0:00Big show for you here tonight. Oh man, what a massive one.
0:03We've got a Monday Night Football recap with Hayden Winks and it could not be more positive for one team and more negative for the other.
0:11Okay, Kansas City Chiefs, Kenneth Walker, transformative figure right away.
0:14Great signing. Everything's looking up. Hayden and I discuss how high we would draft Kenneth Walker in a redraft today and just
0:20go on and on about how incredible he is, how he's a change force for this Kansas City Chiefs offense.
0:26Then we've got to flip it over on the negative side.
0:29What the hell was that from the Denver Broncos?
0:31Wasn't good by any means. Not a good debut for Davis Webb.
0:35Really disturbing performance from Bo Nix. And my God, if you're the big Jalen Waddle guy as I was this offseason, I'm feeling pretty disturbed right now.
0:42Then Scott Pienowski joins the show in substitution of Justin Boone for a big post-Week 1 Peoples edition of the Peoples Panic Meter.
0:49We talk all your submissions to players you're freaking out about.
0:52All three of the big guys on the Bears, Justin Herbert and the Chargers.
0:56Plus we wrap it up with some waiver wire suggestions, all that and more.
1:00Come up on today's show. It's a big one.
1:02Let's get into it. What's going on, everyone? I'm Matt Harmon.
1:06Welcome to the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast Nightcap. And it is a hell of an evening to talk ball, but only if you're
1:12invested in the Kansas City Chiefs and not if you are a member of the Denver Broncos.
1:17And joining me to talk a little ball tonight, it is my guy, Hayden Winks.
1:21Hayden, woof, bro. What a bad night to be a Denver Bronco.
1:24Man, I mean, I would hate to be Davis Webb right now.
1:28I can't imagine the things Sean Payton saying. I mean, I didn't like the Broncos vibes going into this game where all
1:34of a sudden they were saying that Drew Brees was considering coming out of retirement last night.
1:39I was already mad about that. And then the product that they put on the field, it was like the product was
1:45so bad that I don't even know what I watched.
1:48And I'm going to have to wait to get the all 22 because I don't know if Bo Nix had that bad
1:54of a game, if the game plan was that bad, if the receivers weren't getting open because nothing looked right.
2:00Oh, my God. Nothing looked right. Chiefs 31, Broncos 10.
2:03I feel like we have a lot to say about Denver.
2:06And yet, to your point, maybe there's nothing to say about Denver because we don't really know the answers yet.
2:11Like, this is one of we're going to have to watch the tape type of games.
2:16I hope Davis Webb is already watching that tape, bro.
2:19Like, you got to get as much look at that thing as you can.
2:23But as always, we will start positive here because we're a couple of positive fellas, Hayden Winks.
2:28We'll start with the team that won this football game.
2:31That was the Kansas City Chiefs. And oh, my God.
2:33If you drafted Kenneth Walker, congratulations. You got to be feeling fantastic.
2:37So do the Kansas City Chiefs because, Hayden, I would throw it to you with this.
2:41My theory was that Walker could be a transformative figure for the Kansas City Chiefs offense when they signed him this year.
2:48And not only was he, but it was also very apparent.
2:51We'll talk about this, too, that he's going to have to be all season long.
2:55Yep. Yeah, this is the perfect matchup for him because the Broncos secondary is awesome.
2:59They also play a ton of man coverage. What does Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy struggle against?
3:04It's the man coverage part of that, especially against those caliber of players.
3:08So I figured that this game was gonna be a little bit more of a grind until Kenneth Walker is just ripping off 60 yard touchdowns.
3:15But the usage is aside from just him just looking so explosive.
3:18The usage is like staggering. He only reached 29 touches in three of 58 regular season games with the Seahawks.
3:24Of course, he does that with 11 minutes to go in this game.
3:28He would have gotten even more touches in this one if it wasn't such a blowout here.
3:33My question for you with Kenneth Walker is like, obviously, he would be a first round pick in fantasy drafts.
3:38He's going early round two. How many running backs would we actually take ahead of them?
3:43I think that Jameer Gibbs is there. I would take him over Christian McCaffrey easily.
3:47Easily James Cook. Easily ahead of Saquon Barkley. None of the guys behind him in drafts.
3:52I think I would take him over. So like maybe it's Gibbs, Bijon, JT.
3:56Is he four? Like, I'm not sure if there's anyone else I would really consider.
4:00Yeah, Gibbs, Bijon, I think I'm still there. I mean, isn't it?
4:03It's a toss up with JT, don't you think?
4:06I don't see why not. Like, you know, listen, coming out of week one as a Derrick Henry guy, it's easy for
4:12me to bring up the name Derrick Henry again and be like, I know he's probably deserves to be in this conversation as well.
4:19But yeah, I think, you know, the ceiling to your question is running back three.
4:23The floor to your question is five or six.
4:26I mean, I think we're pretty much there. Yep.
4:28And then the receivers ahead of them, CeeDee Lamb, obviously Justin Jefferson had a great game.
4:33Amon Rao had a great game. And then like JSN dealing with the injuries, like he would be in consideration as a
4:39top eight fantasy asset if you were doing drafts today.
4:42I think he was just inside my top 10, top 12.
4:45And this was like more usage than I was expecting.
4:48Obviously, catch a couple of more of those targets and we're really cooking.
4:52But this was absolutely staggering. And the fact that they did this with their backup left tackle, who the broadcast made a
4:58good note at the very end of that game.
5:00They're like, we didn't talk about it in the entire game.
5:04Like, that's a good thing. So that was just a really awesome little bonus for the Chiefs.
5:08Not just backup left tackle. The guy never played left tackle in college.
5:12Like, this is this is crazy what happened here tonight.
5:15And yeah, we showed the stats on the screen here.
5:18Kenneth Walker on his own had more total yards than the entire Denver Broncos offense.
5:22That's outrageous. I'll just rip off a couple of other crazy Kenneth Walker stats that sort of show kind of the point
5:28here that he is a transformative figure for the Kansas City Chiefs.
5:32One, this is from Ben Solak. And this was obviously midway, not even midway through the game.
5:37This is very early on in the contest. Kenneth Walker had 67 rushing yards from under center at the point when Ben tweeted this through the first half.
5:44This was the most for a Chiefs running back in a full game since 2019.
5:49Damian Williams, it's been seven years, two presidential elections, a pandemic since we've had this many yards from under center.
5:54I think at one point then Ben updated. It's been a full decade since we've seen a running back with this.
6:00Like he cleared the entire decade. Absolutely insane. This is a stat I brought up over a lot over the offseason that
6:07from 2024 to 2025, the Chiefs had a 3.1 percent explosive run rate just from their running back runs.
6:12You take Pat Mahomes, the whole deal out of that 3.1 percent.
6:15That was dead last in the NFL by a lot.
6:18Like the other two teams in 31-30 were like in the 5%.
6:22They were 15.4 percent in week number one, only behind the Indianapolis Colts.
6:25And you look at the way they did it, Hayden.
6:28This is what's really impressive, too. Obviously, the under center that Ben talked about here.
6:32They got into 12 and 13 personnel on 38 percent of their offensive snaps at a 53 percent rushing rate before the final drive of the football game.
6:40That 15 percent explosive run rate. They were 18.8 percent inside zone, 18.8 percent power, 6.3 percent counter, 6.3 percent pull lead, according to Sumer Sports.
6:48Like this was a physical big boy downhill rushing offense from the Kansas City Chiefs and Kenneth Walker tonight.
6:53Again, just explosive runs, like physical ground game. This is what this team has been missing for so, so many years now.
6:59Yeah, you kind of think of him as more like an outside zone guy, but like just the downhill runs.
7:05And then when he sprung off that big play, like that was like designed, I think, probably for the B gap there
7:11with, I think, was that Tonga out there? Their big fullback defensive tackle.
7:15On that run, by the way, he reached 21 miles per hour.
7:18That's the third fastest speed of his own career.
7:21But the more important note, according to next gen stats, longest run by a Chiefs running back since Damian Williams back in 2019 as well.
7:28So like absolutely nothing. It just kind of goes to show like how sad it was to watch like the last four
7:34or five years for the Chiefs, just like knowing that they had nothing from this position and just kind of like wasting
7:41some of those like really good moments from the offense and the defense where it felt like they were stuck on offense because of the running backs.
7:48And like to immediately solve that here is just like really overwhelming.
7:52Also, overwhelming for the Seahawks to put us through what we've had to go through with Kenneth Walker the last couple of
7:58years and all those debates and fantasy. Like this is what we could be just be doing.
8:03Like Zach Charbonnet is not doing this. No, he's definitely not doing this.
8:06It looks like it worked out for everybody involved because Clint Kubiak unleashed Ashton Gentry in a way that he never really
8:13unleashed Kenneth Walker, you know, right away. So maybe again, it all works out for everyone here.
8:18We'll see how it goes for Jadarian Price. Maybe this is just like a John Schneider on down thing in Seattle.
8:23It is funny, too, because a lot of this, too, the credit does have to come back to Kansas City Chiefs offensive
8:30line, which you pointed out like backup left tackle in there.
8:33And they hinted on this at the broadcast, too.
8:35They said he's going to he might be starting for a while.
8:39You know, just the Josh Simmons thing is just, you know, a little bizarre going on.
8:43Yeah. And weren't we saying that like all throughout the offseason that points during his rookie year, like there's something going on there.
8:50So, you know, we'll see about that. But look again, great performance against the defense that we are supposed to respect.
8:56But that being said here, Hayden, would you like to take a guess at how many yards after contact per rush attempt
9:02the Kansas City Chiefs had against the Denver Broncos tonight?
9:05It is number one in the league for the first week of the season.
9:09Well, including that 60 yard, I'm gonna go like five or six yards here.
9:13Oh, 5.6. That's actually the Bears at number two.
9:15The Chiefs are 7.2 yards after contact for rush attempt.
9:18So that does kind of, you know, dovetail to the Denver Broncos had an abhorrent night tonight.
9:23I mean, their offense obviously was abysmal, like get that thing off the football field.
9:27But the Denver defense, they're not going to want to watch this game back either from a tackling perspective, which that also
9:34goes to the Chiefs passing game, because there was not a lot going on through the air in this game, Hayden.
9:40You know, like you mentioned, Rasheed Rice and these guys are locked up.
9:43Rasheed Rice, of course, just so, you know, all that matters is the fantasy points per game.
9:48Bros can dunk on me still and point out that he did catch a touchdown in this one.
9:53But what were they doing from a tackling perspective on the Rasheed Rice touchdown?
9:57It was just absolutely insane. Yeah, he is a tough tackle, but I will say like it's still concerning that he had
10:03two targets and like one of them was the little screen that they got him on that touchdown.
10:09And then Xavier Worthy, six targets for 18 yards here.
10:11Like we knew that this matchup was going to be difficult, but like this, this was a little bit concerning from them, like predictably so.
10:18I would say the good news is Patrick Mahomes, obviously he rushes for that touchdown.
10:23He was moving like if I didn't know that he had a torn ACL, you really wouldn't have been able to tell
10:29there's like that's the good news is like we have like a very normal version of Patrick Mahomes here.
10:34He was like reportedly really ahead of schedule here.
10:37It felt like he was going to be ahead of schedule.
10:40But as we get more data, I do feel more confident that this Chiefs offense is just going to feel way, way
10:46different than the ones of the past. And that's definitely derogatory for Rasheed Rice, definitely going to have some question marks with
10:53Travis Kelsey when he's not ripping off 50 59 yard plays.
10:56So I just have a feeling it's gonna be way more under center, way more balanced, way more slow paced.
11:01And then we will get the Patrick Mahomes cheat code passing touchdowns at the goal line still apparently.
11:06But I just think in general, this felt like a different Chiefs offense.
11:10And I think that this is probably what it's going to look like for a lot of the season.
11:16Yeah, again, this was sort of the theory of the case here for Kenneth Walker and him being just someone that was
11:22going to take targets away from Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy and some of these guys in the scam zone there.
11:28Can we talk about the Travis Kelsey 62 yards after catch 59 yard long run?
11:32Producer Colin texted in the producer group chat said Travis Kelsey runs like how I imagine Harmon would run in the open
11:38field, which number one, I don't know who that's more insulting to.
11:42It's definitely more insulting to Travis Kelsey. Okay, let's be clear.
11:45If you ran that fast, I would be like, wow, there goes Matt.
11:48That's impressive. I'm telling you right now. This is total nightcap stuff.
11:52And now I'm glad that there's someone else here that I can joke about this instead of just to myself.
11:58A couple, I think this was like last year.
12:00You know how they have those like speed signs in the neighborhood?
12:04Yeah. Like, you know where I'm going with this.
12:06My wife and I are on a walk. I'm like, I think I'm going to run.
12:11I think I'm going to run and see how fast I can be like on this thing.
12:15So I did. I'm not even going to quote the miles per hour.
12:19Let me tell you it was lower than whatever Travis Kelsey was.
12:23All right. We'll just get that out of the way.
12:25But then she showed me the video afterwards and it was probably the most embarrassing thing.
12:30Yeah. It's just absolutely terrible. So anyways, the fact that we're even, you know, someone completely irrational like Colin is making the comparison.
12:36Travis Kelsey to me, when I look like a complete joke running the ball.
12:40Just it's unbelievable. 59 yards explosive play for Travis Kelsey.
12:43Like what year is this? Emmitt Johnson, 53 yards after catch.
12:46Rashid Rice, 13 yards after the catch. Kenneth Walker, 19.
12:49Xavier Worthy, 15. Like the Broncos could not tackle whatsoever.
12:52So I do think we've seen the change force here from the Kansas City Chiefs.
12:56Kenneth Walker, you know, total smash in fantasy football.
12:59Let's flip this over to the Broncos side, though, because man, Hayden, like I said, that was it was shocking and really rough to watch.
13:06Like, where do you want to start with this one?
13:09Yeah, I felt like everything was just like bonus kept looking at the at the scoreboard, which to me, like is just
13:15a sign that whatever he was expecting was not happening, whether that's like class or whatever.
13:20I think Steve Spagnuolo, which I would not be surprised.
13:22Mancer Delaney left this game like pretty early on.
13:25So like that was like what the sixth overall pick at corner.
13:28So maybe it's just like Noel Williams is way better than we thought.
13:32Maybe just like Steve Spagnuolo was like bringing extra pressure.
13:35But there's like too many moments where Bo Nix was like flushing outside the pocket way too quickly getting chased down.
13:41How many times did the ball seem to be poked out around him?
13:45And then whenever he was throwing the ball, like nothing was like in rhythm.
13:49So this is one where like it's hard to say exactly from the broadcast view, like on a game like this, because
13:55so much of this is happening outside of the frame here.
13:58But like tomorrow morning on stats versus film, when we talk about this, like there's a pretty clear answers.
14:03I will say Bo Nix does this for like four games in a row and then kind of kind of figures it out.
14:10And I'm guessing that's what Sean Payton is going to have to do here.
14:14But the context of this being the first game with Davis Webb, like to me is not lost on me at all.
14:20Like this is going to be a storyline until proven otherwise.
14:23176 total yards of offense in Davis Webb's debut, according to NFL Pro.
14:27That is the fewest yards for the Broncos in Sean Payton's tenure as the head coach.
14:31It's the fewest yards for a Denver Broncos team since week 16, 2021.
14:35When, wait for it, Drew Locke was the quarterback of that game.
14:39So, again, it's been a minute here for the Denver Broncos since they've looked this bad.
14:43It's a good point about Bo Nix and the Steve Spagnuolo effect here that this is a really rough draw for not
14:49just a coordinator in his first game. First time calling plays, of course, for Davis Webb.
14:54It's also Bo Nix coming off, you know, an offseason where he did have he's coming back from the surgery.
15:00He's coming back from the whole deal there. And it was kind of like, did he need a cleanup surgery?
15:05You know, it wasn't the cleanest rehab in the world.
15:08And he's already a guy like, I like Bo Nix, but he's got a little bit of Baker Mayfield in him.
15:14I tweeted that during the game that he was riding the Baker Mayfield chaos gene, just some of the fumbles, the sacks, the whole deal.
15:21And pressure was a huge issue. This is, I think, where you're really going to, you know, maybe put like the microscope on Davis Webb here.
15:29The Broncos before, like midway through the third quarter, had a 69% passing rate on the day.
15:33And Bo Nix was just getting harassed all night.
15:36Like, this is a good offensive line. So it makes you wonder about the protection plan.
15:40Like, what were they kind of doing there? At one point, about 1052 Eastern, Nate tweeted that according to NextGenStats, Bo Nix
15:47was 2 of 8 for 5 yards with a pick under pressure.
15:50And it felt like that all night. And he wasn't even pushing the ball down the field.
15:55Like, typically when you, like, lose by 21 points, like the ADOT gets really high because you're just, like, kind of forcing things.
16:02His ADOT was 3.9 yards down the field. So, like, there was, like, nothing developing down the football field.
16:07Looking at, like, the PFF grades real quick. The tight ends, the running backs, the centers, their pass protection was the worst.
16:13Like, it wasn't, like, necessarily the tackles. It was kind of, like, the interior pressure, the blitzers.
16:18Like, this is, like, the type of stuff that happens when you face a Steve Spagnuolo.
16:23But, like, late in the game, R.J. Harvey got absolutely knocked out of the way.
16:27They just didn't get the running backs going at all.
16:30I thought that J.K. Dobbins looked okay. R.J. Harvey had a couple of explosive moments, but was, like, not a trusted player.
16:36Whatever happened to Jonah Coleman? Like, we were promised all this Jonah Coleman three snaps out of him.
16:41I mean, that's, like, insane stuff. The Sean Payton, like, sometimes, like, his media appearances are, like, a little bit too much for me.
16:48And, like, the Jonah Coleman, like, we've seen enough from this guy.
16:51And then he plays three snaps. And I was just, like, the cherry on top here.
16:56But, yeah, just there wasn't, like, a new rotation at wide receiver looking at it.
17:00It kind of seemed like a status quo there.
17:03It's just, like, they just had nothing going down the field.
17:06Yeah, nothing going down the field. You're right about the Sean Payton media appearances.
17:10It feels like he's on Kay Adams' show, like, five times a week.
17:13Always. Like, does he co-host that show with her?
17:16I don't know. He's on that show a lot.
17:18He's on all the big shows a lot. He talks to everybody.
17:22And so, yeah, I mean, the only thing he was right about was, like, yeah, they wanted to use Pat Bryant a lot.
17:28Pat Bryant was really involved early on here. You know, and he'd had some fine moments.
17:33Okay, that was great. But also had some holding penalties, the whole deal there.
17:37But, yeah, I mean, Pat Bryant's a solid player.
17:39Like, Cortland Sutton was totally a nothing. Kind of expected.
17:42Cortland Sutton was not going to do much against this defense.
17:45But let's talk about Jalen Waddle here. Yeah, great timing, producers.
17:49Let's put the Jalen Waddle. One catch, two target.
17:51And you know it's going bad, too, when, like, Waddle's frustrated early on.
17:55You could see that on the sideline. He drops a pass that probably would have picked them up a first down there.
18:01How high should we have the panic meter for Jalen Waddle after one game?
18:05Especially if you're somebody like me, Hayden, who really was into Jalen Waddle this year and recommended him a lot.
18:11Yeah, pretty much every show I was on, I said the same exact thing.
18:15I'm on a bunch of teams here. I think that this is a situation where tomorrow I'll learn a lot more.
18:21He ran a route on 29 of 35 dropbacks.
18:23He was not a full-time player, though. Like, they did kind of have, like, we're running the ball formations.
18:29And then we had, like, more passing, like, traditional stuff with Jalen Waddle.
18:32I thought there was going to be, like, just more layup opportunities for Jalen Waddle.
18:37Like, I thought that the floor was always just going to be higher than this.
18:41And, like, as we see, wide receiver is so much more volatile than running backs in fantasy.
18:46Like, if you play this, like, panic meter stuff with every single wide receiver the entire season, like, you're going to, like, lose your hair for no reason.
18:54It comes and goes with these guys. I just thought that there was going to be no chance that he would have
19:00games with one catch for two yards. I thought there would be more screen involvement, especially when, like, nothing is going right.
19:06Like, I would have tried to get the ball to Jalen Waddle a couple extra times there.
19:11So, I did see Troy Franklin in there a little bit at times.
19:15But I think tomorrow, like, after watching the All-22, there'll probably be more crystal clear reasons why it happened.
19:20But this was definitely concerning. It felt like, oh, so, yeah.
19:23Let's talk about this real quick. Sean Payton apparently, according to Troy Aikman, told his wife to draft Jalen Waddle in fantasy.
19:29Sean, listen, I got to know the status of the relationship, okay?
19:33I mean, come on. You can't do that when you're not calling the plays, Sean.
19:37You can't be telling your wife who to draft and then you go, well, that was Davis, sweetheart.
19:42I don't know what to tell you about that one.
19:45Is he in that league? Like, is he in the league and, like, giving bad advice to his wife?
19:50Like, what's going on here? Sean Payton has Pat Bryant.
19:53And he's like, yeah, you should draft. You should definitely draft Jalen Waddle.
19:57And he's scooping up Pat Bryant late. I sent this tweet to the producer.
20:01I don't know if we can show this one, but just to your point about the panic meter stuff with, you know, the week-to-week deal.
20:08You know, I talked about this. I'm going to talk about it a little bit later if you're listening to the audio feed with Scott.
20:15If you're watching with us on YouTube, subscribe to the channel.
20:18Also, the video is already up as well. But Joel Smith, our colleague here, he replied to one of my posts with
20:24this, too, that showed that the correlation between week one performances and year-long for wide receivers is absolutely like the stone worst.
20:31There's actually a negative correlation between week one finishes and season-long here.
20:34So, yeah, I mean, you've got to be a little worried about Jalen Waddle, mostly because of what you said there.
20:40Like, I thought this is the guy that is going to be their layup creator in the offense.
20:45Instead, it felt a lot more like they were hoping to just wad it up with, like, the backs and the tight
20:51ends and protection and push the ball down the field against this defense.
20:55Which, you know, listen, Davis Webb knows more about football than me, but that would not have been my plan against this
21:01defense and this pass rush and Steve Spagnol and everything.
21:04So it just felt like a unit, Hayden. And again, we'll keep saying this.
21:08We'll talk about it on Stats vs. Film tomorrow for sure.
21:11Like, we need to see more. But it just felt like a unit that was in chaos basically all night.
21:17Yeah. They get Jacksonville next week. Then the Rams, the Niners, the Chargers, the Seahawks, Cardinals, and then the Chiefs again.
21:23So it's not like it's an easy schedule here for them to kind of figure out this offense.
21:28Now, Sean Payton typically does. I will float this theory.
21:31Wasn't the reason why Davis Webb has to be the play caller because they were worried that he was going to, like, leave to be a head coach?
21:39Like, if he stinks this one up again, maybe they don't have those same worries.
21:43And maybe Sean Payton's like, I'll just, you know, take over the play calling again.
21:47It doesn't seem like Davis Webb's going to get a head coaching job anymore.
21:51So maybe we can kind of buy the dip here as I'm sure Sean Payton spends maybe a little bit more time on the game plan.
21:59I think you're probably right about that theory. It's funny.
22:02There were two coaches that essentially demoted themselves from play caller to give the job to the offensive coordinator.
22:07It was Dave Canales did this in Carolina, and Sean Payton did this here in Denver.
22:12And both of them, like, that was part of the justification for sure for not so much Idzik in Carolina, but for
22:18Davis Webb here was that, yeah, listen, we got to get this guy a shot here because he might get promoted or whatever.
22:24We might get stolen from him. But the other part of both those guys was they were reportedly they had a really
22:31good, like, connection and really good relationship and kind of knew what the quarterback wanted.
22:35I would say, obviously, two very different defenses in week number one for both the two quarterbacks have faced here, but definitely
22:41went better for Bryce Young and Brad Edzik than it did for our guy here, Bo Nix and Davis Webb.
22:47So we'll see how that develops. But I'm with you, man.
22:50I'm a little nervous about what I saw here in week one, but I'm willing to not, like, totally panic yet.
22:56I got one last takeaway from this is Sean Payton to me, like, what makes him such a special play caller?
23:02I was like, yeah, so there's some like the bootleg stuff, the big crosser routes, like some of the screen games kind of fun.
23:09He always is dialed in on the pass protection rules.
23:11And that's like what's made him so successful. And for the first game with Davis Webb to have a 46% pressure rate.
23:18And a lot of that is not just like the tackles, like getting beat.
23:22Like when you start seeing a lot of pressures from tight ends and halfbacks in the centers, a lot of that's like
23:28communication or like late to it or not diagnosing it in time.
23:31So like as I rewatch this game tomorrow, that's going to be something I'm going to be dialed into.
23:37But like typically you'll just not see Sean Payton with the 46% pressure allowed because he's so obsessed about that.
23:42I think that's the actual reason why Sean Payton's been so successful for the last two decades.
23:47That's such a great point. And again, that is what it felt like all night.
23:51All of the pressure, just guys coming free at Bo Nix and, you know, him making a bad situation worse.
23:57There's definitely something to say about that there. My final, you know, kind of parting shot on this game.
24:03Great tweet we have here from Andrew Cooper, a coupe fiasco.
24:06Cyrus Allen, Jonah Coleman, each playing exactly one snap in the first half feels like some sort of personal message to me
24:12to spend more time outside with my family during the preseason.
24:15I think I think Hayden, you and I can both relate to that.
24:19And I will just say, like, if you guys are in the YouTube chat right now, I don't keep it up during the show.
24:26Maybe I should. That's probably what a real YouTuber would do.
24:29That's definitely what Josh does. I got to take notes from Josh here on this one.
24:33I'm learning. But you guys, if you're lighting my ass up in the YouTube chat for Jalen Waddell, totally bring it on.
24:39I think I deserve that right now. But if you're like, yo, what happened to your boy Cyrus Allen?
24:45Listen, I said on this show, like Cyrus Allen is a round five rookie.
24:49Let's take it easy about, like, his week one expectations here.
24:52This is a slow burn, folks. A patience-based game with Cyrus Allen.
24:55Totally agree. And then for the waddle point, I remember going through this last year with George Pickens, who I think was facing the Eagles.
25:02And I think in Brazil, and it was a really bad game from him.
25:06And then went on to go absolutely crazy. And like his routes were way up.
25:11He was so productive after that point. So that's what we're hoping for.
25:14There's a little bit of a proof of concept to that.
25:18And I think you think, you know, fantasy wide receivers, like this is what you sign up for early wide receiver.
25:23There's floors way lower than you think it is on a week to week basis at the same time.
25:29Like that was really pathetic. Well, let's hope Jalen Waddell is pulling a 2025 George Pickens on us.
25:34Frankly, let's hope that 2026 George Pickens is also pulling a 2025 George Pickens on us.
25:39But yeah, you got to ride the wave at this position.
25:42That is something that's going to come up throughout the rest of the show as well.
25:46All right. Great stuff with Hayden here. Now let's throw to the rest of the show with Scott, the people's panic meter and waiver wire targets.
25:54Let's get into it. It is a hell of a day to talk ball.
25:58Usually here for the panic meter weekly episodes, we're going to have Justin Boone.
26:02We do not have Justin Boone for today's episode.
26:04However, that means that joining me to talk a little ball and to recap whether you guys should be panicked or not coming out of week number one.
26:12It is my good friend, the man, the principal of the carnival offense, the carnival team himself.
26:17It is my guy, Scott Pienowski. Scott, what's going on, buddy?
26:20Not much, Matt. I'm excited to be here. I am in the Detroit area.
26:24And of course, one of the great David Bowie songs was panic in Detroit.
26:28There would have been panic had the Saints pulled off that upset on Sunday.
26:32And thoughts go out to our colleague, Justin Boone.
26:34He can't be here today. We're thinking about you, buddy.
26:37He will be back in the chair soon enough.
26:40But, you know, Matt, I thought it was a pretty good liftoff for week one.
26:44But there's always going to be players who disappoint us, players who come in under expectations.
26:49And hopefully we can find some clarity and answers in those guys moving forward.
26:53And that is what today is all about. That's what we do here for the People's Panic Meter.
26:58We take your submissions every single week, whether you send it into fantasymailbag at yahoo sports.com or you can reply to my
27:04weekly tweet, which goes out right after Sunday Night Football.
27:07Either way, there are players you're panicking about on any given week.
27:10We dive into Oregon's People's Panic Meter and we just dive into it.
27:14We figure out whether you guys should be panicked or not.
27:17We'll explain that once we get there. And then later on in the show, we've got Duke Cannon's waiver wire targets.
27:23Top 10 waiver wire players to add every single week and some guys that you might want to consider dropping.
27:29So without any further ado, welcome to the post week one People's Panic Meter.
27:33Would you say it's time for everyone to panic?
27:35Yes, I would get. Oh, my God. OK, it's happening.
27:38No, no, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
27:41Everybody stay calm. Stay calm. Stay f***ed. Welcome to the Panic Meter presented by Oregon Creatine.
27:45Whether you're training like it's game day or pushing through the pressure of fantasy season, Oregon Creatine helps give you the muscle
27:52strength to fuel harder and push farther. Upgrade your performance today with Oregon.
27:55And we've got a lot to push through here on the People's Panic Meter for week number one.
28:01A little reminder for the folks. If you're new, this is how we do the People's Panic Meter every single week.
28:06We've got four categories in the Panic Meter. We're going to tell you whether the player, team, or situation you send in,
28:13whether it's no panic, some panic, total panic, or coping corner.
28:16I don't think we've got to put anybody into the coping corner coming out of week one.
28:21At least no one that was submitted to the Panic Meter, Scott.
28:24But we'll figure out. Before we dive into these specific situations, I just want to remind folks out there that week one is the biggest liar out there.
28:32OK, I was just posting about this a little bit earlier, Scott.
28:35Can I read you off the list of the top 15 scoring wide receivers from week one last year?
28:41This is in order. Zay Flowers. OK. Quentin Johnson.
28:43Emeka Ibuka. Keon Coleman was wide receiver four coming out of week one.
28:47Debo Samuel. Garrett Wilson. Pukun Okua. Michael Pittman. Keenan Allen.
28:50Marvin Harrison Jr. Cortland Sutton. Calvin Austin. Jackson Smith and Jigba.
28:53Marquise Brown. CeeDee Lamb. On the inverse of that, Scott, the wide receivers who were maybe not so productive in week number
28:59one, but went on to become top 15 scorers at the position.
29:03Jamar Chase, who ironically we are not talking about today.
29:06So I think we've just trained the audience well on this one.
29:09He was wide receiver 76 in week one. He was wide receiver three in points per game by the end of the season.
29:15Amon Ross St. Brown. Wide receiver 48. He was wide receiver four by the end of the season.
29:21George Pickens 61. He was wide receiver six by the end of the season.
29:25The list goes on and on and on about these guys who have slow starts, but end up especially at receiver and
29:31passing game entities in particular, finishing quite well. So Scott, I mean, you know this for sure.
29:36The people need to know it. Week one is an absolute liar.
29:39Very well said. Very well framed. I mean, last year, the Raiders beat the Patriots on opening day.
29:44Maybe New England's overrated. Maybe the Raiders aren't so bad.
29:47Geno threw for like 362 in that game. Justin Fields was the quarterback too.
29:51We couldn't wait to get him out of town by the end of the year.
29:55Now, the NFL is a snow globe league. We often talk about that.
29:59And every week is going to have weirdness, quirkiness, and outliers, good and bad.
30:03So we have to take that with, you know, just part of our diet in the NFL, just consuming this stuff, predicting
30:09this stuff, trying to manage our fantasy teams well.
30:12We have to accept that some things are going to make sense on Saturday, and they won't make sense when the game is played on Sunday.
30:19But especially week one. Now, we got lucky this year because there was a ton of week one scoring.
30:24And normally, the week one is a glorified exhibition week.
30:27Teams don't use their personnel as much in the summer.
30:30Mike Tomlin has posited that maybe the defenders were behind because they're not hitting anybody in the preseason, and maybe it takes
30:36an extra beat to get them going. That wouldn't line up with maybe previous years when I think the frame would have been kind of the same.
30:44But I thought Tomlin's debut with NBC was really good, and looking forward to listening to him this year.
30:49But you have to – the thing is, I think week one underperformance hits a little bit harder because you drafted this team.
30:56And in some cases, you may have drafted this team months in advance, and you can't wait to let it go.
31:02It's watch him run, watch him score, and it's your birthday, and it's Christmas, and it's your wedding day.
31:07It's everything all at once. And then you open up the box, and there's nothing in it with some of these guys.
31:14And that's really – literally nothing in it with a couple of players we're going to talk about.
31:19And that's frustrating, and that's emotional, and that makes you start making bad decisions.
31:23So we want you to make good decisions. And I think on a lot of guys, it's going to be try to
31:29keep your feet on the ground and see the perspective that it's just one game, and it's the most out-of-routine game that
31:35a lot of these teams are going to play all year.
31:38Yeah, great stat here from Adam Schefter. Entering Monday Night Football, teams in week one are averaging 25 points a game.
31:44That's on pace to be the highest league-wide scoring average in week one since the 1970 merger.
31:49So, yeah, pretty big shift here because usually it is the defenses that have the edge on offenses.
31:54We'll try to maybe break some more of that down.
31:57Maybe we'll talk about that with Nate later on this week if he's got any theories as to why that might be.
32:03But for now, let's get into some of your people's panic meter submissions.
32:07And ironically, I wanted to set the table in terms of talking about passing game volatility and how sometimes, especially at receiver,
32:13it is just an up-and-down roller coaster, and you've got to ride the wave because we're going to talk about three players from one passing game here.
32:21And ironically, Scott, we're starting off with a team that put up 59 points, and we've got three players to discuss in the panic meter.
32:28Tyler E. sends in an email just titled, Colson Loveland.
32:31How can I not have at least some panic after the Bears drop 59 points and my fourth-round pick drops a donut?
32:37Two targets? Was he just doing some elite blocking, or was he just forgotten about in the passing game?
32:42Thanks. Big fan of the show. All right, so we've got three players to put up here.
32:47Just a little table setting. Colson Loveland was a consensus-ranked tight end one coming into this week.
32:52He had no catches, so not even on the board.
32:55Luther Burton was wide receiver 24 coming into the week.
32:58He finishes wide receiver 36. That's fine. Roma Dunze was, I think, a little over-ranked as wide receiver 29.
33:03I had him lower than that because I was afraid he was going to play limited snaps.
33:08He did play limited snaps. He was the wide receiver 53.
33:11Caught two passes, one really awesome catch, but that was it.
33:14So, Scott, let's maybe take the big fish first and then go to the receivers.
33:19Do you have any panic on Colson Loveland coming out of this week?
33:22My answer to this was, I have no panic.
33:25Yeah, capital N-O. Capital Relax. So, 87% route participation.
33:27He's not blocking. He's outrunning routes. What did we see in this game?
33:31Chicago offense looks great. Chicago defense looks horrible. Ben Johnson is still a creative schemer, and he's aggressive going for it deep
33:37in his own territory on a fourth down. We're all for that.
33:41This looks like the carnival team of 2026. And even though I thought DeAndre Swift preseason was a little bit underdrafted and
33:47a good target, and he had a nice game here.
33:50Mononga actually had a long run and got over 100 yards as well.
33:53This is not a case where the running game is likely to be so dynamic that they're not going to throw the ball.
34:00Now, maybe – I guess maybe I might be a little bit nervous just if Caleb is going to be more of
34:06the proactive runner that we saw in week one.
34:09Maybe that takes a few things off the table.
34:11The bottom line is I see a top five offense, a top five defense.
34:15I see a path of them being the best offense.
34:18I see a path of them being the best defense.
34:21Either way, it's a carnival setup with a quarterback who's ascending, with a play car we love.
34:26Loveland was open on a goal line pass, and Caleb missed them.
34:29This is just – there's variance in the passing game.
34:32Loveland's going to be incorporated in routes. I think he got a little bit extra attention from Carolina.
34:37Not that they really stopped anything in this game.
34:40But I would trade for Loveland with full expectation if I could right now.
34:44So, just to be clear, when you say best defense, you mean what I referenced earlier, the carnival team.
34:49Like it's the best defense to target in fantasy.
34:52Right, yeah. Horrible defense. Yeah, I misspoke because I should have said worst defense.
34:56But, yes, it is – we always – who are the carnival team?
34:59Maybe Dallas is a carnival team. Again, the Bengals are generally a carnival team.
35:03The Bears, top five offense and a bottom five defense.
35:06So, let's just clarify that. But anybody who watched this football game knew that this team, with all the injuries in the
35:12secondary last year, they lived off turnovers is how they got into the playoffs and they did win this game.
35:18And they made Jalen Coker and Bryce Young look like Montana to Rice, Moss to Brady to Moss, Harrison from Manning, whatever
35:24combination you want to make it – whatever you want to use.
35:28Shuck to Chris Olave. They made these guys – they were cooking, man.
35:31And I wish – I liked Coker. I wish I had him on more teams but unfortunately it didn't fall the way I wanted it to.
35:39But I'm at the point now that I just want to look at the Chicago schedule and just pick off guys.
35:45And in bi-week season when we're trying to hit flyers, any of those secondary tight ends or any of those receivers outside
35:51the top four, do they have a date with Chicago?
35:54They immediately get bumped up a half tier to a full tier.
35:57This is – at the end of the year, I fully expect when you add up points scored and points allowed, Chicago
36:04is going to be the number one team. Vikings, Eagles, Jets, Bears, Falcons, Patriots.
36:08Those are the next teams coming up on the schedule for the Chicago Bears.
36:11And I agree with you. This is the carnival – there's just – there's no question to me that this is the carnival team of 2026.
36:19Like the defense is not good. Here's the question just – or the way I would posit this.
36:24And this is my – just kind of – I want to get into the receivers and sort of the granularity of
36:30snaps and routes and the whole deal. But I will say bottom line, I'm not panicking about any of these three players.
36:36I don't have any panic about them. And mostly because, Scott, like I come away from week one willing to underline your
36:43point about this being a top five offense, which was my like theory coming into it.
36:47So maybe this is just my prior speaking. But the fact that we had ancillary players step up and support this team
36:54when Colson Loveland – like yeah, two targets. I said on the recap show with Josh Hayden and Ray that unfortunately for
37:00Colson Loveland, it just – the two targets that he got were probably Caleb's two worst throws of the day.
37:05His two like most inaccurate ones, which, you know, it's still two targets.
37:09You would have been worried about that anyways. But if he comes away with one touchdown, you're probably feeling pretty good about that.
37:16It's like, okay, we'll just move on to next week and it's a little bit of touchdown deodorant as you say.
37:22But like Jaday Walker stepping up and like blocking and then grabbing a touchdown.
37:26Like that's nice to see. Kalief Raymond being a viable third receiver.
37:29Like there were times last year where Olamide Zaccheaus who basically is the player that Kalief – like Zaccheaus was supposed to
37:35be Raymond in Ben Johnson's offense when he came from Detroit to Chicago.
37:39And then he just went out and got the original version of Kalief Raymond.
37:43There were times where like Olamide Zaccheaus ruined drives for this team at different points last year.
37:48Kalief Raymond being a viable guy to keep it moving helps.
37:51The fact that Caleb Williams looks like the most explosive rushing quarterback in the NFL coming out of this week.
37:57Like these are all good things for the pass catchers, including the fact that yeah, we're also just – we have maybe
38:03the best run game in the NFL. So there will be like some volume concerns, but I think that is baked into our expectations with these guys anyways.
38:11But I'm with you. No panic on Loveland. Do you have any panic on Burden or Odunze coming out of this week?
38:17I would say no. Do you have any panic on either of those two guys?
38:21I'm also going to say no, but you're asking the right question.
38:25Who is Kalief Raymond? What can he do? We've seen him bounce around the NFL.
38:29If you can tell yourself a story that he could catch 60 to 65 balls, that's a problem.
38:34Everybody hates Raymond. He could be what I call a fantasy obstructor where they get in the way of production from other
38:40players, but we don't necessarily trust him enough to play him on a week-in, week-out level.
38:45So one of the signals I'm going to be looking at – and I still haven't run the tape yet on the
38:51– I've been saving the Bears and Panthers because that game was just so glorious.
38:55So I'm going to run that tape later tonight.
38:58But what Kalief Raymond is in this offense, how you view that, how sticky you think that is, is going to have
39:04an impact on how you value Odunze and how you value Burden going forward.
39:08Now, remember also, I mean there were injury concerns with Burden and Odunze in the preseason.
39:13And then maybe Odunze has his foot that he has to maintain for the majority of his career anyway.
39:18So that's something – maybe that led to Raymond being a little bit more involved.
39:22I think it's more noise than signal. I think Raymond can be a respectable player, but I still think this target concentration
39:29will be tight enough that we can trust it.
39:31And the bottom line is it's just going to be impossible.
39:34If this offense is going to roll up 400-plus yards more often than not, their main guys are going to eat.
39:40I can't say enough that my takeaway – not only is it no panic, but if you can trade into this Chicago
39:46Bears offense, if you can acquire more pieces of them, and I realize it's going to be shifting scales on that.
39:52Because a lot of times people will say, oh, buy low on this guy, buy low on that guy.
39:58And it's a false buy low. Like, yeah, buy low on Jamar Chase.
40:02Who's selling that? I don't think anybody – Yeah, exactly.
40:04You mentioned it earlier. We're used to Cincinnati not being ready to play.
40:08I know they won in week one, but Chase basically had the same exact stat line, participation line that he had last year in week one.
40:15Everybody writes that off. You're not getting Jamar Chase at a discount.
40:19But you might get Colston Loveland at a discount.
40:21Or maybe the person who drafted Loveland drafted somebody else who they like at tight end, and they think they have a surplus.
40:28Maybe they're concerned that other pieces are going to be involved, like we talked about Raymond earlier, or maybe that Williams running
40:34them in, or Swift being a factor, and they did get two running backs going because Mononga had a good game.
40:40That seems a little bit more noisy than stable to me too.
40:44But I think there's a chance you could at least get Loveland at a minor discount, and I would be interested in that.
40:50And the thing is – here's the thing. If you want to trade for Colston Loveland, you don't go to the Loveland managers.
40:57Hey, you got Loveland. He obviously stinks. Trade him to me.
41:00No, no, no, no, no. You start a conversation that doesn't say Loveland's name.
41:04And if he's got two good tight ends or if he's got a bunch of good receivers, say, oh, he gets a
41:10really good depth in the pass catcher room. I could use one.
41:13What would make sense? Let him come or her come to Loveland.
41:17And don't show your hand right away. That's how you approach those negotiations, especially when you're trying to buy low.
41:22Smart. I think that makes a ton of sense.
41:25And you're right that someone like Jamar Chase is probably going to be unattainable.
41:29But because Colston Loveland was probably an aggressive, like, oh, boy, we got to maybe reach on this guy to get him earlier.
41:35At least he was a perceived reach. Maybe that's a buying opportunity.
41:39I also think the receivers are definitely buying opportunities as well.
41:42Maybe not so much burden because he wasn't like – I mean, I think both these guys were like a little disappointing
41:48enough coming into this week that, you know, you can maybe trade for them.
41:52I do think, like, we need a week with Adunze getting a full week of practice to know exactly what the route participation is going to look like.
42:00Because as I mentioned, in this particular game, it was a little bit of a – not receiver rotation, but, like, Roman
42:06Adunze only plays on 58% of the routes. Same as Kalief Raymond.
42:10You know, Nate and I talked about Kalief Raymond as a better-in-real-life-than-fantasy player.
42:14But these guys do often, you know, disrupt things just enough to they'll have games like this.
42:18You know, if Kalief Raymond had this game in week seven, nobody would care.
42:22It's just that we think, oh, week one, is this going to be the rest of the way?
42:27It's probably not going to be the rest of the way.
42:31But he does know the offense, and he's a really smart player who did get some good reviews out of training camp.
42:37So I think he'll be the wide receiver three.
42:39The question just is, like, who's going to be the guy that's on the field in two or fewer receiver sets?
42:45Because the route participation there goes Cole Komet, 94%, obviously.
42:48Colson Lovelland, 94%. Jadde Walker, 67%. I think Walker's a little bit good, like a nice player.
42:53But I would be surprised if that holds. But he did block really well in this game and got himself a touchdown.
42:59And then it was Luther Burden at 44%. Roma Dune's at 33%.
43:03That will be the key kind of data point to decide who's the one, who's the two, all of that meaningless stuff.
43:09I still think both these guys are really viable, and both should be good players for the long term.
43:14But that will really be the data point to figure out in week number two.
43:19Really fun to discuss this Bears offense because it's crazy that 59 points were scored, Scott, and we still have people freaking out about these three players.
43:26But anything else on Chicago? Are you good to move on?
43:29No, highest scoring game in week one history, and I think the 13th highest scoring game of all time.
43:35I don't think Cole Komet has that fantasy obstructor maybe case to him.
43:38I've always liked Cole Komet on a different team.
43:41I would even be open to drafting him. But even though he gets the touchdown, he was only targeted three times.
43:47I'm going to generally just kind of brush that off.
43:50He's a good player, but I don't think he's going to get in Lovelland's way at all.
43:55I agree with you on that one. Okay, Jeff B is our next emailer here.
43:59Sends this one in on Justin Herbert and the Chargers.
44:02Herbert did not look like the projected top five quarterback that some were steaming him to be.
44:07This did not look like a good offensive line at all.
44:10And beyond getting the ball to Ladd, who is now hurt, he did not seem effective at all.
44:15This felt very much like last year's Chargers team.
44:17So much about Mike McDaniel as a genius. One could ask, is he a guru or was Tyreek and Waddle so good
44:24they could have made any coach look like good?
44:26I am in a league where Purdy is available and I have top priority.
44:30I hate to burn around the quarterback, but I feel like it's necessary.
44:34Are you talking me down from the ledge or pushing me off it on the Chargers?
44:38Scott, that was a bad game by the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
44:42I watched it from the first snap to the end.
44:45And there's no putting lipstick on the pig. That was a bad effort.
44:49Some protection breakdowns because of the scheme. Some rough play by the interior offensive line.
44:53Again, Ladd McConkie was awesome. So much to show the stats really bear this out.
44:57I thought this was a great note from Trevor Sykema.
45:00Looking into what really went wrong for the Chargers, when McConkie went off, things fell off a cliff.
45:058.9 yards per pass with McConkie on the field.
45:083.9 yards per pass when McConkie was off the field.
45:10If they don't have McConkie, they're not a good offense.
45:13Period. End of story. I will say, for both Justin Herbert and Amari and Hampton, Scott, I have some panic.
45:19But are you willing to talk me down to no panic or push me further than that?
45:24I think some panic is the right call. And McConkie is this Jenga piece, right?
45:28He takes that piece out, everything collapses. And we saw it yesterday very cleanly.
45:32The offense was fine when McConkie was playing and the offense fell apart.
45:36Now, granted, they'll have – if McConkie has to miss time, that would break my heart.
45:40One of my most drafted players, one of my most promoted players.
45:44And he was cooking, man. He was headed – he and Zay Flowers were both headed to monster games.
45:49Flowers might have had 300 yards in that game.
45:52Had he stayed healthy and it sounds like he might miss some time too.
45:56But this is – they don't have the depth.
45:58Quinton Johnson can do some things. Harris can do some things.
46:01I am willing to give Mike McDaniel a pass here.
46:04And I realize Waddle and Hill and A-Chan and Raheem Mostert, who was a good player, they had talent there.
46:10He did somehow find a way to make it work with Tua, who I don't think anybody is holding out hopes for anymore.
46:16And sadly, his career might be over. But a big part of our Chargers belief this year was, oh, the offensive line is healthy again.
46:23What do they do? They lose their starting center almost as soon as training camp starts.
46:28And they were manhandled by an Arizona team that everybody thinks is terrible.
46:32And that was one of my strongest takes. Go get the Chargers defense because they get Arizona in week one.
46:37That couldn't have been more wrong. Sometimes there's an upset, but it's fluky.
46:41Somebody muffs a punt or there's a bad officiating call or anything.
46:44Arizona took this game. They basically dominated the game from start to finish.
46:48And it's a frustrating result because this is an offense I wanted to really hitch my wagon to.
46:53But I'm just afraid that their receiver depth is so spotty.
46:56I mentioned Tyree Kill. I don't know if he'll sign with the team.
47:00I mean, if Bukanki missed time, would they kick the tires on a Tyree Kill?
47:04I don't think it's been wish-casting a little bit.
47:07I think he's still far from being ready. Yeah, probably.
47:10Tyree Kill's career likely is over. And I was happy when Keenan Allen didn't re-sign with the Chargers because I wanted a more condensed target tree.
47:17And so I'm sad here and I'm frustrated and I'm nervous because McConkie, Jenga piece, he's not right.
47:22I think that Purdy for Herbert Swap would be justified.
47:25Now, Marion Hampton had a really nice touchdown run.
47:28I thought he did the best he could with the blocking that he had.
47:32He's probably the player I'm least moving. I'm least affected by week one.
47:35But there's legitimate concern because of the McConkie piece.
47:38Yeah, man, it's so great that you pointed out that about Zay Flowers, too, that I would argue that those were the
47:44two guys that Zay Flowers and Ladd McConkie that had the best case to be this year's Jackson Smith and Jigba.
47:50And in the first half, they were proving exactly why.
47:53Zay Flowers in the first half of that game against the Colts was targeted on 55% of his routes in that first half against the Colts.
48:00Ladd McConkie in the first half against the Arizona Cardinals targeted on 46% of his routes.
48:05A 55.6% target share for Ladd McConkie in the first half of that game.
48:09And, man, he was absolutely cooking. You're so right, playing inside out, doing everything that you want.
48:14And the point about it felt so much like last year's Chargers.
48:17Like, yeah, they can't hold up on the interior.
48:20And, man, Ladd McConkie just gets crushed. That's my one concern about Ladd.
48:23I love him as a player, but can he hold up the punishment?
48:27Week one, we've already been dealing with an injury.
48:30Not good. I would say this. There's no way I would start Herbert over Purdy without Ladd McConkie in week two.
48:35So you almost kind of have to make that move, in my opinion, there.
48:39I will say, though, Raiders in week two, you know, Bills up and down week performance in week one.
48:45You know, they get them in week three. There's definitely some bounce back potential here for the past game, Scott.
48:51Are you not a little concerned that, you know, Keaton Mitchell was kind of like they were doing some two back stuff.
48:57Like Keaton Mitchell was in the mix here. 75% of the touches for Amari and Hampton.
49:01But, you know, I'm a little worried about Hampton just from an RB1 perspective.
49:05Like, could he be more of a high-end two?
49:08I do think that's possible based on what we saw in week one.
49:12And, interestingly, I don't think they targeted any of the backs in the passing game.
49:16So that's something I would like to see moving forward.
49:19I wasn't sure what to expect from Mitchell after uneven camp.
49:22He only had four carries in this game. So I don't think he's in Hampton's way maybe as much as we might have feared early in the season.
49:30But this is a team more than anybody. I'm going to be – this is a big reveal week.
49:35They get the Raiders. It's a good matchup. And this is, again, why I wanted that Chargers defense special teams, even though their talent might be ordinary.
49:43Obviously, they lost Jesse Minter, who was the architect of their defense last year.
49:47You know, smart defensive mind. He's out of the building.
49:50So maybe – I'm a big believer you take favorites and you take teams that are heavily – get a controlled game script and stuff like that.
49:57And it's a way to play DST. You don't have loyalty with that position.
50:01You just basically – you're fickle and you go week to week.
50:05You go two-week clumps if you can. But sometimes when it doesn't work out, man, you feel like an idiot because you're
50:11like, oh, yeah, of course the Chargers defense isn't that good.
50:14But this is really a got to have a game against the Raiders.
50:18I think we're going to find a lot out next week.
50:21I know it's not the most satisfying answer, but I think who the Chargers really are is going to be revealed in week two.
50:28Yeah, definitely. It is a complicated offense. And, you know, that's sort of the silver lining here that it does remind me
50:34a little bit of like Chicago looked like a mess to begin last year at times.
50:38You know, Jacksonville looked like a mess. And that's another like complicated offense, a lot of shifts in motions.
50:44And it's a team that was very static the year prior.
50:47So that's your one silver lining. But, yeah, no Ladd McConkie, no go for this team.
50:52He was clearly far and away the number one receiver in week one.
50:55And obviously, from a talent perspective, he stands above the rest of them.
50:59Okay, let's get to another one here. That's a full team panic except for one player.
51:03Nate Barron sends in. I am worried about every Atlanta Falcon not named Bijan Robinson.
51:08Very simple one here. Totally get it. And, Scott, I am in total panic about Drake London.
51:13I am in total panic about Kyle Pitts. I don't know how you can not be based on the fact that like
51:19it's so early that Cooper – like we're sort of at a Cooper rush start in week one.
51:24Like we're way too early to be on third string quarterback area.
51:27And that's where we are with the Falcons. And I don't know that I see any reason for hope coming out of week one.
51:34So, yeah, there was a real risk in drafting these guys despite the quarterback concern.
51:38And one week into it, Scott, I think all the risk is there.
51:42Any reason to be less panicky about these guys than I am?
51:45I have less panic to London than I do Pitts because I think he's more consistently beaten these bad quarterback rooms in the past.
51:52Anybody who's lived through the Kyle Pitts experience knows the lows are incredibly low.
51:56They're no catch low. Is Kyle Pitts in the game?
51:59Is Kyle Pitts hurt? What's going on with Kyle Pitts?
52:02You want to let the game breathe, but the game breathes.
52:05They're trailing most of it and he ends up with one target, no catches.
52:09I mean, this is a game. This is a story.
52:12This is music for Kyle Pitts that we've heard before.
52:15Or, unfortunately, we're left at a position, Matt, where we have to hope Michael Penix is the savior.
52:20Michael Penix is the right answer. Michael Penix is at least better than what's left of Tua.
52:25Cooper Rush, it's not really his fault. He's meant to be a third-string quarterback pressed into action against a good, maybe not great Pittsburgh defense.
52:32I was afraid to draft London late in draft season just because I didn't trust any of these quarterbacks.
52:37But, heck, late second round, early third round, I think anybody would have taken him there.
52:42And I don't know, a lot of people probably took Drake London in the second round.
52:46Because they found ways to make London work before, and I realized he had the new coaching staff and all that, I'm
52:52going to give him a little bit of a pass.
52:55These are both some panic guys, but if you really want to take a sharp turn away from Kyle Pitts, I wouldn't say you're wrong.
53:02Yeah, I think Pitts definitely, you could talk me down to some panic for Drake London, but Pitts is definitely a total panic player.
53:09I honestly think he would have been a guy that, if Tua had started games, and I'm with you, I don't know
53:15if we ever see Tua start a game for this team or ever again.
53:19I think he actually would have been a beneficiary of some of those quicker dump-offs and things of that nature.
53:25Not going to get that here in this one.
53:28One just, again, I want to keep bringing this up because it's on my radar.
53:32On plays where there are three or more receivers for the Atlanta Falcons, this was 28 snaps, 14 routes in week one.
53:38Drake London was only in the slot on 21% of those.
53:41I haven't gone back and watched this game. I mean, I think you guys could imagine why it's not my first rewatch of the week.
53:48But I really do, I don't know if it's all X receiver stuff, staticky, but that has definitely been on my radar.
53:55And that's going to make it harder for Drake London to get by with these bad quarterback situations like we saw in
54:01the previous two years under Zach Robinson's offense. So I am filing that away.
54:05And that definitely, I mean, because again, it's like Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus is the main slot receiver when they get to those looks.
54:12I'm definitely bothered by that. Although they do play the Panthers in this upcoming game here.
54:17So that definitely gives them an opportunity to get back on track based on what the Panthers allowed the Bears to do in week one.
54:24But, you know, Caleb Williams not showing up for this Atlanta Falcons team, unfortunately.
54:28Yeah, the rest of the early quarter schedule, right?
54:30Panthers, Packers, Saints. None of those defenses showed up in week one.
54:34So, again, we should get a pretty clean reveal about what Atlanta is by how they manage the next three games on their schedule.
54:40Yeah, I do think if you want to get off Drake London, like this is the only time to do it.
54:46Otherwise, like you're kind of stuck. You know, if he has another bad game, nobody's trading for Drake London based on name value.
54:53I don't think that's going to work out for you.
54:56So you kind of have to make the decision this week.
54:59And even then, I'm not sure you're going to get what you're looking for.
55:03All right. We're going to take our first quick break.
55:06We come back. We are running through more submissions to the People's Panic Meter.
55:10We'll get into that right after this. All right.
55:12We're back. We're continuing to run through your submissions to the People's Panic Meter.
55:16This next one comes in from, is this producer Colin?
55:19Oh, no, no, no, no. This is from at Riddler 1990.
55:22Every single Cowboys player, Dallas defense is horrendous. Cowboys will get five drives max a game.
55:27Okay. Look, it was a disgusting effort by the Dallas Cowboys.
55:30I raked them over the coals on Sunday Night Football recap, the solo recap there, Scott.
55:34It was embarrassing. I saw CeeDee Lamb was told today that, or maybe this was last night.
55:39Don't remember. Yes. Here we go. Here it is.
55:42He said he found out that they only had two possessions in the second half against the Giants.
55:47He said, that's crazy. Good to know. Yeah. It was not good to watch.
55:51I'll tell you that. I'm not panicked at all about any of these Cowboys players, Scott.
55:55I think the defense will get better over the course of the year, if not in the next few weeks.
56:01But it was a pretty discouraging debut for the defense.
56:04I think it will get better, and even still, they won't just be allowing teams to sit on the ball like that.
56:10I do think that will go down as an outlier performance.
56:13Yeah. Another case of a game getting magnified, because not only was it week one, but it was an island game.
56:19Everybody is watching it at the same time and ready.
56:22Okay. Here we go. Dak Prescott, three guys we want for fantasy.
56:25Let's get them going. At least they did something.
56:28I mean, William's got a touchdown. Lamb got a touchdown.
56:31Pickens, as you mentioned, did not get off in week one last year.
56:35So, I mean, this slow start from him is a story we've seen before.
56:39But remember, first of all, if the Dallas defense is bad, that usually is good for fantasy.
56:43Now, I get it. The shape of last night's game, and there was a lot said about the Giants coaching staff.
56:49You know, Harbon, Roman, it's the Boomer staff. And, you know, they kind of beat Dallas with 1977 football, running the ball.
56:56They really did. Long drives. Most teams don't play that way.
56:59But it's five-play drive, eight-play drive, ten-play drive. And then Dallas has to keep its foot on the gas and be aggressive
57:05and maybe hurry up or up-tempo to try to get back at this.
57:09Man, I have zero concern over any of the Dallas players.
57:12I still think Dak has an MVP sleeper case.
57:14And I like both of these receivers. Acosta, I thought, made sense.
57:18Williams is a really safe pick. People can decide if Jake Ferguson is worth rostering or not.
57:23He probably should have had a touchdown. The Giants player made a good goal line tackle.
57:27But this is going to be a carnival. This is going to be a team I'm not worried about.
57:32And if the defense is better, that's fine. If the defense is bad, I think more often than not, that will work to our benefit.
57:40This is just a game that had a running shape that I think is probably unsustainable moving forward.
57:45I agree with you. And just on the George Pickens thing specifically, like, oh, yeah, George Pickens had a game where he
57:51had a couple of weird drops and kind of cost them.
57:54That's baked into the George Pickens experience. Stinks that it was week one, but that's going to happen a couple of times a season with George Pickens.
58:02So it is what it is. Let's stay in wide receiver world here and go to our next email.
58:07Mark H sends in this one on Teddero McMillan.
58:10I'm bugging out about McMillan. And Coker's making all the big plays and scoring all the touchdowns.
58:14I was really hoping for more from him and Harold Fannin.
58:18Fannin is going to be worthless if the Browns continue to roll out the same quarterback.
58:22Yeah, real quick on Harold Fannin. Yeah, you're correct.
58:25That's not going to be great if they continue to start Deshaun Watson.
58:28That's a pretty easy one. We'll see what it looks like when they inevitably get to Shador in week three.
58:34I said this when this happened, man. They're going to play Deshaun the first two games on the road.
58:39They come home week three, home opener. They're going to play Shador.
58:43We'll talk about the Browns pass catchers after we don't have to watch Watson anymore because that just is what it is.
58:49Let's focus on Teddero McMillan. Do you have any panic on Teddero McMillan who was, you know, ranked pretty aggressively wide receiver 16-15?
58:56He finishes as wide receiver 25. I mean, your life is pretty good when what's the pebble in your shoe is Ted McMillan.
59:02Five for 75 on eight targets. That's fine. I realize Coker's good.
59:06We saw that late last season. We saw him really get going in that Rams playoff game.
59:10He almost won it by himself. And he looked like a star in part because the Chicago secondary is so bad.
59:16But if I'm a McMillan manager, I'm saying, hey, look, Bryce Young looked pretty good in this game.
59:22Now, the Bears had a hand in that, of course.
59:24And McMillan was plenty active. You know, this is just a way – this is just a shape of football where even
59:31though Ted McMillan is the number one target in Carolina and the early draft pick last year and, you know, the guy, the alpha, okay, the target hog.
59:39There's still going to be games where he's beaten by a teammate.
59:42He's beaten by another receiver because that happens. It happens in every city.
59:46And people are going to say, what's going on here?
59:48That Coker line is supposed to be McMillan's line.
59:51It's going to happen four or five times in a season.
59:54Maybe Coker is good. And you can always shade this glass half empty, glass half full.
59:59Maybe if Coker becomes a better player, maybe that leads to McMillan getting some opportunities and maybe a little less coverage or
60:05some empty space that he wouldn't have had normally.
60:08Your opinion of Ted McMillan today should be the same as it was 48 hours ago.
60:12Yeah. Like, is there a negative on the panic meter?
60:15Because that's where I'm at for Ted O'McMillan. I mean, the fact that we got a good game out of Bryce Young
60:21is a nice nod to Ted O'McMillan. Of course, as we said, the Bears defense is terrible and they're going to be the carnival all season long.
60:29That's not going to look like this every single week.
60:32But just from a utilization standpoint, Scott, like I said that this could be one of those teams.
60:37Here's the thing. If you're mad about the Coker production in week one, like obviously you don't listen to our show because
60:43I've been telling you this guy is really, really good and pretty close to these guys like Ted O'McMillan in talent.
60:49This is what it's supposed to look like. I said this could be one of those teams where it's a 50-50 target
60:55share between like two guys split half the targets.
60:58That's exactly what happened in week one. 26.5% to Jalen Coker, 23.5% to Ted O'McMillan.
61:02Now some weeks it's going to be 27% to McMillan and 24% to Coker.
61:06Like sometimes it's going to flip like that. And, you know, Ray did a good job of pointing this out too.
61:12You look at the route participation for these guys in Carolina, 93 for Coker, 91% for McMillan.
61:17Xavier Leggette ranks third, Scott, with 63%. Like there's no third receiver here.
61:20There's no main pass catching tight end or anything.
61:23Like Darren Waller had a couple of moments on his 34th birthday.
61:26He did have a touchdown called back as well.
61:29But even when they got like two or few receivers on the field, it was 100% route participation for Coker and McMillan.
61:35If Bryce Young is going to play like that again, which, you know, we'll see about that.
61:40And Coker is good. Like it's wheels up for both of these guys.
61:44So it was mostly the Chuba Hubbard show. There was one really nice reception from Jonathan Brooks.
61:49But I'm curious. Brooks was not mentioned in the submission from the reader.
61:52But has your opinion, your fantasy take on Brooks, has it gone down?
61:56Has it been adjusted after the week one opener?
61:59Yes. Honestly, I think what has happened now, Scott, is that where I was in August at the beginning of the month
62:05before Chuba Hubbard's hamstring injury, it was Hubbard's going to come out.
62:08And he's going to be the guy early in the year, but they're going to compete.
62:13And we'll see if Brooks can make a dent as the year goes on.
62:17That's kind of right where I'm back to now.
62:19Now, we definitely, you know, we talked a lot about Brooks on the show and his rise if Hubbard was going to miss time.
62:26But Hubbard's not going to miss time now. So at this point, like Brooks has to prove he can stay healthy and
62:32can push, you know, Chuba Hubbard out of the way here.
62:35We'll see if that happens. We'll see if that happens.
62:38We're not so sure. For right now, Brooks is just like a great bench stash and maybe a what the heck flex at some point.
62:45But we're not there just yet. Before we move on to the next one here, I want to give a quick update
62:52on Ladd McConkie because after Adam Schefter just tweeted this out, because I know Scott Pienowski is secretly waiting on bated breath here for any Ladd McConkie update.
63:00Adam Schefter says that Ladd McConkie is dealing with a rib injury and is now considered day to day, according to Jim Harbaugh.
63:06Chargers say they want to see how McConkie feels this week before determining his availability for Sunday.
63:11So could have been worse. Even the picture that Schefter put here.
63:14I don't know if we can fly this on the screen, but the picture that Schefter put here.
63:19Originally, I thought this was like a hip injury, a lower body injury.
63:23They did announce it as a rib. But like he was going down, grabbing at that thing.
63:28It could be worse. Could be worse than a little rib injury for your boy here, Scott.
63:33Yeah, I'm offering my ribs to Ladd McConkie. I'm offering my hamstrings as a flower.
63:37It's just anything to get these guys on the field because they're impact players.
63:41They're third round, fourth round picks in fantasy, and we need them to compete.
63:45So, you know, get healthy soon, Ladd. The Chargers offense turns its lonely eyes to you.
63:50I joked with you yesterday, Scott, and I'll say it here again on the air.
63:54I also would offer both of my hamstrings to Zay Flowers if he wants them, but I feel like two of my
64:00hamstrings still doesn't equal like a one banged up Zay Flowers hamstring.
64:03But we'll talk about that off the air. Let's go to another wide receiver.
64:07I think Zay might be the most difficult guy to cover downfield in the NFL when he's healthy.
64:13That guy cannot be covered. I hit like a massive air yards per target and still averaged over 13 yards after the catch per reception.
64:20He is if he's healthy, man, he's going to smash this year.
64:23He's just going to go absolutely crazy. Okay, let's go to the next one here.
64:27This one comes in from Al Gore rhythm. Well done on this one.
64:31Seemed like a comp. Marvin Harrison Jr. Seemed like a complete afterthought.
64:34The offense runs through McBride. Love Wilson. Kendrick Bourne.
64:37LOL. Then Marv. Very disrespectful to Kendrick Bourne to put that LOL there.
64:41Al Gore rhythm. But we'll let it happen. I've definitely got some panic on Marv here.
64:45Scott, at the same time, he was ranked as wide receiver 34 coming into this week.
64:50He was ranked as like the wide receiver 31, 32, 33 ish coming into drafts.
64:54Like you have to expect some ups and downs here with Marv.
64:57He's going to have some games where he has one catch.
65:01It was a cool catch, but it's one catch.
65:03You know, like this is going to be part of the equation for Marvin fantasy this year.
65:08I don't think it will always look like this distribution, which we played out here.
65:12No, it won't. But he has no chance to be the alpha as long as McBride is healthy.
65:17And one of the selling points on Harrison in draft season was that for as fun as the Michael Wilson story was,
65:24it was mostly about games Harrison didn't play in.
65:26And to see Harrison get outperformed, not just by Wilson, but as the reader pointed out, Kendrick Bourne, you know, out of
65:32nowhere had – I'm getting haunting because the Patriots, you know, lose A.J.
65:36Brown. And, you know, I wish they hadn't made the trade to lose booty.
65:40And, you know, Kendrick Bourne was on this team a couple of years ago, players I wish the Patriots still had.
65:46But, you know, shout out to Adam Levitan, the great analyst for Establish to Run, who has been calling Marvin Harrison Mazda Marv for some time now.
65:54The idea that a Mazda is a pretty ordinary car.
65:57I hope we don't have a Mazda endorsement that I'm trampling on right now.
66:00But – No, you're good. Marvin Harrison, you watch him play.
66:04And when somebody has the draft capital that he has, not to mention he's obviously the son of a walk-in Hall of Famer, great Marvin Harrison Sr.
66:11That player should identify himself when you watch. You should not need to be told who it is if the players weren't wearing uniforms.
66:18You'd be like, it's that guy. And I just don't get those vibes when I watch Arizona.
66:23And they don't prioritize them. You know, we wanted to blame it on Kyler Murray, but there were ups and downs with the Jacoby Brissett experience last year.
66:31A game that they win, a game that they're productive, a game that they're producing chunk plays in the passing game.
66:37It has nothing to do with Harrison. Here's the thing.
66:40I feel like at the end of the year, we're going to look back and it's going to be like five or
66:46six games we wish we started Harrison. As to predicting when they're going to come, I think it's going to be impossible.
66:52And I think we have to be open to the idea that maybe Michael Wilson is better than Marvin Harrison.
66:58Oh, yeah. I mean, I had these guys in the same tier in my fantasy rankings, and I ended up with a
67:04lot of Michael Wilson because of that, because he was just so much cheaper than Marvin drafts.
67:09And look, I'm a Marv defender, but I think your point is well taken that he's a good NFL player.
67:15But, you know, you can hold two thoughts in your head at one time that he has been disappointing relative to the expectations.
67:21Fourth overall, the name, the whole deal. He's not actively bad, but a player like that is going to have ups and downs and fantasy.
67:28And, you know, I actually think this is really well said, Scott.
67:32I'll like build on your point there that, you know, if you look at like reception perception, it's like, oh, yeah, you
67:38Marv's got some pretty good stuff to him. You shouldn't need me to tell you like, oh, Marv's got some pretty good stuff to him.
67:45It should be a little bit more obvious than that.
67:48You know what I'm saying? Like you don't need the route charts to know that like Jamar Chase is Jamar Chase.
67:54Okay, so I'm not panicking. Like I've got some panic about Marv.
67:57I'm definitely not starting him in week two against the Seattle Seahawks.
68:01But I would have told you two weeks ago I wasn't going to be starting Marv week two against the Seattle Seahawks.
68:07So just kind of a bench guy. You try to find the right matchups there.
68:11It was not the right matchup against the Chargers either.
68:14They ran a lot of like cloud stuff and just opened up the underneath areas.
68:18And Jacoby Brissett took those plays. That was also kind of what happened to the next guy we're going to talk about here.
68:25This one comes in from God X Tier. Terry McLaurin.
68:28The offseason pitch was 10 targets a game. Week one, four targets, two catches, 14 yards.
68:32Apparently, quote, feed Terry meant a tasting menu. Matt, was this Philly's coverage or preview of his role?
68:37Well done on the tasting menu here. Scott, any panic on Terry McLaurin?
68:41Yeah, and a great just reminder that if you want to get on this show, making us laugh with a subtle piece
68:47of humor like you did with the tasting menu.
68:50Very well played. I got a kick out of that too.
68:53Unfortunately, Terry McLaurin. Yeah, 90% of the time you're not getting on the show if you just say Terry McLaurin.
68:59Okay? Sometimes you got to fill space, but for the most part, make it creative.
69:03Make it fun. Yeah, very well played there. Yeah, Terry McLaurin's got some problems because the Washington offensive line, we all went
69:09to panic when Tunsil went down for the season.
69:12And Jaden Daniels running for his life in this game.
69:14And what happens? The other two players competing for targets, Antonio Williams had a nice game, scores a touchdown.
69:20Stephon Diggs scores a touchdown. I'm just afraid. Who is Jaden Daniels?
69:23He was fantastic two years ago. He was hurt most of the last year.
69:27He probably shouldn't have been on the field when he suffered the injury that kept him out for the final third of the season.
69:34And very old team, right? I mean, they added Diggs, but this is a team that needed more young receivers.
69:40And maybe Williams could be somebody who pops. But McLaurin last year kind of derailed by the contract getting done really late right before the season.
69:47And then everything goes kablooey when Daniels isn't healthy.
69:50But I was afraid to draft Daniels this year.
69:52I thought there's a chance that he was just another quarterback this year based on what's around him.
69:57And the Tunsil injury, they have not figured out what to do with the offense.
70:02They need to be a little bit more creative with how they move Daniels around, I think.
70:06I don't think this is a good football team.
70:09I realize they could have won this game. It was a competitive game.
70:13And the Eagles kind of just did just enough to win.
70:16But Terry McLaurin was a back nine player anyway.
70:18An offense I don't trust. He's somebody that I'm glad I don't have a lot of shares of him.
70:24And you and I have spent hours talking about how much we love Terry McLaurin.
70:28Oh, yeah. But I think he's in a bad setup right now.
70:31I think this is a team that's going to win five or six games.
70:35And if we redrafted, to me, Terry McLaurin might be like a seventh, eighth, ninth round pick.
70:40That's maybe a little harsher than I'm willing to go.
70:43But I do have some panic on Terry McLaurin.
70:46And this was something where I think mostly it's Philly's coverage to the point here from the listener who sent this in.
70:52I do think that is mostly what's to blame here.
70:55This is what Vic Fangio does. He takes away your boundary vertical receiver, which is what Terry McLaurin is.
71:00That being said, the fact that they have other options to go to is a critical variable for McLaurin.
71:05In addition to like the left tackle, Brandon Coleman just got whooped a bunch of times in this game.
71:11Like Laramie Tunsil's injury and Stephon Diggs signing happening back to back.
71:14You know, we did all the offseason work on the ultra draft kit, which I hope you guys used.
71:20And I hope you guys benefited from that. It was a great product, obviously.
71:24Looking forward to making it even better next season, Scott.
71:26But I had to send to all the editors like, yeah, we got to take Terry McLaurin out of my draft targets
71:33piece after that happened because the outlook for him just fundamentally changed.
71:36Diggs looked great in week one. Antonio Williams. Now, he only ran around on 29% of the dropbacks.
71:41Diami Brown was a pure sacrificial player. 61% of the routes, zero yards per route run.
71:46So that's a pure sacrifice there for Diami Brown.
71:48But if Williams continues to look good, he's going to mix his way into this.
71:53And I liked Williams as a prospect for this team.
71:55So, yeah, definitely you got to change the outlook for McLaurin.
71:59That being said, Scott, they get the Dallas Cowboys defense in week two.
72:02So if we're worried about that Cowboys defense, it better happen in week two because they have Seattle in week three.
72:08So it better happen. If something's going to happen, 7M1 said it's going to happen now.
72:13So week two, a big reveal week for the Washington passing game.
72:1692% route participation for Terry McLaurin. Diggs was second with 66%.
72:19So that is definitely a pretty good look there for him.
72:22Okay, let's get to some running backs here. This first one comes in from at Trey Scouts NFL.
72:28Saquon Barkley for sure. The offensive line looked no better.
72:30I will say, Scott, and maybe I'm overreacting here even.
72:33Maybe it should be no panic for Saquon Barkley.
72:36I've got a little, just a touch, like a little sprinkling of panic because of what Trey points out here.
72:41Landon Dickerson was a mess in week one. That's a problem because he dealt with injuries last year.
72:47People even talk about could he retire. The scheme, it's a totally new run scheme without Jeff Stout in there, the legendary offensive line coach.
72:54I thought Barkley looked fine individually. You know, he scores a touchdown here.
72:57People probably aren't talking about that as the stats here show.
73:00Saquon Barkley in 78 of his 83 rushing yards after contact against the commanders.
73:04Just not great performance by the offensive line. But are you willing to overlook that and say no panic on Barkley coming out of week one?
73:12You know, a lot of times we talk about the Bengals, that slow starting team.
73:16Let me tell you a story about the Philadelphia Eagles last year, opening of their season.
73:21302 yards of offense, 216, 288, 200, 302. Those were their first five weeks of the season.
73:25And what's happened this year, new coordinator, almost entirely new wide receiver room.
73:29Just a lot of changes, a lot of moving parts here.
73:32Barkley, most of his production came in that one long run.
73:35And he is a little bit of a boom bust runner.
73:39I get that. He's not that drumbeat five yards, six yards, seven yards.
73:42He's not Terrell Davis, Evan Smith. He's more of the Barry Sanders type, much as I'm hesitant to compare anybody to Barry Sanders.
73:49But Barkley makes his living with the home run plays.
73:52At least he made one of them in this game.
73:54If I were walking into a redraft, I wouldn't have any major adjustment.
73:58Maybe you break a tie away from Barkley and you would prefer Chase Brown or Derrick Henry.
74:03But he's still a second round player to me.
74:05I think you're probably right. Again, I have a little bit of worry just because of the offensive line.
74:11That being said, let me read you off the schedule here for the Philadelphia Eagles.
74:15Boone made a great point about this going into it.
74:18Titans week two, Bears week three. So I feel like if this offensive line needs a bounce back effort, we definitely have one here.
74:25Even the Rams in week four. You know, the Rams got pushed around in week one.
74:29Miles Garrett's on IR. Sean McVay was asked, is Aaron Donald going to play week two?
74:34He said, we'll see. We'll see. Is Aaron Donald going to play for this team?
74:38Like if Miles Garrett's on IR. That was the whole point he came back for that, right?
74:43I don't know. We'll see about that. So regardless, two good matchups here for Saquon to bounce back the next couple of weeks.
74:50All right, let's get to the next one here.
74:52Cronando 33. Sure. Let's go with that. Packers backfield.
74:55I don't even think Josh Jacobs does well behind this monstrosity of an offensive line.
74:59We'll put Jacobs aside here because obviously that's a legal situation that is still working itself out.
75:04Let's talk about Marshawn Lloyd though. Scott, I have some panic about Marshawn Lloyd coming out of this game, but only some
75:10panic because I don't really care that much. Like Marshawn Lloyd was going to be a running back three flex play most likely this season.
75:17That's pretty much what it looks like coming out of week number one.
75:21Do you have any more panic for Lloyd coming out of this one?
75:24It's somebody I didn't want to draft. It's a bottom five offensive line.
75:28The Philadelphia offensive line. We have to squint to see the problems.
75:32The Packers offensive line. You have to turn your head away from the TV set.
75:36Lloyd nowhere to run against Minnesota. They're going to have more of those problems.
75:40And the answer is really simple. It's Jordan Love.
75:42It's Christian Watson. It's Golden. It's Kraft. I know Reed didn't have a huge game, but he did have plenty of targets.
75:49You're going to want shares of all of those guys.
75:51I think Lloyd is going to be a marginal player until Jacobs can play again, which it seems like is likely this year.
75:58And even when Jacobs comes back, I think he's going to be kind of a frustrating running back too.
76:03This is finally the passing game we've wanted the Packers to have the entire time that Jordan Love's been here.
76:09It's always been a team like, oh, the efficiency is great.
76:12If only they had the volume missed you. They're going to need to have that volume.
76:17Yeah. Josh and I talked about this on the preview show that we expected Chris Brooks to play more snaps because he
76:23is the significantly more trusted player in pass protection.
76:25That is what happened. 55% of the snaps to Chris Brooks, 46% for Marshawn Lloyd.
76:30Marshawn Lloyd didn't really run out much as a pass catcher.
76:33He's an early down back for sure, which is problematic.
76:36No question it's problematic for him to not really be involved as a pass catcher.
76:40Now, that being said, Scott, if we assume that Jacobs is going to miss six games and he's back, which again, it's a naughty situation.
76:47We'll figure that out. The schedule is pretty good for Marshawn Lloyd.
76:50Jets this week, Falcons, Bucks, Bears, Cowboys in the next five games for this team.
76:55So, I mean, he's definitely a guy that would be a risky flex play against the Jets, but I could see it
77:01being viable and then maybe you get some good starts in here somewhere along the way if we get some of these decent matchups.
77:08So, some panic for sure just because the offensive line was abhorrent, but we kind of knew the offensive line was going to be abhorrent going into it.
77:16Speaking of something we already knew going into the season, the Browns, not a good football team.
77:21And yet, this one comes in from WSJ, WS, this person, Knox, Quinchon Judkins being trapped on a sinking ship of a franchise.
77:27I mean, as long as Deshaun Watson is in there, it's total panic for me, buddy, on any player that takes the field for the Cleveland Browns.
77:35Do you feel any differently? Totally agree. I agree.
77:37You know, when we did that, the playbook before the year, I was doing a fade for every team and I felt
77:44like I could have faded pretty much anything on the Browns because Watson can't play.
77:48Because Sanders, it's – Watson is so bad that you have to start pretending that maybe Sanders is somewhat of a quasi answer because Watson can't play.
77:56And I realize his stats weren't that bad. He had the late touchdown.
77:59But if you watch the game, you saw that Cleveland could not sustain offense.
78:03And also with Judkins, he's going to lose some of the carries because they want to get Concepcion the ball creatively.
78:09Rocket Sanders had a carry in this game. There's going to be a lot of games where you look at it and
78:15like it felt like Cleveland never had the ball and they had 21 minutes, 22 minutes of possession because they can't – Oh, my God.
78:22Not only could they not sustain offense, but the problem that people were talking about with Dallas, oh, you know, Cleveland – I'm sorry.
78:29The Giants ran the ball down Dallas' throat. Dallas could never get the ball themselves.
78:34That's actually going to be the reality of the Browns.
78:36And even though Fannin's a great player, they're rookie receivers.
78:39I know Boston had the late touchdown. Concepcion is a talented kid.
78:43He was a first-round pick. I see the reason to be excited about them isolated and Fannin somehow beat this situation last year.
78:49But if there's a team other than maybe the Titans, if there's a lookout below, pretend they don't exist offense in the NFL, it's the Cleveland Browns.
78:57Yeah, I mean, that's very well said. I think it could maybe be better with Sanders, but we'll see.
79:02There are some spots in the schedule where maybe the Browns can hang coming up here.
79:07Bucs, Panthers, Steelers. The Panthers did just allow a disgusting amount of rushing yards against the Chicago Bears, so maybe we'll see there.
79:13Jets, Ravens, Titans. The thing with Quinchon is just – unless he's going to emerge as a pass catcher, which Dylan Sampson
79:20did get hurt in week one, so there is that.
79:22Maybe that changes things for Quinchon. But for the most part, he's going to be a banger back on a bad team.
79:29Those are tough guys to trust in fantasy, and while he always will be kind of a boom or bust flex play
79:35for you, which you probably overdrafted that a little bit, but those were the expectations baked into him going into the year.
79:41I would say you've got to kind of play it by the matchup.
79:45So, again, we'll see what the Titans look like by this point in the season, but if the Titans are the Titans,
79:51you're starting them with confidence in that game. The Bucs, you know, maybe not as much confidence.
79:56That's when he's like a flex play. Panthers, maybe it's a good rushing matchup.
80:00It continues to be that way. You start him there.
80:03So the Jags were just like the worst possible matchup for him to start because the Jags offense was going to blow
80:09them away, and the Jags have a really good run defense.
80:12So those are the type of ones where it's just like, no thanks, don't start Quinchon in those matchups, but the matchups
80:18where it's – maybe it could be a closer game, and it's a lesser run defense, that's when you start Quinchon Judkins.
80:25Okay, last one we're going to take here, Scott, is our only quarterback submission of the week.
80:29This is – sorry, buddy – from Tom's Lego injury, which I love the name.
80:34It's your boy Drake May. My season is over after week one.
80:37And, I mean, like it kind of looks like he fell apart on this message here.
80:42Just point S. I don't even know what we're saying.
80:44He's so heartbroken about Drake May, A.J. Brown. Scott, I don't think I have any panic about Drake May, but it's like no, dot, dot, dot, I think.
80:52We say in the intro on the YouTube show, you say this.
80:56You guys aren't going to say anything negative about Drake May, and we all reply no.
81:00Are you going to say anything negative about Drake May here?
81:03I think you have to because A.J. Brown is out of action for a chunk of games.
81:08And what is left in this receiver? And Romeo Dobbs is a nice player, not meant to be a number one man.
81:15Did he have a no-show and a horrible drop in that Seattle game?
81:18And this is where it just kills them to not have booty or not have the receiver depth that they may have had in previous seasons.
81:26May did augment his bottom line with resourceful athletic running in the Seattle game.
81:30It's always going to be something, a club in his bag, so to speak.
81:34But it's really bad in the playoffs, and I realized part of that narrative was he wasn't healthy and everything.
81:39The Patriots got to the Super Bowl despite May in the playoffs.
81:43Great regular season. He easily could have won the MVP.
81:46Stafford was a viable winner, but May could have won it, and nobody would have batted an eyelash.
81:51But we talked – and I know this is not a satisfying answer, but the quarterback board was so deep, it never
81:57really made sense to draft guys like Drake May.
81:59When you could get a decent shot at some – you know, Caleb Williams later, or I still think Dak Prescott is
82:06going to the moon with his setup, and there's a lot of other guys.
82:10Now, granted, you may have waited on May to get Justin Herbert.
82:13You're not feeling too good right now. So I don't want to just cherry-pick the right answers or the guys who had
82:19good week one games because there's plenty of good players who didn't play well for various reasons.
82:24But I think it's irresponsible to not adjust Drake May expectations when A.J.
82:28Brown is going to miss a chunk of action.
82:30Definitely. And like the next – we'll say A.J.
82:33Brown's out for four games here, which it sounds like it's going to be a four-to-six week one.
82:38You know, tough schedule here as well. Steelers' defense looked great in week one.
82:42They got them this week. Jags, good defense. They got them in week three.
82:46Bills, we'll see. A little bit of an up-and-down debut.
82:49Definitely softens up after that. Raiders, Jets, Bears. So that's nice.
82:52But these next couple of weeks against the Steelers and Jags, no A.J.
82:56Brown, what we saw in week one, these defenses aren't as good as Seattle.
83:00Seattle's the best defense in the league, in my opinion.
83:02But where do you think Drake May will be in your fantasy rankings in those two games?
83:07Quarterback 10. Man, that sounds a little more optimistic than how you just framed it.
83:12You framed it like you might be like, yeah, 12, yeah.
83:15Just not a clear auto start. That's smart. Here's the thing.
83:18Yeah, you drafted Drake May. I'm playing Drake May every week.
83:21Now it's – how much do I like the other guy?
83:24Who's the other guy playing? Yeah, that's – now you have a question.
83:28Now I will feel Drake May starts hit questions, where before it's just like he's Drake May.
83:33He's got A.J. Brown. He's got Josh McDaniels. Just let's roll.
83:36He has athletic ability. He has running juice. Also, I mean, remember they were playing without Travion Henderson.
83:41It sounds like he may miss multiple games, so they didn't have their offense at full throttle for multiple reasons.
83:46The key guy – we talk about Jenga pieces and key guys.
83:50Romeo Dobbs, you've got to step up. You need – I need to see Romeo Dobbs do something in week two, and
83:56if not, we're going to be talking about Drake May in a week's time.
84:00Oh, brutal stuff. All right, we're going to take our next quick break.
84:04We come back. We're getting into the waiver wire.
84:06Guys, you can add coming into week two. We'll get into that right after this.
84:11All right, we're back, and welcome to waiver wire targets presented by Duke Cannon, the soap that's virtually bench proof.
84:16Yes, that's right. Each week we are going to provide you the top ten list of waiver wire targets and also five candidates, five or three.
84:24It depends on the week to drop. I will say he's not here with us, but shout out to our boy Justin Boone.
84:30He wrote the waiver wire column. Of course, we are reading again in 2026.
84:34Scott, I'm feeling pretty good about we're going to be reading again again in 2027 as well.
84:39So that's just a little look ahead. We're still going to be reading most likely in 2027.
84:44So you all will go ahead and read the piece every single week from Justin Boone, but he's also going to be
84:50– when he's here on the show, when he's not, he's going to send in the list here.
84:55So these are his top ten rankings for the waiver wire, not just mine and Scott.
85:00So we're giving Boone the credit on this one.
85:02Boone did want to say honorable mention for Jalen Coker if he is somehow available.
85:07Okay, so let's remember to mention Jalen Coker there.
85:09Yeah, I think he's got like a 66% roster ship.
85:12Let's get him on all the rosters here. Okay, let's go 10 to 1, top ten waiver wire candidates.
85:17Number ten from our guy Justin Boone comes in.
85:20Dontavian Wicks here, Scott. Dontavian Wicks was the wide receiver too for the Philadelphia Eagles.
85:24He put Mikey Sanders still in a blender several times in coverage.
85:28Devontae Smith said after the game that they got a lot of cloud coverage.
85:32So the safety over top of Dontavian Smith, which allowed Dontavian Wicks.
85:35He's like, I told Tay, man, you got to step up.
85:38We got to see it from you. He gave him two big catches in the pass game.
85:43Any interest in adding a guy like Dontavian Wicks?
85:45Yeah, still just four targets. Still a team that only attempted 22 dropbacks or 22 pass attempts.
85:50Devontae Smith still the number one here. Dallas Goddard, a touchdown gobbling tight end.
85:54You would think the younger receivers and pass catchers in this offense would mature as the season goes along.
86:00Wicks, I get why he's on the list. And I realize it's not always easy to find impactful wide receivers.
86:05A lot of times you're just taking what you can get.
86:08And the people who lost A.J. Brown, we'll see what we find out about McConkie.
86:13These people may need to add a receiver, may need to take whatever they can get.
86:17But I agree with Boone that Wicks is to be included, but to be more of a backburner play.
86:23I'm just afraid this isn't going to be a high volume passing game in which is always going to be like the fourth or fifth option.
86:30I think that's fair. And obviously, like Mekhi Lemon was plenty involved from a snap percentage, route percentage.
86:35I got to go back and chart him for my week one charting notebook for RP.
86:40But obviously, a lot of his targets were designer underneath stuff that went nowhere.
86:44Negative yardage coming out of his first game. But it was at least nice to see him out there on the field.
86:50And I think it's going to take just take him a minute to ramp up.
86:54I think there's some staying power with Wicks, mostly because of the schedule here.
86:58Titans and Bears the next couple of weeks, as we talked about earlier with the Eagles.
87:03If you don't have A.J. Brown, if you do if you do not have Lad McConkie, hopefully knock on wood coming into this week.
87:10I do think Wicks is a viable replacement and somebody if you play in like PPR, start a bunch of wide receivers.
87:16I'd like to at least have Wicks on my roster, Scott.
87:19I will say the next receiver that we get to is somebody, even though he's only one spot up on the position,
87:25is somebody I like a lot more than Wicks.
87:28So just a little teaser for that. OK, perfect.
87:30Next one here. We're going to go to the quarterback position for our next two.
87:35Actually, Malik Willis. It comes in at number nine.
87:37Obviously, a really nice fantasy performance. For Malik Willis in week number one.
87:41But listen, they did not run a lot of plays.
87:44They did not push the pace in week one as expected.
87:47What are your thoughts on Malik Willis as a fantasy quarterback as they play the San Francisco 49ers here in week two?
87:53Yes. A little surprised we didn't get any Devon Achan concern because he could have been a topic for the panic meter.
87:59And I certainly would have given you some amount of panic on him.
88:03But the idea with Malik Willis was kind of the setup Jalen Hurts had early in his career that even in a
88:09bad game or a mediocre game or a low volume game, he still might run for 30 to 50 yards in a touchdown.
88:16And that's what Willis got to pay off his fantasy expectation in week one.
88:20And this is Miami is not a team you're going to want to watch.
88:24But Willis is going to be he's going to it's going to be games where it's like it felt like Miami got killed.
88:30It felt like maybe it wasn't competitive. And Willis has 18 points or 22 points at the end of the week because he's such a proactive runner.
88:38So there's other quarterbacks I'd rather have is a quarterback we're going to mention a second who I certainly prefer to Willis.
88:44But he is who we thought he was a player tied to a bad offense who hasn't been a starter that long
88:50in the NFL, who is going to the economy code, the cheat code of rushing production.
88:55As long as he stays healthy, is going to be a streaming candidate all season long.
88:59Yeah, great stat here from Dwayne McFarlane. The Dolphins snapped the ball with only 4.86 seconds remaining on the play clock in
89:06neutral situations, the slowest offense in the NFL in week one.
89:09That is definitely going to keep his fantasy upside to kind of you can survive this guy as a QB one because of the Konami code, of course.
89:17But you're not going to look for a big ceiling performance from him.
89:20Next one to mention here is again another quarterback, Tyler Shuck.
89:24You're teasing you like this one a little bit better from a fantasy standpoint.
89:28The Saints get the Ravens and the Raiders and the Falcons the next three weeks.
89:32Yeah, let me just tack on one more thing to Miami.
89:35Caleb Douglas didn't make this list, but he did have seven targets, five for 94.
89:39Wondering who could be the alpha in that receiving room.
89:42Now, Lake Washington also had eight targets, but I would actually take Douglas over Wicks, I think, if I was looking to
89:48try to find pan for gold at the wide receiver position.
89:51So I'm not sure where Boone felt about Douglas.
89:54I have a feeling he might be the first name he cut off.
89:58But yeah, Tyler Shuck, I'm in, man. I realized you had to withstand a first half where they went nowhere.
90:03I realized the game flow fell perfectly. They fall behind 21.
90:06They go up tempo. Alave gets going. Devon Vele gets going.
90:10Finally, they found Juwan Johnson, who was on a milk carton for about two and a half hours, but he finished with a playable line.
90:17And Kellen Moore, right? Offenses play fast. Could be a defense that doesn't stop people.
90:21Indoor scheduled. His carnival potential with the Saints. I'm in on Shuck.
90:24I think he might be not just a streamer, but I think he might be somebody at the end of the season.
90:31You're like, oh, wow. I played Shuck 10 weeks.
90:33You know? I think he's that credible. I think he's that viable.
90:37And I think the Saints are going to be a really fun, bad team.
90:41Now, granted, in the NFC South, everybody's bad. I think everybody lost in week one.
90:45So it may be another case where eight wins, seven or eight wins gets you in the conversation.
90:50Nine wins, you'll win the division. Maybe even an eight and nine playoff team again.
90:54But I'm in on the Saints. I was actually downtown Detroit last night.
90:58Saw some Saints fans. I said, hey, I like your team.
91:01They're fun. They're competitive. They're scrappy. It was a great comeback today.
91:04And I hope the Saints have a bunch of primetime games.
91:07This is the team I'm in on. And I believe, I know Shuck, you're kind of a joke because you stayed in
91:14college seven years and you're one of the Animal House guys and everything.
91:17But came in at advanced age, took over the job last year, was I think a quarterback six or five, something like
91:24that, over the final month of the season. So I feel like there's already trust built up here with offense, with coordinator.
91:30I mean, Olave was open all day yesterday. Yeah.
91:32So I'm buying shares of the Saints offense. And I don't know how Shuck comes from S-H-O-U-G-H.
91:37But yeah, I am buying shares of Tyler Shuck.
91:40Yeah, I've been a Shuck head. I remain a Shuck head here coming out of week one.
91:45I like what I saw, even though it did start slow.
91:48Crazy on the Saints. They were number one in terms of no huddle percentage.
91:52They were like 23 percent no huddle, which we know they're going to do.
91:56And they led the NFL in plays run per game, which you think, oh, well, in week one.
92:01Oh, well, it's it's overtime, right? No, actually, they were number one in all four quarters with 76 plays.
92:06That's what's going to happen with this offense, which does lead us to our next part.
92:11Before we move on, though, Scott, let me ask the question.
92:14People really want to know. So what is a night out in downtown Detroit, a night on the town look like with Scott Pianowski on a Sunday night?
92:22What are we getting into? I was just watching the Sunday night game, playing a little poker.
92:27Playing court with us. OK, fine. That's fine. It sounds like you're having a good time.
92:31I don't know. I just want to see what you look at.
92:35At least I ran better than the Cowboys did.
92:37You know, it's a low bar, but good to hear it.
92:40Sorry. Sorry, Colin. Oh, don't apologize. By the way, the Giants beat the Cowboys, right?
92:45I think it's pretty obvious that Arizona beating the Chargers has that has like the Raiders Patriots result from week one last
92:51year that has like we're going to laugh about this in six weeks.
92:55Is there any other game that you saw and like, oh, yeah, this you know, we're not we're going to forget this happened.
93:01Did anything else kind of catch you that way?
93:04Oh, God. Now you're putting me on the spot here.
93:06Yeah, I mean, definitely the Cardinals one is possible for sure.
93:10That was probably the only one that really stood out to me as is like a big time upset.
93:15I mean, the Vikings game was weird how they ended up winning that one.
93:19But yeah, I mean, I definitely discounted the the Giants.
93:22I think you could argue the Rams Niners game is definitely one of those two.
93:26But to me, yeah, I don't really see who cares.
93:29Who cares about that? Exactly. Let me ask you this.
93:32I think the consensus was Arizona was three, four wins.
93:35Look out below. And I feel like all nine of the Cardinals fans wrote to me like, yeah, yo, what are you saying now?
93:41Right. Are you at least open minded? The idea that maybe the Cardinals are better than we thought.
93:47Oh, buddy, you're talking to Mr. Cardinals curious himself.
93:49Of course, I'm open minded. I was open minded about this team coming into it.
93:53Yeah. So I'm definitely open to them being like a four or five win team.
93:58That's the thing. They're just they're too talented on offense to be this bad is that everybody thought they were going to be.
94:04Let's get back on track, though, with the waiver wire picks before we start talking about what I was doing on Sunday night, which is working.
94:11Devon Valey. Devon Valey is our next one up here.
94:14He plays for that Saints team as well. Led the team in route participation.
94:18Scott, 94 percent. He's kind of their power slot receiver.
94:21Great move off the line of scrimmage on his touchdown and a 49 percent slot rate in this game.
94:27I like Valey as a player. Where are you at with him?
94:30I like him a lot, too. A great leaping catch over the middle of the field.
94:34A heavy target share. Remember, they paid legitimate draft capital and trade to get him.
94:39So, yeah, when when Tyson got hurt. I baked a lot of those stat improvements into Jawan Johnson, and I'm not giving up on him.
94:46I realize it happened late, but he did at least come in overtime did help him out.
94:51But Devon Valey, I think, could be somebody who, again, we look back the end of the year and like, oh, wow,
94:57I played Valey like six or seven times this year.
95:00This is an offense I believe in. A schemer I believe in.
95:03A quarterback who's underrated. And one of my strongest takes, and I hate saying this.
95:07It's no fun to play fantasy football like an actuary.
95:10But we have to keep expectations low for Jordan Tyson.
95:13He's going to miss two months. He had hamstring injuries going back to college after a really fast start to the summer.
95:19It's all derailed. I think it's an excellent chance at the end of the year, like Valey has like 940 yards.
95:25I think that is. Oh, wow. But 944 yards would be pretty impressive.
95:29I do. I do like him as a player.
95:32And, you know, he got kind of laughed at because of the trade that they gave up for him, Scott.
95:37And also, you know, because he's an older player, right?
95:40He was like 27 years old as a rookie.
95:43But he can play like his his rookie year was solid.
95:46Again, he's not special, but nice power slot receiver for an offense that knows how to use a guy like that.
95:52I even think when Jordan Tyson gets back, you know, they're not going to overlap, I would guess, in terms of role.
95:58You know, Bryce Lance was the third receiver on this team.
96:0173% of the routes. That guy is not ready to play 73% of the routes in the NFL.
96:06And the stats show it 8.9% targets per route run.
96:09So I think it's going to be a lot of I think this is going to be a pretty concentrated target tree, buddy.
96:16It's going to be Valey. It's going to be Chris Olave and it's going to be Juwan Johnson.
96:21And we can keep it moving from there. Number six is Bryce Young on Boone's list.
96:25Any interest in Bryce Young after what you saw in week one?
96:29I will throw you the optimistic pitch like this.
96:31In addition to the fact that they get the Falcons, Browns, Lions next, which is a pretty nice schedule.
96:37One of the justifications, Scott, for them moving on from not moving on, but Dave Canales passing the play calling duties to
96:43Brad Edzik was he felt that Brad and Bryce had a really good relationship.
96:47And that Bryce and him just kind of they jived better.
96:50And he just had his finger on the pulse of what Bryce likes to do.
96:54And again, it's Bears defense caveat. But Bryce certainly was really comfortable with the offense in week one and was aggressive pushing the ball down the field.
97:02Did what you see in week one open your mind to Bryce Young being a fantasy quarterback or 361 passing yards and three touchdowns?
97:09I'm just afraid. I just can't separate the Bears defense from this performance.
97:12So I'd like to see something very fair to validate that.
97:16One of my losses yesterday, I was going to lose anyway, but somebody benched Sam Darnold in a two quarterback league or
97:22a super flex league to play Bryce Young. And man, it just Darnold gets hurt in the first series.
97:27And then Bryce Young scores like a pinball machine in that glorious game against Chicago.
97:31I'm just afraid that too much of this has the bear stench.
97:35So even though we like McMillan, even though we talked up Coker a lot in the earlier segment, the backs might have some talent.
97:42This is still a lesser offensive line. I still think it's a below 500 team.
97:46So I'm probably a half step behind the rest of the Bryce Young public.
97:50I would take Shuck over Bryce Young, but I do want to keep open minded that the Panthers could be a carnival team, though, for sure.
97:57If their defense is going to continue to be that bad, which is just crazy.
98:02It's been that bad for so long. Number five player here is Kenyon Sadiq, the rookie tight end for the New York Jets.
98:08I will say this one's pretty thin to me here, Scott.
98:11I don't know if I'd go chasing the Kenyon Sadiq tight end fantasy scoring.
98:15He did have a good fantasy day here, 9.9 half PPR points, but he only ran around on 46 percent of the dropbacks.
98:22Three targets. It was a rushing touchdown that he popped in there.
98:25Any interest in Kenyon Sadiq or any of these Jets players?
98:28Because A.D. Mitchell got some decent usage, 81 percent round participation, same as Garrett Wilson.
98:32Anything on the Jets offense catching your eye? I mean, first of all, run heavy game script because they were ahead of Tennessee from the start.
98:40So all of my Tony Pollard hopes and dreams were crashed, even though he played fine.
98:44Just Tennessee never had the ball. They couldn't sustain offense.
98:47They couldn't get the Jets off the field. But the Jets were so run heavy.
98:51And even in just 23 targets in their passing game, they found a way to target 10 different guys.
98:57That's a reason. And then realized Sadiq had the rushing touchdown and all that.
99:01And I know that good player at Oregon. He crushed the combine.
99:04He's a really smart kid. I mean, I like him as a player.
99:08This is a bad setup for him. I'm not tempted.
99:11Unless you're really desperate for a tight end, you may have no choices and you have to do something.
99:16But I can't make a proactive pick on Sadiq in the waiver wire period.
99:20Number four is Jonah Coleman. We're not going to discuss Coleman because we are taping this if you're watching us live.
99:26Obviously, if you're watching us live on YouTube, by the way, subscribe.
99:30Leave us a like, a comment. Tell us who you're picking up on the waiver wire in the comments below.
99:35If you're watching later, subscribe as well. If you're listening to the audio feed, you might already know the results of Monday Night Football.
99:42Okay. So Jonah Coleman playing on Monday Night Football.
99:45He is definitely somebody to pick up, you know, knock on wood the whole deal.
99:49But we're not going to talk about him because there's no point if we've got a game coming up here in three hours.
99:55So let's get to number three on the list.
99:58Denzel Boston, rookie wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns.
100:00Now, I know we said, Scott, no interest in the Browns here in the panic meter section.
100:05That being said, Denzel Boston was on the field for nearly all of the snaps.
100:10He ran around on 97% of the dropbacks. He was out wide on 94%.
100:14And he was in the slot on only 6.5%.
100:16Made an impressive downfield reception. It's got to feel tough, by the way, if you're Denzel Boston and you make a big play down the field.
100:23You keep the game ball for your first NFL touchdown and you're getting smoked like 30 to nothing.
100:29That is pretty tough. Anyways, impressive catch by Denzel Boston.
100:31Obviously, we're waiting for a quarterback change. But really good usage for Boston in week one from a deployment standpoint.
100:37I mean, he's running routes. He only still had four targets.
100:40He was running routes. Hate the quarterback they're playing now.
100:43We don't know if the next quarterback is any better.
100:46And he still has to compete with Fannin for targets, with Judy for targets, with Concepcion for targets.
100:51Juddkins is going to have a share of this offense.
100:54It's just too – we're getting a small slice of an offense.
100:57The pie is small and the slices are small.
101:00So I am not – again, Vele is somebody I would take over Boston.
101:04It's a case of we can't go by the talent because Concepcion and Boston on different teams would be all in.
101:10But I'm just afraid that this Cleveland offense is going to be derailed too many weeks.
101:14And it's going to be like, okay, well, Boston needs to get home on – he gets home yesterday on four targets.
101:21It's hard to thread that needle on a consistent basis.
101:23All right, number two player on the waiver wire is Debo Samuel.
101:27And I do think Debo is in a nice situation now with Dejan Stribbling very likely to miss up to a month is what they've said.
101:34And look, Debo's not going to ever be the traditional wide receiver.
101:38He ran around on 53% of the dropbacks, but he's targeted on 37% of his routes, Scott.
101:42Six catches, 48 yards, and the touchdown. He's kind of – I wrote this up for his 2025 reception perception charting.
101:48You know, he's kind of just like the funhouse mirrors, like the exaggerated version of the player he's always been where he
101:55can't really beat man coverage, but he still knows how to settle in underneath zones and run with the football in his hands.
102:01In the Niners offense, going against some Miami Dolphins this week, I think that's pretty much worth picking up if you need wide receiver help.
102:08Like, would you rather have Debo Samuel than some of these young unknown players?
102:12I think I could make an argument you would.
102:15Yeah, I salute Boone for putting Debo this aggressively on his list.
102:18I think it's a smart call. If there's one offense that's going to know how to use Samuel, it's a Kyle Shanahan
102:24offense with this dribbling injury coming up, and it's more opportunity.
102:28And we know Debo, they're going to give him some running work.
102:31He had a 12-yard carry in that game against the Rams.
102:34He can be on the borderline of wide receiver three, wide receiver four moving forward.
102:38Certainly somebody who should be added in all leagues where he's available.
102:42All right. We've got nine guys here on the board.
102:45I would argue this has not been the sexiest waiver wire ever coming out of week number one.
102:50We don't have this like, oh my God, you got to pick this guy up and win your fantasy leagues.
102:55Maybe it is the number one guy, though, on the list that brings the sex appeal here.
103:00That is Kalen Black, 49ers rookie running back. I am a little surprised.
103:04I mean, it's been so long. Maybe people forgot about the Australia game that we did not get any like, hey, you know, CMC panic meter stuff.
103:12There was definitely some weeping and gnashing of teeth on Thursday night when Hayden and I did the solo, or not the solo.
103:18It was two people, obviously the recap for this game, the nightcap portion of the program.
103:23I'm curious, Scott, where are you at with the Kalen Black usage in week one?
103:27Would you add him off the waiver wire? And how are you viewing CMC coming out of that game?
103:32Do you think there's any chance this should be like Kyron Williams, Blake Corham, like a 60, 40, a 65, 35 McCaffrey
103:39back nine player, all the efficiency stats tank last year, but because he got unbelievable usage from Kyle Shanahan.
103:44It was like Kyle Shanahan was running a youth team and his son was the star player, right?
103:49Not that McCaffrey is a bad player, but he's not.
103:52This is not like the Derrick Henry story where it's like, but there's no sign of attrition with Henry.
103:57He looks just as good as he's ever looked, maybe better than he's ever looked.
104:02We can't tell ourselves those stories with McCaffrey. And Kalen Black's just good, man.
104:06Third round pick, which is where, you know, the equivalent of like a late first, early second in a previous era, because
104:12teams just don't focus on this position the same way.
104:15We saw him running the glory at Indiana last year championship team, gets physical yards, seems to read the blocks well.
104:21I think Kalen Black should be rostered in every league.
104:23And if you have him, you almost have to dangle him in front of the McCaffrey manager and just see what's available, see if they're willing to overpay.
104:31Maybe they won't. That's a case where you don't have to be coy.
104:35You can be totally straight with your intentions. You have McCaffrey.
104:38You're worried. I have Kalen Black. And if you have Kalen Black, you may just choose to wait that out and see where it goes, man.
104:46Yeah, Kalen Black was certainly one of the week one winners, and I'm surprised he hasn't already rostered out of this segment, but he will soon enough.
104:53We're not going to be talking about him anymore because he's going to be 70, 80, 85% rostered pretty soon.
104:59Totally agree with you about that. 70, 80% rostered.
105:01You should be rostered in every league. 100%, I agree.
105:04Take this sort of in reverse order there where I do think that Kalen Black is going to earn work, and I
105:11would maybe not even dangle the Kalen Black in front of the McCaffrey manager.
105:15I'd maybe just text the McCaffrey manager in your league and be like, how are you feeling about Kalen Black, buddy?
105:21You don't have to make it clear you're coming in for the trade, but start the conversation that way.
105:26See where it goes. Okay, that's what I would do.
105:29Now, to your question about whether this could be Kyron Williams, Blake Corum, I mean, I think the usage that McCaffrey got
105:35in week one was still really good. He had 18 opportunities in the game, 88 yards from scrimmage.
105:40You could do worse than that, especially because so much of it is going to come in the pass game.
105:46He also came in and was dealing with some cramps and stuff during the game, was a little banged up.
105:51But that's why they should save him and why I think it's honestly honorable that Kyle Shanahan has finally found a guy
105:58to maybe help him solve this issue because it's a big problem.
106:01To your point about the CMC versus Derrick Henry, that's a great example.
106:05McCaffrey was 23 out of 33 running backs with over 150 carries in EPA per rush, 28th in yards after contact per rush.
106:11Let me tell you who was not ranking 28th in yards after contact per rush.
106:16It was not Derrick Henry. There are at least some signs that McCaffrey could be a higher efficiency, lower usage type of player.
106:22I would still take McCaffrey as a round one, two turn player if we were redrafting right now.
106:27Maybe you feel a little bit lower than that.
106:30But Kalen Black should continue to get work. The question is, Scott, does Kalen Black getting work mean he's just one of
106:36the best RB insurance, kind of insurance policy backs out there?
106:39Or is he somebody that is actually viable as a flex candidate, again, as they head into this matchup against the Miami Dolphins this week?
106:46Yeah, that's to be determined. I don't think there's any doubt that he's the best one injury away player on the board right now.
106:53But is he going to enter the Sigmund Blum, what the heck, flex category?
106:57Is he going to have standalone value? And this game may have been an unusual set of circumstances where the Niners were
107:03so far ahead that they could just basically put CMC in bubble wrap and get out of Australia.
107:08And that's smart, right? I just don't want these guys to, when they're way ahead or way behind, McCaffrey's somebody who shouldn't be playing anyway.
107:16So I thought that was very smart usage from Shanahan.
107:18But we're going to have to figure out in the next couple of weeks if Black is actually startable without a McCaffrey injury.
107:25Because right now, that's a seam call. Okay, so those are your top 10 players to add off the wave wire.
107:31Again, go and read the piece by Justin Boone on the website.
107:34All right? Go get that in your life. Because we may have misrepresented his opinion at some point here.
107:40And we would not want to have that. So Boone is smart.
107:43Go read the piece. We're reading again in 2026.
107:46There's also a section which we will cover here every single week on drop candidates.
107:50I picked five guys that you can consider dropping from Justin Boone's list.
107:54The guys I felt for sure are droppable candidates.
107:56I'm going to read them all off to you, Scott.
107:59You tell me if there's any you disagree with here.
108:02Number five, I've got Rashid Shaheed. Number four, I've got Jake Ferguson.
108:05Number three, I've got Jacoby Lane. Number two, Rashad White.
108:08And number one, Kenny Gainwell. Just real quick, Shaheed didn't get a playing time bump.
108:12That's tough. Jake Ferguson, not a guy who was really considered to be a highly drafted tight end anyways.
108:18And I think you can dump him for somebody else.
108:21Jacoby Lane, he's going to miss like a month.
108:23You can just go ahead and drop him and see what he's like when he comes back.
108:28Rashad White, like Jacoby Krosky merits better, more explosive.
108:30Just play Jacoby Cross, you're married if you're the commanders and figure out how good he is.
108:35And Kenny Gainwell, like what's the point of Kenny Gainwell in fantasy if Bucky Irving is going to be getting design targets
108:42out of the backfield and is like, let's be honest, the significantly better player.
108:46Any of these guys you want to fight me on as a drop candidate?
108:50I'm not going to fight you on any of them.
108:52Gainwell would be the player I'd be most likely to give another week only because they gave him so much money.
108:58And I realize Irving was really good in week one, really one of the week one winners, right?
109:03Because people were afraid to draft him all summer and then he takes control of the backfield.
109:08But they paid enough money to Gainwell and they lost the game too.
109:12Teams changed their schemes and their ideas when they lose.
109:15I just want to see one more week of what happens with Gainwell, with Shahid, also with the Darnold injury.
109:20Drew Locke did show a decent connection with JSN, but Shahid needed a healthy Darnold.
109:25They gave him all the money. He did nothing after the trade last year.
109:29We were hoping that he'd have a better season this year.
109:32And that defense may be good enough that they never have a lot of passing volume.
109:36I like Shahid as a player. He's just in the wrong offense to have a lot of fantasy juice.
109:42Lane's an easy cut because he's hurt. But Ferguson, it's just a case of you may prefer a different milkshake than I have.
109:48You know, I mean, you may prefer strawberry. You may prefer chocolate.
109:52You may prefer vanilla. It doesn't matter. There are like five or six tight ends who work the same as Jake Ferguson.
109:58And if you like one different, that's totally fine.
110:01I don't think you have to cut them, but you should probably look at the board and see how to play that.
110:07With Rashard White, running quarterback, bad offensive line, and JCM at least a two-down grinder and maybe expanding in the passing game.
110:13I don't want to make deep. Williams, I'll leave the light on for her.
110:17But I don't want to look deep for answers on this Washington offense right now.
110:21I don't believe in it. Yeah, just on the Kenny Gainwell point, Browns this week, Vikings next week.
110:26I do think Vikings, like you might see Kenny Gainwell play a lot there because maybe they trust him in pass pro more.
110:33That will be the key with Bucky Irving, like continuing to be a big week one winner.
110:38But I do think if he's going to continue to run fewer routes than Bucky, it's going to be tough.
110:43But definitely, maybe the guy would maybe... I would drop Kenny Gainwell for Caelan Black like that, but I wouldn't do it
110:50for somebody like a Denzel Boston or any of those other guys we talked about here.
110:54So definitely not a must-must drop, but someone that I would consider here.
110:58By the way, Scott, the correct... I don't indulge in milkshakes very much, but if you're going to indulge in a milkshake, it should be an Oreo milkshake.
111:06The best milkshake, hands down, flavor-wise, because you get to really live that life at the end where you dump it and you get all the Oreos.
111:13Come on. Oreo milkshake is the only flavor that matters.
111:16So there you have it. Matt Harmon's milkshake brings all the fantasy managers to the yard.
111:21On that note... Printed. On that note, that is going to do it for today's show.
111:25Scott Pienowski, you've been fantastic. Subbing in for Justin Boone.
111:28Oh my God, I've never been more flustered by anything you've ever said in my entire life.
111:33All right, that's going to do it for today's show.
111:36Scott Pienowski is the man. He is going to be back on the pod here in short order.
111:41Don't you worry about that. But for now, Data Dump is tomorrow with Ray Garvin.
111:45And not only are we going to have the 10 stats you need to know heading out of week one, we're also
111:52going to give you an update on how week one went in our Yahoo Fantasy Analyst League.
111:56Scott, I got to see how you did. But a hint, I won and I won big.
112:01Maybe perhaps against the person I'm talking to tomorrow.
112:04We'll see about that. So Scott's got me flustered.
112:06Let's all go have a milkshake. Until then, we are out.
112:09Thank you.