The Top Fantasy Football RB & QB Trade Targets for Week 8 (Ep. 2295)

0:00 Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan Warmly, joined by Andrew Erickson. On this Tuesday morning, we're talking some Week 8 buys and sells at the running back and quarterback positions. Part 2 will feature the wide receiver and tight end positions. You can catch that on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Erickson, how are you doing, my friend?

0:21 Doing good. Week eight. I have to admit, though, this was one of the toughest buy sells type of show to get prepped for because I just wasn't feeling a lot of my names. Honestly, I really wanted to run back a lot of the names that we've mentioned throughout the previous weeks, but trying to create some new names because if you read the articles, always buying Chase Brown because he's a buy low target, but I didn't want to keep putting on the same guys. So a little bit of a struggle here this morning, but we will persevere.

0:49 Hopefully better than like the Eagles last night, because that was an abysmal showing from a team that's just so broken in terms of who they have left in the offense. And yeah, we can break it down a little bit.

1:02 I too am starting to get to the point in the year where I feel like I still really believe in a lot of these buys and sells we've talked about. And therefore, I don't want to get too repetitive by bringing them up the same names. We actually only have about a month left of this show, Erickson, before we pivot to Our predictions version of this show, which we'll do after the fantasy trade deadline happens in most leagues.

1:22 So that's just a little housekeeping for about a month from now. But we still got a handful of weeks to go here. Let's get into that game that you just alluded to. Cowboys 38, Eagles 21 on Monday night football. Obviously a very high scoring game here. Cowboys very good. Dak Prescott throwing for three touchdowns, just 212 yards. Javante Williams, really an excellent game. Career high, 155 rushing yards. I think they said he was the first Cowboy to rush for 150 yards. Since Ezekiel Elliott, he did get the late touchdown to sort of cement a really excellent fantasy day from Javante. CeeDee Lamb catches two touchdowns. Pickens just gets his 57 yards, but he gets into the end zone.

2:01 as well on the Cowboys side, it was really the stars being stars. Do you have anything fantasy relevant on the Cowboys side or just like, Hey, really good game by a good offense and their best players.

2:11 Pretty status quo. I mean, Jake Ferguson has completely fallen off a cliff in terms of his fantasy usage. Like it was the first thing to on the broadcast, Troy Aikman was just talking about, uh, Revan span forward about, yeah, they're using this guy a lot more than Jake Ferguson, who really isn't even the tight end one on the team anymore. So yeah, Jake Ferguson, we really haven't been using him the last couple of weeks, but he can be easily, even in like deeper formats, like Jake Ferguson is totally 100% touchdown or bust, not running enough routes, not playing enough snaps for tight ends. I think Pickens deserves just a little bit of a call out here, again, scored the touchdown, but he's really just been kind of

2:48 underwhelming versus where you drafted. I know you talked about Pickens probably a month ago as a sell when he was ranked still as a top fantasy wide receiver one, kind of on that fringe. And Really, he's been a fantasy wide receiver too, right? That's where he is in the rest of season rankings. And I think that he's probably a sell just based on the touchdown here. Now the Cowboys do have some good matchups coming up, but I will say if they lean into the run game, like they did in this particular matchup, well, we're not going to see as many boom performances, George Pickens on the year. He is 20th in target chair. So wide receiver too. And he's actually outside of the top 24 wide receivers in air yard chair. So he's not really

3:26 popping off as many of those big downfield plays like we saw in 2025. And also keep in the back of your mind that, I mean, do the Cowboys trade George Pickens? Does another team come asking because he doesn't have a long-term contract with the Cowboys? Do the Chiefs say, hey, your guys aren't really using Pickens that much. They like floor and I, they're running the ball effectively. do they make a move for a player like Pickens? And, you know, does that maybe move his fantasy value? So he's a player that I think is just worth calling out just because he hasn't really shined like a lot of these other Dallas Cowboys, like Javante and CeeDee Lamb, which is like more of the same.

4:00 Wide receiver 18 this week. Wide receiver 18 on the season as well in half PPR scoring. That's in season total stats. That's not a per game basis. So obviously they haven't had their buy yet. He hasn't missed time from injury. So that helps that ranking a little bit, but yeah, I have basically no George Pickens anywhere because I thought he was overdrafted.

4:17 We have him in the tailgate team.

4:19 The one place I have him is our tailgate team because you and Debro were excited to take him. And honestly, I was okay with it because it was like, I forget what pick it was exactly, but it was like the second, it was a 16 team league and it was like our pick in round two, which was like, it was after pick 30 overall or something around there.

4:36 So I was totally fine with it there. But yeah, I thought he was getting overdrafted during the season. So that's one of, What are the few correct calls?

4:43 He's one of those players. And this is a reminder I have to tell myself, especially with this year heading into next season, the really high priced wide receiver twos on their team that have like these awesome years typically seem to always get overdrafted the following season. So I bring that up because we're going to have conversations probably next year about Jalen Coker and Matthew Golden, like these like number two receivers on their teams and where they're going to be drafted next year. It's going to be so, oh my God, like so much higher than this year.

5:12 And typically that's a pattern to fade, and I wish I had really paid more attention to that when it came to George Pickens.

5:18 Yeah, I wonder– because the thing with Pickens that made me so disinterested in him this year at his price was that like we can point to why he was getting so much usage. And it was CeeDee Lamb was coming back from a high ankle sprain, which is– it does nuke you like for several weeks. And in the event of like Matthew Golden, well, he is just flat out out targeting Christian Watson. Yeah. You know, Jalen Coker is playing well when Tedaro McMillan is on the field.

5:44 So I wonder if maybe it's a little bit different than the Pickens scenario. But I do think that'll be a really interesting thing to dive deep into in the summer.

5:50 The Cowboys matchups, just so if you have George Pickens and maybe you're panicking, obviously he scored the touchdown here. So you feel fine about that. And he's had a couple of decent yardage games. The next schedule.

5:59 It's just that he hasn't been amazing. It's not that he's been awful. Yeah.

6:03 But not has not lived up to the second round draft capital from fantasy drafts schedule for Dallas. Arizona Colts, 49ers Titans. Like that's really good. So if you do want off pickings and you think that the upside's not there, he just has to blow up in one of these games here where you could definitely see it, especially against, I mean, Bo Nix was productive against the Arizona Cardinals.

6:26 So I think that Dak and the boys are going to have some big performances over the next couple of games.

6:31 Just very quickly on the Eagles. I don't really think there's much to talk about. Again, backup quarterback, the rest of the season, running backs continue to get hurt. Uh, Makai Lemon, bit of a breakout here, 67 yards and a touchdown, seven receptions on eight targets. Uh, we, he would not be the first time that we saw a first round rookie receiver take a step forward in the second half of the season. Now, again, it's different quarterback situation than expected. And, and all that having been said, um, where's your head at on Lemon moving forward? He's somebody that you're interested in, um, adding to your teams looking to trade for as a second half rookie breakout, one of those stereotypes, or, Do you think this is just like, Hey,

7:05 it was a kind of a nice game against a bad defense and you're not, you're still kind of avoiding.

7:09 Yeah. With the caveat that it came without Dante being Wicks playing, it came without Devante Smith playing. Do those guys return to the offense? Now I do think that having Tanner McKee a little bit more opt to throw over the middle of the field is helpful for a player like my kind of limit. Cause I know there's a lot of question marks about what Jalen hurts. Does he throw the ball over the middle of the field?

7:28 And they even brought up on the broadcast Aikman and Joe, Joe Buck talking about, yeah, like, That's what they're going to see more of this Sean Mannion offense, like traditionally, because Tanner McKee is just kind of got to do what he was told. So the Eagles, if their defense continues to play this bad, they're going to be throwing a ton in the second half of the game. So I think there is going to be passing volume to go along here. So I think that Lemon, obviously, if he's on waivers, you're going to be adding him. But to me, it almost feels like maybe more of a sell high scenario. Now, you can always say that in theory when it comes to these waiver guys, but usually you don't get that much for them. So I don't

8:00 think I would go out and trade for Mekhi Lemon personally. just because of the optics of this particular spot. Like he really needed to deliver in this spot. And obviously he did, but he's had a lot of chances so far this season and hasn't necessarily been super encouraging. So if they shut down Devante Smith, they shut down Saquon Barkley, that's the other big thing from this game is Barkley, right?

8:18 Re-injuring his hamstring on one of the big first carries of the game. He looked like he was going to be, oh, here we go, Saquon Barkley. He's going to have a monster game. He re-injures it in basically the entire game. game. They're panicking him on the sideline. He's getting work on his hamstring. So playing on a short week, I don't know if we're going to see Saquon Barkley this week.

8:38 I don't know if we're going to see Saquon Barkley again, potentially, because the Eagles are looking like they're going to be total sellers at the trade deadline after losing another game. What's the point of putting Saquon Barkley out there? And can they even trade Saquon Barkley, right? Can they trade away, you know, quote unquote, damaged goods if he is banged up? Now, maybe a team just can get him for even cheaper or something along those lines. But Right now, Barkley to me is a player I almost want to sell low on and just I don't want this guy on my roster because I have no idea what the rest of season outlook for him is going to be, whether he's healthy, whether he's on the Eagles. I just not feeling very,

9:13 very good about him. Because now it looks like Damien Pierce. He also got banged up in this game. Elijah Mitchell made an appearance. Like I didn't even know Elijah Mitchell was on the Eagles until they called his name. Like, yep, Elijah Mitchell's in the game because every other running back on the Eagles.

9:25 I also did not know he was on the Eagles. I will admit it.

9:29 I'm just like, oh man, like what is happening here?

9:31 So.

9:32 Eagles are obviously down significantly bad here, but I don't know. What do you feel about Saquon? Do you just try to sell low?

9:40 It was all over last week that they shouldn't be starting him in this game. He was like really pushing back against the reports. Like, Oh, he'll be ready to go here. And they think he's going to, he's going to play this week, trending in that direction. He was like, why they're like, they should be saving him, trying to make sure he's fully healthy for a potential trade. The season is going down the toilet. Why bother playing him? And, you know, with a bit of hindsight, it looks okay.

9:59 He is somebody that if I could get anything for, I would. I don't know what you're getting back, but I want to get off that list.

10:06 So the guy that I'm kind of circling as like this kind of buy low, he didn't mention him as my buy low running back, but could you get Kyle Menungai for Saquon Barkley and just be like, I want the Bears running backs. I know they're good. I know he's hurt.

10:20 I bet there are leagues where that could happen.

10:22 Because it definitely feels like you're selling low on Barkley, for sure.

10:26 Yeah.

10:26 But who scores more points for a season? Like, I don't think it's like a surefire that, oh, it's got to be Saquon Barkley, because we don't know his status whatsoever.

10:35 It's one of those things, too, where it's like, where's the upside with Saquon at this point for this season? And Mnangai, there's a very clear upside case. If something ever happens to DeAndre Swift and Mnangai's healthy himself, he's going to be a top 10 running back every week in that scenario. Whereas Saquon, it's really hard to imagine him getting there right now with this offensive line and this quarterback and the injuries piling up. We don't know if he's going to get traded. I would rather just not have the headache, honestly. So I actually think that's kind of a reasonable one, even though it sounds crazy in a vacuum. Let's get into our running backs to buy, actually.

11:07 We'll start with the first guy you want to talk about here. Which running back are you looking to acquire right now?

11:12 So speaking of injured running backs... Travis Etienne Jr. running back for the New Orleans Saints. So the situation with Etienne, or excuse me, Etienne. Sorry, getting his name wrong. Travis Etienne.

11:24 We haven't seen him on the field in so long. You forgot the name change.

11:26 I know, I forgot that he actually changed his name to Travis Etienne. So he is eligible to come off injured reserve after the Saints bye week. So he's been out the last four games with a hamstring injury that he suffered back in week three.

11:38 By the way, the Saints are on bye this week.

11:40 Yes, that is correct. So give him an extra week to hopefully get healthy. Now, The Kellen Moore coaching staff has not necessarily indicated that, oh, he's definitely going to come back right after the bye week, but it lines up with the timeline that he's eligible. So earliest we could see him is in week nine when the Saints take on the Cleveland Browns. That's a home game. But for me, it's more of buying low on a running back that, look, he was brought in to fix the Saints run game. And obviously when he went down, we've seen what the Saints run game has looked like in his absence. and it has been arguably one of the worst run games in the NFL. Between Alvin Kamara, looking like a 30-year-old running back that's way past his prime

12:20 as a rusher, Kendrick Miller has not really been the answer for them, and they keep mixing in C.J. Donaldson as well, using him in pass protection and in short yardage situations. So, offensive line has also been banged up for the Saints. However, there is a chance that they do get Kelvin Banks back at some point later on down the road, and Cesar Ruiz also looks like a player who will come back after the bye week. So, I think that getting Etienne at least, or excuse me, getting Etienne back as the starter here, I think that actually could help improve things for the Saints run game because this is what their plan was originally, right? They brought him in so they could have, because they had a bad run game last year too when it was

12:56 Kendrick Miller and it was Alvin Kamara because they knew they couldn't do this, right? Currently, Saints rank bottom five in rushing yards and EPA per rush so far this season. So given the fact that Etienne is ranked outside the top 24, he's really more of a RB30 in the rest of season rankings. Look, if you're hurting at running back, and I think that HN could make some sense for a second half play when you look at the schedule for the New Orleans Saints, right? We just talked about it.

13:21 Cleveland Browns at home. That's a great matchup. We just saw the Cleveland Browns get destroyed by the Tennessee Titans run game and Tony Pollard. Then you get Carolina. Then you get Chicago. Then you get Cincinnati. Then you get Green Bay. Then you get Carolina again. So there's a lot of really good spots here for a player like HN if he can come back and get healthy. I think that you could see a boost from this run game.

13:41 So that's why he is my buy low, because I do think that he is a just quintessential type of buy low player, not top of mind. He hasn't played in over a month. I got his name wrong. So that's why I think you can get him pretty, pretty cheap.

13:53 What do you make of what he looked like in those first three weeks? Cause there was some, like, even before he got hurt, there was disappointment about how he was performing, maybe a little bit overblown. He wasn't getting in the end zone, right. And they weren't using him there. And so that was like a big problem. Like he doesn't have a touchdown of the season. But, you know, in one of those games, he had nine targets, which we'd love to see, you know, in any sort of half PPR or PPR format. In two of those games, he averaged at least 4.4 yards per attempt. So it's like not like he was awful efficiency wise. But you look at the overall stats and it's like, OK, he's averaging like eight-ish points a game in half PPR scoring.

14:30 That wasn't like where I was drafting him. And HN was somebody that I was really interested in this year. as sort of one of those dead zone running backs, it felt like a disappointment. I'm not sure to what degree that is the case. What did you make of his usage and production in those first three weeks before getting hurt?

14:45 He's definitely a player we talked about as a sell early on in the season because of the committee usage. But what we've seen with the Saints offense so far in their run game is why should they continue to run a committee? It's not working. So let's commit to the guy that we paid all this money to in free agency. Obviously, we haven't been able to see that through because he's been banged up, but If he's healthy and ready to go, they got to change something up, right?

15:07 And I always try to think about how teams adjust. Again, the Saints are on their bye week this week. What is going to change? I think they're going to change up the backfield. And I think they're going to feature A-Chan a lot more if he is healthy and ready to go. So that's why I like him, especially, again, you look at him in the rest season rankings. He's around guys like Trey Tucker, Antonio Williams, Mikhail Lennon, right?

15:27 If you're hurting at running back, you could flip Lennon right now to get A-Chan on your team. So I think really the position is why he's attainable in a lot of different ways at running back. And I mean, people are not holding on to him tight.

15:41 If those are the types of trades you can make, then yes, I'm on board with you. I feel like for me, when you put the name into the sheet, my initial reaction was less, oh, I want to go trade. I want to go make a trade to get a Chan and more. Ooh, if I maybe downgrade at running back and get a receiver back, this would be a running back ability to downgrade to like, like, I don't know if you consider it a downgrade or not, but like talking about Saquon Barkley, if I could trade Saquon for HN and a viable starting receiver, that to me is the path where I want to be acquiring HN.

16:11 It's less like, Oh, let me give up a piece. I really like to go get HN. Cause I'm believing in him. It's let me, you know, trade down from a guy like Saquon that I'm looking to get out of anyways and go get, you know, HN plus. I don't know, Cardinal Tate or whoever it is that you want to throw out there as a receiver option. To me, that's a path that I would be looking at.

16:30 Yeah, A-Chan also fit the theme of if you look at some of the past running backs I recommended to buy, they've all gotten hurt after I recommended to buy them. So to beat it to the punch, I'm just going to buy an injured running back.

16:44 We'll get more into it later. But just as a tease, my running back to sell is Josh Jacobs. That's another one where if I could go, all right, I'll downgrade from Jacobs to A-Chan. And then bridge that gap with a receiver I really like. That's another path that I think makes sense. I'll go to my running back to buy here, though. I've got Ollie Gordon. I feel like it's for a couple weeks in a row, either on this show or on the shorter version of the Moves to Make show that I do with Tara every Monday.

17:11 Somebody points out during the running back to buy section that, you know, we really could have included Ali Gordon here. And I'm tired of saying we could have included him here. I'm just going to include him here. I've, of course, mentioned him on this show before. Another week of just outside RB1 production in half PPR scoring. His last four games, obviously, there's a buy in there. But the four games he's actually played since Devon Aitken got hurt. RB13, RB12, RB13, RB14.

17:37 I mean, it is just the most consistent running back in fantasy football right now. 25 carries, 103 yards, and a touchdown in this most recent game. And I feel like the name brand value is still underrating him in the updated rest of season rankings. And these are rankings that truly have been updated since the games happened on Sunday.

17:56 So they're not You know, waiting to catch up here. He's still RB 23 in the consensus rest of season rankings. And I know there's a lot of big names ahead of him, but like Saquon's ahead of him. I'd rather have Ollie Gordon. Jeremiah Love has had his own injury stuff. I think you can make a strong case for preferring Ollie Gordon right now. Like there's a lot, you know, Josh Jacobs is a name I just threw out there.

18:15 He's not ranked very highly, and yet he is giving you borderline RB1 production every single week. And I think he's more attainable than you would normally if there is a backup running back, Erickson, that steps into the starting lineup because of an injury, a season-long injury. So you know he's a starter the rest of the way. And his first four games, he scores 13, 17, 15, and 17 fantasy points in half PPR scoring. That guy is just like locked and loaded on that player's roster the rest of the season. He becomes borderline untouchable usually. But because of the stink of the Dolphins, because this is a backup running back that people have been unsure if he's actually good or not, the name value isn't there.

18:55 I think he's way more attainable than his production would suggest. And then, oh, by the way, look at the rest of the season schedule. It's the Patriots this week. Then it's the Lions. Then it's the Colts. Then it's the Bills. Then it's the Jets, who he just shredded. Then it's the Broncos who have not been good against the run.

19:12 Then it's Bears, Packers, Chargers, Bills. That rounds out the fantasy season. It's a wonderful schedule and he's producing and yet he's barely being ranked as an RB2 in the consensus rest of season rankings. Go trade for him. Don't worry about the name value. Don't worry about the dolphins of it all. Go trade for Ollie Gordon. We keep joking about you should have done this. Just go do it now.

19:32 I really like this call. I know that we have teased Ollie Gordon as a buy on this show before. And I think that it's wheels up, right? You just listed out the schedule for him. It's absolutely fantastic for Miami for the next month or so. And dude, this guy is dusted every other running back on. this roster, right?

19:50 Jalen Wright can't even stay on the field because he keeps getting hurt in every single game that he plays in. So I think they're going to feature Ollie Gordon. Why would you get away from it? They just won their first game of the year. Great schedule coming up. And he's looked the part, man. It's funny because you think about, well, where would a Chan be ranked? If he had all of these types of games, he would be what consensus top eight, top seven running back rest season. Also makes me think, was a Chan a terrible pick before his injury?

20:18 Because like you're looking at what Ollie Gordon is doing right now. And obviously like a Chan went down with the injury and got hurt. But if this was a Chan, then you would have been pretty pumped to draft him and have him on your fantasy team. Right. And HN could probably be doing more than Oli Gordon potentially because of how explosive he is. So Gordon's obviously getting it done with a ton of volume. He's being efficient. So I agree, man, like no one's touching him in this backfield.

20:42 So I think that as an RB2, low end RB2, that's a low end RB2.

20:46 Yeah.

20:47 Yeah. I think that he's someone that I need to make sure I have moved up in my rest of season rankings as well, because I agree.

20:55 Again, it's like, like, I talk a lot on the show about how sometimes the best moves you can make aren't the buy lows, it's the buy highs. But I don't even really feel like you're buying that high, at least based on the rankings. You're buying medium on him because people are hesitant to really put, like, I would rather have guys like Chuba Hubbard, Bayshall Tootin, Chase Brown.

21:16 But the way Olly Gordon's producing, it feels like he should be ranked right behind them. And he's not. He's behind these guys who are dealing with injury, like Brees Hall coming back from injury. Ramondre Stevenson has, you know, the threat of Trayvon Henderson potentially ever, you know, coming to fruition back there. Quinshaw-Judkins, I think, is an interesting sell. Like, these are all names that are ahead of Oli Gordon.

21:33 I'm like, I would just rather have the guy who's an RB15 at worst every week, every time he's been the starter so far, and has an amazing schedule going forward. So as a buy medium, again, we keep teasing Oli Gordon on the show that I think it's time to just say, yeah, call him a buy. Basketball season is here and a new way to trade on it is this new prediction market called Polymarket. Polymarket is a prediction market.

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22:25 My running back to sell is Tony Pollard. Running back for the Tennessee Titans. Thinking back to our week two show when we weren't bold enough or strong enough to say, you got to sell Dave Montgomery after he scored three touchdowns because this is going to be the best game he has all year. And that brings me to Tony Pollard coming off A three rushing touchdown performance against the Cleveland Browns, who we already talked about, have been one of these defenses that you want to attack with running backs.

22:52 According to NextGenStats, so Pollard only had one touchdown prior to week seven's loss against the Cleveland Browns. He hadn't rushed for more than 100 yards in a game since week 16 of last season. So to me, this looks and feels like it was the perfect storm. for Tony Pollard, right? You get this crazy, great matchup at home for the Tennessee Titans in a game that they actually had a chance to win. That doesn't happen very often with these Tennessee teams playing in games with tight spreads where they actually have a chance to run the football in the second half and run the ball consistently. And Tajay Spears and Nick Singleton were both out of this game. So it was a great matchup. It was a game that

23:31 you didn't think that the Browns were going to blow at the And Pollard was going to see all the work. And to his credit, I don't think that Pollard has been bad by any means this year in terms of some of his efficiency marks. I don't think that he has been, oh, this guy has, especially kind of like comparing or making a little bit different than the Dave Montgomery situation where Montgomery was really inefficient on his three touchdowns.

23:49 Like this was a, no, definitely a great game by Tony Pollard, but this is peak, right? I don't think it can get better than this, especially as again, finishing as the RB1 overall on the week. Now he's up to RB24 and consensus rest season rankings. I would actually be curious to see what he was before this last game.

24:07 Because what has really changed about the optics about Tony Pollard? Well, okay, well, Spears will probably come back at some point and be annoying because he's literally done this every single stop of his career. Maybe the Titans commit to Tony Pollard more. There's also a chance that Tony Pollard could get traded, right?

24:24 Is that a good thing for his fantasy value? Is it a bad thing for his fantasy value? That's really more up in the air.

24:28 Do you think it's likely he gets traded?

24:31 I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. And he was one of the players, because I have to imagine he probably is not as sought after as a player like Jonathan Taylor, right? Is a contender really going to pay over draft capital to get Tony Pollard, who is an older running back that's been on the Tennessee Titans for the last couple seasons? Now, the one name that I thought was curious for a team, and it kind of goes against my buying of Travis Achan, if there was a scenario... where Travis Achan is not right off of this hamstring injury or has a re-injury, a relapse or something along those lines. And I wish I brought this up on the tailgate show when we were doing our predictions for where these guys end up. Tony Pollard played

25:12 for three seasons in Dallas with Kellen Moore. And he actually had his best season of his career in Dallas in 2022 when he won or when he made the Pro Bowl, when the Pro Bowl actually still mattered. And that was under office coordinator Kellen Moore, who's now the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. So that's where this potentially burns me, where I'm selling high on Tony Pollard.

25:31 But again, Travis Achan, as the projected RB1 for the Saints rest of season right now, is still outside the top 30 running backs. So right now, Pollard at RB24 feels kind of close to like his ceiling. Are we expecting him to be an RB1 the rest of the way? Like, no. So I think that you can still get a decent chunk for him Maybe if you're looking at, OK, who could be a second half strong play? I mean, I think I'd rather have Ollie Gordon straight up for Tony Pollard.

25:58 Jeremiah Love is another name where if you're trying to bet on a second half breakout, maybe he's a player because Tony Pollard's been on your bench for the majority of the season. Like you haven't been playing him very many weeks because he's not been able to be trusted playing in this Titans offense. So a lot to unpack there, Worm.

26:13 What do you think about Pollard process wise? I feel like this is a sharp move to make, but I do acknowledge like the trade thing does like it's in the back of my mind.

26:21 I would say that the only reason I didn't include Tony Pollard myself is I just thought it was too obvious. Honestly, like a guy coming off of a three touchdown game, like that level of production in an offense that we don't believe in at all is somebody that I just think makes all the sense in the world to try to sell. So I literally didn't pick him because I was like, oh, I think people like maybe already know this.

26:42 The trade angle is a really interesting wrinkle here where if he goes to the right team, all of a sudden selling him could look like a mistake. But what are the odds that A, he gets traded and B, gets traded to the right team where that– then we can benefit? It's a risk, but I don't know how big of a risk it actually is. To make the point about wanting to sell him though, he's ranked once– this is in the updated rest of season consensus rankings on fantasypros.com. He is ranked one spot behind Olly Gordon.

27:11 I would much rather have Olly Gordon. To me, that is a no-brainer.

27:14 Yeah, take the bird in hand, right? With Olly Gordon. We know what he's going to do. He's going to be, it seems like, at worst, an RB2 rest of the season where it's like, I kind of think you're hoping that Tony Pollard, okay, maybe this guy can be an RB2 rest of the season and you're just kind of fingers crossed that this usage can carry over the production from this game. But again, if he stays on the Titans, the matchups get way harder. for Tony Pollard he's got the Bengals on the road this week now the Bengals have been a run defense that we haven't been afraid of in the past they've been much better this season obviously kind of slowing down Derek Henry last week and you also have to consider with the Titans offense game

27:50 script right if they're getting blown out then they don't have the luxury to feed Tony Pollard in the run game then they have their bye week and then it's Jaguars Dallas Jaguars again.

28:01 Four of the next five weeks are the Bengals or the Jags or a bye week. Like that's, that's a really rough stretch. It gets a little better in the fantasy playoffs, but man, like to get there, it's, it's rough.

28:13 I mean, is he on the team at that point? Like we don't know.

28:15 Exactly. Exactly.

28:16 So there's a lot of, a lot to unpack with Pollard, but I just think that going back to the process, right? It's like this guy had three touchdowns, plays on a bad offense. Sell, especially because his rest season ranking was nowhere near 24 last week. It was definitely outside the top 30 running back. So I don't want to be so moved.

28:32 He had something like 47 fantasy points this season before week seven. And then he had 35 in week seven.

28:42 Trade-off for Ollie Gordon, right? That's the move to make?

28:45 If you can. I don't know. I'm surprised by this ranking, honestly, because to me that feels like such a no-brainer. I mean, the guy right behind Tony Pollard is Blake Corum. Take the upside on Corum. I'd much rather have Corum. Then play this game with Tony Pollard. So yeah, I strongly agree. And again, I only didn't pick it because I felt like it.

29:00 Was a little obvious. Could you get A.J. Brown for Tony Pollard?

29:04 I don't think you could.

29:05 I don't know, man. People got the pitchforks out for A.J. Brown.

29:09 If you can, do it. My opinion is that you can't. But you never know. Again, you don't know until you ask. All right, let's go to my running back to sell. I mentioned it earlier, Josh Jacobs. This is a couple different reasons. Number one is I'm not convinced we're 100% done with the legal stuff this season. They have said that they're still investigating and there's open to further discipline as warranted, so you could lose him for that reason. Also, he didn't look that efficient in his first game back.

29:38 I know that, like yeah shaking off the rust right he obviously hasn't played for the first six weeks of the season but 11 carries 36 yards not that great against a bad defense in the lions he obviously caught the touchdown which helped salvage his fantasy day so he ended up rb 11 i think you can use that to your advantage in selling him and say oh look they're already using him in the red zone brought him back immediately scores a touchdown and He's going to be really good rest of season. You're getting a high level running back, you know, for cheap if you're trying to sell.

30:04 I don't think he's going to be a high level running back. He's ranked as RB17 in the consensus rest of season rankings. The guys right ahead of him are Bashall Tootin and Chase Brown. Again, I'd much rather have Tootin and Brown than Jacobs. Like I see a gap between those two and Jacobs. And yet in the rankings, there is no gap. They're back to back to back.

30:19 And this is about his name brand value. The fact that he has been so good for so long. the fact that he scored a touchdown in his return. I think you take advantage of all that and you convince somebody in your league that, hey, you're going to go trade for this RB1 rest of season. Whereas I think he's going to be, even if he stays on the field and no more legal issues pop up this season, the state of this offensive line, right? The fact that Christian Watson and Matthew Golden have been so good and the Packers hopefully want to continue to throw the ball the way they have this season. I know that's not typically Matt LaFleur's approach, but we can hope. just all of that coming together, I think he's overvalued. And, and he's,

31:01 I don't have a great name. And I'm wondering if you maybe have a name that comes to mind for you. Like I mentioned earlier, like Travis HN plus, like getting HN and then a good receiver combined for a guy like Jacobs. If you can do that, I like that adding some depth throughout this season. But it turns like a one on one like like him for a receiver, there wasn't like a single name that I was pointing to and say, that's the guy that I think you should go make this trade for. I'm wondering if you have anybody that comes to mind as a really reasonable offer.

31:28 I mean, you just mentioned AJ Brown. I think that's one that I would do myself personally. I don't know if that gets done, but who comes to mind for you?

31:36 I think it's more of a situation where I think you can do a running back for running back trade, where you just kind of start at the top and you just try to flip Jacobs, where yes, it looks like he could be an RB1 the rest of the way, as long as he's on the field. But There's a lot of guys that you look at and see, okay, within the top 15 running backs rest of season, a lot of these guys could be fantasy RB ones, but they don't have this thing in the background going on with them or playing behind arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL when it comes to run blocking.

32:03 So, and just lost another offensive lineman this week.

32:06 Like it's not going to get better. He's not going to be efficient as a rusher. He got it done as a receiver, which we obviously love to see, but his fantasy value could disappear tomorrow, right? And then it's totally nuked. Whereas if you trade Josh Jacobs for Chase Brown, right? You know, you're going to have Chase Brown probably the rest of the way, right? Playing on a high power Bengals offense. And again, I know I teased it earlier about Chase Brown. I think he was my buy last week.

32:31 And obviously, again, another disappointing game. Although Chase Brown did get back to the normal usage. It was not Samaj P. Ryan. Samaj P. Ryan just vultured the touchdown, which is super annoying. But it went back to the normal 70% snaps for Chase Brown, 30% for Samaj P. Ryan. So we're not seeing a backfield takeover. You know who was first in running back points scored under expectation last year, weeks one through seven, Worm? Yeah. Chase Brown. You know who falls in that category this year? Chase Brown.

32:59 Chase Brown.

33:00 So it's like. This slow start for him is nothing new. He did the exact same thing last year. I know the optics are a little bit different.

33:06 By the way, I did know it was Chase Brown. I know I said, I was like, I thought you were going to answer it yourself. And so then I was.

33:11 Like, this is not a rhetorical question.

33:14 We've talked about Chase Brown enough on this show. I just want to make, for the record, I did know the answer.

33:17 Well, I just thought that was a fun little nugget where it's like, okay, we've already done this before. We've done this before.

33:23 What about Josh Jacobs or Brees Hall coming back from the injury now? They're back to back just on the other side. Jacobs one spot higher in consensus.

33:31 Yeah, that one's tougher because I can think I want Brees to show me that he's healthy first.

33:34 I know, that's an interesting one.

33:36 That's where I get a slight pause.

33:38 I'll tell you who I, I would, I like Ollie Gordon better than Josh Jacobs the rest of the season. I'd rather have Gordon. So I would, and if you can get Gordon plus, even if it's not plus a great piece, plus a lottery ticket of some kind, I would do that for sure.

33:50 And the thing too with Jacobs, you have to acknowledge that the fantasy manager that got him got him for cheap for the most part. And you played him last week. He was good. He's facing the Panthers. on Thursday night, right? So this is another really good spot for him. So I do agree with you that Jacobs, as a trade candidate, that's what you should be doing with him. But don't sell for too cheap, I guess, in my opinion. You've got to get a solid running back back, in my opinion, because it's kind of like a free roll, in my opinion, because of what Jacobs was able to do, where you got him, and the fact that he's going to have another RB1 performance probably this week against the Carolina Panthers.

34:24 Don't sell him for nothing. So that's the one thing I wanted to add.

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35:12 Our listeners get 15% off their first order, plus free shipping at theperfectjean.nyc or google theperfectjean.com. And use code FANTASYPROS15 for 15% off. All right, Eric's in time for our quarterback to either buy or sell. What do you have for us this week?

35:28 Couldn't run back with Trevor Lawrence again, although he is the buy still because he has the best schedule rest of season for fantasy quarterbacks. A player that I also like rest of season because of their schedule. And you talked about this when you were alluding to Ollie Gordon as your running back to buy. It's going to be Malik Willis for me. Miami Dolphins QB has been a top 15 fantasy quarterback in back-to-back games with eight carries in each game. So although the start of the season was a little bit rocky with Malik Willis, we didn't know if we could rely on him as a rusher.

35:56 It's starting to be a little bit more consistent with him. The rushing is coming through and then the matchups, right? Again, Patriots at home this week, but then the Lions, and then you have the Colts and you have the Bills. If he's going to continue to run as much as he has done, he has eight carries in back-to-back games.

36:12 He's going to be a fringe fantasy QB one. every single week, just based on the rushing. And we're starting to see some of these young players in this office start to pop off a little bit. Caleb Douglas is making plays. We already talked about Ollie Gordon making a lot of plays in this office. Greg Dulcich, my guy, he's alive, catching passes, leading the team in receiving yards.

36:27 I absolutely love to see it. So Malik Wills for me, based on the rushing, I think that he is a buy. I want to add him off of waivers and a player that I think that you can even make a trade for in some of these deep performance where a lot of quarterbacks are owned, maybe even a super flex. is Bryce Young. Bryce Young has the most difficult schedule rest of season for fantasy quarterbacks. So we talked about how the start of the year, a lot more cupcake matchups. Again, Bryce Young, to his credit, took advantage of them. That's what quarterbacks need to do. But I think that he is more in the territory of fantasy matchup dependent rather than, oh, he's just like an auto star that you play every

37:03 single week. I think we're going to start to see Young kind of come back down to earth, especially based on how effective he was under pressure, throwing downfield. Some of those things aren't super sustainable. week after week. So I think this is a sharp move to make where you're moving off of Bryce Young and you're buying a ascending piece like Malik Willis in an offense that has been playing better and has a lot of good matchups coming out. If you look at the rushing for Malik Willis, so he has posted the league's second highest scramble rate at 13%, the most scramble rush yards of any quarterback.

37:31 He has the most fantasy points on scrambles among all quarterbacks. So it's not that the offense has changed where, oh, there's designing run calls for Malik Willis. It's like, No, I'm just going to take off and run with my legs because I can do that. So I think that's going to continue.

37:45 Where should he be ranked? He's actually moved up a lot in the rest of season rankings within the last week. He's now up to QB 17. That is, again, adjusted from where I think last week he was in like the low, like the high 20s, I should say, like that 21, 22 range. So he has jumped up a bit here. He's one spot directly behind Bryce Young, to your point about that being an interesting, you know, trade opportunity there. Uh, but where is he actually ranked for you?

38:08 Cause QB 17 to me feels right-ish. I mean, the guys ahead of him besides Bryce Young, Tyler Shuck, CJ Stroud, Matthew Stafford, Mahomes, Love, Prescott. And you start getting into the guys who are really good. I'm not sure how much higher you can move him, but where is he for you?

38:23 I'm 16, but I could see myself moving ahead of Shuck at quarterback 15. Um, Stafford is interesting name, right? He's not going to get Devante Adams back. He's a pocket passer. Doesn't add a lot of value with his leg. It's just a matter of like the confidence level with people with Willis rushing. But I'm trying to express that the last two weeks, I think is going to be more of what we're going to see from like Willis.

38:44 And we know that mobile quarterbacks are this cheat code and fantasy. And this continues to against these types of matchups against the Lions, dude, this guy could run for so many yards against that type of defense while also adding on the passing, which I think looked pretty good against the New York Jets. So That's something that you can't always bank on, but I think that the Dolphins are moving in the right direction with their offense, and Malik Willis using his legs is going to continue to be a part of it.

39:08 Let's do some buy, sell, or hold trios. I did put this together before you put your names into the sheet, so there is one repeat here. First trio for you is Ramondre Stevenson, Tony Pollard, who we already talked about, and Quinshawn Judkins. Again, Ramondre, Pollard, and Quinshawn, buy, sell, or hold these three.

39:28 I want to sell both Tony Pollard and Quinshawn Judkins because Judkins was my sell last week and, of course, scores two touchdowns. However, he did not see the receiving usage that we would have hoped with Dylan Sampson kind of back in the fold, so that's something to kind of pay attention to. So Pollard will still be my sell coming off the three-touchdown game. Ramondre will probably be my He's probably my buy, right?

39:51 I'm not sure I really want to buy any of them, which is kind of what makes it difficult.

39:54 I kind of agree with that, but I guess I look at it, what offense do I want the running back on? Do I want the Browns running back, the Titans running back, or the Patriots running back? I don't think that's really up for debate.

40:05 I guess the way I would, and I know you're still answering the question, but the way I would kind of think about it is Pollard's an easy sell for me, lock that in. So one of these guys has to be the buy, one of them has to be the hold. Who is cheapest? I'll just buy whichever one you think the market will allow me to get more easily. Ramondre is ranked higher in the rest of season rankings, but I do agree with you that I think Ramondre probably is the more attainable back because of the threat of like the split backfield and all that stuff.

40:31 Which is not going to happen.

40:33 I know, but just like the way people think about it in the narrative.

40:35 I agree because people don't want Ramondre and we have the Travion Henderson high, which again, I'm kind of part of it, right? I want to see this guy used, but they just don't use him. It's the classic meme of the Lamborghini in the garage. Yeah, they just don't. They don't want to use Henderson. And I know that Stevenson really ran. I mean, the fantasy points he got on the last Thursday game were very, very cheap, right?

40:58 A lot of receiving. He caught that touchdown at the end of the second quarter before halftime. So that's obviously not sustainable. But is Judkins scoring two rushing touchdowns? sustainable week after week without a receiving role in the offense then offense again no i just not trying to buy into cleveland browns players rest season so i will buy remandre if i could trade quid john judkins did you get remandre how would you do that i.

41:21 Get you know maybe i will buy judkins just like there is volume there at least maybe if they ever switch to the offense starts to look better i mean i'm guessing that won't be the case but um I don't know. I feel more comfortable with the volume going forward for Judkins as opposed to.

41:36 I mean, Judkins also has a brutal matchup against Steelers this week.

41:40 It's true.

41:42 The Steelers have been not fun for fantasy running backs facing them.

41:45 Yeah. I don't want to buy any of them, but I think if you force me, I actually think I would say hold Romandre and buy Judkins. I don't feel good about it. I don't like that trio that I put together. That wasn't a very fun one.

41:57 Stop. We got to reset.

42:00 Let's see if this one's a little bit better, although probably not. Woody Marks, Jonah Coleman coming off IR. Braylon Allen, who now Brees Hall is coming back healthy, but Allen has looked really, really good when he had the opportunity. Woody Marks, Jonah Coleman, Braylon Allen, buy, sell, and hold.

42:16 So Jonah Coleman's actually going to be my sell high. because I think that the hype for him is going to be so immense because we want to see a Broncos, we want to see a rookie running back just produce, right? Jeremiah Love has not been productive. Jadarian Price has not been productive. So it's like, right, who's the next running back we can look at that could have a bell cow role in his offense, Jonah Coleman. And you it's reflected in the rest of season rankings, where I think that he is actually the number one Broncos running back ranked in terms of he's ranked well ahead of JK Dobbins.

42:45 Maybe he's like handholding close to RJ Harvey, but The thing with Jonah Coleman is the touches were still pretty close to split with J.K. Dobbins last week. J.K. Dobbins still started. And, dude, when Sean Payton says in a press conference that, oh, we got to get this guy more touches, kiss of death, where it basically means, oh, my God, this guy is going to get totally nuked.

43:05 So I think that with Jonah Coleman, it's a screaming sell high opportunity for a player that you got off waivers for basically nothing after he was hurt for so many weeks. We know that Denver is going to still use all different types of running backs. And that would make Jonah Coleman the guy that I would try to sell high on because it's hype, right? Like he was fine in that game last week, but this wasn't like, oh my God, it's like insane dramatic takeover for Jonah Coleman.

43:32 So he would be my sell high because you can get a lot for him. I would hold onto Braylon Allen because I do want to see what this backfield looks like with Brees Hall because Braylon has looked so, so good. The team has been adamant about Brees Hall being their bell cow when he comes back, but Again, Aaron Glenn says a lot of things, right? And a lot of times they don't make a lot of sense.

43:52 So we shall see what he actually does and if Breesall is actually healthy. And that would mean Woody Marks would be my buy because I'm not convinced that Montgomery is going to come back.

44:05 I'm not convinced that Woody Marks is any good though.

44:09 I mean, so then I'll hold Woody Marks and buy Braylon Allen then. Is that better? Yeah.

44:14 That's what I– I mean I would both hold and buy Braylon Allen. Like if you have Braylon Allen, I would hold him. And if you don't, I would try to buy him. He is by far my– he's the lowest ranked of these three consensus rest of season rankings. But he is my favorite just because we know what the upside is if Brees Hall is not fully healthy.

44:30 I think I would probably– I just am not– I think I would buy Braylon Allen, hold Woody Marks, and sell Jonah Coleman. I'll tell you what I almost did, Erickson, is– The buy, sell, or hold of Jonah Coleman, RJ Harvey, JK Dobbins. Just all three Broncos running backs to see what you would do. But they were a little further apart in the rankings than I wanted to use for this.

44:52 So I decided to go with guys that were back-to-back-to-back. But I did toy with that possibility. And I'm curious what you would have done.

44:59 Yeah. JK Dobbins would seem like the sell, but because he's so cheap. And I think in that case, I'd probably have to just hold on to Jonah Coleman. Because don't get me wrong. He's the running back that I would want on my team among the Denver Broncos trio of guys.

45:16 I think Harvey might be the guy that I want.

45:19 Just sell all Broncos running backs. Whoever the market believes is going to be the guy will be wrong.

45:25 Harvey, we've seen Sean Payton get him usage to score touchdowns. He scored 12 last year as a rookie. Obviously, one in each of the last two weeks. One of them was on a really big play. Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying Harjit Harvey's that good. I'm just saying if I had to pick one, he's the one that we've seen get that opportunity before. I don't know. I'm grasping.

45:45 Well, just to unpack again, like the Coleman sell high, because he was someone I was also considering just for my straight up running back to sell instead of Tony Pollard. But when I asked Sean Payton about Jonah Coleman after the game, he said, yep, he's got more juice. He needs to get more touches. And then the next day, and this is a shout out to the coach speak index, Greg Brainos, Payton already kind of seemed to be backtracking his comments about getting Coleman more involved. Cause he was like, Hey, look, He played well. It's something that you got to earn.

46:10 I'm just like, Oh my God, dude, how could this go wrong? He also had no red zone attempts that went to JK Dobbins who ended up scoring the touchdown. And to your point, RJ Harvey is evolved a lot in the passing game. So although I like what we saw from Jonah Coleman, the hype for him might just be worth putting him on the block because I think that people might pay a lot for a Broncos running back that we've seen this before. They turned into really gross committees where no one can be trusted. So if, Jonah Coleman is only getting the carries like in between the twenties and not seeing as much as a receiver because Harvey's involved and not seeing red zone opportunities because that's where they're using JK Dobbins. I think that does

46:48 make the script pretty easy for a sell high. Also to Dobbins true carries. When you include penalties, he actually had eight carries for 40 yards. So that would only be one less carry than Jonah Coleman did have back in week seven Dobbins led the carry total eight to six before Coleman finished up in the fourth quarter. with three more carries on the Broncos' second-to-last drive before the kneel downs.

47:10 Don't forget about our weekly trade livestream on our YouTube channel, where you can come and ask your specific fantasy trade questions. We'll be with you every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern. For those listening on the podcast, just go to youtube.com slash fantasypros, subscribe, and click the bell to be notified of all of our weekly livestreams. For Erickson, I'm Ryan Wormley.

47:26 Thanks for tuning in. Please be sure to check out our wide receivers and tight ends version of this show. We'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros.