0:00What's going on guys? It's Nick here, back with a new video. It's week nine already, which is absolutely insane. We had a pretty decent week on the waiver
0:08wire, both with a few names at the top worth spending up for, and then some decent speculative ads. Remember the trade deadline in the NFL is next
0:15Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. So, if you're making any sort of speculative ad, you don't actually have to hold them for that long. The latest you will have to
0:22hold them for before cutting them loose if there's no trade is next week for like the waiver wire is next week.
0:28Obviously, waiver wire is like Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. So, don't have to hold them that long. I think it's worth spending, you know, one or two
0:35bench spots if you are not pumped about that player right now on someone that's a speculative ad. So, starting at the
0:40top end, number one option for sure is Mike Washington Jr. He overtook Gentry as that lead running back on early downs. 25 carries, zero targets. There
0:51was a very clear split. Anytime they wanted to run the football, utilize the back on early downs, it was Mike Washington, and then Gentry was like the
0:59full-time passing down back. Um, Gentry still has a lot of receiving yards cuz he had one long reception. And realistically, Mike didn't do like that
1:07good, right? He had 25 carries. It was on 3.3 yards per carry. Some people are pointing out the rushing success rate
1:13was slightly increased, but it was like barely. It was like basically like one or two carries going for an extra yard
1:20or two that can make the whole difference there. So, really they didn't get a whole lot more on the ground than they had been getting
1:26before. After the game, Kubiak didn't really say a whole lot as to whether he would stick with this moving forward, whether they'd go to some sort of split.
1:35He really was just like, you know, we wanted to utilize Mike. Maybe hinting a little bit in practices. He's like, you know, showing
1:41up in practice, doing well there. I don't know if something happened in practice to where they're like, you know what, let's give Mike the opportunity
1:48and bench Gentry or something like that.
1:49I don't know. I don't think we're ever going to actually know until maybe the off season. Uh, but it doesn't really
1:56matter as far as claims are concerned.
1:57Whenever you have a running back who out there and be the lead back on early downs, 25 rush attempts on a team that
2:03is scoring a ton of like real-life points this season, they're worth spending a number one claim on even if the usage doesn't
2:10stick. Like the opportunity here is if you have a 20-touch running back, you have to get them on free agency. So, I'd
2:17spend a number one claim to get him.
2:18I'd suggest around like 35%in like a 12-team league, but that can move up if you are desperate running back, can move
2:25down if you're covered at running back.
2:27Don't really need him. You don't want to spend all that fab. But yeah, kind of 35%feels like a decent spot there.
2:34Terrance Ferguson after him, it seems like he's going to return this week. If not this week, it's next week.
2:40Um he we expect to be the number two pass catcher basically until Adams returns. Seems like Adams is trending towards returning
2:49around the fantasy playoffs, so around that like general time where it's like week like 13, 14, 15. That like bucket of weeks, that's kind of where he's
2:59trending towards returning. So, you should have like a really rock solid month here. If we get Ferguson back, Adams still out, where he's the number
3:06two pass catcher on this team, and he would grade out as I mean, it would depend on matchup, but like probably in
3:11that general tight end five to 12 range every single week depending on how many points we expect this team to score. But he'd have a
3:20great role in the red zone. He'd have role between the 20s, like he'd be a really good option here. So, I don't
3:26know number one claim, but if you really need to help with tight end, and you have not been able to figure that out,
3:30it's fine to do that. Um I'm suggesting around like 12%fab right now, maybe bump that up to 15. If we knew 100%, yep, he's definitely playing
3:37this week, I'd probably say like 15 and maybe even 17%of your fab if you need help with tight end. Cuz really, this
3:43next month he's going to be a really good option for us.
3:46Emmett Johnson after him, we keep saying like give him more touches, right? It's like Ken Walker's awesome, completely agree. Keep him
3:55healthy, cuz Emmett Johnson also looks very good. There's not a There's a drop-off. There's not a huge drop-off between the two players when he plays,
4:03just feels like the optimal move is to take a little bit from Ken, give it to Emitt, and keep both of them healthy.
4:08Uh, they finally did a little bit more of that this week. Only one carry for Emitt goes for 15 yards, but five
4:13receptions, 128 yards, and a touchdown.
4:17I swear he broke like three tackles on every single play or every single one of his touches. Um, he just looks really
4:23good with the ball in his hands. Um, he's not going to pull like a Mike Washington, right, and like overtake Ken
4:28Walker as early down lead, but again, with how good he's looked, it would make sense that he could get seven, eight opportunities in games that
4:37are close or they're winning and just not have to overload Ken Walker with touches because, in his career, he has struggled to stay healthy when being
4:45overloaded with touches. So, um, not going to be someone we probably rely on while we have a healthy Ken Walker, but someone who would be a top 10
4:52running back if Ken Walker ever got hurt. So, he does need to be rostered in all leagues. Um, I would probably say max 10%though. I
5:00don't know what I'll end up suggesting, but I think it's going to be in that like 7 to 9%range.
5:05Then you have Allgeier. Um, kind of a different bet than Emitt is. I feel like similar value. I feel like I'd value
5:10them the same like fab wise in that general 7 to 9%range. Um, but his depends on the injury. So, he was going
5:16to that game probably going to get two touches, right? But you see Jeremiah Love just basically a featured running back to start the game. He suffers a new
5:24ankle injury. So, that's not great. Then we have the scary concussion for Bam Knight. Um, so both of them are out of the game.
5:31That has them lean on Tyler Allgeier.
5:34Um, just got to ton of touches. Looks like quote-unquote good. Like he looked good in terms of like vision. He was
5:40clearly cuz you you looked at Jeremiah Love in that game and it was like, he's obviously more explosive, more athletic, but he was kind of just like running
5:47into the back of the blockers or running right into the defense. And then Allgeier it seemed like was actually finding the holes and actually like
5:53being a better like vision running back than probably is. I mean, Allgeier is just like so unathletic, like just so slow. It's just so weird. It's like he
6:01hit the holes and it's like most running backs will just bust off these huge runs for an easy touchdown. And I don't know
6:07like I don't want to say he was bad because he was like the number one running back on the week. He was
6:11fantastic, right?
6:13But like he's very obviously not that amazing of a running back. And their next couple weeks are at Seahawks versus the Rams at the Chiefs. So like you can
6:20look good against Dallas. Do you look good in Seattle, against the Rams, in Arrowhead? Those are very difficult matchups even if we had Love and Bam
6:28Knight out all three of those. He's probably only going to grade out as like a low-end running back two. So I don't
6:33want anyone to go crazy here. Um and there's still a chance that like, you know, Bam Knight misses this week and
6:37returns next week, that you know, Jeremaine Love does the same or even doesn't miss a game. We just kind of don't know at this point. Um
6:44but I think like low-end running back two if these guys miss and the odds are they'll probably miss this week. Next
6:49up, we have streaming defense. Brutal week. Absolutely brutal week for streaming defense. The only option I'm seeing is the Houston Texans. Um, I'm
6:58good spending 5 or 6%. I usually suggest only like three, maybe 4%on the top defenses, but I'm good going up to like
7:046%on them because you've got at Chargers this week, but then also out at Browns next week, and then versus the Colts
7:10after that. So you can use them each of the next three weeks. That's going to be really, really nice. They're probably a
7:14top three defense each of the next three weeks. Um if they're not available, there's really nothing else that's that great. So I'd say go with your gut. Um
7:22I'd say look ahead to other other um weeks, but also maybe just keep the defense that you have right now if
7:27you're okay with them. Um yeah, there's just there's no other defense that stands out. Just look at the rankings when they drop tonight. Uh other tight
7:34end options you can go to are Mike Gesicki or Eli Reedon. So for Gesicki, he's someone that's like had spikes in
7:41the past, but it's like so up and down.
7:43And he has weeks this year where it's like he scored a touchdown, but it was on like one catch. And so even with the
7:48touchdown, you're like, okay, well how much did I even want that production there? Um We have a spike this week. Obviously
7:54Burrow throws for a million yards.
7:56Obviously it was a perfect game script for the Bengals, right? They fall behind. They seem you can throw on. Like it just made all the sense in the world
8:02they were going to go off there. Um but the thing with Gesicki is does he get the snaps? He's up and down because they
8:08have so many of these games where they either get up and utilize other tight ends or they just have this big rotation
8:12at tight end and they just kind of don't need Gesicki. But they have multiple other tight ends now on IR like done for
8:18the season likely. And so he's going to have an opportunity to play 60-65%of snaps most weeks moving forward. And if that's the case and we're not randomly
8:28dipping down to like 30-35%, well all of a sudden he's just on the field more. In this offense as their number three pass
8:36catcher, he's going to have, you know, a much higher floor and that's really all we're asking for for Gesicki to not go
8:42out there and have zero catches or one catch in these games. Obviously every tight end could do that. But a little
8:48exciting if he's actually going to see a decent snap share moving forward. He also does have a touchdown in all but
8:52one game this season. So he's having a good year. The snaps should be there now. The opportunity should be there now. So probably not going to grade out
9:00as like a top five tight end most weeks.
9:01But if he goes out there in the next like two weeks, plays 65%of the snaps, has like three, four receptions at least
9:08in each game, we will be talking about him as a more consistent option. Cuz on the Bengals you just have more
9:13opportunities to score touchdowns.
9:15Other option again Eli Rerdon, really just comes down to Hunter Henry. We've been talking about him you know, really the last month being like even with
9:22Henry healthy, he's a rookie tight end that this team really likes. He's a receiving option, red zone threat. Um Didn't hit the last week
9:31in what was a good spot, but the the weather was also slight concern there.
9:35But we have the injury to Hunter Henry, foot injury, leaves the game, doesn't return.
9:40Um We don't know yet. It does actually seem like Henry could play this week, could miss no time. If that happens, you know,
9:46I think again worth the speculative add.
9:48You add on Eli Rerdon if you're not in love with your tight end spot and you can't get Mike Gesicki or Terrance
9:53Ferguson. If Hunter Henry returns, you can drop him. That's fine. Go with someone else. But if Gesicki or Gesicki, if Hunter Henry doesn't return. If
10:00Hunter Henry doesn't play this coming week, Rerdon's probably going to grade out as like a high end tight end two.
10:06And that won't be too bad. He'll have a decent role in the red zone. And remember all the injuries that the
10:10Patriots do have at wide receiver. So, if we went into the week with Breida on as that lead tight end on this team,
10:16he'd be solid in fantasy. Uh streaming tight ends, number one I think uh by a good chunk is Malik Willis. 15 and a
10:23half or more fantasy points in three consecutive weeks. His wide receivers are now healthy, and the the match up is much better, right? Verse the Lions this
10:31week, at the Colts after that, so you could get two weeks of streaming option here. Uh the mobility is there, but
10:38again, just I think having um the mobility and mixed with all three of those top wide receivers healthy now, it just gives him more options, more play
10:47makers they're utilizing um Greg Dulcich a little more, which you really like.
10:50So, not someone who's going to go out there and have like 30 fantasy points very often, but someone who should be
10:55consistent, and if you need a streaming option, you don't love yours. Um buys aren't really a big deal this week. Um
11:02I think it's like the Steelers and the Titans, so you're it's not really that much of concern. Uh but, if you had, you
11:08know, an option that has a tough match up, maybe he's a good go-to there. All these other options are either okay or
11:15more superflex. So, people want me to talk about superflex a little more.
11:18There are actually a lot of options like at the end there for for um you know, non-starting quarterbacks right now that
11:25will eventually become starters. Um so, just keep an option for you in superflex. So, we'll start off with just like the the normal actual starters. Sam
11:32Darnold, mediocre last night, um but he's upcoming, he's got verse the Cardinals and at the Raiders. So, good options. Um he's never really going to
11:40be someone who grades out as like a top 10 quarterback, but again, superflex leagues, not bad. McCarthy, um playing really well right now. Um had
11:50the buy to kind of catch up. Remember, he like joined the team and almost instantly was the starting quarterback and he's playing well, so having the buy
11:56helps a lot there. At the Eagles, verse the Commanders up next. Uh not someone I'd really want to stream in a classic
12:02one quarterback 12 team league, but what if he does go out there and has another like two good performances in a row,
12:08maybe we will start to talk about him as someone. So, uh speculative add potentially there. Uh you've got Minshew starting this week and probably Becht
12:16taking over at some point. I think they're going to go to Minshew short-term. They've got at the Seahawks, versus the Rams, at the Chiefs. We
12:23talked about this with Algeier, right?
12:25That's brutal. You're not starting or streaming Gardner Minshew for those matchups unless it's superflex. But, after that opens up a little bit, they
12:33have a really nice playoff strength of schedule. So, Carson Becht also worth a speculative add in superflex leagues just because um if he becomes a starter
12:42late season, he's actually going to have some decent options in fantasy. Um Anthony Richardson, Daniel Jones is going to start this week, but Anthony
12:50Richardson's probably going to get his opportunity again after that. Um Thing is he's not going to have anyone to throw to. Like they might be trading
12:57Josh Downs, they could also trade Keenan Allen. If they do that, they're probably just not going to bring back Alec Pierce
13:02this season. And so, you know, Anthony Richardson with literal scrubs against That team has no real talent right now at pass-catcher. Um like they have um
13:11Warren, they have Downs, they have Keenan. But, that's not enough for like Anthony Richardson to do anything. If you remove two of those three options
13:18and you only had Tyler Warren at tight end, like gosh, he's going to do terrible. But again, superflex option.
13:25And then Mendoza, like Kirk Cousins is playing really well right now. They're four and four, only two games back of the division. So obviously they're still
13:32in it. But, next three weeks are San Fran, Seattle, and Denver. They could lose those three and then win against Cleveland and go into bye. And if they
13:40come out of the week or week 13 bye in week 14, um they could be close to out of it at that
13:46point. And then maybe we do see Mendoza.
13:48Uh or we could just see Cousins struggle like against San Fran and Seattle, and maybe we see Mendoza earlier than that.
13:55But, I think week 14 we end up seeing Fernando Mendoza. Uh so again, worth a speculative add in superflex. Other running back options, so I think number
14:04one remaining on the list is Seth Magaellan. Uh again, the Colts are sellers, right? The Colts could be selling Downs, they could be selling
14:11Keenan Allen, but they really could be trading away Jonathan Taylor at the deadline. Um that would instantly vault Seth McGowan up to running back two
14:19status rest of season.
14:20Um no way he should be a free agent in any league, but he's available in 52%of sleeper leagues. Again, you'll know them
14:27in the next week. He needs to be rostered everywhere. Uh Chris Rodriguez playing really well right now. Etienne is obviously that lead back, but for
14:35C-Rod elite handcuff, right? If Etienne went down, you've got someone they trust that would be very good in fantasy. But also upcoming, I mean Jacksonville is a
14:43great offense. They play the Ravens with no Lamar, the Titans, the Giants, the Titans again. Um some of those aren't amazing matchups for running backs, but
14:51like the Jaguars should be heavily favored. They're probably going to win in decent fashion, probably in all of them honestly, but in a few of them at
14:59least. And so if you ran into a spot where you needed someone at running back two and just needed points, C-Rod
15:05probably will be an okay option all four of those. Not going to grade out as a running back two, but will be an option
15:10to use, which is more than you can say about a lot of running backs on free agency. Uh and then Tyjae Spears, um
15:15again trade speculation. We're finally going to know is um Tony Pollard going to be traded by the deadline. Spears become an option. Nick
15:24Singleton could become an option. Uh likelihood is it's a gross running back by committee on a bad team, but uh you'd
15:31have running backs that are not rostered anywhere all of a sudden being starting options. Uh wide receiver, you basically got a bunch of wide receiver that are
15:39worth like one to four percent of your fab. There's really no standout wide receiver this week. Uh I have the order
15:45listed as Antonio Williams first, um jumped to an 83%snap share in his first week without Terry McLaurin. We had the broadcast talking about how like they
15:54want to utilize him heavily rest of season. They want to continue getting him more touches. Clearly a talented rookie wide receiver. Um
16:02he's never going to be like a weekly fantasy wide receiver two that we trust at least like this season, but if you
16:09know, Jayden Daniels can stay healthy, could he be a wide receiver three, a flex option for us? I have him right now
16:14graded rest of season as a wide receiver four, but there's room to go up there, right? If he continues to play like 85%
16:20of snaps, gets, you know, seven, eight targets in games, we're going to be a lot more excited than we are right now,
16:26but I think he's a good option. Adonai Mitchell, pretty frustrating situation, honestly.
16:31So, he returns from injury last week, has zero catches on three targets.
16:36And Omar Cooper goes off. And then they basically flip. Then Omar Cooper does nothing this week, and Adonai Mitchell is the one that goes off for seven for
16:43142 and a touchdown on nine targets. Um basically split in routes. Omar Cooper actually ran one more route than Adonai Mitchell. Um honestly, long-term, I
16:53think it's basically both Omar and Adonai should be rostered in all formats. It's a messy wide receiver two situation right now. Uh basically, we
17:01just got to see what happens. I probably would say bench both of them this coming week, and we'll just see how things
17:07shake out. Is it Adonai again, and we can trust him? Does it keep flip-flopping? Is it more even? I don't know what's going to happen. No one
17:13knows what's going to happen, but both need to be rostered cuz they're clearly both talented, clearly both have upside.
17:19Uh we just can't totally trust them just yet. Uh Keenan Allen, this is all the speculation, right? Uh does Josh Downs
17:26get traded, in which case you have Keenan Allen as a clear number one receiver? Does Keenan Allen get traded?
17:31If so, does he go to somewhere like I mean, basically, the the options we like are San Fran, um the Rams, and the
17:37Chiefs. Those three are looking at wide receiver right now. So, whether it is Keenan Allen, whether it is Josh Downs, whether it is uh Brian Thomas Jr.,
17:46whoever gets traded to those situations, we're going to like them in fantasy.
17:49Obviously, we know wide receivers traded in season, it doesn't typically work out. But, um for all three of them, it's not really working out right now. Uh
17:57Keenan Allen's doing fine, but he's not someone we trust yet. So, it's still like probably going to be a benefit to
18:01them long-term, but we don't know. Does Allen stay? Does he get traded? Uh either way, value could increase, unless it is Downs gets traded, JT gets traded,
18:11they keep Keenan Allen, and then transition to Anthony Richardson. That's probably like the worst outcome that could happen, but it is possible. So,
18:17that would be unfortunate. Uh but again, worth rostering. Uh Caleb Douglas um didn't have another amazing day, but had another good day and he still looks very
18:26good. I think Caleb Douglas is definitely a talented wide receiver, good matchups upcoming. Not going to see a ton of volume on Miami, but he's
18:33clearly a talented wide receiver and I just want to be like rostering talented rookie wide receivers on my bench cuz you never know what the ceiling could be
18:41for the rest of the season, especially in the second half of the year. Brian Thomas again, alluded to that one before. Does he land on San Fran, KC,
18:48the Rams?
18:50Obviously, these are huge upgrades, you know, talented quarterback play, great schemes and we'll know over the next week. I have him in one league. I've
18:58just been holding on to him. If he's not traded by the deadline, I'll probably end up dropping him, but if he is, I'll
19:03be excited about the potential that's there. Malachi Fields, good connection with McCarthy right now and it's basically like he's clearly the
19:11starting X wide receiver. We could see, number one, the post-bye rookie bump.
19:15Number two, what if McCarthy just prefers him? I mean, we saw going into the bye, he preferred throwing to Malachi Fields over Likely, whereas
19:23Winston preferred Likely over Fields.
19:25Different quarterbacks just prefer different players. If that sticks long-term, maybe we could be using him as kind of a wide receiver three rest of
19:31season. You got Treylon Burks. Looked explosive. Honestly, this is the best Burks has looked in his entire career.
19:38Remember that he was a former first round wide receiver. I still prefer Antonio Williams, but Burks is going to run a ton of routes. He's going to be on
19:46the field plenty.
19:47He's got a shot of also being, you know, a low-end wide receiver three rest of season, maybe kind of like a second flex
19:52type player.
19:53If he continues to look this good.
19:54Again, he looked really, really good in that game. Travis Hunter, Josh Downs, last two we'll go over.
20:01Same thing, right? If Brian Brian Thomas Jr. is traded away, Josh Cameron steps into those snaps and maybe it increases how much they utilize Travis Hunter on
20:11offense. Both more speculative adds, deeper leagues, even a 12-team league.
20:15If you had Brian Thomas Jr. traded, Josh Cameron, Travis Hunter, they don't become players that you can consistently trust every week. It'd be more like a 14
20:24or 16 team league for them. All right, that's how waiver wire is looking for me this week. I added a feature to league
20:31sync on the website where you can see the rest of season rankings kind of below the waiver wire suggestions and so
20:36you can see, okay, this is where my team lines up rest of season. This is also where the free agents line up rest of
20:43season. So you can very cleanly see exactly who you could add and there's also going to be a column once the
20:48weekly projections are released that shows you the weekly projection as well.
20:52So both live on the website and the app, please check that out and let me know if any other features you want to see
20:57added. I can do that. Hopefully I'm very hopeful that Yahoo will also be added soon. I finally got in contact with
21:04someone at Yahoo and so I'm hoping to get API access soon, but we will see. So tomorrow's video is the trade video,
21:12Thursday we've got waiver wire, Friday we've got underdog. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any of those. Please leave a like if you are
21:18still here. That's all for this one and thank you all for watching.
