Enigma Machine

I will sound like garbage. Hi, guys, well we know you look great though, Charge, no matter what. Why thank you? Even with even with the coronavirus. My you know, my takes last week also garbage Yours were fantastic. Really it matched the audio quality which was perfect. Um, We're gonna try to do better. UM. I appreciate everybody sticking with us despite the audio issue. Do intend to be back in the studio next week? I'm our testing negative and have been for a while, so UM that's the good news.

I think we'll be back in the studio full strength next week, which is great. Lots to get too over the course of the show. As usual, we've got to take a chance on me with our nine players not normally in your starting lineup. We've got three tough questions, the premature speculation, and we'll break down all the game's fantasy style with our letter grades. As usual, we begin

with Brian Johnson. Lions take on the Steelers and Jamal Williams ruled out of this game already, So hopefully de' Angelo Swift can make de' angelo no is that's the coronavirus talking right there. Hopefully we will get a lot more. We'll get a lot better game out of Swift than we got last week. We all missed de Angelo Williams though in his PAK care he was great. But yeah,

let's start with the Andre Swift. Yeah, as you mentioned Dre Swift, Jamal Williams ruled out, But you know what, it doesn't really change my prospects on Swift so much. I'm still gonna give him a seat. It's a very tough matchup. Has been seeing snap counts north of seventy Swift that is, with Williams out, who will will remain out, But again, a very tough matchup. The Steelers are the

league's third best run defense per Pro Football Focus. They've only allowed two total touchdowns to running back, So I'm not too high on Swift this week. You certainly have to start them temporary expectations. I will mention, though, that Detroit's starting left tackle, Taylor Decker, is likely to make his season debut. Their their number one left tackle, so that does bode well for Swift. If fully I was allowed to give a plus or minus, I might throw a plus on there, but I know I'm not so see,

especially when I got covid alright, alright, I won't. As for the wide receivers or or lack thereof. Really, the matchup is decent. Uh. Pittsburgh is allowing seventy yards and one point to five touchdowns per game to the position.

But how do you make sense of this when you look at Detroit's last game, which is in Week eate by the way, they're coming off there by, Let's see nine targets to the wide receivers for three catches and four six scoreless yards, and they all went to I'm sorry, I'm not as fast on the button bar as chart. I had to find that one and we didn't use it last week, so it's probably pretty dusty. We had to dust that one off. I'm putting them all on

the bench. If I had to pick one, I might go with Scott Fish's boy Amanra st Brown, who was the only wide receiver who caught any passes in Week eight. But really they're all on the bench for me. There are better options out there. Will certainly get to some and take a chance on me in a little bit.

As for t J Hockenson, I'm not gonna bench him mo, but just to see for t J. Pittsburgh has only allowed three top ten finishes to tight ends all season, but last week the Bears tight ends UH combined for seven catches and a hundred plus yards against the Steelers. So you're certainly starting t J this week, and you are certain you are certainly not starting Jared Goffele he is on the bench. That's an easy call there. Over to the Pittsburgh side and naj A Harris, Oh, you

want fantasy Fonzie. You know the matchup is good when you can bake the Fonzie into the name. In nag A Harris is averaging twenty five opportunities per game, that's carries plus targets. UH. The Lions are allowing on five combo yards and two total touchdowns per game to running back.

So the easy fantasy Fonzie for Harris. I'm also gonna give Deyonte Johnson Deonte Johnson and a H. He has seen double digit targets in five of his last seven games, and the Lions are allowing more than a hundred and seventy yards and nearly a touchdown per game to wide receivers. Negative game script is kind of a concern, but Johnson is a very strong start. Going to give him an A. But Chase Claypool gets a C. That's a lot of seas in this line I wrote. It kind of reminds

me of my high school report cards. But see for Claypool, who has been very quiet over the last three games totally just nine catches for nine two scoreless yards of those three games. I'm sorry, you gotta be ready on that in the big chair, Matt, come on, man, h Claypool has gotten four carries during that three game span, though, averaging seven plus yards per carry. So so watch out, Naji Harris. I'm just kidding with that. Of course, a couple more guys to mention, Pat fryar Muth tight end move.

He has not been quiet. Uh sits third among tight ends in points per game over the last three weeks. It is quickly becoming Ben Roethlisberger's favorite end zone target, scoring three touchdowns over his last two games. Detroit isn't giving up a ton of fantasy points to tight ends. But Muth is tough to sit unless you have an elite option like a Travis Kelsey or Darren Waller or a Dan Arnold in front of him. But uh, a B grade for Pat Fryar Muth for me, and also

a B for Ben Roethlisberger. The Lions are allowing two sixty passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game. And I'm going to make one of the boldest calls in the history of the show and say Ben Roethlisberger throws for multiple touchdowns today possibly so bold, so bold, and against the Lions. And that's it for this game. Brown's teak on the Patriots. Mad for the Browns. We we have a little bit of clarity at the running back situation.

We know it's going We're gonna see a lot of Dearnest Johnson because it's it's about the last man standing for Cleveland. Yeah, so Nick Chubb, Dimitric Felton and John Kelly, who's like their fourth or fifth string back, they all have COVID. They're on the reserve list. Both Chubb and Felton are confirmed vaccinated, but it doesn't look like they're gonna get the negative tests in time to get back to the game. Uh. Kareem Hunt was speculated to maybe

return this week, but that's not gonna happen. So that leaves d Ernest Johnson is the only healthy running back on roster until they signed Brian Hill to the practice squad earlier this week. You remember Brian Hill? Uh forget Yeah, So the starting running back in this game, which will be Deernest Johnson, it looks like gets an A grade. If Chubb somehow is healthy, he's not going to alright. Well, so the starter for the Browns has never had less

than sixty nine totally yards this season. In fact, the Browns have had thirteen running backs see twelve or more touches in a game this year through only nine games, and the average day for that running back is one hundred nine total yards and almost to score. The Patriots allow a hundred and sixty combo yards per game to the running back position, So fire up Deerness Johnson with

an A grade. Baker Mayfield, he's on the bench. Some saw the monster bomb to d p J last week and the fact that the Browns hung forty one on the Bengals and thought Bakers back, but he ended that game with only two eighteen and two scores. He's officially a game manager now. He's only top two hundred fifty yards twice this season, and despite allowing the eighth most completions, the Pats don't give up much through the air. It only two hundred forty six yards and just over a

touchdown per game. If to forty six and one excites you, can, I interest you in Baker Mayfield because that's exactly what he averages. So he's on your bench. I will give a S great to Jarvis Landry. I'm gonna keep DPJ on the bench though he's completely reliant on the big play and the Pats keep everything in front of them. Plus he hasn't been practicing this week with a non injury related rest designation. Evidently Donovan People's Jones is tired.

Uh Landry should see high volume but low yardage, since sees only averaging ten point two yards per catch this year, which is his lowest by a fair margin as a member of the Browns, so this type of game makes sense for him. He was also a did not participate at practice on Wednesday and limited on Thursday with the knee injury, so it's only a c for Jarvis Landry. All the tight ends on there on the bench for the Browns. On the Patriot side, that running back situation

is almost as thorny as the Browns one. Both Damien Harris and Ramandre Stevenson have not practiced at all this week. Both are in the concussion protocol and it's not looking good for either of them to play this week. That would leave J. J. Taylor and Brandon Bolden as your runners. Last week, Bolden was ramped up after Harris and Stevenson went down, but J. J. Taylor was not active for that game. Taylor was active three weeks ago against the Jets on nine carries in a game and UH scored

twice in that one. Bolden was also a part of that game. He had two carries for zero yards and had six catches for seventy nine. So I would put Bolden as the pass catcher. Taylor would be a runner. I'll give both of them C grades just on the prospects of the red zone work, because the Browns have allowed the third most receiving scores to opposing backs this season. Guy, I've been talking for a long time. Jeez, there's already

a long matchup. Matchup Hunter Henry, I'm gonna give a B grade to The Browns have allowed touchdowns twice in the last five games, and they were two big end zone target style guys, Donald Parham and Pat friar Muth. Hunter Henry has scored in five of his last six and has a red zone target in six straight weeks. Um, so he's in the B grade. Jacoby Myers has now gone thirty eight games without a touchdown. Brandon Zilstra has appeared in about that many games and he has a touchdown.

But now that I publicly challenged Kobe Myers, he's going to score for sure this week. But he and Kendrick Born and Nelson Agila are all on the bench. Mac Jones only gets a C grade. Hasn't set the world ablaze with his stats this year, but he's twisted a few ankles. The Browns have been beatable lately, though they've allowed the second most passing touchdowns in the league over the last five weeks, and three of the last five quarterbacks they faced have gone over two eighties. So he's

startable with a C grade. Who that's my longest matchup by a time. I hope that was your longest match up, and will try to be very fast, uh, Dalvin Cooks and obviously against the team allowing the most rushing yards per game, and we'll just move on from there. You're gonna start him justin Jefferson and Adam thieland clock in

with just C grades. Cornerback Asante Samuel. It turns to the Chargers secondary um from after missing last week, but Michael Davis is out, there's a little bit of help there. But um, this has been a very good received a group of of secondary members. Heck, only one receiver's top seventy yards against the Chargers all season, Los Angeles giving up the third FEUs yards to receivers just one thirty

two per game. Jefferson has posted at least eighty yards or a touchdown in six of the past seven, which gives him an edge a little bit over theland, I think, although concerning that Jefferson only targeted on nine of seventy three kirk cousins past attempts over the past two weeks. Theland brings touchdowns to the table, as you already know, but when he doesn't score, he gets you very little. And the Chargers will only give up four touchdowns the

white Outs all year. So the probability is that Theland doesn't score here and then you get stuck. So just to see grade on theeling for Tyler Conklin, a by week C grade for Conklin against a Chargers defense that's been yielding to elite tight ends like Travis Kelsey, Darren Waller and Mark Andrews. But that is not Tyler Conklin. Mortals are fearing much more poorly against the Chargers. But if you were in a real pinch, you could can sitter him here and kirk Cousins is on the bench.

The only positive trend working for Kirk here is that Joey Bosa may not play in this game. Um everything else works against him. The receiver matchups are difficult to say, just outlined. He's not throwing down field, either by design or inability, Chargers having given up more than two hundred ten passing yards in their last three contests, and Cousins hasn't thrown for more than one hundred eighties seven yards in back to back games, which is dismal for his standards.

On the season, the Chargers rank number three in passing yards number two in passing touchdowns allowed. This game is gonna be all about the groundwork, and I don't like

Cousins here, so he is on the bench. Austin Ekeler is an obvious A. I'm only going to mention that the Vikings are gonna be without run stuffing defensive tackle Michael Pierce again, who apparently had a setback, and and that's gonna open things up for Eckler to have a good game, particularly on the ground and also potentially through the air, because the guy who of the Vikings defensive most commonly tracks receiving running backs is Anthony Barr and

he's out of this game too, So Eclick could be sitting on a really pretty game here. Justin air Bear. It's an easy A grade. By the way, I am looking at my air Bear T shirt, my official first effort to market air Bear T shirt and Matt it looks fantastic And if people want to see the air Bear T shirt for themselves. Where do they go shock fantasy dot Com slash shop. You'll find the link to the air Bear t shirt right there. Yeah, it's very nice,

high quality cotton too. It's very comfortable. Easy A grade against the secondary missing Patrick Peterson and potentially it's other outside cornerback Breshot Breland, who's shaping up as a game time decision. Without Peterson, the Vikings have allowed back to back big games to Cooper Rush and Lamar Jackson, who went berserk on them. The loss of edge rusher Daniel Hunter means Herbert's gonna have a bunch of time to

scan the field and unload deep passes here. That means I love his his primary receiver, Keenan Allen, who runs all over the field but primarily from the slot. Rail faced Mackenzie Alexander a good but not don dating quarterback. Cornerback Alexander seeds a sent catch rate and a one eight passer rating in his coverage. He allowed his first touchdown of the season last week, and Alan just remaining a target hog with eleven or more targets in four

of the past six games. Easy eight grade there. What about Mike Williams, who's way Thorn here in the past three games, he's everything just five targets and thirty five receiving yards. But the primo matchups on the outside against Cameron Dandler and possibly bottom of the depth chart guy Chris Boyd is antalizing. So I've got a B grade and what I expect to be a bounce back performance

from Mike Williams here. All of the various Los Angeles tight ends, I think there's probably a touchdown to be had here, But they're splitting everything up between Cook and Anderson a Parham, and that to me feels like they are all dark throws. And so I think we put them all on the bench, um. And if you had if I had to pick one, I would pick I'd pick Cook. And again the loss of bar might help out here. Overall, I don't think you want to go

to war here with any of these tight ends. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, we will give you nine guys upon whom you can take a chance. Many of these guys are available in the waiver wire. We'll tell you who they are when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. It's take a chance on me. Nine players not normally new started glide up many of these guys available on the waiver wire. We begin at the quarterback position, and Matt Harrison. I'm gonna go with

Carson Wentz. Uh. He's probably teetering close to not take a chance on me status after throwing I don't I don't think so either. He's multiple scores in sixth straight and three touchdowns in each of his last two games. He's not putting up huge yardage totals though, but that's okay because the Jaguars like to allow huge yardage totals almost two eighty seven per game. So let's fire him up and I throw a B grade on him. By the way, all right, Brian, your take a chance on

me quarterback? I got New Orleans Trevor Simeon at the Titans. Uh. Tennessee owns the second highest opponent passing play percentage in the league at sixty five point seven per cent, and that ratio is even higher in home games. Uh. The Titans are allowing two five passing yards nearly two passing touchdowns per game. And hey, a third string Jets quarterback Zack Wilson can go for two, nine, seven and two against Tennessee. I like Trevor Simeon this week, and I

might like one of his receivers a lot too. We'll see in a minute or two. Yeah, I'm holding my breath. I think people are thinking to think back to the Rams game last week and be afraid of that Titan secondary. But yeah, I think it is exploitable. I like that. That's a bold call. I'm gonna in between your two quarterbacks with Matt Ryan. Dallas ranks bottom ten in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks without a lot of fanfare. Ryan's

actually been really effective. He's throwing for two hundred ninety four yards and over two touchdowns per games since the opening week, and he's topped three hundred thirty yards and three of the past four games. Meanwhile, Dallas has two starting cornerbacks, Traymon Digs and Anthony Brown are along the most and the second most yardage in their coverage. We'll talk more about that one later on as well. Let's go to the running back position. Matt, who's your take

a chance on me runner? I've got a J. Dillon of the Packers. Here's the touch totals for a J. Dillon since Week four sixteen, twelve eleven four. Then sixteen twelve. So if you follow that pattern, he's gonna get exactly eleven touches this week. If you actually follow the average,

he's gonna get eleven touches this week. To every running back who's seen double digit carries against the Seahawks has topped seventy total yards and of the nine backs, so wait, here we go nine times, nine times of the nine backs who've reached that mark, only to haven't topped one yards or scored. All Right, Brian Youna, take a chance of your runner. Buffalo is Devon Singletary at the Jets.

Zack Moss likely to return after getting knocked out last week against the Jaguars with a concussion, so some might stray from Singletary here, But before Moss left the game, Singletary was out touching and outperforming Moss. Uh And it's quite simple here. The Jets have surrendered the most fantasy points to opposing running back, so there should be plenty to go around for both backs in this one. I'm ready to throw in the towel on Moss. I'm just

don't do it, So don't do it. So disappointed, don't do it. Kenyan Drake goes up against Kansas City. Since the change at head coach, Kenyan Drake savaging eleven touches for eight five total yards and one touch down per game. Not bad um, perhaps filling some of the void left by Henry Ruggs. He's also coming off a season high and targets, receptions and receiving yards, so they like to throw to him. There is clearly more involved in the

post brooding game. Plans has got a great opportunity against Kansas City, especially through the air. Chiefs allowing the sixth most receiving yards and the tenth most receptions per game to opposing running backs. All right, let's go to our whiteouts and Matt Harrison. If you had equate one player with me on this show, it would definitely be Dan Arnold because I've been beating that Dan Arnold drum forever. Yeah, that's right. Arnold continues to get targets and yards for

the Jags. The big day is coming with the touchdowns over the last five weeks. Travis Kelsey, Mark Andrews, Mike Cassicki, t J. Hockenson, and Kyle Pitts. Those are the only tight ends with more targets and catches than Dan Arnold, and all of those players are stuck in fantasy starting lineup, So let's go with dan Arnold against the Colts this week.

They've given up double digit PPR points to five of the last nine tight ends they faced, including touchdowns, and each of the last two weeks to Jeff Swain and Ryan Griffin. Dan Arnold's gonna score this week? All right? I like it calling your shot, Brian, since you can't have Dan Arnold, who are you taking? Talk about a layup? I wouldn't go take the easy way out with Dan Arnold and take a chance. I'm going on. I'm going back to the Saints and Marquez Callaway at the Titans.

The Titans are yielding twenty six plus targets per game to wide receivers, by far the highest clip in the NFL. Tennessee also yielding nearly five red zone targets per games and receivers also the highest clip. And Callaway leads the Saints with nine red red red zone targets, four of which have been converted to touchdowns. Oh and guess what, it's a homecoming game for the former Tennessee volunteer Marques

at the Titans. Oh yeah, maybe let's do it. It would have been even better if he was a Vanderbilt guy. Since it's in Nashville. That's a good point at the same state. Um and and that's it did is driving distance, So there's that true. Three weeks ago, I tried Tyler Johnson against Chicago in a blue up in my face, but I'm going back to Tyler Johnson again because it's such a compelling matchup and hopefully this time it works out. In the three games without Antonio Brown, Tyler Johnson's averaging

five targets, three catches fifty yards, not bad. Hasn't scored. Now Tampa's without Brown for sure, and maybe Chris Godwin as well, who's a game time decision. So I mean Taylor Johnson can line up on the outside in replacing Brown, you can line up in the slot replacing Godwin. And he runs from both anyway, so he can do both.

Washington has allowed the third most yards and the second most touchdowns to wide receivers um and whipp he does go in the slot, he's got a juicy matchup against safety turned slot corner Landon Collins, who has allowed the second most yardage among all safeties. Slash I guess slot corners, so a great opportunity for Tyler Johnson. Let's hope this time it pays off and I don't look like an ass like last time. Not bloody likely. Now, let's let's hope that isn't the case, Brian. Let's go to the

Bills taking on the Jets. I just told you I'm very nervous about Zack Moss. He's trying to get through the concussion protocol. He looks like he's going to be close to a game time decision on this. What are your thoughts? And you already told us you like Singletary in this one? Uh, tell us more about the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, real quick, this is this is the first meeting of the season between these divisional opponents, so we can't go back to the first meeting quite yet. But Devin Singletary

was might take a chance on me running back. I've heard Zack Moss is likely to play. If he does, I give him a C two. If not, clearly will bump up Singletary to a B level grade. But again, the Jets surrendering the most fantasy points to opposing running back, so if both play, it's a great matchup for both guys. Very good matchup for Stephen Diggs as well. Going to give him an A. The Jets lost their best player

in their secondary to a torn achilles last week. That safety Marcus may bodes well for Digs, of course, also bodes well at the Jets have allowed at least one wide receiver touchdown in four of their last five games. Over to his other starting wide receiver opposite him, Cole Beasley. I'll give him a B and PPR and C and standard. Over the last three games, Beasley as a whopping twenty

five catches on thirty three targets. And I'm not sure what compelled me to make this comparison, but Allen Robinson has just five more catches on the season than Cole Beasley. In nine games, He's got thirty catches, Beasley has twenty five. Over the last three weeks, uh and Beasley had eleven catches one twelve yards and the latest meeting between these

two teams last seasons. Will love Beasley list this week uh Manny Sanders going to give him a C. Was worried Gabe Davis might be stealing Sanders job after Sanders had the goose egg in week eight. But Sanders out targeted Davis eight to two last week, so his role as wide receiver three seems secure. So he gets a C grade. Uh, now it's TB D who's gonna play tight end? If it's gonna be Dawson Knox or Tom Sweeney, I'll give us has been cleared officially, but he don't

know for sure because of the hand injury. Right is you know, is is he able to catch as well as he would have otherwise? Right if it's a different kind of injury, you know, you feel you feel a little bit more confident about starting him. But he will be on the field on Sunday. I hope he's wearing a club too. That that guys never wear the club anymore.

Do you remember that where they just the whole hand was just in the big ball at the end and they then if you were like a member of the Steelers in the seventies, you just beat dudes with that hand. Do people use the club thing on their steering wheels? Still remember that? I remember that? Well? Now that Moody is the water is it's it's a really good matchup.

But yeah, now that Knox is playing, I'm kind of scared, So you know what, I'm gonna bench Knox and both Sweeney tom so a bench for those guys who are better tight ends out there. They're going to see more work than either one of those guys and Josh Allen lastly and easy a forget last week against Jacksonville Water under the Bridge. Alan threw for three plus yards in both games against the Jets last year also had rushing totals with fifty seven and sixty one yards. He should

bounce back big time and this one. As for the Jets, not a ton of t talk about. Michael Carter does get a starting grade with the c Very tough matchup, but still startable based on expected volume. Carter has touch totals of fourteen, twenty four, and nineteen over his last three games. He's also been targeted times during that span, so a CEE for Carter. As for the wide receivers, Corey Davis should make his return after missing the last two games with a hip injury, but he, Elijah Moore,

and Jamison crowd are are all on the bench. For me. The Bills are the toughest defense against wide receivers, allowing just twelve catches and six yards per game total to the unit, to wide receiver units, and just two total touchdowns all season to the position. And lastly, Mike White. He's a low end starter in two quarterback leagues, but an easy bench in a brutal matchup. The Bills have

allowed the fewest points to opposing quarterbacks. You know, I get the feeling that we could probably work in one more matchup into this segment. Do you think you can get Jags colds done in under three minutes? Sure? All right, let's do it. So the Jags beat the Bills last week nine to six and did nothing in fantasy. Trevor

Laura's only managed a hundred and eighteen passing yards. Carlos Hyde ran for sixty seven yards on twenty one carries, and three Jags wide receivers topped the twenty yard mark, but none hit the thirty yard mark. What a weird win. So let's talk about this week. James Robinson did practice for the first time since Week eight on Thursday, but was very limited. It's fifty fifty that he goes in

this one at best. If he does go, I'll give him a C probably, but would be a B. But I'm worried he gets reinjured or spelled by Carlos Hide. If Robinson doesn't go, I'll flip the sea to hide. Who is the clear bell cow in Robinson's absence. The Colts have been very solid at keeping opposing runners out of the end zone, only allowing four total touchdowns to

the position on the season. Other than that, their middle of the pack defense in terms of yards allowed, so the bell cow will likely exit with eighty to nine yards. The passing game is interesting, Dan Arnold was might take a chance on me. Receiver Trevor Lawrence sees a defense that allowed four hundred twelve passing yards and four touchdowns to the combo of Mike White and Josh Johnson, who sound more like guys who would open a micro brewery

in Osakis than NFL quarterbacks. So I think we'll call the brewery Peacock Brewing Company. Yeah. Um. In fact, Davis Mills and Jimmy g are the only quarterbacks not to hit the multiple score mark against the Coal the Colts. And they have roads out as well for this one. Yeah. Absolutely, And they have a brick of and pizza food truck

outside the Peacock Brewing building. So I'll give Lawrence a Sea in this one has still hasn't had multiple scores since Week one, and since the London game in Week six, the Jags have had a more focused approach to all pass catchers. Marvin Jones, Jamal Agnew, and Dan Arnold have all had twenty two or twenty three targets, fourteen or fifteen catches right around a hundred and fifty yards, and Laviska Schnalt is down as the fourth option right now, so Jones is on the field most The snap counts

between Agnew and Schnlt are getting closer. Both take over half their routes from the slot, but move around a lot and I'll throw a B on Jones this week? Who gets Xavier Roads backup? Whose name is bo Pete? Keys? Wow? Bo Peep? Yeah, I guess bo Peep he might might as Hey, we got one of these we can perfect called little perfect little bo Pete. Little bo Pete has given up a perfect passer rating this season. By the way, Agnew and chnaltarre both take a chance of me style

sees um the colt side is really easy. Jonathan Taylor is an a not quite an art vark, though, as the Jags have been sneaky good against runners. Their top six in yards per carry and rushing yards allowed, but they have allowed the ninth most touchdowns. Carson Wentz was might take a chance on me, Tossi Tosser and Michael Pittman. He gets an A. The rest of the Colts wide receivers are on the bench. It looks like t Y Hilton will play, so that muddies things up for Zach Pascal.

But Pittman has been great and the Jags are allowing a hundred and nine two passing yards to the wide receiver, so he's a A. But don't start Mo Ali Cox or Jack Doyle unless you want two targets. Yeah, that's the problem with those guys. If they ever if they ever bled into one human being, perhaps with four arms and four legs, then at that point I think would be a lot more Mo Ali Doyle or Jaguar Ali Cox. I like that. I like that a lot better. I

like that a lot. Oh, that doesn't sound good. When we come back Chiefs at Raiders, Patrick Mahomes, what you're gonna do? But Patrick Mahomes, it's one of the toughest calls of the year, believe it or not, we'll give you advice on whether or not he's going to revert to form against Las Vegas when we return to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Charchi my coast today or Matt Harrison and Brian Johnson. It

is the COVID edition again. Like last week, I am at home, which is why I sound like garbage and my co host in the studio sound great. Hello, guys, we do sound great. You know it doesn't sound great starting Patrick Mahomes. It used to sound it sounded so good before you didn't have to give it a thought. But suddenly here we are in a position where you don't know if you can start Patrick Mahomes. I believe I have my lowest ranking on Patrick Mahomes ever on

career this week. How bad has it gotten for Patrick Mahomes over the last three weeks. Among the teams that have not had a bye, Patrick Mahomes has only outscored Sam Donald. Think about that, and he was playing with a broken shoulder and he missed, but he missed parts of games he's Mahomes has been outscored by nine quarterbacks who did have a bye over the last three weeks, including Geno Smith, Taylor Heineke, and the Houston combo of

Davis Mills and and Taylor uh Tyrod Tyrod Taylor. It's it's staggering to think that it's come to this for Patrick Mahomes. Now as a whole, the city of Las Vegas is filled with slump busters, but the Raiders are not one of them. Unfortunately, Mahomes is struggling against defenses that can generate a pass rush with their base defense, and here comes the Raiders with Pro Football focuses number one graded pass rush. So everything's lining up just wrong

for ma Homes here again. Now, I will say this, historically, Mahomes has excelled against the Raiders. His average game against them throughout his career fourteen yards, which is great, But he's never played at the level that he's playing at right now. And it's part of it is certainly at Mahomes, but it's also on and I'm banged up offensive line, which will be banged up again for this game. I can't tell you to start Patrick Mahomes, and I only

have a C grade on Mahomes. If it were virtually any other quarterback, this would be a straight bench grade, But I can't do it with Mahomes because the history and we know that he's an amazing talent and no nobody would be surprised if Patrick Mahomes showed up with three d yards and three touchdowns. It wouldn't surprise anybody in the slightest including me. And I'm giving him the C grade at the same time, based on everything we're looking here at on paper, this this, I can't tell you.

I can't give you solid reasons why Holmes is any better now than he would be uh than he would be had and has been the last three weeks. Let's go to his receivers, Tyreek Kill. Despite mahomes struggles, he's still peppering Hill with targets at least ten in five of the last six games, which gives Hill a sizeable leg up um on the outside. Hill's gonna see Vegas is best cornerback Casey Hayward, who has yet to allow score or more than four eight yards in a game.

But Heyward's pretty slow. He's like a four six guy, and that might be tricky against Tyreek Hill. And Hayward doesn't travel into the slot, and Hill will run from the slot a lot and when he runs from the slot, he'll gets Nate Hobbs. But the weird thing is as anonymous as Nate Hobbs is, he's been awesome too. He ranks his Pro Football focus is number seven cornerback, and he is not allowed to touch down all season, so there's really nowhere where he'll goes where he's got an

easy matchup in this game. And so just the B grade on Hill, and I think I've given Hill A grades in every other game this year, so this is a new low for him as well. Travis Kelsey comes in with a B grade, averaging nine targets per game. The volume keeps him as an automatic start. Even though Kelsey's touchdown production he has one touchdown since Week five. That's it. Still. Kelsey has caught all seven of his red zone targets and he's converted four of those into touchdowns.

And you know he's always a threat to score right us have a lot five tighten touchdowns over the last five games. So that's why I've kept a B grade and not a C grade on Travis Kelsey, which sounds weird, but that's where we're at right now. Clyde Edwards, a layer could make his return for this game, he's a

game time decision. I'll remind you guys, prior to his knee injury, he was coming off his best set of consecutive games in his career, and that was Weeks three and four, with over one hundred rushing yards in both games. And Darryl Williams hasn't been particularly good, just three point six yards per carry. So if Edwards a Layer comes back, I think he if he's good enough to come back, I think he gets most of the work here because Williams hasn't been that good, but he's no workhorse, and

he's averaging just fifteen touches per game. And if even that drops a bit because it's his first game back. Man, if he's at like twelve touches a game, then the most we can probably do here is a C grade. Even though the Raiders just got steamrolled by Devanta Booker and Alijah Penny for a hundred and thirty five runching yards. Um, I still think that's the best we can do out

of Hilaire. Now, if Laire doesn't go, then Darryl Williams walks into this a C grade, and I like him at that spot even if he hasn't been great, All right, let's flip over to the Raiders side of this game, and we'll begin with Derek Carr. Over his last three games, he's everything three hundred sixteen passing yards per game. That is third most in the league, which which I lovey

comes in playing well. Kansas City's past defense has been better lately, and a lot of it is really hinged on the cornerback Lagarius sneed moving from the outside into the slot. I'm gonna talk more about that in a second.

When we talked about Hunter Hunter renfro Um, but course Smoked car Smoked a better version of this Chiefs secondary last year average in the average during her fifteen yards and three touchdowns in the two games Um, and only Jordan loved Taylor Heineken and Baker Mayfield have failed to put up multiple touchdowns against the Chiefs. So I think he finds his way to a couple of scores here

and around three hundred yards. And that's a B grade for Derek Carr, a grade for his top receiver, Darren Waller. If last week is any indication, all of Henry Ruggs's targets are gonna go to Darren Waller, who posted his biggest game since the opener, maybe not coincidentally in Vegas first game without their deep threat. Waller had his highest yards per catch game last week, so they were throwing to Waller down field. Kansas City has given up five

tight end touchdowns over the last five weeks. That's tied for the most during that span. And what's more, over those five games, every opposing tight end except Green Bay's Josiah degu Aa, I know, all of the opposing tight ends except that guy who have caught at least two passes have scored a touchdown against the Chief. So Waller is an a in this one. I mentioned Hunter hunter Renfro earlier. With rugs gone last week, the Fro led

all Raiders wide outs in targets, receptions, and yards. Fascinating matchup in the slot against Lagaria Snead, who since moving to the slot has been very good. Is not giving up any scores and just a sixty eight percent catch rate since then. Still a slight advantage here to the Fro considering how good he's been of late and a B grade for him. Kenyan Drake was might take a chance on me player and running back and Josh Jacobs also gets a and he by the way, see grade

for for Drake, a B grade for Josh Jacobs. Chiefs are allowing one forty one total yards per game to opposing running backs. That is tenth most. A big chunk of that comes through the air, as I mentioned a little bit, and we talked about Drake, and I like Drake there too, but Jacobs is also emerging in the passing game. He's hauled in eighteen of twenty targets on the year. Vegas offensive line has been woeful at run blocking,

but that really hasn't effected Jacob's that much. Who's seen his yards per carry increase in five consecutive games, So I like him. In this one last thing, I'll mention if you if you thought Brian Edwards might be helped out with with Henry ruds out that did not materialize at all last week was zero catches. Let's go to our next matchup, which is Saints taking on the Titans. Brian, it looks like we will have a news starting running back for the Saints. Mark Ingram expected to get the

vast majority of the looks here for New Orleans. Alvin Kamara ruled out, so it is mark Ingram time, albeit in a tough matchup. Tennessee has surrendered the sixth fewest rushing yards to opposing backs, but they do allow nearly five catches per game to the position, and Ingram appears to be in line for a bell cow role in this one, so I'm gonna give him a B on

expected volume. Over to the wide receivers. Marquez Callaway was might take a chance on the wide receiver, but I think you can throw see darts at Deante Harris and Trey Kwon Smith in that order I mentioned earlier. The Titans are yielding twenty six plus targets per game to wide receivers, by far the highest clip in the NFL. Adam Troutlin, though tight end is on the bench. Tennessee is allowing less than four catches in just thirty yards per game to opposing tight ends. And Trevor simeon Us

might take a chance on me quarterback as well. Hey, Brian Art, see darts just harpoons. Oh that's a good one. Yeah, it is like that. You can harpoon them over to the Titans side. Adrian Peterson gotta put him on the bench. Lead the team and carries in his debut with ten also scored a touchdown, but Dante Foreman and Jeremy Jeremy McNichols combined for twelve carries and a much higher yards per carry. They combined for four point four yards per carry as opposed to the two point one yards per

carry from Adrian Peterson. Expect Peterson's usage to increase a little here, but a very tough matchup. Opposing teams are only running the ball thirty seven percent at the time against New Orleans who has allowed just one runner to top seventy rushing yards, and that was Christian McCaffrey in Week two when he had seventy two rushing yards on

twenty four carries. So Peterson on the bench and this one a J. Brown, though not on the bench, gonna give him an A. Yes, I'll likely draw a lot of coverage from Marshawn Lattimore, but Lattimore is seriously struggling, surrendering five scores over his last five games. He's also allowed at least one yards in his coverage and three of those five games, and granted his assignments have been elite. Lattimore as that is, but so is healthy So is

a healthy A J. Brown very elite? So in A for a J. Brown and uh for his counterpart, Julio Jones. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. Julio has faced the Saints eighteen times in his career, all with the Falcons. Of course. Do you want to guess how many touchdowns Julio has scored in those eighteen games against New Orleans? It's either going to be an insane amount or like two. It's insanely sad amount. Three touchdowns in those eighteen games and the last one game in twenty sixteen.

But New Orleans is allowing fifteen catches, two hundred and fifteen yards and one point to five touchdowns per game to opposing wide receivers. So I gotta give Julio a B in this one. Uh. As for Jeff Swaim, who is pretty much the tight end one on the Saints, now, I was close to giving him a C after scoring in back to back games, but the Saints are one of three teams that have yet to surrender a tight

end touchdown. So I got Swam on the bench and this one to but keep an eye on him in then tighten in the tight end waste Land and last, but not least, Ryan Tannehill gets an easy B based on the plus matchups for his wide receivers. Tannehill can also do some damage on the ground. The most mobile quarterback the scenes that faced was Taylor Heineke, who ran for forty yards, which, of course in most fantasy leagues

equals a passing touchdown. So B for Tannehill like uh, Tannehill is a is could be He's He's always been a sneaky rusher for touchdowns and with Derrick Henry out that might that might continue to be the case. Um, we've got a few extra minutes to work with here. Guys, talk to me about Miles Gaskin. There are a lot of people that started him off of what had been relatively consistent work, but he has been as boom or

bust as anybody. I think there's too many some temptations for Miles gascon owners to just drop him out right next week. What do you think, Yeah, it's looking pretty nasty, just just the production that he's had in the last couple of games. I believe he had the twenty four worst yards in a game where a player had twenty rushing attempts since the merger, it was it was like absolutely ridiculous. That was two weeks ago. He's on a weird like struggling and even weeks though and going off

in odd weeks. I don't know if you want to drop him in week eleven because he might go off based on that scientific fact. So I'm joking, of course. Yeah, and only thirty isn't he is not top thirty and looking at his stabs right now, he has not top thirty six rushing yards in three weeks. And when he when he when he has bad games, basically, if he doesn't score, you're stuck on Miles Gaskon and that is not the kind of guy I want on my roster. Well and charge if you go every other week on it.

He didn't have a great game against the Ravens, Yeah, that's bad. But he gets the Jets next week and that's good. And then he get gets the Panthers the week after that and that's bad, and then he gets the Giants the week after that and that's good in the odd weeks. So it's it's just he's like a spot starter in a flex position, and it's only if you're desperate. He's he's a he's a bench guy most of the time. All Right. I probably asked myself if I owned Miles Gasking, and I don't think I do

incret any of my leagues, which is great. Um, I think I would say to myself, and I'm not starting him against the Jets this week, then why have them on roster? And I would pint exactly, You're gonna kick the Gaskin down to the road. There you go. Um, what do you do if let's say you started basically any raven or dolphin and now you're in a deep hole heading into Sunday because you know, you thought, you know reasonably so, that there would point be points to

be had, especially from Baltimore. What do you do and how does how does this change how you work your lineup going into the weekend. You gotta hit the stack pipe. You gotta pair a quarterback with a wide receiver or two and it's hard to do to find, but hey, go back to that Saints matchup. You can find Trevor Simeon most likely on the waiver wire, or Marquez Callaway,

Yonte Harris, Trey Kuan Smith. It's a great matchup on paper for quarterbacks and wide receivers, but you got you gotta load up on one team and just hope they go off, and the Saints are a great candidate to do so. I just feel bad for people who started Mike Gasicki in a League seven. Guillotine league specifically, though, yeah, no kidding that that is setting up for a chop

right there, and that that is very very tricky. Speaking guilloteam leagues, we are still making new guillotine leagues even now. You can join a half season long Guillotine league at guillotine leagues dot com, the freshest new way to play fantasy sports. We encourage you to check that out, along with all my player rankings, available for free at guillotine leagues dot com. When we come back three tough Questions, find out if you can go three and oh with

our panel of experts. When we return to Fantasy Putball Weekly, Welcome to our number two Fantasy Football Weekly. I'm Paul Scharchi and quarantined at home recovering from COVID. I'm much better, thank you. My co hosts are in studio. They sound great. I sound like garbage, that is Matt Harrison and Brian Johnson. Hello guys, Hello. This is a segment we call three off questions and it begins with this tough question number one. Is Patrick Mahomes still the best Dynasty or Empire quarterback?

Begin with Matt Harrison? Are you talking about Patty Ice? Patty Ice? About Patrick Mahomes? I think Patrick's Yeah, That's that's what I mean. It was a joke. I'm glad you got it. It just took me a little while. Um, I still think he is the best dynasty quarterback. What's more likely to happen here? In five years we're looking back on this season as the one rough patch in mahomes career, a rough patch that, by the way, still has him averaging two yards and two point two touchdowns

per game. Or in five years, are we looking at this and going wow, that was the beginning of the end. I don't think so. He's still got the best arm in the league. And the other options are Josh Allen, who isn't currently matching mahomes output in his down year, Lamar Jackson, whose fantasy value is tied up in his legs. And we've seen a lot of running quarterbacks have their careers derailed after one knee or ankle injury Kyler air Bear. Now I'm gonna stick with Patty Ice. He's still number

one in my book. Alright, Brian, Is Patrick Mahomes still the best Dynasty or Empire quarterback? No, I got him number two on my list right now. And despite the poor performance on Thursday Night from Lamar Jackson, he is my answer Dynasty. Of course, you want to look towards the future a little bit. L Jacks is one and a half years younger than Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. The rushing upside insane. The floor keeps him very safe, and he can throw and he's still just scratching the

surface of his throwing ability. In my opinion, I think we might have seen the peak of Patrick Mahomes, not saying he can't get back there and say at that level, but Lamar Jackson, we haven't seen. The best is still yet to come. And you have to look at the weapons tied to each of these guys, Tyreek Kill, Travis Kelsey. Their average age is about thirty years old. For L Jacks, he's got Mark Andrews, Hollywood Brown and Rashad Master Bateman, Um Andrews Just Hollywood in June and Bateman in a

few weeks. I don't sure. I'm pretty sure you can. Why not like Master Will Smith? Master p Yeah, obviously, Okay. I agonized over my own question. This is the toughest question of three tough questions this year. I changed my answer three times. Um the contenders were who you've mentioned,

Josh Al Lamar Jackson. I also I also looked into Joe Burrow and Justin air Bear as possibilities as well, but ultimately I threw them out because they don't have They're not reliable rushers, despiting reliable passers and the rushing upside that Alan and Jackson give you into a lesser extent. Mahomes is just it just is so big. So then I tried to delineate Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes algorithmically, and here's how close it is statistically between

these three guys over the past three years. J Baxon has the most Fantasy points over the past three years, Mahomes has the most highest finishes of those three, and over the past two years, Allen leads both categories. He's been better than either one of them across the last

two seasons. So where does that end up leaving you for a while, I was on Allen Um but ultimately finished on Lamar Jackson because of the intentional, consistent rushing providing a floor and the fact that you've got the passing upside and it was so close, and I agonized on this so long. In a rare turn for three tough questions, maybe the first ever and maybe it's just the COVID talking no wrong answers this week between Alan Jackson and Mahomes. I think you can go with any

of those three. Consider Alan Jackson, Like, if you can start Alan Jackson country Western star, that would be great. I don't think he's probably a Western star anyways. Western even the thing anymore. We like both kind of types of music, country and western and Western. Tough question number two. Once Odell Beckham makes the Rams active roster, will he be a wide receiver one for fantasy not on his team? A wide receiver one wide receiver to flex or bench?

For this one, we begin with Brian Johnson. Um, it's it's gonna be one extreme or the other. I feel like either a wide receiver one or a bench. I don't know. I mean, Cooper Cup is just a target Hog and understandably so, Robert Woods very established receiver in that offense. It's gonna take some time for Odell Beckham to get up to speed. Of course, Van Jefferson still gonna mix in a little bit. Tyler Higbee a very

active part of that passing game. So once he is activated, I am putting him on my bench until I can see that he actually produces. But I don't see a huge target shared percentage for Odell Beckham, So he he's a bench for me until further notice, Matt. Once Ode Beckham makes the active roster, will he be a wide receiver? One wide receiver to flex or bench? He probably doesn't play this week, and next week's the rams By, so

he's not gonna play next week for sure. Um. Over the last three years, by the way, Beckham has averaged seven point two targets per game, and no player has done less with seven targets per game than Beckham. He's averaging three point nine catches, fifty four yards and a quarter of a touchdown per game in PPR. That's about ten points per game. And then you look at the targets.

Cooper Cup is averaging eleven point four targets Robert Woods is averaging seven points six, Both Van Jefferson and Tyler Higbee are average, averaging just over five, and the other receivers and Darryl Henderson add up to about six targets per game. So where do Beckham's targets come from. Let's give him the two from DeShawn Jackson and maybe give

him half of what Van Jefferson's getting. So I don't think he takes anything from Woods or Cup, so he's probably a five target maybe six targets per game guy. So I think we're looking at a lot of three catch forty yard games from Beckham. So he's gonna be a bench guy. But I did pick him up in a league where he was available, and I'm hoping I'm wrong. The correct answer is in fact bench for many of

the reasons you outlined. You know, remember that Rams just had a depth wide receiver and the comparatively even keeled DeShawn Jackson quit the team because he didn't like his role behind Woods and Cup, and you figure, like you said, there's gonna be it's probably three weeks out before he

ends up with any meaningful action on this team. That's a long time to get through and you also have to figure you know, not only is there Cup and Woods when you get Higbee and Jefferson as well to contend with catches and frankly, the team's commitment to the growth of Van Jefferson is far higher than its commitment

to Beckham. And we'll Beckham have some impact games and moments, sure, probably a couple, but they'll be surrounded by to catch performances that are gonna sink your team, and you're not gonna know when they're coming. The correct answer is bench tough. Question number three, what's the appropriate level of concern for Terry McLaurin some or a Bowle loosening level of existential dread Matt Uh Terry is still averaging nine and a half targets per game. Charch really likes to pick on

the players who just had a bye week. By the way, because it was only two games ago that Terry went for seven catches, a d and twenty two yards and a score against Green Bay. But it was three weeks ago, so now we feel so far away from such a good game for McLaurin. Yeah, he's had a few down games, including his last one against one of the best secondaries in the league, that's the Denver Broncos. But this week

he gets the Bucks. That's a plus matchup, and as soon as hit next week he might be getting his starting quarterback back. That's right, Stu Beard is on the horizon. So I'm going to say no concern about Terry McLaurin. Brian, what's the appropriate level of concern for Terry McLaurin, none, some or blowed? I pretty much have nothing to add.

I am in full agreement with Matt. I have no concern for Terry McLarin He's gone from being a consistent matchup proof contributor to being an all or nothing player with three massive dug games in his last four. It's not a battler of talent. His talent is not in question, but his quarterbacks talent is in plenty of question. Opponents have broken the code on Taylor Heineke, and it did not require an Enigma machine. He's always been a marginal

passing talent who was meant to be a backup. He's averaging zero point seven five three quarters of one touchdown pass per game over the last month. That's it, and defenses know that if you take McLaren away, that virtually eliminates the entire Washington passing attack because there's aren't enough other good receivers on this team. Curtis Samuel still out and probably remains out for a while. And further bad news comes from this week's revelation that might be Love

Stupid isn't close to returning. He's probably two, three, four weeks away from returning. Wide receiver talent isn't always enough when everything else is going wrong. Look at Alan Robinson is a case in point, a fantastic top ten level talent at wide receiver who's virtually unrosterable for fantasy purposes because everything else is wrong around him. Terry McLaurin is almost in that spot, not quite, and that's why it's only some level of concern. Church. I want you to

tell me more about an Enigma machine. You're not familiar with the Enigma machine, which the British Secret Service used to break the the German codes in World War Two. No, tell me more. Let's let's just dedicate the rest of the show to that. I would love, I'd love to

tell you more. You know the Germans had used encrypted communications that used a typewriter like machine that had daily codes in it, and you had to set a bunch of dials with the daily code, and if you didn't know the daily code, it was basically unhackable until the British Secret Service found a German submarine was able to retrieve the Enigma machine and then build effectively the world's first computer, which could then just through through raw iteration,

was able to crack the codes of the German communications and effectively ended up winning the war in no small part because they knew most of what the Germans were talking about. It's a fascinating story and one that was was only declassified about ten years ago, and it sounds like this, that is the Enigma machine working right there. Panthers take on the Cardinals. Matt, We've got a quarterback change for the Panthers that probably does not well. I mean,

all the quarterbacks are bad. Yeah, So Sam Donald not going to play this week, leaving p J. Walker at the Helm and then Cam Newton signed there this week. But remember Newton hasn't played for this coaching staff before, so he's probably gonna need some time to get up to speed on the playbook and to read that Passing for Dummies book that he picked up last week. Yeah,

it's gonna be weird. Walker had a start last year against the Lions where he managed to fifty eight in a score that would be his ceiling here, and I think by a lot. Arizona is allowing only two or twenty five yards per game, just over one passing score per game. By the way, the Panthers are going to be missing center Matt Paradise and left tackle Cam Irving both out of this game, so that's not good for Walker either. I will give Dj Moore I start, but

I'm only giving him a C grade. I don't trust Walker at all, so that's why Moore's downgraded all the way to a SEA. But he does get to line up against Marco Wilson most often, and he's allowed to pass the rating of one in his coverage, including four touchdowns. The only other Panther you should really think about is Christian McCaffrey, who saw eighteen touches last week in his

first game since Week three now. He faced a really good Patriots defense and managed a hundred and six total yards and was on the field for only twenty nine snaps, which was their play so half of the plays. But he was handed the ball or targeted nineteen times out of those, so that's like two thirds. So I think they're going to ramp him up another ten or so snaps this week, so he'll probably be in the twenty three range for touches. And he's an A grade because

the Cards have been mostly good against the position. But if you top twenty touches, you have a good day against Arizona. Dalvin James Robinson, Darrell Henderson, Aaron Jones all had great Fantasy days when they topped twenty touches. Kyler

and Hopkins both have not practiced yet this week. In fact, the Cards have the Seahawks next week and then there by after that, so it's very feasible that they could rest both Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins until after they're by s. Murray is going to be a game time decision. Did get some light practice in on Friday. UM. Hopkins didn't practice all week and we can pretty much assume he is not gonna go. Yeah, and A J. Green also landed on the COVID list last week and didn't play.

He's very iffy for this week. UM. Without Green and Hopkins, it was Christian Kirk leading the way, catching all six of his Colt McCoy targets for nine one yards. Ron Dale Moore and Antoine Wesley were both on the field for over of the snaps, but they can't really be trusted. So it's Kirk getting the C grade. UH. Colt McCoy probably starts, we're thinking, so let's leave the rest of

the passing game on the bench. Caroline has been pretty good against the past the fifth fewest passing yards allowed at per game, and either a not very healthy Kyler or Colt McCoy as the quarterback, that doesn't make it good. Uh. Zach Ertz was on the field for eight of the

snaps last week and only had five targets. The targets just weren't that good with McCoy under center, and the Panthers are only allowing four catches and forty two yards per game to the position Kyler or Hopkins end up playing. I'll give them both SEA grades and you could bump Art's up to a see if Kyler does go now Chase Edmonds he is out for this one and might be out for a couple more weeks with a high

ankle sprain. James Conner has seen his fantasy value hit its second wind after one seventy three total yards and three scores last week against the Niners. It's the most bell Cowie he's ever been. Worth noting that, you know, Benjamin did see nine carries in a score, and I think he fills the Edmunds role. Connor probably looking at fifteen touches in this game, which is probably the minimum.

And four of the five running backs who've seen fifteen touches against the Panthers this year, well they've scored, So Connor gets a B grade. Yeah, Connor has been an awfully reliable touchdown score, which is which is fantastic. You know, if Murray doesn't go or does play on this ankle, you know, the running game hasn't been a factor for him really since very early in the season anyway, and you know, maybe maybe even hobble. He ends up with

a decent game here when come back. We'll continue breaking down games, including Tampa Bay taking on Washington and what feels like a very one sided game. We'll tell you what do you expect from a Washington offense, That Washington offense that um needs to have a bounced back game, and Antonio Gibson owners in a panic right now. We'll tell you what to expect from him when we come back. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly, the Covid edition, Cult Charichy

and you're working from home. While you're at home, you can draft a new Guillotine League team of your very own. There's still plenty of time. We're probably at like the halfway point of the season. Still plenty of time left to get in on the hottest new format and fantasy sports. As you probably already know, instead of playing head to head, the lowest scoring team gets chopped. All their players go to the averwire, where you get to build a superstar

roster over the course of the season. All you have to do is not finished last. In any given week, the last team standing wins the whole thing. New leagues forming at Guillotine and leagues dot Com. Plenty more matchups to get to, including Tampa Bay taking on Washington. Tampa will be without some key cogs here. Antonio Brown is out for sure, Rob Gronkowski out for sure. Chris Godwin is a maybe on a bad foot, So we'll take

that into account as we break down this game. For Brady and Evans, they're obvious a's and the only thing I'm gonna mention for Evans is just how safe he becomes when Antonio Brown is out, because the averages eight targets in non Brown games and his average game when Mike Evans gets h eight targets is ninety yards and one and a half touchdowns per game. So a very safe start for Mike Evans. One of my favorite receivers

for the entire week. Now, if Chris Godwin we're healthy, I'd be giving him an A grade against a terrible secondary. But on the bad foot, if he does play, I'm gonna lower him down to a B grade just to take into account the injury in the prospect of him maybe not finishing the game. And then my take a chance on me wide receiver was Tyler Johnson, as you may recall, and he is somebody you can use in

a pinch if needed. Let's talk about O. J. Howard and Cameron brad I'm inclined to give them the C dark harpoon here because it's no, it's not it's a C grade. It's a it's C. It's it's not a C minus dart, it's a C dark. Both guys have split snaps evenly in the games, Rob Gronkowski has missed and Washington has allowed the fourth most tight end yards, So you could try one of those two guys, but really it is a true dart throw between the two

of them. Let's go to the Washington side. Washington's offensive line should get Brandon Sheriff back and Sam caused me back after they return to practice this week. That helps a bit, but I'm still really down on a lot of this Washington offense, and especially Antonio Gibson. He's still got the he still got the stress fracture in his leg that's probably gonna be there through the end of

the season. Even coming off the bye week, Tampa See's the fewest rushing attempts and allows the second fewest rushing yards and only three point eight yards per carry. Gibson hasn't topped sixty three rushing yards since way back in Week two, and he doesn't catch, which is a major problem if you think Tom Brady is gonna stake his team to a big lead, which is very likely here. Gibson not notched just thirty five scoreless yards despite getting sixteen touches when these two teams met in the Wild

Cowd Round last season. So for the first time this year, I'm giving Antonio Gibson a straight up bench grade, which is something. It's funny you say that, Matt, because when I when I put him into the bench grade usually on talent. I will not put guys into the bench as willingly as you did. And I thought to myself, this is a very Matt Harrison move, right, thank you putting the bench grade on Antonio Gibson. Let's go to the passing game. Taylor Heineke is also on the bench.

The Bucks secondary is expected to get back Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy. Bunting is a game time decision, and they've already got Jamal Dean, who is Pro Football Focus is fourth ranked corner and they'd actually played well even with the backups over the last three weeks. Anyway, get this, over the last three weeks, opposing quarterbacks are averaging one hundred forty passing yards per game. That's it against the Bucks.

So Heinek squarely on the bench. I have a wobbly C grade on Terry McLaurin, who we talked about earlier, and we already detailed a lot of his concerns um the return to the health for the Bucks secondary is a problem. So is the is the fact that no opposing receivers top sixty yards sixty yards in three weeks. And I mentioned earlier McLaren has been all boom or bust. This game's got bus written all over it. So if it's got to go one way or the other, I'm

very nervous about this being a bus grade. Fro mclarence, and just to see grade for him, Ricky Seals Jones gets a C grade only because it's a tight end position in a bye week Logan Thomas is going to miss another game. Seals bombed in his last game, but he was averaging fifty yards per game in the three games before that. The Bucks are the middle of the road uh tight end defense, So if you're in a pinch, you could still use Ricky Seals Jones unprojected volume, which

could be helpful there. I've got J. D. Mckissic on the bench as well. Tampa allows the fifth most receptions in the twelfth most receiving yards to opposing tight ends. UH sorry, posing running backs through the air. But Miles Gaskin is a single handled responsible for one fifth of those receptions and tampas allowed really very little to other backs, and McKissick accounted for just thirteen yards when these teams met in the playoffs. Last year's sign also held him

with a passion too. You know, I really don't, but I'm just I'm off mckissic, so I'm I'm keeping him on the bench as well. You were never on kiss No, you called him j D mcs suck it for an entire year while half of see is in last year and then he hearned his way off of that nickname and I had to eat crow and I did. But he's back on the bench and he's back to being Jadmon. There's the crow, butte the last Yeah. Perfect. Let's talk

Eagles taking on the Broncos. Brian. You know, despite being a very wobbly passer, Jalen Hurts finds his way two good matchups most of the time. But man, this is a tough one and I'm nervous about him in this matchup against the Broncos. What do you think? I'm nervous too, But I'm still gonna give him a b. He just seems to come through weekend week out despite the matchup. And it's all really about the rushing upside and the

safe looor it gives him. Denver did hold Lamar Jackson and Check on the ground, but that was back in Week four with basically an entire different defense. So I'm still giving Hurts a b here. I do like the matchup for his wide receiver Davante Smith, going to give him a b uh. Denver will be missing starting quarterbacks Patrick Sartan and Bryce Callahan, which is all I need

to start Smith with confidence. Denver as all so given up big games two similar downfield threats like Hollywood Brown, Henry Rugs, and Deonte Johnson, each holding any touchdown of at least forty eight yards. We're not going to discuss Jalen Reagor or Quiz Watkins in any detail. They're both on the bench though, and just to see for Dallas

Goddard from me the Broncos. The Broncos are one of three teams that hasn't allowed a tight end to score this season, and on top of that, Denver has held all but three tight ends to two receptions or less. So ce for Goddard and lastly, the running backs. Jordan Howard appears to be the lead back in Philly despite getting out snapped by Boston Scott. He led Philly last week and carries with seventeen, had seventy one yards and a touchdown. But this is a brutal matchup for Howard

and still Scott's can eat into his work. Kenneth Gainwell will probably take a lot of the passing work. So all the Eagles backs are on the bench. Now over to the Broncos side and starting with their running backs, and we gotta talk about Javon Williams. Javonte Williams. Excuse me, he gets a B which stands for better than Melvin Gordon. Uh, listen to this stat and this all this is all credit to Pro Football Focus, but I gotta pass it along. Javante Williams is tied with Nick Chubb with the most

forced mis tackles with thirty five on the year. Williams has done it on less touches. In fact, Williams leads the NFL with a thirty seven percent forced miss tackle rate. Nobody else is above thirty percent right now, and since two thousand and six, only Marshawn Lynch and Nick Chubb a few years ago finished with a miss tackle rate above thirty percent. In the last fifteen years, and Javontay Williams at thirty seven percent right now he needs more work.

Philly is top twelve in the most fantasy points allowed to running backs. Unfortunately, Melvin Melvin Gordon still getting a ton of carry, so he gets a C in this this matchup, but B for Williams and we just hope his touches will increase as well they we get later into the season. UH. To the wide receivers for the Broncos, just to see. For Jerry Judy, I'd still start him,

but I temper expectations. The Eagles are allowing just eleven catches on thirty three yards per game to a moosing wide receivers, and over their last UH four games, just one wide receiver has scored in topped sixty yards and they weren't the same player. And for that reason, I put Courtland Sutton on the bench. Just six targets over the last two games. With Jared Judy back in the lineup, Judy has doubled up that target total, unlike Jean Claude

Van Damn. The splits are not good here for Courtland Sutton, so he's on the bench for me. UH Noah Fant is not though, can give him a B. Philly has allowed the most tight end receptions and touchdowns to the position this year, and last week against the Eagles, three different Chargers tight ends finished inside the top twenty Two of them finished inside the top five, and neither was Jared Cook. It was Steven Anderson and Donald Parham. So I like Fant a lot. Here're gonna give him a B.

But Teddy B is on the bench. For me, this game is going to be all about the running backs with a little fan sprinkled in so Bridgewater on the bench. That all makes sense to me. Seahawks take on the Packers Matt and for the se Hawks they're going to be without Chris Carson's we have some clarity on that. Looks like it will be an Alex Collins start again.

But for the first time for Collins, he gets to play in a Russell Wilson led offense, and I think that gives him some some sneaky upside in this game. And I think there's an opportunity for Alex Collins to be a guy that you could potentially start here. What do you think? Yeah, I will note that Alex Collins is dealing with a groin injury and he's been limited in practice all week. He will go if he does,

He's probably a workhorse here. Since Carson went down with the injury, Collins has seen fifteen or more carries in three or four games. The one he didn't was a blowout win against the Jaguars where they really didn't need him. The Packers have been a middle of the pack UH team against opposing runners, although they have allowed the seventh most touchdowns to opposing backs and gave up three rushing scores to the Arizona Backs just two weeks ago. So

I like Alex Collins with a B grade. In this one. You mentioned Russell Wilson coming back with his from his finger injury. UH. He has to go to Lambeau, which is kind of a home coming since he played a year at Wisconsin UH and faced the Packers defense that hasn't really missed Jaire Alexander at all. They've held five of the last six quarterbacks they've faced to one or zero touchdown passes, and that list includes Patrick Mahomes and

Kyler Murray in it. So no quarterback has topped three yards against Green Bay since Week seven of last season when Deshaun Watson did it. And however, Jaire is still out. Eric Stokes, who's kind of his backup, is dealing with a knee injury. He's looking doubtful. Isaac Yaya Doom is on the COVID list. Thank you, Aaron Rodgers. So Kevin King has entered the chat and should get extensive snaps

this week. So I was gonna give Wilson a C grade, but I bumped him up to a B based solely on Kevin King being on the field for fifty snaps. King plays the right side of the field and DK Metcalf runs over half his routes on the offensive left side of the field, so he gets an A grade. King has allowed a passer rating of one thirty two in his coverage. Even when DK flexes into the slot, he'll see Shandon Sullivan, who has been slightly blow average.

I'm only gonna give Tyler Lockett a C grade, though he lines up about equal time from the slot and the right, where he'll face off against green Bay's best corner that's Russell Douglas, who's been pretty good since he signed in green Bay. On the other side, Aaron Jones gets an A and I already talked up A. J. Dillon as might take a chance on me runner. I will just mention that opposing running backs have have been

averaging thirty three touches per game against Seattle. That's a lot, and that's the second most in the league, so there's plenty to go around here. Davante Adams gets an A grade. On the assumption that Aaron Rodgers will be starting. I'll drop him to a B if we get a Jordan's love game, but let's talk about it as a Roger start. He gets a B grade. The Seahawks have been better against the past as of late, allowing only one touchdown past to Matthew Stafford, Big Ben, Jamis Winston and Trevor

Lawrence each over the last four games. But on pure emotion, where Rogers has been the villain and much of the national media over the last two weeks, you know he's gonna come out with that, I'm gonna show you all attitude. So Rogers gets the B grade here. Um Randall Cobb, I'm gonna give him a C grade, by the way,

and I'm gonna talk more about Cobb next segment. But I will mention that Cobb will line up against slot corner Ugo Amadi for most of his snaps and a Madi is a fill in and was targeted twelve times by Trevor Lawrence and his only start and is currently ranked as Pro Football focuses one sixty four ranked cornerback. But more really good Randall Cobbs stuff coming up next? Thing right, Yeah, I see you. You and I are on the other side on on on Randall Cobb by

a fair margin. I'll turn you around. Maybe maybe it'll be tough because when all when all the receivers are healthy, he feels like the law. He feels like he's lost, which he was through the first half of the season when Lazard was healthy and Adams was there and MBS was there, it felt very unreliable for me, the Cob man out man. Uh. You will get to hear more about Randall cob when you come back to premature speculation, which apparently is going to involve Randall Cob everything. I'm

just just launch uh. And you'll also get too other guys you could potentially pick up off the waiver wire this week when everybody else is trying to pick up them. Next week, find out who they are when we returned to Fantasy Football Weekly. Final segment Fantasy Football Weekly, the COVID edition, Paul charging with you. I'm the COVID guy, which is why I am at home. My cohorts Matt

Harrison and Brian Johnson are in the stud video. You can follow them on Twitter, where it's technically impossible to get COVID via Twitter. I believe at explosive output for Matt Harrison at bt X J for Brian Johnson, and I am at Paul Charchia. This is a segment we like to call premature speculation. We're going to give you three players to pick up this week that people will

be trying to pick up next week. We begin with Brian Johnson, who is your player willing with Washington tight end Logan Thomas, who was supposed to make his return this week, but he is not so most people have dumped him back on the waiver wire. He's right around

rostered on in Yahoo leagues. And the reason I'm recommending Thomas, I mean, he's a great player and he should be back soon, but between uh week eleven and week seventeen, which unfortunately, Week seventeen is now a viable Fantasy Week. It's when most championships will be held. Thomas gets to face the Eagles twice, who I mentioned in the last segment, or just getting absolutely shredded by opposing tight ends allowing more than seven catches, sixty six yards and nearly one

touchdown a game. So logan Thomas could be a league winner at tight end for you if you go grab him right me out? Yeah? All right, Matt, who is your premature speculation player, Marquez? No Randall Cobb. He took a little the drama. Um. The Packers did not sign Odell Beckham Jr. As many thought they would, but many don't know that Randall Cobb has eight targets already this year inside the ten yard line, which is thirty three

of the team total. They're targeting him near the end zone, and with Robert Tonyan gone, he had six already this year, So there's vacated infrared zone targets since since Tonyon went down. Cobb has seen five red zone targets from the twenty yard line in UH in those two games, and Davante Adams did not have one in that span. So I think that we should probably think about these vacated infrared zone targets, and Cobb's gonna make more noise than you

think on the way out. No, you're right, it's more more more noise than I think. You're correct about that. I'm going with Jets backup quarterbacks, quasi starting quarterback Mike White, who will probably get handled by the Bills this week. But this is a forward looking segment, and if we look forward to the schedule, he's got Miami and Houston coming up the next two weeks, and that's a possibility

for him to look good and perhaps cement this job. Now, Zach Wilson could end up coming back over this time frame. But what if Mike White looks good, continues to look good, then what do they do? I could potentially keep starting him. Um, you already know he's been shockingly good in relief of Zack Wilson. And you know, again, with Miami and Houston coming up, maybe he makes a little noise here and keeps the job and continues to look very good. Charge

that's ludicrous. It might be Zack Wilson's gonna start as soon as he's had. The Jets aren't going for a playoff spot. Come on, They're going to start their second overall pick. That's absolutely I don't think it's nearly as sure thing as you believe it is. Let's go to the Falcons taking on the Cowboys, and let's start with the one of the most shocking developments in the history of fantasy football, Corderold Patterson's season. He gets an A

grade in this particular matchup. After not allowing a sixty yard rusher through the first five games, Dallas is now allowed four of them in the last three weeks alone. They are Pro Football Focus is third worst run defending and tackling unit, and Patterson's actually thirteenth among running backs quote running backs in yards after contact at two point oh. I mean for it, converted wide out playing running back.

It's amazing that he's good after contact. None of Dallas's linebackers can hang with Patterson out of the backfield, and that may be the case with their corners as well. So we're gonna can tinue to keep starting core Darrel Patterson with confidence, and I like him in this game. Sticking with the running backs, Mike Davis is completely dead to us. He's averaging a woeful three point two yards per carry. Hasn't topped fifty three rushing yards in any

game and has two touchdowns on the year. I believe he's straight up droppable. Matt Ryan was might take a chance on me quarterback from earlier in the show, and he's a C grade in this game. Kyle Pitts gets a B grade, but I was really close to giving him a C grade. Let's let's talk it through here.

Kyle Pitts continues to see deep targets. He actually leads all tight ends in average depth of target at twelve yards, and per Pro Football Focus, he's got the most intermediate and deep receptions among all tight ends, and over half his targets or at least ten yards down field. So you would think with all these targets and all these receptions being downfield, he'd be scoring touchdowns. But that isn't the gate. He's got one touchdown all year. That's it

for Kyle Pitts. Eight eight Falcons have as many touchdowns receptions or more than Kyle Pitts has got. Which is depressing. Is that the vault, that's the vulture, That the vulture, that's the vulture. Everybody's vulturing Kyle Pitts. I think you're

right Cowboys are a good tight end defense. Since getting nuked by Gronk in the season opener, Dallas is only giving up a quarter of one touchdown per game to the position, So I got pitts on the speed grade, but it's it's through what I think will be solid yardage. But I can't give you. I can't expect a second touchdown yet, not against the Cowboys. So just to b grade there, and again it was close to a seat.

All right, let's go to Dallas. It looks like left tackle Tyrone Smith is not going to play again, which was a contributing factor for last week's total dud game. But there's a far easier matchup and I've got strong grades on most of your key Cowboys here, including Ezekiel. Elliott confirmed that he will play in this game. Hasn't scored in three straight after racking up six scores in

the previous month. Thankfully, Atlanta has allowed nine touchdown seventh most of backs this season, and I do expect him as well. They're also allowing the seventh most receptions and receiving yards of the position, and Zeke's got at least three receptions in his last three games, so he should

catch some here as well. Also an A grade on Zeke, which is not a big surprise, giving it a grade to um Dak Prescott a probable bounce back game coming after last week's flop against the Falcon secondary that's faced one of the weakest schedules of opposing quarterbacks. The only DAK level passer the Falcons have faced is Tom Brady,

and he threw for five touchdowns. Trevor Simeon just hit these Falcons for two fifty and two, and if we take out bottom tier pastors like Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson, and Sam Donald, the average passing game against the Falcons is two eighty yards and three and a half touchdowns per game, which is ridiculous, and we'd certainly take three and a half touchdowns out of Dak Prescott. Ceedee Lamb

gets an A grade. I'm ignoring everything about last week's disaster for Ceedee Lamb other than the fact that he was targeted nine times. I'm gonna fire him up with confidence here against this Falcons defense that I've already explained why I think there's a great matchup for him. Mary Cooper confirmed he's gonna play as well. His many nagging

injuries have reduced him to a touchdown dependent receiver. He's only reached seventy yards once in the past seven games, which is really disappointing for Cooper, and has only posted more than three catches twice in those seven games. But he is scoring touchdowns and Atlanta has allowed multiple touchdowns two receivers five different times. So if I think Lamb is gonna get one, and I do, I think Cooper gets one here as well, so he'd be grade on Cooper.

Let's talk to Dalton Shechltz, which is a fascinating opportunity for him. Over the last three weeks, the Falcons have given up the third most yards and the second most receptions to tight ends. Sheltz has had a quiet couple of weeks and he but he still remains seventh in yards among tight ends, hasn't scored a touchdown since Week four.

But the key thing you need to know about Dalton Sheltz is Blake Jarwin's on I R and Schultz is no longer competing for tight end targets, and I think that's enough to keep him with a solid game here and a potential bounce back with a B grade and lastly, Tony Pollard gets a C grade. We've seen change of pace. Backs mark Ingram and j. D. Mckissic have solid days against Atlanta, and backs that have been in Pollard's ten ish touch range typically typically find their way to a

good game against Atlanta. So we'll give a C grade to Tony Pollard. Our final matchup is the Monday Night er is it often times is Rams taking on the forty Niners. Rams offense struggled last week. You see a bounce back coming, Brian, Yeah, I do, and I'll make quick mention. This is the first meeting of the season between these divisual Divisional opponents. Starting with the running back for l A Darryl Henderson. Gonna give him a B.

San Francisco has allowed ten touchdowns running backs. Only six other teams have double digit scores to the position. I expect to bounce back for Henderson and this one he gets a B. Gonna give Cooper cup in a Cup doesn't have the best history against San Francisco, only has one touchdown in his last five meetings with the Niners, and forty one yards was the most he has totaled in a game during that span, but He's obviously on another level this year, and the San Francisco secondary is

just super banged up. So an easy A for Cup and an easy B for Robert Woods, who has at least seventy yards or a touchdown in each of his past six games. He also has at least nine targets and back to back games, So be for Robert Woods. I do have Van Jefferson on the bench. Despite San Francisco secondary being very banged up. Like I just mentioned, soon to be living in a van down by the river. Jefferson has only topped three catches once in his last

five games. He is on the bench, as is Tyler Higbee. San Francisco was allowing less than four catches and thirty five yards per game to opposing tight ends, and Matt Stafford gonna give him a B. Comparable quarterbacks like Carson Wentz, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and the very uncomparable Jared goff have all throw him form multiple touchdowns against San Francisco, and uh, I'll stay at a third time. That secondary

is very banged up. I'm a big fan of the passing game for the Rams, and this one over to the forty nine side, starting with George Kittle, who looked great in his return last week. He has topped one hundred yards end or scored a touchdown in six of his seven career games against the Rams. The one time he failed to meet both benchmarks was in his rookie year. And it's a pretty good matchup on paper. L A is allowing six catches and sixty yards per game to

opposing tight ends. Uh de boat Samuel just gonna give him a be here. Might see a fewer targets with Kittle back, but he still saw nine looks last week. Debot average yards with a touchdown in his two games against l A last year. There's a chance he's shadowed by Jalen Ramsey, but there's no way you can bench debo when healthy Brandon I Yuke almost back to unbengeable status, but I'm not going to trust him in this matchup.

Uh If I puts up good numbers in this one, I'll be a little surprised, but well, well, but if he does do that, well, at least, no, he's back as a viable fantasy asset, but I don't trust him in this one. He is on the bench, as is Jimmy Garoppolo. The Rams have surrendered just just ten passing touchdowns all season, and they're ready to add Von Miller into their past rushing mix. And lastly, Elijah Mitchell just

gonna give him a c uh. The Rams have the highest rated run defense according to Pro Football Focus, and no runner has topped fifty yards against them in five straight games. Wow. It is a tough matchup for him, and he comes in a little bit banged up as well,

which worries me a little bit. Additionally, for Elijah Man, the Rams are vulnerable, vulnerable through the air to the position though allowing the ninth most receiving yards to running backs in the twelveth most reception So that's why I gave him the starting See Elijah Wilson is looming there too, and James Hasty Toilson is not back yet, but is his return is looming? And is it maybe as soon as next week? Um guys. Cam Newton is resigned with his old team, and something that I think most people

thought would would not end up happening. Any reason to believe Cam Newton will be materially better in Carolina than he was in New England, where mostly he was not a fantasy startable quarterback. I'm not so convinced he's gonna rekindle that magic in Carolina. He certainly didn't look good in his last season with the Panthers. Um he does have healthy Christian McCaffrey back that helps. D J. Moore

is certainly trending upwards. I do know that Carolina has the eighth hardest remaining strength of schedule for quarterbacks, So UH, don't know he's worth a roster spot, but I'm pretty bummed. I really wanted to see what p J. Walker had to offer. We will get to see that on Sunday if he has a good game though against the Cardinals. I think it's gonna be tough to to sit PJ. But they gave Cam ridiculous amount of guaranteed money, and I mean, the Panthers are still kind of in line

for that seventh wild card spot in the NFC. They're they're in play there, so they're gonna go at the hot hand. So we're probably gonna see some Cam Newton, but we're calling him Scam Newton because he doesn't throw the ball well at all anymore. And uh, I'm I'm a little nervous that that might be the case when we see him again, and it might torpedo d J. Moore's value. I'd like to see them platoon Cam as a runner and use them like a little bit of

a Taysom Hill. And he doesn't have to be your full time quarterback, but bring him in and let him run a little bit. Great job this week. Thanks to all our listeners again for putting up with the audio quality as I stay at home quarantine with COVID. I appreciate all the support and your continued understanding With that. We'll be back in the studio next week for another edition of Fantasy Football Weekly, where we'll all be back together and it will be very very special. Thanks for listening,

everybody talk to you in one week. Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast from my Heart Radio, visit the I Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.