Garbage Time & The Mississippi Mustache

Over the course. Now you're gonna go good day mate. For a minute, I wish you had an opportunity loss next time, get it right. Over the course of today, we'll break down every game fantasy styles. Always we don't care about which team is gonna win other than your team. So we'll tell you how all the players are going to do in these games. Yeah, give you a rationale for why we feel that way. You can see if you agree or disagree and go with us or against us.

We'll answer three tough questions. We'll give you nine players upon whom you can take a chance, and we'll dump and jump into our time machine for the future and identify the players that everybody's going to be trying to pick up next week, but blamo, they're already on your team because you picked him up this week. That is a bit we call premature speculation. Time travel as a new wrinkle for us. It is, um, welcome to flex capacitor is flexing, Yeah, and it makes the sound blamo.

That's that's that's what the time machine goes, Yes, blamo. The cow goes move at the time machine goes blamo. Uh. Let's um, I want to dive into some matchups here, and we're gonna sprinkle in some reaction to Thursday night's game as well, and what to do about guys like Cam Newton and O. J. Howard and some others throughout the show as well. But let's let's go right into some of the matchups fantasy style, beginning with Jacksonville and Houston.

Gardner Mayhew at the helm of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I once got a case of Gardner Mayhew from an Indonesian bathhouse. Well, you should get Gardner Minshew instead than Mayhew Mayhew. But I gonna talk about him in a later segment because he might be to take a chance on me kind

of quarterback. Uh. As for the rest of the uh Leonard four Nett's getting an A grade, played six percent of the snaps in Week one, had seventeen of the jags eighteen running back touches in The Houston run defense was the worst rated in Week one by Pro Football Focus, allowing seven point three yards per carry. A grade. They're gonna try to keep the ball out of the hands of their quarterback. Maybe maybe, I think so, I don't know.

D D Westbrook gets a B grade for me. Minshew targeted the slot a ton last year at Washington State, and that's d D spot. Texans slot cornerback Aaron Colvin did so well last week hundred and seventeen yards against and then they cut They cut them out right, which means they're starting Philip Gaines against Westbrook and I like those odds. The rest of the Jags, Chris Conley and DJ Chark there on the bench. It's not a revenge game for Chris Conley, so I'm not really interested in it.

And Marquise Lee might end up going in this game, which would sap targets from both Conley and Chark. Chark was only targeted two times last week, so he's not worth it. And by the way I called it. Chris Conley touchdown on this show last Where's Where's a bird sound? That we listen? You know we're not going to stop the show every time we got something right. Yes we are, We're wrong when you can call it your Chris calmly

shot that deserves the peacock right there. We've got two hours and there might be a lot of peacocks in this one. Uh. DeAndre Hopkins gets an A grade. He's scored or top two hundred yards in each of his last four meetings with Jalen Ramsey, so I'm not worried about him. Deshaun Watson's getting a B. I'm only nervous and he's only getting downgraded a little bit because he was sacked six times last week, right back to where

we were last year. He took eleven other hits, was dinged up for most of the game in and out of the blue tent. That's not good. Still. The Chiefs lit up this defense last week, and Watson isn't much of a stepped down from Patrick Mahomes, so he gets the beat. Will Fuller gets a sea. Fuller was on the field for of the snaps, but he only saw three targets, so I think that some positive regression needs to come there. Kick Cutie might play but might not.

That means both him and Kenny Stills are on your bench. And then Carlos Hide and Duke Johnson. I gave both of them a C grade. Both are kind of viable here in a sneaky way. Hide to his second in the league and yards after contact per attempt at six point three, and he has Pro Football Focus his highest elusive rating after week one. Carlo Carlos Hide, you know, you know what else is gonna be elusive? Him staying

on top of that list is gonna be elusive. Duke was targeted the second most last week of all Houston receivers, and the Jags gave up nine receptions to the Kansas City running backs last week, so Duke's in a good spot too. Arizona takes on Baltimore Christian Kyler Murray with the fantastic second half of last week's game, but a

much tougher matchup in Baltimore the time around. Yeah. Absolutely, although there may be some garbage time stats to be had in this one, just like there, Well, it was sort of garbage time last week for Kyler Murray until he brought them all the way. Yeah, that's right from it somehow from from garbage to treasure were I was working on Twitter on the name. Is it merbage time or Kyle arbage time. I don't know if either one of those work. I think you're gonna have to just shopping.

Come on, keep working, keep shopping. Uh. Yeah, Murray had that over over three passing yards last week and needed fifty four passing attempts and and overtime to get there. But it was interesting to see this offense get unveiled for the first time. They ran four wide receivers seventy three percent of the time, so an interesting wrinkle there. But this time, like you mentioned charts, it's gonna be a lot tougher against the Ravens. They were top five

against the past last year. They gave up just a hundred and ninety yards and one touchdown through the air in their Week one win over Miami. Granted that was Miami and it was also garbage time too. Yeah, so I've got Murray on a C grade here, and it's purely because with the Ravens favored by almost two touchdowns in this game, I think there's going to be garbage time. No, come on, mur Murby m okay, let's move on to the wide receivers. Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald are really

the only two we need to discuss here. Interestingly, both of them are playing out of the slot most of the time. With four wide receivers, they have two guys on the outside and two on the inside. They were both targeted heavily. Kirk targeted twelve times by Murray last week, caught just four of them for thirty two yards. But terrible. It is terrible, but it's a good sign that they're using them that much. Baltimore did lose their starting slot

corner to injury after Week one. They also could be without Jimmy Smith, another of their cornerbacks, so there could be some some that's to be had here. For Christian Kirk, I gave him a B B minus ish starting grade. We don't do minuses. How this is we are. We are firmly on whole grades around here. I go away for a couple of years, come back all of a sudden, we're not doing minus. What about pluses? No, there's no pluses, and Fantasy football call it what it is. A B

or I'm gonna call it as see that. If you're gonna put a gun too, how about Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald gets to see too, just to spite you guys, because I would have given him a B minus. But he was targeted thirteen times last week, eight catches over a hundred yards. But this is a tough matchup. Only three wide receivers top two hundred yards versus the Ravens in all of eighteen, so I don't know that he needs the volume here.

Fitzgerald and Kirk both need the volume. I don't think they're each going to see double digit targets, but I'm willing to give him another chance. With just c grades. Fitzgerald sees Brandon Carr. Probably I didn't give up a touchdown, not one last A tough matchup. Yeah, I would play Kirk over Fitzgerald if for some reason you saw fit to roster both of them. Nothing to see here with

Keyshawn Johnson quite yet. He did have ten targets, but that was in garbage time and nothing to see what the tight ends, who aren't really even on the field in this offense on the Raven side, obviously, Lamar Jackson is an a grade after that ridiculous debut in Week one where he was really effective through the air and really didn't even bother to run the ball, which is part of his fantasy appeal. So um, it's a massive upside here in week two again, you could argue he

should be the number one quarterback. Charge I don't know where's my number two behind only Tom Brady and that's so that's that's where I've got it. Yeah, the Cardinals just gave up Matthew Stafford's best passing game in almost two years, so a great spot for Jackson again here his wide receivers, however, a little iffy um markis Brown had the huge couple of touchdowns last week, but was only targeted five times and only played fourteen snaps. Unbelievable.

But that's a mandate for more snaps. I mean he will, you know, it'll at least double. I mean he's Scott to be sitting on twenty five snaps this week? Do you would think so? But Jackson only through to the wide receivers a combined total of ten times in week one, so I'm a little worried about the volume here. Marc's Brown is a boomer bus play but you got to get him in there. I gave him a B grade. Miles Boykin just one target in one catching week in Week one. He may be relevant down the road, but

not quite yet. So he is on the bench Mark Andrews and A grade here eight catches for a hundred and eight yards and a touchdown. Jackson targeted his tight ends fifteen times. The Cardinals just let Detroit rookie t J. Hockenson go off for a hundred and thirty yards in a touchdown. So elite level start for Mark Andrews. The running game. Mark Ingram also an elite level A start hundred seven yards and two touchdowns last week despite barely even playing. Would you give him an US No, I

don't do that. You should know that about I don't into that. I would never do that. We are about whole grades here. Cardinals last year were easily the worst run defense in the NFL. They gave up league highs and rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Mark Ingram is an obvious that you can even bring Gus Edwards into play here. Maybe he had more carries than Ingram last week. Yeah, that was in a lot of garbage time. But I think they're gonna be up again in the second half.

So Gus Edwards, let's give him a desperation C grade. Yeah, um for those that took the shot on Justice Hill right now, he's on the wrong side of that deal. And it looks like Gus Edwards is available in like every rookie running back outside of Josh Jacob, So practically, isn't it. Devin Singletary, they you know, they all got they all got back, Bernard. You're just gonna have to have patience on them. Most of them I think are

in good spots. Although Devin Singletary maybe playable today we'll find out, like Dallas takes on Washington, and you know, for the most part, this won't take long because it's basically start all your cowboys and bench all your red skin. But we'll dive in just a little bit here. If you're not treating dak Press Prescott like a fantasy superstar,

you don't get it right now. In the past four games, he's blown out the Giants twice, he's won a playoff game and scored multiple touchdowns, and every one of those four games Michael Gallup turning into a superstar. Amari Cooper already is one. The Redskins corners not nearly up to the task of stopping those two guys. And you look at what happened last week to the Redskins corners, Deshan Jackson all Sean Jeffrey just humbling them. Last year, Dak

posted two good, not great games against Washington. I think they're up to great levels here. He is an A grade. Zeke is obviously in A grade. It goes without saying, particularly with defensive tackle Jonathan Allen knocked out for this game. I think he's gonna gonna bounce back from last week's middling performance with a much better game here as well. Love Amari Cooper obvious A grade for him as well.

Since arriving in Dallas, he's been targeted per game game. Yes, the Redskins secondary got torched for three scores last week. He's an A grade. Michael Gallop is He's is almost an A grade, but we're gonna call him a firm B for Michael Gallop. He's almost like we need some sort of designation in between A and no. We go. He has actually had more receptions and yards than Cooper, but over the last two games this week, one of this year than going back to the last game last year.

Um he more often runs from the left, where where Gallop will match up with cornerback Quintin Dunbar. Dunbar's got the hayte and what height and weight or hate and white to hang with Gallop, but does not have the skill set and last year Gallop posted eighty one yards and a touchdown in the one game he played against them. Tony Pologist now on the bench for the Redskins. The only startable players here case Keenum. It's mostly garbage time here.

Don't chase last week's box score on Keenum. Obviously maybe in a pinch. Dallas has allowed three hundred more passing yards in three straight games going back to last year. And watch the status of elite cornerback Byron Byron Jones. If Jones does go, then we're just gonna bench Keena out right. If Jones is out then I think Keena becomes a dart throw here. You could try Trey Quinn, who scored last week in garbage time, but another dart throw at best with him. A lot of people picked

up Terry McLaurin. Terry McLaren, uh, the uh tough matchup though this week against Shadobiawoozy, the cornerback was very good. And then again, if Byron Jones comes back, he'd have to contend with him as well. Adrian Peterson, you're starting running back and it will not matter that team cannot run the ball. Right now, we will go to fanball dot com, where you can find instant access to my weekly rankings, my free one thousand dollar weekly contest, our podcasts,

and Fambi all the coms you're portal to. Gil guillotine E's These are are mini guillotine leagues that run every single the week. It started as a seventeen man guillotine in the priest or not that many right now at they're they're getting teenier every week week. That's right. Famil dot com slash charts for all of that. Coming up NeXT's It's a bit we like to call take a chance on me. Nine players who you would not normally start,

but you can. This week, you're listening to Fantasy Football Weekly and I Heart Radio production Fantasy Football Weekly Returns courtesy of I Heart Radio, Puliciarchi and Matt Harrison and Christian Peterson with you. This segment is called Take a chance on me. Nine players not normally in your starting line up, many of whom are available on the waiver wire. And this is a very special royalty free version of

take its ants on Me. With these three sleeper quarterbacks running back to receivers when they hit pay dirt, you pay us nothing. This is a royalty free segment, just the same amount that we pay for this song. Nothing in a very legally binding way, absolutely positively nothing for this particular song of take a chance on Me. Guys will start at the quarterback position. Who do you have, Christian? I have Derek Carr this week going up against the Chiefs.

What happens in Chiefs games is that they put up all sorts of points early on and the other team is forced to play catch up, or at least attempt to. And what happens is the other team usually puts up big stats as well. Last year, the Chiefs were a bottom five pass defense. They allowed the most passing yards to a poison quarterbacks, nearly two touchdown passes per game,

and Derek Carr is no exception. In his last two home games against the Chiefs, twinter and eighty five yards and three touchdowns followed by four seventeen yards and three touchdowns. He's coming off in efficient Week one performance where he was only asked to throw the ball twenty six times, but he's gonna have to throw the ball a lot more in this one. And I like his chances of putting up big numbers while trying to keep pace with the Chiefs. One might call that carbage time carbas very man,

after which that term was called originally invented. Yes, all right, Matt, who's your take chance of the quarterback? I've got Gardner Minshew the Mississippi Mustache fan Ball this week. By the way, he's a sixth round rookie. He takes over for the injured Nick Foles. Minshew was credited by Pro Football Focus with a one percent adjusted completion percentage, which means that percent of the balls he threw we're on target. How

about that? Uh? He faces a Houston team that just got pasted by Drew Brees last week for seventy yards. Six of the last seven quarterbacks who have faced the Texans have topped either three hundred yards or thrown from multiple scores, with five of those accomplishing both of those feats. Gardner Minshew, all Right, Gardner minshew. I thought he was the Indonesian Indian or something. No, No, he's the Mississippi mustache. Okay, Josh Allen goes up against the Giants, he's only dollars

on fanball. It's over the last Giants. By the way, if it we're not for the Dolphins, strandson of the worst defense in the league, and they still might, I think it's still gonna be. This is a one A and one B situation. Over the last three games, going back through last year, Giants are giving up an average of three hundred eighty three passing yards and three and a half touchdown passes per game. I don't need Josh Allen to get me a full three eight three and

three and a half. How about two thirds of that? Give me like two seventy and two and a half, and I'd be pretty happy. He'll chip in more with his legs, Giants. Giants defense still has not found suitable replacements for Landon Collins, and then they lost Olivia Vernon in the off season. They were the dead last pass rush defense by Pro Football Focus last week, Giants were I'm telling you, even Josh Allen cannot screw this up. He's gonna throw a bunch of deep balls and something

we're going to connect. Don't forget that he just got to spend time in New York all this week because he was in the same stadium last week and away game. Great, great point, just stayed there. Maybe that was it, and then he might even rush in a little something extra for you as well, Josh Allen, take a chance on the quarterback. Just go to the running backs. Yeah, I'm gonna roll with Chris Thompson of the Redskins going up

against the Cowboys. Charter. You just callously dismissed the entire Redskins backfield when you when you talked about the matchup in the previous previous segment. And I agree, they can't run the ball, but what they can do is throw the ball to their running backs. I was just leaving Chris Thompson for you, specifically Chris Thompson, who led who led all Redskins players and targets last week with ten, catching seven of them for sixty eight yards in the matchup.

Here favors pass catching running backs. The Cowboys allowed the fifth most receptions to opposing runners last year. They yielded seven catches to the Giants in week one, and now with Adrian Peterson in the game instead of Darius Guys, he's even less of a threat to catch receptions than Geis was. So I think Thompson's gonna be in this game. They're gonna be playing catch up. They're gonna be dumping it off to him quite a bit. Just on fan

ball this week. Malcolm Brown is only one fan ball this week, and he's become a true vulture with four carries from inside the ten and two short touchdowns last week. However, yards after contact per attempt Malcolm Brown number seven in the league at four point six. That's not bad. He's not involved in the passing game at all, never having more than two targets in a game in his entire career.

But that doesn't matter because the Saints made Carlos Hide and Duke Johnson looked like Todd Gurley and his prime last week, allowing seven point three yards per carry, ten carries eighty five yards in a score for Malcolm Brown this week. I like it. Darren Sprawls way off everybody's radar. Darren Sprawls, this is your one chance, probably on the year, to start him almost free in fan ball shalary cap system.

He was more involved in last week's game plan than anybody would have expected, I think on the field twenty three plays, which was five more than Jordan Howard was, and Howard was the presumed starter for this one. Now, obviously Sprailes is not going to chip in ground yardage in any meaningful way. But he might. He had like nine carries last time. I well, probably not a meaningful way. Maybe falcons have allowed You guys already know this. You

know where I'm going with this. Falcons have allowed the most running back touchdowns last year, the year before that, the year before that, and the year before that. I think it's safe to say that we will always have to take a chance on me pass catching running back going against the falcon That's right, it's it always the tradition. I'm doing it this time because I believe Darren Spoils should be in the Hall of Fame. He is number six all time in yards. That's awfully impressive. So you're

basing his Week two prognosis on his entire career. That's right, good, which now spans Darren Sprawls. Let's go to the receiver positions. You take a chance of me receiver. Yeah, I'm gonna roll with me Cole Hardman this week on the opposite side of that Chiefs versus Raiders matchup that I talked about. You may remember Hardman as the guy that the Chiefs drafted this spring to replace Tyreek Hill when it wasn't at all clear whether Tyreek Hill was ever going to

play in the NFL again. Then Hill came back and everybody forgot about Hardman, and now Hill is hurt again and here comes Hardman. He did play eight of the snaps in Week one, even with Hill in the game for at least part of it. But he's the guy who's going to step into that role of playing deep threat, and anybody who's gonna get looks in this offense, especially as a deep threat replacing Tyreek Hill, is worthy of

your attention this week, So go grab him. He's on the waiver wire in most leagues, or at least was as of earlier. This week, I've got Cole Beasley at fan but it's almost a free space. He didn't put up the huge numbers that John Brown did last week, but he did have nine targets, with which only trailed John Brown by one. UM He caught four or five of his targets from the slot, but also ran ten routes from out wide saw four targets on those ten routes.

The Giants defense is terrible. I'll highlight how awful they are amongst outside receivers later, But every Cowboys wide receiver had a great day, including slotman Randall Cobb, who had his best day in years with sixty nine nice yards in a score. Um Josh Allens might take a chance on me corner. Let's hook him up. Let's hook those two up. Vance McDonalds might take a chance of me

receiver slash tight end in this case. He only had two receptions last week, but was on the field for seventy one of the Steelers plays, and his backup Xavier Grimble was on the field for two plays in the entire game. McDonald will be more involved in this game. Seattle allowed nine tight end touched receptions for ninety three yards last week, and Seattle's allowed at least seventy tight end yards and five of the last six games going

back to last year. This is gonna be a bounce back game for Vance McDonald I am confident by the way fan ball if you're wondering what you gotta pay on fan ball to get a little vance McDonald action. It's not bad. I don't think Buffalo taking on the Giants. Matt we were We've just talked about this one in a fair amount of detail. A little bill and might take a chance on me. Quarterback Cold Beasley, you take a chance for me. Wide receiver, who's left to talk about?

Let's talk about John Brown. He's a a B grade, But if there was something between a B and an A that I could give him, it's it's pretty close to something right between those two void right there. It's a chasm between those two grades. Slightly better than that right there. Um Perimeter wide receivers torch the Giants defense last week, as Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper totaled third team catches two sixty four yards and a touchdown against this Giants d The Giants only managed one pressure on

Doc last week and thirty two dropbacks. There's gonna be plenty of time for Josh Allen to look around, get Brown downfield and hit him with a deep ball. Devin Singletary, I'm actually giving a B grade two as well with Frank Gore and t J. Elden on the bench. Devin Singletary leads the NFL in russias of ten plus yards with four, which is about all the carries he had. He had four Russian attempts um. He also did have five receptions to Gordon out touch Singletary ten to nine.

But that ends. Now it's over. Now it should be well, okay, we think you think it's over, it's gotta be over. Matt anything to say, come on, all right the other side, this is pretty easy. Sae Kwon Barkley easy A. Don't even have to talk about it. He's an easy A in any lineup. Uh Evan Ingram a grade as well. Sterling Shepherd is out. That's seven vacated targets from last week, and I bet they all go to Angram, who already had thirteen targets in his big performance. Say Kron and

Ingram are literally their only chance to win. Eli Manning. The rest of the team is on the bench. Cody Lattimer isn't anyone's lineup this week, but he did have the most targets among wide receivers last week with eight, but he's still on the bench. He is on the bench. I worry a little bit. She's with the dearth of receiving talent, no Golden Tate, no no Sterling Shepherd. That the Bills might just take away Evan Ingram and basically say,

you know, go beat us with Cody Latimer. They might try, but Barkley is still there and Evan Ingram's playing in the tight end position. Wide receivers just working one more matchup. Indeed, Apple is taking on Tennessee. Marlon Mack was awesome last week. Leads the NFL and rushing yards with a hundred seventy four.

Now he gets Tennessee. Yeah, he was. He was awesome, And it sure seems like the Colts without Andrew Luck now have sort of turned their attention to the running game and running behind their maweling offensive line, and it worked like a charm in week one. You mentioned a hundred and seventy four yards on twenty five carries. When these two teams meet met in weeks seventeen of last year, so two games ago, two games ago, Mac had twenty five carries for a hundred and nineteen yards and a touchdown.

So I've got him as a solid a here, like he's in that group of a's that's right all right there, and then there's a huge cliff down to the mac is right in there with the a's yet, So let's yes, let's move to the passing game. Jacoby Brissette. I have him on the bench here. Just didn't have the attempts, didn't have the volume last week. Just twenty seven pass attempts, hundred ninety yards and two touchdowns. Really no reason to think about putting him in the lineup on the road

against a solid Titans pass defense. T Y Hilton is the only receiver you need to be concerned about here. Nine targets in Week one, eighty seven yards and two touchdowns. No other receiver had more than five targets, So it's all t Y Hilton all the time. Hilton also had nine catches for a hundred and fifty five yards and two touchdowns the last time the Colts traveled to Tennessee. Still, because of the lack of volume in the uncertain here, just a B grade for Hilton. None the wide receivers

are worth anything. Tight ends we're targeted just six times in Week one. I know Scott Fish earlier went to bat for the idea that Jacoby Brissette was going to throw a lot to the tight ends, but we didn't see it in week one, and we still we still have Ebron and Doyle splitting looks there. So don't worry about either one of them. On the Titans side, there's really well, there's a couple of things that talk about.

Let's start with the easy one. Derrick Henry is an easy a after last week's explosion eighty four yards and a touchdown on the ground, seventy five yards and a touchdown through the air. The Colts just got eviscerated for two hundred nineteen combined rushing and receiving yards and three touchdowns by the Chargers running backs last week. So, Derrick Henry is he number one on your running back ranks? I haven't he's got he's yeah, he's not one, but

he's up there. Okay, passing game, I've got Marcus Mariota on the bench. I'm not fooled by last week's box score. It looks nice to eight yards and three touchdowns, but he had just twenty four pass attempts. Thirty percent of his yards came on a dump off that Derrick Henry took seventy five yards for a Touchdow untouched at that untouched right, So I'm not buying it on Mariota. I'm gonna leave him on the bench. I want to make him prove it at least one more week. The wide

receivers were kind of a mess. They combined for just four catches on hundred and five yards in Week one. A. J. Brown had three of those catches and a hundred of those yards. So he's the guy that you have to look at here if you're desperate to get in a wide receiver here, I'd give him a C grade. Corey Davis man three targets, although he was going up against Brown's cornerback Denzel Ward, who is legit. He's turning into a shutdown, shutdown type guy. But needless to say, you

can't have Davis in your lineup. The only other guy were concerned about here, tight end Delaney Walker. Welcome back Delaney with two touchdowns in week one. The Colts allowed the most catches and yards to opposing tight ends in so let's keep it going with a B start on Delaney Walker this week. I'm mom listening to that. I think it makes sense. By the way, if you're wondering Marlon mackw you just mentioned running back four this week, Derrick Henry running back five. Do you have one spot?

But you know, but they actually graded out with the exact same grade note and a half out of ten because you can use halfs apparently in my grade, yes, but not in the You've probably heard us talking about Team, the hottest new format and Fantasy sports. Each the low scoring team gets cut from the league and their entire roster goes the waiver wire. It makes for insane waiver wire runs. People are tweeting me about Sae Kwon Barkley hitting the hitting the waiver wire, Alvin Camara hitting the

waiver wire. This week. You can learn more and even join a Guillotine League by going to Guillotine League dot com powered by fanball dot Com. Coming up next on Fantasy Football Weekly, we will break down more matchups, including the Chargers and the Lions. Austin Ekeler awesome last week? What about this week? We'll tight when we come back. You are listening to Fantasy Football Weekly and I Heart Radio Production. I am Paul Charchi and my co hosts

are Christian Peterson and Matt Harrison. Christian Peterson is at Twitter at Cooler Heads twenty nine and Matt Harrison is at Explosive Output. I am at Paul Charchie and you can hear us over the year on many stations around the country, and this show is also a podcast available every Friday and all the major podcasting platforms, including the number one destination for podcasts, the I Heart Radio app. Chargers take on the Lions, and it was a great

game Frost and Ekeler last week. But I'm a little more cautious this week around because the Lions committed to beefing up their defensive line over the last year. They traded for snacks Harrison. Then in the off season they added a Matt Patricia favorite going back to his days with the Patriots and Trey Flowers. But those two got off to a very slow start after combining from the three tackles last week, and they let David Johnson pile

up one D thirty seven total yards. Still, Johnson was pretty involved in that past and that's your best that's your best angle for Ler for sure. It Eckler is a very good receiver, and so that's your angle and why he's still a B grade here. If you're just talking about running up the middle. I don't like Eckler so much, and that's a lot of why I don't like Justin Jackson at all. And he is a on the bench. He only got of the snaps last week, and then again he's trying to run up the middle

right at snacks Harrison and that's more. His bit is between the tackles. So I'm out on Justin Jackson. Let's go to the passing game where no Hunter Henry Mike Williams probably does not play with the knee injury, although I think technically a game time decision for him. That leaves Philip rivers with Travis Benjamin maybe, and Benjamin's gotta take the sleigh ride Darius Sleigh in this one. So I don't we need some sleigh bells by the way

for the sleigh ride. That would be pretty great, all right it Rianna is making a note right now, get

to get the sleigh bell signs for us slay. I don't what would the what would the Joe Iron Hayden sound be like a clink like like the league's vault closing maybe, but it's a creaking sound right as the but the what about the pokey part of the Iron Maiden that ouch anyway, Philip Rivers is is just a C grade here, although we're interesting to note the Lions go from last week trying to stop Kyler Murray, right, this really raw, amazing athlete with all the speed, and

now they go to a savvy veteran with two career starts and as as mobile as a statue. So uh that Larry Fitzgerald terrorized the Lions from the slot last year, and Keenan Allen still has a good opportunity here who runs his routes from the majority of the time from the slot, and without Hunter Henry and Mike Williams. I think that becomes really the whole game for Philip Rivers is whether or not you you trust Keenan Allen. I do.

I've got to. I've got a B grade on Rivers, B grade on Keenan Allen in the hopes that they can do enough there. I wouldn't try Travis Benjamin. Let's go to the Detroit side. Carry on Johnson epic disappointment because he's not that good. No, I think he is good, um, and I do I like him again here I'm going back to the well I liked him last week and liked him here. Marlon Mack just hammered the Chargers for

one seventy four yards. As Christian elucidated moments ago, the Chargers have allowed nearly two running back touchdowns per game over their last five games. Johnson got a two to one ratio of usage and snap counts over c. J. Anderson, so he he's my preferred guy. But I still have and an A grade on Carrie on Johnson, I gotta c n c J Anderson because he did wasn't It was a two to one snap count and that's not

that bad. He carried the ball eleven times last week, and the great game script here should be tilted much more towards the run than last week. So I like c. J. Anderson as a sneaky starting grade of a C. Let's go to the passing game for Matthew Stafford. Do not chase last week's box score against Arizona. Arizona was missing both their starting cornerbacks. This time, it's gonna be a

lot of running. Last year, the Charges were an inconsistent run defense, and then, as I mentioned earlier, Marlon mac ripped him last week. I just don't think that there's gonna be a passing game. There's not gonna be a lot of volume. Just to see grade on Matthew Stafford, see grade on Kenny Golladay. Unlike last week, he's got

a brutal matchup. He gets Charges cornerback Casey Hayward, who allowed the least separation to wide receivers last year and the sixth lowest catch rate to wide receivers in his coverage last year. Casey Hayward is awesome and he likely shadows Kenny Golladay for much of this game. Let's go to t J Hockenson last week setting the all time tight end debut yardage record and didn't need the overtime to do it. He said it in regulations, So don't anybody put an asterix on the end of that record

of t J Hockenson's. The Charges held the Colts excellent tight ends only three receptions last week. Um, and so when I look at that, I gotta figure this is probably not gonna be the then close to last week's game. By volume and again run heavy script. I don't think we're gonna have anywhere near the kind of success for t J Hockenson this week. But still startable with a C grade and Marvin Marvin Harrison only lightly involved. Marvin

Harrison still in Thervin Harrison, Marvin Harrison coming out of retirement. Um, wait, is he still in prison? I don't think he ever went to prison. They never go to prison. After all, the Shenanigans and the guns in every game, all right, Marvin Jones only lightly involved last week coming off his injury, and again game script is not ideal for him. He is on the bench, New England taking on Miami. Matt Start. Everybody from the Patriots bench, everybody from the Dolphins. Can

we just move on? Yeah? Almost. I would like to propose a new Fantasy football weekly rule. We're not going to mention the Dolphins until there is a starter starter, a fantasy on the bench. So I don't even get to say the name like the Patriots are playing. No what, well, we can say the name, the name of Dolphins. We just don't ever like toss on the Dolphins side of it. Yeah, we don't need to. Uh do you want me to talk about the Dolphins? I don't really want to talk

about all on the bench. Even garbage time. You can't count on garbage time against the secondary, So No, I don't think there's a startable Dolphin. No, it's gross. Uh. The Patriots A starts for Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown if he plays. Obviously, the allegations against him are serious. And uh, I did see that they're not going to put him on the Commissioner's exempt list. And the Patriots haven't said whether or not they're playing.

They're playing playing, um, so fire him up in your lineup if he sits. Somehow, Edelman and Gordon go up to an A and a half grade. Uh, it's Philip Dorsett gets a ce point sixth grade that would uptick to a full how you know why? Now you know why we don't do the plus? Is the halfs there any of that stuff? This is why it turns well, it's a B minus minus plus minus. Dorset plays a similar style to Hollywood Brown, who logged two long touchdowns against the Fins last week, and then the running backs

Sony Michelle James White. James White's a little bit dinged up and now or actually no, not d He's got the possible birth of a child, so he might not go. They're all bees anyway, Michelle White and Rex Burkhead. Michelle led the backfield with fifteen carries. There should be plenty of garbage time here where they're just grinding clock. Uh. Both Birkhead and White had five catches, although Burkhead had

one more target than White. Burke had led the running backs and opportunities with the eight targets plus eight carries. He logged five point five yards per carry on the ground as well. So Burkhead's kind of a sneaky play, like a bonus take a chance on me here. Uh. He could have more run in the game too, since it's probably gonna be a blow up in the second half. It might be just all Rex Burkhead in the second half. So that's it. Sony Michelle had the was fifteen carries

for fourteen. It was. It was pretty bad. There's gonna be a get right Yeah, it doesn't it feel that way. Yeah, they're gonna get him right here. Yeah. I think it's I had to put an a grade on him. San Francisco taking on Cincinnati, Um, there was not a lot to love about the San Francisco offense and the first the first week of the season, you feel any better about them as they travel to Cincinnati. No, not particularly uh,

certainly not about the passing game. I mean charts. These are your guys, Garoppolo, Dante Pettis, What's what's happening here? A hundred and sixties six yards and one touchdown in Week one against a bottom five past defense in the Bucks that he should have been able to move the ball against. The Bengals were also not a good past defense last year. But I just have no confidence in Garoppolo. So he's on the bench, along with all of his

wide receivers who combined for twelve targets. The most targeted was Deebo Samuel with three. We'll talk more about him later. And then you've got Marquis Goodwin, who was second in snaps amongst San Francisco Whiteouts, which I bring up mainly because I like the word amongst to say. And then Dante Pettis, he's practically dead, charging two snaps to snap, but each it's a groin injury, and they say he's fully healthy now and he'll get more snap You like

him so much. They caught him in our Empire League. Man, what a disaster. Tight end is not a disaster though, George Kittle ten targets last week, caught eight of them. If you don't if you weren't watching, you may not have noticed that he had two touchdowns called back because of penalties, so he was all over this game. He's an easy a start against the since defense that allowed more tight end touchdowns than any other team last year.

So let's go to the running game. Matt Brada now steps into a mostly full time role with Tevin Coleman out with that high ankle spraying. Coleman looks like he'll be out four to six weeks, so this is brightest chance until he gets injured. Last week's game still most most shirt most Steed could be in the mix as well, but I think you will be Yeah, probably, uh, you know, really, you can look at Breda this week as an interesting option because Cincinnati was bad against the run last year.

Opponing running backs average nearly five yards per carry. They did hold Chris Carson to forty six yards on fifteen carries in Week one, so maybe they've started to figure some stuff out. But I've gotten scored twice. I've got Breto with a B level start here and most diret I have on the bench just because He's probably gonna get sixty eight touches unless Breta gets hurt and we can't predict that, so I've got him on the bench. The other side of this matchup for the Bengals, let's

start with Andy Dalton. Fire up the peak, baby, take a chance on me quarterback last week. You're welcome, You're welcome. I'm sure all of you started Andy Dalton in your league's last week. I did in one. I started in a two quarterback league. I did say to start Andy Dalton over Jared Goff to several people. If it's not on this show, I really don't want to hear your

muttering Twitter around the plater. Baby. Nicely done by explosive output, the career high four and er in eighteen yards last week. And let's not forget that Dalton has had a couple of top ten quarterback you know, Fantasy seasons three and four and five years ago, back when played a lot. Yeah, it looks like this new offense, this new coaching staff is a little bit more willing to air it out, just a little bit so, and the matchup hears pretty good.

The forty Niners were able to flummox Jamis Winston last week, although he's flummox prone. I do. I do, in fact, but last year they allowed the most quarterback passing touchdown so this is a matchup Dalton can exploit again. I gave him a B level grade along with Tyler Boyd and John Ross, each of his top two wide receivers bees for both of those guys. Boyd had eleven targets and eight catches. Ross, of course, erupted seven catches for

a d fifty eight yards and two touchdowns. I certainly don't think we're going to see a repeat of that, But just the fact that those two guys are so heavily involved without a J Green here, I think that brings them into the mix. Forty niners were bad against wide receivers last year. They allowed a league worse twenty seven wide receiver touchdowns. So both of those guys are in play. The tight ends are not. They split eleven targets and nine catches between c. J Uzoma and Tyler Effort,

so those guys are on the bench. That brings us to the running game. And Joe Mixon sprained ankle in Week one, knocked him out, didn't practice until Friday. He did return to practice on Friday, so that gives him a chance to play. You're gonna have to keep an eye on the injury report just to make sure this is a good matchup. Tampa running backs averaged over five years uh five yards per carrying a hundred and seventy combined rushing and receiving yards against the forty niners last week,

so it doesn't go Geo. Bernard is an auto star, that's right. Last year, Mixing sat out a couple of games. In those two games, Bernard got every running back touch and had at least sixty five combo yards and a touchdown in both. So have Bernard ready just in just in case mix and doesn't play to actually your best play, best case scenario for fantasy would be preferable. Yeah, if if mixings out, which removes all question about whether you

should even start Mixing or whatever else. And then if you've got you Bernard, you just you and you deploy him, right, I agree, It makes it much much simpler, unless, of course, you own Mixing and you don't have Bernard. Yeah, but then but somebody else owns Bernard and he's listening right now, and then he gets to go start him, which isn't half bad? Um, Thursday night game, Cam Newton drop herbal or not? Let's go to the Cam Newton desk in

Christian Peterson. You know, it's getting nothing, nothing on the ground, and it's been this way, getting nothing on the ground for him anymore. And that's the problem. It's sure it sure seems that way that they've just completely gone away from any pretense of of running with him. And that was where a significant portion of his fantasy, his fantasy excellence came from. So I'm not dropping him quite yet. I'm gonna give him another week or two to see

what happens. But he's uh yeah, he's Rivera will be the first coach fired in the NFL this year. Wow, you it's not impossible that you're right about that new owner, don't They won and nine in their last ten. Today they lost? They lost some things six or last seven. We're only a couple of weeks away from this coming up next. Let's answer three tough questions beyond the Cam Newton one. You can play along. Try to go hey, perfect three and oh on Fantasy Football Weekly. It is

Fantasy Football Weekly on Paul arch fanball dot com. My cohorts are Christian Peterson and Matt Harrison. You are my panel of experts, gentlemen, and that means it's time to get into the grinder with three tough questions. Listeners you can play along, Stee if you can go three and question number one with Antonio Brown now on board? Is Tom Brady and every single week automatic starter? Christian, Yes, I'm going to say yes, although I mean, is Antonio

Brown on board? Looks like he's gonna be for Week two. We don't know beyond that, But honestly, even even without him, the way that this offense functioned in Week one was pretty impressive. And let's recall, Brady has been a top twelve at least a top twelve, if not, you know, top three fantasy quarterback every single uninjured year since two thousand and seven. Really, the only reason that he wasn't coming into this year is because we weren't sure who

he was going to throw to. Josh Gordon hadn't been reinstated, Antonio Brown wasn't around, Gronk retired, so it wasn't clear. They had Julian Edelman and a bunch of question marks. All of a sudden, now Gordon's back, Brown is in the fold. So yeah, absolutely, he's he is an easy every week starter at this point. Yeah, CP took most

of my thunder, but I want to tell her. I want to ask you to tell me when they're going to lose in this schedule this week at Miami, next week against Trevor Simeon and the Jets, then at Buffalo, then at Washington, then the Giants at home, then at the Jets. That's seven and oh they don't play another moderately tough team until week eight at home against Cleveland, and who knows if Cleveland's good. So Tom Brady is going to be a start just about every week until

then at Baltimore. I think week nine is that's it. I mean, it's it's gonna be a juggernaut. And that was you guys took all my I was gonna go right to the schedule. You took all my all my points. No playoff team on the schedule until week nine. Yep. It's it's unbelievable. They're just the rich get richer with that, with that particular organization. It wasn't that tough a question.

The correct answer is yes. Tough question Number two, should fantasy owners hold Hunter Henry or drop him Matt, This question was tougher. Charge Yeah. In fact, on Twitter, John de Nunzio told me to guard my broca's lobe during this question because it would be a shame if I weren't able to move my tongue or facial muscles to produce the sounds of speech. John, that would be about that would be unfortunate at this moment. Good thing I

guarded it well. For those of us that have been listening to you, we'd actually welcome you being unable to form words. Wo uh. You can drop Hunter Henry and Redraft. It's a tibia plateau fracture which can be afford a six week injury. Although J J. Watt had this injury in and missed the rest of the season, and he had it early as well. The Chargers honestly don't know when and if he can come back. And let's say he comes back in late October. He gets the Bears, Packers, Broncos, Jaguars,

and Vikings defenses on his schedule. His only easy game games are a game against the Chiefs and two games against the Raiders. Those are probably the only starting grades he gets unless he's a dred percent healthy, So I I think you can drop him. Okay, yeah, I agree. I think the original timeline here four to six weeks seems optimistic based on what we've heard from other people who have suffered this injury. And another factor here is that there are now other tight ends that you can

go and get. There are legitimate tight ends that might have been on your waiver wire, including Darren Waller after week one, t J. Hockenson who erupted in week one, even Delaney Walker who most people probably weren't drafting, and

he had two touchdowns. He looks like he's back. So I think the fact that there are legitimate tight ends actually that you can go and get, means that you can't waste the roster spot for Hunter Henry Okay, Doctor Harrison and Dr Peterson you know, by all means feel free to override every you know, all the team doctors who have actually looked at his knee and set the timetable for recovery charge. I consulted online doctors, and the

online doctors are never wrong. Nick Riviera online doctor Uh, he's expected to come back in four to six weeks, it could just as easily be four as six. In either way, that's enough that you're gonna hold him. There just aren't enough good tight ends to kick one to the curb a rosters. T. J. Hockenson is on a ROS and redraft. Know not after your perennial advice that you can't trust rookie tight ends. Some some of the tight ends that we were counting on look super dubious

right now. O. J. Howard, Kyle Rudolph, Jared Cook, Jack Doyle, they all underwhelmed. We don't know that you can go to war with those guys you're really gonna bring into this. You're asking you can't find a tight end? Average is half a touchdown per game anywhere else. It costs you a roster spot for a month. Big deal, because when he comes back, you've got a potentially top five tight end the rest of the year. You can't walk past that. So askue you a question. Yes, if you have Hunt

Hunter Henry, Yeah, wait what is this? If you have Hunter Henry Kareem Hunt, a guy who you told everybody to draft, and maybe a J. Green on your bench right now, then what do you do? Are you dropping Hunter Henry that who's got that combination of players you got? I would advocate holding all all any one of those players. Okay, but most people don't have enough rosters hold all three, and most people Hunter Henry don't have Kareem Hunt tough.

Question number three? Should fantasy owners beholding any Jets receiver? Christian? Let me ask you a question, now, just kidding, I would never do that to you, Dare. What was the question, should be holding any Jets receivers? Yeah? I mean this question comes up because of the Sam Donald news where he's going to be out three to four weeks with and let me let me just get ahead of the story. I gave it to him. I know there was a There's been a lot of internet rumors. It was me.

It was me, Hey, just let's just move on, and we're now ahead of the story. Guess I gotta go get Mono tested now bad news? Uh? Yeah, So so that's where this question comes from, right. But I think Jamison Crowder is the only guy that you can hold here after his seventeen target Week one performance. I mean, he's the guy in this offense that's gonna play in the slot. They're gonna If anything, I think Trevor Simon is going to focus on him as much or more

because he's incapable of throwing the deep ball. So Robbie Anderson, you can let get rid of him. Da Marius Thomas, I'm certainly not jumping on him right away, but I will hold Jamison Crowder. I just want to talk about how Jamison Crowder was might take a chance on me wide receiver last week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get a happy trombone to Sam Donald. Likes to target the slot, but Sam Donald has mono. When Donald does return, it's likely that's about when Chris Herndon returns, and I think

that SAPs a lot of what was making outer super targetable. Uh, the inside targets. Herndon's the guy I want the most spent in a redraft league. You won't have to pick him up until we tell you to pick him up in premature speculation next week. It's probably come by the way, Go get Herndon now, because you can afford to sit on him for four This is a this is a speculation and un Tyreek Hill and Tyreek Kill. Uh, you

should drop them all, Sam Donald. Sam Donald's mono is gonna be two to four weeks, right, So he's basically nuke dollar receivers. For four weeks, and now the bio is week four. Now it's week five, and here comes the Eagles, then the Cowboys, then the Patriots, and then the Jaguars. Those are all negative matchups for the passing game. Eagles, Cowboys, Patriots, Jaguars. But allow me to note this, after everybody has at that point wash their hands of the Jets receivers, their

schedule becomes the easiest passing schedule in the NFL. Breathe the rest of the way, and at that point it's somewhere in the week seven, week eight, you're gonna be able to strike on a bunch of Jets and get hot in the second half. Did they happen to get the Dolphins twice in the playoffs? So they don't they get I think the Dolphins are Week ten or or so. Not twice in the fantasy playoffs. I would have been handy. Not the case. You better wash your hands with that

mono going around. Well, there's a good point. It's a good point. Vikings take onto the Packers. Let's let's try to break down this game a little bit from the Viking side. Dalvin Cook extraordinary in the first game, got seventy eight percent of the place with Vikings are running plays.

They only threw ten passes in the game, they were still running him like deep into the fourth quarter by three touch I was like, let's get some Alexander Madison in here, and Maxtuale Madison looked good too, and the average five yards to carry um last week the Bears a band in the run against the Packers instantly, And so I don't think I got a really good feel for the Packers run defense and how good it really might be and if it's whether or not it's particularly

improved from last year. You couldn't get a good feel for anything on that first game between the Packers. It was so weird, all right, um, and Mr Bisky was so bad. So I think you know there will be a considered effort to get cook going. He's getting He gets an A grade here, And let me mention this as well. The Bears backs had fifteen receptions in the game, and that coming off a six reception game last week. That's just Tarik Cohen, who played slot receiver more than

anybody who all highlight in the next matchup. But there you go, Uh that was that was still fifteen receptions. Tarik Cohen was eight of them or whatever, so there's still plenty of receptions to go around. Cook said obvious a the passing game has got a lot of people worried because of the just the ten the ten attempts last week by Kirk Cousins. Plus the offensive line looked bad, finished dead last Vikings offensive line in past protection by Pro Football Focus after Week one, and I worry about

Cousins finding time to hit his receivers downfield. The Packers pass rush looked amazing on Thursday, and the Vikings offensive line isn't nearly as good as the Bears is, so I'm of us here. Cousins was good in both matchups last year, but this Packer's defense feels so much better and so much faster. I've got just a C grade on Cousins. I've got a B grade on Adam Finland. In the two divisional matchups with Green Bay last year, Finland put it caught twenty passes for two hundred fifty

six yards and two touchdowns. Now, the beauty of feeling is he will play the X, Y and the Z positions so they can match him up against the aged Termont Williams or the Rusty Kevin King. They can find their matchups with him, so I give him a B grade. Digs less as much, and I think he's gonna get a lot of j Or Alexander. I don't like that matchup as much, and I think Diggs wants to get free down field more and again not sure if he's if Cousins will have the time for that. So I've

only got a C grade on Stefon Diggs. Also, Theelan's last two trips to Lambo twelve receptions in each game. Dang uh, Stefa. We just mentioned step On Diggs. Cole Rodolph zero catches last week, despite playing one hundred percent of the Vikings snap. He had no catches in one target. He'll I think he'll catch a pass, so I'm gonna go on a limb he will have at least one pass. He did have one called back on penalty. He had a pass called back on. He had a reception called

back on penalty. Last week, the Bears tight ends combined for one catch for six yards against Green Bay. And now they've got these speedy linebackers who are perfectly well suited to cover a guy like Rudolph. So I've got him on the bench until we have a better read on how he's going to fit into this Vikings offense. Let's go to the Green Bay side. Aaron Rodgers gets a Mike Zimmer defense that has absolutely throttled him as

well as any team in the past. He has thrown zero or one touchdowns in five of the past six games. The Vikings secondary may be shorthanded, well, they will be shorthanded without slot cornerback McKenzie Alexander, which does give some help for Aaron Rodgers here. He can target potentially Geroni Allison in the slot against safety j Ron Curse, who's gonna get moved to slock cornerback. That could be a plus matchup for him. So I kind of like him

there for that for that particular reason. Also potentially a nice game and by the way, be great for Aaron Rodgers. Be great on Marques Valdez scantling in a speed versus speed matchup with Trey Waynes. Now Trey Waynes gave up a couple, gave up a long long dish touchdown, and in a speed versus speed matchup last week ended up giving up a touchdown to Calvin Ridley. Also a very fast player and somebody that concerns me at least a

little bit. Davante Adams has had a fair and by the way, Marquez Velde Scantling gets a B grade, Davante Adams gets a B grade. Um he draws Xavier Rhodes primarily in this matchup, but mostly He's been pretty good against the Vikings last year. Average game seven catches, sixty seven yards, found the end zone in both of those games, So I've got a B grade on him. Then there's Aaron Jones, and this one is a little bit trickier. Aaron Joe Owns did absolutely nothing in the Thursday night opener,

and now he gets another very good run defense. The Vikings have allowed just to one hundred yard rushers in their last thirty three games. Think about that underappreciated part about the Aaron Jones situation. People. A lot of people were really high on him this year, but realize now he has to play the Bears twice and the Vikings

twice in Detroit. Who's no picnic either, Snax Harrison, right, I mean this The time to trade for Aaron Jones might be after this week, with a frustrated owner who might be owing to the Vikings and Lynn Vaal Joseph. Their run stuff are completely shut down. DeVonta Freeman last week and looked very fast and impressive in the opener. Um I've got I've got just a C grade on Aaron Jones in this game. And also, by the way, stop using Jamal Williams. To the love of God, he's terrible.

People are using well the team is in real life fantasy players, aren't. Um. I mentioned Geronimo Allison. I just want to drill down on this for a second. I love the juicy matchup in the slot against a backup slot cornerback. But he had a juicy matchup last week against Buster Screen in the slot and they didn't throw him one time. So I got a bench grade on Jon Allison, even though I really think they should correct that and go back to Allison here. But I'm rattled

after last week, and I just I can't. I can't get myself to advocate for that. I am I deeply rattled to my core. Every week. You can play the Crush Charch Championship for free at fanball dot com. When you assemble a better salary cap team than mine, you get a shot at this week's prize pool thousand bucks and it's free to play, and more importantly, when you beat me, that gets you an entry into our week seventeen Championship where you battle me for the ten thousand

dollar grand prize. Go to fanball dot com slash charch fanball dot com slash chart. When we come back, dig back into the matchup Chicago takes on Denver. Will we get better results for your Chicago Bears when they have to go up against their former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio? Find out next. It is a regular season edition of Fantasy Football Weekly. We are breaking down every Sunday and

Monday NFL game fantasy style. We put letter grades and all the players explain who we like who we don't like. You can decide if you agree or not. That's the beauty of this. And if you think we're right, then you should go along with our grades. If you think we're stupid, then don't. That's up to you. You can get even more of all of this if you If you like this sort of approach, you want to check out all of my player rankings available for free when

you go to famball dot com slash charts. Every meaningful player broken down rank and explained, maybe some people are listening just because of our stupid Well, yeah, that's the best part of the ongoing stupidity. Uh. Speaking of stupidity, let's let's switch this up to Sad trombone Ski. I know couldn't have looked worse on Thursday night. Um, well two Thursday nights to go. Now Mitch Robinsky, and now he has to face the defensive coordinator that he practiced

against that knows everything about him. This is a very tricky spot for him to try to rebound in. What do you think, Matt is there's something to be salvaged from that Bears offense. Uh, maybe a little bit, But it's the lowest over under of the week with fourty and a half. And an interesting stat since two thousand, the Broncos are twenty two and one in home games in week one or two of the season. They're super good mile high in September. They just keep winning. Um,

so Rubinsky, I got him on the bench. Uh. He dropped back to pass the third most in the league last week, fifty three times. That's good dropping back fifty three times. It's good for for fantasy. It's a lot but yes, but he averaged a horrible five point one yards per attempt and had a hideous game ending pick. He was also sacked five times. Obviously, he plays against the coach that practiced against him every day for the

last two years. It's bad for Traubinsky. I am going to give Allen Robinson a B. If anybody gets going, it's going to be a rob He had one hundred fifty three air yards last week, which was sixth best in the league, and was targeted thirteen times, which was more than all other wide receivers and tight ends combined on the bear So and by the way, Trubisky still missed him open on several plays. Yeah, it was a little bit erratic. Slightly um, Allen Robinson should see Chris

Harris shadow coverage went on the outside of it. But that worries me. Naggy sent Robinson to the slot on forty percent of his plays last week. When he wasn't in the slot, it was Tarik Cohen playing the slot almost the rest of those plays. He gets a C grade. Uh, he's listed as a running back, but he's playing wide receiver and he's ahead of Anthony Miller on the wide

receiver depth chart right now. Um Cohen was on the field for seventy of the plays last week, so I think that he's in a He's in an interesting little spot because as kind of weapon X on that team, he's the only running back i'd start, though Mike Davis and David Montgomery are on the bench. Davis out snapped Monty fifty six to thirty six percent last week out touched him eleven to seven. I don't get it. Naggi's gonna keep using Davis as the feature back until he

figures out Montgomery is better. And it's a shame because fellow rookie Josh Jacobs just torched the Broncos defense for a hundred and thirteen total yards and two scores last week. Should mention Trey Burton Is still has a groin injury of status is up in the air, but he's on the bench. On the Broncos side, everybody's on the bench, Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman. It was an almost even split last week, almost fifth d fifty. Lindsay got of

the snaps, Freeman got forty seven. And the Bears defense is still legit. They held Aaron Jones the thirty nine total yards on fourteen touches. Joe Flacco is the worst starting quarterback in the league, so he's on your bench, and Courtland Sutton and Emmanuel Sanders are both gonna be on your bench to the Broncos are facing the Bears,

not the Raiders. The Bears held Davante Adams to four catches in thirty six yards last week, and despite Sutton and Sanders each putting up decent fantasy points, it was mainly in garbage time. This game is going to be insanely low scoring. There will not be a moment for the Broncos to open it up. So both on the bench. M I'm with you, man, Kansas City takes on Oakland.

I want to start with the running backs. I was skeptical about Lashawn McCoy because he looked just so spent when he was in Buffalo the last couple of years. But you know, he's it seems rejuvenated. Maybe it's just, you know, part of being in this amazing offense for Kansas City. What do you think about Lashawn McCoy in this matchup? Well, yeah, let's do a little comparison of coy and Damian Williams, because both of them were certainly involved. McCoy was only on the field for of the snaps

compared to sixty six percent for Williams. McCoy was clearly the superior runner. He had ten carries for eighty one yards. Williams game just twenty six yards on his thirteen carries. But Williams got all of the important fantasy point scoring action. He was the guy catching passes. He was the guy in the red zone. He had four of the five red zone carries. He was targeted in the passing game three times in the red zone. He scored a short touchdown. He had six pass receptions. So I think you can

play McCoy here. I've got a sea level starting grade on him, but it's gonna be all whatever he can do on the ground, and he may need to score from distance because it feels like Williams is the red zone guy. So nothing better than a see I've got to be on Damian Williams in part because of the split he's given, clearly giving up enough of the work

to McCoy, but he is getting the important looks. So still a B level grade here against a very middling Raiders defense, they're gonna put up all sorts of points, they're gonna be in scoring position, so Williams can be in your lineup the passing the passing game is obvious here A plus on Patrick Mahomes, A plus plus on Sammy Watkins, who all of a sudden, by the way, congratulations if he took Sammy Watkins as like your second wide receiver in the third or fourth round now that

Tyreek Hill is out, and an a plus plus plus plus to Travis Kelsey. This is why, because you give people an inch and this is what they do. In the Week thirteen matchup to the power of seven. In the Week thirteen matchup with the Raiders last year, all Travis Kels did was a hundred and sixty eight yards and two touchdowns. So he's obviously in your lineup. And even me Cole Hardman, he was might take a chance on me wide receiver, So start them all, start all

your Chiefs on the Raiders side. Derek Carr Carbage time, it was might take a chance on me quarterback. That also brings Tyrell Williams, the new number one wide receiver into play head over a hundred yards and a touchdown. The Chief's got just abused last week by d J. Shark and Chris Conley, of all people, they combined for two hundred and forty three receiving yards and two touchdowns.

So Williams is A is a good play here. I've got to be I've got to be on him, maybe B and a half, maybe B point five up bay Bay an ab get an ab on him, and then Darren Waller. I put an A on Waller. He looked fantastic last week, played every single snap, led the Raiders with eight targets. The Chiefs had the NFL's worst tight end defense last year. They allowed the fourth most yards and the most touchdowns to the position. So get Darren Waller in your lineup again this week. That leaves us

with the running game and Josh Jacobs. He had a pretty spectacular debut, at least by the box score. Scored two touchdowns. Wasn't that involved in the air. As we've mentioned, the Chief's defense not great. They're not great against the run either. They allowed the fifth most rushing yards and the sixth most rushing touchdown owns last year. The problem here could be game script. I think we're gonna see, Hey, We're gonna see if Josh Jacobs has some receiving game club.

We're gonna see if it's just gonna be a Jalen Richard game as the Raiders are trying to play catch up. So, uh, Richard could be a sneaky play here, but the Raiders didn't use them much against Kansas City last year. He had just three catches in one game and two in the others. So I gave Jacobs a B starting grade because he's a clear workhorse here. But there is a there's a little risk that this becomes a Richard receiving

game for sure. Seattle takes on Pittsburgh. Let's start with the running game for Seattle, because my guy Chris Carson scored twice last week and he has now found the end zone in five straight games and eight of his last ten games. And Pittsburgh has allowed rushing touchdowns two backs in seven of their last nine going back to last year. I like him to score again here. Now. The Steelers were great against the run last week, even a blowout, and I don't know that it gets a

lot easier through the air for Chris Carson either. The Steve have allowed deposing running back to top forty six receiving yards in just eight of their last forty seven games, so it's gonna be I think Carson scratches out a meaningful game with a touchdown here, but I don't know that even gets to one total yards. It might be a little bit like last week, or the artag isn't great, but the touchdown. The touchdowns help you out. Let's go to the passing game, by the way, be great for

Chris Carson. A B grade on Russell Wilson. If the Steelers secondary wants to rebound from last week's nationally televised embarrassment, they're gonna need to do it without cornerback Joe Iron Hayden. Clink clink. Oh, there we go. Hayden's injuries only half the problem, though. Opposite him is Stephen Nelson, who was disastrous last year with Kansas City and a lot of

touchdown in his coverage on Sunday Night as well. Now, ty The Lockett probably plays here, but if he does not go, then Russell Wilson drops down to a C grade and maybe even a bench grade at that point, because they're they just don't have much in the way of depth here at all. So let's go to Tyler Lockett. He's a game time decision. Watch his back injury and back injuries or something. You have to watch all the way up to kick off because the back injury flares up,

tightens up or whatever, and they're la. You know they do. You think they're gonna go, and then they don't go, so be careful. Lockett faces a Steelers team that gave up three touchdowns of at least twenty two yards to the Patriots in Week one, and here comes Lockett, known for his deep speed, So I gotta like that matchup. And he played six of his snaps from the slot last week, and if that holds up, he'll be facing Pittsburgh cornerback Mike Hilton, who struggled to contain Julian Edelman

last week. A B grade on Tyler, Lockett C grade and DK Metcalf, which actually surprises me. If Lockett doesn't go, by the way, then I'd like Metcalf even less because he gets extra coverage here. But I thought Metcalf was gonna be a guy that was going to really struggle out of the gates because he was very raw. The number of routes he could run his thought to be very limited. They threw to him plenty, and he looked pretty good Steelers secondary gash last week, as I already mentioned.

And he's his size frame comparison similar to Josh Gordon, who had a nice big game in the opener. So yeah, I can see a C grade on DK Metcalf here. And he was on the field seventy percent of the snap. That is surprising for the first start rookie. Will DISLI probably will not play in this game. Let's go to the Steelers side again with Ben Roethlisberger, who looked dreadful on Saturday night. Um, he kept throwing the ball. Did Dante Moncrief, for the love of God, just just stop

with the Dante moncreef oh Man. Now, the good news is going up against Seattle. Andy Dalton just put up a four hundred yard or on Seattle last week. But to me, that old John Ross too long touchdowns thing feels like kind of a fluke and the Steelers don't have the same speed guy on roster. John Ross was in a homecoming game last week Washington was that there

you go. Um, so I don't. I'm I'm luke warm on Ben and I've just got to be And it was for a while ahead as a C grade, but as Juju appears to be at full healthier, I've moved Ben back up to a B grade and um and remember his home splits are bonkers since seen his average home game three hundred nine yards and two and a half touchdowns per game. So on fanball, Steeler stack is an interesting stack that nobody's going to be thinking about.

Juju Smith Schuster, Jujuan Donald and James Conner Vans McDonald was might take a chance guy, Let's talk about Juju h the toe injury. He should play though he's playing both the slot where he had always played before and they're breaking him out wide. From the slot. He has a very favorable match up against rookie cornerback Hugo Amandi. Hugo Amadi, you just like to say, go Amati. And when he's outside, he can match up with Tray Flowers, who gave up one read seventy yards in his coverage

last week. How about that? So there's your Steelers, your Steelers staff there right there. Juju Smith Schuster did not just pull him off the field at some point. How do you watch just how do you watch that happen and unfold in front of you. Um. The only other receivers I'm gonna mention Dante Moncrief, just don't do it. Deante Johnson, We're gonna talk more about later. Vince McDonald's

may take a chance of me guy. James Conner though a B grade Seattle stuff the Bengals runners last week, but Cincinnati's offensive line is on the other side of the spectrum from the Steelers, and Connor should have success through the air here. Last season, the Seahawks allow the sixth most receptions, third most receiving yards, and the most receiving touchdowns to opposing running backs. James Connor can catch. So can Jalen Samuel, who you could be as a

dark horse potential dart throw you could start here as well. Um, And I'll mention this last week, Mixing and Bernard caught all five of their targets. James Connors a beast start in Parks. I think he's gonna chip in meaningful numbers through the air. Our final topics are ahead when we provide you with three guys we believe will be hot waiver wire pickups next week, so you can grab them. This week, we're jumping in the time machine and how

does the time machine sound. You can blamo time machines, go blammo on this shell, whether you are ready for it or not. Premature Speculation is happening next on Fantasy Football Weekly. I think premature Speculation is the most popular segment on Fantasy Football Weekly. This is the bit where each of our host provides a player that will be a waiver wire pick up next week that you're going to want to grab this week to frustrate the rest of your league because you already got all the good guys.

For about ten minutes at the beginning of Sunday's games last week, I looked brilliant because I said, Dontrell Hilliard the Browns running, he scores a goal line rushing touchdowndown and then immediately gets a concussion, gets He's gone for the game, and I'm like, oh, I had it for for ten minutes. I'm like, oh, brilliant. My premature speculation came in hard right off the bat man. Look, mine didn't work out last week. But we're not going to talk about what we'll tell what do we want to

talk about? Who is your premature speculation? I can't believe I'm doing this. It's Jason Witten. Yeah, Jason Witten scored last week, although it was a quiet four targets, three catches, fifteen yards. This week he faces Washington, which is a neutralish matchup. But Witten did score the last time he faced them. But next week, which year was that? It was only one one year removed? Uh? Next week he's facing Miami in Dallas, and you want to start everybody

against Miami the Dolphins on the road. Sign me up for that. The Dolphins gave up fourteen receptions for one seventy five to tight ends in Week one, and the only two good players on their roster, Xavian Howard and Minca Fitzpatrick. They're gonna be on the outsides covering Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper, leaving the middle of the field wide open for Witten. He's going to score in that Miami game. And if you need some tight end help, maybe Hunter Henry went down. Maybe O J. Howard sucks.

Jason Witten is a guy that you can pick up. I think you'll be happy that you did, all right, Christian, your premature speculation player is I'm gonna go with Deonte Johnson, the rookie wide receiver for Pittsburgh. You we just talked about how awful Dante Moncrieff looked in week in week one. By the way, it would have been nice to know that he's been battling a dislocated finger since early in training camp. I didn't see that news until he failed. He dropped seven of the targets from his way in

week one. Meanwhile, James washing Washington I think has established himself this point. It's just a deep threat and nothing more. And he's an inconsistent guy. So that leaves room for somebody to emerge opposite Juju Smith Schuster, and I think that somebody is Johnson, who is basically an Antonio Brown clone. Like literally they're the same height, the same weight, they have, the same reach, the same hand size, they both have almost much almost identical. Forty times they both had their

feet frost bitting in a cryotronic chamber. They were I mean, the Steelers drafted this guy as Antonio Brown's replacement, and it sounds like I've had charged. Actually, you found an article with some some quotes from the Steelers coaching staff that were like, yeah, we gotta get this guy more involved and with Moncrief not impressing and James Washington kind of a bit player. I think that starts as early

as this week. You're gonna see Deonte Johnson get more involved and being the receiver on the opposite side of Juju Smith. Schuster always a good u It was Isaac Newton who said, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. See on the Steeler staff. You can't argue with the law of physics, my friends, it's against the law and argue with the law of physics. When Dante Pettis plays two snaps, there's an equal and opposite reaction.

Deebo Samuel playing sixty snaps in the game, leading the whole team by a wide margin. For the forty Niners. Every wide receiver who leads his team in play should be on a roster. Deebo Samuel un rostered in most leagues, especially if your coach is Kyle Shanahan, you must be rostered. Deebo caught all three of his targets last week. This

week he draws an aging fading Drake Kirkpatrick. He could post a night's game here, but you'll he'll already be on your roster because that's the law of physics, New Orleans takes on the Rams and an epic rematch from two different games last season, but actually the NFC Championship game. Matt tell us about it. Jared Goff gets an A grade. I told you about his negative road splits, especially in outdoor games. He did not disappoint well, wait, he did

disappoint fantasy owners. Disappointment didn't disappoint me because I knew it one eight, six, one and one last week. That last year at home, though, Goff enjoyed a twenty two to three touchdown interception ratio and three forty two passing yards per game, and the Saints gave up three passing

scores to Deshaun Watson last week. Robert Woods he's getting a be He led the team in targets with thirteen, only managed five catches for seventy one and six for thirty three and the two meetings last year, but he has had five catches in sixteen of his last nineteen starts. Might see a little bit of Marshawn Lattimore, although it looks like it will be a fairly good split between

him and Cooks, and Cooks gets an A grade. He's played two games as a Ram against the Saints and he's revenged them both times seven for one oh seven, six for one fourteen and one, and he wasn't utilized much last week. This is a get right spot for him. Cooper Cup I'm also giving an a grade looked healthy on field of the Snaps ten targets, logged five catches for eighty nine yards and to score when these teams met in the regular season last year. And he faces P. J.

Williams in the slot. That's the worst rated cover corner for the Saints. Uh, Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown. Malcolm Browns might take a chance on the runner. Todd Gurley, I'm giving a beat. Uh, the NFL leader in yards after contact. Well, he's number three right now. Todd Gurley five point two. And it's worth noting that the Rams offensive line was the second worst run blocking unit in Week one, Hence the early contact on the runners. Gurley

and Malcolm Brown were making things happen despite the offensive line. Um, they're gonna try to keep touches off Gurley though, which you don't want to see. But the Saints gave up eight point three yards per carried a Carlos hide last week. And a healthy Carlos Hide is the same as a part time Todd Gurley with the last year. I believe we're three point two yards per ca re on the season. Yeah, that's it, and they just got steamrolled by Carlos freaking Hide.

Come on, the elusive Carlos freeing high suddenly elusive. Yes, we're not chasing Tyler Higbee's touchdown either. Alvin Kamara gets an A grade. How did uh Christian McCaffrey fair against the Rams defense last week? It was pretty good. Michael Thomas gets an A grade twelve for two, eleven and one in the regular season matchup last year, but only four for thirty six in the playoffs. I'm not worried. Michael Thomas is great. Drew Brees B grade. We know

about his negative road splits. Yards per tempt went from nine and a half in New Orleans to six point nine on the road, so he only gets the B grade here. But it is a shootout potential game, so you still gotta like Breeze a little bit. Jared Cook gets a C grade. Only three targets, two catches in thirty seven yards. That was a bummer. The Rams were one of eight teams to allow over a thousand yards to the tight end last year, and I'm hoping that was just a weird game off and not the trend

of the Saints not using the tight end position anymore. Finally, Ted Gain in tray Kwon Smith, I'm giving both of them a sea. Smith ran six of his routes out of the slot last week, which would mean he'd draw the most favorable match up against Nickel Robie Coleman. But the Saints move their wide receivers around more than just about any team, so in a shootout potential game, Tedgain looked good. Had over a hundred yards last week. I think he's a good point. Let's go to Cleveland taking

on the Jets. Christian Yeah, let's is the Monday nighter. This is the Monday night er. Let's let's see if Cleveland can have a bounce back after an ugly, ugly Week one performance by Baker Mayfield three interceptions. They did not look like the high powered offense everybody was expecting coming into the year. But there's a chance here against

the Jets. The Jets were bottom ten last year in QB yards and touchdowns allowed, and they just let Josh Josh Allen throw for a career high two hundred and fifty four yards in Week one. So I've got Baker Mayfield in a bounce back here. I gave him a B level starting grade. Odell Beckham Jr. Was highly involved, led the team with the leven targets. He's going to go nuts against the Jet secondary. That let the Bills. John Brown go for a hundred and twenty three yards

and a touchdown last week. A grade on Odell Beckham homecoming game of sorts to his old home field. That's a good point. That's a little bit of a reach, just a little same stadium. Jarvis Landry, I've got a B level starting grade on. He had four receptions for sixty seven yards on seven targets in the Week one matchup. And the slot is is something you can exploit against the Jets. Slot corner Brian Poole was Pro Football focused one hundred hundred and twelve ranked cornerback last year, So

I like Jarvis Landry to bounch back as well. David and Joko was pretty much the only guy who did anything last week. Scored a touchdown. The Jets were very good against opposing tight ends last year, though I would start him if you usually would. I gave him a B level starting grade here. Nick Chubb, I've got an A grade on He was quiet in week one, but I think the game script here with Sam Donald out for the Jets. On the other side, I think the

Browns are gonna be ahead in this game. They're gonna be grinding the clock. The Jets are also potentially missing key defenders Quinny Quinnin Williams and C. J. Mosley. Mosley last week after he got hurt, their defense fell apart. So if he doesn't play, there's especially a good chance that Chub is gonna go bonkers here. I've got an A grade on him. On the Jet side, we really

already talked about the passing game. We said you should literally drop them all, everybody, every Jet passing player, everybody but Leavy on Bell basically, so needless to say, don't start any of them this week because they're not on your roster. Levian Bell, I've got to be great on him just because of the somewhat scary shoulder injury. He he missed practice on Thursday, had to get an m R. I He's gonna practice Saturday. It sounds like he's gonna

play Monday. Cleveland had a bottom ten run defense last year. They were just roasted by Derrick Henry for a hundred and fifty nine combined rushing and receiving yards and two touchdowns. B level start on Levan Bell. All right, let's go to the Eagles taking on the Falcons for our final match up of the show, that is the Sunday night game. Carson Wentz gets an A grade here even though the Vikings didn't test the Falcon secondary at all, the Eagles will,

and I like the matchup for the Eagles receivers. Cornerback Isaiah Oliver is a serious liability for the Falcons and

he was exploited by the Vikings last week. Desmond Travant Trufont has speed, but he only plays one side of the field, so the Eagles can scheme to Shawn Jackson to go against Oliver, and so Deshan Jackson after the explosive game in week one, gets a B grade and week two because I do believe he's going to have that speed advantage over slot, especially if he goes out of the slot where it will beat demonte Kazi as

well as a converted safety. So I think Jackson can win from a few places, and I like him a lot here all Shan Jeffrey at a nice game last week. He can avoid cornerback Desmond Truffont by lining up on the other side of the field if he wants to, but he might not want to because he can just out muscle Trufont if he wants. So I think he can win from both sides of the field too, So be great and all Sean Jeffrey here, and staying with the passing game, Zach Ertz a grade second on the

team and targets receptions and yards. Last week, Vikings didn't even try it, didn't even throw. They threw one pass that was called back to a tight end. They even try the tight end Urts though targeted ten times when these teams met last year. He will be just fine. All three of the running backs startable here with C grades. Miles Sanders is the most interesting one. He had a nineteen yard run, but his other ten carries gained six yards.

I'm worried that the coaching staff is gonna give him a lesser role here, and that makes Jordan Howard startable because this is a bad off A defense against the run that gave up over five yards per carry to the Vikings last week, and the Eagles have a better offensive line by a lot. So even Jordan Howard gets a C grade and Darren Sprowles was might take a chance on me runner. Let's go to the Falcon side. Beginning with the running game. Devanta Freeman gets a seat.

The Falcons lost guard Chris Lindstrom for first rounder. That is a big loss. The Eagles countered that by losing their own offensive tackle, Malik Jackson, so maybe those two things neutralize each other. But make no mistake here, the line of scrimmage belongs to the Eagles, and Atlanta's line was brutal last week. Eagles have been extremely rough on runners over the past four games, allowing less than twenty

eight rushing yards per game. That worries me, and that's why we're down to a C grade on DeVonta Freeman. Let's moved to the passing game. Matt Ryan gets a B. I am worried about the offensive line. As I mentioned Kris Lands from out, Ryan's gonna be harried by an excellent front four anchored by Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox, and he's faced the Eagles in three straight SKI seasons and the results are discouraging, just with per game averages of just two two yards and zero point seven passing

touchdowns for Matt Ryan. So it's barely a C grade, and really only because Julio Jones, who's got a B grade, matches up against Ronald Darby who just got worked by Redskins rookie Terry McLaurin for a hundred twenty five yards and Mary mc mary Jones has a height size advantage of four inches and thirty pounds over Darby, so I like Julio in this game too. And then Calvin Ridley Falcons can get Ridley on lead footed cornerback Resul Douglas at will by putting him on the right side of

the field, and that's a positive matchup. So I like the receivers. I just gotta hope Matt Ryan stays upright long enough. And finally a C grade on Austin Hooper silent in last year's meeting between these two um and the Eagles were outstanding against tight ends last year, so I'm a little bit nervous even though we had a good game last season, and it's start thirteen players from this matchup. It's it is crazy. Um guys, we've had

a lot of fun on the show. Thank you very much for listening and all of your help with it. If you like the show, go to family dot com slash charge for my free player rankings, my free one thousand dollar weekly contest for Guillotine Leagues, more podcasts, and everything else that you would want fantasy football related. And for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

your favorite shows. Thanks everybody who takes time to rank and review the show on your podcasting platform of choice as well. Talk to you next week, everybody. Bye bye h