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Week 2 Waiver Wire - The Most Important One This Season

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

54 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 15, 2026
Published
Tue, September 15, 2026
31
Player insights
29
Players mentioned
Topics
Caleb DouglasMalik WashingtonAdonai MitchellAntonio WilliamsBrenton StrangeBrock BowersBryce YoungCarson WentzChristian McCaffreyDe'Zhaun StriblingDeebo SamuelDemarcus RobinsonDevin SingletaryJack Bech
Player analysis

Player insights

31

Adonai Mitchell

PositiveValue43:34

Adonai Mitchell is a viable touchdown-hunting option despite low volume. He played 69% of snaps and 23 of 28 routes in Week 1. While he won't see 7-8 targets per game, he is locked into two-receiver sets and has high scoring potential in favorable upcoming matchups.

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Antonio Williams

NegativeSleeper37:35

Antonio Williams is a talented dynasty stash but is currently an injury-dependent option for redraft leagues. He is buried behind Terry McLaurin, Stephon Diggs, and Jahan Dotson on the depth chart, making it difficult for him to earn consistent routes without an injury to the starters.

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Brenton Strange

NegativeRole29:54

Brenton Strange is a productive tight end on a high-scoring team, but his fantasy value is limited by a 58% route share and his role as a secondary option behind other pass catchers. He is a touchdown-dependent play who benefits from the Jaguars' increased use of 12 and 13 personnel.

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Brock Bowers

PositiveInjury26:40

Brock Bowers is currently out following surgery, which has opened up a significant target opportunity for Michael Mayer in the Raiders' passing attack.

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Bryce Young

PositiveMatchup49:05

Bryce Young has streaming value for Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons, a defense he has historically performed well against.

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Caleb Douglas

PositiveBreakout19:41

Caleb Douglas is a priority waiver add; he commanded a 42.7% team yardage market share in Week 1, the third-highest for a rookie WR over the last six seasons. Despite the Dolphins' low scoring output, Douglas is an immediate starter with no veteran depth behind him, and his skill set aligns with Malik Willis's aggressive downfield passing game.

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PositiveBreakout30:38

Caleb Douglas is the preferred Dolphins wide receiver add over Malik Washington. He posted a 42.7% team yardage market share in week one, the third-highest for a rookie in six seasons. He is a big-strider who creates separation, though the Dolphins' overall offensive outlook remains uncertain due to quarterback play.

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Carson Wentz

PositiveValue47:20

Carson Wentz is a must-add in Superflex leagues while Kyler Murray is in concussion protocol. He showed efficiency in relief, and the Vikings' offensive system has historically supported fantasy-relevant quarterback production.

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Christian McCaffrey

NegativeProjection23:39

Despite the increased usage of Kalen Black, the source advises against panic-selling Christian McCaffrey. While his expected fantasy points dropped compared to last season, he remains the primary option for receptions and red-zone work, and the team's commitment to keeping him fresh could actually improve his efficiency.

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De'Zhaun Stribling

NegativeInjury9:56

Deshaun Stripling is sidelined for at least the next month with a deltoid strain. Before the injury, he was the 49ers' leading receiver in snaps and routes run, creating a significant void in the offense that Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel are now filling.

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Deebo Samuel

PositiveRole10:14

Deebo Samuel is the preferred 49ers wide receiver add following Deshaun Stripling's injury. Despite playing only 42% of snaps in week one, he remains a focal point, utilized in the slot and backfield. The source expects him to benefit from the current offensive situation, though his role may fluctuate as the team rotates receivers.

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Demarcus Robinson

NegativeUsage10:08

Following Deshaun Stripling's injury, Demarcus Robinson led the 49ers with a 77% route share. While he is a viable deeper-league add, the source prefers Deebo Samuel due to Robinson's long-term history and the likelihood that the team will rotate their wide receivers rather than giving Robinson a locked-in role in two-WR sets.

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Devin Singletary

NegativeUsage36:40

Despite a touchdown performance, the source is not buying into Devin Singletary's long-term fantasy value, viewing his usage as a product of specific game script rather than a sustainable role.

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Jack Bech

NegativeRole39:53

Jack Besh played only 40% of snaps and 13 of 32 routes in Week 1. While he played a pseudo-move tight end role at LSU, the source does not see the Raiders fully committing to him as a primary passing game option while Brock Bowers is sidelined.

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Jalen Coker

PositiveValue3:29

Jalen Coker is a top priority waiver add, with the source suggesting managers should unload half their FAAB budget. Despite being the WR55 in ADP, he is projected as a top-36 WR rest-of-season. He is an 84% snap player who runs routes in two-WR sets and has shown consistent production dating back to last season, out-targeting teammate Tashro McMillan.

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Jonathon Brooks

NegativeUsage53:33

Jonathan Brooks is a hold. He played only 19% of snaps in Week 1 while Chuba Hubbard handled 71% of touches. The backfield is not as easy to overtake as previously expected, but he remains a stash.

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Kalif Raymond

PositiveBust24:54

Despite a productive week one, Khalif Raymond is considered a bottom-tier waiver target. His usage is expected to decline once Rome Odunze returns to full health and the team incorporates more 12/13 personnel. He is viewed as a secondary option in the Bears' offense, similar to his role in Detroit, and not a reliable fantasy starter.

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Kendre Miller

NegativeUsage33:19

Kendra Miller is a viable waiver pickup who saw 29% of snaps and handled both carries inside the 10-yard line. While his lack of passing-game involvement is a concern, he could emerge as a goal-line specialist or a 'Jordan Mason-type' asset if the backfield rotation continues.

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Kendrick Bourne

PositiveSleeper41:00

Kendrick Bourne is a recommended waiver add after recording 8 receptions for 75 yards on 8 targets in Week 1. He played 67% of snaps and has a history with coach LaFleur, who is utilizing him on underneath patterns. The source suggests he could potentially finish as a top-three receiver on the Cardinals.

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Kenneth Gainwell

NegativeUsage49:26

Kenny Gainwell is a low-priority roster spot, as he saw only a 39% route share in a losing game script and is not being utilized in the red zone or as a primary pass-catcher. He is effectively a handcuff only.

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Malik Washington

NegativeDepth Chart20:24

The source prefers Caleb Douglas over Malik Washington as a waiver priority, noting that Douglas has a more direct path to volume and snaps in the current Dolphins offense.

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NegativeUsage30:38

Malik Washington saw significant usage in week one, playing 98% of snaps alongside Caleb Douglas. While he is a high-target PPR slot receiver, he struggled with efficiency on deep targets, catching only three of eight targets. He is considered a secondary option behind Douglas in the Dolphins' offense.

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Michael Mayer

PositiveRole26:49

Michael Mayer is a top-12 tight end option while Brock Bowers is sidelined. He saw 81% of snaps and six receptions in his debut. The source expects him to remain a key part of the offense even after Bowers returns, as the team will likely utilize 12-personnel heavily.

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Mike Gesicki

NegativeUsage45:45

Mike Gesicki produced 5 receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown on only 33% of snaps in Week 1. He functioned as a slot receiver, but his production is unpredictable and likely unsustainable unless the Bengals continue to utilize four-wide sets.

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Pat Freiermuth

PositiveValue45:10

Pat Freiermuth is a recommended waiver add, playing 73% of snaps and running 35 of 46 routes in Week 1. The Steelers' pass-heavy approach and his rapport with the coaching staff make him a viable bye-week fill-in tight end.

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Rashod Bateman

NegativeUsage50:47

Rashad Bateman recorded zero production in Week 1 despite injuries to teammates. He is not recommended for fantasy rosters if Zay Flowers is active.

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Romeo Doubs

NegativeUsage50:32

Romeo Dobbs had a disappointing Week 1 with zero production on 56% of snaps. While he saw increased route participation after AJ Brown's injury, his outlook remains dicey.

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Terrance Ferguson

PositiveUsage51:11

Terrence Ferguson is a hold in tight-end-premium leagues. Despite a zero-point Week 1, he ran routes on 73% of dropbacks in the first half, and the Rams' heavy usage of 13 personnel suggests future opportunity.

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Terry McLaurin

NegativeMatchup38:51

Terry McLaurin struggled against the Eagles in Week 1, but the source remains unconcerned, noting his historical difficulty against this specific defense and expecting better production moving forward.

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Tony Pollard

NegativeUsage51:55

Tony Pollard is in a 50/50 backfield split with Tajay Spears and is on a struggling team, making it difficult to project him for consistent 15-touch games.

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Tyrone Tracy

NegativeBust49:19

Tyrone Tracy is considered an immediate drop in fantasy leagues as he has lost his role in the Giants' backfield.

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Full transcript

Episode Transcript

657
0:00You know what time it is. The Waiver Wire is already here.
0:03And, you know, we try to get everything right in week one.
0:07But man, there were some shockers and some surprises.
0:10And so it's time to take advantage of that and get it all correct on the week two Waiver Wire.
0:15Our guy, Joel Smyth, joins us and we dive into over a dozen names at wide receiver and running back and tight end and even at quarterback.
0:23So whatever your league format is, super flex, tight end premium, full PPR, all that type of stuff.
0:28We've got you covered on the players to target and the players to avoid here on Yahoo Fantasy Football with Josh & Hayden.
0:35I have a feeling that the week two Waiver Wire will be the biggest, the most important of the season for a few reasons here, Joel.
0:42First, how much of our fab should we throttle in the direction of maybe some big players that we talked about last
0:49week that could change your season or maybe put a whole bunch of bids in for a few others that could be really nice like bench fodder.
0:56And then also, and maybe most importantly, Joel, you and I today are going to try to figure out the players to avoid though.
1:03Maybe one week wonders, maybe some pessimism where other people have optimism and that's where we're going to let them unload their budget on those guys.
1:11Yeah, it's a big week. We talked about this last week, but like even if week one, that doesn't seem like there's
1:17these huge obvious names, a big running back injury.
1:20There's gold in here somewhere. We might not know exactly, but last year, like there was Kenny Gainwell, Trevor Lawrence, and everyone's
1:26like, ah, like we're not picking them up. I would pick them up and then they're top 24 running backs, top five to quarterbacks.
1:33There's gold here somewhere. So let's try to find it.
1:36Yeah, I might even try to take the opposite stance of you on a few of these just to like deliver the,
1:42you know, opposite end of the argument. But I have a feeling that we might agree on a lot of this stuff.
1:49Typically how this episode goes. And by the way, hit subscribe.
1:52This is going to post after Monday Night Football every single week of the NFL season.
1:56So if you're new around here, hit like, hit subscribe and join us for this.
2:01We typically try to stay with players on Yahoo rostered in fewer than 50% of leagues.
2:05And then we'll do a deep cut section that's less than 25%.
2:09But we have to start with the wide receiver one on the week.
2:13And that is Jalen Coker, despite him being already on 61% of Yahoo rosters out there.
2:17I'll just lead with this line, Joel. Okay. Of the Panthers last eight games dating back to week 12 of last season, including the playoffs.
2:24Jalen Coker, 39 receptions, 548 yards and six touchdowns.
2:27T-Mac, 26 receptions, 422 yards and three scores. And we know that continued this past Sunday.
2:32Yeah, I am a big Jalen Coker fan. I have two, like I have a little devil and angel on my shoulder.
2:38Like one side is telling me like week one, the receivers last season, you would have been better off not knowing how
2:44they did in week one going to the rest of the season.
2:48There was negative correlation last season for receivers in that first week.
2:51But on the other side, it's what you said.
2:54Like this is not a one game sample to me.
2:57If we go back to week 13 last year, he has out-targeted Tashro McMillan going into this week.
3:02He out-targeted him then he did it again. It was nine to eight.
3:06But the point is like, he's getting good volume.
3:08He's had multiple games that have been very, very, very good.
3:11Another blow up here. Probably not going to be the greatest defense this year in Chicago, but still you got to roster him every single year.
3:19And I feel like he's a flex in some leagues.
3:22That's the point to me where if he was available in your league and most of you out there, he will not be.
3:28Joel, I think I would unload half my fab budget on him because he was the wide receiver 55 when drafts closed just a couple weeks ago.
3:36Wouldn't you view him as a wide receiver 36 at worst the rest of the season?
3:41And if we're talking about three wide receivers, which a lot of your leagues will start, if not, that's potentially a flex
3:47option for you on any given week. I look at their schedule next week and it's the Atlanta Falcons, a team that
3:53this passing offense has torched in recent seasons. This is an 84% snap player.
3:57He's out there in two wide receiver sets versus the Bears.
4:01It was like these out and ups that he was so awesome at.
4:04And then these big time crossing routes over the middle field.
4:08Like Joel, he looked just as talented over this eight ish game sample that we're talking about here as you know, the
4:14first rounder that he's playing next to and Terry McMillan.
4:17And I want to trust my eyes on a trust the usage.
4:20And I also want to trust Brad. Is it calling plays and that they're going to be more explosive and more aggressive down the field?
4:27So Jalen Coker for me is a top 36 wide receiver option rest of season.
4:32Yeah, I agree. And I know it's a weird one because he is like the wide receiver two on a team that
4:38you wouldn't think is going to be like amazing as a passing offense.
4:42But they don't really have anywhere else to go, which I feel like a lot of people like look past sometimes.
4:48Like in Cincinnati, when people talk about that with Tee Higgins, it's like, all right, well, their wide receiver three is Andre Yoshibosh.
4:54And then they have Mike Jasicki worked in week one for Mike Jasicki.
4:58But generally, it's like we like Carolina. They don't have a wide receiver three.
5:02They really get they don't really have a tight end that they throw to like it is Coker and McMillan.
5:08And this defense does not look good, which might help them, too.
5:11Yeah, it's going to be very, very much fun.
5:14I don't think Coker gets enough credit for how athletic he is.
5:18I talked about this in the Sunday Night Recap show.
5:20He's big and fast. He can break tackles with strength.
5:23That's we saw in the other goal line. The sideline awareness that he has, too.
5:28And he can win with a quarterback draped on his back on top of it.
5:32These big crossing routes to build up speed. So we like funneled offenses.
5:36And I like and I think it's an undervalued story that they did make a play calling change on offense.
5:41So they're going to be able to start aggressive, put their pedal to the floor early on.
5:46And it's these big downfield patterns that Coker is so successful.
5:50And OK, we're in agreement there. Let's go to San Francisco.
5:53I mean, they played all the way back last Thursday.
5:56That seems like a couple weeks ago. We know my guy, Deshaun Stripling, is at least going to be sidelined for the next month.
6:02And so the two wide receivers that stepped in kind of in his place were Demarcus Robinson and Debo Samuel.
6:08For D-Rob here, 63% of snaps, the second most on the team at wide receiver, played on 22 of 37 dropbacks.
6:14Debo Samuel, though, posted a stat line of seven, six catches, 48 yards, and a score, despite playing 42% of snaps, which
6:21was third on the team, and 20 of 37 dropbacks.
6:24So how are you weighing these two names on an offense that we want pieces of?
6:28I prefer Debo. And yeah, offense we want pieces of.
6:31And for those at home, I know you know this, Josh.
6:34But for the importance of this, Stripling's injury, he was the leading receiver in snaps before the injury.
6:39So this isn't like, oh, he was like potentially going to play, and now you don't have to worry about this.
6:45Like he was on the field almost every single play.
6:48So Robinson and Debo are stepping in for that.
6:51Debo's usage is a little interesting. Like he played less than half of his snaps last week as an outside receiver.
6:57Like it was slot and backfield. He'll get his carries, you know.
7:00He'll get some of those easy targets. So I would have Debo above Robinson, just given Robinson's like very long history in the NFL.
7:07But Robinson's a fine deeper league ad. They liked him a lot in camp this year.
7:12They did. And you know, D-Rob has had his moments in recent seasons.
7:16You know, the LA Rams from 23 and 24.
7:18He would pop up there for, you know, as a real like red zone target winner and touchdown winner on top of it.
7:25JJ Zacharyson posted this, that after Deshaun Stripling's injury, Demarcus Robinson led the 49ers in route share at 77%.
7:30Pre-injury, like you said, Stripling was the leading team in routes run, which really hurts, man.
7:35I mean, if we ever talked about the process winning out, the strip club was open.
7:40And while it was empty at first, it was going to be a big party.
7:44You know, at some point, if you run the most routes on the team, you're going to get some targets.
7:50And that was going to happen for him. The Debo usage was interesting to me because it kind of felt like he never left.
7:57Like he had three catches out of the backfield or like some type of a backfield alignment, including the touchdown.
8:02Now, some of that was with a fullback back there, a tight end and even CMC.
8:07I'm just kind of most curious of how they're going to split this up into two wide receiver sets.
8:12Like Mike Evans is kind of on a snap count.
8:15It seems like a little bit. He's going to play the most, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be as
8:22rigid and as binary as, okay, Demarcus Robinson is going to also play in two wide receiver sets.
8:27Or Debo's name was also going to be that guy.
8:30I think they're going to rotate all three of these names.
8:33And I still feel like Debo has a little bit left in the tank, like you said.
8:38Yeah. Yeah. More when his receivers are injured. So I feel like that can help Debo to just like less of the
8:44go beat this guy and one-on-one man on man coverage on the outside.
8:48It's more like, oh, something crazy happens. And Debo is the benefactor in this good offense.
8:52And this should at least work for the next month.
8:55It could last longer depending on, you know, Stribling's deltoid strain that he has here.
9:00And who knows what the timeline is for that.
9:02Okay. I love myself a post hype sleeper and the Eagles have one that had a very nice week one in Dontavian
9:09Wicks, who's only rostered in about 13% of leagues out there right now.
9:12Called two passes for 73 yards and a score.
9:15Played 91% of snaps here for the Eagles offense at his debut.
9:18Ran a route on 32 of 35 dropbacks. What'd you see when you looked at his profile?
9:23I think he can be useful. I don't know if I would trust him right now.
9:28I think a lot of people are a little bit panicked on Devontae Smith and Makai Lemon.
9:33Obviously, negative five yards. They actually had more routes than Wicks, which was Lemon was a huge surprise.
9:38But they were all like over 80% of the routes.
9:41So, Wicks still ran a ton of routes, but Lemon was out there too.
9:45So, I think it might just be more week to week between him and Lemon.
9:49Lemon and Devontae Smith is going to be hopefully, you know, that guy week to week that you can count on.
9:55But Wicks more of that touchdown dependent, bi-week feeling type of play rather than like, Oh, he broke out and now we're
10:02like getting gold off the waiver wire. It was an interesting just overall week for the Eagles offense.
10:07We'll talk about that since stats versus film tomorrow as well.
10:10They really struggled to run the ball. And Landon Dickerson was awful at left guard.
10:14Now, they were ahead for the vast majority of this game.
10:17And it didn't feel like Sean Mannion's offense was like perfectly clicking.
10:21Some of his counterparts and new play callers and quarterbacks did do that.
10:25So, that's on my radar a little bit. I did like though that a 64-yard catch was out of 13 personnel.
10:31And he was the only wide receiver on the field on that catch.
10:34And that was a big downfield pattern. And we also know on his touchdown, it was kind of running away from Mike Sandler still.
10:41So, yeah, I mean, just 25 in terms of pass attempts for Jalen Hurts.
10:45He also had like a number of scrambles on top of that.
10:49And I feel like Hurts is going to scramble a little bit more.
10:53We need that number to get up to like, you know, 30, 35 attempts for even more than one of these wide
10:59receivers to be, you know, useful on a weekly basis.
11:02And for this point, especially if Dallas Goddard continues to, you know, be a thorn in our side when it comes to fancy points.
11:09Now, no big deal. I drafted him in some markets, but, you know, Wicks was the wide receiver to like have some
11:15motion to his game here in week one. Yeah, yeah.
11:18These guys are going to be more volatile in this offense.
11:21It's low volume. Goddard's probably not scoring two touchdowns a game.
11:24We said that last year about a completely different offense, different reasons he scored here.
11:29But Goddard's fine. But yeah, it's going to be just kind of handing off who's scoring the touchdowns.
11:34So, if we have maybe some volume concerns with the Eagles, that is not the case with the New Orleans Saints.
11:40They are on the opposite end of this. Devon Valle only rostered in 7% of leagues out there.
11:45He played 91% of snaps, the most any Saints wide receiver, mainly because Chris Olauwe was in and out, in and out
11:51of the sideline, the blue 10, and back on the field.
11:55He ran the most routes on the team. 62 of 67 dropbacks posted 10 targets, 7 receptions, and 69 yards.
12:00Should Valle be a central thought and no longer an afterthought for as long as Jordan Tyson is sidelined here?
12:06Yeah, Tyson's injury is also like a huge part of this.
12:09I think he is like a really good pickup for all leagues.
12:13I don't know if I would be starting him yet unless like you have injuries or you really need a guy like
12:19he's fine or a little bit deeper leagues. It's one of those where they had a ton of plays.
12:2586 plays for the Saints yesterday. He ran 55 routes.
12:27So, most routes out of anybody in the entire NFL was Devon Valle yesterday.
12:31So, it's one side. It's probably not going to be that high.
12:35But at the same time, they are going to be a team that just has high volume.
12:40They play really fast. They have lots of those quick targets, deep targets, and they can stay on the field.
12:46So, with Shucks' volume being high, we look at the past six games with him.
12:50He was at like 35 attempts per game. So, it's not going to be the 46 or 56, I think, that he had this week.
12:57But it's still going to be high. And it's enough volume in those PPR leagues where he can be valuable.
13:03Yeah, it's as simple as to say anyone has upside on 91% of routes on a team that has 67 dropbacks or whatever it was.
13:10That's going to happen for whoever is out there catching passes if they're completing them.
13:14I will say, Kellen Moore, even if it drops down by 10 dropbacks or 15 dropbacks, he's still going to be up
13:21there in terms of pace and play among top two or three play callers in the NFL on a weekly basis.
13:27Have aspects of Devon Valle's game that I do appreciate that is kind of an outside-to-inside player.
13:32He had an ISO goal-line fade touchdown. He drew a DPI just before that to set it up.
13:37But he's kind of, you know, the underneath quick access type player here.
13:41He did have a 28-yard diving grab on top of this.
13:44But like if Chris Olave is pushing down the field and Juwan Johnson's kind of working the intermediate section, Valle kind of
13:50works in that shortish area, which isn't bad, especially, Joel, if, you know, people are in PPR leagues out there.
13:56Yeah, yeah, exactly. If you can just get lots of those like easy targets.
14:00It's my caution comes in with like Noah Fant had eight targets as well.
14:04Juwan Johnson has seven. So a lot of it is just the volume.
14:08But I think there is going to be a lot of weeks where you can get that seven plus target range.
14:14But I mean, behind him is Bryce Lance, who is an older prospect coming out of North Dakota State.
14:19And then, you know, we're getting a bunch of almost multiple tight end sets beyond a fourth wide receiver.
14:25And so they at least are going to have two wide receivers out there all the time.
14:30And so for me, Joel, if I'm trying to rank like Coker is obviously number one on this list of pickups at wide receiver.
14:37But if we go through the two 49ers guys, then Duntavian Wicks and Devon Valle, I almost want to put Valle at the top of that group.
14:44What would you think? Yeah, I think I would have Debo at my number one, but I would have Valle over Wicks for me.
14:51Okay. Well, where does Khalif Raymond fit into that?
14:54Owned in only 1% of Yahoo leagues out there.
14:56He did play 60% of snaps, which actually was the second most among Chicago wide receivers.
15:01Now we can have that conversation if that's because, you know, Romo Dunzey was limited participant in practice leading up to this.
15:07He ran around, I think, around 23 of 40 dropbacks.
15:10But he finished the day, Joel, with eight catches for 84 yards.
15:14So is this exactly what we warned against last week, where this is a 32-year-old wide receiver that has done it in other systems before?
15:21Or is this, hey, the Bears scored 59 points.
15:23This is the cheapest piece that we're going to get at any point this season.
15:28So let's buy into Khalif Raymond here. I think I have him on more of the bottom tier out of the list, out of those receivers for me.
15:36I think he had nine targets even. But it was a decent amount of volume in this game, and it was really frustrating.
15:43It was one where it's like, oh, I'm so excited about this Bears passing attack.
15:47And then you look at the box score, and you're like, oh, my gosh, this is rough.
15:52But Khalif Raymond, I think it'll just be the same as Detroit, honestly.
15:55He had 58% of the routes, and that was with a Dunzey also being at 58%.
16:00So if you're thinking that a Dunzey gets back healthy, he's at the 75% that we would expect.
16:05Raymond's the fourth option on this team, so it can work in weeks because I think this passing attack is just going
16:12to be so good, and they do spread it around.
16:14But I wouldn't count on him being this breakout player in this offense, especially over the three guys they have above him.
16:21Yeah, if we just zoom out, Roman Dunzey is going to play more snaps in other games, and that will take a
16:27pie out of or a piece of a pie out of Khalif Raymond's bucket.
16:31And then Colson Loveland's not going to finish with zero receptions, and that's going to take some things away on top of this too.
16:38And if the Colson Loveland stuff works more in the future, they'll probably run more 12 and 13 personnel looks, which would
16:44most likely sideline Khalif Raymond in those outlooks as well, because you would like to think that Roman Dunzey...
16:50I mean, even Jedi Walker was playing in the 13 personnel looks yesterday, which is kind of nuts.
16:55The team's just really good, you know? And Khalif Raymond obviously has a history with Ben Johnson in the past, but this
17:01made me look back to, okay, did Olamide Zaccheaus have a week like this last season in Ben Johnson's offense?
17:07And he did. He did have a wide receiver 13 performance in one week last year.
17:12So as much as Holy Cross had an incredible week one with both Khalif Raymond and Jalen Coker, I am leaning towards
17:18we know what this guy is going to be.
17:21He might have another week like this, but still he'll be at best the sixth or seventh option.
17:26And that is just not something that I want to even like contemplate in my flex unless I'm super desperate and loaded
17:32up on way too many bye weeks. Yeah, we're not going to be able to guess it.
17:37And I know the camp reports in training camp was that a Dunzey was that receiver in 13 personnel.
17:43So I think that too, like when he's back healthy, I'm guessing they're not going to take burden off the field in 12 personnel.
17:50Usually it'll be him in a Dunzey, but it's going to be a Dunzey on the field.
17:54But I would bet on 13 and in 12.
17:57I mean, it really was a true he knows the offense performance and that it was slot work.
18:02It was in the motion. It was short zone feel kind of intermediate patterns on three level concepts.
18:07He got him some screen targets too. So I kind of wonder if they just looked at the Carolina Panthers and like your slot corner is not good.
18:16Some of your safeties are questionable. Uh, I know all the tendencies you're going to have on defense and I'm going to
18:22exploit them with these quick passes and then some elongated plays in the intermediate section of the field too.
18:27So maybe I'm wrong, but, uh, I wouldn't buy in even if it's the cheapest piece here.
18:32I do want to bring up a rookie in Miami, Caleb Douglas rostered in 12% of Yahoo leagues out there.
18:38Malik Washington as well. These were the clear top two wide receivers on the dolphins, 91% of snaps and 98% of snaps.
18:44Joe, when you watched them, when you looked at the numbers, what does it tell you?
18:49I think it can work at times because about 50% of the targets went to these two guys over 50% of Malik.
18:55Well, it's a target. It's just to Caleb Douglas and Malik Washington and Malik.
18:59Well, this is just so aggressive when he throws the ball downfield.
19:0344% of his attempts went 15 plus yards downfield as the most in the NFL.
19:07So we look at Malik Washington. We think of him as like the eight target PPR slot receiver down below.
19:13He had 136 air yards. So him and Douglas had another hundred.
19:16Like they're both going to get a lot of those deeper targets and Washington only had three catches on those eight targets.
19:23So it's not going to be maybe as consistent, but I think there is going to be plays that can kind of,
19:29it's like you get two chunk plays and they can be worth it.
19:33When I went back and watched Caleb Douglas, I was actually really impressed.
19:36He's a huge strider that eats up ground and create separation in his breaks.
19:41Here's a note from Kyle MFF on Twitter that Caleb Douglas is 42.7% team yardage market share ranks third highest among all
19:47week one rookie wide receiver performances over the last six seasons.
19:50Now, again, though, we do have to zoom out and say that the Raiders defense might be one of the easiest ones
19:56that the Dolphins could have all season long. They only scored 13 points.
20:00Malik Willis, because of the scrambling and, you know, barely having as many drives, only 27 drop back, 27 passing attempts, I should say.
20:07But then only completed 15 of those and took five sacks on top of it.
20:11So I don't know if week one gave me a lot of confidence that the Dolphins are going to be like a
20:18shock offense to everyone and maybe overperform expectations. With that said, I'm clearly leaning Caleb Douglas over Malik Washington of these two.
20:24Yeah, I would agree. I think if you're picking these guys up, what you're hoping for is they turn into what the
20:30Panthers and Saints kind of look like. Like maybe defenses that are allowing a lot of points, they're playing from behind and
20:37they can just stay on the field and have lots of volume that way.
20:41What we saw against the Raiders yesterday, it was a lot of, oh, the Dolphins got the ball back on a turnover or something.
20:48And then it's a three now. So I think if they can stay away from that, they can maybe get to like the Saints path.
20:55Yeah, we've talked about mystery boxes in the past and maybe being aggressive when we see those compared to your league mates,
21:01your buddies wanting to see another week. Before they commit enough of their fab budget.
21:06And I think Caleb Douglas is one of those to me.
21:09Like if he was a, you know, second, third ish round overall draft pick and he's an immediate starter on this team
21:15that has no wide receiver depth behind it in terms of veterans.
21:18Then as long as he's healthy, he's going to learn on the job and play a ton of snaps.
21:24And like you said, Malik Willis, he's going to work from the pocket as much as possible and fire these big aggressive
21:30passes into cover two hole shots or down the field.
21:33And that is Caleb Douglas's game. So while again, just 13 points, if we zoomed out and like I said that, I
21:40want to be aggressive with Caleb Douglas here more so than I probably would have thought if I just looked at this
21:46box score without actually seeing the tape. Yeah. And just the long term with it, him being a rookie, the second half
21:52of the year, a lot of these second half rookie breakouts are the ones that are playing a lot early on might take them some time.
22:00But if they're playing out there, getting their targets, then it's a lot easier for them to have that breakout.
22:05Seven targets, five receptions, 94 yards for him. Okay.
22:08Let's again, rewind it all the way back to Thursday and go to our one big running back name.
22:14And that is Kalen Black. He's rostered on 27% of Yahoo leagues right now.
22:18Again, a stat from Kyle M. This was the first time a 49ers running back two in CMC both saw 10 plus
22:24carries in the same game since 2023. That was a huge takeaway for me, Joel, when watching this, that this was the
22:30most I've ever seen in the CMC era. A backup or running back two touched the football.
22:35How do we handle that then with if you have CMC or if you don't?
22:39Some of it is so cloudy because they've reported that he had cramps and the travel, all that, where it's like, ah,
22:46like how much was it from the cramps that he's actually not playing?
22:50How much is because they trust Black? So I wouldn't count on Black as a fill in.
22:54I don't think he's going to be like a Manunga Coram where it's like you can get away with putting him in
23:01your flex every once in a while. I think CMC is going to get the reception.
23:05CMC is going to get the red zone work, we would expect.
23:09But as a handcuff, he looks amazing because like Jordan James is their other option.
23:13He's dealing with injuries. He already has more career snaps than Jordan James now.
23:17So I think that it's going to be Black, like clearly if CMC goes down and we know this offense, CMC, we know the history.
23:24So as that backup option, I think he should be on all rosters.
23:28It's interesting you brought this name. I actually kind of think that Kalen Black is Manunga adjacent here in that he got
23:34the 14 carries compared to CMC's 10. I don't know if I'm buying and, you know, attributing this to, oh, CMC had
23:41cramps and that's why Kalen Black got more. I'm more leaning on the side of, hey, Kalen has talked up for multiple seasons and especially this summer.
23:49We want to give CMC more of a rest than we have in the past, right?
23:53And to me, they followed through with that in week one.
23:56And proof of concept showed itself in that CMC had more like 10 plus yard runs in a single game than he did at any point last year.
24:04You know, he looked more explosive. He looked more fluid and he looked like he had some juice to his game versus last year.
24:11He was just a total volume sponge and that was it.
24:15And so I think they trust Kalen Black enough in pass protection.
24:18Obviously, you want CMC out there in the passing game.
24:21But also just as a pure north-south runner that I kind of think this is legit usage that we're going to get
24:27something like this more and more often. I don't know what that means for CMC.
24:32We'll talk about it in stats versus film where he dropped down to like running back 12 and expected fancy points compared
24:38to being like the running back one almost every single time last season.
24:42But Joel, again, I'll ask this question. Maybe you don't have a clear answer because I didn't set you up for it prior to the show.
24:49But would you be more aggressive if you drafted CMC to get Kalen Black?
24:53Or is this more of a play that if you didn't draft CMC, you would even prioritize him even more?
24:59Maybe as I think it would still be if you roster.
25:02Yeah, yeah. Because it's like you're not going to play them both.
25:06So it is like if you take them, you're waiting for like something bad to happen, which sucks.
25:11I think it's like positive either way, though. So with CMC, he had 20 receiving yards and he didn't score a touchdown
25:17in a game where the 49ers scored a few touchdowns.
25:20And he still was like 13, 14 fantasy points.
25:23So I don't think it's like the end of the world for CMC.
25:26Like I think he has a lot better weeks ahead.
25:29I wouldn't like panic sell or anything, especially with the murkiness of it.
25:33But yeah, Black is definitely looks a lot more legit than anything that they've had since trading for CMC.
25:38I'll say this. We spent, you know, six, seven names at the top of the show talking about wide receivers.
25:44If your wide receiver room is full and you drafted some really good names and like Jalen Coker already or, you know,
25:50Matthew Golden later on in drafts because he was going way too late.
25:54And your running back room is thin, then I would prioritize Kalen Black actually above many of the wide receiver names that we talked about.
26:01And I'm not saying that, oh, he's going to be a must start every single week.
26:06You know, in this one, it was 14 carries for 65 yards, just one reception for five yards on one target because
26:12he played what 12 of 37 dropbacks. But as a fill in for bye weeks, once we get to that point, or
26:19as like an emergency player, Joel, you can do worse as like the running back two that might get 33 to 45%
26:25of the work on the 49ers versus a guy that might be getting 45% of the work on like the Cleveland Browns, for example.
26:32Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's new Jordan Mason and Jordan Mason had lots of value back in his day.
26:37Yes. Great point. Okay. Some big tight end names.
26:40Since we spoke, Brock Bowers had surgery. That would have been great to know during fantasy draft season.
26:45Michael Mayer is still only rostered in 26% of Yahoo leagues at the moment.
26:49So we've, since we've seen his debut as as tight end one for the team again, uh, 81% of snaps ish 25 or 32 routes.
26:56I believe he was the only tight end who saw the field other than Connor Hayward, who's kind of like a fullback tight end hybrid.
27:03So just overall Joel rest of season and just in recent weeks coming up here too.
27:08What do you think of Michael Mayer? Pretty positive for the recent weeks part.
27:12Like as long as Bowers is out, like I'm fine starting them as a top 12 player.
27:17Wasn't incredible this week, but he had six receptions.
27:20Like that's pretty rare for a tight end in fantasy.
27:22I think he'll have it more than 32 yards.
27:25Most of the time when he does have those six receptions.
27:28So I think he's one of the top options in this offense, like just looking at the receiver room and he didn't go didn't touchdowns and goes away.
27:36That sort of thing. Jensen got a couple of those red zone touchdown catches, but like a long term, as long as Bowers is out.
27:43Mayer has legit receiving ability. I think if you go back to his time at Notre Dame, they built their passing attack
27:50around him, his final season, the fighting Irish. Now he's always going to be next to Brock Bowers for as long as Bowers is on the field.
27:58And so his receiving work won't be and look as promising as Bauer stuff.
28:02But it's weird. Like among the pass catchers here, it was Trey Tucker who ran almost all the routes yet could only manage two receptions in 27 yards.
28:10Jalen Naylor. They paid a lot in free agency and yet the buzz all offseason is that at best he's the wide receiver too.
28:17That's three for 27. And the name that came up to me was Jack Besch, who his lone touchdown, we'll talk about
28:23him a bit later, was kind of Brock Bowers-esque in terms of a slot wide receiver and just working in zone coverage.
28:29And so to me, tying in the contract that Michael Mayer got last week on top of this, that when Bowers gets
28:36back and I mean, I really hope it's not this week.
28:39Just give him some rest. Let him heal a little bit.
28:42They're going to live out of 12 personnel. And so that's good for Michael Mayer on top of it as well.
28:48I think he has a pretty solid chance of being a top 15 fantasy points wide receiver, or excuse me, tight end the rest of the way.
28:56Yeah. Yeah, totally. And it is far like if you punt a tight end and you don't really have anybody, maybe your punt tight end didn't work.
29:04You took like Mark Andrews or something. I don't mind like just riding Mayer for now and seeing what happens because of just exactly that.
29:11Like he is, could be a better version of Cole Komet because the Raiders don't have Ramadunze or Luther Burden or Khalif Raymond even.
29:18So I think he can still be the second option in this offense, maybe third behind Jenty, but second to Brock Bowers
29:24in this passing game where he can be fine is a punt option.
29:28Yeah. The interesting part with this Raiders passing attack in week one is that it wasn't as explosive in downfield as Clint Kubiak has been in the past.
29:36And I wonder when it does become even more like that with these big downfield routes, if Michael Mayer is actually going
29:42to be the one that might be like the underneath check down guy along with Ashton Jenty.
29:47We kind of get some more easier receptions for him on top of that too.
29:51Okay. Maybe with Mendoza. Yeah. Great call. Great call.
29:54Britain's strange. It was interesting to me, Joel, that I think people didn't realize he was a top 10 scoring tight end
30:00last year when it was week 11 and beyond.
30:03And that was, you know, with Brian Thomas Jr., with Parker Washington, with Jacoby Myers on the field.
30:08And here we are in week one. And he once again is productive along with another touchdown.
30:13He played 68% of snaps, the second most of any pass catcher on the team.
30:1716 of 25 dropbacks, the third most of any pass catcher on the team.
30:21Britain's strange. Does he fit in the same area as Michael Mayer here if you're struggling in tight end or in, you know, a tight end premium league?
30:29I think right behind just because he does, he is pretty limited in Jacksonville.
30:33They also really like him as a blocker, but 58% route share.
30:37So that's not the greatest for a fourth option as well.
30:40They have Myers and Brian Thomas as well. I know Thomas left for a little bit of that game.
30:46So he's attached to a really good offense and is a good player and has good quarterback play.
30:51So that's all positive. It's just a little bit of a limited role.
30:54He's kind of like tight end common on guy to bring that name up again.
30:59Like where it's just like you're not really banking on him to have high volume or to get in the end zone very often.
31:06But good player on a good team. Exactly. And that's so important at the tight end spot where you kind of, when
31:12you're in question of the position, go to a team that's projected to score a lot of points because then a touchdown
31:18swings you from being like the tight end 22 up to the tight end 12, you know, in any given week.
31:24And that's exactly what happened here with Britain's strange where, you know, his two catches for 23 yards would make him way
31:31down the list, but you had six points onto that.
31:34And there you go. He's, he's could have been a starting lineup.
31:37I will add the Jaguars had the fourth lowest 11 personnel usage, three wide receiver sets in week one, just 39%.
31:43According to, I believe this was Nick or Colano, 61% of their plays were ran out of 12 or 13 personnel.
31:49Now, part of that might've been, like you said, BGJ got banged up and was in and out, but we know they
31:56spent a second round pick on Nate Borkercher. He played the most snaps of any rookie tight end in week one.
32:02And if that's the case, Borkercher is not as good a receiver as Brenton strange.
32:06And as we know that then kind of makes Brenton strange the de facto third option in that set.
32:11And if that's more funneled and more opportunities in his direction.
32:15So I kind of am buying into the Jaguars being one of these teams are going to run even more heavier personnel this season.
32:21Yeah, that's a great point. I am a big believer in that.
32:25I think that is the plan. I don't think they're doing that on accident in the draft.
32:30And then also I do think it fits their running game better.
32:33The difference between going from ETN to Chris Rodriguez, like now you kind of have two power backs back there where toed
32:40in and Rodriguez aren't very similar to ETN in that way.
32:43Yeah. And even when they lined up in that 12 personnel stuff, they went four wide.
32:47So they then would detach Borkercher and Brenton strange.
32:50And so they even trust them kind of in that and just, you know, taking advantage of the personnel groupings with the
32:56size versus the heavier personnel on the field. All right.
32:59You ready for some deep stash and deep cuts?
33:02Yeah, let's do it. These are names that should be available in all your leagues.
33:06Let's put it that way. By the way, the goal here is 2,000 likes, thumbs up on the video.
33:12Help us out with that if you're new around here.
33:15Okay. Running backs first. Kendra Miller, 1%. This is one of the shocks of week one.
33:19Was it not, Joel? That Travis Pian, you know, signs for a ton of money.
33:23And then he splits his backfield, not two ways, but three ways.
33:27I mean, 29% of the snaps goes to Kendra Miller, 17 to CJ Donaldson.
33:31What's your read here? Yeah, they pay Kamara a lot of money and ETN.
33:35Like they have all those guys. And then now finally Kendra Miller, the breakout's happening.
33:39The issue is the passing game. They're going to be very fast heavy.
33:43I would expect he only had five routes on 60 dropbacks.
33:46So not very ideal for a running back. But he did have both of the inside the 10 carries, which is more of a negative for ETN.
33:54But Miller, I think he's a fine pickup. I'm not like the biggest believer in Kamara at this point in his career.
34:00So I think that he can have a role there and be kind of like a Jordan Mason.
34:06Honestly, just like have no passing game role at all, which makes it really hard, but can maybe fall in the end zone every once in a while.
34:14I need to go back and watch this game.
34:16I mean, it just stands out if you look at the rushing totals.
34:20And I know that they were in negative game script starting in the third quarter, but nine carries for A-Chan for 46 yards.
34:27And then Kendra Miller also had nine carries for 30 yards.
34:30But like you said, he was the one that had kind of the inside the 10 yard line touchdown here.
34:35That is alarm bells. I don't want to wildly speculate here, but for as much of a shock that A-Chan, you know,
34:42percentage of opportunities he got in this backfield after signing for so much money, I kind of wonder if he's dealing with
34:48something in terms of like an injury. Because it doesn't make sense on paper to sign someone for that much money.
34:54And then you're clear running back to an Alvin Kamara is out.
34:58And yet you still want to split up the backfield.
35:01Again, it's just these weird noises in my head that it just doesn't feel right to me.
35:05Totally. Totally. The coach speak like all types. I was like three down back, like using them everywhere.
35:11And then I talked about on socials today, but another worry, I want to wait like another week and see like how things play out.
35:18But another worry is like the positive of this game for him was that he had eight targets, but he only ran around on 37% of the dropbacks.
35:26Right. So it's one of those where it's like, all right, if they pass 30 times instead of 56, then that's only four targets.
35:33It's a lot different if that running game is split elsewhere.
35:36Yeah. And if there is an injury, I highly doubt that they just put it all on Alvin Kamara's plate based on,
35:42you know, kind of them taking away from his plate in recent years.
35:46And maybe that would mean Kendrick Miller just gets a lot more of these opportunities.
35:50They get the Baltimore Ravens defense in week two next year.
35:54So Joel, this might be something we're going to look at in like a two game sample versus just one.
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36:40Speaking of Devin Singletary, okay, he played 36% of snaps, got all the work on 17 of the 34 dropbacks that he played.
36:46I mean, Joel, it was tilting to see that Cowboys defense on that singular drive, four catches for 22 yards and a
36:53touchdown, just in the same spot, over and over and over again on the left side on the dump offs.
36:58I'm not really buying into this performance in terms of fantasy points here for Singletary long-term.
37:03Yeah, it's more a Scadabo thing for me. Like, we've seen this time and time again.
37:08Brian Dable would be happy to see this for Singletary.
37:10But yeah, we've seen it before. It's more of a just a bummer because Scadabo is a good receiver.
37:16It was a small sample, but he looked great as a receiver last season and didn't get a target yesterday.
37:22A little bit surprised by, you know, the Najee Harris buzz and all that type of stuff and for him to, you
37:28know, not be out there on the field. But we'll see.
37:31We'll see if that changes. Okay. Wide receiver deep cuts versus Antonio Williams.
37:35People love rookies out there. And this stat line is pretty shocking when you think about it.
37:40I mean, he only had four targets on 12 routes.
37:43Okay. So, you know, the targets per route run is very high, but then he only ran a route on 12 of 41-ish dropbacks, played 37% of snaps.
37:51He was wide receiver four and snaps behind Terry McLaurin, Stephon Diggs and Deami Brown.
37:55Two of those guys struggled mildly in this contest.
37:58So, what do you make of Antonio Williams? Like, are we buying, obviously, the production here in week one, but then potential
38:04that he earned himself more opportunities and more routes moving forward?
38:07Hopefully, yeah. I think you have him in Dynasty.
38:10It's like a, yay, good. I have him in Dynasty.
38:13This is a good sign. For Waver's week one, I don't know if he'll be a player that can help your fantasy team for a while.
38:20I think it's going to be really hard for him to pass one of the two receivers.
38:25Like, he's not passing McLaurin. I wouldn't expect him to pass to Von Diggs even as an older veteran.
38:31So, I think unless an injury happens, he's just going to be stuck as this wide receiver three.
38:36So, I think he's more just an injury-dependent stash.
38:38If you have a really deep league, he's talented, so pick him up, but it's not a week two option right now.
38:45Yeah, and Terry McLaurin was totally taken out of this game by Vic Fangio's defense and Quinion Mitchell and, you know, the
38:51other corners, Rick Wollin, they have on the outside.
38:54And so, everything kind of funneled over the middle.
38:56That's where Diggs did a lot of his work.
38:59And then, when Diggs wasn't kind of torching Cooper DeGene, Antonio Williams had a few of his catches against Cooper DeGene and
39:05also kind of in that middle of the field area too from condensed splits.
39:09Also notable here, Chig O'Quonquo left at halftime with an injury.
39:12And I could kind of see Chig taking some of the opportunities away from Antonio Williams if he does get back on
39:19there because they would kind of operate in the same area of the field, I think.
39:23Yeah. McLaurin's been shut down five straight times against the Eagles.
39:26So that's another one where it's like, I'm not worried about him in week one.
39:31I know this is going to happen. I had to hope.
39:34I'm like, all right, different coaching staff. They're using them different ways.
39:37They can get in the ball and then he just goes out there.
39:41It has like under six targets again. I think his targets have been like six, four, four, two, and three or something
39:48like that in the last five games against the Eagles.
39:50So it's been rough. I already talked about Jack Besh.
39:53Played just 40% of snaps, 13 of 32 routes out there.
39:56Trey Tucker had the most, even if Trey Tucker didn't have any production.
40:00I'll just quickly say it, Joel. Jack Besh kind of played a pseudo move tight end role at LSU.
40:06If he had played, I don't know, 70% of snaps and was truly the one for one replacement of Brock Bowers here,
40:12I'd be like, yeah, go for it for as long as Brock Bowers is out.
40:16But it was almost like they put a little toe in the water of it a little bit and it paid off
40:23a tiny bit, but I don't see them fully committing to Jack Besh as like an option in this passing game for
40:29as long as Brock Bowers is a sideline. Yeah, I don't have too much hope in anyone in Las Vegas outside of
40:35like outside of the tight ends, Mayer and Bowers.
40:38But in terms of the receivers, I don't think there's going to be one that kind of rises.
40:43At least they're not using him as an outfield, outside downfield wide receiver like the previous regime did last year.
40:49Like at least they get the, hey, put him closer to the line of scrimmage over the middle of the field stuff and that's good coaching.
40:56Okay, I think these next two or three names are important.
41:00Okay, Kendrick Bourne pops up out of nowhere, Joel.
41:02Okay, he's rostered in 0% of Yahoo leagues out there.
41:05He goes on and he's a member of the Arizona Cardinals for you people that don't know that.
41:10I was one of them a couple weeks ago.
41:1367% of snaps, 33 of 42 dropbacks. This team lived out of 11 personnel, which is a bit different than the Drew Petsing offensive last year in Arizona.
41:21He went eight targets, eight receptions for 75 yards.
41:23Dare I say that this might be the veteran that I'm kind of buying into here?
41:28He has potential if you were ever playing him, I would say it would be next week.
41:33We've kind of seen this from him like every single year almost since 2020.
41:37Last year, I think it was last year, maybe two years ago, he had back-to-back 142-yard games exactly and then the rest
41:43of the season he didn't cross 50 yards. So I think, especially at this point in his career, it's going to be
41:50more like that in terms of beneficial for your fantasy team, it is just like annoying.
41:54Arizona does not need more target competition. So that part is annoying that they have another receiver that could potentially take targets
42:01even if it is just in five games this year, it's still more than nothing.
42:05In my head, I'm debating Kendrick Borden versus Khalif Raymond.
42:08And, I mean, that's a crazy thing to say out loud after week one, but that's what I'm doing.
42:13Obviously, Khalif Raymond's on a much better team, but I like the pass catchers more on the Bears than I do the Cardinals.
42:20I think I'm going to go Kendrick Bourne over Khalif Raymond.
42:23What do you think? I would too. Yeah. Yeah.
42:26Yeah. And I think there is still potential that Arizona is kind of like they were last year just because we saw that with LaFleur in New York.
42:34Well, and LaFleur and Kendrick Bourne have a connection.
42:36I mean, LaFleur was on the staff with the 49ers from I think 2017 to 2020 and that's exactly when Kendrick Bourne was on that roster as well.
42:44And what they did to me was push Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr.
42:48way down the field and then Kendrick Bourne got like these off motion end breakers that just kind of set up not
42:55PPR scam-ish stuff but more of the underneath patterns.
42:57And those are kind of layouts for Jacoby when coverage is pushed off and he has the underneath stuff.
43:03So, again, maybe I should have warned myself and should be listening to myself from a week ago of not buying into
43:09veterans that we've seen over and over and over again.
43:12But, you know, I think Marvin is still a questionable talent in the league and it wouldn't shock me at all if
43:18we like look back at the end of the season and maybe Kendrick Bourne sneaks in there as like top three in
43:25receiving yards on among wide receivers and tight ends on the Cardinals this season.
43:29It's a scary thing to say out loud. Maybe I'll go back and delete that in a couple weeks.
43:34Adonai Mitchell, 16% of Yahoo leagues he's rostered in.
43:3769% of snaps played 23 of 28 routes. Your thoughts on Adonai or what?
43:41He only had three targets but Geno played well which is positive.
43:44Like maybe it's different this year. There's lots of Geno truthers out there that I kind of buy into at moments in time.
43:51So, I know obviously really easy matchup but I think it's a player that's a good touchdown hunting option.
43:56I think he can very easily have just like lots of matchups where there's a really good shot that he can score
44:03compared to some other receivers that are maybe better than him above him in fantasy but just have less odds of scoring a touchdown.
44:10Totally. Three catches, 60 yards on three targets so, you know, it might not be a ton of volume out there.
44:16Obviously, they beat up on the Titans and ran the ball 39 times compared to what?
44:2027, 28 dropbacks in this game. They get the Packers and the Lions defenses over the last next two weeks which both
44:27those teams and the Bears and the Cleveland. I'm looking at this Jets-Ross schedule and it's pretty favorable in comparison to what
44:33I thought maybe a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, Adonai for as long as he does things correctly, one, he has talent.
44:40We've talked about this a lot but he's going to be out there in two wide receiver sets all the time, right?
44:46He and Garrett Wilson will be the outside guys and they can fool around with the inside pieces like Kenyon Sadiq and
44:52Omar Cooper who's banged up and all that type of stuff.
44:56So, yeah, Adonai, the volume's never going to be up there with seven, eight targets per game but he is one of
45:02those in desperation mode that his three targets can equal a 40-yard touchdown and that's sweet.
45:07Yeah, yeah. Going to have some value. Okay, let's go to tight ends.
45:10Quickly, Pat Friermuth, I think you and I talked about him on a mailbag show or another episode, all these things run together.
45:1773% of snaps, he's only rostered in 6% of Yahoo leagues out there, ran 35 of 46 routes.
45:22Even in a positive game script, I think this is most important, Joel, that the Steelers leaned pass heavy and Aaron Rodgers
45:28has talked about Pat Friermuth in every single interview he's had in August.
45:32Yeah, I'm not the biggest believer in Rodgers at this point in the passing offense because of that but I think he
45:38can slide in as a lot of those like bi-week, fail-in tight end options.
45:43Mike Kosicki, 2% of Yahoo leagues, he is rostered in.
45:45This one's weird. Kosicki is always weird. 7 targets, 5 receptions, 78 yards, and a touchdown on only 33% of snaps a
45:52roughly 17 of 38 dropbacks that he played on.
45:54How'd this happen? He's their slot receiver. He's kind of a wide receiver handcuff.
45:58Like, if Tee Higgins goes down or hopefully not, but Jamar Chase, although less likely as Higgins in the pass, if he
46:05goes down, like, Jasicki is their wide receiver too on this offense.
46:08If that happens, they use him all over the field and he has some usage in there.
46:13It just don't really, it's not very predictable is usually the problem with him.
46:17Yeah, whenever Tee or Jamar, like you said, has gone down in the pass, it's always been Mike Kosicki stepping in as a big straight line slot receiver.
46:25So that's why this one shocked me because that didn't happen here and yet he still had production and I can't remember many games where that's happened.
46:33It was weird, you know, all preseason we heard that the Bengals were going to go under center or play action, all that type of stuff.
46:40I felt like they really abandoned that. Like, they went four wide, he was that second slot player, they had two on
46:47each side by two by two formations. So if they do that, then I guess he has some value here but I'm
46:53thinking of Mike Kosicki as like a cool week one producer that I doubt he matches this the rest of the year.
46:59Yeah, I looked at the numbers for the rushing part.
47:02They ran a decent bit from under center a lot more than they usually do but from what I like saw at
47:09least, I don't remember them going like too much play action from under center so I'll have to look at the numbers there.
47:15Okay, let's talk quarterbacks. So, Carson Wentz is now the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
47:20Kyler Murray is in the concussion protocol. When Carson Wentz stepped in there after, you know, five attempts from Kyler Murray, he
47:26went 12 of 19, 133 yards and three touchdowns.
47:29Nice. Superflex out there. Is Carson Wentz a must pickup?
47:32A high fab budget type player? Could he even, you know, command this job for and if and when Kyler Murray does return?
47:38Yeah, I think the fab is tough because Kyler's injury, it's not like a long-term injury we would think but I do
47:45think he is a must pickup and probably a positive for Jefferson just on quarterback style but if we go back to
47:51like Minnesota's history, Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold, they were fantasy quarterback ones every year and then Superflex, like fringe fantasy quarterback ones
47:57suddenly goes from like doesn't really matter to really matters.
48:00So in Superflex, like Sam Darnold was the quarterback nine in Minnesota.
48:04He's the quarterback 20-something last year in Seattle. It's not because he was bad, it's just because of the offense.
48:09So Wentz totally has some value here in Superflex.
48:12Some other quarterbacks that had nice weeks, Bryce Young, Tyler Shuck, Jacoby Brissett, Malik Willis got his rushing touchdown.
48:18Do any of those suit your fancy either long-term or we can just look towards week two if, you know, people are
48:24frustrated by how their quarterback performed in week one?
48:26Shuck is the big one for me, especially going back to Superflex, like just the consistent volume that he should have in his offense.
48:33It's not going to be 56 passing attempts, but the first half he averaged under four yards per attempt.
48:39He was not looking good and then at the end of the game, you look at the box score, he has 400 passing yards.
48:46So I think just because of the offense he's in, Shuck is like must add if he's not already in.
48:52He's going to be owning Superflex leagues, but he's a fine option.
48:55Yeah, his 63 dropbacks would have been the most by any quarterback in a single game last season.
49:00That's pretty nutty. I do think Bryce Young has some value next week against the Atlanta Falcons defense.
49:05So we've seen him, you know, throw for 300 yards and multiple touchdowns and run for them in those games too.
49:11So that's a defense that he can pick apart at least has in the past.
49:16Okay. We'll close with the drop list. Tyrone Tracy, immediate drop.
49:19He is donezo in this Giants backfield. Fair? Yeah.
49:22Okay. Question for you. And I think Harmon brought this up in the Sunday night recap.
49:26What's the point of Kenny Gainwell on your rosters?
49:29Okay. The Bucs were trailing for the vast majority of this game, chasing points.
49:33And yet, Kenny Gainwell just 39% route share in a losing game script.
49:36And he's not going to be out there catching passes.
49:39It certainly doesn't seem like he's going to be running in touchdowns either because Bucky Irving has taken that even with Sean Tucker sideline.
49:46Yeah. And Irving's getting like the screen work. Like it wasn't like even when Gainwell was getting the routes, he wasn't getting targets along with it.
49:54So he does just become like a solid handcuff in my opinion.
49:57Like he doesn't have much value outside of that.
50:00He's not really going to get red zone work.
50:02I would expect over Bucky with how last night looked.
50:05So don't think he's a drop in all leagues, but if you like needs to drop somebody and there's some options, like I don't hate it.
50:13But okay. I think end of your roster conversation, would you rather have Kalen Black or Kenny Gainwell on your team?
50:19I'd rather have Kalen Black. Kalen Black. Yeah. Yeah.
50:21You know, and I think that's the debate that a lot of people are going to have out there.
50:27So I'm starting with Kalen Black in that one.
50:30A couple zeros, Romeo Dobbs went zero, zero on 56% of snaps.
50:33I think he's saved on your rosters by AJ Brown's injury because he ultimately did run a route on 33 of 44
50:39dropbacks, but that is and was a dicey debut before AJ Brown went down for Romeo Dobbs.
50:44It was rough. Yeah. The other one was Rashad Bateman.
50:47Like even with say Flowers not playing for the entire second half and Jacoby Lane not playing for the entire second half
50:53and by the way, Jacoby Lane's going to be out for multiple weeks.
50:57So that's why I didn't bring him up here on the show despite three red zone slash end zone targets.
51:03Bateman still got zeros across the board. Yeah, I think he's fine if Flowers doesn't play.
51:08If Flowers plays. Yeah, I'll pass. Thumbs up. People will be nervous about Terrence Ferguson who also filled out his box score with zeros.
51:14Now we talked about him last week. He's still rostered in just 23% of Yahoo leagues out there.
51:20It was a tale of two halves for him.
51:22Like we almost got the process played off and paid off here, Joel, and that he ran around on 73% of dropbacks
51:29in the first half and then just 22% in the second half.
51:32I will say the Rams lined up in 13 personnel 37% of the time.
51:36Only one other team was above 18%. So I'm still leaving the light on T-Ferg and if you're in tight end preview leagues do not drop him.
51:44Yeah, yeah, I would agree. Tight end is very hard to predict week to week, season long, especially for week one as a young player.
51:51I think this is good. I'm pretty nervous about the Titans backfield for two reasons.
51:55One, the Titans suck and two, this is split like legit down the middle.
51:59And so if you're on a bad team and each guy gets 50% of the snaps, then Joel, if you have two backs, do you have any backs?
52:07And just with them, the routes yesterday was 17 to eight in favor of Tajay Spears.
52:12So Pollard only had eight routes and they're probably not going to be winning.
52:16Like they just lost to the Jets. This was their opportunity to kind of have Pollard be the lead back up ahead, get a lot of carries.
52:24There's not many games this year that I think I'm going to like go in confident that Pollard is going to get 15 touches.
52:31Marshall Lloyd, people drafted him thinking that they might get a week one starting running back.
52:35He played fewer snaps than Chris Brooks. I do think people in the fantasy community have done a good job explaining this,
52:42that Chris Brooks and his pass protection is dependable and against a Brian Flores defense that muddies the gaps and sends extra
52:48protection or blitzers, I should say, pressure looks, then that's probably why Chris Brooks played a bit more.
52:53I want to keep Marshall Lloyd on my team just to see what the outlook is for week two and week three on top of this.
53:01Yeah, great point. They were split four and four in attempts the first half.
53:05Second half, though, close game. Marshall Lloyd had nine of the 12 running back attempts.
53:09There you go. And Jonathan Brooks just 19% snaps in week one.
53:13He was obviously somewhat limited prior to week one.
53:15Chuba Hubbard got multiple scores here, but that is much different than the 50-50 split that people thought they might get a few weeks ago.
53:22I'm on a hold pattern with Jonathan Brooks, but I don't think it's as easy of a backfield to overtake as again,
53:29some people might have thought a couple weeks ago.
53:31Yeah. Canales has been very workhorse back in the past, whether it's Dattel, Hubbard, Rishad White, all of these guys get in 70% of touches.
53:39That's what Hubbard had yesterday, 71%. That 48-yard reception did help.
53:42Jonathan Brooks saved his day. That does it. This will be the longest episode of the season.
53:47Hopefully, this helped you out. That's in the comments.
53:49If you have any questions, I'm sure the community will help you answer those as well.
53:54Joel, thanks as always. You can follow his work.
53:56It's in the description down below. We'll check you all in the next video.
54:00See ya.

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