Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in. The fantasy footballers podcast, Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. Joined as always, by the Deucers over there in Deucers Alley, deucing it up.

That's what they're doing.

And we are here with a waiver episode today. Very excited excited to talk waivers. There's a lot of names, Jason. I heard you saying that this morning, that you were- I think it's a deep waiver pickup.

It's not an elite. I don't see a Puka. I don't see a Kyren from last year, some sensational breakout superstar. But there's a lot of depth. There are a lot of runningbacks that are worthy of being rostered, and obviously, we'll get into it. But week one, Wavers is like, I mean, this is an important time in fantasy football. You look back at championships, and then you can usually trace something that happened to week one or week two waivers.

I don't know if you can know in week one whether there's a Puka there or not. I think when we picked up Puka last year in week one, it was optimism, but not any expectation to what we got from Puka Nakuwa. Maybe that is Jamison Williams this year. Maybe that is Xavier worthy. We have a lot of season left in front of us, so we're going to break down our Our favorite waiver pickups at every position. We have waiver rankings on the website, thefantasyfootballers. Com, so you can see them on there. And for the first time ever, we have customized waiver pickups for your team in your league as part of the ultimate dashboard, which is one of the FootClan member perks. You can learn about that at jointhefoot. Com. That is brand new for the in-season tools and resources this year. If you If you have a team in ESPN, Sleeper, or Yahoo, you can sync your team and your league, and it will give you a dynamic list of who's available based on our waiver rankings and who is available in your league. So it's custom because everything is contextual. A lot of our pickups, we're going to give you our rankings, but do you need a running back?

Do you need a wide receiver? Is tight-end? Is the Isiah likely sweepstake is going to be for you? These are all going to be questions we answer.

Yeah, and when we talk about, Oh, picking up J K Dobbins, you might be like, He's not available in my league. Well, sync your league with that tool, and you can see all of our waiver rankings of who is actually available in your league.

You can follow the show over on X at the FF Ballers. Follow Jason at Jason FFL. Mike is at FF Hitman. I'm at Andy Hollowway. If you want to be a part of our Discord, Papa Josh over there running the Discord, you can go to ballersdiscord. Com. Will that take you right there, Josh?

It's ballersdiscord. Gg, I believe. For real? Discord uses a gg.

For good game? Yeah.

By the way, ballersdiscord. Com is what you can go to. I just verified that. That works fine. So good game, Josh.

Yeah, it works great.

All right, let's get into the recap. We had a Monday night football game, the 49ers.

Man, they looked good.

Without. 49ers. Christian McCamphrey took on the New York Jets. Wait, what? Who?

Oh, man.

No, no. But Caffrey, he's super healthy, and he played football last night, right, guys?

Right? I mean, really, that was the NFL/Fantasy Football/week1 mayhem to the nth degree. To have a last second report, we should just cover that part of the news now in the context of this recap because it was brutal. It was as bad as it gets. In the league where I have McAfree, I'd moved him into the flex. That's something we advise so that you have the ability to put a wide receiver in an emergency. I looked at those teams. I always want to plan for the contingency. The last thing you want to be doing is get caught without Christian McAfree on Monday night. But when you think about the real pivot options you had available to your roster, you would have been talking about Juwan Jennings, you would have been talking about Kyle Juszczak. If you didn't draft Jordan Mason for that roster with Christian McAfree, McAfree, which not everybody could do, you were in a real, real tough situation last night. Xavier Gibson, zero. Isaac Guarindo, zero. So I know a lot of people that were destroyed by the last minute news that Christian McAfree would be inactive, that Jordan Mason would get to start.

This was a shocker. And the only way that it wasn't a complete and utter surprise is that Mike Mike in his League of Records team- Oh, yeah. Has Christian McAfee on the roster.

Mike took a very wide stance and said, Anyone free kicks. Anyone out there free kicks as he spread his legs I see.

To be picked in the cojones.

What a brutal week for you. It's pulverized, guys. I said this yesterday.

Read your lineup. We said we talk about League of Records.

Pull it up and while you pull it up.

The guys that actually started? No, just your whole team.

Yeah. So while you pull up your lineup- Is this so we know who to avoid? Just so that everyone can enjoy your pain. I'm sitting at the lunch table yesterday, and usually I would be tilted off the face of the planet because I came in a little shallow in my League of Records team, and I lost Puka. That's brutal. And I lost Najoku. And I'm sitting there happy as a clam because I'm not Mike.

I mean, I had the Jordan Love, Christian Watson stack. That's toast. Mccaffee didn't play. Javante Williams is probably toast. Michael Pitman, 40% target share, but 31 yards. Mark Andrews and Marvin Harrison Jr. Combined for 3.3 points. Higgins is on my bench.

You lost Higgins? Well, he's also on the bench. You lost Higgins. You lost McCaffee. Yeah.

In a three-keeper league, between my three keepers and my first three picks, I I scored about 11 points.

Oh, my goodness gracious.

What was your comment in our chat last night? You were like, I lost Puka, but I spend all my day just being thankful I'm not Mike, right? Yeah.

I mean, that's how it feels right now.

It's like, this is not only am I in a place of week one, just ultimate tilt fest, it's not like, Hey, one thing went really wrong. Week two, we'll bounce back. Mike, my team is a disaster. It is an absolute disaster right now.

We say, Don't panic in week one. But we will rise. But Mike should panic.

Yeah, we say, Don't panic in week one, but we don't think that that's going to happen to you.

No, no. You should paint it. That's like, not Tommy boy, what is where he keeps falling down the mountain.

Oh, that was Black Sheep.

Black Sheep. Chris Tarly just keeps tumbling, and he grabs a root, and then he keeps going again.

Yeah, the root was Christian McCaffry last night. And then he's like, No, man. Oh, also, I'm probably not playing next week.

Enjoy that. If you had Kittle and you had Ayuk, you were disappointed, too, because Ayuk saw limited participation. Juan Jennings was the leading receiver. Ayuk was only two for 28.

Which, to be fair, I was going to say, he had a countdown. I mean, he dropped a ball in the end zone. If you didn't watch, it was brutal. But the opportunity for him to have a good game was still there.

So Jordan Mason was the story, 28 for 147 in a countdown. He made the Jets look silly, as did all of the play calling by Kyle Shanaher. It was on par with what we saw from the Rams in terms of at times in the game, they were just dissecting the defense so well. Obviously, they didn't win their game. But the Jets, I mean, what were your impressions of seeing Aaron Rodgers? I saw the chart today, the passing chart, and he did not target the right side of the field one time. If you watch this game, it was Brees Hall to the left, it was Garrett Wilson to the left, and no one else was targeted. Xavier Gibson was on the field in the slot. The majority of the entire game never saw a target.

I don't think- It was funny because when I turned the game on, I missed the first couple of minutes because of life. And so I turned the game on, and my first chance to see the Jets was their first drive that was really nice, where they overcame a couple of third and longs, and he was finding Garrett Wilson. I mean, Burris was running well. I was like, Oh, my gosh. I've been a doubter of the Jets' offense and of Aaron Rodgers bouncing back to who he used to be. I was like, I was so happy and ready to take that L because they looked so good, that drive. And then they didn't look good another time the whole game. Now, some of that we got to keep in mind, this Niners defense is awesome, and the Niners looked on all three phases. They just looked perfect.

The next three weeks for the Jets, I think they will win all three games. So whatever you want to say about how their offense looked, your week one with Rodgers, and the 49ers just whipped them.

Hey, here's the good news. Silver Lining, week two, you still have Aaron Rodgers. I mean, that's a win.

As a Jets fan. Yeah, no question. Brees Hall, 16 for 54 on a breakdown on the ground. That was inefficient, but he got all the work. And then Brees caught five for 39.

Yeah, he did.

And that was the story of the game. The 49ers just locked in after the first quarter and made it really hard on the Jets.

Garrett, I believe, had four receptions in the first quarter, and then finished with six.

Yeah, he did. And Debo was really, really active, by the way. He was the secondary runner. You did not see any No opportunities for Patrick Taylor Jr. Or Isaac Garendo. They had a couple of snaps, no opportunities. Debo was really the next man up at running back. And the news that we have right now, you're not going to like it. But Christian McCafferty is not a guarantee for week two, he's probably even more of a likely going to be on the bench.

It's just a matter of who you trust, Andy, because if you watch the press conference with Shana Khan, and he was asked directly about the report that is unlikely Christian McCaffery goes in week two, and Shana Khan says, I'd like to know who told you that. It must be God, because I didn't know he wasn't going to be able to play until today. He's doubling down on, I did not know until today.

He had to.

So there was this whole rigmarole. What happened is after the game on the field, Jordan Mason, the star of the game- Dude, the guy is on the highest high that I'm sure he has ever experienced in his life. What a moment for this man, for this human being. So he's on the field, he's being interviewed, he's happiest as he should be.

His family's there.

The man, he is pure dopamine.

Yeah. So he was asked, When did you find out you were going to be starting? And he said, he found out on Friday, he'd be starting and blah, blah, blah, blah. Whoops. Whoopsies. Because by the time he got to the press conference, this poor soul-sucked human being looked So sad and was like, I shouldn't have said that or whatever. He obviously got a chewing out because now I'm sure the Niners are going to be investigated for the injury reports or whatever.

When Shana came out and basically clarified, he said he didn't say that. Maybe some of the other coaches did it to pump him up and that he had told him that he knew that he would get a lot of work this week because McCafree, they need to manage the injury. Long term right now, We're going to talk about it in Wavers, so I'll press pause. But long term, we need to discuss the McCafree situation, what he's going to be like to start this year, managing reps and knowing what they have in Jordan Mason. Because if you can go out and put up a performance like that against the Jess defensive front, you have somebody that is worthy of more than the backup role on your fantasy team.

I agree with what you're saying. Logically, I do not believe that that's going to happen when Christian McCafree comes back. We have seen this before. Elijah Mitchell had unbelievably great performances when Christian McCafree would go down, and when Christian McCafree came back, it's just like, Okay, you're gone now. This is the Christian McCafree show. In fact, I think we saw it here. They want that workhorse back. You brought up the other backups didn't even get a touch. They scored zero fantasy points. It's because they got their one guy, and they game plan for them, and it's like, You get all the work.

I agree with that in In most situations, but the fact that Macafrey is dealing with a lingering issue that he says some days feel good and some days feel bad, it doesn't seem like there's going to be a switch that you turn on Macafrey, that he's just fine for 28 carries. Because he wasn't fine to play in this game. He's probably not going to play next week. You think he's going to get a full workload when he's back in week one?

I think that they will keep him out until they're ready to give him a full workload. But we'll find out. And regardless, it's pointless to discuss because when he's back, you're going to start him. And if he gets 18 instead of 28, he's going to be awesome. This is Christian McCaffrey. News and notes from Around the League, presented by USAA Insurance.

Well, Jason Pukunukuwa- Dude. Was placed on the injured reserve with a sprained PCL. He'll miss at least four weeks.

We have six main league that we share together, and I have them in half of them. So that hurts. That hurts deep.

Yeah, you were not in a good place because of this news yesterday. Puuk Going to miss some time, at least four weeks. At least. And Matthew Betz, our injury expert, who has been releasing some really good recap videos on our X account. These can linger for weeks, sometimes months, and you're going to be holding your breath when he's back out there that it doesn't happen again.

Yeah, for sure. It's worth noting that Puka has dealt with a lot of injuries in his life. Obviously, he only had one year in the NFL, and I think he played most of the season, only missed very limited time last year. But he's injured this year, and he was injured a lot in college. And so his play style is rough and tumble.

I just want everyone to know I don't have any pouca. This one is not on me.

Okay. This is my fault.

I just wanted out there.

Yeah.

I didn't drive pouca anywhere. So this is not my fault.

Okay.

You talk to Jason.

Okay. Malik Willis will start for the packers. Let's go live to Deucer's Alley and get the reaction of the resident packers fan. How do you feel about Malik Willis being your starting quarterback there, Al?

Not great, Bob.

Okay. Yeah, me neither. What do you do? What do you do if you are Jaden Reed's manager who just had the Monster Week and you counted on him? Are you playing him with your blindfold on?

I think you are, most likely. He's a flex option this week. Like Mike brought up yesterday, he's the manufactured touch guy. He's going to get into rounds. He's going to get screens. Christian Watson, I wouldn't start him. I wouldn't start anyone downfield. Malik Willis is a terrible quarterback.

Mike, what are you We have on Malik Willis?

Kyle has just shared. So Malik Willis, let's see. I'm just pulling up. So we got three starts in 2022, a couple passes the next year, but he has a career grand total of zero passing touch downs.

It's not a lot.

He has three interceptions. So his interception to a countdown ratio is zero to three.

Yeah, that's That's bad.

Roma, dude- That's called 0-2.

For the packer? Yeah. It does hand it off. Hand it off to Josh Jacobs. I thought Jacobs looked good. So just hand him the ball.

Jacobs will get all the volume.

And he may get a lot more... If you look at the pass rush that was coming in, the panic mode of Aaron Rodgers last night, maybe Jacobs catches a bunch of passes in this game.

But just real quick, because we're going to talk waivers. If you have Watson, if you have Dobbs, I am trying to find option to not play them. Jaden Reid, I'm okay because they'll figure out how to get him the ball.

Roma Dunesday is now week to week with a mild MCL sprain, which is the same type of injury that we're hearing about Jake Ferguson. Dunesday, week to week, waiting on practice reports for Keenan Allen. If DJ Moore is the only wide receiver out there, and he gets the 93 passing yards from Caleb Williams, maybe that's okay.

Yeah, if he's the only wide receiver, that would be great. I mean, we had debates early this offseason about whether DJ Moore getting a quarterback upgrade would be good or not because he was a top... What was he? Wide receiver 6 or something last season. But that was because he was the only guy there. If he's the only guy there, I'll definitely start him.

The other news we have, apparently, Brian Dable had to come out and say that Daniel Jones, their $140 million man, is going to start in week two against the commanders. If Daniel Jones looks as bad as he did this last week against the commanders who just gave up four to Baker Mayfield and their defense looked atrocious, I don't know what Giants fans can do. I don't know what you will-Oh, you know exactly what they'll do.

Root for that number one pick.

See, I thought they might find a really tall bridge.

Oh, man. That's dark.

If you're in a deep league, and you're in a... I mean, look, a super flex league as well, Drew Lock should be on your radar. Daniel Jones I believe even if Daniel Jones is terrible, he's going to play the next few games at worst. But he has the thing where they'll bench him to make sure he doesn't get hurt. Because if he gets hurt, a huge guarantee kicks in, just like we saw with last year with Russell Wilson. The Bronco said, No, we're not going to be on the hook for even more money. We're pulling that rip cord right now, and you're not playing.

They did it with Derek Carr.

Yeah. So these things happen. Daniel Jones, it's only one week, but the way he looked, you can't expect that he will be finishing the season.

Last year, they were defeated 40 to nothing in week one, the Giants. In Week Two, Daniel Jones was the quarterback one in fantasy.

So I wanted to bring this up. I mean, he's not my official stream of the week, but I actually do think Daniel Jones was unwatchable. He was so bad. There were about four quarterbacks this week that were unwatchable. But the commander's defense will make it a little bit easier. He is still a dual threat quarterback who has weapons, and I think he'll end up with a decent fantasy week this week.

Better than the negative four from this past week, you think?

I guarantee it. It's an ironclad, locked and loaded guarantee.

Jason Moore, Daniel Jones, guarantee.

More than negative four fantasy points in week two.

We have news that Raheem Mosert and Devon Achan did not practice.

I'm listed. They're the Thursday game, so it's not a real practice. That's right. It's the estimation that they would not have practiced, but it is enough that you better be paying attention.

I am really worried about Achan. I don't know. I just got the- It's just because of his fragility? Well, I mean, he got injured. You saw him limping off the field at the end of the game, and then he's reported as having an ankle and wouldn't have practiced. So yeah, I'm a little worried.

He has an ankle? That's good. Honestly, if he has two ankles- You're not wrong.

You just cut out the injury part.

Yeah, sure. He's been reported. You all know what I meant.

I just heard Al laughing back there. I assume at the fact that he had an ankle.

Well, that's the point. He needs two. Right now, he has an ankle.

Okay. No, you're 40 chest. Justin Fields is being prepared to start against Denver. Russell Wilson feels better today than over the weekend. He was wearing shoulder pads on the sidelines. We did get enough- Now, was he in the emergency? Yes. Oh, thank goodness.

We got an update on that later that he was, in fact, the emergency guy because- Oh, thank goodness.

I thought he was not active and wearing shoulder pads, which only Russell Wilson and I would think that about.

I genuinely believe if he was inactive, he still would have. The eye black on just to support, go It's through the routine.

Yeah, you don't want to miss any moment to prepare.

And the Brown sign Kaderius, Tony, they got injured in the receiving game this week. They lost David Najoku. They're working out tight ends. I don't believe we have the David Najoku report in the news, which we should.

I thought it was high ankle.

Well, there was- Big check. Yeah, week to week, I believe. But he's going to be out for a while. And they are working out tight ends. And then they lost Judy to injury. So Kaderius Race, Tony coming in. That was today's... Yeah, David Najoku has an ankle.

Oh, he does. He needs two.

Yeah, that was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usaa. Com/ Insurance. We're going to take a break, and then it's waiver wire time. All right, it is time to jump in to week one, The WaverWire.

Welcome to The WaverWire, presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.

All right, Jason, what was your tips and tricks item relevant to this week?

Well, if you listen to our Top 10 tips and tricks episode, it was take dumps now, not later. And what that means is in week one, in week two of the waivers, you want to go hard in the paint. It's not just... A lot of times you say, Well, you get more weeks from the players. Obviously, if you get a player in week one and they play the season, you get at least 12 more games of this player versus grabbing them in week 10. So that makes sense. However, it's the average fantasy points per game of the players picked up in week one. They are higher than the rest of the season. So there will be some stars here. We're going to try to sift through the gold mine and find the nuggets. But you want to go hard. You want to go hard in week one.

You were mixing so many different gold analogies.

Yeah, like the mine. I get what you're saying. The mine, you're not doing a lot of sifting because that's in the river. You know what I mean? You don't sift in a mine? No, man. You use the pickax. Yeah, you mined in a mine. There are nuggets in a mine. You can find them.

Dude, I didn't know that. They don't have any sifting in a mine. Sifting is panning for it. I know. Dude, I thought they did that in the mine, too.

So you bring the sifter in the mine? Yeah.

They got a whole bunch of equipment in the mine. Really? Yeah.

If you put the big rocks on the sifter, it's just going to rattle back and forth.

Well, they still got to get the stuff off the ground.

Our job here is the furthest thing from being a gold miner that does exist. I don't really blame you for crossing your gold analogy.

I mean, forgive me for not being a gold expert.

I thought you were a metal. I thought you knew about metal.

Oh, yes, I am a metal expert.

All right, let's take a look at the running back position. Last night's game is going to have a big impact on the way we sort out our rankings because Jordan Mason, it's going to come down to maybe a difference of opinion here between Jason and myself in terms of whether Jordan Mason will continue to be used. I look at the McCafee injury with a very concerned eye. You will obviously play an active Christian McCafee on your roster. But one of the things that we haven't got to see a lot of is a healthy player behind him in San Francisco. When we've had it for brief stretches, we have seen some Elijah Mitchell success, especially salting away games. Jordan Mason's performance, combined with what I look at as a re-injury risk with McCafee, makes me think Mason's ranking here in the fantasy waiver rankings a little bit higher, because I think he could Start next week? I think then it's a big question mark for the week after. He could start again? We don't know how long this is going to be for McCafee. Then you combine that with maybe some flex appeal for a while.

Does that move him to your number one pick up on the week? He has He's my number one pickup for the entire... Yeah, for all of waiver.

For every position or just runningbacks? Because he's my number one runningback waiver pickup as well.

He's my number one overall. Oh, okay. He's my number one overall. Now, I do think that there's context there. If you Obviously, if you have Macafre, he's number one if he was out there without question. If you are desperate for help at wide receiver, I don't mind you floating somebody like Jamieson Williams ahead of him.

I meant more of the question of are we unanimous- He's ahead of Dobbins. Are we unanimous that Dobbins is the number two running back?

He is for me. Yeah, he's my number two.

Dobbins is there as well for me, either number one or number two. I'm saying, are you looking at this like, Jordan Mason is my number one running back no matter what, regardless. If I have McCafree, he's number one. If I don't have McCafree, he's still number one.

Right now, he is for me.

Because it's the balance of, you could be right, of maybe he starts next week, maybe even a third one after that. But when McCafree comes back, Jordan Mason is the backup, where J. K. Dobbins, while he was in a timeshare, he was by far the best running back and could be a season-long help to your team.

I think there is context there. Balancing that. I am with Andy that with or without McAfree, Mason is my number one pickup. However, if you are one of those teams out there that needs a second running back. You went Hero-RB. Let's say you went Hero-R-B, and you started with Christian McCaffee as your hero, and then late round, you drafted Zamir White and Javante Williams All of a sudden, it looks like you have nobody, which is basically your team, Mike.

I don't have Zamir.

No, I know, but you did- You do have nobody, though. Nobody. Then I would prioritize Dobbins over Mason because you need a full-time starter. Otherwise, I would want the league-winning upside of Mason. It's really the re-injury risk that is in Mason the way that he would win.

The wild thing is Dobbins had a great week one. Dobbins got 10 carries in a positive game script. If I think about, can Jordan Mason end up with 10 carries? I actually think the answer is yes. And so in that regard, that's why I put them a little closer. Dobbins is right there, though. And if you think Dobbins can win that job, Dobbins can win that job and get more carries on a regular basis, That would be your reason to bend that direction, right?

Yeah. I do think he's going to lead the timeshare for a team that wants to run the ball like crazy.

They get Carolina next week.

After that, it's- What a competition that's going to be, because San Francisco was number one in the league in last year, right? They passed the fewest amount of times. Then you know what the chargers identity is going to be. You have two teams that are going to run a bunch, which means this is great. If they're both on your waiver wire, that's great. If they're not, there are other options. You saw Ezequiel Elliott, who is heavily rostered, but he was the leader of the timeshare. He was. Got the got the countdown. You saw Justice Hill. He had six catches. And then you had Jim Harbaugh come out and say verbatim, flat out, We did not bring Henry here to get 30 carries. We brought him here to be a piece of a 7, 8, 9, 10 person offensive puzzle, and Justice Hill is a part of that.

Yeah, Justice Hill is a low upside, weekly startable player. I think he will be involved in every game, but they're not going to be down as much as they were against Kansas City.

Six catches for 52 yards. I don't see that as happening against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Full PPR, he's going to be better, and he was, from what I could tell, the two-minute back. Yeah, that makes sense. That was something maybe tough to see for Derek Henry.

I would rather have McAfflin than Justice Hill. Similar archetype of player where they're more a little bit the passing down guy. But I think McAfflin could win the job and become the primary. It's possible.

I think it's possible.

I don't- Jaleal McAfflin of the Denver Broncos.

How does he fit into the picture with Tank Bigsby, who went 12 for 73 and is only rostered in 11% of the league? Obviously, I love him, and I always have.

That's one of your mind guys.

Born and raised with Tank Bigsby at my side. 12 for 73 was wildly productive.

And he was used early in the game.

32% of snaps. Very impressive performance. More efficient than ETN. Etn got the end zone opportunity, got into the end zone.

Should have got in twice.

Mcgloughlin or Bigsby?

I agree with... Look, these are low probability situations. Julio McGloughlin taking over the time share for the Broncos. I think it's unlikely, but it is possible. Tank is not taking over for Travis ETN, but he could close that margin even more.

Well, and I see this as really a roster construction tiebreaker here. If you're looking for a high upside bench asset, then that's Tank Bigsby. Because an injury to ETN, Tank Bigsby has the body where he- He would be amazing. He would be an amazing league-winning type of back. If that's what you're looking for, I would go Bigsby over McAfflin. If you're looking for someone to start, you need them. Like earlier, the example of you just really need startable assets, then I would lean towards McAfflin.

I have Bigsby higher. I don't think McAfflin can take over the backfield. Okay. Estimate it'll be too involved. We haven't gotten production from that backfield in a year.

That's a bad offense.

I lean the Bigsby side, which is just wild. But let me ask Let me get the other side of the Bigsby question real quick, which is the concern for ETN. If Bigsby is a top five pickup at running back in week one, there has to be some collateral damage there in your mind. Do you believe this is a one-week wonder? And if ETN is cruising along in the hot hand situation, doesn't lean Bigsby's way. He'll just have the majority of work. Or do you actually advise people to maybe look at trading Travis ETN? Because he did score. The fantasy production was fine. You could probably go do a like. Would you have Etienne or Connor? Do you go make that a trade, Etienne or Kamara?

There's a lot of things up in the air that we don't have an answer to just yet. He should He had scored two touch downs, but he fumbled on his way into the end zone, and then the next play was the 80-yard Tyree kill, countdown. And after he fumbled, it appeared that Etienne got the business from the team, and Tank then, I believe, out-snapped him. Out-snapped him. From that point- Or out-opportunity. I can't remember what happened exactly. But they definitely were sending a message to ETN.

Same message they sent to Tank Bigsby after his fumbles last I don't know if I would trade him for Connor.

I would trade him for Kamara.

Oh, wow. I'm going to stick with him.

I don't really like Travis ETN, but he will be the pass catching running back over Tank, I think. And assuming he gets right back to being the goal line guy, then he still is a very valuable running back despite a time share closing in on it. Kamara is just going to be so good.

It was Carolina.

I know.

The efficiency was exceptional, but I'm not sure it holds up.

This is obviously a team that I believe is going to lose the majority of their games, not be blowing out their opponents. But that's why I love Kamara, because it doesn't matter. He's either got an easy opponent and he's really efficient in the run game, or he's got a hard opponent and he's getting six receptions.

All right. Looking at some of the lower-tier options, all the running back waiver rankings on the website, thefantasyfootballers. Com. Madison Bucky Irving, Ty Chandler, Jalen Wright, and Jeff Wilson. If there are injuries and a Thursday night game, you talk about the best situation for an inactive, a random inactive. It's Thursday. It's not Monday, Christian. It's Thursday. And So if those two guys are banged up, you're looking at an instant start potential for Jeff Wilson or Jalen Wright.

Yeah. I actually think Bucky Irving needs to be in the conversation similar to all these other players. I would take Bucky Irving over Jaleel McGloughlin. I think he is a more talented running back, where he's still not necessarily the leader. I don't expect him to take over, but a Rashaud White injury Bucky looked great, man. He looked really good, and I was surprised at how involved he was. It's not even taking anything away from White. White looked good in his own right, but I just think he's a talented back that has the situation of, Hey, you might be able to start this guy in your flex, and then should an injury happen, Bucky must be roster.

It was Washington, though, and the game was a blowout. If I have Rasha White, I'm making him a huge priority. But I'm not as bullish as Jason.

The name that... I don't even know if I'm allowed to talk about him.

Do you want me to clear this with legal?

Alexander Madison of the Las Vegas Raiders was...

I Did you see the receiving countdown, dude?

That was a good play.

That was a great play. Yeah, he got his quota for the year.

Tank Bigsby, all the opportunities. Tank Bigsby, 32% of the Snaps. Bucky, 31. Chandler, 35. Madison was 60 % of the snaps. They went full hot hand, which Coach pierce came out after the game and said, This is what we're going to do. But on top of him, He being the hot hand for getting a few carries here, I think he's the receiving back, and they're going to play like they're playing Baltimore this next week. I think that it will... I would project a negative game script where The guy who ran 24 routes compared to the guy that ran 10 routes, talking about Madison versus Amir White, he's going to be on the field more. Does that turn into points? That's why I said, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about him, but he was, of the runningbacks we're talking about, was on in the field the most.

This is what I mean. There's a really, really deep week for pickups at running back because all of these players need to be rostered. They are all worthy of being rostered. Alexander Madison is the receiving back, and I agree with you, Mike. That's going to push the needle towards him over Zamir, but he's really low in my personal rankings.

Is it just like a, Oh, crap. The Rater backfield is going to be destructive or is there value in Madison?

I think it's more destructive. I don't think this is going to be a good offense that's going to be in a ton of leads. Now, their defense can help keep them in games because their defense is really good. But also the hot hand approach, look, this is narrative, I don't know, whatever. Take it for what it is, which is probably nonsense. But Alexander Madison's wife went into labor right before that game. Oh, the childbirth narrative. I'm just saying he was at the game while his wife was in labor having a baby, and it's like- What is that?

That's a good thing?

I'm saying that- Or a bad thing. I'm a bad thing in the sense that I believe some of like, Hey, let's make Madison the dude this game. Let's give Madison the work. He's here missing his child's birth when it comes to Zamir White versus Madison. If all of a sudden next week, Madison is- No, man. No, man. That's the type of coach that pierce is. Come Come on.

He did say it's probably nonsense.

He did say that. Yeah, that's true.

Charbonney- Yeah, Charbonney is just...

He's a stash, though.

With Kenneth Walker's abdomen injury, which right now they're taking day by day, Zack Charbonne may be a play.

Nice.

He had the lowest rush success rate of any running back with seven or more kids.

If he's starting, he'll have a better rush rate.

Yeah, the fact that Kenneth Walker is currently dealing with an injury, that's just It's just a tummy.

Currently on one of Mike's teams.

Oh, no. It's not on the Kirst team. That's he won.

Okay. Barely. But I will... Yeah, it's like dealing with Christian McCaff. He's got this calf. It's no big deal. He's going to be fine. And then all of a sudden, he's not playing.

Kenneth Walker has never been hurt a day in his life.

All right, listen, except for on Sunday. You can't pick players up without dropping players. Everybody has their You just did your draft. You're probably attached to some of these guys. Are you dropping? You ready for it? Right. Are you dropping Javante?

No, I don't think so.

Are you dropping Daudil if you took him?

If you need a spot, sure.

For these guys.

Jonathan Brooks.

No.

Chuba.

Yeah. Willing to. Yeah.

I mean, Chuba- It was too much mild.

Yeah. It was in a timeshare. He was supposed to be the dude while we wait for Brooks.

Gus Edwards.

I I wouldn't drop him yet.

Chase Brown.

Same. I would be willing to drop Gus Brown for a lot of the names we just mentioned.

That was both of those guys combined.

Yeah, you said Gus Brown.

Sorry, Chase Brown. I would not drop Gus Edwards.

Okay. All right, we'll take a quick break, and then we'll come back with some wideouts. I feel like this show might be really long. There are so many names to talk about. The titty top of the wide receiver list, to me, is Jamison Williams and Xavier worthy. Now, both of those players, we fully acknowledge, are rostered in a majority of weeks. Worth almost exclusively, is rostered. So this is mentioning it because, just in case he isn't, you can go out and spend 30%, 35% of FAB on him and just take the chance on Mahomes having this explosive downfield weapon. He profiles a lot like Rasheed Shahid, like Jamieson Williams. A lot of the names on the waiver wire right now profile the same. They are big play guys with massive speed.

We need Mahomes to go down the field. He was one of the lowest taking shots down the field of the week.

Even this past week? Yes. Well, Hollywood is going to be back soon. So that's something to keep in mind with worthy is that the team, the way that they talk about Hollywood individually, and the head coach and the quarterback tells me he's going to have a role. And that means that somebody's going to have a cost to it. It's not going to be Rashi Rice that hurts because of that. It's not going to be Kelsey. It would be worthy.

Yeah, I think a lot of the back of the first top of the second round NFL wide receiver, they are rostered in the majority of leads. But if you have Keion Coleman out there who looked like he had this start, even Xavier Liguet. I know he's got Bryce Young, but he led the team in target share. So it's like, if those guys are out there, look, pick them up.

Jamieson Williams is 78% rostered. He was in discussion yesterday, nine targets. We talked about that game. If he's out there, he's a must get. He's the highest FAB share of all the players that we have. If he's out there, we're saying 25 to 45% of your FAB budget and go spend the waiver priority. 100%. Go drop DeAndre Hopkins for him. Go drop Josh Palmer for him.

For sure.

Do you go drop J. S. In for him?

I would. I would. Yeah, 22% of the leads out there need to be having a mad dash for Jamison Williams.

Tyler Locket, 70% rostered because he was a late- That's surprising. He was a late pick, but he went in every draft. Seven targets, six for 77. Those are the biggest, highest rostered targets, along with Khalil Shaqir, who scored in Buffalo. You get to the lower names at wide receiver, it feels thinner than running back. But Rasheed Shahid, five targets, three for 73 in a countdown. They only had to pass for half the game. If you're making excuses for Olave on the grounds that they didn't have to pass and he only had two targets, Then this was a really good performance for Shahid. Jason, you said you bought in.

Yeah, I think he does have a connection with Carr, and he's got the big play potential where if you throw him in a lineup, you can actually have him help win you a week. I don't mind picking up Rasheed. I'm not going to spend on really almost any of these guys. The rest of the wide receivers, there are enough that I put them all in the same bucket. The Los Angeles Rams guys.

Yeah, I would say, Demarcus Robinson, other than the titty top guys we listed, Demarcus Robinson would be my priority add. We've already seen him be good for the Rams, and now Puka is out for at least four weeks.

If you had the Shahid Demarcus Robinson a decision? I feel like they're so different player profile type.

I would go Robinson in that.

You would both go Robinson? Yeah, I would. No matter the build. Just because of volume? Yeah. Now, Shahid's an every down player, so it's not like Demarcus Robinson stepping in to- No, DeMarcus Robinson ran the seventh most routes among all wide receivers. Yeah, he was out there every down anyway.

Robinson is not going to leave the field. It's just his opportunity to target is now just competing with Puka. Tyler Johnson, who will be their third wide receiver.

He had the bigger game. Five or 79 is pretty impressive.

Yeah, he is also... I would still go Robinson, but Tyler Johnson is... I think he's an add in 12 or larger league.

Yeah, I would agree. I go DeMarcus Robinson, then Shahid, then Tyler Johnson.

Out of the next tier? Yeah. What about some other players that maybe... Brandon Cooke, 4 for 40 in a countdown. They barely had throw. If he's out there, are you stashing him on the bench over somebody like Deontay Johnson? Or you just hang on to Deontay and hope that there are... It's hard to look at what Carolina did in week one with a semblance of wanting anybody on that entire roster. How do you want Chuba? How do you want Deontay? How do you want Thielen? How do you want even Lagat? At least you're like, Okay, they can hand him the ball.

Well, I just hope he can break 12 tackles on the way to a to a shutdown. He's He's got the physical attributes that made him a first rounder for a reason. Everyone else. I did post that Bryce Young video, a minute and 30 seconds of so many unwatchable plays. These are balls that aren't remotely close to wide receiver These are like... You don't question the stat guy if he put down whether that was catchable or not. You know what I mean?

It's like- It wasn't a close call. It was easy for the stat guy. He didn't need his glasses.

A hundred %. A I mean, they're just abysmal, impossibly bad throws. So, yeah, I don't know. I just want to dunk on, Bryce.

Twelve targets for Wandale Robinson. Yeah. Does that matter to you? Or are we just back in the same boat where Wendell shows up for a box score once in a while and then disappears.

Full PPR in the league.

Exactly. Washington.

If you're in a full PPR league, I think Wadale and Dorch from the Cardinals are great assets to go out there and get five plus receptions almost every game.

So Greg Dorsch, he had eight targets. He was 6 for 47. He's not a full-time player, but I think he is worth a potential stash. I don't know if I'm going to play him yet against the Rams. I want to see what Arizona does with their offense moving forward. They are at home. But Marv was almost an exclusively downfield. That's how he was used.

Yeah, that's how he was not used.

I'm saying? No, I know what you're saying. That's how he ran, but Kyler was not throwing the ball to that direction. He was throwing everything short. So that's Trey McBride area. That's Greg Dorch. Maybe that was a scheme against the Buffalo Bills, and then they're going to open it up, but I think he's worth at least stashing.

The Cardinals are favored at home against the Rams, by the way.

What?

Which makes sense to me. The Cardinals almost beat Buffalo on the road in week one, and the Rams just lost Pukah. So I think that this is a- The Rams lost way more than Pukah.

If you look at their offensive line, they lost one to the IR, one is week to week.

Left guard, right?

Yeah. And a good tackle.

Right guard.

I mean, they had a brutal- They're guardless. The fact that they had an overtime loss in just a battle against the lines- Starting left tackle, backup left tackle, starting right tackle, starting left guard, starting wide receiver, starting cornerback.

Yeah, there you go.

Thanks for finding the list because I knew it was like that.

Sorry. I wanted to find it because it's ridiculous. Also, it is indicative of Vegas sees this. They see those defensive management And the Rams lost. The Rams, that should be a fun game, but it's going to be Arizona at home, and I think we'll find out what happens. We'll get Marvin Harrison in the football.

Yes, please. Deep Leagues. The names I'll throw out for you will be Jalen Naylor of the Minnesota Vikings. He played about half the stats, but with Jordan Addison's injury, that's something that could be... Some play time could open up for him. This one's gross, but I do think it's worth talking about. Devon Thaulay. Am I saying that right?

I don't think it's that gross, man. It's gross because the Denver-Denver Bronco's rookie wide receiver, 8 for 39. He's going to be a good friend of Bo Nicks to start this year.

It was eight targets. He caught all eight of them. I'm saying the 39 yards is gross. The Denver Bronco's offense looked gross. But he is a rookie who got eight targets.

He's a rookie older than D. K. Metcalf?

He's 26 years old. He is a rookie. He is very seasoned Bayley, Bayley, Bayley, Bayley, Bayley.

Yeah, that's a delay getting to the league.

He kept Troy Franklin off the field.

That is probably- That's why Jason's mad at him.

Discomforting.

I refuse to pick up Bayley solely and only because Troy Franklin should have that spot.

The coaches disagree.

You are going to be the biggest CFL Troy Franklin fan ever.

Oh, man. He's going to dominate.

Keep your eyes on him.

The story of the tight-end position is obviously, Isiah likely. That is going to be, if you need a tight-end, we have that FAB budget at 25 to 55 %. Sorry. He He was nine for one, 11 and one. There are those out there that would tell me, I am a fool to believe in Mark Andrews for one more moment of his career, and that likely is more athletic, explosive, and better in every regard, and that likely is worthy of all your fab to be the superstar that he is.

I would not do that. They ran just an unbelievable amount of 12 personnel. I'm talking about the Baltimore Ravens against the Chiefs, a rate that would have finished way higher than last year's highest grouping of 12, which was the Atlanta Falcons. I'm not saying don't go after Isaiah Likely. I'm more conservative about it. I'm not seeing the 9 for 111 in the score and rushing out saying, This is it. This is the guy of the week.

Now, Jason, take dumps early. Does it apply to Isiah Likely?

It certainly does. However, I would not go too hard. I lost Najoku in our League of Record. I already know I'm not getting Isiah Likely because I'm not going to- Your bid is not going to be enough? No, I'll probably bid about 20. I think in every league- 21? I think in every league, someone's going to bid 50 on likely. Give me the percentage chance is worth 50. Percentage chance that he's worth 50- That he's worth it. I would say 45 %.

Is he an every week start, rest of the season, as part of our discussion here.

Yes, I do think at the tight-end position, he will be a weekly top 12 place. So I think he is an every week start. And obviously, two people in every single league at the least, or at least two, need a tight-in because they lost Najoku or they lost Ferguson, and those are usually started guys. Then almost everyone else in the league still wants a tight-in because their tight-in crapped the bed.

One person has Andrews. There's no way that person isn't trying to roll the dice there.

Yeah. If you want likely, drop 50 plus fab on him. I think there is a chance it is worth that, but it seems really difficult to take the tight-end position and waste all your fab on it when there are so many good runningbacks out there.

I am convinced that Baltimore is going to be a frustrating fantasy situation. It could be. I think outside of Lamar, who always stands alone, it's going to be frustrating. I think Zee flowers will have a week, and then Bateman will have a catch, and then Likely, and then Andrews, and then Henry, and then Justice Hill.

The neutral game script passing rates of the Baltimore Ravens, they're not good. They don't want to throw the ball that much. They were down a lot to the Chiefs. And so I do think Likely is very talented. Andy, you talked about this before the season. Likely is too talented to stay off the field. He is. You look at the play he made to score that, touch and beat three defenders, and then the play he almost made where he...

One toe. It would have been a two-touch down week. Yeah.

I mean, he is a talented player, but this is not a heavy passing team. You're going to have Andrews week, so They're going to have Zate flowers week. I don't know.

Then looking at Isiah likely and balancing it because Tateum Hill is out there, about half of the league, it wasn't amazing. It was 32% of the snaps. But again, that game script of the Saints is I don't know what you can really pull from that.

I love that the Saints went from 25th in the power rankings to 23rd because of their 47 to 10 win. If you want to know, this was on nfl. Com or ESPN or something. It was like two spot difference by winning 47 to 10.

You have Taysom there. And Colby Parkinson from the Rams, who he ran the most routes of any tight end in the NFL. He had five targets, four for 47. In the terms of, if you're looking at probability of, like, Isaiah likely versus Colby Parkinson, who can turn into a game-breaking tight end, it's Isiah Likely. But with what you have to pay, with the risk of next week it comes out, and Mark Andrews is 6 for 85, and Isiah Likely caught three passes.

I'm not spending a dime a FAB on anybody but Likely or Hill.

Okay.

Everybody else is incidental, zero FAB. If I get them cool, otherwise, I'll find another name that I like.

Even with the Puka injury?

I'll spend a dollar FAB on Kolby Park. Okay.

All right, we got you to a dollar.

Are you holding Najoku and Ferguson if you don't have an IR spot?

Ferguson, yes. Najoku, probably not.

How many weeks do you think Najoku is going to miss? Because if they're working out tight ends, it sounds like it's more than one.

His is an ankle sprain. When I was looking for it, I couldn't find. All I was seeing was, we don't know the severity yet of the ankle sprain. But ankle sprains are usually multiple weeks, and then there's a few weeks of re-acclimating where Ferguson could maybe play this week. Not that... If Ferguson plays this week, I'm probably still trying to get a different option. But if he's already back this week, then you'll be back with Ferguson sooner than later.

I do think Juan Johnson is going to be okay. I would pick up Juan Johnson over a Kobe Parkinson because they did not have to throw the football a bunch in this game. Johnson ended the year really strong, scored in this game. That's me personally. I think Juan Johnson is going to have a role because I don't think they have a lot of pass catchers.

Yeah, Juan Johnson, Kobe Parkinson, Zackerts, these are all three guys that are fine. You hope they get in the end zone, but they'll probably each finish with four for 45, which is better than a goose.

Defensively this week, the Chargers play Carolina. The Texans play the bears in that anemic offense. That looks like a great pickup. Washington takes on the Giants. I don't know if I'd mess with it. I don't think I'd mess with it. I don't think I would. Seattle takes on New England. And guess what? New England takes on Seattle, and it's in New England. I actually think both are good starts.

Yeah, I think New England's defense is very good.

Would you go with one of those two, or would you play the Jaguars against the Cleveland Browns?

I would play the Jaguars. I really like the Jaguars. Their pass rush is good. And if you want to look at who gives up sacks- Inversely. Deshawn Watson loves getting sacked.

Yeah, I was going to say inversely, the offense of the Cleveland Browns looked bad and has lost two pieces. Those are some names. All of the defensive WaverWire rankings you can check out on the site, thefantasyfootballers. Com. We want to thank NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. Watch every game every Sunday when you bundle NFL Sunday ticket in YouTube TV. Sign up today at youtube. Com/fantasyfootballers. Local and national games on YouTube TV. Nfl Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games, device and content restrictions apply. We do have some quarterbacks.

Full stream ahead.

I'll kick it off because mine's pretty quick and easy. It is Matthew Stafford, who will be playing the Arizona Cardinals. This is what I am doing. I lost Jordan Love on Friday night, grabbed Stafford Saturday morning, and he's going to be my replacement. So if you want to ride with me against my own team, then let's go.

So Pukas' injury didn't- No, the Cooper Cup is still there. It didn't turn you off of Stafford? No.

It was far more exciting when I thought he had two superstars, but Cooper Cup and crew, it's enough.

I think Stafford's a good play. I'm going to go with Baker Mayfield. He was obviously on fire week one, but he gets to go play in Detroit, which we saw Stafford's struggle fantasy-wise, but actually, Stafford cut him up. He played very well against that defense And look, Baker, four touch downs this last week, a 50-point over-under game indoors. Maybe he's just good.

Well, he definitely has some weapons that we can trust. And Rashaud White in the passing game gives him cheap production in fantasy. I'll go with Justin Fields. He ran the ball 14 times. This is not an endorsement of the player. This is an endorsement of the fantasy scoring of rushing quarterbacks. 14 rushing attempts, pick-ins for big plays, and a full week of preparing for this game. Don't start him if he's out, but if he gets to start, Justin Fields is a quick addition that can get you some fantasy points.

Agreed.

All right. Tomorrow, we're going to talk about some player takes from week one that we feel right about and sketchy about. Some things we thought in the offseason, and where we're feeling good, and where we're feeling nervous. And And we'll do hungry for more. We'll get into the Thursday night preview. We'll get into some mailbag as well, and then the matchups later in the week, including starts of the week. And we'll bring back fantasy face Oh, wait, we're saying it? The demand from the listeners is what we pay attention. We know what you like, and apparently, you really, really liked seeing one of us ridiculed at the end of the show on a weekly basis. So fantasy Face Off is going to come back. It's fun. It is fun, and I like putting those lineups together. People enjoyed it. We didn't have it for week one, and we heard about it, and we want to bring you Good content that you enjoy. And so we are listening, and we're going to bring it back. And I think that's it. I think we did it. So if you want your customized waiver rankings with the ultimate dashboard, go to jointhefoot.

Com. Until tomorrow, Mike. Mike, go ahead and hold tightly to that roster of yours. The last remaining few healthy players. Hold them tightly, Mike. It's only week one.

Goodbye.

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