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Speaker 1: The most valuable commodity I know of is information. Wouldn't you agree? I got five dollars, this is a regular one. How many tackles can one man break? You're saying that humans need fantasy to make life bearable? Humans need fantasy to be humans. My goodness. That was good. You guys are pros.
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Speaker 2: The best.
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Speaker 1: Relentless, refusing to give up.
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Speaker 2: All right, hit that horn, babe. Let's dance.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Flex Podcast from Action Network and Fantasy Labs. I'm your host, Kev Masarejian. NFL Week 5 is here, and I'm joined by one of the most accurate rankers in the game, Sean Kerner, the odds maker on Twitter. Make sure to go follow him and me at Rodasurgents. Sean, how's it going? You excited for week five? Thursday Night Football is almost here, so I'm getting my juices flowing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited. This is going to be a really tricky week for initial projections because we don't know who the hell is playing. Just another week of absolute carnage on the injury front. But that's how football is. It's a violent, brutal game, so it comes with it. But yeah, a lot of injuries to sort through and We got to see, you know, who we need to be picking up because of it.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, we have our top five rankings today and they're going to be affected because, you know, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, both of them are going to be questionable. Justin Jefferson. So some big names for week five that are up in the air at the moment. That is really impacting both of us. But quick reminder that all of our fantasy football content is available now over on fantasylabs.com. Fantasy Labs NFL includes in-season rankings, waiver wire and DFS tips, and much more. Make sure to use code FLEX20 for $ 20 off fantasylabs.com slash flex. In today's episode, we are going to dive into that top five at each skill position and discuss the players we're especially high or low on this week. Sean, start us off at quarterback.
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Speaker 2: I got Josh Allen, of course. Then Jack Prescott, number two. Jared Goff, number three. I have Joe Burrow, number four, just assuming. Chase and Higgins are active, but he'll plummet if one or both are out. And then Drake May, my QB5.
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Speaker 1: Very nice. Very nice. I have Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford cracks my top five. Dak Prescott, Drake May. So we're not too far off. Burrow's at six for me. So we're really close. It's just really with, I mean, Dak and Burrow being a little lower. It's how much are they going to have to throw? How much volume is really going to be there in those matchups against Jalen Daniels and Malik Willis? You seem much more confident than them. And where are you at with Stafford?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have him right there, number seven. I agree. I think he's a top 10 play this week. They're going to throw a 10, so love him as well.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Now, going to someone you're just in general higher on, who might that be in your rankings?
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Speaker 2: Drake May. I mean, he's in my top five. I feel like last week, well, heading into last week, seemed like rock bottom for him. I was kind of saying, you know, Drake, the schedule may, you know, last year he had an easy schedule. The first three games, he had a brutal schedule. So we, you know, We had to be kind of easy on him after his rough start. So I wasn't too surprised to see him bounce back last week against the Bills. But he finishes the QB1 overall. So it was a huge bounce back week for him. But I think there's just a couple of really good signs from that performance. The first one, he threw a couple of touchdowns to Romeo Dobbs, who, of course, was one of their big free agent signings. Someone like that, it might take a few games for them to get chemistry. And his importance got even higher with A.J. Brown out. So it's nice to see him and Dobbs kind of syncing up, especially in the end zone. But also, Efton Chisholm, who I love, made that great catch. I think his playing time should go up, especially if Matt Collins misses time. Matt Collins might miss time. So I think I love the receivers that would kind of step in for Matt Collins if he's out. And then more importantly, we saw that rushing production come back for Drake May. Eight carries for 54 yards. That's kind of why he was a top three pick heading into the season is that rushing upside. So it's all coming together for him. Not that the Raiders are a bad defense, but this is certainly an improvement than other matchups he's had so far. So like him this week, he's my QB5 to open the week.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Raiders are eighth and past DVOA. It's pretty incredible, actually. Shout out to them and their turnaround. But they're 25th against the rush. So the Patriots with their running game and Drake may as rushing can definitely, you know, maybe pile it on. And some, I mean, I'm shocked. Buffalo is so bad this year. Defensively, their offense is amazing. Credit them. One of the top two, three offenses in the NFL, but 26 in defense, 27th against the past, a shout out to FTN for the stats. But, uh, I'm looking at this, like, I did not think they were going to be this bad internet of the season. And luckily Drake gets them again in week 13. But speaking of schedule, Raiders this week, Jets, Bears, Dolphins, Packers, Lions before the bye in week 11. So that's the Drake, the schedule may is coming back. You know, it's time to stat pad. Like I have him in my home league. I'm sure you might have him in a league or some best ball or something. This is the time for Drake May to make it up to us after that first three weeks of, I mean, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville is pretty brutal. Not going to lie.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so. We're back.
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Speaker 1: I'm high on Jacoby Brissett. He's in my top eight this week. He's actually my QB eight, actually. So right on the dot there. I just love that matchup against the Lions defense. Their bottom five against both the rush and the pass just cannot figure it out. It does suck that Paris Johnson, the starting left tackle for the Cardinals is out. But I mean, the Panthers had Damian Lewis and Jalen Coker out. Didn't really affect them. They were balling. on the lions. And I, I mean, Bryce young looks like a much better quarterback this year. He looks like a very good quarterback, but I mean, I just think Brissette is going to have the garbage time slash catch up production to get him there. Um, does offer a little bit of rushing, but like with Michael Wilson, Trey McBride doing their thing, Jeremiah love a little banged up. Maybe they don't rush him as much. Who knows? Are you as confident in which could be reset? Do you have him as high or somewhere near?
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Speaker 2: I'm actually higher than you. He's my QB six. I absolutely love him this week. I mean, they're facing the lions. It's really all you need to say. Brian branch might return soon. Probably not this week. So this, you know, this defense should get better as you know, they get healthier. But right now you just got to play anybody that goes up against them. And Bursette's like a great streaming option. Cause he's available in a lot of leagues. So, you know, if you have my homes, Or Lamar Jackson. It seems like Lamar Jackson isn't going to play this week. He's out. You're definitely in the running. Yeah, I think Lamar is going to be out. They're offering the Falcons minus three right now against the Ravens. They wouldn't do that if they thought Lamar was playing. So I'm assuming Lamar is out. So those are the kind of managers I think are in play for Brissette. But really, anybody should be in play for Brissette unless you have a top five quarterback this week. So yeah, I'm super high on him. He's my QB six.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, move it on to who you're lower on, who you might start Brissette over.
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Speaker 2: Oh, I would absolutely start Brissette over Jalen Hurts right now, who's my QB 16. It just keeps getting worse for Hurts because should be without Dallas Goddard and Devonta Smith again this week. But he also just lost all pro Lane Johnson, who just retired today a few hours ago. So that's going to be a huge hit for the offensive line, the entire offense. Saquon Barkley might miss time with the hamstring. Tank Bigsby's out. So defenses, you know, they're not that worried about Hurts throwing, but they get to pay more attention to him throwing now. So it's just going to be really tough for him. They have to travel overseas. They're playing in London against a tough Jaguars team. They're pulling the Rams stunt. They're not traveling until, like, Friday. So this just seems like a disaster in the making. He always has the one-yard tush-push. in his back pocket, but he needs offense to be good enough to get there. So I just don't even like his touch on upside this week. Don't like anything about him this week. So he's my QB 16. I would start, you know, a lot of guys over him this week, but maybe things bounce back once Goddard and Smith return, but who knows when that happens, but you know, losing Lane Johnson to retirement was just not good for his long-term outlook either. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: He's my QB 14. So he's pretty low for me as well, much lower than he would usually be. I definitely, yeah, Brissette, I would start him. Like May, obviously, that's, you know, you're starting him no matter what. But I have Hurts just one spot over the guy I am low on, Tyler Shuck. This Minnesota defense is no joke. They are second in DVOA, first against the pass, and they are brutal. The Saints lost starting left tackle a few weeks ago, Kelvin Banks. We saw the Panthers, Falcons teeing off on them. Shuck was under duress constantly on Monday Night Football. Chris Olave got a little banged up at the end of the game, so we'll see his availability throughout the week. If Olave is out, this wide receiver room is maybe the worst in the league. I might take Miami's over Devon Bailey and stuff. I mean, Chris Bell looks good. Malik Washington. I would definitely take that over Devon Bailey, Bryce Lance, Barry and Brown or whatever. Shout out to Juwan Johnson, though. He's been feeding us early in the year. He's a hybrid, so I don't really know what to call him. Uh, yeah, Chuck, I'm lower on, I don't want to start him and I want, I want to hold Chuck in leagues, but it is kind of a weird schedule for him. He gets the giants at giants. in two weeks, and I believe he gets the Steelers. So these next few weeks are a little tough before the bye. Still doesn't have Travis Etienne. He's on IR. Their rushing attack looked non-existent outside of the red zone where Kamara scored those two touchdowns. But I am just kind of scared. Would you be dropping Shuck if you have better options? If you see like Stafford on waivers, I would definitely pick up Stafford and drop Shuck.
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Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if I would drop Shuck. I don't, you know, I don't think he's a lock to be a top 10 quarterback the rest of the way, but he does have that upside. You mentioned, I think their wide receiver room is one of the worst in the league if Olave's out. And I don't know why Olave was still in there down 30 in the last three minutes. Just stupid. But He might get Jordan Tyson back, not this week, but soon. I don't know, in a few weeks. So, you know, having Olave and Tyson and Jawan Johnson there is a pretty good group. The thing with Shuck is he has more rushing upside than he's shown so far. So I actually have him as my QB 11 this week because, you know, Flores is going to bring the blitz. He's going to be under pressure. He could have a really bad game. But if he gets the throw off, you know, this defense you can rack up yards against. Plus, they might push him out of the pocket. He hasn't scrambled much when teams have blitzed this year. But if he is under pressure, he's more likely to use his legs. And that's really where his sneaky upside is here, is if they flush him out of the pocket and he racks up a handful of scrambles, I think he'll still have a top 10 week. So I have Stafford ranked over him in a perfect role. I would just add Stafford and play him over him this week. But I think long term, you've got to keep Shuck in most formats. just given his long-term upside.
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Speaker 1: You know definitely if olave is out i probably would be dropping shuck like if he's out for like a few weeks i would say yeah even tyson yeah it sounds like tyson's not going to be around until after the buy in week nine so you'd be holding a backup qb basically and if there's an upside option if somebody dropped drake may obviously you're gonna go get drake may uh hopefully somebody did that in your league or jayden daniels even who knows but uh Leagues get weird. You never know. And moving on, we got running backs that we are going to go into the top five. So who's your top five here for week five?
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Speaker 2: Jameer Gibbs, B. John Robinson, not Brian Robinson, but he's close. Christian McCaffrey, Jalen Warren, assuming Rico Dattles out, which I don't know. It seems like he'll be out again. And then Derek Henry, number five. Nice.
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Speaker 1: I got Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Chase Brown. I really like Chase Brown with one of T or Jamar out against this Miami defense, but Derrick Henry's at seven. Warren's at 10, but I might push him up with the new, like just depending on the Rico Dowdle news. I'm just kind of tentative down there, but yeah, it doesn't sound like we're too off. Got Kyron at six. It's a, it's a good week for running back. I'd say Jonathan Taylor's facing a Steelers defense that just lost Derek Harmon.
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Speaker 2: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: Where are you at with Christian McCaffrey? Against Seattle, it's feeling a little tough.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's one of those guys where if you have him, you're playing him anyway. With the Seahawks, if they're not able to move the ball running it, he's going to get dump-offs and passes. Kyle Juszczyk is probably going to be out. I think that could lead to McCaffrey getting one more catch than we typically see. It's kind of a weird situation. I'll have to see what they do when Juszczyk's out, but Um, he's missing that blocker. So yeah, maybe we see like more dump offs to him than design runs either way. McCaffrey usually just gets his touches anyway. So I'm not, I'm not worried about the matchup really. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: You're never benching him, but just the concern at Seattle, you know, you never know. But, uh, who are you higher on in general this week?
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Speaker 2: I'm higher on Kyron Williams, uh, who just missed my top five. He was my RB six right now. Same. Um, yeah, yeah. So he's operating as much closer to a workhorse back right now. which makes sense because whenever the Rams are going to be in a closer or trailing game script, that's Kyron Williams time because he, he does see most of the passing down work. Uh, he's the two minute back. So Blake Corham really just gets his playing time, you know, when they're alternating drives and like a leading game script, uh, which I expect, you know, more of going forward for the Rams, but this week against the bills, um, I'm just expecting Kyron to be in more of a workhorse role again. So, This is a perfect spot for him. Yeah, I have him as the RB6. And it's the same thing for Blake Corham. He's my RB40 because I'm not expecting as much playing time this week. But that's kind of who Blake Corham is. He's going to be a guy who has top 10 upside if Kyron misses time. But we're going to have to pick our spots when we can actually trust Corham as an RB3 flex. And that's going to be when the Rams are like, you know, a touchdown favorite or more. And that's not this week against the Bills. I think this will be a Another big Kyron game. So, yeah, he's just pushing my top five this week.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely. And what's shocking is Kyron's receiving usage last week with Puka back. Devontae Adams healthy. The tight ends, obviously, they were missing Parkinson and Terrence Ferguson. But even so, those aren't high target share guys in general. 13 targets, 10 receptions, 67 yards. Not the most efficient, but pretty good for Kyron Williams, who has a career 5.2.
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Speaker 2: Very good for Kyron.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford, typically, he checks down at one of the lowest rates in the league, or at least has been the past few years. But this year, it's completely different. Again, Kyron, like you're mentioning, Kyron has seen a target on 25% of his routes run, which is just way higher than we typically see. But it's also Blake Corum, who's not really a pass-catching back. But when he's running a route, Stafford's looking for him. So it's been just kind of a difference for Stafford to kind of like, lean on checkdowns a lot more, which is great news for, uh, specifically Kyron.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. 20 targets in the past two weeks, 305 total yards, two touchdowns. I'll take, I don't have them, but I'll take that. If I had them, that's a fantastic stretch of two games should probably extend into this game with a 54 and a half total. Um, I'm really excited. I mean, as a Rams fan at SoFi bills, I mean, I'd want to go, I don't think I'm going to make it out, but That's a hell of a game to go to if you are. So I'm excited for Kyron too. I'm higher on Quinshawn Judkins. I think he looked like he got the juice back last week. That was a really eye-opening matchup in, what was it, Thursday Night Football against the Steelers. The rushing efficiency was still pretty bad, but 43 yards on seven targets. He had the touchdown. He just looked better. He looked the best he has all year, even though he had better rushing efficiency against the Panthers. I mean, the Steelers defense is, they're no slouches, but I mean, Deshaun Watson seemed to be trusting him. That was a season high in targets. This Jets defense is one of the worst against the rush. They are, I believe, bottom five.
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Speaker 2: I have it. Yeah, 26th.
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Speaker 1: So they're in the bottom eight. One of the worst against the rush. Uh, it's not going to be the highest scoring game, but Jutkins has been a workhorse, especially with Dylan Sampson missing time since basically week one.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: He has 43 touches in the past two games, 60 in the past. There's always averaging 20 touches per game in the past three games with no Dylan Sampson in the game plan. Um, workhorse back. He's in my top 12. I love him this week. How do you feel on him?
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Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, he's my RB 18. And, um, this is a good matchup for him because he's, as always with Judkins, um, he kind of needs a positive game script, which usually the Browns aren't going to supply those, but they're three in one and playing well, they're playing the jets. So I think, yeah, we'll see another big workload here. I've also been impressed with, um, his receiving usage. They have Raheem Sanders operating as a pass catching back. Not that that's his like skillset, but without Dylan Sampson, they have nobody else to really do that. But, um, Yeah, Judkins is getting more targets this year. So he has a nice little floor-ceiling combo going for him where I think, yeah, he's a mid-range RB2 for me this week. But, you know, long-term, the Browns, I'm eventually will start Browning. And that's going to hurt his upside because, again, like he's not going to have the best efficiency. And he needs the good game scripts to kind of keep this going. But for now, you know, I think that sets up nicely for him right here against the Judds.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like we're both in start territory for him. Who are you lower on?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm lower on O'Marion Hampton. It's just getting worse for him somehow. I didn't know if it could, but his value just continues to plummet with both Keaton Mitchell and Kamani Vidal making it more of a three-way committee. I mean, this is almost a true three-way committee. It's an absolute disaster where Hampton, he has a slight edge when it comes to early down work and goal line work. But when you're on an 0-4 team, that's kind of like the worst role to have because they're going to be constantly trailing. And Keith Mitchell and Kamani Vidal are taking the passing down work with two-minute offense. So that's just really killing his upside because he could be getting, you know, four or five catches right now if he was in that true workhorse role. So he's not... It doesn't look like they're going to start winning anytime soon. Their schedule is going to be absolutely brutal. The offensive line is a disaster. Joe Ault and Rashawn Slater might both be out this week and beyond, which is going to make it even worse. He's my RB29. I think I'm being a little too generous still with that. It just seems like his upside's cap, the floor's low. So yeah, no, this is not good. Not good at all.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, he's at 27 for me, so he's not too high. Only reason I'm a little bit higher is this Broncos defense is 23rd against the Rush. I didn't realize how bad they've been. This is unbecoming of what was a top five defense for the last few years. Now, uh, Patrick Sertan's out, they've been, you know, kind of not getting as much pressure as they used to. It's been odd for the Broncos, uh, charger at home. So there's no, you know, mile high factor that I'm looking at this like Hampton, he fumbled in the first two games. So I'm wondering how much did that affect his playing time? The pass pro is definitely somewhat concerning considering Kamani Vidal is taking those passing downs. Two targets last week that matches his season high. He has a game with one and zero. I said this on the waiver pod. I need to see Hampton getting four to five targets per game before I start really trusting him in my lineup. For now, it's like you probably don't have better options at running back. If you do, God bless. You're obviously starting your better options if you scored Emmanuel Wilson. You're absolutely starting Emmanuel Wilson. But if you don't, you still kind of have to start Hampton. And I like what they did at the end of the game. Like when he got his touchdown, he has three touchdowns down in four games. So it's not like he's been unproductive. He's just been losing touches resulting in overall, you know, low volume and in rushing and passing volume. They were using like bunch formations and getting into these almost college 40s, 50s NFL style packages. I don't know if you were watching that game at the end when they were trying to come back, but Hampton finally looked good out of those weird old school formations. I don't know how many they used, but I saw two or three.
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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's McDaniel just hitting the vape pen, coming up with whatever he could come up with, including, again, I hope you saw it, but Justin Herbert drew a target. So we got those going on for us. I'm so sick. Yeah, they did look better at the end. Whatever they were doing at the end of the game, they should try that at the beginning of the game. I agree completely with that. But again, it's a new scheme, so these things do take time. I wouldn't be shocked if the Chargers offense does kind of bounce back and Hampton does become a pretty good RB2. But again, it's going to take some time. The offensive line injuries are why I think short-term we can't play them at all outside of deeper leagues. But I think once we get in the second half of the season... things could look better. I don't think it's, you know, just the rest of the season. He's toast. Um, I think things could get better at some point.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it. Uh, you, now you have to dress up as a Kerner's or not Kerner's, but, uh, McDaniel's vape pen, uh, for Halloween.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker 1: Shout out to David for that message. That's hilarious. You are, you're really harping on that. And I believe it. I think there is, I mean, I saw a tweet that was like, uh, it was such a terrible decision to have McDaniel go OC for a team where weed is legal. so that's basically not doing great for anyone.
00:23:03
Speaker 2: Well yeah again it's one of those things um the innovation could help eventually uh it hasn't yet but it could eventually.
00:23:10
Speaker 1: I just want to see hampton gadston because i have so much of them in best ball and trey harris has looked good so i mean if this o-line is really that much of a problem which it could be then none of it matters but with her playing more yolo ball at the end that's what they did they looked competent but It's neither here nor there. I'm lower on Bucky Irving. The targets dropped with Jalen Daniels. They used Sean Tucker, which they haven't done all year. They haven't had an injury at running back. They just kind of went heavier on the run game. Kenny Gainwell scored. It was like everyone but Bucky. 16 rushes, 61 yards, no targets. It's been two dud weeks in a row after... I mean, he looked really good in week one. Week two, he looked solid. He didn't really produce much. And it's just been kind of bleh for the last two weeks. And I blame, obviously, Baker being out for the lack of targets because that's Baker's buddy. But, I mean, at Dallas, facing a team that has a competent rush defense, but their pass defense has just been, I mean, they're 14th against the rush. They're 32nd against the pass. Maybe Joey Porter Jr. going forward helps. But, Yeah, I'm not too interested in Bucky if he's not catching passes. How are you feeling on him?
00:24:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm lower on him. I agree. I think that with Jalen Daniels under center, that caps his upside a bit because, yeah, it's an easier matchup against the Cowboys, obviously. But they're like nine-point dogs, so they will be trailing most likely. And Jalen Daniels is going to be scrambling more than he is dumping it off to the running back. So I don't think Bucky had a single target last week. That could be the case again here where if they get a trailing game script, they're not running as much. And when Daniels is dropping back, he's not throwing to Bucky. And we might see more Kenny Gainwell anyway if they're trailing. And Zach Robinson even said we need to get Rashad White and Sean Tucker more work, which if you think about it, it means less work for Bucky Irving. So not good for Bucky. But just given the matchup, I still have him as a low-end RB2, but we're certainly going into this with lowered expectations. But he probably needs Baker to come back to really start seeing that solid RB2 usage again.
00:25:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, three to six weeks for Baker with that thumb. So I don't think it's going to be anytime soon, sadly. Don't forget, BetSync is back in the Action app and it's better than ever. Now you can automatically track your activity across 15 plus sportsbooks and prediction markets all at once. Connect your accounts once and your bets and trades will automatically appear in action as soon as you place them. No manual tracking required. From there, follow all your action with live win probability, in-game alerts, and bet analysis throughout the game. Just open the Action app, head to my accounts, connect your sportsbook or prediction market, and you're ready to go. Download the Action app and connect with BetSync for free today. Okay, on to wide receivers. Who's your top five?
00:26:01
Speaker 2: I got CeeDee Lamb, number one. How could you not after last week? And then I have JSN, Aman Ra, Puka. And then it's just like Jamar Chase, Chris Olave, or Justin Jefferson, which one of them plays would kind of be number five if they're all out. Then it's Nico Collins. So it's kind of a disaster once you get to five. Just given all the injuries at wide receiver right now.
00:26:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I'm not too far off. Puka, JSN, Amon, Rob Malik, neighbors, Nico Collins.
00:26:29
Speaker 2: I have C.D. Lamb at six.
00:26:30
Speaker 1: I'm not low on him, but he had such a heavy workload. You have to think they maybe try to pepper pickings a little bit in this game. Short week, Lamb had what? Nearly 20 touches. He had, was this a career high in targets for him? 21 targets, 17 catches and a rush.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: CD Lamb's not going to be Jeremiah Love and ask Dak to start throwing it to George Pickens more. I bet he wants 17 more catches this week. But I would be kind of concerned if they get out to a huge lead. They won't have to throw as much. But either way, Lamb's fully healthy right now. He wasn't really healthy last year, so we're just kind of seeing how good he is when he's fully healthy. He's my wide receiver one, but again, we're just being too nitpicky at the top. I don't think you can go wrong with Jason, uh, Amon, Robert Puka and number one either. Yeah.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: How are you feeling on neighbors though? Cause that look, he looked really good last week and they're facing a commander's defense. That is terrible against their 25th against the pass.
00:27:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think, yeah. Neighbors, he's just going to get better as, um, he gets more comfortable with his surgical repaired knee. So I think ultimately he's going to be, you know, top five, top 10 receiver. Um, And yeah, commanders are a good matchup. So yeah, he's my wide receiver 15, but it's still early. So if some of these higher up wide receivers get ruled out, then he's just going to move up. So I think either way, he's definitely a must start by now if you have him, obviously.
00:28:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Now, who are you higher on?
00:28:06
Speaker 2: Casey Concepcion is my wide receiver 28 to open the week. And I... Just have been really pleased with how the Browns are using him because it's pretty much how I would want them to kind of utilize them because his superpower is his ability to make people miss once he does have the ball in his hand. So they've been scheming up quick hitters to him where he's seeing a target on 22% of his routes, and they're usually very low ADOT. over the middle, very high percentage throws, but also they're more design looks where he's going to like get those consistently and catch them consistently. So he just has a really high floor right now, but the most like convincing thing so far is like his playing times going up each week. And last week it was up to 95% routes run rate. So he's, he's out there pretty much every Deshaun drop back. And I think we're going to start mixing in some more design run attempts for him as well. And he returns kicks. So I think there's going to be some games this year where he returns a kick for you, which is a nice little six-point bonus that you don't get from other people. So I just think we've seen Casey more around his floor so far. And we're about to have some spike games from him. So I just consider him a pretty solid wide receiver three. He's going to provide you a handful of points every week. with Upside for more. So I've been very pleased with what I've seen. And I think, you know, better games are coming rest of the way.
00:29:40
Speaker 1: For sure. And I have him back to back, actually, with this wide receiver. I'm higher on Marvin Harrison Jr. It's a name nobody likes to hear nowadays, but nine targets in the past two games. He had four in the first two. Some really rough matchups to start the season. And the Giants past defense isn't, you know, they're not the worst. They're not the best. They're just kind of in between. But he gets the Lions, and I think they're really trying to use him as trade bait at this point because we're getting rumors the Colts are interested in him. It seems like Michael Wilson is the guy. Trey McBride is the guy. Jeremiah Love is the future, etc. I feel like if they can maybe juice up his value, because this has been a pretty terrible stretch to start the season, 85 yards on 13 catches, six and a half yards per target. They're not going to force the ball to him, obviously, but in this matchup, they're going to have to throw. We were talking about Dak not having to throw maybe against the Buccaneers, given that matchup's... I don't want to say a joke, but it's Jalen Daniels versus Dak Prescott, and we saw how bad it was last week with Daniels. I don't know what the volume's going to be, but we can see 40-plus pass attempts from Brissette. He's pretty familiar with that since last year. And I look at Harrison, I look at this matchup, it's the easiest anyone will have. Facing the Lions, you're at home, you're in a nice environment. Could be the trade bait game, who knows. Yeah, I just like everyone in Arizona. You could even consider starting Tyler Algier in this matchup. Everyone in Arizona is potentially startable. Who would you not consider? What, Kendrick Bourne?
00:31:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't start Kendrick Bourne. If you're talking DFS, even someone like Elijah Higgins makes sense for a DFS dart throw. But if we're talking season-long, just Jeremiah Love, Michael Wilson, Trey McBride, and then I think I have Marvin Harrison Jr. as my wide receiver 39. I think it depends what situation. If you're one in three, probably because you took Marvin Harrison Jr., then you probably got to play him because they're facing the Lions. But you just have to be comfortable with he could have a zero catch game. Very possible. Or you can go four catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns. He has a huge range of outcomes. So if he's like your dice roll, I'm totally fine with that. If you're like a big underdog, you need a big game from him. Like you said, this is the week to use him against the Lions. I do think that they want him to have a big game. Then they can kind of trade him away. So if you're not going to start him this week, then just drop him. Because what are you saving him for, really? So wide receiver 39, you just have to know what comes with the territory if you do start him. But there is a potential ceiling game here for sure. Definitely.
00:32:21
Speaker 1: I have him at wide receiver 30. We're not too far off. I'm not crazy. I'm not like putting them top 24 right now, but with, you know, the chiefs and the Panthers, you know, unavailable right now, he gets a little bit of a boost that he maybe wouldn't get. I'm definitely open to starting him, but ideally in three wide receiver leagues. But yeah. Who are you lower on?
00:32:41
Speaker 2: Uh, DJ Moore, because he's been incredible when on the field and healthy for the bills. Um, But he was knocked out of the game again last week with the shoulder injury that he suffered in week two. And I wish he kind of took some games off to kind of make sure it got healthy because now we have to monitor if he'll play this week. And if he gets ruled out, then there you go. You don't play him. It's probably best case scenario for his long-term value because I don't know how you could trust him this week if he is active because it just seems like he's at very high risk to re-aggravate the shoulder injury. He's my wide receiver 29. If you have somebody else in that range that you can go with, just go with them. Head-to-head, season-long formats, you don't need to get the highest score of your league that week. You just need to beat your one opponent. I usually go for a higher floor play. Instead of just rolling the dice on DJ Moore, we don't know if he's going to get knocked out the first play of the game again. But they're playing the Rams who have Trey McDuffie. They've been really good against opposing wide receiver one. So this is a tougher matchup anyway. I think if you have DJ Moore, you're kind of hoping he sets out this week and gets right. And then we could kind of trust him going forward to not leave games due to the shoulder injury. So unfortunately, he's kind of a sit for me. I just don't think he's worth the risk until we know for sure that he's over the shoulder injury. So he's just a very tricky guy. for sit-start decisions where I'm going to be extra careful until he can get through a full game or until we're sure that he's over whatever injury this is.
00:34:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't even have him ranked this week because he re-aggravated it. It could be a week-to-week situation. I'm just going with the assumption he's not playing. Isn't there bye coming up as well? So there's a perfect time to get him extra rest.
00:34:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's one of those players that's played through injury a lot. He's played through really brutal injuries. So he's one of those guys where I think if he's a game time decision, I would be shocked if he ends up being active and we just kind of have to prepare for that. The easiest and best scenario for us is he sits this week, he gets better, and then he could be a wide receiver to the rest of the way. But I agree. I think he does end up sitting this week. I think they have to hold him out for his own sake. Um, but again, just don't be fooled if he's active again, we have to be very, very careful with them right now. Totally. Totally.
00:35:14
Speaker 1: If he does play, it's probably going to be my top 24 because just have how juicy that matchup is not against Trent McDuffie, but the high total Rams against bills. That's, that's just kind of a matchup. Anyone can go off even with the shoulder, maybe torn.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: If you have, if you have like a Josh downs with Keenan Allen, where obviously you don't suck last week, but you're more confident he's going to play the full game. Like if you're in a head to head league, the, the worst thing you could have happen is when your guys just leave the game, boom, give you a zero. That's the worst thing that can happen. So that's what I'm saying. Even, even if I have ranked higher than some of the guys that you're considering, I would still kind of urge caution is kind of my entire point of this is just his floor is so low right now with this injury that again, hopefully he sits out this week and just gets better.
00:36:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I hope he sits out. I hope he takes the next two weeks off because they're by his week seven. So yeah, the Raiders next week, just just sit and save yourself and save fantasy managers from further pain. I'm lower on the Buccaneers wide receivers as a whole. Like Boca, Godwin, Hurst, Tez Johnson, not that I was really ranking him high anyway. But any Buccaneers pass catcher that's not the running backs, even like we said, Bucky's not getting targets. Not interested in them. I don't want to deal with it. Yes, the Cowboys' pass defense is egregious, but Jalen Daniels as a passer is pretty bad too. Maybe he goes off Thursday Night Football. Crazier things have happened, but I don't want to deal with it in my lineups. They've come out and said they have to get Chris Godwin and Nick Bucamore involved. But I got to see it to believe it, and I got to see Jalen Daniels be good to believe it because last week was pretty brutal. How are you on them?
00:36:58
Speaker 2: No, I agree. That was my take last week where... The only thing I know is Jalen Daniels is really good at running the ball. So he's going to rack up a shit ton of rushing yards, not throw for many yards. So every single pass catcher in this offense gets a huge hit. And even if he were to struggle, they have Easton Stick to put in there. Don't trust him either. It's just a disaster. Yeah. You just can't trust any of these pass catchers until Baker returns, unfortunately.
00:37:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to be in a super deep dynasty league with like multiple flexes to throw either of them at this point. I don't want to have to deal with it. Moving on to tight end. Give me your top five, please.
00:37:37
Speaker 2: Trey McBride making his projection this week against the Lions. I was like laughing. It's so ridiculous. So Trey McBride way, way, way up there. And Brock Bowers, you know, number two. Then I have George Kittle, Isaiah Likely and Sam Laporta rounding out my top five. Nice.
00:37:55
Speaker 1: I'm not too far off. I have McBride, one.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: It's Detroit.
00:38:00
Speaker 1: He's one.
00:38:01
Speaker 2: Bowers, two.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: Kincaid at three. I know he's been a little rough the past few weeks, but again, Bills, Rams. You want to start your guys in this matchup. I know the Rams defense has been better. Donald might be back, but it's Josh Allen. And again, Moore might be out. If Moore's out, Kincaid is going to be drawing those targets. So him, Kittle, Laporta. So we're pretty close. I have likely at seven. I don't have him too far down. I have neighbors higher than you. So it's like, it's really just, we're nitpicking here at this point. I'm not, Tucker Kraft's my six. So I really like Kraft.
00:38:35
Speaker 2: He looked better.
00:38:35
Speaker 1: He had the targets last year. He's dropped a touchdown or two in recent weeks. He could have been going off, but he's getting healthier off the ACL. He's getting more comfortable this match against the Bears. I mean, they don't have a run game. They have to use the receivers and Kraft has been used at the line of scrim, but that's neither here nor there. Who are you higher on?
00:38:54
Speaker 2: I'm hiring Isaiah Likely, who's my tight end for this week. But last week, I thought he was a really good buy low last week. After that big week one, and then he really cooled off in weeks two and three. But the underlying usage was there. He's running around on 85% of Jameis' drop back. So last week, I took his over 39.5 receiving yards. He almost doubled that. And he left a lot of meat on the bone. He had 12 targets. Went seven for 66 on 12 targets. He was wide open on one or two of them where jamis threw it like 10 feet over his head so he could have had a bigger day of jamis uh was a little bit better but uh once again had like an 85 route turn rate uh he just looks really good out there if you watch his film i mean he just looks incredible so i think he's going to keep this up even though malik neighbors is looking healthier and healthier i think you know both of them are dominating targets. So I think we can rely on both. And another good spot here against the Commanders. So Likely's in my top five to open the week. Yeah, I love Likely too. You start him if you have him pretty much.
00:40:00
Speaker 1: I'm higher on Mike Kosicki. Assuming one of Tee or Jamar are out, same reason why I had Chase Brown so high. I think Mike Kosicki, 10% target share this year, not great, but he's tied for the team lead in touchdowns. And any time Tee or Jamar Jamar missed time with, you know, while he's been with the Bengals, Mike Gasicki has been the guy to benefit. Typically it hasn't been Yoshivas. It hasn't been whomever else in the back. I know they have Dante Myers. You like him. I like him too. If one of them are out, but I love Gasicki. I think they could have a similar target share. If again, one of the top two wide receivers is out. If not both, both of them could be out this week with T dealing with the abductor and chase dealing with the concussion. So how do you feel? He's in my top 12.
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Oh shit. Well, I mean, If Chase and Higgins are out, he's definitely going to be pushing that for me. I still have both in just to be safe to open the week. So he's lower. He's like tight end 25. But again, if one of those guys are out, I'm with you on him being higher. You could tell that when Higgins and Chase were out, they started to play him more. And they played Drew Sample less, and they got Tanner Hudson in there. So they're going to be trying to use their tight ends as makeshift receivers. So yeah, I think it's sicky. would have a huge role if either one of those guys are out. And then I think Dante Myers will still be viable as well. But for tight end, it doesn't take much for Gusecki to really climb up the ranks. So he's somebody that's going to be worth monitoring if both these guys are out. Especially, it's kind of a revenge game. Dolphins kind of did him dirty. So yeah, this is a good spot. If you were ever going to play Mike Gusecki, I think this would be the week to do it.
00:41:43
Speaker 1: Mike Kosicki revenge game. We're going to go down a limb.
00:41:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
00:41:48
Speaker 1: I love it. This is what we're all about. And hey, look, it's a savvy play. He does go off or he does get the targets and the looks in these games. He's having the most efficient season of his career to like, I mean, through four games, 10.3 yards per target, same as T Higgins, lower target volume. But yeah, he's scoring the touchdowns. He's only 31, which is not old for a tight end. He's just been around for a while. So I think people are just kind of sick of him. Gus, Gus sick.
00:42:13
Speaker 2: Uh, sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay.
00:42:16
Speaker 1: Moving on to tight ends. We're lower on who are you lower on this week?
00:42:19
Speaker 2: Uh, lower on Jake Ferguson, um, coming off a three catch 11 yard game. So I think he'll bounce back. Uh, but that's going to be hard to do. If, if CD lamb's fully healthy and dropping 17 catch games on 21 targets. And I still think George Pickens is due for a massive game. I think Pickens is going to start cooking soon. Um, that's gonna eat away from jake ferguson's potential upside and uh giovante williams is getting uh more targets so similar with you know stafford dumping off to his running backs more dac's been doing that a little more this year so that's kind of funneling targets away from ferguson and towards giovante williams which isn't good and ferguson gets like what six yards a catch so even when he's catching balls he's not doing much damage so just not a good situation. He's really, really a touchdown dependent guy right now and facing the bucks and what could be a really just run heavy leading game script. Uh, not that we were playing him anyway, but I don't know. He might be droppable at this point where he might need like pickings or lamb to miss time for him to be even in somebody top 12 again. So he's a guy that I don't really love his upside other than he is in a high scoring offense. So he's, He's a touchdown-dependent guy in a high-scoring offense, but that's about it. So he's my tight end 19 to open the week. Not good news if you took him as kind of a sneaky low-end tight end one. I would say that it's not happening for him unless somebody gets hurt.
00:43:49
Speaker 1: Totally. He's my tight end 19 as well. I'm even lower on Dalton Schultz. I have him in tight end 24. Nico Collins is back. They're facing the tight ends who are pretty inept. I think this could be a run heavier game, even though their run games has been pretty non-existent, but this could be the, I mean, I'm not saying I'm not going to be high on David Montgomery again this week, but Woody Marks has looked pretty solid, scored some touchdowns recently. And I'm, yeah, I'm not interested in Dalton Schultz whatsoever with Nico Collins healthy. Jalen Noel was finally getting some more targets. I mean, he had 75 yards on his three catches, so that was incredible. They should get him more involved. But yeah, I mean, CJ Stroud looks good, but I still don't want to trust Schultz at all with Nico Collins back. Are you low on him as well?
00:44:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could agree with this because the crazy part is Nico's back, which hurts his production, obviously, but the Texans are 0-4 behind. I'm not sure if you know this, the Texans are own force. They've been crazy in like really pass heavy trailing game scripts, which are like perfect for Schultz. Um, we're going to see them win games at some point. And you know, they're facing the Titans when they, when, if they get a lead, um, not only do they get more run heavy, but they, they use more to tight end personnel where he's not even out there. So what we could see like Foster Moreau and Cade Stover, like, getting more playing time with Schultz on the sideline if they do have a lead. So it's kind of a double, triple whammy for him this week. If they play with the lead and Nico's there, his playing time's going to drop, his target rate's going to drop. So yeah, I agree. I think the time to kind of use him was when Nico was out. And now that he's back, more of a mid-range tight end too for me.
00:45:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much drop him, keep him on the wire unless something happens to Nico. Then, you know, then you could pick him back up. But yeah, Schultz is pretty useless as of now. And hey, I even saw Brevin Jordan get a catch and that's a name I haven't heard in a while. So yeah, it's looking pretty rough for Schultz. And that'll do it for NFL Week 5 Player Projections episode. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast. You don't miss anything this season. Don't forget to check out the Fantasy Labs app for all of our projections and more. You can use code FLEX20 for $ 20 off an NFL subscription at fantasylabs.com slash FLEX. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Action Network reminds you, please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you care about has a gambling problem, help is available 24-7 at 1-800-GAMBLER.
Speaker 1: The most valuable commodity I know of is information. Wouldn't you agree? I got five dollars, this is a regular one. How many tackles can one man break? You're saying that humans need fantasy to make life bearable? Humans need fantasy to be humans. My goodness. That was good. You guys are pros.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: The best.
00:00:29
Speaker 1: Relentless, refusing to give up.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: All right, hit that horn, babe. Let's dance.
00:00:36
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Flex Podcast from Action Network and Fantasy Labs. I'm your host, Kev Masarejian. NFL Week 5 is here, and I'm joined by one of the most accurate rankers in the game, Sean Kerner, the odds maker on Twitter. Make sure to go follow him and me at Rodasurgents. Sean, how's it going? You excited for week five? Thursday Night Football is almost here, so I'm getting my juices flowing.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited. This is going to be a really tricky week for initial projections because we don't know who the hell is playing. Just another week of absolute carnage on the injury front. But that's how football is. It's a violent, brutal game, so it comes with it. But yeah, a lot of injuries to sort through and We got to see, you know, who we need to be picking up because of it.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have our top five rankings today and they're going to be affected because, you know, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, both of them are going to be questionable. Justin Jefferson. So some big names for week five that are up in the air at the moment. That is really impacting both of us. But quick reminder that all of our fantasy football content is available now over on fantasylabs.com. Fantasy Labs NFL includes in-season rankings, waiver wire and DFS tips, and much more. Make sure to use code FLEX20 for $ 20 off fantasylabs.com slash flex. In today's episode, we are going to dive into that top five at each skill position and discuss the players we're especially high or low on this week. Sean, start us off at quarterback.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: I got Josh Allen, of course. Then Jack Prescott, number two. Jared Goff, number three. I have Joe Burrow, number four, just assuming. Chase and Higgins are active, but he'll plummet if one or both are out. And then Drake May, my QB5.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: Very nice. Very nice. I have Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford cracks my top five. Dak Prescott, Drake May. So we're not too far off. Burrow's at six for me. So we're really close. It's just really with, I mean, Dak and Burrow being a little lower. It's how much are they going to have to throw? How much volume is really going to be there in those matchups against Jalen Daniels and Malik Willis? You seem much more confident than them. And where are you at with Stafford?
00:02:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have him right there, number seven. I agree. I think he's a top 10 play this week. They're going to throw a 10, so love him as well.
00:02:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Now, going to someone you're just in general higher on, who might that be in your rankings?
00:02:49
Speaker 2: Drake May. I mean, he's in my top five. I feel like last week, well, heading into last week, seemed like rock bottom for him. I was kind of saying, you know, Drake, the schedule may, you know, last year he had an easy schedule. The first three games, he had a brutal schedule. So we, you know, We had to be kind of easy on him after his rough start. So I wasn't too surprised to see him bounce back last week against the Bills. But he finishes the QB1 overall. So it was a huge bounce back week for him. But I think there's just a couple of really good signs from that performance. The first one, he threw a couple of touchdowns to Romeo Dobbs, who, of course, was one of their big free agent signings. Someone like that, it might take a few games for them to get chemistry. And his importance got even higher with A.J. Brown out. So it's nice to see him and Dobbs kind of syncing up, especially in the end zone. But also, Efton Chisholm, who I love, made that great catch. I think his playing time should go up, especially if Matt Collins misses time. Matt Collins might miss time. So I think I love the receivers that would kind of step in for Matt Collins if he's out. And then more importantly, we saw that rushing production come back for Drake May. Eight carries for 54 yards. That's kind of why he was a top three pick heading into the season is that rushing upside. So it's all coming together for him. Not that the Raiders are a bad defense, but this is certainly an improvement than other matchups he's had so far. So like him this week, he's my QB5 to open the week.
00:04:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, Raiders are eighth and past DVOA. It's pretty incredible, actually. Shout out to them and their turnaround. But they're 25th against the rush. So the Patriots with their running game and Drake may as rushing can definitely, you know, maybe pile it on. And some, I mean, I'm shocked. Buffalo is so bad this year. Defensively, their offense is amazing. Credit them. One of the top two, three offenses in the NFL, but 26 in defense, 27th against the past, a shout out to FTN for the stats. But, uh, I'm looking at this, like, I did not think they were going to be this bad internet of the season. And luckily Drake gets them again in week 13. But speaking of schedule, Raiders this week, Jets, Bears, Dolphins, Packers, Lions before the bye in week 11. So that's the Drake, the schedule may is coming back. You know, it's time to stat pad. Like I have him in my home league. I'm sure you might have him in a league or some best ball or something. This is the time for Drake May to make it up to us after that first three weeks of, I mean, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville is pretty brutal. Not going to lie.
00:05:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, so. We're back.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: I'm high on Jacoby Brissett. He's in my top eight this week. He's actually my QB eight, actually. So right on the dot there. I just love that matchup against the Lions defense. Their bottom five against both the rush and the pass just cannot figure it out. It does suck that Paris Johnson, the starting left tackle for the Cardinals is out. But I mean, the Panthers had Damian Lewis and Jalen Coker out. Didn't really affect them. They were balling. on the lions. And I, I mean, Bryce young looks like a much better quarterback this year. He looks like a very good quarterback, but I mean, I just think Brissette is going to have the garbage time slash catch up production to get him there. Um, does offer a little bit of rushing, but like with Michael Wilson, Trey McBride doing their thing, Jeremiah love a little banged up. Maybe they don't rush him as much. Who knows? Are you as confident in which could be reset? Do you have him as high or somewhere near?
00:06:26
Speaker 2: I'm actually higher than you. He's my QB six. I absolutely love him this week. I mean, they're facing the lions. It's really all you need to say. Brian branch might return soon. Probably not this week. So this, you know, this defense should get better as you know, they get healthier. But right now you just got to play anybody that goes up against them. And Bursette's like a great streaming option. Cause he's available in a lot of leagues. So, you know, if you have my homes, Or Lamar Jackson. It seems like Lamar Jackson isn't going to play this week. He's out. You're definitely in the running. Yeah, I think Lamar is going to be out. They're offering the Falcons minus three right now against the Ravens. They wouldn't do that if they thought Lamar was playing. So I'm assuming Lamar is out. So those are the kind of managers I think are in play for Brissette. But really, anybody should be in play for Brissette unless you have a top five quarterback this week. So yeah, I'm super high on him. He's my QB six.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, move it on to who you're lower on, who you might start Brissette over.
00:07:24
Speaker 2: Oh, I would absolutely start Brissette over Jalen Hurts right now, who's my QB 16. It just keeps getting worse for Hurts because should be without Dallas Goddard and Devonta Smith again this week. But he also just lost all pro Lane Johnson, who just retired today a few hours ago. So that's going to be a huge hit for the offensive line, the entire offense. Saquon Barkley might miss time with the hamstring. Tank Bigsby's out. So defenses, you know, they're not that worried about Hurts throwing, but they get to pay more attention to him throwing now. So it's just going to be really tough for him. They have to travel overseas. They're playing in London against a tough Jaguars team. They're pulling the Rams stunt. They're not traveling until, like, Friday. So this just seems like a disaster in the making. He always has the one-yard tush-push. in his back pocket, but he needs offense to be good enough to get there. So I just don't even like his touch on upside this week. Don't like anything about him this week. So he's my QB 16. I would start, you know, a lot of guys over him this week, but maybe things bounce back once Goddard and Smith return, but who knows when that happens, but you know, losing Lane Johnson to retirement was just not good for his long-term outlook either. Yeah.
00:08:47
Speaker 1: He's my QB 14. So he's pretty low for me as well, much lower than he would usually be. I definitely, yeah, Brissette, I would start him. Like May, obviously, that's, you know, you're starting him no matter what. But I have Hurts just one spot over the guy I am low on, Tyler Shuck. This Minnesota defense is no joke. They are second in DVOA, first against the pass, and they are brutal. The Saints lost starting left tackle a few weeks ago, Kelvin Banks. We saw the Panthers, Falcons teeing off on them. Shuck was under duress constantly on Monday Night Football. Chris Olave got a little banged up at the end of the game, so we'll see his availability throughout the week. If Olave is out, this wide receiver room is maybe the worst in the league. I might take Miami's over Devon Bailey and stuff. I mean, Chris Bell looks good. Malik Washington. I would definitely take that over Devon Bailey, Bryce Lance, Barry and Brown or whatever. Shout out to Juwan Johnson, though. He's been feeding us early in the year. He's a hybrid, so I don't really know what to call him. Uh, yeah, Chuck, I'm lower on, I don't want to start him and I want, I want to hold Chuck in leagues, but it is kind of a weird schedule for him. He gets the giants at giants. in two weeks, and I believe he gets the Steelers. So these next few weeks are a little tough before the bye. Still doesn't have Travis Etienne. He's on IR. Their rushing attack looked non-existent outside of the red zone where Kamara scored those two touchdowns. But I am just kind of scared. Would you be dropping Shuck if you have better options? If you see like Stafford on waivers, I would definitely pick up Stafford and drop Shuck.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if I would drop Shuck. I don't, you know, I don't think he's a lock to be a top 10 quarterback the rest of the way, but he does have that upside. You mentioned, I think their wide receiver room is one of the worst in the league if Olave's out. And I don't know why Olave was still in there down 30 in the last three minutes. Just stupid. But He might get Jordan Tyson back, not this week, but soon. I don't know, in a few weeks. So, you know, having Olave and Tyson and Jawan Johnson there is a pretty good group. The thing with Shuck is he has more rushing upside than he's shown so far. So I actually have him as my QB 11 this week because, you know, Flores is going to bring the blitz. He's going to be under pressure. He could have a really bad game. But if he gets the throw off, you know, this defense you can rack up yards against. Plus, they might push him out of the pocket. He hasn't scrambled much when teams have blitzed this year. But if he is under pressure, he's more likely to use his legs. And that's really where his sneaky upside is here, is if they flush him out of the pocket and he racks up a handful of scrambles, I think he'll still have a top 10 week. So I have Stafford ranked over him in a perfect role. I would just add Stafford and play him over him this week. But I think long term, you've got to keep Shuck in most formats. just given his long-term upside.
00:11:41
Speaker 1: You know definitely if olave is out i probably would be dropping shuck like if he's out for like a few weeks i would say yeah even tyson yeah it sounds like tyson's not going to be around until after the buy in week nine so you'd be holding a backup qb basically and if there's an upside option if somebody dropped drake may obviously you're gonna go get drake may uh hopefully somebody did that in your league or jayden daniels even who knows but uh Leagues get weird. You never know. And moving on, we got running backs that we are going to go into the top five. So who's your top five here for week five?
00:12:16
Speaker 2: Jameer Gibbs, B. John Robinson, not Brian Robinson, but he's close. Christian McCaffrey, Jalen Warren, assuming Rico Dattles out, which I don't know. It seems like he'll be out again. And then Derek Henry, number five. Nice.
00:12:33
Speaker 1: I got Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Chase Brown. I really like Chase Brown with one of T or Jamar out against this Miami defense, but Derrick Henry's at seven. Warren's at 10, but I might push him up with the new, like just depending on the Rico Dowdle news. I'm just kind of tentative down there, but yeah, it doesn't sound like we're too off. Got Kyron at six. It's a, it's a good week for running back. I'd say Jonathan Taylor's facing a Steelers defense that just lost Derek Harmon.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:13:05
Speaker 1: Where are you at with Christian McCaffrey? Against Seattle, it's feeling a little tough.
00:13:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's one of those guys where if you have him, you're playing him anyway. With the Seahawks, if they're not able to move the ball running it, he's going to get dump-offs and passes. Kyle Juszczyk is probably going to be out. I think that could lead to McCaffrey getting one more catch than we typically see. It's kind of a weird situation. I'll have to see what they do when Juszczyk's out, but Um, he's missing that blocker. So yeah, maybe we see like more dump offs to him than design runs either way. McCaffrey usually just gets his touches anyway. So I'm not, I'm not worried about the matchup really. Yeah.
00:13:46
Speaker 1: You're never benching him, but just the concern at Seattle, you know, you never know. But, uh, who are you higher on in general this week?
00:13:52
Speaker 2: I'm higher on Kyron Williams, uh, who just missed my top five. He was my RB six right now. Same. Um, yeah, yeah. So he's operating as much closer to a workhorse back right now. which makes sense because whenever the Rams are going to be in a closer or trailing game script, that's Kyron Williams time because he, he does see most of the passing down work. Uh, he's the two minute back. So Blake Corham really just gets his playing time, you know, when they're alternating drives and like a leading game script, uh, which I expect, you know, more of going forward for the Rams, but this week against the bills, um, I'm just expecting Kyron to be in more of a workhorse role again. So, This is a perfect spot for him. Yeah, I have him as the RB6. And it's the same thing for Blake Corham. He's my RB40 because I'm not expecting as much playing time this week. But that's kind of who Blake Corham is. He's going to be a guy who has top 10 upside if Kyron misses time. But we're going to have to pick our spots when we can actually trust Corham as an RB3 flex. And that's going to be when the Rams are like, you know, a touchdown favorite or more. And that's not this week against the Bills. I think this will be a Another big Kyron game. So, yeah, he's just pushing my top five this week.
00:15:09
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And what's shocking is Kyron's receiving usage last week with Puka back. Devontae Adams healthy. The tight ends, obviously, they were missing Parkinson and Terrence Ferguson. But even so, those aren't high target share guys in general. 13 targets, 10 receptions, 67 yards. Not the most efficient, but pretty good for Kyron Williams, who has a career 5.2.
00:15:32
Speaker 2: Very good for Kyron.
00:15:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:15:35
Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford, typically, he checks down at one of the lowest rates in the league, or at least has been the past few years. But this year, it's completely different. Again, Kyron, like you're mentioning, Kyron has seen a target on 25% of his routes run, which is just way higher than we typically see. But it's also Blake Corum, who's not really a pass-catching back. But when he's running a route, Stafford's looking for him. So it's been just kind of a difference for Stafford to kind of like, lean on checkdowns a lot more, which is great news for, uh, specifically Kyron.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. 20 targets in the past two weeks, 305 total yards, two touchdowns. I'll take, I don't have them, but I'll take that. If I had them, that's a fantastic stretch of two games should probably extend into this game with a 54 and a half total. Um, I'm really excited. I mean, as a Rams fan at SoFi bills, I mean, I'd want to go, I don't think I'm going to make it out, but That's a hell of a game to go to if you are. So I'm excited for Kyron too. I'm higher on Quinshawn Judkins. I think he looked like he got the juice back last week. That was a really eye-opening matchup in, what was it, Thursday Night Football against the Steelers. The rushing efficiency was still pretty bad, but 43 yards on seven targets. He had the touchdown. He just looked better. He looked the best he has all year, even though he had better rushing efficiency against the Panthers. I mean, the Steelers defense is, they're no slouches, but I mean, Deshaun Watson seemed to be trusting him. That was a season high in targets. This Jets defense is one of the worst against the rush. They are, I believe, bottom five.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: I have it. Yeah, 26th.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: So they're in the bottom eight. One of the worst against the rush. Uh, it's not going to be the highest scoring game, but Jutkins has been a workhorse, especially with Dylan Sampson missing time since basically week one.
00:17:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:17:28
Speaker 1: He has 43 touches in the past two games, 60 in the past. There's always averaging 20 touches per game in the past three games with no Dylan Sampson in the game plan. Um, workhorse back. He's in my top 12. I love him this week. How do you feel on him?
00:17:42
Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, he's my RB 18. And, um, this is a good matchup for him because he's, as always with Judkins, um, he kind of needs a positive game script, which usually the Browns aren't going to supply those, but they're three in one and playing well, they're playing the jets. So I think, yeah, we'll see another big workload here. I've also been impressed with, um, his receiving usage. They have Raheem Sanders operating as a pass catching back. Not that that's his like skillset, but without Dylan Sampson, they have nobody else to really do that. But, um, Yeah, Judkins is getting more targets this year. So he has a nice little floor-ceiling combo going for him where I think, yeah, he's a mid-range RB2 for me this week. But, you know, long-term, the Browns, I'm eventually will start Browning. And that's going to hurt his upside because, again, like he's not going to have the best efficiency. And he needs the good game scripts to kind of keep this going. But for now, you know, I think that sets up nicely for him right here against the Judds.
00:18:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like we're both in start territory for him. Who are you lower on?
00:18:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm lower on O'Marion Hampton. It's just getting worse for him somehow. I didn't know if it could, but his value just continues to plummet with both Keaton Mitchell and Kamani Vidal making it more of a three-way committee. I mean, this is almost a true three-way committee. It's an absolute disaster where Hampton, he has a slight edge when it comes to early down work and goal line work. But when you're on an 0-4 team, that's kind of like the worst role to have because they're going to be constantly trailing. And Keith Mitchell and Kamani Vidal are taking the passing down work with two-minute offense. So that's just really killing his upside because he could be getting, you know, four or five catches right now if he was in that true workhorse role. So he's not... It doesn't look like they're going to start winning anytime soon. Their schedule is going to be absolutely brutal. The offensive line is a disaster. Joe Ault and Rashawn Slater might both be out this week and beyond, which is going to make it even worse. He's my RB29. I think I'm being a little too generous still with that. It just seems like his upside's cap, the floor's low. So yeah, no, this is not good. Not good at all.
00:19:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's at 27 for me, so he's not too high. Only reason I'm a little bit higher is this Broncos defense is 23rd against the Rush. I didn't realize how bad they've been. This is unbecoming of what was a top five defense for the last few years. Now, uh, Patrick Sertan's out, they've been, you know, kind of not getting as much pressure as they used to. It's been odd for the Broncos, uh, charger at home. So there's no, you know, mile high factor that I'm looking at this like Hampton, he fumbled in the first two games. So I'm wondering how much did that affect his playing time? The pass pro is definitely somewhat concerning considering Kamani Vidal is taking those passing downs. Two targets last week that matches his season high. He has a game with one and zero. I said this on the waiver pod. I need to see Hampton getting four to five targets per game before I start really trusting him in my lineup. For now, it's like you probably don't have better options at running back. If you do, God bless. You're obviously starting your better options if you scored Emmanuel Wilson. You're absolutely starting Emmanuel Wilson. But if you don't, you still kind of have to start Hampton. And I like what they did at the end of the game. Like when he got his touchdown, he has three touchdowns down in four games. So it's not like he's been unproductive. He's just been losing touches resulting in overall, you know, low volume and in rushing and passing volume. They were using like bunch formations and getting into these almost college 40s, 50s NFL style packages. I don't know if you were watching that game at the end when they were trying to come back, but Hampton finally looked good out of those weird old school formations. I don't know how many they used, but I saw two or three.
00:21:44
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's McDaniel just hitting the vape pen, coming up with whatever he could come up with, including, again, I hope you saw it, but Justin Herbert drew a target. So we got those going on for us. I'm so sick. Yeah, they did look better at the end. Whatever they were doing at the end of the game, they should try that at the beginning of the game. I agree completely with that. But again, it's a new scheme, so these things do take time. I wouldn't be shocked if the Chargers offense does kind of bounce back and Hampton does become a pretty good RB2. But again, it's going to take some time. The offensive line injuries are why I think short-term we can't play them at all outside of deeper leagues. But I think once we get in the second half of the season... things could look better. I don't think it's, you know, just the rest of the season. He's toast. Um, I think things could get better at some point.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it. Uh, you, now you have to dress up as a Kerner's or not Kerner's, but, uh, McDaniel's vape pen, uh, for Halloween.
00:22:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker 1: Shout out to David for that message. That's hilarious. You are, you're really harping on that. And I believe it. I think there is, I mean, I saw a tweet that was like, uh, it was such a terrible decision to have McDaniel go OC for a team where weed is legal. so that's basically not doing great for anyone.
00:23:03
Speaker 2: Well yeah again it's one of those things um the innovation could help eventually uh it hasn't yet but it could eventually.
00:23:10
Speaker 1: I just want to see hampton gadston because i have so much of them in best ball and trey harris has looked good so i mean if this o-line is really that much of a problem which it could be then none of it matters but with her playing more yolo ball at the end that's what they did they looked competent but It's neither here nor there. I'm lower on Bucky Irving. The targets dropped with Jalen Daniels. They used Sean Tucker, which they haven't done all year. They haven't had an injury at running back. They just kind of went heavier on the run game. Kenny Gainwell scored. It was like everyone but Bucky. 16 rushes, 61 yards, no targets. It's been two dud weeks in a row after... I mean, he looked really good in week one. Week two, he looked solid. He didn't really produce much. And it's just been kind of bleh for the last two weeks. And I blame, obviously, Baker being out for the lack of targets because that's Baker's buddy. But, I mean, at Dallas, facing a team that has a competent rush defense, but their pass defense has just been, I mean, they're 14th against the rush. They're 32nd against the pass. Maybe Joey Porter Jr. going forward helps. But, Yeah, I'm not too interested in Bucky if he's not catching passes. How are you feeling on him?
00:24:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm lower on him. I agree. I think that with Jalen Daniels under center, that caps his upside a bit because, yeah, it's an easier matchup against the Cowboys, obviously. But they're like nine-point dogs, so they will be trailing most likely. And Jalen Daniels is going to be scrambling more than he is dumping it off to the running back. So I don't think Bucky had a single target last week. That could be the case again here where if they get a trailing game script, they're not running as much. And when Daniels is dropping back, he's not throwing to Bucky. And we might see more Kenny Gainwell anyway if they're trailing. And Zach Robinson even said we need to get Rashad White and Sean Tucker more work, which if you think about it, it means less work for Bucky Irving. So not good for Bucky. But just given the matchup, I still have him as a low-end RB2, but we're certainly going into this with lowered expectations. But he probably needs Baker to come back to really start seeing that solid RB2 usage again.
00:25:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, three to six weeks for Baker with that thumb. So I don't think it's going to be anytime soon, sadly. Don't forget, BetSync is back in the Action app and it's better than ever. Now you can automatically track your activity across 15 plus sportsbooks and prediction markets all at once. Connect your accounts once and your bets and trades will automatically appear in action as soon as you place them. No manual tracking required. From there, follow all your action with live win probability, in-game alerts, and bet analysis throughout the game. Just open the Action app, head to my accounts, connect your sportsbook or prediction market, and you're ready to go. Download the Action app and connect with BetSync for free today. Okay, on to wide receivers. Who's your top five?
00:26:01
Speaker 2: I got CeeDee Lamb, number one. How could you not after last week? And then I have JSN, Aman Ra, Puka. And then it's just like Jamar Chase, Chris Olave, or Justin Jefferson, which one of them plays would kind of be number five if they're all out. Then it's Nico Collins. So it's kind of a disaster once you get to five. Just given all the injuries at wide receiver right now.
00:26:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I'm not too far off. Puka, JSN, Amon, Rob Malik, neighbors, Nico Collins.
00:26:29
Speaker 2: I have C.D. Lamb at six.
00:26:30
Speaker 1: I'm not low on him, but he had such a heavy workload. You have to think they maybe try to pepper pickings a little bit in this game. Short week, Lamb had what? Nearly 20 touches. He had, was this a career high in targets for him? 21 targets, 17 catches and a rush.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: CD Lamb's not going to be Jeremiah Love and ask Dak to start throwing it to George Pickens more. I bet he wants 17 more catches this week. But I would be kind of concerned if they get out to a huge lead. They won't have to throw as much. But either way, Lamb's fully healthy right now. He wasn't really healthy last year, so we're just kind of seeing how good he is when he's fully healthy. He's my wide receiver one, but again, we're just being too nitpicky at the top. I don't think you can go wrong with Jason, uh, Amon, Robert Puka and number one either. Yeah.
00:27:24
Speaker 1: How are you feeling on neighbors though? Cause that look, he looked really good last week and they're facing a commander's defense. That is terrible against their 25th against the pass.
00:27:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think, yeah. Neighbors, he's just going to get better as, um, he gets more comfortable with his surgical repaired knee. So I think ultimately he's going to be, you know, top five, top 10 receiver. Um, And yeah, commanders are a good matchup. So yeah, he's my wide receiver 15, but it's still early. So if some of these higher up wide receivers get ruled out, then he's just going to move up. So I think either way, he's definitely a must start by now if you have him, obviously.
00:28:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:28:04
Speaker 1: Now, who are you higher on?
00:28:06
Speaker 2: Casey Concepcion is my wide receiver 28 to open the week. And I... Just have been really pleased with how the Browns are using him because it's pretty much how I would want them to kind of utilize them because his superpower is his ability to make people miss once he does have the ball in his hand. So they've been scheming up quick hitters to him where he's seeing a target on 22% of his routes, and they're usually very low ADOT. over the middle, very high percentage throws, but also they're more design looks where he's going to like get those consistently and catch them consistently. So he just has a really high floor right now, but the most like convincing thing so far is like his playing times going up each week. And last week it was up to 95% routes run rate. So he's, he's out there pretty much every Deshaun drop back. And I think we're going to start mixing in some more design run attempts for him as well. And he returns kicks. So I think there's going to be some games this year where he returns a kick for you, which is a nice little six-point bonus that you don't get from other people. So I just think we've seen Casey more around his floor so far. And we're about to have some spike games from him. So I just consider him a pretty solid wide receiver three. He's going to provide you a handful of points every week. with Upside for more. So I've been very pleased with what I've seen. And I think, you know, better games are coming rest of the way.
00:29:40
Speaker 1: For sure. And I have him back to back, actually, with this wide receiver. I'm higher on Marvin Harrison Jr. It's a name nobody likes to hear nowadays, but nine targets in the past two games. He had four in the first two. Some really rough matchups to start the season. And the Giants past defense isn't, you know, they're not the worst. They're not the best. They're just kind of in between. But he gets the Lions, and I think they're really trying to use him as trade bait at this point because we're getting rumors the Colts are interested in him. It seems like Michael Wilson is the guy. Trey McBride is the guy. Jeremiah Love is the future, etc. I feel like if they can maybe juice up his value, because this has been a pretty terrible stretch to start the season, 85 yards on 13 catches, six and a half yards per target. They're not going to force the ball to him, obviously, but in this matchup, they're going to have to throw. We were talking about Dak not having to throw maybe against the Buccaneers, given that matchup's... I don't want to say a joke, but it's Jalen Daniels versus Dak Prescott, and we saw how bad it was last week with Daniels. I don't know what the volume's going to be, but we can see 40-plus pass attempts from Brissette. He's pretty familiar with that since last year. And I look at Harrison, I look at this matchup, it's the easiest anyone will have. Facing the Lions, you're at home, you're in a nice environment. Could be the trade bait game, who knows. Yeah, I just like everyone in Arizona. You could even consider starting Tyler Algier in this matchup. Everyone in Arizona is potentially startable. Who would you not consider? What, Kendrick Bourne?
00:31:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't start Kendrick Bourne. If you're talking DFS, even someone like Elijah Higgins makes sense for a DFS dart throw. But if we're talking season-long, just Jeremiah Love, Michael Wilson, Trey McBride, and then I think I have Marvin Harrison Jr. as my wide receiver 39. I think it depends what situation. If you're one in three, probably because you took Marvin Harrison Jr., then you probably got to play him because they're facing the Lions. But you just have to be comfortable with he could have a zero catch game. Very possible. Or you can go four catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns. He has a huge range of outcomes. So if he's like your dice roll, I'm totally fine with that. If you're like a big underdog, you need a big game from him. Like you said, this is the week to use him against the Lions. I do think that they want him to have a big game. Then they can kind of trade him away. So if you're not going to start him this week, then just drop him. Because what are you saving him for, really? So wide receiver 39, you just have to know what comes with the territory if you do start him. But there is a potential ceiling game here for sure. Definitely.
00:32:21
Speaker 1: I have him at wide receiver 30. We're not too far off. I'm not crazy. I'm not like putting them top 24 right now, but with, you know, the chiefs and the Panthers, you know, unavailable right now, he gets a little bit of a boost that he maybe wouldn't get. I'm definitely open to starting him, but ideally in three wide receiver leagues. But yeah. Who are you lower on?
00:32:41
Speaker 2: Uh, DJ Moore, because he's been incredible when on the field and healthy for the bills. Um, But he was knocked out of the game again last week with the shoulder injury that he suffered in week two. And I wish he kind of took some games off to kind of make sure it got healthy because now we have to monitor if he'll play this week. And if he gets ruled out, then there you go. You don't play him. It's probably best case scenario for his long-term value because I don't know how you could trust him this week if he is active because it just seems like he's at very high risk to re-aggravate the shoulder injury. He's my wide receiver 29. If you have somebody else in that range that you can go with, just go with them. Head-to-head, season-long formats, you don't need to get the highest score of your league that week. You just need to beat your one opponent. I usually go for a higher floor play. Instead of just rolling the dice on DJ Moore, we don't know if he's going to get knocked out the first play of the game again. But they're playing the Rams who have Trey McDuffie. They've been really good against opposing wide receiver one. So this is a tougher matchup anyway. I think if you have DJ Moore, you're kind of hoping he sets out this week and gets right. And then we could kind of trust him going forward to not leave games due to the shoulder injury. So unfortunately, he's kind of a sit for me. I just don't think he's worth the risk until we know for sure that he's over the shoulder injury. So he's just a very tricky guy. for sit-start decisions where I'm going to be extra careful until he can get through a full game or until we're sure that he's over whatever injury this is.
00:34:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't even have him ranked this week because he re-aggravated it. It could be a week-to-week situation. I'm just going with the assumption he's not playing. Isn't there bye coming up as well? So there's a perfect time to get him extra rest.
00:34:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he's one of those players that's played through injury a lot. He's played through really brutal injuries. So he's one of those guys where I think if he's a game time decision, I would be shocked if he ends up being active and we just kind of have to prepare for that. The easiest and best scenario for us is he sits this week, he gets better, and then he could be a wide receiver to the rest of the way. But I agree. I think he does end up sitting this week. I think they have to hold him out for his own sake. Um, but again, just don't be fooled if he's active again, we have to be very, very careful with them right now. Totally. Totally.
00:35:14
Speaker 1: If he does play, it's probably going to be my top 24 because just have how juicy that matchup is not against Trent McDuffie, but the high total Rams against bills. That's, that's just kind of a matchup. Anyone can go off even with the shoulder, maybe torn.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: If you have, if you have like a Josh downs with Keenan Allen, where obviously you don't suck last week, but you're more confident he's going to play the full game. Like if you're in a head to head league, the, the worst thing you could have happen is when your guys just leave the game, boom, give you a zero. That's the worst thing that can happen. So that's what I'm saying. Even, even if I have ranked higher than some of the guys that you're considering, I would still kind of urge caution is kind of my entire point of this is just his floor is so low right now with this injury that again, hopefully he sits out this week and just gets better.
00:36:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I hope he sits out. I hope he takes the next two weeks off because they're by his week seven. So yeah, the Raiders next week, just just sit and save yourself and save fantasy managers from further pain. I'm lower on the Buccaneers wide receivers as a whole. Like Boca, Godwin, Hurst, Tez Johnson, not that I was really ranking him high anyway. But any Buccaneers pass catcher that's not the running backs, even like we said, Bucky's not getting targets. Not interested in them. I don't want to deal with it. Yes, the Cowboys' pass defense is egregious, but Jalen Daniels as a passer is pretty bad too. Maybe he goes off Thursday Night Football. Crazier things have happened, but I don't want to deal with it in my lineups. They've come out and said they have to get Chris Godwin and Nick Bucamore involved. But I got to see it to believe it, and I got to see Jalen Daniels be good to believe it because last week was pretty brutal. How are you on them?
00:36:58
Speaker 2: No, I agree. That was my take last week where... The only thing I know is Jalen Daniels is really good at running the ball. So he's going to rack up a shit ton of rushing yards, not throw for many yards. So every single pass catcher in this offense gets a huge hit. And even if he were to struggle, they have Easton Stick to put in there. Don't trust him either. It's just a disaster. Yeah. You just can't trust any of these pass catchers until Baker returns, unfortunately.
00:37:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to be in a super deep dynasty league with like multiple flexes to throw either of them at this point. I don't want to have to deal with it. Moving on to tight end. Give me your top five, please.
00:37:37
Speaker 2: Trey McBride making his projection this week against the Lions. I was like laughing. It's so ridiculous. So Trey McBride way, way, way up there. And Brock Bowers, you know, number two. Then I have George Kittle, Isaiah Likely and Sam Laporta rounding out my top five. Nice.
00:37:55
Speaker 1: I'm not too far off. I have McBride, one.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: It's Detroit.
00:38:00
Speaker 1: He's one.
00:38:01
Speaker 2: Bowers, two.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: Kincaid at three. I know he's been a little rough the past few weeks, but again, Bills, Rams. You want to start your guys in this matchup. I know the Rams defense has been better. Donald might be back, but it's Josh Allen. And again, Moore might be out. If Moore's out, Kincaid is going to be drawing those targets. So him, Kittle, Laporta. So we're pretty close. I have likely at seven. I don't have him too far down. I have neighbors higher than you. So it's like, it's really just, we're nitpicking here at this point. I'm not, Tucker Kraft's my six. So I really like Kraft.
00:38:35
Speaker 2: He looked better.
00:38:35
Speaker 1: He had the targets last year. He's dropped a touchdown or two in recent weeks. He could have been going off, but he's getting healthier off the ACL. He's getting more comfortable this match against the Bears. I mean, they don't have a run game. They have to use the receivers and Kraft has been used at the line of scrim, but that's neither here nor there. Who are you higher on?
00:38:54
Speaker 2: I'm hiring Isaiah Likely, who's my tight end for this week. But last week, I thought he was a really good buy low last week. After that big week one, and then he really cooled off in weeks two and three. But the underlying usage was there. He's running around on 85% of Jameis' drop back. So last week, I took his over 39.5 receiving yards. He almost doubled that. And he left a lot of meat on the bone. He had 12 targets. Went seven for 66 on 12 targets. He was wide open on one or two of them where jamis threw it like 10 feet over his head so he could have had a bigger day of jamis uh was a little bit better but uh once again had like an 85 route turn rate uh he just looks really good out there if you watch his film i mean he just looks incredible so i think he's going to keep this up even though malik neighbors is looking healthier and healthier i think you know both of them are dominating targets. So I think we can rely on both. And another good spot here against the Commanders. So Likely's in my top five to open the week. Yeah, I love Likely too. You start him if you have him pretty much.
00:40:00
Speaker 1: I'm higher on Mike Kosicki. Assuming one of Tee or Jamar are out, same reason why I had Chase Brown so high. I think Mike Kosicki, 10% target share this year, not great, but he's tied for the team lead in touchdowns. And any time Tee or Jamar Jamar missed time with, you know, while he's been with the Bengals, Mike Gasicki has been the guy to benefit. Typically it hasn't been Yoshivas. It hasn't been whomever else in the back. I know they have Dante Myers. You like him. I like him too. If one of them are out, but I love Gasicki. I think they could have a similar target share. If again, one of the top two wide receivers is out. If not both, both of them could be out this week with T dealing with the abductor and chase dealing with the concussion. So how do you feel? He's in my top 12.
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Oh shit. Well, I mean, If Chase and Higgins are out, he's definitely going to be pushing that for me. I still have both in just to be safe to open the week. So he's lower. He's like tight end 25. But again, if one of those guys are out, I'm with you on him being higher. You could tell that when Higgins and Chase were out, they started to play him more. And they played Drew Sample less, and they got Tanner Hudson in there. So they're going to be trying to use their tight ends as makeshift receivers. So yeah, I think it's sicky. would have a huge role if either one of those guys are out. And then I think Dante Myers will still be viable as well. But for tight end, it doesn't take much for Gusecki to really climb up the ranks. So he's somebody that's going to be worth monitoring if both these guys are out. Especially, it's kind of a revenge game. Dolphins kind of did him dirty. So yeah, this is a good spot. If you were ever going to play Mike Gusecki, I think this would be the week to do it.
00:41:43
Speaker 1: Mike Kosicki revenge game. We're going to go down a limb.
00:41:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
00:41:48
Speaker 1: I love it. This is what we're all about. And hey, look, it's a savvy play. He does go off or he does get the targets and the looks in these games. He's having the most efficient season of his career to like, I mean, through four games, 10.3 yards per target, same as T Higgins, lower target volume. But yeah, he's scoring the touchdowns. He's only 31, which is not old for a tight end. He's just been around for a while. So I think people are just kind of sick of him. Gus, Gus sick.
00:42:13
Speaker 2: Uh, sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay.
00:42:16
Speaker 1: Moving on to tight ends. We're lower on who are you lower on this week?
00:42:19
Speaker 2: Uh, lower on Jake Ferguson, um, coming off a three catch 11 yard game. So I think he'll bounce back. Uh, but that's going to be hard to do. If, if CD lamb's fully healthy and dropping 17 catch games on 21 targets. And I still think George Pickens is due for a massive game. I think Pickens is going to start cooking soon. Um, that's gonna eat away from jake ferguson's potential upside and uh giovante williams is getting uh more targets so similar with you know stafford dumping off to his running backs more dac's been doing that a little more this year so that's kind of funneling targets away from ferguson and towards giovante williams which isn't good and ferguson gets like what six yards a catch so even when he's catching balls he's not doing much damage so just not a good situation. He's really, really a touchdown dependent guy right now and facing the bucks and what could be a really just run heavy leading game script. Uh, not that we were playing him anyway, but I don't know. He might be droppable at this point where he might need like pickings or lamb to miss time for him to be even in somebody top 12 again. So he's a guy that I don't really love his upside other than he is in a high scoring offense. So he's, He's a touchdown-dependent guy in a high-scoring offense, but that's about it. So he's my tight end 19 to open the week. Not good news if you took him as kind of a sneaky low-end tight end one. I would say that it's not happening for him unless somebody gets hurt.
00:43:49
Speaker 1: Totally. He's my tight end 19 as well. I'm even lower on Dalton Schultz. I have him in tight end 24. Nico Collins is back. They're facing the tight ends who are pretty inept. I think this could be a run heavier game, even though their run games has been pretty non-existent, but this could be the, I mean, I'm not saying I'm not going to be high on David Montgomery again this week, but Woody Marks has looked pretty solid, scored some touchdowns recently. And I'm, yeah, I'm not interested in Dalton Schultz whatsoever with Nico Collins healthy. Jalen Noel was finally getting some more targets. I mean, he had 75 yards on his three catches, so that was incredible. They should get him more involved. But yeah, I mean, CJ Stroud looks good, but I still don't want to trust Schultz at all with Nico Collins back. Are you low on him as well?
00:44:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could agree with this because the crazy part is Nico's back, which hurts his production, obviously, but the Texans are 0-4 behind. I'm not sure if you know this, the Texans are own force. They've been crazy in like really pass heavy trailing game scripts, which are like perfect for Schultz. Um, we're going to see them win games at some point. And you know, they're facing the Titans when they, when, if they get a lead, um, not only do they get more run heavy, but they, they use more to tight end personnel where he's not even out there. So what we could see like Foster Moreau and Cade Stover, like, getting more playing time with Schultz on the sideline if they do have a lead. So it's kind of a double, triple whammy for him this week. If they play with the lead and Nico's there, his playing time's going to drop, his target rate's going to drop. So yeah, I agree. I think the time to kind of use him was when Nico was out. And now that he's back, more of a mid-range tight end too for me.
00:45:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much drop him, keep him on the wire unless something happens to Nico. Then, you know, then you could pick him back up. But yeah, Schultz is pretty useless as of now. And hey, I even saw Brevin Jordan get a catch and that's a name I haven't heard in a while. So yeah, it's looking pretty rough for Schultz. And that'll do it for NFL Week 5 Player Projections episode. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast. You don't miss anything this season. Don't forget to check out the Fantasy Labs app for all of our projections and more. You can use code FLEX20 for $ 20 off an NFL subscription at fantasylabs.com slash FLEX. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Action Network reminds you, please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you care about has a gambling problem, help is available 24-7 at 1-800-GAMBLER.
