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

Oh, welcome in.

It's football time.

It's time to play the game.

The answers are about to be here.

It's time to play the game.

Spectacular.

Oh, we ride.

Thank you, everybody.

We ride at dawn.

I hope. I hope everybody in there in their vehicles.

Oh, they were all doing it, too.

With their eyes closed.

Well, not a screen. Yeah, no, no.

Eyes open.

Drivers could do it for a second.

You behind the wheel of the Prius, open your eyes.

It was electric.

Okay, boogie.

It is football time. Welcome into the show.

Yes.

I have a different hat on today than I normally do.

You're looking good. Where does one find. Well, home trophy hat.

It. It goes out of the main frame and it's spectacular. And my co manager has a matching one that he'll be wearing to beautiful. We have our league of record draft happening right after the show, moments from now. Then we have Thursday night football and we have tons of matchups. We've got Super bowl predictions. This is a big, big show. We got starts of the week.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It's football time.

And so let's jump right in, head over to the website if you want the week one rankings and the start sit tool. That's fantasy footballers.com. the fantasy footballers.com. and you guys want to start off just giving your Super bowl predictions because I already tweeted, mike.

Yeah. I mean, this is the, this is the time of year where we call our shots. I did not, I had not seen your tweet. I know. You had said earlier, you, you said like a month ago you had the Lions winning the Super bowl.

Yeah. I mean, I. I don't have it. It is the facts. It's what's going. I'm just revealing.

You're revealing that the Lions are like.

One of those orbs that you look into. You see it. And the Lions will beat the Chiefs in this upcoming super.

And so I think we were just, look, we were looking at the same orb, but from opposite side. I think you read it backwards because I have the Chiefs over the Lions.

In the Super bowl.

So we got the same picks.

Yes.

So you go, Chiefs. I'm going lions. I'm having them do the. Remember, everybody wanted the Patriots to finish the perfect season. Not everybody, but a lot of people, history. And this would be the, you know, three in a row.

Oh, yeah. For the end.

This will be ruined by Dan Campbell.

Nice. So you guys are looking at an orbit. You forgot that the anchor being for our multiverse is already gone. So you're looking at something that doesn't exist. It is the murder. Baltimore Ravens beating the Green Bay packers.

The Baltimore Ravens over the packers. I'm curious if the Deucers back there. You don't have to give me the whole Super bowl, but just a winner of the Super Bowl. Kyle is in the house today.

Look at this guy Borgogan.

He's in town. And Kyle, do you have a Super bowl winner you want to reveal? I'm going to say the 49 ers finally get it done. Okay. All right. And then, Papa John, I have to agree. 49 ers. Okay.

Boring.

And we'll see.

We already know the answer here.

Yeah. Who's the Super bowl winner there, Al?

The Green Bay pack.

Yeah. How's them farts smelling back there?

Mmm.

Dropping bombs.

Smelling like three consecutive franchise quarterbacks.

I saw a great tweet. It was, it was really fun. That basically charted the Super bowl odds for teams versus, compared to. It was Sam Hoppin who tweeted out and it was. Compared it and graphed it to their fans optimism of their chances of Super bowl. And the two funniest ones to me were the Bears and the Cowboys, because the Cowboys have, have decent ish odds of winning Super bowl. Their fans are like, no, no, absolutely none. And the Bears have really. No, no odds of winning Super bowl. And they're like, right in line with the Chiefs and the Lions. It's like the Bears. The Bears think, like, this is happening this year.

Good for you Bears fans.

No, no, no.

I love that they have the excitement, but that's, I mean, this is like.

If you have been without food for so long and then you call a really mediocre meal the greatest one ever made, like, they all have their hope. I don't. It's just ill advice. Like the Bears. Don't get me wrong. I think the bears are going to be great. They have set the foundation for a long run of competing for the division. But the amount of people that have found it very posh to just go out and say, the Bears are going to be the Super bowl winners or they're going to be the NFC representatives with a rookie quarterback, I just find that to be really hard to believe. And it sets your quarterback up to where you're not allowed to have a pretty good. Okay year without being a failure. And I, I'm worried about that. For Caleb Williams sake, I think you go out there and I. The pop. The popularity of making the Bears the Super bowl winner this year is just shocking to me.

Yeah, because you're getting, you're getting a good payout if they win.

Do you think that's why?

And it's just in the hope.

I'm all for hope. I just want it to be somewhere in the realm of possibility.

I love that they can have that excitement. But you don't want it to become delusion.

I do know several Cowboys fans and you could have, you could put the best players of every team on the Cowboys roster and they will be like we, it's going to be a failure.

Of a year because it's been, that's what happens.

25 years, however long it's been, it has. They made the playoffs and they, everything always sets up good for the Cowboys.

Now they've made the playoffs more recent, I believe you said it's been 25 years since they've made the playoffs.

Oh, correct.

Think it's been one a play month.

I meant one a playoff game.

Yes.

Winning a playoff game, Dallas is plus 1900 Chicago plus 3500 to win the Super bowl. So there you go. There's our predictions. Lines over Chiefs, Chiefs over Lions, Ravens over Packers. That would make Al Borland very sad.

Oh, that's too bad.

We have football on Sunday as well as tonight. Sunday Live returns is that I am not speaking out of turn there, right?

No, you are not. We will be back. Our faces will be tilted off and we'll have a good time.

So what time is Sunday live?

30 or an hour before kickoff?

Okay. That is the proper amount of time to tilt.

Oh yeah. No, the show doesn't run an hour. No, just for those at home who've never attended the event, that is Sunday Live. But it's an hour before kickoff.

If you want to make sure you're aware of when Mike is going live on Sunday morning, head over to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com. the fantasy footballers subscribe, click the bell and then you'll be alerted when Mike is going live. He normally handles the latest news that is going on that morning, including injuries. All of the most popular start sit questions on the website. Am I missing anything?

It'll take questions from the people that are in the live stream. So you might, if you've got your specific start sit, you might get that answered. And then all, you know, all the, all the actives are based, you, you go live right after all of the actives and inactives have been, you know, officially reported.

All right, let's jump into the news before we get into our starts of the week in the matchups.

News and notes from around the league presented by USAA insurance.

Okay. Jamar Chase participated in Wednesday's practice.

Okay.

There were quotes from, there were quotes from Burrow that really made it seem like he's back, that he's playing like he's, you know, I don't have it in front of you, but it was, he was.

Chase is, quote, ready to go. It's great to have him back. We need him to be at our best.

That doesn't mean he's going to be there.

But it. I don't know. The ready to go is a vote of confidence.

Look, to me, that's just the kind of thing to get him to sit out another practice. Watch what you say, Joe.

You're not wrong. For me, it's, we're on practice watch for today. If Jamar practices today, he's going to play.

Maybe.

No, I. That's my official stance.

Okay. The Rams wide receiver Puka nakua practice in full.

Okay.

Justin Herbert off the injury report. He's going to be there for week one against the Raiders. Brock Bowers ready to go for week one against the Chargers. Would you play Bowers or Schultz?

Who?

Asking for a friend.

I think I'd go with Schultz. Bowers been nursing a foot in injury the past week or so, I believe. But he will be playing it. But again, it's a rookie tight end.

Playing his first ever game, Jordan Addison. Kevin O'Connell said that he feels pretty good about him playing in week one. He had a high ankle sprain on August 14. I don't know where you guys are at with Addison right now. Temperature check?

Yeah, I mean, I would not be starting Addison in week one coming off of the injury. I mean, Addison is a borderline player right now anyways. Like, I think a borderline flex. Yeah, borderline flex. He's a flex decision every week. I want to see it. I want to see him at full strength before I am automatically putting him into lineups.

All right, that was today's news and notes presented by USAA insurance. Learn more@uSaa.com insurance. And a little bit of a pivot to our Thursday episode.

We are moving like it.

We're moving the starts of the week up to ahead. We're going to reveal them ahead of the matchups for the first time.

We don't have to be coy during the matchups.

Correct. Instead of us being like, we'll talk more about him later, hint, hint, wink, wink. We will just share our starts of the week right out of the gate. So let's get to it.

Starts of the week.

All right, I'm going to hand the baton off to one of you guys to kick it off at the quarterback position. Let's go with Jason.

I'll start. I'm going with Tua. Tua tongue of Viola is awesome. That's how I think I said it.

I don't nailed it.

Don't worry. Moving on.

Jason has always said it properly, but for some reason, today, Kyle chose to write to his name in the show. Doc, as to a tongue. Oh, vi lo, Lulu Lua.

Yeah. And that was me that wrote it in there. That way.

Okay.

I didn't want to. I mean, spelling is a whole nother.

First step of saying it correctly, but go on.

Look, this is a game I think, that we are all very, very excited for. The Miami Dolphins against the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think both defenses are mid and both offenses have the ability and the talent to be very, very good. Last year, the third most passing yards ever for an all time opener was Tua against the Chargers. And so this is a team, I think, at the beginning of the year. We've seen it two years in a row, where they start really hot. It's hard to prepare for this offense. You know, they're, they're quick strike offense. Now you've got waddle, you've got Hill. You know, they're saying they're healthy. They're ready to go. I really think. I mean, if you drafted Tua, maybe you drafted Tua and Daniels or, or whatever. I. Tua would be very hard to keep out of my lineup this week.

Yeah, that should be. We'll start with this. It's week one. Start your studs. These are just a couple of. I have some lower tiered guys that maybe. I'm trying to give you a confidence boost here. Should you be in a larger league or something? Wink. Something went wrong during your draft, but my quarterback, it's Jared Golf. Look, top five. Bold prediction. Apparently the Super bowl winning yes team as well.

You, you also made him an the mvp of the National Football League in your bold predict.

I certainly did that. He's at home. He's in the dome. He's playing against the Rams. Who?

The dominator.

Okay.

Just, just letting you know.

I know.

I'm letting that sink in. I like it. The dominator.

I mean, this year, he. And every year.

Yes.

So the game, it has the highest over under of the weekend. The Lions have the highest implied team total right now. It's a revenge game yet again. And the Rams allowed the 7th most points to the quarterback position last year. So this is a golf is someone you could have drafted later and maybe he slides right into being starter.

I was the last one to get my names into our starts of the week and golf was at the tippy top, obviously. Kyler Murray. I'm going to go with Kyler on the road against Buffalo. High over under on the week, full offseason, a year recovered from the ACL, nothing but positive vibes. Second year in the offense. And over the last three years, Kyler was already a top twelve quarterback 61% of the time. That is the fifth highest rate among all quarterbacks when he plays and he's healthy, he is a very, very good fantasy option for your football team. We're going to see Trey McBride out there again after the fantastic finish to 2023, the debut of Marvin Harrison. Michael Wilson begins the sophomore season. Greg Dorch is out there and James Conner. Of course, the Buffalo defense is not what it used to be. They gave up a lot of, you know, a lot of plays. You didn't expect them to give up last year and they've lost personnel. So I think Kyler gets off to a really, really good start and Buffalo is fairly heavily favored at home. So I think Arizona, with that defense, they're going to be in a position where the way they win this game is a shootout.

Yeah, I mean, their, their defense is trash. And I'm. I think we're all really excited for the Cardinals offense because of how bad that defense is, which sets up my start of the week really well. At running back, it's James Cook. I mean, we saw last year with the change to the offensive coordinator, change to Brady, how good Cook was down the stretch, how much they were running the ball. Buffalo average 37 rushing plays under Brady. That's number one in the NFL with an NFL high 208 of those in that span. Coming with the game tide or Buffalo leading. They will be leading in this game. James Cook should eat opponents last year they ran the ball 521 times.

Opponents last year.

Oh, you hate his opponents. Why is a cook.

Yes, right.

He's doing, doing the cooking. By the book, cannibalism. But they ran the ball 521 times versus Arizona last year. That is the 7th highest of any team over the last decade. Six point home favorite.

It's amazing how punctuation is important, even in sentences like when you say them out loud.

James the cannibal cook. All right, I've got Javon.

Eat them, James.

I've got Gervonta Williams against the Seattle Seahawks. Someage P Ryan is gone his boatload of targets and receptions are gone. Yes, Jaleel McLaughlin's going to fill in here, but I think that Gervonta has a chance to come out and establish himself early as a true workhorse. Running back for Sean Payton there, there.

Are a handful of running backs like Gervonta, mere White, Zack Moss.

Yes.

In that, in that lower tier drafted. That one week could change your entire outlook. Like if you got the benefit of one week of numbers, they would probably get moved significantly in the drafts tiers. Gervonta fits into that category. I think people need to hear this from you.

So last year, second among all running backs in targets per route run because that this is the Peyton offense. I expect rookie Bo nicks to be checking it down a ton. And it's just the matchup. Seattle last year, 32nd and first downs allowed, 28th and points per game. 30th and total yards per game, 31st in rushing yards allowed. This was a really, really bad defense. Maybe they have figured some things out, but it's still week one and that's the data we have to go on. It's a good matchup.

All right. I'm going to go with one easy start, one hard start at the same position for the same team. It's the backfield of the Miami Dolphins against Jacksonville. Jason mentioned it, one of the highest over unders of the week. I think if you drafted Devon A. Chan, you are of course going to start him. It should be very good. Jacksonville allowed the most running back receptions in the NFL last year and a Chan involved as a receiver, very positive right now. They don't really have like you guys have brought up Malik Washington, that is a rookie in week one. They don't have Beckham, they have Braxton Berrios. But you're talking about the top two targets outside and then probably the backfield. So a Chan is a must start. But I want to bring up Mostert because this was the running back to last year. He's older, but the beginning of season is very good for the, the older legs, right? You, you are not tired yet in this game. It should be very, very, very positive game script wise for Raheem Mosart in this offense. You've heard the head coach of the Dolphins come out and talk about, you know, this is going to be a feel, the hot hand feel who's getting you yardage type of backfield.

And I think both Miami running backs will be very, very good in week one, which means if you drafted most late, it's going to, you know, be an opportunity for you to either slip him into your lineup or trade him maybe on the, you know, after a good match.

Yeah, I would certainly be trying to get him in the lineup. The matchup is really, really good. Most should have a great game at wide receiver. My start of the week, it's the rookie, baby. It's Malik neighbors. This is against Minnesota, who last year gave up the fifth most receiving yards, the 6th most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers. I saw a quote from Saquon talking about Brian Dayball and his play calling sheet about how on the back of it he has certain plays designed for specific players. And dayball took over the play calling duty so that when someone gets hot they can really start focusing. I think this is, he's going to get. The world is going to know after week one that Malik neighbors is a stud. Is awesome. He's going to have 25 plus percent of the targets just be peppered with them. And, you know, you drafted him where you drafted him to start him. I think he proves that he is worthy of that pick right off the bat.

I love to hear that, Jason.

I bet you do. I'm going with Christian Watson on the road, a big road, far away from home, but they're against the Philadelphia Eagles as of right now. He is healthy. Is the hamstring actually fixed? That's TBD, but right now he's going to be going. And the matchup. The Eagles were the team to attack last year. The matchup. Most fantasy points allowed. Most fantasy points to outside wide receivers gives you some upside where Christian Watson is going in the drafts right now. This is a player that maybe you're looking at. You're worried about needing some real upside in a matchup. I think Christian Watson is the guy for that. And it's just my faith of Watson being the actual number one wide receiver for the packers.

All right, I've got a, an interesting name to break out as my start of the week at wide receiver is the fun Diggs of the Houston, Texas against the Colts. We've, we're obviously nervous about the pass catchers. Nico seems like he's the one. But digs, I've been rising on digs.

Over the last several, rising on my fear.

Yeah, you, you. I think. I think it's very, very, it's very possible that Diggs, obviously, Jacobs situations changed for him to make us more in his corner. I don't know if it will continue for digs each and every week, but I think this week in particular against the Colts, his debut as a Texan the fact that he is going to be the guy roaming the middle of the field and that Stroud is really looked to his receivers there. 26% of his targets go to the middle of the field. Number one in the NFL and the Colts play a lot of COVID three. The middle of the field is open and I think you just, with a player of the pedigree of Stefan Diggs, who has been named a team captain, it's very, very important for that locker room to get him going early. I think establishing him in this offense is going to be a priority for the head coach and for CJ Stroud to begin to open up the outside for Nico Collins and Tank Dell.

Yeah, I think that, I think that is the plan to get Diggs involved early. The problem is going to be every time that tank Dell houses it, okay, Diggs can't do any more work. So that, that's just letting you know. That way it doesn't work. Is your players tell housing it, you.

You could have been on the side with the actual number one wide receiver for the Texas.

Just me. Every time housing it, I, yeah, I brought it up.

I don't know if I brought it up on the show very much, but just like the likelihood that all three of those players are making you happy is very low, which means that there's a decent possibility that you're unhappy with some of them.

Quite often you, you will be whether, whether it's Rico, whether it's Dell, whether it's Diggs, you're going to have disappointing outings. But it's, it's important to remind players, we talk about this in the truth series wide receivers, except the best of the best, except like Almond Raw and cd lamp, they're all inconsistent. So what you want to go for is the ones that can have big performances. All three of these guys can. At tight end. I'm going with a, I mean, I think this matchup is just perfect. I'm going with Evan Ingram, a guy who I haven't been the most gigantic supporter of during the draft season.

You have been a hater.

Really like your wide receiver and tight end picks today. Jason, this is good.

Thank you.

Are these my picks?

We talk about the Dolphins. We want that offense. I want this game in the Jacksonville Jaguars. They're going to have to try to keep up. He's going to be very, very involved in this game. Last year, the Dolphins gave up the fifth most fantasy points per game to the tight end position. The reason why is they run very heavy on cover, 625 percent of their defensive looks were cover six. That's the highest rate in the NFL. For context, 9.7% is the average. So it's way above average over double. And cover six is generally weak against the flats. That's where Evan Ingram lives. Those little, that's why I kind of don't like Evan Ingram is because it's, it's just, you know, valueless targets.

But here at drumsticks, no flats.

Yeah. Yes, exactly. And he's going to have, if you, if you're in a PPR, I, man, he's just going to have so many targets and receptions this week.

I love it, Mike.

All right, like I said, mike is.

Going to go last and. Oh, am I okay, because I'm guess I'm jumping in, so I'm going to speaker two.

It is disgusting.

Dalton Kincaid against Arizona is my pick. While we wait to figure out which Buffalo wide receiver emerges, by the way, I was very close to taking a deep selection of Khalil Shakir in week one. So just throwing that into the ether.

For your wide receiver like a DF's dart throw.

Yes, but Kincaid, great bet to lead the team in targets. Arizona has no pass, pass rush, but don't worry, they also have no secondary. So they have one player on defense that you can trust, Buddha Baker, in the middle of the field.

Oh, he'll tackle Kincaid several times.

Yes. After the catch. So Dalton Kincaid is my start of the week pick in Arizona. They gave up the second most touchdowns to the tight end last year.

All right, start your studs at the position.

By the way, did you notice this trophy?

I did.

On the top.

Go to Andy's camera. Let's look at this trophy. Perfect. Very nice.

Really.

As Mike said before the show. Hold on. Sit up. He, he called it. He said, hey, comrade. And if you're looking on YouTube, oh, man, it looks like a very different hat on your camera. I love it.

So start your studs and this, maybe.

This is more of a, then start your backups.

And maybe this is more of a DF's.

Then start some of the guys on the way.

Dude, this, this is all about the process. But start grandma. It's week one. Let's have some fun, boys.

Titanium underpants.

We're not even starting at steel. We gotta go right to titanium.

All right, underpants for that helps.

It's Zach Ertz. Yeah, I know, I know.

Oh, I just threw up.

I I should have warned people if they were eating food to put it down. You know who led the tight end position in targets? In week one last year, Zach freaking Ertz. The matchup is, people are saying, who.

Does he play for?

He plays for the Washington Commanders. He plays against the Bucks, who they allowed the second most receiving yards at second most fantasy points to the tight end position last year. Zach Ertz. Let's go. Cliff Kingsbury to Zach Ertz. Is Dennis Allen to taste some hill? This guy can't get enough of Zach hurts. He somehow Zach Hurts was keeping Trey McBride off the field because in part because of Cliff Kingsbury. And look, if the preseason usage is anything for the Washington Manders and Jayden Daniels, they was. Get the ball out immediately. And who do you think that ball is? If it's going out immediately, that thing's going out to Zach Hurts. This isn't an upside play. This is. I think Zach Hurts is good for like five for 40 or something like that in a start of the week.

Look, I would not be surprised if Zachary has a good game. I would be surprised if anybody started him in any situation.

So do. But the thing is, is you have to drop a player to pick Zachurtz up because obviously he's not, he's not rostered right now. What tight ends? What later tight ends are you willing to drop to like, I'm in a league where I've got Taysom Hill. I got him. I would as well.

This is, look, I'm talking bigger leagues, not just twelve, like a 1432. Look, when Zachary outscores Pat Friar muth in week one, don't go crying to me.

All right, all right. Well, you put on the Titan.

That's the name. Because that's usually my, like last round tight end. So are you named?

Look, name Val had.

If you had Fryers already too much time on earth.

No, but I'm genuinely curious because if this is your start week, if you had fryer muth, would you drop them for Ertz and play Ertz?

You don't say.

Yes, I would play Zachertz over Pat Frank. Yes.

We're taking a break. We're jumping into the forecast. Alright, week one of the NFL season, boys, it is time to jump in.

It's time for fantasy forecast presented by Draftkings sportsbook. All right, Mike, I got to get back to the Zach Ertz thing.

Oh, man.

I know it's been too much time, but I am in a league, okay? It's deep. Very, very deep. I think I got my, my tight end in round 16. Okay. Because I went, I went Hawkins in a little earlier. I went with Luke Musgrave. Okay, he, you know, going into year two, he showed a lot of flashes as a rookie for the packers last season. I know your answer is you would, you would start Ertz over Musgrave. The question is, would you drop Musgrave? Because I will. I'm going to make that move right now and play Ertz in that league. If you tell me, should I drop Musgrave to pick up Ertz and play Andy?

Are you.

You're a yes over there. I think that it's. The drop is the hard part because I think over the course of the season, Musgrave is probably the guy you're going to want to have. But just saying, week one, I think that arts is going to Ben Senate.

For what it's worth. Tied in three on the depth.

Oh, yeah.

Start the year.

It'll take him time.

Zachary is going to be the dirtiest, most disgusting.

Yes.

Accumulator of catches. I would drop him if it was me.

I need to hear from Mike that I should drop Musgrave for Zach Ertz and I will make that transaction.

All right. Make it happen.

All right.

Make it happen.

Sound effects.

You're not even touching the keyboard, are you? Are you actually doing it?

Thank you. No, I am. I am really doing.

Okay. Let's ride.

Our first matchup we're going to talk about. We already previewed the Thursday night game that happens tonight. We did that yesterday. So if you want to hear that preview, go back, click on yesterday's episode. But we're starting out with Friday night in Brazil.

Oh, bun. Sure.

The Green Bay packers take on the Philadelphia Eagles. Apparently, we chose teams that are green to try to match the flag in Brazil, which I think is very courteous.

Of the NFL next level, thinking they.

Don'T have to get, like, new gear down there.

They do not just wear the flag and wear their own colors and root for both teams. The DraftKings sportsbook line here, Eagles minus two. The over under is 49 points in Brazil. We've got two playoff teams. We've got two teams with a lot of fantasy options. We got one team with Mike. Start of the week. Christian Watson, Jordan Love, he got paid this offseason. His DK line right now is, you know, 250 plus passing yards is -145 for Jordan Love in this game. Secondary for the. The Eagles last year was ranked 30th in fantasy points allowed. Are we going to get what we want in Brazil?

Yes. Jordan Love is a great play. Like, you can look at his, his DK line right now. It's already 250 plus passing yards. I I think that he can make that. And on top of that, just real quick, Jordan Love plays the Eagles, the colts, the Titans, the Minnesota Vikings, the Rams, the Arizona Cardinals. That is the opening schedule for Jordan Love. I think that he is going to be real. He's going to start or start super hot.

Josh Jacobs is the last and only running back remaining for Green Bay. We're very excited about him in this one.

Yeah.

I mean, even though it's a, it has been a tough defensive front to run against. We know he's going to get everything.

Yeah. And you believe in LaFleur. You believe in the system to get him the ball where he needs it. And, you know, the packers offense is one that I think we're all really, really excited to watch, to kind of see if there's any clarity, which I don't believe there will be in this, in this receiving core. I think similar to what you were talking about with the Texans, it's going to be a, you kind of got to get lucky. You've got to have the right week for, whether it's Jaden Reed or Christian Watson. So that means you really should be starting them because you, you know, if you want to get the, the big matchups, you, you have to start them through the duds as well. But then if that passing game is working, I think that the, we've always seen value from Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs will catch the ball more than he did as a raider. So I. Yeah, I'm, I mean, obviously you're starting Josh Jacobs, but I think it will work out this week.

I mean, the only thing to really look out for Romeo Dobbs popped up on the, the practice report limited with a hand injury. So, like, if Dobbs was one of your later double flex options, you may.

Have to pivot what in the wide receiver room for Green Bay happens this week that would disappoint you?

What, what would disappoint.

Yeah, what would disappoint you from, you know, is it Jaden Reed underperforming? Watson underperforming? Is it DoBBs being the leader of the room in week one? Is it wicks not getting any play?

It's, it's the most disappointing thing, just to be contrarian, is Dontavian Wicks not getting the snaps that we hope because of his production that he had on a, on a per route basis last year? Like, real elite numbers. Not saying Wicks is an elite player, but yes, we. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm saying, I guess Jason's willing to say it, but if he doesn't get on the field very much.

That would be disappointing on the other side. It's pretty easy from a fantasy perspective. Hurts Saquon AJ Brown and devante Smith every week. Every week. And we'll get to see Johan Dodson on the field hopefully.

Maybe, yeah, he should, he should be their wide receiver three, which I think, and I hope that role is irrelevant. If Jahan Dotson is good this year, that will really not be good for, I think, fantasy managers.

I want to see what the running back breakdown is Philadelphia wise. Like, do they use, how much do they use Barkley? How much are they trying to manage his workload, you know, and what, what is Philadelphia look like after a really tough into the season where they lost? I think five or six or six of seven games got blown out in the playoffs. They have a whole new offense. They have a whole new defensive coordinator. This game is going to be very interesting from that perspective. Now Goddard's going to be back out there. A lot had been made of his injury and the fact that whenever he's missing time, Devontae Smith eats his opponents, as Jason would say, gobble up. So Goddard, though, he should be playing. Are we ignoring God it for fantasy because we're tired of it?

Yeah, I think I personally am. I mean, Dallas Goddard has not been good in a long time. He's just, you know, he had a big name and we were hoping for him to break out behind Zach Ertz a long time ago and showed a lot of flashes. But you look at last season, he missed three games and then he had four decent fantasy games. The rest were all unusable, awful consistency, score of a d. So even though the match up here is fine, Dallas got her coming off of an injury. Even though he's healthy, he's going to be playing. I'm not going to roll those dice.

All right, let's turn the page to these Sunday games. Pittsburgh at Atlanta. The over under here is just 42 points. Atlanta at three and a half point home favorites. And the revenge of Arthur Smith begins immediately. The fact that he can instantaneously use Cordero Patterson against the very team that he used. Oh, man, him on last year is incredible. And so, you know, we haven't seen any of Atlanta in the preseason. The offense has been, you know, none of the starters played any snaps, right? I don't, I don't think anybody was out there at all. So Kirk Cousins, the recovery from the Achilles, switching teams, what, you know, Bijan London, there's a lot of anticipation. Kyle Pitts came out this morning, for what it's worth, it wasn't in the news, but he came out and mocked everybody making a big deal about his hamstring. He said, he said he missed two reps on the rack or something like that, and that meant that everyone freaked out. He said, see you Sunday. So I don't know who reported what and what mattered, but Pitts is going to be out there. And so I'm going to ask you the same question.

What happens on Sunday at home in Atlanta that would disappoint you right out of the gate?

Oh, I mean, there's so many things. I mean, the Falcons are an offense that I'm very excited to see. I wish they had a good matchup for week one. The Steelers, they always find a way to have a good defense, even when they lose players and they're bad for a couple of weeks and they, they figure it out. I think this is a really tough matchup. So the thing that would disappoint me the most would be Bijon splitting time more with Algiers than we think. I, that shouldn't be what happens. I mean, Algier will be involved and I think there's been a lot about Algier at the goal line right now, the DK line for an anytime touchdown for B, John Robinson is -105 I mean, that was like Christian McCaffrey last year. Remember when you were trying to get a touchdown and you know, and make that bet? It was like -200 it's like crazy. That is the expectation is that you get a touchdown. That is awesome for fantasy. So that will be the most disappointing thing. If, if Algier comes in around the goal line, I will be so, so upset.

All right. On the other side of the ball, Mike Donlin came out, talked about the running back rotation. He says in terms of how we divide the labor up, that's going to be week to week. We have some capable guys. You throw Cordero Patterson into the mix as well. He's talking, of course, about Najee Harris and Jalen Warren. Both guys will be out there against Atlanta. Atlanta was pretty good against the run last year. But if Patterson is getting worked in, are you taking, is it a, is Najee a must start situation? Is Warren a must start situation or do you want to feel it out?

Prefer to feel it out with, with Warren for sure. Like limited on Wednesday. He's been dealing with a hamstring all for some weeks now in training camp. So for Warren, I want to see it. Naji, I'm okay putting him out there just as a pure volume play. It doesn't feel like it's upside at all. So it's the, the Steelers are. I would kind of rather see what's going to happen here with the, with the new quarterback, with the new offensive coordinator. Pickens is fine. He's, he'll, he'll be in my lineup, but everybody else, if I can avoid it, I probably would.

You mentioned Pat Fryer muth. If he was the guy you took at the end of your draft, you're obviously going to throw him out there. But this matchup low over underdevelop, a lot of unknown on both sides, two new brand new quarterbacks, and we don't know a lot of what that's going to look like. And the low over under makes you less excited about the matchup.

Yeah. And the, the way that, that the muth, just the usage is. I have my concerns of how it's.

Going to work out more because of Smith.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Arizona at Buffalo. The DK sportsbook line here, bills minus six and a half. The over under is 48. We like that total. Mike's my guy. Kyler Murray was my start of the week, and I'm a big fan of this game script and the way it should play out. There's a lot of question marks around Josh Allen figuring out who his weapons are going to be, how the offense is going to function. There's a really good chance they look pretty good in week one against Arizona's defense and maybe quell the fears and then, you know, maybe don't buy into everything that you see on the field in week one because Arizona's defense is, it is the perfect setup for Allen. Allen when he's not pressured. Number one in fantasy points per game on non pressured drop backs, second in fantasy points per drop back and third in completion rate. He completes 75% of his passes when he's not being pressured. And the Cardinals cannot pressure, they can't bring pressure. They don't have the personnel to make it happen, and they're already dealing with defensive line injuries. So when you talk about getting a feel for the new offense in Buffalo, you could see, you know, my biggest problem is trying to identify what guy I'd roll the dice on.

Like, I have this decision in a couple of leagues. I could go Curtis Samuel, who's recovering from turf toe. That is not an injury that I really want to mess around with in week one. I don't. He could have two rounds, and we've seen Curtis Samuel leave the field for me. It's Khalil Shakir. I mentioned I earlier, that's kind of what I settled on, but Keon Coleman, how much run does he get with the starters on the outside? If you take the shot, what's the name for you? For me, it's Shakir at the wide receiver.

At the wide receiver position. I'll go Curtis Samuel from, I get that he's coming back from the toe injury. I mean, if that's, if I have to pick, my, my pick is actually none of these. Despite the bad defense, this could be a game where you are also up and you're running the ball a lot.

That's why James Cook is your start of the week.

Yeah, this could be a Ray Davis game. The rookie backup running back could end up with two touchdowns in this game. Because just cleaning up, you look at what happened last year and, and, and the nice thing is the Cardinals offense might be able to keep pace here and make it to where it is more of a shootout. But if the Cardinals offense, you know, stumbles at all, their defense is not good enough to stop the Bills offense. Which means last year, what you saw is despite how bad the defense was, wide receivers didn't really do well against Cardinals. The running backs did because you just get to a game script point where you're not throwing the ball much. So I love Dalton Kincaid. I love James Cook. Josh Allen will eat in the passing game. I wonder if he'll have any rushing yards. He'll just stand back there for like 12 seconds, find the guy he wants to throw it to, and if, if.

It'S a Ray Davis game, as you called it, that will send panic through the streets.

I think more just of a, of a, they're up and James Cook has gotten his work done.

The, it would be a both and.

Yeah, the concern is that Cook gets his work done and that doesn't involve a touchdown.

James Connors over under right now on DK is 51 and a half rushing yards. It's my, it's one of my favorite of the week. James Connor is the workhorse back. When your offensive coordinator has the willingness to call you the bell cow. That doesn't happen a lot in the NFL level. You normally equivocate and say, well, we're going to feel it out. We're going to play different guys. We're going to see what, what happens. We've got a lot of guys in the backfield now. This is like James Conner just, it's his.

Yes.

It's all his.

Yep. That, that has been what has felt like all, all off season over the summer coming out of Arizona, Trey Benson is a very interesting bench stash insurance running back. But until James Conner misses time, it, I think he is. He feels like in your draft, you know, which we talked about like the cheapest real bell cow for a. A good offense that is available in.

The draft and Matt Milano is not part of, you know, he's not going to be there. Right. Bills, their defense won't be as good as it's been in the past.

Yeah. And it started to struggle at times last year. Marvin Harrison makes his debut. If you drafted him, you're starting him. Same with Trey McBride. And I think I'm gonna get this out of the way.

Andy's almost upset of the week.

I wondered before the show even began. It's like I kind of wanted to say it, but I don't have. I don't have the magic powers.

If there's a feeling out, period, on the offensive side of the football for even a while for Buffalo with a high over under and the defense is both like on both sides of the ball. I don't like the defenses.

Right.

So. And I like the quarterbacks. I know more of what Arizona is going to bring to the table, but both teams are figuring it out. So I think it'll be a very competitive game. I think it'll be close and I.

Think they'll almost upset the.

I think Arizona will miss a game winning field goal on the last play of the game. All right, we'll take a break and we'll jump into another matchup. Kyle wants me to explain the almost upset to new listeners. I thought that. I thought the drop did a pretty good job.

Like, you're gonna almost upset the team, but you're not gonna go all the way.

I get credit when they do upset and if they get close and cover the line.

Right.

That's how I've worked that out.

And you get credit despite wearing that stupid hat right now. You guys, champion of record from genuinely, you're almost upsets historically have been. They hit.

Do you have some data, Kyle? Do you have that pulled up? I can pull it up, but you are scary good at it. Like, I hate it. It's very good at it.

I find though, the ones that like this one, you know, I. It's hard. I know the listeners are going, is this just a home or things? This just a cardinals thing? I will say that it might be most of the time when you drop this on one. That shocks me and I think, like when I. When my jaw drops, when you.

That's always a good sign.

That's always a good sign. Yeah. I think you hit on 100% of those.

Yeah. The last year was very good.

Yeah. Can we get Jason jaw drop into the data? Into the database?

Yeah. Do you have some numbers, Kyle? Last year you covered the spread 80%.

That's unbelievable. That is.

And then it was an outright win on 67%. You were saying you were flying too close to the sun.

Yeah, you are.

There's no chance of that happening again or will it? All right. Tennessee at Chicago.

Very excited about this is a fun game. That's.

It's going to be a lot of fun. Both teams, they're kind of like new look franchises right now. You've got Caleb Williams, will Levis, some. A lot of players that are relevant for fantasy that have been drafted. You got the trifecta of whiteouts in Chicago. And this game, you know, right now, the DraftKings sportsbook line. Bears minus three and a half. They're the home team. The over under is 44 and a half. Two young quarterbacks, two new offenses, lot of excitement, but also a lot of nerves as to whoa, you know, like, can these guys get it done? I would expect Chicago to win with that defense at home against Tennessee, but they should.

But very excited to see the Titans as they have been just drained of all testosterone as they made the move away from the last regime of what we do is we grind out games with Derek Henry and this regime said we're going to have running backs, but we're going to bring in Tony Pollard to go with Taj Spears to, you know, not gigantic bruising running backs, guys who are excellent at catching the ball, seeing what the turnaround for this team is to be more of a past team is. It'll be fun to watch.

It feels like both running backs, Jason, have been tossed to kind of this middle ground. Maybe the dead zone, maybe players that nobody has actively been targeting, they settle on Pollard and Swift. Are we in for a surprise here or is there the potential that we get in here? I mean, Tony Pollard's rushing yard mark on DK is only 43 and a half.

Yeah, I mean, that's not great because I genuinely believe that Pollard and Taj will be an almost 50 50 split. I mean, someone has to start. So it'll be, you know, 53 47. But those guys are going to both be on the field in the exact same situations, be used the exact same as running backs. And that might work for the Tennessee Titans, but that does not work well for fantasy football. Also, the Bears have a pretty solid defense. I'm not sure that I love either of the running backs on the Tennessee side. Swift, on the other hand, he projects like he could get a, you know, a lion's share of the workload there with Herbert and Roshan Johnson just basically being backups who spell him from time to time. So if I had to pick between Pollard and Swift, it would. It'd be a pretty easy swift for me.

Is that in your, your situation too, Mike?

Deandre Swift is just. It's a devil.

I'm sorry. I should never ask you to choose.

Him in this situation. Please don't do that. On the other, I'm on the Tony Pollard side, for what it's worth. That's not a utmost confidence, but I. I think he's the better player.

I believe he will. I mentioned it last year. He will do what Swift did in Philly. I think we started the year with Gainwell as a starter and swift as the backup. This is a co starter situation. I think Pollard will outplay spears to the degree that it becomes a one, a one b, or a one and.

Two on the overtime on the Bears side. Just something to pay attention to. Keenan Allen did pop up with a heel injury. I'm not going to make any comments about.

He's got a lot more to carry around.

Okay.

There, I'll do it. I'll do it. You know, I mean, that's, that's a.

Lot of eloquent about, like gravitation.

Are your heels feeling better in the last few?

They are, yeah. You know, the inside, your load. Keenan's really absorbed some of that for me. And you know, the interesting thing here.

You look pretty good this year. Mister.

Mister dead Ringer.

He's got his league of record jersey on. He's wearing a hat, of course.

Yes. My dead ringer hat. Thank you, Kyle. I couldn't find it. Kyle found it. Anyways, one interesting thing here. Snead came over from the Chiefs and he was an absolute monstrosity for opposing wide receiver ones. Last season. He got to the point where you'd be staring down a superstar and be like, can I play him against the Chiefs now? That took a whole defensive scheme and all of that. We don't know that he can do that here, but he is here now. So it's like if DJ Moore is locked down, that's who I would assume if you were gonna shadow, you'd kind of put sneed on DJ Moore. And Keenan has a heel problem. It's like there's a dunes a. Is he a sneaky? Okay, play week one. You know, I've got neighbors as much like romance.

Okay.

I like him. I've been like him in this game.

I've been down on Roma Dunes a. I still don't like him on a season long basis for where he was drafted. But if you drafted him, I think I. You could throw them in your line.

Put it to the test. Adunse. Or Brian Thomas, who was named a starter, by the way, right now, just so you know, the starting wide receivers in Jacksonville on the outside, it's Gabe Davis on one side and Brian Thomas on the other. Christian Kirk is only playing in three wide right now. So that is very significant to me. A doomsday or Brian Thomas in week one? Brian Thomas has the great Miami game.

I'm gonna take Brian.

Tom, go Brian Thomas.

Rush, Rashid Shahid against Carolina or Roma Doonze a doomsday. Rome Dobbs against Philly.

Oh, dunze.

I need more injury information.

I would probably play a dunes a for the sake of the big game.

Yeah.

Hey, which Mike will take his disrespect to Romeo Dobbs.

Yeah, I will. He's a touchdown machine.

Calvin Ridley.

Yep. Play him.

I am. I'm kind of. I'm kind of excited about Calvin Ridley, and we should have Deandre Hopkins back to help take some pressure.

Hopkins or Roma Doon's a.

I'd play Roma Doonzie.

I think I would as well. Coming, coming off of the injury. Yeah, I lean that way. It's more fun, too.

Less fun. New England is playing football this week against Cincinnati.

This guys, this one's a bummer.

The Draftkings sportsbook line. Bengals minus eight.

Why do we got to start the Bengals against the Pats?

The over under is 41, which means the implied point total for Cincinnati is 24 and a half.

Okay, that's totally good.

That's fine.

New England is 16 and a half. I don't know how New England moves the football on a regular basis in this game with Jacoby Brissette throwing the football to mad libs. I mean, I.

Yes.

You know, Kobe beef brisket. If you punted your DST to the end of the draft, as you should, but maybe you were at the end of the line and you don't, you don't like what your current matchup looks like. The Bengals week one is going to work. It's.

It's tough.

It's going to work.

I don't think it will work from a DST standpoint simply because offensive line is horse, dude. They are horse doo doo. And I will, I will certainly stream against them a lot, but I'm not sure that the Bengals defense isn't horse doo doo, too.

So it's, it's, that doesn't, that doesn't bother me. A huge lead against the team. They're at home, super favorites.

Yeah.

The other team has a bad offensive line. They're going to have to start chucking the ball in the second half.

Okay.

That's turnover city.

I, have you been.

I've been convinced.

I think they will commit to remondretain early and often in this game. He is the most reliable offensive piece that they have. So I think you're going to see a lot of her monitoring. What he, what can he do with the touches? I mean, that's the question is DK line right now is 49 and a half yardage wise, can he catch the football that's ever in this game? That's, that's what you're hoping for.

Remondre it like storylines that you're looking for for the Pats. Number one. I mean, I'm Jalen Polk. Watch. Is he a, is he a starter? It like, is he earning targets right away? I think that's interesting to watch. And then this team that if they're going to be in negative game scripts, which is part of why I haven't loved Remandre in the, the draft process, but it's when they are down and they're trying to come back. I know remander got the money, but is it him or is it Antonio Gibson who they brought in pretty early in the process and, and his specialty is catching the ball.

That will be the number one thing to watch in this game is who is the pass catching back and how involved is Gibson? I am on the side where I believe it will be remondre. I think he will catch a ton of passes and be absolutely fine in PPR leagues.

On the other side of the football, Joe Burrow. Will he have Jamar Chase? We are still waiting to find out. T Higgins will have and you know, you got to remember that New England has lost their defensive coordinator. So people expect them to be the same kind of defense they've been in the past.

Yeah, I think they'll be. I think they'll be pretty good.

TBD. TBD. With the departure of Bill Belichick, that's one area he had kept it on lockdown. Zack Moss, Chase Brown. Seeing that distribution of work will be very, very interesting.

Important. I mean that that's. This is one of the biggest debates of draft season. Which guy is it or is it neither? Is it neither guy?

What about neither guy?

Is it neither or neither?

It could. It's either one.

It's either either or either. Neither or neither can be either or either. Are you kidding me right now?

Oh, yes. It can be both of those things. It's. I'm on the Zack Moss.

Are you starting them in this game? I would because the game script.

I would start Zack Moss because New.

England was a very good defense against the run.

Yeah, but Zack Moss, like it depends on how you drafted, of course. Like if you went, you know, more of hero or zero running back type of an approach at the beginning, Zach Moss was one of the targets that I've been trying to get on those teams. So he's probably playing at least as an RB.

Two, I think if I. Yeah, I mean, obviously if you went zero RB, you're going to be having to start Zack Moss. But where he was drafted, I think most of the time he is going to be in flex consideration. I would love to hold off in week one. It's a, it's a tough d, it's a tough defense against running backs and then you have the wrinkle of what if is 50 50.

Most backup, most are most easy, most a little harder. Moss or Gus Edwards?

I think I would go the Gus bus.

Okay.

Yeah, I probably lean that way. One more matchup for today and we'll, we'll, we'll wrap it up. We'll do the rest of them tomorrow. Houston at Indianapolis fun divisional game to start the season. The drive King sportsbook line Texans minus three. The over under is 48 and a half. Colts at home. We'll see what Anthony Richardson has in store. We'll see if the beefed up Houston Texans personnel on defense can bring a better performance than they did at times last year. I mean, what, Mike, you had a kind of a gut, real reaction right there. Is it about Richardson and what, what he's going to be capable of in this game?

It's going to be, I mean, it's. Anthony Richardson is one of the biggest fantasy storylines of the season, really polarizing of people being all the way in or just watching him play in the preseason and going, nope, I'm all the way out. It's not going to work. It's just how, how healthy is he and how much does he run?

You can be a bad quarterback and put up big numbers. You can, that is in the realm of possibility. CJ strat against Indianapolis last year, 384 and 2264 and two.

Beautiful.

Yeah. Play, play that Nico Collins guy.

I mean, you're, you should genuinely play all three.

I know, I was just. But it was Niko last year against the Colts week, 224.1 points he was the wide receiver for, and then in week 18 he was the wide receiver one against the Colts. He at least last year he had their number.

We're going to see Joe Mixon with a new uniform and a big workload, so that'll be a very interesting one. The Colts last year were one of the worst teams in the league against the run. So I think Mixon is a obviously a must start.

He'll be cruising for what, 3.9 in this matchup.

Don't care.

That's fine. 3.9 because goal line carries, but I hate it, guys.

I hate it.

It's mix is going to be very, very good.

Yes.

Start probably the whole year.

Yeah. I mean, really, I don't love the personnel on the Colts defensive side of the ball, so there's no texan that I am unwilling to start. Even, even going down to Dalton Schultz, obviously all of these guys are not going to work out, but there will be points here to have and, and I think you could, I think you can start all of them and hope that it goes to your guy on the other side, though. This will be very interesting. The Texans made a lot of investment on the defensive side last year. They had a terrible defense last year and they went out and they said, hey, I think we got a Super bowl window. They went out, spent big money and so I'm interested to see if the Texans defense is good.

Are you willing to play Adnai Mitchell?

No, I don't think so.

I Josh Downs still he did not practice on Wednesday with the high ankle sprain. It he seems like he is unlikely to play.

I think the only wide receiver for the Colts I'm starting is Pittman.

Okay.

Yeah, it will be. You know, let's start throw situation. Taylor is it Mitchell and Pierce I think will both get play both dart throws. Jonathan Taylor, he good. You're obviously playing him and we'll see what the, we haven't got to see him and Richardson together very much.

What is your actual Michael Pittman confidence? His DK line right now is five and a half receptions and I am. I got the heebie jeep.

I would go, I, I mean, I think he ends up with five, so I would go under.

Yeah, I'm probably on that side, too.

So is he is even a wide receiver to free this week or I.

Think he's a wide receiver.

I'm outside this city.

Oh no, I he's a wide receiver, too.

He's a wide receiver.

Oh man. Please, Richardson, don't forget you have the.

Starts it tool on the website the fantasy footballers.com. we're going to cover all the rest of the matchups tomorrow. That was fantasy forecast presented by Drive King Sportsbook. Download the draftkings for book app and use the code ballers. That's the code ballers. You can bet 500 and get 250.

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Yours. More matchups on tomorrow's episode. Check out the community in the new ultimate dashboard@jointhefoot.com. and good luck tonight. Foot clan it is.

It's.

Goodbye.

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