Wow, Wow, everybody, It's Thursday, October twenty fourth, twenty twenty four. Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Show. We're cruising like John Madden. It's me and your man, MG Marcus Grant, joined by Michael f Florio, and we.
Are in the Madden Cruiser, the actual bus.
This is pretty sweet.
This is dope in my head though I know I said this there, like this is where John Madden lived in my head, like he has slept on this couch, he has played Madden over there, like this is amazing.
Except like Madden was a large man, Like this couch is like I don't know that I could sleep on this couch unless it Scott couch.
Yeah, like you gotta.
I don't think it pulls out, but uh yeah no, this would be great. Plenty of TVs. Obviously there's Madden hooked up. You could come in and play here. I'm very excited, very fortunate to be able to do a show from here today.
Yeah.
I mean I walked up and I was like, oh my god, like I took a picture outside of it, like it's got his This is dope.
Yeah, absolutely dope. So thank you to the folks at EA for letting us come crash in here for a little bit and do the show here. Of course, you know it is a Thursday. We have our top calls for the week, so we'll go through those. But let's start with a couple of headlines. The first one because we are just a few hours away from the start of week eight and Thursday night football. The Vikings and Rams are going to play at Sofi Stadium, literally just
behind us here in the Madden Bus. And it looks like now we're waiting for inactives to be out to find out officially, but it looks like Pooka Nakua could play. Combined that with Cooper Cup who is expected to play tonight, so the Rams are going to have their top two receivers back in this offense. I think with Cup, I think we sort of already decided that he's playing for the Rams. He's playing for you. Pookah's a bit of
a different situation. Hasn't played since week one, hasn't really gotten any practice time in If Puka goes, would you feel comfortable putting him in a lineup?
He it's a little like it's a little bit more depending on your options. Unlike Cooper Cup who were on is if he plays, which he is going to, you get him in your lineup. But Puka could be on a snap count. Like we said, I have a lot of people who have sent me questions like why would they do this? Why would they not wait ten more days to give Puka full time to rest? And the truth is this game is very important.
For the Rams.
There's a big difference of being three and four, especially in the NFC West right now, compared to two and five, So you could make it an argument that their season is on the line tonight. But even so, like I have Puka on a number of teams, and like I think i'd play him over someone like Khalil Shakir, which is one of my options. But if you've gone by this far and you feel good about the options you have in place, I think it's okay then to take it as take it safe.
And I think that's the thing too, because this week, weirdly, in Week eight, there are no teams on a buy, so you have your full complement of players, obviously injury players not with standy, but you have your full roster available to you. You have figured out how to survive this long without Puka and Kua. I'm kind of with you that I think I would wait and see a little bit, because who knows how much of a snap count he maybey on this week, how many targets he's
going to get. Although I will say this, the great Ian Harden's had a wonderful tweet about It's something to the effect of, if you start Pooka, expect him to be on a limited snapcount with very few targets. If you sit him expecting to go for one hundred and twenty and two touchdowns.
It's something where like I have Pooka on say like three or four of my fantasy teams. I'm going to get him in at least one lineup just in case, because if that happens and I sit him in every league, I'm going to hate myself. But at least if I start him in one, if he doesn't come through, it's like, okay, I only started him one. But if he does, it's like, all right, I could still enjoy this and benefit from this.
I knew I took advantage of at least at least one league exactly. There other bit of news, and this one's sort of been floating out there for a couple of days, but I think we can talk about it officially now. Jamison Williams is going to be suspended for two games for violating the league's performance enhancing substances policy. It's a thing that's kind of been out there. Dan Campbell has sort of been talking about a little bit. Now Jamison Williams has put out a state about it.
So it looks like the Lions aren't going to a peela. I think they just sort of want to get this over with and get his past it. So we know it looks like for at least two games no Jamison Williams.
This week they play the Titans.
What they should be able to win the week after is the Packers, which is a bit of a tougher matchup for them. I guess the easy question for you is does this mean something for my Sam Laporta shares?
Now?
Yeah, I think it does. Like I will, I will not lie. I wrote up Sam Laporta as a sit this week, was already for that, and then reports of this came out Monday night and I was like, Okay, I have to change this because the whole thing with Sam Laporta has been Jamison Williams is the number two target on this team. He is getting more first read opportunities than Sam Laporta. Like they it is clear that Jamison they just they think he's better than Sam Laporta.
I think, and he's better for this offense. But with him out of it now, it starts to look a lot like it did last season in my opinion, where Sam Laporta is the number two option. Now he's the number two option for sure in the red zone. So oh, I think you throw out the first seven weeks with Sam laporter and you say, Okay, if it's a chance that it could look like last season, I need to take that shot in fantasy and I need to get
him in my lineup. So I changed him from a sit to a start just based off of this news.
Yeah, when you look at the sort of the air yards distribution of this Lion's offense, it's not a ton of deep shots to Jamison Williams like they have certainly taken some shots down field with him, but a lot of short intermediate throws. He leads the team in yards after catch. They're just using that dynamic ability as much as they can. The problem is where he's getting a lot of those targets. That's where Sam laporter was getting
a lot of his opportunities last year. So for all of us me, I'm raising my hand who drafted Sam Laporta, who have been utterly frustrated by him getting one or two catches a game and that's it, at least for the next couple of weeks. I think there's a chance for him to get on the not to get on the field, he's on the field, ton to get more looks from Jared goff in this offense. Any other Lions receivers that you'd be interested in over the next couple of weeks.
No, not unless we see it first. You know, I'm not gonna be throwing going out there throwing like second third options on the passing attack here because we've seen the targets for the other guys really week to week kind of whoever's getting open the matchup and stuff. But look, I pulled up NFL Pro they have this as a five star. Five stars is the most you could get for almost every type of passing. Deep passes, quick passes,
short passes, all of that against his Titans offense. So yeah, I think this is a week where you could feel good about Laporta. You can feel good about a Monra the running backs there, Jared Goff, but after that it has.
To be like a deep league, yeh.
So don't go throwing Khalif Raymond into lineups this week, folks.
Is sort of what we're going with for this thing.
All right, Let's get into some of our Week eight predictions. Let's start off with Club Dub the guys non quarterback edition. Who will be the top scorer this week? And you got one in a game that could really be a back and forth contest between the Eagles and the Bengals. A couple of good offenses against a couple of kind of shaky defenses.
Yeah, and that's the whole thing. Not only do I think that I have aj Brown, who I think is amazing. He has had a touchdown in all three games at least eighty nine yards in every game. He's gone for over nineteen Fantasy points in all. He was someone that before the year I was hyping up, like I'd rather have this guy than Justin Jefferson and stuff. And I feel vindicated because when he's been on the field, he has been the best wide receiver in fantasy this season.
But the Bengals, like you said, they can be had. They give up a lot of big plays and they will score points though, and they have a very good
offense of their own with firepowers. So if the Eagles, unlike their last games where they're winning like twenty to seventeen and stuff, if this is one of those more higher scoring games, we're going to see them have to keep their foot on the gas and hurts to AJ Brown, despite only playing three games, lead the league in deep touchdowns, So I think it is possible that we get two of those this week. And my Bowl prediction is two hundred yards for AJ Brown.
Well, my bowl prediction this week has been two hundred scrimmag yards for Joe Mixon. So he's the guy that I'm gonna go with in this situation against the Indianapolis Colts. Going back to Week one, when these two teams played, mixing put up one hundred and seventy eight scrimmage yards and a touchdown. The Colts defense, to me, hadn't gotten much better than what we saw in Week one. I think they're gonna lean on Mixon again. Look, I know a lot of folks have a bounce back for CJ.
Stroud I can certainly see that in the works as well. But I think this is a Texans team that can move up and down the field, can score a lot of points, and when you get to that fourth quarter, you're just trying to grind out clock. I think we see a lot of mixing in that situation as well. I think it's a huge.
Game for him.
Back in that Week one game, he was the RB two behind Saquon Barkley. I think he get end up as the RB one, you know, maybe maybe even the top scorer for the week.
That's the first game as a Texans.
Yeah, Like it's only gotten better too.
He has been a true workhorse for this Texans offense. I mean it's funny because when he wasn't he was out.
They're trying, you know, a combination of cam Akers and Darioguan Biwalle And like now that Mixon is back, like those cam Makers isn't even in Houston anymore.
Here's thirty touchdowns.
We're gonna send you out of here. Can Makers literally need. I do feel bad for cam Akers because no one gets like thrown to the curb more than cam Akers.
I feel like him and Brandon Cook should form a support team, like a support group of guys who just keep getting traded all over the place. Surprisingly are red flags for the week, the players that we are worried about and you might try to avoid if possible.
Who do you have Dak Prescott, who at this point I keep saying this about Patrick Mahomes like more name than fantasy production. Dak Prescott is quickly falling into that group as well, because you take away that one game against the Ravens where it was pure ketchup mode, they were down three scores in the second half and he was just throwing a ton. Outside of that game, Dak has averaging twelve fantasy points per game. That is really bad, like for a fantasy quarterback, not just telling it like
it is. And then he gets a matchup that is really tough against the forty nine ers, who twice this year they have thirteen or more fantasy points to a quarterback. So you have a quarterback averaging twelve points per game a defense who routine league gives up less than thirteen. That is such a low floor when you're talking about a fantasy quarterback. They've allowed the eight passing touchdowns and they have eight interceptions in seven games like you watch
this forty nine ers seen very closely every week. They are just not giving up production.
Through the air.
Yeah, I mean the secondary has been great, get good. Getting Tollano Hufanga back has been a big deal. Malite Mustafa has been a really nice player. I know, like they keep showing him getting run over at the goal line by Mahomes. That's a different situation, all right, We're not talking about that. But the secondary has been very, very good. You know, you're gonna get pressure up front from Nick Bosa and those guys there. So it looks like another tough situation for Dak For me, I'm going
with Alvin Kamara. One shout out to Kamara, who got paid recently. I just got a contract extension from the Saints. But we also find out apparently he's been playing with a broken hand for much of the year.
It would have been nice to know.
It would have been nice to know a little bit After the first two weeks of the season. The Saints offense has awful. They scored a combined ninety one points the first two weeks. The rest of the season a combined eighty six points. We've seen Kamara's touches really declined, going from about twenty four and a half touches per game after the first four weeks, it's about sixteen touches per game the last three. It's not helping that a
couple of their key pieces are missing. It looks like Spencer Rattler is going to be at quarterback again this week for New Orleans. No Rashichi Heed for the rest of the year. Hopefully, hopefully Chris o'labe is back. That might help a little bit. But this is a Charger defense he's facing this week that has been tough across the board, whether it's against the run or against the pass.
I get it if you have to start Alvin Kamara, but I do not like the potential for a good fantasy outcome this week for Kamara.
You talk about that broken hand. They said it happened in the Chiefs game. In his last three games, which includes the Chiefs games, his yards per carry and yards per target cut in half. I don't know.
I'm no doctor, but it feels like playing a running back with a broken hand. Not great, No, not great, tough to do. It's time to drive your line up. Presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camry. Let's wrap this up with the snore Lax, our favorite Week eight sleeper.
Who do you like? I love kada in this week.
I know he's I think he's kind of climbed past being a sleeper, but he is still widely available in a lot of leagues, and he was someone that was I know you were as well. We were like, hey, take notice of what's going on with kada And in Tampa Bay because he had an eight target game, he had a nine target game. He was consistently sitting around ten Fantasy points, getting utilized a little bit more in the red zone. And then last week happened. He had
ten targets one hundred yards. This wasn't a game where Mike Evans left early, but Chris Godwin played the entire game. It was the very last play for the Bucks that Chris godwin season ended. He shouldn't have been out there. But this week now, no Godwin, no Mike Evans. I know we're all excited about Jalen McMillan, but someone else is going to have to step up here. And I think there's a chance that kada And could be the top target for Baker Mayfield this week.
Yeah, I think so too.
I mean, this is a past heavy offense and Oden Or even before the injuries, was the number three target in this offense.
So volume is certainly going to carry the day.
And now with the without godwinning Evans there, I think a lot of chances for Kott and to keep this thing rolling. For me, it's gonna be Javonte Williams. And this is as much a message to fantasy managers. Isn't this to Sean Payton? So look, Javonte, I have said it plenty of times, like I am a Javonte Williams fan.
I want to see him get more opportunities.
But even in the relatively limited opportunities he's getting, he really is starting to perform very well running the football well. I would like to see him get more targets, but we say that about a lot of Broncos players. I mean, we wanted Marvin Mims to get on the field and get more targets and that doesn't seem to happen because apparently he's not tall enough to ride the Sean Payton
offense or something. I don't know, but either way, if you could throw the ball to Javonte, that'd be really nice, but he's running it very very well. The matchup could not be better against the Carolina Panthers. I don't expect Caroline is gonna score many points with Bryce Young at quarterback against this Broncos defense. So this should lend itself well to the Broncos running the football.
I like way. I even like bow Nicks as a deep sleeper this week. That's where we are.
I told Adam Ranked that I have been become a bowliever. He mocked me because I didn't believe earlier.
Oh you gotta do is Bowl Laue.
All you gotta do is Bowl League. And so, like you know, I'm in on bow Nicks. I'm in on Javonte Williams this week a lot of fun.
I'm with you on Javonte because I think it's look. It could change, but as of right now, it's been pretty straightforward with Javonte. You play him in good matchups, you get away from him in bad matchups, and like you said, the matchup could not get any better.
This is about as good a matchup as you're going to get for Javonte Williams all season long.
That was Drive Your Lineup presented by the all New Hybrid Toyota Camri. Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com slash Camri. All right, there you go, uh here in the Mountain Cruiser. It's a lot of fun. That'll do it though. For this edition of the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, Stay happy, safe and healthy, do good and live well. Enjoy Week eight, everybody, Enjoy Thursday Night football and we will talk to you tomorrow. M