Wow, Hey everybody, It's Wednesday, September eighteenth, twenty twenty four. Welcome to the NFL Fantasy Football Show where our confidence is real and is earned. It's me your man named g Marcus Grant, joined by Michael F. Florio and Lakwan Jones LQ, rocking the Greg Dortsch t shirt. It really has become your whole personality now, hasn't it.
That's my guy man, support the short Kings man. I love underdogs, and I love the way the Greg dors plays man like. I'm just all in on Dorschland.
You have officially Dorsch pilled us because Florio had him as kind of a sleeper this week on Fantasy Live. I'm writing about him as a sleeper in my weekly sleepers column. We have we'll go on the Dorschland. We have you to either think or blame for this. It is all thanks or complaints. Go to Real Deal Fantasy at Real Deal Fantasy. If this thing goes sideways. That's all I know about this. We have played to talk about on the show. Today. We are gonna dive into
the Week three slate. Also, we have some Fantasy hot takes coming up at the end of the show. But let's get started with some fantasy headlines, as we normally do. The latest update on Dolphins quarterback to a Tongue of Iyaaloa still dealing with a concussion. He has been placed on injured reserve and gonna be out of action until at least Week eight. For the Dolphins, they do have a buy in there somewhere as well, which is why the a little bit of a later return time for
Tua so LaQuan. I mean, I will ask you, Normally we're great with starting Tyreek Hill, Jalen Wattle, we throw them into a lineup without thinking. But with Skyler Thompson at quarterback, can you trust any of the main Miami pass catchers.
I think you just have to lower your expectations on the big playability, like on guys like Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle, like they'll still get their target share, Like they'll still be the guys that you hope will get the ball and be able to turn upfield and get some yards. It definitely feel as though you look at guys like John new Smith, Devon a Chan, even Raheem Moster when he returns back from injury, these are still
playmakers at the end of the day. I mean, they may not have the big plays that they have usually that they have with Tua, but they still will be productive and still be able to go out there and put something out there that fantasy managers can be happy with. That really feel as though we just need to be patient with Skyler Thompson. He's a seventh round pick, He's
a young guy. I just feel as though that you can't just totally bail on this offense just based on It's not like, you know, you lose the starting quarterback and then you only have one playmaker on the field. No, you have tons of playmakers on this Miami Dolphins offense where they're going to be supporting each other and making this offense to find a way, you know, to keep these drives alive or even move the chains or getting to some scoring opportunity. So I'm not completely bailing out
on Dolphins playmakers. I'm just gonna have to lower my expectations week to week.
Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be tough because Tyreek Hill was a high first round draft pick two for a lot of people, and it's just gonna be hard to get anything close to that return with Skyler Thompson there, and we're gonna find out for Jalen Wattle whether or not he's anything close to quarterback proof. I think we can feel that way about Tyreek. I don't know that we're there yet with Jalen Wanta. Other notable headline around the NFL the Kansas City triefs bringing back Kareem Hunt
Isaiah pa Checko. We know is going to be out for an extended period of time. Simple question to you, Florio, Yeah or nah, Kareem Hunt Yeah nah.
I know people were like, but he knows the system and Andy reed to me. This is getting Leonard Fournette vibes, Dalvin Cook vibes. Look at all of these veteran running backs who've signed to practice squads just to stay in the league. I know Hunt has a history here, but last year he looked as washed as can be.
Three point zero yards per.
Carry, negative one hundred and one rushing yards over expectations, one of the lowest. Only Josh Jacobs had fewer runs go for ten or more yards, and he was the third slowest running back in terms of average speed at just eleven miles prior plus. I think samaj P Ryan is going to have all of the pass game volume here. Carson Steel is younger, has juice. I think Hunt is a camp body, someone to maybe help them get by until Ceh is back.
Yeah, and that's the other part of it too, Right, Clyde Edwards Hilaire starts the season on the NFI list. He's out until at least week four. I think when he comes back in he starts to work into that rotation with Carson Steel and the SAMI JP Ryan. So maybe, right this is very much a hey, we need you here just in case of the worst case scenario. I don't see a lot of fantasy value with Kareem Hunt. All right, let's start to dive into our Week three previews.
We will start with Thursday Night Football, the Patriots and the Jets. This one had a little more juice maybe ten years ago than it does right now. This one could be a low scoring affair between these to these two AFC East opponents. But Lakwan, it has not been a great start to the season for Garrett Wilson. How worried are you about him? It's like a really tough matchup against Christian Gonzales and the Patriots defense.
Yeah, I'm really worried about Garrett Wilson. Man. It just looks a little nasty to know that he has zero end zone targets right now, and he has a lower target share in the red zone. So we're waiting for the touchdowns to come from Garrett Wilson, especially the price that we all paid over the summer as a first round guy, We're expecting him to have this alpha target share and also come with the alpha production when you
have a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. But I think we all need to take a step back and realize this isn't the same Aaron Rodgers that had on that Green Bay Packers jersey. This isn't Aaron Rodgers that's stuck in the pocket, not really able to roll out and extend the plays and throw all platform like how we know
and love him for. But it's more so zero completions outside the pocket, a really stuck in the mud type quarterback right now, to where you're just hoping that if there is going to be some type of scoring opportunities, that all these looks need to go to Garrett Wilson. I mean, the running backs had a forty percent target share last week, so it's a lot of dump balls, a lot of close to the line of scrimmage plays
and passes. It's just I'm just a little worried right now for all the Garrett Wilson managers out there.
I mean, can you get away from him? Though, Floria, I mean, you spent that again, late first early second round draft pick on him. It feels like you can't really get away from him.
No, I have him on one team, and I'm kind of kicking myself because all summer I was like, I think Garrett Wilson is really risky because of his quarterback and I kind of let all of the hype get to me and be like, all right, I don't want to miss out on him. He had one target over ten yards last week. Like, it's not a Garrett Wilson issue, although I am starting to think we might push Garrett Wilson into the elite wide receiver category a little too early.
Like justin Jefferson said, no disrespect, I'm that Garrett Wilson and proved it immediately.
I want Garrett Wilson doing stuff like that.
And we can only say quarterback is the excuse so long, but quarterback is the ex once again.
Forget at least for right now, and we'll see what happens coming up this week. Not a great matchup on paper, but you gotta wonder at some point do they just start force feeding him targets to try and make this offense move. All right, let's get into the meats of Week three. We'll start with the Eagles and the Saints Philadelphia coming off a really tough loss on Monday Night Football. The Saints have been red hot? Lakwan, Can the States and the Saints stay red hot? Easier for me to say,
can the Saints stay red hot? And when we finally get the Chris o'lave breakout game we've been waiting on?
Yes, I think, you know, the Saints are red hot right now. I think they keep it up, and I think this could be the game Chris o'lave really shakes out and shows up and show out and put some big points on the board. I think, you know, last year we look at him only two games where he had twenty plus Fantasy points, and I think this will be the first game that he can crack off the season with a huge performance. Going against this Eagles defense.
It's a little sketchy on the secondary where you have to worry about and actually have top priority concern about Rashid shaheat stretching the field where Chris o'lavey can find a lot of his work across the middle and being able to turn up field and get those yards and hopefully he could fall into the end zone this weekend.
That would be great. It's weird because Rashid Shahid has become the air yards king that Chris olave had been the last couple of years. But either way, the Saints offense is eating through the first two weeks Lions and the Cardinals, Florio, is there anyone in this game that you aren't starting?
Let's see, I'm starting both quarterbacks, I'm starting all the running backs. I'm starting the top wide receivers. Yeah, no, I'm starting everyone. The player though, that I will be keeping a close eye on is Sam Laporter because I think Jamison williams emergence and I think Jamison Williams is very for real, has really hurt Sam Laporter. He has been the first read on just nine percent of the throws. Jared Goff threw like forty five times last week, and
Laporta had three targets. And the scariest part is in the red zone they're going to Jamison Williams over Sam Laporta. Yeah, so we know aman Ra Saint Brown is going to be the top target there. We know he's gonna eat. I need to see Sam Laporta do something. If he doesn't, if he comes away from week three with another dud, look you're starting him. But if he has another dud, panic alarms.
Yeah. I didn't draft much Sam Laporta. I'm feeling good about that. I do have Jamison Williams in a couple of lineups this week, hoping that that keeps this thing going right now, the Texans and the Vikings look look on Minnesota's defense has looked very good the first couple of weeks. They had the Niners tied up and in fits any worries about CJ. Stroud going up against Brian Flores in his diabolical blitzing schemes, Man.
This defense is bringing high pressure at a high rate. Man, And I feel a little worried about CJ. Strout in this matchup, being that they have a backup center there and that's where the Bears were attacking last week, where they were just getting after him man. So far this season, Strout has been sacked seven times, and if he's not going to have that time with this backup center in the right side of the O Lion having their struggles allowing a ton of pressure, a ton of hurries. So
it's there you're looking at CJ. Strout not having the time to be able to dump off and deliver these big passes on a frequent basis, on a consistent basis throughout the game. That's why you see the score that it was with the Bears where they weren't really lighting it up. You see Niko Collins getting here, getting loose,
but we need this at least on every drive. So it's more so concerned about the O line going up against his Vikings defense to have eleven sacks right now, and they have the highest q B pressure rate right now. So it's like, oh, man, I pray for CJ. Stroud to get out of that pocket and not take those hits that he told Caleb not to hit.
You heard it hit, You heard it here first. This is the Tank Dell week. I think I think this is the week it happens. I think I think you to see him running those over routes kind of getting in behind the linebackers when they bring pressure. You got those safeties back a little bit, trying to prevent the deep ball. I think this is where you see CJ. Stroud and Tank Dell connect a lot this week. So everybody who has Tank Dell who's been worried about him, I think this is the week that you kind of
feel okay about it. Ravens at the Cowboys. Look, if you got Lamar Jackson, you're starting him. If you got Dak you're probably starting him. Both these defenses are pretty good, though. Is there anybody Florial you feel super confident in this week?
No, because it's the I actually would be trying to sit Dak Prescott. I have him as a sit and I have him in a league where I think I have the options to get away. It depends on who your other quarterback is. But yeah, I can't get away from Lamar Jackson. I still think you're starting Derrick Henry probably. I mean, see, okay, I changed my answer. I have the utmost confidence in CD Lamb. You could put the Monstars on the other side of the field and I
will have the utmost confidence in CD Lamb. But besides that, it gets real shaky on the raven side. The tight ends are what I'm going to be watching a close eye on because in Week one they used two tight end sets on half their plays, it was the highest in the league. Last week it was a quarter of their plays. So which one was more matchup driven? That's what I need to find out because Isaiah l likely Mark Andrews is going to be a question we are going to get asked a lot this season.
Yeah, we have a football version of space Jam. That was my takeaway. I mean it would be Mahomes. You had a lot of great, great analysis there, but my takeaways that we need a football version of space Ham for sure. Right it's time to see who will deliver. Presented by Uber Eats. We talked about the guys we think are going to go big in week three, So La Kwan who is reaching for the stars this week?
Man, I gotta go with old man Adam Thielen, with Andy Dolon back at the quarterback position because last time we saw Andy Dalton fifty eight pass attempts. To where you're looking at this offense that has been capped, I would say by Bryce Young to where I think Andy Dolan still has it in them to be sneaky, get behind the behind the linebackers and find a way to find the end zone and make some solid plays. I'm looking at Andy Dolon and Adam Thlen's connection last season.
In that game, I mean, Adam Thielen had one hundred and forty six yard hearts. People, he had eleven catches. Like this is something that I'm looking forward to in this matchup.
All right, So Andy Dalton Adam feeling reconnecting here? Florio, who is your big time player for the.
Week, Brandon Nyuk and Lakwan You probably wanted to ear muffs.
For this right here.
But after one game any we could say, Okay, it was just a game. But after we see something happen multiple times in a row, it starts to become a trend. I think the Rams secondary is officially a weakness that we can exploit in fantasy. They've allowed the most yards and touchdowns to receivers lined up out wide. They've also allowed the most two receivers on deep passes, which means speed has been killing them. We saw Jamison Williams doing in Week one, Marvin Harrison Junior did it in Week two.
I love you, Trey White, thank you for all those years in Buffalo.
But he's getting.
Cooked out there right now on a weekly basis, and I think this is the week that Brandon Nyuk shakes off the rust, looks like Brandon Nyuk and just eats again.
Yeah, I think I think I can get a lot of work there. Obviously, Jordan Mace is gonna get a run. I like Juwan Jennings as a sleeper wide receiver in this game as well. For me, I'm going Joe Burrow and week one not great, Week two a lot better better. Week three, I think is when he really takes off, and I think this is when you see the Joe Burrow Jamar Chase connection really get going. Simple answer, Yes, I am picking on the Washington Commanders secondary because everybody
else in the NFL has. Why shouldn't I. Look, this is a secondary that I think they're going to eventually get better. I think Dan Quinn's gonna get this group together, but right now it still needs a lot of work, and the Bengals have shown that they can still move the ball effectively. Throw in the fact that t Higgins could be backs. That's one more weapon for Joe Burrow to work with this week. I think he's gonna have
a really big week. Three. Wouldn't be surprised if you see him as the QB one when it is all said and done. That was Who Will Deliver, presented by Uber Eats, where you can get almost almost anything for game day, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order. Now, all right, we still got a hand full more games to get to, including a Sunday night game and a pair of Monday Night football game. Stick around for more of the NFL Fantasy Football show forty nine Ers at
the Rams. This one seemed a lot more appealing when the season started than it does right now because a whole lot of stars on both sides are injured. But uh Lakwan as the resident Rams homer here obviously, Pukaakua is alet, Cooper Cup is out. Is there a Rams receiver we can trust this week?
I gotta say straight up no, I wouldn't recommend hanging your hat on any of these guys, just based on the lack of chemistry with some of these guys with Matthew Stafford, like Jordan Wittington, and then you have a guy who's familiar with Matthew Stafford to to Atwell, who
doesn't always show up when needed. But I definitely appreciate too to at Well making that play last week against the Cardinals where he has some big yardage ability, like he has the upside to get some fantasy points in chunks. But with the O line all beat up, how it is man like, you can't really hang your hat on that, being that Matthew Stafford might not even have the time to breathe, to sneeze, to do anything to hand the ball off with the O line so beat up.
Yeah, I mean, it's just it's a rough situation. I don't think Matthew Stafford is startable, and I can't trust really anybody. I got a couple questions about DeMarcus Robinson. I can't. I just can't right now until I see something from this offense Sunday Night football, the Chiefs and the Falcons. I look at Atlanta coming off that big
win on Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Chiefs beat up in the backfield, talked about the Kareem Hunt reuniting with Kansas City, but the floo Carson Steele real or mirage at least as a usable fantasy option.
Maybe I don't want to find out, though. I think if you picked him up and you are in need of a running back this week, you could take the shot on him, Like if you lost Pacheco and you didn't love anyone on your bench and you grabbed him. Yeah, I think you could plug him in. I'm starting Samaje p Ryan myself in a number of leagues. I think p Ryan will see the pass game work, like the two minute drill, third downs.
All of that.
The ground, I'm thinking we'll see some sort of a split with Steele probably being on the heavy side of it.
He is huge, he's got some juice. Andy Reid and co.
Were clearly big fans of him there, and he's probably going to get a lot of the goal on work as well, which at the very least makes him.
A flex option. Yeah. I mean, I think that's sort of the thing. He's gonna get a lot of. He's gonna get a lot more touches, it seems like than some I JP Ryan Soll. He's the guy that I would want if you're looking for a Chiefs backup running backs hard. We got two Monny Night games coming up
this week. We got the Commanders and the Bengals. And I just saw a tweet from the Great rich Reebar Lakwan who mentioned that thirty seven point nine percent of the Washington wide receiver targets have come behind the line of scrimmage, highest rate in the league. The league average is eleven point three percent. Is it time to panic if Terry McLaurin doesn't produce this week?
This is me hitting the panic button, Like what is happening? Like? I have way too many shares of Terry McLaurin for him to be going out there doing what he did last week. He had less than four yards per reception last week. We're looking at this offense. You're looking that Jayden and daniels Man. This is the quarterback he's been
waiting for. He's completing over seventy percent of his passes, but these passes are all behind the line of scrimming, so short passes where Tarry mclauren, he's a guy of his caliber to be able to stress the feeld, make the plays downfield and catch the long touchdowns. Like we're not seeing this out of this offense, out of Tarry mclauren. Where I'm a little worried Man, I don't know where you know the production is coming at now, being that this is more of a run heavy offense. This is
new for Terry. But it's like, Man, we waited all this time for him to actually get a quarterback. We're just not getting a production out just based on the offensive scheme.
Should we be worried, Florio that we haven't seen more passing out of Jadeen Daniels. I mean, he threw the ball effectively in college. I know that doesn't always translate, but I'm it just I was expecting more in the air the aerial department that we've gotten from him so far. Same.
My hope is that they're kind of slow walking in and they're gonna, as the year goes on, start to let him do more and more. But what I also hate, not only the fact that they're not letting him air it out, is the fact that this is a run joke. But it's true, Like Terry McLaurin is tethered to the left side of the field, which for a rookie quarterback outside the numbers on the left side downfield is the
hardest place to throw the ball. Like, let's get creative with Terry move him around, put him in the slot at times, but at the very least give him two or three balls downfield the game where he could maybe go out and do something like I'm very excited with Jayden Daniels, but I need the play calling to change a little bit.
Yeah, I just I was really thinking this was going to be something more than what it is. It has not worked out so far this season for Jayden and Daniel. Look, I know it's only two games, so I'm not ready to pull the shoot. I mean, we've talked to Look, we talked about people have worried about Caleb Williams and stuff. It's two games in, Like, there's plenty of time for these guys still to develop. It just has not developed, i think at the rate that we thought it was
going to so far this season. The other Monday Night game, the Jaguars at the Bills, one that we know Michael left Floria will be highly interested in on Monday Night, I'm similar situation. Right. Dalton kink through the first two weeks really has not been involved in what Buffalo was doing. Is it panic time on a guy that we like he was outside the top tier tight ends? Is it panic time if he does not come through against Jacksonville.
If he does a bad Week three, I'll reassess, But as of right now, I'm not panicking when it comes to Dalton King Kid. I know he had a down Week one, but in Week two, if you watch the game, you saw the Bills had a concentrated effort to get him.
The ball early on.
What happened though it was a blowout where the Ravens, I'm sorry, the Dolphins could not stop the run at all. Josh Allen threw nineteen times for one hundred and thirty nine yards. We still saw Kinkaid be the number two target. We still saw him line up in the slot over sixty percent of his snaps, which we love. We were talking about it today. Those interceptions were good throws by
two of that. If the wide receivers catch those balls and the Bills aren't playing on a short field with a multi score lead most of the game, we probably see a lot more daln Kin Kid.
Yeah. I think the other thing that we've seen from the Bills the first couple of weeks, they've been very run heavy. But I think it's also because they played two teams with kind of shaky run defenses. You know, like they made it a point to run the ball against against Miami last week. They made it a big point to run the ball in Week one against Arizona. So I think maybe that had something to do with after this week Ravens Texans Jets. That's a rough run.
Probably not going to be able to just run the ball at will.
Yeah, that's that is That is a rough stretch. So we'll see what Josh Allen and the rest of that Bills offense has in store coming up very soon. Here's a for all the concerns about, you know, maybe throwing the football. We're still fine with Josh Allen because he's still go all the way what he had with nine points last year. He's not going to do that all the time. That was a function of game script, I
think more than anything else really. So it's time to drive your line up, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camry. Time now for hot takes. This is where we get to get a little bit crazy about some of the things we think are going to happen in Week three. If they do hit, then we were geniuses and we knew it all along. If they don't hit, well, it was just a hot take. What do you expect
from us? Crazy, so Lakwan, when you look at the the Week three schedule and some of those guys out there, what is something that folks might look at you a little bit sideways if you said it in mixed company.
Rashid Shahed is going to put up a thirty burger, thirty plus fantasy points against this Eagles defense man. He is going to show up and show out. And we all saw CJ. Garner Johnson give up two weeks in a row getting burnt on plays just like this, Jaden Reed, Darnell Mooney. Is time for Rashid Shahed to finish as the wide receiver one.
For Week three, the wide receiver. Okay, So I'm looking at the list of Rashid Shahed career touchdowns. He has eleven of them. Forty four yard run, fifty three yard receiving, sixty eight yard receiving, nineteen seventy six yard punt return, thirty four, fifty eight, forty five, thirty nine, fifty nine, seventy.
What I'm saying is the man scores deep touchdowns. His shortest one is nineteen if he's connecting with Derek Carr is going to be on a big play and probably is going to go to the end zone.
Congratually, contractively obligated to mention Patrick Claibon anytime you talk about Shiheit, He's been on it since day one.
Since they one. For sure, you're also going big with a wide receiver this week.
For yes, George Pickens. One hundred and thirty yards minimum and a touchdown. Why Because George Pickens is awesome. There's no doubt about his talent and everything. And I know if you just looked at the box score last week, you're like, wow, he was disappointing. What it doesn't show is that he had an amazing fifty one yard catch call back where it was perfect placement by Justin Fields. Pickens had the laid hands on it to come down with it with two defenders in his area. Then he
had another touchdown called back as well. That's over thirteen fantasy points. Plus he drew a near forty yard pass interference flag on Patrick Sartan. Like, we know George Pickens can play. It looks like they are getting the chemistry him and Justin Fields. Plus I know the Chargers pass defense looks tough right now. They have faced Gardner Minshew
and Bryce Young. I'm not sold on their pass defense yet, but I do think they might be able to slow down the Steelers run game, which leads to more passes.
One hundred and thirty yards for George Pickens. I hope that leaves some for Pat Fryer Mooth, just because we know there's not a lot of volume in that Steeler passing game right now. Speaking of guys that played with Arthur Smith, John new Smith, I think he's going to be the third tight end this season have a twenty point game. We saw Isaiah Likely do it in week one, we saw George Kittle do it in week two. I think John new Smith the A dots is not gonna
be high. It's gonna be a lot of short throws, all about four or five yards with the line of scrimmage. But I think the target volume is going to carry the day, and that's going to get him over the hump. They gotta go somewhere with Skyler Thompson. They can't just lean on that running game. They gotta throw the football. If they take away Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, I think you're gonna see John Newsmith eat. That was drive your lineup, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camray.
Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com slash Camery. By the way, you catch the rest of our Week three previews on Fantasy X sure on NFL Plus. We sure to check those out coming up later in the week and anytime that is it, we are done. We appreciate you hanging out with the NFL Fantasy Football show. You know the drill. Tell two friends to tell two friends, rate review and remember you'll never feel more alone than when trying to put sunscreen
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