected him to in that game, but has been touchdown or bust since then. And then Ramadre Stevenson. I don't know, man, I might be the idiot here. I see that I am like way higher on Travion Henderson than you. I'm trying not to take too much away from last week. I think maybe Travion Henderson is a little bit more involved. Like, I don't think that they want to phase him out completely. I think they were probably trying to send some sort of message last week. But I'd be shocked if Trayvon Henderson comes out here this week and just gets two touches again.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, and I don't think he gets two touches again. Right. But like it's just not, not, it's not enough. Even if he does get his eight, nine touches, you're hoping for some sort of a big play. I'm looking right now, last three weeks has not even been within the top 40 of running backs. Like, it's just, it's one of these things where, and I haven't met running back 39 still. So I, I, I, I would think comparatively to performance and consensus, I'm actually pretty high on Trevillon. Everything from talent in the way I look at him makes me want to say, kid's still really good at football and he should be playing more. And everything tells me like, just keep starting them and keep playing them as your flex and something will happen. And I'm, I think I'm at that breaking point where I'm just like, I can't do it. Even in these tough bye weeks, can't do it.

[Dave Kluge]

And the weirdest thing is like they're saying that his lack of playing is because of his pass protection. He was like the best pass blocking running back in college football last year. Like that is one of the reasons we expected him to be drafted as high as he was is because he was a phenomenal pass blocker at Ohio State. And now like you can look at PFF grades. Like PFF grades from last year had him graded as one of the best pass blocking running backs. And now this year he's graded as one of the worst pass blocking running backs. And I get it. Like there's different blitz schemes and like they throw some complex things at running backs here. But at the end of the day, like we don't see this often that somebody who is like really good at one thing in college comes into the NFL and is like terrible at it. There's something weird going on here.

[Jeff Bell]

I was gonna say, I wonder how much of it is too is like college. They're going to simplify everything, right? You know what your blitz assignment pickup is every single time. It's super simple. They want keep it easy for these guys. And in the NFL, I mean, like you mentioned, the schemes get so much harder to recognize and you'll have defensive fronts pulling stunts where you don't know where guys are coming from. And it's. We see this often with rookie running backs is it takes them time to get used to simply running the football. Now let's get them used to trying to do one of the toughest things, which is pass block and open space. Like, it is just. It's impossible, especially against NFL defensive fronts like this. So, yeah, I mean, we're.

[Dave Kluge]

We're pretty.

[Jeff Bell]

It's surprising that we're seeing this kind of struggle from him.

[Dave Kluge]

But, like, if he was coming out of the Mac or something, I'd get it. Like, if he was coming out of the Mountain West, I'd get it. But like, he was playing against a lot of NFL talent. Like, this is a Big Ten running back who, like, was seeing some of that stuff in college too. Just a really weird situation. Like, I'm still keeping a light on for Travion because I think he's a good player. I think a lot of this is just that old school coaching, you know, Frable McDaniels cut from that Belichick cloth. Like, I think that they want to, like, coach these young guys hard and get the best out of them and like, super frustrating for fantasy managers. But I am not willing to say yet that like Trayvon Henderson is a bust or not good at football because we just saw way too much at Ohio State that that something isn't adding up with what's going on this year.

[Jeff Bell]

You and I both have Kemona Vidal as our running back. 24, making him the consensus running back. 24 in our rankings. Is he the last running back on this list that you actually want to. To start? Because there are guys like Tony Pollard and Woody Marks and Chuba Hubbard, Tyler Algier that come right after that. I don't know you want to start any of them. I don't know that you want to start Kamani Vidal. Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

And I think, like, come on, Evidal, you know, the workload is probably going to be there and that's why he kind of falls in as like the last of the RB2s at RB24 for us. But I could make an argument for some of the guys that I have ranked behind him. Tajie Spears, Travion Henderson, Woody Marks, Tony Pollard having higher ceilings. I think with Kamani Vidal, though, we've seen that he is kind of the lead guy here. I do wonder. It looks like Joe Walt should be back this week, which is obviously good for the offensive line, but I do wonder with how much they blitz. We know Commandee Vidal is a Pretty good pass blocker. I wonder if they ask him to just like stay in and pick up a lot of blitzes. Talked about this a couple of weeks ago, but the Chargers are one of the few teams that will run these plays without tight ends. So they don't get that extra chip blocker when they just have the five guys up front. And they do rely on the running backs to block a little bit more. So I think that might be my fear here, is that he is, you know, staying in and blocking a lot more than he is running routes, but the volume is going to be there. At the end of the day, I think he has like a higher median range of outcomes than a lot of the guys that are ranked behind him. But I do think his, his ceiling is limited in this matchup.

[Jeff Bell]

One of the best defensive performers for Minnesota Vikings, Andrew Van Ginkel, who, not known to be the run stopper. He's, he's a great off the edge player, creates some big plays. He will be out for the Thursday night matchup for the Vikings. And that's one of the things that I will say is like when the Vikings have been bitten by the injury bug, they have been susceptible to some big plays, whether that be in the secondary or with the running backs. They've been a very, very inconsistent defense, going from shutting down Saquon Barkley to giving up the world to Quinn, Sean Judkins to. I mean like just. You can go through the list here. Like Kenneth Gainwell had a 99 year old rushing game against the Vikings on 14 carries. It's just the, the defense has been inconsistent. I think you're. When you, if and when you are starting command, if a doll, it is with the understanding of the volatility that you might get. This is one of these where you're hoping. There's touchdowns, there's receptions. It's a good Chargers offense with Justin Herbert.

[Dave Kluge]

I'm almost at the point where I just want to start like filtering out the international games entirely from these samples because like those get so wonky every single time. And like, yeah, we saw Kenneth Gainwell like ate this defense alive in that weird London game. But like, like Kev Gainwell hasn't done anything really for the rest of the season outside of that one game.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, well, that was his big starting game right. Coming out. So like a little more volume there.

[Dave Kluge]

Definitely skews the numbers though.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Okay. Anyone else from this tier that stands out to you, you want to jump down to our next tier?

[Dave Kluge]

Woody Marks is just like, an interesting guy that I think is worth talking about. I believe I'm trying to look right now. I think you and I both have Woody Marks ahead of Nick Chubb, and like, he. He clearly has more juice, however you define that. Like, even my wife, like, we were watching the game and like, Nick Chubb just kind of like plotting his way to 2, 3 yards, and then Woody Marks comes in and just like he shot out of a cannon, comparatively, he still has a lot of, like, technical things that he needs to refine. Like, his footwork isn't good. He's just like a young guy that wants to just like, go, go, go. And that's not always what you want to see from an NFL running back. But I. I don't know exactly. I. I just kind of. I guess want to talk through this. Houston backfill a little bit because we have seen a frustrating split. We saw like, the big Woody Marks breakout a few weeks ago. Then we saw Nick Chubb as the lead guy, and then we saw kind of a split last week where. Where Woody Marks just looked like the better guy. I'm looking at this matchup against San Francisco, and it is a very tough matchup. I could see this going either way. Like, they might want to just try to get outside with Woody Marks as much as possible. They might just want to like, beat up on this banged up 49ers defense by just plowing Nick Chubb through the middle. I don't really have a good read on this game, and I think were both opting for Woody Marks just because he looks a little bit better right now. But I could see this one being like a trap game where you're starting Woody Marks or Nick Chubb and getting like two points from either of these guys. And I think there's a lot of fear in both those running backs.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I think the only. I. First of all, I don't want any part of any Texans player if we're just going to be real there. You're starting.

[Dave Kluge]

Collins is out. Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

You're starting them out of sheer desperation. I. I think the only kind of saving grace that I'd have for even putting Woody Marks ahead of Nick Chubb in rankings is that I think the Texans will be forced to pass more. I think that this Niners pass rush can get to CJ Stroud pretty much a Girl Scout troop could get to CJ Stroud at this point. Like, there's. There's no blocking for him up front. And without Nico Collins, if he's not in for this Game, they're gonna need to get the ball out quick and find ways to get the ball into people's hands creatively. Whether that's Jalen Noel, Jaden Higgins, if Christian Kirk is back healthy, Woody Marks I think becomes a very interesting guy because the Niners can be beaten through the air with running backs. And that's kind of the only saving grace that I have here. But I don't want to start these guys if I don't have to. I actually have. If I'm. Yeah, I actually have Tyler Algier ahead of Woody Marks. I will take the Falcons running back two against Miami over either of the Houston Texas starting running back.

[Dave Kluge]

Probably not a bad call. Yeah, I might be making that switch myself here.

[Jeff Bell]

All right, let's jump down to the final tier for the running backs. This is running backs 28 through 37. Dave, I'm proud of us because we are going much faster than we did last week. Number 28, running back Tyler Algier. 29, Chuba Hubbard 30, Nick Chubb 31, Trevion Henderson 32, Kenneth Gainwell, 33 RJ Harvey, 34, Burchard Smith, 35 Tyrone Tracy, 36 Kyle Manangai and 37 Isaiah Davis. Now we've already mentioned a couple of these guys names, so I don't think we need to like double down on them. We've already talked about Algier, Hubbard, Chub, he, Gainwell. I think we, we know what he is. And I think you could probably say the same thing about RJ Harvey to an extent, Dave. Like, it feels like Gainwell, Harvey, Smith are all sort of the same dude. You're expecting a handful of touches, a handful of targets. Let's see what happens. The only, I think saving grace I have for RJ Harvey this week as a potential shootout against Dallas.

[Dave Kluge]

Dallas, Yeah, I, I think that's the hope with Harvey and I think Tyrone Tracy is kind of the interesting guy here because we saw, you know, when they played two weeks ago against Philadelphia, it was his first game back after missing a handful of games with that shoulder injury and he got almost no touches. And that was like the big camp scatter boot breakout game where we saw the three touchdowns. We saw him just like mulling this Philadelphia defense. I've got to imagine they've got a better game plan to stop Cam Scatter Boo this time around. We did see Tyrone Tracy involved last week. He had that big run up the middle for a touchdown. We see him a little bit removed from that shoulder injury now.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, Tracy up like as you're saying that I'm sitting here going, I've got him way too. Like, I need to have Tyrone Tracy. I would think I need to have him. I actually think I need to have him higher than you have him right now too. Like, I want to go put Tyrone Tracy ahead of Rashard Smith and Nick Chubb and Kyle Menungai and some of these.

[Dave Kluge]

And I think that's it. You know, this is the Eagles playing at home. You know, they should have a better showing than they had on that short matchup on a Thursday night where I think they kind of got just like, like almost sucker punched by the Giants. Like they did not expect that to happen. And then they were just like scrambling from behind the entire game.

[Jeff Bell]

They're going to come into this game pissed.

[Dave Kluge]

That's kind of what I'm thinking here. And I think that, you know, we know Cam Scatter Boot could catch the ball, but if this does, you know, really just get out of hand early, which is how the Vegas books are kind of looking at this one. I could see them forcing a position where we see a little bit more Tyrone Tracy, and we know that these negative game scripts where they're forced to pass the ball, a lot can work in his favor. So Tyrone Tracy, you know, we're both ranking him as an RB3, but I think when you're looking at upside, which is I think like the number one thing you're looking for in this tier, I think that there's a lot of upside with Tyrone Tracy this week.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, we're gonna have him a little lower on these tiers, but I think you're right. I. I think I'll be moving him up quite a bit and have him on that fringe where you're looking at him. I don't want to say RB2 just yet, but I think you're looking as like the high end RB3 with some. Some upside in a potential shoot out there.

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[Jeff Bell]

Let's move on to wide receivers where 37 minutes too.

[Dave Kluge]

Look at that. Well, we got the cold open a few minutes there, but yeah, that's. That's a good pace right there.

[Jeff Bell]

Efficient. Efficient is what we are. Let's go into the wide receivers here, but we've got 37 wide receivers. Get ready. Tier number one wide receivers one through five, Jamar Chase, CD Lamb, Drake London, Rishi Rice and Justin Jefferson. Nothing needs to be said here. The faith is restored in the Bengals offense and Jamar Chase faith is restored in CD Lamb. Drake London gives me pause because we still don't quite know what the Falcons are back and forth, they're very inconsistent team. When Darnell Mooney's in the field, when Kyle Pitts is getting his targets, the offense just seems different. They're so much better when they run through Drake London. That's my only small fear is that Drake London gets schemed out of this game because the Falcons get such a big lead lead ahead of the Dolphins. But it also could just be because Drake London gets himself two touchdowns early and we're looking at a huge blow up game.

[Dave Kluge]

That's something that Jeff talked about, Jeff Bell, when we were doing the Dynasty show earlier this week that there have been so many games this year where there are just like fake NFL teams. And I'm, I'm sorry Alfredo, but like the Dolphins right now are like a fake NFL team and what we're seeing is like they're just getting beaten so badly that like by halftime the game is just like over. And like this could be one of those games where like the Falcons are just like, you know, kind of almost kneeing it out coming out after halftime and like just, you know, running the ball to Tyler Algier and we might see that. We're like, you know, Drake London could have 80 yards and a touchdown going into halftime and you're like this is going to be the huge blow up game. And then he finishes the game with 80 yards and a touchdown because it just gets that out of hand that quickly.

[Jeff Bell]

Exactly that.

[Dave Kluge]

And I think that's the, the fear with Drake London and I think a lot of people like when you're looking at these, it might be kind of like shocking to see Drake London at wide receiver three and Rashi Rice at wide receiver four. But we got to remember this is a week where Amanda St. Brown is on by, Brian Thomas Jr. On by Pukua Devonte, Adams are on by, Jackson Smith, Najiga is on by. So there's a lot of guys that probably would be ahead some of these names if we didn't have all of these big name receivers on by. So yeah, these guys probably feel more like middling to low end wide receiver ones. But with a lot of elite guys on by this week, they just nominally get moved up into that Wide receiver three, wide receiver four, wide receiver five spot.

[Jeff Bell]

It's funny, Miami is actually allowing the fifth fewest most fantasy points to wide receivers over the last four weeks because teams simply don't have to pass. They just get ahead early. You also get the, the. Everything gets a little skewed from that Cleveland game. Yeah, just. Just ugly stuff.

[Dave Kluge]

These guys are all set. And forget wide receiver one.

[Jeff Bell]

So yeah, yeah, we can, we can cut it out. We can move on tier number two here. Wide receivers six through 12. These are also players that are in the wide receiver one range. So these are. Are simple, easy startup no matter what. Roma Dunze, A.J. brown, Cortland Sutton, Ameka Buka. We ranked Nico Collins as if he will be active and that we do not know yet. So that, that is the reasoning for the ranking so high here at wide receiver 10. And then DK Metcalf, Chris Olave, Dave, who stands out to you most from this, that maybe gives you the most pause? Let's, let's remove Nico Collins from the situation because of the injury. Is there anyone on this list that gives you even like a little bit of pause? Pause.

[Dave Kluge]

Corland Sutton. Like he has been so hot and cold this week, like, or this year. Like there are some times that it's just like Cortland Sutton, you know, stand out. Wide receiver one. He's getting all the targets, he's getting big plays, he's scoring touchdowns. And then we've seen two games this year that he's just been like completely phased out of, which is really bizarre to see. And one of those games was against the jets. And you know, we know Sauce Gardner is going to do his thing, kind of taking players out of matchups, but it's just been a weird, weird, weird year for Cortland Sutton so far. And again, you know, there are so many big names on by this week that he is the guy that just kind of naturally moves up in those rankings. But you know, definitely the, the, the, the steepest, lowest floor of all the guys that we have in the top 12.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I'm gonna agree with you on that. Like, that's the one. I have him ranked a little bit higher just simply because of the upside. But I think that he is one of these guys that are completely interchangeable from where I have him at wide receiver 7, where I could have ranked him at wide receiver 14 and it would have made absolutely no difference. To me, like, they're all within that same realm.

[Dave Kluge]

That's a tough way down to, like, wide receiver 20. Like, I feel like these next two tiers, we could have almost smashed together into like one big tier.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I'm looking My wide receiver 20 is Keenan Allen. It is extremely possible Keenan Allen has a much better game than Cortland Sutton. Like, that's. Would it even faze me one bit to that?

[Dave Kluge]

I'm looking at this right now like, we've got Cortland Sutton at wide receiver 8. We've got Michael Pittman Jr. At wide receiver 19. And they kind of feel like very similar plays this week.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I mean, looking through a bunch of them, T. Higgins, George Pickens, Tedro McMillan, Keenan Allen, like all these guys, it's. It's weird to get that deep into the rankings and be like, yeah, they're all pretty much starts. Like, I guess that's one of the things that comes with a box bye week. Right. It's just the field has narrowed down. It's a little more condensed. So you could say like, yeah, start. The good players pretty much it.

[Dave Kluge]

Our friend Chris Harris, he always talks about, like, the wide receiver three and the infinite sadness that like, once you get the wide receiver 3 range from like, they're like all the way through the end of rankings. It's just sadness and downside. And I feel like it's not even like the wide receiver 3 onward anymore. It's like once you get outside of that top 12, and we talked about this on the show yesterday, like, it feels like there's like a very clear cut top 12, like guys that you feel really good about on a week in, week out basis. And then everybody after that has been pretty boomer bus this year.

[Jeff Bell]

Well, let's go out of the top 12 and let's see how we feel as we get closer to the infinite Sadness. Wide receivers 13 through 20. At 13, we got Lad McConkey 14, Tedro McMillan, 15, Zay Flowers, 16, Quentin Johnston, 17, George Pickens, 18, Jalen Waddle, 19, Michael Pittman Jr. And at 20, Keenan Allen.

[Dave Kluge]

I love the. We don't know what the hell to do with these Chargers receivers, so we're just going to throw them all in one tier together and hope for the best. Yep.

[Jeff Bell]

Basically I'm doing this, like, I'm just going with who's been hot. Ladman Conkey's been hot lately. I. I know the Vikings can be a tough defense, but like I mentioned, they're also pretty inconsistent. They are susceptible versus slot Receivers. That's been an issue of Brian Flores's defense for a while simply because of the way that he sends blitz packages. So I, I do think that there is a thing here where if you had any worry about Ladd McConkey or Keenan Allen, I think you can start them easily. I will say, Dave, like, I, I know you're, you're higher on Quentin Johnson than I am. He's the one guy like, gives me a little bit of pause. But I think you're still starting him in this matchup. You have to.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And, and we saw like last week was down production wise and, you know, he's, he's coming back from an injury, but like, I'm looking pre injury, seven targets, seven targets, 13 targets. And then in the two games since he's been back from injury, four targets and six targets. I know a lot of people are going to point to that and just say, well, that's what Quentin Johnson has done his entire career. Again, like, I, I'm very much so of the, you know, I want to give grace to players who are returning from injury. And I think that's what we're seeing right now is that he hasn't been 100. So we know he's still got the huge play upside. You know, all it takes is one target for him to, you know, get 60 yards and a touchdown and make a week right there. I expect the target total to go up a little bit in this game as well. And when I look at Minnesota, you know, they're going to want to throw the ball quick and get the ball out of their hands quickly, and all three of these receivers can do that. So whether it's, you know, Quentin Johnson making big plays after the catch lad McConkey just getting a little screens and slants or Keenan Allen just being that underneath guy, like, I think there's going to be a lot of pass volume in this offense, and that's why I feel pretty comfortable getting all of these guys inside my top 24.

[Jeff Bell]

Oh, man, there was a great stat and I'm, I'm butchering it right now, but I'm gonna find it right here because there's a great stat from Kyle Borgononi over at the Fantasy Footballers. He loves to throw out some really fun stats on Twitter, but it's about Justin Herbert, who I am pulling it up as we speak.

[Dave Kluge]

I like the Philip, as you're looking up.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I'm really going for it. Dave, help me out here, please.

[Dave Kluge]

This morning. The. The beautiful. I don't know the, the blue skies out here in Colorado. What do I need to just ramble on and on about? Never mind.

[Jeff Bell]

Oh, here we go. Here we go. We have never had an NFL quarterback with 4,600 plus passing yards, 32 plus passing touchdowns, and 450 plus rushing yards in a season. Justin Herbert is currently on pace for all three. Very, very interesting. It's a, it's a very like, like most stats, it's cherry pick, but it is very interesting to see how good this offense can be and how good Justin Herbert has been. I think just kind of like it just reminds you all three of these guys are startable because all of them are going to have a good floor. All of them can pop off with touchdowns. That's just what it is.

[Dave Kluge]

And I don't think people realize, I mean, I think people realize, but like the Cowboys and the Chargers, there's just been so much past volume and so much past production that I think that's why people look at like, you know, how can Jake Ferguson be a top three tight end and CD Lamb be the, the wide receiver three and George Pickens be a top ten tight or wide rece. And then you look at all of these guys like, you know, we're ringing a Ronde Gadsden as a tight end one and we're ranking three wide receivers inside the top 24. There has been so much volume and so much yardage in those two offenses that they're supporting like four to five fantasy relevant receivers every single week. And that's why we keep ranking them like that.

[Jeff Bell]

Good offenses, man, they make for good fantasy points. Let's, let's keep going through this tier here. Tero McMillan, everything slowed down a little bit here. I think you're still starting him, especially against the Bills who have been getting gashed by wide receiver ones throughout the, the, the season. So I think there's still a ceiling. I'm not expecting a continued Xavier Legette breakout with as many targets as he had. And I don't think we've seen Jalen Coker jump into this role that we had all maybe hoped for or predicted. So tenor Oak Miller I still think becomes an easy start this week, Dave.

[Dave Kluge]

Especially with Andy Dalton. I hate to say it, but like, I have more faith in Andy Dalton than I do in Bryce Young. And again, like, I don't want to overreact to Ted Roll McMillan having a down game. He got the sauce gardener treatment last week and even getting Trayvon Diggs a couple of weeks ago. You know, he was still able to score two touchdowns. So I'm thinking just like, more passing volume and production overall with Andy Dalton under center and just trust in the talent here, you know, I don't want to overreact to one bad week. When going into last week, all the talk about Tedro McMill was this guy is earning targets at one of the best rates in the NFL. He's looked really good. Now he's coming off of a couple touchdowns. Finally broke that seal. I'm not going to overreact to one bad week when he was getting sauced.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, there's some Weymouth Jinson in the game here for Andy Dalton. You just Scooby Doo, pull the mask off. You're like, oh, my gosh, it was him the whole time.

[Dave Kluge]

It is fun that we see a lot of these veterans kind of just go that route, like Andy Dalton, because.

[Jeff Bell]

They don't care anymore. Like, they're just. They all become Ryan Fitzpatrick.

[Dave Kluge]

Flacco's like, what are you do, going to do, fire me? Like, my family and my super huge house, my hundreds of millions of dollars?

[Jeff Bell]

Oh, polish my Super Bowl MVP trophy? Yeah, yeah. A couple other guys on here. Zay flowers. It'll be good to have Lamar back. I think that's an easy start, which.

[Dave Kluge]

We'Re not 100% sure about. I know we, we've been talking about Lamar Jackson, like he's coming back. It doesn't sound completely like a given at this point. We, we hope he'll be back, but kind of bracing for him to maybe not be as well. Also, did you see the. The video of him getting late night food at like 12:30? Did you see that one?

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, yeah. Street food, man. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing, Lamar? Come on, bro. He's got the diet of a. Of a 12 year old with an Uber Eats gift card.

[Dave Kluge]

I mean, that was DK Metcalf. The same thing. DK Metcalf's like, I just live on, like, coffee and Sour Patch Kids.

[Jeff Bell]

Man. So looking at some reports, let's take it as what we will. This is your picture. Yet we don't. We don't. This is from Samuel Joku, who is one of the hosts of the Ravens Talk pod. Said spoke to a few people who were at practice on Wednesday that didn't notice any limp or favoring of the leg for Lamar Jackson. Considering he hasn't practiced in three weeks and that he has two games in five days, it doesn't surprise me that they're being careful with Lamar Jackson here. So it is still very much possible that he does not play this week, but we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for that. What the news is going to be.

[Dave Kluge]

I know a lot of people covering the the Bears beat are just saying that, you know, Lamar should take another week to rest up. Really just come back 100 next week. There's no reason to rush it.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, we're ranking him. We're ranking Zay Flowers. That is as if Lamar is back. Right. Like, I think that's got to be our rule when ranking. Rank a player as if they're healthy. Rank a player as if they have all resources. If they don't, see.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. If we find out Cooper Rush is starting again, Zay Flowers, right now I've got him as my wide receiver 23 and he'll fall to like wide receiver 30. If Cooper rush is out there, like, the target volume will still be there. But we talked about this a lot yesterday on the show that, like, when Cooper Rush is out there, they're putting eight guys in the box. You can't do that against Lamar Jackson. So it's just a very, very different way that defenses are playing these teams. So I'll, I'll have a little bit of pause if Cooper rushes start again.

[Jeff Bell]

I've got, say, Flowers in my top 12 if Lamar Jackson is healthy. If he's not, it's. We're. We're doing a violent swing out of the top 12 outside of the top 25. Like, it is an easy drop down the rankings there. George Pickens is interesting. I think still a start for anyone that maybe is worried about the pendulum swing over there in Dallas going up against, going up against the Broncos this week. Week. CD Lamb might get a little bit of the pats or tan treatment, but if he's gonna be playing out of slot, there's a potential. George Pickens gets the pastor tan treatment. Dave. So how nervous are you with George Pickens?

[Dave Kluge]

I wouldn't say I'm nervous. I mean, like, he's playing really good ball this year. But I think that, you know, what we saw over the first, well, not the first, but that five, four, five week stretch with CD Lamb. You know, that, that, that's not going to keep happening. Kind of look at him in like a very similar light to Quentin Johnston now where he's like, guy like the volume probably won't be there, but he can always have these big plays. I mean, like, I'm just begging George Pickens to have like one normal catch. Like every single catch that he makes is Some like, acrobatic catch, contested coverage, double coverage, like laying out for balls. And he keeps doing it, but it felt like that was every one of his catches last week. But yeah, Even that, like CD lamp still didn't look 100, but immediately came back to lead the team in targets, lead the team in receptions. We expect that to be the case. And I think that pushes George Pickens from this, like, surefire top 10 guy. Guy. It's more of a boom bust, touchdown dependent wide receiver too, which is kind of how we were looking at him in the preseason.

[Jeff Bell]

George Pickens is just that Babadook meme where the mom is yelling to her kid in the backseat, why can't you be normal? And the kid just responds.

[Dave Kluge]

Pre show, we were talking about, like some really bad horror movies that we've watched recently. Babadook is one of the best horror movies I've ever seen. If anybody's looking for for spooky October wants to see a good scary movie, Babadook is up there as one of the best ones.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a genuinely scary movie. I'm watching it right now. Watching it one and two in preparation for the new show coming out. Welcome to Derry. We got a nine year old in our house that's watching it. He's. He's struggling through it. He's struggling through it, but he wants to be brave. All right, let's finish up this tier here. Jalen Waddle, bro.

[Dave Kluge]

Close.

[Jeff Bell]

I like, I want to be excited. There's the target volume and everything. I, I want to say that last week was the outlier, but this week he's got A.J. terrell on him. Falcons defense has been weirdly very good against passing attacks. Like, there's just. Teams are not really able to pass very well. We saw like Kendrick Bourne got stifled last week. Not that that's like, that's like, that's not saying like Justin Jefferson got stifled last week. I'm just saying he had had a week after week of good performance. Performance. The Niners overall sort of struggled with their passing attack and everything is just trending in the wrong direction for Miami here. That I do get worried about.

[Dave Kluge]

Jalen Waddle, have you ordered your Quinn Ewers jersey yet? Are you on that band?

[Jeff Bell]

Why? So I can cut that with scissors in a couple of weeks? No, thanks. I'm waiting for my Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore jersey next year.

[Dave Kluge]

There you go. Yeah, that's a little bit more like it. Yeah. I mean, Waddle is so talented and he's healthy right now. Like Tyree Kill is out of the picture. This should have been the year like every year. There's just something that inhibits Jalen Waddle from breaking out. Like it is so, so frustrating. He's one of my favorite receivers in the league and like it seems like this should be the year that he puts it all together and ascends into being that surefire wide receiver one and now we've just got Tua turning into a pumpkin. So yeah, I mean starting him as a wide receiver too, but like not feeling good about about it.

[Jeff Bell]

Pumpkin is a weird way to pronounce. Never mind. I'm not going to say that into a microphone. Let's go to the, let's go to the next tier tier number tier number four here wise years 21 through 28. At 21 we got Devonte Smith coming off a really big game. Stefan Diggs, T. Higgins, Xavier Worthy, Romeo Dobbs, Jordan Addison Wandell Robinson, Juwan Jennings. Dave, who sticks out to you most from this tier?

[Dave Kluge]

I think Xavier Worthy is probably the guy that I want to talk about because we still haven't really seen like Xavier Worthy. You know, he's been in the league for a year and a half now. This is going to be what, the fourth, maybe fifth game that he has played with Rashi Rice. And Xavier Worthy's career has been so weird because early in the year we saw Rashi Rice very clearly the wide receiver won. Last year after he got hurt they kind of tried putting Juju Smith, Schuster and other players into the Rashi Rice role. And then about halfway through the year they just said, you know, Xavier Worthy has to be in that Rashi Rice role roll and there was a ton of volume going his way, but he was so horribly inefficient with that volume. He didn't even have his first 100 yard game until the super bowl, which like came on a garbage time throw from Patrick Mahomes. This year we saw him back in that Rashi Rice roll immediately gets knocked out by Travis Kelsey and now I don't know what to expect from Xavier Worthy. Are we going to see him in that short area of the field role where he can create after the catch or are we going to see what he did early in his rookie season which is like just being that downfield guy. Guy. What we do know with absolute certainty is that Rashi Rice is going to be the wide receiver one here. Like I don't think that there's going to be like a 5050 split. So that does make me worry that Xavier Worthy goes from this guy that we were looking at as a high end volume based wide receiver too. I do wonder now if he is kind of in this like Jameson Williams type of role where there isn't going to be a lot of volume and you're hoping that he can crack a big play and if he doesn't, he's a huge liability in your lineup up because I think all of that volume that he was getting in the short area of the field, the end arounds, the jet sweeps, the slants, the screens, I, I worry that all of that now goes to Rashi Rice and there's just going to be four to six targets per game for Xavier Worthy and if he can make something happen, great. And if he doesn't, you're getting three, four points in your lineup.

[Jeff Bell]

That's what it is. He's a wide receiver three every week. Low, low floor, very high ceiling off a big play. You mentioned all the stuff about Rishi Rice. What worries me more is that so much of what Xavier Worthy has been doing is also being taken by Hollywood Brown whose target share did not go down in this game. Like he maintained the same target share as Xavier Worthy. Everyone not named Rashid Rice looks like an afterthought. And I don't want to over course correct here off of one game, but this is also big been this has been the career we have seen. When Rasheed Rice is on the field, he is the primary target and it nerfs Travis Kelce and every other pass catcher on this team. It's fair to assume that is kind of the trend we're going to continue to see. And especially going up against Washington here where if it's the Chiefs versus Marcus Mariota and no Terry McLaurin and potentially no Debo Samuel and a running game that can get stifled like just this could just be a blowout and, and it we're not going to see a whole lot of passing or a lot of big play opportunity for Worthy. So it does worry me a little bit as well.

[Dave Kluge]

And you know we could spend a little bit more time on this because I think that it's probably one of the most like impactful things to talk about here. But I know you and I both had like some major concerns about Xavier Worthy coming out of college, that he was kind of like a one trick pony. And, and you know I said it over the off season that like if you look at what Xavier Worthy did last year year it was very similar to Wandale Robinson and like people don't want to hear that because like, you know, it's Xavier Worthy and he's on the Chiefs and he was the wide receiver one for the Chiefs, but he was so bad with the volume last year. Like there, there are games where they were thrusting like 15 targets on him and he couldn't even crack 100 yards. And now I do wonder if like we've seen Hollywood Brown has been a very good, versatile, well rounded receiver throughout his entire career. The only thing that has really impeded him has been injuries. Like one injury after another. And now with him healthy and now with Rashi back and healthy, like is Xavier Worthy the third option in this passing attack? Maybe even like, like Xavier Worthy is just getting as many targets per game as Travis Kelce and has the, you know, ability to rip off bigger plays. But I, I, I don't want to like, you know, go full doomsday on Xavier Worthy here. But like we're already starting to knock him down the rankings after the first game with Rashi Rice. But you know, a month from now we might be looking at Xavier Worthy as like, like a totally boom bust low end wide receiver three. And I think it's worth having the discussion now in case it gets there and we could be wrong. You know, maybe his, his volume bounces back this week. But there is a dangerous season long floor here with Worthy that I don't think a lot of people are talking about yet.

[Jeff Bell]

I've got Xavier Worthy as my wide receiver 29 this week with teams on buy.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

And with lots of receivers injured. I think that tells you everything you need to know about how I feel is I don't want to have to start him. I'm starting DJ Moore, Romeo Dobbs, Wandell Robinson, Jordan Addison, Stefan Diggs, all these guys over Xavier Worthy. No problem.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

All right.

[Dave Kluge]

I think Dobs is the other interesting guy in this tier. Just like really quickly like we, we talked earlier this week. Yeah. And I saw Matt Harmon just today like we, we were talking about this a lot last week and I saw Matt Harmon was just talking about how he was digging into the film and how much better his footwork has gotten and how he's like releasing better and he's getting open quicker. And that's something that we have been talking about for the last few weeks. Like, like he is developing into a wide receiver one right before our eyes. And I don't think people are really noticing like picking it up yet. Like they see that three touchdown game and think that that's really, you know, buoying his fantasy production and it certainly is. But even outside of that three touchdown game like he is operating as the team's number one weapon.

[Jeff Bell]

And this is a good matchup too going up against Pittsburgh who Jalen Ramsey has been hit or miss, Joey Porter Jr. Has been playing more in the slot and Darius Slayer has not been his normal self that we've seen from years past. So Steelers are beatable on the outside here. Fourth best matchup for wide receivers this week. Romeo Dobbs eight plus targets in three straight games. The air yard share continues to stay very high.

[Dave Kluge]

This is still available in 33% of leaves out leagues like this. This guy's nuts. He's a wide receiver too on the year and like you could still in one in three leagues and I'm looking in deep leagues too on sleeper. I know it changes a little bit like I'm looking in our 20 slot fantasy league. It's shown that he's still available in 33% of leagues. That's. That's crazy to me.

[Jeff Bell]

That's nuts. That's absolutely nuts. Yeah. Romeo Dobbs not only needs to be rostered but I think he needs to be started this week. He's our wide receiver 24 on our consensus rankings here. T. Higgins I think is back to form with Joe Flacco and I don't.

[Dave Kluge]

Want to once again last week too. I'm sorry to anybody that took my advice and bench T. Higgins last week. Like I'm a fool. I'm sorry I'm wrong often. I apologize.

[Jeff Bell]

He. He got himself his touchdown man. I think that's the thing is like there's, there's going to be the touchdown upside but then I think you're also going to have the target floor here with Joe Flacco. T. Higgins up against the jets corner number, the number two corner. It's.

[Dave Kluge]

I don't know who that is off the top of my head.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. They've had injuries like they lost Michael Carter II who was mostly their slot guy. Sauce is going to be on Jamar Chase Case which that's going to be a fun matchup to watch but don't be surprised if we get a potential another T. Higgins 10 target game like we did in the previous week.

[Dave Kluge]

So Brandon Stevens.

[Jeff Bell]

Okay. No, Brandon Steven's not bad. Brandon Steven's not bad. But T. Higgins, it's still a matchup. It's still a mismatch there Dave. The final guys that we have in this tier here, Jordan Addison, Wandale Robinson, Juwan Jennings, I think we know what Wandale is. I think we know what Jordan Addison is. Is we're going to have the blowup game or it's just the volatile is the same volatility that we see from a Jameson Williams and a Xavier Worthy where we can see massive blow up games or like the no show games. That's who Jordan Addison has been through his career. I don't think that's a new thing.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, I mean he just keeps getting in his own way. That's like the biggest problem with Jordan Addison unfortunately. Do feel okay starting him as a wide receiver too when Carson Wentz is starting. You know, he's likes him. He does. Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

I mean 26 targets in three weeks. It's, it's, it's, it's nice.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, I, I think Jennings is probably one of the most interesting players here.

[Jeff Bell]

Because I wanted to get to.

[Dave Kluge]

He has been so banged up this year. Like you know the, the, the, the Black Knight from Monty Python. Just like, you know, it's only a question. He's out here like just in a head to toe body cast. He's been really, really banged up and because of that the production hasn't been there. But we saw last week pulled seven targets, you know, started to look a little bit better than he did in that game against Tampa Bay where he was just kind of like a decoy. So I do wonder now, I mean it seems like we're getting another Mac Jones start potentially. But I think that if Juwan Jennings is 100% he is going to jump ahead of Kendrick Bourne and play as that number one guy, the guy who's running those deep posts, those in breaking routes that are so valuable in this offense. So Jennings, you know, I think we're both being a little bit cautious just because we haven't really seen any, anything from him this year. But seems like he's starting to trend in a healthier direction. And Houston's defense has, you know, been pretty good this year but still we just see the Shanahan offense is like predicated on getting the ball to that extraceiver and if that's the role that you want, Jennings is playing. He's a guy that like we're ranking as a wide receiver three but could he easily finish as a wide receiver one this week?

[Jeff Bell]

So my, my fear comes from a couple things. Could Ricky Piersoll play this week? Where do we get him? It's trending towards no. Right.

[Dave Kluge]

But I don't think, I don't know if you ranked him or not. I didn't I didn't either because it's.

[Jeff Bell]

So the pendulum is so far to know this week. But Juwan Jennings, like you mentioned, they do want to get the X involved, but he's got the Derek Stingley matchup this week. We're going to talk about Jamar going up against Sauce. Like we got to talk about Joel and Jennings could get absolutely blanketed here by Derek Stingley and then we're looking at a, a George KD blow up game. Right. Like I'm sure there's gonna be some course correction there after last week. Not getting the usage that we wanted to see. Kendrick Bourne could get go back to being involved here. I just. This is one of those, like I mentioned, the Tampa Bay New Orleans game, the San Francisco Houston game could get really ugly where you can get two George Kittle touchdowns, two Christian McCaffrey touchdowns and then they're up, you know, 35 0. I know that's not the math, guys, but like 350 at halftime and they're just like, okay, we don't need to pass anymore. Let's get Brian Robinson Jr. In here and just, just salt the clock away. So that's the only thing that worries me and has, has Juwan lower for me.

[Dave Kluge]

For what it's worth, Juwan Jennings did log a full practice yesterday on Wednesday, so that's a good sign. Like if he's opening up the week as a full participant at practice, that probably means that he won't be very limited. And I think that's not worried every single week. Oh, that was my major, my major concern was health. I think if Juwan Jennings, he's been.

[Jeff Bell]

Playing relatively fine even with all the injuries. Right. Like where, where I get worried. It's all the other factors in this. It's game script, it's matchup against Stingley, it's getting George Kittle back more involved. Things like that.

[Dave Kluge]

That's what I want to see is, is Kittle more involved? This has been. Yeah. Last week was, was not fun to watch.

[Jeff Bell]

But yeah, Kittle at 100%, his response was great. He's like, ah, don't talk to me about it. Talk to Kyle Shanahan. I'm sorry to all my fantasy managers.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. What a response. Yeah. He's like, I'm sorry to everyone who bet on me and everybody who owns me in fantasy. That was, that was good. I like when I was good guy, self aware.

[Jeff Bell]

Yep, yep. Self. The, the, the football players being meta and just like understanding what world they're in is just beautiful. It's beautiful.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

Final tier.

[Dave Kluge]

Sorry.

[Jeff Bell]

Why do you got to do that? Why do you got to do that, man?

[Dave Kluge]

The.

[Jeff Bell]

The sports vibes in Miami have never been worse.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah.

[Jeff Bell]

And. And I've lived through some stuff, man. I've seen some things. We are a long way away from LeBron on the Heat, the Marlins winning a championship. The Dolphins have never been good except for 1972 and Dan Marino. And I was not a fan. All right, final two wide receivers. 29 through 37. 29. Khalil Shakir, 30. Matthew Golden, 31. Debo Samuel 32. D.J. moore, 33. Rashid Shahid 34. Kendrick Bourne, 35. Keon Coleman, 36. Tez Johnson, 37. Josh Downs and Dave. I will say this. If Debo Samuel is healthy, I think we end up. We kind of broke our rule here. Like, he probably should be a lot higher in this ranking. I think there's the combination of the Marcus Mariota, the. The concerns with the offense, the concerns with Debo Samuel's injury. But if he's healthy and we get the full, like, ready to go this week, where are you putting Debo Samuel in the rankings?

[Dave Kluge]

I mean, he needs to log. Like, if, if he logs full practices to close out the week and we know he is like absolutely 100 healthy, I'll move into like the. The middling wide receiver 2 range. Like, it probably put him right behind Stefan Diggs and ahead of Romeo Dubs. But the problem is he's not healthy. Like, he's dealing with multiple injuries right now. And this is something that we know so well about Debo Samuel. We've talked about this for years. Adam Harstead has pulled the data to back it up. When Deebo Samuel is healthy, he is a wide receiver one. When he is banged up, he's a wide receiver four. It's just like that simple. And I think right now he's been dealing with these injuries. So much of what he does is just. Just brute athleticism, like just running through defenders and doing that sort of thing. And. And when he's limited, it takes that ability from him. Especially couple that with Jaden Daniels being out and Marcus Mariota start here. I'm definitely tempering expectations. I mean, like I said, if he's able to log back to back full practices to close out the week, I'll feel a little bit better and I'll bump him up. But right now I'm looking at him as kind of a risky wide receiver 3.

[Jeff Bell]

Couple other guys that can be risky, but fun wide receiver threes here. Matthew Gold Holden with a big play, especially if he's working on the outside going. We mentioned already Pittsburgh's defense being susceptible. I think this could be a really fun game for the packers receivers. D.J. moore, Dave, you have him ranked a little bit lower than I do. I already have him ranked pretty low. I just see for 28. But you've got him at wide receiver 36. Like, you're just. You're done with DJ Moore. Is this a Bears thing? This is a DJ Moore thing. Is this a matchup thing? Why. Why so low for you?

[Dave Kluge]

And again, you know, I'm ranking as if they aren't playing with Lamar Jackson, and if Lamar Jackson doesn't play, we have seen over the last couple of weeks, the Bears are really trying their best to establish the run, and they're doing it well. That interior offensive line looks fantastic. I think they want to run the ball as much as they can. And DJ Moore, it feels like he always gets these, like, pity targets late in the game, like, where it's just like the fourth quarter and they're like, oh, let's, let's. Let's throw four balls to DJ Moore. So, like, he. He doesn't get upset at, you know, at the end of this game. And that's not something I want to bank on on a week in and week out basis. Like, the. The production really hasn't been there for DJ Moore so far this year. Every once in a while, we'll see that, like, weird game where he's a little bit more involved, but, you know, he's been turning in wide receiver three value this year, so I'm just treating him like a wide receiver 3.

[Jeff Bell]

Let's go to Keon Coleman. And I bring up this name because he started off the season hot, went missing, and has not really had anything sort of go his way. We saw a couple signs. It's like a sign of life recently. But Keon Coleman. Is this a player that you want to have in your starting lineup right now, Dave? Because you. So this is weird. And this is just kind of shows you guys how rankings go. So you have him ahead of Tez Johnson. I have him one spot behind Tez Johnson. Johnson. And I would probably think that there's a big gap for me between Tez Johnson and Keon Coleman, but they're right after one, right after the other.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, you're gonna hate me. I. I tweaked my rankings this morning, and I moved. That is the one flip that I made.

[Jeff Bell]

Why do I keep finding them?

[Dave Kluge]

Tess Johnson up one Spot and Keon Coleman down one spot is a tweak that I made this morning because I was just kind of looking at it and I'm like, that's silly. Like, you know, the ceiling is so much higher and, and I think that the, the Bills are happiest with Dalton Kincaid kind of being that number one weapon.

[Jeff Bell]

And he's back now, too.

[Dave Kluge]

He's back. He seems relatively healthy and we've just seen, like, he has made the big plays again. Like, I'm going to mention something that Jeff Bell says he is a Bills fan, so he knows more about this team than I do. And he's getting so frustrated because, like, he's like, Keon Coleman just runs one route. Like, he just runs outside the numbers. Like, just runs that 9 route and gets, you know, a handful of targets every single game. But, like, there's just no creative usage there. It feels like Joe Brady just keeps doing the same thing every single play. Like, there's just no creativity in this offense whatsoever. And I think that's the fear with Keon Coleman is like, you're hoping he can come down with a touchdown, and if he's not scoring a touchdown, there just hasn't been enough volume or yardage there to really give him any sort of floor. So that's kind of every pass catcher in this Bill's offense right now. Like, you're hoping they can find pay dirt because Josh Allen is just spreading the ball around with so many people.

[Jeff Bell]

Keon Coleman is on that Quentin Johnston track right now where maybe we see the third year breakout at some point with some different usage or something, or more weapons that allows him to do something. But also going up against Carolina this week, where Keon Coleman lines up on the outside, he's going to be faced up against JC Horn, which has just been a death sentence for wide receivers this year.

[Dave Kluge]

So.

[Jeff Bell]

So this is one of these for like, I. As I was doing my rankings, I was like, well, I guess you got to put the Bills wide receiver one somewhere. You know, technically, even the wide receiver, he's not. No, Khalil Shakira is who I have ahead of him. But more so like the X, right? You've got to have him somewhere. And then I started looking around, I'm like, yeah, he's next to in my rankings. He's next to Jerry, Judy and Alec, I.O. manor and a bunch of other players who are technically the X for their team and. And just not very good right now for fantasy. So Bills just aren't pushing the ball.

[Dave Kluge]

Downfield this year, it's really, really weird. That's been the best part of Josh Allen's game his entire career. I was just seeing the other day, over the last three years, he has had 26 touchdowns with 20 plus air yards. He has thrown one of those this year through seven games. Like there just isn't that threat of the deep ball anymore and I don't get it. And you'd think like, if they aren't pushing the ball deep downfield, that should be great news for Khalil Shakir. Like you should be that Amanra St. Brown type of player just like gobbling up 15 target game across the middle of the field. But he's not doing that either. It's just like they're, they're winning game. They've lost a couple games, but you know, for the most part they're winning and like they are still a good team, but at the same time their offense feels a little bit broken.

[Jeff Bell]

Well, I mean, adding in a guy like Josh Palmer too sort of has the Hollywood Brown effect where it's just like one more guy who's not like changing the offense, but he's taking enough from other players where you're just like, okay, he exists. He's there as well. Well, I wanted to look it up. I wasn't sure, but I do feel like last time I was looking, James Cook is getting more work in the receiving game than he has less work.

[Dave Kluge]

In the receiving game.

[Jeff Bell]

Okay, that's what it was because it was something that stood out where I was just like, it's weird that the receivers aren't getting more with James Cook. Not as many catches.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. And that was another, like, through the first three weeks of the season, we were like, James Cook, one of the best picks you could make in fantasy. This guy is a workhorse on a good off offense. And then three weeks ago they just decided like, oh, Ray Davis is going to be our pass passing down back. Now it's like, wait, what? Why? Like, James Cook has been great at this and we like Ray Davis, don't get me wrong. But like, them taking James Cook off the field on passing downs has been very bad for his fantasy production.

[Jeff Bell]

Last guy to talk about here or maybe last guy. But Tess Johnson, we talked about him a lot in the waiver wire show and what I want to say is this is, yes, this could be an ugly game with the Bucks and the Saints, but I'm still expecting Tez Johnson to come away from this game with at least five targets probably in the six to Seven target range, get a couple of those same screens that he got last week. Even if game script doesn't allow free big passing game. This is, I mean this could still be a very startable. That's why you go and get them on, on waivers. And that's, that's going to be one of those annoying intangible things that I'll say, say often through fantasy football is if you go and spend money on the guy on, on your waiver wire with your fab and then you don't start him in what could still be a good matchup where he doesn't have Mike Evans, doesn't have Chris Godwin. Why did you get the player? Right? Like this is why you did it. So you, you should be starting him as a wide receiver. 3 Flex play this week.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah, yeah. And I think it's as simple as that. And you know, we could nitpick so many things with Tess Johnson if we wanted to, but like why he should eat. Johnson's fun. And like we've seen like Baker Mayfield last year like just turn Jaylen McMillan into a wide receiver one over the second half of the season. Like he is at that point in his career. He is elevating the pass catchers around him. Tess Johnson, he's, he's just a fun player. Like he made so many big plays at Oregon when he gets the ball in his hand and we saw that last week, like hurdling over a defender to pick up the first down and then like pinballing his way through the rest of the defense to score a touchdown. He can do really fun things like that. And he is probably going to be be number two or number three if you want to factor in Kate Otten, but it's going to be Abuka. Kate Otten's going to get his and then Tess Johnson always has that big play upside.

[Jeff Bell]

Tess Johnson's stat sheet says he's 165 pounds and I do not believe that he's like 145. But you need to come over here. Come meet my mother in law. Okay. Guatemalans and Colombians and Cubans, we are carb machines. This is what we do. We're going to get you gained a little more weight. We'll get you to the real. Once again, 65.

[Dave Kluge]

I heard a theory and this makes a lot of sense that he was worried about his weight being so low that it wouldn't get him drafted, that he beefed up for the combine a little bit so he could get an extra 10 pounds on the scale. And then that's what impacted his speed when he came out and ran the slow 40 time. So it was kind of like, you know, he just shot himself in the foot. Like, hey, you know, I got an extra £10 on me.

[Jeff Bell]

Why would you not do what every other player does, which is bulk up for the combine, do your weight, say your ankle hurts, and then run at the pro day and you're run, you'll be 165. You'll run a 42 at your pro day and now you're a third round.

[Dave Kluge]

Pick, which is what Cam Scatterboo did. He just still ran a 46 at his pro day. Yeah, I think that's kind of what happened with Tez, is that he, you know, wanted to say like, look, I'm, I'm big, I'm strong. And then ran slow and you know, I think we were like, you're still small.

[Jeff Bell]

Yeah.

[Dave Kluge]

Yeah. He probably is playing closer to like 148, 150 pounds. But now he's got that speed and burst back that we clearly saw on the Oregon Morgan film.

[Jeff Bell]

Insane. Yeah. Big fan of Tez Johnson, Dave. Once again, we did it. We went through over 70 players here, running backs and wide receivers. All the best matchups for this week. The players you must start as always want to thank everybody for watching and listening all the way through. We'll see you again on Monday for the Week 9 waiver wire show. Wow, that's weird to say. The season is going fast, man, but we will be back and as always want to thank everybody for watching and listening all the way through. Please take a second to like this video. Comment down below with your thoughts. Leave a review on Apple or Spotify for myself for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios.

[Jeff]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Zoe]

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

[Jeff]

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

[Zoe]

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[Jeff]

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

[Dave Kluge]

Nice.

[Zoe]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[Dave Kluge]

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[Jeff]

So what are we having for launch?

[Zoe]

Dude, my work here is done.

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