Week Two Overreactions

receivers is the weird thing. Normally we're like, hey, go draft wide receivers for all the safety they bring. It didn't work out this year. Not yet. Well maybe maybe for those folks who did the Gainesville they're feeling all right, they're probably feeling just fine. Can we bring back the Todd Heap Memorial Injury Report? I would like just for this week. I know, just for this week. I miss I missed that and I'm Todd Heap always on it renamed the James Conner at this point, it really should.

For sure. There's lots to get too of the show. We will break down every single matchup Fantasy style with letter grades on every meaningful player, we will provide premature speculation. That's where we give you three players that we believe will be hot pickups next week that you're going to go grab this week, plus three tough questions you get to play along. See if you can go three and O and nine players upon whom you can take a chance.

These are non starters, many of whom are available on the waiver wire that we think have matchups worth exploiting this week, So lots to get to. Let's dig into the matchups, beginning with the Rams taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. Scott, Yeah, let's do it. I don't love this game, Fro. I'm gonna start on the offensive side for the Rams. I don't love this game. For Jared Goff. I don't like

him on the road against the solid Eagles secondary. That's added, pieces like slayh and Jones this offseason actually have mens grade on Wow. Yeah, yeah. I I like a lot of ands, mostly because I like a lot of quarterbacks better than him. This week, I'm still giving him B grade to his would be his his safety blanket. Over the last two years, Robert Woods, year after year under appreciated. Did you know he has top seventy yards in two thirds of his games over the last two seasons. I'm

not surprised. Yeah, the touchdowns are a different story. And at least five receptions in those two So basically two thirds of the time you're looking at like twelve fantasy points without you're playing that yardage only league. Are you where touchdowns don't count? Yeah? Yeah, he gets some, he gets a few. There are people who play that. I don't understand what you know, Why would you not want

points on the most exciting playing football. That's crazy talk, you know, talking to those guys are like, anybody can score a touchdown sometimes weird. I'd rather play touchdown only than I would yards. Yeah, at least that's they think. It's very pure. Yeah, be grade on Woods. He's the safe guy he and he can't explode at times. Cooper Cup, I'm giving a C grade two. Don't love the matchup against Robie Coleman, who has been talking some trash this week,

calling uh the Rams offense all window dressing. Now, remember Robie Coleman played for the Rams and for two years in practice faced off against Cooper Cup directly exactly. Those two know each other intimately, and that's gonna be one of the most fascinating battles from this weekend. Yes, that or Xavier Rhodes and Adam Theland might be out there, and I think that's gonna go. Yeah, yeah, that was not really a tough matchup there. I'm keeping I'm keeping

Justin Jefferson on the bench. Higby. Unfortunately, it sounds like Gerald Everett isn't gonna go, which would make me like Higby more. But the sample size isn't good and he's playing what Higby has done this year so far. In the first game didn't didn't look great. I think it's gonna go to cupping Woods. Logan Thomas produced last week. But Higby is not a touchdown score, and that's what

the Philadelphia Eagles give up to tight ends. Higby only has five touchdowns in his entire career year at this point, so as a touchdown dependent I don't I don't like it there. I have him on the bench. Malcolm Brown, I'm giving a C grade too. He's the only one I like. And here's why I'm giving him the C grade. Acres has to be better than he looked the other night. He can't be worse. And Darryl Henderson was banged up, played limited. He'll play more this week. He'll get more

passing game reps. The reason I like Brown, yeah, he will. Brown gets the goal line stuff and Brown is seemingly the lead back. Uh. The Eagles held Washington's run game to basically nothing except for a few touchdown plunges. So I got a C grade on Brown this week. Over on the Eagles side passing game, it is tough to like what we saw at once last week. It's really tough. Not so much his fault. The offensive line was in tatters. They were going up against four first round picks across

and Lane Johnson was out and he'll be back. But I will say all eight of Carson Wentz to sacks last week, he held out of the ball for longer than four seconds. Four seconds. That's it's very gallant. But he's got to be smarter than that. Absolutely, and I think that will be a spot where he bounces back and he's got his past catching Miles Sanders back. So

I'm giving a C grade. Um Last week, the Rams held dock under control, but uh, and they've only allowed three passers over two hundred and seventy yards in their last seventeen games, but once led the league in air yards and attempts last year. Last week, he's throwing the ball. Uh and the Rams allowed five plays of twenty plus yards last week, so there might be some deep plays available for Rigor or the Deshaun Jackson, UH, Dallas Goddart and zach Ertz. I'm giving the rare double tight end

double a grade to wown for Goddard. Yes, I I think that this is You're not just You're not just following up last week's big game. No, he was good last year, he was good at the n last season. Two. Um last week's the Rams did shut down Dalton and Schultz, which which sounds kind of more like an Old West Buddy Cop TV show. Yeah, but I think we got whiskey there at the old office every once in a while. Right. Yeah. But Goddard and there are the two main guys. They

combined for sixteen targets last week. They played the similar amount of snaps. They're both going to be heavily involved, especially with Rigor and Djacks a little alien, especially Regor alien Jalen reagor excuse me, I still have eight grades on them for for the tight ends. They're out there. They're going to see seven, eight, nine targets each. Al Right, yeah, I'm buying arts. I'm not. I'm not necessarily. You don't think they're both top ten tight ends this week? No, okay, alright,

I I would bet against that. Alright, they're top ten tight ends all last season, they're both top ten times. Maybe yeah, I mean, Arth certainly was. Goddard finished finished in the top twelve in totality. But the bid on on Goddard always has been good game and then games were just doesn't get enough balls his way, and then good game and then he doesn't get enough. So it's the highs and the lows with Goddard, and they're very

hard to pursue. This is the off week, alright, I'm not necessarily, but I just wouldn't to me and feel like you In one of those fantasy football coins, I have him ranked. Let's move on which way? Too much? Right? Too much? Jalen Reagor. I am giving a hesitant C grade? Is that a C minus? Matt does that? It's not it's a C grade, all right. He's coming off injury,

but he led the team in wide receiver snaps. He only pulled in the one catch for fifty five yards, but he averaged he average thirty four yards uh air yards per target last week. He gets some deep passes um over to the run game. Uh Sanders, I'm giving a B grade to should be back against the team who allowed one touchdowns one touchdown over a hundred yards on the ground and another touchdown in over fifty yards

through the air last week. I think he takes the rollback from Boston Scott, who I put back on the bench. That makes sense. Atlanta takes on Dallas Matt Now, the Atlanta of defense was bad. I think there's a nice opportunity from when the Dallas defense was so hot either. So what do you make of the Falcons as they go into this game? This is what you call a help shoot game. Stack. You put everybody in this game because this one's going to be I think they're gonna

get to seventy points in this game as a combined total. Uh. Todd Gurley, he gets a B grade. Gurley only saw the field of the snaps last week, but he did make them count with four point oh yards per carry and a rushing score. If the Falcons can keep it close, expect that snap count to increase for Gurley. That's good. Uh, and his old teammate Malcolm Brown just torched this defense last week, so you know Malcolm Brown's calling Todd Gurley, Hey man, I know how to beat these guys. Just

cut right through hill. Yeah, sure, that's totally how it works. Matt Ryan, he gets an a. Jared Goff just dinked and dunked his way to four two yards against this defense last week, and Maddie Ice through for four fifty. So I think four hundred yards is in the cards for Maddie Ice this week, which means Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are both easy a's. Even Russell Gauge, I'm giving a B gauge. Jones and Ridley each tallied twelve

gets last week. While I don't see Gauge keeping up with the Joneses or the Ridley's all season long, twelve targets is something significant and it should not be ignored. Hayden Hurst, I'm even giving a B grade to Hurst only had five targets last week, but this matchup is significantly better. Specifically since linebacker Layton vander ash He just went to the I R and he was one of

the guys who helped cover the tight end. And get this, in the seven games that vander ash missed last season, tight ends average eleven targets, seven point eight receptions and seventy yards against the Cowboys defense. So it's a really nice matchup for Hayden Hurst over to the Dallas side, Zekes and a Dax and A even though offensive tackle Cameron Irving is headed to i R. In two career meetings with the Falcons, Deck has never thrown a touchdown pass, but odd he has run one in in both of

the games, so we got that going. And if you want to give an NFL comp to a guy kind of like Deck, it's probably Russell Wilson, who just had an awesome game against the Falcons last week. Three two yards, four touchdowns and only fouri in completions. So um, yeah, decks in and so are his receivers. Amari Cooper's an a. Let it be known that he's still the alpha in Dallas. With fourteen targets against Jalen Ramsey, that was a lot.

I did not expect that. And you compare that to eleven total targets for Gallop and Lamb combined, and Lamb had more than Gallop. Yeah, so I'm still giving Gallop and Lamb a bee because this should be a shootout in this game. I like that you're going that that hard with seedee Lamb. I think this has got some breakout game to it right here. Absolutely, Lamb played the slot and uh that's where Tyler Lockett just ran wild

for eight catches and yards last week. The Gallop had fifty yards last weekend, but had that forty seven yard or called back on the phantom Jalen Ramsey like I sold it soccer style offensive pass interference, which was so savvy by Ramsey, by the way, But it was absolutely a BS call for Gallup Um. The Falcons have allowed a hundred and sixty seven yards per game to the position over the last year and a game. And then

Blake Jarwin, we got to mention him. He heads to I R what is with what is feared to be a torn a c L. But we're not ready to pick up Blake Bell or Dalton Schultz at this point, so let's just start all the wide receivers and ze bell dozer. The Bell dozer. It wasn't really that's so lame, so lame. It was probably his nickname in like sixth grade football quarterback in Oklahoma really turned tight end. Look at how it's worked out for Logan Thomas. We'll talk

about him later. To Giants take on the Chicago Bears in Chicago. For sake, Kwon Barkley owners last week couldn't have gone worse to his offensive line could not hold a block for one second, not one second. It was absurd. Barkley I thought was borderline heroic in getting to like six yards on the game through on the ground. Chicago has a decent front four, but you know nobody Goldman that. And when he faced Chicago last year, Barkley was okay, not great. And I think this is the worst defense

than last year's. Adrian Peterson just ran through this defense. Adrian Peterson on three days of Lions practice powered his way through the Bears. To be fair, Adrian Peterson knows the Daryl Bevil offense. Adrian Peterson is the Daryl Bevil offense. I guess so so I like Sae Kwon Barkley here in a bounce back game. I think people are too far down on him from six yards. Yes, I am boldly predicting he will be better than six yards. He

might even double his yard. Yes, a little bit like how everybody right now, which is they had bought Browns on the cheap after a brutal Week one matchup. That's how we're gonna feel about the Giants. I think this is an opportunity to buy low on Giants and say Kwon Barkley with a B grade. The passing game to me is very intriguing, and I've got B grades on

key players here, including Daniel Jones. It feels like a tough matchup, but there are all these holes in the Bear secondary that he can exploit, like slot cornerback busted screen door he still yes, uh had second start rookie cornerback Jalen Johnson and journeyman safety to Sean Gibson. These are all subpar players in that Bear secondary. If Jones is miserable, offensive line can just give him two and

a half three seconds to throw the ball. I think he performs well here, and I especially like Darius Slayton. Get this Darius Slayton stat he has more touchdowns were receiving touchdowns than any player since Week five of last year. Wow, Darius Slayton. That doesn't surprise me because ten led the NFL last year. Um, he surprised everybody, including me with the two touchdowns on Monday night, and this is a

far easier matchup. He was on the field for eight percent of the Giants plays last week, more than any other player, so Darius Slayton asserting himself to be the future of the Giants receivers. Here. He ran sixty percent of his plays from the left side of the field. That puts him on second start. Rookie cornerback Jalen Johnson he gets a grade. Evan Ingram gets a B grade. I love that he got seven targets last week. I hate that it resulted in two catches for nine yards.

But the Bears defense allow the fifth most catches the tight end last season, and they gave up the big game to t J Hawkinson last week. Several bounce off his hands and he was he was wide open in that zone. I mean like, it could have been way better. Yes, it could have been better, and I think it will be beginning this week. Sterling Shepherd gets a C grade. Mostly running from the slot. Shepherd will draw a journeyman cornerback buster screen. Last week's screen got rocked by a Hamstrong,

Danny Danny Amendola. So I liked the chances for Sterling Shepherd and then on the bench Golden Tate expected to return from his hamstring injury, but those aggravate easily, and he's got the toughest match up against cornerback Kyle Fuller. Let's go to the bear side, beginning with the running game. David Montgomery gets a B grade. If Benny Snell can top the century mark on five yards per carry against the Giants, then David Montgomery canto, so, I think there's

an opportunity here. Montgomery had five yards per carry last week, which was best marking about half a season. So going back to last year, he looked healthy. The groin injury is not a factor. He gets a B grade here. But Tariko and is on the bench after just a nine touch outing last week and just two targets, which disappointed me and um, so I think we're gonna show a little caution on Tariko. And let's go to the passing game, where it's time for dude, Happy Trombone Ski

to two weeks in a row. This never happens. Happy Trombone Ski faces arguably the NFL's worst secondary last week, the Steelers receivers ran unabated through the Giant secondary, and I love the individual matchups for his receivers as I'm gonna talk about just a second. So I like Happy Trombone Ski this week. I like him last week and look what he paid off three touchdowns. Welcome to speaking, which Alan Robinson a grade here on a quest to

get paid. He's posted at least seventy yards and are a touchdown in six of his last seven games going back to last season. He runs from all positions on the field and he's got the they're all good matchups at every spot on the field. He will either see inexperienced cornerbacks Corey Valentine or Darny Holmes, and when he's not facing those two, he gets veteran James Bradberry, who gave up two touchdowns in his coverage last week. It's a great opportunity for Allen Robinson. Also for a grade

for him, B grade for Anthony Miller. Running exclusively from the slot, he's gonna match up with Darny Holmes, a rookie in his second ever start, homes a lot five of the six passes in his coverage to be caught last week, and Miller posted a bunch of splash games at the end of last year. If you remember, this is a splash game spot for Anthony Miller. And the last thing I want to mention for the Bears, keep an eye on this rookie Darnell Moody that they've got.

He's a quasi starter there. He's super fat. So there's not a team with a ton of speed. They need a speed downfield guy. Just keep him on your radar. We're not starting him yet, we're not even rostering him yet. It's a premature, premature, premature speculation. Just keep an eye on Darnell Moody. When we come back. Nine players upon whom you can take a chance. These are guys not normally in your starting lineup, guys that in many cases are available on the waiver wire. Will tell you who

they are. If you're in a pinch at any position, you'll want to take a chance on these players. Welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Arch, Scott Fish, and Matt Harrison with you. This is a segment we call take a chance on Me, the Royalty free version. We will give you three quarterbacks, three running backs, and three receivers upon whom you can take a chance because their

matchups this week are downright delightful. We begin at the quarterback position, Scott, I'm going to start with this up start first year player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. First year there, Tom Brady. Oh really, I think it's a good matchup for him. The only question is do they paul had early and does it become a running game day like he kind of did for Derek Carr last week. However, I like I like his weapons in here, and I

like Tom Brady coming off a loss. I really like him coming off of three straight losses dating back to last year. I think he's gonna want to go out or maybe he's just a loser now. No, I think he's gonna want to go out and prove something. He owned up to it last week after after the loss, and I think he wants to prove to his team that he's still got it. I've heard good things about Brady. The prospects are good. All right, let's go to Matt

your take a chance. I mean quarterback I'm guessing is not ready to be in true rind in the Hall of Fame. No, but he was one of the quarterbacks who beat Tom Brady last year. That's Ryan Tannehill, who had a very Ryan Tannehill game last week against the decent Denver defense to forty nine and two scores. This week, he faces a significantly worst defense, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and

he's at home. The Jags held up all right to the propped up corps of Philip Rivers last week, but twenty four ranked d v O A past defense is worse this year and not up to the challenge against the Titans. Over the past season plus a game, the Jags have allowed two sixty one yards per game, and last year Tannehill face the Jags once he threw for over two fifty with two passing scores. But get this, he's fleet to foot and scored two rushing touchdowns against

the Jaguars last year. Yes he is. Who's he gonna throw too? Um, I don't know, I forget which which kind of guys catch passes? Oh Church, put your pants back on. Who's gonna catch those passes? I'm using Kirk Cousins as might take a chance of the quarterback against Indianapolis Kirk garbage time Cousins. Hey man, I did all works. For all the problems the Vikings encountered last Sunday, Kirk was not among them. The Vikings defense was so bad.

The Vikings offense only ran forty four plays, and Cousins still managed to solid two hundred sixty yards and two touchdowns. Indies run defense is very good, and I expect the usual Dalvin heavy game plan to slant unusually toward Cousins. I think we have better volume this week than we normally get. In the opener, the Colts allowed Gardner Minshew to post a one incompletion game one incompletion. He also

threw three touchdowns against that rebuilt secondary. I like the opportunity here for Kirk Cousins to exploit former Viking teammate Xavier Rhodes in coverage, who looked absolutely brutal. All right, let's go to the running back position. And which Hall of Fame are you gonna give us this week? I'm not going to give you. You're not going to Frank Gore. Maybe. Wait, Tom Brady is on waivers and almost all leagues, so I'm gonna look that up as we speak now. Anyway,

I'm going with Miles Gaskin. Here we go now, we're talking. Yeah, he's only a rostered about ten percent of leagues. Uh. The thing I like about him is he played twenty five past players last week for the Dolphins, and the Dolphins are going to be behind my Buffalo and h Howard and Brada combined for eight past plays, which is a little shocking. Howard did get the goal line looks, but Gaskin played thirty nine snaps braid of fourteen Howard nine.

It's clearly Gaskin's job. All that offseason high all that training camp hype about Gaskin has figured it out. Apparently they believe it, and they're going to have him in there. They'll be behind. He'll get a lot of the work I got him as a secret I think that sounds about right. All right, Matt, who's your take a chance of me running back? I got magical Hall of Famer Lord Frank Gordemort there it is he who shall not retire, much like Lord Voldemort. The Frank Gore revenge to her continues.

It was Buffalo last week, now San Francisco where it all began, as Frank Gore's name back then was Tom Riddle. Last week. Yeah, you haven't read Harry Potter. Have you this is gonna be Harry Potter theme. Just justick back and relax. Okay, yeah, that's right. Last week Gore had six carries, the same amount of attempts that Lord Voldemort tad on Harry Potter's life. After his head coach Adam Wormtail Gaze has again cleared the way for the return

of Gore. He placed lavy On bell On I r using the Cruciati's curse on him and leaving him in pain, while the Michael Perrine still nursing a sore ankle and visiting Mungo's Hospital for magical maladies. The only other runner on the roster is the newly signed Klin Bolage, who is definitely the Professor Quarrel of fantasy football. He failed a physical with the Jets only two weeks ago, negating a trade. He'll now unless he did, and now he's here.

Last week, the Cardinals ran the ball against the Niners twenty two times for just under four yards a clip, and added another five receptions for their backs. Over the last seventeen games, the Niners have allowed nineteen carries per game. Those are pretty much all going to Gore. He's gonna get all the work. His wand has a phoenix feather, and his hore cruxes are spread all across the land. Go get him, Go get him. I take a chance on me. Which which house with Frank Gourbion? Is he

a well, he's certainly Slytherin. Oh yeah, isn't Slytherin where the bad guys are? He's Lord Frank gordonmart He shall not retire. Okay, got it? Uh My running back is j D. Mcsuck itt used a huffle poff, That's what he is. I did not think it would come to this. I really didn't. But this is a unique opportunity, and I really hope that we're not talking about him down the road. Which Washington players saw the most snaps at running back last week? J D. McK sucket. No, it

was not Peyton Barber. It was not Antonio Gibson or Adrian Adrian Peterson or Clinton Portis or John Riggins Terry Allen. Um. Cardinals allowed the seventh most receptions and receiving yards to opposing running backs last season, and they just allowed the forty Niners running backs to catch one hundred sixty two yards in passes and two touchdowns it's a great opportunity for him now taking over the Chris Thompson role for the Washington football team. So Jad McKissick might take a

chance of me running back. Let's go to the receivers, Scott. All right, So I picked this guy once last year and he blew up that game. So I'm gonna go out back to the I'm gonna go back to the well with Michael Thomas out. Do you think it's fair to assume that tray Kuan Smith gets at least three targets? Yes, he has twelve career games with three targets twelve games. Alright. In those twelve games, he has eight touchdowns. Wow, it's pretty good. That's really good. Alright, Just feed him, yeah,

ust feed him. So he's gonna take a chance on me player. With Michael Thomas out, he's going to get three, four or five, six whatever targets on Monday night. And it's not like the Raiders are gonna offer a whole lot of you know, past defense against him either. Alright, Matt, who is your take a chance on me receiver? I need some pronunciation helped charge Marquis Valdi's scantalini. No Marquez Valdez scantling. I just like the way you said Marquees

Valdez Scantling. Uh it was him, not Ellen Lazard, who was the second amongst the Packers wide outs in targets and yardage. Last week. He finished with ninety six yards in a score, including a forty six yarder on on a very bad Viking secondary of the Packers are yards went his way, and it should be noted that he had about a sixty one yard touchdown pass that fell out of his mits and another ten yard dropped past the Lions secondary. Is the way to make to drop

past sound like a good thing. Hey, it's seventy more yards right there that he just left on the table if he could catch. He went back to practice this week. I know he did. The Lion's secondary is worse in worse shape than the Vikings are. And uh just I mean, look happy Trombone ski let a fourth quarter come back where he looked like Joe Montana with Justin Coleman, who has just sent to I R. And Desmond Trufefont is

also out. Jeff Okuda's making his first start and he's gonna shadow Davante Adams in all likelihood leaving MVS with a combo of Armani or wari A and newly signed off the Cardinals practice squad Chris Jones. Okay, might take a chance of receivers to tight end. A lot of people need tight ends. There are several tight ends that have underperformed or are now out. George Kettle, George Kittle. So many tight ends injured that Goddard's probably gonna be

a tough probably will be. How about now, in fairness, you can say where was this last week? Chart Logan Thomas to be offball team. Logan Thomas is a converted quarter back turned athletic tight end, and in the opener he was targeted eight times and was second only to Terry mclaurina among Washington receivers and yards. He's um, he's tall,

he's fast, he's athletic. The Cardinals had the worst tight end defense in history last year, and Kittle, George Kittle last week against the Cardinals was on his way to a good game before he got injured. So we'll try Logan Thomas. He does have some tight end history. He was a tough five tight end coming out of high school and then Virginia Tech. Converted him into a quarterback, which apparently so much Michael Vicken exactly. Let's go to our next matchup, which is Carolina taking on take a

chance on me quarterback Tom Brady. What do you like from the Carolina offense? If anybody including this is a sneaky game and sneaky tough game for Christian McCaffrey. Yeah. I don't even know what to call it, but this is the TV versus TV in TV Bowl. Oh that's good. I like that TP three. We'll call it TV three of three. There there it is let us here against Tampa Bay. Bridgewater had four touchdowns and three fourteen yards. Did you know that that's a way different team in

a way different offense. So the Bucks defense is supposedly improved this year. It seems like it's hard to tell based on the Saints rolling them up, but they do have a tough run defense. Um, Teddy isn't gonna throw more than thirty attempts once again here, so I still have him on the bench. Uh. I am putting DJ more in though, despite having a bigger Fantasy day. Uh. Robbie Anderson. Anderson played less snaps and was out targeted

by D j Moore. He was still the main guy, big play for Anderson's game, and the Bucks didn't give up any of those last week, and they didn't give up a lot of those last year. So more is the safer bet for me. C grade there. I'm putting the rest of the receiving game on the bench. That's the only part I can trust of it. Christian McCaffrey, I'm still giving him an A grade, even though it's a tough matchup against a great Tampa Bay defense. I just think his asking game work, which Tampa Bay has

been known to allow, is gonna get him there. So I still have the A grade on Christian McCaffrey. I think it's I think it's just look, Tampa is just an impossibly good run defense, and you you know, you're you're just you're hoping for touchdowns or air yards, all right. On the other side, we already talked about Brady Godwin. It sounds like he's going to be out. He's still in the protocol, he's practicing limited. Bruce arians calls him doubtful.

Let's assume he's out. That would put Justin Watson in the slot. You know, Brady and him don't quite have the connection that he has with Evans, who is now fully practicing and healthy, and Dante Jackson is going to be out for Carolina. The whole receiving game is gonna get some upgrades. I'm giving Evans a being. I'm giving Scotty Miller a C grade, who has had that drum beat since the off season with Tom Brady, and it showed last week with what Steven targets. Uh, So I'm

giving him a C grade. Howard and Gronk I just don't know how to trust at this point, so I have them on the bench. I just have him on the bench. Gronk outs towered by nearly twice and he was fifty four to thirty something. So Gronk, it did seem Gronk was on the field. People are dropping Gronk outright. He just didn't hit the targets. But it was one week his first game back after missing a year. That seems like an overreaction to me. Yeah, alright, isn't week

one just full of overreactions? Right now? That's kind of what we did the run game. I have an A grade on Ronald Jones and a C grade on Leonard Fournette and let me let me explain this. How do you get to a C grade on a guy who's on the field of the Snaps last week. I think I think he was I think he was rusty. He had only been there three days. He's going to have

a full another week. And I think there's a lot, a lot of touches to be had here because and this is a stat from Mike teg Lean Fantasy Pross, I'm just gonna, you know, credit where credits due. The lowest amount of touches running back Scott against the against the Panthers last year, twenty nine. They're so bad. There's gonna be thirty touches here, four running backs, and Leonard Fournette is probably gonna see ten, twelve, fifteen of those, and Ronald Jones will be in the twenty five range

or whatever. So I'm giving an aid to Jones and I'm giving the seat of four net. It makes sense. You know, this is a team that Panthers giving ghost rushing touchdowns last year, and they gave up three to Josh Jacob last week. Unbelievable touches they give her. San Francisco takes on the Jets Matt and for San Francisco with all the problems I've had with their receivers, are shuffling the deck for Jimmy Garoppolo again. George Kittle is out,

Brandon Ayuk expected to make his NFL debut. What are your prospects for the passing game for the forty Niners and Jimmy Garoppolo? Not good, Bob, I'm only getting we're talking to But okay, I've only given Jimmy Garoppolo a C grade. Uh. And they did give up the most fantasy points to a quarterback last week. Is Josh Allen did his thing. They also had the eighth most passing attempts against them last year because they have a good run defense, bad past defense. Problem is almost all the

receivers are hurt. Uh. Brandon Aiyuk looks like he's gonna play like you mentioned, but Kendrick Borne and Trent Taylor led the Niners wide receivers last week with five targets and two catches a piece. That's not good. And George Kittle is out, which means Jordan's red. It's it's just girls he's got. I think Jordan Reid is a sneaky play here. We don't know the Cattles out. He's out them out. Um. The Niners did sign Mohammed Sanu on Tuesday,

Daddy Mohammed Sanu that Um. Yeah, So anyway, I think what he targets in this game, what Garoppolo targets is the running backs. That's why I'm giving Raheem most to see. You said, there's the targets running back. Yeah, but Jerick McKinnon and Tevin Coleman are getting a little bit more passing work, so they're kind of desperation plays. I just don't like this game at all. From from any standpoint, It's the opposite of Atlanta Dallas. It's a game no

stack here except for Frank Gore of course. Uh. Most are did get two thirds of the rushing attempts last week. That's nearing Belkhouse status. Um. The Jags gave up the ninth most receptions to running back. Sorry, the Jets gave up the ninth most receptions to running backs last year, and Zack Moss and Devin Singletary combined for eight catches thirty nine and a score through the air. But Jerick McKinnon was heavily involved had six touches last week. Kevin

Coleman's heavily involved. I'm just remembering are running for seventy yards touchdown reception you can give raheems to be. The Jets are still a very good The one thing they do is an organization top to bottom. Well, stop the run. Yeah, that's it. So most of it's my favorite play on the Niners. And and that's really about it. I don't even like Garoppolo that much on the Jet side. Frank Gore's might take a chance on me. Runner Sam Donald,

I have him on the bench. The Niners only allowed two thirty yards and a score through the air to Kyler Murray last week. Kyler put up good numbers, but it was on the ground. And if you believe Sam Donald can really run like Murray, which I don't. Uh, the Niners do have trouble dealing with running quarterbacks. But Donald was only topped eleven rushing yards twice in his care here, so no, that's not happening. Jamison Crowder injured his hamstring on Wednesdays. He's out. I got Brashad Peerman

as a c because Crowder is not going. They don't have anybody else to throw to. Denezel Mims, Chris Hogan and Chris Herndon are the other. This week, Richard Sherman did just hit I R and his backup a Kello Witherspoon is in the concussion protocol. That kind of opens things for Breshad Pereman. Um DeAndre Hopkins from the outside last week had four teen catches for hundred and fifty one yards, so Pereman might be in line for one

of those just high volume. Jamison Crowder like games. He's a good dart throw in daily, but I got herned in on the bench over the last year and a game. The Niners are only allowing thirty three yards per game to the tight end position. That's not enough to get get it done. Not good, but I just think there's volume. Herndon finds his way to a decent game here. It could be. This is just a gross game, and I

spent too much time on it, so please take it away. Well, I will take it away and we'll take it into break. When we come back. We'll talk about the two most disappointing teams from week one, and they face each other, the Vikings and the Colts. Both defenses looking very exploitable. There's a lot of fantasy opportunity with these two teams. Will tell you who you can start and who you have to bench when we return to Fantasy Football Weekly.

And also a reminder, if you want all of my player rankings available for free, go to Guillotine leagues dot com, Gayteine leagues dot com. All of my player rankings are there for free. We'll be back in moments. Welcome back. It's Fantasy Football Weekly. Fault charch and from gaytein dot com. Matt Harrison shocked Fantasy Scott Fish with you. It's time to dive back into some matchups, including the Vikings and the Colts. On the Viking side of the ball, Kirk

Cousins was might take a chance on me quarterback. I like him with a B grade this week, and I love Adam feeling. He's about all they've gotten the passing game. He drew thirty two percent of Kirk cousins targets in the first game without Stefon Diggs, and I think that

holds here as well. He's got an extremely favorable matchup against cornerback Rock yah Sin, who has been one of the worst starting cornerbacks since being drafted last year, allowing nearly seventy of his passes in his coverage to be completed. I like feeling a lot a great I also loved that song in the eighties by Falco rock Me Ah Yass and Davis. Yeah, Yeah, that was the one. You really stretched it out and did a good job. Thank

thank you trying to work on that. If we won't start any other parts of the Vikings passing game, let's go to Dalvin Cook, who gets a B grade. Cook's rushing should contribute to eight decent but not explosive outing against a surprisingly good Indie run defense. Last week, undrafted nobody James Robinson produced a couple of good runs early, but then he tapped out at sixty three yards. Only Derrick Henry has hit one hundred rushing yards against Indy

since Week fifteen of two thousand seventeen. Is a good This is a sneaky good run defense. But no team has given up more receptions to opposing running backs since the beginning of last year than the Colts. And I think Cook could finally get himself to god not finally, but get himself to a good again against it through the air. Alexander Madison is on the bench, even though he had a very nice game last week, but again,

I think this is a much tougher run defense. Let's go to the indie side, where Michael Pittman is likely out, Jack Doyle out, Trey Burton out. This whole passing offense is gonna flow through t Y Hilton and Paris Campbell and the backs, and I like those guys a lot. Let's start with t Y Hilton, who faces a rebuilt

secondary that allowed four wide receiver touchdowns last week. He'll most often see rookie cornerback Cameron Danzler, or would have, but Dandlers have been ruled out of this game game, so that means they got to force a less ready rookie Jeff Gladden ee into duty for her his first NFL start against t Y Hilton A grade. T Y Hilton also borderline A grade, but technically be for Paris Campbell. Sounds like you need something in between those two grades,

but there is nothing between those two grades. Paris Campbell, by premature speculation player last week, ended up leading the team in targets, receptions, and receiving yards last week. He runs almost exclusively from the slot, where he will see Mike Hughes most commonly Hughes last year was bad. They thought he might be better year off the A c L. No, he was a disaster last week. All six of the targets thrown in his coverage last week were complete and

he gave up a touchdown. I love Paris Campbell this week, and he is available in many leagues. When we go to the running Oh well, let's stay with the passing game in Philip Rivers, who played like garbage last week. But the Vikings pass defense was even worse. They gave up forty three points, thirty one first downs, five or twenty two yards last week. Rivers and his two receivers I think are going to do very very well. All right, Next, let's go to the running game. Jonathan Taylor gets an

A grade with Marlon mack out. He'll be the starter. He's going to get most of the work and he will catch passes as well. The rebuilt Vikings run defense was inconsistent last week. They gave up five yards per carrying one hundred yards to the three Green Bay runners. I think Taylor gets plenty of work and we'll get near the five yards per carry and near the one hundred yards. Niheem Hines was a surprise Fantasy star last

week with a couple of touchdowns. He gets a few more targets here, but the Vikings have been awesome against pass catching backs. In their last twenty one games, the Vikings have allowed only one runner to catch five or more passes. Even last week when the Vikings gave up, gave up the five or twenty two yards only thirty seven. We're through the air two Packers running backs. So just the C grade a Nahime hind All right, let's go to our next matchup, which is Denver taking on the

Pittsburgh Steelers. Scott. Yeah, so I'm gonna start on the Denver side in the passing game. Here, I have Drew Lock on the bench against a really good Pets Pittsburgh defense and especially secondary. Did you know they held eleven quarterbacks under two hundred yards last year. That's a lot. That's it's not very many yards. I think. I think that's where we're looking for Drew Lock, especially if Sutton

doesn't play. I'm actually gonna go at this if as long as assuming Sutton does not go, uh even if he does go, he's gonna face off against Joe Hayden. So well that the Joe. He's not the Iron had anymore. He's not. He's not. He's still good, but he's not. He's not what he was. Yeah, he's not the name he was. I guess I don't know, Uh, Jerry Judy. Uh. If Sutton doesn't go, I'm giving him a C grade. Runs most of his routes from the slot, which should be is this spot where he can some hey against

the Pittsburgh secondary. But it's mostly about his snap percentage and the amount of targets he's going to see if Sudden sets out nose, same deal. Give him a C grade. I considered a be but they really held down have an ingram last week. Fant leads the tight ends in yards after the catch per reception, a stat he leading tight ends last year and which I thought he looked awesome on Monday night. By the way, you know who was number two last year in yards after the catch?

John Oh Smith? Of course he was. Of course, of course it was John Smith. Why did you guess somebody else? I don't know what was I think yards after the catch per reception? Uh? So C grade on Fant. I'm given a C grade on Gordon even though they just held se Quon Barkley to six yards just because Lindsay's out, Gordon's going to be out there all the time, and he's He's not bad in the passing game. He's averaged over eight yards per reception three times in his career.

He's are three seasons in his career. What do you think about Royce dropped the piano Freeman. I don't think he's getting get enough volume against the very stingy defense, especially with the piano in his hands. In piano will get harder, yes, yeah. On the other side, I'm giving Big ben an a Uh. He's in a really decent spot this year. He looked to rusty at first, but it came together later. He's got all his all his weapons. Von Miller's out as we know from before the season,

so that that pass rush isn't there. They only sack tan Hill once last week. Uh and uh A J. Bowie boy, you might be out. Yeah yeah, wow, I'm not. I'm giving you do bj do juju. The connections the thing, it's the thing. Uh. Denver shutdown A J. Brown last week. I understand that, which could be good for Deonte Johnson who had ten targets and what would be the Corey David's role is. So I like Deonte Johnson, I do. I. I actually gave them both B grades, but I have

Deonte Johnson with the slightly higher grade. Juju didn't have a lot of yards, but he got those touchdowns. Deonte might get the volume. I have James Washington on the bench and Chase Claypool who they call Did you hear his nickname? The Juju said it in the press conference. They called him Maple Trod because he's from Canada. On Maple Trod, that's pretty good. Yeah, I like that. And by the way, you see that awesome catch he had down the right side and a man and he made

those in college. To this kid is not a fluke, no man. Steelers are so good speculative ad right there. If he's available, and yeah, but I don't know if he's available in Dynasty League. They split they split the wide receiver three snaps, so they're they're out. Ebrons on the bench for me too. He didn't do anything last week, too, May Miles to feed uh. This week Connor is completely in Uh. He is going to play, so he and

snell Man. Broncos were top five against running backs fantasy points allowed, but allowed the fifth most Russian attempts, which means they give up a lot of Russian attempts. Uh. Derrick Henry same thing last week, a lot of Russian attempts, and that allowed him to go over a hundred. Connor is the better back in the passing games. So I gave Connor the C grade and I have smelled on the bench and it's going to be a We're gonna talk more about those two next segments. All right, I'll

find out that's it for that matchup. I believe that is it? All right? Um, very very briefly, do you guys believe the Browns we saw on Thursday night is the real Browns somewhere in the middle between their two games? The easy answer isn't it. That's you know what that schedule is, so it see a lot. We're gonna see a lot of that Thursday Night Brown's team. I think we might check in a few. You only get to

play the Bengals so many times a year. The other time the like five more weeks, they're gonna look great. And that other game we like him there too. Uh. We'll be back for more Fantasy Football Weekly in moments to be sure to stay tuned. Do you welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly? This is a segment we like to call three tough Questions. I will pepper my co host with three questions. They will try to answer them as

best they can. See if they can go three and oh, you can do the same thing, play along at home or in your car, but keep your hands on the wheel. So you pepper us with questions and we try to scraps it together. See what I did. They're very good. I like that little inside joke. Yeah, are you feeling salty? Sure about that? Yeah? Getting your answers with Relish? All right, what is the appropriate level of concern for Austin Ekeler owners? None? Some?

Or a bowl loosening level of existential dread? Scott, It's really unfair to ask that Josh Kelly question to me. That's excuse me. Uh So, I guess I'll say some. Kelly is really good and it's impossible to watch him in week one and not realize that that he just looked that good. Um. Once they got inside the ten, Kelly had three of the team's four carries inside the ten. Uh he's the bigger back, He's probably gonna be the goal line back. Here's what's crazy about this. Kelly only

played eighteen snaps to Ekeler's fifty. They made the most of those. Yeah, but Kelly got sixty yards on that small, small samp count snap count, and he got four over four years, four yards after content contact, where Eckler only got about two yards after contact. Uh, he's gonna see increasing loads throughout the season. So I'm gonna say some answer some matt on. It's Week one, it's Austin Ekeler.

We know Austin Ekeler is good. Austin Ekeler had Melvin Gordon on his team last year and still finished as the number seven back in Fantasy football. One of the common themes in Week one, though, was split backfields, as it was each player's first taste of real action this season. So are we dropping Aaron Jones who only had fifty pent of the snaps, or are we dropping Chris Carson or Todd Gurley who had less than half the snap

who recommend there there's there's a steam. Not not sure that's what dropping to the free agents head Eckler snuck one touchdown in last week. We wouldn't even be talking about this at all. You shut up. Me and Brian had this over Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams now me and you're gonna know by the way you do not love him. People talking about sabotage dropping players. I love that the sabotage drop is be just because everybody knows it now, which is fantastic. But we're not executing sabotage

drops in September. The sabotage drop is guillot and league. While that is true, it's a little you can you can pull it off there, all right. What is the appropriate level of concern for Austin Elin Ekeler owners The answer is some. He is a very good player still and he's not gonna lose his job, But everything else is bad news. First, his offense look bad and was unable to produce many points against the same Bengals defense

that the Browns just destroyed. Team lost their starting center, Mike pouncey um, and we had hoped that with Melvin Gordon gone, that Eckler's role would expand into Melvin Gordon's. But no, it's Josh Kelly that is not only taking over the Melvin Gordon role but might be better than Melvin Gordon. So there is some concern here, but not a bowl loosening level of existential drive and my bowels can stay good. Yeah, should Michael Thomas owners trade now

or stand Pat Scott? Wait? Wait wa, well that again. I'm going back to Scott. He had better answers again, it only happens. I have a feeling I'm going to get this one one wrong, though, But I feel like trading Michael Thomas at this point would be selling low. We don't know exactly how long he's going to be out. I think even the worst case scenario is probably he'll be back for week seven. After the week six by

uh my my. My theory on this is you stand Pad because then you get him for the end of the season and you can pick up guys on the waiver wear like this Paris Campbell guy last week. You know, like you can pick up guys like this. If somebody were to have recommended Paris, yeah, during the church speculation, yes,

you would have known. They All they have to do is listen to our sage advice for wide receivers to pick up weekly to to fill the five week up, and then they have Michael Thomas for the Ford if you trust us. If you don't trust us, Matt Glad you're still listening and Michael Thomas owners trade now our stand pad people have decided I don't trust you anymore. I'm shutting this show off. UM, I know you think it's BS charge, but they're talking about him still possibly

playing on Monday night. It is a Monday night game, so you're not going to start him this week. But he is going to Las Vegas this weekend. And Vegas, Baby, they have the best spas in the world. Plus they have oxygen bars, shrimp Cocktail, the Blue Man Group, all of which are clinically proven to heel high ankle sprains. So there's no way I'm gonna overreact on Michael Thomas right now, considering he's going to be completely healed by

Tuesday morning. This could go either way. High ankle sprains are the worst injury for fantasy players, But the people don't normally go to Vegas. That's a great Um, you're often better off just having a player like Tears a c L. So he's out and you just know he's out, and you know he can't depend on him, and you can start making other plans. The high ankle sprain is frustrating because every week it's a game time decision. And then if the player does play on the high ankle sprain,

now he plays poorly on the highnkle sprain. It happens all the time, and it doesn't heal while you're playing on it. So now you've got now the next week it's not right, and the next week it's not right. See also say Kwon Barkley from last year, Now he could rest it, and really, your best case scenario for Michael Thomas, the best possible thing can happen is he does not play for two or three weeks and comes back fully healthy. In that case, the best possible scenario

is they I are him, Yeah they are three. I agree, I are him, and then I can even just stash him on I all that can replace him. Maybe that would be perfect in my mind, but that doesn't here to be what they're going to do. They're gonna play this thing out and play some games with them. And what happens if he needs to miss Highchael sprains a three to five week injury. What if he needs to miss four weeks on this thing? And it sounds like

it's a bad one. What if it's four weeks now, it's week five and they're looking at a week six by that means he comes back in week seven. This there's a non zero chance Michael Thomas either does not play until week seven or plays hobbled and ineffectively through two weeks seven. I don't like any of those scenarios. I think you can still trade for him for a

good player. I bet if you offered him for, say Amari Cooper, that's you're gonna get that level of talent back for Michael Thomas because of the name recognition, And that's why we are trading Michael Thomas. Can I have a counterpoint here? Fine, he only runs four yards down field? One? At what point will Benny now emerges the Steelers workhorse back?

Never mid season or he already is the workhorse back? Scott, Come on, I am going mid season because I do think James Connor just he has injuries every week and they're always different injuries. And Benny Snell looked pretty good all that off season hype was real. He looked better than Connor when when he was out there. But I don't think that they're giving up on Connor yet. That's why I gave Connor the C grade this week with

the passing down work. But I think by mid season we're gonna see Benny Snell turn into the one A of that and if there's an injury, he's the workhorse. Alright. Matt uh Scott took most of the wind out of my sales, but I'll disagree with him on one point. It's not gonna be a one A, one B situation. That's not Mike Tomlin's way. Benny Snell takes this job. It's Benny Snells the role with so is that never mid season or he already is the work is the workhorse back. Now you are correct, and you hit a

vy salient point. Mike Tomlin has always loved his workhorse backs. Lavy on Bell before that, Richard menden Hall before that, Willie Parker, all guys that were workhorse backs for that for for Mike Tomlin. And that's the way he wants to go with us. And as pig headed as Mike Tomlin has been about trying to make James Conner into a workhorse, by now he's got to know James Conner can't be a workhorse back. It's so obvious, and they've got to know that Benny Snell looks better than James Conner.

The only thing I have with it is Benny still has like between college and the pros, like career catches, like all those other backs he listed could catch the ball. Benny Snell doesn't matter. He's going to already is and it's going to start this week, even with James Conner back. You watch Benny Snell, it's gonna have more carry there. It is already the lead back. This is James Conner's final year in Pittsburgh's contract runs out. They're they're moving

on to Benny Snell right now. James Connor will probably get reinjured. So the game Detroit takes on green Bay. Adrian Peterson surprise star for the Lions last week. What do you think about the running game for the Lions against a pretty bad run defense for Green Bay? Matt Um Well, the run defense, I don't know if it's pretty bad or if they were just playing pre event. Run defense were terrible last year, and Dalvin Cook had

a good game. He had a good game, but it was all in like, hey, we're gonna back off fifteen yards and hope you don't beat us for a quick touchdown. I will mention that defensive tackle Kenny Clark left the game last week with a groin injury, and when the Vikings were still kind of in the game, they started running the rock right up the middle where Kenny Clark usually said. Clark has been ruled out for this week. Yeah, so I think that that plays well for Adrian Peterson

gets the A gap and B gap runs. Um, I'm giving both DeAndre Swift and Adrian Peterson C grades this week for that only only are all that lead up. I mean, yeah, they're gonna split carries and carry on. Johnson is gonna get of the snaps and it's gonna be annoying. So let's talk about Swift for just a second. Yeah, Um, I like Peterson better than you do, but that's not the Swift. So Swift drops the game winning touchdown pass, he sure did. He's in his first start as a rookie.

I think they're gonna make go out of their way to give Swift opportunities to get confidence back and make sure he gets the ball in high percentage spots so that he can You know this, this this game losing catch of his doesn't weigh on him too much. You know what the problem is with that, though, Church. I think the game script is gonna get out of control for Detroit. Their def about firable and they might have to abandon the running game. That's why they're only sees.

Matthew Stafford. I'm giving him a SE grade. It could be a b uh. In last year's meeting with Mike Petton's defense, Stafford only managed two scoreless yards. The Packers defense allowed less than two fifty per game last year, just over one passing score per game, and with Golladay likely out, it just looks bad and I think gets to see uh t J. Hockenson. I am giving a C grade to only five targets last week, which is

a bit disappointing considering Golladay's absence. He did catch all five of them for fifty six yards in a score though, and the Packers have allowed five tight end receptions for fifty six yards over their past seven team games, so it seems like it's gonna work out. Let's talk about the wide receivers. Golladay not gonna go again this week with the hamstring injury, Marvin Jones and Quintez c Fess.

I'm giving them both C grades this week. Fifth rounder c Fis led the team with ten targets last week, and I guess it counts as a homecoming of sorts since he attended Wisconsin, so homecoming game. Uh for the deep throwing stafford. It's notable that Cifas had thirty five percent of the area yards against Chicago last week, and that should keep up until Golladay returns. Jones has scored four times in his last four meetings with the Packers.

He put up a few clunkers in their two for seventeen and one catch for eight yards in a score in two of those four games. I like him a lot less with Coliday off the field. I like my Marvin Jones to be the second most important receiver on the field to draw the best coverage away from him. Yeah, I think that that's true. Over on the Packers side, Aaron Jones, I'm giving him a B. He only saw the field on his Packers snaps last week, compared to forty one for Jamal Williams. Well A. J. Dillon and

Philip Irvin were mixed in. What this tells me is that this is a split backfield, and while the stats were still good, it's still troubling for those rostering Jones that he's getting just over half of the snaps. Now. He did get twenty touches last game, and I expect a similar game script for this game. It's just gonna be really hard for me to go better than a be on him the rest of the season. Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams getting a grade. If you thought the

Vikings secondary is bad, look up the Lions. It's worse. Um since Matt Patricia has become the coach of the Lions. Aaron Rodgers is averaging nine yards per game against the Lions, and Adams has topped ninety yards and scored in every matchup against Matt Patricia's Lions defense, and all banged up with the injuries in that secondary, it's a great opportunity for Aaron Jones. I did highlight Marquez Valdez scantling as might take a chance on me, but Allen Lazard startable

to um. Lazard top sixty yards and scored in both meetings with the Lions last season, and everything I said about MVS applies to Allen Lazard as well. Just saying somebody's take a chance of me wide receiver Alan Lazard from last year last week. If you would have done Marquees Veldez Scantling last week, I would have given you a double peacock. Thank you. I can give myself a double peacock. Whington takes on Arizona and already already mentioned a couple of players I like. On the Washington side

of this. Logan Thomas was might take a chance of me. Receiver j D. Mcsuckett was my take a chance of me running back. I've had a C grade on Peyton Barber, who's basically now like Garrett Blunt on a worst team. He's touched totally touchdown dependent Arizona, Arizona's run defense Garret on a worst team. Arizona's run defense performed pretty well against the forty nine yer Backs last week, which is no small feet because that's a very good running team.

Um Barbara found the end zone against the Cardinals last season on a great for him three point nine yards per carry. I think in a pinch you could start him and just keep your fingers crossed for the touchdown. But that's all you're gonna get. The only receiver you care about for Washington outside of Logan Thomas is Terry McLaurin. Yes, McClure,

nicely done. He's supposed at least fifty yards already touchdown every time he has seen at least seven targets, which is very likely to continue to continue in this game. McLaren runs predominantly from the left side of the field, which puts him on Drake Kirkpatrick, who, yes, he's still in the league. Dray Kirkpatrick that, yeah, you may hit for good reason with a very positive matchup for him. Be great for Terry McLaurin. Let's go to the Arizona side.

DeAndre Hopkins is an obvious A grade. We'll just keep moving on with other parts of the passing game, including Kyler Murray also in a grade. That improvisational running of his is your your game winning wild card every week, and he's gonna be tough to bench regardless of opponent, especially considering what he just did to the awesome Niners defense last week. Last year, Washington allowed the fifth most quarterback rushing yards. His arms gonna chip in some help

against the bad Washington secondary cornerbacks. Ronald Darby, Jimmy Moreland, and Fabian Moreau are all bottom tier talents, and DeAndre Hopkins alone could power Kyler Murray to a very good game. I like it when you think that some cornerbacks are bad. Your voice changes this a little bit. It's Fabian Moreau. We got to emphasize how bad they are. Christian Kirk

gets a C grade after zero receptions last week. I think they I believe that they'll actively work to get Christen Kirk more involved to get the ball in his hands in this game, somewhere between him and DeAndre Hoppy, somewhere between the two. That's right. Um. He runs overwhelmingly from the right side of the field, where Kirk will match up with Ronald Darby, which is a very plus matchup for him. Darby brutal last year and last week he gave up eighty one yards in his coverage last week.

Dan Arnold with a C grade. Where's Brian? Where is Brian? He got rocked, but Washington got rocked by the Eagles tight ends last week, so we're gonna give a flyer Dan Arnold here as well. In the running game, Kenyan Drake it's a B did not do much last week, but it was against a very good Niners run defense. Fortunately, he's averaging nineteen touches per game since he's been a Cardinal, so you know the volume is going to be there.

But which Washington defense will he see? Will he see last year's defense that was extremely leaky and allowed the third most fantasy points back? Where is he gonna get the version from last week that limited Philadelphia's backs to a total of seventy six yards air and ground. The Eagle's offensive line is incredibly beat up, so I'm not

totally sold on this. Clearly the Red Sorry, the Washington football team a better helmets, the Red Helmets, better team, a better defense this year, but not so much that I think you'll want to be starting or want to assume that they're automatically as good as they looked last week. Kenyan Drake, it's the B grade. I'm putting Chase Edmonds on the bench. I know he's scared a touchdown last week, but he's only on the field for one third of the snaps and it's just the eight touches are just

not enough to be fantasy reliable. I keep an eye on him. I think that he's gonna eat more into Kenyan Drake's workload. As this season wears, it could very well be where now he's a good player. He's a good player. When we come back, Buffalo taking on Miami, Zack Moss. Baby, here about the greatness that's about to be unleashed on the hapless Dolphins when we returned to Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul church In,

Scott Fish and Matt Harrison with you. If you want to try the freshest new format in fantasy sports, it's Guillotine leagues. Seventeen teams start the season. Well, now sixteen teams start play because we've had one one week go. The low scoring team each week gets cut and all of their players go to the waiver wire, where pandemonium ensues. Last week, for example, Derrick Henry on the waiver wire

in twelve percent of Guillotine leagues. If you're one of those, you had a chance to bid on Derrick Henry, add him into your into the mix. Any player with a any big name player with a down week is a prospect. We had Kittle, Miles Sanders, and DJ Chark available in our leagues. That's some fun bidding of those guys. Absolutely Guillotine Leagues dot Com. We encourage you to check that out. Let's go back to our matchups, including Buffalo taking on

Miami and Scott. If you say anything bad about Zach Moss, you can just leave now Scott back. Oh, come back, Okay, Okay, I'll come back. Uh. Josh Allen threw the ball a lot last week. I think I think that if we are doing year thirty six of Fancy Football Weekly, where in this room still talking about Jack Boss, Josh Allen's six attempts might still beet his career high. I think that I think that that's possible. Um, he not just his first three yard game, which I was surprised by,

I mean not super surprised. But the thing is he's playing Miami. Who Cam Newton just made the blueprint right of how to play against Miami. Just run the ball fifteen times for seventy five yards, only throwout nineteen times. Allen's like, that's me. You just did what I normally do. So I I gave Allen an a grade because I think I think he think he gets a lot of rushing yards and maybe some goal line carries because he's

their goal line back. I think we need to start talking about Josh Allen as a top three dynasty quarterback. He's already top six, so I mean, like going into this season, he was already like six or whatever there with the Momes and the Jacksons. Almost now I'm not quite there yet either, but I mean, if he starts passing for three yards along with the Russian, then he's

his main guy. Digs I'm given a C grade to even though it is a mean Howard is back and healthy and uh he's been digged up with a knee injury. Only played snaps last week, which isn't very much, but it sounds like he's going to be, you know, a bigger participant this week. I just think that Digs in Brown both get the C grades. They both should just get just get enough work to be startable, and you're not.

You're probably not benched him anyway, not against not against Miami. Yeah, Beasley, He's going to be the odd man out of snaps. Alan's not going to throw that much. I have SEA grades on both Singletary and Moss were going to him. Stop it? Yeah, why did you mislead our list? Like the snapshare shows a clear advantage for Singletary, you got more pass game work, but Moss took everything once they got down close, and oh man, I I was very mad. Zack Moss was wide open for a second touchdown and

I yelled at the screen yep. And that's why I do like Moss, because he's got that t D upside. But you don't like him enough to get him a better grades. Is there something better than a C? But maybe maybe not quite a beat like C prime. If if Singletary got less snaps and less work between the twenties last last week, I would probably have Moss ranked higher. I just I don't know what to trust yet, so I gave him both C grades. On the Miami side,

I'm benching almost everything. Parker is sounding like he's going to be out. If he's out, my boy Preston Williams gets travious white. I hate that matchup. So I got him on the bench. Kasecky, we talked about this, that it might be the breakout I mean a bounce back. I mean him. Yeah, seven targets last week for the tight end playing against Buffalo, there's a opportunity. I gave him a C grade. He only had eight catches for fifty nine yards in two games last year, which which

was rough. But you know, if if Parker is out Kaseki, I'm giving him a se grete he could he could get the work on Gaskin was my take a chance on me player. Clearly I don't like Fits. You know how many touchdown Fits had it against the Bills last year in two games too, That's it. I got that on the bench. Yeah. Too bad about Devonte Parker. Yeah, I mean, you know, all you know for all the you know, the way I finished last year was hopefully rolling with the momentum this year, that's not going to

be the case. Jacksonville takes on Tennessee Matt and Gardner Minshew through one in completion last week. That's pretty good. That's really really good in three touchdowns and you know me, I love Gardner Minshew, you do. He's on the bench. Um, he met these types last year and managed two d four yards and two scores. Drew lock put up to sixteen and one last week. It feels about right for

two is just above two. By the way, he only had three in completions twenty two twenty five week one last year, so maybe he's just a week one guy that he's a j Clemens Week one original um considering Minshew was sacked on four of his twenty four dropbacks last week. That offensive line is bad and they have the lowest implied Vegas point total of only sixteen and a half this week. I'm just benching this offense, including

DJ Chark, who only had three targets last week. And while it's clear he to us he's the best wide receiver on the team, well, yeah, because he is the best WI, it's not clear to the Jaguars for some reason, who are rotating five wide receivers on a pretty even rotation. Now, Chark got the most. He was on the field for of the snaps, but why is he off the field? That's pretty normal or any for any top receiver. I

will say. I will say I I heard that they were moving Laviska around a lot to make mismatches and that's why he was so involved last week. But who knows that they might do that, you know throughout the season. Speaking of Chennault, he had more targets with four, and Keel and Cole had more targets with five. Yeah, but all those got there. I'm not with you. I'm not with you on the chart thing. I'm I'm with me on it. James Robinson and Chris Thompson both are on

the bench. It's a full Jaguars bench in I favored Thompson as the Jaguars are nine point road underdogs. Meeting game script could dictate more of the past catching back on the field a little bit more. Still, Robinson had all sixteen of the carries last week, but only managed under four yards per carry with them and catch was amazing. Now that's great, It's not gonna help for this week. Only one back is topped eighty yards against Tennessee in

their last six games on the Tennessee side. Derrick Henry is an easy a Ryan Tannehill was might take a chance on me. Quarterback A. J. Brown is out with a bone bruise this week, which means Corey Davis gets a Sea gray and it might have been a little bit better if he didn't have a hamstring injury that he's been working through this week. It was his first one yard game last week since Week ten, and he's only topped eighty yards once in his prior twenty three outings.

He's not very consistent obviously, well, he's consistently bad. He's consistently mediocre. In in six career meetings with the Jags, he's never scored. His high yardage total is forty four yards. Corey Davis, I mean, you got You're just gonna have to decide. Was Week one a total mirage or is he somehow turned the corner late in his career a little bit like I don't like Davante Parker. I mean, you know, you know that is not usually where it happens.

It's like a Sammue Watkins with Buffalo Good Week one Buffalo might be there's one more player we have to mention charge you think I don't know, and it's the receiver. It's John H. Smith. Oh yeah, baby, you want to play a sound now, Um, you're figuring out which sound. There's this because he scored a touchdown last week, had a beautiful bubble screen on like the second play of

the game. So there's that. Smith had seven targets last week, a feat he only managed once last year, which means which means they've figured it out throughout the off season and they're like, oh yeah, it's seven targets per game to John new Smith. Now every time in John WUS career that he's had exactly seven targets he's scored. You

would take a hundred plus targets. Say the Jags allowed the eighth most tight end touchdowns last year too, So John U. Smith giving him a B. It's closer to an A though, I think as I think he's going to be in line for more than seven targets, a j Brown out and Corey Davis, as you mentioned, the hamstring that pats and games gonna funnel largely through John NU Smith, who's standing up on almost every play. He's

a super sneaky Draft Kings play. By the way, he's cheap if you're building the draft kids people deaf Draft Kings people don't listen to the show clearly, or they would know absolutely no better. Baltimore taking on Houston will try to zip through this matchup because Lamar Jackson does not need any explanation. Here's my number one ranked quarterback this week, and Mark Andrew's obvious A as well. It's a little bit trickier for the h for some of

the other players, but not a lot. Marcy's Brown gets a B grade. He had a big Week one and it's probably going to continue against a terrible Houston secondary that just got picked clean by Patrick Mahomes. Um. He goes up against quarterback Bradley Roby, who is good and that's the only reason he's not an a. Roby's got the speed necessary to keep up with Brown. Um. But he did yield five catches on a score and week one, so I think Brown is gonna be just fine. And Um.

Then we go to the running backs. Now, mark Ingram was on the wrong side of the snaps in Week one. I think they're gonna flip this script and get mark Ingram back involved in this one, just to make sure defenses know that there's both guys are still a viable opport option for both for this offense. And if that's the case, then I think he's sitting in a nice game and be great here. He put up seventy five combo yards and two receiving scores in the two Ravens

meetings with Houston last season. The Texans have given up fourteen scores to running backs in their last eight games, so they're giving up about two a game over the course of the last half season. I think mark Ingram's gonna find his way to the end zone here, and then J K. Dobbins saw Baltimore's only two carries inside the five, and he's scored on both of them. It looks like that. I don't I still think both guys are viable at the stripe. I don't think that's art. Now.

Dobbins has been a changing of the guard. J K. Dobbins is going to be awesome. Dobbins is wish Zack Moss would have done. You shut up, Za, Can I remind you Zack most scored a touchdown likee Uh, Houston, As I mentioned, Houston gives up touchdowns here. I still think it's the j K. Dobbins is absolutely startable. Uh and they stopped They lost their run stuffer free agent DJ Reader in the off season, and we saw what Clyde Edwards, a layer did to this Houston run defense

last week. Then on the Houston side, the lowest grade I've ever given to Shaun Watson coming into a game. No, he is a C and he's my twentieth ranked quarterback this week, which sounds absurd for any quarterback as good as he is. But you know, Baltimore's past defense is awesome, and he posted a miserable outing against Baltimore last year. No scores either through the ground or via the air. He threw for one sixty nine yards and he ran

for twelve yards. That was his game against Baltimore last year. And he had Hopkins last year and that was with the A Right, that was with DeAndre Hopkins. Now over the Ravens. What about on the ground. You might be saying, I think that Deshaun Watson is going to run on the ground. You might be saying, yeah, is he going to run on the ground? Chart Why no, he's not. Past Ravens twenty five games, they've given up one quarterback

rushing touchdown and seven quarterback rushing yards per game. That's over the last twenty five games. That is a large sample size. Well, they practice against l Jack's every day, so they know what to do. Absolutely, Um, stay with the passing game. Will Fuller just gets a C grade here. The good news is that Fuller emerged as the clear go to receiver and that ends the good news portion of the Will Fuller discussion right there. This is a

brutal matchup. No receivers hit one hundred yards against the Ravens and almost excuse me, a year they hammered the Browns passing game last week, and since the beginning of last year, wide receivers have failed to score any touchdowns at all in half of the Ravens games. Brandon Cooks is on the bench. He's nursing an injury and again, brutal matchup. We're not going to start him. What about David Johnson? What about him? Duke Johnson may not play in this game, so he might get a large workload

Houston has. I'm sorry, um, let's see you. Johnson got almost all the snaps in the opener that probably continues here. But he's had just one rushing one hundred yard rushing game in his last thirty one starts. You can run on the Ravens a little bit easier than pass on the Ravens. And they're gonna try to get David Johnson going, but the game script is gonna turn against him quickly. And it's only a C grade for me. David Johnson.

Tough game coming up for Houston. By the way, Houston is going to be in contention with the Jaguars to lose out that division. Yeah, this is I'm telling you, it's not a very good team. When we come back premature speculation. Three players that you will want to pick up and now that everybody else is gonna be trying to pick up next week. But they're already on your team because you heard premature speculation on Fantasy Football Weekly.

Final segments Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchie and Guillotine Leagues dot Com, Matt Harrison Shocked Fantasy and Scott Fish with you. This is a segment we can premature speculation. These are guys that are available on the waiver wire in most leagues that we believe you should pick up now one week before everybody else is going to try to pick them up. Scott, who should we pick up? Now? How about I turn on my mic. That'll work. I'm gonna

start with Jalen Reagor, who so many people drop. His roster ship has gone into the twenties undertent Now, he only had four targets reeled one in for fifty five yards, but as I mentioned earlier, he led the NFL in yards per target. With Lane Johnson back, Carson Wentz is gonna have a little bit more time to throw and catch him deep, and he's gonna get healthier with that shoulder over the season. So I like him. Matt, you're prettymature speculation player. Is you need a difference maker at

the quarterback position? You need to tag a viola ste Beard through three picks in week one. He faces another tough test in Buffalo this week, and Scott already said that it's looking bad. After that. It's Jacksonville on Thursday night, a primetime game. What better way to start your quarterback in his new team against a SEC defense in the Jacksonville Jaguars. And if you and if to it does look good or he looks bad. They now have ten days to make corrections and change the offense in between

that Thursday night game and the Week four game. So I like to as a pickup. I think he starts next week. All right. My premature speculation player is La Michael p Ryan, Yes, Lamer, is it la miracle? The miracle Love miracle? Is it really is? I mean his brother Isma, So you're probably right it is a miracle. We'll go with that. Um, he's got an easy path to the starting job in New York for the Jets. Laby On bells on I R. I don't even know if Lavian Bell is good anymore. Frank Gore was brutal

last year, and he's a year older. Thank you. Okay, all right, Michael Pierryan is going to be very likely be active this week. He's been nursing an ankle injury but expected to play, and he could be your starter by next week if he looks better than Frank Gore, which is not that hard to do. He could be the starter next week on an NFL team, not a very good NFL team. What kind of runner is the Michael p Ryan, you might be asking. He's strong, he's physical,

He's not elusive, but he is a little shifty. He can catch him, pass block, just okay. Speed. He's not a special runner, but he might be the best runner run the Jets. That is a possibility that I liked it when you did the air quotes when talking about the Jets and NFL team. That's right, the verbal air quotes. Right. I must have heard that as a nickname in college at some point and it just start flipped in me. I was you made you made me question myself for

a second. Let's go to the Monday night game, scott New Orleans taking on Oakland. Yeah. So, uh. The date December eleven, two, two thousand six, team age seven and the stats seven yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions. His drew last game without Michael Thomas. Yeah, he had a bad one that game. I don't think it's gonna be that bad this week as he plays a team that just allowed two and seventy yards to teddy Bridge. So I do have a C grade on Breeze. It's it's not

as good as if Thomas was in there. I'm giving a B grade to Sanders. He should get a decent amount of volume and they're gonna move around a lot so just to get him open. I really I really like cooking this game. He got a ton of targets last week and Michael Thomas played almost the fall game, so it's not like uh so now with Thomas out, he should see more targets and revenge game conserrators. So about that. Yeah, Alvin Kamara, I'm giving an A grade.

I think that this team goes heavy run run game with without Michael Thomas, So I have an A grade of Kamara. He's gonna get the passing game work. Um, we might even get one of those rare ten ten target games for coming from this one this week. And I actually have a C grade on Murray too. He doesn't play as much, but he got fifteen carries last week and in a run running head be your game. I think that he could get that amount of work again on the other side with Rugs out and against

the Saints. I don't like anything, really. I don't like car I don't like any of the receivers. They split too much. I mean, Agla is getting snaps. I mean, but I do like Darren Waller, who got eight targets last week. He's if he's gonna get eight of cars thirty targets last week, if he's gonna get that level, give me an give me probably an A grade on wallet. And Brian Edwards showed nothing last week. Yeah, and Josh Jacobs the off season hype about I want sixty catches,

he got six targets target. Yeah, he's he's getting it. It's happening, guys. Um it was an obvious smash spot this week. It's a little tougher this week. But concerned he gets those targets. I have an A grade on him because he's gonna get a ton of work. I'm with him, all right, Let's go to New England taking on Seattle. Uh. The The Patriots didn't even ask Cam Newton to pass in a one sided game. They will need his arm at some point against a much better

Seattle Seattle team, you think. And that's why all the running backs I kind of have lumped together. Um, well, let's just start. I gotta I gotta bench grade for every running back but one. Okay, Sony Michelle has a bench grade. He led the team with ten touches last week, but he's Sony Walkman Michelle, and he looked bad. James white had eight touches. He's on the bench. Yep, yep, he's on the So has Rex burke Head with seven touches,

and JJ Taylor with five touches. The only running back you can start is Cam Newton, who had fifteen rushing attempts last week, as many as Sony and white Head combined, and the second most rushing attempts in his career. Church, would you like to make a peacock noise because you called it in the preseason that Bill Belichick's just gonna run that. Why not run him? Why not run him? He gets a B grade because the Patriots are just running like the the single wing or the wishbone offense.

From now on. Worth noting that Lamar Jackson ran fourteen times against the Seahawks last year for a hundred and sixteen yards in a score, and Kyler Murray had ten carries for sixty seven yards in a score on the ground over his two games against the Seahawks last year. Julian Edelman is the only other player that's getting a starting grade. He's getting a B. Edelman led the team with seven targets last week, and Russell Gauge grabbed nine catches from one fourteen from the slot last week against

the Seahawks. Uh and kill Harry's on the bench, h no deal. Scary fumbled out of the back of the end zone last week. You like that nickname through the end zone. That puts him squarely in Bill Belichick's doghouse there. He did manage six targets, but the Pets they're not going to throw him the ball enough. And Devin Assisi only had ten snaps in week one. That's bad on the Seahawks side. Chris Carson is getting a C grade, that's it. Yeah, he scored twice in the receiving game.

And I'm a little nervous that Carlos Hyde vultured a goal line touchdown, but I'd still like Carson enough. That was that was garbage time. The problem is the Patriots have been an epic run defense for a long time. While Jordan Howard did manage to hit pay dirt last week against the Patriots, before that, it was Gus Edwards as the only running back to score in that's right, the only one, and prior to that it was Brandon Bolden. Yes, that Brandon Bolden, who's on the Patriots, right, he was

at some point not on the Patriots. He played one year in Miami and scored two touchdowns on the ground against the Patriots. It's crazy. So four rushing touchdowns against them in the last twenty one games. Russell Wilson gets a B. The Pats defense good against the past, but there's a few threads to pull. Last season, they allowed a hundred and forty passing yards per game over the first eight weeks to over the last eight, and rushing

quarterbacks have had fine days against them. To Lamar and Josh Allen roughed them up on the ground over a few games last year. Even Stu Beard ran one in. Tyler Lockett and dk Metcalf both get b grades. Both had eight targets last week, both top ninety yards and normally um Metcalf had six of the team's are yards. Normally that would bump him up, but he gets Stephan Gilmour on the outside while Tyler Lockett hangs in the slot. Greg Olsen and the tight ends are on the bench.

Four targets, two targets, one target between them. It's a mess that doesn't surprise me. About stupid, I mean, Alan Lamar Newton Russ fits, but he did lead his team in rushing last year. He did. Let's go to our final matchup that we'll find all of them on the Yes, Kansas City taking on the Sandy former team formula from San Diego. Dring names today, I know. Actually that's my fault that I put San Diego on the sheet. Just say, Josh Kelly's Chargers, you did? You put Sandygo did is

on my sheet? Now? The Southern California Chargers in this Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, Tyree Hill, and Travis Kelsey are all obvious is. And I'm not gonna spend much time out of here um except to say that Tyreek Hill worries me the most out of this group only because the cornerbacks of the Charges are all stone cold elite and but still it's Tyreek Hill and you're gonna start

him anyway, and I've still got an A grade on him. Uh. The only other member of the passing game that Merritt's discussion is Sammy Watkins, who of course went off in the opener, just like last year. And I don't think he's gonna go the whole season without scoring again. But I'm not starting him here either because again, Charges cornerbacks are really really good. And he combined for three catches and thirty four yards total in the two games against

the Chargers a season ago. That's it. My man love for Clyde Edwards h layer is unabated. He is a rock solid A grade, my favorite chief of the week. I like him more than anybody in the passing game. He averaged seven half yards per carry on runs that weren't inside the five yard You saw the inside the five yard line. They got all got blown up at the line of scrimmage. He had nowhere to go the rest of the field seven and a half yards per

carry in the opener. Only Peyton Barber had more red zone carries during the opening week than Clyde Edwards Laire. In addition UH, they added UH. The Chargers added Linvald Joseph in the off season. He's a run stuffer and he did hold Joe Mixon in check last week. But it's a whole different story to try to do it against the Chiefs. Solid A grade for Clyde Edwards Hilaire. Let's go to the Chargers side where Austin Ekeler gets a B grade. I am troubled by Ockler for all

the reasons we described earlier in the show um. Last year against Kansas City he posted a combined fourteen carries for seventy yards and seventeen catches for a hundred fifty one. I would take those air yards again here, but Tyrod Taylor barely threw to him at all last week, and he in his Historically he doesn't throw too his running backs.

The Chiefs having allowed it back to top seventy five rushing yards in their last five games, including the playoffs, going back to last year, then we should talk about Josh Kelly. He got three of the four carries inside the ten yard line, including the five yards score last week. He's startable here with a C grade. Kansas City is allowed just two touchdowns to backs in their last seven games, so I don't love him in this one, but I

think he is startable with a C grade. As for the passing game, Tyrod Taylor looked very unimpressive to me, um, but I still think you can start Hunter Henry, who is my favorite of his receivers. The Chiefs conceded the third most receptions and fifth most yards to opposing tight ends last week or last year, and Jordan Aiken scored against him last week. So I like Hunter Henry here.

Who don't I like Keenan Allen. Yes, he has scored in his last three full games against the Chiefs, but he runs from the slot more than half the time, and that puts him up against honey batcher Tyron Matthew, and that is a brutal matchup and I don't like that for Keenan Allen. Uh My Williams was some way more involved in the passing game than I expected last week with the injuries that he had, and I thought

he looked very good at some acrobatic catches. But it's a very tough matchup against a good secondary CE grade for him. They're gonna have to pass a lot in that game. Uh. If you missed any part of the show, check out the podcast. Whether you're listening over the air or if you are listening to this podcast, you could go back and I guess rewind the podcast. We encourage you to check that out and please subscribe, rate, and review Fantasy Football Weekly. We would love that if you

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