Week 9 Bloodbath

in a well somewhere? I am, I am um. I've got my all time best built in excuse for terrible fantasy advice. Let's a week of COVID. Oh no, I've not missed the show in twenty seven years, and I'm not letting COVID take my streak. I've got it. I'm quarantined at home. My audio does not sound good. Hopefully my fantasy advice will I sound like him in the closet.

I sound like him, nasal Uh. You may hear occasional flegm over the course of the next two hours, but the fantasy season motors on, and so do we, guys. We are not missing the opportunity to pass along salient fantasy football advice. Absolutely and don't omit the very important fact that you are vaccinated and both both. Aaron Rodgers has informed me I am I am also immunized. Little

did I know until now. Isn't that? That is fantastic news, wonderful? Yeah, um, before we dive into all of our matchups, and of course we've got three tough questions as normal, we've got premature speculation at the end of the show that we'll get to where we give you guys to pick up this week that we think will be high value targets. Next week we've got to take a chance on me. But I want to spend a minute on Odell Beckham.

Next Monday, Waivers will run for the NFL and in all probability, although not necessarily, Odell Beckham will have a new team. Tell me your thoughts about the value for Odell Beckham. Should he be held, should he be dropped, and if you think there's a chance he can resurrect his career, well, personally, I'm still holding, and I'll hold through the weekends. He where he ends up, and he likely would only go to a real life contender, one

would think. Personally, I would love to see him go to Detroit and just soak up garbage time on the waiver priority list, right they are The Saints is an intriguing landing spot now that Michael Thomas has pretty much done for the year. But the quarterback situation not too nice in New Orleans. And I don't know the packers, those seem kind of like the top three. I don't think Detroit will get him. But that's that's my ideal

landing spot for Odell Beckham, believe it or not. And you know, last week on the show, I said that it was probably a good idea to see what O'Dell does last week and then maybe sabotage drop him. Well, the Browns listen to me, there we go brown It is obviously listening to the show. Kevin Stefanski big fan, Yeah, big fan of the show, no doubt um. And you know there's I think there's a we we want to believe that there's a scenario he finds himself on a contender.

I don't think a bottom feeder is gonna want anything to do with this. The part that's gonna make this money is reputationally where Odell Beckham is is in a very very bad spot and these and teams talk to each other all the time. You know, there are friends across teams and they everybody knows what Odell Beckham has put that Brown's franchise through, and I think there's a

chance he doesn't clear that. No team, no team takes him in waivers at all, clears waivers, and then maybe Beckham can find his way to a team he wants to be on bias some other route on a really low end contract. So it'll be fascinating to see. But I still think there's a chance that Odell Beckham doesn't play. Yeah, there is an outside chance of that, but like you said, there's probably just enough talent there that people are gonna want to take a little bit of a chance on Odell.

Detroit is such. Is there the fire already? They gotta sell tickets. This is the perfect perfect marriage in my mind, Come on, Detroit signed O d B. Yeah, I think you want that to happen more than that's going to happen, It's true. Let's jump into our matchups, beginning with the Broncos taking on the Cowboys. Matt Um this is a Broncos offense that has been inconsistent at late and Teddy Bridgewater really not playing it really for the last month,

not playing at a particularly high level. And he's they've got to face a a surging Cowboys defense. Yeah. I I only gave Bridgewater a C and it's a low ce. Uh He's startable only because the matchup the Cowboys allowing two or ninety three yards per game in almost two passing touchdowns per game, has this full compliment to wide receivers back for this one, and I kind of like that.

It's worth noting that Trevon Diggs has allowed the most yardage in his coverage this year, and Anthony Round who's on the other side, has allowed the fourth most yardage in the NFL, but the worst corner of them all, according to Pro Football, focuses Jordan Lewis, who covers the slot, and that will be Jerry Judy spot and it could be a shootout or at least a game script that favors the past. So I'll give Judy a B. I'll give Sutton a B. I'll even give a C grade

to Tim Patrick on the hopes that he can get going. UH. Noah offense currently on the COVID reserve list after a positive test on Tuesday, although they're saying there's a slim chance he could play, it's not likely and his backup Albert Agabnam I can never get that right. Albert, Oh just al he's questionable with a knee. There's no tight end angle here. So let's talk about the runners, Melvin Gordon and Javante Williams. The touch totals are still virtually

deadlocked between the two runners. Gordon's getting more looks in the red zone, though He's had seven touches inside the twenty in the last two weeks, compared to one for Javante, and outside of Damien Harris having a nice day against the cow Cowboys, they've bottled up every other runner, including Dalvin Cook, who is limited to only seventy eight yards on eighteen carries last week. Gordon gets the C grade because of the red zone. I'm gonna leave Javonte Williams

on the bench, but hope he breaks out soon. On the Cowboys side, Dac is back, but it's a difficult matchup this week in Denver. I'll give Dak a B grade in this one. Only two quarterbacks have topped the two seventy yard mark on Denver this year, and only two quarterbacks have reached two touchdown passes against the Broncos. Nobody has reached the three touchdown pass mark against Denver

since Week nine of last year. Also, his left tackle, Tyrn Smith is out this week, but Von Miller, a Bronco pass rusher of note, is now a RAM and so that kind of evens out a few things on the pass rush standpoint. Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb. I'm giving twin B grades to Cooper and Lamb have been dealing with some injuries this week. Cooper has a hamstring,

Lamb as a sore ankle. Both are slated to play, though only four wide receiver have topped the seventy yard mark against Denver this year, as the trio of Denver corners has been one of the best in the league. But Ceedee Lamb will often get the most get the best matchup against Ronald Darby, who's allowed hundred and thirteen yards and a score just a few weeks ago to the combo of Brian Edwards and Henry Ruggs Dalton Schultz.

He gets a B grade. Jarwin is out this week then, and uh Dalton Schultz was already seventh in targets amongst tight ends. That's with a bye week for total targets, so Denver hasn't allowed a tight end touchdown this season, but they did give up some decent days to Mark Andrews and Darren Waller earlier this year. Finally, the runners, Zeke gets a B. Pollard is the lowest C grade I can give, if that's possible. Denver is the most

neutral running back matchup in the league. They rank fifteen, sixteenth, or seventeen in basically every defensive category against opposing runners except four receptions. They're very good against receiving backs, which hurts Pollard and Zeke, but Pollered a little bit more since about two of his touches are through the air. Both of these guys are getting worked though a Zeke

averaging twenty one rushing attempts plus targets per game. Zeke has converted his ten rushing attempts inside the ten to four touchdowns this year. So I like Zeke quite a bit better. And that's all I got charge alright, Not bad um, that's a There's a lot of moving parts with that one. Well done, O'Brien. Let's go to the Patriots taking on the Panthers and for the Patriot side

of this. Damien Harris is turning into a sledge hammer back and I'm fascinated to find out what you think he's gonna be able to do against the Panther's run defense that has been a lot more porous lately than at the beginning of the year they have been. I'm still a little cautious. I'm gonna be a little cautious with Damien Harris this week, just to see borderline b grave. I'm going with the Sea only played in the snaps last week, but he saw twenty three touches, is most

since Week one. He's clearly the lead back in New England. But on paper, for the most part, is a tough match up. The Panthers are allowing less than one hundred convoy yards per game to the position and just three total touchdowns all season. Brandon Bold and romand Romandre Stephenson, You're gonna factor in for passing work. So it's got

a safe se on Harris this week. It's a It's a much easier matchup for wide receivers against the Panthers, So I'll give Jacoby Myers a b averaging five or eight and a half targets this year in a good spot, Carolina has allowed four wide receiver touchdowns over the last three weeks. So is this are you calling it right here? Sure? Why not? I'll put it out there in the universe. Jacobe Myers scores his first career NFL touchdown on Sunday.

I think I've called that about four times this year already. It doesn't work yet, but I'm gonna throw a couple of sea darts at Kendrick Born and Nelson Agila. During that same three weeks span where the Panthers have allowed four wide receiver touchdowns, are also allowing seventeen catches and one eight yards per game to the position. So if you're in desperate need, you can throw a dart at Kendrick Borne or Nelson Agil. I like Born a little

more between the two. Uh, No dart for Hunter Henry, Just gonna give him a solid See been running hot lately with touchdowns, and four of his last five games he's basically doubled up on the pass routes run Compared to John who Smith. The Panthers haven't surrendered a lot to opposing tight ends, but they have yielded the sixth most targets of the position, so Henry will have opportunities to produce a safe c for him. But Mac Jones,

I gotta put him on the bench this week. I know he gave most of his past catchers a starting grade, but that doesn't mean they all come through. It just means each one has the potential to The Panthers are allowing just two passing yards and one and a half passing touchdowns for pery game, So I got Mac on

the bench in this one. Over to the Carolina side where it gets real messy, And of course we're gonna start with Christian McCaffrey, who might make his return from the hamstring injury shaping up to be a game time decision. We'll go under the assumption he goes, and if he plays, it's gonna be in limited fashion. He's not gonna be be a bell cow by any means. It's almost better off for fantasy purposes if he doesn't play. It's a

good matchup on paper for the Panthers backs. The Patriots are allowing the ninth most rushing yards, seventh most receptions, and fifth most receiving yards per game to the position. Five different backs have posted at least five receptions over the last four games. Uh, the Patriots last four games. That is, so if McCaffrey plays, I will give him in Cuba Hubbard to see. I think they split the work. Uh. If McCaffrey is out, I'll bump Cuba Hubbard up to

a B based on volume alone. Willis have to see what happens on Sunday with that. Uh to the wide receivers starting with d J. Moore, and basically we're gonna

end end with d J Moore two. But I'm gonna give d J. Moore a B. New England is allowing one yards per game to wide receivers over the past five games, which is the ninth most, and they have surrendered multiple touchdowns to wide receivers and three of their past four games by making main main concern is a game plan to stop d J. Moore if Christian McCaffrey is out, because he's clearly the most dangerous weapon on Carolina.

So just a B grade for more, not an A. And Robby Anderson got to put him on the bench just one target last week. Zero catches twenty targets across his two games prior, but turned those into just six catches for twenty five yards. We gotta see more from Robbie before we contemplate starting him. He's on the bench. Obviously, the Carolina that tight ends are on the bench because they don't have Dan Arnold anymore. And lastly, Sam Donald, also pretty much a game time decision, got knocked out

last week with the concussion. But either way, he's on the bench even if he's clearly on the bench if he doesn't play, but if you play, is I got him on the bench? Hasn't throw him for multiple scores or hasn't even topped ten passing yards since Week four? Wolf, I'm done, no doubt. That is a That is a tough spot for sure. Um That passing offense is just not the same as it used to be at all. What is the same is we're still creating new guillotine leagues.

At guillotine leagues dot Com, there's still half a season left to play, and if you've been a drink by the format, you've only got a couple more weeks to get in on the action. Guillotine leagues dot Com the freshest new way to play to see sports. When we come back, take a chance on me not nine players not normally in your starting line up. Many of them are startable this week. We'll tell you who they are when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. It's take

a chance on me. Fantasy Football Weekly's opportunity to help you find nine players that you would not normally start, but you can this week. Many of these guys are available on the waiver wire. We can get at the quarterback position, and Matt Harrison Daniel Jones is my Uh, take a chance on the quarterback. It's always a bit over racking starting Dan Dimes, but the Raiders tend to play towards his strengths. They've allowed multiple touchdown passes and

three of the last four. The only one who couldn't accomplish that was justin fields and he doesn't do that anyway. Plus, Jones is a runner. He's averaging thirty yards per game on the ground on six attempts per game, and the Raiders have allowed the third most quarterback rushing attempts and the sixth most rushing yards to opposing quarterbacks. So fire up Danny Dimes. All right, Brian, you're take a chance

at me quarterback. I got to Rod, don't call me Tyrod. Taylor, even though Trod doesn't really care what you call him, but I call him to Rod. But he's making his return. He'll be at Miami this week. Uh, he'll get the start coming back from the hamstring injury. To Rod. Looked really good to start the season before he went down, and hopefully can make it through this game because it's

a great matchup for him. The Dolphins are allowing more than three passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game in Miami. Just has to be running on fumes right now after for going thereby following the London game if you school, which is kind of weird. They're they're they're exhausted. So I like to rout this week. I do too. I think it's a sneaky play. Um, I'll be honest. I originally had Taysom Hill in this spot under the assumption that he was gonna be the quarterback of choice

over Trevor Simeon, which I did not see coming. And you know, if you want a DFS flyer, you could still try Taysom Hill under the assumption that he ends up getting some time in this one. But instead I'm gonna pivot to Jordan's love. We don't have a lot of data points on Love except he looked good in the preseason. But what we do know is that Love's

first start comes at a great time. He gets back Davante Adams, al Lazard, Marcus Velda Scantling, and Kansas City's got problems all over the field, especially the cornerbacks struggling, Lugarious Snead, Mike Hughes to our various ward all of them having trouble. Snead is a lot of the tenth most yards in his coverage, and then when they go deep, they get to face Daniel Sorenson, the safety is allowed more yards than any player at his position and a

perfect assle rating in his coverage. Jordan's Love. You know, the Packers find ways that make good things happen for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes out with a solid game here. Let's go to the running back position. Matt I kind of copped out on this one and took all of the Philly running backs. Yeah, so Jordan Howard. By the way, he's not currently on Philly's fifty three

man roster. He's a practice squad player. But there's this weird rule in the NFL, where you can protect a few practice squad players and then even elevate them to the game day roster, but you can only do it twice. So this will be Howard's last game on the Eagles unless they signed him to the roster. Now, last week he did play. That was his first game of the year, and he ended with twelve carries fifty seven yards and

two scores. Boston Scott had twelve carries sixty yards and two scores, and Kenneth Gainwell had thirteam carries twenty seven yards and no scores. Not one of them was targeted once in the passing game though, So six different running backs have scored against the chart argers in the last three weeks. That's right, six different running backs have scored against the charges in the last three weeks now the trend,

all of which were bigger dudes. DeVonta Freeman, who has two hundred six pounds, was the only one under two hundred twenty pounds. Now Jordan Howard, he's weighing in at two twenty. Boston Scott's tiny, he's five s Kenny gainwells, So it's yolo time for Jordan Howard. I'll use him as might take a chance of me runner, but I'll give all three Philly backs sea grades in this one. Okay, um, Brian, who's your taken chance at me running back? And hopefully

not as not as much of a cop out? Uh not really, you're quite virtually taking a chance every time you start Miles Gaskin, so I'm gonna go with him at home against the Texans. Malcolm Brown is now on I R. But we did see Gaskin lose some touches to Salvin Akhmed and Patrick Laird last week. That said, Gaskin is still the lead back. Houston's run defense pretty whack.

They're allowing five point to yards per carry in one fifth plus combo yards per game to running back, So Miles gas canna take a chance on you guy with a kind of a upside in this matchup. Jeremy McNichols is the forgotten man now that Dadrian Peterson's in Tennessee. Peterson probably only good for what do you think, maybe ten twelve, fourteen total touches in this game, and McNichols gets the rest, and a lot of it will be through the air. And the Rams are a good run defense,

but not so good against past catching runners. They've surrendered the ninth most receptions, the eighth most receiving yards to opposing runners. And McNichols. If you think that Tennessee is gonna get blown up by Matthew Stafford in the Rams and they're gonna be behind in losses, Jeremy McNichols is averaging eight targets per game. So you know, if you're like me and you think the Rams are probably gonna lead throughout a lot of this game without Derrick Henry Um,

then Jeremy m McNichols a nice PPR play. Let's go to the wide receiver position. Matt I got Van Jefferson going up against the Titans, and it's very easy to pick on the Titans. But here's the deal. The third wide receivers are getting targeted a ton against Tennessee. Here's the third wide receiver over the last few weeks that have faced the Titans. Zach Pascal had eight targets, Byron Pringle had nine. Let's call it Emmanuel Sanders for the Bills, who had eight, but if you want to make it

Cold Beasley that's nine. And Jamal agg Knew for the Jaguars had eight. So Van Jefferson's gonna get eight targets in this one. He's had six career games where he had he's had six or more targets and he scored in three of them. So that's a coin flips chance that a touchdown too. So I like Van Jefferson in this one. All right, Brian, you take a chance of the receiver. It has come to this for Allen Robinson, he's now take com material h Alan Robinson of the Bears.

Of course, at Pittsburgh, this is basically just a gut call. The Bears likely to get smoked against the Steelers, who are very tough to run on. I see a lot of garbage time in this game. Opposing wide receivers are averaging one seventy yards and one point three touchdowns per game against Pittsburgh, and uh again, I'm just trying to will a good game into the universe. For Allen Robinson, he's way overdue. So Allan Robbinson come on one time he does. He is overdue, and we'll take it. I'd

love to see it for him. Brandon Ayuk might be your number one receiving option for San Francisco. Deebo Samuel trending towards out au has two paws out of the doghouse. Last week he saw seven targets, he played cent of the offensive snaps. Those are season highs. And over the past three games, Arizona ranks bottom ten in yards allowed to receivers, despite the fact that they faced and injured Baker Mayfield and Davis Mills over those three games. And

so are you trending the right direction? Cornerbacks Marco Wilson and Byron Murphy have allowed seven touchdowns combined in their coverage. I think there's an opportunity for a here. He scored last week. He could do it two times in a row. Let's go to uh some matchups beginning with the Vikings taking on the Ravens and normally Dalvin cooks in a but this is a tricky matchup and I've only got to be grade on him. Baltimore allowing the eighth fewest

rushing yards on the seventh fewest attempts per game. No runner has top sixty yards on the ground against the Ravens, um although none have seen more than fifteen carries, and Cook always is good for more than fifteen carries as soon as he assuming he starts and finishes a game. Um Baltimore has missed the most tackles in the league, so Cook could end up breaking a long one in this one, and he's still a B grade. Let's go to the passing game. Kirk Cousins just a C grade.

Offensive coordinator Clint Kobyak is strangling the life out of the Vikings offense despite having one of the best deep ball passers and Cousins. He's got Cousins throwing the second shortest average pass, just six point six yards. I'd like to tell you that that could change this week, but I think Kobe is gonna get spooked by Justin Houston and Clay's Campbell and worries about Kirk potentially getting sacked.

And I think there's still gonna be a lot of underneath passing here and Becausin's just can't dink and dunk his way to fantasy relevancy. So just to see on Kirk and bees on his two main receivers, Justin Jefferson and Adam Feeling. Over the past three games, Baltimore has allowed the six most yards to receivers two hundred three per game, which is a ton um starting quarterbacks Marlon to Humphrey and Anthony Averett have combined to allot five touchdowns,

which isn't all bad. And despite his reputation as a shutdown corner, Humphrey discot roasted by Jamar Chase for six five yards, So you know, big, good receivers can get it done against him. So I think that Jefferson and Feeland can get a little something done. They might have to do a lot of it after yards after catch um. In a different matchup, they'd be better. They'd be maybe a place here, but I'm worried about too much dump

off stuff from Minnesota. Tyler Conklin is a fascinating option for you, and I've got to see grade on him. If you're in a pinch. The Ravens are allowing the most fantasy points to tight ends. In only seven games, the Ravens have allowed three different tight ends to top ninety yards and they've given up six touchdowns to the position. So if you're in a you're in a spot for during a bye week, you need a tight end. Maybe Tyler Conklin's a guy you could you could go with.

Let's go to Baltimore. Lamar Jackson is an obvious A in this game, and Marcus Brown also an A. I'll note if you don't know that Minnesota's elite edge rusher Daniel Hunter is out for the year and his replacement, DJ Wantam is a major step down. That means Jackson is gonna have a lot of time to throw and his receivers will probably be open against a secondary missing Patrick Peterson. Marcus Brown is an obvious A here. He scored four times in the four games before the bye

week and averaged eighty three yards during that stretch. Backup cornerback Cameron Danceler is playing the wrong side of of the field and got targeted copiously last week. Ten targets at him last week. Marky's Brown will face him through much of this game. Rashand Bateman potentially a breakout for all the same reasons. I've gotta be grade on him. He is commonly runs on the right side of the field, where he's gonna face Bashad brick Breyland Pro Football focuses

eight seven rank cornerback. He's surrendered four scores and a passer rating of one nineteen in his coverage. I think Bateman could have his first really good game and his first trip to the end zone. In this one, Mark Andrews drops down to a C, which might sound counterintuitive given everything else we've said, But the Vikings have been great against tight ends. They're giving up just twenty They've given up just twenty four receptions all year to the

position and no touchdowns. Um. They've got star linebacker Eric Kendricks who's doing a great job and Anthony Barr as well shutting down opposing tight ends. So Andrews have been very good this year. Um, but I think this is a tough matchup and I've only got the C grade on him here. Otavias Murray doesn't look like he's gonna go, and that means we're gonna get some blend of Levy

on Bell, DeVante Freeman, Tyson Williams. In this game. The Vikings are allowing the eighth most rushing yards per game. We'll posing backs there and they will almost certainly be without run stuffing lineman Michael Pierce again. But this is a really tricky that's tricky you know which of the three might get any kind of work and in what role, And so I've got I've got bench grades on all of them because you just can't know if it's gonna be Bell, Freeman or Williams, that's going to get most

of the work. If I had to pick one and put a C grade on one, it would be Freeman based on the usage we saw before the by final matchup of this segment, Matt, it's Bills taking on the Jaguars, and which should be a smashed spot for a lot of Bills. Yeah, this one's pretty easy. Josh Allen a grade, so is Steph Diggs, H Cole Beasley. I'm giving a B. Emmanuel Sanders a sea. The Jags are allowing almost two passing yards per game, with an average of one going

to wide receivers. Beasley had twenty two targets over his last two games, and Sanders had four targets last week against Miami but didn't come up with a catch. That

was pretty weird. But he's seen five, six and eight targets in the prior three weeks and is a red zone favorite of Alan's, so he's still startable, especially with Dawson Knox who's out again with a hand in dree We're not flexing to Tommy Sweeney just yet, though, so let's move on to the runners for the Bills, Zack Moss gets a B. I'm leaving Devin Singletary on the bench, though we highlighted it last week that the split was

almost even for these two. Well, eight carries for Moss last week seven carries for Singletary, but six catches for Moss to only one for Singletary, and that might mean something. Plus Moss is getting twice as many touches in the red zone, so he's your guy this week on the running side. On the jag side, James Robinson was limited in Friday's practice, which is a positive step as no one really thought he would go this week. If he does go, I'm still leaving him on the bench. I'm

leaving all the Jaguars runners on the bench. The Bills are only allowing twenty running back touches per game on average. That's the fewest in the league by far, And you know, Matt, I think part of that is because they've got the league's best point differential their plus one twenty points, so they're always playing with the lead and usually a sizeable one, and teams just can't run. Yeah, they're They're awesome. They're top three in rushing yards and touchdowns allowed to running backs.

They've also allowed the fewest receptions to opposing backs, which seems counterintuitive with those negative game scripts that these runners see. Uh. And even if James Robinson does go, you'll probably see a healthy dose of Carlos Hide anyway, so I will keep him on the bench. Now, the Jags passing game is all on the bench except for one player. That's right, Brian, it's Dan Arnold. Oh, he comes in with a C grade on Arnold. He's running eighty point five percent of

his routes as a slot wide receiver. Only Mike Gisicki and Kyle Pitts had more great stead I found uh from some some guy named Brian Johnson who sent that one to me. He's seen twenty three targets over the last three games, which averages out to eight targets per week. Only t J Hockenson and Travis Kelsey see more than eight targets per game. So Dan Arnold on pace to be one of the best tight ends in the league.

Maybe I don't know. Half of the tight ends who have seen four or more targets against the Bills have scored this year. So if Arnold gets eight targets, that means he's a shoe in for a touchdown. I'm gonna call it dan Arnold touchdown? What do you think? I love it. As far as the rest of the passing game, they're all on the bench. The Bills allow the fewest completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns to oppose two opponents. Lawrence is only averaging a score per game, and it's going to

Dan Arnold. So yeah, that's it. You don't need anything else from the Jaguars. Back to the Bill. The Bills tight end Tom Sweeney. How many of his friends and family you think? You call him? Sweeney com No musical fans, Yeah, lots of musical fans listening to Fantasy football weekly right now?

You know what. There are no lavish all fans left, I think, And it's turned out of such a promising season that I thought would be so much better fort Laviska Chanel, but honestly not even really rosterable in most leagues at this point. Unfortunately, when we come back, we'll continue motoring through more matchups, including Packers and Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes his struggles. Is he a sure starter for your fantasy team? Find out when we come back to Fantasy

football Weekly. Welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charchi and Matt Harrison and Brian Johnson with you. I am at home remote style, so apologize for the audio, but we're here to give you all the information you need to dominate Week number nine tricky bye week. Lots and lots of injuries. We will help you sort it out over the course of this show. Next up, Brian, it's the Texans taking on the Dolphins. You already told us you like Tarrod Taylor. What do you think of his receivers?

And you know the guy I'm really interested in his Are you gonna give us starting grade to Nico Collins? Is this gonna be his first ever starting grade? I'm Fantasy Football Weekly. It is uh real quick. Like you said to Rod Taylor, was gonna take a chance. I'man quarterback. I like three of his past catchers in this game. Will start with Nico Collins. Gonna give him a see.

He was second and catches among wide receivers last week for the Texans in his second game of his career, and I only expect that usage to ramp up in his third game. I'm a little worried this is his first game with Taylor at quarterback, but the matchup is just too good for Nicos, so he gets to see matchup obviously good for Brandon Cooks as well, going to give him a be He posted big numbers with Taylor to start the season, so I'm not too worried about

the change back at quarterback to Taylor with Cooks. The Dolphins allowing nearly two hundred yards per game too wide receivers and one and a half touchdowns per game to the position. So like Cooks and Collins this week, I also like tight end Jordan's Aikin is gonna give him a scene. The Dolphins have allowed these second most yards to tight ends, and Aikin saw a season high and snaps last week and also caught five passes for fifty three yards, So double digit PPR points is possible here

for Aikins, giving him the sea Now. I am not giving a starting grade to David Johnson, Philip Lindsay, Rex Burkhead, Scottie Phillips. I think Scottie Pippen might even be playing running back for the Texans right now. They're all on the bench. That's an easy call. You don't want to touch that game of Russian roulette with a ten foot poll over to the Dolphins side. Miles Gascumes might take a chance on me running back, A great matchup for him.

Also a great matchup for wide receiver Jalen Waddle. He gets a buh. Houston has allowed the sixth most yards too wide receivers and they are also top five and red zone targets and red zone touches yielded to opposing wide receivers, So a B for Waddle and I was all set to give Davante Parker a B two, but he's just been placed on I R with a shoulder injury. Parker man he is glass one full season his career.

In his career, I just checked, so we're gonna bump up Preston Williams with a C. He was benched for disciplinary reasons last week. Hopefully he's been a good boy this week because it's a good matchup for him if he plays. If he does, it's a C for him and a good matchup for Mike Kasiki. Matt mentioned in the last Segmentsicki has taken of his snaps from the

slot or outside that's most among qualifying tight ends. Those numbers were dumbed down a little with the return of Davante Parker, but again he's on I r so kausiki basically back to a wide receiver now and again a great matchup for wide receivers, but it's also a great matchup for tight ends if we really want to go there. Uh. The Texans have allowed a tight end touchdown in four straight games, for a total of five to the position during that span, So tight ends are lighting it up.

You gotta love Gisicki this week, and of course he gotta like to. Ah Canna give him a B borderline A grade for me. Until Davante Parker was ruled out. Um, the Texans are allowing nearly two D seventy passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game. Opposing quarterbacks are also averaging more than eighty rushing yards against Houston, who has also allowed the third most rushing touchdowns to the position.

So fire up to with confidence. Yeah and not the Toa is hyper mobile, but he can move a little. And yeah, you know, I take twenty rushing yards from two if he can, If he can manage that, that'd be great. Packers take on the Chiefs in a in a game in which Jordan's Love will be making his first ever start. And and guys, if you're Jordan's Love and he was might take a chance, I mean quarterback earlier and he comes in here with a c. Great.

If you're back to pass make your first ever start, you are looking scanning the field, who are you gonna throw the ball too? Davante Adams over and over again, over and over again, exactly so he maintains an A grade here. I am not moving him down at all. This is still a bew eleait start against with an elite receiver against a really bad secondary. So we're not giving this any second thoughts. We're keeping Davante Adams in

our starting lineup. If you're really in a pinch, you could go to Marques Velde's Scantling, who should return from his hamstring injury. Per pre injury, he was four targets a game, which wasn't great. But the whole deal in

him is he's always all about the long ball. And it's such a bad secondary of giving up so many long passes that you could use Marques Veldez Scantling in a pinch if you just want to try an all or nothing play I'm putting Ellen Lazard on the bench because even though he had scored in the games prior to his COVID designation, but those games are without MVS, and in the MBS games, Lazard average one catch per game. So with MBS back, I don't think Lazard's nearly savable.

And then Randall. Randall coms same thing. He was fine when everybody else was hurt, but you know he was getting virtually no playing time or looks when the other receivers were healthy. So he's on the bench too. Not gonna chase last week's touchdowns. So now let's go to the running game with Jordan Love. You've gotta figure that Aaron Jones is gonna get a lot of work, both as a runner and as a dump off option, the

game plan shifts towards Jones. Here in Kansas City has given up at least one hundred combo yards to a lead back in each of the last three weeks. Their Pro Football focus is lowest graded run defense, so even though they know Aaron Jones is gonna get a lot of work, they can't do anything about it. They have allowed six touchdowns to running backs um, which is middle

a middle of the pack number. Jones is third though in red zone touches with thirty six already, so I do like a touchdown here and an A grade on Jones. So A j. Dillon is is fascinating because last week he gets he got a season high and snaps carries and in yard seventy eight yards. But he's one game

removed from a four touch eight yard game. I still think he's startable, and I'm giving him a C grade because again, with Love under center, I think there will be more opportunities to run the ball, and they can't give him all to Aaron Jones. So I think Dylan's gonna get get enough work here to perhaps get you to the fifty yard mark in total yards, and maybe it gets like you for a touchdown, but we won't

bank on it, and we'll give him a secret. So let's go over to Kansas City, where things have suddenly gotten a lot more interesting. I've been coasting on the old Patrick Mahomes, Terry Hill and Travis Kelsey there auto A's I don't even have to talk about those guys. That's pretty much every week for two years now. Suddenly I got to defend my my positions on these guys. So let's start with Mahomes, who's just to be great.

For all of his problems, he's still throwing multiple touchdowns in seven of eight games, so from a fantasy standpoint, he's still been very bankable. He faces a Green Bay defense though, that can generate a lot of pressure from its base package with Rashaan Gary, Kenny Clark, Za Darius Smith, and that allows the Packers to keep seven defenders in coverage. And that's the exact scenario that's created all this trouble

from Homes. Based on his play of late, Mahomes really probably ought to be a C. But because it's Patrick Mahomes and he's still got Hill and Kelsey, I'm gonna give him a B here. But it's not a certainty that he's a starter in your lineup. And you may have other players like Brian if you had Toua or Patrick Mahomes, who would you start the year? Has been crazy enough? Let's his role with ta I don't know. I mean, it's it's almost a coin foot go on, you can't ask me that off the top of my head.

That's like, that's a tough question. Sadly, sadly, for the moment coming on, maybe it'll turn into four. I'll put you on the spot for that answer next segment. Tyreek Hills stays as an obvious Ay. Even with mahomes struggles, he has remained mostly productive. But we have seen a couple of dud games. Um, But nevertheless, he's still Tyreek Hill.

And if they're gonna get anything done and they're gonna have to play catch up for a lot of this game quite possibly, well maybe then I still need Tyreek Hills a safe A grade. Travis Kelsey, though, drops down to a B. He's been most impacted by mahomes declining play, with diminishing catches, yards and zero scores in three straight games.

He hasn't seen one hundred yards since week three, and the Packers haven't allowed a tight end to top fifty one yard since week three, and they haven't given up a touchdown to a tight end since week two. Still, he's Travis Kelsey, so he gets the B grade here, but I don't I don't feel great about it. Let's go over to Daryl Williams. Um. He's filled in okay for Clyde Edwards Hilaire, averaging eighties six total yards and

he's seeing about two thirds of the snaps. He will have his toughest tests against a Packer run defense that's really improved this year, allowing only one hundred eleven total yards per game to opposing running backs. That's eight fewest and no running backs hit the one hundred yard mark. And then you got a factor in the emergence a little bit of Derek Gore on Monday, which is a complicating factor potentially. So I've just got the seed great

on Darryl Williams. As for Gore himself, UM, if this matchup are easier, maybe I throw a dart here, But you know, we really don't know what's going on with his usage whatsoever. So we're gonna keep Derek Gore on the bench and we'll talk a little bit more about some of these guys in a later segment of the show. Final matchup for the segment is the Raiders taking on

the Giants. Matt, this is um, this is a Raiders team that's got it got to overcome not only the loss of a key player, but maybe some of the ramifications that go with it. You just you wonder about things that we don't normally talk about, like you know, what is Derek Carr's mindset coming into this game. Yeah, there's a lot of adversity that they've gone through this year. Um,

let's start with Derek Carr. I mean, if you like two passing touchdowns, you probably like Derek Carr, Who's thrown exactly two passing scores and six of seven contests this year. He's also top the three yard mark in five of seven, so that's really good. But obviously he lost Henry Ugs. He's no longer a part of the team, so that does hurt Car in some small way. But he should get Darren Waller back from an ankle injury post bye week. The Giants allow an average of two passing scores per

game in about two or fifty six yards. Add that all up in a B grade. Seems very fair for Derek Carr and this one. Let's talk about Derek Darren Waller now, who after a nineteen target, ten catch, one five yard game in Week one, since then, he's averaging seven targets, five receptions in fifty five yards per game. Plus he's only scored once since Week one. Now, those numbers still make him a top five tight end, but he's not ranking better than Dawson Knox, c j Uzoma,

Mike Gisicki, Hunter Henry. On a per game basis, he's right in line with those guys. Now. The Giants gave up a tight end score in each of the first four weeks of the season, but have not allowed one in the last four weeks. The names that they faced in the last four weeks include Travis Kelsey, Dalton Schultz, and Tyler Higbee. All in all, it's a B grade

for Darren Waller in this one. Now, the wide receivers, even with rugs, Hunter Renfro was leading the team in targets and receptions, and his role as a slot receiver seems very stable, although we may see him flex out to out wide a little bit more in the two wide receiver sets. As his average snap count was hovering in the high fifties to low sixties in percentage wise, I expect that to go up now. I think he's

the wide receiver to have on that team. An upteck and target should go to Edwards, who was already leading the team in wide receiver snaps in six of their seven games. Za Jones should see his usage go up a little bit too. Renfrow gets a B in this one, as he has the best matchup against Giants slot corner Darnay Holmes, whose Pro Football focuses one fourth ranked corner. I'd like to wait a little bit on Edwards and Jones to see what happens in The Giants corners on

the outside have actually been fairly okay this year. Let's just see how this one plays out for a week. I'm gonna keep those two guys on the bench. Josh Jacobs left the Week seven game early with a chest bruise. It was more of a precautionary thing as it was only a couple quarters prior to their bye week and the game was already in hand. He's not even on the injury report this week. The Giants are allowing four

point five yards per carry. That's the sixth highest in the league, the fifth most rushing yards at a hundred and eight per game, so I'll give Jacobs a solid B. It would be slightly higher, but I'm a little nervous that uh that if the chess bruises bothering him, we could see him taken out in favor of Kenyan Drake. On the Giant side, Daniel Jones was might take a chance on me. Quarterback se Kwan Barkley. He was on the COVID list. He's now off the COVID list, but

he's still out with an ankle injury. So Davante Booker is in getting a C grade. He's averaging about He's averaging about fifteen touches. The Raiders are allowing four point five yards per carry, which is bottomed as far as defenses. But Booker just isn't that good. So I'm going to give him a C grade in this one. I don't know. I think he looks okay and he's gonna get a ton of work in this game. I I I kind of like him, all right. Uh, Sterling Shepherd, he's out

with a quad. Kenny Golladay is always questionable with a knee. He's game time decision. Ka Darius Tony has questionable tweets and he's also dealing with the thumb injury, but he is expected to play in this one. Uh. Dante pettis probably not gonna go with a shoulder injury. That leaves Tony, Darius Slayton, and John Ross. I'm gonna leave all of them on the bench. The Raiders have been great against wide receivers allowing the third fewest receiving yards and touchdowns

to the wide receiver position. And finally, Evan Ingram. He did not get traded, neither did Kyle Rudolph. Both scored last week against the Chiefs. Angram is startable with the C grade if you're desperate. The Raiders are at bottom ten defense against the tight end position in receptions and yards allowed, so you can fire up Evan Angram a little bit. All right, sounds great? You know what else sounds great? Joining a Guilloteam league. It's the freshest new

way to play fantasy sports. Instead of head to head every week, the low scoring team gets chopped. All their players go to the waiver wire where the rest of us build a superstar lineup for the rest of the season. All you have to do is not finished last, and the last team standing wins the whole thing. Guilloteam Leagues dot Com. We'll be back for our number two Fantasy Football Weekly. In moments, our number two Fantasy Football Weekly.

I am Paul jar Chian, as I explained at the outset, and I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it. I am quarantined at home with COVID. But I haven't missed a show in twenty seven years, and I'm not doing it now. So we continue. Aren't you miss one? Did I? You missed one? It was the first one of the year, and Eric Nordquist filled in for you. This was to three years ago. You're right. What happened that week? I think it was a funeral? Actually, oh,

it was a funeral. You're exactly right. You're exactly right. It was an excused absence for you're not quite cal ripken. But yeah, you're right in many ways, especially bankroll you. You're the conspiracy theory. How they there was like a power outage one night at Camden Yards and that was too try to get him out of the keep note to keep his streak alive because he was gonna be able to play. So they basically like forced to cancel, cancel.

Really interesting. I haven't heard that. That's a good guy. I like that. Though. This is a segment we call three Tough Questions. I'll pepper my co host, with three tough questions. You can play along see if you can go three and oh. We begin with this tough question number one. Clyde Edwards, a Laire could be back as early as next week. Upon his return, what grade, well, Fantasy Football Weekly most often give him an A, B,

A C, or a bench grade. We begin with Matt Harrison, So let's say he does come back next week against the Raiders. UM, I'll probably want to wait and see there, just to see what happens, how how they work him in. So that's gonna be a bench grade for me. Next week the Cowboys a bye, and then the Broncos the following three weeks. Those are all bad and he's probably

on my bench there, especially in the bye week. The Raiders and Chargers in weeks fourteen fifteen are probably B C kind of starts if he retakes the touch lead, and that's a big if at this point. As this week seventeen against since a week sixteen against the Steelers is a bench grade as well, So I've got four bench grades and three maybe start grades, so I think he's a bench grade more the rest of the way. Okay, Brian is Clyde Edwards Hilaire. Upon his return to most

most often get an A, B C or bench grade. Yeah, Matt covered it pretty well. I got a a majority of bench grades moving forward, for c e H. Basically, the dude just is not that good. Seven total touchdowns in eighteen career games, has topped one d rushing yards just four times, even when he was healthy healthy earlier in the year, Daryl Williams was soaking up more of the past work and this Derek Gore kid looks good. So yeah, it's mainly bench time for us EH for

the rest of the year. For me, it's easy to be cynical about Clyde Edwards despair, but let's remember he was coming up back to back when hunt back to back one hundred yard rushing performances before his knee injury, and on the season he's averaging a healthy four point seven yards per carry, and over those two games that was almost seven yards per carry. Darryl Williams just isn't

that good. He's averaging three and a half yards per carry, and his rushing yards over expectation our fourth from last in the entire league at a negative point eight. Daryll Williams isn't good and it's too soon to be spooked by the emergence of Derek Gore, who Andy Reid didn't like enough to give to a carry until last week now, Clyde Edwards Layer is never gonna get an A because you can never you can never say he's going to score in a game, and if you can't get a touchdown,

you pretty much can't get an A grade. His remaining schedule to me is scattered between mostly bs and seas and one bench grade. But if he comes back next week, he gets a strongly positive matchup with Las Vegas if he can hit that hit the ground running in that one, and I've got one more B grade than I've got C grade on Clyde Edwards a layer. Tough question number two, Well, Adrian Peterson most often receive an A, B, C or bench grade. Your new Titans running back, Brian, let's begin

with you. Well, Tennessee says they're not going to change their high level offensive scheme without Derry Henry, meaning they're gonna try and stay run heavy with Peterson. We'll see how well that goes. Um Tennessee tough schedule moving forward. Fantasy pros has them with the third hardest strength of schedule remaining strength of schedule for running backs. And we all know Adrian Peterson not going to contribute a lot

in the passing game. That's still gonna go to Jeremy Jeremy McNichols most likely, But I still think outside of this week, we gotta see what happens with moving forward. If he stays healthy, we're gonna see thirteen fourteen fifteen carries minimum for Peterson, which is a C regardless of matchup, really based on volume. So I'm just gonna play it safe and go with the C grade for the most part for Peterson. Okay, Matt will Adrian Peterson most often

receive an A, B, C or bench grade. Spoiler alert. I benched him this week against the Rams as well I next week in his revenge game against the Saints. Adrian Peterson's got a few revenge games coming up played with the Cardinals. I was like, you remember that the sat exactly. Uh. It looks like he's startable in Week eleven against the Texans and maybe Week seventeen against the Dolphins.

But unless he takes over the Derrick Henry workload at like a seventy eight percent clip and he looks really good, the schedule does not favor him. So I think he sees more bench grades than anything. Yeah, you guys are way off the mark on this um Peterson is Obviously he's a shell of what he was before, but you know, we're only one season removed from him getting six hundred rushing yards in a split backfield with DeAndre Swift. He

can be effective here. They don't have anybody else to be an inside runner, and this is still a run heavy offense, and he's going to get a lot of opportunity. And that counts for more than anything else in fantasy football is opportunity. He will get the ball at the stripe. He's always been an effective touchdown runner, and this team wants to run the ball at the stripe. They'll continue

to do that and Peterson will get touchdowns. I see looking through the schedule season bees, and the only the only ones that that are to me potentially season benches are New Orleans and Pittsburgh. The rest of the way, the New Orleans is coming up next week. Every other game to me is to be including this week. I gotta be great out him this week. He's going to be startable and you're going to have opportunities to put

Adrian Peterson into your lineup. And by the way, Houston twice, Jacksonville, and Miami are all spots where he could even if it turns out he runs well, he could give me a grades against those defenses. Jacksonville is a sneaky good run defense, though they are actually a sneeze. And hey, I said, see, at least that wasn't that far off. I guess what are you saying? I'll be way far off. Correct answers tough question number three. What is the appropriate

level of concern for Justin air Bear? Oh no, not a bear some or a bowel loosening level of existential dread. We begin with Matt. I was actually shocked that you asked this question. Uh, He's had two below average starts that weren't even completely disastrous from a fantasy standpoint, and we're just three is removed from three yards and four

touchdowns against the good Browns defense. Air Bear is currently ranked eleventh in fantasy points after facing the Football Outsiders fifth most difficult d v O A schedule so far, and now the schedule is a little bit tricky, coming up with four top ten passing defenses in a row starting this week, but they will include a Vikings team without Daniel Hunter and a Broncos team without Von Miller. But after that it's the Bengals, who are okay, Giants, Chiefs, Texans,

Von Miller list Broncos again in your fantasy Championship. I'm not concerned at all, and I'm interested to hear why charge has given some pause on yield air Bear, Old Brian, what is the appropriate level of concern for justin air Bear? None? Some or blowed like, blowed your nose like. But I'm doing a lot of over here, and trust me, there's a lot of that happening. The level of concern for me is none. Still multiple touchdowns and four of his

last five games fourteen passing touchdowns during that span. That that game at Baltimore was a disaster, but that was an early start for a West Coast team. I'll give him a bit of a break there. And last week against the Patriots just two dree Um passing yards. He didn't have two touchdowns. Last year he threw a touchdown at least one touchdown in every game except four against the Patriots. We only two hundred nine yards and zero touchdowns.

So apparently you never want to play him against the Patriots. Really, But outside of that, I got no concern for air Bear. Maybe a little bit of a sophomore slump going on, but it'll break out of it. Yeah, two straight bad games. Um, the Baltimore game he looked bad in, uh, straight up bad, and then he looked bad last week too, and so

there was a bye week in between there. And so maybe because it's been four weeks since we've seen him play well when he got into that shootout with Cleveland in which he was basically very good in that game, almost four hundred yards passing, um that I think some people could have a a reasonable level of concern for Justin air Bear. But he's really good and I love the weapons around him. Um. There are some tricky games. The Eagles game and the Steelers games worry me, but

most of the rest of don't. And he's got a terrific December shaping up Cincinnati, the Giants, Chiefs, Houston his December. He is gonna power teams through the playoffs. I have no concern for Justin Air Bear. All right, let's move back to our matchups. The next matchup up is the Cardinals taking on the forty Niners and Brian the Cardinals might just pack it into this one and basically wave the white flag. They're gonna be missing potentially a lot

of key starters for this one. Yes, sold the Diners, but not not as many as the Cardinals. So Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins both gonna be game time decisions. We're just gonna go under the notion that that they're not going to play though in this one, So I'm not gonna dive too deep into it. Sounds like they're going to. And yeah, the Cardinals be better off just trying to win this game. With Colt McCoy at quarterback.

They're still they're still seven and one that are pretty much in cruise control in that divisional and not in cruise control. The Rams are pretty good team too. But anyway, Uh, Murray on the bench, even if he plays, I don't trust him to finish the game. DeAndre Hopkins the same, even if he suits up, he's gonna be a decoy at best. So both of them on the bench for me, they're unlikely to to go anyway. A J. Green not gonna play either. He has COVID. You weren't hanging out

with A J. Green this week? Were you? Charge? Um? Well? A J. Green and I are tight, um, he texts constantly middle of the night. Whatever Um, you know also, um, he's uh, I think he's trying to make a move on my way. Really, that's a whole that's a whole, separate conversation. Well, who hasn't been making too many moves on the field as Andy is Abella, but he might see some significant rong. We got Christian Current, we got Ron Dale more of course, but they're all on the bench.

If Colton McCoy, even undrafted free agent Antoine Wesley might see some significant snaps here, but they're all all on the bench with Colton McCoy quarterback. I will give Zach's see. Even though since Week one, when t J. Hockenson racked up loads of garbage time yards against the forty Niners, San Francisco hasn't allowed a tight end to top thirty

eight yards. But Arts is probably the most trusted pass catcher out of the bunch, and uh, the forty Niners have yielded the seventh most red zone targets at tight end, So hopefully McCoy looks Urt's his way in the red zone because a J. Green doesn't look the right way when in the red zone, so it's probably the primary target in scoring range. Gonna give him a C and Chase Edmunds gonna give him a C. Tough matchup for him, san Francisco only allowing on fifteen combo yards per game

to running backs. Edmonds should see most of that work between the twenties, so I think he gets a double digit PPR points. Not gonna score because either James Conner volters the touchdown or just the fact that UM San Francisco has allowed just five rushing touchdowns to running back. So I got James Conner on the bench. I don't like his chance of vulturing a touchdown in this one. Over to the San Francisco side, it's a little less sloppy over here. I will start with George Kittle, likely

to make his return if he does. Just gonna give him a CEE though over the past three years he has average with thin six and a half targets and seventy yards per game against the Cardinals. But unfortunately for Kiddle, the Cardinals are really good against tight ends this year, uh posing tight ends averaging just while they're averaging less than four catches and thirty yards per game to the position. Arizona has not allowed a tight end touchdown all year either.

The best performance from an imposing tight end came from Robert touny In, who total just three catches for forty nine yards, and that was when all three Bays wide receivers were out of the picture. Basically Davante Adams wasn't playing out in Lazard was out scandaling, so was basically Tony and he only had three catches for forty nine yards or just to see for Kiddle if he suits up. Unfortunately, it sounds like Deebo Samuel will not suit up for

this game with the calf injury. So even if he goes, I'm really nervous about him. I'll give him a CEE if he plays, but he could be a decoy here. We're just gonna assume he's on the bench. So if he's out, that opens up a lot of opportunities for Brandon Ayuk, who is your to take a chance on me wide receiver charge? I like that And if no, m no Deebo Samuel, we're looking at Mohammed san new is basically next the dad or the baby Mohammedan's. They

might bring the baby in for this one. Who knows. Uh. I thought it was Trent shirt Field too, but it's really, Jawan Jennings has seen more targets than Trent shirt Field over the last few weeks. Uh, just a total disaster basically throughout this whole game. Jimmy Garoppolo on the bench for this one. Uh, these teams didn't meet in Week five. But basically none of the same players are gonna be

playing in this game. Trey Lance started that game for San Francisco, so I got I got Garoppolo on the bench, especially with no Deebo Samuel most likely. But lastly, I will keep Elijah Mitchell and starting lineups can give him a B based on volume alone. If they're facing a Colt McCoy led Cardinals team. Uh, the Niners are likely trying to control the clock for the most part. It is a tough matchup, though only one opposing running back

has topped one yards against Arizona. That was Dalvin Cook, and the Cardinals have allowed just to total running back touchdowns all season long. So I I bumped that down to a sea Actually I've changed my mind after reading my own notes just to see for Elijah Mitchell that's happens sometimes, And that was arguably arguably the worst matchup I've ever done. In my career, it was just brutal, brutal stuff, so much stuff for four yards in this one that would make sense. Sadly, in this crazy season.

Who knows, right, Mike Wide, you know who's to say, right, Uh, let's go to the Falcons and Saints first. I we just want to editorialize for a moment. So many fantasy I've seen so many fantasy analysts say, oh, it's Calvin Ridley out, that's gonna make Kyle Pitts better, or that's gonna make Cordarryl Patterson better. Nobody gets better because the best receiver on the team is out. Nobody gets better. And you'll see that reflected in the grades here, beginning

with Matt Ryan. He's without his best weapon. Obviously, Saints secondary looks great until you look at the quarterbacks they faced um after the Aaron Rodgers game in Week one. They faced Sam Donald, mac Jones, Daniel Jones, Taylor Heineke, and Gino Smith. It's got to be the easiest run of quarterbacks in the league. When they finally faced a good pass or last week Tom Brady, the Saints promptly

gave up three seventy five yards and four touchdowns. So you know, Ryan is not in the Donald Heineke Gino Smith Grange, He's not in the Tom Brady range. He's somewhere in the middle. So I've got a C grade on Ryan, who probably cobbles together I don't know, maybe like two fifty and one of the two path touchdown passes in this game. Cordelle Patterson gets a C grade because this is a tough matchup. Now on the ground, he's averaging a poultry four yards per carry since he's

become the quote lead runner. Um. He scored touchdowns in fourth seven, which helps, and New Orleans has allowed at least one score to other dual threat runners like Christian McAffrey and sae Quon Barkley and Antonio Gibson. But I don't know if Cordell is really quite that guy um. New Orleans allows the second fewest yards per game to runners, and so Patterson is going to have to help you through the air, which is a better opportunity for Patterson

and why he still gets a C grade. But I don't think he's going to help you on the ground really here at all. Now, the the desperation fill in guys, taj a sharp last week, even with Russell Gates back, Sharp tied for a team high six targets, and he accounted for of Atlanta's passing yards, and he led all the receivers and snaps. New Orleans secondary is a lot of receiver to post at least ninety six yards and four of the past five games they've given up six

scores to receivers over the past five games. If you need an emergency dart throw, you could try dot Taj Sharpened, play him over Russell Gage, who was on the bench, Mike Davis, it's over. It's a brutal season, it really is. The Saints run defense is the opposite of a slump buster. What is the opposite of a slumpbuster? By the way, is it a slump enhancer? A slump solidifiancement is not a good thing. The slump enhancement doesn't sound good, does it. Um, you can take a pill for that. Is there a

slump slump here? I don't know. That's what Mike Davis is. Let's go over. There's not a lot to talk about on the New Orleans side of this. Alvin Kamara is an obvious a well relieved the Trevor Simeon and not Taysom Hill. Is that at the helm because Taysom Hill was killing Alvin kmaron those four starts last year. But with Trevor Simeon at the helm, Camara's fine and Simeon

and all his receivers are on the bench. Simeon is a barely functional pastor with career averages of two D, seventeen yards and one touchdown per game, and he didn't even give you that last week. The Falcon secondary is nothing special, but neither of the Saints receivers. If you're thinking about mark Ingram, he got eight touches last week, I just I don't. I don't see a scenari where he gets enough touches here and where he can be anybody you can rely upon. And he won't catch passes either,

so he's on the bench. When we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly, let's talk through some of the remaining matchups, including Justin air Bear as it takes on the Eagles. This is a tricky matchup. Eagle secondary has been very good. We'll find out if Matt Harrison is at all swede and has any concern for just An air Bear and his receivers when we come back to Fantasy Football, Whitney, Welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly on Paul Charchi and

my co host today are Brian Johnson. You can follow him on Twitter at b t x J and Matt Harrison on Twitter at Explosive Output. Matt Paul charchy And you'll have to figure out how to spell it, deal with it. I can't. Yeah, you know, you'd think you'd think Chargers take on the Eagles, Matt earlier in this show. In fact, just last segment, you basically showed no concern whatsoever for the faltering ways of Justin air Barrel over

the past couple of weeks. Now he travels to Philadelphia for a tough matchup against what's been a pretty good but a little inconsistent past defense. What do you think, Yeah, I'm I'm not going to give him the the A. I will give him a be though. He's had those couple of rough weeks, including one against Baltimore two and two against New England, but prior to that, he topped three hundred yards or thrown for three or more touchdowns

in every other game this season. So Philly has been a break but don't bend defense allowing almost two touchdown passes per game, but only two hundred thirty six passing yards. Much of that is skewed, though, by who they've played. They held Matt Ryan in Week one, Sam Donald, Jimmy g and Jared Goff two very poor days, while Dak Mahomes, Brady and Derek Carr all had very good as and air bears in that ladder group, So I'm not too

afraid of this one. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, it's solely about volume for them in this one, because players who get to double digit targets against the Eagles have had awesome days, but there's only been two of them this year, Tyreek Hill and Antonio Brown. Through seven games. Mike Williams has three double digit target games while Keenan Allen has four. I'll give both of them bees in this one. Allen has an easier overall matchup going against

slot corner Avante Maddox and Mike Williams. He moves around the field, so he'll see an equal dose of Darius Slay who's been good but beat able, and Stephen Nelson, who is easily roastable. He's allowing a passerrating of one oh five in his coverage. But Williams has been basically done nothing now for almost a month. This is a I don't think it's quite as obvious as you make it sound. Well, let's just wait and see. How about that chart? Okay, Jared Cook, he might be a sailor

because he's seaworthy in this one. Yeah, I did it. There we go. He's seen twelve targets in his past two games. He's clearly above Donald Parham and Steven Anderson in the pecking order. The Eagles have allowed the most receptions on the season two tight ends at seven per game, and have allowed six touchdowns to the position over their eight contests. So he's he's getting a C grade in

this one. Austin Ekeler he gets the A though. The Eagles are bottom ten in rushing yards allowed, rushing touchdowns, receptions to running backs, receiving yards, and total touches per game to the running back position. By the way, opposing backs are averaging thirty one touches per game against Philly, so Ackler is a cinch for at least twenty in this contest. The running back situation on the Philly side was all of might take a chance on me. Now,

you don't get older points put together. You don't if they don't know he got it, he got it right. So uh, Jalen Reagor he's questionable with an ankle injury. Uh. Leaving Davonte Smith and Quez Watkins is the other wide receivers, but they're all on the bench. Asante Samuel and Michael Davis are the chargers two starting corners. It's been a little thorny though, because they're both on the injury report this week and there's a chance one or both might

not go. But their backups have been quite good as well. Chris Harris and to Van Campbell have each seen extended playing time this year. Neither has allowed to touchdown in their coverage. The Chargers are the toughest matchup in the league for wide receivers, allowing the fewest receptions in yards to the position. They've only allowed three total touchdowns to wide receivers through seven games, and with her sketchy throwing ability, I'm leaving all the wide receivers on the bench. I

will give a B grade to Dallas Goddard. It was highlighted last week without zach Ertz he's averaging about seventy yards per game, and last week he had six catches and seventy two yards. The Chargers are almost as week against the tight end as they are strong against the wide receiver. They've allowed the fifth most receiving yards and the sixth most touchdowns to the tight end position. So

Jalen Hurts he gets a B grade in this. Much of what Hurts does is on the ground, So here's how running quarterbacks have faced fared against the Chargers DC. He did not have one rushing attempt, but that was Week two and he's not a running quarterback anymore and probably built the rebuilt ankle. That's right if you consider Patrick Mahomes to be mobile, which I do. He had four forty five on the ground and to sixty and three through the air. Lamar had eight carries for fifty

one yards. Didn't do too much through the air. But the Ravens blew out the Chargers so quickly in that one, so there's gonna be room to run, and I think Jalen Hurts gets a lot of garbage time here. I probably put Hurts on under two yards passing, but I think he'll do really well on the ground to make up for that. I don't you know what I'm i I'm sniffing a dud here. I agree with you on

the passing he's not going to get. He's not going to get the passing he won't and now you he has to run for fantasy points and that makes me nervous. I I hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried there's a scenario where he fails of Boat. I mean, if you consider Hurts the fourth running back on the Eagles, I also get him and take a chance on me too. Bears take on the Steelers, Brian, this has been an

inept to Bears offense. Khalil Herbert ground Bear has been pretty reliable, but things are getting maybe a little muddier there too. What do you think of this offense against the Steelers. Yeah, brutal matchup for Khalil. I will mention David Montgomery has been designated to return from my R, but it's unlikely we see him this week. It's not a good spot to bring him back on the road against Pittsburgh, and it's really not a good spot for Herbert. But I will still give him a see based on volume.

But a brutal matchup against a tough run defense and a likely negative game script for the Bears. Pittsburgh has allowed the ninth viewest fantasy points to running back so just to see for Khalil air Bear, I mean ground bear, my bad. Alan Robinson took a. It's sad to say he took a. He's a deep dart through. Might take a chance of me wide receiver. Come on, Allen Robinson one time, you can do it. I'm also gonna give

Darnell Mooney a sea. Opposing wide receivers are averaging one and seventy yards at one point three touchdowns per game against the Steelers, and I just see the Bears in a lot of garbage time here, so I give a Mooney to see. He is questionable, but I think he will play uh in this one. Col Comet, I got him on the bench. The Steelers are top twelve in the fewest catches and yards allowed to opposing tight ends

and justin fields. He's on the bench as well. Showed some flashes last week, but this is a brutal matchup for the rookie on the road, and Matt Naggy will be back on the sidelines. He's basically kryptonite to success. So h fields on the bench for this one. Over to the Steelers side. Not many players on the bench here, especially not Naji Harris. Gonna give him an a likely no Khalil Mac for the Bears on this one, who are allowing one thirteen rushing yards per game to opposing

running backs. Running backs should be a positive game strip for Naji, So we'll love him this week and give him an a. UH. Deonte Johnson close to in a but just gonna give him a B here. Chicago's defense is a mess. They might also be missing safety Eddie Jackson in this game. The Bears have surrender. Yeah, the Bears have surrendered five wide receiver touchdowns and a one

yard receiver over the last three games alone. Uh and Johnson will likely see a lot of cornerback Kindle Vildor, who owns a pathetic one and thirty nine passer raiding in his coverage and his Pro Football focuses. Nineties ranked quarterback Chase Claypool draws the tough matchup here with Jalen Johnson, so it's gonna give him a c um pat firemouth. He is on the bench. Only one tight end has

scored against Chicago. Darren Waller and t J. Hogginson were held to four catches and forty something scoreless yards against the Bears. And lastly, I will give Ben Roethlisberger a C because that's just the best Ben is ever going to get for the rest of his career. Bears. Be fifty passing or two passing touchdowns, that's what you'll hope to get out of Ben in this one. Ben with one touchdown in every game, but one at one. That's

it from Ben. I don't know that maybe this I think you might maybe gets to two here, but I'm with you on the sea grade for Ben. When we come back, Browns take on the Bengals. Will tell you what to expect from Nick Chubb and the rushing attack for the Browns in a matchup with Cincinnati in their division. And Premature Speculation will give you three players that you can pick up now that it real to be trying to pick up next week. Find out who they are

when we return the Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back, final segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. As we always do, we start this segment with premature speculation, so players you want to pick up now before everybody else is scrambling to pick up these players next week, and we begin with Brian Johnson. I'm gonna go with Bill's wide receiver, Gabriel Davis, who this this time last year got really hot and

carried a lot of teams to some fantasy championships. Now he hasn't really done a whole lot in the first half of the season, but last week he out targeted Emmanuel Sanders, who did not catch a pass. Davis did. He caught four of his five targets, caught a touchdown. And you know something happens to Stefon Digs or Emmanuel Sanders. I think you get outright take his job back from

Emmanuel Sanders. But in that electric offense, if I've got an open spot on my bench, I'll stash Davis for a while and see if he blooms into something beautiful like a gentle flower. Yes, exactly, That's what I want on my team. Is I want to be stacked with gentle flowers on my squad. Matt, who is your premature speculation player. I got a gentle flower for your eight here. His name is Michael Gallup. Remember him. Uh. He did

return to limited practice this week. For the Cowboys, although it seems unlikely he's gonna go uh for the Broncos this week. He's been sidelined since Week one with a calf injury. And remember he averaged over seven targets per game over the last two seasons, including last year with Ceedee Lamb on the field, and in Week one he saw seven targets before going out with an injury. The Cowboys have Atlanta, Kansas City two dates with Washington and

the Giants still on the schedule. He's gonna see a lot of starting grades coming down the pipe, So go get Michael Gallup. Alright. My premature speculation player is Donovan People's Jones. Much has been made about oh b j leaving the Browns, not enough people talking about who's gonna fill that void. He leaves behind forty eight snaps per game, and Donovan People's Jones was playing really well in weeks five and six. He combined for one hundred seventy yards

and two scores. Then he probably got hurt and missed two games. Now he's back, He's going to be starting, and he's Cleveland's best outside receiver and they need somebody besides Jarvis Landry can catch a damn pass. So we'll try d p J to spark what was And by the way, as a reminder end of last year, he was starting to be an impact player in December and into the playoffs last year, Donovan People's Jones, I think this is where we see the the the tilt up

in his career right here. Let's hope that's the case anyway, because we're optimius on this show. I mean, he's a beautiful flower too. Yeah, And it's a perfect segue to my final matchup of this show, which involves the Browns and the Bengals, And as you can imagine, I've got a starting grade on Donovan People's Jones, who will face the very burnable Eli Apple most often. The Mengels did no intention of starting Apple this year, but Trey Waynes

can't stay on the field. Apple ranks his Pro Football focuses one hundred seventh cornerback, and dpj's playing well. As I had mentioned he had for prior to getting hurt, he had been a very viable fantasy receiver. So he comes back with a C grade in this game. But I've only got a bench grade on Baker Mayfield. Um. Yes, Mike White just destroyed the Bengal secondary. But on the whole they've been pretty good, giving up two hundred sixty

yards in one touchdown per game. And Baker Mayfield just, you know, the shoulder just isn't right and he doesn't look right. He's averaging less than one touchdown pass per game. Maybe he gets better with Odell Beckham off the field, which I mean that could be a that that kind of drama could be ruining things and getting him off the field might actually be helpful. And he did throw

seven touchdowns against Cincinnati last year. Maybe I'll move Baker Mayfield to a C grade after all, I don't charge Mike White had two arms when he played against the Bengals last point and Baker's got like one point three. Yeah, so there's that. Jarvis Landry has seen eighteen targets in his two games since coming back from injury. He played of the snaps last week, and he's the most bankable of the Browns receivers. He runs from the lot. That

puts him up against Mike Hilton, a solid cornerback. Hilton has a lot of touchdown hasn't allowed a touchdown since the opener, is giving up just seventeen yards per game and coverage. So just the C grade for Jarvis Landry as well. Let's talk about the running backs for the Browns, for Nick Chubb, and we told you this last week, Peacock. Nick Chubb is not gonna suddenly turn into a nine workhorse. We knew we were gonna see. He's gonna stay doing what he had been doing, and that's you know, it's

a lot of what we got from him. It's still a timeshare now with the Ernest Johnson, who will talk about in a second. Chubb faces a difficult matchup against the Bengals team that's shockingly improved against the run, giving up the fifth fewest rushing yards, only sixty eight per game to opposing running backs and just three point seven yards per carry that is sixth fewest. The best way for running backs to beat Cincinnati is through the air, but that's not Chubb's game. He hasn't seen more than

two targets in any game this year. So I've just got a B grade on Nick Chubb. He's obviously an elite level back, but this is a very tough matchup. D Ernest Johnson's snapshare last week was one third of the plays, and this is a tricky matchup. As I said, I don't think he's gonna get a lot done on the ground, but he can chip in through the air because Chubb doesn't catch and Johnson can catch. Some Bengals allowing the most receptions and the third most receiving yards

to the position. So I've got the ernest Johnson is a C grade on the prospect of him getting four or five receptions in this game. Let's go to the Bengals side of this one and we'll we'll start with the passing game. Joe Burrow gets to be He's the only quarterback with multiple touchdowns in every game. Cleveland's defense, while definitely improved from last year, still gets beaten by good quarterbacks, and Joe Burrow belongs to that category. He's

a good quarterback. Patrick Mahomes justin air bear Kyler Murray averaging a whopping three hundred twenty one yards and three and a half touchdown passes against Cleveland. Everybody else is only a hundred ninety yards in one touchdown. So it's it's all or nothing against the against Cleveland, and I think Joe Burrows earned the all, not the nothing here and Obviously, Jamaar Chase is great and you're as you're gonna hear in a minute. I do like some of

his receiver matchups, so let's go to Jamaar Chase. Um obvious a grade in my mind. In the in a nutshell, Cleveland has been a good secondary, but good receivers find their way to good games against them anyway. Um Chase should farewell on the outside against Denzil a Ward, who has surrendered a one percent catch rate and a touchdown in the last two games. T Higgins interesting. In the six games of which he's been active, he's actually out

targeted Jamaar Chase. He's notched at least sixty yards and three of the last five games, culminating in a season high nineties seven yards last week for T Higgins, But he doesn't get the explosive plays that all that stuff goes to Chase. Still, he's got a slightly positive matchup on the outside against solid rookie cornerback Greg Newsome, and I've got a B grade on T Higgins. How about c jo Zuma. Shockingly good over the last five games,

but his volume is super low. He's two and three catches a game and he needs touchdowns for fantasy relevancy. The Browns got slacked by Travis Kelsey in Week one, but since then they've only given up one touchdown the rest of the way, and they're only averaging three catches for thirty one yards to tight ends. So I've got a wobbly C grade on c jo Zuma and just know that if he doesn't score, he probably hurts your team.

Tyler Boyd is on the bench. He's been better lately, but I don't like his matchup in the slot against Troy Hill, who has only allowed one touchdown all year and gives up an average of two catches for twenty six yards and his coverage, so he goes back to the bench. Joe Mixons is a tricky one and I really struggled with where to put him. Guys, his rushing yards and yards per carry a decreased in three secutive games, bottoming out at two point four yards per carry against

the Jets last week. How did you shockingly bad? Fortunately, he's getting more receiving work lately, but he might struggle in both areas against the Browns team allowing the sixth fewest rushing yards and the fifth fewest receiving yards per game to opposing backs. That's only total yards per game, third fewest in the league. And I don't know, I'm nervous about Mixing in this one. I'm giving him a

C grade here. Uh, this is a very tough matchup and he hasn't been running well lately, so I do have some concern for Joe Mixing and just the C grade an unusually low rank for him. Alright, our final matchup of this show is Titans taking on the Rams, and there's a lot of new variables for this Titans offense. Matt, Yeah, this one's gross. And they play Sunday night, so the

pivot players are going to be super weird. And with Pittsburgh and Chicago playing on Monday night, there's not a lot of great moves can make if some of these guys don't make it. Well, let's start with the running game on the Titan side. Derrick Henry obviously had the big injury, probably done for the season. Darrenton Evan Darrnton Evans is also on i R, so we get Jeremy Nichols and Adrian Peterson likely for the rest of the year.

Charch Use McNichols is just take a chance on me player Peterson, I'm not going to recommend the starting this week, although Charch said he had a B grade on him. RAMS are only allowing eighty rushing yards per game to the position. All of aps yards will likely be on the ground, and I think he's splitting a little bit of that with McNichols, who knows the playbook a little bit better and should certainly be in in passing situations. So I'm I'm gonna keep Peterson on the bench if

it's me. But if you believe in Charch in that way, Charge says, it's more like Adrian Baterson. Oh, I don't know what I'm going to accommodate you, and I'm going to move into a secret. Okay, there we go. You've talked me to him. So let's move on to the wide receiver position. I'm gonna start with Julio quote limited with a hamstring injury. Jones, who was back as a full going practice obviously, but then A J. Brown missed practice on Friday, and we don't know why as of yet.

So that's kind of mysterious because he was a full go on Wednesday and Thursday, and he comes up with a miss practice on Friday, and this is a late game, and this is a huge This is a huge problem for fantasy owners to try to figure this out with A J. Brown. You said pivot plays, you got Allen Robinson played Monday Night. Robinson, you can get him on the cheap um. A. J. Brown has been on fire lately and if he's healthy, he should see an uptick

and work with the loss of Derrick Henry. The question is will he see shadow coverage from Jalen Ramsey. Now it's probably not full time. He'll see Ramsey on probably half his snaps. Ramsey has not been a shadow cover corner for most of the year. When he's not on Ramsey, he'll face Dante Dion, who is five ft nine and a hundred and fifty nine pounds. I could dominate that guy,

he's so tiny. And then David Long is the other corner he'd face, and he's given up a passerrating of over a hundred in two straight games and that was against the Lions wide receivers and the Texans wide receivers. So if Julio goes, and I think Julio is gonna go, I'm giving him a bee. And if Brown goes, he also gets a bee simply because he will get about half of his snaps on Jalen Ramsey. I think solid rudy refference there by the way, with the he's so tiny,

how's then? Or is he so little? Never mind? Uh, Ryan Tannehill, he's larger. I think the Titans offense is going to have to reinvent itself on the fly, and to me, that means the balls in Tannehill's hands much more often. The Rams sound tough, but they allowed the third most passing attempts and the third most passing completions and the fourth most passing yards so far this season. So I think Tannehill is in a good spot here. Actually,

I'm going to give him a B grade. Um Cooper Cup is my fantasy ard Vark this week going up against the Titans, and Matthew Stafford's in obvious A grade. Robert Woods is an A grade two, and Van Jefferson was might take a chance on me wide receiver. I'll just note that the Titans are allowing sixteen and a half receptions, two hundred sixteen yards and a touchdown and a half per game to the wide receiver position, all of which are either the worst or almost the worst

in the league. Tyler Higbee, he's on the bench, though he's very touchdown dependent and the game script probably won't favor him needing to run routes in this one for very long. Plus, Tennessee weirdly good against the tight end position. They mostly held Travis Kelsey in check and the only three scores that have come against them have been no name tight ends getting goal line passes like literally like one catch, one yard, one touchdown passes against Tennessee. Darryl

Henderson is the last guy I'll mention. I'm giving him a B grade in this one. It's been very easy to pass against the Titans, so teams haven't run very much against them, but they are allowing a robust four point six yards per carry, and without Derrick Henry in this game, this could turn out to be a run out the clock scenario for the Rams in the second half.

A lot of garbage time in this one, so it wouldn't surprise me of Darryl Henderson's getting some extra touches in the second half of this game, but not Sony Michelle, not Sony walk No, We're not going that far. It's crazy god who dodged bull with that? Yeah? Uh, guys, we got a couple of minutes here at the end of the show. Does it go without saying, there's nobody you would trade one for one, which for Jonathan Taylor. You have Jonathan Taylor. There's no offer that's gonna make

you move Jonathan Taylor, including Cooper Cup. Yeah. I was gonna say it would either be Cooper Cup or maybe Alvin Kamara kind of the last standing stud running back out there. But me thinks Jonathan Taylor is gonna be on a lot of championship winning rosters come late December January and fantasy football. Yeah, I feel Taylor's the guy. The only other guy I think that I might consider is maybe Tyreek hill Um, just because his target load is so heavy there and it's still the Chief's offense.

Jamaar Chase is up there too, just because of the explosiveness, and I think that if you're the Jamaar Chase owner, maybe you dangle Jamar Chase out there and see if you can get Jonathan Taylor right now after that game, it's gonna be really tough. Is a tough moment, isn't it a trade for Jonathan Taylor too for two at that point. Sticking with that game, what do you see for Michael Pittman's dynasty or empire outlook as you look ahead even future seasons? Is he moving into the conversation,

is maybe a top ten dynasty asset at receiver. It's starting to look that way. I still might lean towards some of the older guys. It's a good three or four years left, but top fifteen, top twenty for sure. Pittman's looked amazing so far this year. It really has. And don't forget Carson one is still pretty young, and the way he's playing, which is by and large been pretty good. It looks like there's gonna be a connection

there for years to come. Well, and the and the best part about Pittman is he doesn't have to deal with Carson Wentz is stupid throws that he makes. He just the good ones. If you mesic any part of the show, if you're listening over the ar checkout the podcast. If you're listening to the podcast, listen for us on your favorite sports talk radio station in a market near you. We'll be back next week for more Fantasy Football Weekly. Best of luck to everybody in Week nine by bye.

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