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0:38What's up, friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football alongside Field Yates and Mike Clay.
0:42My name is Daniel Dopp. Got some new merch?
0:44That seems like it, Michael. I'm here. I got this nice sweatshirt.
0:48You know, I had to fit in. I had to go shopping, get some Cape Cod merch.
0:52I got my daughter's hat and she wanted me to bring her toy lobster.
0:56She brought my sunglasses just in case. One of those guys.
0:59I'm one of those guys now. You know what?
1:01I did, you know, we did take a boat into the city, into Boston, the first night before we went to Cape
1:07Cod, and I gotta tell you, a lot of people looked like Field.
1:11You know, a lot of people dressed like Field.
1:13I thought you were kind of dressed in original, but a lot of Fields on that boat.
1:18Nope, man. You know what, Mike? Nothing if not unoriginal.
1:21They were like all in finance? Yeah, that's how it works.
1:24That's how it works. Finance, bro. I was talking about fantasy football on this night.
1:28I'm glad you got your vacation in because you're about to work for 18 straight weeks in a row, Michael.
1:33It's about to be busy time. Less vacation, more kids trip that was.
1:37We had a nice time, but yeah, I don't vacation now until, I don't know, what, we go to the Super Bowl in February?
1:43Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, you get a little break. I want to add on to something you said, and then we're doing football in two seconds.
1:50As a parent, especially when your kids are like under the age of 15, you don't take vacations, you take trips.
1:56Oh, yeah. It's different. There's nothing vacation about it.
1:58Like, we have come home from vacations, air quotes, and the first thing my wife and I want to do is get
2:04into bed for like three straight days. And catch up on sleep that you don't get.
2:08Family trips, vacations. They're different. Vacations. That's fair. All right, on today's show, we got the biggest lineup decisions for week one.
2:14We're going to make them. It's week one. It's here.
2:17We're here. Last minute draft advice as well. By the way, football starts on Wednesday.
2:21Yeah, tomorrow. And then there's also football on Thursday still.
2:24What a weird, it's such a weird year in so many ways.
2:27It's the latest because the NFL will always start its season.
2:30Yep. The week of Labor Day. So Monday, of course, is Labor Day.
2:34The week of. In Australia, they're moving the kickoff game up to Wednesday night.
2:38So the Patriots and Seahawks will play and then basically go on a mini buy.
2:42Yep. And then on Thursday, the Rams and the Niners will play.
2:45But it will be Friday in Australia. Also going to be a great game.
2:49It's going to be quirky. And the Rams, by the way, play.
2:52They haven't even left for Australia, which is wild.
2:54The Rams haven't? They haven't left. No. Wow. They leave, I think, tonight because they're going to arrive at.
3:00So the game is being played, I believe, at 11 o'clock local on Friday morning.
3:04Okay. Or 10.30 because the game kicks off here at 8.30.
3:07The Rams are going to arrive at 10.30 on Thursday morning in Australia.
3:10So from the time they touch down until kickoff, they will have been in Australia for 24 hours.
3:15Wow. Niners got there last week. Yeah. George Kittle's been there partying for a month.
3:19Yeah. They're all settled. Kittle has adopted four kangaroos since they arrived.
3:22Probably. All right. So we've got a lot of stuff.
3:25Also in today's show, we're going to do at the very end, we're going to reveal our punishments for starts of the week.
3:31We've got the wheel all figured out. Shout out to our buddy Eric Moody who was always holding down chat for us.
3:37But first and foremost, let's dive into our biggest lineup decisions for week one, my friends.
3:42A lot of football to talk about here. We decided why not start at the top?
3:46The number one quarterback in the game. Potentially going up against the number one defense also in the game.
3:51What do you do if you draft a Josh Allen and he plays the Houston Texans week one?
3:56I think it's probably important for us to note that on these critical week one lineup decisions, the answer might be in almost every case.
4:03I spent a really high draft on this player.
4:05I'm probably just going to play him. But man, do they make you a little bit nervous?
4:10Yes. And I think that Josh Allen's the poster child for that dynamic, right?
4:14Josh Allen who... Okay, I thought you were going to reveal like a Josh Allen tattoo as you were taking your sweatshirt off there.
4:20I didn't realize that my strings were uneven and it's one of those...
4:24That's unacceptable. And faux pas. So Josh Allen, consensus QB1, number one quarterback for the last six seasons, two in the two
4:30seasons he wasn't quarterback one, goes up against the team.
4:33It's probably the closest thing to a Josh Allen kryptonite.
4:35Yes. Josh Allen last year took eight sacks when facing the Houston Texans.
4:39He's one in four all time against the Texans.
4:41As you see right now, I know that quarterback win-loss is not necessarily a fantasy stat, but generally if Josh Allen plays
4:47well, his team is going to win more. Josh Allen's a one and a half point underdog.
4:52Last season, they were an underdog five times. Josh Allen scored 17.1 fantasy points per game.
4:56So when they played good competition, he wasn't as dominant.
4:59He was 25... He was at 25.4 fantasy points per game in games in which the Buffalo Bills won last year.
5:05As we know, no quarterback hit even 21 points against Houston in 2025.
5:08It's an elite defense. So how confident are you starting Josh Allen in week one, Mike?
5:13Yeah, I'm not super confident, but like you said, he was the first quarterback picked.
5:17You probably spent a third, maybe in a more competitive draft, a fourth round pick on him.
5:21So it'd be really hard to bench him. However, if you're still drafting in knockout tonight, maybe you avoid him because you
5:27don't want to go out in the first round.
5:30And if you're playing DFS, maybe you don't utilize him this week unless it's a tournament.
5:34But you said he's one and four against them, and that's not a fantasy stat.
5:38But you know what? It is a fantasy stat.
5:41Those numbers that fill the box score. And if you look at his last two games, they've played twice over the last two seasons.
5:47Two years ago, he was nine of 30 passing against them for 131 yards.
5:51Had one touchdown. Kind of bailed you out with 54 rushing yards in that game, but still only at 14.6 points.
5:57Last year, 253 passing yards, but had no touchdowns in the game.
6:00How many games does Josh Allen not score a single touchdown?
6:03Had two picks. You mentioned the eight sacks. He only had 20 rushing yards in that game.
6:08He had eight fantasy points. And again, you mentioned how good the Texans' defense is, and I know that's last year.
6:13Yeah, no quarterback reached 21 points against them last year.
6:16But the defense is arguably better this year? Yes.
6:18I mean, this is an elite defense. It's a tough matchup.
6:21This is very likely or there's a really good chance this will be his worst game of the season.
6:27I think so, too. In week one. But it is going to be hard to bench him.
6:31Okay, so I want to hear why Daniel has a miss quarterback one.
6:35Like, I don't understand. So I have a quarterback six.
6:37Yeah. Mike has a miss quarterback four. You have a miss quarterback one.
6:41Full confidence here in Josh Allen? No, this is because I drafted him to be my number one quarterback.
6:46And to me, this question is the same for all of us.
6:49Are you starting Josh Allen or are you benching Josh Allen?
6:52It would take really unique circumstances. I'm trying to think of the circumstances.
6:56Only in a knockout league. Would I bench Josh Allen?
6:59So as long as I have him ranked inside the top 10, to me, I think the ranking is kind of whatever.
7:05So like this is a locker room vibes ranking field.
7:07Okay. Locker room vibes. What about in my four-team league though?
7:10In your four-team league. Am I benching him? Can you just win that league?
7:14According to your rankings, I'm starting. You might. Can you win it once?
7:18I will say this. Josh Allen. I pulled up his game log.
7:21Josh Allen in four regular season games against the Texans has three total touchdowns.
7:25Yeah. They have been his kryptonite. You're making our point.
7:27They're awesome. No, you're right. But there's still no way after I drafted Josh Allen, where I drafted Josh Allen, I'm just, I can't bench him.
7:35Yeah. We're all ranking him as a starter. That's it.
7:37But, but would you ever consider sliding him down?
7:40Like I moved him to quarterback six. You could make the argument to have him 10 and lower is defined as a starter.
7:46So 10 to one would be a starting quarterback.
7:48You could make the case that the answer should be eight, nine or 10.
7:52Yeah. I mean, quarterback one this week to me, I think I have Lamar Jackson ranked as my number one QB this week.
7:58I've Hurts won, but Lamar's in a great matchup.
8:01Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels amongst the trendiest quarterback one picks for this week.
8:04Jackson Dart as well would be an interesting name as quarterback one.
8:08We're all agreeing that we're playing Josh Allen. You just have more faith in the vibes of Josh.
8:13And DJ Moore. Would you move him at all between now and Sunday?
8:16Yeah. Potentially. I have one for you. Okay. Like hypothetically, like let's say you took Josh Allen.
8:21You're probably not taking Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts, but you might take Justin Herbert.
8:25Yes. Where he's going. Yes. So you go Justin Herbert against the Cardinals or Josh Allen.
8:29Justin Herbert against the Texans. I would go Herbert.
8:32I would start Herbert. Here's what I would say is like, what's the worst case scenario for Justin Herbert in that game?
8:38That they are blowing them out and he doesn't have to throw.
8:41But even then he's probably, probably threw two or three touchdowns.
8:44It's like, don't you think his floor is like, I think the floor for Justin Herbert this week is like 14 points.
8:50Yeah. Right. The floor. Don't you feel like the floor for Josh Allen is more like nine points?
8:555.4. 8.1 last year. 14.6. Yeah. Yeah. So it feels like the floor for Herbert is higher and I think you can
9:01make the case that the ceiling is higher as well.
9:04So that's an interesting one right there. You know, I love myself some Justin Herbert.
9:08Part of the reason why this one's a little bit harder for me to like put into action is I'm underexposed to Josh Allen.
9:14I think we probably all are because we're patient quarterback drafters.
9:17Yeah. But if you are an aggressive quarterback drafter and you pair Josh Allen with a Justin Herbert, maybe a Jackson Dart,
9:23whoever your second quarterback is, at least consult the rankings.
9:26He's quarterback six for me, four for Mike, one, but potentially adjusted for Daniel.
9:30Generally, we lean towards playing Josh Allen, but remember it's like the season full of emotions, but it's a weekly game.
9:35So do not be discouraged if Josh face plants in week one and feel like you totally messed up by using pick 23 overall.
9:42Although next week, send trade offers. Go get him.
9:44Yeah. Like, yeah, he's cooked. I mean, look, he's just not ready this year.
9:48You know, it's over. It's an emotional thing too for me, because let's say that you do decide you want to play
9:54Justin Herbert and Justin and Josh Allen goes off and scores 28 points against the Texas.
9:58I'm okay with it. I think it was the right decision.
10:01Yeah. Okay. I mean, this defense is so nasty.
10:04Yeah. Like they were already arguably the best defense in the NFL last year, Seattle, Denver, also in that conversation, of course.
10:10And then they added, not add a miles Garrett, but they did.
10:13They signed Reed Blankenship. They drafted Caden McDonald. They brought you Devin Clowney, who was legitimate, like depth level pass rusher last
10:19year for who will be a depth, a depth level pass rusher for them this year after playing for Dallas last season.
10:25Like they just have waves and waves and waves of pass rushers.
10:28It is going to be very uncomfortable for that Buffalo offense.
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11:47Then let's move on to QB2. Yes. Because this one is also very interesting.
11:51Quarterback two for you in preseason ranks. And preseason ranks.
11:53Yeah, it's the second quarterback we're going to talk about here this week for the biggest lineup decisions.
11:58All right, so I got a good, this will lead to a great question.
12:02And that's Drake May. Drake, Drake, May. Drake, Drake, May, May.
12:05Michael Lester Clay Jr. has him as QB14. Field, you miss QB14.
12:08I've got him as QB6, guys. Quarterback 14. Talk to me about it.
12:12Well, can I start with a question for you?
12:14Yeah. Because you said, hey, Josh Allen, you drafted him there to be QB1.
12:18Is there any reason why? You're a quarterback two overall for Drake May guy.
12:22Yeah. Is there any reason why he's not higher than quarterback six in your rankings?
12:26Higher than? It's a tough defense. I know, but same with Josh Allen.
12:29You didn't move him at all. It's what I'm saying.
12:32Like, your confidence in Drake May is less reflected in your ranking than your confidence in Josh Allen preseason.
12:37Does that make sense? Yeah. It does. I think my confidence in those two quarterbacks are still...
12:42There's a gap between the level of confidence. Reflective of where you guys are at.
12:46So I think the gap is the same for each player.
12:49Got it. Okay. I'm shocked by this. And part of the reason why is I had Drake May as QB2 heading into the season.
12:56And I recognize, Field, you said a great point.
12:58We're drafting for a season-long thing. Yeah. But week one is a weekly game.
13:02Yep. So I get that. We all understand that.
13:04As a part of it, though, do you believe that there are...
13:08And based on your rankings, it looks like there's only one.
13:11Yes. There's only one set-it-and-forget-it quarterback in the NFL and fantasy football at this point?
13:15I think that Josh Allen has earned the right that no matter who he's playing, given how high you drafted him and
13:21given how early in the season it is, that yes.
13:23Like, if Lamar Jackson were playing against Houston, we'd have a comparable conversation to what we just had with Josh Allen.
13:29Where did you have Drake May for the season?
13:31Do you guys remember? Was it QB2, QB3, QB4?
13:34Drake May was quarterback four for me. QB4 for you guys?
13:37Four. Yeah. But I think this is reflective of how we've analyzed quarterbacks all offseason, which is, yeah, Josh Allen's on his own level.
13:43Everyone else is very close to each other. And that's why we waited so long a quarterback.
13:48Maybe occasionally you took a shot on Josh Allen, but that was it.
13:52So, yeah, I think from two on, very matchup dependent.
13:54I think there's just so many good QB ones.
13:57Yep. So, Josh Allen has higher rushing upside than Drake May, obviously.
14:00I think he has higher passing upside than Drake May as well.
14:03Drake May faces off against Seattle, who they had some notable defensive defections, and they have some question marks in the secondary right now.
14:10We'll see whether Nick Eman worried their incredible safety plays in the back end.
14:14Kobe Bryant departed their second-round pick, Bud Clark, who they drafted to replace Kobe Bryant.
14:18He's out for the year because of a nasty injury suffered in the preseason.
14:22But Drake May, through the first three quarters of the Super Bowl last year, had 60 passing yards, had taken five sacks,
14:27and the Patriots had scored zero points. It was heading towards, still was, one of the worst performances from an offense in Super Bowl history.
14:34They, for like a nanosecond, made it seem like it might get frisky in the fourth quarter, but the Seahawks dominated that game.
14:41And Drake May, in the playoffs last year, if you include the playoffs against teams that were in the playoffs, or they
14:47faced in the playoffs, scored 17.5 fantasy points per game.
14:49Against non-playoff teams, it was over 21 points per game.
14:52Drake May is an amazing player. I think he's got all the makings of becoming an NFL MVP at some point in his NFL career, maybe multiple times.
15:00But last year, part of the success of Drake May was dictated by the fact that the Patriots had a very soft schedule.
15:06Yeah. Fair. We, uh, yeah, go ahead. It did not prevent, they made the Super Bowl.
15:10I think they earned that trip to the Super Bowl, but they had a very soft schedule, which you don't determine your own schedule.
15:17The NFL, of course, has a rotating system, but I will, I have a lot of confidence.
15:21I have a ton of confidence in Drake May.
15:24I will get to implicit confidence in Drake May if he does it again.
15:28Josh Allen's earned that over six seasons of being quarterback one or quarterback two for me.
15:32Yeah, no doubt. Uh, you took a lot of, uh, what I was going to say.
15:36So well done. I agree on pretty much everything.
15:39I did to your point. Yeah, you did. I see that.
15:42I printed them out and I forgot to grab them on my office.
15:45So obviously you've got ahold of them. Um, yeah, I mean, uh, look, they played in the Super Bowl.
15:50He had 17 and a half fantasy points and that was with two touchdowns that he threw when they were down 19, nothing and 29 to seven.
15:58So obviously that was fueled by garbage time. He was atrocious in that game.
16:02I still feel like Seattle's defense is one of the best in the NFL, despite some injury concerns.
16:07We're going to keep an eye on that. Maybe we bump them up a couple of spots.
16:11If Nicky Minuri's out, we'll keep an eye on that.
16:14Um, but yeah, I look back at his last four games, the last four games Drake may play last season.
16:19Really good defenses, the Chargers, Texans, Broncos, and Seahawks.
16:22He averaged 16.2 points per game. He was in the 14 to 17 point range, 14 to 17 and a half point range in all four.
16:29So we obviously, obviously saw a big drop in production when he was playing against good defenses or great defenses.
16:34He's going to play a great defense this week.
16:37So no doubt with that large tier of say even two to 15, a quarterback, he's on the lower end in this matchup in Seattle against the champ.
16:44I mean, there's so many things working against him this week.
16:47Now he does have a better supporting cast to be clear.
16:50AJ Brown, way better than any other wide receiver the Patriots had last year.
16:54Imagine if you averaged 16 points per game and you had AJ Brown or Romeo Dobbs, what your number could look like.
17:00Without Stefan Diggs. We'll keep an eye on Travion Henderson.
17:03We'll do a game preview tomorrow. Seems like he's unlikely to play, but he had traveled to Seattle.
17:08The bottom line is the Patriots weapons are better even with some injury concerns right now.
17:12But yeah, Drake May is a conversation to me in a way that Josh Allen is not a conversation for me.
17:18I think that's wild. It's wild. I would love to talk about this.
17:21It's wild to me that you guys would draft.
17:24And this is the emotional side of Daniel O's drafting.
17:26I'm pulling up my Drake May teams right now.
17:29The idea that we have a quarterback that you think or any of us would think is a top five guy throughout the season.
17:35And already in week one, you have them ranked outside, not at the top 10 or outside the top 12.
17:41You have them as quarterback 14. The cool thing that I love about fantasy football is all those stats that you gave last year were last year's stats.
17:49That's fair. And so things are different in 2026 than they were in 2025.
17:52Yeah. And that's why we added the context of, we still think these are loaded defenses in the case of Houston and of course, Seattle.
17:59And not to mention this is in Seattle too.
18:02It's a tough place to play. So, um, and again, it's not, it's not like he was on that Allen level.
18:07There's a difference here, right? I'm looking at the guys that had a, had a, or have ahead of him, Bo Nix,
18:13who can add a lot of value with his legs and got a better supporting cast as well going in, uh, against the chiefs, Caleb Williams gets Carol.
18:21Obviously a lot of people like Caleb Williams is a solid QB one.
18:24Kyler Murray gets the Packers in week one. We know what he can do with his legs.
18:29That one you could take or leave. If you don't want to start him over.
18:33May I get that Dak, Trevor Lawrence, Matthew Stafford.
18:36And then otherwise it's just got all the quarterbacks who are picked in the top six or seven.
18:40So I think it's fair. I think it's totally fair to put them on the end of that tier.
18:46I know. I know that you think that emotionally.
18:48I think it's insane to draft a quarterback with like one of the first three to four that come off the board.
18:54And already in week one, you're like, I am instead going to play a guy that I drafted in round 12.
19:00I get it. I get what you're saying. I understand.
19:03You won May the rest of the season. Yeah.
19:05I mean, I have just one Drake made teams before.
19:08I have six drafts today, by the way. I need to go out and touch grass at some point.
19:13That probably won't happen. Um, the only one that I have with Drake may also, uh, includes Patrick Holmes.
19:18So I don't know, like my homes does not have a great match himself against the Broncos.
19:23So that one, I may still wind up starting Drake may.
19:26It's a six point passing touchdown leaks that influences things just a hair, but, um, that'll be a good, that'll be a good conversation over the next.
19:33What do we have? I don't know. 30, three hours till kickoff.
19:36They're almost there in that range. Yeah. Yeah. Let's take a quick question from our YouTube chat.
19:41We got someone wants to ask about Drake, Drake may may.
19:44This is Jeff. See, I have a feeling that I should start or excuse.
19:48I have a feeling quote, should I start Drake may week one is a very popular question.
19:52It's a good question. May or T law. Give me Lawrence at home against the Browns, the Browns without miles Garrett.
19:58I say that Drake may scores more fantasy points in week one than Trevor Lawrence.
20:02Wow. And I say Trevor Lawrence scores more fantasy points than Drake may and week one put on the board.
20:08We're off and running close enough. First board of the season.
20:11First season. Week one is the hardest. And I know that's why we're having this conversation.
20:15We have the most amount of information for week one because we have a whole off season of data.
20:20But also week one is different because off season data versus what they did last year.
20:24It's like, it's tough. We also have the least amount of information.
20:28I was just going to say we get the most information from week one by far.
20:32Like more, I'd say more than we get from the off season.
20:35I mean, that's when I'm busiest is post week one.
20:38Just updating every little thing that we learned from the week.
20:41I gotta be. So you said this and I think it's an important thing because I have this dynamic in play for me often as well.
20:48You talked about the emotions of benching Drake may that one like Trevor Lawrence versus Drake may doesn't feel crazy to me at all.
20:55No, it doesn't feel crazy. No. And I'm okay.
20:57I'm okay. Just living with my decisions. Yeah. Me too.
21:00Yeah. Unless I, unless I, unless, unless, unless after the fact I look back and I'm like, the process was poor.
21:05Otherwise I'm fine. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you have to be, and it's, it's so much easier for me to live with
21:11a process based mindset early in the season, because even if your team starts, oh, and two, like you can dig yourself
21:17out of a hole when it's week 14 and you're like, God damn it.
21:21I knew I should have started Drake may against the Seahawks.
21:24And now I am out of the playoffs. Why do I play this game?
21:28Yes. Then I become a little more resorts. Like starting Taysom Hill at tight end and fantasy in the playoffs.
21:33Yeah. All right. Who would do that? Sean in chat wants to know, would you play Drake versus Seattle or Jackson Dart this week?
21:40Yeah. Jackson Dart for me. That's clear. Yeah. I'm going Dart.
21:43I'm like 10 spots higher on Jackson. I don't know where I have Jackson.
21:47I will say the Cowboys defense is substantially better on paper than it was last year.
21:51We'll see if that translates. But I still think if there's a weak spot there, it is the cornerback position.
21:57So it should set up well for a guy we're going to talk about later, Malik Neighbors in his return.
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22:43As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.
22:46But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.
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22:55Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions.
22:58And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.
23:05Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. We're going to dive into this a little bit more tomorrow when we do a full-on preview.
23:11Maybe not tomorrow. Actually, we'll do this more on Thursday.
23:14But George Kittle taking on the Rams in Melbourne, my friends.
23:17A really tough one. He has flown there. He is in the country.
23:20So we know he's a part of it with the team.
23:23Right now, is there an expectation? Do you feel as though you're leaning one way or another field?
23:28Because right now, we've all got them ranked outside the top 15 based on Mike's projections.
23:33I'm leaning out. There's one way in which this would change.
23:36That way would be if there's some sort of rhetoric, either from Coach Kyle Shanahan or Shefty comes in and reports like,
23:42not only is George Kittle going to play on Thursday night, but the Niners expect him to play 70% of his normal workload.
23:48Sure. I just, it wouldn't stun me at all, given the fact that he tore his Achilles in January, if George Kittle
23:54plays 41% of the snaps on Thursday night, and he runs 13 routes, and he has four targets, and he catches three passes for 37 yards.
24:01And that's just not good enough, right? Not that tight end's great.
24:04And I think at some point soon, George Kittle is going to be not tight end 18 overall, but tight end eight at worst in a given week.
24:12Yeah. But I need more than a week before I feel that way.
24:15I think that's fair. Yeah. And here's the thing.
24:18If you drafted George Kittle, he came so cheap because we thought he was going to miss a month or so, that you have another option, right?
24:25So you might have a TJ Hawkinson, or you might have a Juwan Johnson, or Dalton Kincaid, or someone like that.
24:31So, or honestly, you might have Harold Fannin or something, like, because you got Kittle later.
24:35So, you probably have a good option. You don't have to risk it this week.
24:39I will say this. If there's a setback or a change, and Kittle is ruled out, just remember Jake Tonjes, if you
24:45don't have a second tight end, is a good fill-on.
24:48Last year, almost 12 fantasy points per game. The seven games that Kittle was out, that works out to eighth over the full season, where he was.
24:55That was ahead of Fannin, Travis Kelsey, Tyler Warren, Jake Ferguson for the season.
24:59So he was delivering you mid to back end, tight end one number.
25:03So again, probably not something you're going to have to worry about, but if Kittle is ruled out, Tonjes is a perfectly good fill-on.
25:09I feel like Mike's ears must have been burning when I was making up that hypothetical scenario for George Kittle.
25:1541% of the snaps, four targets, three catches, He was like, I've got the numbers.
25:19Well, his projection is five targets. So one more than my four, three receptions, one more than my three suggested catches, and 36 receiving yards.
25:26So, look at that. That's it. Yeah, I just roll back his, yeah, I did roll back his projection for the game.
25:32That's why he's ranked as a mid-range tight end one.
25:34The whole point is, we're not waiting to find out if George Kittle is playing.
25:38You're already projecting him as though he is playing.
25:41We're expecting a less, yes, right, a limited George Kittle.
25:43So what you would need to hear is, George Kittle is not going to have a limitation in his workload, or some major breaking news like that.
25:51I'd be shocked by that. I would be shocked as well.
25:54But if, and we still have until Thursday night.
25:56It is George Kittle. 55 hours. It is George Kittle.
25:59And there will be plenty of attention paid to that game.
26:02There will. Yep. Yeah. That, yeah, I would, I would play him.
26:05If that, if that rhetoric comes, I keep using the word rhetoric.
26:09If those statements come from Adam Schaefter or Kyle Shanahan, then yes, I will be playing George Kittle.
26:13Otherwise, I will give it a week. Okay. Mike, let's talk about Luther Burden.
26:17Your most talented wide receiver this year in fantasy football.
26:20Pass. How you doing? Well, he's hoping to get a lot of them against Carolina Panthers.
26:24Assuming that everything. Important note here. Yeah. Yep. An important note.
26:27Yes. Roma Dunze. Roma Dunze is out. Yes. Practice right now.
26:30Out of practice. Yes. So Roma Dunze. That prank pause was really nice.
26:34Roma Dunze is out. Dot, dot, dot, out of Cheerios.
26:37It needs more. Roma Dunze currently not practicing for the Bears.
26:40Not a lot of information there. And a reminder that starting on Wednesday for teams that play on Sunday games, teams have
26:46to both submit an injury report and to note what the player is dealing with.
26:50I think it might be a foot thing for Rome, which is not great given the foot issue last year.
26:55But if he's out tomorrow for practice because of a foot injury, you're already calling into question whether he plays on Sunday.
27:01But let's analyze Luther Burden through both Rome plays and Rome does not play.
27:05Yeah. I mean, where you drafted him, you're going to start him either way.
27:09So if a Dunze is out, obviously he's a, you know, locked in lineup block as, you know, he'll be a, probably a mid range wide receiver too.
27:16If Dunze plays, he's where we drafted him basically.
27:19You know, this is a matchup in Carolina. We're not too afraid of, I'd say it's pretty much a neutral matchup.
27:24So Burden should be good to go here. I will say this about him.
27:28You know, I obviously was hard on him leading into the NFL draft.
27:32And after the draft and kind of picked him apart because I feel like in the industry drafts, and we saw this
27:38in draft Kings, best ball, Daniel, like he was going to the fourth round.
27:42Like that was way too expensive for me. What I noticed at ESPN and other more casual leagues, not that expensive, not as expensive.
27:48So I did find myself as the year went on, drafting him as his ADP became more palatable.
27:53So I'm not as furious as I was before, you know, in April leading into draft season.
27:58But at the end of the day, we're going to, we're going to see how this plays out.
28:02But yeah, I mean, all systems go this week, either way, you're going to start Luther Burden.
28:07Yeah. Right there on the flex radar, right now.
28:10I was going to say he'd be a flex radar or flex guy for me, assuming that Roma Dunze plays.
28:15If Roma Dunze doesn't play Mike, how do you think that would impact?
28:19I guess it's not just his projection, but probably also, also Colson Loveland.
28:22Yeah. Loveland slight boost, but still going to be tight in three on our board.
28:26We're going to Bowers and McBride one, two, I assume you guys agree, but he's locked in either way.
28:31Again, it doesn't really change much because Burden, you're going to, he's an, he's an easier start, I guess, in shallower leagues,
28:37he's more of a lineup lock, but you're not starting Kalief Raymond, you know?
28:41So it doesn't really change a lot for me in terms of who you are or aren't starting in Chicago.
28:47I will push back in this way, which is that I think because of Luther Burden's injury, which took place, I don't
28:53know, two and a half, three weeks ago. Now there were, he did drop, like there might be scenarios where you're, I'm
28:59just throwing out random names here, like wide receiver three for you, your, your potential flex option is Jamison Williams.
29:04You also have Luther Burden. The third is your top wide receiver on the bench.
29:08So there is an interesting conversation to be had about Burden vis-a-vis other flex options here.
29:12If Roma is out, though, it'd be very tempting for me to not play with Luther Burden, but what an amazing opportunity this is for Burden this season.
29:20Like there's so much hype surrounding this player. And by the way, the bears don't trade DJ more if they don't have
29:26confidence in Luther Burden, but like any rookie and like a lot of players going into year two, we are making a
29:32big projection leap here for, Burden who last season had two games with five or more catches.
29:37Now he wasn't playing a ton, but still we are forecasting that Luther Burden who went in the second round, but definitely
29:43had first round ability can make this leap in an offense that we think can also make a leap.
29:48Caleb Williams would be a more consistent passer. We need to see that.
29:51We need to see him more accurate as a passer this year.
29:55If those things happen and Roma Doomsday misses some period of time, then Luther Burden can go from a guy who was
30:01being drafted too high to a guy who perhaps was being drafted too low to a guy who looks like one of
30:07the better values in all of drafts. Yeah. Don't forget three, three of his four games with double digit fantasy points were
30:13when Roma Doomsday was out last year. So obviously if he misses, that's a factor.
30:17Yes. I know DJ Moore was there, but DJ Moore obvious or obviously wasn't super productive last year.
30:21Anyway, his target, his usage was way down. And Burden's biggest hurdle was Olamide Zaccheaus last year.
30:26That was, who was keeping him off the field most of the year.
30:30So yeah, no doubt, no doubt about it. I mean, here is a certified lineup block.
30:34If a Doomsday is out, he's probably in your lineup.
30:37If a Doomsday plays, I'm at 28. So I'm probably starting him in all 10 and 12 team leagues.
30:42Figure something out real quick. I think we are going to bring back our Raheem Sanders fund, by the way, this year.
30:48We thought we had a lot of fun with that.
30:51I am calling this right now. What do we think the threshold is at the beginning?
30:551% or lower at the beginning of the year?
30:57Is it one? I think so. Yeah. I think, is that because we went to like a half a percent and then 0.2%.
31:04We can start at 1%. Okay. Cause I am already calling my shot that if Roma Doomsday misses practice on Wednesday and
31:10we're doing our picks on Thursday, Kalief Raymond will be my answer.
31:13Wow. Okay. I mean, every, every player that you pick should elicit a wow, because they're 99.8% available or more.
31:18So I'm not, I'm not surprised by that. Yeah.
31:21You know, follow Ben Johnson. Yeah. Your lines for a long time.
31:24Taking a Ben Johnson player to find the end zone.
31:27Isn't too bad. Not a bad idea. Question here from someone here in our YouTube chat.
31:31This one comes from Peter wants to know Jadarian price or Luther burden.
31:35Here's a good one. Flex 12 team. Especially because it's not wide receiver, wide receiver.
31:39These ones are the harder ones to figure out.
31:41And keep in mind that Jadarian price plays tomorrow night.
31:44That's right. So Jadarian price plays Wednesday night. If Roma Doomsday returns to practice tomorrow, the bloom will be off the rose
31:50a little bit for Luther bird in the third.
31:52Oh, if Roma Doomsday doesn't practice, I would string it along and I would just roll the dice with Luther bird in the third.
31:59I'll be curious to see how good the Patriots run defense is because for a while last year, remember for like the
32:05first 11 games of the season, the Patriots were like the best run defense in like 30 years.
32:10They were just a racing running backs left and right and some decent running backs at that.
32:14Things weren't as good down the stretch. Milton Williams ankle injury certainly impacted that.
32:18But this is not, I don't think it's a great matchup for Jadarian price either way.
32:23Yeah. Agreed. I'm leaning price. I agree. It would be a tougher call for Doomsday.
32:27He's looking like he might miss the game. So let's, I think that's right.
32:30Doomsday is back tomorrow. I land on price by tomorrow night.
32:33If Doomsday is out tomorrow, I string it along and rolled the dice that Odunze won't play and go through the burden.
32:39And worst case, you have a burden, which is fine.
32:42Yeah. Like it's not like the burden, even with Roma Doomsday is like a categorically worse flex than Jadarian price.
32:48All right. Let's talk about Mike's actual favorite player in the draft this year, which is Jeremiah love.
32:52I think it's the easiest one in the entire show.
32:55Still dealing with a high ankle sprain. Does that give you any pause for week one?
33:00My friends, here's the only way in which I'm not the only like circumstance in which, which I'm not playing Jeremiah love
33:06is if there's any level of ambiguity, that's real on Sunday morning, as you know, the national reporters dropped their injury information.
33:12It's a late start because it's of course being played in Los Angeles.
33:15So it's a four in the 4 PM slate of games.
33:18If for some reason, all of your running back options play either Wednesday, Thursday, or 1 PM on Sunday, and you have
33:24no pivot available, then you can pivot off of Jeremiah love.
33:27If it's still not certain whether he'll play by 1 PM on Sunday, otherwise I'm playing him.
33:32Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he was your second or probably third round pick.
33:35You're gonna be hard pressed to have a better option for your starting lineup.
33:39I, again, yes, it's a weekly game, but running back is a lot more shallow than the quarterback position.
33:44So yeah, I'm going to start Jeremiah love this week for sure.
33:47It is a tough matchup against the chargers. I did project him as if he'll be limited a little bit in his
33:53first game, but that was, that's been my expectation.
33:56The whole off season was they're going to, they're going to force Tyler Algier on us for a while.
34:01He's going to have a larger role. And then it's going to start to shift as we get a few weeks into this season.
34:08And honestly, love could have what I've been projected for 17 touches.
34:11He could have 12 or 13 and still pay off as an RB to he's, I feel like he's just going to be that player.
34:18He was drafted to be the next Gibbs, the next Robinson.
34:21I expect that level of efficiency and production. So I would, I'm with you.
34:24We ranked them lower, but he's still starting. So assuming he plays, I'm playing him.
34:28There's no player and backfield utilization and deployment that I'm more interested in than how the Cardinals go about this.
34:34Like how much is Tyler Algier playing? Is he going to get, if they have goal line work, will he get it?
34:40Is he going to be on the field? The very first play of the game?
34:44I would not endorse that, but I wouldn't be stunned by it.
34:47I also have a stat for you guys. Again, I'm playing Jeremiah Love, but Jeremiah Love stat, Jeremiah Love stat.
34:53And I don't know. However, I don't know any Jeremiah.
34:55However, I'll check this. So you, there is, it's not quite to the level of concern about Josh Allen that we have,
35:01where this could be 11 game, but slow starts would not be atypical because did you know of the last nine running
35:07backs drafted in the top 12 of the real NFL draft?
35:10Only three of them scored even 12 and a half fantasy points in their debut.
35:14Really? The other nine did not. Oh, the other six, excuse me, did not.
35:18So Leonard Fournette, Saquon Barkley, and B. John Robinson all scored 12.5 or more.
35:22Zeke Elliott, Ashton Jensie, Christian McCaffrey, Jameer Gibbs, Trent Richardson, and Todd Gurley under 12 and a half fantasy points.
35:28So yes, Todd Gurley. Yes. He's the man. Just because a guy is drafted super high.
35:32And just because we believe he has a ton of upside.
35:35There is evidence that slow starts are possible. And keep in mind, the Chargers did not allow a running back to score
35:4120 or more fantasy points after week seven of last season.
35:44Yeah. Good run defense. And I think they'll be fine again this year.
35:47It's going to be interesting. The Chargers defense is fascinating to me because I feel like statistically they're better than they've been on paper.
35:54But I think some of that was the offense was protecting the defense in a lot of ways.
35:59But they're, you know, if you're right, if you're right, they're going to open up the offense this year and it's going
36:05to put more pressure on the defense. I think they might give up.
36:08Yeah. If I'm right. If, if, if. Right. Sorry.
36:11Sorry. Big if. Big if. When I'm right. Thank you.
36:13Let's talk about this next one. Maybe the biggest one that we have right now.
36:18That was the biggest news in fantasy football. Marshawn Lloyd and the Packers taking on the Minnesota Vikings.
36:22Right now we've got Marshawn Lloyd in that mid-20s range.
36:25The big conversation here, Field, is Josh Jacobs' court date hearing was moved up to September 10th.
36:30Yeah. I got a couple questions about this. Okay.
36:32Who moved this date and was it moved because it was advantageous to someone?
36:36Do we know any of those things? I think that there were, there was motivation from both sides to get this date moved up.
36:43Let's get it done. As much information as you can get as soon as possible is, is definitely advantageous for Josh Jacobs.
36:49Yes. And I'm not talking about from his fantasy football value.
36:52I'm talking like his, what happens next with him and his life.
36:55And if he is guilty of what he has been accused of or charged with, then his football future may be no football.
37:01Right. But he also, I think he believes that, you know, he is not guilty of these things and he would like
37:07some clarity because this is his livelihood. And he's got a lot of money on the line.
37:12If he continues to play and play at a high level.
37:15Yep. So now having it be in September rather than, I believe it was like middle of November.
37:20It was November 17th. And now it's September 10th.
37:22So I think this is both a, let's assume Josh Jacobs is still out on Sunday.
37:26Yep. It would be a very, very quick investigation by the NFL to conclude by Sunday.
37:31If he has a court hearing on Thursday, let's assume Josh Jacobs is out.
37:35We can talk about both Marshawn Lloyd and how we are approaching him for this upcoming weekend.
37:39And again, tonight is probably the final night of drafts.
37:42Probably. In all, but like a small percentage of leagues.
37:45I think that Josh Jacobs kind of, when he, when the news first hit on August 30th, that he was going to
37:51the commissioner's exempt list and moved him down from RB.
37:53I think it was 13 to RB 25. Then it felt like maybe he should be further down because it seemed like,
37:59Oh man, like this one could be a half a season or more.
38:03Maybe it should be off draft boards entirely. Feels a little bit like the winds have shifted back towards.
38:08We could see Josh Jacobs at some point in call it like the first six weeks of the season.
38:13Sure. Don't know that for a fact. We are just using as much data as we have to get our best guess.
38:19That I think that Josh Jacobs should be ranked about running back 25.
38:23Yeah, I agree with that. I think what hasn't changed, maybe, yeah, exactly.
38:26Maybe it would, this was in doubt for a few days, but it still seems like Jacobs most likely will start more games than Marshawn Lloyd this season.
38:34So I think that that's kind of how I'm approaching both of these players, which is, yeah, we're knocking Jacobs because we
38:40think he's going to miss probably four to six games, something like that.
38:43Again, we don't know for sure, but that's, we have to hedge somewhere and that's the line I'm choosing.
38:49So that's why I didn't overreact on Lloyd either because yeah, we might get a good month out of him, but then
38:55maybe he's just a backup for most of the season.
38:57Also like the hardest part for me with Marshawn Lloyd is we've never gotten a good month out of him.
39:03No, he's got one game. Marshawn Lloyd sounds awesome.
39:05Yes. And it's all been basically hypothetical. He has not been able to stay healthy.
39:09It has all been, so like there is a major question mark where even if you're drafting tonight, like how early is
39:15too early to draft a guy that hasn't played or stayed healthy for, you know, his NFL career.
39:20And now we're expecting him to be the starting running back potentially of the squad for who knows how many games there's
39:26a wide range of outcomes that could happen. Chris Brooks is like going to play a role on Sunday.
39:31Yeah. And that's just a fact I will. We'll probably see a little bit of PR strong too.
39:36My guess is Caleb Johnson will be a healthy scratch in this one.
39:40They'll probably promote PR strong to be the three.
39:42Yes, he is. But you're right, especially in passing situations.
39:45I think we'll see plenty of Chris Brooks. He's been, he's not new.
39:48He's been a reliable player behind Josh Jacobs last couple of years.
39:52So he's not going anywhere. And, and that kind of gives me some pause and starting Marshawn Lloyd in this game, by
39:58the way, against a pretty good, not as good.
40:00I think I think they, they're down a little bit are the Vikings defense, but still pretty good defense overall.
40:06They're effective against running backs last year. So I have him at 26.
40:09I think that he's a flex option if you need it, but not a guy I'm going out of my way to start this week.
40:16However, in DFS, yes. I mean, he's priced very low 4,800.
40:19So if you play a draft Kings, he's a good option there.
40:22Yeah. No doubt. Brian Flores will maximize this defense, but on paper, there are some talent question marks that maybe weren't as prevalent in prior years.
40:29Agreed. Yeah. So just on Josh Jacobs, again, for draft purposes, I have him ranked around running back 25.
40:34Yep. Um, so if you're drafting tonight, we shall see what I would say about Josh Jacobs in the draft beyond the
40:40ranking is this, is depending on bench size. If you have deep benches, this is different, but assuming you have a normal,
40:46you know, four to six man bench, right? You only have so many wild cards that you can afford in your roster, right?
40:53So if you draft a guy who comes into the season already hurt, or if you want to take Jordan Tyson, it's
40:59hard to take Jordan Tyson and draft Josh Jacobs, right?
41:01Because right away, two of your, let's call it five, just put the difference.
41:05Five bench spots are being utilized by players that aren't usable for you at the beginning of the season.
41:10I know you could IR Jordan Tyson and add somebody off of waivers, but the point is that if you have a
41:16really clean lineup and at the sixth round, you're like, I want to take Josh Jacobs.
41:21And I just plan to be sort of safe and secure the rest of the way you can probably afford it.
41:26But if you're drafting a few guys, like if you're going to, I'm just throwing a name out there that is injured right now.
41:33If you want to draft Travion Henderson, or if you already drafted Travion Henderson, it's harder to draft Josh Jacobs.
41:38We don't have a ton of information on Henderson, but if he's not going to play week one and he hasn't, he
41:44hasn't practiced since August 24th, that could change. We'll see.
41:47There's only so many wild cards you can afford within one roster in one draft.
41:51As a part of that, just as a reminder, in case you didn't listen to one of these shows earlier in the
41:57week, with Josh Jacobs being on the commissioner exempt list, he will not be ruled as out in ESPN's game, which will not make him eligible for IR.
42:05So he is going to utilize a bench spot for you rather than potentially an IR spot.
42:09Just so that you know how the game will work that way.
42:13Let's go. One more. Tucker Craft. Another Packers. I'm not really other side, but like, you know, a pass catcher.
42:18Position. Different one. Other side of the formation, but he is coming back from injury as well.
42:23A guy that was honestly could outperform his ADP given where he was drafted and what he had done.
42:28Are you more in on the Packers passing game without Josh Jacobs being around?
42:32Maybe a little bit, but it's still a Matt LaFleur offense.
42:35I don't think they're going from leaning towards the run to super pass heavy because Jacobs isn't there.
42:40So they might shift it a little bit. Game script is obviously a huge determining factor.
42:44If they're trailing in this game in Minnesota, obviously they're going to throw more.
42:48We know that. So that's going to be huge determination.
42:50Remember, this has generally been a good team, a winning team.
42:53So they've been able to run the football. So again, game script matters.
42:57I will say this about Kraft. There's been a lot of arguments and debates about how good he's going to be, but
43:03what seems to be lost in it and with the talk about, you know, his efficiency or touchdown regression in the mean,
43:09what's lost often is like, the guy tore his ACL midway through last year.
43:13He, he has admitted, there's been already been reports that he might be limited early in the season.
43:18He will be. Exactly. So that cannot be ignored.
43:20And that's why we have him ranked lower here.
43:22So Kraft might at some point emerge and be a top five fantasy tight end, but I feel like it's just been
43:28kind of lost in all of the dialogue on social or whatever it might be that this guy is coming off an ACL.
43:35He might not be the same guy this year.
43:37You are a hater. That's all the Packers understand about you and Tucker.
43:41They absolutely are. I feel like this is the, so like, it feels, it feels like George Kittle is on the early
43:47end of the spectrum where it feels like, okay, we thought we might not be able to be without George Kittle.
43:52Maybe you got to make plans, but now it only feels like you need to make plans for like week one or week two.
43:59Tucker Kraft, it feels like to me could take longer to get into that form than George Kittle.
44:04And that's maybe, I don't know. Well, Tucker Kraft is younger.
44:07The injury, I think is less severe. It is.
44:09Injury happened earlier, right? ACL in the middle of the season for a 25 year old.
44:14I know there's just something about George Kittle that I just, he is a Wolverine, but Tucker Kraft is baby George Kittle.
44:20That's why I have Tucker Kraft ranked tight end 12.
44:22He is, and I have Kittle at 17 is that I get it.
44:26Both of them could well play 50% of the snaps at most in their respective games.
44:30Just feels like if there's the fresher legs, that's further removed from the major injury, I'll bet on that a little bit more.
44:36That's how I break the difference or break the tie.
44:39I should say for my run that in week one.
44:42Love that. All right, let's dive into the mailbag.
44:44My friends, we got even more here from our YouTube chat.
44:47And how wants to know Marshawn Lloyd or Jalen Warren as a flex in a 12 person PPR.
44:52That's a good question. I'm going to go Marshawn Lloyd there.
44:55Just a little bit more clarity on the role.
44:58I don't really know what to make of that Pittsburgh backfield.
45:01Other than Rico Dattles is going to have over a thousand yards and 10.
45:04Yes. That's obvious. That's a callback to Friday's hot takes episode.
45:07Well, I have Lloyd 26 Warren 27. So there's your answer.
45:10Very definitive. Wow. Call for Marshawn Lloyd. Yeah, I'd go Lloyd.
45:13I think Dattles and Warren are going to split things.
45:16And again, I've talked about the fact that I think targets are going to be lower than people are expecting in this Mike McCarthy offense.
45:23That traditionally has not been good to running backs.
45:25It's actually, let me rephrase that. It's been very bad for running backs, especially in the passing game.
45:30So not as high in him this year as I was last year.
45:34So I'll give a slight edge to Lloyd. Yep.
45:36Agreed. That's in part why Rico Dattles is going to have a thousand yards.
45:40Those are the worst. I'm not blaming the question asker.
45:43The worst questions to be asked because it's like, yeah, it's like 51% to 49%.
45:47It's like right there. I don't feel really good.
45:49I like when people are like, Hey, are you starting Jamar Chase or Diami Brown this week?
45:54Yeah. You know, I thought about it and I'm leaning Chase.
45:57I'm leaning Chase. You're going Chase? Oh, okay. On that one.
46:00Let's get another one from us. Watch Diami Brown.
46:02You never know with field, you know? Yeah. Gunslinger wants to know, Tucker Craft or Mark Andrews?
46:07Have we said the name Mark Andrews once this preseason?
46:10Nope. Nope. Not at all. Very sadly. Isaiah Lightley's not there, so we don't care about him anymore.
46:15No, I mean, I need it seriously though. Done.
46:17Kicked your mic. Sorry about that. We literally haven't talked about him because Yeah, been so quiet.
46:22He signed an extension that almost immediately felt like one of the worst deals in the NFL.
46:26It wasn't almost. It was immediately. We'll see what he does this year.
46:30Yeah, we'll see. New coaching staff here. Yeah, healthy Lamar Jackson.
46:33We'll see if he gets back on track. Yeah, they drafted some tight ends.
46:37I think he's, is he 29? Let me look.
46:39It's got to be somewhere in that range. Yes.
46:42It's still crazy to me. They decided to give him that money and let Isaiah likely walk.
46:46But hey. Mark Andrews is who I would take.
46:49I think it was, I don't think Isaiah likely would have taken the deal that Mark Andrews took.
46:54Would have took. Okay. But I wouldn't have instead pivoted and just given that money to Mark Andrews.
46:58No, no, that's fair. I would have paid Charlie Kolar.
47:01I mean, you did have a bunch of money because you let your, your center walk.
47:06Unfortunately. Yeah. And they said 31, 31, 31, 31.
47:08Okay. You said maybe 29 and he's 31. I was a little, I was a little off.
47:13I would still like Andrews week one though. Yeah.
47:15I'm going to Andrews. Yeah. Andrews as well. I'm going Andrews.
47:18Eric playing Indianapolis. Yeah. First time we talked about him was on September 8th.
47:22September. One day before the podcast. The guy was a fantasy legend for a while.
47:26He's on the poster. He was. Yeah. There, the big four of tight ends for a while was.
47:31Right. George Kittle, Travis Kelsey, Mark Andrews, and TJ Hawkinson.
47:34Shout out Rita Oak Arts. I'm sure she's pumped about the game.
47:37Love that. I traded four Andrews in Dynasty. So, you know, obviously.
47:40This year you did? No, a couple of years ago.
47:43Right before. You know, when he was at his peak, I traded for him in Dynasty.
47:47So, you know, obviously. That's how it works. One more from our chat.
47:51This one comes from Barnett, 98. Oh, nice. Is that a good one?
47:54There, death. That's right. This one feels. Stefan Diggs or Parker Washington.
47:58Yeah. PPR. Feels easy to me. Maybe Parker Washington.
48:00Parker. Yeah. Drafted him well before. There is. I haven't seen a single indication that suggests he's not their number one receiver.
48:06Yeah. Not one. Not one report that's like, ah, it's probably going to be Myers or Todd.
48:11No. Like, it's the Parker show. I keep coming back to, there's a chance that we have a wide receiver to hiding in plain sight.
48:17Like, right in front of us. It's like, oh, really good player, but really effective last year.
48:22Who's coveted by the team with a quarterback. Who's much more confident in offense.
48:26It's a really good system. Yeah. Is this. Like, is Parker Washington this year's JSN?
48:30I don't think I'd go that far. Cause they.
48:32Well, here's the thing. No one will ever be this year's version of last year.
48:36Like it's part of the bit. Right. So like, it does, but it's just so tough.
48:41So, but like, you know, a guy, let's say, let's say T law and these Jaguars are legit and he is their wide receiver.
48:47One, he will take a huge leap. Yeah. Potentially.
48:50If you told me he was going to finish wide receiver 11, wouldn't shock me.
48:54I think this year's JSN is nobody. That's so that's, that's like the right answer, right?
48:58You know, like, yes, these things rarely happen. That's why they're so notable when they do.
49:03I don't have a good answer. I think Lad McConkie, Parker Washington, Mecca, Buka.
49:06Those are the names. Teddero McMillan have been the trendy names.
49:09I think the answer is probably none of them.
49:12All right. All right. All right. Draft time. Dive into some last minute draft advice here, my friends.
49:17Handful of things to get into. By the way, as a part of doing rankings, I want to say this.
49:22Our draft rankings and week one rankings are different.
49:25You'll see that I, I've been out on Christian McCaffrey and Christian Watson, for example, during the draft.
49:29But when I do my weekly rankings, I'm still going to rank them quite high because part of my narrative and ranking
49:35them lower is I don't think you're going to make it a full season.
49:39I'm backpedaling. That's not backpedaling. That's the process. Until, until my process is that I don't believe that they are going to
49:45necessarily be efficient for a full season. But until that happens, you will see me rank those players higher than where I had them in the draft rankings.
49:53That's weird. I had McCaffrey, RB3, and I have him RB3.
49:56How about you? We know exactly. I think I have him RB1 for week one.
50:00Oh, you do? I think so. All right. But I have RB3 in my rankings and player three overall, Christian McCaffrey.
50:06I have a lot of CMC this year. By the way, Gibbs might play 100% of the snaps.
50:11So he just walked that one for me. There's no moving him off that.
50:14Speaking of player three overall field. Yes. Have we got any movement by any chance on Puka Nakua?
50:19Because he was going potentially as the number one receiver after both those running backs.
50:23Yeah. No movement there. Two things to note. Obviously, we're trying to figure out whether he's going to be suspended.
50:29There's nothing that prevents the NFL from suspending him at any point.
50:32If they conclude the review and they deem that his actions are suspension worthy, they will suspend him.
50:37Okay. Now, they are often motivated to wrap those things up.
50:40I think everybody understands why before the season starts, but he's not entirely out of the woods.
50:45On top of that, he's been dealing with an injury for a while now.
50:48Both he and Miles Garrett haven't been practicing a ton in training camp.
50:52However, it seems like he's going to play on Thursday night.
50:55That sounds like Aaron Donald might play on Thursday night as well.
50:58The Rams are coming into this game very healthy.
51:01I have moved Puka Nakua down to wide receiver four.
51:03I'm sorry, wide receiver two. I think it's player five overall.
51:06Okay. I said wide receiver four. I moved them behind Jamar Chase once this possibility of suspension came into play.
51:12And to move off of that. I will tell you though, that until he is suspended or less, or until he's suspended,
51:18he's the best bet to be wide receiver. One of my rankings in a given week.
51:22I think everybody knows how good Puka Nakua is.
51:25Obviously it's a great system for him. He also is defense proof.
51:28Look at his games last year against what I think were probably the five hardest matchups he saw all season.
51:33Playoffs included. Texans, Eagles, Seattle, three time. We agree.
51:36They're all pretty good. Yep. Houston, 10 catches, 130 yards.
51:38That seems good to me. That's really good. Eagles, 11 catches for 112 yards.
51:42Three games against Seattle, 28 catches. That's over nine a game.
51:45For 465 yards and three touchdowns. So he averaged over nine catches, 155 yards and a touchdown a game against Seattle, who
51:51we were just talking about being good enough to put Drake May on mine and Mike's bench.
51:56Wild. And how about against the 49ers who he's playing this week?
51:5920.8 fantasy points, bringing him in five career games against him.
52:02At least 14 in all five, a touchdown or a hundred yards in all five.
52:06And two of them, by the way, played half the game.
52:09Was that one where he punched the guy? I think so.
52:12Oh yeah, it was. I can't remember who that was.
52:15But yeah, he has lit them up. He's lit everyone up.
52:18So yeah, no doubt. And by the way, I have an inside source.
52:21His names, don't tell anyone, Adam Schefter. Yes. Was on X and said, yes, he's dealt with the soreness.
52:27Yes. There's been questions about the suspension. He's expected to be a full go in week one.
52:31So I am not scared. He is my wide receiver one.
52:34I moved Pat Puga back up to my wide receiver one.
52:37I had him lower in the draft process. And now that we've gotten here, it feels like even if we do get
52:43a suspension, and I don't know anything, this is just a feeling.
52:46And even if we do get a suspension, it doesn't feel like it's going to be for so many games that I
52:52need to worry about him not being the number one wide receiver in football.
52:56Seems like there's a reasonable chance that may not happen this year.
52:59Yeah. So I'm not worried about it. A chance.
53:02A game or two, maybe it doesn't feel like it's a five or six.
53:06It doesn't feel like, but I don't know. Just curious.
53:08Let's put the three guys into one category because we've been talking about them as one, two, three.
53:13Okay. Jamar Chase, JSN and Puga. Yep. If you were getting 17 games, you're guaranteed 17 games of all of them.
53:19We're all taking Puga first. Yes. Right? Yes. If you were to get 17 games of Jamar Chase and JSN and 16
53:25of Puga Nakua, who are you taking first? I would go Nakua because that's how I have.
53:30I have a decent edge between him and the rest.
53:32So I would still lean Nakua because remember, you don't get zero the week that he's out.
53:37You're filling him in with a flex level. Okay.
53:39Puga as well. I would take Chase. 17 for Chase, 17 for JSN, 15 for Puga.
53:44I think that's the line for me. I would lean, I would go Chase then Nakua.
53:48That's where my head was when I moved Chase head, but I don't know.
53:52I, I'm less confident it's going to be more than one game.
53:55It's not zero games. So I'm going to keep Nakua.
53:58Okay. That's fine. He's back at one for me.
54:00I would have it as a coin flip at two.
54:03Okay. So like, I'm okay with either one. Once you get to three, I'm out.
54:07Okay. Like that's where it officially, we don't know that in my head.
54:11It's just like, I'm, I'm planning on it. Look, it's a numbers game.
54:14That's how it works. The reason why I have Chase as my wide receiver one overall is because one game is enough
54:20for him to get the advantage over Puga. I mean, it's not like Jamar Chase winning the triple crown this year would be a surprise.
54:27He's an amazing player, but we're splitting very, very narrow margins.
54:30So for draft purposes, Puga to me merits top five at worst, top six overall consideration.
54:34Yes. If you're drafting tonight based off what we know.
54:37I did a draft this last week with a gentleman and a scholar named Thomas Q Jones.
54:42Yeah. Wow. No big deal. Former Giants or former Jets running back.
54:45Yes. Q Jones. Yes. Q Jones. Did you draft Thomas?
54:48I did not. You thought about it. I thought about it.
54:51Okay. He's huge. We were talking about it beforehand because some of the people in the draft were asking him, Hey, what's
54:57it like to deal with a high ankle sprain?
54:59And he was like, you know, once you get a high ankle sprain, you don't ever not have a high ankle sprain for the rest of the season.
55:07You just sort of manage it for a long time.
55:09I, you know what? I remember this with Jalen hurts a few years ago, just because of the situation.
55:15Now it helps when you're younger, obviously, rather than being an older person in your career.
55:19But right now we're looking at Ashton Gentty coming into week one, still dealing with that high ankle sprain, the ankle injury going on.
55:26It feels like you were optimistic. Clint Kubiak said he should play, but how are you feeling?
55:30I just not to hijack. What is a good story?
55:33Did they have, did they ever call it a high ankle sprain?
55:36I thought both him and Jermyn. Jermyn. I love was a high ankle sprain.
55:40I thought for sure it was a high ankle sprain.
55:43Maybe I'm wrong, but let's, let's cross check this.
55:45I thought it was just an ankle injury for Ashton Gentty sort of parsing here, but the bottom line is how I'll start with you, Mike.
55:52How are you approaching Gentty and drafts? I am.
55:55If he's active, I'm starting him. Something that is, makes him more palatable in week one is they're playing Miami.
56:00And we expect them to Miami to really struggle on both sides of the football.
56:04Gentty could be at 12 or 13 touches in this game and still put up huge numbers, score a touchdown, you name it.
56:10So I'm okay. Even if there's a report that he might not play as much as he would, if he was fully healthy.
56:17I mean, that might be the case anyway, because there's been so much Mike Washington jr.
56:21Hype. He's probably going to play more than they thought when, when they drafted him in the fourth round.
56:26But again, if Gentty's active, I'm playing him. And it's just so easy with this matchup.
56:31Uh, we, we confirmed no high ankle sprain. It is.
56:33He avoided a high ankle sprain. It is a low ankle sprain.
56:37So he's not better. But still it's, you know, it's, it's, you still don't like a running back dealing with an ankle sprain.
56:43Yeah, not ideal. Get into the season from that perspective.
56:46by the way, Mike Washington has been very buzzy.
56:48If he gets eight carries in a game in week one, would you guys be surprised?
56:52Eight or more? No, especially with the possible game script here, which is weird to say for the Raiders.
56:57Yeah. But this is against Miami. they should, there should be a game that they're leading.
57:02Raiders beat the Patriots in week one last year.
57:04People forget that. if that happens, though, what does Mike Washington mean to you guys?
57:08A strong insurance running back. Who's going to take away some of the top end value of Ashton Gentry.
57:14Yeah. He might play instead of playing like a, just, just comes on the field when Gentry needs a rest role.
57:19It might be like an Tyler Algier role. I agree.
57:22It just has changed. What a strong look like, cause I don't feel that way.
57:26What, what a strong insurance back mean to you?
57:28Where would you like, like if something happens to Ashton Gentry, he'd be like, well, I don't know, but no, cause Blake
57:34Corum show me he can, he can do it in a great offense.
57:38He would be like, if, if Kyron's out, I think Blake Corum would be an RB1.
57:42Yeah. What would Mike Washington be if there is a borderline RB1?
57:46Because it's still in Lowby. Like they don't really have much else.
57:49I mean, he's going to play a lot. And again, especially in week one, if Gentry is like, they're like, ah, we're going to give him a week.
57:57He's, he's out. Washington will be top 15. So he's a borderline RB1.
58:00If Gentry is out, then you think that this kid, this offense is going to be tough this year.
58:05I think it'll be improved. So you think it'll be improved.
58:08Yeah. Big bar guys saying the Raiders have an improved offense.
58:11Is it like, I think it's a functional offense.
58:14I, but you think Mike Washington, I've made my case RB1.
58:17If he's out, that's 20. Mike's a little bit more common.
58:20Yeah. Okay. I think that's fair. I mean, that range.
58:22I just want to know the talent of like how you guys view him.
58:26Oh, by the way, in this matchup, I'm talking about if he, if he's this week, I think normally it'd be maybe 2022, but again, they're playing Miami.
58:34So I'm saying this week he would be top 15.
58:36So the reason I brought up, whether you think you can get eight carries in this game or a future game, is
58:42if he ever gets eight carries, that's the most carries by a running back.
58:46Since Ashton Gentry joined the team, not named Ashton Gentry.
58:49Like it was the Ashton Gentry show last year.
58:51And I don't think that was just to kind of like reinforce.
58:55They made the right pick at number six overall.
58:57I think it was a testament to just how weak that running back room was.
59:01But we saw Ashton Gentry have one of the preeminent roles, not the production, but the preeminent roles in all the fantasy last year.
59:08Yeah. And that's kind of the point that I made the, sorry, go ahead with the Jeremiah love stat.
59:13That was kind of the point. Like the efficiency might not always be great, but the volume they give these guys drafted
59:19in the top 10 or 12 is unbelievable. And we saw that with Gentry.
59:23That's why, you know, I've made the anti Ashton Gentry, like potential bust case is like, if that role decreases by 15%,
59:29it would still be a strong role, but it's not what he had last year.
59:33On top of that, the offensive line has improved, but not that improved on top of that.
59:37Mike Washington could play a little bit of a role.
59:40Anyways, I just, yeah, I, I hear you. I didn't draft a lot.
59:44I would say, I don't, I don't love when the bus are like, you know, my bus is this year, Jeremy McNichols.
59:50It's like, great. Thank you. Yeah. I'm Harrison jr.
59:52That's a good one. Well, a bus. I mean, he's already, last year would have been a good one.
59:57Last year would have been, I'm talking about guys where, you know, like I know what you're saying.
60:02My bus is Chris Godwin. It's like, okay, like he's being drafted as the 41st wide receiver.
60:07Like it's not really going out on a limb.
60:09Mine's Jalen Naylor, but all right. Yeah. Wow. Gente's a good one.
60:13Hampton be a good one. Right? Like whatever, you know, whatever.
60:16Guys, can we talk about really quickly last one, basically just the entire New York jets.
60:20Excuse me. That's the second time I've done that New York giants offense.
60:23Jackson dart looks fully healthy. Should be good to go.
60:26Okay. Scadaboo looks healthy. Should be good to go.
60:29We'll see that way. Yep. Yeah. Good. Malik neighbors is the big question mark at the wide receiver spot.
60:34We start with the news here, because something happened yesterday that kind of, I mean, it was a little shocking timing wise,
60:40especially, especially for the longest tenure giant, but Darius Lane released by the giants, which to me is a vote of confidence for Malik neighbors.
60:47And I'll tell you why. Question. Let's look at the depth chart here.
60:50Let's just say neighbors is out. Okay. This is what the giants would roll into week one with Darnell Mooney, Malachi fields, who's never played it down.
60:57He's a third round pick. He did catch a touchdown.
61:00OBJ OBJ, who has barely played the last, what, six years in the league that Braxton burials will be up to handle
61:06returns, but he's on the practice squad right now, but that's it.
61:09So they're obviously very confident in Malik neighbors or they don't make that move.
61:13There's just no way. I feel the exact same way as Mike just said.
61:17I expect him to play in week one. I have been drafting him as wide receiver nine so far.
61:22Uh, I will just note the same thing I mentioned with Josh Jacobs earlier.
61:26Like if you're drafting Malik neighbors, you got to play a little bit safer at some other spots, especially early in the draft, right?
61:32Like you're taking a Ashton, Gentty and Malik neighbors after taking Puka Naku with your first pick.
61:37Like you got to be prepared for some uncertainty, some, some difficult waters throughout the season.
61:41The OBJ story, by the way, like I don't think it's going to matter for fantasy, but my God, is it like, what a cool story this is.
61:49I had a friend yesterday, reach out and ask me, I'm thinking about dropping Trey Tucker for OBJ.
61:54Would that be a kind of move that would ruin my season?
61:57And I was like, Oh, you're fine. It won't ruin your season.
62:01It's okay. But no, I was like probably more.
62:03I'm not sure either one of them has fantasy relevance this year, but as a huge giants fan, if you want to
62:09roster OBJ, have at it, go for it. Yeah.
62:11Don't forget. He's going to turn 34 in two months.
62:14I mean, this guy is not going to be, it would be shocking if he becomes fantasy relevant.
62:19I mean, he needs a lot to go his way.
62:22Even if he started, even if he was a basically a number two on their depth, try to be hard.
62:27Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I think the giants are doing a little bit.
62:30John Harbaugh is obviously there a little bit of what like Baltimore has done or Ben Johnson does where like wide receiver
62:36depth isn't as important as it used to be.
62:39I think you're going to see a lot of Theo Johnson on the field with Isaiah likely Chris man, Chris man hurts
62:45blocker, you know, they have Pat Ricard. They brought over the fullback.
62:48So a lot of receiver depth, not as important, but again, I don't think you cut loose Darius Lane if you're in doubt at all about Malik neighbor.
62:56So I did, I did reduce his target share for week one a little bit thinking maybe he's limited the first game
63:02back, but still, if you drafted him in the third round, you're starting them.
63:06Here's a quick question, guys. Which player has scored more fantasy points in their highest scoring game in their career?
63:11Trey Tucker or Odell Beckham Jr. 41.3 points for Trey Tucker against the commanders.
63:15Odell Beckham Jr. had 42.3 against Washington in 2014.
63:17Wow. So it is. Something about the commanders, huh?
63:20That was a reverse trick question. That was a reverse trick question, guys, but that was a really good one.
63:25Yeah. I like that. All right. Hey, big show tomorrow, my friends.
63:28Week one rankings and we've got a freaking football game.
63:31Yes, we do. Let's go. To get into as well.
63:34I mentioned that we were going to do the starts of the week punishment stuff.
63:38Maybe we do that tomorrow or do we have time?
63:41No, we're going to show the wheel real quick.
63:43Let's bring it over. All right. Here is the wheel that we got with all the punishments.
63:48Mind you, starts of the week means that whoever comes in last place has to spin this.
63:52Yep. And then we got to figure out what we got.
63:55So I'm going to start up here at the top.
63:58Winner's choice. Oh, that's great. So one of us gets to decide.
64:01Oh, nice. A waxing of a leg. That's going to be fantastic.
64:05Warefield's Bucky suit. That feels benign compared to these.
64:07Yeah. Everyone loses. Everyone loses. Oh, no. Bad week for everybody.
64:10Baby food taste test. Safe. Smelling salts. Chad's choice.
64:12Please be nice to us. Yes, please. A beer mile, which also.
64:16I think we have to get that cleared. Maybe we should.
64:19Yeah. Super sour starts of the week. Super is underlined, which makes me feel like they've done some research on the internet.
64:25I don't love that. TikTok dance trend, temporary neck tattoo, fantasy slam poetry, and double punishment.
64:29Wow. What the crap happened this year? Did you guys just spend all our season finding out ways to make life difficult for us?
64:36We are also debuting a new starts of the week format.
64:39It's just a modified starts of the week format.
64:41That's right. Things a little cleaner to understand for everybody.
64:44It's going to be a lot of fun. We've been hashing it out over the weekend, so we are pumped about that.
64:50And not so pumped about the punishment. Not so pumped about the punishment, no.
64:54It's brutal. I'm very motivated to do well. Yeah, same.
64:56I've never been more excited. My start of the week this week is Jamar Chase.
65:00Take that. That's too easy, Phil. Nope. Damn it.
65:03Nope. He's ineligible. I love that. All right, we're going to dive in more tomorrow, guys.
65:07Make sure you come back and hang out with us.
65:10Thank you so much for being here for Field and Mike.
65:13We love you. Lobby time. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself.
65:17You guys, you deserve it. We'll see you tomorrow.
65:20Bye. Bye. You're in the 0601. No. One last thing before you go.
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