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0:45What's good, friends? Welcome in to Fantasy Focus Football alongside Field Yates and Mike Clay.
0:49Sorry about that, Michael. I yelled really loud in your ear.
0:52Every time. My name is Daniel Dopp. I'll never learn.
0:55I'll never learn. I always turn it up. It's so quiet before the show and I have to turn the volume up
1:01and then the show starts and you start screaming in my ear.
1:04I'm sorry. Every time. Well, because I talk to you at a normal voice, but then we do the opening of the show.
1:10I'm excited. I know. I apologize. Good mood this morning.
1:13Yeah. Surprisingly in a good mood on a Thursday.
1:16How are you guys doing today? We're great. It's Friday.
1:18It's we were just looking at the weather. It is beautiful here in Connecticut.
1:22Yes. We're about to have like eight straight days of rain.
1:25So shout out Mother Nature for absolutely nothing. And we got a fantasy bonanza last night.
1:30Yes. Sorry for your line. No, it was a tough one.
1:33Unfortunately, we're going to dive into our week two storylines part two and a quick shout out to our friends over at Trophy Smack at a trophysmack.com.
1:40Use the promo code trophy week two for 10% off over there.
1:43Pretty much everybody that has Josh Allen should just start buying the belt.
1:47Just start buying. Yes. If you have Josh, Josh Allen, it feels like you are set up.
1:51He has the Detroit Lions number over 40 fantasy points in back to back games against this squad.
1:56Honestly, everything that you basically asked for with the exception of and I want to say this DJ Moore doesn't count because he got hurt.
2:03So he doesn't count as a disappointment. Yeah. Jamison Williams was the only disappointment.
2:07Everyone else that you asked for fantasy points from field.
2:10It all came true. It was amazing. So we can just do the very quick stuff that was like obvious and great.
2:16Josh Allen. So ridiculous. Even when we told you like, Hey, we're, we're, we're very comfortable.
2:20With the value of quarterback later in drafts. If you took, we said, we kept saying, if you take Josh Allen in
2:26the second round, I'm not going to be mad at you.
2:29Right? Because he's going to finish his quarterback one after two weeks.
2:32That seems like it is borderline a guarantee. We've got a incorrect box there.
2:36If you're watching on TV right now, but Josh Allen over 40 fantasy points, James Cook handles 100% of the bills carries.
2:42He finds the end zone over a hundred yards.
2:45Dalton Kincaid. I want to get back to a moment because to me, he's the story.
2:49That's the big story here. Amon Ross St. Brown has two catches in the first half.
2:53Yeah. He finishes with 36 fantasy points because he had two catches for touchdowns in the second half.
2:58He was ridiculous. Lions garbage time all the way until the end for Amon Ross.
3:02Jared Goff goes for three 25 plus and four touchdowns.
3:05We mentioned him as a streaming start this week.
3:08Everybody, but Jamo was good. Let's talk about Jamo and Dalton Kincaid.
3:11Let's get the fun part out of the way because I was said this to you guys in text last night.
3:17Like I'm not certain that Dalton Kincaid isn't just like the best early season storyline, but maybe the breakout player of fantasy football for this year.
3:24That sounds ridiculous to say after 17 total games and just two weeks for the Buffalo bills of the season, but unlike
3:30wide receiver, maybe even quarterback to a degree running back in tight end.
3:33We don't have enough good players that when somebody seems to emerge as a guy that you can start as not just
3:39like a weekly starter, but a weekly difference maker is incredibly valuable.
3:43Yeah, it was never a talent question with Dalton Kincaid.
3:45He went first round. The guy was a big investment by the bills.
3:49They've told us year after year after year. He's primed for a big role.
3:53It's been about health and perhaps utilization and prior years, ironically with the same play car that he has now in Joe Brady, but two through two weeks.
4:00He looks clearly like the bills best pass catcher.
4:03And if Josh Allen is going to go full nuclear, like he did for the second straight week last night, could Dalton
4:09Kincaid quickly creep up into the tier that we were talking about Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren occupying going into this?
4:15He's already there. I mean, I told you guys this before the show, I had a tough decision last night in one
4:21of our leagues that we're all in Tyler Warren versus Dalton Kincaid.
4:24And I knew I wanted a piece of this game.
4:27I had to have a piece. So it was close and I went Kincaid and I'm feeling good about that going forward.
4:33I mean, he might be the preferred option over Warren going forward.
4:36We'll see. Warren has the chiefs this week. So that was kind of tough.
4:40That kind of led me toward the higher scoring game.
4:42But no doubt. I mean, we're going to rank him what fifth next week.
4:46Maybe easy. Maybe I was thinking second if Brock Bowers.
4:49Yeah, I mean, I'm saying worst case like that's definitely where he belongs.
4:53And again, we need to stress this. This is not.
4:55The past Dalton Kincaid where he'd have a big game and then disappear because he was playing 35 percent of the snaps.
5:01He ran 26 routes in this game. That was tied for the team high with Keon Coleman.
5:06And Coleman, of course, got a big boost because DJ Moore was out.
5:09So this seems to be for real with Dalton Kincaid.
5:12He's a featured target. He found the end zone.
5:15He could add two touchdowns. The one where Dawson Knox scored.
5:18Yeah, had the defender turned his head the other direction toward Knox.
5:21It would have went to Kincaid. Well, they were both wide open.
5:24So he is in a great spot for a huge season.
5:27And I'm buying it. He is not. I said this to you when you you texted us that and said it seems like the biggest early season mover.
5:35I said he's not a sell. This isn't a guy I'm looking to.
5:38Yeah, I'm not trying to move him. This looks like a legit top five fantasy tight end going forward.
5:44I'm buying it for sure. OK, so before Daniel brings up JMO, I feel like in some ways, like maybe one of
5:50the strongest demerits for the likes of James Cook and Dalton Kincaid is.
5:53I believe that Joe Brady and I saw this in week one with Ben Johnson is going to have a little bit
5:59of like we're going to make guys happy like Dawson Knox might get two or three catches a game this season.
6:05But he designed that little play right there for Dawson Knox to catch a one yard touchdown team captain Dawson Knox.
6:11But yeah, very respected veteran. Yeah, that like that might take away at a couple of opportunities from Dalton Kincaid, but not
6:17enough to dissuade me from feeling like right now.
6:19If Brock Bowers is out, there's a real chance that Dalton Kincaid is tight end to in my week three ranks.
6:25But Daniel, let's talk about Jameson Williams. Jameson Williams has felt disappointing first week.
6:29You love the nine targets. Actually, you love the amount of volume that he got there.
6:33But in this one, unfortunately, JMO did not get on track.
6:36It was literally everyone but him. It felt like this is one of the things that we kind of talked about coming
6:42into the season was a lot of what we saw from the production of Jameson Williams last year happened after Sam Laporta got hurt.
6:49We didn't really see him be the same guy that he was at his peak while Sam Laporta was on the field at the same time.
6:56Now through the first two games, Sam Laporta's look looks good.
6:59That's awesome. Him and Drew Petzin and the way that they we talked about, you know, all the tight end stuff that he loves to do looks great.
7:06I think JMO feels like the odd man out in this offense.
7:10That's going to be that guy that's going to have his weeks.
7:13I mean, because the thing is, it only takes three touches for him to have 19 fantasy points.
7:18The problem is with the way that it started now, it just feels like he's not the guy.
7:23He's the last one on the pecking order when you're talking about Gibbs and Aminorah and Laporta, at least when I look
7:29at it through the first two weeks. All right.
7:31So pros and cons here for the investment in Jameson Williams is that, first of all, you probably weren't drafting him as your wide receiver.
7:38No. In a 10 or 12 team league, maybe in a 12 team league if you're a little more patient at wide receiver.
7:44But he was probably your flex option in most cases.
7:47So you might have a little bit of flexibility to get somebody else into your flex for week three.
7:52But second of all, you signed up for the volatility and it's possible that JMO has seven clunkers this year and you've
7:58just gotten two of the seven clunkers out in the first two weeks of the season.
8:03Do you rest on one side or the other?
8:05Positive or negative? I think he'll have better days.
8:08I was just checking his matchup for this game.
8:10I think if you were to make going into the season, I think if you were to make a short list of
8:16like potential breakout corners in the NFL, first rounder from last year.
8:19No, Maxwell Hairston is year two starting now. He shadowed JMO in this game.
8:23So that could be a variable here. We don't know.
8:26You know, we don't know what level Hairston is going to play out for sure.
8:30It's two games, but big fan. That's interesting to me because you think about Aminorah, he's moving around the formation.
8:35He's not. He when he was on the perimeter, Benford did shadow, but he was not.
8:40I mean, he was working on it. He was all over the place.
8:43And Sam Porter, I mean, we're not super afraid of the Bills, you know, linebacker situation right now.
8:48So, you know, he obviously had a good game as well.
8:51And Allen or and, you know, Gibbs obviously had a huge game.
8:55So there could be something there. There could be something to that.
8:58But I think at the bottom line is JMO's had back to back thousand yard seasons.
9:02The offense is still putting up yardage, putting up points.
9:05He ran what, 40 routes in this game. He ran two fewer routes than Aminorah in this game.
9:10And he's still a core part of one of the best scoring offenses in the NFL.
9:14I would be patient here. We got a chat question, a YouTube question about Jameson Williams from Amy wants to know, should I drop JMO already?
9:21I want to put golf in jail because he's already forgotten about Jameson Williams.
9:25Guys, how do you feel? I mean, listen, he says Gibbs should be in jail, too.
9:29I disagree with that. He must be playing against Gibbs, Amy.
9:32Yeah, maybe that's what it is. I think with JMO, here's the thing.
9:36This is one of the tougher games on the Detroit Lions schedule for the entirety of the season.
9:41Detroit has a really soft schedule this year. Aren't they his favorite for the next 13 weeks?
9:46Yes. So this is not a drop Jameson Williams situation.
9:48I understand if you're like, hey, like you were just talking about, I might be making a flex decision between JMO and someone else.
9:55Maybe I roll with someone else if I like their matchup.
9:58But this is a mean tweet on the screen.
10:00You should watch the YouTube chat, by the way, if you're not.
10:04Anyways, yeah, I'm still holding on to Jameson Williams.
10:06I think better days are ahead, but we are going to have this is the volatility that you signed up for as
10:12a part of deciding to roster Jameson Williams. Are we able to re-bubble up that question from Amy?
10:17Put it back up on the screen. Are we able to do that?
10:21I bet we can do that. I think it's hard to tell from this distance.
10:25So if we can, I wanted to see something because I think it was Amy's picture.
10:29Does that look from a distance like maybe she's like visiting Disney?
10:32It looks like Disney in the background. It might be, yeah.
10:35Sure does. It looks like Amy's on vacation taking a selfie, perhaps with family.
10:39And this is why I love fantasy. That's right.
10:42Is Amy, who seemingly is a lovely human traveling with her family somewhere to see one of the beautiful sights of this world.
10:48After two weeks, wants to put Jared Goff in jail because he's not throwing the football enough to Jameson Williams.
10:53And cut Jameson Williams. Sickos like us. Maddo Gibbs.
10:56One of us. Fantastic. Oh, there we go. Box score there.
10:59Box score. Updated box score. There we go. So you saw the numbers right there.
11:03I mean, Almanra had seven catches and two touchdowns in the second half.
11:06All right. DJ Moore, the last thing from this game, unless you guys want to add anything else, is left early.
11:12Yeah, that's it. And the update from Adam Schefter is that not serious, could miss week three when they play the Chargers.
11:18They're playing that game in Buffalo. Do you think there's a Bills pass catcher not named Dalton Kincaid that will creep into your lineup next week?
11:25Probably Dalton Kincaid. No, I think Keon Coleman should be a waiver ad.
11:29Okay. He looked good. He led them in routes.
11:31As I mentioned, he had six targets. He caught them all for 63 yards.
11:35He made some nice catches. It's a year three receiver that came into the league pretty young.
11:40And maybe he's making a lead forward here. So, and by the way, like, he ran 26 routes.
11:45Khalil Shakir was at 21. Josh Palmer, who caught that, I mean, broken play, long touchdown.
11:49He only catches touchdowns. Like, Keon Coleman might be the number two in this offense now.
11:53So, and like, Khalil Shakir's going to be a reliable target.
11:56But, I mean, Coleman stepped in and was the guy here.
11:59That's too much for me. That's a step too far.
12:02I can't also believe in Keon Coleman also breaking out in the year that Dalton Kincaid three years later also breaks out at the same time.
12:09I know, it's just so many things happening all at once.
12:12You know what, though? I'm really happy for Keon Coleman.
12:15Yeah, me too. Because the Bills, the Bills left him hung out to dry.
12:19And I'm sure that it was the owner, Terry Begula, made some comments that frankly did no good to the team.
12:25That's true. To say publicly. Yeah. I'm sure they were fed up with him for some reasons behind the scenes.
12:30But when you get in front of the microphone, bury those frustrations, right?
12:34Joe Brady, immediately when he got the job, came to the defense of Keon Coleman and said, I was one of the
12:40coaches that got on the table and said, we want Keon Coleman.
12:43So, we'll see whether it sticks. DJ Moore is still the wide receiver one when he is healthy.
12:48But pump for Keon Coleman. Yeah. Well, again, if Moore's out next week, though, Coleman might be the number one receiver.
12:54Like, wide receiver. That's what I'm saying. Yes. So, if you're the number one wide receiver, let's just say it's him and
13:00Kincaid, the one-two punch at pass catcher in a Josh Allen-led offense.
13:03Yeah. I mean, we're going to rank him as a flex.
13:06Maybe a wide receiver three. So, no doubt he should be a waver head.
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14:24Powering communities. Let's dive into our week two storylines part two.
14:27We're going to start with the Dolphins 49ers. I don't understand you.
14:30Everyone in the preseason told me not to worry about Devon A-chan.
14:33Including me. Then A-chan finished week one with just ten and a half fans.
14:37And they trailed for literally 75% of the game.
14:39And last year, he was top 20 in every single week of the season.
14:43Now, in just one game with Malik Willis, he's already finished outside the top 20.
14:47Are all of my A-chan shares going to be cooked?
14:50Does one of you guys want to drive me to my colonoscopy?
14:53I really got to go. What? Bro, what are you talking about, man?
14:57I'm so top 10 confused. So ridiculous. What are you guys talking about?
15:01You know what we're talking about. Let's talk about Dolphins and 49ers now.
15:04We got some lineup blocks on the screen. Brock Purdy for sure a lineup block.
15:08Christian McCaffrey also a lineup block. Mike Evans, that same squad, a lineup block.
15:12On the other side, Devon A-chan. Mike tells me is a lineup block in spite of my fear of what's going on there.
15:18Mike, I didn't see what I needed to see out of Malik Willis when they were trailing 75% of the game to make sure.
15:25And it wasn't just Malik Willis. It was the offense in general.
15:28Just not getting the ball in the hands of their best playmaker.
15:31You think it's going to get better here in week two?
15:34Yeah, I mean, it was a low-volume game. He had, what, 14 touches in this one.
15:39They said, Jeff Halfley's already said unacceptable. They need to get the ball in his hands.
15:43Mark, we've heard that kind of stuff from coaches before.
15:46But I believe in this offense because they have to.
15:49I mean, he is their guy. They're going to feed him.
15:52He had a ton of, what did he see?
15:54Fifth in rushing yards last year. We know what he could do in the passing game.
15:58And also, let's say what we want about Malik Willis.
16:01We're still uncertain on this one, buddy. Averaged over eight yards per pass attempt in that game.
16:06And this is a guy that's been hyper-efficient the last couple of years.
16:09I'm not giving up on this just yet. And A-Chan is still so good that, yes, if you drafted him in the
16:15second round, maybe the end of the first round, you're locking him in.
16:19Okay, I'm noticing. And I'll adjust the ranks a little bit more each week if this continues.
16:24A couple things here, though. The irony of Devon A-Chan having an underwhelming workload in week one is not lost on me.
16:30Because do you guys recall this offseason when Jeff Halfley went on the Rich Eisen show and was like, he's going to,
16:36I told him he better be in good shape because he's going to get 45 touches a game.
16:40One game in, he's like, I got to get more touches for the guy.
16:44I know, I know. It's rookie head coaches. I went back, Daniel, because I'm thinking to myself, the efficiency last week for
16:50Devon A-Chan feels very outlier-ish because one of the cases for Devon A-Chan was that he's in a very efficient runner.
16:56Correct. Has been throughout his career. Yep. You go back to even last season, an ecosystem that we all felt better about.
17:02And even early in the year when the Dolphins' season had not been lost, he had a decent number of clunkers.
17:08Week two, he had 10 carries for 30 yards against the Patriots.
17:11Yes, it's fair to wonder whether there's as much upside because this offense, even in a down year last year, might not
17:17be as good as the offense we saw last year.
17:20I'm not ready to a completely abandoned ship here for Devon A-Chan.
17:23I agree with you guys. I am not abandoning ship.
17:26After the first week, though, what allowed us to feel better about him being the elite running back that we saw last
17:32year was when he had those rushing clunkers. The receiving game worked, helped elevate the rest of his value for us.
17:38But five targets is not a bad number. Yeah.
17:40And that's where we seem to disagree. And remember, they had 50 offensive snaps.
17:44His target share in this game was 19%. You know what his target share was last year?
17:49Tell me. 19%. That's pretty good. Yeah. It's the same target share.
17:52Now, again, they have to run more plays. Of course, that's going to be a variable here.
17:56So as long as they're efficient, like somewhat competent, playing, you know, even get us to 60 snaps a game, if he
18:02keeps up a 19% target share and plays 88% of the snaps like he did in week one, the guy is going to be fine.
18:09All right. All right. I want to believe in you guys, and I am trusting it for another week, maybe another two weeks until we see Malik Willis.
18:17You got to give this offense enough time to see what it's going to look like.
18:21So we're not. Sooner enough, we're going to have a three-man board bet.
18:25Not amongst the three of us, but Devon H and Visa via Amarion Hampton, Visa via Christian McCaffrey.
18:30Yeah. We're just going to turn it into one gigantic snake board bet.
18:33Tough situation here going into San Francisco for sure.
18:36After what they just did to the Rams, I mean.
18:38You would like to see some game script work in his favor.
18:42Yes. Could this be a 28-0 game at halftime?
18:44Yeah. Fair enough. Who are you taking to this one?
18:47I am taking it. 49ers. Yep. That's my hot take of the week.
18:51Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners. Go. Producers also deciding maybe to take the 49ers.
18:54All right. You guessed, but you guessed correctly. I did guess correctly on that one.
18:58Commanders and Cowboys coming up next. Cowboys got embarrassed by the Giants in week one looking to rebound here.
19:04We got a number of lineup locks as well.
19:06Dak Prescott, Jaden Daniels, Javante Williams, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Terry McLaurin.
19:09Yep. Love all of that. I don't see any running backs for the Commanders on there.
19:14That makes a lot of sense. Mike? Yeah, they're not on there yet, but we had a lot of running back situations
19:20going into week one that we were kind of very intrigued to see how they would shake out, right?
19:25We talked about Carolina, Jacksonville. We went through them.
19:27But Washington was one of those. And in some cases, we're kind of left like, I'm not really sure.
19:33You know, we didn't get much out of it.
19:35This one, I feel like Ja'Cory Krosky-Merritt-Merritt, up a little bit.
19:38Feel a little bit better about his situation. Ran well.
19:4116 for 63 and a touchdown against a very good Eagles defense.
19:44Had the snap edge. It was fairly even, but he played 33 snaps, 27 for Rashad White.
19:49But they were even in pass routes as well.
19:51And that is the big difference for Ja'Cory Krosky-Meritt.
19:54He ran 14 routes in this game. He only had one target.
19:57But last year, he averaged 6.7 routes a game and less than one target per game.
20:01And as I believe you've pointed out several times, had almost nothing over the final month or two of the season.
20:07Six games, yep. Yeah. So that's a point in the right direction.
20:10There was a lot of chatter about that in the offseason.
20:13They get him more involved in the passing game.
20:16So is he a lineup block? No. Is he a great flex option at this point?
20:20No, probably not. Especially against Dallas. I think their defense wasn't great in the opener against the Giants.
20:25But the run defense, I think, will be better based on the personnel.
20:29But the bottom line is, he's the one that belongs on benches over Rashad White at this point, I would say.
20:34And he's at least flirting with the flex radar.
20:37Okay. I just want to say, we went from, is he a lineup block?
20:41No. Is he a starter this week? No. But he should be on your bench, is where we ended with Ja'Cory Kroski.
20:47He's getting closer to being potentially a solid flex option.
20:49I just don't think we're there yet. The good news is, what I just laid out, that it's headed the right direction.
20:55Yeah. I think this would be an interesting conversation to have with a play caller or somebody that has been influential in designing plays in the past.
21:03As you mentioned how he ran 14 routes to Ja'Cory Kroski, Merritt.
21:06Same numbers for Rashad White. So I wonder if you go back and look at those 14 plays.
21:11Like, how often those were routes where it was like, this is a route that is being run with the idea that
21:17this player could eventually be a target versus this is a route that is being run just to space things out.
21:23And the only way the player actually gets the football is if the quarterback is so far under duress that he just dumps it off.
21:29I had to guess, and I could be wrong, but like most of the plays in which Rashad White was out there
21:35running a route were plays where there was a greater likelihood that Rashad White would actually catch the football versus Ja'Cory Kroski, Merritt is just like, whatever.
21:43You just run right in a half circle direction.
21:45And if Jaden is about to get sacked, he'll throw it your way.
21:49I feel like there should be a difference between like that safety valve route that you're not even really doing anything.
21:55You're just in an actual route where you're part of the read.
21:58Like, hey, you're the second read on this route.
22:00I hear you. And yes, Rashad White leaned certainly towards passing situations.
22:04But the reason for that is that Kroski Merritt had 16 carries.
22:07He had seven. White had seven. I wasn't. I wasn't.
22:10My point is just like, if he's going to be the clearly ball carrier, we'll take three targets a game.
22:15Like, that's plenty. We don't need six. It's better.
22:18With what you think the game script is going to look like in this one, Stefan Diggs, not a lineup block, but a potential flex.
22:24Tell you what, there were some people, some film people that were like, does Stefan Diggs show that he was the best
22:30receiver for the commanders in week one? We'll see.
22:33I mean, you have to throw it toward McLaurin to find out.
22:36I mean, he wasn't really utilized. We'll see. We'll see.
22:39Not a lineup block, but I think a flex consideration.
22:42Just want to throw that out there. I think Diggs is going to like slowly pick up some steam here.
22:47I was not questioning your Bill Kroski Merritt take, by the way, Mike.
22:51I just think it would be an interesting conversation with a play caller.
22:54Who are you taking in this one? Cowboys or commanders?
22:57Didn't you used to call plays? I did. Okay.
22:59In Seattle, right? What? In Seattle. You called plays?
23:02Yes. Am I missing a joke here? He looks like the guy who now is.
23:06Yeah. If I was bald, the Seattle. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:09I'm taking the Cowboys as well. I am also taking the Cowboys in this one.
23:13Dallas Packers. It feels weird that we're unified on this.
23:16Yeah. The Cowboys are 0-1 as well. Yeah. I think the Cowboys are going to.
23:20This is going to be a big game for them.
23:23All right. Let's talk about Colts and Chiefs. A number of lineup blocks in this one, too.
23:27Jonathan Taylor and Ken Walker, two of the best running backs in football.
23:31Both top seven in our rankings. Rashi Rice, wide receiver eight in spite of a disappointing week one against the Denver Broncos.
23:37And Tyler Warren still here at tight end four, even though Mike didn't start him last night.
23:41He's not a lineup block, I guess. When you have Dalton Kincaid, he doesn't have to be.
23:46Who's not on this list that's a question mark for us?
23:49Mike. Yeah. So I want to talk about two receivers.
23:52One, actually, that is on that list in Rashi Rice because I think there's a little bit of panic after we saw in week one.
23:59The case starts with the fact that he wasn't like a rotational player or anything like that.
24:03Nothing changed. 84% of the snaps. So he was a full-time player.
24:07He was out there a lot. Yes, he just had two targets when they finally targeted him the first time in the
24:13game, which it took a while because if you watch that game closely, they snapped the ball and either handed it to
24:19Walker or immediately threw the football to Xavier Worthy or something.
24:22And they were just like, we're not messing around with this.
24:25We're not going downfield. I think they took like one shot to Taequann Thornton at some point, maybe one other.
24:30It was like a mid-range one to Travis Kelsey and he ran really far.
24:34That was the game plan. It was very clear.
24:36But they threw the screen to Bryce. He broke a tackle.
24:39Riley Moss broke that tackle, scored a touchdown. He had one additional target.
24:43And he caught it. So I think it was a schematic thing.
24:46And also, it was a very low-volume game for the Chiefs.
24:49It's not a surprise that they came out, first of all, against Denver, but also in Patrick Mahomes' first game back.
24:55And, you know. Kenneth Walker III's first game there.
24:57People love their new toys. Yes, they do. They have a history of just featuring those guys.
25:02They did it with Rasheed Rice, too, when he got there.
25:05They got to give him the ball 100 times immediately.
25:08Only 27 pass attempts for the Chiefs in this game.
25:10That's the lowest in a Patrick Mahomes start since early in the 2024 season.
25:14It's been a long time since they did not throw that many passes.
25:18I know there was chatter about them being more balanced with Ken Walker there now.
25:22I think that's going to change as the year goes on, as the game scripts are more even, of course.
25:27But Andy Reid has been around a long time, and that guy loves to throw the football.
25:32They have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
25:35So I'm not really worried about Rasheed Rice. I think he will be fine in a larger part of the game plan,
25:41starting this week probably, against the Colts. You caught yourself there because you were like, wait.
25:45Patrick Mahomes is the most accomplished quarterback in the game.
25:48Did you guys watch Josh Allen last night? That's a better, yes, I did.
25:52We're not the right platform to debate who's the best quarterback in the NFL.
25:56Patrick Mahomes, clearly the most accomplished. He belongs in the conversation at the very least for me as well.
26:01Yes, yeah, agreed. By the way, you were saying people love to show off their new toys.
26:05Was that Tuesday? No, it was Wednesday when Mike, after the pod, was like, can you guys come check something out?
26:11Yes, it was Wednesday. Look at how spacious the center console is in my new minivan.
26:15Yes, he was so excited about it, so pumped.
26:18I have to fit four kids in there. It was a lot of juice boxes, you had some Kleenexes.
26:23You have to be careful because you could buy a car with a third row, like an SUV, but then you have this much trunk space.
26:30Yes. I'm aware. An even bigger one. I noticed you took out one of the back seats for the girls in order
26:36to put a little data center in there for your crypto mining.
26:39I mean, I have to put the self-driving on and then I could sit back there and wear my projections.
26:45That checks out. That's dedication of the craft right there.
26:48We did buy a new car this offseason because we had our third child and it is amazing how this car is
26:54the size of a boat and yet we still have no room.
26:57Still don't have enough space. Yeah. Yeah. We had the third row SUV and also a roof rack.
27:02Took it on vacation. We went away just one weekend after the baby was born and we had to put my two toddlers on the roof.
27:09It was bizarre. They probably loved it though. Stop it.
27:12Stop it. That was a great ride. Anything else left for this Chiefs-Colts game?
27:16Alec Pierce? Alec Pierce. Not a lineup lock, but fellas, he might be soon.
27:19He's certainly trending the right direction. Played 58% of the snaps in that opener.
27:23Ran 21 routes. That was eight off the team lead of Josh Downs.
27:27He was clearly limited in this game and yet led the team in targets.
27:31Yeah. In air yards. In receiving yards. He was a productive pass catcher and he was limited in this game.
27:36The big one for me is, and this is what we talked about in the offseason.
27:40This guy has led the NFL in yards per reception.
27:43Average up to target. I believe yards per target as well, or yards per route run each of the last two seasons.
27:498.7 average up to target in this game. That is over half of where he was the last couple of years.
27:55Yep. That's a good sign for me. And what it means is we're going to have fewer explosive plays, but more consistent fantasy output.
28:01More catches. That's huge in a PPR format. That's a good sign.
28:05Some pause for this week. Remember, the Chiefs just allowed 55 yards and 15 targets to Denver's wide receivers.
28:10A good wide receiver room on Monday night. That gives me some pause in starting him here in week two, but going
28:16forward, feeling pretty optimistic about Alec Pierce. Must win for the Colts?
28:19Sure feels like it to me. It feels like it.
28:22I said that like about four 0-1 teams. Yeah.
28:24I mean, that's tough. Going into Kansas City after the way they played, you know, you're just going to have to battle back from 0-2, I think.
28:32Well, we all expected. We all picked the Chiefs.
28:34I was going to say, I think we all took the Chiefs in this one.
28:38Yeah. Vikings and Bears. A lot of lineup locks for the Chicago Bears in this one.
28:43Caleb, oh my gosh. It's literally the entire Bears squad.
28:45Caleb Williams, DeAndre Swift, Luther Burden, Roma Dunze, and Colston Loveland.
28:48If you have a Bear, you should be playing that Bear.
28:51Probably the kicker as well, maybe even. A lineup lock in this one.
28:55And then Justin Jefferson, the only one on the other side.
28:58Field, I think this is your game, but I do want to ask, Mike, with Jordan Mason being placed on IR, did
29:04Aaron Jones move up into projections a decent amount?
29:06Again, it was a close call, but I put him in the lineup lock category.
29:11I feel like if you drafted Aaron Jones in the middle rounds and without Jordan Mason, this is a guy that might
29:17play 80% of the snaps in this game. Much like Jameer Gibbs in Detroit, where they just like, all right, we'll give
29:23Sione Baki a handful of plays here or there.
29:25It's the same kind of thing in Minnesota. Okay.
29:27You have DeMond Claiborne, who I don't even know for sure if he'll be active six-round rookie.
29:32You have DJ Dallas, who they brought in. They like him a lot, but this is a guy that I believe he
29:38hasn't had more than six touches in a game in five seasons.
29:41Like, he's always been a special team or a rotational guy.
29:44So there's limitations. I'll probably utilize him more in passing situations.
29:47Jerome Ford's on the practice squad. Yeah. He's had, you know, he got plenty of running in Cleveland.
29:52So I could see him kind of being the number two runner.
29:56But we'll see how it shakes out. But the bottom line is Aaron Jones, I think, is going to be a featured rusher in this game.
30:03Turn to DJ Dallas for a little in passing situations.
30:05And it's going to be enough volume against the Bears defense.
30:08It also struggled last week where he's going to be a lineup lock.
30:12Can you do me a favor? Can you go on ESPN.com and search DJ Dallas and let me know what you think of his headshot?
30:19I know. It's hilarious. Have you seen him before now or no?
30:22No. I mean, it makes me want to start him in fantasy.
30:25All right. No one. Go do it. It's our secret.
30:28It's just not a way to pull up. You could just go ahead.
30:32Yeah, go ahead. If you're listening, just look at it.
30:34If you're listening, go check out DJ Dallas's headshot.
30:37It's going to make you want to pick him up.
30:40I would not, though. I would not start DJ Dallas in fantasy.
30:43However, Aaron Jones should be locked in. Yes. I think, by the way, one more thing.
30:47Like, he's 31. He's not going to be a feature back like this all year long.
30:52But I think they think probably we could do a month early in the season of Aaron Jones is a clear feature back.
30:58That's my expectation. Let's talk Chicago in this game.
31:00And we'll get to the pass catchers in just a moment.
31:03But I think the biggest story clearly is, can Caleb Williams mash once again?
31:07Yep. We talked about this on Wednesday during the ranking show.
31:10And this is a huge opportunity for Caleb Williams to kind of further cement himself as not just a fantasy starter, but
31:16a fantasy starter independent of who the Bears are playing that week.
31:19They have played the Vikings four times in Caleb's very young career.
31:23Of course, they play twice a year, being in the same division.
31:26During the last three matchups, Caleb has thrown a total of two passing touchdowns on 98 pass attempts.
31:31That's a lot of volume with not much pass game production.
31:34The challenge this week is so decidedly different from the challenge last week for Caleb Williams.
31:38Brian Flores is an absolute maniac. Now, so has Ben Johnson.
31:41It's two maniacs headbutting on Sunday afternoon. There's been plenty of charts that have shown this.
31:46I think I mentioned this on Wednesday. But if a team blitzes 50% of the snaps, it's like an astronomical number.
31:51I believe the commanders had the second highest blitz rate in week one at 50.9%.
31:55Their defensive coordinator, their new defensive coordinator, worked for the Vikings last year.
31:59The Vikings blitzed on 82% of the snaps last week.
32:02It's insane. It is insane. They are forcing you to win before the snap and most likely get the ball out quickly after the snap.
32:09It's like Madden play calling, honestly. Blitzing on 82% of the play calling.
32:12It is complete yellow play calling. So if Caleb does it again against this real legit defense, I think the conversation, I
32:18said this on Wednesday, is that when Caleb is inside the top six or eight for quarterbacks during the week, we're not
32:24having a conversation about it in the same way that we don't talk about Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson.
32:30We just say, hey, here's the quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts is quarterback four, whatever.
32:34You know, so-and-so, Joe Burrows, quarterback five. We just move on, right?
32:37Caleb has a chance with a couple more big games, especially in opportunities like this, to get to that level.
32:42His pass catchers are a different story. Not because these guys aren't very talented.
32:46But there is a world, and we've seen this with other quarterbacks with lots of weapons, where they all have upside.
32:52But it's not a guarantee that all of them will hit in a given week.
32:56As a matter of fact, it's more likely that several of them or multiple of them won't hit.
33:01Caleb was quarterback one last week, and Roma Dunze, Luther Burden, and Colson Loveland, in hindsight, belonged on benches.
33:06So, it's going to take more than just one game of one of those players playing really well for us to feel
33:12like there's the alpha in the Bears' offense. But the most important pass catcher, in my opinion, to get on track is Colson Loveland.
33:19And here's the reason why. I'm not saying for the Bears' success.
33:22I'm saying for fantasy success. Because Luther Burden, Roma Dunze, we were drafting those guys, what, on the high end is wide receiver 21, 22?
33:29Yeah. Right? Like, borderline wide receiver two threes. Because Colson Loveland was being drafted as tight end three.
33:34Yeah. Right? Ahead of Tyler Warren, who was not great himself in week one.
33:38But we need Colson Loveland to be a featured part of the Bears' offense, not just this week, but every week, for
33:44it to pay off relative to investment. So, I've got my eyes glued on number 84 this weekend for the Bears.
33:49Yeah. And to your point, you can be like, yeah, I have a case still.
33:53I have another receiver I could put in for a Dunze for a week.
33:57Or maybe even Luther Burden, same thing. Probably not a tight end.
34:01Unless you picked up Kincaid. Like, you're probably just going to be like, no, I'm starting Loveland again.
34:06Like, I didn't even think twice about it. Like, he's locked in.
34:09So, yeah, you're right. He's the most important one to get going.
34:12But also, very confident. He led them in routes, right?
34:15Last week. Yeah, totally. Yeah, he did. So, I think they'll be okay.
34:18I'm going to play this out for a second.
34:21In the War Room League, which is a 16-team league, I drafted Devon Vele.
34:25Whatever. It must have been around 10 or 12 or something.
34:28And after week one, I was like, dang. I was like, that's a nice pick right there.
34:32I might be able to parlay Devon Vele into something decent around a 16-team league.
34:36Yep. My team has three running backs. The third one is Tajay Spears, so I'm thin.
34:41I went around the league. And literally, everybody's thin because there's 16 teams, right?
34:45And there's like 21 running backs that matter. And not everybody, but several teams have like a decent fourth wide receiver or third wide receiver slash flex.
34:52There's just so many, like if you have a Roma Dunze or a Luther Byrd in the third, the chance that you
34:58also drafted a Devon Vele or name some guy that showed you something in week one that you could justify starting this
35:04week, a Jalen Coker, much higher than I drafted Colston Loveland.
35:07And now I'm debating Colston Loveland versus Hunter Henry in week two.
35:10That doesn't feel good. TJ Hawkinson. Yeah. I'm still going, to be clear, still going Loveland.
35:15And honestly, still starting to Dunze and Burnin for the most part.
35:18I feel like we're not going to get eight catches from Khalif Raymond anymore.
35:22Like, we're done with that. We all agree, though, that Loveland is the one that the opportunity cost was most severe.
35:27Most severe. And I think because it was a legit goose egg from a guy that he wants to get involved, you're
35:33going to see a very heavy investment in Colston Loveland here this week.
35:37Who are we taking in this one, my friends?
35:39Mike, who are you taking? I'm taking Bears at home after that offensive performance.
35:43Give me Chicago. Bears for me as well. I'm taking the Vikings.
35:47All right. Classic trap game. By the way, we didn't mention this, but we're assuming Carson Wentz probably for this week and
35:53then maybe a week, next week for Kyler. It's the perfect trap game.
35:56Are the Bears playing the Lions next week? No, they're not.
35:59This is a trap game. Coming off of a 59-point game in which you didn't even play well, to be honest.
36:05Let me see if the Bears are playing in a week.
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37:03Just saying, all right. We're going to take a couple questions from our mailbag.
37:06But first, our buddy Eric Moody going to be available for everybody on Sunday morning.
37:10Fantasy Focus Sunday kickoff. Presented by Lowe's live on the NFL on ESPN YouTube page starting at 1130 a.m.
37:16Eastern. Head on over to get your lineup questions answered.
37:18One of us will be hanging out with Eric Moody likely during the show as well when we have some time in the break.
37:25Worth noting, by the way, the Bears play Monday night football in week three against Mike's Eagles.
37:30Oh, that's a fun one. That's going to be another tough defense.
37:33So to go from a Brian Flores defense to the Eagles?
37:36It's going to be very fascinating to see what Chicago does against Minnesota because if they light them up, the Eagles are in trouble.
37:42Heckblends wants to know, who do I start at the flex, guys?
37:46Aaron Jones or Steph Diggs? Aaron Jones. I agree.
37:48I'm on Aaron Jones this week. Field? I am on Aaron Jones as well.
37:52I think they run him into the ground this week.
37:55Agreed. I'm with you on that one. Next one.
37:57This one comes from Yami wants to know, if Loveland has another dud, what do we do?
38:02If he's on your team, I would say keep starting him.
38:05If he's on another team, you go try to trade for him.
38:08This is going to be a high-scoring offense. We know that.
38:11Their defense isn't very good. One of the best young tight ends in the NFL.
38:15I hope he has another dud so I can go get him.
38:18So you can go get him from other people.
38:21This feels like an easy move. I mean, the guy, remember how good he was down the stretch.
38:26I'm not over it. I do. I'm not worried about this one.
38:29I am very much with you. I believe that this is, even if he has a dud, you've got to stick with the guy.
38:36Aaron Reynolds, I can't wrap my head around T-law being ranked so low with the likes of Wentz, Love, and Willis when he was quarterback six last week.
38:43Someone please explain. Yeah, they're at Denver. That's why.
38:46Okay. That's it. I know that. You had me at Denver, Mike.
38:49I know they went into. Yeah, exactly. I know that Denver went into Kansas City last week and Mahomes had a fine
38:55game, but I mean, that's a tough situation against an elite defense.
38:58If Mahomes didn't have. You take away Mahomes' rushing touchdown and he has 15 fantasy points.
39:03Yeah, and Lawrence could get a rushing touchdown. By the way, that offense has been electric since midway through last season.
39:08Jacksonville could go in there, win, play well. Lawrence could have a good game.
39:12It's possible, but I'm hedging against that Denver defense this week.
39:15MJ6 wants to know, should I start C-Tate? Carnell Tate.
39:18Marvin Harrison Jr. or Mac Hollins? Guys, it's week two and we're already here.
39:22We're already here. We're already doing this. Carnell Tate.
39:24Carnell Tate's the answer. I know it was ugly.
39:27He is Philly. We'll talk about Marvin in a minute.
39:29It's a tough defense. Yeah. Let's stick with Tate here.
39:32Mac Hollins. Mac Hollins without A.J. Brown is going to find the end zone.
39:36This is like a week 13 question, but here we are in week two already.
39:40I think it's Carnell Tate too, but I'm saying Mac Hollins, watch out.
39:44Like, I know how to do a little bit of everything.
39:47Look, yeah. I don't – I'm not even, like, mad about the question.
39:50Mac Hollins might have a 20% target share in a Drake May offense.
39:54I wanted to – yeah, it's true. Fantasy football is the best.
39:57Virtual hug for you, Daniel. Did you know that after, despite what's happened defensively for the past two nights, past two weeks,
40:03the Lions are not underdogs in a game until they play in 2027?
40:07Every game? Wow. Well, January 3rd, 2027. We have a – it's a team.
40:10Oh. Against the Packers? At Chicago. At Chicago? At the Bears.
40:13Okay. The Lions are favored in every remaining regular season game as of right now.
40:18That may change if that defense doesn't start stopping someone, but at least there's hope, right, at safety.
40:22You know, especially if you get Brian Branch back in a few weeks.
40:26That's right. Kirby Joseph, hopefully, as well. Hutch looked great.
40:29Had a couple of good – He's amazing. He's so good.
40:32I mean, they have some good players there. It's just they need to figure it out because it's been pretty gross so far.
40:38No one cares about my Lions. Yeah, let's talk Saints and Ravens.
40:41Speaking of, a team that just lit up the Lions.
40:44Saints looked fantastic last week. Lineup blocks in this one.
40:47Mostly Ravens. Lamar Jackson, obviously. Derrick Henry, obviously. Zay Flowers, if he plays.
40:50I am thinking no. And by the way, we did agree on text yesterday that if Zay Flowers is out, I can
40:56obviously amend my start of the week. Correct. You can have Elijah Sarad.
41:00Yes. You can pick someone else from the team.
41:02Yeah. From the Ravens team. Or Jacoby Lane's out.
41:05Rashad Bateman. We'll give you him. Yes. You can have Rashad Bateman if you want.
41:09Yeah. Well, I'll even give you Bryce Lance on the other side of this.
41:13Watch out. On the other side. I haven't revealed those yet.
41:16My bad. Travis Achan? Not a lineup block, Mike.
41:18He's not because, first of all, they're going into Baltimore.
41:21Tough situation. And the distribution of... Did someone want to talk about this?
41:24Am I stealing a spotlight? No, thank you. It's me and you.
41:28Oh, it's me and you. Yeah. I have Tyler Shuck.
41:30That's why I was... I just want to make sure I wasn't taking someone's spotlight on this topic.
41:35But three-man rotation last week. Running back CJ Donaldson was up off the practice squad and took a chunk of what I assume will be Alvin Kamara's role.
41:43Kendra Miller, they kept involved as a ball carrier.
41:45And Achan didn't do a lot in the first half of that game.
41:49Now, Alvin Kamara is going to play in this game.
41:52So, it's yet to be seen how they're going to distribute.
41:55What happens if they still want to get Kendra Miller's six-day carries?
41:58And Alvin Kamara's out there in passing situations. Achan really benefited.
42:01He had, what, nine targets in this game? Yeah.
42:03A lot of that was in that comeback mode in the second half.
42:07In overtime, they ran a ton of snaps in this game.
42:10It inflated his numbers. But the playing time in the first half was worrisome for him.
42:14So, I'm a little nervous about it. And it's not enough where I'm like auto-bench, but it's enough where I'm like, all right, he's a flex.
42:22He's not a lineup locker. I think that's a fair assessment.
42:25Going into Baltimore. Agreed. And we mentioned Devon Vele obviously doesn't make this list.
42:28But a name, I think, to keep in mind still, if he does something here in week two, we should talk about him potentially a little bit more.
42:36He's kind of the Jalen Coker of Saints. Yep.
42:38Agreed. Finished strong last year. Came out of the gates hot.
42:41It'll be so interesting, and this is perhaps self-serving to say this because I do have Achan in a couple of notable
42:47leagues, but it'll be like, it'll be an odd admission of money poorly spent if the Saints really don't lean into him
42:53after giving him a $52 million bag this off.
42:56Tell me about it. I hope it was just like, you know what?
42:59It's week one. Let's just take it easy. Be smart.
43:02For a while. Don't have Kamara. Let's be smart.
43:05You know. Some people do that. I mean, you never know how coaches are going to do it.
43:10In fact, going into the game last night, I think Al Michael said that, you know, it's a short week.
43:15They just played week one a few days ago.
43:18Jameer Gibbs probably will be rolled back a little bit, and it was the opposite.
43:22He played like 80% of the snaps, but it could be the opposite.
43:25They could be thinking, all right, we'll just use him a ton this week, and then he's off 10 days.
43:31So that's what happened there. You don't really know, but hopefully that was the case with Achan because we were like, CJ Donaldson.
43:37That's a name no one knows out of nowhere that's getting reps and scoring fantasy points.
43:41We're like, who is this guy? Tyler Shuck threw for over 400 passing yards and had three touchdowns.
43:46Mike, you were projecting something similar again this week?
43:49Yeah, just remember, his number is very inflated by volume.
43:51He had 56 pass attempts in the comeback and overtime.
43:54410 yards, three touchdowns, had two interceptions in this game.
43:57And a fumble. And just, and a fumble. But if you look at, there's two things that stand out here.
44:02His efficiency, 7.3 yards per attempt. That's a hair over league average.
44:06And also his exact YPA from last season. And his rushing, he had four carries for eight yards.
44:11And he did run a little bit more last year, but that's a little concerning.
44:15And also, we said it was a good matchup.
44:17We moved him up our ranks for that matchup against a Lions defense we thought would struggle.
44:22A little different this week. You're going in Baltimore, which is tough in its own right.
44:26But also, the Ravens allowed the fourth fewest fantasy points in week one to the opposing quarterback.
44:31So, we expect that to be a very good defense.
44:33Tough spot here for Tyler Shuck. So, he is not a starter for me.
44:37He belongs on benches for the time being. All right.
44:40I'm with you on that one, unfortunately. Even though I loved him in week one here against Baltimore.
44:45He'll have his spots where he'll be. You know what he feels like?
44:48He's like streaming the matchups, right? Yeah. All season sort of guy.
44:52Especially if we see this team keep growing as a, you know, we're excited to see what the offense looks like.
44:57Who are you taking in this one? Ravens or Saints?
45:00Ravens. Yeah, Ravens. Yeah, me too, Ravens. Sorry to our producer Addison, who's a big-time Saints fan.
45:05Can't do that there. Seahawks and Cardinals, my friends.
45:07Here we go. You get the two rookie running backs facing off against each other.
45:11And surprise, neither one of them are lineup blocks.
45:14Jackson Smith and Chigba and Trey McBride, two of the best players in fantasy football.
45:18Conversation here, though, guys, is the both of the rookie running backs, Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price.
45:23I think this might be a mic topic. Yeah, it is.
45:26You know, in the offseason, it was like the cool thing to say was like, I think the cool ball take was,
45:32well, no, just like, I think Jadarian Price is going to outscore Jeremiah Love this season.
45:36That was a very popular take. So here we go.
45:39We get to see him head-to-head. We'll see which way it goes.
45:42I'm leaning towards Jeremiah Love. But guys, at least for this week, I have them back-to-back.
45:46I love a 21. Price at 22 in my rankings.
45:49This was before we pulled the guys out for Thursday night football.
45:52Love, again, he is going to be limited a little bit.
45:55This is exactly what I thought was going to happen the first month of the season.
46:00So this is not a surprise at all. He was out-snapped by nine by Tyler Algier in week one.
46:05Algier had the edge in carry, 17 to 11.
46:07Love had the edge in passing situations. He had four targets in that game as well, in addition to the 11 carries, and, of course, scored the touchdown.
46:15And passed the eye test. I mean, I don't know if you saw the film of him running, but, oh, my goodness.
46:21He looks like a future, you know. Well, you don't have to.
46:24You don't have to. Bucks, look at the Bucks.
46:27You have fantasy point totals. That's all I look at.
46:30Lucky guy. Yeah, so, look, tough situation going into.
46:32They're at home, but they're playing Seattle. Obviously, a very tough matchup here.
46:36I expect limited volume, but probably in the range of a little more than last week, maybe 15 touches.
46:41So it's enough for me to make him a borderline RB2.
46:44And the other side's your guy, Janarian Price. Price, obviously, split the backfield with George Helani last week.
46:49We'll see if his role expands. He was their lead ball carry, ran the ball well, but there wasn't a lot of volume for them in that game.
46:56So same thing. I think they're both borderline RB2s for this week.
47:00The only reason why it hurts my heart is because Janarian Price has a nice matchup against the Cardinals, and he's running back 22.
47:06And the only reason why Jeremiah Love is at 21 is because he's taking on Seattle.
47:11And there's a potential timeshare there. But excited to see what both of those guys look like there.
47:15Field, what are you watching in this game? Role evolution for Janarian Price is huge.
47:20I think I'm going to have to keep asking this question every time this name comes up.
47:24Okay. Is it over for Marvin Harrison Jr.? Field's...
47:27I'm not there yet. I just, I can't get past the fact that, yes, we had a bad week one.
47:32But those four games last year, I can't get out of my head yet.
47:36I'm not there yet. I want to see if it's another game where it's terrible and he's not targeted, then maybe.
47:42But again, he outscored Wilson in all four of those games last year in this circumstance.
47:46I can quit him. You're good? I can quit.
47:48You're done. Marvin Harrison Jr. Might be over. Yeah.
47:51Do we have to do like... I'm okay benching this week.
47:54Breakup ceremony at some point on the show? Oh.
47:56He's wide receiver 47. Yeah, when you say that, do you mean like we're cutting him loose or he's a bust in the NFL or we're not starting?
48:04I'll tell you what. I'm not sure what I mean, Mike.
48:07These are the wide receivers I would consider starting over Marvin Harrison.
48:10There's 35 of them, roughly. 30 game sample size now for Marvin Harrison Jr.
48:14in his NFL career. Not huge, but also not nothing.
48:17That's not nothing. He has over 20 fantasy points in three of them.
48:20That's 10% of his games. Not good. That's like 20 plus is what you're looking for when a guy was the fourth overall pick in the draft.
48:28In more than double that number of games in his career, he has under five PPR points.
48:32He has seven games with five or fewer fantasy points in his career.
48:36And if you want to say, all right, well, can I get to like average in those other games?
48:41Not so fast, my friends. In 16 of his 30 games, he has under 10 PPR points.
48:46He's a better bet for his career so far to be under 10 than over 10.
48:50And he's a much better bet to be under five than over 20.
48:54It's an incredibly difficult matchup. He had 4.3 points last week.
48:57Just feels like, for whatever reason, this just feels like it's going down the Kyle Pitts path.
49:01That's where I keep landing on. Oh, Kyle Pitts actually had a good rookie.
49:05I mean, I guess they had similar rookies. Marvin's fine.
49:08Yeah, but there was a limitation for Kyle Pitts, which is he didn't score touchdowns in America as a rookie.
49:13Yeah, I hear you. Literally. The one thing I will say, though, is most of what you just laid out was with
49:19Kyler Murray, and it was obviously not going well between those two.
49:23Because, again, his production did pick up in his four games with Jacoby Brissett.
49:27The eye test is not great. That's what has me nervous as well.
49:30Is that like the eye test isn't great. The efficiency isn't great.
49:33The volume isn't great. The production isn't great. The box score stinks.
49:37So I hope that it's not over yet. I had a buddy ask me this morning.
49:41He's like, can I salvage things with Marvin Harrison Jr.?
49:44And I was like, you can, but I don't think it's happening this week.
49:48So we are all fading. I agree, benched this week, but holding tight for now.
49:52We are waiting for the post-hype sleeper. Yeah, I don't think anyone's going to trade for him either.
49:57So I don't think that you're not dropping him.
49:59You're not starting him. He's just a prototypical. You draft him and bench him for this week, and we'll see.
50:04Yep. Until further notice. I am taking the Seahawks in this game.
50:08Seahawks. Yeah, same. Taking the Seahawks here. Although, hey, like, go Cardinals.
50:11That'd be a cool story. If they pull this off, that'd be awesome.
50:15Beat the Chargers. Oh, that'd be sick. First two weeks of the season.
50:18All right, Bengals and Texans, my friend. Lineup blocks in this one.
50:21Chase Brown, David Montgomery, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Nico Collins.
50:24Yeah, we're keeping an eye on that one. He belongs in line of blocks because if he plays, you're starting him, but we're watching that hamstring.
50:31He's obviously very questionable for this game. Him and Rad McGronke are two of the biggest wide receiver injuries that we are monitoring.
50:38Both very dicey. Both very dicey. We'll update the rankings by Friday afternoon if they are declared out.
50:42I think you asked this question yesterday, but just because not everyone listens to every show, I want to ask it one more time.
50:49Do either of you, if Nico Collins doesn't roll, do either of you have a Texan that you would throw in at
50:55the flex, at the wide receiver spot? I don't think I would go that far.
50:59Kayshawn Booty's generating some hype. They want to get him more involved in his second game at the team.
51:04So if I had to pick one, I'm going with him over Xavier Hutchinson or Jalen Knoll.
51:09It's where I land as well, but I wouldn't feel great about it given he's been there for a month.
51:14The big question in this game, though, to me, separate from Nico Collins, of guys that we either normally would start when
51:20healthy or when somebody else is not healthy, they would step into a role.
51:24Joe Burrow is the question mark for me. Joe was fine, not great, but fine in week one for fantasy purposes.
51:30I know week one doesn't suggest this, but he does face off against the most difficult matchup I believe he'll see all season, which is the Houston Texans.
51:38So what I did was I grabbed some low-hanging fruit, and I ignored last week, and I looked at the stats just involving last year for the Texans.
51:45Okay. Last year, the Texans ranked first in yards allowed per game, second in points per game, second in pressure rate, third
51:51in the total red zone drives allowed, fifth in yards per play, sixth in third down conversion percentage.
51:56No quarterback had even 21 fantasy points against the Texans in 2025.
51:59These quarterbacks had under 10 fantasy points. Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, all those guys, really good.
52:04Joe Burrow's also hurt right now. Joe Burrow is dealing with back soreness.
52:08I know that Josh Allen went nuts last week.
52:10I told you I'm ignoring that one by design.
52:13Can I just give one stat? Go for it, yeah.
52:16Houston Texans are allowing over 35 fantasy points to every quarterback they face in 2022.
52:20You, Raph. I have a stat too. What is it?
52:22I should have teed this up as a check this ad.
52:25I completely missed the boat. I don't think we're ready for it, but I have a good one for you.
52:31So I'll just make it a trivia question for you guys.
52:34Uh-oh. Let's see how close you get. Over his last seven games during weeks one and two, so we're counting last week and then the prior three seasons.
52:42Okay. How many fantasy points per game is Joe Burrow averaging in weeks one and two?
52:46Slow start, Joe. 15.4. That's, I was going to say 14 and a half, so that's close.
52:5110.6. Wow. 10.6. Guys, he hasn't scored 19 fantasy points in a week one or two since his rookie season in 2020.
52:57No way. 14.2 per game in his career in weeks one or two.
53:00It's real. Like, his slow starts are a real thing.
53:03And he wasn't that, I mean, last week even.
53:05He had 20 rushing yards. He had one touchdown, one pick 254 yards.
53:09That wasn't a good fantasy game either. So Mike and I are team fade Burrow here.
53:13We're at 16 and 17. You're at quarterback 12, so you're closer to being on the edge about starting Joe Burrow?
53:19I think for me it's still that while it's Joe Burrow, no, I don't want to start him this week.
53:24But I still believe that with Joe Burrow having the talent around him that he does, even though he doesn't have the
53:30legs, he has the people, Chase Brown, Tee Higgins, Jamar Chase, that he's just got more weapons at his disposal to give me a little bit more lift.
53:38But no, I don't want to start Joe Burrow.
53:41I don't want to start any quarterback against the Texans.
53:43Every quarterback that I have, because he was quarterback 13 before last night, and then I pulled out Josh Allen.
53:49I will not have a quarterback probably against the Texans that will be a top 12 quarterback the rest of the season.
53:55Josh Allen was the only guy. He is such an alien.
53:58We mentioned Jared Goff. It's like, hey, if I had Jared Goff vis-a-vis Joe Burrow, we said in the show yesterday, like, I'm turning Jared Goff.
54:05Jared Goff? Yeah, no doubt. By the way, I think he gets off to a slow start because weeks one or two,
54:11there's still like a lot of media stuff, and he's like practicing his autograph or something, like this guy is right here.
54:17Sometimes when I get bored, I just doodle. I wasn't going to bring it up.
54:21I was drawing tic-tac-toe boards earlier, and then I was practicing my sister.
54:25I was actually joking. I didn't realize that's actually what you were doing.
54:28That's what he was doing. Tic-tac-toe over here. I played a game against myself, and then I was- That's how Little East Paint mentioned us.
54:35I did, yeah. You did. Way to go. I smoked metaphorical Mike.
54:38Oh, man. So I can make 10 funny jokes, and Mike has no reaction.
54:42I know. So sit here and doodle for- God forbid a guy tries to practice his signature.
54:47I know. Guy's over here writing checks to pay for his groceries every once in a while.
54:51I was going to make a gigantic donation with all my fantasy women.
54:55That's it. To Mike's Boat Fund. A big check.
54:57Not going to happen. Yeah, Field made a joke in the group chat today with everyone, and it was just- Oh, it was great.
55:04It was fantastic. It was a fantastic joke. It was really funny.
55:07You know what? You didn't say anything. No one said anything.
55:10I missed it. Who are you guys taking in this one?
55:13The Houston Texans or the Cincinnati Bengals? Bengals. I'm taking the Texans, too.
55:17You're taking the Bengals. I love it. Love being on an island.
55:20Field on an island. I guess you're expecting a low-scoring affair, then, if you're not- I didn't hear what you said.
55:26I'm too busy working on my signature. So let's do our starts of the week, my friend.
55:30Week two starts of the week. As a reminder, unfortunately, Field lost week one, mostly because of Colston Loveland.
55:36Unfortunately, we all lost. Yeah, actually, we did all lose.
55:38Thanks for that. We all lost like three times.
55:41You're a terrible wheel spinner, Field. I don't want to hear about it.
55:44Neck tattoos for all of us next week. Why don't we start with you because you lost, so we'll give you first
55:50pick, and we will allow you to show your lineup first.
55:53All right, here we go. Also, neck tattoos coming next week.
55:56Neck tattoos coming next week. We have agreed. We agreed offline that Mike's going to be permanent.
56:01Yes. Sure. Permanent tattoo. Is it Field's autograph? Right here on that one.
56:04Oh, my gosh. Mike's significant other. Oh, that's a good idea, actually.
56:08That is a good one. With Sharpie. Mike's significant other indicated to us that she thinks a henna tattoo would be reasonable.
56:14Yes. Okay. And Mike could pull it off. I think so, too.
56:17I think so, too. Have you ever had a henna tattoo?
56:20I have not. Oh, Michael. That's what it is.
56:23You ever been to a Ren Faire? Are we doing all of our significant others?
56:27Is that what we're putting on? Is that our tattoo?
56:29How many significant others do you have? No, no.
56:32I'm saying each of us. Each of our significant others.
56:35Oh, oh, oh. I was like, I'm only allowed to have one.
56:38Do you have? Okay. Anyways, let's do our starts of the week.
56:41Before this gets any further off the rails. Yeah, we're all in trouble now.
56:45All righty. I had first picked this week, and I went with...
56:48Don't listen to the show. It's okay. Yours might.
56:51Brock Purdy is my quarterback this week. Quarterback three in our consensus.
56:54My guy. I'm stolen from my click. I'm mad about this.
56:57DeAndre Swift is my running back. He had a monster week last week.
57:00Zay Flowers, penciled in as my wide receiver. Okay.
57:03If he's out, and I guess I sort of spoiled this earlier on in the show, I will be pivoting.
57:08Mike and Daniel have agreed to allow me to put Amon Ross St.
57:12Brown in there. That's weird. I don't remember that text.
57:15No, I did not. It'll be somebody else who hasn't yet played, and Isaiah likely is my tight end.
57:20This is one of the benefits of being able to have the very first pick because Brock Purdy against Miami felt like this is the best matchup.
57:27This is the right week for Brock Purdy. This is the strategy involved with the first of the week.
57:32Yeah, exactly. All right. For me, I'm going to go at quarterback spot.
57:36I'm buying into week two, my friends. Hey-oh. Justin Herbert.
57:39If it doesn't happen here, I'm not going to use him any of the rest of the weeks this season.
57:44So I thought, why not use him here against the Raiders?
57:47Felt like the right week at the running back spot.
57:50Going with Javante Williams, hoping that he gets a little bit of run here.
57:54And then Mike Evans. Hey, if Brock Purdy does some things, hopefully he's thrown to my old man, Mike Evans, out there in Miami.
58:00I tried to get the Niner stack going. I believe it.
58:03I knew you were going to go that route.
58:06I could already tell. And then there's no way that Colston Loveland does it again.
58:10Mike already promised me if he goose eggs again, we're going to pull him from the ESPN game completely.
58:15Yeah, we can do that. We're going to create a new player called Daniel Dup.
58:19We can add him instead and get a zero either way.
58:22How dare you? How dare you? But Colston Loveland is my tight end.
58:26All right, Mike, who are you going with? All right, I'm going with Dak Prescott at home against the Washington Commanders.
58:31I feel pretty good about that situation. David Montgomery is my running back.
58:35I wasn't sure about this one coming off the three-touchdown game.
58:38A lot of Monty talk this week. Yeah, there is.
58:41I was so mad that you guys talked down about Monty, and then you drafted him before I could.
58:46I did. That was a tough call, but I went with him.
58:49Cincinnati, I think there will be plenty involved in this one.
58:52Garrett Wilson is my guy. Surprise. Good opportunity to utilize him against the Packers.
58:56And going with some guy named Travis Kelsey. Have you, anyone heard of him?
59:00I've heard of him. Mason's kid brother. For how much, like, how little we've talked about him all offseason, it's like he's
59:06by far the biggest name and well-known name around the world, I guess, in the NFL.
59:10So, kind of wild. But, yeah, just that, you know, underrated, just chipping away old guy, Travis Kelsey at tight end.
59:16Why is he so well-known? I don't know. Didn't he marry someone?
59:19How about Jake Bobo? Bobo was the most famous player in the NFL.
59:23That's who you show some respect. Who did Travis Kelsey marry to?
59:26That's right. Why a missing zone? Taylor Swift. Breaking news.
59:29Wow. You guys didn't know that, didn't you? No, didn't know that.
59:32First I've heard of it. Sometimes I know some.
59:35Wow. All right. Let's take a few questions from our chat before we get out of here.
59:39Matty Randams wants to know, all you guys are in the doghouse when you get home.
59:44Mostly it's Mike. Mike got us there for what it's worth.
59:47No, I said one thing. You misinterpreted it in a weird way because that's where your mind went.
59:51You're the problem here. Okay. I'm the problem. Yeah.
59:54Yammy Raw wants to know, is Bateman a top 12 wide receiver?
59:57If Zay doesn't play, would Rashad Bateman even? Look, Jason Bateman, yes.
60:00Rashad Bateman, no. Wow. Jason Bateman rules. Jason Bateman, but not Rashad.
60:04Absolutely not. Field, help me out with this one.
60:06Cole Cleghorn. Bam. Nailed it. Nice. Guys, should I start Parker Washington, Jeremiah Love, or Isaiah Likely in my two flex spots?
60:12First two. Full PPR. Parker Washington, Jeremiah Love, or Isaiah Likely?
60:15I'm thinking this, yes, I agree on that. I think so as well.
60:19I love Isaiah Likely, but I think I would roll with both the wide receiver and the running back just having a little bit more upside.
60:26There as well. Justin Stoddard at tight end. We go on Fannin or Sadiq?
60:30Terrell Fannin. Yeah, we're not there yet on Sadiq.
60:32He had the cool touchdown last week, but the Jets are legitimately playing five tight ends right now.
60:37Yeah, they need to up his playing time, and that'll happen at some point, but it's Fannin for now.
60:42Next one, Wild Bill Reviews wants to know. Wild Bill Hickok.
60:45Oh, that's right. We never did. Josh Downs or Jordan Addison, guys?
60:49Going Josh Downs here. I think so. Yeah, Downs, yeah.
60:51Me too. Addison had a bagel last week. That won't happen, obviously.
60:55By the way, we'd like to take this moment.
60:57We're going to do one more question before we do that, though.
61:00Mike would like to take this moment to apologize to one of our listeners for something he said yesterday on the show.
61:06Oh. No, I'm not. Realtor Andrick. Yeah, he followed me on Instagram.
61:10Yes. For real? Yeah. Nice. Big time. You found out it wasn't.
61:13I have my commentary. I don't know for sure what his name is.
61:16There's no way to know. Realtor underscore Andrick. But maybe it's still Andrick.
61:20It could be. There's no way to know. He didn't tell me.
61:23There's no way to know. There's no way to know.
61:26I stand by it. Realtor Andrick, I apologize about this.
61:29It'd be hilarious if his name was actually, like, Andrick.
61:31That would be so funny. Yeah, that would be good.
61:34Until I hear otherwise. One last question, my friends.
61:37One last question from our chat. Or that was the last question.
61:40That was the last question. Never mind. That was a joke.
61:43The last question is, what do you guys have planned for the weekend?
61:46Yeah. Say that again? What do you have planned for the weekend?
61:50Football. Nice. Same. Yeah. See you all then. To be honest, my wife, Rosie, turns 40 on Monday.
61:55So I am going to be gone. She's got a whole girls weekend planned.
61:58I'm not going to be here on Monday. Yes.
62:01Liz Loza is going to take over for me.
62:03So I'm going to go celebrate her 40th birthday.
62:06Oh. Everyone's taking shows off. Sure. Yeah. You know, you haven't done enough shows off yet, Mike.
62:10I know I will. All right. That's going to do it for us, guys.
62:14We love you so much. Thank you for hanging out with us.
62:18Come hang out with us on Fantasy Focus Countdown, Sunday morning, 10 a.m.
62:21Eastern on ESPN2. For Field and Mike, my name is Daniel.
62:24Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself.
62:27You deserve it. We love you guys. We'll see you on Sunday.
62:30This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast.
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