TreVeyon Henderson’s BIG Opportunity + NFL Week 5’s Biggest Storylines (Ep. 2248)

0:00 Welcome to the tailgate. I am your host, Andrew Erickson. Today, bringing up a chair for the tailgate, not Chris Welsh, it is Alfredo Brown here. Joining us here, talking ball. Alfredo, how's it going, man?

0:16 It's always great to talk ball, but it's even better when it's with you, Andrew Erickson. And yes, I am in fact not Chris Welsh for those who see that below me. But yeah, it's still great to be here, man.

0:25 I'm excited.

0:25 I'm excited.

0:27 Yeah, whether it's Chris Welsh, whether it's Alfredo Brown, it doesn't matter. We're here to break down the top five storylines heading into NFL week five. And of course, every Wednesday, the injury report comes out and immediate panic. for fantasy managers, for bettors, for gamblers, because always a laundry list of injuries, things that we knew about after week four, and then things that we didn't know about now that we have to worry about entering week five. So one of the biggest injury news updates I think we got earlier today was actually about Ramondre Stevenson for the New England Patriots.

1:01 So he came up on the injury report with a leg injury along with Christian Gonzalez and Christian Barmore. Now, I think I talked about this on the trade show with Worm. how Romandre had kind of banged up his knee. It looked like at the end of the game last week. And that's why I thought Travion Henderson was kind of like, maybe he's an interesting buy low type of player. Again, he out carried Romandre last week, but obviously the high value touches still went through to Romandre Stevenson. So Alfredo, I will get this to you. Is this something that you could see where Henderson does have a much larger role in the offense for this upcoming game against a kind of like rejuvenated Raiders defense that has kind of

1:40 been somewhat legit through the first four weeks of the season obviously Kirk Cousins has been kind of a revelation on how well he has played I know you did some charting for him as well but Stevenson if he's out do you think Henderson again obviously gonna have a bigger role in the Pats offense I.

1:53 Mean yeah he's gonna have to have a bigger role right and if this is a game too where like I almost have to ask myself Are the Patriots going to have to keep up with the Raiders? I was one of those people that, I know, I know, I'm sorry, I'm hating on your Patriots here for a second, but I was one of these people that was just not buying into the Raiders stuff as they were winning games.

2:11 And then all of a sudden, this game last week against the Chiefs really made me a believer that they are not just hanging games. They're not Rocky going the distance. They're actually the ones that are pacing some of these games with the way they're playing, with the way Kirk Cousins just looks, like I said, rejuvenated. This is one of these weeks where I think Even if Ramondre is in there, I think we could see a heavy dosage of Trevion Henderson as well in the passing game because they're just going to need big plays to keep up with the Patriots.

2:39 And if you look at how the Chiefs beat the Raiders last week, something that really stood out to me, it was not because they were. dinking and dunking down the field. It was explosive plays, right? It was hidden Taekwon Thornton for a deep post route. It was Kenneth Walker doing Kenneth Walker things where he's just ripping off like 80 yard touchdowns left and right. Ramondre doesn't do that.

3:00 I can, I love Ramondre. I think that he keeps things moving, but he doesn't break the game open. No, no, he does not. And that's why they drafted Trayvon Henderson when they did right. Because he was a game breaker and for an offense that lacked so much juice. Again, every Patriots game for the last couple seasons has been, are these guys playing underwater? Because that's how slow and sluggish they look. Not a lot of explosiveness. And then they drafted Trayvon Henderson. He returned that kickoff in the preseason game as a rookie. His ADP went to round three and we got carried away just a little bit.

3:33 But we saw the flashes even earlier this season against the Pittsburgh Steelers where he had a seam up the middle had a little bit of a hole and was off to the races for, you know, what was like a 50 yard touchdown. So Henderson, obviously this is good news for him in terms of what the workload he could get. But obviously Ramondre is still an integral part of the Patriots offense in terms of how they trust him in pass protection, which obviously a big deal. And that matters against the offensive line for the Patriots that has been up and down for a lot of this season, losing one of their starting guards a couple of weeks ago.

4:03 Will Campbell has actually played significantly better since last year. Last week was definitely not his best game, but he's going to have to bring his A game against Max Crosby and company.

4:14 Just hearing that name, like it gave me shivers that he's going to have to go up against Max Crosby, man.

4:19 Mad Max is just, dude, he is on an absolute tear. And it's like he's on a team that's like actually good, which has never been really the.

4:27 Raiders are legit. Yeah, their defense is legit, like everything. It's it's it's crazy how it's coming together for them.

4:34 Yeah, so.

4:36 And how crazy it's not coming together for the Los Angeles Chargers, right? It's like the total polar opposites where it's like maybe the Raiders can kind of figure things out. You know, how early will Fernando Mendoza get in there? How well will Kirk Cousins play? And it's been the total opposite where Kirk Cousins has been playing very, very well.

4:51 And then on the Chargers side of things, like things just keep to pile up, pile up. Again, as we're talking about injuries, is there any light at the end of the tunnel for this team when Rashawn Slater, high ankle sprain, Joe Walt dealing with a neck injury, the brutal schedule, They're facing the Denver Broncos this week, who will also be without Patrick Sertan. So that actually ties into one of our other injury updates. He's going to go on injury reserve for the next four weeks. So he missed some time last year too, but Denver versus the Chargers, two teams that are kind of going head to head here with significant injuries. Alfredo, what are your kind of thoughts on this matchup? Again, I think I

5:26 said this kind of tongue in cheek on the ranking show, but has there ever been like an easier first half under than the Chargers and Broncos game? Because how are these teams going to score?

5:36 Yeah, man, if there was one team that the vibes are equally as bad with the Chargers, it's the Broncos right now and Bo Nix. Even the Broncos fans are turning on Bo Nix at this point. It's just, it is ugly. We talked about this in our last show that we did, that RJ Harvey is essentially their wide receiver one on this offense. That tells you everything you need to know about what their offense is. Everything going forward right now for the Chargers is rough. You got Broncos, Chiefs, the Biweek, the Rams, and then maybe you're looking at the Texans where you can get a win. And then Lamar Jackson's coming back in. He's, he's back for Baltimore in week 10. It just gets rough, man. Like there's a good shot that we're looking at the, at the,

6:17 the chargers being a one win team after the buy.

6:21 We talked about this. Mike, we, Daniel, he's not going to make it to Halloween. Let me ask you this. Is he going to make it to Columbus day? Like, like that's like what, like.

6:30 I wish I knew when Columbus day was.

6:33 Well, the Chargers, you said, had Indigenous People's Day, I should be clear. With Mike McDaniel, the Chargers have a week six bye week. Is that what you said?

6:45 Week seven, week seven.

6:47 So is it if they're 0-6, do they just pull a plug then with their bye week and then they go to whoever?

6:53 You have to. There's no shot you keep him if you're 0-6. You have to make massive changes across this team if you're 0-6 because The other thing, too, is that you just lost both games to interdivision rivals, AFC West rivals. You've lost to the Broncos and the Chiefs, which are understandable losses, but you can't lose that many games like that.

7:12 Yeah, it is an absolute nightmare scenario for the Chargers. And even though they're playing at home this week, it doesn't matter because there are no Chargers fans. They don't go home games. It's a rough scene. But speaking of Lamar Jackson, also not going to be playing this week. Ian Rappaport came out earlier this week and talked about how potential to miss multiple weeks with Lamar Jackson and his ankle injury. I think it makes so much sense for them to keep him out as long as they can, because we saw last year when he came back from his injury too early and he was a shell of himself and it was just an absolute nightmare. And that caused John Harbaugh to get fired. It was part of, it was just an entire mess. So at least this

7:55 time they have Tyler Huntley already to go pro bowler. Snoop Huntley, under center, and they're not doing the... Again, it's funny because, like, why did the Falcons sign Cooper Rush after what he did with Baltimore last year? Like, what did they see with that? I was like, you know what? I think this guy can right the ship for a couple weeks and we'll wait for Michael Paddocks to get back. That was clearly wrong. So how do you feel about Huntley and this Ravens team now catching points...

8:21 on the road against the Atlanta Falcons. These lines have moved so much in the last couple of weeks. Obviously, we thought Lamar was going to be the quarterback there. The Ravens were almost a touchdown favorites. Now they're catching, I think, over a field goal playing in Atlanta. The Atlanta Falcons, third primetime game in a row. Everybody is hiring the dirty birds because they've just been destroying teams left and right. Is this a potential letdown spot for them where it's like, we're so good, we're unstoppable against a Ravens team with a backup quarterback? What do you kind of think about this matchup, Alfredo?

8:50 It would not surprise me at all. I mean, Tyler Huntley has actually been a guy that has won games for the Ravens and looked good when he's needed to fill in for Lamar. And the thing here, too, is the Ravens' offense looks so impressive with Declan Doyle calling the shots. They are doing things they have not done in previous regimes. They've got guys moving all over the offense now. Zay Flowers is completely uncoverable in this offense.

9:12 Just completely uncoverable. And maybe Snoop Huntley is the guy that ends up being the kryptonite for that, but He's been a guy that they've always been able to plug and play, and so I'm not super worried about that. With Atlanta, they won this New Orleans game in such a weird way, too, where they were just running the ball nonstop. And I know their offensive line has improved over the years, and obviously you've got Bijan Robinson, but are we truly expecting a three-touchdown performance from Brian Robinson every single week? Michael Penix has been fine. He's been fine.

9:44 The offense is much better, but we're letting the totality of the offense do a lot of heavy lifting for Michael Penix, who really hasn't made a ton of plays. It's basically, let's just get this ball as easily as we can to Drake London. So I think this is a spot where we could actually see the Falcons... choke a bit against the Tyler Huntley Ravens.

10:03 Would not be the first time the Falcons choked in any capacity when a team was really, really high. The market was really, really high. Again, the last two matchups, the Falcons have been underdogs. They've been counted out. And now the market has decided, no, we're on board. And this is usually when, you.

10:20 Know, the vibes are too good in Atlanta. That doesn't that.

10:22 Doesn't exactly like the things don't last. They don't sustain because obviously it's been a tale of two halves with the Falcons in the first four games. Right. After two weeks, this looked like the worst team in the NFL. It's like this team is going to go in 17. They can't do anything. And they finally get just an adult team.

10:37 on her center that can just like run the ball.

10:40 A legal adult.

10:42 That can run the offense and not be just like absolutely garbage at the quarterback position. And Michael Penix, to your point, like, yeah, he's like playing point guard. I think that defenses need to do a better job just challenging the Falcons. And like, can a defense put a position where they can try to make Michael Penix beat them?

10:58 And it remains to be seen if Penix is going to be able to step up to that type of challenge. I know that Hendrickson as well for the Ravens, I don't think he played last week. I know that he's been kind of banged up too. So he also matters significantly for their pass rush in terms of taking advantage of Michael Penix, who's not definitely the most mobile guy.

11:15 They have an injury too on their offensive line with Jake Matthews, their longtime tackle, who if he does start for this game, it'll be his 200th consecutive start. I mean, you can't not get to 200, Jake. Just suit up, take one snap like Case Keenum did. And then get out of the game.

11:31 I saw that graphic on TV where it was like the tackles that have done it before. And it was him and his dad. We're all like one of the four tackles.

11:39 You got to make your dad proud, man. You got it. Before we get to more of our storylines, I want to talk to you about a chance to win one of the most unique pieces of NFL fan gear out there. The large NFL PA wall smack. Courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware. then this is your shot. Their oversized official license NFL PA wall smack are bold statement pieces that are perfect for your fan cave, office, or living room wall. It's not just decor. It's a way to rep your favorite players in style. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to the Tailgate YouTube channel right now. Drop a comment below on any of our videos.

12:21 That's it. Be announcing a winner right here on the channel. So make sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim this epic prize.

12:28 Now.

12:29 Before we actually get to the next storyline, I do want to hit on some of these comments here, some questions here from the chat, because we love the chat. Adam S.R. Grimm asks, are the Eagles giving up Alfredo? So this actually does tell to one of our main topics and storylines is they traded away center Cam Juergens to the Baltimore Ravens, who we were just talking about as well. And Alfredo, I think that this is kind of spot on here where the Eagles look at their team and they're thinking, OK, offense is really broken. Defense is not playing nearly as well as it did last year.

13:04 What are we trying to do with all of our injuries? Our top three skill players, say one Barkley, Dallas Goddard, Devonta Smith, injured, injured, injured, like trading away piece to again, Baltimore really need interior offensive line help. So I think there's a great move for them because they've just been gutted on that interior getting Cam Juergens. But is this a sign that Eagles are looking ahead to 2027 because I feel like it is.

13:27 I would have said that if the early pick they got was a 2027 pick. I believe the second round pick they got was a 2028 pick. It's almost like they're looking at like, man, we are good, but not good enough. And if there was ever a team that I could imagine like their owner stays up all day and night listening to local sports talk radio and listening to fans just butcher them, it's Philly. and i the vibes right now are atrocious very similar to the chargers and the broncos and everything that's going on there i don't want to say that they're giving up but damn it feels like it dude like it just feels like they are really giving up at this point and understandably so kind of like you have this many injuries and

14:06 things just aren't going well and your new hire at offensive coordinator sean manion like That's another one that I have to ask if he makes it through the season as well. This was such a disappointment. A guy who was coming from the McVeigh LaFleur tree and was supposed to do all these great things and do all the stuff that we were praising Declan Doyle for. But it has just not been a good offense. Jalen Hurts is still having the same problems. And now you just have all of your best players hurt or retiring. It could not be worse.

14:32 Yeah, and then, of course, this is when the Eagles are going to go to London. It's one of the best, like, we got to get out of the country because the vibes right now are just absolutely terrible for Philadelphia. It's like, let's go to London and just try to leave everything behind us in the United States, go play an international game.

14:47 There has never been a team that needed to get out of this country more.

14:51 Do they bring Sean Mannion back, though? That is the question.

14:54 From London? Just stay there.

14:56 Coaches get fired in acts after they get blown out in these international games. It's like, you know what? Enjoy Europe. Just just stay here. Hang out. Go to, you know, do your thing. Get some tea. Go see Big Ben. Maybe go to Paris.

15:09 That's nuts, by the way. If you fire a coach while in the UK. It's like, don't worry, we got you a coach flight back. You're not getting on this.

15:18 One, pal. I mean, I mean, there are these are a better place, though. Again, you're already out there. It's like maybe take.

15:25 I don't know at home.

15:27 Alfredo, where would you go in Europe? If you were left there for a week, where would be some of your stop?

15:31 Oh, it would be bad if I just got fired from my job after losing a game in London. I'm taking the train to Amsterdam and you're not hearing from me for a few weeks.

15:40 And Amsterdam for seven days straight, baby.

15:42 Yeah, you're not hearing from me for a while.

15:46 Oh, man. More of the questions. Better call Bob asked about are the Raiders for real? I think we kind of hit on that talking about legitimately how good Kirk Cousins has played. Alfredo, I know that you did some charting. Any other layers you want to add in about just how Kirk Cousins has really taken on this Clint Kubiak offense?

16:05 Yeah, I mean, I was honestly surprised not just that the offense is working well, but like how well he worked under pressure. There were so many times the offensive line was able to stop the pass rush, but when they did get through, like Kirk was able to maneuver the pocket well. Clint Kubiak, I mean, he's been doing he's doing all the same things that helped Sam Darnold look so good last year. He's, he's narrowing down the field for Kirk. He's making the read simple and they're spreading things out and then attacking the middle of the field.

16:32 Like they just, Clint Kubiak just does things offensively that I wish more offensive coordinators could do. And what the good thing right now is like with, with Kirk, his body is holding up to it. And I think that was the worry, right? It's like, does he still have it in him? Can he throw the ball with some sort of power? Can he move around the pocket? And he's doing all those things. He's fixing those concerns. When I see him, avoid two blitzers and then just throw a dot in the middle of the field to Michael Mayer.

16:57 That's the other thing is like, he's not doing it with the top talent. I know we love Brock Bowers and we, and we love Ashton Ginty and Michael Mayer has been everyone's favorite backup tight end for the longest time. His best receiver right now is Trey Tucker and Jalen Naylor, Jack bash who's hurt. And we're getting Cody white off the practice squad, catching touchdowns.

17:15 White making some, I mean, that sideline catch he had adjusting to the ball.

17:20 He's going to be a starter, dude. Like it's, it's, it's not just practice squad to active. He is, he needs to be a starter.

17:25 Yeah.

17:26 Yeah. Cody White, I believe he was with Seattle last year. Kubiak brought him back with the Raiders. Jalen Naylor, probably not going to play because he had got, he got smashed. I mean, again, of all the good Kirk Cousins throws, bit of a hospital ball there with Kirk Cousins did not necessarily help out Jalen Naylor. But that being said, I think, yeah, we're going to see a healthy dose of Cody White against the New England Patriots. And we'll see if Christian Gonzalez locks up with Brock Bowers. That'll be an interesting matchup for sure. I know that we saw that in the matchup last week. You saw Delane, Mansour Delane. The Chiefs put him on Brock Bowers on a couple of his routes. So we know that Brock

18:00 Bowers glorified receiver, slot receiver, not really playing the traditional tight end position, but a really fun matchup between the Raiders and Patriots. I feel like I've been on the Patriots in terms of thought they were going to get smoked by Jacksonville. Correct. Thought they had a chance against the Bills. Correct. This matchup against the Raiders, I don't have a good feel for it. I don't know which way I feel about they're playing at home. That's great.

18:22 But I've been impressed by the Raiders defense and, and Kirk Cousins has been good. So I'm not ready to, again, if you asked me this four weeks ago, like he's washed, Patriots are going to frigging smoke the Raiders, but the Raiders beat the Patriots last year in Gillette and Gino Smith was the quarterback. Do you ever, do you ever read on Raiders Patriots? Any vibes, any feels?

18:43 And this is so like cheap to say, I really feel like it's just going to come down to the quarterbacks. And it's like, which one can handle the pressure better? Because I think both these teams are going to try to blitz heavy on these quarterbacks because they both can rip it, right? Like they can both beat you if you just sit back and coverage, but it's who can we actually get to and make them who's going to win the turnover battle? I think that's going to be the big thing here. Drake may has been a bit more susceptible to that this season is letting those turnovers happen while Kirk has been protecting ball really well. So if the Patriots want to win, they've got to create some turnovers from Kirk and then vice versa. The same

19:16 thing is like, can you just keep getting Drake made to turn the ball over? If you're the Raiders, their defense, I think their whole team has been overperforming, but this doesn't necessarily need to be the week that they stopped doing. Yeah.

19:27 I think an interesting nugget from this game too, it's going to be the Clint Kubiak offense against Mike Rabel defense, which we saw in the Superbowl. And that obviously did not work well for my New England Patriots. Ken Walker is still running for touchdowns in my nightmares. Speaking of Ken Walker, better call Bob another question for him. Do you guys think that K-9 cracks a 2,000-yard rushing mark?

19:50 this season? I feel like you have to say no because he's only been four games, but now that he says it and I'm thinking about, well, I mean, is it possible?

20:03 I would love nothing more. The schedule is also pretty good for him, too. Going forward here, man, it's a matter of can he hold up? Can his body hold up to this many touches? Let's see. He has had 20 or more touches in every single game this year. That's got to be a high for his career, right? I love Ken Walker.

20:27 Easily, yeah.

20:28 I love Ken Walker. I was touting him as a first-round draft pick this year. I think he was my RB6 in rankings this year. I think he can. I think he can flirt with it. And I think, I think 1800 is, is like right there for his taking 2000 is we forget how tough that really is. Yeah.

20:46 It's, it's absolutely insane and bonkers that guys are still being able to achieve this, especially with that period where it looked like running backs and the running backs don't matter like that whole mantra. But then over the last four or five years, we've seen this running back Renaissance where these guys, especially cause we've had a lot of strong draft classes, uh, where running backs have been coming out.

21:06 And now the NFL is really embracing it because teams and defenses are trying to take away those explosive plays. But how do you crack the code on that? And that's why we all could agree the signing of Ken Walker to the Chiefs just made so much sense because this team needs to generate explosives again with their running back because the Kareem Hunts of the world is not going to get it done. Like enough of this Kareem Hunt stuff where it's just like three yards in a cloud of dust every single time. And now you're seeing exactly what we all pictured it would be like if the Chiefs actually had an explosive running back in Ken Walker.

21:36 So I'm here for it. And I've said this on a couple of different shows because people always ask, like, should I sell high in Ken Walker? Like, we know the injury history. Like, he's going to break down. I just think that this is like his year. Like, this is his special season. This is his DeMarco Murray season where we can talk about in 2027 about how he's going to regress and how it's not going to repeat. Sure.

21:57 But for right now, it's like, dude, enjoy it, man. like we've waited so long for Ken Walker to be a bell cow and for a team to embrace how freaking good he is ever since he, I mean, he was good at Michigan state. Like he was good at Michigan state. He was good at wake forest. He was good in Seattle. He was good as a rookie. And now it's like, dude.

22:14 He was my favorite running back in that draft class and I had him over Brees Hall and I remember getting just like dog walked by people for that. And for years, I was so frustrated that he wouldn't get the volume. And now we're seeing Andy Reid loves to give a bell cow back volume. He loves it because it's the easiest thing he can continue to rely on.

22:32 He can control the pace of the game. He can do whatever he wants. And with this offense, like even if you're going out there with Cyrus Allen as your leading receiver for the chiefs, defenses are still respecting the past because it's Patrick Mahomes. So no matter what, you're never going to be able to stack the box against Ken Walker. So I, yeah, I just, I love this man.

22:50 I'm really happy for him.

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23:30 $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10. All right, Alfredo, let's wrap things up with the last couple storylines here. Some trades swirling, some rumors about trade players. Adam Schefter dropped a large article. I think it was either on Sunday or Monday talking about five players. I've picked out two that I thought were kind of the most polarizing in terms of guys being dealt before the trade deadline, which as a reminder is November 10th. So about a month away. Marvin Harrison Jr., who it seems like inevitably is going to be in Annapolis Colt at some point because he's going to follow in his daddy's footsteps. It just makes so much sense. Like, get this guy out of Arizona.

24:09 Get him on the Raiders.

24:12 On the Raiders. It would be so great. Yes. Get Kirk Cousins, another wide receiver. Again, we talked about Cody White. Big Cody White fans. Still, having a guy like Marvin Harrison Jr. would probably be really helpful.

24:24 I want them to think long term for Fernando Mendoza. Because if you're good, what are the odds that you're getting yourself a top-tier wide receiver in the back end of the first round? We always see the good teams try to do that, and you get Quentin Johnson every year. Maybe Marvin Harrison ain't it, but if you trade a day two pick, like a round three pick for Marvin Harris Jr., a guy who can catch the back shoulder fade and be able to win on certain routes like that with Fernando Mendoza, I wonder if it works out.

24:50 One of the players that Schefter did not name was Brian Thomas Jr., but I think that he would also be a good fit with the Las Vegas Raiders for the ability to take the top off the ball. And Alfredo, I mentioned this on an earlier tailgate show, but do you think that not having a legitimate deep threat on the Raiders offense, again, Trey Tucker, you take it, you leave it, whatever. Is that going to open up opportunities for Gentee, do you think? Because right now the efficiency has not been there from a rushing standpoint. If you have a legitimate field stretcher like a Brian Thomas Jr.

25:21 or even a Marvin Harrison Jr., do you think that would help open things up in the running? I tend to think so. It's got to. What do you think?

25:27 It's got to because you never have teams that are playing back on the Raiders, right? Like they're never playing high shell against the Raiders. They're just basically watching Brock Bowers where you think he's a phenomenal athlete, but you're not worried about him burning you deep, right? So you'll end up either going man or even– doubling up on Bowers, but then everyone else is stacking the line against the Raiders here and either trying to get their hands on Kirk Cousins with the blitz or stacking the line and not allowing Ashton Ginty to run because they know this is the only way they can do it. So yeah, I mean, getting someone that can stretch the field for them would be great. I just don't know who they're

25:59 actually going to get that's going to make a big difference.

26:03 See, it's always fun because we talk about these like high profile players when in reality, they're just going to get like Hollywood Brown. It's like, as their field, it's like every time you didn't get, you didn't get Marv, you didn't get Brian Thomas. We get Hollywood Brown. That's who we're going to bring as our field stretcher. And the other guy that I thought was interesting running back for the Tennessee Titans, Tony Pollard. It makes all the sense in the world for the Titans to let this guy walk in a trade because he's on an expense.

26:28 He's on an expired deal. He's gonna be free agent at the end of the season. He's playing on a team that's winless. It's probably going to be 0-5 after playing the Houston Texans this week. We don't know when the Titans are going to win a game next. But where would he go? Who would trade a fifth-round pick?

26:44 Let's go with Tony Pollard. Obviously, you could see an injury happen within the next month or so to one of these teams that may need a running back. Do the Eagles trade for Tony Pollard? The way that Howie operates, it doesn't really seem like that would be something he would do. Makes sense for Pollard to leave Tennessee in a trade. But do you think we need another injury for a team to actually pull the trigger?

27:06 I'm trying to like I'm looking at the teams right now of who would need him. Does he go to the Packers if they find out that Josh Jacobs is done for the year? The NFL wants to look at that video and maybe they have already and they're figuring out how to handle it. looking through the rest of the league here, Texans, but then you just have three bad running backs and you don't need that.

27:29 I don't know. I don't see a scenario where this really works out for Pollard where it's like, oh yeah, I'm just going to this great team. You assume he would go to some type of contending team, right? Especially because he's on an expired contract, he plays running back, he's a little bit older, so.

27:46 I mean, the only thing I'm looking at here, maybe that works, is if all of the Vikings running backs eventually get injured, and then you're just like, okay, well, we can throw you in here, but I just, I don't know that it's there.

27:57 Yeah, I think we'll probably need another injury at the running backs. I think Minnesota is a good pull. I think that's interesting if they decide, because Aaron Jones, there's no way he can keep this up. Jordan Mason should be fine, but he got hurt last year. He does have a thumb injury. Again, not expected to keep him out long term, but If Aaron Jones were to go down based on just the sheer amount of volume he's been taking on, Tony Pollard is a nice compliment. I think Jordan Mace would probably work pretty well. And the Vikings are somehow 4-0. They've won nine straight games with how many different quarterbacks have they played over the last nine games?

28:29 Did he go back to Dallas?

28:32 That was something else I was thinking about, too, because their RB2 is kind of like up in the air.

28:36 And.

28:37 They would probably like to have it strong.

28:38 It's Amari DiMarcato right now, and it was Malik Davis before that who's been on IR.

28:42 Well, it's actually been the last couple weeks. It's been Tyler Goodson.

28:44 That's right.

28:45 He's been the guy that's been filling in because DiMarcato has either been hurt or a healthy scratch. So I think Dallas, too. It's like, you bring Pollard back. The fans are going to love it. You send him a fifth or sixth round pick. Yeah, actually.

28:56 He's competitive. He knows the players. It just... I think it works.

29:01 Dude, free Tony Pollard season's back in Dallas.

29:03 No, it's not. It's just as bad. He's a backup there. What's better being, being the, the, the RB one B or the RB two in a better offense or being the RB one and one of the worst offenses in the league.

29:16 No, the, the, we just know that line will be, will be glorious when, when Tony Paul gets the workload on a good offense, Dallas also getting back Tyler Smith soon, which will be a boost for their offensive line. They just, are they going to smoke the bucks? Is there any chance that the bucks like have a shot here or is it just Dak is going to go frigging nuclear?

29:37 I love the story of Jalen Daniels and I'm really rooting that he can play well.

29:42 No, it's just that's kind of how that's kind of how I feel. Play the points, boys and girls with the Dallas Cowboys. All right. Before we head out, let's answer a couple of questions here from Scott Cooney. Should I trade Monty and Denzel Boston for Saquon Barkley? So this is kind of like the trades we talked about in the trade stream where it's like, uh, your garbage, my garbage.

30:06 We want to make a deal. I, this is, it's kind of wild. Cause I'm actually in a league where I just sent out a message to everyone and I'm just like, send me your lowest ball offer for Saquon Barkley. And I'll probably say yes. And I don't know if I'd say yes to this, if I'm the Saquon manager, but, If I'm trading away Monty in Boston, I'm kind of just like, yeah, whatever at this point, right? Let's just go for it. I'm not going to win anything anyways.

30:35 I might as well just take the full-on risk and see if Saquon has any juice left. If I'm the Saquon manager, I don't know that I'm accepting this.

30:44 Yeah. I'll take the Saquon side then. If you can take it. If you're getting Saquon, then I think it's fine because Monty, he's a depreciated asset like Denzel Boston, but considering how running back needy a lot of fantasy teams are, it's Take a shot. I don't hate it. Steven Garcia. Current roster at 10-man, PPR, Superflex. You can see the roster here. Cousins, T-Law, Murray, Bijan, Walker, Korm, Stevens, and Neighbors. Tate, McLaurin, Agbuka, Golden, A.J. Brown. Team offer me Gibbs and Michael Wilson for Kenneth Walker, A.J. Brown, and Tate.

31:17 Interesting. Well, I love me Ken Walker, and I love me Carnell Tate.

31:21 So you're getting... But you're offering Gibbs. I mean.

31:26 And Michael Wilson.

31:27 I think I'm taking the Walker, AJB, and... Tate, yeah. Tate's a.

31:33 I think we're just scratching the surface of what we're going to get with Carnell Tate.

31:37 Yeah, I agree. I mean, he's definitely ascending. And then you get the... It feels weird to call AJ Brown a wild card, but there's a chance that he does come back and.

31:45 He's almost the throw-in at this point. Yeah.

31:47 So, if you look at Gibbs and Walker as close to a wash, obviously, I think we both take Gibbs. But, I mean... We actually have more fantasy points this year. Is it not Ken Walker? It's got to be close. I don't know.

31:57 It's very close.

31:59 I just like assume that Bijan Walker and Gibbs just have like an infinite amount of fantasy points above everybody else.

32:05 And yeah, Gibbs is still the RB1. Walker is RB2, but it's not.

32:11 By a lot.

32:11 So yeah, so that's a wash essentially. And then Michael Wilson obviously has a lot of stock right now playing the Lions this week. But long term, AJ Brown, Tate, I think are good investments. So yeah, I think that's a good deal.

32:23 Gibson wilson gives you almost an automatic win this week though if that's the case because you've got walker on the buy and if you're if you're desperate for a win which i don't feel like you are with your roster there that that.

32:34 Almost gives you an automatic win elam oh my god 11 hopefully i didn't butcher that pronouncing it definitely did should i trade i'm on raw for giovante williams and davante adams starting pretty travion genti neighbors likely kincaid 12 man league nope.

32:53 I want to.

32:53 I'm keeping the Sun God.

32:56 I want to keep Amonra there. I think there's something better you can get if you're trading away Amonra. I just don't love this. I think you can still kind of just keep figuring out RB2. This isn't even the week to do it. We might get a full workload for Trevion. Amonra against the Cardinals too. This is a massive blowup week. If anything, if you need to trade him next week, do that.

33:19 The Lions schedule is just chef's kiss the rest of the way. I don't think they play outside again until like week 18. Or no, they play outside. The next time they play outside, I think is in Miami.

33:29 They won't even experience snow this year.

33:32 Yeah, like maybe that week 18 in Chicago, that's going to be obviously terrible weather and that'll be, but week 18.

33:37 We don't worry about that for fantasies.

33:40 So it doesn't matter.

33:40 Unless your commissioner hates you. Yes.

33:43 Yes. Unless your commissioner hates you. It's going to make you play Jared Goff outside in the cold.

33:47 Yeah, that's absolutely brutal.

33:48 Nikki Luwu. I have Josh Allen by week seven. Who should I stash for that week? Gino, Kyler, Brissett. Thank you for including the matchups too. That's very, very helpful. Stroud, Watson. My league is position limits and I'm full on running backs and wide receivers already. So I mean, Gino versus the Dolphins. That's seems like a pretty strong start. Stroud, a lot of good options here. I'd probably be the Gino or Stroud for me between these quarterbacks.

34:14 That Giants defense has been impressive lately. They've been getting some pass rush in there. We've seen Javon Holland getting a bunch of game-winning interceptions. Deontay Banks had himself a pick six last week. I think for the Giants, their struggle has been just getting healthy. So even though I like Stroud, I don't know that I want to have him go against that Giants defense because they might be a little spicy. Kyler should have balled out against Miami, and he didn't. So I don't know that I want to go with him. I'm doing the process of elimination here, so I can't trust him against Indy. I actually think it's Geno or Watson here for me. Maybe Brissette as well against Denver without Pat Sertan. They've got a lot

34:50 of injuries too. So probably Brissette.

34:53 Yeah, Brissette for you. I will go with Geno. I mentioned this on one of the shows we did, but Geno Smith in the Jets offense last week ran 32 plays. The last time we saw a team run that few many plays was in 2025 with the Raiders. They lost 31 to zero to the Chiefs. The quarterback of that team was Geno Smith. But the next game, Juno Smith, four touchdowns. Just say it, dude. The regression always hits.

35:22 Saquon for Jalen Coker. Do you think I can get better from Troy Jams?

35:28 I think it's kind of fair, but I do think you can probably get better. This is a this is one of those not trash for trash, but this is injured for injured. And I think you're OK doing that. It just it really depends on what the the build of your team is. Are you comfortable enough at running back to basically lose your first round pick for a wide receiver, two or three flex in any given week?

35:50 I think I need more, even if it's just in another piece and it's Coker plus something, even I think you need a running back to in this deal. Like if you're going to trade away Saquon, like you got to get a running back back, even if it's like Jordan, like even it's like Jordan Mason plus something else. Like I need something more if I'm going to give up a running back that look sick with injured now, but even if he comes back on a broken offense, he's still running back on a broken offense, which is, can be an RB too. So just, I want to keep that context. Uh, what are you doing with that? Buka?

36:16 Sal gave us an update in the, in the background here, by the way, Texan side, deuce Vaughn and their practice squad. No need to trade for Tony Pollard or any running back.

36:23 Oh my God. Deuce Vaughn.

36:26 Thank you, Sal.

36:28 Thank you, Sal. What are we doing with that? Buka hold trade. Uh, he was my cell last week on the show. And then he went out and had what? Two catches for like three yards. So I think the cell window is kind of gone. Uh, you can't really get anything for him. So I think it's hold. Hope he pops off against Dallas.

36:44 You've got some weeks here, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Carolina, and Atlanta. If AJ Terrell is still out there, like, yeah, you, you have potentially all of the best matchups you could have for Ibuka. If you can't trade them, you kind of hold, but I'm actually, I have him and I can't trade them and I'm benching him. Yeah.

37:05 Yeah.

37:06 So, Yeah, hope for the better matchups. Hopefully him and Jalen Daniels can develop a connection. Although, I kind of felt like Jalen Daniels had kind of like, I feel like he had a little bit of a vibe with Ted Hurst, honestly. Just like watching that game against the Tigers.

37:20 He loves to throw the ball deep. That's Ted Hurst's thing, man, is go get those contested catches.

37:24 Yeah, and you get the rookie-rookie connection. It's like, guys, they went to the rookie camps, the rookie training. I mean, that's who you're probably playing with the most when you're in training camp. Like, Baker Mayfield's playing with the starters. Who do you think Jalen Daniels was repping with? it was probably guys like Ted Hurst. So Egbuka has just been big disappointment second half of last year because he was banged up. Baker was banged up. Better days hopefully ahead for Egbuka, but maybe those matchups he can take advantage of. Last or two last two questions here because we also have a super chat. So let's do Moneyville4551.

37:51 Should I start Dak or Goff this week? I just want all the Cowboys, so I'm going to start Dak.

37:59 This is a tough one because Goff's got himself a good matchup. It's Cardinals and it's such a funnel there man my worry is that the cowboys do so well against the bucks they don't have to pass anymore they just run it all the way through and we maybe even get deck off the field in the.

38:15 Fourth quarter i feel like i've thought about that in certain matchups and then i always get burned because it's oh well they benched back in fourth quarter because he threw for five.

38:24 Touchdowns yeah right like that happens too yeah.

38:28 So like i i find that at i get burned more often than not so it's just like I don't care.

38:33 They're both safe. Which one do you think has the better upside?

38:37 I think it's Dak. I really think, especially with the Bucs, because they sell out to stop the run, no matter what. So I just think that Dak's going to be like, oh, we can't run the ball? Then let's just keep the run. Like, they're playing at home. They're on a... They've won two of their last three games. They've covered the spread three straight. Again, if they hadn't lost in that crazy finish in that Brazil game, we'd talk about the Cowboys as 3-1. Like, cooking here. So I'm going to go with Dak Prescott.

39:00 Last question here. Shout out to Overcome Super Chat. Overcome70x7. Drop Kelsey or Tyreek Hill to make room for Jane Daniels to come off my IR. Yeah, drop Tyreek Hill.

39:12 Drop Tyreek Hill. The justice system might be dropping Tyreek Hill, man, like you can drop him too.

39:19 Easy question. Okay, before the actual last question, because we have like 10 questions about Austin Eckler. Talk Austin Eckler. Eckler, talk about Eckler. Eckler, Eckler, Eckler. Eckler, obviously big fantasy guy big football guy we love austin eckler here um look good last week looked explosive looked like he was well rested alfredo do you have thoughts on austin eckler before we get out of here.

39:42 Um i want to be more excited i'm Are we still have Kaliak Manas starting at quarterback there?

39:51 I think Jane Daniels is supposed to start.

39:53 He's supposed to be back.

39:54 Yep.

39:54 That's the expectation. We have a graphic for it. And we're sure that he's healthy. He has a brace on his elbow, not pictured in this graphic here, but he will have a brace on his elbow, hopefully protecting it. So I'm expecting him to be back for week five. He's practicing in full. That's the report that we got here on Wednesday as a recording. I think the only thing with Eckler that you have to press pause on is Rashad White didn't play last week. And I think that Eckler would probably be clearly behind Rashad White. And Rashad White's also practicing in full this week coming off of his shoulder injury. So if Rashad White's active, then you can't really expect much of Eckler. He'll be the RB3.

40:29 Yeah, he's just the insurance policy at this point, not a guy you can flex.

40:34 Awesome. Well, thank you guys for hanging out and watching with us. Again, as a reminder, after tomorrow's game, after the Dallas Cowboys destroy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, The Fantasy Dude is going to tell you about his biggest takeaways right here on the Tailgate YouTube channel. So again, thank you guys all for watching. For me, Andrew Erickson. For Alfredo Brown. For Sal Behind the Scenes. We'll see you next time.