10 Fantasy Football Questions You NEED Answered Before Week 2
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
34 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 16, 2026
Published
Wed, September 16, 2026
12
Player insights
11
Players mentioned
Topics
Christian McCaffreyAlvin KamaraChris OlaveColston LovelandD.J. MooreDalton KincaidIsaiah LikelyJames CookKenneth Walker IIITravis EtienneZay Flowers
Player analysis
Player insights
Alvin Kamara
NegativeRole30:08
Kamara is expected to return soon after an injury that initially appeared to sideline him 4–6 weeks. His return will directly impact Travis Etienne's target share and rushing attempts; even an older Kamara will command targets from the backfield given his career-long excellence in that role and is unlikely to disappear from the offense. Mike Mcdaniel notes that Etienne's nine targets in Week 1 cannot be relied upon once Kamara is active.
Insight pageChris Olave
PositiveSleeper24:07
Alave is positioned as this year's Jackson Smith-Njigba with elite metrics: 50.1% air yard share, 29.3% first-read rate, and 26.5% target share in Week 1, resulting in 10 catches for 182 yards on 13 targets. Like Smith-Njigba, Alave was drafted inside round three for much of the offseason. Mike Mcdaniel expects target share to reach 30%+ in many weeks and notes that while Tyler Shuck's 56-pass-attempt, 410-yard performance was a career high, the Saints offense can thrive in both head-to-head and garbage-time environments. Mcdaniel: "Chris Alave could be this year's version of JSN. A league winner that's found inside of round three."
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeRole18:24
CMC dealt with preseason tightness and faced significant usage uncertainty in Week 1 with rookie Kalin Black receiving 43% snap share and 14 carries. While CMC maintains a high floor due to receiver usage (8 targets, 5 catches in Week 1), his ceiling is at risk if Black continues to get double-digit carries weekly. Goal-line opportunity split with Black remains a key variable for ceiling outcomes.
Insight pageNegativeProjection20:07
CMC maintains a high floor due to receiver usage (8 targets, 5 catches in Week 1), but his ceiling is at risk if Kalin Black continues to receive double-digit carries weekly. Historical precedent suggests CMC should score against Miami, but Black's goal-line role introduces uncertainty; the source will monitor Week 2 goal-line distribution to assess ceiling impact.
Insight pageColston Loveland
PositiveBust10:28
Despite the Bears scoring 59 points in Week 1, Loveland was completely invisible with two targets and zero points. This is problematic given his elite talent and high draft capital (tight end 3 overall, second-round FFPC pick, fourth-to-fifth round NFC pick). However, he's viewed as a buy-low candidate with upcoming matchups against Minnesota, Philadelphia, and the Jets. The disconnect between offensive output and Loveland's production raises questions about his role and target share in the Bears offense.
Insight pageD.J. Moore
PositiveProjection13:00
Played 75% of snaps and posted a 33.3% first-read rate. He's the first 1,000-yard pass catcher Josh Allen has had since Stefon Diggs left. Combined with Dalton Kincaid's 50% target share, Moore is in elite company with potential for a wide receiver one season. Mike McDaniel believes he is in elite company and is 'believing exactly what I'm seeing here' in terms of his early-season performance trajectory.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
PositiveProjection13:33
Kincaid played 73% of snaps with five catches for 130 yards and elite YAC in Week 1, positioned for the best season of his career. Combined with DJ Moore's 75% snap share, the two players account for a 50% target share, supporting top-five tight end scoring potential. Mike Mcdaniel is 'believing exactly what I'm seeing here' in terms of his early-season performance trajectory.
Insight pageIsaiah Likely
PositiveValue8:12
Looks like a player that's going to smash his ADP with eight targets, eight catches, 78 yards, and two touchdown grabs in Week 1. Beat reporters in New York discussed all offseason how comfortable Dart was targeting Likely, signaling a locked-in target relationship that should sustain.
Insight pageJames Cook
NegativeRole14:00
Cook remains a strong fantasy asset for Buffalo, though the pass-catching upside of DJ Moore and Dalton Kincaid (combined 50% target share) means the offense has multiple elite scoring outlets beyond the running back position.
Insight pageKenneth Walker III
PositiveBreakout15:52
Walker's Week 1 performance (23 carries, 171 yards, 1 TD, 6 targets, 3 catches, 1 TD) with four runs of 10+ yards suggests potential league-winning season. Mike Mcdaniel compares his ceiling to 2024 Derrick Henry in terms of points per game and states 'you're certainly taking Kenneth Walker over Christian McCaffrey right now, no questions asked.' If redrafting today, he'd be a top-five pick.
Insight pageTravis Etienne
NegativeRole29:09
Etienne received only 45% of rush attempts in Week 1 against Detroit despite Alvin Kamara's absence, a concerning split for a lead-back role. Kendre Miller earned goal-line work and the rushing touchdown, while Etienne accumulated 7 catches for 9 targets for 32 yards (10+ PPR points from receptions alone). Mike Mcdaniel flags this as problematic given the opportunity to dominate carries without Kamara. Etienne was drafted as a high-end running back alongside Javante Williams and DeAndre Swift through much of the offseason, but his Week 1 usage pattern and Kamara's expected return suggest major downgrade reservations if Week 1 usage trends continue. In Week 2 against Baltimore, Etienne faces a Ravens defense that was shredded by Jonathan Taylor in Week 1, but the Ravens' pass rush and home-field advantage may force the Saints into garbage time or catch-up mode, creating game script risk.
Insight pageZay Flowers
PositiveBreakout25:07
Flowers posted 5 catches for 150 yards (career high) and a touchdown in Week 1 against New England, exiting in the second quarter with a hamstring injury. Mike Mcdaniel notes the injury "doesn't sound like anything too problematic" but warrants monitoring. The elite-level performance despite limited game time demonstrates significant upside.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:0010 burning fantasy football questions that fantasy managers need answered heading into week two. I'm Theo Ginger, lead fantasy analyst right here at
0:08Rotoire. So much to unpack from week one and so many question marks heading into week two. It's like this every single
0:16year. We got to remind ourselves of this and we don't want to overreact to week one, but we do want to take a a chance
0:23to sort of process things and really dive into it and use this new information to help us make better decisions on a weekly basis. If you
0:33watched my te 10 takeaways episode uh that drops Sunday evenings right here on RotoWire YouTube and on the podcast, that's sort of the off-the- cuff one.
0:43I'm dropping that right after this the 4 PM slate of games on the East Coast, right before Sunday Night Football, recording this one on a Tuesday. So, a
0:53chance to unpack some things and really sort of talk it out and share them with you guys. But these are some questions
0:59that I have heading into week two. And I'm sure a lot of you are sharing these same questions. Some of them are
1:06concerns and some of them are are really maybe we have something special on our hands and can we truly believe it?
1:14Starting off right at the top for me when I look at the the week's games, I I start trying to try to unpack what
1:22happened with the LA Chargers. This is an offense that we were so excited about all offseason long. anybody who consumed my content, I would ask uh fantasy
1:33analysts, which new play caller are you most excited about? And almost to a tea, down to every last analyst, it was Mike
1:43McDaniel of the LA Chargers. And this is one where it's really difficult to unpack this one because LA was controlled in in this one. The the
1:54Chargers did not look good. The Cardinals really controlled this game and this wasn't some miraculous comeback for the Cardinals. The Cardinals were up
2:03at the half. This was a 13-7 lead for the Arizona Cardinals. And when we're talking about the the Arizona Cardinals, this was a team that there was real
2:12question marks about heading into the season. Uh really a a new coaching staff there. Uh this was a team that struggled
2:19to win in 2025. When we look at at the Arizona Cardinals, you're talking about a three and4 team in 2025. The Chargers
2:27were a playoff team and it looked like the situation was reversed. And with Mike McDaniel, we believe in the history more so than a one-ame sample, but
2:37there's a lot of really tilting elements here. Keeping an eye on this Lad Maki injury. If Lad Maki is missing from this
2:45offense, I think this is another wrinkle that we need to worry about a little bit. But we think McDaniel will get it
2:51right. And we think that Justin Herbert is going to get things right. He's too good of a quarterback with too much of a
2:57history of of producing as a fantasy producer for us to like really be worried. But the player that I think fantasy managers are tilting about,
3:06especially heading into week two and week three, is Amarian Hampton. The usage was really troubling. scores the touchdown and then it felt like this was
3:16going to be a smash week for him and then it sort of all fell apart. He only played in 58% of snaps, finished with 43
3:25yards and a touchdown. Also had a fumble. There's some interior offensive line injuries now with LA. They've got the rookie center out there. And when
3:35you look at the the the Chargers in Hampton, 58% of snaps is probably not going to cut it, especially considering Katon Mitchell and Kamani Vidal both
3:45mixing in. Now with Hampton, we've got a potential get right situation coming up in a game where the Chargers are favorites against the the Vegas Raiders.
3:56This is a chance to sort of flip the script, get things right game. And then you've got a week three game against the
4:03Buffalo Bills and that's we know David Montgomery sort of ran all over them and and Bills are really a runfunnel defense. They're almost encouraging
4:12teams to run on them. We saw it last year and we see it again in week one. So Hampton has a chance to turn things
4:17around, but there's fantasy managers out there that took Omar and Hampton over Kenneth Walker. um took Omar and Hampton over Justin Jefferson and a really
4:28tilting based on how week one started out. Hampton was a I mean you know it you you followed these drafts that I was
4:35doing here on this channel and Hampton was a player that was gone by pick 18 pretty much every single league. I know
4:41I've got some Hampton exposure. It's not panic time, but it's definitely an uneasy feeling right now heading into week two. A big Hampton game with a
4:50higher snap share and the Chargers winning this game I think would do a lot for fantasy managers. And then of course
4:56they have that massive opportunity in week three upcoming as well. So keep an eye on Omar and Hampton and keep an eye
5:03on Mike McDaniel and the Chargers.
5:05Talking about offenses that maybe were mispriced.
5:09Could it be the New York Giants? We always find certain offenses in fantasy football where in retrospect, if we would have just drafted players off of
5:19this particular team, we would have resulted in multiple ADP wins. You see it every year. It's offenses that get sort of mispriced and pushed down
5:28sometimes to extreme levels or in the Giants case just to reasonable enough levels where the bar is low enough that the team can really return value. And I
5:38think we might be seeing it with these Giants. Uh Jackson Dart looks awesome.
5:44Jackson Dart looks tremendous. Looks like a potential top five scorer at the quarterback position. Now, I've talked to a lot of smart people that I really
5:52respect and they push back on me with this one, but my initial reaction is Dart looks just fantastic. You've got nine designed runs for Jackson Dart to
6:04go along with multiple scrambles. So, the rushing ability is there and the utilization is there as a runner. Also, the passing touchdowns were there for
6:13him as well. And the weapons look good.
6:16The offensive line looks terrific there.
6:20They allowed zero sacks on eight pressures against this Dallas Cowboys defense. Now, devil's advocate is the Dallas Cowboys defense has problems, but
6:29when I look at the efficiency that the Giants displayed with the mobile and electric talent of Jackson Dart at quarterback, Giants were nine of 10 on
6:38third down conversions. And this is with Malik Neighbors sort of ramping up. So, Neighbors is a player that we think can
6:46absolutely beat expectations, finish as a wide receiver one. A lot of fantasy managers have access to him uh in some very low rounds if you were drafting
6:57early on in the summer. And even if you were drafting in, let's call it the end of August, you were still getting third
7:03round Malik Neighbors exposure. the fact that Neighbors was able to sort of play through it and get to through the game
7:10and was able to play on Sunday after a lot of people sort of questioning and and really Malik Neighbors telling us
7:18that he's sort of like going to let like God tell him what's what to do and all these sort of not showing up to the to
7:24the to the stadium um early on. There was like a lot of like cryptic things going on there with neighbors. But the
7:30fact that he was able to play through things and earn nine targets in game one, six catches for 69 yards and nine
7:38targets, like a little less than 13 PPR points. That feels like the floor for neighbors.
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8:12But when it comes to the Giants, you also have Isaiah Likely, who looks like a player that's going to smash his ADP.
8:20eight targets, eight catches, 78 yards, and two touchdown grabs. We heard all offseason long from beat reporters in New York just how comfortable Dart was
8:29targeting Likely. To me, this feels like a signal. It feels like Isaiah likely, there's some maybe Harold Fannon Jr.
8:36managers, some Kyle Pittz managers out there, maybe some George KD managers out there, you know, and again, the the the door is not closed for all three of
8:45those guys to produce, but likely looks like completely locked in player. And then the other player really the foresome here, Cam Scataboo, who scores
8:5614 points, has a rushing touchdown, 81 rushing yards, 18 carries, gets zero targets. And I think this was an interesting one. I don't think this is
9:06something that's going to translate week to week. We've seen Cam Scatteraboo be very successful as a pass catcher and I think that there's going to be
9:13definitely game flow that dictates he's going to get a chance to catch the ball and we look at how successful Devin
9:20Singleary was as a pass catcher this past week. Four catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. So really for me, when I
9:27look at the foresome of New York Giants, I think there's a chance that all four of them beat their ADP expectations and
9:36deliver for us. It's a really big game for them this week. New York plays the LA Rams a little bit more on the Rams
9:42later, but if they get by the Rams, they've got a week three matchup against the Tennessee Titans. This could be a
9:49three and 0 or two in one start for John John Harbaugh and for Jackson Dart in year two. This feels like something
9:56strong. And when you look at they already got the win over Dallas, Philly and Washington both look beatable based on what we saw this past week. I mean,
10:06Philly is obviously going to be a tough team, but the Giants have to like where they're at, especially after week one.
10:11And fantasy managers who drafted these guys have to feel great. Dart is probably the one you're feeling best about because you're getting Q highlevel
10:20QB2 ADP for a guy who looks like he'd be a top five finisher. Really strong stuff there. Now, should we be worried about
10:28Coloulston Loveland? This is one that's incredibly tilting for fantasy managers because if I told anybody before the
10:37game that the Chicago Bears scored 59 points and Caleb Williams had two passing touchdowns, 269 passing yards,
10:48and 59 points is really the operative word, then you're going to think Coulson Lovelin did something special. But it was anything but. Lovelin was completely
10:58invisible. The the Bears are unbelievably good on offense. I mean, I think that this is a big takeaway is when we're circling what the best
11:08offenses in football are right now, we have to throw Chicago into the mix. It feels like Ben Johnson year two in
11:14Detroit where Ben Johnson took that offense up another level. And when you look at Coloulston Lovelin, it's sort of like, and I'm working on a trades show,
11:25like trade targets, and Lovelin's an obvious buy low. I don't think you're going to be able to buy him super low.
11:32Um, some fantasy managers will panic, but most kind of know that it's an elite talent who sort of had a one-off game,
11:39but it's really still a little bit problematic that you get a 59 point game and zero points right out the jump. Now,
11:46I think devil's advocate will be when we look at at Caleb, Caleb had two rushing scores, and that's on top of the running
11:56backs just being fantastic. So, six total rushing touchdowns for the Bears.
12:02Then you have the fact that Cole KT caught a touchdown pass. So, that's seven touchdown opportunities right there down the drain. But anyway you cut
12:12it, two targets, zero points for Coloulston Lovelin. A really tilting start to stay say the least. Loveland. I mean I called him a Darkhorse League
12:22winner. That was one of the first shows if not the first one I ever dropped here when I came over to Rotoire. So I've
12:28been sort of all in on the Loveland train all off season. And he was drafted as the tight end three overall. And
12:34sometimes tight end three overall won't really get you in trouble. But this year he was steamed up. So in FFPC, you were
12:42talking about a second round pick. In NFC, he was like a four or five turn pick. So Lovelin, this is one we really
12:48want to see turn things around.
12:50Minnesota this week, Philly next week, and then the New York Jets in week four.
12:55A chance for Lovelin to put up some big numbers, but if we don't see it this week, uh there's going to be some
13:01Colston Lovelin managers that are really panicking based on the ADP price tag that they paid for him. Continuing the conversation, is this the best set of
13:11pass catchers that Josh Allen has had since Stfan Diggs and peak Gabe Davis?
13:18If you remember, I Gabe Davis, people are going to laugh this one off, but when Gabe Davis was at his prime level
13:24when he com combined with Stfon Diggs, it was really a awesome combination of wide receivers.
13:30Now Josh Allen, who hasn't had a thousand-y pass catcher since Diggs left, looks like he has one in DJ Moore.
13:40Really awesome stuff here. Dalton Concincaid uh looks like this is going to be the best season of his career. And the operative number for King Kade is
13:4973% of snaps for King Kade. It's always been a player that's struggled to earn a high snap share, but when you look at
13:58the snaps that King Kade had, combined with the usage, five catches for 130 yards, elite Yak numbers, and Josh Allen going to him in
14:09key situations, then you've got DJ Moore who plays 75% of the snaps. Um, both of them were terrific. DJ Moore had a 33.3%
14:20first read rate per fantasy points data.
14:23Um, he looks completely locked in. And this was the first time since 1992 that the Buffalo Bills have had a wide
14:31receiver and a tight end both finish with 100 plus receiving yards. So, elite stuff. And then you talk about the combined target share. The two players
14:41combined for a 50% target share. So, as good as James Cook is and as good as Josh Allen is, we also have to look at
14:49the pass catchers here in Buffalo. It feels like this is a opportunity for them to put up some huge numbers this
14:55year. Huge game on Thursday evening against the Detroit Lions. Almost like a made for prime time type game. If we could pick an AFC team and an NFC team
15:06to play each other as like fantasy managers and we took like a straw poll on on who it should be, Detroit and
15:12Buffalo would be really high up there.
15:14We get to see Josh Allen basically go up against Jir Gibbs, the QB1 overall and the RB1 overall in ADP. But I'm going to
15:23keep an eye on these pass catchers. I think both of these players are really in elite elite company right now. I
15:30think we could end up with a wide receiver one season for DJ Moore and a top five tight end scoring season for
15:36Daltton Concaid. I'm believing exactly what I'm seeing here. But it's one that's definitely tilting. We talk about big game opportunities for Buffalo.
15:45Detroit this week after getting a big win in Houston. If Buffalo beats the Lions, they move to 2 and 0 and they'd
15:52face the Chargers in week three. So keep an eye on these pass catchers. Is Kenneth Walker the 2026 version of 2024
16:00Saquon Barkley? I I did a show this off seasonason with Dave Klug where I said that Kenneth Walker was going to be the
16:082026 version of 2024 Derrick Henry. And I not like truly stylistically the same, but in terms of the points per game
16:16average they scored and sort of the ceiling outcome of what we could see for Kenneth Walker. I I said and I even said
16:22it that show I was like he's not going to be Saquon. Uh you know that's too high of a bar. Saquon was the RB1
16:29overall that year. Saquon of course had like 2,000 rushing yards. Saquon went absolutely bonkers in Philly. He was the league winner. Drafted right around the
16:37turn. But now you look at Kenneth Walker and could Kenneth Walker be the league winner here? And I'm going to drop a top
16:44150 rest of season rankings over at Rotoire. Look for that. You can subscribe to all my content over there using the code theo40.
16:53Get 40% off. Really uh cool thing they gave me early in week one here, excuse me, in week two. But when I say this
17:00year's version of 2024 Derrick Henry, maybe the bar should be higher. The usage for Kenneth Walker was absolutely insane. Um and it wasn't just the usage,
17:09it was how good he looked. Absurd volume, absurd production. 23 carries, 171 yards, and one touchdown. We go back to Saquon Barklay's opening game as a as
17:20an Eagle. You remember the Brazil game where he went crazy in that one. It was almost like that with with Walker. 23
17:29for 171 and one as a runner and then he led tied for the lead in targets with six and he had three catches and a
17:38touchdown. Four of his runs went for 10 plus yards. Explosiveness there. Kenneth Walker. It feels like if we were reddrafting today, he'd be like a top
17:48five pick and and that's no hyperbole.
17:52Are you taking uh Kenneth Walker? Um or I mean, you look at all the wide receivers we were taking right in the
17:57middle of the first round. I mean, you're certainly taking Kenneth Walker over Christian McCaffrey right now, no questions asked. But Walker looks
18:04amazing. And I think the big takeaway is Kenneth Walker is poised for a potential league winning season. And on the flip
18:12side, this running back one role is so valuable in Kansas City that EMTT Johnson really is one of the most valuable handcuffs in football. I I
18:23didn't do a process of ranking all handcuffs, but if I was doing it based on the role that Walker has and based on
18:29how good EMTT Johnson looks and based on how Kansas City seems to really like him, I think EMTT Johnson has top three
18:37contingent upside among all handcuff running backs. So, keep an eye on that one.
18:43Speaking of Christian McCaffrey, is there a new normal in the San Francisco 49ers backfield or was week one an aberration? Remember how CMC was dealing
18:53with tightness in the preseason? It was like a lack of clarity with what was going on, but it was called tightness.
19:00But is this a new normal with how they're going to utilize CMC this year to keep him fresh? not forget that CMC
19:07went north of 400 touches last year. The utilization for CMC last season was insane. So much volume plus 100 plus
19:17catches. I mean, unbelievable stuff for CMC in terms of sustainable volume. Uh and then you look at how the game went
19:25in week one. A lot of Kalin Black, the third round rookie out of Indiana, and Kalin Black looked really good. There
19:31was nothing that Kalin Black displayed that would indicate that he would lose time based on production.
19:39Black played 43% of the snaps, led San Francisco with 14 carries. And was this a result of the slow like a slow ramp up
19:49for CMC with the game being in Australia? Are we going to see a bigger split in week two? They're playing the
19:58Miami Dolphins. It's a game that San Francisco is massive favorites in. It feels like there's going to be more Kalin Black. Now CMC still has a high
20:07floor. His floor is very insulated based on his work as a receiver. He had eight targets and five catches. So he's highly
20:15utilized there. But if Kalin Black is going to get doubledigit carries every week, it's certainly going to lower the ceiling for CMC. And we're going to see
20:25potentially this week how these players are utilized on the goal line. Who gets the goal line rushing opportunities. I mean, everything we've seen from CMC in
20:34previous years would indicate that Christian McAffrey is going to fall in the end zone against a dead man walking type Miami Dolphins team. But if we see
20:44Kalin Black get an early rushing score, it's going to be even more tilting for CMC managers. Another thing to unpack from the Australia opener is Devonte
20:55Adams goal line role and inside the 10yd line green zone usage gone or was this again a oneame aberration last year.
21:05Devonte Adams scored 11 touchdowns inside the 10yd line. This was like an automatic thing before Devonte Adams got hurt last year. It felt like him and
21:15Matthew Stafford were trying to set the single season record for touchdown catches in the NFL history. Like Devonte Adams was trending towards like a Rand a
21:24peak Randy Moss-like season last year.
21:27Um, again, Devont Devonte Adams dominated this sort of usage last year, but in a game where LA was trailing and
21:38was trying to come from behind, Adams only played one of seven snaps inside the 10 yardd line. He only played 31
21:47total snaps and he only ran 21 routes.
21:51So, this was sort of troubling usage for Devonte Adams. And you look back at sort of the slow drip of things with Adams
21:59this past off season where Devonte Adams obviously just a terrific season last year but they really was boosted by
22:11touchdown catches. There was some key metrics that were not troubling but not like peak Dvonte Adams and they really shouldn't have been. 32-year-old last
22:20year, Devonte Adams. Um, in the offseason, Adams talked about how he's not really concerned about aging because his mile hour data is still so high.
22:30It's a players have access to so much information these days, and Adams can sort of gauge his quality of his athleticism and explosiveness with the
22:37miles per hour data. I think it's smart stuff. But now you talk about LA sort of messed around with Mai Lemon in the NFL
22:45draft process. They were highly highly linked to Mai Lemon from Beat Reporters eventually going with Tai Simpson. Then we heard of LA making really hard
22:56overures towards getting AJ Brown.
22:59Apparently there was some questions about Brown's medicals. They didn't eventually pull that trigger and of course he goes to the New England
23:05Patriots. But Devonte Adams just sitting there and you have to wonder if is there some sort of underlying things here with
23:14Adams? And again, just like CMC, I don't think we get the full picture based on how teams utilize a guy in Australia.
23:21So, I'm going to have an open mind heading into week two, but with Devonte Adams, it's sort of a it's definitely a
23:28um it's definitely tilting to not see that usage near the goal line because if the touchdowns drop way down, we really
23:36can't trust him in our lineups right now. So, this is a leap of faith type player. Now, obviously, if he catches a
23:44touchdown or two like this week against the Giants, everything's forgotten and everything I said looks a little foolish, but we're going to keep this
23:52one in the back of our of our of our minds. We want to see that usage inside the the 10 yard line or we have to
23:59really downgrade Devonte Adams for the rest of the year. Now, I talked about this in the takeaway show and I've unpacked it a little bit more, but is
24:07Chris Alave this year's Jackson Smith and Jigba? I'm gonna double down on this one because the metrics are really strong here. According to Fantasy
24:18Point's data on this one, Chris Alav had a 50.1% airy yard share and a 29.3% first read rate. That's truly elite
24:29numbers. Then we talk about the target share. only a 26 and a half percent target share for him in week one and it
24:38still results in 10 catches for 182 yards. He had 13 targets in this one, but that target share at 26 1.5% it's
24:47going to be 30% or higher a lot of weeks here. This is just the sample size we have with Chris Ave and Tyler Shuck is
24:55tremendous. So really, I think when we look at the parallels, Olive was drafted inside of round three for a large portion of the summer, just
25:06like Jackson Smith and Jigba was drafted inside of round three the summer before.
25:11You talk about the combination of Aryard share, first read rate, and target share. Chris Alav is checking all of those boxes. Now they're you're not
25:22going to get you're not going to get weeks where Tyler Shuck has this sort of pass volume. He had 56 pass attempts. So
25:3156 pass attempts is the careerhigh for Tyler Shuck. Obviously 410 passing yards is the careerhigh for Tyler Shuck. But this offense looks like one that can
25:42thrive this year both in head-to-head environments and in garbage time. We don't know how good a team this is. They just went toe-to-toe with the Lions.
25:52We'll know a lot more soon, but I think if we're looking for this year's version of it, feels like Chris Ave could be
25:58this year's version of JSN. A league winner that's found inside of round three. The other wide receiver that really could have been named here was Z
26:07Flowers. Z Flowers, it needs to be noted, another round three wide receiver. And this could have been a truly special wide receiver one overall
26:19type performance for the week. Z Flowers had five catches for 150 yards, which is a careerhigh for him, and a touchdown.
26:28And he left the game with time to go in the first half. So leaves the game in the second quarter. Baltimore up 4, like
26:36up a ton in that game. Baltimore ends up winning 41-23. So, it was kind of a moot point, but we're circling Chris Ave and
26:44we're keeping an eye on Z Flowers. Now, Zflower is sort of dayto-day here.
26:48Hamstring injury doesn't sound like anything tr too problematic, but we will keep an eye on it. Another thing to note is, can we trust the elite defenses that
26:59we drafted highly? Now, Seattle gets a pass. Seattle looked awesome against New England. made the big interception at the end on sort of a force from from
27:08Drake May to to ice the game. Seattle was one of the highest drafted defense, but in most leagues, it was Houston
27:17going off the board first, then usually Seattle or the Rams and then Denver usually going off the board is like the
27:24defense three or the defense four. Well, week one was like an advertisement for wait on defense and scream against the bad matchups. You look at the drafters
27:34who were able to draft the Jacksonville Jaguars just sort of laughing at these managers who took Houston maybe two rounds earlier, took the Denver Broncos
27:45maybe a round earlier, the Rams around earlier. Jacksonville goes up against Cleveland and it's exactly how you expected it if you were a streaming
27:53defense manager. Deshun Watson looked really bad, the Browns offensive line looked really bad and Jacksonville defense had a great game. Then you look
28:02at the managers who drafted these early defenses and hey, I had a couple of Denver Broncos rocking this past week obviously didn't go very well. Um, but
28:1094 points combined between Denver, Houston, and the LA Rams in terms of points allowed in week one. Now, these defenses can turn things around. LA's
28:21going to have to do it without Miles Garrett. They're probably the one that I'm most concerned about. Denver just didn't tackle well. They weren't getting
28:27to Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Walker abused them. Denver last year led the NFL in sacks by a wide margin, but I
28:35think we need to downgrade them a little bit. And then Houston has another difficult matchup this week against a very tough Cincinnati Bengals offense.
28:43So, Houston still a truly elite defense, but we have to have a couple of question marks about them early on because of the
28:51schedule. Meanwhile, Seattle, we're just rolling with Seattle every single week.
28:56They might be the defense one overall, but a very tilting week for early defensive drafters. Another player to talk about and kind of the final player
29:04we'll talk about and it's really Saints.
29:06We're going to stay focused on the Saints here and I could have talked about a lot of things with dead zone
29:11running back values and we'd mentioned Cam Scataboo earlier. Um could have mentioned the positivity with Bucky Irving. did that on the takeaways
29:19episode, but a little bit when you unpack the metrics behind the box score, there's some problematic things going on right now with Travis CTN in New
29:29Orleans. So again, you get a week where New Orleans is toe-to-toe with the Lions. You've got a week where there's so much positivity with the Saints
29:41offense and nothing but positives really when you score 30 points against the Lions and you have a chance to knock off
29:48the Lions in week one. But with Travis Tienne, the counting stats are sort of burying the lead. He ends up with a
29:56solid final number because he ended up with seven catches on nine targets. only had 32 yards on that. But if you're in a
30:05PPR format, you're getting 10 plus points out of those seven catches for 32 yards. But when we look at the rush
30:13attempts in a game without Alvin Kamara and Kendrey Miller to his credit looked very good um in a game without Alvin
30:21Kamara you end up with Travis ETN getting only 45% of the rush attempts and Kre Miller gets the work inside the
30:2910 yard line and Kre Miller gets the rushing touchdown. Now, there were some people sort of reporting that Kendra Miller came in, scored the
30:39touchdown because ETN got like hit pretty hard couple couple of plays before. But still, it's a tilting start for Travis ETN to get only this
30:48percentage of the rush attempts. Then you've got Alvin Kamara sort of looming in the future here where couple weeks ago, maybe two weeks ago, it appeared
30:59like Kamara might miss four weeks, six weeks. It feels like Kamar will be back soon. So Travis TN getting nine targets,
31:08that's not something we can ever really rely on, especially when Kamar is active. And even an older Alvin Kamara is going to command a few targets out of
31:16the back field. It's just he's not going to disappear from that. He's been too good at that his entire career. So we
31:22want to keep an eye on Travis CTN.
31:24Really a player that can we rely on him?
31:28was being drafted as a high-end running back, too. Um, really going alongside guys like Javvante Williams for a and DeAndre Swift for that matter for a big
31:39portion of the summer. And really, I think if we were drafting today, we'd have major reservations about this. Now, ETN goes up against a Baltimore Ravens
31:49team that was just shredded by Jonathan Taylor. Now, obviously a very different running back with Travis CTN than Taylor, but a potential to get things
31:59right. We also know that we talked about how Tyler Shuck is never going to get this many pass attempts again. Well, I
32:06mean, the way that the Ravens are putting pressure on you and the game being in Baltimore, this might be a game
32:12where garbage time sort of comes into play and the Saints might have to be in catchup here or at least in trying to go
32:20toe-to-toe with the Ravens offense that looks like they really can't be stopped.
32:24So, keep an eye on Travis ETN. We're gonna see how this thing goes, but we might have to downgrade our expectations
32:30for him if we see the usage look like it was in week one. I'm Theo Grimmer, dropping shows like this every single
32:38week right on the podcast feed. Uh, this show, just a quick reminder, brought to you by Better. Um, make sure you go and
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