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The Injury Bug
16 Plays1 month ago
Week 2 is in the books and already the injuries are starting to pile up. Grant and Steve are here to take a breakdown some of the top drafted players that are either already on injured reserve, headed to injured reserve, or going to miss some extended time. The guys talk through their strategies in how to manage injuries on their teams, the types of players they may target to get them through this stretch, and what to look for in matchups to give you the best chance at winning. They also break down the big news of the quarterback change in Carolina, and how they are handling the injury to Tua Tagovailoa.
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Transcript
NFL Week Two Recap: Vikings' Impact
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome back to the 25-yard line, We are back for episode three, week two of Fantasy Football Action. I'm your host, Steve Johnson. I've got Grant Freeman here with me. What's up, Grant? Hey, we are on the Monday of Falcons Eagles. And week two is about to come to a close. And it's ah continued to be a good, fun year of fantasy football so far.
00:01:05
Speaker
both our teams lost yesterday in terms of NFL, obviously our football teams, while mine were dominant, but both of our NFL teams lost last night for a moment. Can we just, can we have a little conversation about the Minnesota Vikings and what they did to your team?
00:01:23
Speaker
Okay. We can have the conversation, but we also have to like, just like, unfortunately, history wise, we're Owen eight in the last eight times that we've traveled to Minneapolis. So it was one of those things we're going into yesterday's game. We were going to need our own kind of Minnesota miracle to, uh, how many of those eight games, how many of those eight games before was Sam Darnold, the starting quarterback? Uh, we don't want to talk about that.
00:01:50
Speaker
ah Yeah. Well, I know we all on our bingo cards had picked for the show.
Fantasy Football Injuries: A Record High?
00:01:56
Speaker
Well, for, for the season coming up that we, we were going to have the saints, the bucks and the Minnesota Vikings as the three best teams in the NFC coming out a week too. That was, that was what I expected to happen. I don't know about you.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, no. And like, wait, like the other thing that's been like frustrating so far this season two is just the wide ranging of like fantasy football experiences thus far, like week to week in, in regards to match-ups. Uh, we finished week one with me believing that I was going to be actually like all right in my leagues.
00:02:36
Speaker
And ah come Tuesday morning, I found that I lost three of them by a spread of less than five points between all three of the leagues. And now this week, I'm going to probably go 0 and nine more, maybe one and eight, depending on how that's embarrassing for you. So just remember,
00:02:55
Speaker
If you're listening to the show, just remember when Grant and I disagree on something today that I'm winning ah about 70% of my leagues this week and Grant is winning about 0% of his. So if you're going to side with one of us, keep that in mind.
00:03:12
Speaker
Well, coming up today on the show, we are going to talk about the wild number of injuries that have happened so far this year. It feels to me like this is exceptional, right? There's always injuries at the start of the season, but there's There's more. It feels like there's more. We're going to have to pull some numbers or something. Yeah. The number of names that I was, as we were building this episode out, the number of names that I was seeing, we could have done like a two hour episode just talking about the number of names.
00:03:44
Speaker
Absolutely. We, I'm really glad that there is an auto sub feature on sleeper now. And if you are listening and are not using it, talk to your league manager, talk to your commissioner, but there's, there's a mode on sleeper where if you have a player who is questionable, you can set an auto sub. And if they miss the game, then you whoever you've set as their auto sub will sub in that helped me out in a big way this week.
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, because I was there were there were so many players that were questionable to doubtful coming into Sunday. And even now, even tonight, Monday night. Yeah, I had T Higgins going in a league and he was doubtful. So I figured he probably wouldn't play, but we weren't getting news until a little bit later. And I wanted to hang on to the hope of T Higgins playing because he usually does pretty well against the Chiefs. Um, or maybe I just feel that way.
00:04:37
Speaker
But I said an auto sub for Jackson Smith and Jigba, who ended up getting like 22 and a half points. yeah So I was saved by the auto sub. I was able to start T Higgins auto sub JSN. And then when T Higgins was ruled out, it automatically threw the points for Jackson Smith in and helped me to a dominant victory against our good friend Chris, who has been on the show a couple of times.
00:05:05
Speaker
Well, let's jump into a little bit of news. We won't spend too much time on the injuries because we're going to talk about a lot of those as our main topic today. But
Panthers' QB Change: Dalton Over Young
00:05:17
Speaker
breaking today, the day we recorded this on Monday, September 16th,
00:05:24
Speaker
The Bryce young experiment is over or at least stalled for the time being Panthers announcing announcing that a healthy yet ineffective Bryce young, my words, not theirs is being benched for Andy Dalton. That's got to hurt. If you're Bryce young, how are we looking at this from a fantasy perspective?
00:05:45
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, as it stands, you were very through two weeks, you were very unhappy with any production that you were getting from Panthers players because of just how bad they've looked. He's been in his, in his, in his short career has been sacked 63 times.
00:06:08
Speaker
So yeah. And of course of that is definitely the the Panthers offensive line. But if you watch him, if you watch him play there, there are a lot of plays that don't need to be sacks that he prints into s sacks. Yeah.
00:06:26
Speaker
it You you were seeing there was there was definitely a lot of indecisiveness in the pocket you were seeing them just flat-out miss Wide receivers wide open in routes and just the decision-making Just was not good ah So this is unfortunately the first big-boy move that Dave Kanellis has had to make And it's a pretty serious one and so you've got Andy Dalton now going starting forward I think
00:06:56
Speaker
It's a wait and see game for this offense now, because you got to see what he's able to do. Again, the offensive line hasn't really gotten that much better. So you still have that aspect to it. But I believe Andy Dalton is at least a somewhat of an upgrade in his playmaking and decision making skills that you could see a little bit of bump in value for guys like Adam Thieleb and some other guys.
00:07:23
Speaker
So is Adam Thielen the receiver you want on this team now? Um, or is there is, I mean, are you looking at the tight ends? Are you looking at Deontay Johnson? Who, who are you taking? Maybe, maybe one of the running backs, Chuba Hubbard, Miles Sanders. Who do you have being the beneficiary of this? Cause Andy Dalton, as much as he hasn't won a lot of games, he's been perfectly serviceable throughout his career. And many a fantasy relevant wide receiver has caught balls from Andy Dalton. So i I agree. The Panthers are not going to suddenly be an offensive juggernaut, but we could have some more fantasy value than we did over the last couple of weeks with Bryce young throwing for 245 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.
00:08:09
Speaker
I think the guy that I'm highest on is going to be Deontay Johnson because obviously we've seen what he could do with a bad quarterback in Pittsburgh. So he just needs somebody that can now get over the ball. And I think Andy Dalton is going to be able to do that. So he's somebody that I'm probably looking at and probably Chuba Hubbard now maybe sees a little bit of a bump because you are going to have, like you're going to have a quarterback that's going to run more of a pro style offense versus Bryce young, who's going to be first thought what it would, when the pocket collapses is going to be just a run, run into a defender. Yeah, exactly.
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Deontay. Johnson's the guy I want. I'm not starting him quite yet. I want to see what this offense is going to look like. I still think the Panthers are going to be, um, fighting with the giants neck and neck to be the worst team in the NFL. But this, this should at least be a little bit more serviceable. Hopefully Deontay can at least get enough. If you're in a PPR league, he's gotten two straight games with six targets with price. you Under center um with Andy Dalton there, six targets a game I think could very easily turn into a little bit more because their drives could be drawn out a little bit more. ye But you're you're comfortable. if If you could promise me Deontay Johnson's getting six targets a game.
00:09:26
Speaker
for the rest of the season and Andy Dalton's throwing the ball, then that yeah is a flex option to me. When we get into the bye weeks, you're hoping for a touchdown or two, but yeah that's, you know, six targets. Maybe he ends up going four for, four for 50 or 60 every week. And then you're hoping for a touchdown. That's, that's a reasonable expectation for Deontay Johnson as a flex option going forward.
00:09:50
Speaker
It's now also just why it makes, it makes the trade between the Panthers and your bears last season. So just even more wild now. Yeah. If only so we had someone who could throw DJ more, our most valuable asset from that trade, the ball. Yeah. Um, but we don't, well, uh, let's move on from the Panthers and let's talk about Tua.
00:10:14
Speaker
Thursday
Tua Tagovailoa's Health Concerns
00:10:15
Speaker
night football game, take a hit from took, uh, what seemed like a pretty routine hit from Demar Hamlin. And the the same thing we've seen multiple times from to a before where he, he got knocked out. You saw the the arms and the hand kind of twitching yeah coming up very clearly concussed immediately when he takes the hit. What, what are we even doing here? Grant?
00:10:42
Speaker
of I mean, I'm just, I'm so worried for his health and his safety because you've now had, I think this is what, his fourth major concussion in the last two and a half, three years. That we know about. That we know of. And like, holy hell is it,
00:11:09
Speaker
you are not... like you At this point, I don't care about the football aspect of it. I care about the health and safety of him being able to post football to be able to have like ah good a good life and a career, if that makes sense. yeah So I think at this point,
00:11:29
Speaker
if you're If you're a Tua owner, you're hoping that he comes back down the road. But honestly, I am not going to be surprised if doctors tell him that he needs to shut it down this season.
00:11:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you, you said it well that we're, I'm way more concerned for the human than the player. This is, you know, I'm no doctor, but I do know that the more concussions you get, the easier it is to get them. And it's kind of, kind of one thing leads to another. And that was not that hard of a hit you from Jamar Hamlin. It was pretty routine. It was, it was a normal hit. It's, it's for some reason,
00:12:12
Speaker
Tua just has that level of competitive drive where he is not protecting himself on the football field. He is being the Josh Allen who is lowering his shoulder and trying to take out defenders as he's running the ball and this just keeps happening. And unfortunately he's not built that way and he's not doing it in ah in a smart way.
00:12:38
Speaker
Right. He is taking unnecessary, there was no reason, no reason for him to take that hit from Demar Hamlin and the way he did. All he, all he needed to do was slide and he had the first down. Yeah. Yeah. Plenty of space, but there's, I think there's just the level of competitor, which is the same reason I I'm sure we'll see him again this season.
00:12:59
Speaker
Um, from a fantasy perspective, likely Skylar Thompson who finished that game out, but it's worth noting that Miami did the dolphins did sign Tyler Huntley from the Ravens practice squad. So right.
00:13:15
Speaker
He Huntley seems like a much better fit for this offense that they're running in Miami than Skylar Thompson. and Huntley was perfectly serviceable in Baltimore filling in for Lamar Jackson in recent years. so it's From a fantasy perspective, you're still starting Tyree Kill. You're still starting Jalen Waddle. Devon A chain went off.
00:13:39
Speaker
on Thursday, uh, with and without two on the field. So if you've got a chain on your team, then, then I, I think he's an RV high end RV one going forward the rest of the season. and but Absolutely. Uh, start the dolphins. You are going to start, but temper your expectations. I don't think Tyree kill who was going about the third or fourth off the board in most drafts this, this off season. I don't know that he's going to return that value this season.
00:14:09
Speaker
though Well, let's move on to our standout player of the week. This is where Grant and I will each highlight a player from the previous week's action that went above and beyond their expectations on the field. Grant, talk to me about your standout player of the week.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, uh, here is a player that actually is going to be the reason that I lose in approximately four leagues this week, uh, because he was, he was, he was trying to remind us of the shades of Christmas day. Was it 2019 2020?
00:14:43
Speaker
where he went off for yeah for six touchdowns uh but it's but it's alvacomara uh the sates look very good all the And Alvin Kamara is right at the forefront of it with 20 carries for 115 yards and three touchdowns. Uh, added another 65 yards off of two catches and another touchdown. Uh, so finishing the day with four touchdowns against what we believe is a good Cowboys defense. Um, and, uh, yeah, if you had Kamara this week, he probably won you your league single handedly, uh, because of those four touchdowns.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, it it was a dominant performance showing that the saints definitely have something in the tank week one. They destroyed the Panthers. And I think myself and many other people didn't really take them seriously because it's the Panthers, but they played against the Cowboys who we all, I think across, across the league, everyone considers them to be a playoff team. Um,
00:15:55
Speaker
they'll choke in the playoffs, but they should get there. And the saints looking like a, like a real contending team until they prove otherwise. Well, my standout player of the week is Marvin Harrison Jr. After a lackluster week one, we We recommended patience on him last week. We recommended that he is too talented to not do better than he did in his week one performance. And I'm going to pat ourselves on the back for that one. Four receptions, 130 yards and two touchdowns, including a massive, massive reception, yeah diving into the end zone. Both ah both of his touchdowns looked good.
00:16:43
Speaker
This was not a lucky happened to be in the right place right time defender falling down or anything like that. Marvin Harrison earned two dominant touchdowns. ah it was against the Rams, which is not a great secondary, but, uh, 29 fantasy points is nothing to scoff at. And
Marvin Harrison Jr.'s Redemption
00:17:08
Speaker
we should be able to expect, uh, Marvin Harrison being a low and wide receiver, one high and wide receiver to the rest of the season. Yep. Well, and and the other thing too, that you saw this week is the Cardinals finally
00:17:25
Speaker
we're rotate We're moving him around in the offense. The thing that hurt them in week one is they basically kept him on the perimeter and didn't didn't didn't try to disguise anything. And so the Bills were just like, all right, we'll just make sure that you we cover him and force you to go everywhere else. But they had Marvin Harrison moving around the moving around everywhere. And so because of that, he was wide open much more and was able to get a lot more value for you.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yep. Uh, I do have one more piece of news to add that just came in to my phone four minutes ago. Um, AJ, Adam Shafter reporting that a white, uh, wide receiver, AJ Brown just told ESPN's Lisa Salters that he expects to miss a couple of weeks due to this injury. So it looks like, uh, we're already going to talk about AJ Brown. We're going to talk about it.
00:18:24
Speaker
But what originally I think we were expecting to be a short term injury. Yep. Looks like it may not be such a short term injury. Well, let's get into our main topic of the day. The
Navigating Early Season Injuries
00:18:36
Speaker
injury bug is real. What do we do with it? This season has been atrocious for star players getting hurt, missing extended time. We're not looking at a week or two already. Multiple high quality players landing on the interview. Absolutely. It does. I, I am actually playing against the team in one league this week called Matt and this curse. And you better believe you better believe I had Alvin Camara going against him. You're welcome. So let's, um,
00:19:13
Speaker
I'm going to read through this list real quickly of players and where their average draft position was, and then let's have a little discussion on what we're going to do with this. Christian McCaffrey, ADP1, average draft position. Justin Jefferson, ADP4, AJ Brown, ADP9.
00:19:31
Speaker
Puka Nikua, ADP 15, Isaiah Pacheco, ADP 23, Devo Samuel, ADP 31, Cooper Cup, ADP 35, Joe Mixon, ADP 42, Kenneth Walker, ADP 48,
00:19:46
Speaker
T Higgins, ADP 63, and Jordan Love, ADP 81. All of these players expected to miss multiple weeks or are already on injured reserve, meaning that they will guaranteed miss a minimum of four weeks. There's like Christian McCaffrey, Pukin, Nakua. There's a heavy, heavy conversation about Cooper cup going on injured reserve as of today. By the time you're listening this, I expect that you will be- Pacheco as well going on an injured reserve today.
00:20:13
Speaker
Pacheco is on injured reserve. um So these these are all players that if you drafted them, they were starters for you. This is not something that you were expecting to work without. Most of that, most of these players with the exception of, of maybe mixing Walker Higgins.
00:20:33
Speaker
Uh, you, you likely drafted them to be your number one at that position. so Maybe debos your second wide receiver, but if you went running back, running back, you, you may have gotten debos your wide receiver one. So the these are guys that you are anticipating starting on a week to week basis and now they're gone. So let's look at this kind of from a 10,000 foot view before we get into some of the specifics of how to navigate this. What? Yeah.
00:21:03
Speaker
What is your philosophy towards approaching early injuries in the season? So as we said last week, week one, you can't win your league and you also can't lose your league in week one, but When you have a team that experiences one or maybe even you were lucky enough to get two of these guys that we are talking about today on your team, like this is where you actually can start to lose your league if you aren't paying attention to it.
00:21:35
Speaker
and trying to find the necessary backup. So this is where, obviously, Steven and I both have the the the idea that if you're taking a top 20 running back in the first in those first kind of four to five rounds, you should be looking for their handcuff later on in the draft because ah so that you you've got that taken care of. um But also, too, this is now where you are looking to make sure that you have either a you have the depth at one of these positions ah to just to slot somebody in because you were paying attention to that or you're now looking at the waiver wire and looking for matchups. The matchups that you believe are going to be beneficial for you to be able to try and push through, if that makes sense.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, so what I'm hearing from you is hopefully you drafted to account for this. yeah But if you didn't, hey you scramble. Yeah. So obviously,
00:22:44
Speaker
Hopefully you drafted better is not advice going forward for this year, but it's maybe a learn for next year. You mentioned the importance of handcuffs. So if you, if you took CMC, hopefully you also took Mason. If you took Pacheco, uh, hopefully you took some odd JP Ryan, but.
00:23:02
Speaker
That's a ah team where maybe it's more of a running back by committee. It's P Ryan. It's Clyde Edwards, a layer. There's kind of kind of a little bit more ambiguous. That makes a lot of sense for running backs. Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet. What about quarterbacks and wide receivers? How does that philosophy differ from running backs? Yeah.
00:23:27
Speaker
the Realistically, with quarterbacks, a lot of times you aren't looking for, if you get kind of one of those top 10 quarterbacks, you're not necessarily looking to grab somebody on the back end ah as kind of a backup person. But this is now where you almost play the matchups, week to week.
00:23:46
Speaker
is you're looking for either a what a quarterback that has come out guns blazing and is being consistent and so you're trying to grab him on the waiver wire or you're going week to week and you're trying to find the matchup quarterback that's available that's playing against a a week a team that's got a weak defense when it comes to the quarterback in the passing game. but Yep. So, uh, let me, let me summarize what I think I'm hearing from you. And, uh, if I'm hearing you right, I agree with you that quarterback is the opposite philosophy of running back. You're not drafting two quarterbacks to play most likely, um, to play a around injury. And at the same time, you're not necessarily just grabbing the backup. So if Jordan love was your quarterback, you're not by default, just.
00:24:38
Speaker
starting Malik Willis now because he's the backup because likely there are better options where you can look at match-ups and roll with Geno Smith if he's available in your league, roll with Derek Carr if he's available in your league, roll with Gardner Minshew, roll with whoever the heck is starting for Pittsburgh that given week. Look at match-ups, grab a quarterback off waivers that has a favorable matchup.
00:25:03
Speaker
If you are playing in a league where all the quarterbacks are not scooped up, obviously, if you're in a super flex dynasty league, then like we're in a super flex dynasty league and there are never starting quarterbacks on waiver. So you have to plan around it. But if you're in a redraft league, one quarterback, there's always going to be quarterbacks on the waiver wire. You can mess with match up. You can play against what you can grab whichever quarterback's playing against the worst defense.
00:25:27
Speaker
Maybe you give Andy Dalton a shot. Yeah. Maybe you throw one of these other guys out there or maybe you're grabbing the quarterback that's playing against the Carolina Panthers. Hey, oh, hey. Yeah. Right. So that's quarterback and running back. What about wide receivers? You had, you had Puca or cup and now, now you're running without your wide receiver one. What are you looking at for that?
00:25:54
Speaker
Again, this is where now you are looking for hopefully some of the value that you got later in the draft where a guy that was kind of your wide receiver three flex shops in, obviously your wide receiver two now kind of moves up into the wide receiver one position.
00:26:11
Speaker
your wide receiver three flex moves into that two position and now you are scavenging again for that bench depth at wide receiver because again there are some good there's going to be some good value out there where you uh with some of these guys that are still available are waivers because either a they just haven't they they haven't looked good the first two weeks or they're coming back from their own injuries from the preseason things like that
00:26:42
Speaker
Uh, yeah. 100%. I, I think. in the sense that with a quarterback, you're almost never just going to the same team ah with a running back. You are trying to go back to the same team with running backs. I think it's a combination of both. You want to play match ups, but at the same time, like I'm looking at a team like the Rams right now and there's, that's probably 70% of their targets yeah that are now on the IR. I don't have the exact number in front of me, but those targets need to go somewhere. somewhere So
00:27:13
Speaker
I'm looking at like at guys like Tutu Atwell and Demarcus Robinson yeah that are maybe, they're they're likely weren't drafted. Demarcus Robinson available in 33% of yeah ESPN leagues. Tutu atwa Atwell rostered in less than a percent of yeah ESPN leagues. These are guys that were not on a lot of people's fantasy radars because with Cooper cup and Pukanukua both on the field or even with one of the two of them on the field. yeah You're less interested, but you now have you now have a situation that's wide open to get these targets. And it's worth grabbing, even even maybe grab Colby Parkinson and see if some of those go to the tight end. This makes Aaron Williams probably get a little bit more looks in the passing game, or maybe he wouldn't have been there.
00:28:04
Speaker
There's a lot of open targets and that's different than say the Eagles with A.J. Brown because there's some established targets still healthy in that offense that are likely going to absorb a lot of those vacated targets where you have like like right there is a bunch of Smith. Roll rolls right up into the wide receiver one spot and it's going to be the bulk of that target share along with Dallas Goddard.
00:28:32
Speaker
Dallas Goddard is going to be there. Saquon Barkley is probably going to get even more of a boost. And that's one thing a lot of people don't think about, I think. When wide receivers get hurt, when there's a solid running back with pass catching skills, a lot of those targets do end up going to the running back as well.
00:28:49
Speaker
So it's worth keeping an eye on some of those teams and scooping up some of these players that already have a role and presence in that offense. Unless we're in a situation like, for example, the Rams who are losing so many of their targets that someone that didn't have a role a week ago is. Yep.
00:29:09
Speaker
Either someone else is going to get a role or the Rams are going to lose every game. So yeah while that is a possibility, you would think that someone is going to be a beneficiary of this. I think my primary contender for them is for sure, Karen Williams.
00:29:27
Speaker
So um let's look at some of these options of some waiver wire players that are out there in a number of leagues. One thing worth noting, we're we're pulling numbers from both ESPN and from Sleeper because that is, I mean, those are just the two sites that we use. I think they're the two best ones out there. So these numbers could be different if you're playing on a different site. well One of the things we've noticed is there are some vast disparities between ownership percentages on yeah ESPN and Sleeper. I think a big reason for that is because of the number of dynasty leagues playing on Sleeper. yeah So I'll give a little spoiler of one of a name that's coming up, but Khalil Shakir is available and less than 50% of you
00:30:15
Speaker
in more than 50% of ESPN leagues and he's available on about 5% of sleeper leagues. I would venture to guess if we could filter on sleeper to redraft and dynasty leagues. I think in redraft leagues, those ownership numbers are, are going to be a little bit closer than dope. So take these percentages with a grain of salt, but these are all guys that are um at most in the 60%.
00:30:42
Speaker
ownership percentages, but a lot of them are lower than that. So let's talk about, let's talk about a couple of the waiver options that you could maybe grab for rest of season or at least a handful of weeks. And
Baker Mayfield: A Fantasy QB to Watch?
00:30:54
Speaker
let's start with the quarterback position. We got two quarterbacks on this list. ah Talk to me about Baker Mayfield and what you like about him going forward for the rest of the season. Yeah, Baker Mayfield is ah First of all, he's clearly matured as a quarterback and understands the value of the team over himself. And it's showing in the play because he is spreading the ball around to his wide receivers. He's more impactful in the passing game. like And now you're actually seeing it turn in because
00:31:32
Speaker
He's now faced like ah like Washington commanders, kind of a middle of the road defense. Still 80% completion, 290 yards, four touchdowns. Detroit, a much better defense than I think the the commanders are. Still a 63% completion percentage, 185 yards. And he's realizing that it's it's he's able to utilize between both, ah making sure that he's the the both the passing game and the running game,
00:32:02
Speaker
is getting going because he's no longer trying to do it all himself. Um, and so he is somebody that I think is going to have a lot of value going forward because again, he, that, that wide receiver core has so many good, good weapons there between Mike Evans, Chris Godwin. I mean, in week one, it was all Mike Evans week two, it was now Chris Godwin. So he's got, I mean, week one was all Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to be fair. Yeah.
00:32:31
Speaker
But a hundred percent agree. Baker is currently the number one quarterback in fantasy and he's only rostered and 60% of ESPN leaks, 69% of sleeper leagues. So he's out there in a ton of leagues. It's not quite half of leagues he's out there in, but he's, he's absolutely worth investigating and see we're recording this on Monday before waivers run. Um,
00:32:54
Speaker
I would get a claim in on him before waivers run when Tuesday night, because I think those ownership percentages are going to be in the high nineties by the time waivers run this week. But he he could be a good rest of season quarterback.
00:33:11
Speaker
he the way he's playing so far. They also have some sweet match ups coming up. yeah They get, they get the giants, they get Carolina, two times they get, um, they do have to play the chiefs and the Niners. Um, but week 17, which could be, or should be your championship week, Carolina Panthers.
00:33:39
Speaker
You want to talk to me about a quarterback that has a chance to win you your league. Give me Baker Mayfield for seven touchdowns week seven all day against ah the Carolina Panthers. That's my Andy Dalton at that point. They got Atlanta twice coming up still. We'll, we'll see how Atlanta's defense looks tonight against the Eagles, but so far not that impressive of a defense Denver this coming week has not been great on defense outside of Pat Sertain.
00:34:07
Speaker
Giants coming up later this season. They've got a if not the not the absolute best schedule because they do have San Francisco coming up. They do need to play New Orleans twice still, which has had a good defense in the first two weeks. I have Baltimore coming up, but you're going to be playing him more. You're going to be playing him more than you're going to be trying to sit him is what we're going to present. Uh, Sam Darnold.
00:34:32
Speaker
yeah to me about Sam Darnold. Uh, suddenly the Minnesota Vikings superstar quarterback. Uh, yeah. Uh, currently QB number nine on the season, which I don't know how many of us had that on our bingo card coming into the season, uh, only rostered at about 5.6% of ESPN leagues and about 20% of sleeper leagues. Again,
00:34:58
Speaker
When you have a wide receiver like Justin Jefferson, who makes anybody look good, and all he's got to do is just give him an opportunity, you you you're going to get points.
00:35:14
Speaker
on a week. Let me give you two stat lines for, uh, quarterbacks who played against the 49ers in the first two weeks of the football, um, of the football, of the football, of the football. Let's look, let's look at the football tonight, Grant. Uh, these two quarterbacks played against the 49ers in the first two weeks. One of these quarterbacks threw for 167 yards, one touchdown, one interception.
00:35:43
Speaker
and lost the game. One of these quarterbacks threw for 268 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. One of those quarterbacks was Aaron Rogers and one of them was Sam Darnold. And one of those quarterbacks you would want to start in fantasy football against the niners. One of those quarterbacks is well-owned in more than 50% of ESPN leagues. Yeah. So you're ah again, we're not talking about a high-end quarterback. That's going to win you your league with Sam Darnold. What we are talking about is you add, this is a real life situation. A good friend of mine
00:36:26
Speaker
drafted to a, or sorry, he drafted Jordan love and then grabbed to a later and was planning on playing match-ups between those two quarterbacks. And he is now out of quarterback. So, uh, Donald's an option for him. Yeah. Donald is a, is maybe a good option for him. Yep. And when you're looking at, at match-ups going forward,
00:36:55
Speaker
He's one of those guys I would maybe even pick up too. If you have the roster spots, you can grab Donald and maybe Andy Dalton and start playing some match ups. Uh, they've got Houston green Bay, New York by week Detroit. So that's a stretch that you don't necessarily love for Donald, but I also would have put San Francisco at the worst on that list. And he put up almost 20 fantasy points. Um, I feel like The pushback that is out there that I feel the need to acknowledge is that Justin Jefferson had an 80 what 97 yard touchdown. Yeah. Um, and he will be missing some time. So yeah, Donald's gotta take a hit, but it's still fine. Yeah. The other thing that helps Darnold is Minnesota clearly has a solid run game, which is going to help open up the pass game.
00:37:54
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Aaron Jones has looked very good. Yeah. He's playing very well. So that, that all of those contribute into a quarterback having the opportunity to be successful. And Justin Jefferson isn't guaranteed to miss multiple weeks either. no He's day to day right now. It Just knowing Justin Jefferson's history, I would expect multiple weeks gone, but that is not confirmed by the Vikings yet. So let's move in to, we've got one receiver or I'm sorry. I'm sorry. One running back on this list. Let's talk about Gus Edwards.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, clearly the Chargers are utilizing them but both consistently between Dobbins and Edwards. Edwards had 12 touches, Dobbins had 13 touches. It's now just becoming a matter of who's capitalizing war off of them, which at the moment it's turning out to be Dobbins.
00:39:02
Speaker
but you when you When you're having such an even split between guys, ah you can't shy away from that, especially with an offense that but with Jim Harbaugh and an ah offense that likes to run the ball.
00:39:21
Speaker
Yeah, it is worth noting. Obviously Dobbins has looked so much better with his carries, but it's absolutely worth noting that Gus Edwards has gotten one more carry than JK Dobbins.
00:39:36
Speaker
both games this season. Now he has done way less, way less with them than Dobbins. Whereas Dobbins has been absolutely phenomenal and is the number three running back in fantasy football. And Dobbins has been mediocre at best and is the number 47 running back in football. Edwards. Edwards. Sorry. Yeah. Edwards. Edwards. Number 47.
00:39:59
Speaker
um But one thing that ah appears to be the case is that Edwards is going to get touches. And if you're scrambling for a running back, if you have not handcuffed your player, that is injured. Gus Edwards available in about 40% of leagues and you, you can roll with him. I guess, I guess about 35% of leagues he's available.
00:40:28
Speaker
but he is, he is touching the ball. You're hoping for a touchdown with him. You're hoping for a big play. You're hoping for him to break loose, which he's not really a burner, but, uh, yeah, he may, he may end up. If, if the chargers end up big and they've got some reasonably easy games coming up on their schedule, not a lot of them, they do have the chiefs and teams, but you're not taking them against Pittsburgh next week.
00:40:54
Speaker
I mean, maybe you're hoping for him to follow me and zone no matter what. And the way the charges offense has looked and the way the Pittsburgh offense has looked, there's a chance that the, the chargers could go up early in this game. I'd still pick the Steelers to win probably, but there's a chance the chargers could go up early. If, if they can get the ball out quick and TJ watt doesn't go to ruin the game script, the way he's done with every other team they've played so far this season. Yeah, right.
00:41:20
Speaker
you're not you're You're curving your expectations, you're hoping for a touchdown, but at this point, that's that's what you need at running back. there are not There are not a lot of options available on the waiver wire that are going to touch the ball. i wonder what I'm going to look up what Zach Charbonnet's ownership percentage is.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's owned in 75% of leaks. So you're, yeah you're even your backup running backs for the teams that were less, less handcuff dependent are already still owned. Nope. You're, I mean, are you going to roll with Rico Dowdle or are you going to roll with, with Gus Edwards? I'm probably going to go Gus Edwards. Yep. Yep.
00:42:08
Speaker
So let's close the conversation out with a couple of receivers. We've got three receivers to talk through here. Let's talk about Khalil Shakir first. This is the widest disparity in ownership percentages. Again, I think this comes down to Dynasty. Khalil Shakir owned in just under half of ESPN leaks and owned in 95% of sleeper leaks. Yeah.
00:42:34
Speaker
So check your league, but if you're in an ESPN league, there's a 50 50 chance. Khalil Shakir is going to be out there. What are you seeing about him so far? Obviously kind of middle of the road numbers to start the season for Buffalo, but what are you seeing out of him that that is giving you some confidence going forward with the possibility of starting him?
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's the fact that Josh Allen is looking for him. or I mean, going into the season, I think the expectation was Curtis Samuel had an opportunity to be the wide receiver one. Keon Coleman had an opportunity to come in and be the star rookie rookie wide receiver through two games. Keon Coleman has been a ghost on the field and Curtis Samuel has been meh. Ghost.
00:43:20
Speaker
yeah on the field and what Josh Allen is looking for is a receiver that's going to catch any ball thrown his way. And through the first two games, he's caught all Khalil Shakir has caught every ball that's been thrown in his direction. So what you're hoping for is if he's not going to get you the yards, at least he's going to hopefully get you into the touchdown for, get you a touchdown for one, or if he's not going to get you the touchdown, he's going to get you the reception and yardage share. Yep.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah. Um, it's, it's kind of a high upside play, but you're, you're hoping that he, you're hoping that he steps into that role and that Keon Coleman as he gets better, doesn't take away from that. It seems like Curtis Samuel is not what we wanted him to be in terms of his role in this ah offense. So those targets are going somewhere. And right now it's, it's Shakir. Let's talk about maybe the most exciting player you didn't draft this off season in Rashid Shahid. Yeah.
00:44:20
Speaker
oh murder Here is a guy that we yeah we' kind of we kind of didn't know what to do with because the expectation, I think, for a lot of people was Chris Olave was going to be the clear wide receiver one in this offense. um And it's completely flipped. ah Rashid Shahid is clearly one of Derek Carr's favorite players. um He's got only getting near the yards, but he's also getting into the end zone, which is huge.
00:44:50
Speaker
And if you most like if you've lost, if you've lost one of these wide receivers that we're talking about, we've been talking about earlier, like he could very easily slide into your wide receiver one. um And you would be just happy with it.
00:45:06
Speaker
um He is rostered in about 64, 63% of ESPN leagues. He's rostered in about 56% of sleeper leagues. So if you're on sleeper, you've got a very high likelihood of potentially he's he's available on the other waivers.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yeah. And he he is an explosive player. 70 yard touchdown on Sunday. He he can make the the big play happen. Punishing speed. Yes. I don't know if you saw this 70 yard touchdown he had. but you just He just he's got behind the defense. And once that happened, it was it was over Derek Carson at the ball right on the money. And it was it was done. It's also wild how like the efficiency that Derek Carr has been through the first two weeks is like, I think he's maybe throwing the ball like a total, like 30 times between two games, yeah but they're just scoring points, winning games. ye ah The Alvin Camaro show has not hurt Derek. Chances really all it's done is help him.
00:46:11
Speaker
Well, one more player to talk about Grant and that is Alec Pierce or the Colts coming out of about 180 yards and two touchdowns in the first two weeks.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah, ah there was there was a different name on this list and then I was kind of looking closer at some stats and I was very surprised ah that a guy who threw the first two weeks is like clearly turning into the wide receiver one for Anthony Richardson ah is only owned in 14% of ESPN leagues.
00:46:46
Speaker
and yeah ah about 75% of sleeper leagues. um So we see that Michael Pittman is kind of
00:46:58
Speaker
He's there. He's fallen off. Um, and it appears that whatever, uh, whatever Anthony Richardson and Alec Pierce were doing in the off season to hang out and get to know each other better. It's, uh, turned into Alec Pierce is his favorite wide receiver for so far for the first two weeks.
00:47:20
Speaker
Yep. He, he's just been lights out. He is a top 10 receiver at the moment that that'll fade eventually. I don't think he's going to score a touchdown every week. His target share week one. I mean, it was, his stat line was ridiculous. Three receptions on three for 125 yards and a touchdown.
00:47:41
Speaker
But that's a great stat line. You like to see a guy that that can make some big plays. um It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful throw from Anthony Richardson that led to the touchdown, a 60 yard touchdown for him. yeah But we that's what you're looking for. You're looking for guys who can make big plays in this. And that seems to be him.
00:48:02
Speaker
ye Well, that's what we have for that grant. Let's play an ultimate roster. And I, um, I made a mistake and I accidentally already did today's. Oh, I it s slipped my mind that we were recording. I was telling a friend about how how wonderful this website is. And I showed him it and I was like, Oh, let's go check this out. And, uh, you did it. i I already completed it. So we're going to pick a random date grant. Give me a date in the last couple, uh, couple, couple days that you want to do. Don't, don't look at it. You just got to pick a date and we're going to do this, uh, random just in the last week or so. Uh,
00:48:48
Speaker
um ah sir September 12th. All right, here we go. September 12th, the modern NFC North must have played for the NFC North since 2002 stats will only be applied while on an NFC North team. So let me tell you where my brain goes immediately. I think it's the same spot as you. Were you starting a wide receiver? Uh-huh.
00:49:18
Speaker
and ah a certain a certain guy ah with the name of Megatron? No, but that's a really good one, too. I was going to Devonta Adams. Devontae Adams. I was going to Calvin Johnson. Yeah, that's a good one, too.
00:49:31
Speaker
a
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah. See how many years, so we're not Googling. We can see how many years they played. He was a, um, he was a july career for his entire career from 2007 to 2015. So that was eight years eight years. So obviously every year he was on the field was ridiculous. Yep. Yeah. That's, that's probably going to be it, right? Yep. So,
00:50:06
Speaker
Devontae Adams, I like a lot as well. His numbers are going to be better than Jordan Nelson or, um,
00:50:19
Speaker
I mean, yeah, his numbers are going to be better than Jordy Nelson or Greg Jennings wasn't there long enough trying to think of, trying to think of Aaron Rodgers as targets, Donald driver. How many years did driver play? Uh, see, he didn't come into the, or he came into the league in 1999.
00:50:41
Speaker
So his first was there three years well so first three years of his career, aren't going to count if we go that route. Well, that's still a solid 10 years. I like Devontae Adams more, but i'll I'll let you, I'll let you defer. I'll defer to you if you want.
00:51:06
Speaker
Well, why don't we go? Why don't we, why don't we, so why don't we sit on that and maybe we go to quarterback and I think it's, I think it's Rogers. Yeah, I don't know. Obviously it's not going to be a bear. No. Um, well, you don't think it's Jake Cutler. Stafford's regular season numbers is what I'm thinking about because Stafford was a 4,000 yard passer. I think every year he was with the lions. I'm wondering if Stafford has better numbers, but Rogers had the rushing on top of it.
00:51:38
Speaker
and Rogers has just been in the league for so long. It's been in the league for another 2005 versus 2009. Yeah. I'm comfortable with Rogers. So let's talk about running backs post 2002. It's got to be Adrian Peterson. Yeah. Is anyone going to beat Peterson's numbers 2007 to 2021?
00:52:04
Speaker
Yeah. The last couple of years are useless though. Cause I was in Washington. Yeah. Um, Washington and Seattle. I mean, I'm going back to like Reggie Bush didn't play long enough. I don't think. in who was hurt in more detroit Yeah. He did all of his good stuff for the saints. I don't know. Anyone's going to beat Adrian Peterson in the North. Uh, so tight ends.
00:52:32
Speaker
Hawkinson is, I, is what I'm leaning, but I don't know if he's been around long enough. I think his per season numbers are probably going to be the best, but we're only looking at like five years.
00:52:53
Speaker
Um, I mean, Jermaine Gresham was, I don't think he did his whole career in, in Green Bay. We, um.
00:53:21
Speaker
Dude, I just want i want to lock Hockinson in and and and commit. Our city's Lewis, no. It wouldn't be Lewis. I mean, maybe one of the old Bears tight ends.
00:53:42
Speaker
Like Martellus Bennett, but i don't I don't think he was a Bear long. Wait, no. We're forgetting about the pride and joy of Minnesota.
00:53:56
Speaker
Kyle Rudolph. You think Rudolph? I think so. Had enough good years. I think so. 2011. All right, dude, let's lock it in. Let's lock in Rudolph. I'm going to submit. We have Aaron Rogers, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Kyle Rudolph, Devontae Adams.
00:54:19
Speaker
I'm submitting. Let's do this. Just submitted. I like it. A plus a plus a plus a plus. Oh, we forgot about the bear. Mr. Bear himself would have been good. Matt Forte would have been very good there. I honestly, he, he swept through my mind, but I knew he was going to be less than Adrian Peterson and I figured Devontae Adams would have been ahead of him. yeah All right. Well, we were one, we were one player off from an optimal roster. We, we had Rogers, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson. Hey, good job on Kyle Rudolph. All right. Good job on Kyle Rudolph. We did it oh i used it by about 200 points, which is actually pretty good. Nice. Hey.
00:55:00
Speaker
That's why, that's why you come to the 25 yard line people. Cause we know fantasy football. That's why you're here and we're glad you were. That's the show for today.
00:55:13
Speaker
Grant, good luck this week. I'm not going to wish you good luck tonight because you're going 0 for 9. And that's OK. That doesn't affect your value as a person, as a commentator, as a friend. But I hope you all join us next week on the 25-yard line. Feel free to shoot some email at the25yardlineatgmail.com to follow us where we're very active over on Twitter at the25yardline. And we will see you all next week.
00:55:46
Speaker
Fly eagles fly? No!