Week 9 Matchups + Ducer Daycare, Fantasy Faceoff - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/1
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Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. At Mint Mobile, we like to do the opposite of what Big Wireless does. They charge you a lot, we charge you a little. So naturally, when they announced they'd be raising their prices due to inflation, we decided to deflate our prices due to not hating you.

That's right. We're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Hi!

Welcome in. Welcome to November. Mike Wright, Andy Holloway, the fantasy footballers back with you. Jay Grizz, Cardboard Bear extraordinaire. Present. November's a good time for Jay Grizz. Starting to get colder outside. He gets to eat heavily. It's a good time for him, but actually he's supposed to not be working. Well, the other Jay, Jay Moore.

Also, he's supposed to be working, but apparently he's being shot at with paintballs. Oh, okay. All right. Watch out. He's at a school, take your dad to school event, which when I grew up, that was just like donuts with dad. Like you grabbed the donut, dad went off to work. Now it's like the whole day thing. And he gets to go play paintball with his son. It is. I have never heard of it. I'll say that.

So he's not here. And let's be honest. I mean, he doesn't want to be here because he was, Jason was all caps tilting the whole night in a way that was unacceptable. Oh, no. It was great. We've all hit that point in our life in playing fantasy football. And it was a spiral of multiple things of it.

It started with the Puka news, which we'll get into in a moment. Well, look, yeah, Puka left practice early with a knee injury to the same knee that he's been hurt with. Jason has waited all year. He's got heavily – he's heavily invested in Puka Nakua. That was the beginning. Then he – The real beginning was he had literally just –

gone into the group chat for the league, for the League of Records, was flexing about, oh, all my players are back. You better get out the way. Pacheco's on the way. And it was seriously, I mean, it could not have been five minutes later that the Puka report comes out that, oh, Puka left practice with the knee injury. And the

The spiral started. And so that was the beginning. And, you know, pride comes before the fall. Five minutes before. Five minutes before the fall. And it proceeded through, you know, he had Tank Dell. Tank Dell had a great night. He did. He had him in his lineup. He was really upset with the Texans for kicking a field goal on third down at the end of the game.

And starts flaming everybody. I mean, there's this like juxtaposition right now in Jason's life. He is, he has eaten, he's eating super well. He's got a clean diet. He's lost like 47 pounds. He's,

You know, his sleep is better. He optimizes. He's in the sauna. He's wearing non-black shirts. He's in the sauna. He's on to olive and burgundy and navy shirts. We are living. And the mental health of this man last night couldn't have been more diametrically opposed. He was the greasy burger of mental health last night. Oh, it was. It was so entertaining. Yeah. Yeah. I believe two people in this room were told to die in a fire. Three. Three.

Three people? Me, you, and Falcon were all told to die in a fire. Fantasy football is a very... What did I say yesterday while I was a blue tint? We are serious people. This is a serious business. And so there you go. Last night, the Jets knocked off the Texans.

21-13. If you had Joe Mixon, you were quite pleased. He continued to run well. If you had C.J. Stroud, hopefully you didn't play him because he was 11 for 30 for 191. Found Tank Dell six times. We were debating before the show what C.J. Stroud is right now, what he will be. When your second leading receiver is Robert Woods and Dalton Schultz, the slowest man alive, is your third leading receiver,

It's chicken or egg for me. I can see that. We literally spent the week talking about Matthew Stafford being a good start. And the reason is not, well, Stafford's now a good player. The reason is Stafford's always been a good player. He gets his weapons back.

And has a good matchup. And has a good matchup. You're right. So I'm not willing to say on the road with Tank Dell and no one else, C.J. Stroud sucks. No. But this was just a bad performance with very little reliable weapons in the game. And I mean...

On the other side, Garrett Wilson, two touchdowns. Devontae Adams got into the end zone, got knocked out, came back in. We found out Alan Lazard is out for the year. It's going to be Adams and Wilson all year long. Breece Hall was fine, 15 for 74. The Malachi Corley thing, if you didn't watch the game, he took an end around 20 yards to the house.

I saw plenty of commentary about people that had like first touchdown Malachi Corley plus 5,000. He did what Kyle Pitts just did. Kyle Pitts just did this last week, man. This was the most heartbreaking one I've ever seen because this would have been Malachi Corley's first touchdown in the National Football League. This was a moment to celebrate. You had a great play. You broke through the defense. You looked explosive. And then you dropped the football before you go into the end zone. I don't know what the temptation is.

I don't either. You know, I don't know if we have to put like a little – a bucket at the back of the end zone where we're like, hey, this is where the ball has to go. Like just take it to the bucket. I don't – dropping the football, just don't do it. Like I don't know how it's not been coached out of you at this stage of your career, but – It's wild. It was sad to see, honestly. I was just sad. If I'm a coach watching the Kyle Pitts play from last week, I'm starting –

Just, you know, whatever it is, Wednesday's practice or whenever we're in, you know, I'm talking to the team. I put that up and I go, this will never happen. This will never happen on my team. And now that we're back-to-back weeks, I sure hope that a lot of coaches are out there just like, guys,

Finish. Finish. There'll be so much time to celebrate. After a touchdown, you can have just this huge celebration now. Just finish. Just finish the touchdown. And you know what's neat is if it's going to be your first touchdown, you probably want the football. Yeah. Maybe you get to bring it home. Show your mother. You know what I mean?

Hold on to the football. This is the football that did it. Oh, gosh. So he's got to keep waiting for his first touchdown. That's brutal. Rodgers, 22 for 32, 2-11-3. You know, Rodgers was fine. Still limited mobility-wise. The catches by Garrett Wilson, both touchdowns, one-handed. The second one, one of the best catches of the year, if not the last several years. And then Adams with kind of the finisher. I didn't appreciate that this was –

The game literally was trick-or-treat because I got to watch most of the first half, and then the second half was all just got the AirPod in as we're shuffling the kids around for the trick-or-treat, and you're like, I'm not seeing the good stuff. Yeah, the second half was the good stuff. I had to go back and watch, and you're like, oh, Garrett Wilson, they were –

They were correct. That catch was good. Well, and I think the storyline here is that Wilson has been as good as he was before and even better. He's getting into the end zone. He is seeing coverage that is more conducive. And Adams, you know, while more involved in this game, hasn't gotten to the point where he's like the, you know, dominating all the targets. Nope. He had one more target than Wilson. So it is Friday. Putt Clan Friday.

Well, you know, we give away a $100 gift card every Friday to somebody from the Foot Clan. This week's winner, I'm always secretly hoping the name is one that I can pronounce. You can't handle this one? I mean, I can. It's just a weird one. The winner today of the $100 gift card, Zuch Carstens. Zuch. Yeah, that's what I'd go with. Zuch.

Congratulations. We're also going to give you a fantasy footballers t-shirt. One big announcement. I didn't even like, I feel like this is, this was like a big deal, but as of this morning, as of moments ago, the fantasy footballers in season app, which you can find on iOS and Android,

The in-season app has been updated with all of the Foot Clan perks, including the Ultimate Dashboard. It is live on iOS right now. It will be live on Android next week. The update for Android. The app is there on Android. The app's already been there. The app is free. You can grab it.

But the Android app will be updated next week. Correct, with the Foot Clan tools and the Ultimate Dashboard. People have been asking for it. Our team has been working so hard. So shout out to Schneider, Rob, everybody here that has been testing it. That's been the Foot Clan as well on Discord. We wanted to get the Ultimate Dashboard to you inside of the app this year.

That's a brand new feature. If you don't know what it is, the ultimate dashboard, it's available on the web right now. Now it's on iOS and it will be Android next week. Let's you import your team or manually add a team and it will optimize your lineup based on our ever changing weekly rankings, which we update all the time.

It will allow you to see spot start choices that are sitting on your specific waiver wire. So we check your league's waiver wire for you, put spot start options. If it's a quarterback, maybe it's a flex position, give you options that you can choose from. We also give you a custom waiver wire each week, our rankings, and then it's filtered through who's available in your league.

These are all features of the Ultimate Dashboard, and a lot of other features are going to be coming in future years as our team focuses on that in-season product to help you get the best out of your experience and fantasy. So just a shout-out to the team, genuinely. And please go get it. Go grab the app. If you're a supporter at jointhefoot.com, just log in. If you were a supporter with Patreon, you can log in with Patreon.

So both of those work. Just make sure you click that Log In With Patreon button, and you will have all of those features immediately this morning on iOS. And like I said, the Android folks, just be patient. We got to fine-tune. We got to connect a couple more wires. It'll be there next week because that's how it works. That's how I understand it works. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. ♪ music playing ♪

Well, it's our weekly T. Higgins not practicing update. The quad injury has kept him out of practice all week, all DMPs. So any sound effects or adjectives you want to associate with this news report, Mike? You can play Mike Gasicki. Sure. Okay. If we want a glass half full. Yeah, there's a glass half full. Mike Gasicki, relevant again. This guy is...

I don't know what you do. I'm not talking fantasy. As an NFL team, as he heads into free agency, what do you do with a player who, when on the field, is very, very good, but the last couple of years can't stay on the field? This isn't just once that we're looking into this. No, he played 12 games last year. He's played only five of eight this year. He's going to miss another one this week.

He's 13.3 fantasy points per game when he's played this year, which is his career high. So on the field, like you said, very good. And I think most teams with the desperation at wide receiver will just pay him the money and believe they can keep him healthy. Oh, yeah. Just let's get this guy healthy and see what we can do. Our producer should look into this report because yesterday, David Njoku was out of practice, and that's a Thursday. I'd like to see him practice today.

One of the other features of the Foot Clan, jointhefoot.com support membership, is that you get an Injury Blitz podcast from Matthew Betts, our injury expert, that will come later today. But Njoku not practicing, that's a little concerning. But I would expect we could get some news on his practice status because he's East Coast by the time this show's over today. So, Brooks, if you find anything, let us know. All right, this is good to see. Barting an unexpected setback, Tyrone Tracy-Ross.

Junior will be back from the concussion protocol and playing in week nine. Yeah, that's great. He's progressing. He has...

Looked the part for the New York Giants. He is their RB1. Did you see his comments on one of the highlight videos? I did not. Tracy? Yeah. No, I did not. I believe, and I want to find this. I believe he said, can you believe it's only my second year in this position? I did see that. So I don't actually know his history of playing elsewhere, but he's looked great. Drake May, still in the concussion protocol. Remain limited. They're still optimistic.

But we'll see. Will Levis remain limited? Tony Pollard? These are Titans injuries sidelined on Thursday. Pollard was my start of the week. So just to be clear, Joe Burrow lost Higgins as the start of the week. And then my running back didn't practice on Thursday. Yeah, but if he plays, I'm playing Tony Pollard. Tajay Spears won't be filling in. No. Because he's still not practicing. And then Calvin Ridley's back at practice tomorrow.

So we saw, you know, we've seen him have a game with Will Levis. That was good. We've seen him have a game with Mason Rudolph. That's good. At this point, you're not looking at the quarterback matchup making your decision for you, right? No, but it's I prefer it was Levis. I'd feel more comfortable about it last week. But 15 targets. I love that, though. If Mason Rudolph is going to do that where he just says, I'm throwing my number one guy the ball all the time, then we'll be all right.

All right, we have more injury news that are related to matchups we're talking about on today's show. Pukunukuwa was added to the injury report on Thursday with a knee injury, left practice early, did not talk to the media. Yeah, the quote we got from Ian Rappaport was he injured the knee in practice. He should be okay, source said, not considered to be major. But we don't know what that means. Yeah, that, like...

What is okay? Is okay mean you're playing this week, or is not major mean you're only missing a week? Okay, you're not going IR or something. This is... Mr. Rappaport, come on. Give us more. By the way, speaking of more, Njoku back at practice. Just got the report. Huzzah! Just came out momentarily, or moments ago. David Njoku back at practice. Great. DK Metcalf still sidelined. Yeah, I expect that to be...

GTD? I don't think he's going to play. But they have the bye week next week. It's the divisional matchup with the Rams. They have the bye week next week. I don't think he's out. Yeah, I would think he'll miss, and then he'll be back for San Francisco. Travis Etienne, Brian Thomas Jr., and Gabe Davis are all considered game-time decisions for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And that game is... Is that the night game? No, 4 or 5 Eastern. Yeah, afternoon. So afternoon game. That's fun. Jordan Love, limited practice.

I expect him to play. I do too. Any hesitation with it? I mean, you always have the added injury risk, but how are you sitting him down? Yeah, it's tough. All week you've been following. I have Stafford as my backup. I have Jordan Love. Stafford's in right now. Now if Puka's out? That's what I mean. We were on a very steady road and then debris came.

Started entering the equation. Popping your tires. Yeah. All right. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We are jumping back into the matchups. It's time for Fantasy Forecast presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. I guess I want to say this too. We had a lot of fun on yesterday's show. Nothing was more fun than reading the comments on YouTube. Yeah.

Because the world is so quick to comment. The amount of people, it was a joy in this office yesterday. The amount of people that were like, I am so disappointed. This show's not what it once was. How did you not dress up in costumes? I can't believe it. I only came here for the costumes. The amount of people that watched a little bit and bailed. We got you. It was a bit...

Which was executed flawlessly by the production staff. Good work, everyone. Bravo. Good work, deucers. But it was a bit that then somehow turned into a social experiment. People, don't jump into the comments. If you haven't really read or consumed the content... I'm talking to all of us here. Sure, go ahead, Mike. Just...

Take in the content. Don't just take the headline. Don't just be like, oh, well, I skimmed it. Oh, we're soapboxing right now. Is this a soapbox spotlight here? So, yeah, the amount of comments that were like, oh, you didn't dress up. And then, to be fair, a lot of those people did.

Leave their comment and then edit it, like just put underneath. So that was, hey, good on you for owning your comment. But let's slow down, everybody. Just slow down a little bit. This is pretty good advice in life in general. Even if you get a text from somebody that you don't like,

You're allowed to, like this thought that you got to reply right away. Like there's a timer or your phone explodes. Just give it 30 minutes. This is what, that's a definition of wisdom is not talking too fast. It's the old, you know, if you're angry, count to 10. What you looking at? What you looking at over there? You just feel like dad's talking to you? I just looked over at Josh. Oh, like a man that needs the advice? Like lack of wisdom. Oh my gosh.

He could use a filter. A muzzle? Is that what you said? Josh starts thinking after the first paragraph has already been spoken. He starts reflecting on it then. Do you have any comment? I don't want to leave you speechless there, Papa Josh.

No. Now he's got nothing to say. All right. Yesterday we covered the Cowboys, Falcons, Dolphins, Bills, Raiders, Bengals, Chargers, Browns, Patriots, Titans, Commanders, Giants. Mike and I get to jump in with the two and six Saints taking on the one and seven Panthers. All right. New Orleans minus seven. The over-under is 43 and a half. So, you know, in the Saints last ditch effort to get Jason to shave the rest of his hair off of his head.

They got a great opportunity in this one. Here we go. Carolina, New Orleans. Both defenses have been really, really bad. They're number 32 and 31 in total yards per game allowed.

but Carolina is outrageous. I mean, they're just both of these defenses are. This is a bad matchup. It's a battle of the suck, but I think it could be fun here for fantasy football. Alvin Kamara, of course, is in. Chris Olave is in. Derek Carr is going to play. Yeah, I mentioned Chuba as a start of the week, as in I'm willing to play him. His DK rushing yard line, it's at 53 and a half. Like, what?

We'll take that. That's kind of the starting point with all the opportunities and the matchup against the Saints. I think Chuba's in play regardless of who the quarterback is, which it's going to end up being Bryce Young. Now the fun stuff is like Xavier Liget, Jalen Coker, these rookies here against a team that has been struggling on defense. Are they in play for you in a 12-team league?

With the fact that the Saints have given up the most yards per game in the NFL, they are dart throw players to me. And I think Jalen Coker at 6'3", 215 after the game last week, you probably don't know the name, 4 for 78 and a touchdown. Snap counts have been going up, and now with Deontay gone, he's going to get an opportunity. So those are guys that you can, Leggett and Coker, you can put in there.

And pray. Now, Bryce is the quarterback. Right. So that will require you to depend upon Bryce Young, and that is... But he was the guy last week against Denver, and this is a much better matchup. It is. These are not must-play guys. I think that they should both... Well, Liget, of course, should be on teams, but Jalen Coker should be on rosters. Because if Coker comes out and has a second good game here, then you're going to be...

we should probably be in that this is now an option for fantasy. All right. So, you know, Derek Carr was Jason's stream, right? Yeah. I mean, you can. I think it'll be good. I think it'll be a resurgence for the offense against Carolina with Derek Carr being back. Spencer Rattler was statistically the worst quarterback. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about Derek Carr. Yeah, I wouldn't be trying to play him.

Hopefully some of the other streaming options are available for you. The Denver Broncos at 5-3, the Baltimore Ravens at 5-3, the DraftKings Sportsbook line is Baltimore minus 8. The Broncos and the Ravens have the same record. Yeah, the over-under is 46.5. That's fun. If you look statistically over the last month, Bo Nix has been the best rookie quarterback. Sure. Bo Nix has been better than Caleb, right? And he's been better than Jaden in the last month.

statistically speaking he has three multi-touchdown games in his last four he's a quarterback 10 in fantasy so taking Bo Nix seriously with Sean Payton is probably something that you should be doing but how that translates to fantasy production it's not been one target this is not Bo Nix has Roma Dunzey and he's that's all he's going to throw the football to it's been a

a mixed bag. One minute you think Troy Franklin's going to get an opportunity and then it's Vele and then it's Sutton and then it's, you know, the backs or the tight ends and Trapman catches a touchdown and Kroll's involved. They're piecing it together in Denver, right? Mm-hmm. So, you know, your decision-making process here against Baltimore, who's been easy to throw against,

It's probably just Javante and Sutton. That's how I would play it. Sutton had the goose two weeks ago and then bounces back to a 29% target share this past week against Carolina. Eight for 100. He is their number one guy. If you're playing anyone hoping to take advantage of the Ravens secondary, that's who I'm playing. Lamar Jackson's back at practice. They had a quick turnaround. They gave him some time. This is not abnormal.

So it's going to be a test for this Denver defense. It's been pretty good, but they've played Minshew and Herbert and Rattler and Bryce Young. So they're the third fewest yards per game given up. That's not going to be the case here. The implied point total for Baltimore is 27. Right. What are you doing with the wide receiver room for Baltimore in this matchup? Sertan back out there.

The kind of predictability has been difficult. It has, but I'm playing them as normal. I mean, of course, Derrick Henry is in. Well, the receivers though. And then for Zay Flowers, his yardage line on DK right now is 50 and a half. He's had 15 or more points in three of the last four weeks. He's such a good player, and I'm going to trust that this offense will figure out how to

Even with a tougher matchup, they're going to utilize him. So what's wild about Flowers is that this has been your experience with Flowers in general. The last six games played, he had games with yardage totals of 20, 10, and 11. He's had games then, the other games, 111, 132, 115. This is feast or famine with Zay Flowers. It is. And by the way, those 300-plus yard games, he didn't score.

So, you know, he's only got one touchdown on the year. So that's been the dance was Dave Flowers. Yeah, but, I mean, you can't see it in the box score anywhere, but I think it was the Tampa Bay game where he hurt his ankle. Like he played through the game, but he was not at full strength. And he got the one target. That's true. And he's on pace for 130 targets on the year. Are you playing Mark Andrews or Tyler Kraft against Detroit?

Tucker Craft? What did I say? Tyler. Well, that's just what Jason calls him. Tucker Craft. I would play... Mark Andrews. I'd play Mark Andrews, yeah. Don Kincaid or Mark Andrews? I'm going Andrews. Fergalicious? That one is... Ferguson or Andrews? That one's really tough. They're back-to-back in my rankings. If somehow you had them both. If I need just a couple safe points, because we're...

While things are trending forward for Mark Andrews and I'm feeling more and more confident each week, there still is. There's still that fear that he goes out there and goes back to half the snaps, gets one target. So in that case, I don't mind people playing Jake Ferguson over him, but I think I'd go with Andrews. There's a lot of people I know that maybe are not on the same page as we are with Deontay's opportunity in Baltimore. It's a big name with a big trade.

How are you viewing Deontay this week and beyond? Because I've seen some of these. This week I'm not even considering playing him. Do you think that there's a chance he emerges as a fantasy-relevant person? There is a chance because I think he's a good wide receiver that gets open. But it will take time. Like Deontay is, if I have him, if someone wants to buy into my league and trade for Deontay, I'd get out. But if he's sitting on my bench, let me phrase it this way.

He's not going into my starting lineup until I actually see something. I'm not taking any risk over the next couple weeks calling my shot. This is the week that Deontay takes over. Unless the only thing that changes that is somehow this week it's like all the snaps. He's running all the routes. He just doesn't have production. Then I'll put him out there. All right, we'll take a quick break and jump into the Jags-Eagles matchup. ♪

Jacksonville is 2-6. The Eagles are 5-2. The DK Sportsbook line here, Philly minus 7.5. The over-under is 45.5. Heavy favorites. Philly is 4-0, averaging 29.8 points per game in the four games that A.J. Brown has played. This is a good example of what I'm talking about with the C.J. Stroud, no Nico Collins. Sure. Is Jalen Hurts a good quarterback? Well...

How do you define it? Not without A.J. Brown, he hasn't been. He's not been statistically prolific, for sure. Right, and that's kind of where we're at with Stroud. Because you've been the biggest Nico Collins stand on the show from the offseason, looking through the, I don't care about Diggs, I don't care about Tankdale, Nico's elite. If that's true, which it has proven to be true, he's the number one in points per game, losing that is significant. Yeah, I'm in agreement there. Jalen Hurts?

In this game, you're going to play him. Saquon, yes. Brown, yes. Devontae Smith, yes. The end. I mean, that is your elite opportunity for Philadelphia. And A.J. Brown's receiving line is 79 and a half. So it's just that good. On the other side, ouch. You can't even make...

Good decisions right now. I mean, you have limited practices for Travis Etienne on Wednesday and Thursday. Limited practice for Tank Bigsby with the ankle on Thursday. Game time decision with the chest injury for Brian Thomas. Game time decision with the shoulder injury for Gabe Davis. And you've lost Christian Kirk for the season. Other than Evan Ingram, who is locked into your lineup as the last man standing, who was formerly hurt. Other than Evan Ingram, how do you even play this week with an afternoon game? Like the Brian Thomas decision...

If you're staring down players playing in the early window, is he good enough against Philadelphia, whose defense is now top six against every position, is he good enough to wait for? I think he is good enough to wait for, but this Sunday –

So the afternoon games are the Bears-Cardinals. I mean, I got some of these Brian Thomas ones. Like Josh Downs or Brian Thomas Jr.? I'd go Josh Downs there. I feel comfortable enough. Okay. Darnell Mooney or Brian Thomas Jr.? Mooney. I like the matchup with the Cowboys, and we got the word that Diggs is...

Was it unlikely or he's not playing? I can't remember what the verbiage was. Trayvon Diggs? Yeah. The report this morning, cornerback for the Cowboys, calf tear of some sort, unlikely to play. And I think that Micah Parsons was also unlikely to play. So there's enough there that I'd go with Mooney. Is this a weird situation where you would, if you needed to, handcuff the wide receiver? To who? Gabe Davis. But Gabe Davis is also a game-time decision. He is. He's a game-time decision. You don't want to get caught with like... No. No.

And on top of that, I just... Your pants and your underpants down? Correct. The underpants is Gabe Davis, by the way. So to speak. And he just...

He's been Gabe Davis. He hilariously has been the player we, you know, like, hey, Gabe Davis is an okay player, but he has done virtually nothing here. We have the two-touchdown game, and other than that, he's been under eight fantasy points or catastrophically worse in every game. He should be good. He should be a lot. He should be. Well, I'm just saying now. I'm not saying in the past. In the past, he should not have been.

But if you take away Christian Kirk from the offense and you're dealing with an injury and he should be back out there, then he should be better. He should be better. The question is, is he good enough to...

to take advantage of the opportunity that is now in front of him. And I think that that is – Yeah. I think that's probably – it's probably no. I'm not saying – I'm not ruling it out completely, but it's not a fire that I'm going to play with. So are we just – let's wait and see what happens in – like Jacksonville with Travis Etienne, I've already had the approach if I want to see him do it on the field before I play him. Yeah, no, thank you. Tank Bigsby, you probably – game script-wise, this is bad for him. It is. Heavy underdogs dealing with an injury where Dearness Johnson could get snapped. Yeah, he's not –

Tank Bigby to me, assuming Etienne is out, Tank is not a must bench, but hopefully you have a better option. This game stinks, man. Chicago's 4-3. The Cardinals are 4-4. Why are you smirking at me? What is going on? He's just smirking like a crazy person. We're trying to have a show over here. You're distracting the host, and that's distracting me. I can't even talk, Falcon. What is going on? Just a side conversation with Josh and I. You're doing a show.

Well, I got to get brought into this. He just said it. He said the quiet part out loud. He's having a conversation during the show. Did you know that our entire job right now is a conversation? That is public. That's what a podcast is. It's our conversation. It's all it is. You don't have microphones. I'll try and keep them under control. Thank you. Oh, God.

It's out of control back there. I mean, I don't want to have to publicly shame you. You're going to have to read the notes live on air. That's what's going to happen. You're going to have to stand up in front of the class and talk about Susie. I like Susie. You think she likes me? Let me try this again. The Bears 4-3, the Cardinals 4-4. Cardinals 1.5 point home favorites. The over-unders 44.5. What do we do here, Mike? Who wins the football game? Who do you think wins the football game?

I don't know, man. I don't have a read on this game. Both of these teams are so strange of having what should be an awesome offense that just disappears.

on a week-to-week basis. Jekyll Hyde for both offenses thus far. Yes, very much. There have been weeks where playing Caleb would have been smart, and there's weeks where it's been a disaster. Three games outside the top 28. Kyler, three of his last four, quarterback seven, six, and ten, with a terrible game against Green Bay in between where the offense looked like it forgot the playbook. That's what I mean. So what does that translate for you? Is Caleb, you know,

Is Caleb the better play than Kyler in this game where the Cardinals defense is 24th against quarterbacks? The Bears are fourth. But in recent history, Kyler's been better. If I have the two of them, I'm going to play Kyler. I'm going to stick with that. It's like looking through the game log here for Caleb, he was awful against Washington. He was great against Jacksonville and Carolina. Shocking stuff.

was, for fantasy, not so good against the Rams. Was pretty good against the Colts, which, shocking stuff. He has beat up. His good games are just against terrible defenses. I don't know. Is Arizona's defense, are they terrible? I don't

That's what I mean. I don't have a full read here because they get so hot and so cold depending on the week. Cardinals have won two straight games. They are technically the leaders of the NFC West. They play at home. Conner was Jason's start of the week. His rushing line is a ridiculous 71.5 because they're giving him everything, which is awesome. It's also a little scary. Like if you have James Conner,

I would be putting Trey Benson on your team. I am not enjoying a roster spot being taken up by Trey Benson every week. James Conner. I have been tempted to drop Benson. I would not do that. And I can't do it because I know. Not at this point. I know that Conner can't play a full season. Yeah, not at this point of the season. I would keep Benson there. James Conner is the – it's such a hilarious situation of, of course you want him to get the ball all the time. Like this is fantasy football. I want my running back getting all the volume. But it's James Conner.

So I don't want him getting all the volume. So it's fun. But he's been fantastic. We brought up the tackle-breaking stat the other day that he's just far and away. 47 force-miss tackles. Next highest in the NFL is 29. He is balling out. And he is – James Conner, if you're not paying attention to the Cardinals, James Conner is the engine of the offense. It should be Kyler and Marv and Trey McBride, but it's James Conner.

Marvin Harrison, four solid games, four dud games. He's in. You know, he's in your lineup. McLaurin had a good game against Chicago last week. Trey McBride, of course, since 2000, the most total receptions and receiving yards for a tight end through seven games without a touchdown. Yeah. Trey McBride has been. He's due. He should be. He has been awesome for football. He's been awesome for fantasy just recently.

Give him two or three touchdowns on the season, and the way that people think about Trey McBride is so different. How do you view the three wideouts on the other side of the field in Chicago? I mean, it's... Oh, my gosh. What? What do we got now? Well, in ever-present distracting the show capabilities, Papa Josh and company have...

Made a ridiculously large trade in our league of record. Oh, is that what's been going on? Possibly. We're working trades in the middle of work. I think it's yo mama jokes. But what is the what just happened? Jason Jason tilt trade. I mean, we traded. You traded with Jason. He got rid of Puka and Pacheco. Wow. So he picked up Nico and Jonathan Taylor and Jalen Waddle. So he tilt fested. Wait.

Jason got the better players? He did. Yeah, but we got great players and picks. Okay. Oh, so Jason went all in. Jason's going all in on the season. Jason went all in. Good for him. And, yeah, so he traded Pacheco, Puka, and a couple picks to get Taylor, Waddle, and Nico. That's wild. That's wild. And I'm facing him this week.

Not Nico. No, not Nico. Interesting. Okay, sorry. I mean, look, this is what happens. Jason was melting. Jason was a puddle of Puka Nakua sadness yesterday. He was a puddle of rage. What if Puka just plays and is great this week? We're still waiting to hear. Yeah, but then he just doesn't have to deal with it. Sorry. The Bears wide receivers. Thank you for producing the show so well. The Bears wide receivers are – it is –

baffling. Roma Dunzey, he's out. We have one good game, and the other ones are like 40 yards apiece, like three for 40. DJ Moore, who should be, or not, sorry, he definitely is their number one. He should be taking advantage of a lot of these matchups. He's got one good, like one great game, and a couple good-ish ones. They're

I don't know that you can play them because we keep saying, hey, it's a good matchup. DJ Moore should be good in this one. But he keeps disappointing. You feel that way with DJ Moore? Yeah, definitely do. What, 4.4 points this week, four against Jacksonville, 25 against Carolina. That was the huge game. 9.7, 11.2. Those are fine, but that's not number one stuff. That's a wide receiver three. Cole come out this week? I'm not nearly as in on – I'm just not as in on this offense.

Like Cole commit has is the same thing of two, two great weeks. And then he's, he's fine for a touchdown upside. The six and one lions take on the six and two Packers, the DraftKings sports book line, Detroit minus two and a half going into Lambeau, the over-unders 48 and a half. We should have Jordan love playing in this game. He's been a bit volatile. He's going to be an injury risk because you can get knocked out. It's almost impossible to,

at the professional level to prepare yourself for game speed with an injury. This is why this happens all the time. You can have full practices. You have to escape the pocket one time with the defensive line of the Lions chasing you down, and it can become risky business. But with him in the lineup, it makes Jaden Reed, Romeo Dobbs, Tucker Kraft very, very relevant. Yeah, they're all playable.

Josh Jacobs, limited on Thursday, averaging 20 opportunities a game. Play him against Detroit, even though that is the number one ranked defense. Yeah, play him, but expectations of what he will give you this week, you should adapt those. On the other side, Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery are locks every single week. Gibbs is at 6.4 a carry this year. If Montgomery went down, I want people to understand that Gibbs is so far and away the number one running back in football. It's...

And inversely, I think Montgomery would be right in the mix. He'd be pretty close, yeah. So, you know, Montgomery has the fourth most carries inside the 10. They don't seem to be really 50-50ing that. It's more Monty around the goal line with the occasional gives. It's the full Monty. It's the full Monty. Thank you, Mike. I think. Almon Ross, St. Brown, touchdown in five straight games. Play him. Laporta's my start of the week. His DK receiving line's at 40.5. I think you're going to get what you want from him this week.

This is a fun game. It's easy. Yeah, and high over-under, so you play your guys with confidence. The Rams at 3-4 take on the 4-4 Seahawks. NFC West, divisional battle. DK Sportsbook line, Rams minus one on the road. Is that surprising to you? It's not. Is it because of the injuries? Well, there's some of that. It's also like Seattle is kind of – they started hot, and I don't think they're as good as that start line.

Weeks 4 through 8. Weeks 1 through 3, 4th. Talking about their defense. 4th in points per game allowed. 2nd in yards allowed. That was Bo Nix's first start. That was Jacoby Bursette. That was Skyler Thompson. Then you start playing better veteran quarterbacks. Goff, Daniel Jones, Purdy, Cousins, Allen. They're 30th in points per game allowed. 31st in yards. I think that's where despite the Seahawks being 4-4, I think the Rams are the better team.

I still think it's an interesting line on the road, but it speaks to Metcalf's availability. Has this line changed at all with the Puka practice news? Can we get the confirmation that this is still Rams minus one? We'll double check. Thank you. So, like you said, Seattle's defense had an easy road. Kyron, of course, 10 straight games with a touchdown. What about the bones on Mike? He, you know,

Struggled a little bit last week. By the way, Rams are still one-point favorites. Yeah. Remember last week was very strange of the... He lost like 20 yards on the botched snap. The team was getting boat raced, so they...

They just kind of sat Walker down because he was coming into the game questionable with the illness. So I would expect that we're back to full Ken Bone Walker this week. I'm starting him with no concern. Cooper Cupps receiving line 63.5. It was a little slow going last week. Wait and see on Puka. I wish I had more information, but they didn't give us much. No. He didn't have media availability. He's either in or he's not. I can tell you what Jason thinks about it.

He's no longer on his team. Jason just can't. He can't handle the stress. So he wants the, he wants Nico coming back from a hamstring injury. That's what his next opt in is. I'd probably feel better about that. Okay. Um, what else do we have in this game? Jason and Tyler Lockett. Last week we thought we'd get better performances. Jason has one finish inside the top 24 this year.

It's not been good, man. No, it is not. Even when he gets targets, he doesn't produce. No. Like, are we changing the future expectation of Jason at this point? A year and a half into his career. I think that's fair. This isn't a completely bail on him. Maybe you're talking dynasty type of stuff. But, I mean, he's averaging 48 and a half yards, nine yards per completion, five catches a game. It's...

It's not nothing, but the fact that we haven't seen him take more advantage of these guys getting hurt. Last week with DK out, I guess the game was okay. It was seven targets, six for 69, 11.5 yards per completion. That's not the worst, but when you're getting boat raced, you would expect some artificially inflated numbers. The Sunday night game is the Colts at 4-4 with Joe Flacco.

And the 5-2 Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota, who are five-point home favorites, according to DK Sportsbook, over under 47.5. Sorry, 46.5. Flacco has been really, really good. The play volume has been through the roof with him at quarterback. You've been really happy with Pittman and Downs. Downs is my start of the week. In three games with Joe Flacco, Josh Downs has averaged 10 targets, 8 receptions, 72 receiving yards.

Do you go beyond those two names? Alec Pierce, if you want to get crazy. I mean, he had the – which ones were the Falako games? So 4, 5, and 6. Pierce had – week 5 was awesome. He was 3 for 134 with the score. But the other games, like the sandwich there was right before it was 1 for 9, and then 0 for 0 was the follow-up. So it's a real sketchy play, probably DFS.

The numbers for Jonathan Taylor with and without Anthony Richardson the last couple of years, it's a little bit better on the rush attempt total. A couple more rush attempts per game, a couple more yards per game. Fairly similar scoring, but you're certainly not going to get... I expect the targets to go up. You're certainly not going to get a, you know, vultured touchdown around the end zone. The targets have been a little bit higher pace, maybe an extra...

Half a catch a game. Taylor, you're playing. Joe Flacco, are you adding him in redraft leagues if you were in need at quarterback? Yeah, I think you can go ahead and do that. He's right in line of these streaming type options. Let me pull up some names for you. It's like, would you rather play Geno against the Rams or Joe Flacco? Yeah, Flacco. The Vikings, especially this week with them being a pass funnel.

Tua against Buffalo or Joe Flacco. Yeah, there's going to be a Flacco. I'm going to play Flacco there too. I got to modify my rankings over here. Aaron Jones has the highest snap percentage of his career. Did you know that? I did not realize. I know I'd have been going way up. Year eight. Yeah. This one, they did not timeshare it. No, I mean, Ty Chandler's been, he just hit waiver wire in our league of record and he's not going to get picked up. I mean,

You love Sam Darnold this week. Aaron Jones. We'll say, I think at this point in the year, Ty Chandler is not a...

He's not a bench player that like, oh, I can put him in in a bye week. But we are getting at the point of the season where you're going to want some insurance running backs on your team if you have space for them. So I think that Ty Chandler, Blake Corum, those types of guys, we're at the point where they shouldn't be on the waiver wire because if Aaron Jones gets lost or whatever, I'm not going to curse him with injury.

But if he's out, Ty Chandler is. You're doing a full fab dump to get Ty Chandler on your roster. Jefferson, yes. Hawkinson, if you have an emergency at tight end, otherwise we would like you to wait and see and just be happy if he has a better than expected game. His receiving line is at 38.5. You know, that's not wild. I'd be playing Kincaid. I'd be playing Andrews. I'd be playing Ertz. What about you, Mike? Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's about it. You cannot be on a snap count but still be rotating and being acclimated. Right? It doesn't have to be an injury-related snap count to still ease your way back into an offense. Yeah, I can agree. And Hawkinson's been away for a long time. Right. They're heavy favorites as well, so this game could get— if it's not Hawkinson early, it might not be Hawkinson late. Sure.

Monday Night Football is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4-4 and the 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs, who are 8.5-point home favorites, according to the DK Sportsbook. The over-under is 45.5. We spoke at length about Baker Mayfield yesterday, or maybe it was the footcast, I think. Yeah, it was the footcast. I was talking about the fact that Joe Flacco and Jameis Winston specifically, when you know that they're taking over an offense, you don't necessarily pay mind to whether they have

elite weapons because you know they're just going to throw the ball 40 times a game. I think this is Baker's team and I think Baker is going to throw the ball a ton. We love K. Dotton in this game. Mike was quick to bring up Jalen McMillan who he said he's hungry for more. I think still we're in the hungry for some category but

I think that's possible in this game. His receiving line is 41 and a half. It's not the matchup you want. You think it's possible for this week? I do. I do think it's possible because Baker throws the ball a ton. He's on pace for 4,600 passing yards and 45 touchdowns, and it didn't change without Evans and Godwin. And now Sterling Shepard did not practice with the hamstring. He got hurt during the game, so they might be down another guy. Yeah. I...

I like McMillan. He's going to be on my bench this week if I can help it. So what about the running back room? I feel like people are going to have a lot of questions about Bucky Irving and Rashad White and what you do in that situation. We do have the news. Bucky Irving didn't practice on Thursday. He's got the toe injury. We heard from the coaching staff that this is just – it will be a management of the toe injury the whole year. So –

Don't get overly freaked out when you don't see Bucky Irving practicing. He's still going to be on the field. This year, Yahoo Fantasy pointed this out. Rashad White, zero rushing touchdowns, three receiving. Bucky, three rushing, zero receiving. The yin and the yang. I think Bucky's a much better runner, but Rashad White is a better pass catcher. He's probably better for fantasy. Kareem Hunt? This DraftKings touchdown, odds are at minus 260.

That is wild. So the expectation is very much that Kareem Hunt will score a touchdown at some point in this game. I mean, you got an implied point total of 27 for Kansas City. Kareem Hunt has been a machine. And, you know, it'll be fun to watch this game on Monday night and see, you know, is Hopkins more involved? Just 32% of snaps last week. I do think that's going to happen.

Whether it's this week or not, I'm still watching and waiting. The conversation I want to have more is Xavier Worthy. Because we don't have, so since the bye week, when everything changing here for them, he doesn't have production. But he has eight targets in each of the past two weeks. Eight against San Francisco, went three for 19. Eight against Vegas, went four for 37.

Again, no production there, but a 32% target share, a 23% target share. Is he someone that if he's on your way for a while, you're going to go pick him up? I think he should be rostered. He's one of my least favorite type of players to play because this offense isn't going to run through Xavier Worthy. No, but he's a rookie. We're in the second half.

I mean, he got the post-bye week rookie bump. He was basically four targets a game. So do you think this could be the beginning of an upward trajectory? We've got to get Hopkins more snaps too, so you could see him taking some of what Worthy's availability is. Hopkins barely on the field on those two weeks after the bye week too. Worthy is a player that I think it's a –

gamble to go out and get worthy right now before the boom has happened. Kelsey, play him. Mahomes is still a streaming option at best. Last week, he threw two touchdowns. He was quarterback 15. You are aiming low with Mahomes. Yeah. It's a great matchup, though. I'm going to play him. T. Higgins marked as doubtful. That's your injury update. We're going to take a break. Hit the face-off.

Fantasy Face-Off, presented by DraftKings. So, Jason's not here. Cowardly decision to focus on Blockbuster Trades, not his son, this morning. I think we got duped. I think he is in the war room. But listen, Jason has to spin this wheel at some point. He does. I think we've decided if he loses again this week...

He's spinning it early next Friday. Yes. Whole show. Whole show looking like an idiot. More so. Yeah. He does have a mohawk now. I think he does. I don't know if he's made adjustments. Oh, did he?

Last night he sent a picture through where he still had the Baker Mayfield beard, the mohawk, and he was wearing overalls, and there was not a shirt under those overalls. That's the way you got to do it. But this was a Halloween event, and it led him to trade away his players. So listen, who's got his lineup?

We just got it pasted. Here, Jeremy, you take over. Yeah, Al, you're in charge of his lineup. But so just a reminder, next week, if Jason loses, it'll be a full Friday shame. If, unfortunately, Andy or I lose, it'll be a double. Yeah, two spins. Two spins during the segment. This week, Mike, why don't you kick it off at quarterback? I will do that. I have...

Uh, Daiquiri Prescott against the Atlanta Falcons at 6,300. That's not a good name. It's not? No. Who doesn't like a good Daiquiri? Who does, uh, okay. Okay. Yeah. I heard it like Zachary. Well, it does rhyme. But Daiquiri, I'm seeing it in my head spelled like a Daiquiri, like a drink. Yes. And Al's nodding like he knew that. I saw it like a Zachary.

And I thought that was dumb. All right, listen. But now that it's like a strawberry daiquiri. Now it's great. It's so much better. Yeah, it's super good. Al, who does Jason have? Jason's going with Jalen Hurts for $7,800. That's expensive. Paid up against Jacksonville. I am going bargain shopping here. I am taking the matchup, the return, the

I guess I have to hit this. Send in the car. Oh, baby. Send in the car. What's his price? $5,600. That is not nearly low enough. It's $2,200 less than Jason spent, so I've got it made up elsewhere. Did you hear about Daiquiri? It's only $6,300. I did. I did. That's a good pick, but he's been bad.

And Carolina's been bad. So at running back, who are your two running backs? I've got Saquon Barkley against the Jacksonville Jaguars at 8,200. And I've got Devon Achan at 6,700. Well, before you jump in, Al, those are my two running backs. I've got Saquon and Achan. That is upsetting. 8,200 and 6,700. I was really excited to have Saquon because I think he's –

Is he the most expensive? No, Derek Henry's a little bit. There's no way Jason has him with Jalen Hurts. Jason does have Devon Achan at 6,700, and he has Kyron Williams at 8,000. So Jason's got money spent those first three picks. Yeah.

You're up. Wide receivers. No, you're up. Oh, I'm up. Okay. Well, I'm playing Daquiri, so I'm playing CeeDee Lamb at 8,800. I'm going Drake London, hopefully. We get some back and forth here in this Dallas-Atlanta game. He's 6,700. And here's where I ran out of money. Yeah. So it's not the worst here at wide receiver, at least. It's Cedric Tillman against the Chargers. He's still 4,300. So...

This is fun, Mike. Are we just matching the whole time? I have CeeDee Lamb at $8,800. I have Cedric Tillman at $4,300. Goodness. And then I had money here, so $6,100 for Chris Olave, the stack with Derek Carr. Okay. Wow. $6,100? Yeah. That's a good price. Yeah. Jason is also going with CeeDee Lamb and Cedric Tillman, and then he has Jacoby Myers. Okay. All right.

Well, that means the final three tight end flex and defense. Oh, get ready, everybody. Plug your nose. It's Mike Kosicki at 3,100. Oh, that's a good pick. Against the Vegas Raiders. Yeah, that one, I was playing with fire, but I knew that my guy T. Higgins would not be playing. And then we got Parker Washington, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars at 3,600. And then I have the New York Giants against the Washington Manders at 2,300.

All right, Al, what does Jason finish up with? Jason also has Mike Gasicki in the tight end spot. He has Jalen Cocker at, or is it? What? That's a cocker. That's a cocker. Boston. That's on me. Boston. To be fair, I double checked it and Googled the pronunciation and it says anyway, and then he is going with the Giants defense.

You guys are children. Grow up. I was fine. I was composed, but the cackling from the Falcon, it broke me. Jalen what? Coker. Yeah, that's the name. I've got him. I wish you had gone first. I've got him. Yeah, right? I went Giants defense as well. We're all the same on the defense, and I went Cole Komet against Arizona at 4,400.

So, um, oh man, there you go.

There you go. That was Fantasy Forecast presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now. Use the code BALLERS. That's the code BALLERS and take advantage of special daily promotions only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. Couldn't wait to hit that outro button. That's how you shut down the week. Sunday live. Mike, you're back on Sunday? Yeah, I will see you then. All right. At the FFBALLERS Sunday morning. Check us out. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye.

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