Celebrating the 10th Episode Milestone
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to the Nonstop Fantasy Weekly Dynasty podcast. We are here with your hosts, Dave Reed, Ryan Wilkinson, and Joey Gallo. We are back. Unfortunately, we do not have Joey Gallo with us, but it's all right. You're in good hands with your host, Dave Reed, and my co-host, Ryan Wilkinson.
00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, welcome, everyone. I believe this is our 10th episode, Dave. It's a bit of a milestone for us. It is? What'd you get me? Still thinking. Still thinking. Still thinking. No, it is our 10th episode. We are in double digits. We are in legit pod. Pretty crazy we're still here. Reflecting on anything? Any thoughts? Yeah, it's been a fun ride. 10 episode ends. We'll see if we make it to 20.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, here's to the next 10.
Week 5 NFL Highlights and Injuries
00:01:05
Speaker
But we are we are now officially through five weeks in the season. And we had some monster and I'm talking monster performances from a lot of players, which we like and down to see this is what's getting us excited. And then you're seeing some pretty massive scores from some teams. But unfortunately, there were also some injuries as well, which
00:01:28
Speaker
heartbreaking and from a lot of key players. It's like, we'll get into it, but there's a lot of injuries with that. Not really sure how a lot of teams are going to navigate going forward. But with that, I guess I'll jump into some
Impact of Key Injuries on Teams
00:01:40
Speaker
of them. Like, we're losing Justin Jefferson to going to the IR with a hammy. Got James Connor going to the IR with a knee injury. Anthony Richardson, multiple weeks probably IR as well with a grade 3 AC joint sprain in his throwing arm.
00:01:58
Speaker
My hero, Devonne Achan, on the IR with a knee. We got Khalil Herbert, also going to miss multiple weeks with a high ankle sprain. Roshan Johnson has a concussion right now that he's dealing with, but he should potentially be back.
00:02:15
Speaker
Uh, tank Dell has a concussion from, uh, he left the game with, see how, what his status is going forward. Daniel Jones, uh, he has a neck injury, which honestly will happen when he gets sacked as many times to him. I saw a funny stat, uh, just pausing there. Uh, Andrew Luck, who like, he got hit by sack more than anyone during his time. And that was one of the reasons why I ever talked early.
00:02:38
Speaker
In 86 games, he was sacked 174 times. For Daniel Jones, in 59 games, he's been sacked 177 times. So Daniel Jones is absolutely getting murdered out there. So you're not surprised that he's getting hurt.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, that's an insane stat, honestly. I mean, we were high on him this year, and seeing that is a pretty good explanation of why he's not doing well. The offensive line isn't champ, because he has no left tackle. Evan Neal has been trashed. They need Andrew Thomas back for him. I still am not down on the town of Van Jones as much as just the situation. But yeah, obviously, guys can be murdered.
00:03:25
Speaker
But some other potential positives, Travis Kelsey, he did sprain his ankle in the middle game and everyone was about to have a heart attack because it looked like a non-contact injury. He watched a video, it was actually just like a low ankle sprain. He got right back in the game, well I shouldn't say right back, about a quarter later right back in the game, but if you look at the stat line, you never would have thought he didn't miss any time.
00:03:48
Speaker
catches for like 77 yards in a touchdown. So a vintage Kelsey game. Amandran say Brown missed last week with an abdomen issue, which you're hoping doesn't become a hernia, like a sports hernia, which that would derail him. But it does sound like he's going to play this week, which is a very good sign. So a crisis averted there. And Barkley is set to return this week as well.
Fantasy Implications of Player Injuries
00:04:15
Speaker
Damn, do the Giants need it.
00:04:17
Speaker
I was just going to say, Braida has not been cutting it. So the Giants definitely need Barkley back. The whole offense is not been cutting it back. I think Barkley is going to get fed, like, nonstop. But what other of those injuries do you think are the most impactful? I mean, some of them were pretty obvious, but.
00:04:34
Speaker
which ones are you looking at? Yeah. I mean, overall, I have to say between last week and this week, I feel like the injuries have been pretty crazy and it seems like more significant than in seasons past. I don't know if that's maybe just paying attention more, but
00:04:52
Speaker
There's some big names in here. Obviously Justin Jefferson is a huge injury. You know, maybe Osborne steps up a little bit more or, you know, Addison now takes over that Justin Jefferson role. But for anyone with Jefferson, that's a huge loss. James Connor too. He was a workhorse back that you're now losing.
00:05:11
Speaker
Um, and you know, Anthony Richardson multiple weeks. Um, he was doing really well. Um, so it's tough to see those guys go, uh, the entire Chicago backfield. I mean, Herbert ankle, Johnson concussion, even Homer had a hamstring injury.
00:05:28
Speaker
opens the door for healthy scratch. He's back. Literally a healthy scratch the last couple of games and might be the starter now because there's so many injuries in that backfield. And then one other, we don't talk about defense too much, but it can have an impact on the offensive players.
00:05:49
Speaker
Uh, Matt Milano of Buffalo. Um, you know, he's looking like he's potentially done for the season, I believe. And with Tordavious White out last week for the season, you know, they're getting crushed by injuries on the defensive side.
00:06:03
Speaker
Maybe that means more throwing for Alan Diggs and Davis. They might have to catch up more score more points. Um, and you know, we're already seeing it a little bit. Um, you know, they lost to the Jaguars and Josh Allen had his most passing yards by a pretty good margin in week five. So something to keep an eye on too.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, the bills were a unit you were trying almost wanted to stay away from starting your players against and now it's there's still a lot of talent on that defense, but it is not as threatening as it once was.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah. And I agree to your point like this week, it feels worse because like you are losing like the, like some elite players to actual IR, which is minimum four weeks that a player has to be on the IR for. So that teams don't make that decision lightly. Um, a lot of times, especially star players, I think Jamar chase.
00:06:56
Speaker
I think he ended up missing four games last year, but they didn't put him on IR because they were hoping he could get back after three. So if there's any hope that they can get back earlier than four weeks, they will not put at least these star players on. So the fact that they are going on means it's serious.
00:07:12
Speaker
So they could go longer than that. So like it, you're, you do have some concerns and like Justin Jefferson, he's the wide receiver one in most, uh, leagues at worst to behind chase. Um, and there's chance that he goes beyond, like you hear, you're hearing a lot of doom and gloom from, um, on Twitter that, I mean, Hey, the team stinks. They're one of four, uh, Kirk cousin trades are being thrown around there. Like they're, they haven't been able to win with Justin Jefferson. So I don't know how they're going to win without him. So.
00:07:41
Speaker
At the end of that IR, they could be that like the window, if it opens up, they could be one in eight at that point. And would they bring back Justin Jefferson at that point or just keep tanking, keep it on IR? So you might be without him for an extended period of time.
00:07:57
Speaker
Which, yeah, that's going to hurt a lot of teams. And then Devon H.N., he looks like an elite top, potentially 5, 10 running back in the league right now. Every time he touches a ball, it's 15 yards. Not everything's accurate. He's averaging like 15 yards a touch. It's crazy. And now he's going to miss multiple leagues. You don't know what it is yet or how serious they're saying it's not season-endering. So hopefully he gets back. The offense definitely needs it. But that offense is just high-flying anyway.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, we hate to see that Anthony Richardson. This one is tough because it's also it's like a serious brain on his throwing on guy. He just keeps getting hurt every time he plays right now. And he's a big strong guy. But so that stuff is tough. Like, fortunately, if you have garnum into I think
00:08:43
Speaker
That's enough to get by, but again, Anthony Richardson was looking like a top five fantasy option the way he was playing. Um, so yeah, it hurts more when you start seeing like elite play, like even seeing Kelsey miss the time scares you. And then, uh, Amunra and Barkley, like these guys being out, these are, these are first and second round picks and read your athlete. These are the elite of the elite and you're, you're without them. So it's very tough.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's huge, huge names, like you said. And it's not just a small injury where they are questionable and might not play this week, but they'll be back next week. We're talking long-term injuries for these guys that are cornerstones of not only their real life NFL teams, but also most people's fantasy football teams. So.
00:09:25
Speaker
You know, there's a lot of opportunities out there too for guys that are going to have to step up. So we'll see who takes advantage of these injuries over the next couple of weeks. Um, but you know, they're definitely devastating injuries. Yeah.
Cooper Kupp's Return and Fantasy Strategy
00:09:39
Speaker
But there were a couple of players who did come back. So it's not, it's all not all negative here. We want to start, uh, bring some positivity back to the pod. Uh, Cooper cup came back and came back in a big way. He, he was vintage Cooper cup again. Like he didn't miss a beat. Um,
00:09:55
Speaker
I believe, I think his final stat line, what did he have? Eight receptions for 118 yards. And honestly, early on, it looked like he was going to go for like 20 receptions. They were feeding him often. And the one thing that we also learned, he can coach this with Puka Niku. That's what I was just going to say. Both of them did really well. So I think, you know, the concern was that Puka would get pushed aside, but it seems like both of them can be sustainable.
00:10:25
Speaker
As a cup owner in redraft, it was great to see him get back out there and do well in his first game back. I thought from the beginning of the season, the injury was going to linger and he might miss more time than they were even saying, but seeing him right back out there in week five and to have a big week is awesome for him.
Van Jefferson's Trade to Falcons
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah. And you know who was the odd man out was the guy that this pot has been hating on his band Jefferson. I think he played like two snaps or something, maybe 2% of two percent of snaps. And then was immediately traded to the Falcons after this week because they're like, yeah, we definitely don't need this guy with a future seventh and sixth round pick swap to the Falcons, which
00:11:06
Speaker
The Falcons is also worse than hell. If you're a wide receiver in that author Smith offense, uh, which actually did look better this week, which we'll get into, but sent them to one of the lowest pass rate teams in the NFL. Um, so yeah, not, not a lot of a positive eyes for van. Unfortunately, I think he's going to be non-existent, uh, fantasy wise.
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, but someone who else came back and we'll get into the bigger impact is Burrow started to look kind
Jamar Chase and Travis Etienne's Standout Performances
00:11:38
Speaker
of healthy. So we're all hoping that he's returning back to form because there's a lot of fantasy goodness to be had in the Bengals offense. But with that, that's a good lead way, right? Right. I think, uh, I think we should go into smash Williams. Yeah, right. Your smash ones is, uh, I think a member of the Bengals. Who do you want to give the award to?
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, you know, he was just outscored by DJ Mora on the week. And I know the owner of him in our league.
00:12:10
Speaker
didn't actually win, but my Smash Williams pick is Jamar Chase. It's the performance you've been waiting for. We were just talking about Burrow and Chase last week and how Burrow's been such a letdown, but Chase finally popped off. He scored three touchdowns. He had 15 catches on 19 targets and 192 yards. That's what you've been looking for all season long if you drafted him.
00:12:36
Speaker
you have him you most likely won unless you are playing the other guys in this category which I wish Joe is here because he's our Jamar Chase the winner and he actually did lose and I think it's because of an offense that you're about to talk about yeah so Jamar Chase was the wide receiver two wide receiver two and
00:12:57
Speaker
to DJ Moore. Talk about a bounce back for DJ Moore. If you have him, you probably won your matchup on Thursday. Game was already over. He had 10 targets, eight receptions for 230 yards and three scores.
00:13:15
Speaker
The guy just kept breaking off long run after long run and firmly planting his flag as an elite option. I'm not sure he can keep that type of efficiency up, but he was averaging, what, over nearly three yards a catch on this game. But maybe, just maybe, the Chicago offense is turning a corner here and becoming a pretty strong option.
00:13:40
Speaker
I'm giving my Smash Williams award to DJ more, but I do want to also give some credit to Travis Etienne, who was the RB one on the week. He got 30 touches between receptions and rushes for a total of I think 186 yards, maintained a super strong efficiency of over five yards per carry and 12 yards per catch with two touchdowns. I only want to give him an honorary mention because I actually was low on him going into the season thinking 10
00:14:08
Speaker
Bigsby was going to get a lot more of the work than he currently is. I mean, ETN is the feature back in Jacksonville. So a little honorary mention for the Smash Lens board.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting to see that we have DJ Moore and Jamar Chase, you know, as the one and two here when the first four weeks of the season were pretty terrible if you were an owner of them and then to have both of them go crazy in the same week and score three touchdowns is great to see.
00:14:40
Speaker
That, uh, that is a good point. These were players that you were, you were starting to think like, do I trade them and like, and dynasty, you weren't trading chase low. Like we, you always knew his long-term value, but DJ more, maybe, maybe you were starting to be
Brock Purdy and George Pickens' Rising Stars
00:14:53
Speaker
like, he's, he's just tied to another terrible quarterback, just the history of DJ more. But, uh, he showed that he can, uh, either overcome or elevate fields game. So we'll see what happens there.
00:15:07
Speaker
But moving on to the Hezel That Award. I'll start off, I'm rocking with Brock Purdy. Weeks 5's QB7, playing against a pretty strong Dallas D. And he was pretty, pretty, pretty good. Brock was the rock for his team, going 17 for 24 at 71% completion rate. Only 252 yards, but four touchdowns, three of which went to Kittle, who another very strong play this week.
00:15:38
Speaker
Um, but honestly, this guy just seems to be getting more and more comfortable in this offense. Um, as he goes on, he hasn't even played a full season technically, uh, for the 49ers, I don't think. And, uh, and although he doesn't have like the physical skills that allow you, like maybe Josh Allen have or a Mahomes with certain throws, he does make very, very strong, impressive throws with
00:16:01
Speaker
He puts the right amount of touch that gets like the right shape of art that goes over the defenders that were literally, you see them jumping and it's just out of their reach and he's constantly hitting the receivers in stride. But the biggest thing I've noticed for him is he's just processing the play so quickly. Like it's crazy how fast he goes through all his reads and knows exactly where the ball needs to go and does it immediately. And that's why the 49ers were like, they saw that too and they were willing to give him
00:16:29
Speaker
This the lead job there and ship off traded lands because they're like they've you can just tell that this guy's operating on another level So originally going into the season you may thought this guy was a safe Middle to back and QB to he's looking much more than that He looking like he could be potentially in the top 15 quarterbacks going forward in fantasy So and he's tied to an offense. That's almost always gonna be in the red zone. So he gets my he's all that award and
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeah, and that's what I was just going to say. It's really that whole entire offense, right? It's kind of crazy, but pick a position in that offense, and they're having an amazing season so far. They look pretty unstoppable. When you're in the red zone that often, you're going to get touchdowns. I mean, Christian McCaffrey, it's just
00:17:17
Speaker
for a 14-15 game straight with it, but like. You can't even talk about him. It's just insanity. But yeah, my he's all that for this week was George Pickens, mainly because the Pittsburgh Steelers are the 30th ranked offense. Now somehow they are miraculously three and two, but they are the 30th ranked offense. Pickens had 25.6 fantasy points in week five. He was mediocre at best in a couple of weeks. I think he had one good week two.
00:17:46
Speaker
I think his ups and downs are mostly a result of the quarterback play, but he's turning into a solid depth piece who is likely a stud if he had a better QB. He was drafted, you know, in the middle rounds of a draft, and right now he's wide receiver 13 on the year, so that's pretty good value on an offense that hasn't looked great. So, you know, a lot of other
00:18:11
Speaker
people on that offense were expected to do better than they've been doing, but Pickens has been doing pretty well. Yeah, my bold prediction is, although there were pieces that were right, but a lot of pieces that were wrong. If you have that many pieces, you're going to get one right.
00:18:33
Speaker
up walls, sprinkling them out. Uh, I was just like at the roulette table, I was just putting a lot of chips on the table. Um, yeah, pick it, not looking good. Deontay was fine until he got hurt. Najee just looks horrible. Like in dynasty, I think I might pinch him. Like he doesn't look usable at all. Um, but I will say that the sleepers on the team that kind of took pickings, he was getting a lot of hype. So it's hard to call him really a sleeper, but
00:19:00
Speaker
I was calling that this is a guy that could definitely show up and Warren, I just want to call, I think Warren is, I think Warren, I would rather start over Najee like every week. I don't think it's like a question to me at this point. Yeah, that offense did not approve from last year.
Surprise Performances in NFL Week 5
00:19:18
Speaker
Moving down to the Doug Fludy Hail Mary Award. Ry, you got a couple here. Why don't you toss them in?
00:19:27
Speaker
Yes. I went with the top two Washington commanders pass catchers. Obviously, McLaurin and Dotson. No, it's Logan Thomas and Curtis Samuel somehow. You may have streamed them. I know Dave here did start Logan Thomas. If you did, you got 20. That's right. I did.
00:19:53
Speaker
I'll give you credit for that one. He had 11 targets for nine catches 77 yards in touchdown He wasn't drafted as anything more than a depth bench bench piece yet He had more targets than both McLaurin and Dotson combined who only had three and four each and then Curtis Samuel I feel like has kind of come out of nowhere here he had 15 fantasy points and
00:20:16
Speaker
in week five, seven targets for six catches and a touchdown. He was also drafted very, very late and wasn't on anyone's radar yet. He has two solid back-to-back weeks and could be emerging as a streaming option going forward. So those are my Doug Flutie hell marries of the week. Yeah. I mean,
00:20:37
Speaker
These are, it does not make sense to me that McLaurin and Datsun are not dominating more of the offense. Datsun especially, biggest disappointment to me. I was huge on Datsun. So they are just spreading the ball out in Washington, but I do get to say Logan Thomas does look like he is one of the focal points of this offense. And it's pretty crazy because he was an up and coming tight end a couple of years ago and then he had like a devastating knee injury and wasn't even sure if he was going to play again.
00:21:07
Speaker
And going into the season, he was like a little beat up in the off season, but picked him up because I was like, yeah, I remember when he was kind of becoming a thing to see what would happen. And he's a thing. Like he is, I think he had like 11 targets. He said, yeah. Yeah. And then the tight end premium league, like we have, uh, that is gold. Um, so yeah, that's what I was like, I, I didn't, I will say I did not expect it on performance like that. I was like, Oh, he's.
00:21:33
Speaker
getting targets, if he catches five balls, that's five points. And then whatever yards on top of that, that's decent for a flex in a deep league. But yeah, he was a Hail Mary for me. Yeah, it's funny you say that because I have McLaurin and pretty much now I'm just like, hopefully he gets five catches each weekend. I just don't understand how the wide receiver one and two on the team are not producing, but there's other players on the team that are doing really well. It's just so crazy.
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, and Logan Thomas is also like the biggest red zone threat. They're always like looking to throw too, too. It is weird. They have like elite wide receivers on the set. Like I would kill for the giant set of dots in McLauren and they're just not using them. Yeah, it's crazy.
00:22:17
Speaker
But who do you got? I know you got, uh, an interesting office to talk about as well. Yeah. So yeah, then my next two awards are interesting. Uh, kind of connected, uh, my, my Hail Mary. Cause like, if you started this guy, you have some, uh, balls of steel, um, uh, or you were just desperation play.
Falcons' Offensive Growth with Pitts and Ridder
00:22:36
Speaker
Um, cause the QB six on the week was Desmond Ritter. Yes. I'm as shocked as you are.
00:22:43
Speaker
Um, but if you watched him too, it wasn't like he just had a good fantasy day and just like stumbled into it, which we do see players do some time. He, he looked good on the field and he won the game for the Falcons. He was strong from beginning to end. And then at the end of the game, after CJ shroud through a beautiful ball for touchdown with a minute and 49 seconds left.
00:23:04
Speaker
That was too much time for Ritter. Ritter comes out and goes on a game-winning drive to kick a field goal and win the game. He threw for 37 passes, completed 28 of them for about 76 completion rate, which is very strong. 329 yards, only one touchdown, but he also ran in another. And he even made Kyle parts, which we'll talk about in a little bit, a start-worthy option this week. And the other thing that's crazy about this is like, hey,
00:23:34
Speaker
First, he's Desmond Ritter. Everyone thinks he thought he was terrible going this week. I think he was on Joey's shit list. But even his own teammate, Matt Collins, was yelling at him on the sidelines because of how bad he was last week. But the other thing is they were playing the Houston Texans. Quarterbacks do not typically do well for fantasy against the Texans. Not because the Texans pass defense as elite. It's because their rush defense is so bad
00:24:02
Speaker
that team just run all over them and you don't have to pass. And you're thinking about, Oh, this is the Falcons author Smith's offense. They got the John, they even got Algier. They're just going to run over the Texans. They did not that both the John Algier were actually pretty bad on the ground against, uh, the Texans, but rid her to the rescue. Uh, huge, huge day.
00:24:23
Speaker
Uh, if you forced to play him as your QB two, which I know in our league, someone did actually have to do that. Man, did he come up big for you? Um, and honestly, if you can continue to look that good going forward, maybe he keeps the job for the full year. So we'll see what happens. But that leads me into my next, uh, player for the Ferrari and a trailer park. Um, cause this is kind of a combo deal. It's kind of pits, as I mentioned.
00:24:49
Speaker
If Desmond Ritter was slinging it, and if you've been a Kyle Pitts owner, you haven't had a lot of days to celebrate. But this is one you could celebrate, and I'm going to celebrate it. He was throwing the passes around. He got, I think it was, what, 11 targets, 7% for 87 yards. He was able to do this without a touchdown.
00:25:14
Speaker
put up a pretty solid day. He only was, I think, the tight end nine because you have guys like Logan Thomas who was going off. But still, this is a huge day for Kyle Pitts. And if they're going to throw this often in this offense, which I'm not sure they'll throw this often, but they can keep it up around the 30 pass attempts, Kyle Pitts might become a more useful option going forward. We're honestly going into a lot before this week, you're becoming very, very concerned for Kyle Pitts.
00:25:42
Speaker
He stepped up in a matchup that you were not expecting him to.
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it shows how concerned everyone is with Kyle Pitts when you're celebrating that he was the Titan 9 on the week, right? I mean, this guy is expected to be a top Titan. Yeah, it's a win when he's the Titan 9. So, you know, they just keep finding a way to win somehow, too. I don't know how the Falcons are 3-2. They don't seem that great, but they're 3-2 right now, which is also interesting.
00:26:14
Speaker
Um, but yeah, my Ferrari in a trailer park.
Colts' Backfield Uncertainty
00:26:17
Speaker
I put Zach Moss because, you know, JT is back. Most people probably moved Moss to your bench and yet he scored 35 fantasy points in week five, 23 carries for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Also had a few catches.
00:26:35
Speaker
a lot of people probably moved him when they heard JT was playing and JT only had six carries for one catch so it was the Moss show for another week. You would assume the Colts didn't hand Taylor 42 million to sit on the bench and he'll be ramped up pretty quickly but
00:26:52
Speaker
with Moss performing the way he is in the Colts at three and two, tied for first with the Jags. They do have the option to ease him in very slowly. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. You have to start Taylor soon if you're the Colts, but sending Moss to the bench the way he's been performing isn't an easy call either. Yeah, I mean, how mad do you think Jim Merced is that he pays
00:27:19
Speaker
Jonathan Taylor, the bag, and then Zach Moss goes off for that. Crazy. And I'm just going to go right into it. My 20 and three biggest dud slash let down is Jonathan Taylor for the same reason you probably instantly threw him in your lineup when you heard he was playing. Super pumped to start him and he gets six carries the whole entire game. And it's not like he was coming back from an injury. He was just.
00:27:46
Speaker
holding out, so he should be 100% healthy in reality. I know these guys ramp up, but to only get six carries the first week back and score three fantasy points is a huge dud performance from Jonathan Taylor. You try running up and down the field carrying that much bags of money. It's not easy, Ryan. It's not easy for him, but it's funny because that is what made you want
00:28:16
Speaker
That news is what made you want to start him, though. It did come out that he was going to get ease back, but you were expecting a little bit more than that. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that timeshare goes in the future. You know it's going to be a ship, but how much? Zach Moss has been great. Do they just phase him out completely? Interesting.
00:28:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely interesting. I mean, if we switch to redraft for a second here, what do you do with Zach Moss? I mean, you don't want to miss out on another 35-point week, but with Taylor back now, do you keep throwing him in your starting lineup? You can't even trade him because everyone knows it's going to vanish soon. It's honestly, you're just going to make the wrong decision no matter what you do. There's no winning in that situation.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yeah. Um, moving to my 28 to three letdown, uh, pick Devonta Smith.
Concerns Over Player Consistency
00:29:15
Speaker
Um, he was set to dominate against the Rams day who, which generally runs his own day. Um, and that's where Smith feasts with, uh, his route running, but it's also, and, and I was listening to a pod last week going into the matchup. It's also where tight ends typically feast too. Cause they find the soft spot and, uh, spot on his own and well,
00:29:37
Speaker
It went to the tight ends. This one, uh, uh, Dallas go there, uh, got her whatever, uh, was, uh, getting all the, all the targets, uh, leaving Devonta with a very sad stat line of five or, uh, targets for one reception in six yards. Um, Devonta is super talented. Like it's undeniable. You watch the game, you see it, but this is multiple town games now for Devonta Smith.
00:30:01
Speaker
Um, and it's natural to start being a little bit concerned about someone who you were thinking could be a fringe wide receiver one. Um, but this office is taking a bit of a step back under the new OC. Um, but there.
00:30:15
Speaker
The other issue that we're seeing here is there's just too many mouths to feed for all these players to have a good game at once. And that's going to create a lot of volatility in this offense. There's a lot of points we have in this offense, but it's going to be hard to see who it's going to come from. And a lot of times, the games just don't flow Devonta's way, unfortunately. And this was one where it didn't go to him. And it seems like if he doesn't catch one of the long passes,
00:30:41
Speaker
He's probably going to have a bad day because he's not generally going to be dominating like double digit targets most weeks. So you need him to break off a pretty big catch. Um, so barring an injury, he's probably not going to be a weekly wide or zero one. I think going forward, still super talented player, dynasties young. I'm not selling him a short, but just kind of, uh, you know, lower my expectation going into a matchup each week with what he could potentially do with a very, very low floor.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah. And you've been talking about Jalen Hurts for a couple podcasts now and how you've thought he's kind of looked a little off. So I think, you know, you might be seeing that a little bit, but that was always kind of the concern with Davante Smith. He was drafted as a fringe wide receiver one, but he's only the wide receiver two on his own team. And that's always a little bit risky because if there's a game where AJ Brown gets all the targets or the targets go to someone else like good earth, then, you know, there, there's not enough mouths to feed, like you said. So, uh,
00:31:41
Speaker
You know, the targets will be there, but he could potentially be an up and down player for the rest of the year, fantasy wise. Yeah, but rather than up and down players, Rob, why don't you tell me about a player who's just always down because he's just... He's not that guy, pal. He's just not that guy. You're not that guy. Who's your not that guy award? I didn't even change mine from last week, Dave. It's that bad.
00:32:08
Speaker
I thought he was like, have you erased this? Or is it just he like, left it in?
00:32:14
Speaker
I left it right there. I'm talking about Mack Jones in back to back weeks. It's really that bad. He finished with negative 2.6 fantasy points in week five, two interceptions and a fumble, no touchdowns. That means over the last two weeks, he has scored a total of negative 2.9 fantasy points. And somehow, Belichick is still saying he will remain the starter. I gotta assume that some of that is just posturing though.
00:32:43
Speaker
He's replaced him with zappy in the last two games So you would assume that those full-time switch has to be coming if mac jones doesn't start playing better um and daniel jones who i talked about last week, you know, he barely escaped being talked about back-to-back weeks because uh He didn't look great either, but he's now dealing with a neck injury like we talked about so Not his fault mac jones' fault, but not not down jones' fault Um, yeah, no that i'm
00:33:13
Speaker
I was actually going to do Mack Jones. And so you had it in the show doc and I was like, Ryan's right. That's, that's really the, not that guy award, but, uh, there was one other guy that I feel like hasn't really been talked about before this week. And I don't, I'm not sure. I think we all were just kind of giving him a pass. He is dealing with an injury, but miles Sanders finishes last week with the 1.2 points.
00:33:37
Speaker
He had only seven carries for 32 yards, one target, did not catch it, and fumbled the ball. And this was after the week before, which is, again, why I don't know why we didn't talk about it, where he only had 4.7 points on 13 carries for 19 yards. He had another three receptions for 13 yards. Yes, those are back-to-back horrible weeks of less than five points. But that is just like, you could pick a guy off of waivers to score more than that.
00:34:03
Speaker
Justin Watson, who I've got out of waivers and dynasties, is a more reliable option than that the past few weeks. And again, Sanders has been dealing with an injury, I think he missed practice again today.
00:34:15
Speaker
I'm kind of starting to think he just isn't good, because he had like a couple down years in the past. It was like, is this guy really that talented? But then last year with the Eagles O-line, he looked like a very strong running back. But I'm starting to think that it's just the Eagles O-line that makes all running backs look good. That O-line brought DeAndre Swift back to life as well. And now Sanders is looking exposed from a talent perspective in Carolina.
00:34:44
Speaker
And the issue there, too, is not only is the offensive line not as good, the team as a whole is not that good. So they're not going to be in a lot of positive game scripts for a running perspective, which is why you start seeing these low carry counts. But he's not catching enough passes. That was what we were kind of hoping for out of Sanders. He's like, yeah, they're not going to be a good team. But he should be on the field a ton. And you would expect the rookie quarterbacks to get a checkdown to their running back a lot to avoid sacks. But Bryce Young hasn't looked strong.
00:35:14
Speaker
and not been utilizing the track down as much. So you haven't been getting to those fantasy points you were hoping for. But at least Sanders got the bag of about $25 million. But I'm starting to think that this is someone you just honestly for the short term, you just can't start until you start seeing something on the field because he's been that bad.
00:35:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's either that or it's similar to Jonathan Taylor, where all that money is just weighing him down.
League Standings and Tight Division Races
00:35:40
Speaker
Um, but the, the concerning part for Sanders too, is Shubba Hubbard's there and he's playing just as many offensive snaps as Miles Sanders is. I think he actually even had more carries last week. He looks better to be honest too. He looks, looks a little bit better and that could be the injury for Sanders, but definitely concerning when Shubba Hubbard is, is looking like the more dominant back.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's disappointing too, because I was believing in Sanders going into drafts. I thought he was going to be very good. And I think our co-host, who's missing from this pod, Joe, he actually made a trade up in the startup draft to get Sanders. And I applaud it. I thought it was a great move. But a lot has changed since then, a lot has changed since July. Yeah, for sure. It feels like a long time ago. Oh, man.
00:36:30
Speaker
I'm happy to see none of my players in the bad sections, but I will say I think Kaffir and Mike Williams had about three of the below players so Bravo for that team But that leads me to given a quick update on how our league the non-stop fantasy weekly dynasty league is performing so we are five weeks in the first division of
00:36:53
Speaker
Cope is tied with me. I don't want to say tie with me, but he does have a slight edge of about, uh, what, 116 points scored. It's insane. It's insane. How many points his team is scoring week after week. Yeah. He has three of the five weekly highs and he, and we'll get to it, but he broke the record again this week. So his team, uh, we were saying like, if the things, if players hit, like he has the highest upside and can absolutely run through this league and.
00:37:23
Speaker
Early in the season so far he is doing it, but he does have one loss. And that's to your boy. Can you give me a minute? I think I have one of the second lowest points scored in the league, but I've been very consistent except for one week. I haven't scored less than 122 points in any week except for one, and that was the one week I lost. So, you know, staying above water, just trying to get through, but Croke definitely is a favorite in our division so far.
00:37:51
Speaker
But then in Division 2, you got Adam Cohen and Katz, who are currently separating from the pack a little bit at 4-1 and the rest of the division at 2-3. But Schluter, who is a very disappointing team out of Schluter right now, don't know what's going on there.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like our division is still wide open, though, too. Adam, unfortunately, is that team that has Justin Jefferson. So he just lost him for some time. And the rest of us aren't too far behind. So I don't know if I would declare a winner there yet. And even in terms of tanking, we thought, is it time to try to get some more picks or anything like that? But I feel like everyone in that division is still in the running.
00:38:34
Speaker
I agree, actually. That is a very good point. Adam was the JJ owner. And his team has become a little bit more vulnerable now. It would be interesting to see how he navigates it. He'll definitely have to make a move if he wants to kind of hold down that top position. But yeah, he's got a lot of people snapping at his ankles here. So I would call that a wide open division. And then moving down to Division III,
00:39:01
Speaker
Working still like the weakest division of them all from top to bottom. You got two teams at three and two. You got Maddie Rowe and the Clark and Sauce. Clark Sauce is what they are now going by. They're kind of neck and neck for that title. I think literally a point separates. I'm looking at like four points separate them.
00:39:22
Speaker
But then you got a two and three team and an 0 and five team in Canals, which he's definitely looking to rebuild right now. But Caffer and Mike Williams at two and three, they had a huge week this week and maybe turning things around. So it would be interesting to see what happens there.
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting that Kanellis is the only 0 and 5 team, and there's not even a 1 and 4 team. Everyone else is either 2 and 3 or better. So yeah, you would assume he's going to have a tough time making the playoffs at this point and might be looking to tank. And this division, too, I feel like is still pretty wide open for the other three teams. Like you said, Mike and Mike's team had quite the week as well in week five. So it could be on the up.
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And like I was actually looking at this before the pod, there's eight teams that are either two and three and three and two. So there's a lot, a lot of playoff full foals. And again, it's the top three seeds are decided by winning your division, but then there's three wildcard teams. So most of these pretty much all the divisions, they're still pretty tight. It's still early in the season. Um, even though certain, I'd say crop is definitely like the favor to win any of their own divisions, just based on this current strength of their, their teams.
00:40:35
Speaker
Um, but there's the wildcard I think is good. That's going to be a very fun thing to watch because there's going to be probably like 10 teams or I guess if you break that down, probably like seven teams at that point vying for like three spots. So it'll be very interesting to watch that. Yeah. A real close race so far. It's been pretty fun to watch. Yeah. And with it this past week, uh, alluded to it, we had, uh,
00:41:03
Speaker
uh, some pretty, pretty high score. So initially, uh, Kaffir and Mike actually broke the record for the highest score, uh, in a week, only to subsequently have that broken again by Crop who broke his previous record. Crop, uh, scored a total of 185.46 points this past week, um, which continues the, uh,
00:41:28
Speaker
the pattern of Krope and the Wilkinson brothers just trading off weekly highs. Five weeks in, they're the only two, and they've gone every other week. But Krope, it's the odd week, so he won it, and with a higher score, so he's taking the top one. For the low score, actually came from the Rosinski Bros, with 91.16, but that is still not enough to take the lowest record from the Wilkinson Bros.
00:41:55
Speaker
yeah you know crooks being a little selfish here he wouldn't let mike and mike take over the record had to go for it uh right at the end there but uh you know we're not as selfish so if anyone wants to come for a low score we'll allow it but you'll share it we'll share it but yeah it's uh it's all looking great when the lowest score of the week is 91 and we're in the 60s so
00:42:24
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. 63 is a very, very tough low score to get to. But again, there's a lot of buys. I think week seven, you're going to have a good chance because there's a ton of buys week seven and you're mixing some injuries. I think there's going to be teams with some very scary lineups that they're starting. Yeah, that's our hope. We're hoping those, those buy weeks give us an opportunity to lose the low score.
00:42:54
Speaker
That's right. But alas, this is week six that we're looking ahead on right now. Um, few less buys this week. Um, but some pretty interesting Mac match ups in our league. And the one that I'm the most interested in, I think you have a vested interest as well as you and I are squaring off. Um, seeing that I think this might be, is this our first host battle that we have so far in the season? No, Joe and I played each other.
00:43:22
Speaker
Joe and I played each other once. And if our match goes anything like that match did, Joe and I played each other, and it came down to the last 50 seconds of the last game of the week. We were winning. Kyron Williams rushes for the end zone. Doesn't get in. We would have won. The very next play, Stafford throws a touchdown. Joe had him. Joe wins the week. So we'll see if ours is as interesting as that.
00:43:52
Speaker
Um, but yeah, should be a good matchup. I'm going to have to see if I have any Monday night guys. Yeah, seriously. It might be throwing a Monday night or gotta keep it alive. But man, that'll be a fun one. But what game are you looking forward to?
00:44:10
Speaker
You know, I was looking at Mike and Mike versus Crop. Both of them just went off for over 180 points. So both teams, you know, juggernauts right now, we'll see if Mike and Mike can get revenge for Crop stealing that high score from them at the last second. Yeah.
00:44:30
Speaker
that revenge is a dish best served cold. So we'll see how that goes. But yeah, and as far as like fantasy and real off NFL goes, I'm very interested to see if Burrow is actually healthy against the Seahawks this
Speculation on Joe Burrow's Upcoming Performance
00:44:44
Speaker
week. And also if Christian McCaffrey can keep his touchdown streak up to, I think it's 15, or he'll make it 15 straight. But those are just a couple of things for me. Other than that, not too many games that accept me.
00:44:59
Speaker
Yes, Sam, I mean, we talked about that offense. You would assume CMC has a pretty good shot of making it 15 weeks straight, so we'll see. Yeah, I just don't see how anything stops that offense from getting to the red zone. If they're in the red zone, it's going to McCaffrey. Yeah, one red zone trip, he'll have that 15 straight week. I feel like the team knows it too, so they're just like, we just get like, first touchdown, let's just get to McCaffrey. Let's just keep this trend going.
00:45:29
Speaker
I keep betting the anytime touchdown score. So you just keep feeding that money in there. There you go. Yeah, we'll see what else happens in week six. Another good week of football. That's right.
00:45:45
Speaker
And we're hoping the best of luck to you in your matchups as well, unless you are playing any of us in our fantasy or your division main. I hope you all lose. But thank you again for listening to the NSFW fantasy podcast. We really appreciate it. Good luck, everyone. Thanks, everyone.
00:46:13
Speaker
listening to another episode of the NSFW Dynasty podcast. Tune in next time!