Week 4 Fantasy Football Reactions & Injuries + Early Week 5 Waiver Wire (Ep. 2240)

0:00 All right. Welcome, everybody, to the Fantasy Pros Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Modai. I'm joined by Tara Roberts and Dr. Deepak Chona. Today, we're going to be, of course, it's Sunday. It's week four. We got a ton of stuff to react to. Injuries, big performances, small performances, everything in between.

0:18 But Tara, we'll start with you. Do you have a good fantasy day? How'd everything go?

0:22 Um, so far so good. Um, had to start Ollie Gordon in a league. So thank God for that one. Yeah.

0:29 It was a forced, um, forced under duress.

0:32 So yay on that coming through, um, quarterback days, a little strange as well. Um, you know, unfortunately with the Marcus Mariota thing, he was one of my favorite streamers and unfortunately the injury earlier, but.

0:45 Other than that, you know, it was an okay day. It was an okay day, but hate the injuries as always.

0:49 Yeah, that always puts a bummer on everything, especially right before we were recording. We had some tough ones come through. Doc, how about you?

0:58 Good on the fantasy front, not so good on the real life front. Texans looking rough, so I don't know.

1:04 Yeah, that's a tough L. Well, actually, Tara and I will talk about the Texans because that defense was supposed to be the next big thing. They've been awesome for a couple years, not so much, but we'll start with the injuries. That's why we have you on. I feel like last time I was on here, week two, we had some terrible ones, but Obviously, some big names you see on here. The two receivers for the Bengals, Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. We had the concussion for Jamar.

1:27 The groin slash adductor for Tee. Saquon Barkley left again on the first drive, this time with a hamstring injury. Lamar didn't play the second half, left with an ankle. And Rishi Rice left pretty early with a hammy. That's what you see on the graphic here. We have some other... names, some not as small. Let's get that. There we go.

1:47 Some not as big ones, but we had Tank Bigsby leave the game, so Saquon Barkley left, DJ Moore, shoulder injury, Menungai Thumb, Mariota Knee, and then Ladd with the foot, and then Taequann Thornton. So we'll start with the big names. What do we have on the Bengals receivers? We'll go with Jamar and then T.

2:02 Yeah, so Jamar Chase, if he's diagnosed with a concussion, which is what it sounds like, then he has a chance to play next week, but about two-thirds of players would miss the first game and then return the following. The average return through concussion protocol is right around seven or eight days. So again, most players would miss one week and then return. Usually don't see much of a dip when they come back. Then T. Higgins, he is diagnosed with a groin or adductor strain and he tried to come back in. It's not totally clear how severe it is. The overall sort of average timelines on these is about one game out one to two is where most do tend to fall, but the severity varies and they'll get an MRI tomorrow. We'll learn a little more

2:46 and his return to practice timeline is going to tell the severity story.

2:50 Sure. So I feel like we've talked a lot about groin and adductors with the Hopuka situation. Is there any concern for a hernia here or is that not the case?

2:57 Unlikely in this case, especially because they're calling it adductor. So that is really more that classic groin strain that as you're kind of spreading legs and the muscle pulling on you. So It does affect wide receivers cutting and starting and stopping. But with that being said, when they come back, they usually come back at 80 plus percent of their pre-injury performance level right away.

3:20 Gotcha. So it sounds like most like the most likely scenarios that we at least don't have the two Bengals stars next week. Tara, what are we doing with our Bengals without T and without without Jamar?

3:30 Yeah, there's good and bad.

3:31 They're going to have extra time to heal up because the Bengals are on a week six, so that means that we could have two weeks here backed up.

3:39 That also puts us kind of.

3:40 In a weird position because if both of them are out, this offense, you know, it's Joe Burrow, extremely effective. Yeah, we've got Mike Gasicki and whatnot, but when we saw Dante Myers step up, we know that we've tried, you know, with Mitch Tinsley in the past, but at this point, like, it doesn't feel like that's something that's going to happen.

3:57 So with Myers, seven receptions, nine targets, 82 yards. I would put in like a very conservative bid, but he could be a potential streaming option for next week. But again, super conservative, um, just because of the fact that based off what we're hearing right now about the injury timeline, wouldn't be something that we would be able to utilize more than likely after the week six by.

4:18 Yeah.

4:18 And then, I mean, chase Brown, he got a ton of targets, didn't have much on the ground, but I'm just, we'll see a lot of him through the air. Um, so, okay, we'll, we'll, we'll go to the next one. Saquon Barkley. Um, I mean, it looked bad. He, you could see him say my hamstring, uh, You never like to see that. So what are we seeing on Saquon?

4:33 Yeah, average with all comers for hamstrings is somewhere around the two to three week timeline. Now, he doesn't have a significant hamstring history, which does work in his favor. But the severity on these varies. And it's a similar story with him and Rishi Rice. You saw both of them kind of pull up limp at the end of a play. And so, again, the timeline so far, I would just ballpark it for your planning somewhere around the three week timeline. But the re-injury risk is really the concern with these hamstrings, especially the more severe ones, if that's what it turns out to be, can be upwards of 20%. Gotcha.

5:05 And was it about the same for Saquon and Rishi Rice, like kind of the same injury, same mechanism?

5:11 Similar mechanism, similar looking injury. It's hard to read into severity of these muscle strains based on the video itself. But with that being said, you typically see a relatively rapid ramp up in production just with that re-injury risk kind of looming usually the first six weeks back.

5:29 Gotcha.

5:29 Yeah.

5:29 I mean, good week for guys returning from hamstring injuries, considering what we saw from Zay Flowers and Nico Collins. So whenever they come back, hopefully we see something like that. And then I know he wasn't on the graphic, but just curious because he's Saquon's backup. I didn't even see an injury listed, but Tank Bigsby left the game, seemed to be in a lot of pain. So do you have any information there?

5:45 Yeah, they called it an undisclosed lower body. It doesn't tell you much, but basically his leg was open. His stance was open as he was being driven into the ground. If he's lucky, that's a contusion that you come back from in about a week. On the other side of that, it is hard to know if the hip joint itself was at all affected. I would suspect this one gets an MRI and then we know a little bit more.

6:07 Gotcha.

6:08 Hopefully we know more by Wednesday, waiver day. But Tara, let's assume that we don't know much about Tank Bigsby's status. Will Shipley, are we going to the nasty practice squad with Damian Pierce? What are we doing with Eagles running backs?

6:20 Oh, come on. You know, I like Will Shipley here. That is my Clemson boy.

6:25 It's interesting because we haven't seen like a full game of it. Right.

6:31 Because Saquon's been going down with the injuries and coming back.

6:33 Right. But he did that last season as well, where he'd go down for a little bit. Um, then come back the next week. So we have like the tiny little sample size and obviously Bixby is the one that we would want to target, but it is important to note that it is not 100% his backfield. It doesn't appear that way. They like Will Shipley. They utilize him, especially on third downs as well. And it doesn't appear to be just like an even splint of, okay. Like, um, like we see with Seattle. Okay. This is our early down guy. This is our goal line guy. And this is our third down guy. Um, we saw some utilization in the red zone and inside the five for will Shipley as well.

7:06 So I think it's worth it.

7:07 Like if tank big, hopefully we get some kind of clarity so that we don't have to do the whole Ollie Gordon, Jalen, right.

7:13 Kind of situation.

7:14 Making bids on two guys but preference if we have a healthy tank bigsby would be tank and if not it is definitely reasonable to go ahead and make that claim on um will shipley as well the run game hasn't been effective but after week five they do you know if maybe this hamstring extends a little bit longer the matchups are carolina and dallas after that so there's positive matchups that are on down the.

7:36 Road yeah yeah we just hope we have some some some clarity at least on tank because he's going to be the one everybody's going to be dropping fab on and if he's out for a couple of weeks. That's, you're just wasting money there. Okay. So last one on the graphic that we have here is Lamar Jackson. I think they described it as an ankle injury and you know, you can correct me from on, but it kind of seemed like if the game was closer, they probably would have put him back in, but just curious what you have on him.

7:58 They did give that impression. They did say the same about Zay Flowers. Then he missed a couple of weeks. So I'm not reading too much into that. Now, Lamar Jackson, it looked like a high ankle type mechanism. The, foot didn't stay caught in the ground as it slid. So with that in mind, I would think it would be on the milder side, but most players would miss at least one week. So next week I would call very much in doubt. They'll sort of have to see how swollen the ankle gets and how much he has the ability to protect himself. And that's where I would be worried in the sense that, you know, a mobile quarterback, one, you would expect some level of production dip, even when he comes back from potentially a mild high ankle, but two,

8:36 it's prone to re-aggravation if you rush it back. So My thought is he probably misses this coming week and then.

8:42 Comes back the following. Gotcha.

8:45 Okay.

8:45 And Tara, if we don't have Lamar next week, obviously you're not benching Derek Henry or Zay Flowers, but you're definitely lowering them in your rankings. Oh, a little bit. Yeah.

8:53 Cause I'm fortunate. I mean, they're both so fantastic.

8:56 They still go into the must start range, but yeah, you would be able to start making those decisions in terms of, Hey, am I starting a, um, you know, a Nico Collins, or do I just go ahead and say, look, I'm just going with Nico.

9:07 Let's just bypass that. You know, it'll be the higher end choices that we have to make.

9:12 Yeah.

9:12 Yeah. And you know, Derek Henry, I had him for two plus touchdowns. He scored the first drive. I thought I was sitting pretty and then Margo's down at halftime and we have, and we have nothing. Um, so, okay. Some, some other names we have here and I'm just going in order that we have on the sheet, not necessarily in order of importance, but DJ more shoulder injury. I know he left two weeks ago, uh, dealing with the shoulder.

9:30 What do we have there?

9:31 Yeah, the mechanism is similar. It very much suggests a re-aggravation of that same AC joint injury. It's a little bit prone to re-aggravation early on in the return and recovery. So typically a re-aggravation is going to up the level of severity and you would typically see a player miss the following week. Now it's hard to tell beyond that.

9:50 I would say my suspicion with most of these AC joints, even the re-aggravations tend to come back pretty quick, but next week to me would be in doubt.

9:59 Gotcha. And, Keon Coleman, are we firing him up next week, Tara?

10:03 We're doing it. Yeah, we're going to Keon Coleman.

10:05 It sucks because it's very clear that there is no role for him when DJ Moore is healthy. So you're making a bid literally just to replace DJ Moore and it doesn't have a longevity aspect to it.

10:16 But yeah, I mean, he's looked.

10:18 Whatever they did in terms of pushing through to get him back on track mentally, the effort is there. He's not dropping passes. Very efficient looks. I mean, just everything looks really good. Like the guy who, you know, was a high, you know, in, you know, high end pick drafted.

10:31 Yeah. First round.

10:31 Yeah.

10:31 I mean, that catch he had was fantastic along the sideline.

10:33 Yeah.

10:34 And if you need a spot start, yeah, you can do worse than that. And then we'll talk about the Bears running backs. But Kyle Menunga, I believe, left at the end of that game after 30 carries with a thumb injury. Are we concerned there?

10:46 Yeah, we really don't have any indication of severity on this. The score was already kind of in hand and he didn't finish the game. But with that being said, he said that there was no specific play that he felt it. So we think at least the extreme things, the fracture or like a rupture or dislocation, those are all out of the picture probably. Now we'll just have to see how he goes. My suspicion is he tries to play through soon.

11:13 Gotcha.

11:13 Yeah.

11:13 And we'll talk about the Bears running backs a tear. We'll skip that until later. And then so we had Mariota in the morning with a knee MCL sprain. We have a little bit, I'm guessing, more information on that one just because it happened so early. Yeah. So what do you have there? Yeah.

11:26 I mean, they're calling it an MCL sprain. And the average on that is about two weeks. Pretty quick recovery, especially for a pocket quarterback. However, Jane Daniels is reportedly planning to come back this coming week. So I think it may not be super relevant.

11:40 Yeah.

11:40 And then that's another question that I had with Jaden coming back. Should we expect full like, you know, 100 percent Jaden Daniels because it's not throwing arm. He's going to have a brace and all that stuff.

11:49 Yeah, I think there's going to be a little bit of limitation just in terms of how he has to hand off the ball. We heard Kurt Warner talk about this as well. He couldn't fully kind of straighten his elbow for the extensions through that off arm. That may change their running dynamics just a little bit. And that could make it a little bit easier for a defense to key in on. But for as far as his passing game, I wouldn't expect really any change there.

12:13 OK, gotcha. And then the the last two we have here, Ladd McConkie and Taequann Thornton. Thornton, I'm guessing. I mean, it looked bad. You could just confirm that it was bad and then we can move on to the Ladd foot injury.

12:24 Yeah, Thornton probably sees an ending ankle surgery. Ankle probably fractured and dislocated was kind of pointed to the opposite side. And then Ladd, as you mentioned, he came into this game with a foot injury. He was also dealing with, we know, fractured ribs and we know they haven't healed yet just based on timelines. So at this point, he went LP, DNP, LP for practice this week. And then to see him get re-aggravated on a foot, it doesn't bode super well. But at the same time, this is a guy who's now dealing with a couple different significant injuries, at least pain generators there, and wasn't effective. So in my eyes, that may have played a role in just pulling him off the field at that point. So, uh,

13:03 I don't know that we can really read too much into severity, but high risk here of missing at least a week here.

13:09 Yeah.

13:09 I mean, Tara, we'll talk about the chargers in the storylines, but just quick thoughts. If, if, if no lad next week, I mean, are we starting QJ? Are we starting Trey Harris? Anything? Are we, I mean, around a Gadsden, what are we doing with the chargers?

13:22 We're praying.

13:23 Now, Rarunda Gadsden had an uptick in targets, but I just can't trust it whatsoever. I would lean towards Trey Harris. We finally got a big play from Quentin Johnston, but it was one play. So more than likely, the targets would lean towards Trey Harris as the main beneficiary of.

13:40 McConkie being out.

13:41 But again, guys, it's a low end flex value because of the way that.

13:45 The Chargers offense is operating in difficult matchups.

13:49 Yeah, just not good. Just not good. Well, I believe that's everything that we had injury-wise for the week. Were there any big names that I missed or anything that happened late that you guys can think of?

13:58 No, I think you got everybody on my list. The only other person I meant to mention is Mike Evans. Wow, what a tough dude. He fractured his rib seven days ago. So that's all I have to say.

14:09 Crazy.

14:10 Yeah, and he put up a pretty big performance last time I checked before we hopped on. Good for him. Awesome.

14:15 Cool.

14:16 Well, Deepak, thank you for joining us. We will quickly show you a video and then we will get back talking about storylines and all that fun stuff. Thanks, Doc.

14:25 Yep.

14:25 No problem.

14:27 All right. And Tara and I are going to talk storylines. But before we do, I need to tell you about this new prediction market called Polymarket. It is a stock exchange for sports buying in, selling out on your terms. When your team goes down to 20%, you can buy in. and sell it off at 40% when they come back.

14:45 You can double your money doing that. They are so confident that you'll never go back to the other guys, that they're giving you a free $ 25 on your first trade when you deposit just $ 10. And now they've launched a new feature, Squads, a group chat where you can see what everybody is trading on. So download the Polymarket app today. Use FPPOD when you sign in, sign up, That's F-P-P-O-D to get a $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10. So, all right, now we're talking through some storylines.

15:19 And these aren't necessarily in order of importance, just kind of how they made the sheet. But the first thing that I want to talk about, Strake made back. I mean, we had a tough first three weeks. I had him on my team for two weeks, and then I sent him away. I traded him. I felt good after last week, and now he put up, what, 20-something points against the Bills?

15:38 Is Drake May back?

15:40 This was a positive matchup.

15:43 The Bills' defense has been suspect, so I don't know how much I trust him in those more difficult matchups. But the good thing is, is that technically speaking, um, other than next week, which is Vegas, who clearly looks for real and the defense looks for real.

15:56 So it's a little bit more difficult to match up.

15:57 But after that, uh, New York jets, Chicago, it's kind of in the middle of the road, Miami, green.

16:03 Bay, Detroit.

16:04 So yeah, Drake may is back and then the bi-week after that. So yeah, I mean, it's good to see. And in general, like the turnovers have been egregious for him. But there was the excuse of the fact that he has AJ Brown that's missing. Obviously, there was underperforming from a lot of this receiving core, particularly Romeo Dobbs. So to see him step up and actually look like somebody lit a fire under him and said, hey, buddy, you have to actually catch the ball.

16:30 You have to perform. You have to.

16:32 You're our wide receiver one moving forward until AJ Brown is back. this was very encouraging. So I do feel more positive. He'll go back into the circle of trust, although with a little skepticism, yeah, a little skepticism this.

16:42 Week with Vegas. But after that, yeah, we're just, we're feeling a lot better.

16:45 It feels a lot different from say Justin Herbert where, yeah, like I, I, there, there feels like there was just a, a hint, a hint of promise still with Drake made where we didn't feel like we had to completely bail out in the destitute way that we're feeling about the offense for the chargers.

17:04 Yeah, for sure. And yeah, I don't necessarily think it means that he's going right back into your lineup next week, like you said, against Vegas, but I do think it's one of those things where you can look at the first three matchups and obviously like just looking at the fantasy points is disgusting, but you can kind of excuse away.

17:16 If you just look at each one individually, you know, week one, Seattle best defense in the NFL last year, just won the super bowl. He lost AJ Brown at the beginning of the third quarter. Okay, fine. Week two, they, the Steelers offense couldn't do anything. So they just didn't really have to throw the ball. Uh, And then week three is just one of those games where everything goes bad.

17:34 He's trying to make a play in the end zone, throws a terrible interception against the Jags. Again, it's not great when it's the first three weeks of the season, but you can kind of... um, understand the way it goes. So yeah, like we said, probably not. I mean, depending on your quarterbacks and the streaming options and stuff. So you're, you're saying probably not right back into your lineup next week, but after that, probably he'll be borderline.

17:56 I mean, we'll have Bryce young out and Patrick Mahomes out. So that's two guys. We got Lamar Jackson injury that we're dealing with.

18:01 Yay.

18:02 We get Jaden Daniels back, but we still have Baker Mayfield out. We clearly can't trust J J Lund Daniels. So, so yeah, Drake may is probably still going to be a starter, probably low in QB one due to the matchup. There's probably going to be guys that are higher, but yeah, we're putting them back into our lineups just because of the fact that we are going to be still very depleted at quarterback next week. True. Yeah.

18:24 And obviously, I mean, Caleb, I mean, maybe that we could have asked the doctor that, but probably no Caleb next week either. All right. The next one we're sticking on who's back. I, you know, I saw that the three receivers from the 2024 first round draft that everybody's kind of been, been, been crowning on crapping on. score touchdowns.

18:41 The mealy neighbors, Brian Thomas, Jr. Marvin Harrison, Jr. Yeah. Only one of them really had that good of a game in his Malik neighbors. And that's who I want to ask. Um, is he back six receptions, seven targets, 112 yards. He scored a touchdown. Um, obviously nobody was probably benching him, but should we feel good about Malik neighbors?

18:57 Like we felt probably after week one against the Cowboys.

19:00 Yes. All good. This was the confirmation that we needed. I do a DFS article for fantasy pros every single week. Malik neighbors was on there, um, for the fact that this profiled as a bounce back opportunity because of Jameis Winston, because we could make those excuses for the first two games, right?

19:15 We talked about it before.

19:16 Week two, you were against the LA Rams, nasty defense coming in cold.

19:20 They were angry.

19:21 It was a bad setup. Week three, bad weather.

19:24 So there were legitimate reasons as to why Jameis Winston was not able to get the ball to Malik Nabors in a manner that we saw, you know, back when he was at Cleveland or any time period, right? But, you know, I think of back in Cleveland where he took even a guy like Jerry duty up to superstardom. So we know what Jameis can do. We just need a confirmation that there was no age creeping in and that he is still Jameis Winston. So we get this positive matchup against Arizona. um, decent enough weather still a little bit, you know, but decent enough to be able to make a good judgment on this one. And I feel good about it moving forward. especially because the schedule, it's got some ups and downs here, but over the

20:00 next couple of weeks, we got some good matchups.

20:02 So we're back on track with Malik neighbors.

20:05 I would have liked to see a little bit more volume, but we saw what we needed to see in terms of the hail Mary ball, just the 50, 50 balls, Jameis. You just got to get it out there somewhere near him and he could come down with it. Yeah.

20:17 I will gladly take 30 interception, 30 touchdown Jameis Winston. If he's throwing 10 of those to Malik neighbors.

20:24 Exactly.

20:25 Yeah.

20:25 Yeah.

20:26 You bring it up. Jerry Judy. We'll always remember that Jerry Judy and Cedric Tillman run that, that, um, Jameis Winston had 2023, whenever that was, it's like the, um, whatever that, the, um, the meme of the guy, I forget the guy's name, but anyways, we can move on. Um, so I, I, I hinted that we would talk about the bears running back rotation. So I think we could talk about this, assuming when I'm guys healthy and that he's going to give it a go next week and that we don't have to worry about him being injured with that thumb, uh, 30 carries for my nun guy.

20:51 Only 15 for DeAndre Swift. And the big thing here is that he was essentially benched after a fumble in the third quarter. That's when they really started to give everything to Menungai, who looked fantastic. So do you think this is one of those things where it's kind of like, hey, don't fumble? And then Swift goes back to being the main guy next week? Or do you think it's going to be maybe not 30 carries to 15, but closer to 50-50 or maybe even leaning a little bit more Menungai moving forward? I, I, I.

21:19 Don't know that it's going to have an, a major effect moving forward. Although it just is a reminder. Cause I've had some people asking, you know, Hey, someone's on waivers. Can I drop a guy like how I'm an guy under, under no circumstances, can you ever drop one of these high end one B high end handcuffs like common on guy or Blake Corum? Um, and I do think that, you know, looking at common on guy, he has a big ball security guy. There have not been any remote issues in terms of fumbling. Um, so maybe, I don't know, but Deandre Swift hasn't really had a problem over the past couple of seasons, but this is the second one that he's had. So maybe this was a little warning sign, but I think it'll go back to the more standard

22:00 way that we've seen to make that pivot when he's been so solid this season in general, just doesn't seem like it would be a full pivot to all of a sudden flipping the backfield.

22:09 It has been last season, right? It was more of a 50, 50.

22:13 And we haven't gotten the level of Kyle Menungai consistently that we would have liked to see compared to last season, although there have been some decent outings, but not to the level that we were hoping to see in terms of it being a more even 50-50 split.

22:24 So maybe it goes to that. Maybe it does.

22:26 But there's a lot of positive matchups coming where both of these guys are going to be viable options. So if you're struggling at running back, Kyle Menungai remains somebody who you can potentially throw in as your RB2.

22:39 Yeah, I think I would be very happy to have either one of them. on any, any of my teams. And if there's somebody out there freaking out about the Andre Swift, send, send an offer. Um, I mentioned this last time I was on with, with, with Bogman, my fantasy philosophy is just send a million trade offers. You'll never know what people, you'll never guess what people say yes to. Um, and to talk about like the split again, Ben Johnson doesn't feel like that, like kind of hard.

23:01 Oh, coach.

23:01 Who's like, Oh, you fumbled. You're not playing on my team anymore. Kind of thing. Like maybe, yeah, it's like you said, it was the second one, like a little bit of a warning in a game that game that they had in hand. And we know that Menungai can carry, carry a big load. Like he had 30 carries in a game last week against the Bengals. Um, and I've always, I've always liked Menungai. I feel like even with Swift healthy, I think he has standalone value because he won't get the goal line, but he will get goal line touches.

23:25 And they're such a good running team. Um, that, like I said, I've always, I've always liked, liked Menungai. Um, all right, next up. This was, I feel like this is a big one. CeeDee Lamb versus George Pickens. kind of highlighted by like, we all know CD lamb is awesome. I'm glad he confirmed that, but concerned about George Pickens.

23:42 He's somebody that like after every single week I've wanted to buy him after week one, two, three, I'm I'm, I feel like it's coming with George Pickens and you know, I had him to hit 70 plus receiving yards. So I'm glad that he hit that for me, but he did that on two receptions in three targets. Whereas Mr.

23:57 CD lamb, 21 targets, Get a, get missed, get CD and Ivy after this game, 17 receptions. Um, and that game, he had 180 something yards last week. He was eight for 112. He was nine for one 53 and two the week before. I feel like heading into this year, we all thought it was like a one a one B, which it does not so far through four weeks does not seem like that kind of situation.

24:18 Yeah, I've got a dynasty team with Menungi and CeeDee Lamb. So that was a good day for that little team right there. More, more CeeDee Lamb.

24:25 It's funny.

24:26 I wish we had talked about this with Dr. Deepak because I always reference him. Anytime I talk about CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, I always reference him because of the fact that we talk about the A.J. Brown high ankle sprain, the fact that there is this significant timeline, and the fact that the most important thing is that when he does come back, We're not going to see him operating at a hundred percent. There is going to be a decrease in productivity from him because coming back from that ankle sprain, you don't, it's not like, again, you were talking about the hamstring earlier.

24:58 You come back from the hamstrings.

24:59 You are who you are.

25:00 It's different with the high ankle sprains. And that's what we saw last year with CD lamp. So it makes sense, honestly, that we are seeing this revert back because we've got the healthy version of CD lamb. He had that high ankle spring last year. Um, he actually came back sooner than you would have thought. And it just seemed like he was never playing at full capacity. So I feel like we got any, a decreased version of CD lamb last year, and that benefited George Pickens. Now we're seeing the authentic version of what this receiving core looks like when both of these receivers are healthy. and CeeDee Lamb is the alpha. So, I mean, 21 targets is kind of outrageous, but, you know, and hopefully this, as they,

25:38 you know, they got Joey Porter Jr., and they've added players on defense, so hopefully they just continue to improve on defense. But at the end of the day, CeeDee is probably going to come through as one of the most reliable, ironically, was the first-round pick that everyone hemmed and hawed about, the.

25:54 One that we were like, ugh.

25:56 I don't know.

25:56 It's just, you know, not a high upside play, but Hey, he is pulling through. So yeah, I think the separation is real. I, I get the, the trading of George Pickens, but a lot of, um, what I'm seeing with people who are listing the trades that they want to do involving George Pickens, um, the George Pickens side just isn't as much value as the side they're trying to trade away because we're chasing that ceiling, hopefully with Pickens. But if the ceiling is not what we think it is, um, I think a lot of people might, unfortunately, like if you want to buy low, buy low, but make sure you're buying low and below value because unfortunately I'm seeing a lot of trades that are just coming back a little lopsided as if Pickens is still that, that borderline

26:37 top 12 wide receiver. Yeah.

26:40 I mean, he was so good last year. He was like the wide receiver five and half PPR, something like that. And even when CD lamb came back, I think you probably, like you said, people probably didn't give it enough credit that he came back from a high ankle and he, he wasn't going to be a hundred percent. Cause even when, CD came back, George Pickens was still really, really good from a fantasy perspective. So yeah, I guess the answer you're like, you're not buying, but you're probably not selling.

27:00 You're just holding Pickens at this point. And you're just kind of hoping that like eventually the ball will come his way or he'll break a big play. I think it's kind of where you're at. Is that right?

27:08 Yeah.

27:08 Because it's Dak at quarterback, right?

27:10 And we know the volume that he can push when he's healthy. So as long as Dak is on the field, I've got no problem with holding him.

27:17 Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I tried to buy him for three weeks, and I think at this point I'm like, all right, let me see a big game. But part of this discussion, what's going on with the Texans' defense? You can explain away the matchups because, you know, it was Josh Allen in week one. It was Joe Burrow in week two. And then it was Daniel Jones last week who, like, we saw Josh Downs have a great game against them, not against the Commanders. And then this game where CeeDee Lamb blows up and Pickens, I mean, he didn't kill you. 75 yards and two receptions. It's not what you want, but he's not going to kill you.

27:46 So should we be kind of rethinking how we view the Texans as a target? Or do you think it's just a matchup thing?

27:53 The one thing I wish I had done was look at time of possession for this game to see if that was an issue, because it's possible. I mean, because we know that they were struggling without Nico Collins, which makes 100 percent Obviously that would have a negative effect on the defense if they're having to stay on the field longer, because unfortunately we can't get him, you know, moving forward. So I just, yeah, I, it makes me uncomfortable to start them at this point. Um, moving them back, um, depending on matchups, but yeah, there's, there's something going on here, which is weird because they did end up having, um, they even added talent on defense. They invested heavily in the draft. So yeah, I mean, yeah, free agency and draft.

28:37 So yeah, there should have been, this should be reinforced. There shouldn't be having issues. So I'm curious if the time of possession is an issue.

28:44 It was, so this game was 33, about 33 and a half to the Cowboys, 26 and a half to the Texans, but yeah, maybe the previous weeks.

28:50 Yeah.

28:51 You know, defense is one of those things where it's never as sticky as offense and the Texans being one of the best defenses in the NFL for the past two years. heading into this year maybe they're due for some regression we're kind of seeing that with the eagles like their defense was awesome for the last two years and they haven't been nearly as good either so yeah it's one of those things where like you you see your players going up against the texans i mean josh allen before this year had been terrible against the texans and then he was amazing against them so it's just one of those things where uh maybe you know it's hard to unconfirm your priors when heading into the year everybody was like texans top three defense but I mean,

29:24 if you have a good receiver, probably not somebody you should be scared of against the Texans. Yeah, exactly.

29:30 The secondary is underwhelming. We have this gap in time of possession. And really maybe the key that might be the issue in wrapping it all is that the running backs are struggling. And hey, Woody Marks actually does look fairly good. But the run game as a whole is struggling. The offensive line, rub blocking is an issue. So maybe that's just having that residual effect in terms of putting so much on the defense.

29:52 Yeah.

29:52 And, you know, we have a panic meter coming up later. Dave Montgomery is I'm guessing people are going to have a lot of questions about David Montgomery because week one, everyone taking victory laps, thinking they got the next 2024 Joe Mixon. Not good. Not good since then. But all right. Rounding out here, the last one ending negative. Maybe we should have flipped these and started and ended positive. But I mean, at what point do we just anchorman Baxter punt the Chargers off a bridge? Hampton. garbage time salvaged his day like 12 points before we hopped on um and then he you know two touch or a touchdown a couple weeks ago 16 and a half points but eight and five and a half before then i mean

30:26 justin herbert 13 8 13 8 and a half points lad obviously injuries he was awesome in the first half of week one since then five eight and a half and then he gave you a big old goose um are we just i mean you're not gonna bench hampton but what are we doing with the chargers.

30:42 Oh, you're throwing it up and praying. It's a mess. You can't start.

30:45 I mean, at this point, I mean, the only one that you were contemplating starting was lad McConkie. Now that he's dealing with the injuries and even if he, you know, let's say he is active next week and playing through the injury to what degree can you trust it? If he keeps leaving the games, they're going to be playing from behind. How long does he last in a blowout?

31:02 So it's just, it's an uncomfortable situation where I don't feel like trusting any of them at this point, but you're right.

31:09 The one that you have to, and it's, I'm, I think I'm going to put.

31:13 A buy low, uh, out on, um, a Murray and Hampton just because that is the only asset that kind of has like a guaranteed role in that backfield in terms of it can't physically be taken away.

31:24 So I don't know. It's just a mess to be honest. And Justin Herbert, I, I don't trust it whatsoever.

31:31 No, I'm, and I love the chargers heading into the year. I mean, I thought Mike McDaniel was going to come in and make it, uh, the offense, like just as high flying as we saw those first couple of years in Miami, uh, coming from Greg Roman, you know, the, the, the old school run it down your throat kind of coach and it, they just look disjointed. They look broken. It's, it's all the bad things you can say. Um, but yeah, I, I don't, I'm kind of with you. I, I, the, the Martin Hampton owner is probably ready to get rid of him. Um, I was trying to trade Saquon Barkley for him before this week, obviously. Um, now that's not gonna get done because of the, the injury, but you, especially if that person has a bad record, um, you

32:08 might be able to, to get something for him. Um, but yeah, it's not great. It's definitely, it's definitely not great. Um, but all right, we can move on. And before we talk about panic meter, which we're kind of just hinting at, um, I want to talk to you guys about the fantasy pros waiver planner, take the guesswork out of the waiver wire with the fantasy pros waiver planner, get a complete customized waiver plan for every league, including suggested fab, uh, suggested fab bids and backup options in case your top targets are taken. Once your plan is set, you can submit your waiver claims to most major league sites with just one click. Save time. Stay prepared. Maximize your chances of landing the players that your team needs. Build your

32:50 personalized waiver plan today at fantasypros.com. That's fantasypros.com. the next thing that we're going to talk about here is panic meter. So get your, not necessarily your questions, but you know what I mean? List players that you want to know what our panic is on those players or panic meter. Um, one means we're not panicking at all. 10 means we are in full blown panic mode and get those players in and we can react to them while we're waiting for you guys to do that. I listed some, um, just, just to kind of get us started. And I want to talk about, um, I'm not going to be a Homer and mentioned Jalen hurts first. So we'll do Parker Washington because I'm guessing we're going to be in agreement here.

33:30 Tough game. I actually liked his matchup. I thought he was going to have a good game. Um, I, I didn't write down his exact stat line, but I know it wasn't good. Brenton strange stole, stole all the targets and the catches in that game. Um, what's your panic meter on, on Parker Washington? Zero.

33:46 No, I mean, he's just been so steady before this. There were a couple of where, um, a couple he should have had that were more of his, um, drops.

33:54 On his part.

33:55 Um, not egregious drops, but you, you know, more difficult ones that you should have still been able to grab. So no, I'm, I'm still good on him. Targets were still there. Um, he's still a, still a fine option.

34:05 Yeah. It's a, it's, it's a zero. Uh, one receivers have bad games. I think it's one of those things where, um, when you look at the end of the year, you look at the best receivers and they all have bad games. Um, so we got one in here from Axel Gonzalez, JK Dobbins. What is your panic meter on Mr. Just kidding Dobbins?

34:23 Uh, mine is, uh, is a zero because I'm not in on job ends in any way, shape or form. Um, so technically, but I guess from that perspective, you could say a 10, um, just a, it's never been there, unfortunately. Um, in terms of the upside, it being a split backfield, it's just messy. He does not have the high receiving upside.

34:43 And then you can't even rely on him in the red zone because that's where, um, Sean Payton likes to bring, uh, RJ Harvey in for receptions within the red zone.

34:52 So it's just such.

34:53 A underwhelming ceiling and a mediocre floor that I just, I can't get there with him. So if you have the opportunity to, you know, perhaps there's somebody out here, um, who is having to start backup running backs and they could use a JK Dobbins. Yeah.

35:07 Try and try and sell, see if you can pass off.

35:11 Yeah i he's one of those players you can't cut but you can't start it's like the worst player to have on your team so yeah i would try to sell even if you could just sell him for fab if like somebody put a huge bid on ollie gordon or i guess no sorry the opposite that they have a lot of fab just try to sell them something like that yeah um from 18 jmac i'm guessing we're going to be in agreement here but deandre swift no i.

35:29 Think we're good i don't think that the one fumble is going to have him um shipped off into the into um the abyss so no um sad that it happened but there was still, um, there's still value, plenty of value for him. Yeah.

35:42 I'm a, I'm a zero. I'm a one on Deandre Swift. He's, he's somebody else that I think if, if the manager like happens to have a bad record and they just want to change things up, I would, I would be in on, on Deandre Swift.

35:52 Yeah.

35:53 100%. Um, another one from, uh, Axel Gonzalez. What about Kenyan Sadiq? He was everybody's favorite after last week. He gave you a big old goose this week. Uh, what do you, what do you think about for Kenyan Sadiq?

36:06 No panic around him in particular, but Geno Smith.

36:12 You know, I'm curious.

36:14 Was Geno just an aberration of where we've either got two things, right? Either that is more of an indication of just how truly dreadful Detroit's defense is.

36:26 And that pop that we got out of him last week. But he had been very efficient before. So there wasn't really a problem. This was just, this was not it. So I don't really.

36:36 This was a no, no panic around Sadiq. Although again, I'm still being conservative with him because we need to see him with Adonai Mitchell and Mason Taylor. You got to remember that he's out there in a depleted offense.

36:49 What will this look like when they come back? That's the big question.

36:53 That's exactly what I was going to say. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not Baxter punting him off a bridge, but I would like to see him with Adonai Mitchell and their backup tight end Mason Taylor, who they drafted a couple of years ago in the second round. Like those guys aren't going away The finger injury for Mitchell seems kind of weird. I guess we could have asked the doctor about that, but yeah, I'm not, I'm not dropping him. I would like to not start somebody else next week, but it's a rookie tight end. He had a couple of touchdowns so far this year. I'm not, I'm not freaking out yet. Same, same question here, or sorry, same person, Axel Gonzalez. I'm guessing this is in regards to the injuries to the Bengals receivers. What about Joe Burrow?

37:29 Yeah, this is a, again on this one, we've got next week and then the bye week. So I have not looked at rankings for next week, but arguably without both of them, I would in fact move Joe Burrow further back.

37:43 But we're not like.

37:44 A massive panic because again, as Deepak was saying, we should have them back after the bye week and.

37:49 Next week is against Miami.

37:51 Um, so it's like a, that's one of those weird games where it'll be like, if you, instead of turning to like maybe a risky streaming option, just recognize that you're going to have probably a floor game from Joe burrow. They'll probably lean on chase Brown heavily in that game because running backs tend to be the way to go.

38:06 So just keep that in mind. You might have to pivot.

38:09 Yeah.

38:10 I think for next week, you can see what this, see what the waiver wire looks like. Um, you know, we're not hip with the streaming options yet, but I feel like there's always one to three good streaming options that aren't heavily rostered. So Yeah. I mean, obviously you're not, you're not, no one's thinking about, about dropping him, but yeah, maybe you think about having a different starter next week. Um, and then, so we'll do two more and then we'll move on. Uh, what about the bucks? I mean, Baker, we got weird news that like he got surgery and has stitches, but like nothing was torn or broken. It was kind of interesting. I guess that's another question probably for the next week for the doc, but I mean,

38:40 Bucky Irving didn't have a great game. Uh, the, the touchdown went to, uh, Kenny Gainwell and then Emeka Agbuka from, this is from Nelson Viveros, uh, 93, 96, 90. Um, and Mecca Bucca also feels like a landmine, like somebody that you can't start, but that you can't drop. It's just, I mean, to answer my own question first, for me, it's like a 10. I I'm trying to get out of my shares of anybody on the bucks at this point.

39:03 Yeah, I, I, I, I totally get that.

39:07 Um, I would move, I'm putting out a preemptive warning on Bucky Irving, um, because he's Unfortunately, because of the way that Tampa Bay's offense has just been so unsuccessful, and that's the issue as well.

39:18 It's not as if Baker Mayfield is going to come back and fix everything, right?

39:21 So because they've been so underwhelming, we have not really gotten a lot of usage in the red zone for anyone.

39:28 So there was no proof of point. Now we get in here, we have.

39:31 The coaching staff actively saying, Hey, we will, we really want to get more touches to Sean Tucker.

39:36 And they didn't lie.

39:36 They meant that they meant that they wanted to get more touches to Sean Tucker. And finally we get red zone touch touchdown, Sean Tucker. So it's just like an, like an, just a little warning sign of remember what happened last year when Bucky Irving of like the starting running backs had the lowest.

39:54 Utilization in the red zone. It was not even close.

39:56 He had zero touches inside the five.

39:59 So yeah, I'm just confused. Just, yeah, there's some panic on that one.

40:04 It's scary. It's scary. All right, well, there's two more that, just give us the panic number without the analysis because we'll just have to move on here. But Jalen Hurts from 18JMAC and Paul Gregory 2507 on Josh Downs. So one to 10 on Jalen Hurts and Josh Downs.

40:21 So seven with Hurts and with Josh Downs.

40:25 Like a five. I'm with you with five on Josh Downs. Hurts, I'm probably going eight. assuming we're not going to have Devante Smith for the next couple weeks.

40:33 Yeah.

40:34 So, all right. Before we move on and answer you guys some questions before Sunday Night Football starts, I want to talk to you about the Fantasy Pros Championship Belt giveaway. If you want a chance to give your fantasy league the ultimate championship upgrade, courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your shot. We're giving away a 26 to 36 inch custom football trophy. It's a massive centerpiece built to make your league championship feel like a big deal.

41:02 The best part is you can make it your own. Choose the topper, personalize the center and front plaques, customize the columns, and create a trophy that represents your league. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football YouTube channel. Right now, drop a comment below on any of our videos. That's it.

41:19 We'll announce a winner right here on the channel. So be sure to turn on notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim your prize. in a real quick Q and a, before we go on and get out of here, I will answer some of your questions. So, uh, yeah, we don't have a ton of time, but get your questions in. We'll start with, um, uh, wheel T X four.

41:39 Zay is pretty good. Correct. Worry level of Lamar Jackson. So if you missed the beginning of the show, Dr. Deepak Chona said that it looks like Lamar most likely will miss maybe a week. Uh, that's obviously not confirmed and we're going to wait to see how practice reports go. Um, but just curious, like worry level of Lamar Jackson and then Zay, if we have no Lamar Jackson next week.

41:59 And we talked about that a little bit, but just in case that we all TX for missed it.

42:03 Um, they would only be like a, like a three. Um, because again, we're looking at potential absence of Lamar Jackson. So obviously, you know, Snoop Huntley is cool and all can run the offense, but it's not given the same upside that Lamar gives to say, but they, they, so he would still be someone that we would be starting.

42:21 Snoop Huntley, Pro Bowl quarterback, just saying. So he should be able to supply plenty of fantasy value for Zay. Yeah, I mean, maybe Zay won't get 100 yards in the first half in a touchdown, but I think he'll be just fine. Same person here, WillTX4. We also talked about this a little bit. Shipley priority for Fab or for the waiver priority. If we don't have any news on Tank, are you burning a number one priority on Will Shipley?

42:47 Yeah, I might. The issue of the of the Eagles by week is the only thing.

42:54 But yeah, because again, we see these hamstrings, it can be two to three. So we hopefully will get some more details in terms of a specific timeline.

43:03 But if you see that week to week. Yeah, that's the indication. We'll give them some priority there to go get Shipley if if tank is not going to be available.

43:13 Yeah, and like you said, even if Tank is there, obviously he would take the priority over Shipley, but Shipley will have standalone fantasy value. He'll get the passing work. He'll get used enough where he's not going to blow up, but you're not hoping that he will. Next question here from Christopher Reeves, 7513. Kendra, yeah, Kendra Miller here, or Bryson Tremaine. I'm guessing this is a start-sit for about five minutes from now.

43:38 Oh, no.

43:38 Yeah, five minutes from now for tonight.

43:41 Yeah, Bryson. Bryson put it in now.

43:44 Okay.

43:44 Really?

43:45 Yes.

43:45 Not over. So you, I guess the, well, obviously Kendrick Miller is tomorrow, obviously, but the Bryson ones tonight. So you think that he's just going to get not obviously the same level of workload that, um, Jalen Coker did, but he'll be in the wide receiver two spot.

43:56 Yeah. Yeah. Um, and match up really again, just the confidence level that we should have of anybody and everybody that is playing against Detroit.

44:04 It's a lighted up scenario. No Jalen Coker. Um, so I'm feeling very good about him. Very good. You know, flex worthy value and then feeling very good about Waller as well.

44:14 Waller for sure.

44:15 Yeah.

44:15 I just worry about the rain. That's literally the only thing. Let's just, let's just stay dry. Let's get the passing work. Um, from no Ben Cosme, 90 84. Do you drop? I'm guessing that's Jalen Tyson for Tyreek Hill on IR. Is there, was there news that came out about Tyreek with the chiefs or is it just people speculating because of the injuries?

44:33 It's just speculation.

44:34 And at least we have seen him like I've seen a video of him running and it was not an edited like, you know, an edited commercial like Joe Mixon.

44:41 Hey, visiting Seattle, Joe Mixon.

44:45 Yeah, yeah. I think it's that's tough. That's tough. And we don't have any continued. We don't have any update from.

44:55 Tyson, do we? The only update we have is that. technically he's eligible to come off IR this week, but that their head coach, Kellen Moore said that it's unlikely that he's going to be practicing this week. So I think it'll be another, another month for, for, for Tyson, but you can think on it. I'm, I'm still not doing that. I think he's going to be so good when he comes back. And I think Terry kill was already showing signs of decline. And then he absolutely like shredded his knee. Like that was a brutal, brutal knee injury.

45:21 So I would rather just keep stashing Tyson personally.

45:25 Yeah, I think I'm on that end because, again, Saints are such a high-volume offense, for sure, and Tyler Shuck is dealing.

45:33 Yeah, they play like five-plus quarters just because of how fast they play. From Maz Judah, CJ Stroud was definitely the right move. Picked him up to start over Hurts. Nice job. Keep rolling with CJ Stroud. I don't know who they play next week, but with Nico Collins in, it seems like you can also put CJ Stroud in.

45:50 They're playing Tennessee, so yeah, run it back.

45:53 Yeah, run it back. They've been a great matchup. Full PPR, Waller or Vele from Tanner Woodward. This is a Vele for me. Waller's got a higher percent chance of scoring, but I really think Vele is going to have a great game.

46:10 It's Waller for me.

46:12 Okay.

46:12 So use the ECR rankings as the tiebreaker. Whichever one ECR has higher, use them as a tiebreaker. Because I'm with you. I do think Waller's going to have a good game, but full PPR makes me go towards Vele.

46:23 Okay.

46:25 From pretty Ricky Flacco. Um, not a question here. Am I the only one that drafted breeze on the second pick? Probably, probably pretty Ricky, um, from Jeremy Patton, 58, 57. We kind of talked about this, but should you look to trade, trade George Pickens trade for George Pickens? I think we're both kind of stand, uh, staying.

46:44 Yeah. Yeah.

46:45 It's, it's a weird situation.

46:46 I mean, if you want to put feelers out there and see what kind of value you get, um, you can do that for sure. Um, but, It's not a terrible thing to have to hold on to him.

46:57 Yeah, he's going to have a game. I feel the same way about Jamison Williams. He will have a game, and then you can kind of see how you feel from there. All right, that's all we got. Everybody, thank you for tuning in. Sunday Night Football starts very soon, so thank you for spending time with us tonight. Right after Sunday Night Football ends, you can join the Fantasy Dude on the Tailgate YouTube channel, which can be found at Tailgate NFL. You can hear his takeaways from tonight's action, Tara.

47:23 Thank you for joining me. This was fun. Everybody, thank you for tuning in, and we will catch you next time.

47:30 Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

47:33 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.