Week 8 Fantasy Football Start/Sit: Players to Trust, Risky Starts & Toughest Decisions! (Ep. 2303)

0:00 Hello, everybody.

0:01 Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan, warmly joined by Pat Fitzmaurice and by somebody we can't really tell who it is with their costume and their mask specifically here today. It's Thursday morning. We're talking week eight, buys and sits. Before we get to our masked friend, Fitz, let me just, like, give you a moment here. I'm a classy guy. Your team won the World Series last night.

0:23 I know that's not why people are here, but come on.

0:25 Let's celebrate a little.

0:27 Oh, thanks, man.

0:27 Yeah, um... I guess championships in pro sports aren't just a celebration of that team and its accomplishments, kind of a celebration of fan culture. And like when the Brewers got swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS last year, I like sat there and wondered whether the Brewers were ever going to win a championship in my lifetime. Like they've, they've got a great young nucleus and the best farm system in baseball, but Milwaukee is the smallest market in MLB and the Brewers are always going to be outspent by the big market teams.

0:56 And, I don't know, when I was reckoning with.

0:58 That possibility that I'd never know the feeling of winning a championship, I realized it kind of didn't matter because being part of the Brewers fan culture, it has enriched my life regardless. And time spent watching games and listening to Bob Uecker call games on the radio when I was a kid and going to games and tailgating in the parking lot beforehand, talking about the team, debating friends about who should or shouldn't be in the starting rotation.

1:22 It's all been time well spent. Like it has enriched my life and deepened my relationships with friends and family. Like memories of riding Milwaukee County buses to Brewers games with friends when we were kids.

1:34 Like those are priceless. So is the memory of taking my.

1:36 Kids to their first Brewers game. Like we had a text chain going last night with me and like five or six friends. And we were like someone said that a championship was our reward for having watched. And then he named like three lousy Brewers from the past. And for the next 20 minutes, the text thread was just filling up with the names of God awful players we had watched wear the Brewers uniform over the years. But fan culture is something, man. And like there are fans of terrible NFL teams out there. Fans of like the Tennessee Titans. There are Titans fans who are going to plan this coming Sunday around the Titans game. And it's going to be a big event with their friends and family.

2:11 And some Titans fans are going to go to church early just so they can get home and watch the game.

2:15 That the Titans are bad doesn't matter.

2:17 And it's actually going to make things that much sweeter when the Titans finally are good again. Like, the Titans came within a foot of winning the Super Bowl, and I can totally relate to that because the Brewers were up 3-2 in the 1982 World Series when I was a kid to the St. Louis Cardinals, lost in seven games.

2:34 I know what it was like to come close and fall short, and maybe those Titans fans are wondering if they're ever going to get a Super Bowl in their lifetimes. I hope they get one someday, but even if they don't, man... Like those people's lives are going to have been they'll be better off for having watched Steve McNair and Eddie George and even some of the worst players in franchise history and having shared that experience with friends and family.

2:55 So I'm babbling now, but I'm just emotionally wrung out. Thank you for letting me spew. And thanks to everyone watching and listening for. putting up with me for a few minutes.

3:06 You're out here making everybody emotional on a Thursday morning, thinking about fandom and what it means to fall.

3:12 So you're making me think about being an Orioles fan.

3:14 I've never seen the make a world series in my lifetime and thinking about what those memories, you know, mean for me.

3:19 So no, it's wonderful.

3:20 And there's, I mean, I just joking before the show, there's no better feeling than opening day. You've actually are probably proving me wrong. There's probably no better feeling than seeing your team win the world series. And of course we want to give you that moment to celebrate. Cause I, you were the person I was thinking of last night for sure. as the biggest brewers fan in my life.

3:36 And I was very happy for you that they won.

3:38 Thanks buddy.

3:39 Yeah, of course. Jake, did you enjoy hearing all that through your mask?

3:48 I'm not going to do the entire, cause this is what I would sound like the entire show. I can't get the mic in here, but yes, that was a, it let me sit there with a mask for a while. Should I just do the entire show like this?

3:58 Yeah.

4:00 Um, It's the only good thing to come from the Acolyte Star Wars TV show, by the way. And it looks so good. Actually, it looks really good for like a home.

4:06 It is a great looking mask.

4:07 Yeah.

4:08 So like, but yeah, it's a little heavy. But I like, I wish I could have got the mic under there. I did the athletic show. If anybody wants to go watch it, I did the full segment with it on because I had the little mic that I threw inside of it. But I can't get this mic inside of it. So anyway, back just to the Darkwing hat to represent last year. I was on here for Darkwing last year, right?

4:27 I should just do Darkwing.

4:28 I think so.

4:28 Yeah.

4:29 Yeah.

4:29 I think I remember that.

4:30 Yeah. But anyway, congratulations, Fitz.

4:33 Thanks, Jake.

4:34 Yeah.

4:35 Enjoy that.

4:36 By the way, it's probably extra awesome, Fitz, that the Brewers were the best team in the regular season, too. It just feels like a coronation of this is a particularly great group of players. It wasn't like, oh, you snuck in as an 85-win team and then went on a run. Those are still amazing, of course, and you would celebrate it just the same, but You won 103 games in the regular season, best regular season record this year, and also then had this awesome playoff run. It's got to be pretty special to pair those two together.

4:59 I got a little evil on Twitter last night.

5:01 I was like, I hope people, you know, everyone thinks Milwaukee is a great story now, but I hope people start to hate us because we've got this great young nucleus and then we've got all these great farm players coming up. Like, I hope we get to be like the Dodgers where people are just sick of us.

5:16 You will not find me hating you because on my Dynasty Baseball League team, I have both Jackson Churio and Jesus Made. So I will be very invested in the Brewers' future going forward here.

5:25 Let's get into.

5:26 Some football talk. You know it's not a bandwagon team, so that's the.

5:29 Good thing too. Yeah, for sure. Let's get into some football talk here.

5:33 Reminder for everybody, all of our weekly consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings. Guys, we're going to start off as we always do with some popular waiver ads this week, and I will ask you if you are considering starting these guys There were some names here that were at the top of waiver list that we had already talked about in this section a week ago. Like Omar Cooper was still on there, depending on if he was available in your league or not.

5:52 I didn't want to repeat it. So these are a couple of different names here. The number one, though, I felt was a pretty clear choice, Jake. Jonah Coleman as a waiver add this week. If he was available in your league, he was one of those.

6:02 Top priority guys.

6:03 Are you interested in starting this Broncos running back this week.

6:06 Against the Chiefs?

6:08 No.

6:09 But I mean, you might need to. And he'd be of the Broncos running backs, the highest. I would rank him. I do have him ranked the highest, but I have him at 30. I'm behind like Rico Dowdle in a timeshare. I'm behind Blake Corm in a timeshare. Braylon Allen, that's with Brees Hall in my rankings. And it just comes down to the fact that it's the Sean Payton offense for one. We talked about on the waiver show, Fitz and I did. And I agree with him that Coleman has the highest upside, but we just don't know the guarantee that it's actually here yet.

6:34 We think it is.

6:35 It should be here. He has the best talent. He's more explosive than J.K. Dobbins. But what's the passing game? Like he did have two targets, two receptions in that game. But is it still going to be that kind of workload? Or is this a game against the Chiefs where maybe it's more R.J.

6:47 Harvey?

6:48 The Chiefs run defense is something to be concerned about in general. So it comes down to the fact that like if this was the Broncos going against even the Chargers with how bad they've been or the Colts or somebody like that, I actually have Coleman higher. It just really comes down to the uncertainty of Sean Payton and then to the matchup is playing a part.

7:06 Yeah, he is RB28 in consensus rankings, so just a couple spots ahead of where Jake has him. Fitz, where are you at on Jonah Coleman for this week?

7:14 I'm at RB28, and I'm maybe where Jake is, where I don't think he's a proactive start, but in a week with four teams on by and injuries, maybe you have.

7:25 To play him.

7:29 I guess it was encouraging to hear Sean Payton sort of talk about, yeah, we need to use him more, although I ran his comments through the Sean Payton translator, and that means he's getting six carries this week. But you would think that he's going to play the most of the Broncos' backs. It was his first game off IR last week, and he played 30 snaps, and R.J.

7:51 Harvey played 16, and J.K. Dobbins played 14. And he's just better than J.K. Dobbins. You can see it.

7:58 I mean, it's only been a couple of games, but Jonah Coleman has had almost– quarter of his runs go for 10 or more yards this season, and the league average is like 10%. So the Chiefs, not an easy matchup, but I also don't think the Chiefs' run defense is impregnable. They're like 8th in DVOA against the run and 13th in EPA per rush, and Emmanuel Wilson just had 100 yards and a touchdown against them last Sunday night, and I think Jonah Coleman's better than Emmanuel Wilson.

8:26 Okay. Yeah, he's in that range where it's like you're maybe not ecstatic to be starting him, but eventually you just run out of other options. There's four teams on by, injuries of the position. The two names right after him in ECR are Saquon and Jeremiah Love. You can feel the injuries impacting these rankings if you're here for week eight.

8:47 So yeah, Jonah Coleman I think is a really interesting one. Rest of the season, just very quickly, how are you guys ranking Jonah Coleman in terms of just the upside over the course of The rest of the year, do you think this will be his backfield moving forward, Fitz? I do.

9:00 I mean, it's a Sean Payton backfield, so it's going to be a two- or three-man operation the whole year. I've got Jonah Coleman, RB26 in rest-of-season rankings.

9:10 Jake, rest-of-season for you?

9:12 It sounds like a fair spot because I was going to say fringe low-end RB2 is the potential. I think best case is you get the RB2 version of Mark Ingram, not the RB1 version, but like the RB2 version of Mark Ingram and Sean Payton's offense. So I think that potential is still there. There's the upside to get inside the top 18 at best, I think.

9:32 The other guy I wanted to ask is Antonio Williams, rookie receiver for Washington. Obviously not somebody who played last week, but we had the Terry McLaurin really bad injury out for the season the week before. This is the first opportunity to start a guy like Williams. if you picked him up off waivers after that injury. Ranked a little bit lower than the guys we usually talk about in this section. He's a wide receiver 40, so that's not typically as much of an obvious potential guy to start, but given that he was a popular waiver pickup in the last year, two weeks with the mclaren injury i did want to bring him up fits are you interested in starting williams at all against philly this week.

10:05 I actually am i'm pretty well above consensus i've got him wide receiver 33 you just figure with terry mclaren out with the torn patellar tendon that antonio williams is going to play an expanded role going forward um and he's already got 205 yards and kind of a limited role early in the season on 26 targets, only 1.54 yards per run, but kind of a small sample size.

10:30 And he's a terrific athlete, 4.41 speed, 39 and a half inch vertical jump at the scouting combine return kicks in college. He's just dangerous with the ball in his hands. And he was a zone beater at Clemson. So, um, I, the only thing holding me back here a little bit, like, I feel like Antonio Williams is the logical slot guy for the commanders now. But so far, Stefan Diggs has been in the slot on 63% of his snaps this season, according to Fantasy Points data. Antonio Williams only 49%. But they also haven't played a ton of those snaps together.

11:08 So I don't know, maybe Diggs mostly plays outside now with McLaurin gone, or maybe it's Williams who moves outside. They're both sort of versatile as far as whether they can play inside or outside. And you want the slot guy against the Eagles because they have been a slot funnel. Cooper DeGene not having a good year. Quinion Mitchell still tough.

11:30 So I want the slot guy for the commanders. And if I knew it was going to be Williams, I'd feel a little bit more confident in this ranking.

11:40 Would you rather Fitz start Antonio Williams at receiver or Chigokonko at tight end?

11:45 Ugh.

11:47 I like both relative to position, probably Oconqua.

11:54 Jake, what do you think? What are you expecting from this offense this week?

11:58 Echo a lot of what Fitz said with the situation, and that's kind of why we already heard. I think Quinn and some of the others, the coaching staff, have said that Stephon Diggs' role isn't going to change a ton, and that also included not necessarily 90% of the route works, kind of similar. It's still an uptick from last year, what we saw with Diggs, But where Echo, like what Fitz was saying, is that, yeah, you want to target that.

12:20 I was going to say, you want to target this against the Eagles. You always do want to target this against the Eagles. But because it's more of like that 70% to 80% route work is that maybe he just comes off the field, Williams stays on with Burks, and then they rotate back off, and then all three of them are on the field. But I think that as much as Burks is behind both of them by far, like I have Diggs pushing, he actually is in the low-end wide receiver twos. I have I'm slightly behind Fitz on Williams, but I still have him in the mid 30s. But Burks is way behind both of them just because of the talent of those two. So I really think they fit better, especially again.

12:54 This matchup.

12:55 I don't want Burks against Mitchell or anything on the outside. I mean, Mitchell might spend some time on Diggs just because who the hell cares about Burks. But all that being said, as I think that it's a valid concern. At the same time, it might not be as bad as people might think because they replicate each other so much that it just might be a share and that Diggs stays Diggs, which is fine. He's a fringe wide receiver too, but that actually helps Antonio Williams. I actually differ on that one part. I would take Williams definitively over Okonkwo.

13:22 Okay.

13:23 Where is Okonkwo ranked for you at tight end this week, Jake? We're not talking about him later in the show.

13:26 15th.

13:28 15th. I'm sorry, Fitz, did you give me a ranking on Okonkwo? Where is he for you?

13:31 Oh, I did not.

13:32 I think he's inside of the top 15. I've got Okonkwo at.

13:36 I think he's 14th in ECR.

13:38 Oh, he's exactly 15 for me.

13:40 Sorry.

13:40 Okay, so you guys are both just one spot behind.

13:43 All right, Jake, let me stick with you here to plant your flag on a player for this week.

13:48 Yeah, I'm going to go quarterback because a lot of people are getting a lot of questions in the comments. I just did the live chat over the athletic and a lot of people are like, ooh, I don't feel so good about it. This quarterback, And it's Jared Goff, which by the way, I tweeted out earlier this week, there's only two quarterbacks that have hit 16 plus fancy points in all of their starts. Josh Allen and Jared Goff.

14:10 Those are the only two. The other part about it is that the defense for the Vikings has been great. They are the league best EPA per drop back allowed at 0.18. They're ridiculous pressure rate. But here's why I say I'm planting my flag on Goff and not being concerned. They allow the fourth lowest pressure rate, 34%, against five plus defenders coming. Not four, not three, five. As in there's always an extra man and they're still only allowing 34.8% rush rate. Also, Jared Goff went under pressure. Seventh best EPA for dropback this season and ninth best since his second year starting with the Lions to go back that far.

14:49 So he's good under pressure. The Lions are good under pressure. We've seen the Lions last year. They know floors. They pick up the blitz very well. I say all to say, like, I'm just not concerned about Jared golf this week. I am solidly as a QB one inside the top 10.

15:03 Yeah.

15:03 Let me double check to see where he is in consensus.

15:06 Yeah.

15:07 He's outside the top 10.

15:08 I'll just note that in his one home game against the Vikings last year, golf had 284 yards and two touchdowns.

15:15 Yeah.

15:15 He's QB 12 in consensus.

15:18 Uh, Yeah, I think it's a good– Sorry, I was going to say to reference back our waiver show, my streamer of the week was Jacoby Brissett. I would start him over Jacoby Brissett. And Jacoby Brissett, by the way– in games with 37 plus, I'm going to jump in.

15:31 I'll save that.

15:31 I think, did you put, did you put your, we.

15:33 Will have percent later.

15:34 I'll save that.

15:36 Yeah.

15:36 I'll save that.

15:37 That is ranked higher than golf though. Just to, to your point about you'd rather start golf or sets.

15:40 Cause I knew that part. So I didn't realize that I wasn't sure if you ended up putting in there.

15:45 I did. I did.

15:45 37 might come up again.

15:46 Yeah.

15:46 Um, Yeah, I mean, Goff, I think it's an interesting call too, like especially Fitz, like to the point of, I think reputationally, Jared Goff, you think of like, oh, he's a statue back there. If you can pressure him, knock him off his spot, then you can take advantage of it. But those numbers Jake are throwing out is, kind of showing that actually they are doing pretty well against pressure, both in terms of just when they are getting blitzed and also when he actually is under pressure, which would be the big concern in a game against the Vikings. So where are you at in ranking Goff this week?

16:13 Yeah, he gets the ball out quick.

16:15 And he's also got weapons that can help mitigate the effect of the Vikings defense with Amon Ross St. Brown and Jameer Gibbs and Jamison Williams and Sam Laporta. I've got him ranked 12 right now. And I could maybe come up a little bit on that. Like, that feels too low. Goff was my most drafted quarterback. And in all the leagues where I have Jared Goff, I am playing him this week.

16:39 Okay.

16:40 Yeah.

16:41 I think it's a good way to put it.

16:42 Fitz, you have a slightly smaller name for your Flint, your flag player this week.

16:46 Yeah, I'm pandering to you and Jake. It's Jacoby Lane. Because Jake and I.

16:50 He just said Flint, your flag.

16:52 Oh, did I?

16:53 I didn't even notice.

16:55 It threw me off because that is plant your flag player. And so the P's and the F's kind of, sorry, the P-L's.

17:06 I didn't even notice I did that.

17:08 Go Fitz.

17:09 Leave it in there.

17:10 That was amazing.

17:10 Yeah, for sure.

17:11 Leave it in. Yeah.

17:12 So I know Worm is excited about this guy. I know Jake and I have been talking about him on the waiver show for weeks. And I think Jake and I will be talking about Jacoby Lane as one of our top ads on next Monday's show. So he's been back from a wrist injury that he sustained in week one for a couple of games now. And Jacoby Lane has had seven catches for 65 yards on 10 targets in those two games. Modest numbers, for sure. But he was playing with Tyler Huntley. And the encouraging thing in his most recent game, Lane played 68.7% of the Ravens' offensive snaps. Basically about as many as Rashad Bateman. But He's going to play, and he is now going to get to play with Lamar Jackson. I can't wait to

17:54 see what these two can do together against the Bills in a game with a Vegas total of 54.5. Jacoby Lane was drawing rave reviews in training camp. It's kind of been forgotten since he's off the map because of that wrist injury, but I know Ravens longtime beat writer Jameson Hensley said that Lane had one of the most impressive training camps he can ever remember from like any rookie at any position. And so like, I don't know, I was not especially high on Jacoby Lane in pre-draft season, but everything I heard about him, all the reporting coming out of Ravens training camp was like, yeah, this, this kid is a player. So couple him with Lamar Jackson and I can't wait to see what happens. I think he could have a big game this week.

18:42 As you might recall in that week one game before he hurt his wrist, like they did throw him a touchdown and it got called back on penalty. But the first time they got in close and through, because obviously they had like big plays to Zay or ran the ball with Derek Carney. But the first time they decided to throw near the end zone in that week one game, first game of his career, they were targeting Jacoby Lane.

19:02 And I think you noticed too, like not that most leagues are, you know, point per first down leagues. There are some of those types of leagues out there. If you're in any sort of league like that, like it is clear that, when you're watching these games, that on third down, they want to throw the ball to Jacoby Lane and give him a chance to make a play to move the sticks. They have a level of trust in him in those scenarios that I think is really kind of screaming through the TV when you watch these games, even right away. Obviously, the overall usage is still not that high. Just quickly, Fitz, before we go to Jake, where is he ranked for you? Because obviously he's ranked pretty low overall. He's wide receiver 48 at the position.

19:36 Yeah, I am at wide receiver 39 overall.

19:41 Okay, so about 10 spots higher-ish. Jake, what do you think about Jacoby Lane this week?

19:46 Yeah, I would take credit for having Fitz come around on this because.

19:49 He did that.

19:50 When we did the waiver show, I went Coleman Cooper Lane as my top pickups of the week. I'm obviously saying that tongue-in-cheek. But I think that if you look at Lane, when he came out, I don't know if this makes me higher than you coming out of college, Fitz, or not, but just the comparisons I want to give these.

20:07 I said best-case scenario, T. Higgins. Worst case scenario, Donovan Peoples-Jones. The middle of the road and what probably is the most likely outcome, but might even still get to T. Higgins' level, is Torrey Smith of what he used to be with the Ravens. I think that's what we're looking at right now.

20:22 So everything that Fitz says completely echoed. If you want to go back and watch the Waver show, we both talked about him on there. But the biggest thing, too, is he actually, to the stat that Fitz threw out, he also ran one more route than Bateman in his first game back. The real concern was like, is it going to take time? And it was the first game back, as Fitz said, with Huntley and not even Lamar Jackson yet.

20:42 So I actually have him like 37. He's almost a wide receiver three for me this week. So like he's facing Buffalo. And I got to tell you, Fitz, like my rankings, I'm going back and forth and back and forth on whether I would start Lane or I'm not going to just go off one game of feeling good about it. A dunes a facing the Seahawks.

21:03 Yeah.

21:04 Yeah.

21:04 They're four spots apart for me.

21:09 That same tier kind of range? Yes. I think that's a big testament just to say even the same tier as a Doonze.

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21:53 I never even really spelled it out in my head before. So try to clarify it there. But yes, that's the code for Polymarket. Guys, let's go to some start-sit player debates here. I want to start with one at running back. Ollie Gordon versus Tony Pollard. Pollard, of course, coming off of An unbelievable game against the Browns. Almost 130 yards on the ground. Another 29 or so, I think it was.

22:14 Receiving three touchdowns. Huge day for Tony Pollard. Ollie Gordon has been Mr. Consistency since taking over the starting running back spot for Miami. Has been just in that kind of RB13 to RB17 range. I think pretty much every single game the last four times he's played. Who are you guys going with here?

22:33 Fitz, I'll start with you. Ollie Gordon or Tony Pollard?

22:35 I would have to. Man, I'd hate to have to make this call. I'd probably just flip a coin, honestly.

22:43 After great consideration, I'm going to go with Ollie Gordon because he has scored a touchdown in four straight games, whereas Tony Pollard scored three touchdowns last week, but it scored only one touchdown in his first six games. And Pollard was running back 25 and a half point PPR before the touchdown spree against Cleveland. Ollie Gordon has been RB18 in fantasy points per game since the Devon Achan injury.

23:08 And I think the Bengals are maybe a slightly tougher running game matchup than the Patriots, which would have seemed completely inconceivable a year ago. The Bengals defense is one spot ahead of the Patriots in EPA per rush. And the gap's a little bigger in DVOA. Bengals are 7th, Patriots 19th. It's the Dexter Lawrence effect. It's really hard to run inside against the Bengals now, and I don't think you're going to see Tony Pollard get three touchdowns against the Bengals this week.

23:34 So I'll go with Gordon.

23:36 I love hearing that you are kind of aching over making a pick like this. That means that I did a good job picking these players. I always worry I'm going to come in and you go, this is... What are you, stupid worm? This is the easiest one ever. Why'd you even ask this?

23:49 There are a few of those every week. Don't worry.

23:51 I'm sure they pop up as always. I do the best I can.

23:55 But yeah, these guys are back-to-back in ECR for what it's worth, RB18 and RB19, respectively. Gordon has moved up a couple of spots in the last two days to bridge that gap.

24:04 For you, Jake, who would you prefer?

24:07 What are you, stupid? I actually have Gordon at 19 and Pollard at 22. Actually, so adjusted points allowed that I have over the athletic. Actually, Cincinnati's third toughest against the run. And if you jump up to the Patriots, they're 23rd. But it's a point per game difference in the fact that Patriots are more close to middle of the pack. And to what you said about Dexter Lawrence and everything is running up the middle. They continue to get pressure and getting hit in the backfield for opponents.

24:35 And it just comes down to I brought this up on the podcast. It's like Olly Gordon, when he came out of college, was like, are we going to get sophomore Olly Gordon? That was like, we're talking first rounder. After the sophomore season, everybody's like, in two years, Olly Gordon's going to be a first round draft pick. And then his junior season happened. Everybody's like, no, he's not.

24:53 And then it went so bad that we saw what happened. And since he's been in the NFL, it's been basically his junior season. But we're starting to see some flashes. I'm not going to say he's fully on with his sophomore year, but I had some hesitancy because of what we saw in that final year and what we've seen in the NFL. But it's really turned the corner. Jalen Wright got banged up again. I know it sounds like he's practicing, but he's banged up again, which is just like he's essentially turned into Braylon Allen for the Dolphins.

25:18 So just start him as a top 20 running back and enjoy it.

25:23 Ollie Gordon, I'll point out here, in half PPR scoring, I was even underselling him a bit.

25:28 He's been RB13, RB12, RB13, and RB14. In his four games getting the workload.

25:34 He's actually got– he's inside the top five in explosive run rate since he's been starting, which is also like that's even better than Braylon Allen. Like as in like he's got that going for him too.

25:44 Why do you think, Jake, that he's ranked as RB19 in this week's consensus rankings if he's been five spots plus ahead of that every week he's been the starter?

25:53 It's twofold.

25:54 It's the hesitation of people don't want to trust Ollie Gordon. It's the same thing we did with Bryce Young at the beginning of the season. It's like we've seen enough that it's like you really have to pull back into getting that faith into what's been productive on the field. And then two, it's.

26:07 Still the Dolphins.

26:09 It's the Dolphins offense. You could get 18 touches in the Dolphins offense and not even get a touchdown or a half a decent day just because the offense is falling apart.

26:18 Fitz, if I had asked you Gordon or Ramondre Stevenson, who would you have said in this same game?

26:23 Stupid.

26:24 I've got Ramondre ranked higher.

26:26 Ramondre is ahead of both of these two. He goes Ramondre at 17, Pollard 18, Gordon 19.

26:30 Not a big gap.

26:31 Where do you have Stevenson?

26:32 17.

26:33 Where do you have Stevenson?

26:34 17?

26:34 Okay.

26:36 And a 16.

26:36 Okay. Yeah.

26:38 So again, stupid question.

26:40 Let's go to another running back debate here. A little bit further down in the rankings. How about Jordan Mason or Blake Corum? This is when these guys are two spots apart in ECR. One's RB22, one's RB24. So both back-end RB2s. Jake, who do you prefer between Mason or Corum?

26:56 Tired of these stupid questions. Now, this one I think should change to kind of closer to where I have it because I've gone into these rankings this entire week assuming no Aaron Jones because it's at least a week, if not two, according to Twitter doctors and everything like that. But even so, They said it's similar to the injury from before. It's related, at least, and I just don't think he's playing. So I have Jordan Mason at 15.

27:19 I'm starting a potential bell cow running back against the Lions. I know it's not as great as passing it is against the Lions, but Jordan Mason, as soon as Aaron Jones got hurt in that game, was basically the bell cow. And then Jones came back in a little bit, but I think that you're just looking at potential 70% or more of the workload in a match that we expect and hope to be somewhat of a shootout. Maybe the Vikings and Kyler Murray side of things can do a little bit better than this one. But that's just really what it comes down to. I like Blake Orem a lot, and we know what he can do. But if it's a six-touch game and he just doesn't happen to break one off, which I know he's always a threat to do,

27:54 but if he doesn't, six, seven touches still is going to be a very mediocre day. he can do it on any of those touches. But I'm going to take almost three times the touch volume any day of the week over somebody with as much upside as Corum has. You told me Corum and Mason were both going to get 15 touches. I take Corum 10 times out of 10.

28:14 It's just the volume.

28:15 Sure.

28:16 This was one where I did look at your rankings, Jake, and I knew that you had Mason pretty high. So I did expect there to be a bit of a gap for you on this one. Fitz, I'm curious where you come down on Mason versus Corum.

28:25 Right now I've got Corum three spots higher. and I have Aaron Jones playing. It's going to be a tougher call for me if Aaron Jones sits, but it's still going to be close, and I still might actually go Corum. So last week in the Rams' first game without Devontae Adams, Blake Corum had a season-high 18 touches, and I don't think that's a coincidence. The Rams need to lean hard on their running backs with no Devontae. They just can't let Stafford drop back 40 times. So I think the touch floor is raised for Corum. I don't know if there's I guess he could get a six-touch game, but I would like to think the floor is more like 10. Also, the Rams just have a far better offense than the Vikings, like not even close. And as for the matchup, I

29:12 know the Lions' run defense hasn't been as good as it's been in the past when they were kind of a must-avoid matchup. This year, they're 21st in EPA per rush, 22nd DVOA against the run.

29:23 But they've been better at home.

29:25 Against the run at Ford Field, they're giving up 69.7 rushing yards per game at home. So this is kind of a different beast, and I just think the defense overall is a different beast when Brian Branch is in the lineup.

29:38 So, slated. to Corum here.

29:42 I do wonder, Fitz, to your point, if we might sort of discover very quickly that Blake Corum is entering into that borderline must-start territory as long as Devontae's out. If that sort of volume continues— I do think he will end up being very regularly ranked in an area where it's not even really, I'm not saying he'll be like top 10 every week when Kyron is healthy, but like, I think he might get into an area where it's like becomes less and less of a question of, you know, like how can you possibly sit this guy if this volume really does keep up as long as Devante is out.

30:12 Cause I kind of anticipated playing out something close to that way as well.

30:15 Fitz.

30:16 I love watching him play the way he just takes a hand off, kind of pauses for a second and measure takes the measure of the, the, what the defense is showing, and then just explodes into whatever lane he's aiming for.

30:33 Another guy, too, who he's ranked, like I said, RB24. He's been inside the top 15 three straight weeks in half PPR scoring with what he's done so far. But of course, I think, obviously, if Aaron Jones is out, Mason makes a whole lot of sense, too. That's why I put them together. I'm sorry, Fitz, where did you say Mason will be ranked if Aaron Jones does end up out?

30:53 And he said you'd bump him up.

30:54 Right now I've got Coram at running back 23, and I think Mason will either be right behind him or maybe I'll change my mind.

31:01 Right there.

31:02 Well, then here, I'll give you a question.

31:03 Okay.

31:04 Would you start Mason with no Jones or Ashton Gentry? I would start Mason.

31:10 Still Gentry because he's so active in the passing game.

31:13 I don't care. He doesn't find the end zone. He's not even an RB1, so that's a.

31:19 Well, I think you guys are reversed on this, but I imagine, Jake, you would start those guys we already discussed– or something. You wouldn't start the guys we already discussed like Pollard, Gordon, Ramondre over Jordan Mason with Aaron Jones out.

31:30 Meanwhile– Oh, I would start Stevenson. You would start Stevenson over but not those other two?

31:34 Yeah.

31:35 Okay.

31:36 Like Stevenson, Hall in the ranks, Gordon, Barkley in the ranks, and then we're talking Corum. But I'd start Corum over like– or even Jeremiah Love. I think that's going to be a tough one if Jeremiah Love is back.

31:50 And Fitz, you're starting those Pollards and Gordons ahead of Mason or Cora. Correct.

31:55 Even if Jones is out.

31:56 Yes.

31:57 Okay.

31:57 All right. Let's go to a wide receiver debate here, guys. How about A.J.

32:01 Brown versus Garrett Wilson? A couple of big names coming off less than big performances. Fitz, I'll start with you on this one.

32:08 A.J. Brown this week or Garrett Wilson?

32:11 As bad as he's looked... I'm going to go with A.J.

32:13 Brown, sort of the undisputed number one target for Drake May. And it's Drake May, one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Whereas Wilson, maybe he gets the squeaky wheel treatment this week and gets a ton of targets. But they are targets coming from Geno Smith. The quarterback disparity is a big thing for me in this one. But it's also the Jets having multiple credible pass catchers now.

32:42 Like Omar Cooper looks like a budding star. Adnai Mitchell is kind of dangerous. They've got two tight ends now. We saw Mason Taylor kind of pop off last week and Kenyon Sadiq, who was what, the 15th or 16th pick in the draft.

32:56 So that is a lot.

32:58 Of I hate the too many mouths to feed cliche, but that's a lot of mouths for Geno Smith to feed. And I'd rather just go for Drake Mays, number one receiver.

33:09 They are two spots apart in ECR. Jake, where are you at on Brown versus Wilson?

33:13 Yeah, so completely different. We're in a lot of disagreement so far after celebrating the Brewers. I am not starting A.J. Brown. I have him as a fringe wide receiver too. I'm down with Diggs and Metcalf. He does not look 100%. And there's been, again, Twitter doctors that have speculated that He's not going to be 100% for another week or two or possibly three now that he's limited in practice on Wednesday. And I'm not too worried about Wednesday practices.

33:37 Nobody really should be at this point. We've talked about it before. Fitz has mentioned it says more, and I agree with it, it says more if you're returning from an injury and you get a limited session in on Wednesday than it does if you're missing practice. Like, look at the Lions. Like, Dan Campbell was like, yeah, they need some time off. And so, like, we're not worried about Wednesday practices. That being said, I just, I'm watching A.J.

33:56 Brown.

33:57 He doesn't look right.

33:58 And for like, I think, I don't know if we did it on this show. I know I made the comparison on my podcast, but I said, he's essentially so far since his return. He looks like Mike Evans, which would be like, Hey, you know, you don't have the burst anymore, but at least you're a big option. You'd be a red zone threat. The problem is he's not even catching the 50, 50 balls. Like he's getting out contested by smaller corners too. Like it looks like, and again, hopefully it gets right this week. I actually, this is one where I like, I hope I'm wrong. Because I want A.J. Brown to get right. I bought low on him in some spots. And I think that's a terrific pairing with Drake May. I said that before the season.

34:34 But watching him so far, it's not only the injury. It feels like we're getting the checked out Eagles version of A.J. Brown with this injury on top of it. And I just don't want to start him until I see it get right. And the biggest thing about it, too, is the matchup. The Dolphins aren't fearsome in the secondary.

34:52 They're good defensively.

34:53 But they're good, and their run defense is so terrible, and everybody can just run all over them. Also, the game where if you can get up in this one, where you get a lot of Stevens and everything, I don't know that they need A.J.

35:03 Brown in this game.

35:03 So, again, I say what I say. I hope I'm wrong because I would love to get back in on A.J. Brown and being able to start him confidently as a wide receiver in one. But I have him behind Michael Wilson, who I'm concerned about, big concern about, Luther, Bird, and Devontae Smith if he plays, Cook or Wilson, D.J. Moore, and up from there. So I have Wilson at 16.

35:20 I have A.J. Brown at 22.

35:23 Fitz, any sort of, you know, you're talking about the quarterback matchup, any sort of thoughts on like Geno Smith, a bit of a revenge against the Raiders and that leading to a bigger passing game?

35:32 I'm thinking about that. He's got like seven teams to give you a revenge against.

35:36 Exactly.

35:37 Every game is a revenge game for Geno Smith. No, nothing on that. But like to Jake's point, it is fair. AJ Brown does not look great. And on the ranking show yesterday, I made some comment about like, as far as the separation, you could not slide a credit card. in between A.J. Brown and his defenders this week, or the last two weeks. So, yeah, I'm concerned about how bad he's looked. But sometimes guys get healthier, and would it surprise you if A.J. Brown had a 150-yard game or if Ashton Gentry had a 120-yard rushing game this week? No, because they're good players, and maybe all of a sudden they start to feel better, and whatever they've been dealing with starts to lessen.

36:22 Erickson made the point to me earlier this week that he felt like A.J. Brown actually looked better in his first game back than he did in his second. And in his second, he felt like he looked more injured than he did in that.

36:32 There was more separation, I think, in the first game and like this past game against the Bears.

36:38 It was just, yeah, terrible.

36:40 Yeah. A little bit of extra rest this week. So maybe that helps, too.

36:44 The other wide receiver debate I have for us is Jordan Addison or Makai Lemon. Lemon coming off of a little bit of a mini breakout here.

36:51 For the Eagles.

36:52 He had his first, you know, I mean, good game, seven catches, 67 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Addison continues to not be very good, but he is facing this Detroit defense that has given a lot of players their best games of the season this year. They are two spots apart in ECR, both back and wide receiver three territory. Jake, start with you on this one, Jordan Addison or Makai Lemon.

37:14 Yeah, I'm going to celebrate. I told her no Jordan Addison this year. And now you know what that means, though. As soon as I do that, He's going to score a touchdown this week. Jordan Addison has one top 50 PPR performance. One. And he found the end zone. And I'm pretty sure that was the no Justin Jefferson game, if I'm not mistaken. And then he missed the game too, that being said. But the thing that I went into this year of why I have zero Jordan Addison is because Kyler Murray, for his entire career, and some of it comes down to who you play with, but essentially if you watch him play too, He is wide receiver tight end, wide receiver tight end, wide receiver tight end.

37:50 He doesn't use a second wide receiver unless the tight end has been irrelevant. Like, I mean, we're talking like gunner helm level. So that's what I say is like, I kind of saw this coming. I got plenty of things wrong. I got, you know, we'll talk Colston Loveland any day of the week.

38:03 I got that wrong.

38:04 But all that being said is it just comes down to as much as I'm joking about it right now. The truth is Jordan Addison is the clear third, if not fourth option on this team, if you include the backfield. And I just don't want a piece of that unless I'm looking for it. This is where you get it. The whole, the Hail Mary play. This turns into somehow a better shootout than we got last week. Somehow. That's why I say somehow it's like ends up being 38, 35.

38:29 And then Jordan Aston gets a big play for a touchdown. That's always on the table, but that's why he's a wide receiver for, for me all the way down there. I'm just not going to ever put him back in the wide receiver threes. The only time I had them was when Justin Jefferson was banged up. Um, But this is just the truth of what this offense is with Kyler Murray and the style and everything there. So I am never starting Jordan Addison. The only way that I would start him is that if Devonta Smith and Dontavion Wicks were both playing, but it doesn't look like that's the case.

38:58 Fits where you're at on these two, particularly Addison with that matchup against the Lions.

39:03 I think you get a floor with Makai Lemmon. And my ranking on him kind of depends on the availability of Devontae Smith and Dontavian Wicks.

39:11 It doesn't sound like.

39:13 Devontae Smith is coming back anytime soon. It just seems like the smoke around him is kind of bad. But yeah, seven catches, 67 yards and a touchdown last week for Lemon.

39:23 Really encouraging.

39:25 So yeah, there's a discernible floor. Just everything Jake's about Addison, I would echo. But I think that in two weeks or so, we are going to be not talking about the Lions as a come one, come all matchup for pass catchers. And we already started to see last week, did Jordan Love and Christian Watson and Matthew Golden go off against the Lions, they did not. And granted, Golden should have had a couple of snags that would have made his day and Love's day a lot better. But Brian Branch is back and Brian Branch is a big difference maker, the safety. And now apparently Kirby Joseph is getting ready to practice coming off IR. So Lions might have the best pair of safeties in the league. And when both of those guys are back, people are not

40:16 going to be picking on the Lions the way they used to be. earlier in the season. So yeah, I just, this is a pretty snap call for me, Lemon over Addison.

40:26 Rest of season fits.

40:27 Makai Lemon, are you intrigued by, you know, we often see these first round rookies break out in the second half of the season. Obviously the offensive environment is not that friendly for him. Where's your head at in terms of rest of season, Makai Lemon as a target?

40:42 Not with Tanner McKee. Like I just can't get excited.

40:44 More like By week spackle than actually someone I'm proactively starting.

40:50 Okay. That's very similar mindset for.

40:51 You, Jake.

40:54 Similar.

40:54 I was also kind of missed the beginning of the question, admittedly, because I was looking it up.

41:00 No, no, because I was looking it up.

41:01 Rest of season of Kai Levin was the question. Just throw your head at it.

41:04 Yeah, just generally as a rookie, second half of the year, we often see those guys break out.

41:08 But yeah.

41:08 I don't know that anybody wants my answer because they're going to say it's just clouded because I'm a Mekhi Lemon fan. And I campaigned from this entire preseason campaign and told people to just be patient and wait for the middle of the season.

41:19 And we're there.

41:19 But that being said, that's the truth. Most rookies, even first rounders, are second half of the first season kind of guys. It's happening because of injuries. Admittedly, that's why I say people don't want to hear. But admittedly, it's happening. If no Devontae Smith injury... And Don Tamey and Wicks, probably not going to see that much from him at this point because he just wasn't getting mixed into it.

41:38 McKee actually might help a little bit just because maybe Hurst just never gave Lemon the trust and just was one of those, it's an Aaron Rodgers type thing. It's like, you lost my trust. I just don't want to use you yet. But it's enough to say that if one of the two are out, why receiver four the rest of the season? I was going to say, so I was looking up when Fitz brought it up. The most dropped targets, like actual drop, not like as in like, oh, it was a contested catch it. The most dropped targets in the season, Matthew.

42:05 Golden was seven.

42:06 Like he could, Matthew Golden could be, and this is why, he could be a top five fantasy wide receiver right now if not for those drops.

42:12 Weirdly, he reminds me of Dontavian Wicks and that he's great at getting open, but not so great at actually catching the ball.

42:19 Yeah.

42:20 Like, and one of them was an end zone target too. And it was just like, he probably has another two touchdowns on the table if it's not for the drops.

42:28 You can take the guesswork out of your start-sit decisions with the Fantasy Pros Start-Sit Assistant. Instantly see your optimal lineup based on your roster, scoring settings, and advice from more than 100 fantasy experts. You can even set your lineup with one click. Get started at fantasypros.com slash start-sit.

42:44 All right, guys, let's get into the more rapid-fire start-sit decisions here. How about Rashad White versus Emmanuel Wilson fits?

42:51 I was going to say it hinges on whether we see either Zach Charbonnet or Jadarian Price. Charbonnet activated off-hire, didn't play last week. Not sure if that means the knee just isn't right yet. And Jadarian Price, I think, has been— they said he's going to return to practice. But I'm just going to go with Rashad White because I liked the matchup for Wilson against the Bears. I like it a little less now that they've traded for Jeffrey Simmons.

43:18 Do you think he'll play this week?

43:20 I think he'll play some, probably not a full— set of snaps, but I, I would imagine he'd play early rushing downs. So, um, it makes me like Emmanuel Wilson a little bit less.

43:31 We didn't really have time to react to the Simmons trade at the top of the show. Cause somebody wanted to talk about the Brewers warning the world series, but, um, Fitz, what was your reaction to somebody in that division?

43:41 Six minutes in or whatever.

43:44 Uh, I admire the chutzpah of Ryan poles, the bears GM for making this deal, but they basically gave up the same, uh, same price that the Packers paid to get Micah Parsons and Micah Parsons was what?

43:58 Three, three years younger. And I think just maybe more impactful. It's a steep price to pay. I'll say that.

44:05 It's, it's a great fit for what the bears need and it makes them like a very, very, very serious contender in my opinion. But having said that, I pretty much as a blanket rule, don't like trading two first for a defensive player. Like it's just really hard for that to look good in hindsight. The player has to be unbelievable, which maybe Simmons will be, he's a really good player. Jake, where are you at?

44:27 Yeah, I think this is enough of an impact. I would expect them to be out there a decent chunk in the first game is defensive. So that's always different too, especially if somebody is like him. Um, it's enough that we're going to start thinking about, we already were, the bears were a better defense than expected. They're middle of the pack, but now it's one that's like, Ooh, maybe the running backs. This is now a tie break where if you have two close running backs, you're like, well, I want to avoid the bears. We could actually be talking about that going forward, but yeah, the steep price.

44:51 Funny thing is, what if this happens next year because we're on track where the Colts could potentially be giving up the number one pick having traded it a year before after that happened the year before with the Bears doing it. I wonder if we're going to continue to see the first pick was traded the year before, which is maybe they'll stop doing that.

45:06 Yeah.

45:07 Does that impact how you're ranking these two against each other, Rashad White and Emmanuel Wilson?

45:11 No, I had white ahead, period, already, because the Eagles don't scare me. But I do have Charbonnet in the ranks. So if Charbonnet was out, it would be close. It would be closer, but I would still go white.

45:24 All right.

45:25 Let's go to Denzel Boston versus Casey Concepcion. A couple of rookie teammates on the same team, right? Relatively close to each other in ECR. Jake, I'll start with you on this one. Who do you prefer between Boston and Concepcion?

45:36 Not just because of the game he's coming off of, but because of the matchup, too. Concepcion can do more things against the Steelers, or should be able to do more things against the Steelers matchup with opportunities outside and getting them inside, that being Boston. Boston has the higher ceiling because all it takes is, you know, he gets those 40-yard plays. Like, he could have had two last week, and we wouldn't even be like, oh, I was so disappointed in Boston. But Concepcion barely ahead of Boston. I have them both as mid-wide receiver threes, so it's not a big gap. This one's super close for me.

46:05 They're both inside the top 30 on consensus fits. Who do you prefer?

46:09 Yeah, I've got Boston higher.

46:10 I just think he has the more valuable role and gets the more valuable targets. I mean, he's averaging 18.6 yards per catch, and he just operates deeper downfield. And he had a big game. Well, not a big game. Four catches for 89 yards. But it was his second best yardage day of the season against Pittsburgh. And Steelers are pretty tough on slot receivers, too.

46:31 So I like Boston here.

46:34 Let's stick with the teammate theme and throw in a tight end here in the flexes. How about Hunter Henry versus Travion Henderson? I actually find this to be easily Hunter Henry, but the flex rankings consensus of FantasyPros.com didn't agree. So Jake, who do you prefer between Henderson and Henry?

46:50 I can't believe I'm taking a tight end over a running back. But the truth is what Henderson is now, and for a million questions about this week, he is now a next man up. He's the next man up you put on your bench, but if anything were to happen to Stevenson, he'd be inside the top 20. RB2, probably not top three like he was last year, just because he doesn't look as good this year. There's something maybe going on with Henderson, but in this case, unless there's an injury, he's sharing touches with Corey Kiner. Not that I think that continues too much, but yeah, Hunter Henry has been valuable again. He kind of goes through these roller coasters, but right now it's working.

47:24 Fitz?

47:25 Yeah, it's a little annoying that Eli Raritan is sort of horning in on the tight end targets for Hunter Henry, but I'm still taking him over Henderson who might get four touches.

47:34 Let's go to another flex here. A Marion Hampton versus Stefan Diggs, Fitz.

47:38 Diggs pretty easily for me.

47:40 You just figure like he's going to have eight to 10 touches a game going forward now that there's no Terry McLaurin. And I just, yeah, I, I, They have very minimal expectations that the Chargers were able to fix a broken running game on their bye week, and the offensive line for the Chargers is just terrible. They could get Joe Alt back for this game. I haven't seen Alt's status lately, but the middle of the line is still terrible.

48:06 I'm taking Diggs.

48:09 Jake, are you giving any possible credit to the Chargers maybe turning things around somewhat.

48:14 Here in the bye week?

48:16 They would have to change their running style, and that's really what it comes down to. Is McDaniel going to do that? I would actually prefer it if McDaniel got fired because maybe we'd get a little bit more power kind of scheme for Hampton. Hampton, again, doesn't have a good fit, and I snickered because when he said 8-10 for Diggs … And I was like, are we even going to get that for Hampton at this point? So we hope things change and we get, but it was a full blown committee and a terrible offense before they went to their buy. I don't know if that's fixed just by having to buy.

48:41 Let's stick with the theme of teammates against each other here. How about Cortland Sutton or RJ Harvey this week? Obviously Jonah Coleman back.

48:48 We talked about that earlier in the show, Sutton or Harvey, Jake, I hear you laughing. I'll go to you first.

48:53 No, that was actually fist that laugh, but I was like, oh, okay.

48:56 Oh, I thought it was exactly.

48:57 Mine was a silent laugh. We're both laughing.

49:00 Neither, but you know what?

49:02 No, Jalen Waddell, I'll take Sutton. Just because what's RJ Harvey's ceiling? Like I know the touch, like take touchdowns off the table because touchdowns are like, you know, of course they score a touchdown. But the randomness of why I say take them off the table is because the randomness for Sutton or Harvey scoring a touchdown is similar.

49:17 So now I go to the matchup.

49:19 He's the number one.

49:20 Wide receiver. And that volume with Bo Nix, you just go back to last year with no Jalen Waddell. And that's why I would go for it. And RJ Harvey really needs a touchdown with Jonah Coleman now being involved.

49:29 Fitz, you were the one laughing. What do you think here?

49:32 Yeah, what are we going to advise the fantasy manager with their 2-5 team that is heavily invested in the Denver offense this year?

49:40 Two wins?

49:42 That might be generous, exactly. Jake makes a fair point. I am going to go with the guy who is less reliant on Bo Nix, and that's RJ Harvey.

49:54 Boy, is he though?

49:57 Well, he only needs Bo Nix to dump off, which Bo Nix is usually quite willing to do, so I'm taking Harvey.

50:06 One more flex here. Xavier Worthy or Kenny Gainwell fits?

50:10 People are still rostering Kenny Gainwell. Like, why?

50:13 I know he, because the Buccaneers ran for like 300 yards on the Panthers last week, and that's not even really an exaggeration. Gainwell had a decent day, but like Bucky Irving is just stiff-arming Kenny Gainwell into irrelevance. And Xavier Worthy, still kind of the number one receiver. Maybe Rishi Rice is back this week, but I would play Worthy even in the tough matchup against Denver.

50:41 It was funny for a half second when you said people are still rostering. I wasn't sure which name you were going to say.

50:47 It's true.

50:49 Both of them are ranked inside the top 40 at their respective positions for this week, so this might be a decision folks need to make in a deeper league.

50:55 Jake, who do you prefer, Worthy or Gainwell?

50:57 I was going to say, that's got to be with a lot of people not ranking Rishi Rice. It's worthy with no rice. It's gainable with rice.

51:03 Very simple for me. Keep it simple. Jake, you alluded to it earlier.

51:06 Quarterback Patrick Mahomes or Jacoby Brissett. Brissett is ranked higher, but obviously kind of a big name versus a guy that people maybe trust a little bit less.

51:15 Who do you prefer here, Mahomes or Brissett?

51:17 So I had Alfredo Brown on my podcast, and I asked him to agree with the statement, is Patrick Mahomes just a streaming quarterback? And he gave it a full five out of five. And I couldn't even bring him down to a four by saying, what if he gets Rasheed Rice back? And he's like, maybe a four, but probably still a five. Bring all that up and say, that's where Mahomes is at this point, and it's okay.

51:35 I definitely think it helps to have Rice back. But the stat I was going to give, 37 or more attempts for Jacoby Brissett. He's averaging almost 21 fancy points per game. And three of those games were with mid-40 or more pass attempts. Everybody on the planet, projection-wise, thinks this is going to be a situation where Brissette's throwing potentially 40-plus times. So I'm taking Brissette any time you tell me 40-plus. If you tell me 35 or fewer, no Jacoby Brissette. Because in those games, he's not even a top-18 quarterback.

52:07 It's kind of wild to me that this game, the Cardinals-Cowboys game, the total is the same as the Ravens-Bills. We have one game with Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. And then one has the Cardinals involved, and it's the same projected total.

52:18 One has no defense.

52:20 Which is true. I mean, that's why, but it just kind of blows my mind.

52:24 Shout out to Ian Harditz. He tweeted this during this game, the Cowboys game last week. Their EPA allowed is the same as the Bills' EPA offense. They turn every opponent into the Bills' offense.

52:36 That's wild. Mahomes or Brissette fits?

52:39 Let's see, top 10 all-time quarterback or career journeyman who's averaging 5.7 yards per pass attempt this season and can't complete any sort of pass downfield. I'm going to take Patrick Mahomes. Not even a question in my mind. Like, I don't want to live on volume and garbage time. And Brissette basically is terrible until you get to garbage time.

53:02 He comes out and he does well with whatever they script for him, like the first series. Then he stinks until the fourth quarter, and then he piles up like a bunch of yardage. And maybe he'll do that again and outpoint Patrick Mahomes this week. I would be ill starting Jacoby Brissett over Patrick Mahomes. There's no way I'm ever doing it.

53:23 At tight end, Dallas Goddard or Dalton Kincaid fits?

53:28 This is another one.

53:29 Do I want to start the guy tied to Josh Allen or the guy tied to Tanner McKee? And before the Bills went on by, like when we last saw them, Seven catches, eight targets for Dalton Kincaid. I think he only had 38 yards, but he did have a touchdown wiped off the board, which was a shame because it was his birthday and he was playing in Las Vegas, his hometown. But it was good to see Kincaid get re-involved in the Bills passing attack. And, you know, Vegas total of 54 and a half for that game. Vegas total in the Eagles game is 40 and a half.

54:02 So I'm going to say Kincaid here.

54:07 Jake, for you, between Goddard and Kincaid, who do you prefer?

54:09 Yeah, Kincaid. Even with that game last week with McKay, Goddard just hasn't been as effective without Jalen Hurts. Not that it's a huge drop-off, but it's enough to Kincaid to Josh Allen in that game as well. I want a lot of players in that game.

54:24 Goddard is higher in consensus. You guys are against that. He's tied at four. Kincaid tied at six. Fitz has got to run, so let's quickly do our touchdown calls contest.

54:32 I'm at running back. I'm going Basial Tudin. I just think the Jags are so much better than the Colts. The Colts are clearly calling.

54:38 It on their season with these trades they're starting to make. And I think the Jags are going to absolutely smash them.

54:43 And when I think the team's going to win by a lot, I'm going to trust their running back to get into the end zone. I think multiple running backs could score for them in this week, so I'll go Basial Tudin here. Coming off of, by the way, getting a tight end one right, which I don't do very often, so I was happy to get Tucker Kraft last week.

54:57 trying to make it a winning streak here on the touchdown calls contest.

54:59 Jake, your wide receiver.

55:01 Yeah, I almost, I wanted to say both Cowboys because I wanted to make up for the touchdown getting called back on my tight end pick and then not getting Woody Marks last week. So I wanted to be like, ha ha, I'm going to pick teammates to both score. And I still think they might, but I'm going to give you your boys. They have flowers, by the way, which I don't know if anybody knows this. He's only had back-to-back touchdown weeks twice, and they both came in the final two games of the season for him. This would be actually the first time he does it anytime in the middle of the season. It's going to happen.

55:24 I know the bye was in there, but this again, the Bills, Zay Flowers, by the way, who, like, yeah.

55:30 He had a huge game against them in Week 1 last year, too, last time I faced him. It's the Bills, too.

55:33 And Zay Flowers, which is, by the way, taking a whole other step to his game. There are no better wide receivers that stop and come directly back to the quarterback. Like, he escaped. Like, there's two defenders, and he, like, pops out and squirts out. Like, Zay Flowers is going to dominate this game.

55:49 Fitz tight end.

55:50 Let's double up on Jaguars with the touchdown calls. I'm going with Brenton Strange. Hasn't scored a touchdown since week one, but he has had 19 catches for 207 yards over the last three weeks. He's been tight end seven in PPR scoring without a touchdown. I think he gets the touchdown this week.

56:06 You just ruined it.

56:07 You just jinxed him because the last time we doubled up on Jaguars, he got left out because I had the Parker Washington two-touch game, and then Worm got screwed. So Worm, he just screwed you.

56:16 I'm five for seven on TD calls this season, Jake. I'm not jinxing anybody, baby.

56:22 Yeah, Fitz is crushing it here.

56:23 If you think you can nail this week's touchdowns as well as Fitz has been nailing them, join our free touchdown calls contest on PickSheet. Pick a running back, receiver, tight end, and bonus flex with the flex being worth double. Weekly winners get a $ 25 Fantasy Pros gift card. And the season champ wins a signed Reggie Wayne jersey. Play at picksheet.com slash fantasypros. We'll wrap things up there. Best of luck setting those lineups, everybody. For Jake and Fitz, I'm Ryan Wormley.

56:45 We'll see you again next time.

56:47 Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at fantasypros. and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasyprose.